Transcript-Bulletin Columns

It turns out that the Shop Local column that ran on Tuesday the 26th will be my last for the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin.  The egocentric and myopic editor has decided to terminate our relationship because I had the audacity to discuss a rejected column with an outside journalist.

I’ve blogged about this in detail on my Non-Partisan blog - the link is here.

The journalist that I spoke with has now twice blogged on the subject.  You can view his posts here and here.

So, there won’t be any new updates at this particular blog site.  I will, however, open a new blog with additional columns that are published in other outlets.

Shopping locally can keep community unique

by Bob Henline

May 26, 2009 | 20 views | 0  | 0 |  | 

Tough economic times such as the current recession usually result in a number of marketing strategies designed to attract buyers and their money into businesses of all types. One such strategy that is gaining greater traction in today’s economy is the “shop local” movement, such as that being pushed by the Tooele Chamber of Commerce’s new “Come Together” campaign. While the buy-local concept certainly isn’t new, the current economic situation is drawing more and more attention to both the importance and the plight of independent local businesses in America.

What is important about local businesses is what they are and what they represent. Independent businesses are a vital and vibrant element of America’s economy. They provide the backbone of both large urban centers and smaller communities like Tooele. While large chain-stores like Walgreens, Sears, Big 5 and even Wal-Mart are necessary to our city’s economic future, it is important that we also understand and appreciate what local businesses do for our community.

Local businesses help to provide a more vibrant, unique, and community-oriented business environment. For the most part, local business owners live in the communities their businesses serve, helping to create a greater sense of community in the marketplace. Economically speaking, small businesses tend to be more innovative, helping to spur product diversity, higher levels of service, and new developments. From the perspective of a free market, what could possibly represent a better free-market economy than thousands of small businesses competing — and cooperating — to provide the best possible products and services to consumers?

Tooele is in a unique position. The city is growing enough to nearly be a self-sustaining economy, yet its proximity to Salt Lake City makes it easy to jump in the car and go shopping in the big city. However, Tooele has a number of independent businesses that can meet the needs of this growing community locally. While not many of these independent businesses have the resources to carry inventory like Wal-Mart does, they do offer more personalized and attentive service.

There are a number of local businesses in Tooele that strive to provide locals with alternatives to driving into Salt Lake, and the local business community is growing every day.

In order for this to continue, however, Tooele citizens need to become involved. When you can, shop locally and support our independent business community. The amount of tax revenue generated from the municipal percentage of sales tax may not be terribly significant, but in this economy every single dollar helps. Not only that, the small local businesses are the ones that really make our community unique. And your patronage will help to keep our local business owners in business, making a difference in our community every day by their very existence.

In Contempt of Texting

May 5, 2009 | 19 views | 0  | 0 |  | 

Susan Henwood was recently released from jail 2 days into a 30-day sentence for contempt of court.  Judge Stephen Henriod issued the sentence after Mrs. Henwood texted information regarding the debt-collection proceedings to her husband, who was unable to attend due to medical concerns.

I’m not an attorney, I don’t even play one on TV (or in the newspaper, in this case), but I do know the difference between right and wrong.  Should Mrs. Henwood have been texting during the hearing?  Absolutely not.  There are standards of behavior in a courtroom, standards to which everyone in the courtroom should adhere.  There is an inherent respect for the law and for the system that should be held by anyone in attendance.

That being said, the actions of Judge Henriod illustrate one of the reasons that the public’s respect for the system is faltering.  Regardless of what she was texting to her husband, there was no call to have Mrs. Henwood incarcerated.  If she was violating courtroom protocols with her text message, as she obviously was, she should have been instructed by the Judge to switch off her phone.  Failure to follow those instructions could then result in a fine for contempt or removal from the courtroom, but certainly not 30 days in jail.

Judge Henriod insists that it was the message’s content that prompted the decision to jail Mrs. Henwood, not the fact that she was texting.  The judge received an affidavit from a woman sitting in the courtroom that claims to have overhead Mrs. Henwood and her mother-in-law speaking about hiding assets.  That is an even more ridiculous reason to have Mrs. Henwood jailed than texting to her husband.  Has Judge Henriod not read the United States Constitution?  Mrs. Henwood and her mother-in-law have the freedom to discuss whatever they wish, it becomes a crime only if they actually perform an illegal action.

The worst thing here is that this is all about a civil matter.  This wasn’t a criminal case, and Mrs. Henwood was not a defendant.  She was there as a representative of her husband.  Whatever conversation she has with her husband’s mother is, and should remain, between them.  It is not the business of the court, nor is it the business of an eavesdropping busybody in the courtroom.

