A Buzz in Tooele City - Tooele Transcript Bulletin

A4• Editorial• Guest Opinion• Letters to the EditorTOOELE TRANSCRIPT-BULLETINOpen ForumTUESDAY May 3, 2011Editor Jeff Barrusjbarrus@tooeletranscript.com(435) 882-0050Voice of Tooele Countysince 1894OUR VIEWGUEST OPINIONJoel J. DunnPublisher EmeritusScott C. DunnPresident and Publisherby the Transcript-Bulletin editorial boardOsama’s death echoes far,wide and here at homeNews Sunday night that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistancame like a bolt from the blue. To many Americans, it must haveseemed as if the greatest villain of this young century was in danger ofbecoming a too-distant memory — a boogeyman made indistinct bytime and parody.But bin Laden was real. The evil he did was real, though at times itseems impossibly fictional. He helped plan and finance the killing ofalmost 3,000 people in the Sept. 11 attacks. Abroad, he orchestratedthe indiscriminate deaths of soldiers and civilians, Americans andnon-Americans via bombings, shootings and hijackings over roughly20 years. The network of terrorists he helped establish is responsiblefor countless other deaths and untold suffering across the globe — andwill outlive him.In the end, perhaps no man of evil since Adolf Hitler has had such animpact on the lives of ordinary Americans. His symbolic reach extendedinto even the smallest communities. Bin Laden sickened and shockedus on 9/11. He changed the way we travel. He was the main provocateurin setting us on the path to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that made uscommit our sons and daughters to battle.But his evil also brought out the best in Americans. In the days afterthe Sept. 11 attacks, we banded together, showed our resolve to not bowto terror, demonstrated our courage and compassion, and vowed thatone day justice would be served.That day came Sunday.The end of bin Laden said something powerful about the UnitedStates as well: We are a country of great ideals and purpose. We are theoldest continuous democracy in the world precisely because our collectivewill transcends presidents and generations. If you attack us, ourideal of justice will not be satisfied until we find you.Bin Laden is sure to remain an infamous figure in history. But theman himself, he’s gone. And for that Americans from New York to thesmallest towns of Tooele County can feel a sense of relief.Redistricting effortdeserves citizen inputSkepticism from our neck ofthe woods is understandableas political boundariesget redrawn for the first timein a decade. Ten years ago, statelegislators carved Tooele Countyinto surrounding districts, heavilydiluting our political influence.Fast forward to 2011, and wehave merely a single representative,Doug Sagers, R-Tooele, whoresides in the county. The mostcynical explanation is also themost logical one: run-of-the-millpolitics and gerrymandering.In wake of that decade-olddebacle, current lawmakers arepromising openness as new districtsare drawn in 2011. Providingpublic copies of committeematerials and maintaining openmeetings are top guidelines thisgo-around. More impressively, citizenswill be able to propose theirown boundary changes though anew website scheduled to launchlater this month. Hardened criticswill dismiss the changes as abone-toss with no bearing on policy,but the Legislature deservescredit for a step in the right direction.With any luck, technologywill provide citizens with moreinput in redistricting than everbefore. And just maybe moreinfluence, as well.Setting any issue right meansfirst admitting that there’s a problem.Gerrymandering may be theknee-jerk cry of malcontents, asRepublican Rep. Mel Brown ofCoalville recently suggested, butit’s conversely unfathomable thatonly the very top of the politicalfood chain should be content withthe outcome of redistricting.Let’s be honest. Redistricting isa political task with tactical repercussions.Party leaders speak ofthat fact openly. Former state Rep.Merrill Nelson, of Grantsville, hasput his reputation on the line tofight against partisan redistrictingwithin his own party — an oddpolitical move if gerrymanderingis the fantasy of marginalizedDemocrats. The fact is, everythingabout redistricting is political. Thebest check we have against partydrivenboundaries is involvingregular citizens in the process.New mapping software soon toWith the exception of the “Our View” column, the opinionsexpressed on this page, including the cartoon, are notnecessarily endorsed by the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin.Editorial BoardMatt RowleyGUEST COLUMNISTgrace the state’s website looks likea promising start. Computers