Utah event venue closes locations nationwide, leaving brides out thousands of dollars
(2/11/2020) Salt Lake City, UT — A wedding venue company out of Lehi has shut its doors for good, leaving brides all over the country stranded before their weddings. Having first opened in 2007, NOAH'S Event Venue (officially NOAH Corporation) grew to 6 locations in the first four years. By 2018, NOAH'S had 42 event centers all over the country.
Last May, NOAH'S filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and began closing their venues in other states. At this time, BBB began getting an increased number of complaints from brides who had made payments on their deposit, only to find out their location had closed.
One of the biggest costs in any wedding budget is the venue. Venues can cost several thousand dollars, and the deposit itself is a major expense. Of those that reported to BBB, the total amount lost from deposits alone was almost $25,500 with an average of over $3,600 lost per person.
“Venues are the backbone of a wedding. Without somewhere to be, you can’t get married or have your reception,” said Jane Rupp, president and CEO of BBB Serving Northern Nevada and Utah. While some locations remained open in an effort for the company to restructure, over the last week a court order forced them to close all remaining locations.
With most venues requiring non-refundable deposits, it can be very hard for couples to get their money back, even though they will not receive purchased products and services. Those who have been affected can seek refunds through their banks or the bankruptcy court, though it will likely be a lengthy process that isn’t guaranteed to produce results.
Finding a new venue won’t be easy, especially if large portions of the wedding budget were paid to a now non-existent company. Additionally, if the event date is only a couple months or less away, out-of-state guests may have already made travel arrangements. Since venues are generally booked so far in advance, finding a location that can accommodate the original date will feel impossible.
Today, NOAH’S released a statement on their website saying that those who lost their reservations may still be able to host their event at the building site, but with another management company:
“...many building owners are willing to host events and are looking for new operators that can honor your event contracts,” the message says. “If you are interested in still hosting your event at your reserved location, even though NOAH’S will not be the management and servicing company please email us...”
But the release makes no mention of whether any amount already paid will be honored.
In any case, these brides and grooms are likely to be incredibly stressed when searching for a replacement. BBB cautions those who are looking for a replacement venue to take as much time to research new options as possible, and be wary of scammers looking to take advantage.
BBB has several tips find a reputable business:
Research the company. Before you fall in love with a venue, do your research. Look at as many webpages as you can find to see what others are saying. Look for businesses that have plenty of internet presence. Read reviews, and check their profile on BBB.org.
Check how long a business has been operating. You can find a business’s registration details online. Also, searching the company name next to “bankruptcy” or “court” may pull up any history of financial problems. However, understand that a business might close at any time without warning.
Read the contract. Make sure you thoroughly look through everything in the contract before you sign it. Ask for sample contracts from several different venues to see what’s standard and what isn’t. If you’re uncomfortable with something, talk to the venue about editing or changing your contract. While they might be unwilling to budge, you never know! Ask questions if you’re concerned, and don’t sign if you don’t feel comfortable.
Check for unexpected fees. Some caterers, hotels or reception venues try to charge extra for “plate splitting,” “cake-cutting” or “corkage” fees, especially if you bring in a cake or liquor purchased from another source. Ask whether any fees apply beyond the cost per person, gratuities or room rental, if applicable.
Double-check prices. Research what other venues cost, and resist high-pressure sales tactics to make you commit to a product or service on the spot. If you hear about the prices at a bridal expo or other event, make sure you check that the prices are the same after the event.
Book within your budget. Work out a reasonable budget so that if something goes wrong, you aren’t left without the means for a back-up plan.
Get it in writing. Get all sales promises in writing, including specific dates, products, prices, name brands, etc. Make sure all oral agreements are included in the written contract. Cancellation policies should also be included.
Pay with a credit card. Avoid paying in cash up-front for services. If you pay by credit card you have protection in the event of a problem that is not available with other forms of payment.
Follow up. Confirm all services one or two weeks prior to the event and verify all of the details agreed upon.
Before going out of business, NOAH'S had an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau for not responding to their consumers’ complaints.
