Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

Dr. Richard Davis of BYU’s political science department joins us to discuss planned protests of Vice President Dick Cheney he is involved with.   Should BYU un-invite the Vice President?  Is the LDS Church partisan?   What do you think?

All of that, your phone calls, and more tonight on KVNU’s For the People!

INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW:

• Dr. Richard Davis, BYU political science dept. – listen

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• 2/27 BYU Newsnet: Unsettled by Invite
• 3/29 Tribune: WALSH: Church shows true color – red
• 3/30 Tribune: LDS Church responds to Tribune columnist
• 3/30 Tribune: BYU allows Cheney protest
• 3/29 Deseret News: LDS Church statement concerning Cheney visit to BYU

I found this comment on the Herald Journal’s website in relation to the recent reprimand given by the Fed to Cache Valley Bank:

I site the Goose and Gander case because it is relevant to the case at hand. You recall in this case it was found that what was indeed “good” for the Goose was also “good” for the Gander . We have the business interest of a high ranking government official under the microscope here. After reading this article, I went to Google to find more. (Now remember, the information I read was only as good as the source.) I read in the article that Mr. Daines was legal counsel for Cache Valley Bank, and yet….there was no mention that he is actually a founder and owner of the bank? Where was this information? This is a high ranking public official. I read the court document that referenced that this also stemmed from 2004, but I find no information that the HJ news wrote and article about it. Are we to assume that because of the high political and public profile of an individual(s) it was kept out of the newspaper? I was also told that Cache Valley Bank is the bank where the Cache County funds are kept. This is disturbing because this sounds like it would also be a conflict of interest because of the position held by Mr. Daines as Cache County Prosecutor. I think it is absolutely necessary to monitor this bank as well as any others that hold government money deposits. This smells of impropriety. In my line of work, I cannot work for anyone of a close association and business interest, etc. without FULL disclosure and documentation. The fact that Mr. Daines owns the bank where his “employer” keeps its assets should be public knowledge to help identify any potential conflicts of interest. I am most disturbed that it was possible that the HJ News was intimidated into keeping the 2004 incident out of the paper therefore offering preferential treatment to a public official. If this information is wrong, I would like to see a follow-up response from the HJ News so that I may read the missing account. It would be informative to know for sure whether Cache Valley Bank holds all or only part of the Cache Valley funds. This doesn’t sit well with me and I imagine many others. No person, regardless of position or status is above the law or beneath the “press”. Please keep information “above the radar”. Report it factually and let us be our own judge of what is important and what is not.

I called the County Auditor’s office to ask where the County did their banking. The person who answered the phone quickly asked, “Well, who wants to know?”. I was a little surprised by that response. I told them who I was and they transferred me to Karen Jeppesen, the County Treasurer.

According to my conversation with Jeppesen, Cache County keeps its reserves, which constitutes most of it’s money, in the State treasurers investment pool in Salt Lake. The County has two checking accounts, one at Cache Valley Bank and one at Zions Bank.

So, yes, some, but not all or even most of Cache County’s money is in Cache Valley Bank. According to this and other documents, Cache County Attorney George Daines is the Chairman of the Board of Cache Valley Bank. According to Cache Valley Bank’s website, the Bank is now owned by two families.

Reports in the Salt Lake Tribune today indicate those two families are the Daines and the Becksteads:

The Cache Valley Board is made up of, in part, retired farmer Linden Beckstead and his son, real estate agent Scott Beckstead, as well as three members of the Daines family – retired physician Newel Daines, Cache County attorney George Daines and physician Peter Daines. George Daines is bank chairman.
Bank CEO Miller also is a member of the board. Only two of the board members – Dean Marriott and Clifford Skousen – have no stake in the company, Miller said. Neither could immediately be reached for comment. Other board members also did not immediately return calls. One, Scott Beckstead, declined comment when contacted.

There is no evidence that any unethical or untoward behavior has occurred as a result of Cache County holding a checking account at a bank in which the County Attorney has ownership. However, there does appear to be the potential for a possible conflict of interest.  Cache County should consider closing their checking account at Cache Valley Bank for at least the remainder of the time that George Daines is in office.

