One more reason why I'll never live in Tooele

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

"Thad LeVar of Tooele discovered he was the victim of a vandal Wednesday after someone painted gang graffiti on his home's retaining wall. Before he had a chance to report the vandalism, a neighbor called the city to complain and a code enforcement officer from Tooele's Community Development Department came to his home and left a notice that he would receive a citation if the graffiti was not removed within seven days.

What the officer did not do was report the vandalism to the Tooele Police Department, even though graffiti is a crime. LeVar did contact the police, and they were quite interested in taking a report and investigating the graffiti. Here's a radical thought: What if those two government departments of the city of Tooele actually talked with each other?"

Don't touch the campaign sign!

Back in the 80's my parents had a ‘Dukakis for President’ sign in their yard. I can recall it frequently being the target of unwanted 7-11 slurpees. When my father ran for a position on the city counsel, his signs were often stolen. And more recently, when my parents supported a democrat for the Utah senate race, their signs were defaced. I have to admit I tried to think of many elaborate ways to catch and punish these cruel perpetrators, including hiring someone full time to watch the signs, installing video cameras, and electrifying the signs with a few thousand volts. However, the unfortunate nature of campaigns is that signs get stolen, defaced, or dumped on by tasty beverages (what a waste!).

Recently, in podunk Grantsville, Utah (I'm only saying podunk because the citizens there better be outraged about this, or they are podunk), a former campaign manager was sentenced to six months in jail and nine months probation FOR STEALING A CAMPAIGN SIGN! Even I, one who thinks that campaign sign stealers probably deserve at least the 5th circle of hell, think that it is too extreme. Why not just fine these filthy thieves a few hundred bucks. Isn't that a good enough deterrent? Grantsville is officially now on my list of "podunk, creepy, good-place-to-film-a-horror-movie cities list."