This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Utah legislators who strike back at those who run counter to the Republican caucus echo chamber sometimes dig themselves into even deeper messes.
For instance, Rep. Paul Ray, sponsor of the controversial bill to revive the firing squad, answered a sarcastic email from a death-penalty foe with his own satirical reply, which he also sent to the man's boss.
But the critic distributed Ray's response to numerous Utah newspapers in an attempt to alert the lawmaker's bosses: the public.
The saga began when Paul Josephson, a history professor at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, emailed the Clearfield Republican about his bill, which lawmakers narrowly passed and Gov. Gary Herbert recently signed.
"Jesus would be proud of you," Josephson wrote. "Vladimir Putin would be proud, too, except in Russia there has been a moratorium on the death penalty since 1996 as immoral and wrong."
Josephson's sarcasm-laced email included a suggestion that executions could be held during halftime at University of Utah games and tickets could be sold to the events. Proceeds could be used to help pay for the costly appeals in capital cases.
He signed the email, "Paul Josephson, Ph.D., Center for Executions in the Public Interest, Institute for Sale of Tickets, 666 Putin St., Gulag, Maine.
While Josephson did not say whom he worked for and he used his personal email instead of the college's, Ray apparently looked him up.
In his response, Ray wrote: "I didn't realize that Colby College had a center for shooting people legally. Sounds quite morbid and barbaric for a liberal arts school, if you ask me."
He added, "Give my regards to President [David A.] Greene," the president of Colby College, and copied the email, which he titled "Harassing emails," to "president@colby.edu."
Ray insists he didn't intend to get Josephson in trouble, and he thought the "Center of Executions in the Public Interest" gag was funny.
"I was just giving a little bit back. He was being sarcastic with me; I was being sarcastic back," Ray said. "I don't mind getting emails from people who disagree with me."
One irony: Ray sent the email on his government-issued account, which is "pray@utah.gov."
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Mine games • Miners and their families in Emery County still shake their heads over the recent closing of the Deer Creek mine, since it came after the United Mine Workers of America consummated a two-year negotiation by signing a contract with Energy West, a subsidiary of PacifiCorp.
Now, instead moving the coal about 2 miles down the canyon by conveyor belt from the mine to the power plant in Huntington Canyon, Energy West hauls in coal from nonunion mines about 60 miles away, leading to trucks constantly driving along U.S. 6.
So, while the transportation costs are higher and the impact on Utah's roads is greater, at least the personnel costs will be cheaper.
Paul Murphy, spokesman for PacifiCorp's Rocky Mountain Power, says that during the negotiations, company representatives told the union the only way to keep the mine open was to sell it to someone who could operate it more economically.
Murphy said that because of higher sulfur content in the Deer Creek mine, it took twice as long to process that coal to meet air-quality standards. He said the mine was near the end of its production life anyway, with about four more years of minable coal left.
But Mike Dalpiaz, UMWA vice president for District 22, said the mine had about 10 years left.
By shutting down the mine and ceasing the agreement with the union, he said, the company will not have to honor its promise to make contributions to miners' pension fund.