The Daily Spectrum from Saint George, Utah • 1

THE DAILY Summer games spur athletes See page B1 Arsonist destroys homes See page 4 ffMIM Vol.29 No. 124 Thursday, June 28, 1990 o)pect I 9k i Southern Edition 35 Briefs Lawmakers feel influence of LDS Church the right to speak out on issues it deems of "moral significance," says its only registered lobbyist, former Senate president Oscar W. McConkie Jr. That usually means liquor and sex, but in the past has included such topics as the Equal Rights Amendment, the MX missile and tax reform that would have done away with exemptions for the 10 percent tithe paid by faithful Mormons. The church publicly opposed all dominant religion running everything," McConkie said.

But two years ago, the church was criticized for lobbying against a bill that would have legalized liquor on tour buses and limousines. In the waning hours of the last day of the session," a church spokesman called a number of senators to express concerns over the bill, which had passed the House and was supported by Gov. Norm Bangerter. of those propositions and its antipathy is generally credited for their failure. Each year, potentially questionable legislation is routinely reviewed by a Special Affairs Committee, made up of four of the church's 12 apostles.

McConkie said the church regularly avoids commenting on legislation it might be interested in to avoid the perception that it is meddling in secular affairs. "We try to quiet this fear about a favor lobby even stronger majority, 74 percent, rated lobbyists' ethical performance as "only fair" or "poor." Lobbyists pervade the lawmaking process, representing businesses, unions and other organizations that have an interest in proposed laws. They seek, through information and persuasion, to draw legislators to their Lobbyists work at all levels of government, although much attention is focused on their efforts in Washington. The survey sought to gauge public awareness of lobbying at the state level. It found that statehouse lobbying is widely recognized and largely criticized.

Nearly half the respondents said lobbyists have "a great amount" of influence in shaping state laws, yet only a quarter believed the in Editor's note: This is the final story in a four-part series on Utah's "persuaders." SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -When Utah lawmakers decided they wanted to change Utah's liquor laws, they took the bill to the one group that could assure its passage the Mormon Church. Once the church decided it wouldn't oppose the sweeping changes, the measure attracted as sponsors the most powerful lawmakers, nearly all faithful members of the faith that disdains alcohol, and passed both houses handily. "In my experience that generally paves the way for passage," said Robin Riggs, a legislative analyst who drafted several recent liquor reform bills. "It means they can pass it without fear of opposing the church, which is a position nobody up here wants to find themselves in on these kinds of bills." More than 90 percent of Utah's 104 legislators are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And officials say the church's conservative influence, spoken or not, plays a significant role in how lawmakers approach their jobs.

Faithful Mormons believe the president of the church is a prophet and his edicts carry the weight of scripture. "It makes me wonder why the" Legislature meets at all," said Ross Anderson, a Salt Lake City attorney who represents the legislative watchdog group Common Cause. "Maybe we should just call the church and ask which bills are going to pass then stay home." The church long has reserved Bangerter rejects ballot question Americans NEW YORK (AP) Americans believe state lawmakers regularly swap their votes for payoffs, and they favor strict regulation of political lobbying to curtail such influence peddling, a national poll has found. By overwhelming majorities, respondents to the Media General-Associated Press poll said state legislators are overly influenced by gifts or campaign contributions from lobbyists, and they favored banning such favors. Half the respondents, furthermore, said lawmakers are more interested in raising money for their re-election than in passing good laws.

Nine in 10 favored limiting the amount candidates can spend to run for state office. Nearly two-thirds of the 1,071 adults polled expressed negative views of the ethical behavior of state lawmakers. An Several weeks ago, he met with House Speaker Nolan Karras, Majority Leader Craig Moody and other Republican legislative leaders to discuss the ramifications of food sales tax referendum. Karras and Moody suggested convincing their colleagues at a proposed special session to place the question on the ballot. Such a move would require a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate.

Giani said Bangerter never really liked the idea, but said he'd consider it. Bangerter has not formally there will be a special session, although Giani and others say a one- or two-day session likely will be called in August. "We haven't been informed that he's against it," said Moody on Wednesday. "We think more discussion on the idea is needed. We haven't taken a poll of our (House Republican) caucus, but the feedback I'm getting is that such an additional question would be good." the high court's ruling Wednesday could mean that crucial prosecution testimony offered by child psychologist Barbara Snow might have been inadmissible.

