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Show 4q monday, lOfebruary 20, 1978 Letter To The Editor Editor: In your Jan. 30, 1978 issue, a Letter to the Editor on another subject pointed out a credibility problem with the Enterprise when inaccurate statements are quoted without the Enterprise checking their validity. Without such corroboration you get a gossip sheet, not a newspaper. The story on Proctor and Kimball's proposal to develop the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Depot is another example. Mike Proctor was quoted as saying the Historical Society uses 6,000 square feet in the Kearns Mansion and its plan was to expand only to 20.000 square feet in the next Five years. In fact, the Historical Society is currently using 14,000 square feet in the Kearns Mansion. Before the legislature made plans to restore the Governor's Mansion, the Historical Society had planned to move into the Carriage Houses when it was vacated by the Institute of Fine Ails (in the next few weeks), adding an additional 5.000 square feet of badly . needed space. The five year estimates for the Society showed an increase to 30,000 square feet by 1980. and that docs not include a Museum of State History which the Historical Society has been mandated by the Legislature to organize but has never had the room to establish. As for the Historical Societys growth, it should be noted a large part of its budget comes from a National Park Service appropriation. Utah receives a much larger share of federal funds than it would be entitled to on the basis of population alone largely because of its successful record of preserving historic sites. (For fiscal 1978 the state of Massachusetts re- ceived a little over $900,000 for a population of 5,689,170. Utah, with a population of over received 1,059,273, $570,000.) Finally, and most impor- tantly. Proctor and Kimballs proposal to fill the waiting room of the Denver and Rio y Grande Depot with a structure high space-fram- e would remove the Depot from the National Register and would lose for Proctor and Kimball the accelerated amortization of renovation costs under the 1976 Tax Reform Act. It would also destroy the integrity of the building. The offer to sell the Depot to the State for one dollar was made subject to the building being used for cultural (not commercial) purposes. You don't have to have much development experience to see that a building with a guaranteed tenant (the Historical Society) and costing a dollar for 57,000 square feet is a good buy. Unfortunately for Proctor and Kimball, the building was offered to the State, not to private developers. Five years free rent to the State does not begin to cover what the building is worth. Other errors in the story could be discussed. I hope this is enough to indicate the need for greater accuracy in your reporting. six-stor- Karl T. Haglund Architectural Historian Utah Historical Society Open Account The Prince Column by John Prince feel older this morning. In my heart Ive known its only the road work thats kept me from being the heavyweight champion of the world. Now Im afraid it might also be my age. Sinee Muhammand Ali and I are both 36, I felt a certain shared loss w'ith him. Leon Spinks said before the fight that he hadnt had a woman" for the last seven weeks of training. That certainly explains why he was so mean. Its a training practice that Ive ahvays suspected has no basis in fact. Something that old managers dream up for young athletes. The first cynic I ran into this morning suggested that the fight was fixed. Imagine," he pointed out, what they will both make in a He might be right but I rather suspect he isnt. Ali didnt have to fix fights to make money. He got $3.7 million for the Spinks fight. Speaking of money, Ill bet Ken Norton feels a bit sick this morning himself. There was talk of a $12 million or so fight between him and Ali. Im sure that Spinks hasn't given much thought to what he will do with the crown. If history is any indication, however, he will fight a few unknowns before he succumbs to the pressure to fight any of the top contenders. And that's more bad news for Mr. Norton who isnt getting any younger himself. One interesting additional argument against a fix is that the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association do not recognize return-bou- t clauses in contracts. One does get the impression that time has in fact caught1 up with Ali and that Spinks might beat him even more, convincingly in a Dont you wish that you had taken the Spinks end of some of that 8 to betting that was going on in Las Vegas? I hope that Ali has been smart enough to salt awray some of these enormous checks he has received. The sight of Joe Lewis shaking hands at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas makes you wish far more for Muhammed Ali. I suppose that in all of sports there is nothing quite like the world Heavyweight Championship. In a complicated world right down to something we can all understand. Standing toe to toe with an enemy and swinging away until one of you falls. A person doesn't have to wrestle with the complicated concepts such as who really makes the money on the high priced food that we buy at the supermarket. Or whether or not we really arc running out of oil in this country. A heavyweight championship fight takes us back to the old in the school yard w'hcn we somehow' found ourselves in a days fight with the whole school w'atching. Imagine stepping into the ring at the age of 36 with the whole world watching. Ive always been a Muhammand Ali fan. The man has class and he showed a good deal of it last night after the fight. No I did excuses. my best." he said and he did. My wife and I, like all parents, have asked our young son w hat he would like to be when he grows up. At the moment he favors driving a tractor. Thats one thing I could probably still do but Im afraid that my fantasy of being the Heavyweight Champion will have to now be tucked into the drawer along side my Cy Young award. On the other hand, I don t have to do road work and I can alw ays be President of the United States. I re-match- ?" re-matc- Coal pact rejection irresponsible 1 by Chuck Akerlow Rejection of the proposed coal strike settlement by the United Mine Workers' Bargaining Council was an irreponsible action in several aspects. The union sought and obtained the largest overall wage increase in collective bargaining thus far--a whopping 37 percent in w'ages and benefits over three years. This exceeds the 31 percent to 33 percent increases negotiated in other settlements this year. But the coal operators were willing to make that concession in the face of a growing coal market, even though in some instances the h of the market wont enable a increase. The reason the operators agreed to such an increase is that they obtained some concessions in health benefits and wildcat strikes. These were important concessions to the stability of the coal industry and to the drive towards cost containment in coal mining. But the parochial interest of the Bargaining Council won out and the rest of the country remains in the cold. Basically, the Councils objections centered on the provision that a miner would be docked $20 per day up to ten days if he failed to cross the picket lines during a wildcat strike. The $20 payback" would go to the unions health care trust fund. This provision was read as a penalty. Most union contracts prohibit wildcat strikes but do not provide penalities. But then the wildcat strike is more prevalent in the coal industry than in other industries. And if it is not strongly challenged, there isnt much point to a union contract. Another controversial area was the measure to contain spiralling health care costs. pass-throug- The proposed contract would have changed the present health care coverage to include deductibles of $100 to $300 per year. This feature would reduce health benefit costs by 25 percent to 30 percent. Naturally, the Bargaining Council balked at this one. But it is a necessary step in health care everywhere. Plans which include 100 percent of all health costs simply encourage use of health benefits on an elective basis. And this drives up the cost of health care for everyone. It is time for all Americans to work toward I think the containing health care costs. Bargaining Council should have put the economy first and their own selfish interests second on this one. The agreement includes other cost containment provisions which enable the coal operators to design incentives in their work program and to operate their mines seven days a week. While not controversial, the Bargaining Council rejected these also. I always thought incentives were an integral part of American capitalism. President Carter ought to put the heat" on the union Bargaining Council to make it realize that its responsibilities extend beyond the confines of union membership. This is a case where a good settlement was reached and the union, as part of American labor that has been a progressive force in building this great country, opted to put its narrow interests first. By the way, can there not be any doubt about the dwindling political base of Bella Abzug? Having lost yet another election I wonder whether the federal government will work up another IWY to keep her on the payroll. h. |