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Show — Monday, March 13, 2006 EDITORIALS DAILY HERALD DoilysHerald — EDITORIAL BOARD Albert J. Manzi, President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor Nancy Hale, Public adviser IN OURVIEW New complaint in peyote case s anyone who has watched “Law and Order” knows, both sides in a criminal trial are ‘supposed to share factual information. The rule of discovery, as it is called, ensuresa fair trial by allowing both sides to possess all the relevant facts and not try to take unfair advantage by keepingsecrets.It is especially incumbent upon the state to release evidencethat tends to incriminate a defendant. James Warren “Flaming Eagle” Mooney, the peyote medicine man andspiritual leader of the Oklevueha EarthWalksNative American Church,says that did not happen when he was charged with distribution ofanillegal drug. Mooney says Utah County At- torney Kay Bryson deliberately held back exculpatory evidence from the Utah Attorney General's office showing that his church was,in fact,legally permitted to obtain and use peyotein religious rites. Mooney has documentedhis credentials as a legitimate Native American healer about as well as could be expected of anyone,yet he says Bryson won't concede. State charges against Mooney weredismissed by the Utah Su- preme Court on grounds that the state’s anti-peyote law cannot be applied on thebasis of race. Subsequentfederal charges were recently dismissedin a settlement between Mooney andprosecutors. It was during the federalcase that Mooney said missing evidence cametolight — facts that should have been forwarded by the Utah County Attorney's office. Bryson has denied any wrongdoing andsaid someof the evidence that Mooneycontends favorshis claim actually doesn’t. Mooney understandably wants a neutral party, either the Utah County Commission or the Utah Attorney General's Office, to investigate whether evidence known to Bryson should have been for- warded. Hehas right to get to the truth. From the beginning, Bryson’s pursuit of Mooney andhis wife has seemed overzealous. The case came downto thefact that Mooney’s church admits non-Indians and allowsthem to participate in peyote ceremonies. If Bryson withheld evidence suggesting that Mooney’s church is, in fact, a legally constituted Native Residents not given noticeofwindmill plan American Church, orif Bryson somehow concealed evidence of Mooney’s ancestry orright to perform peyote rituals, he should now have to explain why that informa- tion was not turnedoverto federal prosecutors, If information was withheld, wasit an innocent mistake, an oversightin the prosecution's zeal to fight a war on drugs? Or wasit a maliciousattemptto close down. a controversial minority religion? An impartial investigation should provide those answers. It mightalso help ensurethatreligiousliberty will be protected in Utah County in the future. Brett Mcinelly ecenteditorials criticize Span- ish Fork residents for voicing | opposition to the construction of wind tur- | bines near the mouthof GUEST OPINION Spanish Fork canyon. TheDaily Herald's edi- torial boardportrays us as irresponsible for interveningata late stage in the process.Ina letter to the editor, Stephen Hoban accuses us of “being “bereft of civic responsibility.” Both assumethatthe city and Wa- MEDIA VOICES satch Winddid everything right as “ Killing Dubai port deal not had noideaof the project. While wecertainly have an obligation to involve ourselves in local government, | to shuffle the entire responsibility for the recent controversy onto our shouldersis | grossly misguided. Andto suggest that Wasatch Windhas beenvictimized by residentsis a distortion of the facts. helping U.S.interests From The Washington Post, long-term damage to the United States’ security, economyandalli- March10, 2006 hey spend drunkenly, they fail at oversight and they can’t stop the administration from abusing detainees or tap- ping phones. But nevercall the members of Congréss powerless: Thursday,in the exalted nameof anti-terrorism,the Senate rebelled against its Republican leadership andjoined the Housein a vote to prevent a company basedin a moderate,friendly Arab country from making a minor investment in the United States. Whenit becameclear that some . such blocking measure wouldpass, Dubai Ports World threw in the towel, announcing that it would sell all ofits U.S. operations,including the managementoperations of six US.portsit recently acquired, and do business elsewhere. Of course, the speed of that announcementillustratesa critical point: that this investment always was a business decision, not the early stages of a covert attack on Baltimore. Quite rightly, the companyandits Dubai-based owners — whoarestunned, apparently,by the unexpected reaction to what they thought was routine business deal — didn’t wanttheir country’s and their company’s names dragged through the mud, so they cut their losses. Besides,it seems that the European port operations that Dubai Ports World acquired whenit bought Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., the British companythat has run the six U.S.ports, are more profitable anyway. The result: Dubai Ports World will now run only ports where cargois packed andsentto the United States, instead of managre where that samecargois Dat noneof that mattered to the craven members of Congress — neither to the Democrats who first sensed delicious political opportunity nor to the Republicans who then fled in unseemly panic. As to ances? Notof concernto the great deliberative body. No oneshould underestimate the potential damage. Any governmentin a Muslim-majority country will haveto askitself: Why take therisk of friendship? If governments find no good answerto that.question,the fight againstradical Islamic terror- ism will suffer. Meanwhile, Arab investors may think twice before putting their money in a country wheretheir companies risk expropriation. With thepriceofoil so high, Ar- abs are rapidly becoming a major supplier of foreigncapital.... During the next few days, many excusesforthis fiasco will be offered, by those who should have knownbetter, by those who know better already and by those who may awake to the embarrassment of their mass hysteria. Somewill blamethepresident, because he politicized the discussion of terrorism or was highhanded in threatening to vetoa bill banning the sale. But if Congress can’t dothe right thing in the face of such provocations, it is lamer than the excuses themselves. Some, meanwhile,will blame the public, becauseopinion polls showed overwhelming objections to this deal. Butit was Congress that brought this matter to public atten tion; here wethink, for example, of the cynical.actions of two Democratic senators from New York:Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, who heads his 'y’s effort to win back control of the Senatein this year's elections. Congress falsely portrayed the deal as the “purchase”of U.S. ports. Congress failed totell the public that port security is run by the U.S. Coast Guard, not the men who paythe salaries of the (overwhelmingly American) longshoremen. Congress created this storm, in other words,and then toppled in its wind. DOONESBURY- Garry Trudeau they've moved forward onthis project. Thetruth is the majority of residents The city made minimal efforts to in- form residents. Given that these turbines are higher than the Statue of Liberty andwill be within 600 feet of residential areas,the city and thoseofficials elected to representour intetests had an obligation to inform residents. They did virtually nothing. The magnitude of this project demandedspecial efforts on their part. Wasatch Windcirculated letter informing residents of a meeting to discussits plans. According to Wasatch Wind,I receivedtheletter, though 1 havenorecollectionofit. I recently saw a copy, and I’m notsurprised thatit didn't catch myattention. Theletter gives noindication of plans to erect mega windmills in our back- mostpeople, my homerepresents the mostsignificant investment will likely yards, andit reads morelike an invest- value of that investment, I'm not going mentschemethana letter outlining the realities of the project. The letter, in fact, falsifies information to underscore the supposed “benefits” without makinga single reference to potential detriments. The opening statementreads,“Join us to learn about the benefits of a Spanish Fork community-owned windfarm.” The farm will hardly be “community owned.” Thecity will not even be using the power generated by the turbines. Wasatch Windclaims that the recent opposition has been “disheartening,” sinceit “wentout of their way to inform the public.” Oneill-conceivedletter hard- ly constitutes going out of one’s way. Perhaps Wasatch Wind and Hoban can take a lesson from the manyresidents, including my wife, who went door to door informing Deopleof of is prokert and its impactonour neighbor Someofthe people ‘ihowil will be most affected donotlive in Spanish Fork. Theylive in Mapleton and along a small swathof ground between Mapleton and Spanish Fork. Wouldn't going out of one's wayinclude informing everyone whowill be directly affected? These people weren't even on Wasatch Wind's mailinglist. They first learned about the project from my wife and others who carried the newsdirectly to their doors. Isn't this going out of one’s way? Isn't this civic responsibility? Finally, Hobanaccuses us of being motivated by “self interest.” This is the