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Show GOVERNOR’S PRIMARY WOODSWINS OPEN GENTLER WORKPLACE Candidates say it’s about past 8 years B-1 Posts record, 12 strokes under par C-1 Professor calls for more nurturing D-1 —Ghe Salt LakeCribine ttp://www.sitrib.com Utah’s Independent Voice Since. 1871 Volume 260 Number66 ©2000, The Salt Lake Tribune It’s No Joke: Free Wheels On the Web constitutionality of that state law. “Grandparentvisitation is a wonderful thing, but it should be worked BY NESREEN KHASHAN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Kory Pasquin’s death in a 1996 BY SETH SUTEL boating mother, NEW YORK — Humorkeeps us happy by showing us an absurd view of our world. But as business realities become more and more warpedin the Internet Age, it’s getting downright tough for humorto keep up. It's a lessonlearned all too well by the editors of Esquire magazine after they printed an April Fools’ joke purportingto chroniclea startup company that gave awayfree cars and made money byslathering the vehicles with advertisingsloans. Too goodto be true? Youbetit was. The story was peppered with outrageous details intended to alert readers that the whole yarn was a sendupofInternet excesses: Thefictitious company, FreeWheelz, didn’t have enoughlossesyet to make a good IPO,drivers had to submit medical samplesto get their contracts renewed andthe founders had dropped “.com”from the name because it was “so 20th century.” Andthen the Esquire editors got the call. A groupof entrepreneurs had beenplanning just such a business, with a few exceptions, of course, like not requiring the medical tests from drivers. “Atfirst whentheycalled, we thought they wouldbe really annoyed with us,” said Jay Woodruff, dress.It turnsoutthatthearticle's writer, Ted Fishman, had regis- tered the online nameof his madeup company just to makesure he wouldn't be stepping on anyone’s toes with his parody. It wasthe bestinvestmenthe ever made. The founders of the real company, Freecar.com,paid Fishman $25,000 for the rights to the address — the URL Fishmanpaid $70 to register. Freecar.com hasn'tofficially been launched yet, but founder Larry Butler says the responses from readers whobelieved the par- odyto be true “validated our business model.” Evenafter splitting the proceeds with Esquire, Fishman madea 178fold return onhis investment. ForFishman, the mostlasting impression of the experience was how hard it wasto find an idea ridiculous enough to be funnybut hadn't been turned into an earnest businessventure. Hestarted out planning to write astory about a company that makes virtual Post-It notes surfers can post on Websites. Too late: Some- his the spent monthstogether grieving and healing. E Pasquin was baffled a year later when Soutertold her she could not see her son’s daughter again. It was another loss, one the Holladay grandmothercouldnotbear. Pasquin went to court, suing to see her granddaughter under Utah’s grandparent-visitation law. But Souter’s attorney, Robert Copier, emboldened by a June 5 U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down Washington state’s visitation statute, is now attacking the viewsonline, Shortlyafter the arti- health violations by New York restaurants on the Weby causing quite a stir among Manhattan diners. So far, no entrepreneurs have stepped forward with a business planforI-Coli. But Fishmanis still holding onto the Internet domain name — just in case, cision, wethinkthestatute in Utah is constitutional and valid, and wefeel we have a right to proceed under that,” Middleton said. “The grandparent has a rightto try to show that visitation wouldbe in thebest interestof the child.” The mother’s constitutional challenge prompted 3rd District Judge Astrology _D-7 Obituaries _A-7 Business, D-1 Classifieds 03 § Puzzles D6 Ct Crossword 0-6 TV Programs 8-7 WEATHER: Widely scattered thun: dershowers statewide;70s, 80s north, 805, 90s south. Details: B-8 AU, to rear their children without gov- ernment interference should gener- ally override state laws that give grandparents broad rights to seek visitation. See GRANDMOTHER.Page A-5 Paul Fraughton/The Salt Lake Tribu: Geri Pasquinis suingforvisits with her son’s daughter. Fight N-Dump Michigan group speaksout against Goshutefacility; Utah studying plan BY JUDY FAHYS THE SAL’ T THE ASSOCIATED PRESS in Utah's westdesert. dampened the smolderingfuneral pyres andashesof 34 low-caste villagers mas- No Utah-based demonstrations are planned but protest in Michiganis set to begin today, same