Beetle battle: Their gardens lie fallow, their fruit hangs unpicked, their properties are subjected to the spraying of insecticides. The green-thumbed denizens of central Orem have paid a heavy price to safeguard the state from a potentially devastating pest, the Japanese beetle, that landed in their midst. And it appears their commendable cooperation with state officials is paying off. Only 145 of the ravenous bugs, which could threaten the state's landscape nursery and fruit industries if they spread, have been found in traps in the target area. More importantly, none have been found outside the 450-acre area where the beetles were discovered last year, an indication that the state's timely eradication program is working.

Final act: Esther Howard, 9, of Huntsville, died from injuries sustained in a traffic accident that killed her mother and brother. But through a final act of kindness made possible by her grieving family, the donation of her organs, Esther will live on in others. Too many people die while waiting for organ transplants, and too many accident victims are buried with healthy organs. Thanks to the generosity and advocacy of her family, Esther Howard is helping reverse those trends. More grieving families should take their example, and salvage something positive from tragedy.

He said what?: As Paul Rolly points out in his column today, Utah Congressman Chris Cannon is no stranger to buffoonery. To that thickening file, we add Cannon's comment last week on President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence: "It is troubling that a dedicated public servant like Lewis Libby got caught up in a prosecution of questionable merit in the first place." Let's see, would that reasoning also apply to President Clinton, who Cannon did his darndest to impeach for lying under oath? Seems to us that lying about a tawdry affair isn't quite the same as lying and obstructing justice in order to derail an investigation into the malicious leaking of an undercover CIA agent's identity, especially when the evidence points toward Libby's boss, Dick (bestriding the executive and congressional branches) Cheney.