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Show OneTough Job in Print News Is Getting ‘It’ to Subscribers ae en ee nee READER ADVOCATE SHINIKA SYKES bringing me up to speed on the distribution side of the news business. Here are some 's answers: Question: We bao! Genin in getting The Tribune to its 136,000 daily and 162,000Sundaysubscribers? Answer: A ae distribution involves a logistic relay where everything must come . The press starts at 1230 am. The first newspapers off the presses are trucked to distribution centers around the state where they are loaded onto trucks going to the outermost regions —St. George, Logan, Vernal and Evanston, Wyo. This relay system has to come together 7 nights a weeks because subscrib- ers in outlying areas want their papers at the same time as those of us along the Wa- ‘Answer: The Tribune should be delivered by 6:30 a.m. Mondaythrough Friday. For Saturday and Sunday, the expected delivery time is 7:30 a.m. Whenevera sub- scriber has not received a newspaper by 8 a.m. on any day, he can call 237-2900 to report a “miss” Of course, press problems andadverse weather conditions can cause delaysin the production anddeliveryflow. People are asked to be patientin those circumstances.Butif delivery is consistently late, contact NAC at (801) 237-2921. Question: What does it cost to have The Tribune delivered to my home? Answer: It depends on where youlive. For homedelivery in the Salt Lake Valley, the cost is 24 cents a day for Monday through Saturday and 87 cents for the Sunday paper. For the outlying areas, Evanston, Wyo., St. George andothers, for example, the home delivery rate cost is about33 cents. Question: Arethe various costs the reason a specific price is not posted on The Tribune? Answer: Yes. The Tribune is one of a dozen papers nationally that delivers statewide. It costs more to get papers throughoutthestate. Question: How many carriers deliver the morning Tribune? used to get more tips when they collected, but that also brought problems. There were always people who wanted to punish the carrier for whatever reason — the paper may have been late due to press probJems ora it was not put exactly where the customer wanted it — so they would not pay. Mostcarriers hated to collect. Carrier turnover dropped 100 percent when NAC wentto direct billing. And, there also was the safety concern for carriers who tended to collect at night when people were more likely to be home. Question: People often accuse newspapers ofincluding this or that story simply to sell more of thatao paper. Are there “news” or “events” bring about an increase in the number of papers sold on a given day? Answer: Some “news” does bring a delivery? Answer: A “miss” is still the number one complaint. This usually happens when there is a substitute carrier — someone called in sick and the new person delivers the paper. A “miss” or late paper brings thousands ofcalls because it interrupts a person’s morning routine. Question: With the growing use of the Internet, what changes doyou see coming in the way people will get their newspaper in thefuture? Answer: The Internet has had some impact, but nothing significant. It is Just one more thing competing for a person's time. Mostpeopletodaystill like opening their door and picking up an actual copy of the paper. In the long run, the numberof people wholike having a physical paper in their hand will decline. Young people are more comfortable finding news and read- Answer: NAChas 1,891 carriers for The Tribune. Question: / have heard some carriers say they dislike the direct billing system be- ing it on the computer. That is where we likely will see a change. cause they do not get as many tips as theydid The Reader Advocate’s phone number is (801) 257-8999. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. E-mail: when they personally collected payment From subscribers. Is direct billing more ad- vantageousfor NACthanit isfor carriers? Answer: It is true that delivery agents reader.advocate@sltrib.com Repealof the “Death Tax” Could Free Estate Planners The Bush administration has proposed a phase-out ofthe federal estate tax over 10 years, which would eliminate the national POINT OF LAW posed to be a tax on theinheritance that a person receives from someone whodies. Form 706 allows the taxpayer, usuallythe Executor or Personal Representative, to claim credit for the amountofinheritance tax paid to a state, limited to a percentage of the taxable estate on asliding scale — the bigger theestate the higher the percentage credit that is allowed, from about .08 percent to 16 percent. If your federal estate tax is zero, because, for example, yourestateis less that the