By Gentle Reader CurmudgeonThe Sub-Standard Examiner Strikes Again!
In this morning's SE edition, at the head of the Top of Utah section there is a story headlined "Developer: Gondola Good for WSU" by a "reporter" [politely so called] named Blair Dee Hodges. Here is the lede:
"OGDEN --- A private developer who offered Ogden $500 million to buy Mount Ogden Golf Course as part of a plan to bring a gondola to the city said unused property at Weber State University is critical to his plan."
Mr. Peterson, of course, has not offered Ogden $500 million to buy Mt. Ogden golf course. Hell, if he did offer the city that much, flat out, for just the course, as the story claims, even I'd say sell it and get him to sign the purchase agreement NOW before he sobers up. The $500 million is the amount Peterson says will be invested in Ogden on the entire project he proposes [construction of the Malan's basin resort, purchase of WSU land, construction of the gondolas, construction of the 400 up-scale private homes in a gated community, etc. etc.]
I have already e-mailed the managing editor of the SE asking that a correction be printed, swiftly. It might we wise for others to email or call Mr. Howell [his email and phone number are printed at the end of his weekly column on paper operations which appears on the same page today as Ms. Hodge's story] to suggest... politely, please --- that a rapid correction of Ms. Hodge's story is necessary.
Editorial Note: We at Weber County Forum differ with gentle reader Curmudgeon's conclusion and assume the oft-mentioned $500 million figure doesn't represent any investment on Mr. Peterson's part at all, but instead represents the calculated final price tag that 400 (count 'em) $1 million dollar+ homes will command, once construction is completed and escrows are closed, plus $100 million, more or less (to "round out" the figure,) which would represent the final value of the gondolas, when constructed. Chris Peterson has never asserted or demonstrated, so far as we know, that he can pull $.5 billion, or even a small fraction of that, out of his own back pocket. Even though Mr. Peterson married the multi-billionaire's daughter, we at Weber County Forum do not believe Chris Peterson has his own "pot to piss in," to invoke a "tried and true" old pejorative "Traditonal Irish" phrase.
Mr. Peterson's whole "plan" depends on leveraging the value of the Mt. Ogden and WSU properties, so far as we can determine; and Ogden citizens need to be craftily persuaded to join in.
Weber County Forum believes that the Standard-Examiner should quickly publish a retraction and/or correction, as gentle reader curmudgeon suggests, and send cub reporter Hodges back to journalism school. After that, Ms. Hodges should enroll in a class in economics or accounting, before she ever starts reporting on complicated business issues again.
Update 4/17/06 9:47 a.m. MT: We are informed that the Std-Ex has made some kind of a correction or retraction somewhere in the backpages of yesterday's edition, for what that's worth.
