This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Mandatory minimum sentencing
The U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights says one thing; federal minimum mandatory sentencing laws say another.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell reluctantly went with the mandatory minimums and sentenced a drug dealer to spend the next half-century in prison.
Cassell called the sentence "unjust and cruel and even irrational," then called on President Bush to commute the term to a more just punishment. He also urged Congress to modify the law "so that its harsh provisions for 25-year multiple sentences apply only to true recidivist drug offenders."
Weldon Angelos, 25, who carried a gun while selling drugs to undercover officers, will be 80 years old before he is freed.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah said the sentence is fair and will deter others.
Defense attorney Jerome Mooney plans to appeal Cassell's denial of his request to declare minimum mandatory sentences unconstitutional.
Angelos originally was charged with only one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, but after he refused a plea deal - and a 16-year sentence - prosecutors went for the extra charges.
BUSINESS
A match made in heaven
Deseret Book and Excel Entertainment have announced their union to pursue the Mormon media consumer together. LDS Church-owned Deseret Book sells books, of course, and Excel distributes LDS-oriented films and music, such as "God's Army" and Kenneth Cope albums. The more serious-minded Deseret Book says it won't stifle Excel's pop-culture sensibilities on LDS themes. "This joining of forces will only propel us down the road," Chief Executive Sheri Dew said. Excel President Jeff Simpson said Deseret Book won't exert any "more control than we exercise on ourselves."
BELLS SILENCED
Have yourself a consistent Christmas
The Salvation Army won't be setting up red kettles and bell ringers outside any Target stores this year. In Utah, Target customers dropped in $60,000, 20 percent of the total holiday take. Target says it isn't being a Grinch, just consistent with a company policy against charitable solicitors.
DONATIONS
Give it up, Utahns
On the other hand, Utahns are the most generous people in the country, as measured by the Urban Institute. The 7.4 percent of their pay that Utahns donate each year is double the national average. Most goes to churches - one church, actually; for giving to nonreligious groups, Utah is 48th in the country.
SCIENCE
Born to run
Human beings are in the race for the long haul - and that may be part of what makes us human. University of Utah biologist Dennis Bramble and Harvard University anthropologist Dan Lieberman don't know why early humans started running 2 million years ago, but they say fossil evidence indicates they developed adaptations - such as the Achilles tendon - that set them further apart from their primate cousins. Evolving features, such as longer legs and arched feet, also aided in running. Why did these not-very-fast creatures run? Not to get away from fast animals so much as to catch them when they got tired. Or maybe they were trying to catch a bus. We may never know.
STUDENT PROTEST
Raising their voices - and signs
Some Salt Lake City high school students protested the war in Iraq, the gay marriage amendment and No Child Left Behind, by walking out of class and down to the City-County Building. Juan Blanco, a 15-year-old sophomore at East High, said: "People don't think we have opinions, but today everyone can see how we respond to these issues." Mayor Rocky Anderson met briefly with the students and said afterward, "I don't necessarily think it's the best thing to be skipping school, but they seemed to be aware that when you engage in civil disobedience, there are consequences to pay." Suspensions are possible, a district official said.
ALLEGED ID THEFT
She said she just wasn't herself
Kimberly Ann Bailey posed as an IHC employee to trick a woman whose name she plucked from a Tribune birth announcement into giving her Social Security number, then got credit in the woman's name and went shopping, police say. She bought an SUV, furniture and even paid her dry-cleaning bill, charges state. The victim said the lack of sleep that comes with having a newborn made her less careful than she normally would have been. But she also gave some credit to Bailey, saying: "She's a seriously competent crook. . . . I even asked her a question about billing and she answered it - she quoted me a variable interest rate."
ELECTIONS
School board victor grateful for power of one
Alama Uluave wants to thank someone - although it could be anyone. "One" is the operative word - that's Uluave's margin of victory in the election for Salt Lake City School Board District 2. Hearing of his single-vote win, he said, "Well, I'm relieved it's over." Upon hearing that he lost by a single vote, J. Michael Clara laughed and said, "Yikes," adding that he couldn't help but wonder about a day or two he took off from campaigning.
In brief
Marriage advice
Supporters of Utah's recently approved Amendment 3 formed a new nonprofit organization to provide legal advice in the national fight to ban same-sex marriage.
Um, never mind
Forget what they said about a flu vaccine shortage. Now, you want one, you got it. The Utah Department of Health has lifted all restrictions on who can get the shots.
Money well spent
When Utah food pantries said a new state inspection fee - from $30 to $350 - would take food from the mouths of the needy, the state Department of Agriculture and Food listened. The pantries are now exempt from the annual charge.
Mega-meeting
Rotary Club members will gather in Salt Lake City in 2011 for the largest single convention ever to be held in Utah. City convention officials estimated the 31,000 Rotarians will spend $27 million while in town.
The plot thickens
U.S. troops in Fallujah, Iraq, found some personal belongings of Utah Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, who said he was abducted in June from his base near the city and then, inexplicably, turned up thinner but alive in Lebanon.