Standard-Examiner Editorial: OUR VIEW: Big Brother Beckons

Although we continue to question whether Boss Godfrey's Crime fighting efforts have been even marginally commendable, wethinks the Standard otherwise gets it exactly right.

We'll cite this morning's Standard-Examiner editorial as another instance of an editorial board that's "firing on all cylinders." We've all had a grand time poking fun at Boss Godfrey's "Clouseau I" Crime Blimp, but now the SE shifts the focus to the dark and creepy side of Boss Godfrey's most recent crackpot obsession:

• OUR VIEW: Big Brother beckons

Here's the SE's insightful closing and summary paragraph:

This is overkill to the 'nth degree. And it will get worse. It's our experience that government overbearance creeps up on society bit by bit. Worse, we accept it little by little. Where is the evidence that Ogden's current efforts to fight crime, many of which have been commendable, are so unsuccessful that we need constant surveillance?

Although we continue to question whether Boss Godfrey's crime fighting efforts have been even marginally commendable, wethinks the Standard otherwise gets it exactly right.

Standard-Examiner Guest Op-ed: "Why Did He Vote For That?"

Damn good question, Rep. Dee. Damn good question

By: Curmudgeon

For those of us who appreciate a nice piece of creative fiction, there's a wonderful op-ed up this morning in the SE. It's called "Why Did He Vote For That?" and it's by Ogden area state representative Brad "Free Lunch for Me! Dee":

• Why did he vote for that?

In it, Rep. Dee undertakes to convince us that he and his colleagues, the Republican majority that runs the Utah legislature, take their responsibilities v-e-r-y seriously, and that in deciding to vote how they vote, they rely not on lobbyists who've sprung for a hundred means for the boys in Salt Lake during the session, and not on major contributors. No, perish the thought! Rep. Dee insists that he relies more than anything else on what his constituents tell him, collected at pre-session meetings and by his survey of his voters.

He soberly explains how the voters instructed him on the budget, taxes, alcohol reform and immigration. And he ends this way:

We take our charge very seriously to represent you and to reflect the values and beliefs of our communities. Don't be afraid to reach out and let your legislators know how you feel about the issues of the day. We can't represent you if we don't know your views.

Of course, we have to remember that while Rep. Brad "Free Lunch For Me!" Dee was composing his little hymn to his own integrity, he knew [be we did not] that he was planning to vote to gut the GRAMA law, and all but destroy Utah's "sunshine" law for public documents. Odd, but Rep. Dee seems not to have asked his constituents prior to the session or by his survey if they'd like government transparency gutted and more done in secret. Imagine that.

I know why he didn't ask his constituents that. Because when Mr. Dee and his cronies sprang the GRAMA gutting bill on us all, and rammed it to passage in 48 hours flat, a KSL/Deseret News poll indicated that two out of three Utahns did not want that bill passed, and nine out of ten believed restricting government records would hurt the public's ability to monitor the legislative process. But Dee voted for more secrecy in government, for making it nearly impossible for ordinary citizens to get access to the public documents their taxes paid people like Brad "Free Lunch for Me!" to produce.

Rep. Dee's little homily to his own virtue is entitled "Why Did He Vote For That?"

Damn good question, Rep. Dee. Damn good question. Tell us, why don't you, how voters at your town meetings and in your voter survey demanded that you repeal the Sunshine law, that they wanted less government visibility and accountability.

Update 3/6/11 10:52 a.m.: Here's Rep. Dee's contact information for those curious readers who'd like to directly ask him the obvious question:

• Brad L. Dee (R) House Website Profile Page

"Don't be afraid to reach out and let your legislators know how you feel about the issues of the day," Free Lunch says. "We can't represent you if we don't know your views."

Science Saturday: This Week's Science News Roundup

In our EVER-tedious effort to highlight the latest News in Science, here's our latest Science Saturday post

According to the online Journal of Cosmology, Dr. Richard B. Hoover (Ph.D. NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center) has discovered evidence of microfossils similar to Cyanobacteria, in freshly fractured slices of the interior surfaces of the Alais, Ivuna, and Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorites. The implications are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets:

• Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites

We'll Chalk this up as another Big Win for science, amidst the lame-brained furor of some political nitwits to take our World Culture back to the pre-Renaissance 13th Century.

