Salt Lake Tribune Confession: I Made A Mistake Of limiting Zion Curtain To Just New Restaurants, Senator Valentine Admits

Sodden Question: Will John Valentine continue to dictate Utah liquor policy from his new State Tax Commission office?

Well... it's official. After after 36 years of running the Utah legislature with an iron fist as his own personal religious fiefdom, Government Nanny Senator John Valentine is finally retiring from the State Senate:

• Senate confirms Valentine to chair Tax Commission

And as career legislators are always prone to do upon their departures, Valentine candidly reflects upon his greatest legislative blunder:

Here's the gist:

As Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, leaves the Legislature to head the Utah State Tax Commission, he expressed one alcohol policy regret: not making all Utah restaurants have a Zion Curtain.
"I made a mistake," Valentine, the major force over the past decade in shaping Utah liquor laws, said Thursday. During the 2009 liquor law debates, "I should have bitten the bullet and given existing restaurants a certain amount of time to comply with the law."

Read the full story, folks:

• Lawmaker: All Utah restaurants should have a ‘Zion Curtain’

More proof  of the old adage that "you can't teach old dogs new tricks," we suppose.

Sodden Question: Will John Valentine continue to dictate Utah liquor policy from his new State Tax Commission office?

We'll soon find out, we guess.