| Show g lie alt inkt Srilnnu THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Monday February 27 1989 Satanc verses " Page 10 Section A j Future Wasatch Front Pipeline Shows Too Many Liabilities Salt Lake and Davis County residents have good reason to oppose the routing of a large natural gas pipeline through the Wasatch Range and communities in the Salt Lake Valley It would pose unacceptable safety and environmental risks The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is studying proposals from competing pipeline companies to deliver natural gas to oil fields near Bakers-fielCalif There the gas would fire boilers that would generate steam to be used in the extraction of oil One of the routes under consideration would travel diagonally across Utah from southwest Wyoming to the Las Vegas Nev area Today it is impossible to say whether the pipeline will ever be built Planners originally proposed that the pipeline pass through 100 miles of rugged mountainous terrain of the Uinta National Forest in Summit Wasatch and Utah counties However the US Forest Service objected on environmental grounds and the planners came up with the Wasatch Variation a change in the route that would send it over the Wasatch Mountains and into Davis County then south through Salt Lake and Utah Counties The FERC's final environmental impact report recommends that the Wasatch Variation be used if the Utah project is ever certified for construction The Wasatch route would cause environmental concerns in the Wasatch-CachNational Forest similar to those faced in the Uinta forest However on balance the FERC study concluded that the Wasatch Variation would reduce the overall environmental impact However the Wasatch route entails major disadvantages too The buried pipeline would be built across potentially unstable slopes in southern Davis County watersheds It would scar the mountainsides It would cross the Wasatch Fault at a potentially more dangerous point than if it followed the other route Since it would pass through densely populated d e 30-inc- h areas a pipeline rupture would threaten people's personal safety As a result Bountiful City proposed several routing alternatives variations on the Wasatch Variation if you will Three of these routes would have reduced environmental damage and threats to watersheds by using more of an existing Mountain Fuel pipeline corridor and then following city streets But those plans would have placed more people in harm's way and it's doubtful the new line could have been installed beneath roadways already crowded by other utility lines Construction would" have inconvenienced a great many people and costs would have increased substantially Bountiful's fourth alternative would take the pipe around the south side of Bountiful Peak then west down a ridge toward the valley floor near the southern edge of Farmington This route would not travel through any heavily populated areas and watershed damage would be minimized but it would scar the beautiful Bountiful Peak area where no utility corridors now exist None of these paths would solve the safety problems the pipeline would create in Salt Lake County where it would travel near the Salt Lake International Airport then south through growing areas of the western valley all the way to Utah County After all the plans have been considered there's simply no acceptable way to bring a pipeline of this kind through some of the most heavily populated areas of the W asatch Front The environmental degradation that would occur in the Uinta National Forest if the original route were followed isn't a price Utah should be willing to pay either The economic benefits and long-tertax revenues that would accrue from a pipeline snaking across most of the state make this project quite tempting But at this point unless planners can find a better less risky route liabilities outweigh the inducements $200-millio- n An Artful Merger A consolidation of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Salt Lake Art Center makes sense but questions of budget mission and management of each institution must be thoroughly worked out before any final decisions are reached Officials of the museum and the art center currently are discussing a merger and have agreed on a preliminary proposal The Utah Museum of Fine Arts has a complex identity It is a teaching institution that is part of the University of Utah but it is also the state's museum for a general art collection It is housed on the campus at university expense and receives much of its operating budget from the U though it also gets other state and federal money The museum solicits donations for acquisitions and many of those come from private sources With the help of a recently announced grant from the National Endowment for the Arts the museum also is beginning to raise funds for operations The Salt Lake Art Center is a private institution that receives a mixture of private and public financial support It is housed in a public building owned by Salt Lake County to which the art center pays rent For more than 50 years its primary mission has been to further contemporary Utah and regional art through exhibitions and educational programs The goals of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Salt Lake Art Center then are somewhat distinct but comple non-prof- 4p it mentary In a merger the art center could be operated as the contemporary wing of the museum if the museum in turn agreed to preserve the art center's traditional commitment to contemporary Utah artists The collection of the art center could become part of the museum's holdings which are owned by the university Professional staff could be consolidated and the single leadership of the museum would eliminate the possibility that exists now of the two organizations working at cross purposes In a such plan the university would have to be guaranteed that its budget would not be supporting downtown activities unrelated to the university's mission Independent fund-raisin- g mechanisms for the art center would have to be preserved and the museum of fine arts would have to be assured that it would not