Eagle Mountain has slammed the door of City Hall shut, leaving good sense and democracy out in the cold.



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Kinghorn said the ordinance makes Eagle Mountain the first city in Utah County to threaten jail time for misuse of a public building.

Having a law on the books and having the guts to enforce it are two different things! Let's see if Eagle Mountain has the cash to maintain a major lawsuit.

Let the girl scouts use your facilities E.M.  Didnt they offer to clean the building for you?  Call it a maintainance contract if you have to.  Give your girls a chance to learn about a part of thier civic process at the same time.

Eagle Mountain is such a joke.... :-[
All of Utah is Embarrassed by Eagle Mountain....

Are a majority of the city council worried that some wild-eyed extremist group will use City Hall and that this will make them look like kooks, too?

Too late!!! After all there is a 65% chance you will become a criminal once serving as Mayor or City Council in EM.

I live in American Fork, where in the late 1990's we've had our own problems with negative press at a time when we had a mayor who conflicted with the local police department and numerous public school scandals, so I feel a kinship for the people of EM who have gone through some turbulent times, but have a local press bristled to jump on the slightest news story and spin it like a top, but when the Herald starts to attack the general population of a town by calling them 'quirky', they have stepped over the line of journalistic decency. Perhaps some people are quirky but not the whole town in general. It is utter nonsense and voters obviously don't have the crystal ball that the Herald has when choosing elected officials.

While I agree that City Hall is the people's hall it is not necessarily for people to use as they please. The White House is the people's house, but good luck in trying to secure the gold room for your girl scout troop meeting. I think EM has every right in denying the use of their council chambers for a girl scout meeting. While I disagree with EM's threat of jail time for "misusers" of city property, from my understanding most fines are accompanied with a jail time component including parking tickets, so that shouldn't be so surprising. It doesn't mean a judge is going to give you jail time. Contrary to the Herald's information on public building space, there are plenty of classrooms and space in the two elementary schools in EM and a third is being constructed. Community groups use schools non-stop for their needs, and I can't see why the Girl Scouts are fixated on using City Hall when they can easily use the local elementary schools. Most Girl Scout troops that I know of meet in their leaders home or at a local church or school. The Herald believes that because there are no places to meet in Eagle Mountain, the city should provide their Council chambers, but again there is plenty of school meeting space in EM. If the Herald truly believes that city hall is for the girl scouts, then why don't they chastise other cities for also denying the use of their council chambers for non-city business as well. In my opinion the Herald is being hypocritical in their argument and is more evidence that they have a personal vendetta against EM. Now that the Voucher issue is temporarily idled, the Herald must feel a need to be OCD on their past whipping boy--Eagle Mountain. If the Herald is really for letting the public schedule City Hall and the Council Chambers for anything from Amway Meetings to Alcoholics Anonymous, then they need to get on the telephone and find out which cities are violating their principles and go after them as well. Perhaps a little nurturing and well-grounded words of advice would be in order instead of ending your article with "quirky." Would it hurt to have some positives in your view points? I've been to the Ranches part of Eagle Mountain and it is quite beautiful where there are some great breath-taking vistas of Timp. The people are generally young, but hard-working, wanting nothing more than what is best for their families. Don't forget that a large number of EM residents are our sons and daughters from the "East-Side."
I would hope residents of EM who subscribe to a newspaper that calls them names and belittles them quit their subscriptions. Why pay for garbage that is meant to demean and harm you personally and financially just because a few editors think they are superior to others.

FYI: Recent Herald Editorial Fixations and Opinion-mongering (What to predictably
expect from the Herald)

Pro-Vouchers/Pro Private School
Anti-Alpine School District/Pro Charter Schools
Anti-Public Education
Anti Eagle Mountain