LynnSense

No Senator Hatch, No Hill AFB?

2012-03-15T15:03:00.003-07:00

There's no question Senator Orrin Hatch could have done better on some federal issues, like balancing the budget.
However, I don't see that voting him out now is good timing.
If Sen. Hatch is gone, I question if there's enough veteran clout from Utah to save Hill Air Force Base, should it come up on the clocking block soon.
The loss or downsizing of Hill AFB could be a devastating blow to the economy of northern Utah.
I suspect most residents of Northern Utah closely know one or more people who are employed at Hill.
No, I believe Sen. Hatch's experience and seniority in Washington would be a key element in saving Hill.
If he's gone, good luck on that. A new senator is going to have little clout/experience to stop that move.

City Creek: Overrated and Overpriced!

2012-03-08T07:52:00.002-08:00

I'm not a fan of the City Creek retail area, never have been and never will be.
It cost far too much in both time and money to create.
The middle class will find most of its stores too costly to purchase much at.
Also, it will slowly diminish the value of the Gateway. Salt Lake cannot support two Gateways and this is what there is now.
Cost estimates for the project are between $2 and $5 billion. That's simply overpriced and the 5-plus years it cost to build is just an outrageous amount of time.
Most suburbanites of Salt Lake County have obviously now realized is they can do without downtown Salt Lake shopping, because that's what they've done for more than 5 years now.
City Creek's "honeymoon" season after opening may bring in impressive numbers, but in the long run, who knows?
This City Creek would be a good fit for the Strip in Las Vegas, but in Salt Lake, it's not a good fit.
Am I right? Time will tell.

A Major Cause of TRAX Accidents is ...

2012-03-08T07:34:00.005-08:00

The Utah Transit Authority -- UTA -- has suffered a recent rash of accidents involving with light rail system -- TRAX.
Here's what I believe to be a major, contributing factor in these accidents:
The TRAX system, at least on Main Street in Salt Lake City, holds the traffic signal green far too long.
I know.
I've waited 3-4 extra minutes just to cross Main Street as a pedestrian, because a TRAX train up the street is loading and unloading and all the while is also holding the traffic light green so it is not stopped at the next intersection.
So, I got pretty impatient as a walker and I'm certain many drivers get more so, because of the extra waiting. That impatience builds up and eventually drivers "snap" and do stupid things, like try to beat a TRAX train through a crossing.
UTA is doing a lot of extra public safety advertising of late, but much of that is wasted, as it will not address this cause.
The truth is, UTA needs to lessen the holding of green lights somewhat.
I only know for sure this light holding is excessive on Main Street. It may not be eleswhere.
Lessening the green light holding may add a few extra minutes to a TRAX run, but it will appease drivers (and pedestrians) more and likely yield less accidents in the long run.
Otherwise, I predict with the vaunted City Creek retail area set to open, downtown will be busier than ever and more accidents will surely follow.
I stated weeks ago I thought the Utah Legislature should appoint an independent task force to look into what is causing this rash of TRAX accidents. That didn't happen, but I guarantee UTA will NOT solve this problem themselves.
(Note: the photograph above is a picture of a TRAX on Main Street a few years ago.)

Should the U.S. Government Regulate Oil Prices?

2012-03-07T16:36:00.003-08:00

I'm not a fan of too much government regulation, but hey, technically with public service commissions, the government already regulates the cost I pay for electricity and natural gas... so why not oil?
After all, a high cost of oil means everything goes up.
(For example, I bet some service repair companies will be raising their rates later this spring or summer to compensate for higher gasoline prices. But, when oil prices dip in winter, these companies won't be lowering their fees -- they will remain forever high.)
I'm tired of the oil industry looking for every little shred of POSSIBLE, not actual bad news, as an excuse to raise prices.
Short supply is one thing, but speculation on Wall Street is not reality.
So, I'd sooner see the U.S. government figure out how to regulate the price of oil in the U.S.
I'm sure they would have to add export fees also, if too many oil companies favored getting more money overseas for oil, but the current oil pricing structure is pure bogus.
I am also tired of paying for the REPLACEMENT cost of every gallon of gas I buy at the pump. That pricing structure only favors the oil company's pocket books.
And, always consider that the AVERAGE price of a gallon of gas isn't a true look at prices. The wide variance of state taxes on gasoline make that comparison a fallacy. I'm certain oil company's HIDE behind that kind of price comparisons.

Illegal Fireworks in March!

2012-03-07T12:48:00.003-08:00

I'm out for a midday walk on March 7, 2012, 1:15 p.m. and my peaceful walk is disrupted by the use of illegal fireworks in Layton.
Several firecrackers and a bottle rocket go off, a half-block away.
My dog drug me away from that area and was upset for about 10 minutes afterward.
Fortunately these fireworks were 1.5 miles from my house, but they signal the spectre of things to come.
Even with the state fireworks law changed, pandora's box is open and I'm certain this year will still be a horrendous year for the use of illegal fireworks.
I've yet to actually hear of anyone being fined in my area for the use of illegal fireworks and until fines come into play and the law is actually enforced, I don't see any improvement coming.
Too many people believe the Constitution guarantees they can set off fireworks of any kind, whenever they feel like it.
I guess I could go before the Layton City Council (again), but 10 or so years ago, that yielded nothing.

Toto Toilets: Poor Engineering

2012-03-05T09:00:00.004-08:00

I have two Toto toilets in my home. Great water savings and no clog problems.
However, the toilet's handle is a classic example of poor engineering.
Even if Toto doesn't make the handle themselves, they should call for a better designed one. After all, the Toto name is on the replacement handle!
The handle wears out in 1-2 years and now costs more than $21 to replace.
A meager little plastic nut has to absorb far too much stress over time and it usually gives out first.
That nut can't cost $2 retail and yet you can't just purchase it, you have to buy the entire handle assembly!
If the nut doesn't go first, then the handle lever itself gives out.
Either way it is an overpriced replacement.
I think Toto may let this problem go because of how much money they can make selling the overpriced handle replacements. If that isn't true, then why don't they fix the problem?
Even if they gave toilet owners an option to buy just the nut only at a decent cost would be a fair improvement,
Toto, wake up, be fair and be ethical! Fix this problem.
(Note: This time I was smart and saved my still good, old Toto handle and so if that's the next thing to break, I have a replacement, for at least a while. So, make sure you save that or the nut, whichever is still good, when you replace broken things on your Toto toilet handle.)

Davis Animal Control Fees Keep Rising

2012-02-29T13:53:00.008-08:00

I paid $12 to have my dog licensed last year (2011) in Davis County and now it has increased to $15 in 2012.
I'm pretty sure it was only $10 in 2009 and so in three years my fee has risen 50 percent.
That seems out of line.
As I deal with more and more loose dogs as I walk about (read my previous blog entries), and see more and more households with 3 or more dogs, I feel I am paying more to support the unlicensed canines around.
You can't tell me that those households I see regularly with 3 dogs have them ALL licensed (because owning more than 2 adult dogs in Davis County is illegal).
I fail to see why animal control can't be more proactive in finding households who I bet never license any of their dogs.
Pay me for a day to find unlicensed dogs and I guarantee I will find dozens, as they are not hard at all to find.
The Davis County Commission needs to put pressure on Davis County Animal Care and Control to be more proactive in finding unlicensed and loose dogs.
I'm not even sure Davis Animal Control has to appear before the County Commission when they decide to raise their fees!
Since I also seem to be seeing less of Davis County Animal Control roaming around my area, I think that department needs some real scrutiny in what they do and don't do.
(It also appears to me that ever since the Davis County Sheriff's Department took Animal Control under its wing, that fees have risen and yet loose dog problems have escalated.)
Perhaps if I rode around with animal control for a few hours I'd feel differently, but I have to carry pepper spray and a stick anytime I'm out walking in my Layton neighborhood, because there are more loose dogs than ever.
I was also attacked and bitten by a loose dog 2 1/2 years ago ... I've been accosted by 3 other sets of two loose dogs since then ... and had numerous other encounters with solo loose dogs.
Davis County Animal Control's fees are regularly rising, as well as getting more complicated -- in a long list -- and for what, when I see more problems than ever?
I say to Animal Control -- stop raising your fees and go after those who never license their dogs.
The solution is not raising fees, or expanding them into many niches, it is figuring out how to better enforce the existing ordinances.
Enough said.
(Above photograph is of my properly licensed and contained dog.)

What the Utah State Legislature Should Pass...

2012-02-21T15:22:00.006-08:00

The 2012 Utah State Legislature is in full session and here are several of my dream bills that I would love to see proposed and then approved as law ....
1. End completely the Utah State law requiring a front license plate. The majority of states now have no such law. Also, most new cars are simply not made to have a front plate used without a lot of hassle.
In addition, despite their lobbying for keeping this law in the past, the Utah Highway Patrol DOES NOT enforce this law anyway.
Only the downtown Salt Lake City meter maids or Hill Air Force Base police enforce this law.
As such, at least one-third of all Utah vehicles currently lack front license plates.
Let's save money and resources and quit making front license plates and change the law.
2. Create a state law that requires that all state administered colleges and universities in Utah absolutely to have to accept and recognize in full the transfer of any and all class credits from any other State of Utah administered higher educational institution in Utah. No more stupid games. A credit is a credit period. College is too expensive for any credits to go to waste like they in some transfers.
3. Since taxes and funds going to education in Utah is at an all-time high, the legislature should create a task force that looks at ways to wisely save money at Utah colleges and public schools. I know there are smart ways to save money out there ... but likely no one with an outside point of view is looking for them.
4. The Utah Transit Authority has suffered from a host of serious accidents in recent years. Some of it may be bad luck, but the Legislature should consider creating a special task force outside of UTA to look for answers and better public education to curb this escalating rate.

Do Not Park on the Street Overnight!

2012-02-21T15:18:00.002-08:00

This is one of my pet peeves -- do not park on the street overnight, whenever possible.
Not only is it against the law to do so in most snow-prone cities during the winter, but it looks sloppy and encourages crime and vandalism.
Recently, someone with a BB gun did thousands and thousands of dollars in damages to car windows in various Salt Lake City neighborhoods. The vast majority of the damaged vehicles were parked on the street overnight.
Enough said.

Three Doomed Busineses

2012-02-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

This high tech world is changing and here are some of the businesses I believe are on the way out -- and will likely vanish, or change completely, in the next few decades:

1.Daily newspapers.
Their current model of financial income is broken and no one has found any way to re-invent it. Layoffs and downsizing looms at virtually ALL newspapers in the U.S.
With daily newspapers gone, or shrinking, who will cover the news? Say hello to blogging. Sadly, most bloggers won't have the skills or the resources to do much more than state opinions.

2. Photography Studios:
With such inexpensive digital cameras around, this business is already on the ropes and at best -- only the most elite of full-time photographers will be able to make a go of it.

3. The Timeshare industry.
The younger generation mostly has no interest in buying timeshares.
Also, the timeshare industry is simply pricing itself out of business.
For example, RCI, the world's largest timeshare business changes $189 to trade a weekly condo for somewhere else. Their annual membership fee ($89) and the new and insulting "combine despoit fee" (to increase trading power) is another $109.
So, in total dollars, with the average annual maintenance fee that the timeshare owners' have to pay (average is about $700), it now costs $889 to $998 to exchange a weekly condo you own for somewhere else.
Checking the open rental market outside RCI and you can find great places for hundreds of dollars less and so why do you want to own a timeshare, unless you like losing money?
In addition, VRI, another timeshare exchange company (with free membership), charges $109-$129 for its exchange fees and then an outrageous $100-$400 for upgrades in room size.
Again, you do the math and you will see the timeshare prices are rising far more than the inflation rate and are simply making no economical sense anymore.
(And, to make matters worse, the selection of great timeshares, like on the beach, are diminishing. That's because RCI, for example, is reselling some of its best timeshare weeks, instead of putting them on the open exchange market!)

Collar-less Dog Trend

2012-02-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

My on-going encounters with loose dogs continues ...
Out for a walk on Feb. 1, 2012, me and my dog run into a loose pit bull. Fortunately he was friendly (but I had my metal pole and pepper spray out just in case).
Anyway, the dog followed us and 100 yards later, a member of dog's family drove by. The man had to grab and carry the 60-pound dog home, as it had no collar.
No collar? What the hey?
How can any owner of a large dog not keep a collar on their dog?
I just don't understand. Microchip notwithstanding, all dogs need a collar. It helps with I.D. and is an extra safety component for the canine.
I also spotted someone last week walking their dog in my neighborhood without a leash. Again, that's unsafe and not smart. Even a well-trained dog may bolt away at another animal or dog.

Snow Finally Falls in Utah

2012-01-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

It finally snowed on Jan. 7, 2012 to end the driest December to early January spell on record in northern Utah.
Yes, 1976-1977 was dry too, but to Jan. 7, 2012 had that period beat done dry.
As I gazed on Ben Lomond Peak, the most dominant mountain in the northern section of the Salt Lake Valley, on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2012, its summit (elevation 9,706 feet) was almost snow-free.
In fact, snow had melted off its face in the past 4 days.
That was downright unnatural!
I'm not a skier or a lover of snow, but that was almost "end of the world" kind of stuff to be looking at such a dry Ben Lomond Peak in early January, because that mountain is historically one of the snowiest in all of Utah.
Yet now a Jan. 7 snowstorm, likely fueled extra by the warm waters of the Great Salt Lake ('lake effect') has dumped snow there and also in the valley and so the scene is looking much more normal now.
It is not the "end of the world" yet, it seems.

Why N. Utah's 'East Winds' Aren't Always From the East

2012-01-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

Northern Utah's "canyon winds," or "east winds" are legendary. Residents will not soon forget the Dec. 1, 2011 hurricane force winds that hammered Davis and Weber counties in particular, causing a massive cleanup and millions of dollars in property damage.
(The damage from these winds was mostly so extreme, because it had been more than a decade since the Wasatch Front had any such wind events and so the damage came all at once, mostly from overgrown trees.)
Although the Dec. 1 winds were the first in 12 years to hit, the winds were NOT always eastern winds and they scoured the Salt Lake Valley.
The key question is "why?"
Although I built my cedar fence strongest on the east side, that was pointless, since strong east winds have never hit my house.
In fact, the Dec. 1, 2011 winds that struck my property were straight from the north. (And they broke 4 posts along my fence's northern side.)
I asked a friend, Dan Pope, a well-known Utah weather expert to address the question on wind direction and why "east winds" aren't always east winds.
His explanation is intriguing and worth repeating, especially since no TV weathercaster has enough air time to provide this much detail.
Dan Pope's answer:
These ... winds were "mountain wave" induced. But, the topography does force the winds to veer with distance; and due to local hills, canyons and location they can change as they move away from the mountains. They also come in rolling as they slam the ground (spinning counter clockwise).
In North Salt Lake, I have always noticed a veering to the north, because the hills by and to the north of Eaglewood Golf Course, that force the eastward track around them to flow southward. These hills are also are northeast-southeast oriented, and with City Creek Canyon on the other side, the winds likely skip over the flat area above Meridian Peak and are pushed away from the hills, protecting some of the upper Bench of North Salt Lake from the worst gusts, while Bountiful, Centerville, Farmington and areas northward are directly in line with the Wasatch Mountains, and the "wave" effect.
When we have these kinds of winds, there is usually a low pressure spinning to our south. The upper level winds come from the east or preferably the Northeast. And, at the surface, the pressure is much higher in Wyoming and lower in Utah. In a low pressure like this, sometimes a little warmer air is wrapped in above the mountain tops. This creates an inversion at 12,000 or 13,000 feet, and keeps any wind from rising--and creates a Venturi effect. Plus, the Uinta Mountains line up directly east of Bountiful and Davis County, so all wind get pushed eastward towards the Wasatch mountains from extreme Northern Salt Lake County and Davis County northward.
Rule of thumb is that winds will be 2 to 4 times higher than at mountain top as they "roller coaster" down the slopes; and they will hit beyond the base of the mountains 1/2 to 3 or 4 miles out towards the Great Salt Lake. Then they fan out, and can go in multiple directions. To the south of Davis County, they fan to the south (a north wind) and northward the can even come in from the SE if a person lives more than 3 or 4 miles from the base of the Wasatch. But, more often than not, these winds veer to the south away from the Wasatch, because the surface pressure is lower to the south.
There are certain locations near the canyons and at the base of the Wasatch in Davis, and counties northward, where these winds can be severe right at the base. Bountiful, Centerville and Farmington, as well as NE Ogden, Brigham City and even Logan fall into this category.

