| Show cj Noe9ThuredayMaroh11199Q alA 01 Logan Utah Bridgertand’s Daily Newspaper 01999 50 Cents Insido Mormon missionaries reach out among the Hmong Page 17 Update Christian right political effort gets new spark Mitch MascaroHerald Journal By Joan Lowy prOCGSSIOn Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON — Suffering from a series of political defeats and beset by internal strife Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition will make a bid Thursday to reassert its influence within the Republican Party with an ambitious plan to turn out tens of millions of conservative religious voters in the 2000 election Robertson the host of the evangelistic “700 Club” TV show plans to detail his camgroup’s elaborate paign at a news conference A candidate for the 1988 GOP presidential nomination Robertson has assumed greater control over the coalition in recent months The campaign will be the coalition's effort to date" and “largest fund-raisiwill involve “a unique combination of grass-roo- ts activity with individuals across the country precinct voter by precinct” and a “high-tec- h information campaign involving the Internet’’ said Mike Russell a Christian Coalition spokesman The decision to launch a massive voter turnout campaign comes at a critical time for the coalition President Clinton's acquittal on impeachment charges by the Senate last month was a severe blow to the morale of religious conservatives Some of their leaders including Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation have urged activists to turn their backs on politics and spend their time more profitably by trying to remake American morality from the grass roots up The 1998 election in which Democrats unexpectedly gained seats in the House and held Republicans to a standoff in the Senate and gubernatorial races was also a setback That election saw the defeat of several incumbent Republicans prominently identified with the religious right including Govs Fob James of Alabama and David Beasley of South Carolina and Sen Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina Meanwhile the coalition has been beset by internal turmoil Former Reagan administration Cabinet member Donald Hodcl abruptly resigned as president of the coalition last month Other high-levdepartures include Chuck Cunningham the coalition’s director of national operations There are other difficulties as well efforts to The coalition’s attract black and Catholic conservatives have proved disappointing The Internal Revenue Service continues to refuse to grant its request for charitable tax status and it’s the target of a Federal Election Commission lawsuit charging it with illegal partisan electioneering organizations are allowed to conduct general voter information campaigns but day-to-d- ay shoe-leath- er el ed Tax-exem- pt See RIGHT on Page 16 It could get worse Friday but it should get better Maybe Page 16 Indox Obituaries Classifieds Comics 4 25 23 Crossword Opinion Sports wwwhjnew8com OOR COPY 23 20 12 hearse leads the funeral procession for Harry V Grass on Wednesday afternoon in Hyrum The 1880s-er- a hearse is one of nearly 150 horse-draw- n wagons and carnages owned by Eli Anderson The deceased was said to be a great lover of horses A horse-draw- n Sardine safety issues aired Road getting bad rap officials say — the problem is people driving too fast By Michael staff writer it's RWeibel Whether it's concrete barriers flashing lights or an educational campaign most officials agreed this morning that there is no single solution to safety problems in Wellsville Canyon Rep Loraine Pace brought together officials from transportation agencies law enforcement schools and others to discuss at the Cache County Council Chambers what some have dubbed “the most dangerous road in the state” That moniker by the way is a “bunch of baloney” according to Pace who said a perfectly safe road if people wouldn't drive over the speed limit Utah Highway Patrol Sgt Gary Johnson agreed adding that many accidents in Wellsville Canyon which is often called Sardine Canyon are the result of people driving too fast for the conditions usually during storms The “big curve” between Sherwood Hills Resort and Wellsville was designed for 63 mph traffic when it's dry But Johnson added there are times during storms when 20 mph would be too fast Pace said driver training classes should be teaching people to slow down during bad weather “I shouldn't have to legislate a differ ent speed limit when the weather’s bad” she said Much of this morning's discussion focused on law enforcement “Why do we have a speed limit if no one pays attention to it?” asked Rep Ward Olsen said Evan Olsen he drove to Salt Lake City a couple years ago slicking to the speed limit and he passed only one car — the rest passed him He suggested lowering the speed limit and ticketing people to the point that Wellsville Canyon earns a reputation as a speed trap “If lives are being lost we ought to gel on top of it real quick” he said $5 to park a fine or a permit? said when people would walk AP photo Utah Gov Michael Leavitt signs into law a bill establishing Utah's first presidential primary during a ceremony Wednesday in Salt Lake City employees of Clancy Systems 0 See TICKET on Page 16 ing speed limits is that there aren’t enough officers to do it The UHP usually only has three officers at a time to patrol Cache Valley And when there's a storm there's usually accidents everywhere See SARDINE on Page 3 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Legislation establishing Utah’s first presidential primary to be held in a year has been signed into law by