This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
OREM - A “big fan” of President Bush, Brittany Lyman thought her “LDS religion” and conservative upbringing had prepared her for Michael Moore.
But Moore was more than she had bargained for Wednesday when she listened - on a dare from friends - to the controversial filmmaker at Utah Valley State College.
“He was [so] crude, rude, unkempt and so disrespectful of our president that I started crying,” the 19-year-old Salt Lake City resident said. “I couldn't help myself. President Bush is our leader, and we should all support him.”
Lyman was in the minority of the 8,000 who packed the David O. McKay Special Events Center on campus to listen to the maker of "Fahrenheit 9/11," a documentary that has had a bipolar effect on the nation politic.
Despite his appearance in Utah's most-Republican county, Moore was not without friends - though many of them were visiting from Salt Lake City or out of state.
“He is rotund and a little slovenly in his appearance, I'll give his conservative critics that,” said Sandy resident Shaun Nelson. “But when you listen to what he has to say, he makes a lot of sense.”
BYU management professor Warner Woodworth, who headed a delegation of Cougar business students to the event, waxed more effusive.
“Moore is a true American hero,” Woodworth said. “He is a Paul Revere, and he is giving us a wake-up call. He is . . . like Thomas Paine.”
Despite the widely differing views on Moore, picketers outside the center and Moore's critics inside were well-behaved - with a few exceptions. All told, police escorted five from the building: two for creating a disturbance, two for “seating issues” and one for sneaking a political banner - signs were banned - into the event.
Security also confiscated a political placard from supporters of the Ralph Nader presidential campaign.
A police canine unit also identified a suspicious package left near one of the entrances.
But X-rays showed it to be a box full of papers.
“For the type of event it was, and [with] all the security we had in place, everything went very well,” UVSC spokesman Derek Hall said. “I haven't heard any complaints from people on campus.”
Besides police dogs, there were 35 uniformed officers from UVSC, Utah County Sheriff's Department and other police agencies throughout the valley. There also were private security workers, as well as a contingent of Moore's beefy bodyguards.
UVSC spent $9,000 on security for conservative television commentator Sean Hannity's appearance on Oct. 11, and officials there estimate the security costs for Moore will total $11,000. Combined total expenditures for the Hannity and Moore events is roughly $110,000.
“The students spent about $35,000 of their $50,000 yearly speaker budget after all the expenditures and revenues [from ticket sales to Hannity and Moore] are accounted for,” Hall said.
For Cedar Fort resident Doug Chesley, any amount of student fees spent on Moore was a crime.
“Moore is a con artist,” said Chesley, who has a son, Richard, attending UVSC. “I'm against UVSC spending student funds to bring a con artist out here.”
For Kent Scadlock, of Provo, the event was a revelation: He is not alone.
“As a very liberal Democrat in Utah County, sometimes mine is a very lonely voice. So it is great to see this turnout,” said Scadlock, who has Kerry signs in his yard and, he says, regularly receives anonymous mail from concerned Provoans urging him to repent.