On another Science topic, this is fairly tantalizing too:

• March’s issue of Physics World: Meeting the Higgs hunters

Unsure about what the potential discovery of this "Higgs boson particle" really represents for science? Here's a helpful rundown for all you "lay" non-physics-trained readers... from that old standby... Wikipedia:

• Higgs boson

One thing for sure... it ain't just anthropologists who are searching for that elusive "missing link."

Gotta add that we're envious of scientific researchers who get to ply their trade at the most fantastic science lab in human history!

That's it for now, WCF science fans.

In closing, we''ll invite all GOP members of the Utah Legislature to chime in with their own competing crackpot science theories.

Standard-Examiner: Legislators Quickly Pass GRAMA Changes - Updated

Weber County Senators Christensen, Jenkins and Reid to their citizen activist constituents: "Butt outta government and mind your own damned business"

Disheartening news for open government advocates this morning as the Standard-Examiner reports that Utah "Legislators have approved changes to the law covering access to government records in what some call record time."

House Bill 477, sponsored by Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, and Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, was approved, 21-7, by the Senate following almost an hour of debate Friday.

Read the full SE story here:

• Legislators quickly pass GRAMA changes

The Salt Lake Tribune reports on this legislative travesty too:

• Bill to shield more records from public clears Senate

And don't miss this morning's scathing editorial, wherein the SLTrib editorial board correctly proclaims that "[t]he last line of defense against a brazen assault on the people of Utah and their right to knowledgeably participate in their own government now lies in the office of Gov. Gary Herbert":

• Editorial: Is Herbert for secrecy or accountability?

For some possible insight into Governor Herbert's involvement with this bill (and his possible propensity [even symbolically] to wield his veto pen), Check out Chris Vanocur's 3/3/11 ABC 4 text/video report:

• ABC 4 confronts Governor Herbert about plans to keep state records hidden from public

And for those readers who are curious about how our local Weber County Senate delegation voted on this legislative step toward Big Government Tyranny, we've checked yesterday's Senate vote tally, and GOP Corporatist Sockpuppets Senators Christensen, Jenkins and Reid (surprise of surprises) voted as a block for the GRAMA-gutting HB477, sending this crystal-clear message to their citizen activist constituents:

"Butt outta government and mind your own damned business."

That's it for now, O Gentle Ones.

For archival consistency, we'll accordingly propose that you confine your comments on HB477 to this thread; and to kickstart the discussion we've moved several earlier relevant reader comments to the lower (current) comments section.

Update 3/5/11 8:49 a.m.: Beneath this morning's above-linked SE article we find this helpful reader comment and link:

"Make sure you all ask the Governor to VETO this bill":

• Comments: E-mail the Governor

A quick email to the Governor can't hurt; might help, or so it seems to us.

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Utah Attorney General's Office: "We're Cutting the Godfrey Machine Another "Get Outta Jail Pass."

Two breaking afternoon stories from the Northern Utah media, just when we believed the stench of Utah politics couldn't get any worse

In the wake of this morning's HB477 story, and just when we didn't believe the stench of Utah politics could get any worse, we stumble upon these two breaking afternoon stories from Salt Lake Weekly, and the Standard-Examiner, respectively:

• Envision Ogden scandal ends without prosecution
• No charges against Envision Ogden

Let's all face the facts, Gentle Readers. The Utah Attorney General's Office isn't an official prosecutorial body, but is rather an unofficial servant of the forces of political crime and corruption in our state. In spite of the overwhelming and damning evidence of Envision Ogden high crimes and misdemeanors, the Utah A.G.'s office has inexplicably (but predictably) cut the Godfrey political machine another "get outta jail pass."

The floor's now open for any WCF readers who'd like to blow off a little steam.