be assuming any debts that have resulted from the art center's previous operations Among the benefits the art center would gain the considerable professional and administrative expertise of the museum director and staff The museum would gain a downtown location with exhibit space for its burgeoning collection which has outgrown the university facilities A consolidated institution would be in a stronger position to seek financial support from major foundations If the details can be worked out then visual art in Utah and the many people who create study and enjoy it stand to benefit ifbXPMMiNP Haynes Johnson US Has Work to Do Bush Learns in Japan Washington Post Service WASHINGTON — In Tokyo the greatest assemblage of world leaders — larger even than the one for John F Kennedy's funeral — Of s Cars and Fires Joe Murray Cox News Service LUFKIN Texas — I'm thinking your spirits may be in need of a boost today That's why I'm going to tell you a story with a happy ending A friend of mine had bought his teen-ag- e son a 1966 Mustang that they could fix up themselves a little at a time as their money allowed So far they had reworked the transmission overhauled the engine and best of all had the car painted a candy-applred But it was nowhere near ready to be driven on the streets The car didn't have even current license plates much less insurance The father kept the 1966 Mustang in the garage at his old family home where no one now lived The keys stayed safe inside the e house But there was also a key to the house in a special place in the garage where my friend's sisters and other family members could find it whenever they needed to check the house to make sure everything was OK Of course his son being a family member himself knew where the house key was kept So it was that the boy and friend dropped by the house one day for no particular reason except perhaps to check inside and make sure everything was OK But since they were there and since the car keys were there and he had been wanting to show his friend how well the engine well where's the harm in simply cranked starting it up" The scene now switches to the father's office where he is about to go into the conference room for an important business meeting One of the secretaries stops him there in the middle of the main office to tell him that his son is on the phone and that his son says it's an emergency My friend's side of the conversation heard by the various employees went something like this all the while his voice amazingly calm: And it Uh huh "You did what? caught on fire" Uh huh Anybody hurt? That's good Did the house burn down'' Uh huh OK no problem" It was that last comment that pretty well brought down the house there at the office As for the house there at the old home place yes it still stands Here's what had happened: When the boy started the car the engine backfired and started a fire Luckily he had the presence of mind to grab a water hose and keep the blaze from spreading to the garage and in turn to the house The fire department arrived pulled the car from the garage and quickly extinguished the fire Of course the 1966 Mustang is no longer candy-applred For that matter it's no longer a 1966 Mustang Picture instead a giant No make that a giant hamcow patty mered cow patty No insurance No car But no matter My friend is rather philosophic about such things After all hammered cow patties happen Besides he says some good will probably come of it His son feels the same way and indeed there has been a happy result The phone rang at his office the other day His secretary said it was his son Said it was an emergency Here's the boy's side of the conversation his voice breathless: "Dad! Good news! I've found us a great little used pickup truck! You know Dad since we don't uh have the Mustang anymore It's really dandy Dad' Only $10000 But I figure in the long run Dad it'll be cheaper for you than trying to fix up one of those old cars Dad0 Hello"" e WMEBACk1 Teen-Ager- has paid last respects to Emperor Hirohito of Japan In the gathering of course was President Bush State funerals are by definition symbolic affairs None in modern times and perhaps none in this century has been so rich in symbolism and historical irony as that of Hirohito especially in reference to the United States Just 44 years ago Japan was in ruins impoverished and desolate its dreams of an empire crushed by the overwhelming power of the United States At that moment the United States conqueror and ruler of Japan fully superemerged as the world's power Now the roles have been reversed Japan has managed history 's most spectacular comeback It stands today as the newest superpower and moves rapidly to claim the position as the most technologically advanced nation Japan is among the world's most affluent nations and its leading creditor Its horizons appear unlimited The United States if not in actual decline is facing hard questions about its future none more difficult than that of dealing with its relations with Japan Once the leading creditor the United States has become the world's leading debtor In many areas its present situation compares unfavorably with its erstwhile vanquished foe Prominent are the following: — With half the population Japan produces twice as many scientists and engineers as does the United States — While the US savings rate has fallen sharply in the last decade Japan's continues to increase and now is twice that of the United States — In terms of annual economic growth as measured by gross national product statistics Japan's growth rate is now three times as large — The US collective debt has multiplied making it more difficult to compete in world markets Japan's exports have increased accordingly Its penetration of the American economy through a range of manufactured goods has been profound and Japan now exports to the United States nearly three times what it buys from America — Finally a point made often in recent years but inexplicably without real political impact in presidential elections: Japan has succeeded in buying large segments of this country through direct investments in American companies banks