Let’s put this whole case into perspective.  Not long ago a Tooele County substitute teacher was sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine for having sex with an underage student.  Probation and a fine, no jail time.  Susan Henwood was sentenced to 30 days in jail for sending a text message to her husband.

Susan Henwood served 2 days of that sentence and was then released by Judge Henriod, “because of her children,” he stated.  He didn’t, however, revoke his decision or even commute the remainder of the sentence.  It will be reconsidered at her husband’s next hearing.  What should be reconsidered before the next hearing is Judge Henriod’s fitness to serve as a judge.  His callous disregard for Mrs. Henwood’s freedom of speech and vindictive decision to jail her over a text message at the very least warrant an investigation from the state Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

by Bob Henline

May 19, 2009 | 42 views | 0  | 1 |  | 

Last week, the Transcript-Bulletin included a piece by Sarah Miley detailing the travel budgets of various Tooele County departments, “County spends more on travel” (May 12). In tough economic times it is easy to sit back and criticize the expenses of government, especially things such as travel that are often misperceived by the public to be unnecessary.

What the county has done in this case is completely appropriate. Each department has submitted their requests and proposals based upon what they perceive to be their needs. The county commission has reviewed these proposals and approved the budgets to include them. The commissioners have also stated that as these trips approach, each expense will be reviewed again relative to the actual expenses of the county and changing economic circumstances, such as decreased revenues that could result from a continuing recession.

I am a fiscal conservative and make no apologies for it. Government expenditures should be limited only to that which is necessary and fits within the proper role of government. In this particular case, the commissioners interviewed indicated that these trips were for conferences and continuing training. In government as in business, it is vital that employees be properly trained and that their training and education continue. Attending conferences and training that can then be brought home and shared with other employees is a vital part of effective government.

Trainings and conferences allow county employees and elected officials the opportunity to meet and network with their peers from other counties. In addition to the formal training received, these situations provide an invaluable exchange of information regarding their experiences. This free exchange of information helps everyone to improve the services, policies, and programs of the counties they represent.

While I certainly agree that every expense of the county should be scrutinized, especially as we continue into this recession, I also believe that indiscriminately slashing budgets is not the proper approach. It is at times like these that the additional viewpoints and knowledge offered by training and conferences is more valuable than ever. Learning from other counties what has and hasn’t worked for them provides Tooele County’s employees and officials with more empirical information from which they can make educated decisions about the policies and programs they manage.

That being said, however, I also think that it is important for the county to not only release the amounts contained in the travel budget for county employees, but also what those budget lines are intended to cover. Each travel expense should be considered carefully and with complete transparency. In business, many of us are expected to travel, and our expenses are monitored by our managers and finance departments. The voters are the managers of county employees. It is therefore our job to monitor their actions and their expenses. There is nothing at the county level of government that should fall into the realm of classified information.

Real democratic process is only possible with an informed and involved citizenry, and putting this travel information before the public’s eyes can only help to foster discussion about the proper role and activities of our government.

Hit-and-run laws encourage DUI drivers to flee.

by Bob Henline

May 12, 2009 | 332 views | 0  | 9 |  | 

Just over a week ago a young girl, Alyssa Mills, was hit by a drunk driver while walking home along a dark stretch of road in Tooele. The (alleged) driver, Rene Lopez, fled the scene of the accident, but was apprehended shortly thereafter with the help of a concerned citizen that followed him and kept police apprised of his location.

In this particular case, it seems that things are going to work out as they should, Ms. Mills is on the road to recovery, miraculously without permanent injury, and the alleged perpetrator is in jail. However, this case points to one serious flaw in Utah’s driving laws. In the State of Utah leaving the scene of an accident is not a felony offense, causing an accident while intoxicated is.

The way the law is written, it actually benefits a drunk driver to flee the scene of an accident and hope that they can elude the police until such a time as the alcohol is out of their system. Yes, when they are eventually caught, they will face a misdemeanor charge of fleeing the scene on top of whatever they face from the accident itself, but what they won’t face is a DUI charge. This is a law that needs to be addressed by the Utah State Legislature, and addressed immediately.

The State Legislature needs to amend the law regarding leaving the scene of an accident to reflect the actual severity of the real problem – fleeing the scene of an accident should not be a loophole that allows intoxicated drivers a chance to sober up before facing the music for their crimes. The penalty for leaving the scene of an accident should be made to be at least as severe as that for causing a DUI-related accident.