Jeff Aird sent us the following email:

Tom and Ryan,

I don’t get to listen everyday because I am often at work, but had this idea today and wanted to see what you and perhaps your listeners think about it.

As you have encountered on your show oftentimes war supporters label critics of the war as non patriotic who hinder the war effort by their defiance. The arguments advanced speak of the morale of our troops in harms way who when hearing the protest lose the hope and optimism that can often times save their lives when thrust into a pressure filled situation where they need to think clearly, confidently, and quickly.
Today my thoughts turned to the Iraqis themselves. General Petraeus has recently said (and I’m paraphrasing) that the war will be won as soon as we gain the confidence and trust of the Iraqi people. Right now the average Iraqi must chose where to place his allegiance. I see he has three different options. Either join the US, in providing intelligence
and supplies, which would quickly transform the war. Remain neutral, don’t join the terrorists, but keep your mouth shut, don’t provide any incriminating evidence against yourself should the US lose. Or join the terrorists (whether state or religiously sponsored) themselves in fighting against the US. Consider what a protest tells this average
Iraqi. If I was Iraqi I might align neutral (which is in actuality against the US) because of the risk that my words would get me killed when the US pulls out. We need to tell the Iraqis that we are here to stay until the job is done, you can trust us, tell us where the enemy is, we will help you. When they look to the west and see the seemingly US abandonment why would they trust us? Why would they help us? To help could mean their death the second we pull out which could be any day with the Dems in power. The anti-war protests do hurt the effort for full victory. They hamper our ability to truly commit ourselves to the trust of those we are trying to help. I know we have to weigh that against the benefits of argument, debate and deliberation, but I think in the end the protests end up killing more people than they help.

Just some thoughts, tell me my flaws.

Thanks for your show,
Jeff Aird

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

Benson cattleman Darrell Kunzler has been ordered by First District Judge Gordon Low to 30 days in jail and 200 hours of community service inspecting cattle fences in Cache County.   Did the sentence fit the crime?

Logan City held a workshop last night on inner-Logan reclaimation, community development and grandfathering.   Councilmen Joe Needham joing us to discuss the meeting and the future of these issues.

All of that, your phone calls and more, tonight on KVNU’s For the People!

INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW:

• Logan City Councilman Joe Needham – listen

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: 

• 3/29 610kvnu.com: Kunzler sentenced to 30 days in jail
• 3/29 Herald Journal: Rancher to spend 30 days in jail
• 3/29 Tribune: Rancher sentenced to jail for fatal crash involving loose calf

From the Tribune:

“Because of the positive things you’ve done, they want to recognize you,” Lloyd Berentzen, director of the Bear River Health Department, told the Cache County Council.
Residents of Logan and neighboring communities as far north as Preston, Idaho, enjoy panoramic mountain views year-round, but the valley’s topography can prove dangerous in the winter when air pollution from wood-burning stoves, coal, cows and cars becomes trapped in the basin.
This past winter, thanks to cooperative weather, Cache Valley violated the EPA’s more stringent air-quality standards on far fewer days. Even in a more severe winter season, though, Berentzen said improvements in daily pollutant levels would be evident.
“The weather has a tremendous amount of influence,” he said. “If we did have a bad winter, I believe that some of the things that you are doing would have made a difference. Really, you have a lot to be proud of in this last year.”

I have to say, that regardless of the policy that is enacted, I would prefer that these types of problems be dealt with at the local level rather than by EPA bureacrats.   There is more flexibility in local policy making, more familiarity with the nuances of our unique situation and the opportunity for more local input.   A lot of credit for keeping the solutions and discussions at the local level goes to  Cache County Councilman Craig Peteresen and others on the County Council, Regional Council and Air Advisory Board.

Let’s keep these decisions local.

