By Curmudgeon
There is a truly remarkably attempt at revising history, fully worthy of George Orwell's 1984. It appears as the Std-Ex's lead editorial. If the state press association gives an annual award for editorial creative fiction, the Std-Ex is a lock to come home with the prize.
Let us follow out the logic [politely so called] of the argument.
(1) for the last two years, Mayor Matthew Godfrey has been urging the sale of Mt. Ogden Park and the adjacent parklands to Mr. Chris Peterson, so the property could be developed as a gated community of vacation villas.
(2) He has done this, and seriously divided the city, in order to raise money for a flatland gondola between downtown and WSU which a recent study, paid for by the public, indicates is the worst of three possible transit alternatives over that route.
(3) For the entire two year period, community groups like Smart Growth Ogden and others have insisted the plan to sell the park and build homes on it was neither wise public policy, nor was it [given the steeply-sloped character of much of the land] feasible.
(4) As the election approaches, and in trouble with the voters precisely because of his unpopular plan to sell the park to real estate developers, Mayor Godfrey promised not to sell the parklands, to take them "off the table."
(5) And the Std-Ex concludes that by finally, after bitterly dividing the community for two years over the matter, the Mayor's having at last agreed with those who've been opposing the park sale all that time constitutes his having "checkmated" his critics.
Just to put the icing on the transparently flawed logic of that argument, the Std-Ex carries a story this morning that declares not selling the park to be the Mayor's proposal --- the same one he's been fighting for two years, until the election loomed. The story includes a statement by Ms. Susan Van Hooser that accurately summarizes what has happened [i.e. accurately summarizes what the Std-Ex editors missed], but you have to read to the very end of its story on the matter to find it]:
"I, and other members of the Ogden City Council and a great many citizens of Ogden have been working for some time now to protect and preserve Mount Ogden Park and the rest of the open space in the city's foothills, to keep it safe and available for us and for our children, and theirs for generations to come," she said.But for the Std-Ex, which seems to have hired Winston Smith of George Orwell's Ministry of Truth to do its editorials these days, war is peace. Up is down. And the Mayor's electoral death-bed conversion to opponents' policies constitutes him checkmating them.
"I am glad that Mayor Godfrey has finally decided to join me, my fellow council members, and the people of Ogden in that effort. We've known for a long time what the mayor seems now to understand, how important the golf course, the park and the trails in the foothills are in drawing visitors from all around the state, and the nation, and even the world to Ogden. I'm particularly glad the mayor's two-year long attempt to sell the city's largest park for a real estate development, which has so divided this city, seems at last to be over."
[Dear Std-Ex Editors: I believe WSU runs classes in Introductory Logic. It's pretty late in the term to be signing up for courses, but perhaps an exception can be made for you in the name of serving the public interest. At least you could ask.]
