A Gushing Torrent of WCF Hat-tips

Kick-starting a weekend open thread

As we approach the weekend, we thought it would be useful to highlight a few web items that have caught our attention recently, but never quite made it to the Weber County Forum front page.

First, we direct our readers' attention to this George Handy letter, addressing the question of the intent of the Malan family and Emerald City officials, at the time Mt. Ogden Park was transferred to city ownership. Mr. Handy is a prominent Ogden lawyer who has clear contemporaneous recollection of the circumstances surrounding the transfer of this property. His letter refers to an Ogden City ordinance which was enacted by the city council in 1962. He also recalls in private conversation that the original deed, conveying the property to Ogden City, contained a restrictive covenent, prohibiting use of the property for anything other than the purposes above-stated. Unfortunately, he has informed us that this document has mysteriously disappeared from the County Recorder's office. Not to worry. Finding that deed is one of George's front-burner projects. We'll continue to maintain contact with Mr. Handy, and let you all know if he comes up with the document. For the time being, we'll rely on the intent expressed in the ordinance.

In that connection, we've obtained a recorded copy of that referenced ordinance from the County Recorder's office, and uploaded it to our storage site. We accordingly link this document here, for the general information of our gentle readers. Readers will note that this 1962 ordinance indeed specifies that this property was at the time "designated and set aside as Mt. Ogden Park and dedicated to the public by Ogden City to be used by the public for Park, recreation and general community purposes."

Mr. Handy's letter makes a fine case for honoring the original intent of Gideon Highley Malan -- that the property be preserved "as a resource to be used for Ogden and not for a private developer. " We obviously couldn't be more in agreement with this sentiment.

Secondly, we direct our readers' attention to a lead editorial and companion opinion piece which appeared in yesterday's Standard-Examiner. The Std-Ex editors rightly characterize this year's Utah legislature's feeble attempt to enact basic ethics legislation as at least a "baby step" in the right direction, (assuming the senate finally falls in line and approves the legislation.) Doug Gibson's op-ed piece is far more blunt:

"We just need to ban all gifts, period. It's that simple."

We congratulate the folks at the Standard-Examiner for continuing to hammer this issue.

Finally, we thank Ogden's Finest for nailing the little creep who pulled two Emerald City armed robberies early yesterday evening. From information in today's Standard-Examiner story we believe it's reasonable to speculate that the perpetrator (who got shot - hopefully in the derriere) may be the guy who's been plaguing Emerald City with a recent string of similar aggravated robberies. We never cease to marvel at the quality of our Emerald City OPD. Chalk up another victory for the good guys.

Weber County Forum hat tips go out this morning to attorney George Handy, the Std-Ex Staff, and Ogden's Finest.

Please feel free to discuss these topics, or treat this as an open thread.

The floor is open. What's on our gentle readers' minds, as we move into another Emerald City weekend?