THE NEWS IN BRIEF

Justice

After 6 years behind bars, Green's out

Two sons of polygamist Tom Green picked him up early Tuesday morning as he left the Utah State Prison after six years behind bars. Green was released from the prison complex in Draper at 6:40 a.m., eluding TV news crews. His first stop: a parole office, where he was to review conditions of his release. Waiting for him at home were his legal wife Linda Kunz Green, at least 20 of his 30 children and three women he considers "spiritual wives." Green's biggest challenge now may be crafting an ongoing relationship with those three women without falling afoul of Utah's unique bigamy statute.

Crandall Canyon Mine disaster

Miners trapped; rescue efforts renewed

HUNTINGTON - Rescue crews spent most of the week trying to reach six miners who have been trapped since early Monday inside the Crandall Canyon Mine.

It was an agonizingly slow endeavor shadowed by the knowledge that, with every hour, the chance that their effort will be a recovery rather than a rescue grows.

As 134 miners worked in shifts underground, crews on top of the mountain made "significant progress," in the words of the top federal mining regulator, drilling holes that would serve as life preservers for any survivors.

Rescue crews drilling an 8 5/8-inch hole were within 242 feet Friday evening of a cavity where they believe the miners are trapped.

A 2-inch hole completed Thursday night strayed about 85 feet from its mark and was no longer being used as a means of establishing communication with the trapped miners. It is now being used to monitor the air below, mining officials said.

Initial readings stated there was 20 percent oxygen in the cavity, which is enough to sustain life. However, current readings place levels between 7 percent and 7.5 percent oxygen, said Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

As of Friday evening, officials remain unaware whether the trapped miners are injured or dead.

Within the next 24 hours, it is hoped a 8 5/8-inch drill will reach the cavity, allowing officials to drop a high-resolution video camera to view the underground mine 100 feet in any direction. The camera will also monitor audio.

The trapped men have been identified as Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Brandon Phillips, Carlos Payan, Luis Hernandez and Manuel Sanchez, the latter three Mexican immigrants. Richard Stickler, the Labor Department's assistant secretary who oversees the Mining Health and Safety Administration (MSHA), said a son and a brother of two of the trapped miners, who have visited the underground and drilling operations for two days, have helped the miners' families immeasurably.

Learn more

*To learn more about the CHIP van tour, call 1-877-KIDS-NOW, or visit www.health.utah.gov/chip for a list of sign-up events.

To view TV and radio ads about CHIP, visit www.sltrib.com.

Resources

Report: Industrial profit may be at expense of tourism gains

Tourism vs. mining in Utah

EMPLOYMENT

COMPARISON (2005)

* Mining and drilling in Uintah County - 2,519 workers

* Tourism in Uintah County - 929

PAY COMPARISON (2005)

* Mining and drilling - $486 million

* Tourism's statewide payroll wages - $1.4 billion

AVERAGE MONTHLY PAY

* Mining and drilling - $4,778

* Tourism - $1,100

Source: Utah Department of

Workforce Services

Western counties that rely on timber, coal mining and oil and gas drilling at the expense of natural beauty are trading short-term gain for an economy that could rely on hunting, fishing, tourism and attracting affluent residents from other parts of the country.

That's according to a report, "The New Economy of the West: From Clearcutting to Camping," from the Sierra Club. Using federal and state data gathered over the past three decades, the report concludes that outdoor recreation is key to the vitality of Western communities, rather than extractive industries that have supported the region in the past.

But the idea that mining and drilling ever was the heart of the Western economy appears to be a bit of a myth. "In the past, [extracting] natural resources probably wasn't as big as we thought it was," said Mark Knold, senior economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services. "It was only about 8 percent of our economy in 1960."

In rural Utah, however, mining was huge, mostly because the nation's industrial economy demanded fuel and because mountains stood in the way of commerce. "Now, it's being shifted," Knold said. "In the technical economy, mountains aren't a barrier at all."

The Sierra Club report comes down in favor of marketing beauty. Unless public land is protected, the report states, the economy can't sustain itself.

Using U.S. Commerce Department figures, the report says that Western counties where more than 60 percent of federal public land was protected grew 66 percent faster from 1970 to 2000 than counties where the same percentage of of public land was not protected.

Although the report focuses on the West as a whole, a snapshot focuses on how the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has affected Kane and Garfield counties. A 2007 Utah State University study found that 91 percent of monument visitors also stopped in the counties, spending millions of dollars at scores of businesses and supporting hundreds of full-time jobs.

Free speech

City yields on Governor's Mansion guidelines

Turns out, taking on the Man - at least with a banner and a bullhorn - is OK.

Salt Lake City attorneys have done an about-face on the capital's new anti-picketing ordinance, ruling that the Governor's Mansion should not be considered a "residence" and is therefore fair game for protests.

City Attorney Ed Rutan has advised capital cops that when the governor is a target of demonstrations, the city's new 100-foot restriction should not apply.

"The Governor's Mansion is used for a variety of public meetings," Rutan explained Monday. "If you look at the code, the residence definition does not apply."

Topic label (all items)

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A bitter seven-year legal fight over ownership of The Salt Lake Tribune ended Wednesday with a settlement that averts a September trial.

The McCarthey family, which owned the paper for almost a century, agreed to end all lawsuits against Tribune owner MediaNews Group and other defendants in return for an undisclosed amount, according to a statement released by MediaNews. The payment will be made from a settlement fund that some but not all of the defendants will contribute to.

The McCartheys will relinquish an option the family received in 1997 to buy back the paper after they sold its parent company, Kearns-Tribune, to Telecommunications Inc. (TCI). The $731 million deal was arranged to obtain the profits from a hefty appreciation of TCI stock owned by Kearns-Tribune.

TCI was later bought by AT&T, which briefly flirted with the idea of selling the paper to the Deseret Morning News. When that sale went nowhere, AT&T sold The Tribune to MediaNews in 2001 for $200 million. The family and their company, Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., filed a lawsuit to block the sale - touching off a long series of legal maneuvers that would ultimately lead nowhere for the McCartheys.

THE DIGIT:

200

The number of wireless Internet users served each day by a Wi-Fi system at Liberty Park.

On an athlete's change of plans:

"They never talked to me."

-New University of Utah running back Matt Asiata, who says he was ignored by his first choice, Brigham Young University.

As a throng of media members surrounded him Saturday after Utah's first day of fall camp, Matt Asiata broke into a big smile, stepped back a little and spread his arms as he took in his new jersey.

"Yeah, first day in a red uniform," he said with a mixture of disbelief and relief.

Asiata, the much-heralded Snow College transfer, never imagined he'd be in a Utah uniform when he was a star at Hunter High in West Valley City.

Then, he thought his only experience in Rice-Eccles Stadium would be his senior season when he played in the venue in the state championship game in which he led the Wolverines to the state title.

He expected the next time he'd be in Utah's home arena it would be as a BYU player.

Obviously, things didn't happen that way. While he was at Snow College working on his academics and piling up yards and accolades, the Cougars forgot about him, in his opinion.

"They never talked to me," he said.

On an integrated, public school system:

We are best served by schools that throw children together.

-Utah Board of Education Chairman Kim Burningham, who is opposed to the state's giving parents money to support private education.

BOUNTIFUL - Barefoot and grimy after a morning of yard work, Kim Burningham seems anything but the dictatorial nemesis of the school voucher movement.

"We are best served by schools that throw children together," says the chairman of the Utah Board of Education, musing on the philosophical roots of his opposition to the state giving parents money to support private education.

"One of our greatest faults as a society is that we have become fragmented. Separation is not to be encouraged," he says.