A new millennium dawned upon the world during City Weekly's 16th year, and with it came beginnings and endings of all kinds.
The Trax light rail system debuted for the public to a largely positive response while the Gilgal Sculpture Garden (749 E. 500 South) was saved from a condo developer. And thanks to a bill from then-state Rep. Duane Bourdeaux, Utah finally recognized Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Bill and Nada's Cafe (formerly at 479 S. 600 East) closed after a 53-year run, and the ZCMI department store was dissolved into a St. Louis-based retail operation after 131 years; ZCMI's historic Tiffin Room restaurant would not be too far behind. On the other hand, taco stands began regularly congregating on 800 South between Main and State, a beloved tradition that continues to this day.
Utah lawmakers created the much-derided post of Obscenity and Pornography Complaints Ombudsman (or "Porn Czar"); Orrin Hatch's presidential run fizzled; and an F2 tornado blew through Salt Lake City, leaving one person dead, more than 70 injured and numerous homes and trees damaged.
Mitt Romney was brought in from the East to lead the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and put a new spin on the scandal-ridden Olympics effort, although claims of privilege and steep prices for public document requests somewhat belied his claims of organizational openness.
Bringing attention to all of these happenings was the staff at City Weekly, which was experiencing beginnings and endings of their own. Award-winning editorial cartoonist Mark Pett and contributor Karen Denton both bade their farewells. Eric Jacobsen, meanwhile, began writing a column for "Web.runner" and the paper debuted its first annual literary issue.
And speaking of introductions, a weekly photo began running of developer Earl Holding's blighted 10 acres of parking lot on 400 South and Main, which the Olympic Committee was paying to leave vacant for the 2002 Olympics. It would be a recurring sight in the paper until January 3, 2002.
"You can count on us to be the Official Olympic Monitor of the Quasi Official Parking Lot of the 2002 Winter Olympics," John Saltas cracked on Sept. 9. Such an august urban feature warranted ongoing coverage not only because it was a pathetic replacement for old landmarks like the Terrace Ballroom and the Newhouse Hotel, but because it typified the ugliness and lack of vision that private greed had produced in public life. Even in this ongoing exercise in wise-acreage, public service and love for the state were the motivators.
"Sure, we spend a lot of time dwelling on issues of importance—what some people might call bad news," remarked the editors on Oct. 28. "But it's our job, in part, to focus on unfairness, inequity and abuse. That doesn't mean there's nothing more to our fair city and state."
Remembering Vol. 16:
In the holster
In the wake of recent shootings—and exemplified by a chilling note attached to a .357 bullet that was left at a City Weekly news rack for the paper's publishers—guns were a repeated subject of debate and conversation throughout City Weekly's 16th year, particularly when it came to their presence in such public spaces as schools.
"In poll after poll, close to 90 percent of Utahns favor keeping concealed weapons out of public schools," noted Ben Fulton on June 3. "Gov. Mike Leavitt has said he supports such a ban. Even the LDS church has decried the 'bunker mentality' that accompanies a proliferation of guns in society. Yet, despite repeated attempts to limit concealed weapons, members of the Utah Legislature see nothing wrong with packing a little heat into Utah schools—or churches, for that matter."
Fulton pointed out that the lobbying and money of gun groups like the NRA vastly outweighed that of gun control groups and filled the coffers of many local and national elected officials. Examples of this on the Utah front included then-representatives Chris Cannon, Jim Hansen, Merrill Cook and state senator Michael Waddoups, the latter of whom was responsible for a 1995 law easing restrictions on concealed-weapon permits. Rob Bishop, a former Utah House Speaker and then-chairman of the state's Republican Party was simultaneously acting as a paid lobbyist for the state's NRA affiliate, the Utah Shooting Sports Council.
"Utah's gun law remains foolproof," Fulton wrote. "Instead of putting limits on where concealed-weapon permit carriers may take their weapons, legislators instead talk about installing special gun lockers at Olympic game venues and mental health centers."
Students at the University of Utah as well as Bountiful High put forward efforts to organize against guns in their schools, and the state school board even joined a coalition petitioning to get the gun issue on the ballot. The issue festers to this day and in recent years, lawmakers have passed so-called "constitutional carry" legislation, ending the requirement that a gun owner obtain a permit to conceal their weapon.
"In these days of hot debate over gun ownership rights," John Saltas editorialized on May 25, 2000, "one mindless person actually uttered words to this effect when asked about kids accidentally shooting kids: To protect our gun rights, some sacrifices have to be made. That is so patently offensive, it defies rebuttal. ... It's not the liberals whom gun owners have to worry about; it's the derelict and irresponsible members of their own ranks. We've 'sacrificed' enough children."