Gov Mike Leavitt who hopes other Western states will join in creating a Western presidential primary He called Wednesday’s signing “an important event in the history of the West" that could allow the region the voice he says it deserves in presidential politics Leavitt said that Utah which has allocated $600000 for the election is a "linchpin state" in the plan which he expects six or seven states to join Even a four-stat- e primary could flex the West's political muscle on a range of issues Is a Logan parking ticket a laughing matter? The cops say it is ‘The $3 is not a penalty it’s a permit” Logan police Sgt Pat Wolcott said There have been times Wolcott don't have to suffer the same The plan to raise the fine does not affect the maximum fine itself — typically $30 Instead Logan wants to adjust the schedule for reducing fines Right now the average parking ticket in Logan is $30 unless the fine is paid within five days and then the fine is $3 Logan officials said they would like to raise the $3 to $13 but they also want to extend the five-da- y grace period to 10 “That was Clancy's idea” Logan Director of Administrative Services Laurie Tanner said “They felt that was more reasonable The thinking was more people have a payday within 10 days Logan doesn't want to levy fines that force people to tap their savings accounts — just fwl it in their wallets Police Chief Richard Hendricks said he's checked with other cities and $3 for a parking permit impossible to enforce it” Johnson raid the problem with enforc- Utah to hold its first presidential primary By Lance Pitcher staff writer away from their cars knowing Wolcott was starting to write a ticket Their response was embarrassing he said “I've had citizens laugh at me" he said It's been awhile since Wolcott and the other blue suits have suffered that kind of public humiliation — Logan privatized parking enforcement last year However city officials are asking the Logan Municipal Council to raise parking fines so the new parking police the But Dyke LcFevre who oversees the Northern Utah region for the Utah Department of Transportation said UDOT assumes 13 percent of drivers exceed the speed limit If the limit is lowered 83 percent of drivers will exceed it and that “makes it almost states Arizona is not on board Arizona residents vote on Super Tuesday when most Southern states hold their primaries and the state's GOP has rejected plans to move the schedule up four days to join the Western primary New Mexico where a bill was tabled by a state Senate committee last month also seems hesitant Though the bill was set to be readdressed Thursday "What the sponsors are including the environment water rights public land use policy and allocation of federal proposing to do is heavily consolidate precincts” said Denise Lamb who heads the New Mexico Bureau of Elections That could force rural voters to drive 30 miles to polling places she said “It's not worth it if you're disenfranchising half the people in the state" funds he said However one of the largest See PRIMARY on Page 16 States failing to save for rainy day WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to saving up for a rainy day most state governments are acting like spendthrift grasshoppers rather than thrifty ants according to a new study from a budget research institute of the states are More than three-fourtfailing to put aside enough in their “rainy day” reserves to be prepared for a future recession even a mild one the liberal-leanin- g Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in a survey released today The report ranked Michigan and Minnesota as tops in building up reserve funds but they were in a small group of only eight sates that the center judged would be able to deal with a recession without having to resort to painful cuts in spending or sizable tax increases And the survey rated Idaho Oregon Texas and West Virginia as doing the worst in terms of building up necessary hs reserves to be ready for future bad times “Nobody is hoping for another recession but it’s only prudent to ask whether states have done enough to prepare for the next one” said Iris Lav one of the authors of the report “When It Rains It Pours” The center an advocacy group for programs hopes its study will be used during upcoming debates in state legislators over whether to use growing surpluses to provide state tax cuts Ms Lav said the report tried to analyze the validity of a rule of thumb that a reserve equal to 3 percent of a state's operating budget is sufficient to deal with problems down the road The report came to the conclusion that number is too low It determined that a state on average needs to hold reserve low-inco- balances totaling 18 percent of current spending basing its estimate on a review of what actually happened during the last recession from 1990 to 1991 That mild recession translated into hard times for many states forcing them to push through hefty tax increases and make cuts in spending to deal with declines in state tax collections Unlike the federal government many states have requirements that their budgets be in balance State reserve balances totaled 47 percent when the last recession began in 1990 the report found But even with reserves at that level near the 3 percent benchmark no fewer than 33 states had to cope with potential or outright budget deficits during a three-yeperiod “Although the last recession was considered relatively mild and officially lasted only nine months at the national level many states faced fiscal shortfalls" said Alan Berube of the study ar or See SAVE oa Page 16 t Jl it faces considerable opposition A at A |