current $675,000 federal estate tax exemption, then you don't have to worry about Utah stateinheritance taxes. In addition to estate taxes, the federal govermunenthasa gift tax in lieu ofestate taxes on the valueofgifts that you make. ‘The idea is that you are probably making the gifts in order to remove property from your taxable estate and thereby lower the amountof estate tax you will pay. The tax rate underthe unified gift and estatetax is the same for gifts as it is for estates, so, theoreticallythere is no advantage toa gift over an inheritance. ‘The moveto repeal estate taxes is popu: lar, in spite of the fact that death taxes are paid only by a small percentage of Americans. Underpresentfederal law,a lifetime credit is allowed for either estate and gift taxes of$220,450, whichis the equivalent of a $675,000 exemption. For married couples using a trust to divide their assets,‘the ex: emption can be effectively doubled to i j with profane writing and vulgar drawings and the teachers wouldnothave to worry about checking and accounting for missing books at the end of the year. College stacents should have a choice of buying paperbackor hardcoverbooks,too. The best way to prevent or control school and class overcrowding is simply by following the state andcity fire codes. Ifa building’s capacity is 2,500 then thatis all the student capacity shouldbe. If a room students thatwill be allowed in that classroom. No schooldistrict or administrator wouldbe ableto “cook the books”to obtain more state funds. The state would issue each district the funds for the school year at the beginning of each semester based on the fire code capacity, not on whatthedis- trict requests with its accounting figures. This would makeit easier for the state to accountfor the funds. Allstreets that parallel a school that can be closed off during the school and junior high schools. Speed bumps should be constructed on those samestreets andat cross walks at schools from gradeoneto 12. All students whoare to enter the first grade should be given a readingtest a year before they enter school. Those who show a need for reading help shouldbe placed ina reading program for the year preceding their entering thefirst grade. It would also give each child more confidence among other students. Many students.come from homes where parents don’t or can’t help their children with reading. RICHARD J. LITTLE St. George Q EDWARD McDONOUGH $1,350,000. Underthetax laws as they now are, the exemption goes up automatically over the next few years to a single exemption equivalent of $1 million in the year 2006, which could shelter an estate of $2 million for a married couple with a trust. Less than 1 percent ofAmerican taxpayers dying in 2006 will leave more than $2 million, but it appears a large percentage of Americans favor death tax repeal. ‘The biggestlosers from the repeal ofthe federal estate tax may be the churches and charities which receive large donations either as bequestsor in gifts that seem to be motivated, at least in part, by the un- limited charitable deduction allowed’ on IRS form 706 Estate Tax Returns. When the decision is between leaving property to a charity or giving it to the government in taxes, manytaxpayers choose the charity. It is possible that many of the social wel- fare programs administered by churches and charities will be underfunded when donations drop after death tax repeal. In the long run, the biggest winners from death tax repeal maybe estate planning lawyers andtheir clients. Freed from the constraints of tax planning, wills and trusts and other estate planning docu ments can be drafted to achieve other goals, such as providing for the trust maker and spouse during their lifetimes ship (including the priesthood) they would have to cease calling themselves a non- profit organization and start paying incometaxes. On $16.5 million a dayin tithing alone that’s a lot of tax monies that could be better used in building up the Kingdom ofGod. The church immediately saw the error of its ways and the brethren appealed to God for a revelation; it came quickly. God worksin mysterious ways, His wonders to perform, and today The Church of Jesus Q Financial Rape Can someone please explain to me if we're currently experiencing worldwide global warming, whyare ourgas bills sky rocketing? My Questar Gas bill for No- vember, the coldest month of the year as reported by the National WeatherService, was$18.92 when mygas bill for the month of February exceeded $70, 1 dutifully returned my Questar bill “unpaid,” with the explanation I was buying groceries this month. I'm on Social Security disability. Why can’t other Utah Questar consumers do the same