Layton Frontrunner Parking Still Inadequate

2011-12-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

The Parking at Layton's Frontrunner station is still woefully inadequate.
I went there on Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, 7:25 p.m. and could not safely turn in or out of the parking lot there, because so many cars were packed onto Main Street -- and obviously some were illegally parked too close to the entrance/exit.
I've agreed with most of Layton City official's decisions over the years, but the one that I flatly didn't was the location of the Frontrunner station.
I knew this was a poor location and had worse parking potential -- and I was right, as time has proven.
You can't move the station location now, but UTA and Layton City need to face this problem head-on and find more parking soon.
You can wait for IHC to build to the west and hopefully resolve this problem -- that's still years away.
Frontrunner is a great concept, but if there's not enough (safe) parking to use it, then why was it built in the first place?

Dec. 8th--Turnaround Sunset Day in Northern Utah

2011-12-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, Dec. 21 might be the shortest day of the year, but it is NOT the day with the earliest sunset in Northern Utah.
Thanks to being so far north, sunset actually now starts to get a little later every day from Dec. 8, until June here.
Sunrise on the other hand will keep getting later and later until about Jan. 8, 2012.
Then, it will turnaround.
But sunrise and sunset don't both automatically turnaround on Dec. 21. They have different rates.

Retail Gasoline Gouging

2011-12-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

In the Weber-North Davis area of Utah, I've noticed perhaps the worst case of retail gasoline gouging I've ever seen.
Yes, I've been known to single out oil producers for gouging, but in this case, it is clearly some local gasoline retailers who are doing it.
The evidence on Dec. 8, 2011:
Gasoline is selling in Ogden at 40th and Harrison Blvd. for as low as $3.04 a gallon at Smith's and $3.06 a gallon at the Chevron near there.
Contrast that with gasoline prices in Layton, Clearfield and Syracuse that average about $3.28 a gallon or more.
In fact, the Chevron in East Clearfield is $3.28 a gallon and the same for a Chevron in Syracuse. We're talking 24 cents a gallon difference here and that's just approximately the average price range to the lowest.
So, how can gasoline be so cheap in Ogden and so much more in North Davis? I'm betting it is just a case of retail gouging and as long as people buy it at the higher prices, it will continue.
Gasoline at Sam's Club last weekend was $3.07 a gallon, so there are some bright spots in North Davis, but not many.

History of Canyon Winds Along The Wasatch Front

2011-12-01T11:05:00.001-08:00

These horrendous, hurricane force east canyon winds along the Wasatch Front are nothing new.
In fact, from 1959 to 1999, there were 26 such occurrences of damaging east winds.
The previous one was April 23, 1999. So, they averaged about every 18 months for 4 decades and then disappeared for more than 12 1/2 years until Dec. 1, 2011.
So, we were overdue by statistics.
(Technically, they are "downslope winds.")
The Mormon Pioneers first reported them in the fall of 1848. Brigham Young rebuked some canyon winds in Farmington on Nov. 9, 1864.
The year 1988 featured a record three such east wind events. There were also two such hurricane force canyon wind events in 1964, 1973, 1983, 1986 and 1997.
April 2, 1973 featured some of the strongest, sustained canyon winds I can recall. Those winds picked up a pole vaulting portapit mat and carried across Weber State University's Wildcat stadium as if it was cardboard.
Also, I decided to time myself in a 100 yard dash during those April 2, 1973 winds and clocked 10.4 seconds easily with a 90 mph wind at my back.
In 2011, this is the first ever canyon wind event to test the icicle style of Christmas decorations, for example.
We forget that these winds are a periodic part of nature along the Wasatch Front.
When I constructed my wooden fence in 1984, I purposely made it strongest on the east facing sides to withstand such winds better.

On-line Holiday Shopping Deals Surprise and Delight

2011-11-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

OK, my midnight shopping spree on Black Friday 2011, didn't go well.
Too long of lines, too many people and thus bad odds for getting what I wanted.
So, I went home, turned on the computer and checked out the on-line deals for what I was seeking.
Wow!
Except for the heavy item, that would cost a lot to ship -- I actually SAVED money for what I wanted otherwise
That's because on Amazon, I didn't pay sales tax and the shipping was free!
What a deal.
In a week, I'll have most of what I was going to brave the lines, the cold and the crowds for.
ALWAYS check on-line first!

Black Friday will soon be Black "Midnight"

2011-11-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

I went to the Target store in Layton, Ut., at 10 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 24, 10:30 p.m. The long line already snaked more than half-way around the building and I estimate at least 500 people were already in line.
For what I wanted, the 90-minute wait and the bad odds of getting what I wanted just were not worth it. I went home.
However, I believe these midnight sales at the close of Thanksgiving Day, will soon be the standard in early holiday shopping sprees.
Driving by the Layton Kohl's store at 10:45 p.m. revealed a similar crowded frenzy too. (I didn't even go near Wal-Mart, whose sale also started at midnight.)
These crowds proved to me that midnight sales are a hit.
For about 6 years, the rest of my family has delighted in the midnight sales at the outlet stores, near Park City, Ut. They love not having to get up early to shop -- but just stay up late instead. (This year the outlet stores moved their sale up two hours earlier -- to start at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.)
So, like or not, expect the midnight sales to catch on even more next year.
I'm sure these sales don't allow retail employees much of a Thanksgiving holiday, but they are the rage now.

State Farm is Still the Best Value Auto Insurance

2011-11-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

I'm tired of all those Progressive Auto Insurance or Geico Insurance TV ads.
Auto Insurance is more than just about price -- it is also about repair or replacement coverage and my experience has shown that no one can beat State Farm Insurance there.
Sure, you might save a few dollars with another insurance company, but when sadly you eventually need to file a claim, no one will beat State Farm -- period.
My van was broken into at Seattle a few years ago and State Farm covered more of the loss and damage than I could believe. Checking with other insurance companies, no one was even in the same league.
That robbery was a "worst case" scenario, as my van was loaded with a week's worth of stuff for six people on a U.S./Canadian trip. We had stopped in Seattle for the Space Needle and were robbed at 2:30 p.m., parked only some 100 yards from the Space Needle itself.
(As a side note, realize that auto burglary is Seattle's most popular crime and many downtown parking lots have no live attendants, no video cameras and not even any warning signs.)
Several fender benders before that Seattle incident had also proved the same thing, State Farm is simply No. 1.
Now as far as home insurance goes, I don't have enough experience to know how State Farm fares, but you do receive a discount by bundling home and car insurance with State Farm together.
However, I'm NOT a fan of State Farm for life insurance. I believe that is something State Farm fares very poorly at, based on my personal experience.
In fact, a life policy I took out from State Farm in the late 1980s was one of the worst financial decisions I have ever made.

Grocery Store "Size" Shock, Not Just Price Shock

2011-11-16T11:45:00.000-08:00

If you've been to a grocery store recently, you well know the increase in prices of most items.
However, have you noticed the shrinking size of packaging? It is awful.
For example, some cereal boxes are 29 ounces now. (Where does 29 come from?)
Ice cream cartons are smaller.
Microwave a frozen mac and cheese dinner and although the packaging might be the same size, inside there is barely more than half the food there used to be.
I also spotted a bag of candy in the store the other day and its weight was 19.5 ounces. Where does 19.5 come from?
That's why the "unit price," listed on the grocery shelf, is more important than ever.

Clearfield Gasoline Prices are a Pure Rip Off

2011-11-08T18:21:00.001-08:00

I would call it simple collusion, an abomination, a pure rip off.
I have never, ever purchased gasoline in Clearfield, Utah and there's a solid reason why -- there is apparently some long-time price fixing going on there, or at the least an attitude among the majority of the gas retailers there to never offer reasonable prices. That's especially true on State Street.
I paid $3.29 a gallon for gasoline in Layton on Oct. 7, 2011.
Driving through Clearfield on Oct. 8, a Maverik station was selling gas for $3.49 a gallon.
Maverik is usually a low price leader in other Utah cities.
Maverik gas is not like Chevron, where you might can argue it has a special additive, so 20 cents more a gallon in a neighboring town is nothing short of a rip off.
In fact, say you buy 20 gallons of gas at that Maverik, in my view that means you just gave that store an extra profit -- beyond its usual margin -- of $4.
How Clearfield gas stations remain in business is a mystery to me, but they definitely make extra profits.
The only exceptions to the high gas prices in Clearfield might be a couple of stations in town, just east of I-15.

Kent's Takes Over Clearfield Maceys

2011-11-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

I don't consider this good news in grocery prices.
Kent's Market has taken over the former Maceys Grocery store, 580 S. State, Clearfield, Ut.
This means nothing less than higher prices for anyone who continues to shop at the revamped Clearfield grocery store.
I've been taking my mother shopping each week at Kent's Market, 3536 W. 5600 South, Roy, for the past five months and know plenty about Kent's much higher overall prices.
(I only take my mother to Kent's because it is her closest store; and she is familiar with it; and it has an America First Credit Union inside.)
A manager at the Clinton Maceys store told me that Maceys had wanted to sell out the Clearfield store for a long time and was not going to renew the building lease when it came up in about a year. So, when Kent's offered, Maceys took an early out.
There are now 11 total Maceys stores in Utah.
If there's any good news in this, it is that another area grocery store didn't close completely, it just changed ownership. The Layton Albertson's store building, a couple of miles to the south, still sits empty.
Kent's kept about 80 percent of the former store's employees, but re-interviewed and then re-hired those employees.
Kent's has three other stores, two in Box Elder County and another in central Utah. Kent's is an independent grocer and not affiliated with the Associated Foods chain, as Maceys was.

Ras's Auto -- Integrity and Expertise

2011-11-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

They just don't make auto repair places like Ras's in Layton, Utah anymore.
I've been going there for almost 25 years and the place is truly about honesty and fixing things right.
Yes, this is a testimonial (but unpaid and unsolicited) and if you aren't using an auto repair outlet like this, then, well, you are probably being shortchanged.
Ras's (1375 North Main Street, Layton, UT 84041, 801-544-8263) is how auto repair used to be. The owner himself works right in the shop. His wife, Patty, oftens runs the front desk.
Ras's only fixes what is broken and they do it right the first time.
The key problem with most auto repair places these days is that the mechanics operate by commission. Thus, they tend to find things that may not really need fixing or replaced. They may not usually be unethical, but such commissioned mechanics often look out for their paycheck more than for their customers' interests.
Not so at Ras's. Mechanics there are paid by the hour.
I believe I have never been overcharged for anything at Ras's. In fact, at times, I've wondered how they can charge so little for repairs. They always beat the dealer's repair list prices by a lot.
There are a few other old-style auto repair places out there, like Ras's, if you look hard enough. (Hepworth Automotive Service; 251 W 12th Street in Ogden, Ut., is another honest and superb place to go.)
So, avoid the national, chain store repair places if possible and use coupons for restaurants and grocery stores, but never for auto repairs ... if you do, they will find numerous extra things wrong with your vehicle.
You don't always get what you pay for in auto repairs, but Ras's and small shops like it, are a breath of fresh air, where you do receive great service at a fair price.

Were Corners Cut on Layton's 'Rail Trail'?

2011-10-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Walking Layton's relatively new "rail trail' section,from Gordon Avenue to 2200 West, on Oct. 30, 2011 revealed a startling observation -- this northern Utah paved path has already been damaged!
It appears that a tractor traveled the trail in the past week, cutting down weeds on the side.
The problem is that in many places in the eastern lane, the tractor's big tread left some deep imprints in the trail's asphalt surface.
Yes, the tractor was clearly too heavy for the trail and the damage it caused may lead to some ice/freezing rut damage and cracking in the near future.
However, the deeper problem is that if you inspect the adjacent Clearfield section of rail trail (across 2200 West to the north), that section of trail appears to have a much thicker layer of asphalt.
So, did UTA, Layton City or whoever paved Layton's northernmost section of trail cut corners and not lay down as much asphalt as it should have, or at least as much as in other sections?
It appears so and Layton's not even 6-month-old path is no longer smooth on some of its eastern (right side northbound) edges and will require much more upkeep than it should have, since it was not constructed wisely.
Clearfield's trail also has a large sign posted at its southern edge outlining its rules of use, as well as mileage markers inscribed along the way, every one-half mile.
In addition, Clearfield has a sign listing volunteer groups who police the trail for litter.
Clearfield's trail is older than Layton's, but hopefully the Layton sections will one day have similar listings and volunteers.

When Police Don't Obey Traffic Rules

2011-10-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

I saw something about 10 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2011 that's worth mentioning ... an off duty policeman clearly running through a stop sign.
The officer, from Bountiful P.D., was only about 100 yards from his house in Layton and clearly only slowed down for the gutter dip and otherwise went right through the stop sign as if it wasn't even there.
That's a sad commentary when he may have been enforcing such traffic laws all day and the last thing he does in his car on the way home is break one of the rules himself.
Now in all respect, I've seen many regular motorists over the years run that stop sign late at night too, so the officer is not alone in a disregard for it.

Fingers of the Kolob : Awesome!

2011-10-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

NEW HARMONY, Washington County, Utah — What a huge difference 0.4 of a mile can make.
Many Utahns have probably driven the five-mile Kolob Canyons scenic drive , just east of I-15, in a section of Zion National Park at exit No. 40. That's a signed turnoff and well-publicized.
However, did you know that a less than half-a-mile drive off I-15 west at exit No. 42 yields an incredible, but less often heralded view of "The Five Fingers of the Kolob" —also part of the Kolobs Canyon section of Zion National Park?
In the New Harmony area, west of I-15 are amazing views of the Kolob, not visible from the freeway, since it is too far east.
"One of the main attractions of New Harmony, and something it's famous for, is the Kolob Canyon Scenic Drive," states Juli Danis, a realtor in Southern Utah, on her Web site, www.julidanis.com
"If you drive into the town of New Harmony, and turn around and look towards the mountains on the east, you can see the magnificent view of the Kolob Fingers, truly one of the most magnificent sites you'll ever see. This is a well kept secret, as traveling down the I-15 freeway, they are not visible to the routine traveler," she continued.
There are some power lines that can get in the way of a photograph, but for any traveler headed to St. George, Las Vegas, or California, it is worth it to at least once take 5-10 minutes and exit the freeway west at exit No. 42 to see the Fingers of the Kolob and know what is there above you that you CANNOT see from the freeway.
(The two above photos show the Fingers of the Kolob, from just west of I-15 at Exit No. 42. First photo by Lynn Arave; photo 2 by Elizabeth Arave.)

Utah's Biggest Speed Trap

2011-10-14T19:31:00.001-07:00

I have found what I believe to be the largest speed trap in Utah.
I mention this to warn other drivers because it is simply a trap.
I-15, between Beaver and Fillmore, is the location.
There are 3 or more 80 mph special zones in that area. One zone in particular, on the south end and in the northbound lanes, about milepost 105, is the worst. A mile or so south of there, the speed limit reduces to 75 mph. Miss one sign and you could be in trouble, not to mention some downhills can also contribute to a greater speed there.
You really need to watch when the 80 mph zones end and be careful of your downhill sections, since that's where the police like to be.
The Utah Highway Patrol had at least 7 total highway patrolmen there giving tickets in both directions the morning of Oct. 14, 2011.
Forget Mantua at Highway 89, or anything else in the Beehive State. I have never seen so many patrol cars in a single area -- specially a rural area.
Drivers who receive tickets there could probably complain at court (if they can come up with a good argument) and get any tickets they receive reduced by up to half, but who wants to go back to Beaver to do so? It certainly would cost more money to contest any ticket than you would save.
With so many rural sections in Utah, having seven police cars there --- in a 15 or so mile long stretch -- is certainly overkill and since most drivers through there are probably not regular commuters, it represents a waste of resources.
According to various Internet postings, this speed traps looks to have been operating for at least 18 months, since April 2010.
The Utah Highway Patrol and the leaders of the State of Utah should be embarrassed by this speeding trap, mainly fueled by gravity and some abrupt sign changes.
In fact, I'm beginning to believe that the series of 80 mph zones was created for the sole purpose of being a speed trap!
A more ethical use of highway patrol resources would be to spread out officers more evenly on more of the stretch from Nephi to St. George, not to capitalize on some downhill segments and abrupt sign changes in a small area.
But, then you have to ask -- is this heavily patroled small area about extra revenue for Beaver and Millard counties and the State of Utah, or about safety?
I'd say the former is more accurate.
(The above photos are of some of the 80 mph zones.)

