Reader comments
A snazzy new Capitol: Building reopens after 3 years

I hope you have built in security and screen visitors as they come in. We reopened ours today also after we had that shooter last summer..I hope you learn from our incident. Wish you the best on you new capitol........

Congratulations! I found this article a joy to read. I hope in the near future to travel from my home here in Alberta Canada to tour this majestic building with my grandchildren and family members who do live in Utah. Sincere best wishes to all as they enjoy this splendid building and all it represents!

Granted, I am just a common man; one of the lowly of lowlies, I suppose. I acknowledge I am not one of the supposed "elite". I have a family. I work morning to night; pay my taxes; my children contribute significantly to our community; my wife and I are God fearing Christians who consistently put in well over 10 hours of volunteer service per week; yet, in spite of all this, I was not one of the "elite" who received a special invitation to something I have been looking forward too for some time; something my tax dollars went to support, just like everybody else. Let me say how disappointed I am in the leadership of this state; in the leadership of prominent religions and businesses. Shame on all of you for celebrating without the very people that support you. Shame on you for eating "finger food" paid for by us "commoners" shame on you for not sharing with us the beautiful music, fireworks (we too paid for), and the spirit of the moment. This was truly a disgrace to the orginal leadership allowing the 30,000 plus to participate. Your hypocratical actions, speaches, and prayer speak volumes.

I'll tail on to Matt's comment: Way too heavy on the churchs' affiliation for a dedication to a public building. A real affront to separation of church and state.

Two hundred million spent on this capital building here in Utah, while so very many starve. Looks like the dark age, middle ages, and so on. Nothing ever changes. Those who have place themselves so HIGH above others and rub the noses of the poor into the dirt. Nice state!

This was described as the Peoples House. It was unfortunate that the "people" were not invited to participate in this celebration. Granted there will be tours and such that will mark the occasion but the dedication should have been handled in such a way as to invite the "people". Either televised or held outside or some other way. Further, it was not very well publicized that this event was going to occur hence when we saw the fireworks it was a beautiful surprise. This special "invitation only" dedication was a mistake and did not mirror the original dedication attended by over 30,000.

Some of you people take things way to seriously, really.

I'm sorry you weren't, but in a state of over 2.5 million people, how would you choose who got invited?
Are you aware that KUED videotaped the event so everyone could see and hear it at a more convenient time?
How sad that you could not see the importance of having the founders of this state, and still majority of its residents, represented? It was totally non-religious, a typical American building dedication (including several prayers to the Christian god).

And the $200,000,000 -- such a great opportunity to demonstrate clearer thinking than the socialist mentality. It was distributed among working-class people, who earned it (and will also be taxed on it), and not handed over to our non-working neighbors. Much Charity for poor will result, but little would the other way around.

Finally, read the newspapers. It was only cautiously advertised because they weren't sure it would be finished, and it isn't completely.

anonymous/et al: nice try. so set on defending your religion and republicanism over socialism, you've completely missed the point. Why NOT invite all 2.5 million and what if they did show? Now that would be a great state; one for the record books! Whether you have the courage to admit this was wrong or not, the fact remains: it was simply wrong, fundamentaly wrong and represents all that is dark with separatist-centered leadership. This is not a typical "American" building. Okay, a private "American" building with a private guest party; you have an argument; but this building belongs to the people! I look to leadership that abhores enjoying themselves on the backs of the very people upon whose shoulders they stand. KUED? Cautiously advertised? Please provide your name so we all know who NOT to vote for in the future. I am most certain the leadership of the past turned in their graves over this one. Emotions aside; I do look forward to touring the capitol with my family and we will be attending. I wonder if they left us any "finger food," music, fireworks? At least they don't have to mingle with us though; how common.

Looks like comment 11:30 is a extremely compassionate person, and very well mannered person, who has probably never had to go without dime, Also, seems to know everything. Taxes are taxes! And everyone who pays them should have had the privilege to attend this ceremony. BUT who cares about the less fortunate tax payer, who is struggling to make it each month. And who is not setting behind some comfy desk job eating bong bongs.

What are bong bongs?

Bon-Bons are good, but bong bongs? Sounds like something that could get you high.

I guess if they don't set behind a desk and eat them than they wouldn't know what they were....lol! Otherwise I would have to agree with him.

They call it the people's house, yet it was an invitaion only dedication.

For all these republicans that cry fiscal restraint they sure know how to throw away taxpayers money. I think they should rent an empty industrial building with concrete floors and set up cubicles for the lawmakers with web cams in their cubicles so we can always check in on them.

I am proud to live in this wonderful state! We should be proud to have a building that is fitting to receive visitors from all over the world. It IS a public building- how many of you have attended a high school dance in the rotunda or gone on a tour? It wouldn't have made sense to open the entire dedication to the whole state! Do you also feel entitled to have free reign over your local grocery store's main offices? After all, you pay for them, too! Some of you will never be happy! So I say, congratulations to the state and to the workers who have re-created a place that we will all enjoy for centuries to come! To the dissenters-get a life and let the rest of us enjoy ours!

if a non-denominational prayer was offered....how quaint your tolerance...and i don't care about this but anonymous needs to get a life...starting to sound like your always tooting your own horn.

Mom of 5: Do you understand the difference between public and privately funded enterprises? I'll answer that, not a clue. Your pride is not misplaced but your intellect needs a bit of sharpening.

I don't think it was appropriate to have Gordon B. Hinckley offering the dedicatory prayer. This isn't a Mormon temple.

President Hinckley did great!!! I'm so thankful Utah still respects one of the greatest world religious leaders.

Stop Global Whining! Did you watch the dedication? It was on ch. 7 KUED live and rebroadcast again at 8 PM that same night. So everyone was invited to see it. There wasn't a lot of room to seat people in there. They said that they were duplicating as much as possible the original dedication including the time of day it was held. They told us that the Tab. Choir sang at the first dedication. I haven't checked but I suspect that the original dedicatory prayer was given by the Pres. of the LDS church. This area was settled by that church you know. It amazes me how many people want to pretend that the church didn't have any place in Utah or anywhere else. It is a fact that the LDS church has been and probably will always have a visible presence in this state. You can choose to accept that fact and move on with life or you can continue to show for prejudice and bigotry. They did have prayers given by other religions and a choir from the Catholic church, which can be seen behind Pres. Hinckley.