This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
First it was the venerable Cinegrill.
After more than 70 years serving Italian food and salads with its garlic-laced dressing, the restaurant closed earlier this year after failing to get a liquor license at its new location.
Now another Utah icon has bitten the dust.
Morrison Meat Pies, which sprouted in 1883 when New Zealand immigrant Thomas Morrison began selling his homemade concoctions near Temple Square, has gone out of business.
The nation's fifth-oldest food company met its demise after expanding to accommodate pork exports from Utah to Asian markets. But the company failed to cover the loan because it didn't get paid for the pork meals it was processing.
"We're older than Campbell's Soup. We're older than Heinz Ketchup. We're older than Kentucky Fried Chicken. We're older than the state of Utah," said Gene Tafoya, who took over operations in 2004 as the company's fifth owner in its 133-year history.
Morrison's Scottish meat pies with the slightly spiced meat baked inside a tasty pastry has been a favorite for generations. Folks usually bought the pies from the frozen-food section of grocery stores and heated them up at home.
Patron George Reid remembers sharing the comfort food with his father, who would faithfully stop by the old factory near West High School to pick up a stash. He says it is one of the fondest memories of his childhood.
A Salt Lake Tribune story in 2012 noted that, at its new plant in West Jordan, Morrison — and its 12 employees — made 5,000 pies a day to be trucked out to the stores.
Then it fell apart.
Tafoya took out loans to expand the facilities to make egg and sausage pies for a burgeoning foreign market in South Korea. He made the pies through an agreement with the Utah Pork Producers Association, which won a federal grant to build portable slaughter facilities to process the pigs.
But Tafoya didn't get paid and couldn't meet his loan obligations. He didn't have the money to keep making the product, so he couldn't fill the orders from South Korea.
Haven Hendrix, executive director of the Utah Pork Producers Association, was charged in 1st District Court in Logan last November with three counts of communications fraud. An earlier lawsuit accused Hendrix of allegedly stealing $325,000 from the association.
That's where Tafoya believes the money he was supposed to be paid ended up.
"The sad thing is that this hurts our vendors, it hurts our employees, many of them former inmates or parolees who we gave a second chance to."
The 2012 Tribune story, written by former staffer Tom Wharton, ended with an ironic quote from Tafoya: "People tell us thanks for still being here. That's the reward."
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Debate overload? • The Utah Debate Commission's scheduled political contests got off to a shaky start this year when Democratic Utah attorney general candidate Jon Harper pulled out of the race just before his Sept. 21 matchup with incumbent Sean Reyes. So the Republican had the entire hour to himself.
The next debate, between Gov. Gary Herbert and Democratic rival Mike Weinholtz, took place Sept. 26, the same night as the first presidential clash between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
On Tuesday, the debate between 2nd District Rep. Chris Stewart and Democratic foe Charlene Albarran was held on the same night as the skirmish between vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence.
In fact, the debate between 3rd District Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Democrat Stephen Tryon will occur Oct. 19, the same night as the final showdown between Clinton and Trump.
Too much politics? Too much overlap?
Actually, says Utah Debate Commission director Nena Slighting, the contests were scheduled that way on purpose. The Utah debates were set one hour before the national ones. Slighting said the commission wanted to give local viewers a comprehensive debate experience, watching the local and national battles back to back.
The dual-duels strategy is getting mixed reviews from readers who responded to questions from The Tribune through its partnership with the Public Insight Network.
Salt Lake City resident Kat Payne watched both debates but nonetheless said scheduling the Utah debates before the national ones made it difficult to allot that much time on one night to two debates.
Nate Blouin of Millcreek said scheduling the Utah debates before the national tussles made it easier and more appealing to tune in to both.
If he had to pick, though, he would watch the national debates. "Utah's politics are so skewed to the right that it rarely even matters."