Kaysville steps out of bounds

In the editorial "State, not church," The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board took strong exception to the decision by Kaysville City Councilman Gil Miller, who oversees that city's recreation programs, to ban sports activities and practices from municipal facilities on Monday evenings.

Because there can be no reason for such an action other than to honor the Family Home Evening call of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Miller and most other Kaysvillers are members, such a decision to ban everyone from publicly owned facilities steps over the line from a respect for religion to an imposition of its practices on believers and non-believers alike.

If practicing Saints don't wish to participate in city rec programs on Mondays, that's their right. But shutting them down so they don't have to make a choice is not the role of a government in the United States of America.

Wednesday

Out of sight, not out of mind

Speaking of the improper mingling of church and state, there're Utah's liquor laws. In the editorial "Liquor stores," the editorial board lamented two of the sillier aspects of the state's monopoly on liquor sales and information about same.

The board called for an act of the Legislature - yes, that's what it will take - to allow the listing of state liquor and wine stores in the Yellow Pages of telephone directories, where normal people will look for them, rather than only under the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in the state government pages, which is the only place they are now.

It also seemed absurd to learn that Washington County, with a population of 140,000 and growing, has only one liquor store and that reasonable plans to open another were thwarted by complaints from, among others, the administration of Dixie State College. Seems the school's mortarboard was in a knot at the idea of tempting students with demon rum. As if they wouldn't know about it otherwise.

In both cases, factual education about the hazards of alcohol abuse is proper. Trying to hide the fact that alcohol exists is not.

Thursday

The cure for the Imperial Presidency

In the editorial "Gerald Ford," the editorial board joined with others across the nation in mourning the death of the former president and agreed with the now common wisdom that we didn't appreciate the guy enough when he was in the White House.

While people made fun of his homespun style and apparent lack of physical grace, the fact was that Ford's whole presidency, even his radioactive pardon of predecessor Richard Nixon, was just what a shell-shocked nation needed.

Looking back from today, the board argued, the humble and guileless Jerry Ford seems such a good role model for a president that we can only wish that the current president would take notice of all the fond memories being expressed and resolve to see himself, and his authority, a little less absolute.

Friday

Taking the easy way out

It's hard enough for Utah schools to do their job educating high school students to acceptable standards without the Legislature offering an easy escape route for those who have trouble in traditional classes.

In the editorial "Credit not due," the editorial board seeks repeal of the state law that allows students who flunk a high school course to pay certain for-profit services for make-up programs, sometimes of short duration and dubious quality. The law foolishly requires the students' home districts to accept the credit without actually checking to see if work has been done or material mastered.

There are legitimate reasons for the educational system to cut students slack and help them catch up when they have personal or family problems. But school district-approved services do exist, and the state does students no favors when it allows them to buy their way to a high school diploma that may be meaningless.

Time to bust the bunker-buster

Does anyone believe the Pentagon's assurances that the proposed detonation of the world's largest non-nuclear bomb amid the leftovers of the nation's disgraceful nuclear weapons tests won't create a downwind hazard? The editorial board doesn't.

In the editorial "Stop the bomb," the board argues that the planned test of the device called Divine Strake, once again set for the Nevada Test Site, should be stopped because promises that the amount of radioactivity that would be put to the winds would be harmless is simply not credible.

Besides, the whole point of the test is to create a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons, something that is rightly illegal today.