Standard-Examiner Editorial: OUR VIEW: Another Attempt to Gut GRAMA - Updated

For those citizen activists among us who'd like to contact your State Senators to put the last-minute brakes on this ill-conceived GRAMA-gutting legislation, we've helpfully provided the pertinent State Senate contact links

Fine editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner, lambasting our "Republican-dominated Utah Legislature" for its latest heavy-handed effort to "restrict freedom of speech and transparency in government."

As a flurry of Utah Media sources reported yesterday, (See, e.g., (Deseret News, ABC 4, Tribune, Daily Herald, Fox 13, Standard Examiner), Utah neoCON Rep. John Dougall's GRAMA-gutting House Bill 477 sailed through the House yesterday with a 61-12 vote; and this morning our home town newspaper lets our secrecy-loving Utah legislature have it with both barrels:

• OUR VIEW: Another attempt to gut GRAMA

This morning's editorial also make at least a decent effort to publicly identify a few of the "Top of Utah" legislators who voted to hide electronic communications behind a veil of secrecy, and to increase the cost to citizens who seek document production through GRAMA procedure. Unfortunately the Standard's list is incomplete. And it's in that connection we're pleased provide the full list of House members who voted for the latest GRAMA-gutting measure, straight from the Utah Legislative website:

• VOTE TABULATION - HB477 - Government Records Amendments

And yes, gentle readers... the entire Weber County House Delegation voted in favor of HB 477. Remember... all of these House Reps will be telling you they're bulldogs for government transparency and enemies of big secretive government as they campaign in the upcoming 2012 elections:

• Brad J. Galvez (R) - House District 6
• Ryan D. Wilcox (R) - House District 7
• Gage Froerer (R) - House District 8
• Jeremy A. Peterson (R) - House District 9
• Dixon M. Pitcher (R) - House District 10
• Brad L. Dee (R) - House District 11
• Richard A. Greenwood (R) - House District 12

In posting these names and contact information individually, we believe we need to give "credit" where it's due, (if you know what we mean, and we think you do.)

Who knows? Maybe some of you will decide to send them an email... you know... to let them know how proud you are of them?

Update 3/4/10 10:27 a.m.: Per his comment in the lower comment section, Dan S. provides a few other news items pertaining to this story:

• KSL (text and video)
• Salt Lake Tribune article
• Tribune editorial

As an added bonus we'll particularly highlight the above-linked KSL video, which we know our WCF readers (and multitudes of Dan Schroeder fans) will simply not want to miss:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

And for those citizen activists among us who'd like to contact your State Senators to put the last-minute brakes on this ill-conceived GRAMA-gutting legislation, here are the pertinent State Senate contact links, along with some excellent and additrional "talking points," submitted by one of our concerned and well-informed Gentle Readers:

• Utah State Senate Roster
• Senator HB477 Talking Points
  

Don't let your cat get your tongues, O Gentle Ones.

Records Review Board Orders Release of Field House Prospective Donor List - Updated 2X

An unexpected victory for open government

By Dan Schroeder

The Ogden City Records Review Board ruled yesterday that the city must release one of the records it had attempted to withhold from my November 2010 request. According to the city’s description, this record is a “draft spreadsheet of potential Field House donors prepared by Mayor Godfrey for personal use.”

Under Utah’s Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA), all government records must be released to the public on request unless they fall under a specific exemption. About a hundred such exemptions are listed in the statute.

In this case, the city initially withheld the record under the exemption for “drafts, unless otherwise classified as public” (Utah Code 63G-2-305(22)). However, I immediately wrote to the city explaining that this particular “draft” was classified as public under Utah Code 63G-2-301(3)(k), which says that a record loses its “draft” status when the government relies upon it in carrying out action or policy. Other documents showed that Mayor Godfrey had already contacted several potential donors regarding the field house, and that he had publicly expressed his intention to obtain the specific sum of $10 million from these donors.