Well, in that both created controversy as invited speakers to Utah county colleges and Universities.    Just like Michael Moore’s visit, there are those who oppose Cheney who would like to see him un-invited (though we haven’t yet seen any $25,000 bribes!).
I strongly disapprove of the War Policy of this administration.  However, I cannot support efforts to silence someone because their views are unpopular or they are percieved as being morally rudderless.  Bad policies and untruths can and will be defeated in the clash of ideas.  Dick Cheney should speak at BYU, and those who disagree with the Bush War Policy should protest the Vice President.  I hope those that advocated for Michael Moore in the name of pluralism 2004 will remain consistent and resist efforts to un-invite Dick Cheney.
I hope that Utah County can demonstrate progress from 2004.   I hope we don’t see efforts by either side to silence the other in the robust debate that is about to besiege Happy Valley and the Beehive State.

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bryan Young – (801) 427-3638

EMAIL: contact@shineboxmp.com

‘DIVIDED STATE’ FILMMAKERS REACT TO BYU-CHENEY CONTROVERSY

Provo, UT —  It was announced almost one week ago that Vice President Dick Cheney will offer the commencement speech to the graduating class at Brigham Young University.  In less than a week, a grassroots swell of BYU students, faculty and concerned citizens have launched a petition to rescind the invitation to Cheney and for the University to choose a less-controversial speaker.  “Commencement should not be a negative experience for anyone,” said one student at an anti-Cheney meeting in Provo on Wednesday night, “And that is all having Cheney speak will accomplish.”
Petitions are being circulated, protests are being planned and letters are being written.  It echoes the events of 2004 when liberal filmmaker Michael Moore was invited to speak on campus at Utah Valley State College, mere miles away from BYU.  As captured in the documentary film “This Divided State”, Moore’s visit drew the ire of many local citizens and students that led to lawsuits, death threats, bribery and more than a few protests and rallies.
Director of the film, Steven Greenstreet offered advice to the participants on both sides of the debate, “If ‘This Divided State’ can teach anything to BYU students and local citizens on both sides of the issue, it’s this:  kicking and screaming will do the community no good.  Try to have a civil and well-mannered dialogue about the issues at hand.  And listen to each other!  People didn’t listen to each other during the Michael Moore controversy.  And don’t take your cues from the pundits on TV by telling each other to shut up.”
“Have protests, engage in civil dialogues and, above all, remember that we’re all Americans, whether we agree with Cheney or not,” said Bryan Young, one of the film’s producers, “The best thing about America is that we don’t have to agree with each other and I can see already that there are lot of people who will be forced to opposite sides of this debate but they should all work their hardest to make that debate productive.”
“Having said that,” Greenstreet added, “I’m excited to see the first amendment in action within one of the most conservative colleges in one of the most conservative states in the union.  The die has already been cast.  At this point, I think we should welcome Cheney and then we should welcome the thousands of people who will come to protest.  In fact, I plan on being one of those protesting.  It’s exciting to see Mormon BYU students voicing their opinions on how they are morally and fundamentally opposed to the policies of the Bush Administration.  It means we’ve come a long way here in Utah since Michael Moore’s visit.”

The filmmakers are available for comment. Please contact Bryan Young: (801) 427-3638 or by email at contact@shineboxmp.com.

How ‘Bout Them Jazz?!

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

An anti-Mormon group in Arizona is overseeing the distribution of 300,000 anti-LDS DVD’s that have been distributed or will be distributed this week in Mormon communities, Church parking lots and more across the entire country. An anti-Mormon group in Brigham City, Living Hope Ministries, has also participated in the DVD distribution..

Joining us tonight on KVNU’s for the People will be Bill Strauss of the Anti Defamation League, Joel Cramer of the anti-LDS Living Hope Ministries in Brigham City and John Dehlin of KVNU’s Mormon Stories.

All of that, your phone calls and more, tonight on KVNU’s For the People!

INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS:

• Jay Larsen, Logan City Light & Power Director – listen
• Joel Cramer, Living Hope Ministries – listen
• Bill Straus, Anti Defamation League – listen
• John Dehlin, host of KVNU’s Mormon Stories – listen

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• 3/27 Anti-Defamation League Press Release: ADL Condemns “Mormon Bashing” DVD
• 3/28 Deseret News: Utahns Recieving Anti-Mormon DVD’s
• 3/28 East Valley Tribune (Phoenix): Rival religious group disputes Mormon teaching
• 3/27 Arizona Republic: Anti-Mormon DVD Given to 18,000 Homes
• 3/28 KUTV: Mormon group lashes back at anti-LDS Movie
• 3/28 WSTM (New York): Anti-Mormon Propaganda Appearing

March 28, 2007

News Release

I have realized that it is not my place to challenge the decision of our City Council.  Continuing to ask for the recent decision to reject IPP 3 to be reconsidered will only drive the city apart.  That will not help any of us.

We have been involved in the development of the IPP 3 project for about 5 years.  It has been very difficult for me to simply give it up in the wake of the recent power crisis and the impact that had on us.   I also believe that it is time to get behind that decision and work together to make the best of it.

One thing I agree with the Council about is that our industry is changing.  Over the last 5 years we have seen things that I would not have believed 6-7 years ago.  We will also have many new challenges ahead.  I don’t have the answers yet but will do the best I can to keep our rates affordable and diversify our portfolio.  No one ever told me that this job would be easy.

I ask all of our citizens and customers to look at your homes and businesses and consider what you can do to improve the efficiency of your electricity use.  I will also focus my attention more on efficiency and renewable options and education and work to make the best of the situation.

Thank you for your support.

Jay Larsen

Fed up with the influx of illegal immigrants and the strain they created in the community, Hazelton, PA recently passed an ordinance that penalizes landlords for hiring illegals and businesses for employing them.

But sure enough, in swooped the ACLU to take the side of criminals, suing the city to block the ordinance.  The trial ended last week.  The decision, not due for about two months, will help determine whether municipalities can take steps to combat illegal immigration.

If Hazelton is successful, I think Cache County communities should strongly consider such an ordinance here.  The Swift raids demonstrated that we have a large illegal immigrant community.  The Hazelton ordinance was passed in response to several violent crimes, but budgetary strain is another valid reason for such a measure.   The text of Hazelton’s ordinance is posted here, and can give our representatives a starting point that will be court-tested and ready for enactment.

Craig Limesand

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

The school voucher referendum debate took an interesting turn today with a legal opinion from Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.   We’ll talk vouchers tonight- should tax dollars go to private schools?  Should those private schools be accountable for how they use public dollars?   What do you think?  Do you support the referendum effort?  How far should parent choice go?

School vouchers, and your phone calls, tonight on KVNU’s For the People!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• UtahnsForPublicSchools.org
• Parents For Choice in Education
• 3/21 KVNU Crosstalk: Liberty Education Center – listen
• 3/12 Washington Times: Utah school-voucher plan hit by petition
• 3/27 Deseret News: Legal opinions cast cloud over referendum against vouchers

Well, does he?

Here’s an interesting article from Richard Balko at Reason Magazine:

Conservative cultural critic Michael Medved caught Romney’s remark and those poll numbers and weighed in with an “Amen.” “The Declaration of Independence makes clear that our inalienable rights come from God – we are ‘endowed by our Creator,’” Medved wrote, “so that anyone who openly denies God’s existence is likely to take the more conventional (and dangerous) view that rights are a gift from government, not the Deity. ‘The government giveth, the government taketh away…’– the peril in this approach is too obvious to require explanation.”Actually, it isn’t “obvious” at all. One needn’t believe in a creator to believe in natural rights. Philosopher Immanuel Kant perhaps most famously arrived at a theory of natural rights absent any overarching deity.

But there are a host of other nonbelieving subscribers to the idea that we are born with fundamental, inalienable rights. Many of the most eloquent defenders of natural rights at the time of America’s founding were deists, including Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen and, to a lesser extent, George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison. Deism isn’t atheism (though many deists like Voltaire were deists only because atheism was illegal), but it’s a far cry from “devout,” too.

