One reticent long-time WCF "lurker" chimes in to set the record straight... and for good measure... throws in a plea for good mannersby Shane Osguthorpe
One rainy autumn day during
Ogden’s last election cycle, with nothing better to do, I made the mistake of posting a legitimate question regarding the mayoral race on this forum. Despite the fact that I was, and continue to be, opposed to the gondola, the
Mt. Ogden Golf Course proposals of both then and now, a downtown
Wal-Mart, the stalled improvement of the
Ogden Riverway, etc., my objective question regarding candidate Van Hooser caused dozens of anonymous posters to flame me with what I took to be idiotic, and often vile, name-calling posts and I walked away knowing that
WCF is not
“an open forum for Weber County Utah Citizens” as it claims, but more often than not, a closed-minded pit of seething hatred and anger and a voice for only one side and one view of
Ogden. But I suppose that doesn’t make for a great tagline for a blog that pretends to be objective. I guess
“Fair and Balanced” was already taken by another objective media outlet.
I’ve avoided posting since that experience, but still like to check in for a quick read whenever Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh or O’Reilly fail to satisfy my occasional taste for the uneducated ranting of lunatics. So, after being out of town on business during last week’s city council primary elections, I logged on to read
the WCF’s take on it all. I found the typical
“anti-Godfreyite” rants I expected, but when, for no apparent reason, the thread turned against my close, personal friends and
Roosters/Union Grill owners, Kym and Pete Buttschardt, I couldn’t let the disgusting thread linger out there without comment and consider myself a good friend.
The pivot point of the thread, as best I can tell, was when some anonymous (as always) poster mentioned something about
“complimentary Roosters beer” at a gathering for a city council candidate who is not endorsed by this forum.
First things first.
Utah liquor laws prohibit the dispensing of free beer by brewpubs. And unless I’m mistaken, it can’t be offered as a
“donation” to a political campaign. To the best of my knowledge, Kym delivered beer to a shindig for Phipps, stayed and even, God forbid, supported his candidacy...but someone else paid for the beer she brought. It wasn’t
“free suds from Roosters” as one poster put it.
A poster by the name of
“Rockford J” seemed to have the biggest axe to grind. One of his/her posts read:
“[they] used to be cool back in the day...their politics have made them into a couple of money chasing soul-less [sic] restaurant hacks existing only on good location and previous glory.”Yet, the Buttschardts I know call to mind the words of Marianne Williamson,
“Creating the world we want is a much more subtle but more powerful mode of operation than destroying the one we don’t want.” Their politics? Pretty sure that on a state and national level, the Buttschardts probably vote the way most of the lurkers on this forum do. On a local level, I can assure you they don’t walk lock-step behind anyone’s agenda. Talk to them about issues like
Wal-Mart, the golf course, open space and the gondola and find out for yourself where they stand. Now I suppose attacking another’s politics is just the flavor of the day in the
Pathetic States of America right now, so I can let that part slide on a political internet forum. The part I can’t let sit out there is the remainder of Rockford J's statement.
Money chasing? I’ve never known people who will give until it hurts like Pete and Kym. Virtually every school fundraiser and athletic team gets their donations; virtually every non-profit organization in our community benefits from their contributions. Got a kid peddling some piece-of-crap coupon book or overpriced candy bar for his scout troop, his baseball team, her drill team, summer camp, soccer trip or anything else? Knock on the Buttschardt’s door and you have a guaranteed sale. Need a dozen dinners-for-two donated for your raffle to benefit wild turkeys, rocky mountain elk, a fledgling film festival, drug abuse prevention? Done. Got a crappy minor league farm team and need to sell advertising space on the outfield wall in a wrecked economy? As long as that team is tied to
Ogden, give ‘em a call. Trying to get a bluegrass/acoustic music festival off the ground at
Fort Buenaventura and need cash AND someone to sell beer and give all the profits back to the event in addition? No problem.
Soulless? Pete and Kym don’t just throw money at things. I would put the Buttschardt’s donation of their own time to worthy causes in this community up against the grand total of everyone who has posted on this forum....EVER. And while that may sound like hyperbole, I mean it in the most literal of ways. As one of the most engaged members of
Weber Pathways’ board of directors, Pete has built massive sections of the
Bonneville Shoreline Trail with his own two hands and often with very little help. Kym’s efforts with Junior League in the inner city and all her work as a founding member of the
GOAL Foundation and later, as its president, literally amount to YEARS of her time! And those are ACTIVE engagements, not simply sitting around a board table tossing around pie-in-the-sky ideas. The two of them work tirelessly from long before community events until well afterward in organization, fundraising, promotion, set-up and tear-down. Anyone here ever done that? Ever? How about every single
Ogden Marathon,
Xterra Championship,
Harvest Moon Celebration (which the Buttschardts were instrumental in starting),
Mountain-to-Metro and
Paddlefest? I, for one, have been right there with them and know for a fact there has never been anyone named
“Rockford J,” “Frequent Diner” or
“Zaphod” there helping out.
And for the record, the
“good location” they
"exist on" was anything but before they came along. Investing in Historic 25th Street today is a no-brainer — thanks in large part to Pete and Kym’s tireless efforts. However, when the Buttschardts started
Roosters it represented a substantial and highly risky investment in a vision they held for a sketchy street — a vision for a revitalized downtown historic district with funky, eclectic and independently owned shops, restaurants, pubs and galleries. Try to remember what 25th Street was like in the decade leading up to the founding of
Roosters. Is that really what you want?
Want to talk strictly economic impact? What
WCF regular provides the number of jobs in downtown Ogden that the Buttschardts do? How does your contribution to the city’s tax base stack up against theirs? And while I love and patronize every local eatery that a poster named
“Frequent Diner” listed and intend no offense to any of them, all of them put together haven’t been featured in national publications encouraging visitors to come to
Ogden and spend their dough like
Roosters and
Union Grill have, yet they all benefit from that exposure. Cool or not.
In some incomprehensible way, some on this forum see the Buttschards as their enemy because some anonymous poster’s
“best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Kym supporting Phipps at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.” Thank you, Simone.
The fact that some contributors to this forum would attempt to destroy Kym and Pete’s passion, vision and unceasing efforts on behalf of a better
Ogden is truly sickening. The fact that the moderators of this forum perpetuate those small-minded efforts is equally repugnant.
I find it ironic that one of the
Google ads that regularly appears in the margins of the
WCF is for Ayn Rand’s
“Atlas Shrugged.” Might I suggest you read it. Her fictional account of what the world might be like should its
“producers” decide to walk away may open your eyes. I promise you, the Ogden you all know and love would be a much darker, uglier place without two of its brightest visionaries and boots-on-the-ground producers, Pete and Kym Buttschardt.
Apparently, they
“used to be cool back in the day.” Thank God they got THAT out of their systems.
