Soap Box: Feb. 23-March 1 

Cover story, Feb. 23, "Loretta's Justice"
Great article. Reporting at its best. I had never heard of this case. Read it to the end.
Deb Roskelley
Via cityweekly.net

Thank you Richard Shaw, Carolyn Campbell and City Weekly for sharing my story!
Heidi Jones-Asay
Via cityweekly.net

Five Spot, Feb. 23, Noor Ul-Hasan
A wife, a mother, an Indian immigrant and a beloved friend and chosen sister. We love you, Noor!
Kathryn Jones-Porter
Via Facebook

Drink, Feb. 23, "Eight Great Utah Brews"
Yeah, you missed one of the best breweries in our humble state; 2 Row has been killing it with the best IPAs and their new oatmeal stout is maybe the best stout.
Joe Snow
Via Facebook

My favorite easily accessible local beer is 2 Row Random, and my favorite special release is Red Rock Rêve.
Mike Sargent
Via Facebook

Both wise decisions there! I like them both but also love Full Suspension and Epic Spiral Jetty.
Richie Knorr
Via Facebook

Mama's Milk Stout by Vernal Brewing Co.
Robert Bath
Via Facebook

Devastator and Jalapeño Cream Ale.
@MicahMarlowe1
Via Twitter

Blog, Feb. 24, "Simpson Ave. Shelter Nixed"
So, Central 9th is the new homeless hub? I'll have three homeless centers (Palmer Court, 700 South and the youth center less than a mile from me), and all four less than 2 miles. I've been fine with it because we all should shoulder some responsibility, but this is total BS. Poor Sugar House can't even handle the women and children? That's pathetic.
Billy Gowen
Via Facebook

My only real objection to this location is that it was going to displace a very active day care center that has a lease on the building till 2019. I am comfortable with a small homeless shelter in Sugar House, but not on Simpson Avenue. My current idea is to move the location north a block into one of the strip malls on the corner of 21st South and 700 East. It would still be near the train line and the day care center would have remained.
Eric Hunt
Via Facebook

Except that's not what the majority were going for. When you lobby the Legislature to cut off homeless funding from Salt Lake rather than propose a reasonable solution, like yours, rash decisions get made. This decision is bullshit.
Billy Gowen
Via Facebook

Bunch of snobs. Easy to talk about wanting to help others, but you can't handle a women and children's shelter in your neighborhood, even though you live near a street that acts more like a highway.
Caroline Amis
Via Facebook

It is so ridiculous that the west side of Salt Lake continues to shoulder everything the wealthier areas don't want to see or deal with. So much easier to ignore reality if you keep it out of your neighborhood.
Adrienne Kumik Bowen
Via Facebook

Yet another Utah community shows that human life means nothing to them, while property values are of greater concern than anything else. Everyone who fought against this, instead of working with the program and making it better than what it was slated to be, is horrible and has no idea of what love truly is.
Travis Burlison
Via Facebook

So awesome! We fought, we won! Still need a good solution for the homeless. Still going to help support an overall solution for the valley.
Alan Neeley
Via Facebook

OMG, the privileged people won.
Laura Jane
Via Facebook

Because people stood up and asked that they not evict two successful businesses that had leases for the next few years already paid for? Yeah, justice was done. That is all.
Casey Reid
Via Facebook

Those "better than the rest" residents of Sugar House got what they wanted. A fucking day care. Congrats!
Dominick Caputo
Via Facebook

Let's talk about sex (ed)
When it comes to any legislation having to do with sex, one should understand the very limited and warped sex education that the majority of the Utah legislators had. This is because most of the legislators are Mormon and received their sex education from the church.

As young boys, they were taught that masturbation was a grave sin. Thus, during their missionary service, they were required to report in detail their "sin" to the mission president.

I once heard a returned sister missionary tell a returned male missionary the following: "If you thought you were embarrassed confessing your masturbation, think how much more embarrassing it is for a young woman to confess her masturbation to the male mission president."

According to church teachings to adolescent boys, wet dreams are OK with God because there is a sperm factory operating within the males' crotch area. The factory sometimes overproduces sperm and the excess is expelled through the penis as the young man sleeps.

Until the last few decades, Mormon women risked being locked out of the celestial kingdom if they practiced any form of birth control. Families of 12-15 were not unusual. One woman related to me that after giving birth to four children and suffering through a still birth and a miscarriage, her husband warned that if she had her tubes tied, she would go to hell. Note: She had her tubes tied, left her husband and the church.

Yes, the people who believe all of this include most of the Utah legislators, the governor, the lieutenant governor and most other Utah and other elected and appointed officials.
Ted Ottinger,
Taylorsville