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Show TheSalt LakeTribune OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY1, 2002 OUR VIEW Costly Folly Don Quixote seemsto be the role citizens to determineand affect the modelfor state legislators. Unfortu- disposition and use of federal lands nately, lawmakers are tilting at within the state as those rights are windmills using taxpayer funds and property. Citizens need to let their state senators know that they do not support legislation which unfairly infringes on private property rights and will result in yet another granted by the United States Consti- taxpayer-financed lawsuit to send an expensive, and ineffectual, statement to the federal government. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Brad Johnson, R-Aurora, requires a private citizen trying to sell his private tution, the Utah Enabling Act, and other applicable law.” Apparently, that policy has been abandoned. Whatever messagetheLegislature thinks it is sending to the federal government is drowned out by the messageit is sendingtoits constituents. Wasting taxpayer money, particularly when budgets are tight, on useless lawsuits tells voters that their rights take a back seat to the Legisla- landtoget legislative approval ofthe ture’s desire to thumbits noseat the private property rights, but stated “there are times whenproperty rights haveto take a back seat.” That may be true, but this is not one of those times. Citizens should notgive up their rights, even if it is just until a lawsuit can be filed, defended andlost by thestate, at tax- payer expense, to defend blatantly unconstitutional legislation. That the bill is unconstitutional isn’t just the opinion of opponents, it is the official opinion of the Legislature’s own attorneys. Yet the House of Representatives voted in favorof this misuse of taxpayerdollars. This is the same body that enacted languagelast year claiming: “It is the policy of the state to claim andpreserve by lawful means therights of the state andits federal government. Adding insult to injury is the chosen strategy which attempts to increase states’ rights by decreasing the rights of individuals within the state. Blind pursuit of the states’ rights cause, regardless of the effectiveness of the meansandat citi- fn zens’ expense, is not an acceptable strategy from elected News Item: Temperature falls to 62 °at Middle Sink, Utah. representatives. Citizens need to send a message to their state legislators that taxpayers are nolongerwilling to pay for frivolous lawsuits, especially those that THE PUBLIC FORUM seek to decimate their rights. The measure already passed the House, so citizens concerned aboutlegislatars intentionally throwing away taxpayer dollars need to contact their senators and demand the defeat of House Bill 208. Utah Fanaticism We Welcome Letters A recenttelevision interview with anti-alcohol activists was enough to raise the hair on the back ofmy neck. George Van Komen’s assault on Anheuser-Busch is as absurd as his remarks calling anyone who may Karzai’ s Task On his first visit to the United States since becoming Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai has shown that he can talk the talk and, perhaps, can even walk the walk. Whetherhesucceeds,ofcourse, is not yet known butthere are plenty of obstacles to overcome. Ina speech at Georgetown University, Karzai was the model of opti- mism anda can-doattitude aboutjust whatheis aboutandhis goals for his Jong unstable mountainous nation. His comments were music to Westerners’ears. Hesaid hetook personal responsi- bility for ensuring that some $4.5 billion in promised aid from throughout the world would be used properly to build up Afghanistan, notdissipated among warlords, governmentcronies orlocal elites likeit so often is in the Third World. “We haveto promise that wewill as they receive foreign aid from this or other countries. Afghanistan has not hada particularly stable governmentfor at least a couple of generations and many of its inhabitants do not look upon government — any government — with the samesolicitudeas people do in, say, most European states where peoplesee it as the distributor of goodies for divers groups. Karzai appealed to Afghan- Americans to return andhelp build up their native land. Perhaps some will, which wouldbe salutary. Karzai It’s going to be hard enough to put a smiley face on a church-dominated @ Because of the volumeof mail received, not all submissions are society which routinely imposes its beliefs on Utah’s “other” citizens, none more so than its unbelievably stupid liquor laws. We're already looking like fools when other coun- tries have to smuggle their beer into Utah in diplomatic pouches.I for one do