Prediction: Century Link Won't Survive

2011-10-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a business prediction for you -- Century Link will not survive many more years.
If that company thinks a name change is going to solve their deeper problems, they are wrong.
Example: I switch my phone service from Quest (Century Link) to Comcast and the next month Century Link sends me a $3.57 refund on payments.
However, the next month Century Link sends me a bill for 22 cents.
What! Twenty-two cents? It cost much more for the company to process. let alone mail that bill than it is worth.
(Also, isn't that sloppy accounting to get a refund one month and pay a little the next?)
I know it cost me twice that cost to mail that bill than it paid.
The company should have a default factor, where it simply doesn't bill you if your charge is less than say $1, since it costs more to get that money than it is worth.
Also, none of the younger generation have wall phone service anymore and so Century Link needs to address that shortcoming, let alone that Comcast wooed me away.

The Score: Credit Unions 5; Banks 0

2011-10-06T12:01:00.001-07:00

The day is nearing when I won't have ANY bank accounts whatsoever.
That's because banks charge way too much on fees, for example, and then still complain they lose money.
Credit Unions are the cheaper way to go.
Some banks are now charging $5 to use a debit card and that's outrageous.

Don't believe credit unions are far less expensive?

Check out the following comparison fees charged by a credit union and a bank:

Stop Payment fee Cashier's Check fee Money order fee
America first Credit Union $15 $1.00 75 cents

Wells Fargo Bank $31 $10 $5.00

In addition, document copies cost $2 at America First vs. $5 at Wells Fargo.
Also, account research per hour costs $15 at America First vs. $25 at Wells Fargo.

So, the general price ratio varies from this bank being 10 times more expensive on certain things to almost double on things that comprise the smallest difference between the two.
I suspect these differences are typical between any bank and credit union.

At America First, you are a MEMBER, not a CUSTOMER and all it takes to be a member is a $25 minimum in an account.

Food Drive Shortfall: No Receipts!

2011-09-24T11:56:00.001-07:00

I'm all for supporting food drives, but I absolutely detest that I when I donate food to Boy Scout, Neighborhood and U.S. Postal Food Drives, there's always no chance of getting a receipt.
It's a bad economy and so food drives are more critical than ever, but I had a huge pre-tax withholding bite this year and need all the tax deductions I can muster.
Unless the IRS has changed its recent requirements, you need a receipt to claim food donations on your income taxes.
How hard can it be to have receipts available?
When I've complained to the administration of the Utah Food Bank directly, all they say is you can get a receipt if you donate at their headquarters, or other office outlets.
I say when the Food Bank and various food drives can make receipts more readily available, they will get more total donations, as I can't be the only person who dislikes the current system.
NOTE: I will be donating directly to a food bank outlet this week to obtain an official receipt, rather than haven placed food on my doorstep. (Even at my local Wal-Mart on Saturday, Sept. 24, there was no provision for getting a receipt there either, if that's where you donated.)

Several Wacko Drivers in My Neighborhood

2011-09-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

When I went out for a jog the other night just after dark, I noticed a car go by rather strangely -- it was driving backwards at 30 mph and barely made the turn in the road past my house.
What kind of idiot drives backwards in a subdivision after dark?
This dark blue car disappeared, or if I would spotted it later, I might have given the driver a few colorful words of advice.
A few days later and my youngest son said a different car driving the opposite direction one afternoon failed to make the same bend in the street and went off the road.
Who are these awful and reckless drivers?
There has been some criminal activity in my neighborhood of late, but what about this kind of dangerous behavior behind the wheel too?
It's just luck these 2 drivers didn't hurt anyone.

The Lofthouse Cookie Outlet Has Moved Again

2011-09-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

If you are trying to find the Lofthouse Cookie Outlet store in the Business Depot Ogden (BDO), Utah, it has moved yet again (Third or fourth move now).
It is now on the southwest side of the Business Depot in building 12A. (That's far away now from the actual Lofthouse bakery.)
It has also consolidated/expanded and is part of a larger outlet cooperative now -- the BDO Outlet. (The store front has a small Lofthouse sign on the front of the building.)
Its actual street address is 986 West Second Street, Ogden.
That's west on Second Street, past the water tower to one of the last buildings on that street. (Don't be confused by the nearby 200 North Street, as you want "Second Street.")
Besides Lofthouse cookies ($1.25 each) or $1 each if you buy a WHOLE CASE NOW (vs. just five or more boxes in the past), there are clothes, shoes, toys and other items for sale in the BDO Outlet.
Store hours have also improved -- 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed Sunday.
You never know what variety of Lofthouse cookies will be for sale, but there will always be something, even if it is just some strange frosted variety.
Many prices look like pretty good deals.
If you are traveling east from I-15, take the next exit to the north (Fairgrounds exit) and travel east. Take a quick right turn south on the next road after the four-way stop highway and follow the road around the bend. Shortly you'll spot the BDO Outlet sign on the north side of the road and you are there.

IN-N-Out Burger Snubs Layton

2011-09-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

There will be no In-N-Out Burger coming to Layton, Utah anytime soon.
The company has backed out of their plans to build near the intersection of Main Street and Gordon Avenue.
Since In-N-Out already owns some land in Riverdale, they will build there, but not Layton.
Kind of reminds me of Ogden and South Davis County receiving Costco stores, but not Layton or North Davis County.
It is a disappointment (and a mistake) by In-N-Out any way you look at it.
Where ever they are building in Riverdale will create one of the state's largest traffic disasters. Riverdale Road is already the No. 1 highway in Utah I avoid because of congestion, when possible.
I'm still disappointed Layton didn't get that Costco and instead has a Winco on a waiting list for Fort Lane and Gentile.
Centerville and Riverdale are just too distant for convenient trips to In-N-Out for myself.
However, I bet if In-N-Out had really done their homework and knew by Zip Code where customers were coming from at their Centerville outlet, Layton would have been at the top of their list.
UPDATE: I found out later than In-N-Out didn't just snub Layton, they treated a Layton business simply unethically.
Ranchero's Mexican restaurant was told it had to move to make way for In-N-Out in Layton. So, they purchased new land and signed to construct a new building. It was only AFTER that, that In-N-Out decided not to built in Layton. By then, Ranchero's was committed to the new project.
That's plain unethical conduct by In-N-Out!

Double Dog Danger!

2011-08-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Five times now in the past 21 months, I've encountered pairs of large dogs running loose in my neighborhood, in west Layton.
All 5 have involved attacks on myself and/or my dog.
Sadly, no one else was ever in sight when these attacks took place and one resulted in a serious bite on my shin.
Only one of the five pairs of dogs was a repeat.
What most people don't understand is that often two dogs together operate as a pack and do things, like attacks, that they may not do individually.
After the first attack, which also resulted in the bite, I carry a retractable stick and pepper spray whenever I walk or jog around my area now.
Sadly, I have to.
Add to the five attacks also an incident when a solo dog attacked my dog when my oldest son took him for a walk and you can see how unsafe my area has become.
There's no question I will consult an attorney and likely sue the owner of a dog should I ever be bitten again.
ALL these dogs were far away from their property. They were simply roaming and looking for trouble.
A lawsuit is probably all the owners of such irresponsible dogs will likely understand.
It's odd that I live in an area for nearly 28 years and have no problems until 21 months ago. .... But I think it is because the new generation can't just have 1 dog, they have to have two canines and they lack the proper fence or enclosure for such animals.
Pit bulls and similar dogs, who have incredibly strong jaws, are also much more popular now.
I may also have to start carrying my camera when I go out in my area now. Getting a photo of such loose dogs could be very incriminating for the owners.

Today's Homes are Too Big?

2011-08-12T12:41:00.001-07:00

I took my 82-year-old mother for a ride through western Weber County recently and she commented about all the large homes and how no one builds small homes anymore.
She's right.
Mostly, today's homes are simply too large. They mean higher taxes, utility costs, mortgages and upkeep. And, all for what? If you have a large family, fine, but too many do not.
Add this as another situation that's wrong with America.
I also have a relative who recently cashed in a retirement to buy a second home. What? Jeopardize a future income for a second home you don't really need?

Ream's Grocery Store in Layton is closing

2011-08-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

Ream's Grocery Store in Layton is closing at the end of August 2011.
However, the western clothing part of the store will remain open, according to reamsfoods.com
This closure is troubling for several reasons.
First, it means Layton City will yet have another vacant building, whether it ends up being the former Big Lots building, or most of the Ream's structure.
Layton already has too many vacant "big box" buildings.
Next, Ream's is the sole survivor from a previous era in grocery stores. Although its other stores -- located mainly in Salt Lake County -- may remain open, this one store closing can't be good for the entire chain.
Since I live less than half-a-mile from the Layton Ream's store, I personally know some long-time loyal customers to that store who are going to be devastated by this, if indeed it does happen.
The flagship Provo Ream's Grocery store closed in January 2010, after 65 years in business. Paul Ream, who died in 2007, started the first Ream's store in Utah County in the 1940s.
The Layton Ream's was always the oddball of the Ream's Stores, being the only one that had its own separate weekly ads -- different from the ad of the other same-named stores.
I have yet to see any progress made in the new In-N-Out Burger outlet that was slated to be built in the southwest corner of the Layton Ream's parking lot. I had always assumed that busy outlet might jumpstart some new business for Ream's, but now that will never happen.
Having already talked to the manager of the Ashley Furniture store nearby, they are hoping to receive more business once the In-N-Out is open.
But the grocery store market must still be over saturated in the Layton area. Construction on the new Winco Store on Fort Lane is still on hold; and the Dan's Market in south east Layton closed last year.
Albertson's closed its northwest Layton store some years ago too and the Food Outlet store formerly on that Winco site also closed some years ago as well.
So, Ream's closing could total the fourth grocery store to close in Layton in six or so years.

Utah's Former Fireworks Law to Likely Return!

2011-07-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

Call it a failed experiment.
Utah’s old fireworks law will likely return next year, one prominent State Senator told me.
Too many abuses with the new law. Too many people who thought the new fireworks law meant they could set them off anytime they wanted.
On one of my blogs, one woman wrote in a response to my views that she has the right to set off fireworks 24/7 and was offended I would say otherwise.
So, such abusers of the new law doomed it.
Setting off fireworks around midnight and sometimes 2 a.m. on weeknights indicated that the new law failed. Crazed fireworks users have no common sense or even courtesy for others.
One woman told my wife an editorial I wrote in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on fireworks abuses relating to disturbing the peace inspired her to approach Kaysville City leaders about ways to manage all the fireworks abuses with the new law.
I personally e-mailed the Layton City Council, City Manager and Mayor with a request to set time standards for when fireworks can legally be set off.
Even if the State fireworks law changes back to the previous version, such time constraints are still needed.
What follows is what I sent to Layton City leaders:
To Mayor Curtis, the Layton City Council and Alex Jensen: 27 July 2011
In light of the State Legislature’s recent change to Utah’s fireworks laws, I strongly believe some city ordinances also now need updated and then enforced to preserve the quality of life in the city.
With the first year of a FULL month of legal fireworks usage now concluded, here are my observations and two cents worth:

1. Almost every night sounded like the Fourth of July, from June 26-July 26 and some reasonable hours for legal discharge of fireworks need to be set by ordinance in Layton City. This includes a prohibited fireworks usage time for: A. weeknights; B. weekends; and C. Actual July 4 and 24th legal holidays.
(Personally, I feel 10:30 p.m. for weeknights; 11 p.m. weekends; and midnight on actual holidays is a reasonable curfew time for ALL fireworks usage.)
(Otherwise, the legislature’s new law seemed to have created the public attitude on fireworks that “anything goes at any time.”)
2. There is much more litter, fireworks casings lying around the city now, since there is more in-the-air stuff and more stuff period being used. (See one of my attached photo as a good example of this problem.)

3. There were still more illegal (purchased in Wyoming) fireworks being used than ever before. Walking my neighborhood revealed an assortment of bottle rockets and firecrackers refuse lying about. In all, actual enforcement of a curfew fireworks time; and illegal use needs to be stepped up. I’m talking actual FINES here, not just warnings. … so the public knows there is a consequence. Revenues from these fines could more than fund additional law enforcement.

4. Layton’s “disturbing the peace” ordinance should probably be modified to at least include the word fireworks now, as it is a very significant problem.

5. For next year’s fireworks season, I’d suggest including any ordinance changes prominently in the spring newsletter, on the city Web site; and in a news release to the media.
With my fireworks sensitive dog and myself being awakened frequently at night by illegal, as well as middle of the night fireworks usage, my quality of life did indeed suffer from June 26-July 26.
Check out the photo attached of what my dog did with his teeth to my brass backdoor knob during a stint of neighbors setting off firecrackers (still illegal in Utah, as far as I know).
Note that I do give my dog sedatives, as many as my vet will give me, but those few pills can’t begin to cover 30 nights in a row. (And, my dog can’t be the only animal so severely affected by fireworks in town.)
I plan to lobby some State Legislators that a month-long fireworks season is simply too excessive. It is, in one sense, not too much different than trying to make New Year’s Eve 30 nights in a row – a lot of repetition and a move that deflates the significance of the actual holidays.
Also, I’m certain too that many cash-strapped families are now spending a lot more money than they can afford on fireworks now, given the longer season.

Finally, here’s my log that tells how late at night fireworks were still heard going off in my area this year to highlight how much disturbing the peace is going on now ---- (and I used to think train whistles were bad?)
Obviously, My neighborhood is one of the worst fireworks offenders in Layton.

My log of when fireworks usage stopped each night---

Sunday, June 26: No fireworks heard all night.
Monday, June 27: No fireworks heard
Tuesday, June 28: 11:10 p.m.
Wednesday, June 29: 12:05 a.m.
Thursday, June 30: 11:50 p.m.
Friday, July 1 12:30 a.m.
Saturday, July 2: 12: 39 a.m.
Sunday. July 3: 12:40 a.m.
Monday, July 4: 1:09 a.m..
Tuesday, July 5: 11:45 p.m.
Wednesday, July 6—NONE
Thursday, July 7, until 9 p.m., then none until a 30-second burst at 3:30 a.m.
Friday, July 7: 11:20 p.m.
Saturday, July 9: 11:45 p.m.
Sunday, July 10: 10:20 p.m.
Monday, July 11: none
Tuesday, July 12: 9 p.m.
Wednesday, July 13: 9:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 14: 10:33 p.m.
Friday, July 15: 10:50 p.m.
Saturday, July 16: 11:45 p.m.
Sunday, July 17: Unknown, Not home
Monday, July 18: none heard
Tuesday, July 19: 10:15 p.m.
Wednesday, July 20: 11:30 a.m.
Thursday, July 21: Unknown. Not home.
Friday, July 22: 11 p.m.
Saturday, July 23: 12:30 a.m.
Sunday, July 24: 11:20 p.m.
Monday, July 25: Midnight; and then some bursts at about 1:30 a.m.
Tuesday, July 26: 10:15 p.m.
REMEMBER: I’m not against fireworks use itself, I just want disturbing the peace issues handled as this “anything goes at anytime” attitude hurts the quality of life in Layton City.

Thanks.
Lynn Arave

Utah's Outrageous Fireworks Law

2011-07-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

I've just about survived a month-long barrage of out-of-control fireworks in Utah, June 26-July 26.
I hate the new relaxed law. I call it a scam.
All the new law did was create a host of disturbing the peace issues, more litter problems and foster an "anything is legal now" attitude.
Worse is that I've yet to hear of any one cited for using the still illegal fireworks, or for disturbing the peace.
On the night of July 23, people in Layton, say 3 to 4 blocks from where I live, were still setting off fireworks at 12:30 a.m.
Some of my "law-abiding" neighbors also set off a flurry of loud and illegal sky high fireworks at about 10:30 p.m.
Now, you may be wondering what the strange accompanying photos with this blog are.
They show what my crazed dog did to my back doorknob on the night of July 22, 2011.
All those loud, banging fireworks, which can't all be legal, caused him to BITE my metal doorknob. Notice the deep damage.
It didn't appear to hurt his teeth, but one of my past dogs broke off a front tooth in his dog run from the metal wire during a similar fireworks frenzy in about 2001.
Some animals are the worst affected by all these fireworks.
I also suspect that too many people who can't really afford fireworks, still bought some and so I think they have a negative economic impact.
Like gambling or a lottery, I feel too many cash-strapped people have purchased extra fireworks this year, as they can't resist doing so.
Thus, the new Utah fireworks law is a scam pure and simple.
Fireworks companies make tons more money and city sales tax also increases somewhat.
However, at what cost?
The cost of some peace and quiet on a hot summer's eve; the price of crazed animals, some of whom hurt themselves; and definitely more litter in the area, as some fireworks user never pick up after their fun.
What I'd like Layton City to do is to set by ordinance specific hours for fireworks use next year and then add extra police or fireman to enforce them, as well as the use of Wyoming fireworks.
Fine some people the $299 or so for a fireworks offense and the word will get out that violators may pay for illegal behavior and the problems next year will go down.
UDPATE: I am going to petition the Layton City Council to set time limits on when fireworks can be legally set off next year and then encourage them to get the police to add extra manpower to enforce the hours.
That's, say, BEFORE midnight on July 4th and July 24th; by 11 p.m. on other weekends and by 10 p.m. on any other weeknights.
Sorry, you 24/7 fireworks crazed people are simply disturbing the peace by setting off fireworks at later hours.

