Do eight declining lakes around the world hold the answers that will help save the Great Salt Lake?

The Great Salt Lake pictured near Antelope Island on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. A new study has looked at the environmental and financial impacts when saline lakes decline. | Colter Peterson, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — When a 100-square-mile saline lake in Southern California was drained dry by Los Angeles, it ultimately became the single largest source of dust pollution in the United States.

More than $2 billion was spent to mitigate those dust impacts, introduce shallow flooding and rehabilitate the lake. By 2018, after two decades of effort and expense, Owens Lake was designated a shorebird preserve of international significance.

“By the time things reach a crisis level, it is very difficult to mitigate or turn the corner and minimize those impacts,” said Marcelle Shoop, director of the saline lakes program for the National Audubon Society.

“It is very costly to do.”

The Great Salt Lake, 19 times the size of Owens Lake, is in historic decline.

During the past 50 years, the lake logged its lowest recorded levels. Those two measurements came within the past three years — in 2016 and again in 2018, according to Cory Angeroth, director of the Utah Water Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey.

The National Audubon Society asked the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council to commission a report that looked at the aftermath of the decline of eight terminal saline lakes around the world with characteristics similar to that of the Great Salt Lake.

Research the society made available last week revealed the economic, environmental and public health impacts of dying saline lakes are incredibly costly.

Restoration in just one phase involving the Aral Sea in Central Asia was projected at more than $270 million, and a program to renovate irrigation and drainage systems to lower water consumption cost about $30 billion. An estimated 60,000 people lost their jobs when the fishery collapsed.

“There’s no Chicken Little ‘The sky is falling’ or fearmongering with this. You need look no further than to these lost or degraded systems to see that the impacts are real,” said state Rep. Tim Hawkes, R-Centerville.

Hawkes ran HCR10 that passed in Utah’s past legislative session acknowledging the dwindling levels of the Great Salt Lake and calling on Utah to act now to save the lake, rather than waiting until crisis hits.

“A stitch in time saves nine,” Hawkes said last week in response to the analysis on drying saline lakes. “I think the importance of the report is to get people to think about the lake in a different way.”

Decades ago, Hawkes pointed out, people were more connected to the Great Salt Lake than they are today. There was a train to the shore, people picnicked at Saltair, and membership in the Great Salt Lake duck club was a must “for anyone who was anyone.”

That’s changed.

“For the average citizen today, the lake is out of sight, out of mind,” Hawkes said.

Lynn de Freitas, director of the Friends of the Great Salt Lake, said it shouldn’t be.

The largest saltwater lake in the Western hemisphere generates $1.3 billion for Utah’s economy with the industry it supports and the visitors it attracts. It is a “Pacific Flyway” for millions of migratory birds each year and attracts wildlife watchers from all over the globe.

“I think the report shows these kind of complex ecosystems are often misunderstood and the science around them is an ongoing pursuit of unlocking the mysteries of that complexity,” de Freitas said. “They are also kind of overlooked in the scheme of water, and the need for those systems to have water.”

Southern California residents found out the hard — and the expensive — way.

Dust mitigation efforts as a result of the drying of Owens Lake are estimated to reach a cost of $3.6 billion by 2025, as only a fraction of the ecosystem has been restored.

Utah air quality regulators have seen the interplay between exposed lake beds and high wind events that kick up harmful dust pollution.

“We do see it when the wind interacts with the lake bed,” said Bryce Bird, director of the Utah Division of Air Quality.

Extreme high wind events disturb those exposed lake beds, as well as play areas in the western desert all the way to Nevada, he added.

The Great Salt Lake, too, plays a key role in precipitation with its lake effect snow, caused by cold air passing over warmer water.

But the chance of lake effect snow diminishes if the water diminishes.

A 2016 report by Utah State University found that levels of the Great Salt Lake have dropped 11 feet since pioneers first arrived in 1847 and it has been reduced in size by 48%.

“This (latest) paper looked at examples of where systems went belly up because of diversions,” de Freitas said, which is an ongoing conversation around the state.

“These are a handful of examples that should give us pause.”

She did stress that state and local leaders, as well as advocates and others, are engaged in multiple ways to help the lake and its ecosystem, including the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council, the state Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and Gov. Gary Herbert’s state water advisory team.

Shoop said the analysis demonstrates the importance of conservation among all water users, particularly the growing Wasatch Front, so planned diversion projects like the Bear River Development plan can be delayed or potentially avoided all together.

“By conserving it can help the lake,” she said.

For de Freitas, she’s hopeful the paper keeps the conversation going about the value of the Great Salt Lake and what its destiny holds for people — both locally and globally.

“We need to get enough traction with the information it provides to keep building awareness that the future of the Great Salt Lake is now,” she said. “It’s running right through our fingers and we have to do something.”

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Man shot after pointing gun at adults outside children’s party

Police wrap up the scene where a man was shot at the corner of Hemlock Drive and Manzanita Drive in Taylorsville on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. According to police, the man’s injuries were serious but not life-threatening. | Colter Peterson, Deseret News

Police: Party host reported man was drunk and pointed a gun at him, a neighbor

TAYLORSVILLE — A Tooele man was shot by a Taylorsville man in what appears to be a case of self-defense, as police say he pointed a gun at the man and his neighbor following an argument outside a home hosting a children’s birthday party.

About 6:30 p.m., a black sedan dropped the Tooele man off in front of the home where a man was hosting a birthday party for his grandson in his backyard. Unified Police Sgt. Ken Hansen said the Tooele man was intoxicated and had a gun in his waistband, and he did not have a child at the party. The relationship between the two men is part of the ongoing investigation, he said.

“The host saw that he was intoxicated and that he had a gun in his waistband,” said Unified Police Sgt. Ken Hansen. “So they told him to leave.”

There was a “little bit of a confrontation there” and then the host of the party reached into the Tooele man’s waistband and ejected the magazine of the gun, Hansen said. After the man agreed to leave, the host of the party “handed him the magazine and he walked away.”

A neighbor across the street watched the confrontation occur, according to Hansen, and went into his house and retrieved a gun. He has a concealed carry permit, and he put his weapon into his waistband before returning to his yard.

“The host walked across the street to the neighbor’s house,” Hansen said. “The (Tooele man) came back with (the) gun loaded, he’d put the magazine back, he approached the two people who were there, and he pointed a gun, the gun at them.”