Under no circumstances should anyone leave the scene of an accident – especially in a case where someone is injured. However, as the penalty for doing so is substantially less than it would be to stay and face a DUI-related accident charge, people run. That flight, especially when dealing with an intoxicated driver, poses an even larger risk to society.

Tooele Police Lt. Paul Wimmer was quoted as saying that it is very difficult for the police to track down vehicles involved in hit and run accidents, unless someone manages to keep police informed, as happened in this case. Imagine the difficulty in tracking down that vehicle and the driver in time to effectively test for intoxication.

The argument has been made before that by increasing the penalty for leaving the scene of the crime to the levels of DUI-related offenses, the system unfairly punishes sober drivers for fleeing the scene. My response to this is very simple: don’t flee the scene of an accident. If you are involved in an accident, whether or not you are at fault, you should stay there until the proper authorities have investigated the situation. Sober or drunk, there is no legitimate reason to leave the scene of an accident. The laws need to be rewritten to reflect the actual severity of leaving the scene of a crime and address the loophole that currently allows drunken drivers a chance to evade the consequences of their poor choices.

On March 31, 2009 a container truck full of toxic waste left the EnergySolutions facility in Clive, Utah, on its way to an incinerator in Tennessee. A few hours later as it was weighing in at a station in Carbon County, Utah an employee noticed that the container was leaking. The source of the leak: a hose that had been “repaired” with duct tape.

Now, in all fairness to EnergySolutions, I’m going to quote their spokesman, Mark Walker who so eloquently stated, “It wasn’t our container.” Walker was correct, the container wasn’t owned by EnergySolutions, it was owned by an independent contractor of the Department of Energy. However, this situation only serves to illustrate the real depth of the problem we are facing in Tooele County. EnergySolutions filled a truck with toxic waste and sent it out onto the highway without any concern for human or environmental safety.

For those of you that want to play the “Taiwan Hormesis” card, we’re not talking about Class-A radioactive waste, nor are we even talking about the newly reclassified depleted uranium. We are talking about toxic waste that is “flammable, hazardous waste and toxic upon inhalation for up to 300 feet,” according to the Hazardous Materials Incident Report filed with the US Department of Transportation. This waste was placed into a container truck that was held together with duct tape.

Imagine driving down Highway 6 on the way into Price behind that particular container, had the weigh station employee not been as observant as he/she was. A nice glob of toxic waste hits the windshield of your car, exposing you and your family to these noxious and toxic chemical compounds. Say that same leak drains on the road for a few miles and someone pitches a cigarette butt out the window, that could make a nice pretty fireworks display.

EnergySolutions wants to tell us that it’s not their container, and that “No health or safety was compromised to residents of Carbon County or the environment.” That’s a really nice sentiment on their part, but it’s due in no way to any action or effort on the part of EnergySolutions. This was a toxic disaster waiting to happen, and averted only because one person was on the ball.

These pollutants are on the roads every day, running in and out of Tooele County, to and from the EnergySolutions facility in Clive. The fact that to date we haven’t had a large-scale leak or incident is due purely to luck at this point. It’s obvious that whatever transportation safety regulations are in place at this facility are either woefully inadequate or simply ignored in the pursuit of a few extra dollars. Don’t worry, this is material you can put in your grow box, right Mr. Creamer? We don’t need to be concerned about environmental health or human safety, just slap some duct tape on the hose and ship it out – it isn’t our container.

May 19, 2009 | 41 views | 0  | 1 |  | 

“The problem with earmarks is that it’s too easy to slip in a bad one.” That was the line delivered by Utah’s First District Congressman Rob Bishop in a town hall meeting held at the Tooele County Health Department building on April 16^th. Mr. Bishop followed that comment up with “It’s a terrible process. We need to reform the process.”

While I certainly agree with those comments, I find it difficult to reconcile those with Representative Bishop’s actions and comments he made a mere 30 minutes prior to those. This year, Representative Bishop has submitted $6.5 billion in earmark requests to the Appropriations Committee. Over 90% of these earmark dollars can be directly traced to Bishop’s campaign contributors, such as Boeing.

In that town hall meeting I asked Mr. Bishop about his earmark requests and specifically about the $740,000 he requested to help McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden purchase a new MRI machine. His response: “If the forms were filled out properly, I just forwarded them on to the committee.” I followed up by asking him if he felt any responsibility as a legislator to make decisions as to the value of those earmark requests, to which I received a nonchalant shrug in response.

