This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Moab folks are sharing a story on social media about a special Christmas delivery.
For a variety of reasons, many U.S. Postal Service packages due for delivery Christmas Eve to Moab residents were waylaid in Price, where they were going to have to remain until after the holiday.
So Moab Postmaster Jay Stocks, on his own time and dime, drove the 115 miles to Price in the middle of the night during a snowstorm and brought back almost 100 packages destined for his city.
On Christmas morning, he and his family delivered them.
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Gift of love • Another special delivery was made just before Christmas in downtown Salt Lake City from anonymous sources.
It was a bouquet of flowers accompanied by this handwritten note:
"Dear friends, it pains our hearts to see some of the hateful things in the media lately. Despite those loud voices, we want you to know how important your presence is in the community and how much you are loved and appreciated. You make this a better and more wholesome place to live."
It was signed, "With love, your brothers and sisters."
The recipient of this gift was a mosque of the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake.
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It started with a drink • I wrote Monday about the camaraderie developed between BYU fan Janalee Tobias and a rowdy Utah fan over a spilled bloody mary at the Las Vegas Bowl.
When the Ute fan, having fun screaming epithets at the rival Cougars, accidentally spilled his drink on the Tobias family, he profusely apologized, offered to pay for dry cleaning and insisted on buying the family ice cream.
Here is the rest of the story:
As they got better acquainted during the game, Tobias learned her new BFF owned a barbecue restaurant in South Jordan, which is where she lives.
So just before Christmas, she went to the restaurant to deliver a gift she was passing out in her neighborhood, a box of Chex Party Mix with a card that said, "Merry Chex Mix."
The Ute fan responded by giving Tobias two barbecue pork sandwiches to take home.
As Humphrey Bogart said in the classic line in "Casablanca" — "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
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Expanding our borders? • Republican gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Johnson tweeted recently about what he would do if he were elected governor with a comment that seemed to be a swipe at his GOP rival, incumbent Gary Herbert, for not doing enough.
But a closer look might leave one wondering if he is advocating invading other states.
The tweet said, "Legal experts agree it's time to get our lands back," a reference to efforts to claim control over federal lands in Utah.
It was accompanied by a picture of a pristine area that looks like Monument Valley.
But state Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, responded: "Your photo in this post to get our lands back is in Arizona, not Utah."
Oops.
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Provincialism still reigns • I wrote recently about a 1933 front-page headline in the Deseret News about a devastating earthquake in California that killed 150 people and caused millions in damages.
The headline: "Quake kills LDS woman; All Utahns reported safe."
So here's some additional humor from the Deseret News in a more recent story — this month, in fact — about media lawyers writing a letter to legislative leaders complaining about closed-caucus meetings.
The lawyers represented the Utah Media Coalition — made up of The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, Daily Herald, The Spectrum, Herald Journal, The Associated Press, KSL, KUTV, KTVX, KSTU, the Utah Press Association and the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). The Tribune story listed all those news organizations.
The Deseret News story, however, described the Utah Media Coalition as a group made up of "the Deseret News, KSL and others."
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Everyone but you • Because of a huge snowstorm Dec. 14, Gov. Gary Herbert issued an executive order sending most state workers home early, considering the later they stayed on the job, the more dangerous conditions would be for their journeys home.
But state liquor store workers had to stay their entire shifts.
One employee told me that because of the hazardous conditions, he didn't get home until 10:30 p.m. and then had to return at 7 the next morning to unload a truck — again in the snow.