daythe federal Atomic Safetyand Licensing Board opens hearingsin Salt Lake Cityto discus the storagesite. “High-level nuclear wastes are the de: sacred by an upper-caste militia a day earlier in ongoing violence over India’s ancient system ofsocial hierarchy. The massacre was the eighth major caste-related attack in the past. six months in Bihar, a northeastern state that is one of India’s poorest and most lawless. The Ranvir Sena militia, whichis fi- created,” said Kevin Kampsofthe Nuc! mation & Resource Service. a Washington-bis «1 environmentalgroup. “Now[a Michigan power company generate even more deadly wastes and hi off the tribal council of a small. destitute Nat American tribe out Westin order to dump there.” nanced by upper-caste landlords, took responsibility for Saturday's attack, in whichanestimated 500 gunmendressed in black stormed Miapur, a village 100 mileseastof Patna,the state capital, and shot dead 34 people, mostly from the he added. “They ought to be ashamed.” That rabble-rousing tone has not Salt Lake City, where a three-member lower-caste Yadav community ofcattle herders. permit boardplans tured forumthat than a we Villager Satendra Paswan, 35, said the violence was the beginning of the mythical Mahabharat war described in one of India’s best-known epics. The Mahabharattells ofabattle between two rival families that ends in the annihilation ofoneofthe clans. “Wecannot say whenthis will end,” Paswansaid. Police raided several hide-outs in Bi- Vikram Kumar/The Associated Press Indiansof the lowestcaste console each otherafter Saturday's massacrein Bihar, India. Caste-related violence has plagued India for hundreds of years. har state belonging to the banned Ran- vir Sena militia and arrested 11 people late Saturday and Sunday, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted The militia said Sunday thattheattack was revenge for last week's massacre of 12 upper-caste landlords, whichit “We have been forced to kill lower- educate members of lower castes and caste people because of the state government’s discrimination against a particular caste,” the statement said. Rabri Devi, the top elected official in the state, belongs to a lower caste. About 83 percent of India’s 1 billion people believe in Hinduism, which establish equal rights, and more people are challenging the status of the higher blamed on state Labor Minister Raj classifies its adherents into a hierarchy Ballav Yadav and B.K. Mandal, a top of four majorcastes.In recent years, the government has launched efforts to policeofficer. castes. nuclear-powerplants, needs the NRC's app! before it can build the e site. The pe review is expected to take another two years clearing the way for construction and shipment as early as 2003. Oneof the plants, located on Lake Michigar near St. Joseph. would contribute some of the 40,000 metric tons of uraniumwastes that woulc Caste-relatedkillings are commonin Bihar between the Ranvir Sena and bestored on 40 acres ofthe Skull Valley reserva tion. Michigan activists will fly their protest communist guerrillas belonging to the banneroverthe Cook Nuclear Power Plant tolay People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist BY REBECCA WALSH and BRETT PRETTYMAN © 2000, THE § Center, who say they See CASTE VIOLENCE.Page A-6 See GOSHUTE. I @ Howto offer comments sports dynasty byletting things slide. So therelatively short, troubled history of his Utah hockey team and arenacompany is somewhat perplexing. When Elmore and West Valley City Man- * ager John Patterson announced a partner- head of the Game Still, the mass of complaints about the Grizzlies and E Center managers raises questions. LT LAKE TRIBUNE WEST VALLEY CITY — Utah Grizzlies owner David Elmore is a savvy businessman. polite and careful Commission (NRC). the board is responsible fin reviewing thescientific. legal andfinancial issue behindthe requestto build the storage site A consortiumofeight E » utilitie: for a place to store spent fuel m about 2 AsDebts Pile Up, Grizzlies Face More Fights Off the Ice Than On management LAKE TRIBUNE reactor-wastestoragesite that has beenpropost for the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservaticr MIAPUR, India — A drizzle Sunday brokers Olympictickets. He didn't build that ___B6 tion. It also said the right of parents Out-of-Staters An attorney and accountantby training, BS that allowed anyonewithaninterest in the child’s welfare to seek visita- Ronald Nvhringto offer the Utah Attorney General's Office an Elmore owns