Here we have an elected official, charged with the task of making decisions in the best interest of not only Utah, but for America as a whole, and he lacks the political courage to even stand up for his own beliefs. Representative Bishop claims to be a fiscal conservative, he voted against the bailouts (for which I applaud him), he voted against the stimulus package, and against the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, all on the grounds that the government just shouldn’t be spending that kind of money. Yet he feels comfortable forwarding on a request for a “non-profit” corporation (read: a corporation that pays no taxes) to receive nearly a quarter of a million dollars to purchase new equipment.

Intermountain Health Care, the owner of McKay-Dee Hospital, has legal non-profit status. This status means that they not only pay no income tax, they also pay no property tax on the multitude of very high-value properties they own in the state of Utah. Property tax that would be of great benefit to an educational system that is suffering tremendously due to lack of funding. In their 2007 Annual Report, IHC had a line item of over $390 million that was “set aside for future use.” How would you like to be able to declare $390 million set aside in your bank for “future use” and not have any tax liability on it?

Throughout the entire town meeting Representative Bishop waxed philosophic about the role of government. At what level (local, state, or federal) is government action appropriate? Should government expand to address issues or should individuals be “empowered” to solve problems? His conclusion in most every case: government’s role should be limited, with individuals being responsible for solving problems. To paraphrase, he indicated that the “general welfare” clause of the Constitution’s preamble provides a great guide: does the action benefit society as a whole? If so, it falls into the realm of legitimate government action.

Given his own paradigm it seems not only hypocritical, but a gross dereliction of duty for Representative Bishop to blindly forward requests for federal money to specific corporations. Is this really the kind of person that we want “representing” us in the US Congress?

Social Hypocrisy and Contradictions

April 14, 2009 | 41 views | 0  | 1 |  | 

Last week the federal government released another element of the stimulus package to the state of Utah, $22.4 million for child care for low income families, $2.2 million for childhood immunizations, and $515,000 to provide emergency shelter and food bank assistance. As I browse through various news and commentary regarding the stimulus package I see the same words over and over again: redistribution of wealth, socialism, tax-and-spend economics.

The same group of conservative pundits that clamored for deregulation during the Bush Administration and then backed the $700 billion dollar bailout plan for banks and automobile manufacturers are screaming about socialist economics when taxpayers’ money is actually used to benefit taxpayers. I will admit, I was one of the first to decry the bailout, I thought (and still think) that it was irresponsible government policy to bail out corporations for their own unethical and unsound business practices. The stimulus package, however, is an entirely different ballgame.

$22.4 million to provide child care for low-income families. It’s somehow bad to provide child care assistance to low-income families so that they can actually go to work and try to make a living, to earn their way out of poverty? It’s bad to provide a couple of million dollars to pay for immunizations to help children that can’t afford medical care (or insurance) stay healthy? That $2.2 million will save tens if not hundreds of millions in the long run. $515,000 for food bank and emergency shelter assistance. That one I do have a bit of a problem with, in my opinion it’s not nearly enough.

The economy is in the worst shape we’ve seen since the Great Depression. Given the changing nature of our economy and the interdependence of world economies, it could actually be argued reasonably that this is the worst economic position in American history. How did we get here? There is more than enough blame to go around on this one. Poor fiscal management from the Bush Administration, unethical business practices on the part of the financial markets, overspeculation, overconsumption, lack of oversight and regulation – it all plays a part. At the end of the day, though, the poor economy impacts us all. As more and more of our fellow citizens fall under the poverty line, losing jobs, homes, medical care, and their ability to provide food for their families we all suffer.

For the people that want to whine about these “socialist” economic programs I give one small piece of advice: pick up a book on political theory and figure out what socialism really means. Every government in the history of the world, even your precious Reagan Administration, has engaged in the redistribution of wealth – it’s called taxes. The government collects money from the citizens and uses it in the manner it deems best for the nation. That money ends up in someone else’s hands.

The government has a responsibility to look after the welfare of the citizenry, that is written into the United States Constitution. Are there some potential problems with the Obama stimulus package? Of course. Nothing coming out of Washington is ever going to be perfect. At least with this plan, unlike the previous one, the focus is on the people that actually need it, people that are hurting not by decisions that they made, but by conditions outside of their control.

by Bob Henline

Apr 07, 2009 | 181 views | 0  | 6 |  | 

Curtis Crittenden, Christopher Burton, Benjamin John Magness, James Allen Kern, Beth Anne Marie Lake, Christopher Michael Wood — the list goes on and on. It’s the list of pedophiles and child pornographers being sentenced in Tooele County over the past several months.

