This past week was a big week for Asian-Americans in media. “Crazy Rich Asians” topped the box office last weekend. Another film with an Asian-American lead, the Netflix original “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” has also been garnering a lot of online attention, and for good reason.

When I watched “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” it was the first time in my life that I have ever seen a young woman who looked like me play the lead role in an English-speaking movie that takes place in contemporary America. She wasn’t a sidekick. She wasn’t an extra. She didn’t have to put on a foreign accent. She was allowed to be an American teenage girl for the entire movie. And let me tell you — it’s a big deal.

To grow up in a society and never have any kind of imagery that reflects you limits the way you see the world. Your perception of self and what is possible becomes warped. After all, if you’ve never seen it, how do you know it’s possible?

Growing up in Utah, I didn’t see very many people who looked like me in school, in public or in leadership. This isn’t a surprise, considering that Asians make up approximately 3 percent of Utah’s population.

I spent my teenage years thinking that being a good Asian meant I had to fit stereotypes of getting good grades, working in science and technology and not being opinionated. It wasn’t until adulthood that I realized that these stereotypes do not have to define my reality. I can’t help but think how different my life would have been if I could have seen Asian-Americans on film or television as romantic leads, community leaders, artists or musicians.

These movies are not representative of the depth, breadth and diversity of Asian-American experiences, but they are important because of the sheer scarcity of Asian representation on film. A study by University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism revealed that Asians made up only about 1 percent of leading roles in films. Asians have been nearly invisible in Hollywood history, so two mainstream releases featuring Asian actors in lead roles in one weekend seems like an accomplishment akin to the moon landing.

In “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” the heroine, Lara Jean, realizes that she can no longer pretend she is invisible when her secret love letters are sent to all her past crushes. “Crazy Rich Asians” highlights a gamut of character profiles, finally giving Asian actors the freedom to portray more than just a stereotype. On the surface, these two movies are innocuous romantic comedies, but upon deeper reflection there is a greater takeaway from this weekend’s box office success.

Like Lara Jean, Asian-Americans can’t be afraid to step out into the limelight. It is time to be the lead roles in our lives, our professions and our local communities.

Cynthia Chen is a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit professional who works in creative youth development at Spy Hop Productions.

Blessington, Ireland • When St. John Paul II visited Ireland in 1979, the Catholic Church wielded such power that homosexuality, divorce, abortion and contraception were barely spoken of, much less condoned. Catholic bishops had advised the authors of Ireland’s constitution and still held sway.

Today, as Pope Francis prepares to visit, the Catholic Church enjoys no such influence.

As once-isolated Ireland experienced a tide of secularism and an economic boom that opened it to the world, the church largely lost its centrality in Irish life.

Then the church — while still maintaining a stronghold on education and health care in Ireland — lost its moral credibility after revelations of the widespread sexual abuse of children in its churches, the physical torture of youngsters in its schools and the humiliation of women in its workhouses.

If that weren’t enough, an amateur Irish historian researching the deaths of some 800 youngsters discovered a mass grave in a sewage area at a church-run orphanage where the children had been sent. Their sin for being exiled to the home and buried in an unmarked grave? The shame of having been born to an unwed mother.

Francis will be confronted with that haunting past when he visits Ireland this weekend to close out the Vatican’s big Catholic family rally. The event, scheduled three years ago, had been aimed at boosting the church’s visibility and voice, but a fresh wave of scandal across the Atlantic has overshadowed the visit.

“I have no trouble nailing my colors to the mast that I am a practicing Catholic,” said Carmel Dillon, principal of St. Mary’s junior school in the picturesque town of Blessington, southwest of Dublin. “However, it is becoming more difficult in circles to state that you are a Catholic.”

Ahead of the visit, a “Say Nope to the Pope” campaign has attracted a strong following and peaceful protests have been planned. Posters were put up around Dublin featuring an upside-down Holy See flag to “depict the lifelong suffering and anguish that clerical sexual abuse has left.”

