This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Re" Anti-wolf group likely to get second $300,000 Utah payment" (Tribune, March 10):
Thank you for Brian Maffly's disturbing piece on the cynical politics at work in Utah, where the state's tax dollars are being spent to enrich Big Game Forever, founder Don Peay and his cronies at the expense of education, wolves and the Endangered Species Act. Thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, buying loyalty from a public servant is no longer considered a shameful act.
In a state with a reputation as the "most depressed," where the rate of suicide by self-inflicted (obviously) gunshot outnumbers deaths in car accidents, one would expect lawmakers to focus on the contributing causes of these social ills rather than finding ways to drain public coffers to allow "recreational" hunters more opportunities to slaughter wildlife.
When I lived in Utah, I loved its wild places. But it has devolved into an asylum for pleonexics. Utah is No. 16 in the nation in foreclosures.
Utah's representatives have voted for austerity measures and against funding to help victims of Superstorm Sandy, but they have no trouble giving handouts to the likes of Don Peay.
Judith Fairly
Weatherford, Texas