This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Happy New Year. For my final column of 2014, here is a partial list of things I learned during the year but never got around to publishing. All I can say is better late than never.
• A lobbyist who routinely represents his company's interests at the Utah Legislature was traveling from a meeting in downtown Salt Lake City to his Sandy office on his KTM 990 motorcycle.
He was having such a good time on the powerful machine that he didn't realize he was going close to 100 mph on Interstate 15, weaving in and out of lanes while passing cars.
He couldn't hear the noises around him because he was listening to music from the earphones he was wearing inside his helmet. He also couldn't see what was beside him because he was leaning forward so he could keep his head protected from the wind with his windshield. That also prevented him from seeing what was going on in his side mirrors.
As he slowed down to take the 9000 South exit, he leaned back, looked in the mirrors and noticed more than half a dozen police vehicles with their lights flashing. He figured they were on their way to a major emergency so he pulled onto the shoulder to let them pass.
But they didn't. They pulled over with several troopers jumping out of their cars pointing guns at him.
Then it hit him. When one trooper tried to nab him for speeding, he was unaware and kept going, leading that cop to believe he was involved in high-speed chase so he called for backup.
The lobbyist was ordered to the ground, where he was handcuffed and carted to jail.
He eventually convinced the troopers that he was unaware they were trying to pull him over, and they let him off with a speeding ticket.
But while he was being interviewed by a trooper at the jail, he could hear the other cops in an adjacent room talking about him as they watched the video of him speeding from a dash cam on one of the pursuing cars. At one point he heard the group burst into laughter.
That was the point, he believes, when the stunned motorcyclist saw the troopers rushing toward him with guns drawn. A lobbyist friend told him to get a copy of that video so it could be played someday at his funeral.
• Former state Rep. Ryan Wilcox, who now is a regional representative for Sen. Mike Lee, was one of a handful of officials who rode along with Utah Highway Patrol troopers during a DUI blitz on Halloween night.
He took a picture with his cellphone of the trooper he accompanied in Weber County putting a DUI suspect through a field sobriety test.
The suspect had been to a costume party, and Wilcox posted the photo on his Facebook page with the caption: "Poor choice of costumes."
What was he wearing? An orange jail jumpsuit.
One commenter wrote: "At least he didn't have to change clothes once he was taken to jail."
• It has been a tradition for years that South Jordan's City Council and mayor honor young volunteers who serve on the city's Youth Council.
Each year, at a City Council meeting, they swear in the new youth council members, who are photographed shaking the mayor's hand.
During the ceremony earlier this year, the youth council's adviser asked when the kids could get the handshake and photo.
A council member said, "Let's do it." But the new mayor, David Alvord, interjected that the city would not be doing that anymore. He wants to keep the meetings moving.
Perhaps that gives him more time to post sarcastic remarks on his Facebook page about some Mormon women wanting the priesthood.