—
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust. In 2018, people turned to BBB more than 173 million times for BBB Business Profiles on nearly 5.4 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at BBB.org. Today, BBB serving Northern Nevada and Utah is supported by just over 4,300 Accredited Businesses that have voluntarily committed to adhere to BBB’s Standards of Trust.
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Speaker Wilson and Sen. Millner to hold media availability about S.B. 111 Higher Education Amendments
What:
Speaker Wilson and Sen. Millner to hold media availability to answer questions about legislation, S.B. 111 Higher Education Amendments, proposing to merge the Utah System of Higher Education and the Utah System of Technical Colleges.
Who:
Speaker Brad Wilson
Sen. Ann Millner
Members of the Utah System of Technical Colleges
Members of the Utah System of Higher Education Board of Regents
When:
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 3:30 p.m.
Where:
Speaker’s Office, Suite 350 in the Utah State Capitol
350 State St., Salt Lake City, Utah
Notes:
Attached is the press release sent yesterday.
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MountainFLOW eco wax is making huge waves in the ski industry and with good reason. It is time we take more responability for our environmental impact and one some part of that is ski wax. MountainFlow is the first 100% plant-based ski wax.
This year at Outdoor Retailer, mountainFlow was recognized for its innovation and efforts with some big prices. We could be more happy but we know that the real work is actually getting rid of petroleum based ski waxes.
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Join us for a Weekend Celebration of Love for Valentine's Day!
Moonlight at The Monarch: Valentine's Day Soirée
Friday, February 14th, 5 - 11PM
Multiple ticket options available for a romantic prix fixe dinner at WB’s Eatery, couples candle making at Art Box and live music and dancing with the Lane Changers.
Only a few spots left for dinner reservations!
Purchase your tickets now from the link below.
Already have dinner plans?
Music and dancing is just $15 per person - cash bar will be available for evening drinks!
The Lane Changers
Premier Wedding Showcase Event
Saturday, February 15th, 11AM - 3PM
Experience a luxury event for brides, grooms, and wedding purveyors featuring champagne greetings, VIP brunch, luxury raffles, tasteful fashion shows. Meet and consult with 30+ unique wedding purveyors. Plan and book your unforgettable wedding at The Monarch!
Featured Vendors:
Changing Lanes Entertainment Group
Event Masters Design and Décor
Hope and Evolution Floral Design
And many more!
Dear Editor:
Please consider this guest commentary by Bob Topper that cites Barry Goldwater's advice to his fellow conservative Republicans. For PeaceVoice, thank you,
Tom Hastings
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Conscience of a Conservative
by Bob Topper
766 words
Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them
—Barry Goldwater, Conservative Republican, 1981
There are many good people from other cultures, with quite different faiths, who live moral and productive lives. Judeo-Christian principles are not the only path to morality. Hinduism and Buddhism teach similar principals and have equally interesting mythical histories. The very fact that similar sets of principles were developed simultaneously by different cultures implies that rather than being handed down from the gods, they evolved along with their respective cultures.
Western culture is rooted in ancient Greece. Plato’s rules of logic defined how we reason, and Socrates, who lived 400 years before Christ, was the first moral philosopher. He developed his moral principles using reason. He did not rely on Christian revelation.
Christianity and Islam, argue that each of their moral codes is their God’s law and is therefore supreme. That argument did not sit well with the framers of the Constitution who treated all religions equally and based our government and laws on reason, not religion or mysticism or superstition.
The Enlightenment thinkers rejected Christian revelation and replaced it with reason. Consequently our Constitution, the most important document to come out of the Age of Enlightenment, is derived from reason. It is neither an endorsement nor a denial of God or religion. That does not mean that the founders were indifferent to religion. On the contrary, they believed in God and defended religious beliefs. Many were Deists and Christians. But when it came to writing the Constitution, they took the Deist’s position and wisely rejected revelation as its foundation. Consequently, our Constitution is a secular document that guarantees religious freedom.
So it is that politicians must reconcile their personal religious beliefs with reason and a secular constitution. With courage and grace Senator Mitt Romney recently showed how that is done. Faith guided his conscience, but his objective consideration of the facts led to the truth, and his decision to vote “guilty” in the Trump impeachment trial on one Article of Impeachment.
