State Sen. Curt Bramble has been in Baghdad the past couple of weeks teaching Iraqis about democracy.
The Provo Republican has been part of a team of teachers sent to Iraq by the American Legislative Exchange (ALEC), a conservative national partnership between legislators and business. They conducted training sessions for the Baghdad Provincial Council on how to be a legislator and what it means to represent the people, not the party, according to one mission statement.
Students of Bramble and his colleagues included supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the ultra-conservative faction, and supporters of Nuri al-Maliki, the moderates.
No word on whether the instruction also included workshops on float building, pizza ordering or junkets to Italy with lobbyists.
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Pretty bad timing » Every year the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., publishes a calendar with each month's page featuring a fallen officer and a living law-enforcement hero.
This month's page, unfortunately, features as the living hero Ken Hammond, the noted Trolley Square cop who recently resigned from the Ogden Police Department in disgrace and was sentenced last week to 90 days in jail for sexual misconduct with a teenager.
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Return to sender » If People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals want to threaten and humiliate folks accused of animal cruelty, fine. But they need to make sure they get the right person.
Lezlie Wade of Salt Lake City was rightfully outraged last week when she came home from work to find on her doorstep a UPS envelope with large cursive writing on the outside that said: "Regarding Allegations of Cruelty."
The letter inside was from Tori Perry, of PETA's Cruelty Investigations Department in Norfolk, Va. It was addressed to David Shutt and referred to a KUTV report that Shutt was charged with shooting a BB gun at pigeons, killing one.
The letter warned Shutt that if there are future allegations, the national organization will coordinate with local law enforcement to prosecute under the full weight of the law.
There's just one problem. Wade, at whose home the letter was addressed, does not know a David Shutt. He does not live at that address. Plus, Wade has never shot a pigeon in her life .
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Good neighbors » Bicyclists on Wasatch Boulevard often must dodge debris scattered by trucks going to and from the gravel pit near the mouth of Little and Big Cottonwood canyons and, sometimes, when a sweeper is hired to clean up the gravel pit area, it gets worse. That's because it sweeps a limited area and leaves piles of rocks the bicyclists must evade.
So cyclist Richard Annen of Sandy was delighted when riding home from work Wednesday evening, he noticed two men had pulled their car over and were sweeping and shoveling the mess off the pathway.