When the city failed to respond to my informal letter, I filed a formal appeal of the city’s decision to withhold the record. Appeals are heard by the city’s Records Review Board, a volunteer committee of three appointed by the mayor with approval of the city council. Our hearing was scheduled for last Friday, and continued yesterday when the Board made its decision.

During the hearing, Assistant City Attorney Mara Brown conceded that the record had lost its “draft” status. Meanwhile, however, Brown had found another GRAMA exemption to try to apply to this record. Utah Code 63G-2-305(6) protects records whose disclosure “would impair government procurement proceedings....” The plain intention of this exemption is to protect the integrity of a competitive bidding process, for instance, by preventing one bidder from obtaining a copy of a competitor’s sealed bid. Ms. Brown, however, tried to stretch this provision to include “procurement” of grants and donations, arguing that releasing prospective donors’ names “would jeopardize the city’s position with these donors.”

In response, I pointed out that “procurement”, in Utah law, means obtaining goods or services—not soliciting donations. A separate GRAMA provision, 63G-2-305(37), allows donors’ names to be kept secret under certain conditions, but only by government entities that are “primarily engaged in educational, charitable, or artistic endeavors”—not by cities. Furthermore, the city had provided no evidence that any of these prospective donors even wished to remain anonymous.

Although I was confident that the law was on my side, I still expected to lose the appeal. Ms. Brown is much better at oral arguments than I am, and inevitably came across as more authoritative. Furthermore, the Board consists of three government insiders: Robert DeBoer is a former WSU administrator who served for 12 years on the Ogden City Council; Janene Eller-Smith is a long-time city employee who now works in the city council office; and Eugene Hart is Business Administrator for the Ogden School District. I had appeared before this Board twice in 2007 and lost both times, leading to the Sierra Club’s still-pending lawsuit over an assortment of records pertaining to the gondola proposal.

In a further twist, a dispute arose when the Board decided to close the meeting to the public during its deliberations. The Utah Open and Public Meetings Act contains no explicit provision allowing a meeting to be closed for such a purpose, but some activist judges on the Utah Supreme Court have apparently ruled in favor of closed meetings in similar circumstances. I intend to research this point further, but it’s now moot in this instance.

When they invited us back in following their deliberations, both Eller-Smith and Hart made statements favoring disclosure of the disputed record. A motion to that effect was then approved unanimously, and the meeting came to a close. The city can still appeal this decision to the 2nd District Court, and has 30 days to decide whether to do so.

If the prospective donor list is soon released, the public should get a much better picture of how Mayor Godfrey proposes to raise $10 million in private donations for the field house. That information, in turn, should give the public entities—the city council, county, and school boards—a much better idea of whether this proposal is at all realistic.

Update 3/3/11 3:58 p.m.: Per Dan S... here's Cathy McKitrick's writeup from the Salt Lake Tribune:

• Panel: Release list of Ogden’s potential Field House donors

Nothing on this story yet from the Std-Ex.

Update 3/4/11 7:00 a.m.: Per the ever-sharp-eyed Curmudgeon, we're informed that the SE has its story on the review board's decision up on its website now:

• Board: List of potential field house donors should be released

Salt Lake Tribune: Shifting the Burden - Updated

Three Weber County Senators, Christensen, Jenkins and Reid are prominent among this cold-hearted group, which failed to "accept the heavy lifting of budget-balancing themselves, rather than tak[ing] the easy way out by dumping it onto a great many families who cannot fight back."

Top-notch editorial in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune, lamenting Monday's "thumbs-up" State Senate vote on Sen. J. Start Adams' meat-headed Senate Bill 270, which "shift[s] the [food tax] burden from [the Senate's] own overloaded brains to the overburdened shoulders of Utah’s poor and working classes." Here's the full editorial for those who'd like to read up:

• Shifting the burden

Being the curious type, we Googled. And for our equally curious WCF readers, here's the list of State Senators who voted "aye" on the bill and failed to "accept the heavy lifting of budget-balancing themselves, rather than tak[ing] the easy way out by dumping it onto a great many families who cannot fight back."

