Vote your troubles away: As we searched our notebooks for some loose change for this column, all we could find were political leftovers. But since, like you, we're growing tired of candidates' campaign rhetoric, we decided to spare you more gory details.
But don't let that stop you from voting Tuesday.What better place to let out all those pent-up political feelings than at the ballot box. You'll be glad you did. Besides, it'll give you a license to complain about your representation until the next election.
Speaking of politics . . . : Sometimes people ask us to really stretch our policies, one of which is that we don't give out our home telephone numbers to strangers.
An agitated reader called one day looking for reporter Jeff Vice, anxious to share some dirt she said she had on a candidate running for one of the county offices.
She didn't want to give her name or phone number but she wanted to spill the beans - badly.
Unfortunately, Jeff was sick that day and so we told her the best we could do would be to call him and give him her number.
"Oh, I really don't want to do that," she said.
Well, then, the next best alternative would be to wait for him to recover and come back to work.
"I really don't want to do that," she said again.
We didn't have any more options to offer.
"Wait a minute," she said, "Why don't you call him and see if it's all right with him for me to call him?"
But how would he know who he would be talking to, we asked.
"Just tell him and see what he says," she went on, "but don't tell him who it is. I don't want anybody to know who this is."
That would not be a problem.
A lake runs through it: Local attorney David Jeffs, representing the citizens against an annexation known as the Kent annexation in Orem, was trying to make a point the other night that could derail the council's intentions.
Jeffs said he didn't think all of the "affected entities" had been notified and therefore the annexation could not go forward.
Only Utah County and the cities of Provo and Lindon had been told about the plan to annex the 20 acres in the area southwest of Orem. Jeffs said if Lindon was notified, Vineyard should have been, too.
City Attorney Paul Johnson said Vineyard wasn't really contiguous to the land involved and does not stand to lose either tax money or boundaries, nor would it be expected to provide any services. He said Lindon wasn't really an affected entity either.
"There's a lot of Orem between either city and this property," he said.
Jeffs mustered his courage and tried one last time to save his side.
"Vineyard is an affected entity," he declared, "because they could annex through Utah Lake!"
We don't think that argument really holds water.
What's in a name: From the Instant Insider: "When Microsoft chose Hermes as a code name for its software management product, did they really know what the name meant? According to Compton's Electronic Encyclopedia, in Greek mythology, the god Hermes was "the patron of merchants and the god of eloquence, good fortune and prudence, as well as cunning, fraud and theft. Your call."
In some respects the giant being consistently accused of doing too well against its competition may be living up to the name - the good-fortune part especially. On the other hand, it may want to drop that part about fraud and theft or rethink the link.