not want to be further embar- I could be wrong, but aren’t we currently fighting a war against religious fanatics who impose their doc- but of fostering somespirit of nationhood,of unity, in what in some ways is still a tribal society. The Bush administration, and cheating, corruption, I will stopit.” plaud and do whatever they can to help Karzai in his important endeav- leaders, interim or permanent, have or. Karzai’sself-imposed goals will be arduousatbest. He will need all the felt the need to utter such assurances help and support he can get. @ Our fax numberis (801)257-8950. @ Our email address is letters@ sitrib.com. Rolly’s Bias In reference to the Rolly & Wells column (Tribune, Jan. 11) in which Paul Rolly’s cozy relationship with the Democrats has resulted in inac- LeROY UNCLES Helper curacy and misinformation, I cast the deciding vote in favor of the taxpayer’s petition, not Joe Hatch as Rolly Q reports. He took two separate paragraphs out of context, two weeks apart from eachother, in an attempt No Olympic Payoff suffered through the period of transition to our beautiful city should be able to at least see something to reward us for staying in good shape mentally through itall. Wesuffered through endless days IfIhadreceived the same courtesy that was extended to Joe Hatch, I could have clarified Rolly’s misunderstanding.I intended nooffense or hurt to anyone. Rolly attributes an ethnic insensitivity to me which is false and has never been a part ofmy r. STEVE HARMSEN Councilman,Salt Lake County Q in traffic, four years of being without Butthe story of PNC Financial Ser- vices Groupis in its own way equally revealing. Thisfirm, the biggest bank in Pennsylvania, also concealed assets from its shareholders by keeping them off its balance sheet.Its auditor, Ernst & Young,obediently signed off. Investors would still be none the wiser if regulators from the Federal Reserve had not objected, forcing PNCto includeits off-balance sheet positions in its financial statements. ‘The effect ofthis consolidation was to knock $155 million off the firm's earnings forlast year. ‘The first lessonofthis story is that an objective regulator, beholden to neither the companynorthe auditing ion, can unearth that is apparently legal and yet utterly misleading. The day investors saw PNC's consolidated figures, decided the firm was worth 9.4 percentless than it had been that morning, suggesting that the new disclosure was hardly “immaterial,” to use a favorite word of auditors seeking to justify murky reporting. The whole pointofan audit system is to communicatea firm’s health to the financial markets. In this case, it clearly failed. But the secondlessonof the story is that a tough backstopto the auditor can be valuable. Because PNC is a bank,it is subject to Fed oversight, as well scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission; and it was apparently the Fed that forced PNC to comeclean. Non-bank companies do not receive the sameattention. The SEClacks the forces to conduct widespread checks of audit quality and has delegated this role to self- regulatory bodies thatlack teeth. Auditors therefore act with little fear of being \d-guessed in the way that Ernst & Young was bythe Fed this week. Thatis plainly wrong. The Washington Post She SaltLakeTribune UTAH'S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 1871 PAST PUBLISHERS John F. Fitzpatrick (1924-1960) John W.Gallivan (1960-1983) Jerry O'Brien (1983-1994) PUBLISHER Dominic Welch EDITOR James E, Shelledy EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Randy C, Frisch ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE,143 8. MAIN ST. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH M111 our freeway, the destruction of the old, building of the new, the nightmare thatlight rail brought during the creation,just to be slapped in the face with thefact that unless you have alot of moneyto pay(as ifwe have not already paid dearly) then you are not going to see anything that has to do with the Olympics. Then they have several “free” concerts that they get everyone all excited to go to, then they let us know they were only kidding. Noone eversaidlife was fair, but this is taking it to the extreme.This is not the end of the road yet, either; we have not even begun with the traffic nightmare. To whose benefit was all this show again? Did not the Olympics agree to come to Utah before it was such an impressive city? Glory in full length and color waving, underthe heading, “Honoring Veterans.”It was discontinued in October, only five months later. How sad. Every person who had been in the military service stood “reveille” at attention and presented arms to theflag depicted on this stamp. On Oct. 24, 2001, the Postal