Just Another Day ...
Kids will be kids. And racism begets racism. It was stunning that a child at Kaysville's Creekside Elementary School came dressed as Hitler, apparently taunting other kids, especially minorities, with a Nazi salute. The incident did not make front-page news, though Fox 13 did a segment, and the dailies gave it an inside spot. No, it was not just a "silly" Halloween stunt. "The Nazi persecution of the Jews began with hateful words, escalated to discrimination and dehumanization and culminated in genocide," the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum writes. The incident, while just another day in Utah, made national and international news because some people are horrified by a growing trend of anti-Semitism. Let's not forget the recent attacks and massacres. Now, the Creekside school principal and administrator are back on the job—and all will be forgotten.
Sore Losers
No matter how close the vote, any strike against gerrymandering is a win for the democratic process. San Juan County voters narrowly defeated a deceptive referendum to change the form of government. The courts previously upheld new voting districts in a case that gave Navajos seats on the former all-white county commission. But that didn't settle anything as the whiney losers tried another tack—a referendum to increase the size of the commission because, you know, Blanding got carved up and boo-hoo, it disenfranchised its voters, according to the Navajo Times. Now, maybe Blanding can feel the pain of Salt Lake City in the carved-up, disenfranchising world of political redistricting. It's no small task to carve up districts in a fair, unbiased manner, but the Navajos have long been left out. Now they have a seat at the table.
Self-Inflicted Liberty
As if we don't get enough of Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, here he comes again—this time with a complaint against the Bureau of Land Management, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Lyman, now a state representative and former county commissioner, is perhaps the ultimate libertarian. We know he thinks anyone should be able to ride an ATV through anywhere. He and his cousin, the Blanding mayor, more recently pushed a failed referendum that could restore a white majority to the San Juan County Commission. And now, he's bitching about the BLM, its role in the canyon incident and an eye-popping assertion that officials colluded with news organizations and conservation groups to attack his reputation. We are confident in saying there is no collusion, and Lyman is doing a great job of smearing his own reputation all by himself.