Lawmakers heading north

The various tours, which cover five themes, will occupy most of the two-day trip. On those tours, legislators will view a potential water storage site for the Bear and Malad rivers, assess flooding damage caused to farmlands in Box Elder County, visit farms threatened by development in Cache County, have new programs and building needs demonstrated at Utah State University, and hear about various transportation needs, especially road improvements or expansion, while they ride in buses provided by the Logan Transit District.

Senate Majority Leader Pete Knudsen, R-Brigham City, said he is pleased that the Legislature is coming to his area for a couple of days so they can "see the impacts" their decisions will have on the area. While there are a lot of tour options for legislators, he also expects that nobody will leave with only a small taste of the issues faced by northern Utah.

"Every tour touches on some similar things, and at the end of the day, we'll probably all compare notes," he said. "There will be a lot of information."

This will not be the first time the Legislature has traveled to Logan, and a number of the things discussed on the tours — dams along the Bear River, traffic problems in Logan and Sardine canyons, for instance — are similar to the trip the group took in 1994.

Like the 1994 trip, legislators will also attend an event hosted at the Logan Tabernacle, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although they hosted the Town Hall meeting there and nearly sparked a lawsuit in 1994, this year they will only attend a "steak fry" on the Tabernacle's ground.

Valentine said the grounds are "the most centrally located" in the city and the best place to host the large group, their families, and other guests.

"It's not like we're going to pollute ourselves by going into the Tabernacle," he said, facetiously.

About the only complaints that Valentine has heard was from legislators who wanted more free time and leisure activities, which were offered more abundantly in 1994 when a third day of golf, biking or horseback riding was scheduled. This year, legislators will get a preview performance of the American West Festival, plus lunches hosted by the Box Elder or Cache Chambers of Commerce. Other than that, any activities will have to be scheduled on their own time.

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com