Take careful and indelible note, Gentle Readers. Three Weber County Senators, Christensen, Jenkins and Reid are prominent among this cold-hearted and short-sighted group.

"Perhaps more political leadership will be found in the House... or the governor’s office," as the SLTrib editorial board gently suggests.

Update 3/3/11 6:17 a.m.: The Salt lake Tribune now reports that "[o]pponents of doubling the sales tax on food won a surprising victory Wednesday, persuading a committee to kill — by one vote — the House version of the proposal." "But more battles loom" with Sen. Adams' aforementioned SB270, which still needs to have a stake driven through its heart, as the House enters the last 7 days of the 2011 legislative session:

• Food tax hike suffers surprising loss

Tuesday Afternoon News Roundup

Hog-tied with personal business, your blogmeister neglected to post a new WCF article this morning. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame, shame, shame. etc. To salvage this situation, here's our however-belated Tuesday Afternoon News Roundup. (Better late than never, we guess):

1) Looks like at least one Utah nutcase legislator is ready to push through legislation requiring "mind reading" (From the "deceased founding fathers," no less):

• A statutory seance

Gotta hand it to the SLTrib Editorial Board for putting it all "in perspective."

2) And for those who've been left out, please be sure to navigate to this Std-Ex Story, wherein SE Readers are going hog-wild, so far with upwards of 156 reader comments posts!

• External security cameras coming to 'real time crime center'

It's gotta be a new record for the SE message boards. Suffice it to say that enraged Emerald City Citizens refuse to be be left out of the "blimp" discussion.

3) And in this remarkable piece, the Gray Lady herself (The New York Times) engages in a little navel-gazing:

• Fewer vs. Less

Nobody's perfect, Right?

That's it for now from your Blogmeister. If you can't get into a discussion of the above-suggested topics, please consider this an Open Topic Thread.

Standard-Examiner: External Security Cameras Coming to 'Real Time Crime Center'

Once again it's proven true that "the only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys."

Scary. Talk about your Big Brother, it's 'A Brave New World.'

Bernie Allen, local defense attorney
External security cameras coming to 'real time crime center'
February 26, 2011

We're not taking control of anyone's camera system. We just want to be sure it's recording.

Jon Greiner, Ogden City Chief of Gestapo Police
External security cameras coming to 'real time crime center'
February 26, 2011

I wont lie. At the beginning, I thought this is a little hard to believe. But after meeting with UCAID, it's obvious this is well-thought-out. I'm really impressed.

Jess McLellan, IT project coordinator
External security cameras coming to 'real time crime center'
February 26, 2011

Why must I be surrounded by frickin' idiots?

Dr. Evil, criminal mastermind
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
1997

First we heard about Boss Godfrey's "crime fighting blimp"; and now our morning Standard-Examiner edition breathlessly announces this totally boffo anti-crime revelation:

OGDEN -- Attempting a police omniscience seen in only about 20 U.S. cities, the Ogden Police Department is gearing up for a "real time crime center" to be operational soon after its Crime Blimp launches.
The center hopes to eventually be linked with the thousands of private and government security cameras around town, including the city's own inventory of some 200 cameras.

Read the full laughably gut-busting Tim Gurrister story here:

• External security cameras coming to 'real time crime center'

Hmmmm... Once again it's proven true (according to the old ax) that "the only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys."

Salt Lake Tribune: Socrates a Fine Mascot for Utah’s GOP

"It is a good idea to follow the Creed of the Chicago News Bureau: If your mother says she loves you, check it out." - George Pyle

By Curmudgeon

There's an interesting op-ed column up over on the SL Trib website this morning [and in the dead tree edition]. It's by George Pyle, a Trib Editorial Board member, and it takes Rep. Stephen Sandstrom to task for recommending Socrates as a good role model for Utah legislators because he was an advocate of democratic government and the rule of law. [He was neither]:

• Socrates a fine mascot for Utah’s GOP

It's a chewy column, well worth a read, but what caught my eye in particular was this: In evaluating Sandstrom's claims, Pyle says, "it is a good idea to follow the Creed of the Chicago News Bureau: If your mother says she loves you, check it out."