onepoint he getsrightin his letter. Like ever make.If these turbines threaten the to sit by andlet that happen.Self interest? You bet. Hoban states that the project “will benefit the majority of residents,” though he doesnot specify how exactly wewill benefit. We won't be using the power,andas faras| cantell the only “benefit” will comein the form of property tax revenues. However,dollar figures are sketchy at best, and whatper- centageof that money will directly benefit our communityis even sketchier. Beforethose of us who will be forced to live with these windmills looming overour homesandlives fall on a grenadefor the rest of the city, Hoban needs to provide more convincing evidence of the supposed benefits. As muchas the Herald and Hoban wouldlike to point the finger at us and exoneratethe city and Wasatch Wind, weall share in the responsibility. As residents, we certainly could have been more conscientious. But the city handled the situation poorly, and Wasatch Wind has muchtolearn abouteffective communication and public relations. This project has been described as the “flagship” for future windprojects in other Utah communities.If this is true, lets hope that weall learn from our mistakes — residents,city governments and developersalike. Weall support clean, renewable energy;lets just be responsible in how wepursuetheseprojects. » Brett Mcinelly represents residents affected by the Wasatch Windproject. CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER Kurdish swingvoters key to stable Iraq L* amid the newsof all the bloodletting in Iraqis an importantpolitical development: The Kurds have switched sides, Inthe first parliamentafter thefirst setofelections,they allied themselves withthe Shiite slate to produce the current Shiite-dominated governmentled by Ibrahim al-Jafari. Now the Kurds havejoined with the opposition Sunni and secular parties to opposetheShiite bloc. Theresult is two large competing coalitions: (a) the Kurd- Sunni-secular bloc, which controls about 140 seats in the 275-seat parliament and would constitute the barest majority, and(b) the Shiite bloc, whichitself is a coalition of seven not-always-friendly parties, and whichcontrols 130 seats, slightly less than a majority... The key question is who is goingto control the twocritical ministries:interior and defense.In Iraq, as in much of the world, interior does not control the , National parks... Political success in Iraq rests heavily on these twoinstitutions. Which is why these negotiations, tiresome and endless as they seem,are so important. The immediateissueis the prime ministership. Aninternalballot among the Shiite bloc chose,by a single vote, anotherterm for Jafari. Thecritical vote putting him over the top wasthe faction controlled by Moqtada al-Sadr,the radically anti-American and pro-Tehran cleric whose home base is the Shiite slums of Baghdad. For Sadr, a weak and corruption-ridden governmentthat allows conditions to deteriorate would be theperfect preludeto his gaining power. Notall parts of the Shiite coalition are happyeither with Jafari's ineffectivenessor withhis political dependence on Sadr. Admittedly, part oftheir calculation iosectarian.This is, after all, Iraq. Jafari impeded Kurdishclaims on Kirkuk a infuriated the Kurds by traveling to Turkey (which opposes all Kurdish ambitions) without their approval and with a traveling party that did not include a single Kurd. The Kurd-Sunni-secular bloc wants a new primeminister who will establish a news. The other good newsis a split in the Shiite bloc, with a near majority that favors a more technocratic prime minister andis chafing at Sadr's influence. Additionally, the Sunni insurgencyis in the midst ofits owninternecinestrife betweenthelocal ex-Baathists who are not particularly religious and want power, and Abu Musabal-Zarqawi's foreign jihadists, for whom killing Shiites combines sport and religion, and who care not a whit for the future of the country. There are numerousreports of Sunni tribes declaring warontheseforeignjihadists andoffirefights between them. Thesecurity situation is grim and the neighboring powers malign. The onehope for success in Iraqis political. The Kurdish defection has produced the current impasse. That impasse has contributed to the mood of despair here at home.But the defection holds open the best possibility for political success: an effective broad-based national unity government which, during its mandatory four-year term, presides national unity government. Because the over an American withdrawal. a landscape of almost unrelenting bad D Charles Krauthammer is a columnist with The Washington Post. U.S. wants precisely the Same outcome, the Kurd defection is very good newsin MALLARDFILLMORE- Bruce Tinsley |