and real estate Its di rect investment in the United States accord ing to official estimates exceeds $33 billion and is increasing All of these are reasons enough to ponder the comment of economist Lester Thurow cited in Newsweek's report on Japan this week "At the rate things are going" Thurow said "we are all going to wind up working for the Japanese" There were other obvious ironies connected with the funeral services telecast throughout the world There was Bush in office barely a month and an aviator shot down as a youth in the Pacific by Japanese planes He may be the last of the World War II generation to rise to the top of American political leadership Now he has paid tribute to the monarch whose reign was the longest of the century's major historical figures Hirohito's time on the world stage far outlasted that of Lenin Stalin Churchill Roosevelt Hitler Mao and lesser figures It also encompassed the greatest shift in fortunes involving any two nations in that period In his lifetime Hirohito presided over Japan's rise and fall — and then its rise again He saw his small island nation survive the devastation of atomic war and loss of more than 3 million lives Then although Japan possessed nothing comparable to the natural resources of the United States and had a vastly smaller land mass and half the population he watched it compete on equal terms and directly challenge the United States for world economic supremacy The lesson is simple Japan accomplished this by demonstrating traits that for generations Americans most celebrated in themselves: hard work perseverance ingenuity initiative enterprise appreciation of education and competition Most of all Japan has succeeded because it has not been content to stand still It is good that Bush went to Hirohito's funeral a moment of both ceremonial and paramount historical significance It would be even better if he studies the Japanese example and returns with renewed determination to stop the sense of drift and purposelessness that seem to have enveloped his new administration He and all Americans have work to 62-ye- do Maybe Chief Justice Will Explain Toor Joshua' Case to 9-Year-- Old Universal Press Syndicate Usually when my son and I drive to school in the morning our most spirited conversations are about his favorite subject — sports If it's played with a ball he is interested We listen to the news with one ear as we talk sports and travel The other morning listening to the news led to an unhappy start to our otherwise delightful day I suppose this incident comes with a question: How do you explain the Constitution to a This is especially difficult when you think the Supreme Court of the United States has made a colossal boo-boThe news announcer interrupted our conversation to report that the Supreme Court that morning had ruled that states are not responsible to protect children from violent parents Had the report ended there we might not have taken much notice The radio announcer went on to describe the particulars of the case The child Joshua DeShaney of Wisconsin was savagely beaten by his father frequently tortured with live cigarettes and finally battered senseless Joshua the announcer concluded was now "profoundly retarded" I wish you could have seen the look of wide-eyedisbelief on the face of my At that moment I dearly wished the chief justice of the United States William Rehn-quis- t could have seen that look As the author of the majority opinion he might rethink his position if he could stop to imagine the effect of his reasoning on children The chief justice might stop to consider that this has been a bad school year for children They grade us adults with an F for our failure to protect them adequately They have been gunned down on their school grounds kidnapped off their bicycles beaten to death by their parents and subjected to increasing emotional abuse by guardians and neighbors What a year for children What a message for children On the one hand we tell them to respect this sacred shrine called the rule of law On the other the Supreme Court now tells them a father can beat a little boy's brains out and the state has no responsibility to protect him In addition to demonstrating appalling the high court majority did not reason It reacted In the classic mode of the reactionary the Reagan court predictably sides with large entities and against little guys It does so in the guise of strict interpre- o f - i Robert C Maynard tation of the Constitution It is rather a study in the preservation of traditional privilege and the status quo In the case of Joshua ("poor Joshua" in the words of dissenting Justice Brennan) the court engaged in collective amnesia to reach its result It said the Constitution placed the state under no obligation to protect one citizen from the private acts of violence of another The problem with that reasoning is the majority failed to remember that the state had already assumed that obligation It gave itself the power to investigate Joshua's case It did investigate and even removed the boy from the father's custody at one time The recorJ of the case does not show the state never chose to be involved What it shows is that it was careless in not following up on its own information in a timely fashion In other words the Wisconsin bureaucracy screwed up and a child was damaged for life Chief Justice Rehnquist's opinion then is not quite as advertised It is described as a case limiting the negligence liability of states Indeed it does that But it does something much more serious It protects states from liability for incompetence That is its true effect The further effect of the case of "poor Joshua" is that it places family members and neighbors in a legal nightmare If I see abuse should I rely on the state to intercede? The states pose as the guardians of children under a vast array of welfare laws They can seize children under a multiplicity of circumstances This case leaves all those powers in place It merely removes their concomitant responsibilities It leaves the rest of us uncertain where to turn to help children at risk Mr Try explaining that to a Chief Justice |