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Francis knows well that “any trip to Ireland was not only going to be about the family.” But he said family life would still be the focus, even if Francis will be meeting with abuse victims during his 36-hour visit.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born, U.S.-raised official in charge of Catholic families at the Vatican, said he expected that Francis would speak out about all kinds of abuses suffered by the Irish, including families who lost children during “the troubles,” Northern Ireland’s decadeslong bloody sectarian conflict.

“I do not think that these wounds are easily healed,” Farrell told The Associated Press. “I do think, though, that it’s time for the church once again to make itself known, in a new image of the church. An image that’s more open, more caring, more understanding of the reality of the lives of people today.”

That is not the Catholic Church of Ireland’s past.

During the past 10 years, a series of government-initiated investigations have uncovered the horrific secrets that the Irish church had long sought to bury, like the remains of children at the Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway.

The reports have detailed how tens of thousands of children suffered wide-ranging abuses in church-run workhouse-style institutions, how Irish bishops shuttled known pedophiles around the country and to unwitting parishes in the U.S. and Australia, and how Dublin bishops didn’t tell police of any crimes by clerics until forced to by lawsuits in the mid-1990s.

The Irish church eventually unveiled a policy requiring the mandatory reporting of all suspected sex crimes to police, but the policy was rejected by the Vatican in 1997. That position, combined with the Vatican’s refusal to cooperate in the fact-finding probes, prompted one of the inquiries to find the Vatican itself culpable in promoting a culture of cover-up.

In response, Ireland’s then-Prime Minister Enda Kenny issued a blistering attack on the Vatican in Parliament in 2011, accusing it of downplaying the rape of children to protect its own power and reputation.

Kenny’s speech, in which he denounced “the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism ... the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day,” led to a diplomatic standoff that only really ended when Ireland reopened the Vatican embassy in 2014 after closing it for nearly three years.

Irish academics see Kenny’s speech as the final nail in the coffin of the once-symbiotic relationship of church and state that had so characterized Irish life.

It was “a moment that encapsulated the fall from grace of an institution which had hitherto been culturally indistinguishable from Ireland as a nation,” according to the 2017 book “Tracing the Cultural Legacy of Irish Catholicism: From Galway to Cloyne and Beyond.”

In the years since Kenny’s speech, Irish voters have overturned the country’s constitutional ban on abortion and legalized same-sex marriage. And in the years after John Paul’s 1979 visit, Ireland decriminalized homosexuality and legalized contraception and divorce.

And while Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has won plaudits from sex abuse survivors for spearheading the cleanup of the Irish church, survivors want Francis now to atone for the Vatican’s sins in the cover-up.

Francis needs to “admit and acknowledge and own the fact that the Roman Catholic Church at the global level, directed by the Vatican, has covered up the crimes of priests,” said Colm O’Gorman, an abuse survivor who is leading a rally Sunday with other victims and supporters.

But sex abuse survivors are not the only ones demanding accountability — or at the very least a word of regret — from the pope.

Catherine Corless, whose research into the deaths of some 800 children at the Tuam orphanage pointed to the mass grave, is seeking an apology for the survivors and their families, many of whom are still churchgoing Catholics.

“They’re not asking for much,” she told the AP. “It would mean so much for the church to say ‘What happened was wrong.’”

Ever since her discovery was corroborated by a survey of the grounds last year, Corless, former Tuam residents and the families of Tuam victims have been petitioning church and state officials to unearth the grave and give its children a proper church burial.

“Who puts babies in a sewage area? Just the thought of it,” she said, trailing off. “That’s how little they thought of these poor little things.”

Winfield reported from Rome. Leo Enright contributed from Blessington.

The Utah Supreme Court decided Friday that the Count My Vote initiative will not appear on the Nov. 6 ballot, rejecting arguments that the state’s referendum process is unconstitutionally tilted and unfair.

Count My Vote collected more than 132,000 verified voter signatures to qualify initially for the ballot, but opponents torpedoed it by convincing a relative handful of people in two Senate districts to withdraw signatures during a 30-day review window.

The court issued only a short order, and said that its written opinions and any dissents explaining the decision will follow later. The court was under pressure to rule by next Thursday, the deadline for Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox to certify the final ballot to allow printing before early copies are sent to the military and other voters overseas.