Occurred to me it might be a good idea for the SE's news editors and political reporters to put that --- "If your mother says she loves you, check it out" --- on a sticky note on their laptops and refer to it any time they're tempted to report a public official's --- any public official's --- press release or speech or claims of any sort without fact-checking them first.

Just a suggestion....

Gentle Reader Lordfarquad Query: Does Anyone Know What the Deadline is for OPD's Traffic Ticket Quotas?

We invite any public safety officers or others who read this blog to set the record straight regarding the good Lord F's query

Gentle Reader Lordfarquad poses an interesting question in one of our comments sections down below:

Does anyone know what the deadline is for OPD's traffic ticket quotas? I could be wrong, but it seems like I see a rash of cars pulled over by OPD right around the 20th-25th of each month. Anyone know? Maybe I'm just imagining it.

Lord F asks a question broad and important enough to deserve front page space; and traffic ticket quotas have also of course been a frequent topic of discussion here at WCF. So we have no hesitation to again dive into a discussion on this topic, especially on an otherwise slow news day.

Inasmuch as OPD personnel are evaluated for traffic citation production at periodic intervals, we'll take a wild guess, for starters, that tallies are compiled at the end of every month, which would support Lord F's hunch that traffic officers may be scrambling to make quotas around the times of the month that he's set forth.

We'll confess that this is merely speculation on our part however, and will therefore invite any public safety officers who read this blog to set the record straight, regarding the good Lord F's query.

And what about the rest of our readers? Do any of you wish to share your anecdotal observations about OPD traffic citations being possibly bunched-up around the end of the month?

Salt Lake Tribune: Hammons Found Guilty in Massive Ponzi Scheme - Updated

Hammons played a major part in a classic case of affinity fraud as it is so widely practiced here in Utah amongst the faithful

By: Ozboy

The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting about William Hammons being found guilty in St. George last night for being a criminal perpetrator in Utah's biggest ponzi scheme ever:

• Hammons found guilty in massive Ponzi scheme

For you who haven't been following this case, it was all about a big time scamster in Ogden named Val Southwick, who over ten years or so ripped off over a hundred million dollars from several hundred or so suckers - most associated with the LDS Church, as was he. It's a classic case of affinity fraud as it is so widely practiced here in Utah amongst the faithful.

Southwick is now doing most likely forever in the Utah State Joint. At his sentencing last year there was a long parade of witnesses who had their life savings stolen from them. And then there was Ogden's mayor, yep none other than Matt Godfrey - who never met a scammer or ponzi scheme he didn't absolutely love - and who testified FOR and to the good character of Mr. Southwick and begged the judge not to send his friend and mentor away to the nasty old prison that was really meant for bad guys, not fellow priesthood holder/scam artists!

To refresh your memories, here's the original (and incredible) 2008 KSL News Southwick post-sentencing hearing video story, wherein Godfrey "vigorously" (and unabashedly) goes to bat for one of his "bestest" scammer buddies:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

This Hammons fellow in St. George was the biggest hustler for Southwick and delivered up a whole bunch of suckers from St. George to be fleeced by the aforementioned high priest/lying thief and mayoral buddy. Turns out that Hammons is, or at least was, a Bishop and fellow High Priest leader - just like Southwick and Mayor Godfrey.

The upshot of this is that the KSL site and the Standard apparently do not find this big story all that big, and certainly not worth a mention in their publications today. So unless Ogden folks read the Salt Lake Tribune they will never know that another big time church leader was found guilty of felonies committed against fellow church members on a very grand scale. My guess is the mayor is pleased that this story has no legs in the Standard, lest the citizens once again get reminded of just who, and how sleazy his bestest buddies really are!