The idea that one can appeal to a “higher power,” as some members of Congress claim, is contrary to the entire concept of America. To allow religious belief to trump the Constitution invites lawlessness. “Honor killings,” for example, while not uncommon in some countries, could never be acceptable here. For obvious reasons the Constitution overrides the any religious code that egregiously violates our rights.
Interestingly, the Christian Bible also demands honor killings, though Christians no longer believe that preserving a man’s honor requires that he kill his daughter for promiscuity. Here common sense has clearly triumphed over the Biblical mandate.
Democracy requires thoughtful deliberation, debate based in fact and truth, not faith, or fantasy. Members of Congress who refuse to reason, who appeal to scripture and reject evidence, fail to understand what the Constitution requires of them. They do a great disservice to our nation. To choose Christian revelation over reason is to do what our enlightened founders rejected. It is not the American way. As Goldwater remarked 40 years ago, “politics and governing require compromise.”
Goldwater also had this to say:
I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.'
Unfortunately the religious right has changed what it means to be a conservative. The Republican Party of today bears little resemblance to Goldwater’s. And the religious right seems hell-bent on dictating “their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism,’” as they try to rewrite American history, and change the meaning of the Constitution. Should they succeed, it will be sad day for everyone,…Christians included.
–end–
Bob Topper is a retired engineer and is syndicated by PeaceVoice.
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LOVE Fuels a WOW Culture: Six Ways to Share the Love
with Employees and Customers (on Valentine's Day and Beyond)
Want your customers to love you? You've got to love them first (right along with your own employees). Just in time for Valentine's Day, Deb Boelkes explains how to create the kind of culture that WOWS employees and shows your customers just how much you care.
Jacksonville, FL (February 2020)—We typically don't think of love and business as existing in the same universe. But with Valentine's Day right around the corner, Deb Boelkes wants to change that mindset. Not only does love belong in the business world, she says, it should fuel everything you do, both internally and in your interactions with customers.
"Your customers are the reason you exist, and your job is to earn their love and loyalty," says Boelkes, author of The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture (Business World Rising, December 2019, ISBN: 978-1-734-07610-3, $19.95). "That means you must first love them. And that, in turn, means you must first love your employees."
None of this will happen if you just go through the motions, she cautions. You can't "fake" love for employees or customers. You must go all in. You must infuse love into all that you do. And that means building it in from the ground up.
To get the love flowing, says Boelkes, commit to becoming a WOW factor workplace. That's a workplace in which heartfelt leaders inspire employees to create extraordinary products and deliver impeccable service at a great value. This creates an unparalleled experience for both employees and customers, and, in turn, makes them both feel special, appreciated, and respected.
A few tips for getting hearted (oops, we mean started):
Don't be afraid to use the "L" word (especially on Valentine's Day). In her book, Boelkes quotes the late Teresa Laraba, former vice president of Southwest Airlines, as saying, "Early on, when we started, one of the taglines was: Somebody up here loves you. We used the word love in a space where it had not been used, especially in the airline industry. Our stock symbol is LUV. We were open about introducing love to corporate America and the airline industry. We were going to have a product which loved you and a company which was going to serve you and appreciate you doing business with us versus the attitude: 'You exist to keep us in business.'"
"Find fun, creative ways to show the customer that you love them on Valentine's Day," suggests Boelkes. "Send them a heart-adorned coupon book with discounted services or offerings. Pen personalized cards listing the reasons you love them. Put together 'We Love Our Customers' gift boxes full of Valentine's Day goodies. Or make a charitable donation to a local soup kitchen or animal shelter in honor of your customer. There are countless ways to show you care."
Recommit to your relationship with employees. Engaged employees are happy employees, and happy employees create happy customers. That's why leaders make it a priority to work on their relationship with employees. And as with any good relationship, it means putting in time and effort. Teresa Laraba said, "We do not subscribe to 'you leave your problems at the door.' You do, in the sense the customer shouldn't have to pay for your employees' problems, but as leaders you ought to know what's going on with them and find out if there's something that's stopping your employees from delivering on their work promise that day.