havehelped lawmakers draw boundariesfor years. This will be the firsttime that virtually anyone with anInternet connection can dive intothe process themselves. Utahnswill be able to create their ownredistricting plans for the state’s 75House seats and 29 Senate seats.They can also propose boundariesfor the 15 State School Board districtsand even the new four-districtplan of the U.S. House.It doesn’t appear this softwareis a dumbed-down simulationeither. Redistricting is a complicatedprocess dealing in specificnumbers. By law, legislators mustcreate boundaries with almostequivalent population sizes, whichquickly becomes a task of give andtake. The downloadable mappinginterface will require users to dealwith the same restraints. Therewill be no “fantasy” districts.Participating users will have to puteffort into a serious proposal.Time will tell how much weightonline submissions will have onboundary changes. While committeemembers promise to look atall proposals, they retain full reignover the mapping process. Theimplemented software won’t carrythe same clout as a nonpartisancommittee, which last year’s FairBoundaries initiative would haveput in place. But using cyberspaceto give Utahns a taste of the processis still a significant gesture.We have a chance to understandand theoretically influence theredistricting process like neverbefore. Even if the new mappingsoftware accomplishes nothingbut to pique awareness, that’s agood step forward.Matt Rowley is a teacher at CopperCanyon Elementary who livesin Tooele. He can be reached atmatrowl@yahoo.com.Jeff BarrusEditorLETTERS TO THE EDITORLetter of the Month — AprilWindmill’s benefits questionableSo the $3.8 million windmill has beenshut down for repair after only sevenmonths of operation (“Repairs stop depot’snew windmill from turning,” March 29).I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not.However, after reading the article aboutthe repair, the math just didn’t add up. Thewindmill was supposed to save $200,000a year, but in seven months it had onlysaved $61,200, or $8,743 a month. Thataverages out to $101,914 a year — roughlyhalf of the $200,000 a year the Armyclaimed it would save. At that rate, we thetaxpayers who purchased the windmillwill finally see a return on our investmentin a little over 37 years — and that’s only ifthe windmill runs without incurring anyWater system fix shouldn’t burdentaxpayersI was reading an article in the TooeleTranscript-Bulletin April 26 edition,“Skull Valley water systems to get fixtwo years after fire.” The article outlineshow the federal government (NRCS)is planning to spend several hundredthousand dollars to repair a pipeline toEnsign Ranches in Skull Valley. I don’tsee how, in America’s financial condition,we can afford to spend this kind ofmoney to bail out a ranching operationin Skull Valley. Never mind the fact thatEnsign Ranches is owned by the LDSchurch whom I believe could probablyafford to fix their own pipeline. I know Idon’t want my tax dollars going towarda new pipeline for Ensign Ranches.Michael EnrightStansbury ParkOpinion pieces share real issuesApril 19 and 26 are two of the bestOpen Forums I have read concerningreal-life issues. “Kindness to animalsmeans having them fixed” (April 26)GUEST OPINIONThe size of government threatensthe American way of life as weknow it. The solution is straightforward— cut government. A vibrantgrass-roots movement insists that ithappen, and Washington is lousy withrival plans for how to go about it.The social threat to the Americanway of life is as dire, if not more so. Butit is more insidious, and more complicated.No grass-roots movement hasmobilized against it, and no high-profilebipartisan commission is suggestingremedies. Yet it proceeds apace,all but ignored except in the lives ofAmericans.Among those trying to sound thealarm is author and thinker CharlesMurray of the American EnterpriseInstitute. In a bracing lecture on “TheState of White America,” he notesthat America has long had an exceptionalcivic culture. “America is comingapart at the seams,” he warns. “Notthe seams of race or ethnicity, but ofclass.”Murray takes whites as his subjectto avoid the question of whether racismis responsible for the problem hedescribes, namely the “emergence ofclasses that diverge on core behaviorsand values.”Murray identifies what he calls the“founding virtues,” such as marriage,industriousness and religiosity, whichmaintenance costs. Luckily for us, the currentrepairs are covered under warranty, sowe taxpayers aren’t paying for this repair.Which leads to the question: When doesthe warranty expire? Each year the Armyshould publish the data showing the