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Invitations to a campaign kickoff for Rep. Rich Cunningham, R-South Jordan, who is running for Senate District 10, raised eyebrows when the fliers featured Gov. Gary Herbert.
Was Herbert endorsing Cunningham, who is in a Republican primary against incumbent Lincoln Filmore?
No, said Marty Carpenter, Herbert's campaign manager. There obviously was some confusion.
Carpenter said the Cunningham campaign offered to let Herbert have a booth at the event and hand out T-shirts, an offer that initially was accepted.
But when the invitations went out, suggesting it was a joint event, the Herbert team decided against having a booth.
The invitation said Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox would be there representing the Herbert campaign, but that was never agreed to, said Carpenter.
Cunningham said the flier was the result of some confusion. Herbert is not endorsing anyone in his race, and the South Jordan lawmaker is not endorsing anyone in the GOP gubernatorial primary between Herbert and challenger Jonathan Johnson.
Meanwhile • The Cunningham event took place Wednesday evening in the parking lot of Elk Ridge Middle School in South Jordan.
Normally, someone staging a parking lot event at a school is charged $10 an hour by the school district. But this one was sponsored by the Jordan Education Association, which is endorsing Cunningham and had its annual meeting at the same time. So the fee was waived.
Hidden treasure • The Fort Douglas Military Museum, on the upper campus of the University of Utah, celebrates its 40th anniversary Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Fort Douglas was founded in 1862, when soldiers built a garrison three miles east of Salt Lake City to guard overland routes, wagon trains and telegraph lines from attacks.
Admission to the celebration is free. On display will be historic artifacts, weaponry and everyday memorabilia spanning more than 150 years. At 3 p.m., cake will be served and board members, staffers and volunteers will share memories and stories.
The museum boasts extensive archives and a reading room stocked with more than 1,000 books detailing early exploration, pioneer life and military history.
The fort served as a training base during the Spanish-American War and a prisoner-of-war camp in World War I. It later housed the 9th Service Command headquarters overseeing Western defenses, which was moved from the Presidio in San Francisco during World War II because of fears of Japanese attacks on the U.S. mainland.
As an illustration of how fragile history can be, contractors for the U., which has taken over most of the fort from the U.S. Army, unwittingly destroyed some Civil War-era relics last year. Crews were digging trenches on the facility's east side to upgrade the school's electrical system. State and federal officials stepped in to halt the indiscriminate digging.
A state archaeologist was sent to the site, likely saving stone foundations for barracks built in the mid-1860s.
Speaking of treasures • Gossner Foods was recently honored for its Cache Valley Swiss cheese by the national magazine Real Simple.
The plant's owner, Dolores Gossner Wheeler, is beloved in northern Utah and Idaho, particularly among dairy farmers who supply the milk and other products. When milk prices bottomed out during the Great Recession, Logan-based Gossner awarded farmers unexpected bonuses of $2.5 million to help keep them in business.
Farmers returned the favor by donating care packages — including cartons of ultra-high-temperature milk that do not require refrigeration — to 350 Army Reservists serving in Iraq, telling them their donations were made possible by Wheeler's generosity in giving out bonuses.
Honoring teachers • More than 300 educators who were named Teachers of the Year from schools in Salt Lake and Utah counties will be honored at an appreciation night at the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper on Friday evening.