The neighbor who’d retrieved his gun then pulled out his own hand gun and shot the Tooele man. After that, police were called, and the Tooele man was taken to the hospital in serious condition, Hansen said.

Hansen said the neighbor who shot the Tooele man was not arrested, although both guns were taken into evidence and the investigation is ongoing. Hansen said it appears the Tooele man was in the wrong, but there are questions that remain, including who dropped the Tooele man off in the Taylorsville neighborhood, how the Tooele man had a gun even though he’s a restricted person, and the exact relationship between the Tooele man and the host of the party.

“The detectives have a lot of work to do,” Hansen said. The decision on what types of charges — and who will face legal ramifications — will be up to the District Attorney once the investigation is complete.

While police said the Taylorsville man was likely justified in the action he took, it may have been advisable to call police as soon as it was clear the Tooele man was armed.

“When an intoxicated man shows up and has a gun in his waistband, that would be a really good time to call 911,” Hansen said. “(The neighbor’s) concern was, here we have a guy who is intoxicated, with a gun, wandering the neighborhood.”

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Photos: Festival chalks up some real talent at the end of summer

Brynn Parkinson does some blending as she and her sister Hayley Parkinson draw a neon tiger during the Salt Lake County Library’s Annual Chalk the Walk Sidewalk Art Festival at the Library’s Viridian Event Center in West Jordan on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Salt Lake County Library’s Annual Chalk the Walk Sidewalk Art Festival closes out the summer each year with art, music and other festivities while artists perfect their sidewalk masterpieces.

See the world through the eyes of award-winning photojournalists. Click through the gallery above to view the unique images our visual storytellers captured today. Follow the official Deseret News Instagram account for more photographs and videos from the staff.

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Almost a decade after Haiti quake, Latter-day Saints have rebuilt physically and spiritually

Shella Privert sits on the porch of a small home The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built for her following the 2010 quake in Haiti on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019. Privert said the newly-build Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple has brought her new hope and joy. | Jason Swensen, Deseret News

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Marie Claire Jean-Jacque stiffens while talking about that hellish day, not too long ago, when her husband, Bernardo, didn’t return home.

Civil protests were raging across this volatile Caribbean capital — and Bernardo was gone and could not be found.

“When he didn’t come home,” said Marie, “I thought maybe he had been killed by a gang.”

Only one place would have offered the young Haitian woman a measure of spiritual respite during that family nightmare — a dedicated temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I felt a thirst for a temple,” she said, gripping the arm of her husband, who eventually arrived home safely. “If a temple had been here at that time, I would have spent the day there. It would have felt so good to have peace.”

Now Marie’s anguish is being replaced with elation. Her thirst is quenched.

On Sunday, Elder David A. Bednar of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is scheduled to dedicate the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, this island nation’s first.

“I feel such joy right now,” said Marie, who is expecting the young couple’s second child. “This will be a blessing for all of Haiti. … There will be peace here.”

Almost a decade has passed since much of the world turned collective eyes on Haiti following a Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and caused a massive humanitarian crisis.

Gone, at least to visitors, are the mountains of rubble and acres of tent cities that were once ubiquitous. But difficulties remain. Poverty, unrest and the ever-present threat of violence can be found on many of Port-au-Prince’s chaotic streets.

Pass by a gas station on a steamy afternoon and expect to see hordes waiting inside cars and atop motorcycles. They hope fuel replenishments arrive soon, but there’s no promise.

Meanwhile, motorists listen for news of tires being ignited to form makeshift roadblocks in protest, perhaps, of the ongoing gas shortages or other local troubles.

It would be naive to say a temple will eliminate this nation’s vast challenges. But for Haitian Latter-day Saints, their country’s newest religious treasure does offer both the promises of eternity — and a measure of relief from the moment-to-moment trials of the day.

“When I’m in the temple, I feel like I’m no longer on earth,” a teenage boy told Elder Bednar during Saturday’s youth devotional in Port-au-Prince.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Haiti is different than it was almost a decade ago when the quake struck. Some members immigrated to other countries. But others endured and stuck around, working together each day to better their lot.

“The members of the church, in general, have recovered from the effects of the devastating earthquake,” said Elder José L. Alonso, a General Authority Seventy who presides over the church’s Caribbean Area. “We know the economic situation in Haiti continues to be very challenging, but it’s not because of the effects of the earthquake. Challenges continue because of other factors.”

Latter-day Saint humanitarian response teams reacted quickly following the quake — shipping multiple airloads of relief supplies to Haiti, providing on-the-ground medical aid and partnering with other non-profit organizations for long-term disaster. Millions of dollars were utilized to help lift the disaster-weary Latter-day Saints and their neighbors.

Historic spiritual relief arrived on April 5, 2015, when President Thomas S. Monson announced that a temple would be constructed in Port-au-Prince.

“I could hear the members of the church in Haiti cheer when the temple was announced. … The people were so excited,” said Elder Bednar during the Saturday youth devotional.

A temple operating on Haitian soil now offers Latter-day Saints here unprecedented access to that peace Jean-Jacque and many others long for. Gone will be the days of traveling to, say, the Dominican Republic or Florida to visit the temple with their families.

Now the Haitian Latter-day Saints “will not spend the little money they earn on passports, transportation and food,” said Elder Alonso. “Now they will be able to attend the temple where their own language will be spoken and where they can interact with people that they know. They will have an opportunity to serve more frequently, and with more security.”

For Haitian Latter-day Saints, the horrors that accompanied the 2010 earthquake will never entirely disappear. But the sustaining love they felt from the countless people who stepped forward to help also remains strong in their memories.

Haitian Latter-day Saints call their new temple in Port-au-Prince “the house of the Lord.” But some add that the hundreds of small homes that the church helped build following the disaster could also be aptly called sanctified “houses of the Lord.”

Shella Privert greets folks to her tiny home in Port-au-Prince’s Juvenat neighborhood with a welcoming smile. Privert’s guests are wise to wear sensible shoes. The path to her home follows a steep descent to the edge of a ravine utilizing steps made from discarded tires.

The diminutive woman’s church-built home is decidedly simple. Four wooden walls, a firm foundation and a sturdy roof protect the single room residence. As she sits on the narrow porch outside her home, she recounts the details of the quake as if it all happened a week ago.

One of her most grateful, visceral memories from that awful day: “My kids did not die in the earthquake.”

But Privert was counted among the hundreds of thousands left homeless by the disaster. She and her family lived in a tent in the parking lot of a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse for weeks. In time, the local members built her a simple home, offering her both physical shelter — and the dignity that comes in living in a place of one’s own.