and put a Licluding making provision for the possibilityof disability, and ensuring that what the trust maker owns will be passed on to whom he wants, stop to this rip-off insanity? I now realize whatextortion and being financially raped are! The CEO of Questar should have his million dollar salary eliminated. Edward McDonoughis a Salt Lake City ROLAND GREEN Sandy attorney and a memberof the Utah bar. name,signature, address and daytime telephone numbers. Information other than your nameandthe city in which youlive are kept confidential. @ Keep it short. Concise letters developing a single theme are more likely to be published. @ Please type and double space. @ Letters are condensed and edited. @ Because of the volume of mail received, not all submissions are published. ® Mail to Public Forum, The Salt LakeTribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake The Salt Lake Tribune's editorial “Juey Spendthrifts” (Feb. 26) is a surprisdeparture from the paper’s general attitnde favoring citizen access to. government. In this editorial, The Tribune criticized “convenient suburban [court] locations.” The usually encourages more citizen access to government, not less. I hope you will reconsider your Position. As president of the Utah State Bar, I think we should doall we can to place government services of all types, especially courts, within the close reachof citizens. Witnesses, victims, criminal defendants, families and many others must deal with City, Utah 84110 ‘@ Our fax numberis (801) 257-8950. the court system. Forall of them, courts in Bonanza for Utilities Sandy and Murray. On that occasion, Pre- Tam amused at W.H. Sadler's comments (Forum, Feb. 13) about the $5 customer service charge that we, the captive consumer, have been paying forat least the 21 years since I moved into this valley. After scrutinizing my last two gas bills, which has almost doubled since November, that $5 service charge seems inconsequential. I was extremely upset that the Public Service Commission could allow this to happen until I read the half-page ad in The Tribune that Questar has been running.I can nowsleepat night knowing I am only paying wholesale price for my gas. The ad depicted a graph showing that. Questar sells its gas to us at wholesale. What a relief. I was sure it was a scam! Because of deregulation, which allows the powerbrokers to buyupelectricity and resell it to the distributor at a huge profit, the power problems being experienced in California will envelop the whole country. Gas,telephone, water, sewage, anyutility will jumponthe wagonto get their share ¢ the bonanza. It’s only just wish we could boycott all of them. Si utilities are going to take a majorbite out ofour income. It’s sad that our legislators havelittle vision as to the outcome oftheir foolhardiness. My proposal would be for President Bushto take the tax-cut, and the money he wants to give to religion and research and find some alternatives to fossil fuel. Of course this won't happen because Bushis anoil millionaire. Whois the secretary of energy? Maybe we can get his attention. There is infinite energy from the sun and there’s the wind.I've also heard offuel cells. Let's do something before the government botches it. Like they've allowed the medical/hospitalization/pharmaceutical situation to become.Rise up,all ye Iaboring andretired populace andlet your voice be heard. their community are the right thing. People deserve to have resolution services close at hand. In February 1999, the news media reported the opening offull-service courts in siding Third District Judge Frank G. Noel said, “Weare pleased that we can nowoffer a better and more convenientservice to the people in the south part of the Valley. Being ableto file cases in Sandy and Murray that previously hadto be filed in Salt Lake will save travel time ahd expense for litigants, jurors, witnesses and attorneys.” I sy agree with Judge Noel. The Tribune's assumption that local courts increase travel for “prosecutors, deputy sheriffs and victim service professionals” is inaccurate. These agencies al- ready have branchoffices to serve their communities. Courts alreadyexist in these locations. Judges nearest the people affected should handle cases with the help of other local professionals. Community courts handle local crimes and family issues. These courts are an invaluable community resource. Someservices must be concentrated in the downtown area ofSalt Lake City, such as appellate courts, and cases arising in the city itself. But there is no good reason to compelall the people involved in a case arising in the far suburbs to come downtown just because a judge or building is located