Count My Vote’s initiative sought to solidify and tweak a 2014 state election law, called SB54, that allows candidates to qualify for a primary election by gathering signatures and/or through the traditional caucus-convention system.

The Utah Republican Party has sued to overturn that law, so far unsuccessfully. Conservatives argue signature-gathering allows candidates to advance who are “Republicans in name only.” Moderates say returning to the old system, where only party convention delegates picked most nominees, would give the right wing too much power, and lead to extreme candidates outside the political mainstream.

“We’re comforted by virtue of the fact that SB54 still exists and creates the dual path to the ballot,” said Rich McKeown, executive co-chairman of Count My Vote. “Our desire was for the voters to have a chance to improve it and adopt it with the resoluteness that only voters can supply.”

Leaders of the Keep My Voice opposition to SB54 did not return The Tribune’s request for comment.

McKeown said his group will continue to push “efforts to implement laws that will give Utah voters the maximum opportunity for participation, and we’ll pursue every opportunity that makes sense.”

That may not include, however, pushing the initiative again, at least under the current rules.

“I’ve actually come to believe that the current process will leave us with an impossibility of getting on the ballot by initiative. I don’t think that any initiative that has a well-organized or well-funded opposition can survive the assault of name removal in a select number of districts," McKeown said.

To qualify for the ballot, state law requires an initiative to collect signatures totaling 10 percent of the votes cast in the last presidential election — now about 113,000 statewide — but also requires meeting that 10 percent mark in 26 of the state’s 29 Senate districts.

Count My Vote failed by about a combined 100 signatures in two Senate districts after opponents waged a campaign to persuade people there to remove signatures.

McKeown said under current rules it may require gathering more than 200,000 signatures to ensure success, which makes it expensive and difficult.

In oral arguments earlier this month, Count My Vote attorney Matthew Cannon argued the process is so unfair that “a single motivated group, or an individual, could single-handedly keep any initiative off the ballot.”

But the state’s lawyer, Solicitor General Tyler R. Green, argued the 30-day period for name removal is a protection against fraud, allowing people to remove signatures in case of forgery or where they were led to believe they were signing something else.

Morgan Philpot, attorney for Keep My Voice, told justices that such fraud did occur — but justices said that was not proven in evidence given to them.

After the ruling Friday, the progressive-leaning Alliance for a Better Utah called Friday for a legislative fix to the initiative process.

“A small fraction of the population should not have the ability to negate the will of tens of thousands of Utahns,” said Chase Thomas, policy and advocacy counsel for Alliance for a Better Utah.

“The glaring disparity between the signature gathering and signature removal processes must be addressed,” he said. “We call on our legislators to close the signature-removal loophole and provide a fair opportunity for voters to express their views at the polls.”

The Utah State soccer team has postponed Friday’s scheduled match against rival Utah due to poor air quality.

As of noon on Friday, Logan and the surrounding area is at a 158 on the Air Quality Index, with 150 being considered an unsafe level for any physical exertion outside.

Utah State and Utah are looking to reschedule Friday's match. Further information will be released when a date and time have been set.

Due to the game rescheduling, the pregame Utah Youth Soccer Association Clinic scheduled for Friday has also been postponed. The Utah Youth Soccer Clinic will now take place on Friday, Sept. 14, following the match against Eastern Washington.

Can novels where bodices rip and manhoods throb be considered sacred?

The creator of a new podcast says the answer is an emphatic, “Yes! Oh, yes!”

“For something to be sacred, the way we think about it, it has to teach you to be better at loving,” said Vanessa Zoltan, the 36-year-old who created the podcast, which will be called, ahem, “Hot and Bothered.”

The show encourages listeners to write their own romance novels as a sacred practice.

“This will be a place where people can think out loud about what love is. Romantic love or friendship or hospitality — whatever. It will be a place of imagination, and I think that is a virtuous thing,” she said. Then she added: “And romance novels are more fun to talk about than Leviticus. I have done both and I stand by that.”