Update 2/26/11 4:36 a.m.: Per Curmudgeon we're informed that "the SE now has the Hammons conviction story up... the AP report":

• Utah man convicted for his role in $180M Ponzi scheme

Standard-Examiner: Parking Lot in Downtown Ogden Gets Second Entrance

Alternate Reality Department: Parking within a block of the Junction Hotel was ample a couple of weeks ago, but this morning, parking in the same location is the number one infrastructure need of the city?

By: Curmudgeon

This morning's Standard Examiner is running an interesting story, reporting that a city-owned parking lot on Washington right across the street from the promised [yet again] Hotel At The Junction is getting a new entrance to make it more accessible to drivers, since the lot is now sadly underused:

• Parking lot in downtown Ogden gets second entrance

That's not the interesting part. The interesting part is this comment by Godfrey Administration Chief Administrative Officer Mr. John "Pureheart" Patterson:

"Parking is the No. 1 infrastructure need in the downtown area."

It is? Why it was just weeks ago, wasn't it that the Administration was assuring us when its plans for an underground parking garage for the promised Hilton Hotel at The Junction -- in other words, right across the street from the city lot discussed in this story --- tanked [banks refused to pony up the loans on grounds that the project was too speculative, too risky] that it really didn't matter because there would be ample parking available close to the hotel for its patrons without the underground lot.

Huh? Parking within a block of the Junction Hotel was ample a couple of weeks ago, but this morning, parking in the same location is the number one infrastructure need of the city?

I wonder what the number one infrastructure need will be next week....

Standard-Examiner: Ogden Ranked Sixth in the Nation for "Most Extreme" Sports

For our own part, and for the time being at least, we'll stick to our guns and decline buying into this whole Ogden "death wish sports" meme

The Standard is johnny-on-the-spot this morning with a followup to Wednesday's Weber County Forun story, having however "sanitized" the story slightly, substituting the words "most extreme" for the original "death defying" terminology and peppering the story with "high adventure" quotes from Gold Gym's Gary Nielson and the ever-"excited" Little Lord on Nine hisself:

• Ogden ranked sixth in the nation for most extreme sports

For our own part however we'll stick to our guns and decline buying into this whole Ogden "death wish sports" meme, until and unless we start seeing nutjobs like this launching off Mt. Ogden and Ben Lomond Peaks on a fairly regular basis:

• REAL High Adventure Recreation

Hope you all enjoyed our "wing suit" video reprise, folks! (As many of our regular readers have possibly guessed, your blogmeister is predisposed to re-link this awesome video upon even the slightest "drop of a hat.")

Standard-Examiner Letter: We've Had Enough Optimism from Mayor Godfrey

Gotta admit we're feeling some sympathy for poor ole Boss Godfrey, who's been manically mired in a bog of ill-founded optimism since almost the first day he took office

We're delighted this morning to highlight the latest written discourse from Ogden City community activist and WCF regular Dan Schroeder, which popped up in the form of a letter to the editor on the Standard-Examiner website yesterday afternoon. In response to Sunday's SE story, wherein Boss Godfrey expressed his "undying optimism" for the prospects of his mortally wounded Crackpot Fieldhouse Project, Dr. Schroeder now reels off a little recent history, applies ample doses of logic and common sense, and efficiently delivers the following laudable and well-reasoned retort:

• We've had enough optimism from Mayor Godfrey

Gotta admit we're feeling some sympathy for poor ole Boss Godfrey, who's been manically mired in a bog of ill-founded optimism since almost the first day he took office over a decade ago. It must be disconcerting for the "visionary" little guy to have such a constant, reality-based burr under his saddle as the logically relentless Dan Schroeder. Perhaps he'll feel better though after this year's November Municipal Election, when the well-informed Ogden City lumpencitizens will no doubt firmly and finally "let him go."

Time to throw in your own 2¢, O Gentle Ones. Who will be the first to comment?

