| OCR Text |
Show EDITORIAL County Needs Chief _| Another Disappointment From the Executive Officer | One of ie major problems with Wacerch County’s government is that no one seems to be in charge of the whole show. can vice versa. There appears to be little or sion chambers just fine. organizational structure. The tural contract, another the building .con-— tract and a third the land lease. As construction progresses it appears no one is really in charge of overseeing the construction of the building. If someone real- ly is in charge of the construction we’d sure like to talk to him. In order to bring a little more order and accountability into county government, we would like to see a change in Wasatch. County’s form of government. Governing by committee lets county officials avoid accountability by using the excuse of “plausible deniability”, “I thought the other department was taking care of that”. Instead of a three-member part time -commission that does all the administrative work we would like to see a five or seven member commission with a coun- ty manager. The county manager would ~ handle all of the day-to-day administra- would also fit into the existing commnis- A seven-member | commission on the other hand would enable Heber, Midway, Charleston, Daniel, Wallsburg, Jordanelle, and Timberlakes to elect their own representative to the county com‘mission. But in doing so they would have to find a new building to meet in. - Another advantage in the minds of some county residents is that, with a seven‘member commission, the four ‘newly elected members would be able to imme- diately out vote the existing commission. This could bring about radical change quickly. But if Commissioner Provost decided not to run again next fall, a five-— member commission would be able to do the same thing. The three new members would be able to out vote the two remaining incumbents. If the citizens of the county decide to change the form of their county government, they also ought to create a stronger recall provision for their elected officials. Currently, the only way an elected offi- nizational structure. The county commission would only be burdened with leg- cial can be removed from office is’ through death, resignation or the com- islative and oversight duties. mission of a felony. A stronger recall provision would enable the citizens of the county to remove their elected officials if, rate manager is that the elected officials . wouldn’t have the as much direct control details of government. Complete control over the day to day in the opinion of the electorate, they © were failing to adequately discharge their duties. | details of county government gives com- The ideal way to make these ehanees in missioners the ability to reward friends and punish their enemies election next spring. That way, if the ref- impunity. The down their with side to a county county government erendum succeeds, manager is that we run the same risk of © the manager becoming the “King of _ Wasatch County”. If the county commissioners were merely a legislative and oversight body, there would be a separation of powers in county government. This would create a check and balance i in county offices that would lead to a more responsive government. One important check is that the county manager would serve at the pleasof the county commissioners and could be removed at any time — these elected officials. exact nature of this new commission WASATCH COUNTY commissioners way to create effective change in county — Bevernment, We ead highly welcome anyone, but especially members of the Heber City Council (who have an Administrator/ Council form of government), to write in with their opinions concerning this subject. Before the citizens of County take the monumental Wasatch step of changing their county government, they ought to thoroughly debate this subject. But one thing is clear: something needs to ane ¥ COURIER QUESTION The opinions expressed by our contributing First, the outrageous divorce rate in our columnists do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Wasatch County Courier. country can be largely attributed to a disrespect for the powers of procreation through infidelity. In the same vein, the ‘On the 24 September edition of “20/20”, Barbara. Walters interviewed Hugh Downs in his final appearance on the program before his retirement. Having occasionally watched the show and found it entertaining, | decided to see what his final words would be. In a nutshell, disappointing is the easiest way to describe them. At the close of the ica Barbara asked him if he had any parting shots that he could not really discuss while hosting the show, and he said that there were mainly three things: not understand the 1) He could. arguments against the legalization of marijuana for medical use, 2) He wished that the ‘mean-spirit- edness’ of the political. world would change, and 3) He wished to see chasti- | ty de-emphasized as an important char"acter trait.. When he said the last one, I about fell out of my chair! , and I can accept his dissent "from the majority on that. And the con- ; stant political mudslinging and character assassination often does go too far on » both sides of the fence. But the cry to minimize chastity is absurd for countless reasons and has absolutely zero arguable merit. As I heard him say this, | thought that he must be focused on the indiscretions of our President and the it is for those who altar. abstain before the Hugh, you must have a son who is a divorce lawyer who wanted a free ad. Second, the number of children ‘born ‘out of wedlock has skyrocketed in the last few decades and the rest of America _ is paying for it. The crime rate is higher among these children who were not given the respect of a two-parent home and our welfare rolls are filled with them and their mothers. Third, the AIDS problem that we ede in the world is nothing more than the offspring of a lack of respect for chasti- ty. | Yes, there is an increasingly large num- ber who have been infected by other cle be cleastcam of marijuana for medical purposes is arguable for a number of reasons, divorce rate for those who have no com- ‘mitment to chastity is much higher than country’s ‘obsession’ with it for so long. Was it a back-door defense of the President? means (including a very close friend of mine who died ofa bad blood transfu- . sion) but almost every one of these cases would never have happened if not for the lack of chastity in certain parts of our society. Lastly, one of the many purposes of chastity is to protect the desecration of the power to create life. Religion aside, we are nothing more than animals with- out a respect for this power. Mr. Downs, I hope that your comment was just a simple mistake between ‘chastity’ and ‘nastiness’ or some other word. Were these ‘thoughts’ ideas that Maybe, but a close study of chastity sid you really believed and conclusions that. it’s merits sends Mr. Downs into retirement remembered not as:a thoughtful you came to after years of research and commentator but as one who has opted misguided opinion and glad that you were not allowed to share more of your views during your 60-year career. Enjoy . for cool instead of credible; looking for nods from his peers tather than the 3 truth. contemplation? I am saddened by your your retirement. I will. % OF THE WEEK Sunday? on l ho co al of e sal e th t ou ab el How do you fe > cae The new can be elected the following fall during the 2000 elections. This is the quickest Derek Oaks, Contributing Columnist - ure is to have a special | "Esteemed” Press 5 Spe tng OO ARGON: over CEE quicker decisions. And _ it tive duties and impose and enforce orga- One of the advantages of having a sepa-~ L forms. A eon: could make no ‘ take many commission would offer the advantage of . having a smaller legislative body that As a result, the left hand often doesn’t know what the right hand is doing and | Jordanelle fire station is a prime example. One county entity signed the architec- LE | WASATCH COUNTY COURIER 5. 1999 whines pale October “It’s not a bad thing, but I don’t think it’s necessary.” > diaeramer owner, Twist Café “Sell it: If you — to wait till noon, that would be okay.” David Goble _ ~“T think Sunday is my day as well as anybody else’s, and let | me live it the way I choose.” Richard Butz “I don’t think it makes any difference.” Mr. Volker ~ Volker’s Bakery |
