Bucking the party bosses: Provo plumber and congressional candidate Parley Hellewell says he got a call from Lt. Gov. Val Oveson around 11:30 a.m. last Tuesday. Oveson, who decided earlier that morning to enter the 3rd District congressional race, wanted Hellewell's support.
Unlike three other Republican candidates who met with Oveson in person, Hellewell declined.At noon, Oveson announced his candidacy at a press conference.
Even so, Hellewell isn't backing off.
"I'm still a candidate," he said. "They are trying to dictate who the candidate will be. I thought dictatorships went out with the Soviet Union, but it's come to Utah."
A new religion: Provo City Councilman Jim Daley asked the city administration last Tuesday night to check a boarded-up building for "transients and other religious cults."
Since when has transiency become a religion?
The WordPerfect president isn't HoopsPerfect: At the Houston Rockets vs. Utah Jazz basketball game Jan. 18, the shooter for free prizes was WordPerfect founder Alan Ashton. He had to make a foul shot to win a cellular phone and a shot from mid-court to earn a car. He missed both shots.
Judging from the success of WordPerfect, Ashton probably doesn't need the cellular phone or the car anyway.
The winner is . . . In case you were wondering, the high - and only - bid for the Springville City pencil sharpener we wrote about two weeks ago was $2.54. City Recorder Richard B. Manning said the high bidder was "someone in the office."
Ooops. We goofed. In our last column, we erroneously reported that Benjamin rancher Jim Caras made a commercial for Wayne Owens in the 1989 congressional election.
That's dead wrong. Caras, president of the American Suffolk Sheep Society and past board member of the Utah National Wool Growers Association, doesn't publicly side with one party or another. He has supported such Democrats as Eldon Money, Frank Moss and Gunn McKay.
But Wayne Owens, who is pushing for greatly expanded wilderness areas in the state, is one of Caras' least favorite people.
It was Jim Young, manager of Joe Cannon's Senate campaign, who made a commercial for Owens during the last election. Isn't that funny?
("Loose Change" appears in the Deseret News on Mondays. To reach Dennis or Brooke, call 374-1162 or send us a fax at 377-5701.)