“I appreciate what the church has done. ... I’m still trying to get back on my feet,” she said.

And on this weekend of dedication, Privert added she’s joyful knowing the church has built her another “home” a short drive away.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has brought miracles to Haiti,” she said. “And now this temple makes me so happy. … When I went to the open house, I had goosebumps.”

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Data shows alarming increase in red-light crashes

Inside the newsroom: The most clear-headed definition of a civil society was spoken in Salt Lake City last week. Here it is

Chris Nelson, manager of The Other Side Academy, left, Kimberly Ishoy, with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ planning division of welfare and self-reliance services, Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP’s Salt Lake branch, Scott Winship, executive director of the Joint Economic Committee, and moderator Boyd Matheson, opinion editor for the Deseret News, take park in the Interfaith Dialogue at the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019. | Steve Griffin

SALT LAKE CITY — Definitions can be difficult. I’ve said and written many times how much I dislike labels as identifiers — liberal, conservative, progressive, media, mainstream media, etc. They mean different things to different people and can therefore be counterproductive in application to people, beliefs and situations.

So when the United Nations chose Salt Lake City for its 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference, there were many asking just what is meant by “civil society.”

The best definition I heard during the conference came from Jeanetta Williams, the head of the NAACP in Utah, on a panel discussion moderated by Deseret News Opinion editor Boyd Matheson. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Salt Lake City played host to the conference, welcoming thousands from around the world to address the aim of its theme, “Building Inclusive and Sustainable Cities and Communities.”

Why Salt Lake?

Years ago Utah was identified as one of the best states in the country for upward mobility. Here is opportunity to improve your life.

As the Deseret News reported in May 2015: “The Equality of Opportunity Project involved the tracking of millions of families over a period of years and uncovered a direct link between a child’s future earnings and the specific place where he or she grew up. In short, some neighborhoods are conducive to upward mobility while others, for a variety of reasons, are not.”

The Salt Lake City metro area was among the top three identified in the Harvard project because of its strength in five areas:

1. The economic landscape of the greater Salt Lake area.
2. Its stable middle class.
3. Good schools and educational opportunities.
4. Its strong social networks, noting its religious communities and volunteerism.
5. Its strong family structures.

Here’s more good news for Utah. Utah County was identified by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress in its Social Capital Project as a place where the underprivileged can climb out of poverty.

As the Deseret News reported in May of this year, there are pockets of ideal social mobility in the U.S., according to Nathaniel Hendren, an economics professor at Harvard University. He identified Provo in his research, which discovered that “children from low-income families grow up to earn $66,000 on average at age 35. In contrast, low income children who grow up in parts of inner Baltimore grow up to earn, on average, only $16,000 in adulthood.”

Where you live and where you come from make a difference.

So the United Nations came to town in part because of Utah’s commitment to civil society. This is a place that believes in the third leg of the three-legged success stool: Civil society, which in joining a strong private economic sector and an effective government, provide the stability needed for upward mobility.

Author and New York Times columnist David Brooks, in his book “The Second Mountain,” describes the difference between the happiness that comes from acquiring things and the true joy that comes through service to others. The first mountain is defined as one’s climb toward achievement, career and financial success. The second mountain is a deeper sense of joy and satisfaction that comes from gratitude, from acknowledging something greater than yourself, and from finding opportunities to help others.

Utah is a place where people embrace principles that build a socially connected and socially mobile society. Utah is a place where people climb that second mountain, doing what they can to lift others, even if it comes with personal sacrifice or financial cost.

Which brings us back to Jeanetta Williams, who has played a large role both locally and nationally in promoting the civil rights of not just the African American community, but communities in general — making safe places for everyone as she works with different constituencies.

The Deseret News worked with the United Nations to create and sponsor one of its panels. In addition to Williams on the panel, we brought in Chris Nelson of The Other Side Academy, whose program is a topic for another day. But the short version is that the Academy gives addicts and former convicts a chance at a new life by letting them hold each other accountable as they live and work together in a two-year program.

Scott Winship of the Joint Economic Committee in Congress came and discussed his research. And Kimberly Ishoy, with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ planning division of welfare and self-reliance services, joined the panel. She has worked in a partnership with Williams and the NAACP on its self-reliance program.

Through all the conversation throughout the three days and in a spirited exchange of the panelists and questioning by Matheson, Williams related a conversation she had with a senior leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with whom she developed a relationship.

She said he would not just ask her how she was doing. He asked, “How are they treating you here?”

That is the best approach to creating a civil society that I heard during the conference. It’s not just about being polite or civil in society. A true “civil society” is about actively seeking to learn how each person we come across is faring. How are they being treated in the cities and towns where they live? Is there opportunity for them to live the life they wish to live and to progress?

The world came to Utah last week. It’s time to take the principles that make Utah a great civil society to the world.

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Man convicted of school bomb hoax says he was ‘just being stupid’

Cody Lynn Parris said when he and a friend decided to do a bomb hoax at an elementary school, they didn’t really think about the consequences at the time. | Adobe Stock

UTAH STATE PRISON — Cody Lynn Parris said when he and a friend decided to do a bomb hoax at an elementary school, they didn’t really think about the consequences at the time.

“We just happened to be in front of the school, and we’re like, ‘Hey, this seems like a good idea to do,’” he told a member of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole on Tuesday. “We didn’t really think anyone would take it too seriously. Like I said, it was just us being stupid.”

But not long after, as Parris was sitting in his house and heard a news helicopter fly overhead, and then turned on the TV to watch the chaotic scene he had created, he knew he had gone too far.

“We kind of thought it wasn’t funny no more at that point,” he said. “We got scared and decided not to talk about it, that it would kind of go under the rug.”

But rather than go away, authorities caught up with Parris because of forensic evidence collected from a recent stolen gun case. Fingerprints from the fake bomb matched with Parris.

He pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempted possession of a weapon of mass destruction in one case, and attempted theft in another. But in 2018, after failing to comply with the conditions of his probation, his original suspended sentence of 1 to 15 years at the Utah State Prison was imposed.

On Tuesday, Parris, 27, had his first parole hearing.

In a recording of the hearing, he recounted the incident on Aug. 26, 2015. Parris said he and a friend had just purchased a remote control car at a pawn shop and happened to be walking by Oquirrh Hills Elementary, 5241 S. 4280 West, Kearns. That’s when they remembered watching similar hoaxes online.