Why is Gasoline Cheaper in Syracuse?

2011-07-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

I've noticed an intriguing trend over the past month -- gasoline costs less in Syracuse than just about everywhere else in Davis or Weber counties.
Why?
I'd guess it is simply that there is some healthy retail competition going on there now.
I paid $3.31 at Smith's in Syracuse (without any discounts) on July 22, 2011.
At the same time, gas sold for $3.35 at Sam's in Layton.
And, it was $3.43 at Layton's Common Cents outlet -- a real rip off.
Gas was $3.35 at the north Layton 7-11.
Without a Flying J pushing prices down in Layton, as in the past, they have definitely increased in town.
That Common Cents outlet is gouging customers and making an extra 12 cents a gallon at customer expense. So, say someone fills up their tank there with 10 gallons, that's $1.20 that outlet makes over what is a reasonable retail profit for each fill-up.
UPDATE: On July 27, it was even worse. Commons Cents is charging $3.43 a gallon, while the price is $3.30 elsewhere. That's 13 cents a gallon EXTRA profit for Common Cents, a true gouging of customers. (Note that Common Cents' gas is the same as these other places--not a notch up, like at Chevron, etc.)
Even SAM's Club is charging $3.35 a gallon and that's more than five cents a gallon too high for them.

G.M. Vehicles: The Costliest to Maintain?

2011-07-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a Ford person and there's a key reason why: My mechanic has always stressed that General Motors vehicles keep him in business, because they require so many more repairs.
Still, that never struck home until I inherited my Dad's Chevy Impala.
I looked it up and for the same number of miles as my two Ford vehicles, that Chevy has required FOUR TIMES the upkeep!
My first G.M. vehicle will be my last.
Also, I think G.M. rips off its customers.
For example, the Impalas of the mid 2000s had several fairly prevalent problems, that should have been courtesy recalls. One was the speedometer motor going out and the second was a Passlock key fault.
Not only did G.M. cut corners with shoddy workmanship in creating those problems, but they charged vehicle owners $500 or more for each problem to fix them.
So, G.M. profits double from its poor workmanship.
I also find it significant that when I take my G.M. vehicle in for a recall, they find a lot of stuff wrong to also get repaired, while that never happens with my two Ford vehicles at a Ford dealder.

New Apartments on Layton's Main Street?

2011-07-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Remember the old Stimpson's store, at about 1400 N. Main Street, Layton?
The building has been vacant for about 2 years.
A church tried to buy the property, but could not come up with the funding.
Now, the proposal for the approximate 5.5 acres is to put moderate multi-housing on the land.
A July 12, 2011 public hearing by the Layton Planning Commission will address the proposal. that's because the zoning there has to go from commercial to residential, RM-2 zone, as I recall.
You can cram a lot of apartments into that size of land, as if the area already doesn't have enough apartments as it is.
Layton City also needs to finally connect Laytona Drive officially with Main Street on the south side of that property, so public highway access remains there.

Finally: A Break From Fireworks

2011-07-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night, July 6, featured a break from the fireworks noise in my west Layton neighborhood. I didn't hear a single blast ALL night.
Then, on Thursday, there were a few pops and blasts aroaund 9 p.m., but as a rainstorms came through, all was quiet. That is, until 3:30 a.m., when someone set off some loud fireworks blasts a few blocks from my house, for about 30 seconds. What was the point of that noise? Simple: reckless and uncourteous behavior.
Anyway, after about 9 straight nights of noise and my crazed dog, I needed a break.
--Now one startling point to the now legal "cake" fireworks this year is how litter prone they are. I found dozens and dozens of small pieces of cardboard all over my roof and lawn, from these "cake" fireworks.
Who will clean up all that mess? Mostly no one, as it will just blow around for months and months ...

Is Utah Fireworks Crazed?

2011-06-28T18:24:00.001-07:00

Regarding Utah's new, much relaxed fireworks law ... Are Utahns fireworks crazy?
I would not be surprised if Utah had the highest sales of fireworks in the United States -- and if it doesn't already have the most sales per capita, it will after a year of this new law.
Now Utahns can set off fireworks -- legally -- from the last week in June into late July: a full month.
And, some go high in the air fireworks are now legal too.
Some of my neighbors are fireworks addicts, to say the least. They have set off any kind of fireworks, legal or not, in the past, all summer.They must go to Wyoming a lot.
In fact, on a Tuesday night, June 28, they were setting off fireworks until 11:10 p.m. That's simply disturbing the peace kind of obnoxious behavior!
Then,on the next night (June 29), some of my neighbors set off fireworks until 10:45 p.m.; and another set off a 15-second series of booms at 11:55 p.m.
On the following night, June 30, it was even worse. Fireworks were being set off in my neighborhood until just AFTER midnight.
Police don't seem to care. There's only a penalty if you live on the east side of Layton, near the mountains, and set off fireworks.
Otherwise, you have always been able to get away with setting off anything.
Such fireworks are just not a good fit for subdivisions. They echo and make my dog go crazy, disturb the peace (when it is not a holiday); and I have suffered property damage in the past from falling bottle rockets.
I don't appreciate neighbors setting fireworks off after midnight and yet some have done so in the past.
Anyway, I partially blame Utah's media for letting this new relaxed fireworks law slip through. Too many editors and reporters only care about the politics and the sensational stuff in the Utah Legislature -- and not always the stuff that truly affects the public's life.
This new law received little publicity until the mid-spring of 2011, several months after it had been approved.
Utah Legislators also did NOT think this new law through in the least. Now my dog can freak out every night for an entire month! I'm convinced most of my neighbors and others, believe that ALL fireworks are legal now.
I've already seen industrial size fireworks set off in my neighborhood. They can't all be legal.
At the least, the Legislature should have set time limits on the fireworks. Any fireworks after 10:30 p.m., except on weekends and holidays should have been made illegal and enforced too.
(Yet I find nothing in "disturbing the peace" ordinances that mention fireworks. Ironic, since nothing a neighbor can do is louder than that!)
--Also, with Utah having such a high fireworks usage, I bet Utah's alcohol sales are among the lowest in the nation. (I would also bet Utah's candy and ice cream sales are also among the nation's highest.)
If you can't drink alcohol, there is always candy, ice cream and fireworks. That seems to be the climate of the average Utahn.
Drinking is what life outside Utah (and the Mormon Church) revolves around. But in Utah, it is apparently these other vices...

Mormons Before the 1950s: Crosses OK?

2011-06-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

I found many old vintage photographs that I had never seen before in my mother's endless clutter.
One picture in particular (and reproduced here) was dated 1946 and showed her entire family -- the Ray and Lida Rigby Family from Grace, Idaho.
What caught my eye the most was that my future Aunt Maurine, in the lower right of the picture, is wearing a large cross.
This confirms what I had already suspected: Mormons wearing crosses before the 1950s was OK and not frowned upon.
It was the 1950s when apparently both wearing crosses and having facial hair began to be shunned in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
(We're talking church policy here, not necessarily doctrine, in both practices.)
Wearing a cross in the LDS Church today is practically viewed as evil. Church leaders, and in some stakes even just an ordinary church member, having facial hair today is considered taboo.
However, realize that it wasn't always that way for both practices.

Great Salt Lake is Great Again

2011-06-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

What a difference 30 months can make in nature!
Back in September 2008, my son, Taylor, and I walked to Fremont Island in the Great Salt Lake on a legendary sandbar that is only dry when the lake level is low.
The elevation of the Great Salt Lake was about 4,194.2 feet back in Sept. 2008, when we walked almost seven miles on dry ground to Fremont Island, from the Antelope Island Causeway.
Today, June 21, 2011, the elevation of the Great Salt Lake is 4,198.4 feet above sea level and still rising fast.
That means that the lake's water level has risen more than 4 feet in those 30 months.
So, in the accompanying photographs, the scene has changed a lot.
For example, in the picture where Taylor is standing next to a dry water buoy in the sandy bay on the southeast side of Fremont Island, the water now reaches some 4 feet up and Taylor would be standing at chest level in water now.
Another photo shows Taylor inspecting the dry lake bed, while the third shows how the sandbar appears looking from the edge of Fremont Island.
The sandbar is totally under 4 feet of water now.
It was dry in 2004, on and off, until sometime in 2010.
It had not been above water since about 1966 otherwise.
That sandbar is huge, some 1,000 yards wide in places.
It will reappear one day again, but that could be another three or four decades again, as the Great Salt Lake has its cycles in elevation.
In fact, a late Weber State University business professor studied the graphs of the Great Salt Lake's elevation changes in the early 1990s and concluded they appeared just like the ups and downs in the stock market.
And, they are just as unpredictable.

Layton Rail Trail is Open!

2011-06-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

June 4, 2011.
The Layton Rail Trail, on the old Denver and Rio Grande Railroad grade, is now open.
This is a great walking option out west of I-15.
I recommend the new trail especially for all those people who run around the cement sidewalk at Ellison Park. Don't get sore and injured running on the hard sidewalk. Use the rail path now.
I spotted a deer as I began to walk the segment just north of Gordon Avenue on June 4. If there is one deer, there are obviously some more all well. They are hard to spot amidst the deep brush along the new trail, but West Layton does have a deer population.
(In years past, I've seen some foxes roam in the same area too. I'm sure skunks are around all well.)
One warning: There seems to be a lot of bugs in the trail stretch between Gordon Avenue and Hill Field Road. I think the wetlands to the west of the trail foster the pesky bug population.
By summer's end, you will be able to go from Farmington to Ogden on this rail trail.
Besides the demise of regular whistles in west Layton, this new path is another great asset to the area.
THE PHOTOS: Bottom picture is my dog, Snickers, on the Layton rail trail. Middle photo is of an unidentified runner using the path on June 4. The top picture shows several Layton City employees doing some final touch ups at the gate to the trail portion south of Gordon Avenue.

Internet Car Buying Scams

2011-05-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

I try to sell a car on a free Internet site.
I receive what appears to be a legitimate query from somewhere out of state.
This potential buyer seems most concerned about the condition of the car's interior. Fair enough.
They also seem to have no problem with the asking price. Great
They also want to ship the car to them, somewhere in New Jersey. OK, it is a classic 1977 car.
So, I receive an e-mail saying the purchase money, shipping funds and $200 extra for taxes have been sent to my PayPal account. An e-mail from "PayPal" states the same.
HOWEVER, PayPal is HOLDING that money until I pre-pay -- through Western Union -- the shipping price too.
Wait a minute! That isn't right.
So, a closer look reveals this is a SCAM!
All the e-mail addresses are not really PayPal, even though they appear so on my e-mail directory.
Yes, the PalPal logo and a link to their site is there.
This is simply a scam of someone wanting me to wire them $640 in a way that can't be traced. They don't want the car. They want free money.
So, always check through e-mail addresses.

Steve Prefontaine --- Go Pre, Be Alcohol Free!

2011-05-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Steve Prefontaine was without a doubt one of America's greatest distance runners.
However, his full potential was never achieved, because he chose to drink alcohol in large quantities. He died in a drunk driving accident on May 30, 1975 -- almost exactly 36 years to the date as this is being written.
Could Prefontaine have won a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, had he lived on? I strongly believe so.
After more than a dozen times of driving through Coos Bay, Oregon, I finally made a visit to the special Prefontaine museum there.
The Pre exhibit is at the Coos Art Museum, 235 Anderson Avenue, Coos Bay. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; and 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed Sunday.
I'd recommend that museum to others. It cost $5 for adults to visit ($2 seniors and students) and it was worth every penny (and there is a separate art gallery there too).
The "Prefontaine Memorial Gallery" is upstairs in its own room, filled with trophies, awards, photographs, etc.
"Pre" was one of my idols in high school, right next to Jim Ryan. As a former official correspondent for Track and Field News Magazine, I once wrote in support of Pre's talent way back in 1973 in that publication.
However, I find it extremely disappointing that no one apparently ever had the sense or the courage to use Pre as a VIP role model not to drive drunk.
After all, that's what killed him.
Is it not ironic that Pre, a runner who had some of the highest lung capacity ever measured, suffocated in that car accident?
I found a bogus Facebook page about not supporting Pre as a role model, because he drove drunk. However, that page is simply intended as a joke.
All the official brochure on the Pre Gallery states is that he died "tragically" in a car accident.
Hello!
Why is this a joke?
That's all I seemed to find on most accounts, summarizing Pre's death, "a car accident."
Pre actually died at age 24 in May of 1975 in Eugene, Oregon of driving drunk!
Why has his bad example been so ignored over the years?
Could Pre's bad example have been used to save others from driving drunk? I think it could have and it might could work even now to some extent, as a P.R. campaign, since Pre has become such a legend.
I'm sure Pre's running example has inspired countless others in the world of sports and continues to do so. But his "bad example" could save lives too.
His accident should also serve to remind young men in particular, that they are not invincible. (His car slammed into a large boulder along the roadside and features a monument nearby now.)
Sadly, America makes such a big deal of the lives lost in 9/11 when in fact, multiple times more Americans die each year because of drunk driving.
Alcohol is simply a drug and is long overdue to be treated as such.
Why alcohol is legal and so many other drugs are illegal is simply a contradiction.
Why do the lives of so many people revolve around drinking? It is sad, as well as dangerous.
"Go Pre ... Be Alcohol Free!" --- That would be my slogan.
I can't count the times that I've heard people say they don't do drugs and then they brag about their alcohol drinking prowess.
I've met so many people who would feel greatly offended if it ever came down to any restrictions on their drinking opportunities. They believe their own world would end without alcohol. How sad that their drug of choice, alcohol, rules their poor lives.
But clearly how America handles drunk drivers over the years has not worked and clearly something else --- I'm not sure exactly what -- needs to be done to start treating alcohol as the dangerous and lethal drug that it is.
Pre never planned on driving drunk. It just happened and that's what drinking alcohol in excess can do to you -- cause you to lose sense and reason.
"Tests show Prefontaine was drunk" was one newspaper headline. His blood alcohol level was 0.16, even though friends thought he seemed OK to drive.
In the fall of 1976, I went on a five-mile training run with Frank Shorter (1972 Marathon Olympic Gold Medalist) and some other Weber State University distance runners in Ogden, Ut. I wish I would have asked Shorter back then about his spin on the accident, since Pre apparently dropped off Shorter at his house, minutes before the fatal car crash, as they were returning from a party. Shorter was the last person to see Pre before the accident.
Yes, I'm clearly a teetotaler by personal choice, but I'm tired of alcohol not being recognized as a serious drug with murderous consequences.
Go Pre ... Be Alcohol Free!
(The two photographs above show the contents of two of the display cabinets at the Prefontaine Memorial Gallery in Coos Bay, Oregon.)

IDOT: Review Your I-84 Truck Policies

2011-05-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

If you travel I-84 between Boise and Twin Falls, you will see a bizarre and unsafe policy on official roadsigns: "Trucks use left lane."
There is simply no sane reason for the Idaho Department of Transportation to have such a policy.
Having recently traveled that corridor, I saw that sign repeat at least twice.
I also encountered 6 different times where semitrucks blocked both lanes of I-84 for several minutes. I also spotted some in-a-rush drivers get very wild and tailgate the semis and make some very improper lane changes, because of that policy.
IDOT needs to review having those signs at all. They will cause fatal accidents, if they haven't already.
IDOT: just repave both lanes and quit trying to save a few bucks at the public's expense of less safety-- because that's what you've done.
Canada is the only other place where I've encountered semis ruling the freeway and blocking both lanes often.
With so many TRIPLE semis on the road these days, this is not a good policy.

Of Course, No End of the World on May 21

2011-05-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

Of course, as anyone with Biblical sense expected, the world did not end on May 21, 2011.
This was one of many times in the past 100 years that various religious "experts" have predicted the end of the world.
The Bible clearly states that no one can know the time of the Second Coming. Why ALL Christians can't understand that simple truth is unknown.
Anyway, the man who predicted the latest advent also made a similar prediction about the end of the world in 1994.
Worse yet is that several major Christian religions, started in the U.S., have advent roots and similar histories of end of the world predictions that clearly did not come to pass. So, who would anyone belong to a church that has such a background?
Also, as I see it, it won't really be the END of the world anyway. It will only be the END of the Wicked, when it does come and Jesus Christ returns.