Several months ago, Ann Herron wrote a column for this paper explaining why she was glad that the numbers of these cases is going up (“Society must give child molesters nowhere to hide,” Sept. 30, 2008). She was glad because the number of cases we read about doesn’t necessarily mean there are more children being abused, but rather that more people are actually brave enough to come forward and press charges. Child sex abuse is coming out of the shadows. The “dark family secret” is becoming a thing of the past.

While I agree with Ann that the increasing number of reports, prosecutions, and convictions is a good sign, I see this only as a beginning. The system needs to be redesigned so that the punishments being handed down to these violators are not only enough to keep them away from our children forever, but also enough to provide a suitable deterrent to other potential violators.

One of the major problems society faces in pursuing these cases is the impact that a long investigation and prosecution have on the victim or victims. Every interview, every moment of preparation, every minute of the trial will force them to relive their violation. This is hard enough on adult sexual assault victims, but it can be emotionally disastrous for children.

So prosecutors do the expedient thing: plea bargain. This has the effect of sparing the victim from reliving their victimization again and again, enabling them to begin the healing process sooner. However, it also has the effect of generally reducing the amount or degree of the charges and hence reducing the length or severity of the punishment. Yes, punishment. Not rehabilitation. Child sex offenders may need rehabilitative therapy, but what they also need is severe punishment.

Child predators represent the single greatest threat we face in society. The damage these people inflict upon the children of our communities is not only emotionally and physically detrimental, but also insidious. In many cases, the victims don’t feel the full brunt of the trauma they’ve endured for years, even decades. While locking a predator up for 20 years isn’t going to do anything to alleviate the trauma felt by most of their victims, what it will accomplish is to take these animals off the street and protect other children from them. Permanent registration in the state and national sex offender database should also be a mandatory term of any plea bargain or conviction for a child sex offense.

In all honesty, I don’t know what the answer is to the trauma created by a prolonged investigation and protracted trial. Perhaps a plea bargain is the best solution for cauterizing the wound and allowing the victim to begin the healing process. What I do know, however, is that the sentences being handed down to child sex offenders aren’t nearly tough enough, nor are they in any way commensurate with the amount of damage these offenders do — not just to their victims but to society as a whole.

by Bob Henline

Mar 24, 2009 | 331 views | 0  | 9 |  | 

A story in the March 19 issue of the Transcript-Bulletin reported on the plight of a Tooele man who spent some $32,000 to fit his home with solar panels in an effort to conserve electricity, “Solar panel pioneer upset at Tooele City.” Dennis Tracey is now facing the potential loss of that money because the Tooele City Planning Commission has approved the construction of an 85-unit apartment complex behind his house that could dramatically cut down on the amount of sunlight (and hence power) that hits his backyard during the day.

In all fairness to the city, there is no legal reason for them to deny the construction permit for this apartment complex. Mr. Tracey has even acknowledged that it is probably too late for anything to be done to rectify his situation, as the laws just don’t exist at this time. However, Tooele City is in a unique position right now to make a statement about green power. The city has experienced dramatic growth over the past decade, but is not yet so big that ordinance changes that encourage the use of green energy will create economic hardship to builders, homeowners and businesses. The time is right for Tooele to be looking into ordinances that will protect future homeowners and businesses that choose to “go green.”

Tooele County is continually buffeted by strong winds, as anyone who has lost siding and roof shingles can attest. Harvesting the power of these winds could help generate additional electricity for the city and the county. Solar power is abundant and renewable, and should be encouraged and protected. These are seemingly little things, but little things add up to big things.

Can any of this help Mr. Tracey? Probably not, and that is unfortunate. The city and the planning commission have rules of law that must be followed, and the laws don’t yet exist that will protect the sunlight path to Mr. Tracey’s solar panels. I do, however, have a few suggestions to make. First, Mayor Dunlavy and the City Council need to take a serious look at implementing regulations that will protect other homeowners from building obstructions that would adversely impact solar power. I’m not a legal expert, but this can’t be the first time this issue has been addressed in the United States. We need to find out how other communities are addressing it and act quickly and responsibly. Second, I would suggest that the developer of this complex find some way to compensate Mr. Tracey for his potential loss. It may be as simple as moving his panels from the awning to his roof in order to capture the sunlight. If that is the case, in the interest of good public relations and just doing the right thing, this is something the developer should do for Mr. Tracey.

Tooele City and Tooele County are in a position to become a truly green community. With the number of federal grants that are now available for renewable energy and infrastructure development, we can make a tremendous impact upon our city, our county, and upon the nation as a whole. Tooele City could be the “shining star” the city Web site advertises, showing other cities across America the way to balance growth, development and environmental consciousness.