Service issued anotherflag stampin a design showing only a partial picture of our flag underthe heading of “United We Stand.”This latest issue is now being issued at our postoffices. This mock- ery ofour flag certainly does not look like the flag that present and former military service personnelstood to in those solemn ceremonies ofreveille and retreat, and watched as it was raised or lowered. Every serviceman or woman, every veteran, every member of the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Survivors of Pearl Harbor, Heart Association, Armed Forces Service, Officer Association and every patriotic citizen should write to the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’enfant, Plaza SW, Room 4474, East Building, Washington D.C. 202602437. ‘Ask them to re-issue the stamp in place of “Honoring Veterans” use “United We Stand,” I feel confident that veterans would not makeit an issue. The present flag they are distainly does not display Old Glory in its full length, waving as it fitfully blows, halfconceals, halfdiscloses in its full patriotic glory. Enron Debacle PAUL YOUNG. St. George Attorney General John Ashcroft lost his U.S. Senate election, therefore, his perceived obligation for Enron contributions is moot. It is also my opinion that neither “attorney advised,” “director indemnity,” “suare acceptable shields, whenever questionable acts create innocent victims. This Enron debacle is so severe AMBER DUBBLEMAN Qa Public Service Sign Many thanks to Pat Bagley for his handy “No Guns”clipart suitable for adorning domestic windows (Tribune, Jan. 20). Every time our obsessive backwoods-brained Legislature tries to take away yet another institution's right to maintain safe, secure, gun-free environment, I have wondered where I might get such a Qa Unnerving Transformation So. Lane Beattie is asking menot to make Utah look bad during the Olympics by clogging overtaxed transportation arteries. Well, Mr. Beattie, I never asked to have such an exclusive,elitist nightmare as the Olympics in the first place. OK, I know I’mjust one ofthose disenfranchised, nonRepublican, non-Mormons whose voice is never heard anyway,and that is not likely to change in mylifetime. But now myonce fair city is covered in miles of restrictive fencing, concrete barricades, stark white tents, ugly temporary trailers, and armed-to-the-teeth soldiers, making it look like some weird, futuristic con: centration camp. Major thorough fares that my tax dollars payfor will be shut down completely, and the public transportation you advise me to use, and that my taxes also subsidize, will be severely restricted in some places. All so a few politicians and corporations can throw clude me anyway. 28 dit system needs an overhaul: The firm concealed its real financial position from its shareholders, and its auditors did not so much as squawk. I The Enron scandal should be enough to showthatthe nation’s au- Insulting Substitute On May 23, 2001, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp showing Old to weavea picture of insensitivity. concert tickets. Actually anyone who An Enron Echo City, Utah 84110 trine on others, and insist the world believes as they do? All of the people whoare native to Utah should get free Olympictickets in the mail to all events includingfree ANOTHERVIEW published. @ Mail to Public Forum,TheSalt LakeTribune, P.O. Box867, Salt Lake rassed by the fanatic behaviorof oth- ers. Americans in general, should ap- jis is a tall order. Few national likely to be published. @ Please type and double space. @ Letters are condensed and edited. all the help they can get, because their workentails not only construction or rebuilding ofphysical infrastructure, tion other than your name and the city in which you live are kept confidential. @ Keep it short. Concise letters developing a single theme are more remarks to himself. hope Van Komenhas the courtesy to keep his incredibly discriminatory and like-minded Afghanis will need not cheatour own people,”he told his Georgetown audience. “If there is a “guzzler.” We are going to have thousands of welcome “ here for two weeks in February, and @ When submitting letters to the Public Forum, please include your full name, signature, address and daytimetelephone numbers.Informa- And now you're asking me not to mess it all up for you by simply going, : on 5 imposition z ernment. Rep. Johnson regrets the 38 sale if the buyer is the federal gov- about my business and trying to travel to the places I need to go to while your party is going on? (jo Meonly roquiet teThe ?rib i eck ahead, Mr. Beattie, and have your MARGETTS Salt Lake City CURTIS MORTENSEN you reprint the sign, larger and in MI L Olympic party leave the rest of us Salt Lake City |