"If you take the time to get to know your employees as you work with them every day, as you walk by them every day, if you have just two or three one-minute engagements as you walk through your workplace, it builds," added Laraba. "If you don't bother asking employees how they're really doing except for every six months, or if you don't stop to talk to them except once a year when you give them their performance appraisal, it is going to take too much time, because you're trying to build a relationship in a ten-minute conversation when you should have been building a relationship every day."
Think of yourself as a "superior service" role model. When you WOW customers, employees will too. If you commit to giving the best possible service to every customer and making decisions that benefit the customer first (both great ways to show you love them!), your employees will do the same. They are watching and taking cues from your behavior. WOW them with heartfelt leadership and they will WOW the clients every time.
Boelkes says legendary coach John Wooden is a prime example. Wooden said, "I'm convinced that regardless of the task, leaders must be enthusiastic and really enjoy what they are doing if they expect those under their supervision to work near their respective levels of competency. With few exceptions, an unenthusiastic leader will keep those under his or her charge from achieving their collective best."
Look for the Servant's Heart in those you hire (and make sure you have it, too). To win your customers' love, you must truly love the work you do. No one should ever phone it in. Great leaders and employees alike develop what Teresa Laraba called a "Servant's Heart." She said, "We're lucky at Southwest. We first try to hire people who care. Our hiring process is looking for people who genuinely enjoy what they do. We call it the Servant's Heart. People who have a Servant's Heart are people who, especially if you're going to be on the service side of it, enjoy serving. Not somebody who merely pretends they enjoy serving."
Learn to look at your customers through "soft eyes." Don't treat them like transactions. Boelkes quotes Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks Coffee, as saying: "I have this idea. Rather than seeing people as customers or seeing people in their roles as bankers or teachers or authors or whatever, we need to see all people in the context of their humanness, of being a human being. Then, when you're dealing with somebody and whatever the job happens to be, whether you are trying to get a loan for your house or you are a banker trying to make a loan, you look at everybody through human eyes, through soft eyes.
"It doesn't mean you're not going to turn the person down," Behar clarifies. "It does mean you come at it with a caring attitude, with a belief in him or her as a human being and a belief in yourself as a human being. That piece of it only requires practice. We all get caught up in the transaction. We're all in a hurry to get things done. Being in a hurry adds to it. Slow down. Take your time. Think about what you are doing. Don't let yourself go there."
Create service experiences that take the customer's breath away. In her book, Boelkes cites her own experience with dining at Bern's Steak House as one of her favorite examples of delightful customer service. She says the dining rooms were opulent. The menu was extensive and the food sublime. The Harry Waugh Dessert Room (and the lavish "Taste of Bern's"—a sampling of five of their signature desserts) was spectacular. Finally, the wait staff was a testament to their mission of delivering impeccable service.
"We were so impressed with the service from our young waiter," recalls Boelkes. "He never hovered, but magically appeared the instant we wanted him. When I asked how long he had been a waiter there, he answered, 'two weeks.' Given his professionalism, manners, attention to detail, and superior service attitude, this was a surprise! We learned he had worked at Bern's for two years. Everyone there starts out working in the kitchen. If they do well enough, they are promoted to assist in the dining room, and so on. Founder Bern Laxer was a firm believer in hiring for attitude and work ethic, not experience. Clearly, it pays off!"
Allow employees to go above and beyond for customers (in their own unique way). Take a cue from Donald Stamets—general manager for Solage, an Auberge resort in Calistoga, CA—and don't make employees ask permission to go the extra mile to WOW customers. As part of his Expected, Requested, and Delighted philosophy, Stamets encourages them to go above and beyond what the customer expects or requests and try to delight them at every turn. For instance, if a guest is sick, employees can bring them tissues and chicken soup without asking a manager.
"Likewise, tell your employees their goal is to delight customers," says Boelkes. "Let them use their own judgment and tap into their creativity. Being allowed to do it 'their way' will encourage and inspire them to go in whole-heartedly."
Chocolates are enjoyed and then forgotten. Roses eventually wilt. But the loving feeling you create between you and your customers will endure long past Valentine's Day.