Helicopter Crash Problems

2011-05-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

The May 2, 2011 U.S. military attack that killed Osama bin Laden will obviously loom as a legendary American victory -- and rightfully so.
However, it also brings to memory for me the failed 1980 hostage rescue attempt by the U.S. military in Iran.
Both events included helicopter crashes.
The April 24, 1980 raid had hoped to free 52 Americans hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
However, in a sandstorm, a U.S. helicopter collided with a C-130 transport plane at the operation's desert staging point. Eight American military personnel were killed.
One of the two copters involved in the bin Laden attack apparently crashed over the compound from mechanical failure.
Anyway, here are two key U.S. military events in about a 31-year span, where copters crashed and where their reliability could make or break the missions.
It just seems to me that the U.S. military had better hopefully be analyzing the two separate copter crashes, to better ensure success in future, similar military operations that rely so much on helicopters.
I have a friend, a Vietnam vet, who was the lone survivor of a copter crash during his service. He was changed forever by the event.

Thumbs Down to Salt Lake Spaghetti Factory

2011-04-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

I took my family of 5 to eat at the Salt Lake City Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square on April 23, 2011, 4:30 p.m. and I was not impressed and vowed to never return to the second-rate place.
First, the acoustics are terrible inside that old trolley warehouse -- especially if you sit upstairs.
I couldn't carry on a conversation with anyone at the place.
Maybe a couple can get by, but any larger group, forget it.
Also, they lost my family's order and we had to wait an extra 20 minutes for our food, with only an apology and no perks or discount.
Thirdly, my milk was too warm the moment it was put on my table and despite some ice I threw in it, became undrinkable for my tastes.
Fourthly, I do not like sourdough bread and there were no other alternatives for me.
Fifth, I thought the taste of my spaghetti and meatballs was a couple of steps down from the Olive Garden.
Sixth, although you did have the warm milk or a few other drink options and dessert (ice cream) included in the price, the overall cost for my family was pretty much the same as at Olive Garden. No real value there to me.
I was roped into eating at a Spaghetti Factory in British Columbia last summer. All I recall was that it was extra expensive, but the food and service were OK then.
So, I'll choose the Olive Garden next time ...

Annoying Increase in Volume on TV commercials

2011-04-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

I've been annoyed recently when some commercials air on the television and their loudness is substantially higher than the regular TV programming.
I guess that's so if you leave the room, advertisers think you will still be able to hear their message.
The problem is I don't usually leave the room during a commercial and hence the irritation about this.
I contacted the FCC and they say they have no authority to regulate the loudness of TV commercials.
However, I understand that the newest of TVs have a built-in option to even out the volume of TV commercials. That might be the only way to solve this annoyance.

Make Easter a Fixed Date

2011-04-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

In what appears to be an illogical case of holding onto an old tradition means each year Easter bounces around the calendar.
I'd vote for some Christian leader, the Pope or whomever, to take the lead and give Easter a firm date on the calendar each year.
As it is, Easter can vary from late March to late April and that practice is simply confusing.
The current observance is tied to the full moon, presumably, so party goers in olden times could see better late into the night. This makes no sense whatsoever today and is just a confusing practice that is now more than a century beyond its usefulness.
Making Easter a solid date, like say the first Sunday in April, would be wise.
No serious scholar believes Jesus Christ was born on Dec. 25, but having a firm date for this Christian observance is fine.
The date of Christmas also proves the actual date isn't holy, just the observance itself.
The Greek Orthodox Church would also have to get into line with accepting a firm date, because as it is, this faith celebrates Easter a week apart from the rest of the Christian world.

Timeshares will go belly up

2011-04-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

To many people, Timeshares and condos have been shady terms, where bad/intimidating sales pitches have turned many people off.
However, my wife's family have had timeshares for more than two decades and have done very well with them until the past year.
Over more than 22 years, the family timeshares have been traded for some great properties -- on the beach, in Hawaii, near Disneyland and in some great mountain locations.
However, in the past year, things have changed for the worse and I feel these changes will eventually doom the timeshare industry.
1. RCI, the largest timeshare trading company, started a numbered priority system on what your condo being traded is worth. Despite what RCI told me about this being a great and fair system, it has meant LESS good choices for condos to trade for. At times, we would have to combine two condos and pay an extra $99 also to get one good condo we want.
"Two for one" is not a good deal, when you consider the math. A typical yearly maintenance fee can be about $650 a year. So, times that by two (for two condos being traded), add a $179 trading fee, plus a $99 combining fee and that equals $1,578 for a getting a good, week-long timeshare somewhere.
Compare that with the usual $729 total costs my wife's family was used to paying just a year ago.
Yes, yearly maintenance fees have risen sharply in 2011 as well!
Bottom line here is that with no long term commitment or costs, I can search the Internet for people selling a great condo for a one-time, single week for $1,000 or less. One time use only, but no timeshare hassles.
RCI is pricing itself out of existence!
2. RCI also recently purchased the ORE timeshare trading company and revamped it to be VRI. I used VRI to book a condo in St. George Utah this fall and I ended up paying them about $399 for the trade, since I upgrade from a 4 person to a 6 person unit, This was way overpriced from the $129 or less ORE used to charge. I will NOT EVER use VRI again!
3. RCI has for several years also been skimming the top and selling its best condos under the heading of "bonus vacations." You don't trade a week here, but the prices average almost $1,000. So, some of the best weeks we used to trade for are now being withheld by RCI so they can make extra money.
BOTTOM LINE for all this? My wife's family will likely sell, or even abandon if necessary, all 5 of its remaining Wolf Creek Utah condos, because the pricing and selection has become simply ridiculous.
(The family will probably retain its two Park City Utah condos on Thanksgiving week, but that's all ...)
And, as more timeshare users figure they too are being riped-off now, they too will leave the system and within 5 years or less, RCI/VRI will collapse!
RCI/VRI, you have become greedy and you fail to serve your customers. You will have no one to blame on your demise but yourself.

Wal-Mart's low tech approach to Inventory?

2011-04-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Are Wal-Mart stores NOT using computers to their fullest advantage?
It would seem so.
Here's how I discovered that surprisingly Wal-Mart is apparently NOT using computer scanners at the checkout counter to directly keep track of their inventory!
I believe this lapse in high tech methods means that Wal-Mart has no specifics on how much shoplifting or employee theft goes on, let alone that it can't serve its customers as well as it could otherwise.
My story, April 9, 2011:
I needed to purchase a new carpet cleaner.
So, I went on-line and found perhaps the best deal at Wal-Mart. I checked the inventory of my local Wal-Mart store on the Internet and it indicated out of stock.
Two other area Wal-Mart stores supposedly had two carpet cleaners each in stock.
I went to the next closest store and found they were actually completely out of stock.
I talked to a sales associate. She looks at her hand-held computer gizmo and it does say they had two carpet cleaners left. She looks around for 10 minutes and goes in the back and then returns and says, "I guess we sold those two in the past few days..."
I was shocked!
Does this mean then that Wal-Mart has no idea on the exact inventory of any of its stuff.
When you purchase an item and it is computer scanned, that apparently DOES NOT correlate to store inventory, to indicate that something has been sold and is gone!
I would have thought there was an INSTANT link to inventory to say an item is now gone off the shelf. Nothing else makes logical sense.
(If by chance Wal-Mart has a delayed reaction scanner connection to inventory, I also fail to see why it isn't an immediate response. Otherwise, it fails to serve customers like me fully and definitely means extra work by store employees to keep periodically updating inventory themselves.)
Is it then that perhaps only store employees, who notice a bare shelf or only a few items left, must do the actual inventory and re-ordering? It makes me wonder if that low tech approach isn't the case.
So, aside from my inconvenience (and I ended up purchasing my carpet cleaner at a non-Wal-Mart store), I just don't understand this sort of practice from the world's largest store chain.
If you really what to know what items a Wal-Mart store has in stock, you have to get an employee to actually look on the shelf itself, or go there yourself.
Heck, that's the kind of old system a store used decades ago.
Thia seems like a mighty inefficient way to operate a giant store in today's high tech world.
IT also proves that Wal-Mart is not nearly as organized as it thinks it is.
This antiquated practice is extra significant today, because Wal-Mart stores are purposely carrying less items and quantities on their shelves than in years past.
It also makes me wonder what other inefficient things the store is also doing.
Wal-Mart is a private store and can do what it wants, but it has surely gone astray in whatever backward method it is currently using to track its inventory.
I e-mailed most of these comments to Wal-Mart headquarters, but received no reply.
Does that mean I hit a nerve? They don't care? Who knows.
This incident won't stop me shopping at Wal-Mart, but it is both surprising and disappointing.

True Gasoline Prices

2011-04-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

Gasoline prices are soaring this spring to all-time record levels.
Are they justified? No, as it appears simple greed is behind much of the increase.
However, Even though your typical gasoline price survey is accurate in that it is what you actually pay at the pump in various states or areas, I do not like such surveys.
Why?
Because I like to subtract all the taxes you pay on gasoline -- state and federal taxes -- and then level the playing field to see what you actually pay for gasoline itself -- without taxes.
Why?
Because I believe oil wholesalers and retails can often "hide" behind taxes to their advantage; and charge the public more, because it looks "OK," based on the usual surveys.
On April 6, 2011, I took a calculator at a quick look at gasoline prices without taxes.
Lowest appears to be Colorado, where the average of what customers there pay is $311.2 a gallon. Idaho and Wyoming are tied for second at $312.2, followed by South Dakota at $317.5, Utah and Mississippi at $318.5 and New Jersey at $3.18.9 and Missouri at $3.19.
(Compare that to the overall price leaders and the cost WITH taxes ---
1. Wyoming $3.446; 2. Colorado, $3.516; 3. New Jersey, $3.518; 4. South Carolina, $3.527; 5. Montana, $3.534; 6. Utah $3.535; 7. Missouri, $3.547; 8. Tie Kansas and Idaho, both $3.556.)
I don't see a lot out of line here as I have sometimes in the past. However, California residents are paying $343.4 for their gasoline without taxes and that is out of line and excessive. Alaska is also paying $383.5 and that is way too much, given their low taxes.
These numbers and rankings will likely all change tomorrow with new averages.
My point is simply that I'd love to see AAA do a second survey on gas prices WITHOUT
taxes to help keep oil dealers and retailers more in line.
Utah should ALWAYS be among the lowest of gasoline prices, because its standard regular gas is only 85 octane and that alone is a dime cheaper on the retail level.
(87 octane is the average in most states and that costs 10 cents more in Utah, but Utah's 85 octane is what shows up in the averaging by AAA -- yet another variable in gas prices.)
Gasoline prices without taxes is another component that gasoline price watchdogs should factor into their surveys.

Japan's Quake is but a Rumble of What's to Come

2011-03-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

Are you prepared for the greatest earthquake of all time — a planet-wide shaking event?
Japan's 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, ranks tied for fourth among the world's strongest known quakes. (A 9.5 level quake in Chile in 1960 is No. 1.)
But Christian scripture has prophesied that the world's strongest earthquake is yet to come and its power will shake the entire planet, meaning Japan's quake is but a rumble, compared to it.
The Bible predicts such a tremendous cataclysm, as Revelation 16:18 states: "And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great."
Two verses later, Revelation 16:20, it reads: "And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found."
(This blog isn't to make light of Japan's massive quake, but put it in perspective that a planet-wide quake is still yet to come.)
We're probably talking greater than a 10.0 quake here to shake the entire planet.
The Richter scale increases by powers of 10. An increase of one point means the strength of an earthquake is 10 time greater than the level before it.
So, a 10.0 quake would be 10 times stronger than the Japanese quake.
I would think a 12.0 quake -- 30 times stronger than the Japanese quake, could rattle the entire planet at once. (The Japanese quake did move the earth on its axis by about 4 inches.)
You would not want to live anywhere near an ocean when the biggest of all quakes hits, because the possible tsunami action from such a quake could take out New York City, Boston, Sand Diego and anything and everything along a coastline.
Zechariah 14:4 also mentions changes in Jerusalem, probably because of quakes.
God has used earthquakes in the past to denote important events. Matthew 27:50-54 illustrates there were quakes during Christ's crucifixion. And a quake heralded Christ's resurrection (Matthew 28:2).
An earthquake also broke prison doors down for Paul and led to the conversion of the prison keeper (Acts 16:25-26).
For centuries, earthquakes have been hot topics, because outside perhaps a large meteor strike, they are among the worst possible disasters.
So how do you prepare yourself physically for such a quake? You really can't.
All you can do is be spiritually prepared.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) believes that "the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:87) in the last days.
"There are voices, thunders, lightnings and the greatest earthquake in earth's history; cities of nations fall; islands flee, and mountains are leveled; a great plague of hail," as stated in the Mormon Ensign magazine, Oct. 1993, of the last days in a "Book of Revelation Overview" article.
Mormon Elder Bruce R. McConkie said in his Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, that he believed that the greatest ever earthquake is part of the earth's return to like it was before it was divided in the days of Peleg (Genesis 10:25). Meaning all the earth's land masses shall unite into one island.
In his Mormon Doctrine book, Elder McConkie explained that by earthquakes God "delivers his servants from perils, destroys the wicked, and leaves a sign that his hand has been in transcendent events."
Brigham Young, the second Mormon prophet, also stated that when the elders are called home, the Lord will teach his own sermons with fire and earthquakes (Journal of Discourses 8:123 and D&C 88:88-92).
"We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming," Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a Mormon Apostle, said in a May 2004 Liahona address.

Lazy Dog Owners

2011-03-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

As I've escalated my walking time around my greater neighborhood, I have one or more encounters with loose dogs on each walk.
What I notice is how lazy some dog owners are. Example: on March 4, I spot a loose, 50-plus pound dog up the road in front of me. I switch myself and I dog to the opposite side of the street, excepting a confrontation.
However, As I get within a house of the dog, he is called inside the front door of a house.
Obviously, this owner feels the right to let their dog loose in the neighborhood, whenever it needs to use the bathroom. Their front yard was not fenced, but their backyard was. Why do they let their dog out the front door? Only laziness of some sort makes any sense to me. Logically, I would never let my dog loose out the front yard -- the hazard to others and my dog would be apparent.
This person needs to fence their front yard, if that's where they want to let their dog loose.
Also, I still easily spot too many houses with 3 or more dogs there; I smell some yards where the dog's waste has not been picked up all winter; and I feel so sad for some dogs I see who likely never get to go for a walk or receive any real attention.
-One thing is clear to me: The next time my dog is attacked by a loose dog, or I am bit again, I am going to consult an attorney. An example needs to be made for these irresponsible dog owners.

Utah teachers' "low" pay -- Is it really low?

2011-03-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

Another new study has come out that ranks the average salary for Utah teachers at fourth-lowest in the nation, behind Missouri and North and South Dakota.
I would like to ask the key question: Does this kind of ranking really see the big picture, or is it a distorted look at teacher's pay?
I say it is the latter, because there is no cost of living adjustment factored into the teacher's pay scale. Thus, it is NOT a true "apples to apples," or fair comparison.
The cost of living is much higher in New York, for example, and hence the pay scale of teachers is higher there than in the Beehive State.
By that same formula, most any salary in any field in Utah will be lower than in New York. So, without a sweeping look at many salary examples, or without making a cost of living adjustment for the city or area, this teacher's pay scale comparison is faulted and not accurate.
Teachers may actually be underpaid in Utah, but I've yet to see a level paying field formula study to prove that is true, in relation to the relative low cost of living in Utah.
--In a similar prospective, gasoline price comparisons for the U.S. are faulted too. That's because state gasoline taxes vary from state to state and no gas price survey subtracts those taxes to show what someone in a particular state is really paying just for the fuel cost itself.
Why is this argument important? Because there is no question that gasoline wholesalers and retailers can hide behind the state taxes, to their own advantage and may be charging consumers more, because they can, based on U.S. averages.

Why the high gasoline prices?

2011-02-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

Gasoline prices at the end of February 2011 are higher than they have ever been before for this early in a year.
Why?
It all a speculation market for oil and not based on actual fact or supply and demand.
And, as I have stated before, Utah should always have lower gas prices than the rest of the nation because its standard offering in only 85 octane and that's at least 10 cents less expensive than the 87 octane that the majority of the nation uses.