“We just saw some YouTube pranks going on, and we thought it would be funny to do a stupid prank like that,” he said. “I don’t know why we thought it was a good prank. I guess we kind of wanted to scare people.”

Parris and a juvenile friend he was with took the empty box from their remote control car and wrote “bomb,” “boom” and “touch sensitive” on it, and left it in front of the school. The two then went back to Parris’ home.

When the box was discovered, it resulted in the school being evacuated and a bomb squad from Unified Fire Authority responding to the scene.

The school was evacuated at the time. Unified Fire Authority personnel arrived at the school with a bomb unit and determined there was nothing inside the box.

“This process took a significant amount of time and several resources,” according to the charging documents.

In his other case, Parris was caught shooting a stolen firearm in a field with several juveniles.

During the parole hearing, Parris was asked about his behavior since high school and how he wasn’t going to school, didn’t have a steady job and was kicked out of his parents’ house when he was 21.

“I really wasn’t thinking much about growing up. I was just thinking about hanging out with friends,” he said.

Parris said he has made progress while in prison. If he serves his full time, he will be released in 2033. His sentencing guidelines, however, suggest a much earlier release.

The full five member board will now vote on whether to grant parole or set a date for another hearing.

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Committee punts on plurality — but issue may be back after November election

Even though he voted with the other members of the Utah Legislature’s Government Operations Interim Committee last week to recommend nothing be done to address primarily elections won with less than 50% of vote, Rep. Marc Roberts says he’s not letting the issue drop. | Adobe Stock

SALT LAKE CITY — Even though he voted with the other members of the Utah Legislature’s Government Operations Interim Committee last week to recommend nothing be done to address primarily elections won with less than 50% of vote, Rep. Marc Roberts says he’s not letting the issue drop.

The Salem Republican, an advocate of ranked-choice voting, said he may bring up with the committee the results of a pilot program in this year’s municipal elections to test the system that requires voters to rank candidates on the ballot by preference underway in two Utah County communities, Vineyard and Payson.

“I didn’t see any reason to fight it in the committee,” Roberts said of being part of the unanimous committee vote last Wednesday to tell legislative leaders no action on plurality is needed, at least for now. “Everything we’re arguing about is theoretical. Let’s see how this pilot project works.”

He also said he’s going to continue to try to get lawmakers to join Maine in using ranked-choice voting in time for what is anticipated to be a crowded Republican primary next June in the race to succeed GOP Gov. Gary Herbert, who is not seeking reelection after holding the office for a decade.

“Is ranked-choice voting still out there on the table? Absolutely. I will keep pushing that issue forward,” Roberts said. But he acknowledged it remains to be seen how lawmakers will respond to the pilot results and to the possibility a governor could be elected in 2020 after winning just a small percentage of the primary vote.

State Elections Director Justin Lee, who said his office is taking a neutral stance on plurality proposals including ranked-choice voting, cautioned there might not be enough time to make such a massive change in the process before primary voters go to the polls in June 2020.

“Something like ranked choice, I don’t know if there is a way to implement something like that at this point. There’s so many moving pieces,” Lee said, that would require implementing a central vote count. “I have a hard time seeing that’s a solution we could reach for next year.”

The pilot program, set up in legislation sponsored by Roberts last year to continue to collect data from participating cities through 2026, also needs more time, Lee said. Several cities considered but decided against trying out ranked-choice voting in this year’s municipal elections.

“The intent would be to see several cycles,” he said. “One election in two smaller cities is certainly different than a statewide primary.”

Plurality became an issue in Utah primaries with the adoption of the controversial election law still known as SB54 that allows candidates to gather voter signatures for a place on the primary ballot, either in place of, or in addition to, the traditional caucus and convention system used by political parties.

The law, challenged unsuccessfully in the courts by the Utah Republican Party, means that political party delegates no longer either nominate a candidate at convention or send only their top two picks to a primary. Now, there can be multiple candidates on a primary ballot — and a primary winner with just a plurality of the vote.

A legislative study of the 305 partisan races in the state between 2016 and 2018 showed that in the 84 primary races, just 19 had more than two candidates. Of those 19 races, 16 were won with a plurality of the vote — averaging 44% for a three-candidate race and 38% for a four-candidate race.

Roberts said those numbers show why plurality needs to be addressed, but he said the situation created by SB54 isn’t the reason he backs ranked-choice voting.

“I was always passionate about ranked-choice voting. It wasn’t a reaction or anything to SB54. SB54 just became an easy talking point,” Roberts said, describing himself as “frustrated by the current voting method. You get stuck voting between the worst of two evils.”

While he said runoff elections would be an even better option if there was the time and money available to hold them, ranking voter choices is “multiple rounds of voting compressed into one” that can help make campaigns more issue based.

There wasn’t much enthusiasm for that or any other option at last week’s committee meeting.

“I’ve been very, very vocal in my opposition to ranked-choice voting because I believe that it games the system and that leads to bad election outcomes,” the committee’s Senate chairman, Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, said at the meeting.

Thatcher also raised concerns with other options the committee has discussed, saying letting political parties decide who gets on the general election ballot if no candidate gets a majority in the primary “would be very, very unpopular with the general public, who would feel they are being removed from the election process.”

He said a top-two primary election, a so-called “jungle primary” where the two top vote getters advance to the general election regardless of party, “is intriguing but probably politically difficult,” while the price tag for a runoff election was put at $2.9 million.

“I believe doing nothing is currently probably the best recommendation our committee could make,” Thatcher said, adding that doesn’t preclude legislation from being proposed next session. “At this point, I’m waiting for somebody to convince me there’s a better option on the table than to do nothing.”

One committee member, Rep. Kyle Andersen, R-Ogden, asked why plurality was even an issue.

“I just wonder why, why there’s a problem if somebody does not get a majority,” Andersen said, noting that the sitting president, Donald Trump, did not get a majority of the vote in the 2016 election, but still won the White House.

University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said most voters probably don’t see plurality as a problem, either.

“If you go around asking people, ‘What’s a plurality?’ they wouldn’t know how to answer that question. In general, the way most people think about that is who got the most votes,” Burbank said. “I don’t think voters are perceiving a big problem out there.”

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Grateful residents return to neighborhood evacuated by Gun Range Fire

Daniel Fisher walks around what is left of the home where he and his wife Cherilyn Fisher lived in Bountiful on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. The home was one of three houses destroyed when the Gun Range Fire ignited early Friday morning. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

BOUNTIFUL — Evacuation orders triggered by the Gun Range Fire were lifted on Saturday morning, allowing Bountiful residents to return after more than a day worrying they might not ever step inside their homes again.

