Ogden Mayoral Debate Set For September 13

Will this be a fair debate? We'll see.

Attention all Ogden City voters and residents!  There a big debate coming up next week. We're swiping a Facebook graphic to provide the space/time coordinates.

Here's the skinny:

SEPTEMBER 13 - MARQUARDT PARK: - 7:30PM - 320 Taylor Avenue, Ogden, Utah 84403

Mayoral candidates Angel Castillo and Mike Caldwell will debate outdoors in Marquardt Park. Dustin Chapman of Ogden Education will moderate. You may send questions you'd like to be asked to the moderator via TEXT to: (801) 648-9883. Ten questions will be taken from the audience. Refreshments will be available, and this is a kid-friendly event.Please contact Sebastián Benitez at (801) 814-1001 if you are interested in volunteering to help with the event. Don't miss this pivotal event, Ogden Voters!

And who is this debate "moderator" Dustin Chapman? Check it out:

• http://wcforum.blogspot.com/search?q=Dustin+Chapman  

Will this be a fair debate? We'll see.

Ogden Election Primary Post-mortem: Ya Gotta Love Dan Schroeder

Here's a great pre-primary analysis, via  Dan Schroeder, a semi-regular WCF contributor over the years, Let's just call this our Ogden City Primary Election post-mortem:

Ogden voters: Primary Election Day is Tuesday the 13th, and we have four candidates for mayor. Following the money, I've downloaded their campaign finance disclosure reports from the city's web site (https://ogdencity.com/208/Election-Information). Here are some details that I found notable. 

Incumbent Mike Caldwell began with nearly $20k left over from previous campaigns, and has raised an additional $15k. His largest contributors this year are the Northern Utah Realtors Association, R&O Construction, Robert Bolar, The McEntee Group, Jeanne Hall, and Kevin Garn. Contributions made through business entities are business-as-usual here in Utah but they raise ethical concerns: Are the donors committing tax fraud by writing off their political contributions as business expenses? And what favors do they expect from the mayor in return? Garn, meanwhile, is the confessed pedophile and disgraced ex-legislator from Davis County who developed Ogden’s Hilton Garden Inn (under a deal made with former mayor Godfrey), sub-contracting the concrete work to FLDS child abusers; what favors he may be seeking from the current mayor are anyone’s guess.

Challenger Angel Castillo has raised a little over $13k for her campaign. Of this, $4k came from Ogden restaurant owner Bec Sato, and another $2.7k came from 2015 mayoral candidate Sebastian Benitez, through his business (Intermountain Property Cleaning Service). The remainder came from a long list of smaller donors, some local but most from out of state--especially from Los Angeles, where Castillo herself lived until a year and a half ago. Perhaps the most interesting of her contributions was $100 from Chris Peterson, who set off the Ogden Gondola War of 2006 by proposing to acquire foothill property from the city and WSU, and to build a resort in Malan’s Basin. The address that Peterson provided is of a rented private mailbox in Evanston, Wyoming.

Challenger Daniel Tabish has been the biggest campaign spender so far: nearly $14k. But his $16k in contributions have come from only nine different individuals. More than $11k came from John, Johnny, and Dalton Gullo (all using the same address in Wyoming), obviously divided among the three of them to evade the $5000 individual contribution limit. John Gullo is a former Burger King franchise owner with a long history of local philanthropic activity, but apparently had a falling out with the current administration a few years ago. Tabish also received $2k from major gondola proponent Curt Geiger, and $1k each from David Stevenson and Dan Musgrave. Stevenson’s address is illegally omitted from Tabish’s disclosure form but he is probably the David Stevenson who practices law with former Ogden School District Superintendent Brad Smith. Musgrave is the former head of Downtown Ogden Inc. (the contractor that used to run downtown events for the city), and also owns a downtown reception center and a local Subway franchise. Perhaps I should also mention that Tabish has been endorsed by the notorious John Patterson, who served several years as Mayor Godfrey’s unscrupulous chief administrative officer.

Perennial candidate John Thompson has received no campaign contributions at all, but has spent $400 of his own money on advertising in the Standard-Examiner.

Pretty good eh?

Standard-Examiner: Caldwell, Castillo Come Away with the Most Votes in Ogden's Mayoral Primary

Keep your eyes on this space, Gentle Readers. 

Well... we've cleared the 2019 Ogden City primary, Ogden peeps, and the Standard-Examiner has the full story:  Read up, folks!

