Paul Rolly: Vote may have cost a man's life
By Paul Rolly
Tribune Columnist
Salt Lake Tribune
Remember a few years ago when we, the voters of Utah, voted down a ballot initiative to increase taxes on hazardous waste that would have injected millions into public education and homeless shelters?
We instead embraced the argument that radioactive waste facilities shouldn't be exclusively taxed, because they need to keep more of their profits to buy naming rights from the Utah Jazz.
Well, the needs of the homeless and the helpless that we chose not to address in that vote hit home when 61-year-old Ron Pendleton apparently froze to death outside the Weigand Homeless Shelter across the street from the chic Gateway Center early Saturday morning.
Pendleton was staying at the St. Vincent de Paul Center, which is an overflow facility from the regular Weigand Homeless Shelter. The facility often is a shelter for homeless men who are inebriated or otherwise compromised, and Pendleton may have been in an altercation before he went outside. The entire homeless shelter complex is usually at or above its capacity of about 900 during the winter months.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5028733