This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Story of the week
Prelude to murder
Tracie Williamson
Linzie Williamson
Jessica Perez
Peter Perez
Fears well warranted
Intervention fails as abuse comes to a tragic end
Tracie Williamson's family had long feared for her safety. The 28-year-old mother first told them last year that her live-in boyfriend, Peter A. Perez, 34, had been mentally and physically abusing her, according to her father, David Partridge. Her father sent police to her home more than once to check on her. It was Monday, on one of those checks, that police found the bodies of Williamson, her 10-year-old daughter, Linzie, Perez's 1-year-old daughter, Jessica, and Perez himself inside the couple's South Salt Lake home. Police believe Perez shot the three, then himself.
Charity Van Leeuwen, the mother of young Jessica Perez, says ex-husband Peter was abusive to her as well. Williamson was her best friend, and when health and personal troubles led Van Leeuwen to consider the welfare of her daughter, she believed Jessica would be better off in the care of Williamson and Perez.
, on Stolen Innocence, a memoir penned by client Elissa Wall (who helped send Warren Jeffs to prison) on her former life among the FLDS.
Criminal karma:
". . . my investigation is incomplete as to whether Southwick/VesCor were scammers that [were] scammed or just greedy fraudsters who reached for the sky and fell on their face."
- Miami attorney Lewis Freedman, who suggests that Val Southwick, perhaps the perpetrator of the largest investment fraud in Utah history, was himself duped by Las Vegas political insiders.
1,128
Man-hours spent digging through snow drifts sometimes 15 feet deep to open Timpanogos Cave National Monument for tours.
hed
Spruce up the green thumbs
Lawn myths mowed down
Myth: Early spring applications of a complete fertilizer are critical.
Fact: You should wait until May to first apply fertilizer.
Myth: All lawns need pre-emergent herbicide treatments.
Fact: Instead of wasting money on pre-emergent herbicides, hand-pull or spot spray.
Myth: Once you have a fungal problem in your lawn, you need to apply fungicide regularly.
Fact: Reducing thatch and watering less manages fungi.
- Maggie Wolf, horticulture agent for USU
Economy
Despite debt, foreclosures and fuel costs, Utahns still have their jobs
While the rest of the country teeters on the brink of recession, Utah's economy is showing surprising resilience, a new report shows.
The state's job growth in April was 2 percent, virtually unchanged from 2.1 percent in March, the Utah Department of Workforce Services said Tuesday. The state created 24,800 jobs in the year that ended in April, bringing total employment to nearly 1.3 million.
Utah's job creation rate is down sharply from a peak of 5.4 percent nearly two years ago, but remains markedly higher than the national rate of 0.3 percent.
"We're still one of the best-performing economies in the nation," said Mark Knold, Workforce Services senior economist.
In the words of Paul Rolly:
If Utah's GOP says it, it must be true
Delegates at the Salt Lake County Republican Convention on May 8 passed a resolution on energy independence that states, "Utah alone has enough oil and natural gas resources to supply the United States for tens of thousands of years."
Two delegates - a geologist and an engineer - stood to speak against the resolution because, they said, that statement was blatantly false.
But they were talking to Utah Republicans, who have shown disdain for science getting in the way of ideological blustering.
The resolution cited as its source "members of the Utah State Legislature," the same body where the statement once was made that since there is a dog species, and there is a cat species, but there is no "dat" species, the theory of evolution obviously is bunk.
About those bonus checks
Sandy decides to cap monetary rewards for city employees
On Tuesday, Sandy Chief Administrative Officer Byron Jorgenson proposed - and the City Council endorsed - limiting bonus amounts to 1 percent of an employee's salary. Workers who do something extraordinary also would be eligible for up to an additional 1 percent in "lightning strike" rewards.
And employees who have peaked in their salary ranges could earn an extra 5 percent lump-sum payment each year.
City administrators came under fire after recent revelations of a top-heavy bonus program that awards 20 percent of the incentive cash to less than 2 percent of employees: Mayor Tom Dolan and his 12-member leadership team.
State conventions
Cannon faces primary; Dems deal a surprise
CANNON
VALDEZ
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Rep. Chris Cannon barely escaped with his political life on Saturday. Jason Chaffetz, a former chief of staff to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., nearly knocked off the incumbent in the Republican State Convention, but instead will face Cannon in a June 24 primary.
Also Saturday, Utah Democrats chose Bob Springmeyer as their candidate to run against Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. Springmeyer made a surprise nomination of Josie Valdez for lieutenant governor. She would, if elected, become the first Latina lieutenant governor in Utah.
Word gets out
Church aims to plug 'leak' of handbook
Wikileaks, Web site that publishes anonymous submissions of private documents, describes the LDS Church Handbook of Instructions a source sent it as significant because "the book is strictly confidential among the Mormon . . . bishops and stake presidents and it reveals the procedure of handling confidential matters related to tithing payment, excommunication, baptism and doctrine teaching."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sent a letter alleging copyright infringement and requesting that material be immediately removed from sites that have published it.