OGDEN — The race for mayor in Ogden was likely whittled to two candidates Tuesday night. Incumbent Mike Caldwell and challenger Angel Castillo took home and 44.7% and 28.34% of the vote respectively, according to unofficial results from the Weber County Elections Office. Tuesday night's results are still considered preliminary. The county says a results update will be posted Aug. 16 and official results will be presented by cities during their respective board of canvass meetings.If the results hold, candidates Daniel Tabish and John Thompson are out of the contest, after receiving 22.16% and 4.79% of the total votes, respectively. As of Tuesday night, 7,364 votes were cast in the mayor's race. Read the full story, peeps:

• Caldwell, Castillo come away with the most votes in Ogden's mayoral primary

Keep your eyes on this space, Gentle Readers.  We'll be closely following this exciting race into November of course.

Ogden City Mayoral Debate Set for Thursday at WSU - Updated

With a total of five candidates declared for the Ogden mayoral race, this should be interesting

Do you live in OGDEN??

PLEASE COME, MEET the candidates and support the MAYORAL DEBATE at 7 PM, July 18, Room 101 in Lindquist Hall, 3768 University Circle, WSU.

• Ogden City mayoral debate set for Thursday at WSU

With a total of five candidates declared for the Ogden mayoral race, this should be interesting.

Update 7/22/19: The Standard-Examiner is carrying the post-debate story. Read up, peeps:

• Ogden's 4 mayoral candidates debate issues ahead of primary election

With at least four highly-motivated candidates in the Ogden City mayor race, it gets interertinger and interestinger, dunnit?

Big Ogden City Mayoral Primary Debate

OK folks.  Seems we have another Ogden City Municipal Election coming up. In that connection, we're delighted to shine the spotlight on this important  upcoming Ogden City Election event:

Let's face it folks. Under Mayor Mike Caldwell's mayoral administration, Ogden City politics has been, in recent years, a bit of a  "snooze" In that connection, it seems that there are a few political newcomers, Angel Castillo,  for instance, who seems tbe well prepared candidate to "shake things up"

New Years Day Special - Dave Barry’s Year in Review: Is There Anything Good We Can Say About 2018?

Master American satirist Dave Barry: The New Years gift who keeps on giving

The inimitable Dave Berry hits paydirt yet again!

"Here’s hoping that the wish expressed by this erroneous HEMA message comes true. We would truly love for 2019 to be a happy year. Or at least a better year than 2018 was. It has to be better, right? How could it possibly be worse?
Please, put down the Tide Pod."

Read up, Preeps:

• Dave Barry’s Year in Review: Is there anything good we can say about 2018?

Master American satirist Dave Barry: The New Years gift who keeps on giving.

Sheriff's Office Tows 38 Illegally Parked Cars from S.R. 226 Near Snowbasin Resort - Updated

Sledge-hammer solutions to a fly-swatter problem? You bet!

Lets chalk this up as "rotten" law enforcement behavior, eh, Gentle Readers? Notably this "crime sweep" occurred on Christmas eve, and it's reasonable to assume that at least a few of these auto owners were deprived of their vehicles past Christmas day.

• Sheriff's office tows 38 illegally parked cars from S.R. 226 near Snowbasin Resort

Sledge-hammer solutions to a fly-swatter problem? You bet! We're still scratching our heads wondering why issuing parking tickets wouldn't have sufficed in this instance.

“The people who chose to park illegally did so for reasons of convenience rather than ‘necessity,’” police said.

The Weber County Sheriff;s office just taught these scofflaws about inconvenience, we guess. Right?

Our take? The grinch showed up in unirform on the Snow Basin road on Christmas eve,

Update 12/30/2018 3:10 pm:

• Angry Snowbasin guests say Weber County sheriffs could have ticketed not towed
• UDOT says illegal parking near Snowbasin resort must end

Everybody's got their own ax to grind, no?

At Least 4 Utah Cities May Experiment With a New Kind of Voting System

Looks like a pretty good idea to us

Via Fox News 13, we'll highlight a very interesting idea:

SALT LAKE CITY -- A deadline is approaching for cities across Utah to decide if they want to experiment with ranked choice voting.
The Utah Lt. Governor's Office tells FOX 13 that West Jordan, Vineyard, Lehi and Salem have stated an intent to try it out. The deadline for cities to opt in is Dec. 31.
Ranked choice voting is being implemented in the 2019 municipal election cycle as a pilot project passed by the Utah State Legislature. Instead of voting on candidates as "hot or not," you rank them from "first to worst."

Read up Peeps, to find out how ranked choice voting works:

• At least 4 Utah cities may experiment with a new kind of voting system

Looks like a pretty good idea to us. So what say our Gentle Readers about this?

