This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
William Athey is a conservationist, believes in recycling and adamantly opposes plastic grocery bags.
He refuses to use them and several years ago persuaded then-Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon to get rid of them at county libraries, which now have recyclable bags.
But he twice has been threatened with arrest or told not to come back by 7-Eleven clerks, who believe it is illegal to allow single cans of beer to leave the store without being placed in plastic bags.
When Athey refused a plastic bag for the two tall cans of Pabst he purchased at the 7-Eleven at 535 E. 1700 South, the clerk told him never to return.
On another occasion, a worker at the 7-Eleven at 501 E. 2100 South threatened to call the police when he insisted on placing the single cans of beer in his backpack instead of a plastic bag.
No state law or Salt Lake City ordinance requires that single cans of beer be placed in plastic grocery bags. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has no similar rule either.
Let's hope this column doesn't give the regulators a new idea.
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Have gun, will travel • Ashley Anderson was stopped at the corner of State Street and West Temple recently when her 2-year-old son shouted from his car seat in the back: "Mom, why is there a woman pointing a scary gun at me?"
After her initial panic, she realized he was talking about an ad on the side of a Utah Transit Authority bus that had stopped next to them.
The ad, for an ammunition-supply store in Sandy, featured a larger-than-life woman holding what appeared to be an assault rifle.
"I realize most people in this state are very supportive of gun rights," Anderson said. "Even so, you'd think having an image of an aimed gun on the side of public transit would be considered unacceptable."
She emailed UTA's ad firm, Lamar Advertising, and called the transit agency to file a complaint.
UTA did not follow up, but a Lamar manager told her the ad meets state code.
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Better late than never • Bill Brass wants Utah's young people to know Social Security coverage will be there for them when they reach retirement age.
How does he know?
His wife, who is 56, lost her mother while she was a teenager, which made her eligible for Social Security survivor benefits until she was 19.
Social Security accidentally sent her two payments after she turned 19 before discontinuing the payments.
She was single at the time, had just moved from Chicago to Ogden and was unaware of the error or any attempt to contact her regarding an overpayment.
Since that time, she has filed her income taxes every year. She received a refund every time but once.
This year, however, the Brass couple received a letter from the Treasury Department informing them that $488.70 of their refund was being applied to a federal debt they owe to the Social Security Administration for the overpayment made 36 years ago.
So rest assured, millennials. If it takes Social Security that long to collect from everyone who owes it money, the backlog, just for the baby boomers alone, will continue trickling in to fund the program for years to come.