TV News' Dumbest Gimmick

2011-02-19T18:27:00.000-08:00

The silliest, most meaningless gimmick in Utah TV news reports these days is to always try and broadcast remotely from the key site of the story -- despite it being pitch black, deserted or whatever -- hours after the fact.
Why do TV stations use this dumb ploy?
90-plus percent of the time they might as well be in the comfort of their news studio, because such reporting adds nothing to the news value and actually degrades it in most cases.
Over the past few years, Salt Lake TV news reporters have reported after 10 p.m. in front of darkened buildings, roads and mountains -- all for the imagined news value to this.
But when such reporting happens many hours after a key news event took place and especially when no one else is around and everything is cleaned up, there is simply no logical reason to report from there. It looks silly, reeks of wasting news resources and is simply an outrageous practice that needs to be halted.
When a reporter is reporting from a darkened and closed Hogle Zoo parking lot about the death of an animal, for example, I fail to see the significance in that.
Reporters would save time and station resources by simply reporting from the news studio in most cases when no additional information will be gained by so doing.
This "game" of having to be on the scene has gotten way out of control.

Hungry Bear Pizza Gone ....

2011-02-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Hungry Bear Pizza restaurant in Layton recently closed for good.
Located on west Hill Field Road, across from Sam's Club, the place had a 10-year run at a different slant to serving pizza.
I always liked the place, but most of my family felt the quality there went down in recent years and so we stopped going there a couple of years ago.
Their prices somehow seemed to always stay the same.
Couple this loss with Hometown Buffet (closed November 2009) and the west side of Layton has not done well for restaurants.
Perhaps the addition of In-N-Out Burger next to Ream's grocery store can rekindle some west side interest in eateries.

The Menace of Loose Pets ....

2011-01-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

I can't keep my cars clean for long. A loose cat regularly crawls all over them with its muddy paws.
Why is this cat ever loose? It has been declawed and could not defend itself in a fight. It should never be outdoors, but the neighbors let it roam.
In addition, it messes all over the flower gardens in my yard.
Loose dogs are another concern. I was attacked by two dogs and bitten by one of them in late 2009 while going for an evening jog.
(I didn't sue, but if I ever get attacked by a dog again, I might as an example of the possible consequences.)
I carry pepper spray and or a stick ever since, because as an animal control officer stated, "It's sad when it is not even safe to go around your own neighborhood."
But my son and daughter-in-law took my dog for a walk on Jan. 27, 2011 around the neighborhood.
Another big dog was loose and got into a fight with my dog. The blood on my dog might have been from the other dog, but this dog obviously should never been loose as it has viscous inclinations. It is also a concern in my book for any children playing nearby.
Sadly, now my son and daughter-in-law know first-hand now that they have to carry pepper spray too.
Still, you don't need a gun to shoot a loose dog or cat. Pepper spray will do fine.
UPDATE: I had another encounter with a loose dog. I wanted a stick to keep him at arm's length, as I wasn't sure if he was going to bite me. So, carrying a stick might be a good idea too, as too many people have loose dogs and think there's no problem with doing that.
But don't spend any extra money for a special anti-dog attack stick. Here's what I did-- I found an old umbrella and salvaged the main metal rod out of it. I was lucky and there a plastic piece on the end of it, meaning it is not sharp and the handle remained intact too. Like a telescope it folds up to more than half-size, is lightweight and strong.

What I Learned in 40 years of Journalism....

2010-12-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

With a long journalism career over — at least in newspapers — dating back to my junior year days in high school (circa 1970), here's a look back at 10 things I learned:
1. Spelling, Spelling, Spelling. No matter how many decades you've had being a reporter, it is still all too easy to misspell someone's name. Caution is always required.
2. Your handwriting gets worse over time. My kids can't believe how much better and more readable my handwriting was 20-plus years ago. All those decades of taking notes on the run, in dark places, or during outdoor storms simply causes your handwriting to degrade. You develop a "fleet scribbling" style, only you can read.
3. Never assume anything. Always ask extra questions to avoid assumptions. This applies to not only journalism, but life in general.
4. Newspaper reporting is generally a negative, pessimistic inducing business. You have to take steps to try and be more positive in life, or journalism can make you simply too negative and critical.
5. There will always be some editors or co-workers from time to time that you don't care for and you just have to tolerate them and know they will switch duties, jobs or retire in time.
6. Expect and accept change. Life, jobs, it is all about change. Nothing stays the same for long. From new technology, to new buildings, to new tasks, bosses and co-workers, there's no way to predict what changes will occur, but changes will regularly happen. Ir is also obvious, but true that accepting change gets harder as you age.
7. EVERY career and area in life has its own peculiar politics to deal with. Life is always a popularity game to some degree and if you don't play this game -- at least marginally -- you could end up on the short end.
8. Don't always expect talent -- your talent -- to be enough to carry you through. In an extension of my No. 7 thing learned, realize that talent alone isn't always going to be what keeps your job or gets you a raise. Sucking up to a boss is always a necessity to some degree.
9. Have a back up career. In journalism especially, have a side career always in mind and with some accompanying skills, credentials.
10. ALWAYS give some credence to any rumors, Few rumors are totally baseless. Best overall philosophy: "Plan for the worst, but hope for the best."

State of the U.S. Economy

2010-12-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

There have been bank bailouts, stimulus checks and now continued tax cuts, but one thing is perfectly clear -- the U.S. Economy is headed for a downturn that will make the 1929 depression look like a picnic.
It's is not a matter of IF it will happen, but simply WHEN...
Bottom line is most Americans and most government entities won't live within their income.
Not only is the federal deficit level alarming, but the college loan debt now exceeds credit card debt.
Housing is overpriced. Medical care prices are insane. (Obama's health care plan will only increase overall prices worse than they are now!)
Americans demand too large of and too fancy of homes, automobiles and more.
Too many overpriced/elaborate mobile devices and too many pricey restaurants.
Factor in the unresolved issues of illegal immigration, terrorists, high unemployment, foreign wars and pollution and there is simply a recipe for eventual and certain disaster cooking.
I'm afraid it is too late in the game to fix all this now.
Brace yourself for the worst of end times, because it is coming.

Too Many Layton Area Grocery Stores?

2010-12-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

The Dick's Market, 88 S. Fairfield Road, Layton, will likely close on Dec. 31, 2010, putting dozens of employees out of work.
All this, a year or so BEFORE the new Winco store opens on Fort Lane in Layton, about a mile to the west.
Owned by Associated foods since 2002, Dick's has one other same-named location in
Bountiful, 2280 S. Orchard Drive, that is going to remain.
(The first Dick's Market opened in 1967 in Centerville, owned by Dick Winegar.)
Smith's has a grocery store just across the street from Dick's in Layton.
In fact, the Dick's building used to be where Smith's was, until it built its new store across the street and left an empty building.
With the former Albertson's grocery store at Main Street and Antelope Drive in Layton still vacant after more than a year, you've got wonder about the chances of another grocery store coming into Layton, besides Winco. The market might be too saturated.
Ream's grocery store doesn't look to have been doing great lately, but the impending In-N-Out Burger coming into its parking lot will likely increase its business.
The former Ultimate Electronics store building, south of Petco, is still vacant in Layton after many years.
The former Bed Bath and Beyond building is also vacant, with that business moving to the north end of Layton.
That's at least 4 major big box stores empty in Layton by Jan. 1, 2011 -- not a good economic indicator.
I'd still love a Costco in Layton, but that doesn't appear likely either.
There are long range visions for new grocery stores in both west Layton and west Kaysville, but nothing new seems to be proceeding on them.
A new full size grocery store in Hooper, Weber County, was also envisioned 5 years ago, but the poor economy killed that project.
Hooper lacks a full size grocery store, but with the new Winco in west Roy and eventually a Wal-Mart in West Haven, such a Hooper grocery store could be many years away.
All North Davis County appears to be oversaturated with grocery stores and I think Bowman's in Kaysville could be the next to be in trouble once the new Winco in Layton is built.
Ream's in Layton is currently a notch below Bowman's but as I stated earlier, In N Out Burger should bolster them later next year. However, I see nothing to help Bowman's who has the highest grocery prices in north Davis County.

31-year Newspaper Career Concludes

2010-12-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

SALT LAKE CITY — Lynn Arave, retired from the Deseret News, a Salt Lake daily newspaper, on Dec. 31, 2010, after more than 31 years of service.
He was forced to retire in a company downsizing, but is still capable and looking for related full-time work in writing/editing/public relations.
Deceased now are:
-Lynn's "Radio Dial" column of 26 1/2 years, which dated back to 1984 and included more than 1,300 radio columns. (It was the Deseret News' longest-running column at the time.)
-His weekly "Theme Park Central" blog.
-His Weekly contributions to the "Get Outdoors" blog.
-There are no survivors to his type of coverage in the areas of history, hiking, comic books, weather, Lagoon amusement park, religion and LDS Church stories.
-A lot of his work in recent years at the Deseret News was behind the scenes (contests, news briefs, etc.)
He began at the newspaper back on Aug. 27, 1979. He worked in sports, features and the news department. He had reported on every LDS General Conference, except one, since 1993.
Perhaps the most versatile of employees at the Deseret News, he also had photos published in USA Today and was always prompt, well organized and fair.
Over the years, he had also written for LDS Church News and Mormon Times too.
He had served as the comic strip editor, a zones edition editor and most recently the religion editor.
He turned many of his hobbies — hiking, mountains, geography, comic books and theme parks into regular writing sidelights.
He placed third in government reported in the 2008 Utah SPJ journalism contest. Some his stories had went out over the Associated Press wire.
He also managed to ride Utah Transit Authority during 99 percent of his newspaper career. Walking 10 blocks or so to a story interview didn't bother him.

HIS MOST MEMORABLE VIP INTERVIEWS:
1983: Jack Lalanne and Bill Toomey
1984: Susan Lucci.
1987: Christopher Reeve, Margo Kidder, Jack Larsen and Jon Cryer.
1998: Charles Osgood
2002: Elder Neal A. Maxwell on his cancer.
2004: Martin Luther King Jr.
2004: DC Comic's editor Mike Carlin, "The man who killed Superman."
2005: Tony Snow
2006: John Tesh
2007: Glenn Beck
2008: Jessica Simpson and Joan Lunden.
2010: Donny Osmond.

SOME OF HIS MOST MEMORABLE STORIES WRITTEN:
1979: First sports column, "winning isn't everything."
1982: Features on Malan's Basin and Ben Lomond Peak.
1984: Roy High, his alma mater, wins State Football title, the school's first state championship and he reports on the game for the newspaper.
1986: Hiking the Grand Canyon south rim.
1987: Hiking the Grand Canyon north rim.
1988: The real Sardine Canyon.
1991: Feature on Peter Sinks, coldest spot in Utah.
1992: Hiking the Zion Narrows/Angels Landing.
1993: Elder Marvin J. Ashton obituary/President Ezra Taft Benson funeral coverage.
1993: Reported on LDS General Conference for the first time.
1994: Did detailed feature story on Lagoon.
1999: Mount Whitney Hike.
2000: Hiking Kings Peak in a day.
2000: Hiking Mount St. Helen's.
2001: Brigham Young's 200th birthday.
2001: Utah geography quiz.
2002-2008: Work on President Gordon B. Hinckley Advance obituary section.
2003: Story on Utah's myths.
2004: Wrote about Six Flags Magic Mountain visit.
2004: Got paid to boat on Lake Powell/hike Navajo Mountain and Navajo Monument.
2004 and 2008: Walk sandbar to Fremont Island.
2006: My story on the Supai Native American village in the Grand Canyon led to the LDS Church re-establishing a branch and assigning missionaries there after a several decade absence.
2006: Feature on Beaver Dam Wash, lowest elevation in Utah.
2008: Feature on Ben Lomond Peak/Willard Peak.
2009: Bigfoot in Utah investigation.
2010: Advance obituary stories written on President Thomas S. Monson

HIS WEIRDEST ASSIGNMENTS:
1985-1986: Judging a radio station's "best legs" contest (twice).
1992: Took a bus ride to the Gunnison correctional facility with Prison inmates' wives/Girl friends.
1993: Reported on all-women conference on Deer Hunt weekend. (He was the only man in the Salt Palace meeting room, amidst hundreds of women.
2003: Covered Hispanic meeting in west Salt Lake and it was all in Spanish, but he didn't speak Spanish.

KEY EFFECTS OF SOME OF HIS STORIES:
1981: His phrase in a sports story that a particular 800-meter runner "usually faltered in big competitions" motivated the young man to win the state title, according to his coach,
1984-2010: Had his name bounded around on various radio shows over time.
1990: Inspired "Walking Thunder" movie (1997) -- John Denver's last movie — with his Old Eph Grizzly Bear story.
1991: A Kaysville Boy Scout Troop hiked Kings Peak after reading his 1990 story and one scout nearly died from altitude sickness on the summit and has to be rescued by helicopter.
1992: Did an Ensign Peak story — "Utah's Mount Sinai" — and put the historic mountain back in the public eye and the "Sinai" reference was used in a talk by a general authority.
1992: Inspired the naming of Thurston Peak, Davis County's highest, with a hike/story.
1993: Got the Utah State Highway map to raise the bar and start listing correct mountain peak elevations and earn another mention on the Jay Leno Show.
2003: Got drafted to write the official dictionary/encyclopedia listings for the Mormon Batallion.
2004 Inspired state tourist campaign slogan -- "Life Elevated."
2004: Finally got on DC Comics' free mailing list.
2005: Planned and led a family and friends group to Supai in the Grand Canyon. Also wrote a Deseret News story of the experience and about a year later, because of my story, the LDS Church began having missionaries in Supai, as well as holding church services there again, after an almost 30-year lapse.
2005: Recommended several Salt Lake DJs for radio jobs and they are hired.
2006: Inspired the Snowhorse Elementary School name in Kaysville with a series of stories.
2008: Got written into a DC Comics Superman story, because of a blog entry he made on DC's Web site.
2008: His computer monitor strangely burned up while the Catholic Encyclopedia's "hell" essay was on the screen.
2009: Spurred a nation-wide Four Corners monument location debate with a story -- the "Geographic shot heard round the world," according to a Denver TV station.
2010: His Canada travel story showcased his and daughter, Elizabeth's photos, which will also now be used as "markers" to paint national park scenes in the new Calgary LDS Temple.
-Also inspired a resurrection of swimming races in the Great Salt Lake, based on some historical articles he wrote.

Snowiest/Coldest November in Decades?

2010-11-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

So far in Northern Utah, the last half of November 2010 probably rates as the coldest and snowiest such period in many years.
The last time I recall snow on the ground at Thanksgiving was in 1994.
The last late November when it snowed this much was 1984.
If this weather trend keeps going, we will have the wettest winter in decades.

BYU-U.of U Gridiron Hype

2010-11-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

Not everyone takes sides on the annual ballyhooed Brigham Young University vs. University of Utah football game.
In fact, truth be known, if were possible -- I'd like to see both teams lose. That's where I stand and I'm serious about it.
This game is played up way out of proportion, as if it is a national championship and again, as if every Utah resident takes sides, or cares.
The only years I've cared who wins is when one of the teams needs a win for a perfect record, or for a large bowl bid.
But both teams are pretty lackluster this year.
I certainly won't be watching the game this year.
I'm NOT an alumni of either school.
Even currently having two children, a son and daughter, as full-time students at the U. of U hasn't swayed me either -- even when one of them is heavily involved in the "MUSS."
(However, my U. of U. son put a "Ute" sticker in the back window of one of my cars and somehow tolerate that.)
And, even having a tithing investment to BYU (because there's no way such donations don't at least benefit the Cougar football program indirectly), doesn't sway me either.
Ever since BYU was declared the NCAA Division I-A national champion in 1984, this in-state rivalry has been on the fasttrack to overstatement and there's still no end in sight.
Some may see it as a Mormons vs. Gentiles game; others a liberal clash with conservatism, but it is just a game and one that certainly doesn't appeal to me this year, in particular.

Global Oscillation, not "warming"!

2010-11-24T08:19:00.000-08:00

The Nov. 23, 2010 frigid snow storm that struck Utah and much of the west illustrates how global "warming" is not a correct term.
Fact is, weather seems to be all over the board, back and forth from extra hot to extra cold. It's global "oscillation" that seems to fit best, even better than "climate change."
This Nov. 23 storm looks without any precedent either.
Looking back in Utah weather reports to 1930 only reveals one similar November storm ---
Nov. 28-30, 1983, when the Cache Valley of Utah got dumped on by 18 inches of snow, followed by bone-chilling arctic air that dropped temperatures to minus 17 immediately after the snow stopped. Roads remained icy for days.
This storm isn't quite that cold, but such cold frigid storms -- or any storm of late for that matter -- are rare around Thanksgiving in the past 20 years.
The last time it snowed around Thanksgiving in Salt Lake City was in 1994.
I've been traveling to Park City for Thanksgiving since 1990 -- 20 years -- and only twice has there been snow that actually fell there on Thanksgiving or the day prior.
That was in 1994 and about 2002.