2018 Christmas Special

Please don't allow the Grinch-in-Chief to bring you down, O Gentle Ones!

Merry Christmas, gentle readers and loved ones!

Rudi Zink

Added bonus:

• ‘I am all alone’: An isolated Trump unleashes a storm of Yuletide gloom

Please don't allow the Grinch-in-Chief to bring you down, O Gentle Ones!

Federal Shutdown Begins After Lawmakers Fail to Reach Deal

Hold on tight, gentle readers. It looks like this will be a wild ride

For the third time during the Trump administration, the U.S Government is being shut down, despite GOP ownership of the Legislative and Executive branches, demonstrating the unfitness of the Republican Party to govern. The Standard-Examiner carries four different stories this morning, which we'll reel out in no particular order:

• Federal shutdown begins after lawmakers fail to reach deal
• Open and closed: shutdown's varied impact on parks, tourists
• Access to parks in US Southwest a mixed bag during shutdown
• Partial government shutdown likely to extend past Christmas

The impact of this blunder will be significant, Gentle Readers:

The gridlock blocks money for nine of 15 Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, State and Justice.
The lack of funds will disrupt many government operations and the routines of 800,000 federal employees. Roughly 420,000 workers were deemed essential and will work unpaid just days before Christmas, while 380,000 will be furloughed, meaning they’ll stay home without pay.
Those being furloughed include nearly everyone at NASA and 52,000 workers at the Internal Revenue Service. About 8 in 10 employees of the National Park Service will stay home and many parks were expected to close.

Although partisan politicians are scrambling to place blame, there can be little doubt in whose lap this blunder belongs:



Hold on tight, gentle readers. It looks like this will be a wild ride.

LDS Sister Missionaries Worldwide Can Now Wear Dress Slacks

The changes will take effect immediately

Congratulations, ladies! Maybe you'll be able to get into the Celestial Kingdom all by yourself one day instead of hoping your husband gets there and calls you to his side.

• LDS sister missionaries worldwide can now wear dress slacks

The move, according to Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, is to help prevent disease. She added it will also help sisters in cold areas stay warm, and make it easier for them to ride bikes.

Ogden Gaining Momentum on a Multi-million Dollar Redevelopment Project Downtown

There are "big doins' in Ogden, folks, as our Ogden City government prepares to get back into the urban redevelopment game. Here's the lead to the December 27 Standard-Examiner story:

OGDEN — The pieces are quickly falling into place for a new city redevelopment district that could result in more than $200 million worth of new construction in a six-block section of Ogden’s downtown.
Weber County and the Ogden City School District recently approved interlocal agreements with Ogden on the city’s proposed Continental Community Reinvestment Area.
The CRA, which is located in the approximate six-block area bounded by Wall Avenue and Washington Boulevard between 25th and 27th streets, aims to use certain tax incentives to help fund a bevy of redevelopment items: vacant building removal, the development of new housing units, public infrastructure improvements and the renovation of existing buildings.

Read up, Peeps:

• Ogden gaining momentum on a multi-million dollar redevelopment project downtown

Ogden City Council Executive Director Janene Eller-Smith said the council will likely take action the the plan and budget for the project in January.

Shades of an earlier era, when former Mayor Matthew "Boss" Godfrey went hog-wild picking winners and losers? We certainly hope not.

One thing's for sure. We'll be keeping a close eye on this story as it "develops."

Commrnts,anyone?

Utah’s DABC Asked for Your Opinion on State-run Liquor Stores and They Got It

The key impediment to improvement? The Utah State Churchislature, we're gonna suppose

Well... since they politely asked...

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control asked for your opinion on state-run liquor stores.
And you responded.
More than 2,300 surveys were returned in the first wave of the DABC’s comprehensive customer feedback survey. The agency says it heard from the majority of customers after FOX 13 first reported on the survey.
“It’s good and bad, I suppose,” DABC Commission Chairman John Nielsen said Tuesday.
On a scale of one to five, customers gave state liquor stores an average score of three.

Read up, O Gentle Readers:

• Utah’s DABC asked for your opinion on state-run liquor stores and they got it

There's more...

DABC Deputy Director Cade Meier told FOX 13 the survey results will be used to improve liquor stores.
“We’re trying to expand our network to allow more opportunities for customers to find a more pleasant shopping experience,” he said.
That pleasant shopping experience was a big issue for DABC customers. Long lines and product selection were the top complaints. One customer wrote in, urging the DABC to be more like the Apple store, and less “post-WWII eastern Europe.”
“LONG LINES AND BEING TREATED LIKE A SECOND CLASS CITIZEN by the legislature and the DABC leave me extremely dissatisfied,” wrote another person.

