I just read Paul Rolly's column about Utah Liquor Commissioner Richard Sperry and the petition by the Huka Bar for an expanded liquor license ("Piety from the pedestal," Tribune , Nov. 20). When is the demonization of people in the press going to end?

There were two -- two -- quotes attributed to Sperry ("I don't like your attitude" and "You seem to have laughed off what has occurred"), yet from this, Rolly tells us that Sperry is a "Napoleon Bonaparte," letting "the little people know who was boss," "peering down from his throne and morphing into Nurse Ratched," telling them to "wipe the smiles off of their faces" "as though they were eighth-graders facing detention" and that Sperry's a "big boy with the ability to mess with their business."

Journalism? Pa-leeze. I don't know Sperry, I've never been to the Huka Bar and I know nothing about the liquor commission. But I do lament the fading away of responsible journalism in this country. Pathetic doesn't begin to describe this lazy, mean-spirited attack article. I wonder if Rolly was even there.

Scott Openshaw

Draper