Cook said he has a conference in the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday morning to decide the outcome of a petition he filed in Bullock's law suspended by court order law enforced Maine Crews control fires EUREKA, Utah (AP) Firefighters brought brush fires to neei inrougnour the state as weather conditions eased somewhat. i lemperaiures dropped in some areas nf th state WoHnoc. day, while firefighters also re- i -ii ponea neip trom wind changes and higher humidity. Bureau of Land Manaopmpnt officials said a 350-acre brush lire 14 miles west of Eureka was Controlled Wednesriav TWntv firefighters remained through ine nignt to extinguish hot spots, said Interagency Fire Center dispatcher Frank Williams.

Meantime, a 30-acre brush fire 10 miles southwest of Emery near the Fishlake National Forest also was brought under control. Bert Hart with the BLM's Richfield District said 18 firefighters remained through the night to monitor the blaze. A 65-acre fire near the Bear River in Cache County was controlled, as was a 10-acre blaze in the Lake Mountains west of Utah Lake and a fire in Sevier County. Fusion Institute review delayed SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -Financial and scientific reviews of the University of Utah's Na tional Cold Fusion Institute, re quested in order to evaluate the progress of experiments there, won't get under way until next month. The Fusion-Energy Advisory Council, the state's fusion watchdog, this week asked outgoing univeristy President Chase N.

Peterson to present names of 16 external scientists qualified to review the univer sity's nuclear cold-fusion experiments. Questions about fusion experiments, begun when University of Utah electrochemist B. Stanley Pons and his British colleague, Martin Fleishmann, announced in March 1989 they had acheived a sustained a fusion reaction at room temperature. The list, to include eight recommendations from the faculty and eight from the institute, must be submitted to the council by July 9. Four of the 16 will be selected by a council-appointed committee to conduct the actual evaluation of the scientific experiments, data and results.

Council Chairman Raymond Hixson said the four must have expertise in physics, metallurgy, electrochemistry and calorimetry. Meanwhile, council member Joseph Gubler, a Cedar City certified public accountant, is chairing the subcommittee that's organizing a financial review of the $5 million the Utah Legislature appropriated to open the institute. New sign ready SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -While new plastic panels reading simply "Adolph Coors Co." should be ready to replace advertisements for the beer com- Eny's products on the Salt scoreboard within a few weeks, nobody is throwing out the old signs yet. The backlit "Coors" and "Coors Light" beer signs that hung for years beneath the Utah Jazz scoreboards were shrouded in black plastic last March after changes in the state's liquor laws outlawed beer advertisements. Coors officials plan to skirt the statute by hanging the new signs, which cost almost $2,000.

Weather, See page 2 Bible Verse "And they were in the waygoing up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him. Mark 10:32 TERRIFIC TOWNHOUSE! Mack i of St. George knows that The Dally Spectrum Classified Action Ads get fast results. He advertised a townhome for rent and rented It the 10th day the ad appeared appeared In The Dally Spectrum.

Let ACTION ADS work for you tool To place an ACTION AD ust call 673-3511 In St. George, 566-7646 In Cedar City or 896-6431 In Richfield todayl After the calls, the measure was passed over and died when the session ended. The church was criticized because the caller, public relations director Richard Ondsey, was not a registered lobbyist. But McConkie maintained Lind-sey, who doubles as executive secretary to the Special Affairs Committee, was exercising his right to petition the government. "Just because we're Mormons doesn't mean the Constitution doesn't apply," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a federal judge ultimately agreed. A lawsuit file by several limousine owners was dismissed in October. Limousine owners have refiled the suit in state court. "While I think it's clear the LDS Church wields incredible influence in this community, they have the absolute right to lobby their government," said ACLU-Utah Executive Director Michele A. Parish-Pixler.

McConkie thinks the perception of a Mormon theocracy in Utah is "absolute nonsense." He said Mormon dominance in the Legislature is reflective of the 72 percent Mormon population in the state. It is natural for Mormons to pick their church leaders to guide them in more worldly affairs. In turn, those faithful lawmakers are going to consider their beliefs in representing their mostly-Mormon constituency. That there is liquor at all in Utah, McConkie said, demonstrates the church's willingness to consider the state's gentile population. traumatic the child could not testify.

Utah, which had joined the Maryland case in a fnend-of-the-court brief, has an almost identical statute and now is free to use it, said Assistant Utah Attorney General Sandra Sjogren. The law, passed by the Legislature in 1983, had been used sparingly, partly because of the pending Maryland appeal, Sjogren said, but also "because live testimony is always preferable." Alternative methods should be used only in cases where the victim would be so traumatized that they couldn't otherwise testify, she said. Cook agreed that thfr'videotape ruling probably won't have much effect on Bullock's case, particularly because the defense attorney at the trial, Stephen McCaughey, did not object to the testimony. the bus except when the board discussed strategy proposals dealing with the purchase of real property. When the last-minute change in plans was adopted Wednesday, it was too late to file the motion in court for an injunction.

