The winners and the losers

Winner: For University of Utah senior David Balkcom, saving three lives was just something he had to do before dashing off to a morning class and a chemistry test on Thursday. But to the men he saved, who were sleeping soundly despite the fact their apartment building was on fire, his efforts are not likely to be soon forgotten.

Balkcom woke to the sounds of screams. He helped others go door-to-door making sure everyone was out of the complex. But his neighbors hadn't heard the commotion, and he went in to make sure they got out. The beds all three were sleeping in were later completely consumed by flames.

Loser: An investigator with the BYU Police Department believes 90 percent of rapes in Provo go unreported. Arnie Lemmon made his comments to a group of women this week as part of a series of lectures raising awareness of local issues. He said the crimes often go unreported because of a social stigma attached to the crime in the conservative community. In other words, the victims blame themselves.

While Provo is hardly a rape capital, this is a disturbing trend. Rape is a crime of violence. The only one who profits when this crime is not reported is the rapist, who then is free to find another victim.

Loser: A minister from Kansas wants to erect a sign in Casper, Wyo., that says Matthew Shepard, the university students savagely beaten to death five years ago, has "entered hell" because he was a homosexual. He is using recent court decisions from Utah to argue that the city, which allows a monument of the Ten Commandments in the park, must also allow monuments that express other religious thoughts.

What a bunch of hogwash. The minister doesn't want to express a code of worship. He wants to spew hate and renewed suffering for Shepard's relatives.