Too Liberal
Mormon art has long had that plastic backlit look about it, but to each
his own. Until Jon McNaughton, that is. McNaughton, while claiming no
party allegiances, appears to have a pipeline to the past. You know,
that special pipeline the tea party has to the ghosts of Founding
Fathers past? “The Forgotten Man” has Barack Obama standing on a
discarded Constitution while Ronald Reagan, George Washington and
Abraham Lincoln gesture at a “forgotten” young man. McNaughton recently
withdrew his “One Nation Under God” from the BYU Bookstore—that bastion
of liberal expression, which stopped displaying the art. “One Nation”
shows Christ holding the Constitution while historical figures weep or
rejoice. It’s all about McNaughton’s belief that the Constitution was
divinely inspired. Now you’ll have to find him on the Web, not in the
bookstore.
Super
Woman
At the risk of creating another “first woman” story, the Jordan Board
of Education nonetheless took the bold step of choosing an outsider as
its new superintendent. Well, almost an outsider: Patrice Johnson did
her undergraduate work at BYU. But she is news because, frankly, Utah
likes to be incestuous when choosing its leaders. So, Jordan instead
reached out and chose Johnson from the Clark County School District in
Las Vegas. Johnson has taken a tough job at a district filled with what
parents call “mistrust and lack of communication.” And not
surprisingly, with almost the same number of years in education as
former superintendent Barry Newbold, Johnson’s starting salary is
$44,000 less.
Broken Trust
Once again, it looks like it pays to break the law in Utah.
EnergySolutions paid an $80,000 fine to the state after burying 23
barrels of waste that was too radioactive, according to records
obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune. While $80,000 sounds like a lot to
the average citizen, it’s probably a fraction of what the company
received for its storage services. But fine aside, the question now is
what to do with the waste. The Utah Division of Radiation Control
thinks that digging it up would only add to public and worker exposure,
and also could cost upwards of $2 million over two years. Well, that’s
a no-brainer. But sadly, it’s also a nice little precedent that says
rules are made to be broken.
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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