The podcast will premiere in October and appear weekly through the end of the year. And while some traditional believers may roll their eyes, Zoltan and the band of 20- and 30-something wannabe writers she has lined up to contribute to “Hot and Bothered” say it is another example of how their millennial generation is breaking with traditional religious practices to create meaning in new ways.

“The church for many people is a gift, but for others it is a place of trauma, a place where they have been told that not all of their identity is welcome,” said Zoltan, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School. “Those people are leaving the church, and we need to come up with new spiritual technologies.”

Culturally Jewish and a self-identified atheist, Zoltan herself could be a poster child for the new millennial brand of spirituality.

At Harvard, she studied Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” as a sacred text. Then she co-founded “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text,” a podcast exploring the meaning of friendship, power, grief, integrity and other themes through the J.K. Rowling novels. It is now one of iTunes’ most popular podcasts, with nine million downloads a year.

Her new podcast project was born after the 2016 election, when Zoltan found herself obsessing over the news to the point of sleeplessness. The only thing that offered relief, she found, was reading romances — novels whose lurid, louche covers open upon worlds where everyone is beautiful, the good always triumph, the bad are always punished and, above all, love always wins. She read 27 of them in 60 days.

Then she started writing one.

That led to deep conversations with friends about the nature of love, the value of fidelity, the power of sacrifice and more. It wasn’t long before she thought, “This would make a good podcast.”

But can writing a romance be a sacred practice? “In order for something to be sacred it needs three things,” Zoltan said. “It needs faith, rigor and community.” Faith that the act of writing can bring real blessings, rigor in the commitment to write regularly and community in the podcast’s listeners and team.

Brent Plate, who teaches courses on religion and popular culture at Hamilton College, says “Hot and Bothered” is a good example of how millennials are redefining religion for themselves.

“Millennials are perhaps the first generation in which a broad swath of them grew up without traditional religious practices,” he said in an email. “This has allowed them to rethink and reimagine the need for a community of people to come together for a common activity and common interest, so they are making communal rituals out of going to music festivals, cosplay, and writing romance novels together. The content has changed, but the form hasn’t.”

Rethinking and reimagining do not mean replacing. Zoltan is not suggesting listeners write steamy scenes instead of going to church, temple or mosque. “I am definitely not saying this should take the place of any spiritual practice people already have,” she said. “But, like St. Augustine said, anything that makes you better at loving is a good thing.”

Ariana Nedelman, a 26-year-old Harvard Divinity School graduate who produces the Harry Potter podcast, will produce “Hot and Bothered” as well. “The loneliness and lostness of my generation means we are looking for a communal life that makes sense of the big questions — where do we go when we die, etc.,” Nedelman said. “Asking questions in community is right for us in a spiritual sense.”

For the podcast, Zoltan will be joined by a team of writers — from bestseller Julia Quinn to novices — who discuss a common romance trope on each episode: love at first sight, marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers and so on. Listeners will be encouraged to write their own romances and to share their writing experience with others in small, local groups. “Our dream is people listen to the podcast and then find each other and partner up,” Zoltan said.

The goal is not to publish but to explore what is sacred about human relationships. “For me, being a spiritual person means being a good person,” said Sejah Patel, a San Francisco-based public interest lawyer who is one of the writers who will be featured in the podcast. She is Hindu, and she is 30,000 words into her novel.

“So to me a spiritual practice is simply how am I putting what I consider to be good into the world. And I believe I am putting good in the world because the writing is bringing me joy, the joy is allowing me to do my job, and my job is helping people. I can only do that with enthusiasm and freshness if my soul feels full and happy and not depleted.”

Plate sees “Hot and Bothered” as evidence of the malaise afflicting traditional religious institutions. “The old-school, churchgoing Christians, I think they’re going to have to realize that their stories and rituals no longer meet the bodily and communal needs of people,” he said.

But can writing romance novels, even with faith, rigor and community, serve up the spiritual sustenance of traditional religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam? Only if it moves beyond individual fulfillment, Plate thinks. But perhaps it really can.