eight minor-league teams, manages West Valley City's E Center and INDEX cision criticized the Washington state lawfor its “sweeping breadth” Anti-nuclear activists from, Michigar Inspector-Generalof Police Neelmanias cle cameout, the New York City Health Department beganposting Will Middleton, the grandmother’s attorney, disagrees, predicting Utah’s law will be upheld. “Tn light of the SupremeCourt de- cate workbeing donebythe private attorneys. “We don’tfeel that the court will be forced to make decision based on inadequate information,” said Tracey Tabet, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office. The newU.S. SupremeCourt de- vada plan to step into the fray this week saying. ‘ whose second grandchild was born Wednesday. “We believe the state statute is over-broad. It really is a burden to have the mother’s decision comeinto question.” BY HEMA SHUKLA Another joke in the April Fools’ article eked its way into the real world, to the chagrin of its would-be The phony founders of Fishman’s FreeWheelz had an earlier venture,I-Coli.com,that invited restaurants to posttheir health re- out in the family,” said Copier, Some say massacre marks start of mythical battle body wasalready doingit. Ann Landers 8-7 Comics Street. Salt Lake City. Telephone numberslisted on A opportunity to weigh in on the dispute. State attorneys declined last week, saying they would track the litigation but did not wantto dupli- Caste War Claims 34 In India turned into this discussion about how they wanted to buy the URL. 1 guess irony pays.” Ahryes, the URL, or Internet ad- accident devastated Geri. Pasquin, and motherofhis child, Candace Souter. The two women, Pasquin recalls, aneditor at Esquire. “But it quickly Asimov __ 0-9 Movies 143 South Main Once united in grief, two women now on opposite sides of court fight over deceased man’s child THE ASSOCIATED PRESS fictitious targets. ° Visits With Grandma? Ask the Judge DOoT-CON - MONDAY,JUNE 19, 2000 24 International Hockey League playoffs and luring stable if not stellar crowds, the Grizzlies are no different from other minorleague teams — trying to break evenorprofit Utah from Colorado the team has been sued, although court records showthe num- justa little. But they distinguish themselves with their bill-paying practices. During just three late. Graphics andprinting companies, soft ware distributors, a former employee and years in West Valley City, the team has racked upa list ofsmall-claims lawsuits from vendors. The phones were turned off. The state Tax Commissionfiled, then withdrew, a $20,000 lien against the arena management companyafter a tax-audit dispute. Even quarterly rent checks to the city have been late. ship five years ago, the team and its $58 million E Center home was cast as a boon to this blue-collar suburb of Salt LakeCity. And it was. Hotels, restaurants and theaters quickly sprouted around the hockey arena, the de facto “town square”ofa fledg- Grizzlies and Centennial Management, which runs the city-owned E Center, have suffered. Some vendors refuseto do business with the team again. Others demand pay. ling citycenter. ment up front or go to E At the same time, the team’s fortunes swung 180 degrees, Still climbing out of a $5 million debt from renting Delta Center ice for two years, struggling to advance in the there's bad management;” hesays. As a result, credit ratings for the Utah ter offices and wait for a check, Elmore insists none of that is unusual, “We're not in trouble and I don't think 2 Nearlyevery year since 1995 whenthe triumphant Turner Cup winners moved to ber of small-claimsfilings has dwindled of Here are attendancefigures for the Grizzlies during their five seasons in Utah. The team typically outdraws the International Hockey League average, especially since moving to WestValley City’s E Center banks havetaken theteam, the management companyand the owners to court seeking payment. Onesmall-claimslawsuit followed the teamfrom Denver. Grizzlies managers blame someof the problems on that former employee, an ac- countant who moved with the team from Denver, But Elmorefiredherafterjust a few months in Utah. She sued Elmore and the team for $29,800in pay, severance and moving expenses. The lawsuit eventually was settled, Grizzlies Attendance Delta Center 1995-96 League Average = 7,421 1996-97 ECenter ere somethingsthat fell 7,729 7,241 ys Jim Fuoco, Centennial Management's controller. But that explains onlya few monthsof1995, 7,019 7,029 Sce CREDIT WOES.Page A-5 The Salt Lake | ba ; Tr\!im |