"Yes, it's hard work to be a heartfelt organization, but the rewards are so much greater for you, your team, and most of all, your customers," says Boelkes. "Life is just better when you give and receive love every day, in all that you do. There's no reason why this truth can't apply to the workplace."
# # #
About the Author:
Deb Boelkes is not just a role model heartfelt leader; she's the ultimate authority on creating best places to work, with 25+ years in Fortune 150 high-tech firms, leading superstar business development and professional services teams. As an entrepreneur, she has accelerated advancement for women to senior leadership. Deb has delighted and inspired over 1,000 audiences across North America.
About the Book:
The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture (Business World Rising, December 2019, ISBN: 978-1-734-07610-3, $19.95) is available from major online booksellers.
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The wall: Separating democracy from voters
by Robert C. Koehler
845 words
The mainstream media imposes some serious certainties on the 2020 presidential election that drive me into a furious despair, e.g.:
Even though Bernie Sanders, winner of the first two Democratic primaries, is now leading in the national polls, he “can’t and won’t” be the party’s nominee “because in coming weeks,” writes Liz Peek in The Hill, “Democrats will make sure that Socialist Bernie does not get the nomination. More will realize that he will lead the party to a calamitous loss, and they will look for an alternative. Overwhelmed by ads, underwhelmed by others in the race, they will come to realize that Mike Bloomberg is the best they’ve got.”
Hey progressives, America is not a socialist country! Get it?
As this certainty imposes itself on the election coverage, in both obvious and subtle ways, I find myself juxtaposing it with another emerging tidbit of news:
“Parts of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument — the parts with indigenous burial grounds and other rare, historically important areas — are being bulldozed and blown up to make way for the border wall that Mexico is supposedly going to pay for.”
The Trump border wall proceeds, slicing through, and destroying, a complex ecological wonder that also happens to be indigenous sacred ground. The wall, writes evolutionary biologist Kelsey Yule,
is turning the landscape into an ecological dystopia.
The Department of Homeland Security is leveling this precious habitat with absolutely no regard for the delicacy of this place’s unique cultural and ecological resources, ravaging one of the most iconic sites in the Western hemisphere. They’re even blowing up mountains like Monument Hill. . . .
Over the last few months, the Trump administration has been draining millions of gallons of groundwater to mix the wall’s concrete.
Furthermore the $5.7 billion wall is cutting directly through the soul of the Tohono O’odham Nation, an indigenous people whose ancestral land in the Sonoran Desert, approximately the size of Connecticut, spans both the United States and Mexico. Too bad. The Department of Homeland Security rules and it’s going to build the damn wall no matter what.
As Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva put it: “To DHS, nothing is sacred.”
Well, that’s not quite true. The bureaucracy is sacred. No matter now stupid and destructive they are, the rules are sacred. The border is sacred. And this same mentality, so I believe, is doing everything it can to ensure that the progressive base of the Democratic Party — represented, to a large extent, by Bernie Sanders — remains on the wrong side of the wall, barred from having an actual influence on the American political process.
Elections aren’t supposed to be about core values. Those values are already decided and “Socialist Bernie” (psst, socialist is the same thing as communist) doesn’t get to mess with them.
These values, of course, mean as little as where you were born. These values are about who has power. Big Money rules and will always rule, right? Thus the election coverage doesn’t look deeply beneath the surface — at who we are or how we ought to relate to the planet and to life itself. Maybe Trump’s wall is creating an ecological dystopia, but Bernie Sanders is a socialist. And look, here comes Michael Bloomberg to save the day.
I’m not saying that change is simple or that a national and global course of action, in the face of war and climate crisis and the growing phenomenon of refugees trying to find a home, is in any way obvious. But our collective focus should be bigger than the needs and limits of corporate centrism. Do we not all have a stake in the future of this planet?
If you consume a lot of mainstream news coverage, you might be thinking that no one has quite the stake in the future that Bloomberg, the $60 billion man, does. He has bought his way into the election process.
