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Brigham Young University's The Daily Universe published two stories this week on the 40th anniversary of the 14 African-American players who were kicked off the University of Wyoming football team for trying to wear black armbands during a game with BYU. They were protesting the LDS Church's prohibition of blacks holding the priesthood and the fact there were no black players on the BYU team.
The stories were reasonably balanced and included the perspective of some of the Wyoming players as well as the BYU players who felt victimized by the protests.
But Ron Scott, a former desk editor for the Deseret News and later a staff writer for Sports Illustrated , felt compelled to write a mildly critical letter to the Daily Universe because he felt the stories didn't fully depict the events surrounding the protests of BYU.
He pointed out that the protests lasted for years, rather than the few months as reported in the stories, and the church's African-American policy arguably played a part in Arizona State and Arizona leaving BYU's conference and going to what is now the PAC 10. He also said the local media at the time contained "racially charged" commentary about the protesters.
After Scott sent his letter, he noticed the "add new comment" buttons on both stories' online editions were removed, preventing readers from commenting on the stories.
"It is downright ironic that this action would
But a Daily Universe editor says the omission may have been for academic reasons. The stories were assigned by a professor in an advanced writing class and were edited by the professor, rather than a Daily Universe editor. So because they were done for the class, even though they ran in the paper, that might be why the "add new comments box" was left off.
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Fraud alert » Several Utah friends of former Salt Lake City resident Dale Smith received an e-mail recently that said in part: "I had a trip here in England. Unfortunately for me all my money got stolen on my way to the hotel where I lodged along with my bag where my passport was, and since then I have been without any money. I am even owing the hotel here.
"I have limited access to e-mails for now. Please I need you to lend me about $4,000 (U.S. dollars) so I can make arrangements and return back."
Instructions were given about where to wire the money.
But when one friend, David Lord, tried to contact Smith, he easily found him in Boston, where he lives. Smith said the whole thing is a lie and every person in his telephone contact book has received that e-mail.
So if you are a friend of Dale Smith, don't worry. He's fine. And don't send any money.
And, by the way, Scotland Yard has been notified .
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Correction » In my column Wednesday about the questionable way former disgraced Utah College of Applied Technology President Robert Brems was placed back into that job with little public notice and limited input, I mentioned that Doug Holmes, a leader in the voucher movement, was a member of the UCAT board that re-installed Brems. There is a Doug Holmes on the board, but it is a different Doug Holmes than the one involved with Parents for Choice in Education.
Paul Rolly is a political columnist. Reach him at prolly@sltrib.com
