SALEM, Utah County — After this year, Miss Salem no longer will compete in the Miss Utah pageant.
"I'm disappointed," competitor Minuet Anderson said, "but I understand. It's expensive."
The pageant also has moral issues, Anderson said.
"It's not necessary for the girls to walk across the stage in swimsuits," pageant director Allison Churtz recently told the Salem City Council before recommending the city pull out of the contest.
Councilwoman Lynn Durrant agreed and made the motion to discontinue the city's association with the Miss Utah contest. The vote was unanimous.
The council will continue to support the current Miss Salem, Sarah Alanis, in her bid for Miss Utah this year.
Salem contestants can find other contests that lead to the Miss America pageant, Durrant said.
The Miss Salem Scholarship Pageant will still go on as planned May 22.
— Rodger L. Hardy