In fact, the truly radical thing about the Declaration of the Independence wasn’t its religiosity, it was its abrupt departure from the centuries-old belief that kings inherited their power directly from God. It stated that government doesn’t exist on the authority of God; rather, men are born with inherent, inalienable rights. Government exists only on the authority of and at the permission of the governed—men. In this respect, the Declaration made the case for a less faith-based form of governance, not more. In fact, Jefferson’s original draft of the document contained no reference to a deity at all. It was the Congress that added the word “Creator.”

I don’t know that I agree with Balko’s take on natural rights, however, his arguments are well reasoned and compelling. Absent a Diety as a source of rights, rights become arbitrary in their definition and application. That being said, Balko is spot on about the fitness of an atheist for office. It shouldn’t matter. I personally would have no problem voting for an atheist.

There is no question that President Bush has disregarded and trampled on our rights as Americans. The function of God in President Bush’s policies is not as a source of virtue, but one of justification by fiat (like the Divine Right of Kings). Claiming and inferring that God placed you in office to defeat the jihadists removes any questions about your personal qualifications or the wisdom of your policies. Bush has been the master of policy fiat not only by God, but by soldier sacrafice as well. Infact, he did it again this past week as he denounced the House spending bill which would have put a time table on an Iraq withdrawal while troops and veterans stood behind him. Rather than engage arguments and ideas raised by the opposition, Bush simply hides behind his god and America’s soldiers. Question him and you are blaspheming.

I am proud to be an unabashed blasphemer of the Bush god!

Tonight on KVNU’s For the People…

Tuition keeps going up at Utah State University, but will rise even higher for students in the College of Business. Dean Douglas Anderson explains why and the unique challenges facing the College of Business.

Logan City Light & Power Director Jay Larsen has sent out a letter to consumers urging them to ask the City Council to reconsider their decision on IPP 3 and purchase a compromised 10 mW.

All of that, your phone calls and more, tonight on KVNU’s For the People!

INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW:

Dr. Douglas Anderson, Dean of the College of Business at Utah State University – listen

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: 

• Letter from Jay Larsen to Logan Light & Power Customers
  
• 3/26 610kvnu.com:  Larsen wants IPP3 Compromise
• 3/23 Utah Statesman: Business students should expect $735 increase in tuition

I am hearing rumors and stories from several people that the Voucher petitions are being passed around LDS wards following sacrament meeting and during Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society. I haven’t gone to church in the last couple of weeks, but didn’t see anything like that in my ward before it. Have you?

I’m all for the petition, but I’m really against passing it around at Church. Church is NOT political and should be left as a politically nuetral sanctuary. Surely the proponents of the vouchers can get 100,00 signatures without using Church meetings.

Check this out…

From the Associated Press:

NIBLEY, Utah (AP) — A chart in the faculty lounge keeps track of new babies at a northern Utah school. Someone added paper just to keep up.

When teacher Trisha Hunt gives birth in June, it will be the 10th baby since January for staff at Thomas Edison Charter School South in Cache County.

“We are running out of substitute teachers,” principal Eldon Budge said with a laugh.

Teachers said Budge has been supportive, never showing signs of stress when yet another employee would say, “I have something to tell you.”

Kindergarten teacher Michele Heiner started the baby boom on Jan. 3. Hunt, her aide Mandy Powell and special-education aide Anna Dunn will raise the total to 10 by the end of the school year.

At one point, about a quarter of all school employees were pregnant.

“Everybody says it’s in the water,” Powell said.

Fifth-grade teacher Michelle Yost, who had a boy March 8, hadn’t told anyone she was pregnant until a staff meeting in August.

“It was just kind of incredible starting to see the list get longer and longer,” she said.

Part-time art teacher Seantae Jackson debunked the theory of something in the water by getting a job at Edison while pregnant.

“It was really weird. I felt like I was at Lamaze,” she said.

This letter has been removed at the request of Jay Larsen