Fanning the flames
If [UFA Fire Chief] Michael Jensen (and his cronies) worked for a private or public company, they would already be gone and likely charged with fraud ["Money to Burn," July 7, City Weekly].

They should be required to reimburse the taxpayers for their "side work pay" and they should be fired.

Unfortunately, the county government is not as clean as people would like to believe, so this is unlikely.
Name withheld by request

Nuclear power
I was reading in City Weekly [Hits & Misses, June 23] this weekend about the Nuclear Power facility that is underway to be jammed down our collective throats in eastern Idaho. Apparently the plan is for it to supply Idaho and Utah with electrical power.

This is something that Utah and Idaho residents need to be boycotting, blocking and against in every way shape and form! I know that the Utah government and Idaho's government are all spouting about how it will "create jobs."

You already know the problems with nuclear waste, so I'm not even going to waste my time in talking about that.

What I am going to tell you, is what they are not planning on divulging.

I lived in Arkansas for a few years. As you know, most of the southern states are economically challenged. So, someone decided to create jobs by bringing a nuclear power station to Louisiana.

Here is what is happening:

Electric bills soared. Take your monthly electric bill. What do you think of your charges? Is it a challenge to pay your electric bill? How about if every month, there was a little line that said "energy charge," in addition to the cost of each kilowatt of power that you consume? OK ... it can't be all that much, right? I'm sure the nuclear folks are telling us all that "it is just a tiny bit to help pay for the facility, etc."

Let me tell you, that "energy charge" varies each month, and you never know how much it is going to be. When we were in Arkansas, each month there was a charge that varied between $200-$300 each month in addition to what we were being charged for our actual energy use.

When I tried to find out how they determined how much each home/family/household should be paying (say, a percentage of their bill) I could never get a clear answer. I still maintain that they simply picked up some derelict off the street, spun them around in a big room with a roulette wheel on the floor, and whereever this person landed, that was the amount of the energy charge for that month.

When friends of ours moved to Arkansas, they turned on their power, did not run their air conditioner, nor their heater, rarely lit one light bulb, as they were doing some basic remodeling and repairs to the home before they could move into their home. Along came their first bill: "Energy use, less than $1," "energy charge $200," plus the charges for turning on the power, account set-up, etc.

So, unless you want to pay an extra $200 and up each month for plugging into this monster, do all you can to fight it. Support alternate, sustainable options.

Let the people who are running for office know that your vote will lie with the candidates who are not out to take advantage of Utah and Idaho residents.
Dawn M. Soger
Henefer