KSL News: Ogden Ranked Among Nation's Most 'Death Defying' Cities

No doubt about it... it looks like a full employment economy for the Ogden City life insurance and wills and estates planning industries

For those who missed it in one of our comments sections down below, we don't want to let another moment pass without highlighting the latest Ogden-touting "puff piece" from the national media. Thanks to gentle reader Doonie, we learn that Emerald City has been named "one of the Top 10 cities in the country to stare down death and walk away," by some online entity called Livability.Com. Don't miss yesterday's thrilling KSL News story:

• Ogden ranked among nation's most 'death defying' cities

Just to put it all in context, Twin Falls, Idaho finished first, with Rock Springs, Wyoming scoring a strong fourth-place rating. With Ogden's #6 finish, we won't hesitate to observe that we're definitely in heady, "white-knuckle" company here.

No doubt about it... it looks like a full employment economy for the Ogden City life insurance and wills and estates planning industries.

A special Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to the drones of the Ogden City Administration, who obviously have their public relations efforts stuck in overdrive.

2010 Ogden City Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

The only clean and professionally audited financial information we'll get from Boss Godfrey for the 2010 fiscal year

For the enlightenment of our gentle readers, we're pleased to be able to link the just now released fiscal year 2010's Ogden City Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), which we've obtained from the Ogden City website, and uploaded to our WCF web storage site:

• Comprehensive Annual Financial Report - Year ended June 30, 2010

This report, by the way, will also be a topic of discussion at tomorrow night's City Council work session, among other matters financial. We'll accordingly link tomorrow night's council packet, for the benefit of anyone who'd like to attend:

• 2/22 City Council Work Session Packet

Slice it, dice it and ginsu knife it gentle readers. Consider this our annual opportunity to get an overview, and truly decipher what's really been going on financially with the Boss Godfrey Administration, with a view through the FY2010 rear view mirror, at least.

We've also added a link for future reference in our right sidebar, within our "Government Toolkit" module, supplementing earlier CAFR reports, going back to 2006.

Roll up your sleeves, don your green eye shades and have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Standard-Examiner: Godfrey Optimistic Despite RAMP Board's Refusal to Support Field House Funds

Now the all of a sudden the RAMP golden seal of approval is not so important

Submitted by: ND

Just opened my Sunday Standard-Examiner and lo and behold the Gman says the "Field House Lives"... Front page, top article, now how did that happen? How can this monstrous project still be alive?

Here's the online version:

• Godfrey optimistic despite RAMP board's refusal to support field house funds

Now the all of a sudden the RAMP golden seal of approval is not so important... and the $2.4 wasn't that important either... just a drop in the bucket.

So where is the money going to magically appear from now... once again he declines to say.

Now only Ogden residents could get the discount pass...

Godfrey says "the facility has widespread public support."

I say PROVE IT! PUT IT TO A VOTE!

Science Saturday: Science News Roundup

Bits and pieces from the Weber County Forum science news wire

1) Are you recently having a wee bit more trouble than usual with your TV, radio, cell phone or GPS device? If so, Discovery Science News offers a plausible explanation for this:

• Monster Solar Flare Jams Radio Signals

Don't waste your valuable time downloading software updates like your blogmeister did; it looks like anyone who relies on satellite-transmitted data will just have to wait this one out.

2) Are you an asthma sufferer who's been hacking away all winter, ostensibly due to the bad Utah winter air? Perhaps a course of antibiotic therapy is something you should consider:

• Asthma Tied to Bacterial Communities in the Airway

Talk to your Doc. Tell him Rudi sent ya's.

3) And just in case you're one of those who may believe that scientific research is sometimes a waste of academic research dollars, be sure to check out this blockbuster story from Smithsonian.com:

• Everything You Wanted to Know About Dinosaur Sex

Much more than we wanted to know... actually.

4) Have you been thinking about taking a Spanish course, or perhaps learning another second language? Here's an interesting incentive: According to this article from the Penn State University website, speaking more than one language can actually bolster brain function by serving as a "mental gymnasium":

• Juggling Languages Can Build Better Brains

Perhaps we should urge Ogden Mayor Boss Godfrey, who was at one time reputedly fluent in Spanish, to immediately venture into Ogden's Central City neighborhood to brush up on his "second" language skills, right?