Kyle Whittingham laughed at the intent and implication of the follow-up question.

When he recently was asked what made him feel positive about the 2018 season, his 14th in the left seat of the cockpit at Utah, he rattled off a list of explanations, all of them having to do with individual and collective strengths of his players. They are talented, they are conscientious, they are diligent, they are leaders, they are two or three deep at most positions.

“I can’t wait to watch them play,” he said. “We have a chance to be a pretty good football team. There are a lot of reasons for optimism here.”

Great coaching, too?

“Yeah,” he said, pausing long enough for better effect. “All the coaches … uh, except for the head coach.”

As he praised others, as he deprecated himself with a smirk, as he spoke those words — We have a chance to be a pretty good football team? Are you kidding me? — Whittingham, after all these years, darn near morphed into the legend who helped carve him into the coach he’s become. He sounded like his own college coach … LaVell Edwards.

There are some differences between the two — Edwards drove a Pontiac, Whittingham drives a Porsche — but the similarities are distinct, foremost among them longevity. Edwards lasted 29 years at BYU, a tenure not likely to be matched in the swirl of modern-day coaching, where volatility rules. Whittingham, though, is on his way, which is to say, he’s going nowhere.

Edwards was once tempted by an offer to coach the Detroit Lions. Whittingham could have left Utah, could have taken a quality job elsewhere, but … why? The only serious threat to sheer him loose from his moorings came in a dispute with former Utah athletic director Chris Hill. That was eventually tucked away.

For Edwards, BYU wasn’t perfect, but it was home. For Whittingham, same thing with Utah. He has found success, and relished it, at a place others might use with the same number of wins as a stepping stone.

Whittingham, like Edwards, has transformed his football program, in his case benefiting from the foundation built by Ron McBride and Urban Meyer, and utilizing the opportunity presented when Utah landed in the Pac-12. Everyone partied that day in 2010, in a large suite at Rice-Eccles Stadium when the red-and-white balloons flew and the announcement was made that the Utes were leaving the Mountain West and heading to the Rose Bowl’s league. Everyone but Whittingham. Again, like Edwards, he was happy on the inside, but granite-faced, concerned, on the exterior.

He should have been. He knew, more than anybody, how challenging the move would be. Beating New Mexico and Air Force and Colorado State was one thing; beating USC and Stanford and Oregon was another.

Seven seasons into the fray, starting the eighth in the weeks ahead, Whittingham has bridged the gap from that lesser league to a greater one, a gap that was wide, one that could have seen the program fly off a cliff, spiral downward, crashing hard, plumbing the depths.

Well. The undefeated seasons are over, along with the complaints that the mainstream doesn’t appreciate the good things the Utes accomplish. The climb in the Pac-12 is arduous, and it always will be, but the fact is Utah belongs, not just in name, not simply because the powers-that-be invited it in, rather because Utah football is rock solid.

Who is the constant in all of that? Whittingham.

Ask any Pac-12 coach how he feels about having to play the Utes at Rice-Eccles on an October night, and any of them will look at you as though he’s landing at Normandy. They know the defense will be fierce, the opposing minds will be tough, the hitting will be hard, the winning problematic. That’s a reflection of the head coach.

There have been bumps along the way, criticisms, too.

Last season, when Whittingham called a timeout near the end of the Washington game in hopes that his defense would stop the Huskies and allow his offense to set up kicker Matt Gay for a long walk-off field goal, that bit of aggression bit him, giving Washington time to score and win. It happens.

Even legends endure that. Over his final four seasons at BYU, against competition that pales compared to what Whittingham’s teams face, Edwards lost 20 of 49 games, and he heard the complaints, but didn’t allow them to cut too deep. He powered on, finishing with an all-time record of 257-101-3, and the school named its stadium after him.

Utah’s offense under Whittingham has struggled — the passing game in particular. The quarterbacking has been inconsistent. The churn of offensive coordinators has been silly. The month of November, after many promising starts, has been troubling. The Utes have never won the South division. But the overall result has been as good as any realistic, reasonable observer could have expected.