The key impediment to improvement? The Utah State Churchislature, we're gonna suppose.

Hatch Says He Regrets His 'I Don't Care' Comment About Trump Allegations

Read up about his corrective statement, Peeps:

There's more news about Utah's Senator Hatch, the longest serving Senator in the U.S. Senate (and part-time coffin model.) Hatch now realizes he made a major blunder when he was earlier quoted across the Internet, saying, "OK, but I don't care (about President Trump's possible criminal misconduct), all I can say is he's doing a good job as President." 

We don't know whether his dhrp-eyed handlers tipped him off, or whether he recognized his error himself, but read up about  his corrective statement, Peeps:

• Hatch says he regrets his 'I don't care' comment about Trump allegations

Yes. that's quite a bit better, wethinks.

Here are further excerpts from the above linked story:

In the statement released on Friday, the senator also said, "While I don't believe Michael Cohen is any kind of reliable voice in this process, I have expressed confidence in Bob Mueller and his investigation countless times," a reference to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and any potential links between Trump campaign associates and Russia.
Hatch went on to say that "when we see Mueller's full report and the complete filings from the New York U.S. Attorney's office, we can determine the path forward. While I believe the President has succeeded in a number of important policy areas, that success is separate from the validity of these investigations, which I believe should be allowed to run their course."

Hatch will be retiring from the Senate at the end of the yeat, and according to news reports, will be going full-time coffin model post-retirement.

Biden Greeted With Standing Ovation in Salt Lake City

Biden is expected to make a decision about 2020 after spending time deliberating with his family over the holidays

In case you missed it, Former Vice President Joe Biden Spole at the University of Utah on Thursday, December 13 The Standard-Examiner has the story. Here's the lede:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden initially refused to run with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama a decade ago, but his family ultimately convinced him he had to support an African-American candidate with a real chance of winning, he said Thursday at the at the University of Utah.
Biden, 76, was greeted with a standing ovation as he took the stage amid speculation about whether he will launch his own 2020 campaign for president.
He did not directly address the possibility of another run in the speech that marks his final scheduled public event in 2018. Instead, he spoke about the pain of losing his son to brain cancer in 2015 and reminisced about his eight years serving with Obama.
Joining the ticket “turned out to be the best decision my family ever made for me,” he said with a smile.

Read the full story, Peeps:

• Biden greeted with standing ovation in Salt Lake City

More from the story:

Biden is expected to make a decision about 2020 after spending time deliberating with his family over the holidays, sources have told The Associated Press. University of Utah professor Mark Matheson moderated the Thursday talk and told reporters he decided not to ask him about 2020 in order to keep the talk focused on education and inspiring students. Biden did not take questions from reporters.
During the speech, Biden looked back at his eight years serving with Obama, calling it a time without “one little skinny inch of scandal.”
He joked that online memes about his close relationship with the president were all true, expect that “he made the first friendship bracelet, not me.”

Biden has maintained a packed schedule this year, campaigning for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections and taking trips to promote his new book. He has done little to refute speculation about a possible presidential run, saying last week in Montana that he’d be “the most qualified person in the country to be president.”

Utah Restaurants, Nightlife and Law Enforcement Prepare for .05 DUI Law to Take Effect

Ignore the advice of the Downtown Alliance. Just stay home.

Watch out, Gentle Readers. Utah's new .05 blood alcohol standard kicks in on Dec. 30 at midnight Here's the story lede, folks!

SALT LAKE CITY — On Dec. 30 at midnight, Utah will have the nation’s toughest anti-drunk driving law.
The blood alcohol level will be lowered from .08 to .05. Hospitality and tourism groups are trying to mitigate any negative impacts by pushing a new campaign to remind people they can keep drinking — just leave the car at home.
“Yes, we have some concern, but Utahns are smart and certainly because you go out socially doesn’t mean you can’t be smart,” said Samantha Julian, the deputy director of the Downtown Alliance.

Check out the full Fox13 story here, Peeps:

• Utah restaurants, nightlife and law enforcement prepare for .05 DUI law to take effect

Check out these handy charts, to estimate your blood/alcohol level:

• Blood Alcohol Chart For Estimation

For the technically inclined, try this online calculator:

• Blood Alcohol Level Calculator

Face it folks. If you're a small woman, or a light-weight man, you'd better not get behind the wheel, even after a single multi-liquor cocktail.

If you can't even "catch a buzz," what's the point in going out? Our suggestion? Ignore the advice of the Downtown Alliance. Just stay home. Let the Utah hospitality industry fight it out with the Utah State Legislature until the ridiculously low standard has been fixed.