"We had an'understanding with (board attorney Steve) Swindle and, I thought, Mr. Cumming," media attorney Kate Lahey said. J)) -V'i JT'' L. WJ SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Gov Norm Bangerter has decided against asking voters how they want to make up for lost revenues if they decide to remove the sales tax on food. GOP legislative leadership and the governor were considering placing a second question on the Nov.

6 general election ballot alongside the food tax referendum. But Bangerter has decided against it, said press secretary Francine Giani. "As of right now, he feels that (additional question) is inappropriate. It would just muddle the issue, and the food tax people should have their day before the public," said Francine Giani, Ban-gerter's press secretary. The additional question would have asked voters whether they preferred higher taxes elsewhere or whether they supported reducing services.

Officials have estimated that removal of the food tax could cost the state $90 million in lost revenues. Bangerter has publicly opposed removing the tax. regulation formation supplied by lobbyists to lawmakers is reliable. Fully half expressed an unfavorable opinion of lobbyists and said their influence in shaping laws is too great, the poll found. That criticism of lobbyists rose among the most educated respondents.

Support for new lobbying regulations was overwhelming: Eight in 10 said they would back a disclosure law "requiring lobbyists to publicly report all contacts they have with state lawmakers." Even more, nearly nine in 10, said it should be illegal for lobbyists to give gifts to state lawmakers; three-quarters said lobbyists should be banned from making political campaign contributions; and two-thirds said lobbyists should be barred from paying for legislators' meals. Few such restrictions are currently in place. Cool in the pool In that case, the 2-year-old child did not testify at all and the conviction was based almost solely on the pediatrician's testimony. As in the Bullock case, the pediatrician in Idaho did not use notes or a tape recorder, but testified from memory. Unlike the Idaho case, Bullock's children testified in his trial, but on videotape.

Bullock, a Bountiful architect, was convicted in 1987 of three counts each of sodomy on a child and aggravated sexual assault. Originally charged with 14 felony counts stemming from alleged incidents involving nine neighborhood children, he is serving terms of 15-years-to-life at Utah State Prison. The decision in the Maryland case said such non-confrontational testimony is admissible if the experience would otherwise be so to a proposed site for a practice ice rink in Salt Lake City and a site in Summit County for the bobsled-luge run and ski jump complex. Board Chairman Ian M. Cum-ming proposed the media not be allowed on the Sports Authority's bus for the entire tour and the board approved the motion 12-0.

Media attorneys, who earlier had threatened suit, thought agreement had been reached that would have allowed the press on ST. GEORGE Ashlee Palmer, 6, takes a by cooling off in the St. George municipal break from sweltering summer temperatures pool. (Spectrum Nancy Rhodes) Supreme Court ruling may affect Utah child abuse cases SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The attorney for convicted child abuser Arden Brett Bullock says a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an Idaho case makes him optimistic his client's conviction eventually will be overturned.

Attorney Craig Cook, who is representing Bullock on appeal, said behalf. A second high court ruling on a child abuse case, also handed down Wednesday, could mean Utah juries will see more alleged child abuse victims testifying via videotape or closed-circuit television. That 54 ruling, in a Maryland case, says accused child abusers are not guaranteed a face-to-face confrontation with their young accusers under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution. In the Idaho case, the high court refused in a 5-4 ruling to reinstate the conviction of an Idaho woman who was convicted on the testimony of a pediatrician who interviewed her child. The justices ruled that the young girl's statements weren't of such a convincing nature that the trial judge correctly found an exception to hearsay rules.

Parental consent for minors' abortions Thrity-one states have passed laws requiring parental consent or notification before minors can obtain an abortion, however, the level of enforcement varies by state. No lawfjParental consentnotification law not generally enforced Reporters barred from Olympic site tour Parental consentnotification Parental consentnotification Alaskd SOURCE; American Civil Uberttes Union nawaii SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Utah Sports Authority officials set off on a tour of proposed Winter Olympic sites without allowing reporters aboard the bus. The Sports Authority board planned to visit sites proposed by bidders for a speed skating oval, Olympic practice ice sheets and a winter sports park that would include ski jumps and a bobsled-luge run. Wednesday's tour involved visits "Jl.