OPINION: Piety from the pedestal

Newly appointed Utah Liquor Commissioner Richard Sperry was in just his second commission hearing Wednesday when it became incumbent upon him to let the little people know who was boss.

The owners of the Huka Bar and Grill appeared before the commission to apply for an expanded liquor license, which they did not get, and to appeal some previous citations they had received for liquor law violations.

Suddenly, while a state official was defending the violations against the Huka Bar, Sperry peered down from his throne and morphed into Nurse Ratched.

He told the owners -- a mother, father and their grown children -- basically to wipe the smiles off of their faces.

"I don't like your attitude," Sperry told the bar owners as though they were 8th graders facing detention. "You seem to have laughed off what has occurred.

Of course, they couldn't say anything back to Sperry because Gov. Gary Herbert has made him a big boy with the ability to mess with their business.

Who are you going to call? Salt Lake County Council member Jim Bradley told members of an urban farming conference at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center Tuesday how impressed he was by innovative efforts to help small farmers and provide nutritional meals to public school students.

But the Utah Farm Bureau, the official support

organization for farmers? Not so much.

Bradley noted how the county has identified dozens of fallow public properties that could be used to grow food or bio-fuel, a possible boon to financially strapped small farmers.

He praised Utah State University's Extension Service for all the support it has provided.

"I went to the Farm Bureau to see what they could do," he told the conference. "Boy, that was a mistake."

In an interview later, Bradley said he approached the Farm Bureau with the idea then never heard back from them.

"Meanwhile," he said, "they bring in this mad scientist."

He was speaking of metallurgist Tom Tripp, a climate change denier who has been heavily promoted by the Farm Bureau.

Bradley lamented the bureau's political agenda push at what he felt was the expense of programs to help farmers.

Unintended consequences? If anyone has noticed a dark-green 2002 Sea-Doo Bombardier Traxler 4-wheeler with a dump bed, Polaris plow and a 2000 lb. winch, Kathy Draper needs it back.

The contraption was stolen from her daughter's back yard in South Jordan Oct. 27.

Draper, who goes by Grandma Kathy, says without the machine, she cannot remove the snow from her driveway and sidewalks because of disabilities caused by car accidents.

Any information about the missing 4-wheeler should be forwarded to the South Jordan Police Department.

In the meantime, let's just hope the grandmother doesn't get cited for not clearing the walkways in front of her house.

prolly@sltrib.com

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