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Show —— —— ee M@ FORTHE RECORD, B-2 @ BARBERI & WILSON, B-4 WHEARTLINES, B-4 Mi OBITUARIES, B-6 BBIRTHS, B-6 @ WEATHER, B-8 * DECEMBER 24, 2000 tory Cool Bear Offers Avalanche Alerts ©2000, The Sat Lake Trtune Silent Nights Rare at Early Christmases Osborne Russell recorded the first known Utah Christmas,celebrating the day in 1840 with American Indians and French mountain men fromalloverthe West at a site that Ogden. They fe ‘fish, stewed elk, venison,fruit pudding, of andsix gallons ofstrong cof- Lik Utah agency hopesits repackaged ° bear icon can relay dangers in way backcountry novices will understand Es BY BRIAN MAFFLY THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. For years, ave’ attitude and a bigger brain than the ones belonging to his cousins, the famous but dour Smokey and the not-sofamous but dopey Olympic mascot, Coal. “There's a lot of pressure for us to do a Smokey Bear thing thatpoints,‘Go,’ ‘Don’t go.’ That’s not the way avalanches work,” said one of Powder’s creators, Bruce Tremper, co-directorofthe U.S. Forest Service’s Utah Avalanche Center. The agency, which recently dropped the word che forecasters havetried to demystify avalancheinformation for people who wouldrather play in = mountains than understandthe arcane world of snow x:that end, Lae of the Utah avalanche community ursine character, dubbing him Povider the PolarBear and fitting him with sunglasses, an “forecast” fromits title, has provided daily avalanche bulletins on a telephone hot line (801-364-1581) and, more recently, on the Internet (available at www.a' The information helps backcountry tourists avoid the hidden danger thatkills four to five people in Utah each winter, and upto 25 nationwide. These reports are typically geared toward skiers who know something of avalanches and snow morphology. They have attended slide shows and classes, stood in snowpits poking the walls, learned how to identify safe routes through avalancheterrain and learned how to locate a transceiver buried in the snow. This is hardly surprising; most Forest Service avalanche Emphasize Consensus evival ered “wasters and destroyers.” John D. Lee noted: “The reports ofguns were heard in every direction, which is nothing uncommon about Christmas times.” Most early holiday celebrations were humble, but when U.S. troops visited old Salt Lake City in 1854,soldiers celebrated Christmas with a drunken brawl aimed Hatch,fellow D.C.politicos pledge bipartisan cooperation of the heater at the Saints. Army Col. Edward Steptoe hadorders to stop in Great Salt Lake City to investigate the murderof Capt. John Gunnison and his surveying party in 1853. Oneof Steptoe’s officers noted, “the principal object in our win- BY JIM WOOLF THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Fountain Green Theatre's great hall appears just as it was abandoned years ago before it was boarded up. Stranger.” Historian Will Bagley intends to publish the Utah letters ofLaRhett L, Livingston in a history of Mormon:Indian relations. “Bipartisan”is the mantra in Washington, D.C., as George W. Bush prepares to become the next president, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch is positioning himself to be’a leader of this new cult of cooperation. Hatch’sfirst public supportfor the cause of tering here”is to avenge Gunni- useful message:“Peace to the See POWDER,Page B~4 Lawmakers Sipaveriatel Mormon pioneers commemorated their first Noel in Utah with feast ofcowhides and thistle roots.In 1848, the pioneers organized “a war ofextermination” against ravens, hawks,owls, wolves, foxes raed other wildlife the settlers consid- son. Relations with the Army started offwell enough after Steptoe arrived in September, but by Decemberfeelings were as frosty as the weather. As John Gunnison hadnoted earlier, Mormons dreaded the contaminating influence ofidle soldiers, especially the possibleeffects of “the gallantry of epaulettes upon their peculiar institution ofpolygamy.” Several of Steptoe’s younglieutenants used their epaulettes quite effectively, wooing Mormon girls andplural wives whowere fed up with polygamy. Lt. Sylvester Mowry courted the wife of one ofBrigham Young's sons and claimed the prophet’sfeisty 15-year-old daughter,Alice, told him:“Salt Lake needs only to be roofed in to be the biggest whorehouse in the world.” To keep the peace, local authorities tried to ban thesale ofalcohol, but thirsty soldiers could alwaysfind a drink on “Whiskey treet.” Matters came to a head on Dec.23 during a play at the social hall. Mormon lawyer Hosea Stout reported a “considerable melee” broke out whenthe police tried to arresta soldier in the audience. Lt. LaRhett Livingston-wrote home:“I got my face scratched & handlamed in trying to quell the disturbance.” Lt. Mowry was knocked down early in the action but wasnotinjured. Officers kept the fight from becoming riot. Thepotboiled over, however, on Christmas Day. Drunken soldiers, reportedly hunting for a fight, hit the streets early. Livingston blamed the trouble on the “desperate set of rascals infesting this City” and noted the soldiers “will not be run overif