Since coming into the Pac-12 in 2011, Utah has posted the following records, in league and overall: 4-5, 8-5; 3-6, 5-7; 2-7, 5-7; 5-4, 9-4; 6-3, 10-3; 5-4, 9-4; 3-6, 7-6.

Recruiting has been the biggest challenge, and steadily the Utes are making upgrades. Heading into this season, they are deeper than they’ve ever been, and, Whittingham said, as talented.

Overall, the coach’s mark at Utah is 111-56. Unlike Edwards, he’s prospered in bowl games, with a record of 11-1. That all should be appreciated, especially given the transformation the program has undergone.

Whittingham, like Edwards did, will continue to win as long as he stays in the game. He’s reached a rare position for a Division I head football coach — he’s comfortable, but still driven to do more. He’s figured out how to win. And barring the completely unexpected, he will have done the entirety of his winning — and losing — at one school, the place that’s become his home.

GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Jake Scott weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.

About 100 small dogs are being removed from a Taylorsville home in what city officials say is "the biggest and worst" animal hoarding case they've seen.

Animal officers from multiple agencies removed 68 of the dogs, mostly chihuahua and terrier mixes, Thursday, and were still trying to catch the remaining dogs after rounding up 10 more Friday, at a house near 5700 Easton Street, said David Moss, director of animal services for Taylorsville and West Valley City.

"They were all over the place," Moss said. "Surprisingly, they're in fairly decent condition. [The owner] was feeding them; they're a healthy weight. There are some we're going to need to get to a veterinarian, but most of them are in fair condition."

Investigators aren't certain where all of the dogs came from, but 10 to 15 are puppies, which indicates the dogs have been breeding, Moss said.

The city's animal shelter already was nearing capacity when the dogs were discovered. Animal service workers from West Jordan and South Jordan, as well as Salt Lake County were helping to care for them.

"Right now we're doubling and tripling them up," Moss said.

The city is asking the owner to give up the dogs permanently, Moss said. If she refuses, the city will seek a court order.

The dogs likely will be placed in rescues and foster homes, and Moss said he was "very confident" they eventually will go to homes. Most of the dogs have been well-behaved and any that display aggression will be sent to rescues for rehabilitation, Moss said. The Taylorsville shelter is a no-kill shelter.

"The last time we had a case like this, the public responded really great and within a few weeks all the dogs [were out of the shelter]," Moss said, referring to the discovery of nearly 60 poodles in a Taylorsville home in 2016.

Moss wouldn't discuss what, if any, charges the owner may face. He referred those questions to the Taylorsville city attorney, who had not returned The Salt Lake Tribune's calls as of Friday afternoon.

According to Taylorsville’s city code, residents may not own more than “two adult dogs, cats, or ferrets of any one species and no more than four total dogs, cats or ferrets in any combination.”

The Mormon Land newsletter is a weekly highlight reel of developments in and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whether heralded in headlines, preached from the pulpit or buzzed about on the back benches. Want Mormon Land in your inbox? Subscribe here.

This week’s podcast: ‘Mormon’ — past, present and future

Church President Russell M. Nelson issued a one-paragraph statement last week directing members, the media and others to use the full, formal name of the Utah-based faith and urging them to do away with the shorter but more widely known terms “Mormon” and “LDS.”

His statement totaled only 71 words, but it prompted tens of thousands more to be published on the topic. The implications, you see, could be wide-ranging and long-lasting.

In this week’s podcast, Latter-day Saint scholar Richard Bushman looks back at the historical uses of the term “Mormon” and the evolution of the church’s name along with the opportunity members now have to engage in a deeper conversation about their religion.

In addition, former Utah lawmaker Stuart Reid, who used to work in the church’s public affairs department, discusses the reasons for this and past naming campaigns with a particular eye toward the future.

In short, he says, Nelson is preparing the church and its followers for Christ’s eventual return.

Listen here.

Name is ‘not negotiable’

Another important point on this naming push: Even if people don’t immediately fall in, they should know that top church leaders are all-in.