electricitygenerated, the amount of moneysaved by not purchasing electricity, thetotal cost spent on maintenance, and anet savings to the taxpayer along with howmuch of the $3.8 million remains to be“paid back.” As I stated last summer whenthe windmill began operation, I am notagainst utilizing environmentally-friendlyenergy sources when they are economicallyfeasible. I’m still worried that thiswindmill will never actually pay for itself.Bret StapleyTooeleshould be a real eye opener to the community.Please read this if you haven’tand do it — it is your poor animals thatare suffering in the long run. Second,“Blue bag recycling deserves more support”(April 19) was also a great article.So many people are not aware of thisprogram. It makes me sad to think ofall the plastic trash at soccer, baseball,football (I could go on) and noone is using blue bags on the fields.Wake up people. Our land now is ourkids’ future. If you don’t teach them tosave the earth, its going to be an uglyplace to live. Please recycle and teachyour kids the same. Finally, “Considerwhere you are before you start swearing,”(April 19) — this is a sign of lackof respect, and self worth. A beautifullady using the F-word makes her looknot very pretty anymore. The childrenaround this in a public place shouldn’thave to be placed in this environment.One example I have is an event inGrantsville where divorced parentswere with different partners and fightingover money. Very filthy languagehave always been considered the socialbasis of self-government. He looks atwhites aged 30-49 and divides theminto the top 20 percent socio-economicallyand the bottom 30 percent. Thetop tier is basically the upper middleclass, the bottom the working class. Hefinds two worlds, increasingly separateand unequal.In 1960, everyone was married — 88percent of the upper middle class and83 percent of the working class. In2010, 83 percent of the upper middleis married and only 48 percent of theworking class. In 1960, births to singlemothers in the working class were just6 percent; now they are close to 50percent.When it comes to industriousness,there’s the same divergence. In 1960,1.5 percent of men in the upper middleclass were out of the workforce; it’sLETTERS POLICYThe Transcript-Bulletin welcomes lettersto the editor from readers. Lettersmust be no longer than 250 words,civil in tone, written exclusively for theTranscript-Bulletin, and accompanied bythe writer’s name, address and phonenumber. Priority will be given to lettersthat refer to a recent article in thenewspaper. All letters may be subjectto editing.Letters written to thank an individual ororganization should be submitted for“Notes of Appreciation”Readers who are interested in writing alonger guest op-ed column on a topic ofgeneral interest should contact EditorJeff Barrus directly via the contact informationat the top of this page.E-mail: tbp@tooeletranscript.comFax: (435) 882-6123Mail: Letters to the EditorTooele Transcript-BulletinP.O. Box 390LETTER CONTESTEach month, the Transcript-Bulletin willselect the best letter of the month andreprint it in the first Open Forum pageof the following month. The winningletter writer will receive a free one-yearsubscription to the newspaper. The subscriptioncan be transferred or used torenew a present subscription.was being shouted. There were kidseverywhere. Not the place or time forthis. I was truly disgusted. Thank youfor posting these three articles. Its timefor some people to wake up.Jan WishartGrantsville‘America is coming apart at the seams’2 percent now. In 1968, the number forworking-class men hit a low of 5 percent;even before the spike in unemploymentafter the financial crisis, itwas 12 percent in 2008.Although secularization is on therise, it’s more pronounced in the workingclass. Among the upper middleclass, 42 percent say either they don’tbelieve in God or don’t go to church.In the working class, it’s 61 percent. Inother words, a majority of the uppermiddle class still has some religiouscommitment, while a majority of theworking class does not.These trends mean the workingclass is getting cut off from the richestsources of social capital: marriage,two-parent families and church-going.More people are falling into a lowerclass characterized by men who can’tmake a minimal living and singlewomen with children. Murray arguesthat America can maintain its nationalpower even if these trends continue.With a growing lower class “increasinglyunsuited for citizenry in a freesociety,” though, it will no longer bethe country we once knew.When it comes to saving theAmerican way, balancing the budget isthe easy part.Rich Lowry is editor of the NationalReview.