Show wTm Jcf IM®E jrday 9 2002 A4 The Herald Journal Our view Will Powder Mountain statement be heard? planning policy in Cache County doesn’t have to be driven entirely by dollars The next move is the Cache County Council’s and the scuttlebutt is that that body might overturn the planning commission’s decision We sincerely hope the council will at least listen to the board it has appointed to address these issues and to the people who moved to Paradise and Avon for the peace and quiet Just say no! W e do have a choice when it comes to growth and development In the immortal words of Nancy Reagan we can just say no That’s exactly what the Cache County Planning Commission did Monday when it turned thumbs down on a proposed resort and recreation zone at Powder Mountain that would lead to massive new develop- ment The commission listened to its constituents in the south end of the valley and said no No to a busy paved road south of Paradise and Avon No to hundreds of new condos and homes No to a lot of potential tax revenue (although as Commission Chairman LaMar Clements pointed out not as much as originally expected since the main access road to the area would be in Weber Count- Editorials under the heading "Our View1 are the opinion of the Herald Journal editorial board which by no means views itself as the last word on matters of public interest If you disagree please feel free to respond with a letter to the editor or contact editor Charles McCollum about a possible 1 guest commentary (Phone: y)- Litmus test for official secrets By Elian Goodman The Boston Globe In Boston hundreds of priests and victims shared the “open secret” — a fitting oxymoron — of pedophilia In Washington hundreds of family members and officemates knew their husbands wives fetters mothers and bosses were missing in action The notion that no one would ever shine a light in the shadows or that sexual abuse be hidden forever in the shame of victims and guilt of priests ' is the sort of delusion that grows best in die dairimess of a closed room Nevertheless these tales as different as priests and bureaucrats as different as sexual abuse and government administration have and questions who justify secrecy to themselves on the grounds dot they are protecting the people they serve they may be serving them- E weeks now I have been keeping secrets A list of private and public secrets A file folder full of church and state secrets The bulk of them come from the scandal that is rocking my city They are stories that'tell in detail how the Catholic archdiocese concealed the names and numbers of priests who would not take effect until the new were on The council felt budget year July pedophiles it was only fair to let the mayor They tell how know now that a change would be the men in made so he could make plans for a reduction in wage (3)The mayor has charge moved predators from indicated to the city council that he unknowone will continue as mayor without die to ing parish added an of paid responsibilities another one administrator This would certainly school to another one state to anothbe the desire of the current city couner They tell how the church kept its cil (4) A city manager if hired would secret and exposed its children report to the entire governing body The rest of die stories have a including the mayor who has £ vote dateline fhey crime ' Washington along with the council in the hiring from an administration that somethe city manager The city manager carries out the policies and programs times behaves as if the president woe running a federal Skull and established by the governing body ' Bones society They tell how the the including mayor White House secretly created a No one is stealing anything away “shadow government” after Sept 1L from the mayor The city council is tell how the government handThey responsible to make difficult not offi70 to 150 picked decisions for die best always popular cials diem into 1 rotating underground the Yorone am of citizenry good bunkers to run the country just in not in this position as a career politicase The current leaden of a democ In is two years anyone who a cian citizen may gladly take my place and racy anointed the leadership of a make changes that they deem neces postcatastrophic world without mentioning it saiy Until then those who know me Of course none of these stories are know that I have no ulterior reason really secrets anymore They have for putting myself through the kind become revelations or expends But of stress feu decision has brought then as Ben Franklin once said “Three people can keep a secret if Dennis Nelson are dead two of Providence City Council 752-212- The planning commission Ext 3020 proved ) that a governing body cmccollumOhjnewscom) See informacan hold a public hearing and tion box at bottom of page for more details actually listen and 2) that our il: 1 Your view Providence plan misunderstood ' To the editor This letter is in response to a letter published on March 6 and in response to personal letters received by Providence City Council members from concerned citizens The discussion surrounding the proposed change in city administration has brought out a number of misunder- As a brief standings and half-truthistory: In 1998 Mayor Leonhardt proposed to the city council that he semi-retiand come on as a full- time mayor assuming the responsi- bijities of a city manager At that time Mayor Leonhardt said “ he ' mayor and council are frustrated because things are not getting' done Leonhardt felt by working full time at the city office he could help with the work:” By resolution the city council at that time agreed to give this a try and voted to give the mayor certain ' administrative duties in addition to the responsibilities he already had as mayor Now four years later a different city council feels that because of the growth of the city and the com' plexity of the administrative prob- Iems a new direction needs to be taken In both situations the city council is acting in what they feel is the best interest of the city Just as there were concerns four years ago there are concerns now Several frets need tobe made' clear (1 J The city council is not ' stripping the mayor of any of his elected duties as mayor No one can take away certain duties as stipulated by state code (2) The facts and fig- ures surrounding the hiring of a city manager have been greatly exagger- ated Decisions have not been made ' concerning the exact duties responsibilities or even a wage of a manag- ' hs re ' er or administrator This change 1-- The pedophilia scandal is the more chilling proof of the corrosive effect of secrecy The church has never claimed to be a democracy and the rules are different for public and private institutions Yet mere’s no doubt any longer that tins secret “damage control” this priest protection society justified to protect tiie sacred relationship between priest and parishioner has tom the church apart As for tiie shadow government no one was directly hurt by this secret society The image of bureaucrats in bunkers is the stuff of parody not panic The idea that White House would leave ns in the hands of administrative centurions is more Monty Python than Dr Strangelove But who inthis democracy should choose the rufers ef a America? Where were tiie dis-- : cussion and the debate about the : This is fee first time that I have ever written a letter to the editor of any publication but in this case I simply could not resist Regarding the mooning incident in Logan Canyon on Sunday it seams that what we have here is a full moon from a half wit - post-catastrop-he Logan " : i - Government shouldn’t play matchmaker The Orlando Sentinel need to play matchmaker ' T he government has no busi- - items' trying to push women into mar- -' riagefor welfare Mr Bush’s welfare-reforplan also calls for spending $300 million to promote marriage Matrimony is a worthy goal but government doesn’t m Ron Hamson ! other vlewi a full moon To the editor" D-D- ay i selves high-ranki-ng Contemplating when shape and duties of such a rote? Where were tiie legislators tiie judges? Who elected tiie shadows? And how do we hold a secret accountable? Mark Rozell a political scientist at Catholic University and author of “Executive Privilege” says about both church and state leaders: “History has shown time and again that people in public life claiming to protect the public good by secrets are protecting themselves” Their agenda their power I am not offering up a wholesale screed against secrecy The word itself is morally neutral In our own lives secrecy is linked to privacy Inside government leaders need a measure of secrecy for paradoxically candor honesty As for the Secret Secret Service ' and for military secrets of the variety? I cannot imagine opposing them I was less alarmed than many that tiie rumors of a nuclear threat to New York City were kept secret until Washington sorted out die crackpot from die serious But imagine if in the aftermath of horror people teamed that the government knew and didn’t tell Secrecy wieldeby authority is a powerful weapon against dissent A secret is by definition unaccountable In our society the bias is as it should be toward openness Secrecy is as it should be required to defend itself Indeed the best moral test of a secret as ethicist Sissela Bok once described it is whether the reasons ' could be justified in the full light of disclosure and “how a public of reasonable persons would respond to such arguments” What we the reasonable public know this time is that the secrecy allowing sexual abuse and shadow leaves us less trustful i faithful This is the open secret- ! Despite ahigh correlation between single motherhood and poverty marriage should never be a precondition for welfare benefits Mothers might be pressured into marrying abusive boyfriends or staying in bai shouldn’t be in tiie business rfpror lento families and The money for marriage promo- - ' tion represents a tiny fraction of die welfare-reforbudget Even so $330 million js not chump change That sum could be better spent on otter underfunded programs in the : m should hot set up disincentives for marriage but it ' : president’s Mallard Fillmoro mmwm Herald Jourtial 3 The HmM Joumri wstoonss IsBn to In tonus PoanhfMiwv(lnlw yJS yyjl HmupiunsanoMWinnioRfi yjg ai laMam w concnn yyylyy naanaa Iky nu HrtiHw aoa dtor AdS ThsOpHonpspsto IntondsdtoaoqusW idus wMh a variety Of vtowpoMs to tfib length and style requirements of tie newspaper of puMo importance and pravkto ns vtows community wfft a fonan for Letters Mr shdiMte-v:-:j- flft : W No ( ' I x r - ftoaurittan and cartoons and Mara tan ' uJaM MMygJ yylylyyy yj stably aitflftAM warn ana raaoiviiananviaapranaQvvMr gyL rvrsonuooMT ygJtoya dotd)la-flDaoa(- rms tun 450 words rs EdtorioUundsrthehoadng'Our i in tongth "' Addressed md hduds dsyfmo phone I i vi nuntosr tor purposes wriltaort Upoard Members of ha odtori board: i k :: V'V viv Signed by ttw IndMduato ore knttad to one puMsnod let- DARRELL EjHRUOKfcNyodnor - tor wthto any StHtoyportod Address I ''X ' tottori to hlMttfOhtnsiM mm Quest com- i v BRUCE BMriHlpUMwr V montoftos are stooMtoomo and arena CHARLES MoOOLLUMIknpnagkig adSdr ' wodbor's decretory i v: nanmnnmmotn 'toxr: aite i sions art mat Bfafy to UgaiSati ot of)i mtftihide pf toftgaet ifm tfawgfi any find of lA JlmaiauJubtfUTZ-lsa- ) :y tmmtkmm |