In the ads
"The Tower Theatre is under new ownership!" declared a notice on Jan. 27, 2000. Featuring renovations to its lobby, auditorium and sound systems, the theater was finding new life under the ownership of Paul Liacopoulos and the management of Brooke Harper after periods of dormancy.
A consolidation of the older Blue Mouse and Cinema in Your Face! theaters by owner Greg Tanner (see Vol. 5), the Tower was virtually the only showing place for foreign and independent fare before such venues as Broadway Centre Cinema and Brewvies came onto the scene. It remains a beloved jewel in the Salt Lake Film Society (SLFS) crown.
"We have computerized our video rentals," added the Tower's proprietors at the time. "If you have 'permanently rented' videos, we know who you are!" Patrons had until Feb. 4 to return their overdue acquisitions, "no questions asked."
As of this writing, this treasured, single-screen venue is under renovation once more. If you still have "permanently rented" videos from the Tower on hand, however, questions may rightly be asked.
In the fray
Civil rights battles continued to rage for Utah's LGBTQ population on a variety of fronts between 1999 and 2000. As can be expected, there were highs and lows and questionable institutional behavior.
For instance, the Utah Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) instituted a new policy that stopped any same-sex couples from adopting children by working only with single persons and those legally married. The Utah Legislature—with the support of Gov. Mike Leavitt—then passed bills that duplicated the DCFS policy and took it even further by forbidding unmarried couples from adopting through either state foster care or private agencies.
Another source of pain was the active involvement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in such anti-gay efforts as California's Proposition 22, which rewrote state law to recognize only heterosexual marriage. "Certainly, Mormons are within their rights to preach any religious beliefs they would like," stated a "Miss" in the Hits & Misses column on July 15. "But when they step into the political arena, they leave themselves open for criticism, like everyone else in politics."
Encouraging its members to raise funds for the passage of Proposition 22, church officials were building on efforts with similar initiatives in Alaska and Hawaii. When the church's encouragement for these anti-gay measures became known, some Utahns protested with signs in front of the church's downtown office tower.
Coupled with the church's support of the Boy Scouts of America's ongoing court battle seeking to legally discriminate against gay New Jersey scout James Dale, this was another instance of a powerful institution forgetting its responsibility to its people.
"In our view, society would be best served by encouraging gays and lesbians to pursue committed monogamous relationships," wrote Gary and Millie Watts in a July 29 letter. "Creating legal obstacles to such relationships will continue to make it difficult for them to form their own family units. It will also continue to negatively impact every family with a loved gay or lesbian member. It seems ironic to us that an institution supporting 'the family' would take a public policy position that tears at the very fabric of every family with a gay or lesbian member and denies the right of this small minority to form their own families."
The Wattses—devout Mormons and parents of two gay children—were Grand Marshals to the 1999 Pride parade in Salt Lake alongside actor Dan Butler. They later won a "Best of Utah" for their positive standard. "Gary and Millie serve as wonderful examples for both the gay and straight communities of what real Christian values are all about," declared a June 17 "Hit."
In the voting booth
After the number of Salt Lake City mayoral candidates narrowed to two, the folks at the Deseret News sought to ensure the ultimate victor would be morally squeaky-clean. To the more cynical observer, it appeared to be a bid to delineate the practicing Latter-day Saint Stuart Reid from the non-LDS Ross "Rocky" Anderson.
Compiled by the staff of then-DNews editor John Hughes, a list of 31 questions were sent to the two mayoral candidates, including such probing inquiries as "Have you ever had a charge of sexual harassment made against you" and "Have you ever committed adultery and/or conceived a child out of wedlock?"
Anderson provided answers to the questionnaire, Reid refused to answer, and both were appalled.
Presented with such a ripe occasion for parody, the puckish people at Salt Lake City Weekly penned their own queries entitled "31 Flavors of Inquisition." The following are a sample of their Oct. 28 survey:
Question No. 4: "Do you own a pet named Orrin? Why not? Was that pet conceived out of wedlock?"
Question No. 11: "In detail, intimate detail, detail so intimate it will cause loins to burn like the sun-side of Mercury, describe your most recent lap dance."
Question No. 17: "To increase affordable housing downtown, do you agree or disagree with the Earl Holding plan to allow people who park in his Olympic parking lot to sleep in their cars?"
Question No. 24: "How do you best describe John Hughes' Deseret News? A. The Jerry Springer Show without boobs. B. The Oprah Winfrey Show without tears. C. The Salt Lake Tribune without guilt. D. The City Weekly without 900 numbers."