they can helpit.” Within minutes, there was a generalriot in the streets involving 300 “rowdies about town & drunkensoldiers.” &me shots were fired on both sides, but no one was hit, Livingston observed. “The stones & clubs did better execution.” Apostle George A. Smith reported the “young growth” among the Mormons putupa stoutfight: “Fists, sticks, clubs and stones were used freely.” Officers and the police finally quelled the riot and Col. Steptoe confined his men to barracks for the rest of the holiday. He threatened to move them far away from town, and the prospect of spending the winter in tents at Tooele helped keep the men undercontrol. Officers and local officials patched uprelations at an elaborate New Year's Ball thrown by ‘Territorial Gov. Young. He had a large green silk banner painted with a saying thatstill conveys a ind veins compromise came about three ago as the U.S. Supreme Court was preparingto hear the initial appeal of legal decisions in the Florida recount of presidential election ballots. That’s when Utah’s senior senator, a conservative Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, invited Sen. Patrick Leahy to walk with him from the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court for the hearing. Leahy is a liberal and ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Thepath ofthe two senators took them past dozens of news reporters, who immediately understood the significance of this stroll by the longtimepolitical adversaries. “We came together in a symbolic walk,” Hatch explained afterward. Since then, Hatch has appeared on the ahs es “Larry King Live” program and given a na- tional radio address for the Republican Party. Both times, he focused almost exclusively on the importance of Republicans and Democrats working together. Successful politicians are skilled at reading public opinion and the message from the 2000 election was clear toall the political pros in Washington: The country is divided. Thepresidential race was one ofthe closest ever; the Senate nowis split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and the Republicans’slight lead in the House of Representatives became even smaller. It is a situation that has only twopossible outcomes. Either nothingwill get donefor the next several years as partisan bickering continues in Washington,or the Republicans and Democrats will set aside their differences and find a way to compromise. “There’s about a 50-50 chance this will go harmoniously,” predicted Rep. Merrill Cook, jee CONSENSUS,Page B-6 Petitioners Ask LDS Church to Photos by Leah Hogsten/TheSalt Lake Tribune The theater's movie projection room remains untouched. The theater began showingsilent movies in the 1920s in what was considered a “state of the art” projection system using carbides that were bumed to create light for the projectors. Restoring building for community BY‘KIRS!TEN STEWART THES to use is one man’s laborof love BY TOM WHARTON ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE FOUNTAIN GREEN — Russ Evans stands on the stage of an empty and almostforgotten little theater. Pigeon droppings cover the old fir floor. ‘There are holes in the roofand no seats. A wooden ladder with worn steps leads to a room where two ancient movie pro- Jectors standas silent sentries to anotherera. Closing his eyes, Evans dreams of a time when the music will play again,filling the building in the heart ofthis Sanpete County town of 800 with eeesound, the people’s place”eye says. “It is where \ they dated, where they kissed. Allofthe things that happened within the confines of this place brings the past and our future together.” Evans, a refugee from the Wasatch Front, knows whatit will take to restore the 200-seat theater and adjacent social hall. His Fountain Green Music store sits next to the theater, It was once the town’s old confectionery. At the time he boughtit, the roof was off and it, too, had becomea roost for pigeons. Now, the wood floors are restored, but holes serve as reminders of stools from the old soda fountain. Evans, a Sce THEATER,Page B-6 6 Alter Gay Stance iT LAKE ‘TRIBUNE loosely organized group of more than 300 gay and lesbian Mormons and their family members are petitioning The Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to reconsider its stance on homosexuality. A copy of the petition, signed “Mormon Advocates for Further Light and Knowledge,” appeared as an ad in the Saturday edition of The Salt Lake Tribune. The document called upon LDS genera authorities to review, repudiate and remove from church-approved policies and reading materials statements about homosexuality that are false and misleading. This would include, the petition said, the church’s overall position that “same-sex at. traction is an undesirable and emotion, which, when acted upon results ' sinful, Satan-inspired behavior,” ~ ‘The petition’s author is Mac Madsen, a former Weber State University healthy: lifestyles greatand men’s golfcoach, Russ Evans hopes to revive this ticket counter and the the= ater, built in 1914,as a venue for concerts and social events. Madsen, from his Ogden home Saturday, Sec PETITIONERS, Page Bg 4 < |
