This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
At 29, Mike Winder became the youngest City Council member in West Valley City history when he was sworn into office in January.
So you can chalk up to youthful exuberance a citywide e-mail he recently sent that appeared to be summoning city employees as a volunteer sales force for his new book.
"I am pleased to announce the arrival of my newest book, Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America's Presidents and the LDS Church," said his e-mail to all city employees. "It is available as a hardback book, a talk CD and a documentary DVD."
He went on to ask employees to help him publicize the book by forwarding the e-mail to their friends and then asking their friends to forward it to more friends.
For his part, Winder was conciliatory.
"I made a mistake," he said. "I was so excited about my new book, and I wanted to get the word out. But it was an improper use of the city e-mail system, and I realize that now."
Education first? The American Founders Academy has sent announcements about its "Rallying of the Youth" Leadership Conference on Saturday, featuring speakers Rick Koerber, Glenn J. Kimber and others who, according to Parents for Choice in Education PAC filings, are among financial supporters of the pro-voucher PAC through various businesses, including the LDS faith-based private school, Kimber Academy.
The daylong conference, according to the announcement, will feature a talk from Hartman Rector Jr., "a Navel fighter pilot."
Does that mean some kind of special effect where a plane comes out of a giant navel? That could frighten the kids.
Hard to get subscribers? The New York Times article on Monday about Joe Cannon's apology to his staff for attending a secret meeting between Vice President Dick Cheney, presidential candidate Mitt Romney and a group of powerful conservatives was riveting.
It described Cannon as the editor of the Deseret Morning News in Deseret, Utah.
Actually, there is Deseret, Utah. It has a couple hundred residents and appears on the state map as sort of a suburb of Topaz.
Power of the press: Besides the announcements of the artificial heart and cold fusion, perhaps the event that gave the University of Utah the most attention nationwide, until Mario Capecchi's Nobel Prize award this week, came courtesy of radio and television icon Edward R. Murrow more than 50 years ago.
Murrow read on his national radio program an article on American foreign policy that appeared in the Antioch Review and was written by a young U. of U. political science professor named Sam Rich.
The article was so well-received and got so much attention, that Rich was swamped by well-wishers and interviewers when he returned home from a train trip he was on at the time Murrow read the article.
"Because of that, I got a raise," said Rich, now retired from the U.