“In a staggering milestone in what critics have characterized as an effort to buy the Democratic nomination,” Common Dreams reports, “billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg has already poured more than $350 million of his own personal wealth into television, digital, and radio advertising since launching his 2020 presidential campaign last November.”
This is our country: up for sale. No matter that Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, pushed stop-and-frisk policing when he was in office, inundating minority neighborhoods with police — a.k.a., the occupying army — and stopping everyone who “looks suspicious” for a humiliating pat-down and possible arrest. A federal judge eventually ruled the practice unconstitutional, calling it “checkpoint-style policing.” But Bloomberg has continued to quietly defend racism-based security, infamously maintaining, in a 2015 speech, that 95 percent of murderers “are male, minorities, 16-25.”
So what we have here is a political system that continually surrenders to us-vs.-them thinking: leadership that requires an enemy to keep the country united. This kind of thinking cuts cruel social gouges everywhere it’s in place, creating endless harm to some and insecurity for everyone.
American democracy continues to be up for sale, but only to bidders who support The Wall.
–end–
Robert Koehler, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is an award-winning Chicago journalist and editor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Land Donation Protects 3,450 Acres of Montana Wildlife Habitat
MISSOULA, Mont.—A conservation-minded landowner donated 3,450 acres of critical elk, mule deer and whitetail deer winter range in western Montana to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
“We are grateful to John Greytak for this extremely generous and substantial donation,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “We commend John for recognizing the crucial wildlife values of this land while making the decision to permanently protect them. He’s been a RMEF member since 1999 and recently elevated his commitment to conservation by becoming a RMEF life member and joining RMEF’s Legacy Lands Program.”
Located just north of Interstate 90 in the Bearmouth area of Granite County, the property is about 45 miles east of RMEF headquarters in Missoula. It lies within a vast landscape of various public and protected land ownership and provides important connectivity of wildlife habitat.
“I know what the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation does is like-minded to my passion. In fact, I’d say their passion kind of spawned my passion,” said Greytak. “It’s a win for me. It’s a win for RMEF. And in the long run it will be a win for the general public and the wildlife so I’m happy to have done it.”
The property continues to regenerate quality habitat as it recovers from a 2013 wildfire. Approximately four miles of perennial streams, including parts of three Clark Fork River tributaries, flow through the property providing quality water for elk, fish and other species ranging from moose and small mammals to songbirds and raptors. It is also well suited for public hunting opportunities.
RMEF is currently formulating a management and long-term ownership plan for the property but will make it accessible to the public for hunting and other recreational activities.
About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:
Founded more than 35 years ago, fueled by hunters and a membership of nearly 235,000 strong, RMEF has conserved more than 7.9 million acres for elk and other wildlife. RMEF also works to open and improve public access, fund and advocate for science-based resource management, and ensure the future of America’s hunting heritage. Discover why “Hunting Is Conservation™” at rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.
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Proposal to Change Legislative Session Start Date Passes the Senate
SALT LAKE CITY – Today, the Utah Senate passed S.J.R. 3 Proposal to Amend Utah Constitution – Annual General Sessions of the Legislature, which would allow the legislature flexibility in scheduling the start date of the general legislative session.
Currently, Utah’s Constitution mandates the general legislative session begins on the 4th Monday of January each year. This proposed amendment would allow legislators to set the general session start date within fixed parameters in state statute. The general legislative session would still be required to begin in January and remain 45 consecutive days, exempting holidays, which are already observed.
In the last 20 years, the legislature has had to initiate and pass constitutional amendments twice to adjust the start date of the annual general session, requiring a statewide vote each time. For example, during the 2002 Winter Olympics, the session start date needed to be adjusted to work around events. If Utah secures another Olympic bid, flexibility in the session start date will once again be imperative.
S.J.R. 3 provides regulated scheduling flexibility as needs arise without the complexities in amending the State Constitution each time.
Changes to the State Constitution require citizen approval. If passed by the full legislature, a question will be placed on the November ballot.
S.J.R 3 unanimously passed the Senate on February 11, 2020. It will now be considered in the Utah House of Representatives.