“There is such unity in the [governing] First Presidency and the Twelve [apostles] on this subject,” apostle Neil L. Andersen said during a visit with Nelson to Canada. “The president has spoken; the Lord has spoken to the president.”

For his part, the Latter-day Saint prophet reaffirmed his commitment to the cause while acknowledging that it won’t be easy.

“We know that it's going to be a challenge to undo tradition of more than a hundred years,” Nelson stated. “ … The Lord said the name of the church shall be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Period. And that’s not negotiable.”

As for abandoning the nicknames “Mormon” and “LDS,” he said “we just want to correct an error. That’s all. … It’s not Mormon’s church. It’s not Moses’ church. It’s the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Looking at Ordain Women’s wins and losses

It might be tempting to say that Ordain Women, which turned 5 years old this year, has failed. After all, the church still doesn’t grant the priesthood to women, the group’s principal goal.

But many observers say such an assessment would be wrong, especially if one counts the “baby steps” the faith has made toward greater gender equity since the group’s founding.

April Young Bennett, a former OW executive board member, recently blogged — at Exponent II and OW — about 13 lessons she learned in helping to launch the grass-roots organization.

Among them:

• A movement needs more than one public face. “Too many media interactions were delegated to one person, Kate Kelly, because she was charismatic and willing. We quickly realized that this strategy was backfiring,” Bennett writes. “Kate had a target on her back [she was excommunicated in 2014] and the focus on her was giving the wrong impression — that Ordain Women was the pet project of one person instead of a movement with broad and diverse support among Mormons.”

• Falling short of the summit doesn’t mean you haven’t climbed higher up the mountain. “Since Ordain Women launched, the church has changed long-standing, seemingly permanent policies that discriminated against women,” she notes. “ … Before Ordain Women, even talking about whether Mormon women want the priesthood was taboo. Almost instantly after Ordain Women’s launch, conversations about women and priesthood became commonplace.”

• The church can silence many by punishing a few. “In the internet age, we thought, there were too many venues where we could raise our voices and too many of us to excommunicate,” Bennett says. “We didn’t think the church would risk the bad PR that would result from silencing us. We were wrong. ... Going after just a few public faces [even if they didn’t actually violate any church rules] is enough to scare most people into submission.”

Split decision in marijuana fight

After issuing a string of messages stating their concerns about a Utah initiative on medical marijuana, Latter-day Saint leaders made their position clear this week on a number of questions:

• Do they oppose the medical use of marijuana? No.

• Do they oppose the state’s ballot proposal? Yes.

Why the apparent disconnect?

“The church does not object to the medicinal use of marijuana, if doctor-prescribed, in dosage form, through a licensed pharmacy,” Elder Jack N. Gerard, a general authority Seventy, said. “We are deeply concerned by the history of other states that have allowed for medical or recreational use of this drug without the proper controls and have experienced serious consequences to the health and safety of their citizens.”

And Utah’s Proposition 2 lacks those safeguards, said Gerard, uniting his voice to a coalition of medical experts, clergy, law enforcement, educators and business leaders against the measure.

A church news release says an email will be sent to Utah Latter-day Saints urging them to vote against Prop 2.

The latest church statement, however, left unanswered another question: Will this position affect the standing of members in the dozens of states where medical marijuana is legal but not dispensed through a pharmacy?

Oh G’s

Edgy comedian David Cross of “Arrested Development” fame created a stir — and pumped up interest in his Utah appearance — when he tweeted a doctored photo that depicted him in Latter-day Saint temple garments.

After several days of critics accusing him of religious bigotry and supporters defending him on free speech grounds, Cross took the stage at the University of Utah and — unloaded yet again.

He said he never dreamed that “underwear” and “sacred” could be used in unison, “but when they’re put together, they’re hilarious.”

In 2015, the church released photos and a video showing garments. It also stated that “Latter-day Saints seek the same respect and sensitivity regarding our sacred clothing as shown to those of other faiths who wear religious vestments.”

New Zealand temple getting new look

On April 20, 1958, then-church President David O. McKay dedicated a temple in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Like most structures built more than 60 years ago, it’s time for an upgrade — in this case, according to a news release, a seismic retrofit, refreshed finishes and furnishings, improved mechanical systems and enhanced landscaping.