Utah AG Joins Multi-state Probe Into Illegal Robocalls

More than 187 million illegal robocalls were recorded in Utah alone,

Dang Robocalls!

Encouraging news from Fox13 news. For once. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes is actually doing something useful. Here's the lede, Peeps:

In a statement, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes announced his participation alongside 40 other state attorneys general. The coalition is reviewing what telecom companies are doing to combat illegal robocalls.
“To be clear, we are not talking about first amendment protected robocalls like political messages or calls from bona fide charities. While some find these calls annoying, they are legal,” Reyes said in a statement “However, if the recording is a sales pitch and you have not provided authorization, the call is illegal. To trick you into answering a call, many robocalls fake the caller ID information you see on your phone. This is called spoofing and is also illegal. It is these practices and types of robocalls we are focused on stopping.”

More than 187 million illegal robocalls were recorded in Utah alone, the attorney general’s office said. Many come from overseas using spoofed numbers.

See what me mean? It's high time, we think, for Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes to do something useful, rather than wasting Utah taxpayer money on bullshit lawsuits.

Weber State, Maine Each Look to Make History in FCS Quarterfinal Matchup

Biggest game in WSU history

Big game this evening, eh, Weber State Wildcats Fans? Perhaps the biggest game in WSU history, wethink. The Standard-Examiner has the pre-game stories, of course. Read up, Peeps:

• Weber State, Maine each look to make history in FCS quarterfinal matchup
• Weber State offense peaking in playoffs after slow start to 2018 season

The game is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. Friday. The winner advances to the semifinals to play the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal between Eastern Washington and UC Davis. If you can't make it to Stewart Stadium, catch it on KLO Radio or ESPN2.

Go Wildcats!

Update 12/8/18:

Dang!

• Mauled: No. 7 Maine shuts down No. 2 Weber State in FCS quarterfinals
• Extra Point: Weber State and Maine slog through 59-minute 3rd quarter

Congrats to the Wildcats for an otherwise great season.

Lawsuit Claims Medical Marijuana Law Was Weakened by Unconstitutional “Domination and Interference” by Mormon Church

It's great living in a theocracy, ainnit, peeps?

Tantalizing morning story from the Salt Lake Tribune. Here's the lede, Peeps:

Medical cannabis advocates outraged by Monday’s passage of a Proposition 2 replacement law are suing the state, accusing the Utah Legislature of abridging the rights of voters in an effort to appease The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The complaint, not yet filed but released Wednesday by attorney and former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson, seeks to overturn the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, the proposal pitched as a compromise between supporters and opponents of the ballot initiative.

Read up, Gentle Readers:

• Lawsuit claims medical marijuana law was weakened by unconstitutional “domination and interference” by Mormon church

Here's a short exerpt:

In a July email to TRUCE and EAU, church lobbyist Marty Stevens threatened a “long political and legislative fight" if Prop 2 architects did not compromise with the church, and promised “a ‘5-10 million dollar’ expenditure 'fighting about this initiative, which ... [would] be raised from wealthy members of the Church," the lawsuit alleges. The email indicated “a belief that Mr. Stephens and the Church wield the power to decide ‘how and when we involve elected officials, the medical association, and other community groups,’” the lawsuit states.

It's great living in a theocracy, ainnit, peeps?

Ogden Officer Shoots, Kills Alleged Robbery Suspect in 3rd Fatal Police Shooting Since Nov. 9

Our best guess? the perp is NOT an Ogdenite

Well here we go again, people, with yet another police killing in Ogden (otherwise known as the Utah Version of Mayberry, USA). This is the third cop-killing in three weeks. Here's the Standard-Examiner story folks. Read it and weep:

•  Ogden officer shoots, kills alleged robbery suspect in 3rd fatal police shooting since Nov. 9
• Police release name of Ogden man shot, killed by officer after Tuesday car chase

(OPD Deputy Chief Eric)Young said the man killed was an 18-year-old Hispanic man, but did not release the man’s name during the Tuesday press conference, pending notification of the man’s family. “This is an unfortunate loss of a young man, and we empathize with his family that will be grieving,” Young said.

Our best guess? The perp, Mr. Cortes, could NOT possibly be an Ogdenite. Mild mannered Ogdenites don't behave like this dirtbag.

And two more  things:

1) These outta town criminals are making mincemeat of Ogden's reputation as a quiet, even bucolic, town;
2) Don't mess with Ogden City cops; otherwise they'll shoot you dead.

Comments anyone? Don't let the cat get your tongues.