This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Confederate flag is like a cockroach. It keeps popping up, no matter how many times you try to kill it.
The latest appearance was at the Draper Days Parade on July 15 as the Utah chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans proudly marched in Confederate uniforms next to a car bearing a banner with a Confederate flag logo on the front.
"I couldn't believe it and immediately snapped a photo for evidence," wrote blogger and Draper resident Sunny Washington. "As the group approached us, the cheers we had been hearing for the last hour quickly grew into complete silence. We were speechless."
Washington, a Korean who is married to an African-American man, said her family has been warmly received in Draper and "this can be our forever place to live."
But the Confederate flag logo in the parade, she said, left a chill.
She posted a comment about her concerns on the city's website and received a response that the parade is run by a 501(c)(3), not the city. It should be noted, though, that the city helps finance the event.
Washington also was told that the Confederate group was cautioned beforehand not to display the Confederate flag.
I wrote in 2015 about the Sons of Confederate Veterans marching in the Herriman Days Parade and displaying a Confederate flag logo. That entry happened to be sandwiched between a float carrying Miss Bluffdale, a young African-American woman, and Rep. Mia Love, the first black female Republican member of Congress.
That Confederate group's march in the parade occurred in the wake of a racially motivated mass killing of nine black parishioners at a historic black church in South Carolina.
The parade committee later wrote an apology to Herriman residents on the city's website.
Two weeks later, a Magna parade committee refused to allow a display of the Confederate flag — even after the group threatened to sue.
After this year's Draper parade, Washington, sent emails to the city's three mayoral candidates — incumbent Mayor Troy Walker, City Councilwoman Michele Weeks and Troy Martinez — expressing her concerns about the flag.
Only Martinez responded, defending the right of free speech.
You say tomato … • Former Utah Sen. Jake Garn's pet peeve was the way folks in Washington, D.C., would refer to his constituents as "Utahans."
"It's Utahn," the three-term Republican would rant. "Utahan" would pain his ears — as if someone had scratched a chalkboard with a fingernail.
So Garn and other purists may be perplexed by a recent campaign flyer from 3rd District congressional candidate Chris Herrod that declares on its front page: "A Voice for Utahans. Utah's Own Chris Herrod." Herrod is one of three Republicans vying in next month's GOP primary for the nomination to replace the recently resigned Jason Chaffetz.
There seems to be some discrepancy as to the proper name for those hailing from the Beehive State.
In the 1980s, the federal government's printing office referred to the state's residents as Utahans, although it has since revised the term to Utahns.
Webster's New World College Dictionary lists both options.
A KSL.com article from March 2013 noted the U.S. government and those in Washington seemed to prefer Utahan while Beehive State residents themselves cling stubbornly to Utahn.
So Herrod's spelling might make sense since most of his campaign contributions so far have come from PACs outside Utah.
Man of character • Since news of John McCain's diagnosis of brain cancer, the Arizona senator has received bipartisan accolades about his noble legacy.
Here's my story:
McCain showed character too often lacking among modern politicians when he was the keynote speaker at the Utah Republican Convention in 2006.
Debra Sauer wanted to meet McCain because of the connection she felt. She wore a prisoner-of-war bracelet with McCain's name on it when he was held in the "Hanoi Hilton" in the late 1960s.
When she wrote to the state GOP asking if she could meet McCain at the convention, she mentioned that she was a lifelong Democrat. She got a response from the party that McCain would be way too busy to meet with her.
I wrote about the snub in my column, and it got back to McCain. He called GOP officials and told them to reconnect with Sauer and invite her to the convention, where he had her escorted to a private room and the two had an enjoyable meeting. It got emotional when she gave him the POW bracelet she had kept all those years.