Black Friday Madness

2010-11-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is the year's biggest shopping event.
However, it is beginning earlier and earlier each year.
Not only are there now these "Midnight Madness" events abounding at places like Kimball Junction's outlet stores, but the main morning starting time for the big chain stores has moved up earlier than ever.
Twenty years ago, it was 6 a.m. when the early sales took place. Then, one store jumped the gun to 5 a.m. a few years later; then 4 a.m.; and now in 2010, Kohl's will begin their sale at 3 a.m.!
Will also the sales eventually begin at midnight? It appears so.

Alcohol --The most dangerous drug of all!

2010-11-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've been saying this for years -- that the legal drug of choice, alcohol, has a terrible effect on society.
Now a new British study has concluded that yes indeed, alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.
British experts evaluated such drugs as alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual user and to society as a whole.
Guess what No. 2 most dangerous drug is?
It's tobacco.
Heroin is a distant third.
From drunk drivers to violence at home, alcohol is not a nice drug.
Too bad the prohibition didn't work.
At least the world has wised up to the dangers of tobacco.

On-line theft is up

2010-10-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

You hope no one ever steals your credit card or debit card information, but it has now happened twice in my family in the past six months.
Both instances happened to America First Credit Union accounts.
My older sister had a lot of unauthorized credit charges on her account about six months age. Hers was with her credit card and so she got stuck with none of the claims.
Now, in October 2010, my older son had his debit card information used for a $500 charge on airline tickets to Nepal. Since his is a debit card, his liability is unclear at this point.
Obvious question is how did the card information get stolen?
It's unknown, but there are lots of ways, from a restaurant worker secret writing down the credit card numbers when they gave him or her the card, to any store employee doing the same.
Then, on-line, who knows who could steal credit/debit card details.
Bottom line is to check your account for strange activity every few days.
America First is vigilant and called both my sister and son to query some odd recent charges on their accounts, before they even noticed anything.
But the rate of stolen information appears to be on a sharp rise.

Disaster Pandemonium

2010-10-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

Back in the 1960s-early 1980s, some Americans were fearful of a nuclear attack.
After the cold war, that craze mostly ended.
Today, it is more of a fear of the fateful Mayan year 2012, with solar flares that year being the big potential disaster.
All the rumors of huge underground government installations to ride out the solar flares is intriguing and what could be under the Denver Airport tops the list.
Let's face it, from earthquakes to severe weather, there's a lot of potential for disaster out there.
Best advice is to have a good emergency supply of food for at least some months out, as well as some emergency lighting/heating plans.
All it takes is one big earthquake or extreme solar flares and the electrical power grid could be down for weeks or more. That alone could bump us back to the 19th Century.
So, have some sort of emergency stockpile and plan, it only makes sense.
Just don't be extreme or fanatical about the future, or you'll not enjoy the present.

Fanaticism and 2 groups

2010-10-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

OK, this is just my opinion, but two powerful national groups — PETA and the Sierra Club — often hurt their cause more than they help it.
Too much of the time, these 2 groups are simply fanatical and unyielding.
They can't seem to see the big picture many times.
1. PETA often wants the whole pie, with no compromise. If PETA truly cares about animals, then it seems to me that they should seek little improvements, but no. They want sweeping changes made now and often what they get is nothing changed.
PETA needs a lesson in reality and needs some serious help in the way it operates.
Most of its effect now is simply to continue to label themselves as uncredible fanatics.
2. Sierra Club isn't much different. They often push one issue to an extreme, as a way to likely get more money for their overall cause. Example: The Legacy Highway in northern Utah. The Sierra Club didn't really really care that much about the road, but they knew it could be a magnet for more donations, if they opposed it and so they did.
The result was millions and millions of dollars in losses to taxpayers and the long-stalled project ultimately meant more pollution on I-15 from stalled cars, until the Legacy road was finally built.
I don't think John Muir would be in line with the club,if he were alive today -- he'd probably start his own rival environmental club instead.
If the Sierra Club really cared about too many highways being built, where were they when all those southern California freeways were designed and built? Did the Sierra Club actually halt construction on any of those California interstates? I doubt it. They may have delayed some, but otherwise the club has learned nothing from history.
If the Sierra Club really cares about too many roads, it needs to halt growth. We all know that is impossible to do and so at the least, why doesn't the Sierra Club work with cities to manage growth better -- a grass roots approach -- instead of simply trying to shoot down big road projects?
If the Sierra Club really cared about the environment they would pick their battles more wisely and choose causes that could really make a difference and not just stall the inevitable while costing taxpayers money and frustration.

More fireworks

2010-08-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

It's late August and someone within a half-mile of my Layton house is still shooting off bottle rockets.
That drives my dog crazy.
That's also why I'd like to start a neighborhood fireworks patrol to stamp out the illegal use of fireworks.
Fines alone could make Layton City some good money.
Update: Some of my butt neighbors also set off more bottle rockets (2x) on Sept, 1, about 10 p.m.

Another Power Outage

2010-08-23T08:07:00.001-07:00

My neighborhood suffered another power outage on Aug. 22, this one for three hours, from about 5:40 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
This one was definitely weather caused, with high north winds blowing.
However, once again Layton's Main Street and the area surrounding me had power.
Here's what gleam from this:
1. My neighborhood's underground lines do not protect against outages. Overhead lines around my area go down too easily, more so than the average or most locations do. Why are they so vulnerable? That's the key question Rocky Mountain Power needs to address.
2. My neighborhood has lost power for 9 hours in three different outages since June 24.
Only the most recent was weather caused. The other two were equipment failures. Does Rocky Mountain not maintain the substation nearby me adequately enough?
3. ALL 3 outages were pretty much during prime time -- evening, between 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m.
4. I guess I need to purchase an electric generator. You can't rely on power in my area any more -- 3 significant outages in nine weeks is too much.

Less value in food

2010-08-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

If you look close at a lot of grocery store items these days, you will find they have smaller packages or less quantity inside.
If might be about the same price as a year ago, but there is less in there.
One soft drink bottle (Orange Crush) slimmed down to a taller size, but is actually down from the 20 ounces before to only 16 ounces now.
Those frozen mac and cheese dinners have the same size packaging these days, but inside is only about half full of food.
These are just two examples.

Ascending Willard/Ben Lomond Peaks

2010-08-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

You want to hike what? Willard Peak? Yes.
Why, when Ben Lomond is the more well-known peak?
Willard is the TALLEST of these two peaks at 9,763 feet above sea level, vs. 9,712 for Ben Lomond.
However, Willard doesn't have a set trail to its much more rocky summit.
Here's some observations, advice on hiking Willard Peak … as I don't think an ATV or motorcycle could easily reach the rocky summit.
(My last hike to Willard Peak was Aug. 14, 2010. The first hike there was August of 2008.)
Unless you're highly motivated and in great physical shape, you want to access Willard Peak from either Willard Basin or Inspiration Point. The alternative is an all-day hike from one of two spots — North Fork Park (Liberty) or the North Ogden Divide. Both these trails are a good 12 miles (one-way) and climb about 4,000 feet.
Driving to Willard Basin (my choice) or further to Inspiration Point makes the one-way distance to Willard Peak just 1.6 miles!
Now that includes a rugged and rocky 0.6 miles up a very steep slope, that's not to be underestimated.
But let's back up …. Driving to Willard Basin is also not an easy chore. It's 11 miles to Willard Basin from Mantua and another 2 miles to Inspiration Point. For this dirt road drive you need a high-clearance truck, a jeep, an ATV or motorcycle. This is NOT a car road.
However, that said, I did drive a car 9 miles on this road back on June 15, 1979. I took my Plymouth Fury II car in 9 miles on that road to the upper reaches of the switchbacks before the road reaches the Willard Basin sign and descends into the basin.
It was a light snow year the winter of 78-79.
I was stopped by a 7-foot high pile to snow on the road in some pine tree shade.
The road was simply smoother and less traveled back then. I didn't know the road was blocked by snow, but I never met another vehicle on it either that day. I still hiked down into the basin and up to the skyline, before returning and having to back my car down the road 2 miles (and overheat my brakes), before I could turn the vehicle around.
I marvel today that I was crazy enough to drive my car on that road — before summer had even started — and how I got a way with it, but I did.
Why was the road so smooth back then? I think it had just been re-graded and improved the year before. Then, enter greater usage and the wet years of 1983-84, when spring runoff roughed up the road a lot and made it a gully in places.
I had tried to drive the Willard road again on July 24, 1982 and hit a snow blockage in about the same place as I had in that June of 3 years earlier. I drive a pickup truck this time.
The next time I would drive the road again was Sept. 2, 1986. Of course no snow and with a truck it was passable.
The Willard Basin road was improved again in 2009, but not by much.
Passing another truck on this road can be hazardous and there was several places where IF YOU MEET another truck, one of the two would have to back down or up a half-mile or more to find a good passing spot.
(Fortunately, ATVs and motorcycles outnumber trucks on this road about 6 to 1.)
Remember too, that this road is only passible in mid-July at the earliest and may still be blocked by snow in the upper reaches I previously mentioned into late July some years.
I don't care for driving the Willard Basin road given my history of it, but it is ATV heaven (and it beats hiking 20-plus miles otherwise.)
The road includes several good camping sites along the road (but they are well-used) in the lower reaches. It passes by Perry Reservoir and has some intriguing views of Pineview Reservoir along its path too.
Please drive this road slowly and cautiously — assuming there could be a vehicle around every curve — as an ATV crashed into the my friend's suburban in 2008, going to fast around a blind curve. It didn't do anything to the suburban, but bent the front of the ATV and its drive singed his leg on a hot grill on the side of the ATV.
This would also not be a road to drive after a heavy rainfall, or when rain is expected.
Driving it on a weekday is much less crowded than on a weekend.
It's short use span, late July to mid to late September, make it one of the state's most seasonal of roads.
Once you arrive at Willard Basin (where you have just passed a water pipe and you see a big clearing), park there and hike up out of the basin.
If you continue on to Inspiration Point, there is less parking found a top there and you will have to hike UP some when you return to your vehicle.
I, on the other hand, like to hike my uphill first (out of the basin) and have all downhill (into the basin) on my return.
As soon as you reach the mountain saddle and can see Pleasant View/Willard Bay, look for the trail that goes left and upward the most. Take it and then Willard Peak is in front of you.
(The main trail to Ben Lomond only passes below Willard Basin.)
There are mountain goat herds in this area and lots of rocks and bushes.
You simply have to take a goat trail and keep heading for the top. It is a modest scramble at times, but approaching from the north side equals the quickest path with the least rugged scrambling.
Depending on how you head, there may be a split in the rock you have to slip through to keep doing up.
Watch for mountain goats, as you will scare them away eventually, but they are fun to watch.
Once you reach the north side of Willard, you are above tree/bush line and can be get sweeping views.
There are two glitches left, though.
The first is Willard is a cracked and split mountain. It not only has a large, deep crack running north-south on its north side, but it is also split in the middle (east-west) by a big gap — one you have to carefully cross to get to the south end of the peak, where the metal markers and the true summit is.
It's this latter gap, that taking a dog across, or kids, is most hazardous and caution is advised — with a sheer cliff on the east side of that gap and a chute of less hazard on the west side.
Note too that a lot of the rock on top of Willard chips off and breaks easily — don't rely on your grip of some of the rocks.
(There's no way Willard Peak's integrity could handle a large earthquake. It appears to me that one day it will be shorter than Ben Lomond, based on how it will certainly split apart one day.)
Enjoy the sweeping views — even into Cache Valley from Willard's summit.
Some huge rock fins and pinnacles are also some photogenic wonders in the area.
Look for several metal government markers embedded in the south end of Willard Peak. There's also a black plastic canister on the summit, complete with two notebooks and comments by hikers dating back to 1988.
Now, go back the way you came, if you that's all you want to hike …
Otherwise, if you are headed to Ben Lomond, head to the far south end of Willard and then carefully select your route down to the main trail below.
I followed a spot of green that angle northwest down to the main trail, while two others in my group angled down sooner, but met the main trail ¼ mile north of where I did.
But anyway you angle off, there's no real trail and lots of steep, loose terrain to negotiate and I feel it is safer to avoid any steep rockfaces.
If your coming from Ben Lomond Peak to climb Willard, it's a scramble too, but I wouldn't recommend going all the way along the rocky edge to the summit — again angling up from the west side would be the safest way.
Ben Lomond Peak, about 1.5 miles away from Willard Peak, is also still a worthy destination of its own. This summit offers better views of North Ogden and Ogden than does Willard Peak.
Ben Lomond also has a new plaque on the top of the summit registered, added in 2009.
(The old metal plaque from 1976) is attached underneath the lid of the register.)
A few mountain goats also hang around the south side of Ben Lomond.
I figure I've summited Ben Lomond about 10 times over the years, with the first being in 1976 and at least three being solo hiking trips. I've been there from all 3 trail options.
From North Ogden Divide is the hardest.

Power-less situation too common?

2010-08-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

After experiencing 2 power outages in the past 6 weeks and recalling that the majority of times in past years during power outages that only my immediate neighborhood had no power, I'm questioning Rocky Mountain Power why my neighborhood is more prone to outages than what appears to me to be normal.
It has to be more than just bad luck -- there must be some physical reason.
My last power outage in my area was 5 1/2 hours on Aug. 2. The one before that was June 24 and lasted 2 hours. The most recent outage was confined to only a 3 or 4 block area. No other areas near mine have apparently experienced any outages during that 6 weeks.
Also, there was no unusual weather or wind that could have contributed to these 2 outages.
Since I've lived at the same address for almost 27 years, I recall only two outages that were widespread and not just unique to my immediate area, as compared to what I estimate were 10 times that unique to my neighborhood only.
Ironically, my neighborhood also comprises the NEWEST residential housing in the area, with all underground lines.
I've also experienced 2 outages over the years at my house only, because the underground line on my property burst.
(Underground lines can't be the most reliable way to deliver power.)
I'm not expecting my service to be completely outage free, but knowing a "why" my area is so prone to outages would help.
Also, I wonder if there is anything Rocky Mountain Power could do to make my area less prone to outages?
It's frustrating when all times but once during outages, I've looked north up to Main Street and clearly seen the lights on there. In this last outage, you could see homes less than 100 yards away with their power on.
In addition, during the 1980s and 1990s, my neighborhood was regularly experiencing the nuisance of short power bumps, where the power would go out for a few seconds at a time and require you to reset clocks.
--Also, as I walked around my neighborhood during that most recent outage, I saw some interesting things:
1. Several homes parked vehicles with their headlights facing their front rooms and then used that light inside the home.
2. Other people also sat in their cars to read by its light, or to listen to the radio.
3. Some neighbors went to a late movie.
4. One home shot off illegal fireworks.
Power generators now cost at little as $300 and while they aren't a long-term solution to outages, they would be great in short spells.

Too many fireworks?

2010-07-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help but notice that there were more outlets than ever around the Layton, Ut. area selling fireworks this season.
In a bad economy, more fireworks are obviously sold.
I also heard more than the usual illegal fireworks going off this year too.
There's a controversy over the Utah Highway Patrol doing stings on those who purchase illegal fireworks in Evanston, Wyo. and then bring them into Utah. However, otherwise I see no enforcement of illegal fireworks in the state.
On the night of July 6, one man on the west side of my Layton neighborhood was sitting in a lounge chair and set off dozens and dozens of bottle rockets for more than an hour straight. With a north wind, most were NOT landing his yard, but elsewhere.
My dog hates fireworks noise and he's a pain to cope with each July.
If the Layton police and others police would simply crack down on the use of illegal fireworks, adopt a "zero tolerance" policy and start giving out fines to offenders (as the law says), then the problem would sharply decrease in the future.
Otherwise, why have such laws on the books to begin with, if they aren't enforced at the local level?

Yellowstone needs some serious help!