By 10 a.m. it looked like a normal day as residents jogged outside and watered their lawns, a stark difference to the barricades and emergency vehicles that lined the streets just 24 hours before.

Originally, Deanna Eiting had weekend plans to take her red Jeep for a ride in the mountains near her house with friends.

Instead, on Saturday morning she got into her Jeep and was seen delivering cupcakes to firefighters as a thank you for saving her home from the flames, which she estimates came within a few hundred yards of the house.

“I could never repay them,” she said.

As she stood in front of a road closure sign that prevented cars from going up the gun range, a place where she enjoyed driving and where the fire originated, she recalled the young policeman who told her she had to leave her home and had no time to grab her valuables.

But even with the rapid response after the fire ignited just before 1 a.m. Friday, three homes were destroyed and five others were damaged by the flames.

Among them was the home of Daniel and Cherilyn Fisher, which was reduced to piles of charred rubble strewn beneath a still upright chimney. Daniel Fisher walked about his property Saturday, inspecting what was left of his possessions, but declined to speak further about the loss.

By Saturday afternoon, officials announced the wildfire was at 80% containment and had burned approximately 321 acres, down from their original estimate of 365. The fire, started by an abandoned campfire, is under investigation.

Centerville Police Chief Paul Child said it was imperative to get people out of their homes as quickly as possible on Friday.

“This was a rapidly moving fire. It was moving with speed. We had high winds that were driving the fires going into the residential areas,” he said.

Eiting, who lives along 1400 N, said “incessant pounding and doorbell ringing” woke her and her husband around 1:30 a.m. on Friday.

“You could just see the glow of the flames, it was really quite frightening,” she said.

Before leaving her house, she said police had a hard time waking up her neighbor and were about to knock her door down when Eiting told them she knew a code to get into her house and woke her up.

She said the sight of the fire on a mountain she recognized so well was devastating.

“It’s such beautiful mountain and that’s why we live up here. We love it up here,” she said.

Eiting, along with her husband, took both their cars and she drove away thinking they might not see their home again.

But on Friday morning, officials allowed some residents to return to their homes.

Upon arriving, she said burnt leaves and ash covered her front lawn, along with more ash and a “horrid smell” left inside her home.

“I can’t (just) thank these guys for saving my house,” she said. “The least I could do is give them a cupcake.”

For Jessica Whittaker, the possibility of a wildfire affecting her neighborhood had always been a thought in the back of her mind, because their house was near the mountains and surrounded by brush.

On Saturday, shortly after 10 a.m., when she arrived back home with her husband, Justin, and their three children between the ages of 6 and 11, she said her street felt “eerie.”

When she walked into her home, she said her home’s walls and the clothes in their closets reeked of smoke. They plan to get their home inspected for smoke damage.

When Justin Whittaker first looked out the window the morning the fire erupted, he said it was “as bright as day.”

“I ran back inside and said ‘Grab whatever you can, we’re out of here,’” he said.

Above anything else, the Whittaker family said they are glad their children are safe.

Mitri Muna, who lives on Northridge Drive, said he evacuated on Friday, but later returned to wet the house down with a garden hose to prevent any dry material from catching fire. He expressed his gratitude the home was saved.

Matt Kister had just pulled into his driveway with his family Saturday morning when he described the experience as “scary” and “nerve-wracking,” but said they were glad to be back home.

He said a neighbor had called them to alert them about the fire, and by 3 a.m. Friday were out of their home.

“We started packing bags, documents and pictures. Anything that would be hard to replace,” he said.

Sherri Lindstrom was at her son’s home watching over her grandchildren when they got the evacuation order. She and the children rushed to a hotel room in Bountiful, where they spent the rest of the night peering through their window at the flames blazing near their home at the top of the hill.

At the hotel, she said the family downloaded police scanner apps on their phones to hear dispatchers give updates on the fire.

Lindstrom said she was certain the house would go up in flames, as a house near it on 1000 East was destroyed.

How her son’s house is still standing is a “miracle” for Lindstrom, and she expressed her gratitude for the emergency responders who spent long hours protecting homes from being destroyed.

“If any fire department could handle this situation, it was our South Davis community and our police department.”

Lindstrom, who has been a resident of the neighborhood for about 60 years, said she’d always been cognizant that a fire could be one day affect the area. But she never thought she’d see anything like she did.

“There are not enough words to tell the firefighters thank you for their work,” she said fighting back tears, “They’ll never be enough.”

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The game ‘wears on you’: Former Utah Ute great Scott Mitchell feels Andrew Luck’s pain

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St. George city councilman dies unexpectedly

Joe Bowcutt | St. George City Council

Joe Bowcutt served on the City Council and Planning Commission since 2013

ST. GEORGE — Southern Utah lost a dedicated public servant Saturday morning.

Joe Bowcutt, 76, a member of the St. George City Council and Planning Commission, passed away unexpectedly, according to a press release from St. George city representatives.

“It was a great joy of mine to serve alongside Joe for many years and I am deeply saddened by his sudden passing,” said St. George Mayor Jon Pike. “Not only was Joe service-oriented, he was a terrific person to be around and a genuine friend to so many. Our hearts go out to Joe’s family as they deal with his loss.”

Bowcutt began serving on the City Council in 2013.

The city’s staff and remaining council members expressed their love, support and concern for Bowcutt’s family. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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‘Pounding on doors’: Evacuees recall fleeing fast-moving flames

Fire crews head up East Pages Lane as a fire burns on the hill East of Centerville early in the morning on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019. 27 homes have been evacuated in the Centerville area as of 5 AM. | Colter Peterson, Deseret News

BOUNTIFUL — Helen Day was sound asleep when she got the warning to wake up and “get up and get dressed” as fast as she could.

Minutes away from her Bountiful home on Sereno Circle, two houses were being destroyed near 1000 North and 1000 East by the Gun Range Fire, which had been sparked by an abandoned campfire in the early hours of Friday morning.

The 101-year-old woman thought one of her sons had come to wake her but soon realized it was her neighbor, Keith McMullin, CEO of Deseret Management Corp.

Once she was ready, she said, McMullin dropped her off at an evacuation center and called her daughter-in-law, where she waited for her family to pick her up.

“I was right in the middle of it,” Day said.

