Burning issue: Smokey the Bear is having an anxiety attack. The combination of an early snowmelt, a shallow snowpack, and a warm, dry spring has left Utah and the rest of the West more vulnerable than ever to wildfires. Not that the Bush administration cares much. Only $79.1 million is available this year through the federal State Fire Assistance program, which pays to remove dry pine needles, grass and other wildfire fuels from land abutting homes. And next year, despite a request for $145 million from the National Association of State Foresters, the administration proposes spending just $68.1 million. Bad move. There is no question that preventing fires, and minimizing their chance of spreading, costs money. But the sum is modest compared with the costs, in money and lives, if pennies are pinched before the sparks of summer.
Well done: When Salt Lakers turn on the tap, they don't think of LeRoy Hooten, though it would be nice if they did, just out of gratitude. Hooten has worked for Salt Lake City's public utilities for nearly five decades, about half of that time as director. He has championed watershed preservation, bringing people together to protect and conserve water. City folk tend to take clean water for granted, but they shouldn't. It doesn't happen by accident. As a gesture of thanks, Mayor Rocky Anderson and three of his predecessors joined in a ceremony to rename the public utilities building after LeRoy W. Hooten Jr. It is an honor well deserved.
