40 Years of City Weekly—Volume 24: 2007 to 2008 

McMansions were multiplying, the air was atrocious, global warming was still being debated and the infamous "Zion Curtain" first arose in local restaurants to shield impressionable eyes from sight of demon drink. Even more curious, the Iraq War was declared "over," surprising many with the realization that a war was apparently still going on (and would go on for many years more).

Television got a boost from Mad Men and Breaking Bad, Utah local David Archuleta sang his way into the finals on American Idol, and Ralph Becker took center stage as the new mayor of Salt Lake.

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This was the world of City Weekly's 24th year, when the "24-Seven" events column transformed into "The Essentials," and the local music scene was covered by Jamie Gadette, Jenny Poplar, Ryan Bradford and Dominique LaJeunesse. As always, there was no shortage of things to do and places to go, but for those short on funds and ready to laugh, Phil Jacobsen's "Cheap Shot" column now had readers covered.

Stephen Dark's writings on three Midvale soldiers killed in the Vietnam War and his profile of a young hotshot lawyer with a penchant for bling named Sean Reyes were both memorable cover stories in this period. Other highlights include Ted McDonough's story on longtime CW contributor Babs De Lay as well as his collaboration with Eric Peterson on the conflicts of state legislators—entitled "The Piggy Awards"—Lisa Sorg's work on Students for a Democratic Society and Katharine Biele's coverage of the unfair advantages enjoyed by developers and utilities in the planning process.

Remembering Vol. 24: In the schools
"Vouchers have consumed Utah politics this year," wrote Louis Godfrey on Nov. 1. "But 2007 is just the culmination of Utah's decadelong battle over school choice."

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Lawmakers had passed HB148, the Utah Parent Choice in Education Program. Supported by pro-voucher forces like Walmart, Amway and Overstock.com's Patrick Byrne, HB148 envisioned a scholarship program under which private schools would receive $500 to $3,000 per student in taxpayer funds, at that time the most extensive voucher program in the country. The public, however, was not thrilled.

Despite threats from Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff against the Utah Board of Education and the unsuccessful appeals of state lawmakers before the Utah Supreme Court to override voter input, enough citizens signed petitions to place a referendum of the matter on the November ballot.

"Push polls" circulated from the group Parents for Choice in Education (PCE), asking questions like "If you knew that ... the liberal national teacher's union, aggressively supports same-sex unions, higher taxes and more government involvement, would you be very or somewhat more or less likely to vote for or against the Utah referendum?"

A PCE television ad also featured authors Richard and Linda Eyre and erroneously suggested—through a tortured Oreo analogy—that vouchers would augment public schools by decreasing class size.

"Poker chips would have been more apt because this voucher mess is just one more way of helping people who don't need the help," John Saltas wrote. "They represent the casino or work for the casino. And their blackjack tables (private schools) have a minimum-bet requirement, one too high for all but the wealthy or desperate. That keeps undesirables like you and me out of the game while, at the same time, cutting the losses of those with enough money to play."

Godfrey pondered where the push for vouchers was coming from, as early voucher programs in other states were intended to address failing school systems. Here, he observed, "even the harshest critics of Utah's system don't consider it to be failing."

Godfrey looked to the libertarian riffings of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, piped through programs like Rick Koerber's Free Capitalist Radio. On such programs, as in the efforts of lawmakers dating back to the tuition tax credit push of the 1990s, listeners were blitzed with a worldview wherein "schools become businesses and parents and students become clients," to quote one academic observer.

"If you really listen to the rhetoric around the voucher issue, it is an attack on government services," University of Utah professor Daniel Levin told Godfrey. "Education is the public service that is most directed at the middle class in this country, and teachers are the single largest group of government employees."

That fall, Utah voters defeated the voucher law by a vote of 62% to 38%. The episode led to new levels of hostility between lawmakers and the teacher's union and a surge in charter schools, which are privately operated despite being funded by taxpayers. In 2023, Utah lawmakers passed a new voucher law with a referendum-proof majority after pairing private school scholarships with raises for public school teachers.

In the mine
The collapse of an Emery County mine, trapping six workers in August of 2007, set off both highly publicized rescue efforts as well as questions of safety and workers' rights. Robert Murray (1940-2020), co-owner of the coal mine, declared that the collapse was the result of seismic activity and that reports to the contrary were coming from hostile, unionizing organizations.

In reality, mine owners like Murray had previously been cited multiple times for safety violations and the company practice of retreat mining—a dangerous method of extracting as safety pillars are removed—was particularly suspect. The subsequent deaths of three rescue workers attempting to recover the trapped miners further worsened the grim situation.

"Murray and his ilk proudly boast of keeping nonunion mines," commented Holly Mullen on Aug. 23. "No doubt it's easier for him to cut benefits and scrimp on safety when people above ground rally, accept their lot and organize a fundraiser to care for widows and children."

By the end of the month, Murray departed the state with news that his operations in Carbon and Emery counties would be closed, laying off many as a result.

"Ah, the intimidation factor," Mullen rejoined on Aug. 30. "It shows up beautifully at moments like these, along with its close sibling, blame shifting. It isn't Murray's dangerous practice of retreat mining, which experts say resulted in the compromise of Crandall Canyon's support structure, that led to the mine's increased 'bumps,' then collapse, then deaths, then closures, then layoffs. Blame [Gov.] Huntsman. Blame the U.S. House and Senate committees that have ordered probes into Murray's operations."

Investigations into the matter stretched into 2008, revealing that Murray's company and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration were at fault for the disaster, the former for numerous safety violations and using a mining technique they knew to be dangerous, and the latter for acquiescence to company pressure and lax performance of their monitoring responsibilities. The company was fined for its negligence.

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By executive order, an Office of Coal Mine Safety was created in 2008, the first show of state interest in the welfare of coal miners since Utah closed its mine inspection program in the 1980s. The bodies of miners Kerry Allred, Luis Hernandez, Brandon Phillips, Carlos Payan, Manuel Sanchez and Don Erickson were never recovered.

Writer Brandon Burt had already sized up the situation back on Aug. 23. Denouncing the effects of Utah's 1955 "right to work" designation, he lamented "a world in which grumpy gnomes like Bob Murray can get rich on the backs of honest, hardworking coal miners with less thought for their safety and welfare than for corporate profits."

He commended a new bumper sticker for the tragedy, bequeathing Utah as the "Right to Death" State.