“There were three homes that were burned, and I don’t know how many more,” she added.

Day is just one of the hundreds of Bountiful and Centerville residents forced to evacuate from their homes as the flames spread through the dark, early morning hours.

Centerville Police Chief Paul Child called the wildfire an “evolving situation.”

“This was a rapidly moving fire. It was moving with speed. We had high winds that were driving the fires going into the residential areas. So it was imperative to get people out of their homes as quickly as possible,” he said.

Amid the confusion as Day reached the center, most of her family had not yet been alerted that she had evacuated. She said police, along with her grandson, went to her home and knocked down her door when no one answered.

“I’ll have to have a new front door,” she said.

Now with the help from her family and neighbors, she said she was “getting along” just fine.

Though the wildfire had destroyed three homes and damaged five, no injuries were reported, according to Bountiful Police Lt. Dave Edwards. The U.S. Forest Service confirmed Friday afternoon the fire was human caused, apparently started by a campfire that was burning near the Bountiful “B” about 1 a.m.

At 10 a.m., Centerville evacuations were lifted while evacuations for Bountiful remained in place.

Bountiful officials tweeted that the evacuations will be reassessed Saturday morning “to determine if it is safe to open them.”

Bountiful City Councilwoman Kate Bradshaw was glad to see that so many resources were activated and couldn’t be happier with the community response.

“There’s nothing quite like being awoken with someone pounding on your door,” said Bradshaw, who was asleep when officials alerted her about the wildfire.

Bradshaw, who lives in a “soft closure zone” on 650 East, then noticed she had missed multiple calls from the city.

Bradshaw said it was difficult to see the fire from her home because there was so much dark, heavy smoke around her neighborhood.

She said they were lucky to have minimal impact on their street, adding that her husband, a teacher at Viewmont High School, ended up teaching class that day.

“It was unreal,” she said.

Contributing: Heather McShane, Gretel Kauffman

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Utah man found guilty of running nationwide opioid trafficking ring

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Utah pair charged with kidnapping friend, tossing him over fence

Two men accused of kidnapping, beating, and throwing their friend over a fence have been charged. | Adobe Stock

SALT LAKE CITY — Two men accused of kidnapping, beating and throwing their friend over a fence have been charged.

Rosario Lorenzo Nunes, 18, and Antonio Raymond Bejarano, 18, both of West Valley City, were charged Friday in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies.

On Sunday, Bejarano texted the 18-year-old victim “to hang out with him,” along with Nunes and two juveniles, according to charging documents.

The group went to an apartment. Later, just as the victim was getting up to leave, “Nunes grabbed him around the neck to the point he could not breathe” and wrestled him to the ground, at which point Bejarano and one of the juveniles kicked him and “screamed at him to die,” the charges state.

A sock or a rag was stuffed in the victim’s mouth, his hands bound behind him with his belt, and then the victim was hit twice in the face with a baseball bat, according to the charges.

The group then discussed throwing the man in a canal, but Nunes then told the others to “toss him over the fence,” the charges state.

The victim was then thrown over the fence where he rolled down a hill into traffic. A motorist who has passing by the area stopped and called 911, the charges state.

The victim was taken to the hospital where it was discovered he had suffered two broken facial bones, a broken tooth and a concussion, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.

A 14-year-old was also arrested. It was unknown Friday whether he had been formally charged.

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Live coverage: BYU Cougars host No. 14 Utah Utes in season-opening rivalry contest

Utah fans Joseph Hallman, center, and his wife Jordan Wunderli, stand with Hallman’s cousin, Ben Young, prior to the start of the University of Utah at BYU football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. | Steve Griffin

The No. 14 Utes are clear favorites heading into Thursday night’s contest at LaVell Edwards Stadium. BYU, meanwhile, is looking for a way to snap Utah’s eight-game winning streak in the series.

PROVO — There’s no need to wait for bragging rights this time — the rivalry game between the BYU Cougars and Utah Utes is on opening weekend this year.

The No. 14 Utes are clear favorites heading into Thursday night’s contest at LaVell Edwards Stadium. BYU, meanwhile, is looking for a way to snap Utah’s eight-game winning streak in the series.

Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. MT, with the game airing on ESPN.

Follow along with our live blog below to stay up-to-date on the action.

A Twitter List by desnewssports

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Utah school district ‘strongly discourages’ students from watching ‘13 Reasons Why’

Following the release of the third season of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why,” the Salt Lake City School District emailed parents Thursday “highly discouraging” students from watching the program. | Stock image

Salt Lake School District emailed guidance to parents following the Aug. 23 release of the third season of Netflix’s teen drama

SALT LAKE CITY — Following the release of the third season of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why,” the Salt Lake City School District emailed parents Thursday “highly discouraging” students from watching the program.

“The show is based on a young adult novel in which a young teenager takes her life. However, due to concerns expressed by organizations like the National Association of School Psychologists and the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, along with the TV-MA rating, we highly discourage students from watching this series,” the email said in part.

The show’s latest season dropped on Aug. 23 and will end after a fourth season.

The email offers parents tips for conversations with their children and provides links to helpful organizations.

The email notes that national psychological organizations are concerned that vulnerable youth may watch the series without understanding the show’s content.

“Please be aware of this Netflix series. It is critical to have thoughtful, open conversations with your child if you have concerns for their emotional well-being,” the email states.

The guidance encourages parents to ask their child if they have heard of or seen the series.

“Don’t be afraid to ask if they have thought about suicide or if someone is hurting them. Raising the issue of suicide does not increase the risk or plant the idea. On the contrary, it creates the opportunity to offer help,” the email states.

It also encourages asking their child if any of their friends or classmates exhibit warning signs for suicide. “Talk with them about how to seek help for their friend or classmate. Guide them on how to respond when they see or hear any of the warning signs.”

Parents should listen to their child’s responses without judgment, the guidance suggests. “Doing so requires that you fully concentrate, understand, respond, and then remember what is said,” the email states.

Finally, parents are encouraged to seek help from school-employed or community-based mental health professionals if they are concerned for their child’s safety or the safety of one of their peers.

“Schools can play an important role in preventing youth suicide, and being aware of potential risk factors in students’ lives is vital to this responsibility,” the email states.

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Man accused of repeatedly stalking young girls gets more time on probation

Chad Dee Flitton, 43 | Davis County Jail

Judge cites ‘concern for the community,’ sets future hearing to review whether Chad Flitton is complying

SANDY — A Layton man accused of following groups of young girls several times over the last decade now faces more time on probation after he pleaded no contest to looking under dressing room doors of two teen girls in Sandy.