there. Thankfully, Utah’s legislators have the vision to fund courts where the people need them. This year’s appropriation for the purchase ofland in Sandywill help the courts serve their constituents. Community courts are one more example of many things the judiciary is doing to reach out. To help all Utahns, the courts offer an information-rich Website, on-line court filing, in-court translators and customer service training. The Tribune should enthusiastically support citizen-focused services like community courts. The Utah State Bar encourages The Tribune to speak up for courts in their communities! Support efforts to bring governmentcloser to those served. DAVID NUFFER President Utah State Bar Salt Lake City DARRELL L. COX South Jordan Christ of Latter-day Saints has nothing but lovefor all races of people on Earth. KATHY ERICKSON Salt Lake City Strange Opposition Where to Write @ When submitting letters to the Public Forum,please include your full capacity is 30 thenthatis all the numberof Wood (Forum, March1), ease up, Brother Wood. What's done is done. There no longer is any prejudice against blacks in the Mormonchurch, the power of money took care of that. Back in 1978 the federal government informed the LDS Church that unless it allowed blacks full member- legislatures follow suit. Thefederal estate tax is supposed to bea heritance tax in the state of Utah is effectively a percentageofthefederalestate tax. The United States Estate Tax Return, IRS Asa former teacherI wouldlike tomake some suggestions: Every state and school district could save millions ofdollars each year byissuing paperback books instead of hardcover books to each studentin grades seven to 12, their own to keep for school and homeworkorpersonal studies. Nostudentlikes to be issued a used book In reference to the letter from Greggory tax ontheesiate that a person leaves when she dies; the state inheritance tax is sup- the tax payer’s death. Right now, the in- Letters from The Tribune’s readers School Suggestions Gainful Revelation portion of “death tax.” Wewouldstill have a state inheritance taxin moststates, unless individual state Bysaying that the federal tax is on the “estate” while the state tax is on the “inheritance,” theypretend thatit is not double taxation. Butthefactis that bothfederal andstate governments are taxing the sameevent, THE PUBLIC FORUM demand for more newspapers. For exam- ple, the death of Princess Diana was first reported on Saturday. The Sunday Tribune included a special pullout section about her death. We printed an additional 40,000 copies and could have sold more. Another big demand for more papers was The Tribune's story and photos of the new LDS Church Conference Center. Big news events prompt a noticeable jump in single-copy sales, however, the majority of newspapers are homedelivered to subscribers. Question: Other than “I did not get my paper today,” what is the most frequent compliant your department hear about Q Qa Superfluous Position Confusing Figures Syndicated columnist David Broder said budget spending priorities are correct, but President Bush's tax cut proposal is out of line (Tribune, March4). Looking at Broder’s figures, I am confused. He says President Bush's tax cut is $1.6 trillion, the minimum estimate for whathis plan will cost in the next decade. Furtherin the column he says$1.7 trillion. Then he says,$1.4 trillion in surplus is expected during Bush’s current term, and he says this is less than the amountof his proposed tax cut fully $1.7 trillion. Broder also says more than the $1.7 trillion the entire tax cut is expected to accumulate in fiscal 2010 and 2011. Webetter act now to put this money in the hands of the people who can chose how they want to spend their money and not in the hands ofthe politicians where it can be The addition ofour new “Porn Czarina” has broughtup the question.Is there really aproblem with pornographyin Utah andif there is how can one person control a problem thatis as easy as point andclick? There really is nothing a person can do about porno. The position of the porn princess is really just a waste of taxpayers’ dollars and time. The only worthwhile thing she has to do while occupying this position is to look at porn for there are no other guidelines for her job. Which brings up another question: What kind of sexuality has no value? Is Kama Sutra considered to have no value for the normal person?'Is making your knowledge ofanatomy and what makes sex worthwhile and exciting really all that bad? In the best interest of the state, this Legislature should terminate the position ee ees ee rene in its place. used to buy votes. H. SAM NESLEN Bountiful : IAN WATKINS Sandy n |