2010-06-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

I had one partial day to spend in Yellowstone National Park on June 18 and I had it planned out to the minute.
However, bad weather and a lack of communication from the park rangers to the public plagued me.
So, I enter the park at 8 a.m. on a clear, sunny day at the north entrance.
No warning of road closures, only the usual road construction listed on fliers.
What I didn't know and what the rangers or no signs ever indicated until you got there, was that the road from Tower to Canyon was closed all morning and into the afternoon, as the ice from the previous day's storm had to melt off!
This meant a lot of backtracking.
Why couldn't the ranger have indicated this closure as I entered the park?
Can't they afford an electronic warning sign in Mammoth, so you know the road is closed 18 miles ahead, before you actually get there and have no way out but back the same way?
Dozens and dozens of motorists faced my same problem.
As it was, I had to walk in the Tower ranger station and ask for a clarification on the closure.
Also, the roads in Yellowstone were the worst I've ever seen as far as potholes goes. There were some seriously large and unavoidable holes out there!
I don't doubt Yellowstone could use more funding, but this problem never should have happened. I should have been told about the closure BEFORE I drove the road.
I ended up having drive an extra 51 miles to get to Canyon, a must on my trip list. Now 51 miles in Yellowstone on winding roads, riddled with holes and drivers who block the road if they see so much as a deer, took about 2 hours extra.
The Old Faithful area was the most crowded I've ever seen it. It looks like new visitor facilities are being constructed there though.
I think Yellowstone is at its best in June, but unpredictable weather can be a problem, even if the day you visit is in the 60s and totally sunny.
There's also no radio station for tourists to listen to in Yellowstone, as in many national parks, probably due to it up and down topography.

Why are Canada's prices so high?

2010-06-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

I spent a week in Canada, Alberta and British Columbia last week.
I was as amazed at its outdoor beauty as I was at the high prices there.
99 percent of what I saw cost much more there than the U.S.
Examples:
--Gasoline is the equivalent of about $3.40 a gallon.
--After spending $28 in the western Montana for dinner at the Dairy Queen restaurant, days later I'm shocked to realize the same stuff cost me $50 in Canmore.
--Milk was $4 a gallon vs. less than $2 a gallon in Utah.
--Canada prices were off the scale in Canada. Not only were many U.S. brands not to be found, but a Hersey bar of chocolate that costs $1-$1.25 in the U.S., was $7 there!
--My wife estimated that what we bought at a Canadian Safeway store one day there was almost double the cost of the same items in the U.S.
Why are Canadian food prices so high?
Obviously high gasoline prices would create higher transportation costs for everything, but other than that, I have no explanation.
I don't know how you could afford to live in Canada!
Ironically too, coming across the border back to the U.S., I was selected for a random agricultural inspection. However, I lost nothing as the officer said ALL the food items in my van (even though they were purchased in Canada) were products of the U.S.A.

Utah gasoline prices still too high!

2010-06-19T17:28:00.001-07:00

I drove north to Canada last week.
Regarding gasoline prices,here's my observations:
1.Gasoline in Idaho Falls was as low as $2.71 a gallon. I get to Utah and it's around $2.90. When Idaho's gasoline taxes are 0.5 cents more than Utah and when he know most of their gasoline comes from Salt Lake refineries, that simply spells ripoff.
2. In Montana, $2.79 was the going rate. With the exception of right near Yellowstone, prices universally held at that amount, whether it be a small town or a large one.
Extreme consistency in pricing.
3. Canada has extremely high gas prices and I'd estimate it to be about $3.40 a gallon.
4. Upon my return to Utah, I find gasoline selling for $2.71 in West Roy to $2.95 in Clearfield. Roy and Layton were in between those two. I don't recall seeing such a large variance in recent years. That says to be that retailers too are greedy and won't lower gas prices as they should.
I also could not believe how many businesses were closed or vacant in Clearfield. May be if its gasoline dealers would lower their prices, they would sell more food and drink. The town's defining characteristic appears to be its high gas prices. What the place needs is a defining business, like a Costco, to put it on the retail sales map.

A first in June — Utah gas prices fall!

2010-06-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

I guess a threat of government intervention worked a little a bit.
After some Utah State Legislative members mentioned investigating Utah's high gasoline prices, they have actually dropped in the past 2 weeks.
I don't recall gasoline prices ever, ever dipping in June. They've come down almost a dime and I'll take it.

Utah gas prices are at least 34 cents a gallon too high!!

2010-05-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, a colleague of mine just came back from a trip to Southern California on May 25.
He said he paid $2.99 a gallon in Los Angeles when he left there and then paid the same, $2.99, for gas in Clinton, Ut.
Given California's gas taxes being 24.1 cents a gallon more than Utah's and that California's gas is 87 octane (10 cents more value), hence Utahns are overpaying for gas by at least 34.1 cents a gallon.
(You can't tell me California oil companies aren't making a profit at what they are charging.)
Heck, California has never had less expensive gas than Utah has, before this year.
Wouldn't you like to be a wholesale oil company in Utah or one that serves Utah and be making all that extra profit?
It's plain greed at the public's expense -- they do it because they can get away with it.
Why do I make such a big deal about high gas prices? Because it is such a common commodity, one that affects 100 percent of the population and the ultimately prices of many other products too.

Illegal fireworks season is here! Enforcement needed

2010-05-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

Every year in my Layton neighborhood, hundreds of illegal fireworks (bottle rockets and firecrackers) are set off, without any enforcement against it.
This year, 2010, I have already heard one bottle rocket go off on May 20. 7:20 a.m., to start the season early this year. (Who sets fireworks off at 7:20 a.m.????)
What are the effects of these illegal activities? Let's review my history:
1. I was on vacation one mid-July and came home to find a bottle rocket sitting on my plastic swimming pool cover and it had burned a hole in the cover.
2. My previous dog broke a front tooth off, going crazy in his dog run as illegal fireworks were set off.
3. I have to use tranquilizers for my current dog in the height of fireworks season to calm him down and keep him from damaging my screen door in a frenzy.
4. Jogging one summer night at dark, a bottle rocket shot off on a street level angle narrowly misses hitting me as I run along on the road.
5. One mid-July a neighbor kid sets off dozens of bottle rockets in his backyard, not caring where they landed or what damage they could do.
6. I can't sleep some summer nights for all the noise of illegal fireworks going on in my area.
7. I see neighborhood kids every year playing with fireworks, legal and illegal, without any adults around whatsoever.
Pets -- mostly dogs with their superior hearing -- are the biggest casualties of illegal fireworks.
It is a misdemeanor crime to set off illegal fireworks, or even legal ones out of season, but NO ONE ever gets cited!
When I've seen others call the police and they actually come and catch the offenders in the act, the most that happens is they are told to simply put them away.
If there was a no tolerance policy and the law enforced, the word would soon get out that the penalty is hundreds of dollars in fines and the problem would then sharply decrease.
As fun as users may claim illegal fireworks are, they dangerous and loud and affect the quality of life of neighbors.
"Pocket" motorcycles and unlicensed motorized scooters are also illegal on the streets of Layton. They are way loud, disturb the peace and yet people keep using them on the road and get away with it.

Amber Alert is over-rated?

2010-05-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

So, I get an automated telephone call at 3 a.m. on May 11 from the Layton City Police Department declaring an Amber Alert and that a young child is missing in my area.
That was all it said.
Never mind it broke my sleep in the middle of the night, it was a pointless message, it lacking essential information and providing nothing to go on.
I found out later I live about 2 miles away from where the kid lived, but because the freeway cuts in the middle, I am probably within less than a mile as the bird flies, but not in driving distance.
It is also not fun to have a phone that audibly announces the caller I.D. when it is "Layton Police" in the middle of the night either.

So, Some of Amber Alert stuff may look good on paper or make those who have lost a child feel better, but this part of it is silly and pointless.

Earthquakes getting closer to the Wasatch Front?

2010-04-16T08:26:00.001-07:00

I don't care what the USGS says. Earthquakes are on the rise.
They also seem to be inching closer to the Wasatch Front, where the "locked" Wasatch Fault is capable of a tremendous shaker.
From Mexico, to California, to Yellowstone to the N.E. corner of Utah, there have been some strong quakes nearby.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a significant quake soon along the Wasatch Fault.
Be ready!
Also, with the volcano in Iceland it illustrates how fragile the modern world is. This rather small volcano in a key location disrupted air travel significantly.
One good earthquake in an area could smack it back into the 18th Century, with no power, water, sewer or transportation.

Why Utah gas prices should never be among the highest

2010-04-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

The State of Utah's gasoline prices are, in mid-April the 5th highest in the nation.
Utah's petroleum industries claim the shutting down for maintenance of several refineries has caused a spike in prices.
If that's true, do you suppose prices will go DOWN once the refineries return to normal, or that Utah prices will at least hold steady while the prices in other states spike for the upcoming summer season?
Dream on!
I never recall gasoline prices decreasing from spring, until at least mid-summer.
Yet, Utah should NEVER EVER fairly have some of the nation's highest gasoline prices and here's why:
1. Utah has 85 octane gas as its standard. That costs less for refineries to produce and is commonly sold for 10-12 cents a gallon less than 87 octane, the standard product for most other states. (But, do you often see Utah having a 10 cent price difference from other states?)
2. Utah's oil to be refined comes from the western states or Canada and is at least not directly tied up in costly overseas oil.
3. Eighty-plus percent of Utah's population resides along the Wasatch Front, where many refineries are located, requiring no extensive transportation costs.
4. Utah's gasoline taxes are 26th highest of the 50 states at 42.9 cents per gallon.
(Compare that to California's 67 cents per gallon tax, or the U.S average of 47.7 cents per gallon. (Yes, gas suppliers do HIDE behind the variety in states' gasoline taxes and use that to their advantage.)
Conclusion: If ANY product in the U.S. should be federally regulated, it should be gasoline prices, because they can be the biggest consumer ripoff in existence and can influence the prices of almost every other product on the market too!
(However, many politicians receive big contributions from oil companies and so that isn't ever going to happen ...)

Utah gasoline prices are currently a ripoff!

2010-04-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

I was in Las Vegas April 5-8 and on April 7, I purchased gasoline for $2.79 a gallon.
The same price in Utah on April 8 was $2.99.
Now Utah's gasoline tax is 42.9 cents per gallon vs. Nevada's 51.5 cents.
Also, Nevada's gasoline is 87 octane for regular grade, vs. only 85 in Utah (which costs 10 cents for more a gallon for the 87).
So, take those differences and you get 38.6 cents more for Utah's gasoline vs. Vegas. I'm talking Salt Lake area gas price too, not St. George or Southern Utah either.
In addition, the two price comparisons are the lowest I could find in the two areas, 7-11 in Vegas and Flying J in Layton.
This 38.6 cent price difference represents a 13 percent difference and if you fill up on 20 gallons, that's $7.72 more you pay in Utah.
I've never seen Vegas gasoline prices lower than the Salt Lake area.
And, consider this too -- the closest refinery to Vegas is probably on Barstow, a two-hour drive away, while Salt Lake has its own refineries.
Anyway you look at, Salt Lake's gasoline prices are currently a ripoff and we're being gouged.
(Photograph is of a 7-11 in Las Vegas on the South end of Las Vegas Boulevard.)

Comcast sets a standard for household service visits

2010-03-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Comcast has truly set a worthy standard for household service appointments.
They give a two-hour window for their appointments and if they don't make it on time, they give you a good discount on their services.
Lawn care companies in particular need to adopt this standard.
If is totally unfair that lawn care companies tell you they are coming tomorrow. No time range, just tomorrow. These companies need to get organized.
I have a backyard with a dog and swimming pool that can't be left unlocked.
I may be back to doing my own lawn care next year if things don't change.
Other companies that do household repairs should do the same as Comcast.

Fines for no auto insurance should be next ...

2010-03-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

The new government health care plan may leave a lot to be desired, but eventually it will require everyone to have health insurance or face a fine.
In light of that, I fail to see why I'm still paying high premiums for my auto insurance to essentially pay for those who do not have auto insurance.
It seems there should be a similar system in place to fine those without auto insurance too.
Plain an simple, you shouldn't be driving if you don't have vehicle insurance.
If everyone had to have it, rates would go down.

Advice on passport applications

2010-03-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

I applied for a passport, my first one in many years.
I now have some advice for those who also might apply for one:
1. If get a picture taken of you with a digital camera in a bright place (no shadow areas) -- with a white background -- and go to Target to print the photos out, you can save a lot of money. I did that and Target stores have a special face recognition program for passports. Final cost was .56 cents for the two passport photos you need for the application. Compare that to a $6 cost at Sam's Club; or $12 or more at most other places.
2. If you are applying for multiple passports in your family, you will need your checkbook, because you need to submit one check to the State Department per application.
3. The passport fees you see listed ALWAYS include the processing fees already, even though that's not always clear on instructions. For example, the $45 passport fee breaks down to $20 for the State Department and $25 for who ever processes your application -- so you really make 2 separate payments.
4. If you want to save time on an application processing visit, consider going to a county clerk's office on a slow day, like a Monday afternoon. You have to make appointments at most post offices and appointments can be a month or more out. Appointments usually aren't needed at a clerk's office.
Another option is to plan to attend a passport fair, sponsored several times a year by some post offices. However, I've heard some horror stories from those, so unless you want to arrive early and stand in line to be among the first to be processed, I don't recommend passport fairs.
5. Given all the hassle a passport application can be, you might want to apply for a full passport, just so you have one if you need it and don't have to go through the process again.

Layton needs electonics store!

2010-02-19T09:19:00.000-08:00

What Layton City doesn't need is another grocery store. What it lacks is an electronics store.
By my count, Layton has at least 7 grocery stores and 8, if you count Sam's Club.
If you add a Winco to that list, at Fort Lane and Gentile, that's too many for the city to support.
--I did finally visit the Winco store in West Valley City. It's a cross between Sam's Club and Smith's. I've never seen so many bulk foods. Also, the store's prices were in some cases 1-2 cents below Walmart prices. I wouldn't go out of my way for a Winco again, but it's OK on its own.

Beer, beer, beer everywhere ...

2010-02-06T18:08:00.001-08:00

I helped take my mother-in-law grocery shopping Saturday and so I was in the store some 100 minutes.
During that prolonged event, I noticed things I probably would not have otherwise ...
There were beer, beer and more beer displays literally everywhere throughout the store.
I couldn't believe that at least 6 times, as I am leaning against something waiting for my mother-in-law to make a decision, I find I'm resting up against yet another beer display.
No wonder DUIs are such a problem. No wonder there is so much violence in homes and relationships.
Alcohol, a legal drug, is simply all too available.

Common sense for bicycle safety and rules

2010-02-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

On Feb. 4, I'm up walking along Foothill Drive on the sidewalk, south of Fort Douglas.
I hear a noise and a split second later, I see a bicycle whiz by me at 25 mph.
I was already dodging pockets of ice here and there and what if I would have jagged as that bike came by? Some bicyclists think they own the sidewalk.
This kind of thing happens to me a lot in downtown Salt Lake, as some bikes rule the sidewalk -- zipping along State Street sidewalks at high speed.
The State Legislature is reviewing some bicycle rules of the road, but I don't see the current ones being enforced, so why bother?
Every afternoon in downtown S.L., I see bicycles switch from the road to the sidewalk, which ever benefits them and some will use any means to get through an intersection without stopping -- they don't follow the rules cars follow at red lights. They will dart into a crosswalk to get through that red signal without stopping
These senseless bicyclists are giving the entire field a bad reputation.
I never see them ticketed.
This kind of behavior always gets worse in spring too.
Bikes should never be going fast on sidewalks, if on there at all.
Downtown Salt Lake needs a trend of citing bikers for such risky behavior.

A lot of N. Utah commercial real estate is for sale and/or vacant

2010-02-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Taking a look at a sampling of the major commercial properties, for sale as of Feb. 1, 2010, in Northern Utah supports that the economy — even in Beehive State — isn't all that great.
Consider this for sale list:
Bountiful: Gold's Gym, $8.5 million
Draper Crossing: $27.1 million
Layton: Fairfield Plaza, $5.6 million.
Logan: University Village, $8.6 million
North Salt Lake: Cambridge, $5 million
Ogden: Old Fred Meyer building, 12th and Wall, $7 million.
Ogden: 1750 W. 2450 S, industrial building, $3.8 million.
Ogden: First Security/Wells Fargo building, $2.5 million.
Ogden: Living Scriptures building, 36th and Harrison, $4.5 million.
Orem: Utah Valley Homebuilders Association, $6.15 million
Orem: Finch Building, $7.3 million.
Orem: Shopko, $10.6 million.
Provo: Novell Technology Park, $49.5 million.
Provo: 201 E. Bay Blvd., $7.5 million.
Salt Lake City: former Utah Food Bank, $2.3 million.
Sandy: Discover Card, Bldg., $17.5 million
Sandy: Former Lowe's building, $11 million
Spanish Fork: Western Distribution Center, $5 million
West Jordan: Formco, $3.45 million.
West Valley City: Spectrum Press, $2.9 million
Woods Cross: Woods Cross Shopping Center, $6.5 million.
--In addition, the former Ultimate Electronics building in Layton has been vacant for many years now. The former Albertson's store, Main and Antelope, is also vacant.
Note: If a WinCo store comes into the Layton Fort Lane area, that could possibly put the Layton Ream's grocery store out of business. (The original Ream's, in Provo, is already going out of business.)