Before ordering Chad Dee Flitton to a year of supervision and a mental health evaluation, 3rd District Judge Paul Farr made it clear he will order six months in jail if the 43-year-old Flitton reoffends during the 12-month period.

“With the concern for the community, I want 180 days to be available if there are future offenses,” Farr said. He set a Nov. 14 hearing to check in to evaluate Flitton’s progress, including whether he has undergone the mental health evaluation.

In February 2017, the two teens accused Flitton of looking under the dressing doors at The Shops at South Town. He was cited and released, and has spent the last two years in and out of jail on other charges. On Thursday, Farr sentenced him to the six-month jail term but suspended the sentence in favor of probation.

Flitton pleaded no contest to a single charge of voyeurism, a class B misdemeanor, as part of an agreement with prosecutors, court records show. In exchange for the plea, a second, identical count was dismissed.

Flitton has previously admitted to charges that include stalking and sexual battery. Prosecutors in Davis County are reviewing a newer report of misconduct, though Flitton has not yet been criminally charged in the case.

Contributing: Keira Farrimond

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Census data hints at who is coming and going in Utah

Douglas Pulsipher

Asian population boosts international community, census figures show

SALT LAKE CITY — Newcomers from across the world continue to fuel population growth in Utah’s densest counties, census estimates released Thursday show.

And those moving to the Beehive State from Asian nations are playing a big role in the change, according to the American Community Survey, which considers data from 2013-17.

“That’s been a pretty consistent trend over the last few years,” said Emily Harris, a demographer with the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute who reviewed the new numbers and shared her findings with the Deseret News.

Harris and her colleagues believe many in Utah’s growing Asian community are drawn by Utah’s strong labor market, opportunities at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, and a growing high-tech corridor.

The pull is especially strong in Salt Lake County, where 3,041 residents lived in Asia a year earlier — more than twice the number who arrived from South America, the next biggest international group. Neighboring Utah County welcomed slightly half as many Asians.

Overall, the biggest group of newcomers to Salt Lake County are coming from just over the county line. Utah County traded 8,353 residents to it northern neighbor in exchange for about 300 more than that from Salt Lake County.

Roughly ¹⁄₃ of Utahns live in its capital county, bringing its total population to 1.1 million. Utah County is home to about half as many residents.

Other states are also contributing new faces — from California’s Los Angeles County; Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to Phoenix; and Clark County in Nevada, home to Las Vegas.

Across the state as a whole, the flow of newcomers has slowed after a peak around 2015 and 2016, Harris noted. Last year, the state’s net migration was about 23,000, according to the institute.

The numbers out this week don’t drill into the age, race or other demographics of those coming and leaving. In coming days, Harris and her colleagues plan to release their own estimates with further details on migration patterns in the state.

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Utah researchers say nearly half of patients withhold serious issues like domestic violence or sexual assault from doctors

Jordan Allred, Deseret News

Advocates working to help people feel comfortable to find the resources they need

SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly half of those facing domestic violence, recovering from sexual assault or experiencing depression don’t tell their doctors about those issues that can be life-threatening, according to new research.

“These are really sensitive issues and things that are very difficult to discuss with your best friend, much less your primary care provider,” said Angela Fagerlin, first author of the study published recently in JAMA Network Open.

But telling one’s doctor can be the first step in receiving essential help.

“We think it’s really important because many of these four issues can have at least a temporary, if not sometimes a significantly long term, impact on people’s both mental and physical health,” Fagerlin said.

“For providers to really provide the best physical care for their patients, they need to know whether these things are impacting their mental or physical health.”

Fagerlin serves as chairwoman of the University of Utah Department of Population Health Sciences and is an investigator with the V.A. Salt Lake City Health System’s Informatics Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences Center for Innovation.

U. researchers worked with researchers from Middlesex Community College, University of Michigan and University of Iowa to analyze responses from 4,500 people who participated in two national surveys in 2015.

They found that between 40% and 47.5% of survey participants chose not to tell their primary care providers that they had experienced at least one of the issues. More than 70% of those said it was because they were embarrassed, researchers said.

Other reasons for not disclosing the threats included fear of judgement or being lectured, and concern that they would be required to do something they didn’t want to do if they told their provider.

Dr. Kathy Franchek-Roa, assistant professor in the U. Department of Pediatrics and staff member at Primary Children’s Medical Center, said she believes a problem might be that providers and physicians often “haven’t been trauma-informed.”

The U. is trying to create a trauma-informed system and use “a universal approach to everybody as if they have been traumatized, because we know more than half of adults in this state have had a significant adverse childhood experience.”

Though not everyone has been traumatized, she said it’s important to approach everyone with sensitivity as if they have. Over the years, according to Francheck, oftentimes when people have disclosed the issues to health providers “they got a really negative response” that included victim blaming. That’s due to a lack of education and understanding, Franchek-Roa said.

Fagerlin wanted to emphasize that the researchers aren’t suggesting that “patients are doing something wrong,” or that patients are responsible to share the information. Instead, the research was meant to help figure out why people don’t disclose certain issues and to help doctors learn how to make them feel more comfortable.

It’s a problem that the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition has been fighting for the last few years.

Jenn Oxborrow, coalition executive director, said the study’s findings are “pretty consistent with what we’ve known for a long time about reporting and how people work with their medical professionals, and how we really have a lot of work to do there to improve the way that we screen and engage in a trauma-informed way.”

The coalition represents a team of community-based programs statewide that provide services to survivors.

“One of the things that we hear consistently from our programs across the state, and from over 40,000 crisis calls that we take per year, is that people are really scared to talk about this. They’re afraid of victim shame. They’re afraid of getting in trouble. They’re afraid of implications in their parental rights,” Oxborrow explained.

“And so I think that’s one of the big reasons that we see these barriers with medical professionals, too. People are afraid to talk to their doctors sometimes because they’re afraid that their doctor will have to report something. And that can be a very scary thing. It can be a very dangerous thing, too, for a survivor.”

Dr. Audrey Jiricko, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Intermountain Healthcare, says that when she started practicing, she didn’t see a lot of patients who disclosed those threats.

“The first 10 years I was in practice, I did not screen for traumatic stressors like sexual assault and domestic violence. And so I didn’t really see it because it wasn’t on my mind and I wasn’t asking routinely about it,” she recalled.

