The UVU Library and Me

[Philanthropic Opportunity] According the the Trib, Utah Valley University still doesn't know what to call its library ("The UVU Library," apparently, doesn't have the proper ring to it), so they're looking around for some Eccles, Marriott or Huntsman with $10 million who doesn't yet have his or her name on a major public structure. (That's how the elders at those Croesian family reunions torture members of younger generations: "So, Spence; still no library, I see.")

These days, however, most of the world's wealth has been sucked into the corporate realm where it will never be seen nor heard from again, so odds are UVU will end up with something like "PepsiCo Library." It horrifies as it refreshes!

As for those Eccleses, et al, if you're a little short on dough, I can offer a bargain: For a mere $5 million--that's half what UVU wants--you can give me a middle name. Yep, it'll appear legally on my drivers license and everything. Imagine how proud you'll be to see these blog entries signed by, say, Brandon "Oliver Eccles-Caine III is kewl" Burt.



High impact for your dollar!

(Brandon Burt)

Buh-Bye, Blair?

[Radio] As reported today, KPCW/KCPW talker Blair Feulner has walked away from his morning microphone and may or may not return. In case you don't remember, he's the guy who came under fire years ago for raking in a $150,000 per year salary at a public radio station. But, more importantly, that news brought us (for better or worse) the introduction of City Weekly staple/irritant The Ocho. The prototype big 8 from 2005:

Eight reasons Blair Feulner makes mad bling:

1. Feulner’s smooth, sexy radio voice makes rich women drop their pledge checks [edited: and panties] instantly.

2. Can translate the BBC’s British-language radio broadcasts to American.

3. Knows that All Things Considered doesn’t actually consider all things, and he’ll talk if the money’s cut off.

4. Can beat any of those hippies at KUER in arm wrestling.

5. Writes all of This American Life host Ira Glass’ jokes, which Feulner first road tests on the stand-up comedy circuit.

6. An extensive collection of tweed jackets with leather elbow patches that isn’t cheap to maintain.

7. Doesn’t write a blog. That alone is worth $150,000.

8. At the flip of a secret switch, can make KCPW “All Skynyrd, All the Time”—don’t push him!

(Bill Frost)

Pull Yer Head Out Lehi City

[News] KSL pointed out that Lehi is upping the costs for public record request of city documents. Indicating that they may even charge as much as $50 an hour to find documents for the public.

Who are you people? Is it wrong for me to assume that finding "records" is the not part of a city "recorder's" normal job description? That it is such a heinous task that they need to be paid extra money to do these searches?

Worst of all is further discouraging citizen activism. The public does not need to be discouraged from looking up dirt on their elected officials. In fact they should be encouraged to do it.

That's why I propose we bring market forces to bear on apathetic citizenry. I propose cities actually offer their citizens tax breaks for records requests they find that reveal heinous scandals about their elected officials. It could be the newest craze, like geocaching, and also serve a public good at the same time. (Eric S. Peterson)

Oh, Shut Up

[Propaganda] If simply hearing or reading the word "vouchers" hasn't sent you into a coma yet, read on.

Both sides in Utah's voucher battle are incredibly well-financed. On Nov. 6, voters will be asked to decide on Initiative 1, which in essence, allows for partial financing of a child's private education with public tax dollars. Not surprisingly, teachers' unions have rallied hard against vouchers--here in Utah and anywhere else the topic has come up. It's true what the pro-v's tell us--the National Education Association's PAC has poured nearly $3 million into the fight. Teachers want to keep tax money flowing to public schools, and they want to keep their jobs.

How American.

Meantime, pro-voucher forces have peppered TV and radio with crazed advertising, invoking the monstrous images of Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, MoveOn.org and shudder -- the ACLU. What the pro-voucher folks don't like to talk about is their own high-rolling, outside backers, including right-wing, multi-level marketing kingpin, Amway Corp., headquartered in Michigan.

Here at Truth Central (my City Weekly office), I can't fire up the computer without getting hit with an e-mail from an anti-voucher sort. They come from all over the country--Spokane, Wash., to this latest from North Carolina. I can't exactly figure why a Spokanite would give a rat's ass about what happens in Utah's schools.

Unless Utah is being targeted as an important test state for the pro-voucher movement. It is. If vouchers win here, it will make it that much easier to push them elsewhere.

So just figure this: By the time this whole campaign ends, both sides in the debate will have spent more money than God, and nearly all of it coming from outside Utah.

That's pretty American, too, come to think of it.

Here is an example of the letters pro-voucher people have been hounding me with, and from the far corners of the continent:

" ... A retired public school teacher, I have lobbied for greatly expanded options for families for 40 years. It's been a frustrating time: few victories and very far between.

Utah has a chance to show a drifting nation a way forward.

My side does not have millions to counter the National Education Associations, affiliates and allied organizations of the nation's schooling establishment. But we do have logic and we do have facts."

Tom Shuford, retired public school teacher, columnist, EducationNews.org
Lenoir, North Carolina

And that's the kind of mail I get. (Holly Mullen)