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Dear Editor:
Please consider this commentary by veteran editor James Haught on the scams perpetrated by those who operate some of the megachurches. For PeaceVoice, thank you,
Tom Hastings
~~~~~~~~~~~
Megachurch Mess
by James A. Haught
662 words
Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey helped create a four-season television series – “Greenleaf” – about a black megachurch where worshipers whoop, sway, dance, wave arms, squeal, shout and shell out truckloads of money.
Some commentators say the series “shows the best and worst of Christianity,” but I can’t find much best, only worst.
The founder-preacher endlessly connives for money, and burned a previous church for insurance (accidentally killing a custodian). He trades his private jet for a sleeker one. He slept with his sister-in-law (played by Oprah), which angered his wife, who slept with a different man.
A middle-aged church manager rapes 15-year-old girls at the church’s camp.
The star singer’s husband is secretly gay and undergoes grotesque religious “conversion therapy” (through which God supposedly will make him “straight”) but it doesn’t work.
A married sub-preacher grabs one of the cast’s few whites, a female secretary, for sex in anterooms.
A rival preacher gambles away church money.
All the while, episodes reverberate with “God is good!” and “Hallelujah!” and “Praise God!” and “Amen! Amen!” at almost every breath. It’s a carnival of sanctimony and sin.
I suspect that Oprah and other producers deliberately hatched this series to make megachurches look like zoos of absurdity – places more laughable than laudable.
My wife and I are watching the whole tale. Since one-fourth of all the world’s Christians now “speak in tongues,” we wonder if any Greenleaf worshipers will burst into glossalalia. They engage in all the rest of holy hoopla. Teen-age gospel singers leap like kangaroos. Worship services are Show Biz extravaganzas.
Actually, the series has plenty of intriguing romance, human struggles, teen puppy-love and other staples of fiction. But there’s an underlying current: megachurches – supposedly symbolizing successful Christianity - are frauds.
Lots of real-life evidence supports this claim. Here are some notorious examples:
Evangelist Bill Hybels was forced to leave his 24,000-member Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois after several women accused him of sex abuses.
Evangelist Ted Haggard ranted against all sorts of sex at his 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado – and became president of the National Association of Evangelicals, visiting President George W. Bush in the White House. Then he was caught in gay sex and driven out.
Evangelist Bill Gothard of the Gothard Institute of Basic Life Principles drew up to 10,000 at weeklong “religious right” seminars – but he was dethroned when 34 women accused him of crude sexual affronts.
Evangelist Tony Alamo toured in giant revivals – until he was sentenced to 175 years in prison for child rape and other sex crimes.
Evangelist Bob Coy led a huge Fort Lauderdale church with 25,000 members – visited by President George W. Bush – but he resigned in disgrace after admitting numerous sex messes.
Evangelist Jim Bakker ruled the enormous PTL Club in the Carolinas – until he was accused of rape and sentenced to 45 years in prison for accounting fraud.
Evangelist Dave Reynolds of the large Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Arkansas was wiped out by 70 counts of child pornography.
Evangelist Jon Petersen of World Ambassadors pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly all of his church’s money “to pay for a sex addiction.”
Evangelist Mario Leyva toured in southern revivals – then was sent to prison for sodomizing multitudes of underage boys.
On and on it goes. Literally hundreds of megachurch scandals fill the news. Jay Michaelson of The Daily Beast once counted many culprits, including: Josh Duggar, Bishop Eddie Long, George Rekers, John Paulk, Jimmy Swaggart, Marvin Gorman, Jack Schaap, David Loveless, Grant Storms, Isaac Hunter, Larry Durant, Sam Hinn, Paul Barnes, Lonnie Latham, Earl Paulk, Paul Barnes, Joe Barron, Michael Hintz and Todd Bentley.
Last year, the Southern Baptist Convention identified 400 ministers and church leaders convicted of sex crimes in the past decade. A “Black-Collar Crimes” registry maintained by the Freedom From Religion Foundation contains thousands of entries.
Not all these scandals involve megachurches. However, the big spectacle houses of worship - supposedly representing a triumph of religion – especially constitute a cesspool.
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James Haught, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is editor emeritus of West Virginia’s largest newspaper, The Charleston Gazette-Mail.