But Jiricko said that once some survivors opened up to her and told her about their experiences, as well as information they’d like to receive in health care, she realized: “I really need to be routinely asking people about sexual violence and intimate partner violence, or domestic violence.”

Since she started screening patients routinely, “Now I see (those issues) every day in my practice. But it’s definitely been a process of figuring out how to effectively screen.”

According to Jiricko, patients often have real concerns about where the information will go, confidentiality and judgement, as well as not being believed. Doctors are required to report to police when someone tells them children are witnessing domestic violence, if they come in for treatment to an injury caused by someone else, or if they’ve been threatened with a lethal weapon.

She said it’s helpful to let patients know that before she even asks them screening questions. “Just so they know where they stand, because I think a lot of patients are scared. ‘What is going to happen? Is someone going to call the police? Because sometimes that’s not very helpful. That might put me at more risk, or in more danger from a partner.’”

Patients also want to know that there’s real help available.

“It doesn’t really help to disclose something and then there’s nothing really definable that’s going to actually improve their quality of life. And I feel like if patients know there’s something that can really improve their quality of life, they’re much more likely to disclose.”

Jiricko says she always asks a “framing question.” First, she’ll let patients know the statistics about sexual assault — that 1 in 3 women in Utah are sexually assaulted in their life — and asks if it’s ever been a problem for them.

“And I find that that has really opened a lot of people up because they’re surprised, ‘Wow, it’s that common.’”

It’s important for patients to tell their doctors about those issues because traumatic stress can cause a number of different health problems, including higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicidality, Jiricko said. It can also cause higher rates of gastrointestinal problems, chronic pain, headaches, and even heart and lung conditions.

“So we’re trying to do a better job as a health care community to screen for these things and help people understand that it really does affect their physical and mental health, and that learning more about it and getting counseling really can help patients.”

The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition has been working “extensively” with law enforcement agencies, paramedics and doctors to standardize the way they assess risk and help patients open up about serious threats to their well-being.

That work can save lives, Oxborrow said.

Last year, at least a third of Utah’s 78 homicide victims were killed by someone who was either related, dating or previously acquainted to them, according to statistics kept by the Deseret News.

“We don’t have a lot of murders overall, but an exceptional number of the homicides that are perpetrated in Utah are perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner. Typically a man with a gun against a woman, and if it’s someone that has had a history of an ongoing set of risk factors that if we can recognize, we can start to intervene and get someone some help sooner,” Oxborrow said.

Research has shown that if domestic violence is screened earlier, domestic violence homicides can be prevented, according to Oxborrow. Additionally, when someone at a high risk of abuse meets with a professional victim advocate, their risk of re-assault decreases by 65%, she said.

Improving communication between different entities and standardizing risk assessment across the state can help ensure that victims don’t have to repeatedly answer questions and tell their stories to receive help.

Fagerlin said she would like to see the research lead to new studies that test different interventions to help improve patients’ disclosure of sensitive information to their providers. She also hopes the health community can find better solutions to make patients feel more confident to disclose the information.

Help for those facing domestic violence can be found by calling the Utah Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-897-LINK.

Those who have experienced sexual abuse or assault can get assistance from Utah’s statewide 24-hour Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis Line at 888-421-1100.

The Utah Department of Health offers suicide prevention help at utahsuicideprevention.org/suicide-prevention-basics. The national crisis hotline is 1-800-784-2433.

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From the people’s house to the schoolhouse? Rep. Rob Bishop hints at return to teaching after leaving Congress

FILE - Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for Northrop Grumman’s missile defense development facility in Roy on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

‘Next time the state has a large surplus, don’t cut taxes, buy out the federal government,’ Bishop tells Sutherland Institute audience

SALT LAKE CITY — As Rep. Rob Bishop prepares to “retire” from the U.S. House of Representatives, the eight-term Utah congressman and former high school teacher is hinting he might return to the classroom.

“I am going to quit and I actually want to teach again,” said Bishop, R-Utah, speaking at an event on innovation in education conducted by Sutherland Institute think tank on Wednesday.

“Part of me would like to go back to the high school and see if I can handle it because there’s not a whole lot of 69-year-olds that start a career in public education,” he said.

Bishop has a current teaching license that expires on June 30, 2020, according to the Utah State Board of Education’s Educator Look-Up Tool.

He last taught in 2002 at Box Elder High School in Brigham City, teaching U.S. history, U.S. history honors, and Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics, according to state records.

While returning to the classroom would better inform him of what’s happening in Utah schools after more than 16 years serving in Congress, Bishop said he firmly believes the federal government should have no role in public education.

“In fact, the next time the state has a large surplus, don’t cut taxes, buy out the federal government. Get them out of the system altogether, so you don’t have the controls that actually have to come along with that same thing,” he said.

He quoted former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who used to say, “If you want to get out of the trap, you have to let go of the cheese.” Bishop added, “If you want to get out of the trap of constant federal control, let go (of) the cheese. You have to get out of that particular system.”

He was particularly critical of the federal government’s handling of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The states should have “a hell of a lot more” flexibility in meeting students’ needs, he said.

“The state has always been more generous in the funding of that program than the federal government has. The federal government’s given all sorts of promises for the past 30 years and has never lived up to any of those promises. That’s another example of let state do what the state can do and do it better,” Bishop said.

Asked how the state could better address its teacher shortage, Bishop said teachers should be paid as well as school administrators “so you don’t have to get the big bucks by leaving the classroom. If you want to maintain teachers, give them control of the curriculum they’re supposed to do. If they do it differently than other school down the street, who cares?”

Bishop, who taught public school for 28 years, said federal education initiatives such as No Child Left Behind and Common Core have been “basically hype” and have done little to improve teaching and learning.

Asked if there is anything Congress can do to help public education, Bishop flatly replied, “Nothing.”

“Get us out of the way. You don’t need our money. We don’t have the money in the first place, so quit asking for it. And you don’t need our controls. You can do it. You don’t need us.”

Local control helps ensure school districts offer what parents and students want, he said.

“If really, the local districts are the ones that are actually becoming the innovators, they’re moving things, they’re allowed to do it, and the state legislature lets them do it, and the state school board goes away and lets them do it, I can see nothing else but positive coming out of that.”

But it will take a change of mindset because public education has historically been structured with a central command.

“A lot of people get very worried because they may lose power if you actually restructure it in that way,” he said.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2HzVEMA

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