The landmark temple is expected to reopen in 2021.

A textbook case

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has revised a fitness textbook, written by two Brigham Young University professors, that drew fire for calling cancer a “disease of choice” and including a theory that critics say asserts some Holocaust victims failed to tap their inner strength.

The News & Observer reported that the school worked with the publisher of “21st Century Wellness” to make “multiple edits to the content and length of the book.”

Co-author Ron Hager, associate professor of exercise sciences at BYU, defended the the volume and its aim to promote health lifestyles.

“One of the overriding purposes of our text is to encourage and empower individuals to take responsibility for their own good health through the everyday choices they make,” he wrote to The News & Observer. “... Without question, choices can and do have consequences and there is ample evidence of various kinds ... that show certain behaviors within our control can contribute to increased risk of disease.”

Hager says the reference about a theory by psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl simply mentioned “that a sense of inherent self-worth can be a source of strength or motivation that can help those struggling, in this case in concentration camps but also for anyone.”

A new gateway to family history

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to — do genealogy.

Family history hounds now have easy digital access to sniff out nearly 64 million names of immigrants, crew members and other passengers passing through Ellis Island, for decades the chief gateway to the United States.

“This online database contains family connections for more than 100 million Americans living today,” a church news release says. “Originally preserved on microfilm, 9.3 million images of historical New York passenger records spanning 130 years were digitized and indexed in a massive effort by 165,590 online FamilySearch volunteers.”

The collection, covering 1820 to 1957, can be viewed at FamilySearch.org (the church’s genealogical arm) and the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation.

Quote of the week

Mormon Land is a weekly newsletter written by David Noyce and Peggy Fletcher Stack. Subscribe here.

Provo • Don’t tell anyone, but BYU football coach Kalani Sitake and his staff gambled a lot during preseason training camp, which concluded Thursday with a scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

It appears that they won, for the most part.

“We couldn’t have written it any better, the way things ended up,” Sitake said.

The third-year coach took some major risks by having the Cougars play as much real football as possible in camp — coaches call it “live work” — and there was more contact and hitting than likely ever before in August in Provo. Even the quarterbacks were allowed to be tackled at times, although not as much as last spring.

Sitake hit the jackpot because only two major injuries were reported, and neither came during contact drills; Backup fullback Johnny Tapusoa (a former linebacker) suffered an undisclosed injury and cornerback Trevion Greene sustained an ACL injury; Both are likely lost for the season.

“Going into fall camp, I think we were a little nervous. I know I was, because we knew what we needed to get done and that a lot of live work was required,” Sitake said. “We were just hoping we could get out of it injury free. At the same time, it is a physical, violent game and guys get hurt. We have been really lucky and fortunate that we haven’t had any serious injuries in those live reps.”

Sitake said the Cougars suffered a few minor injuries. For instance, quarterback-turned-running back Beau Hoge hasn’t participated in more than a week, promising freshman receiver Gunner Romney has a nagging quad injury that limited his reps in camp and defensive lineman Wayne Tei-Kirby hasn’t done much due to a knee injury.

“It has been a physical fall camp,” Sitake said. “I think we are ready to scale back on the physical part of it and start getting the mental part of it ready and getting our team ready to go play.”

The Cougars open the season a week from today at Arizona, which is picked to finish third in the Pac-12 South after going 7-6 last season. The Wildcats have a new coach, Kevin Sumlin, but are still led by Heisman Trophy candidate Kahlil Tate, an explosive quarterback.

Much of the focus during the offseason and in preseason camp was on the offense, and rightfully so after last season’s dismal showing resulted in the dismissal of Ty Detmer.

New offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes said his plan of attack has been completely installed and nodded affirmatively when asked if the Cougars could play today if they needed to.

“We certainly could,” he said. “We’ve done everything we’ve needed to do other than spending a lot of time prepping for our first opponent. So we are not ready to play them, but in terms of us being game-ready, we’re there.”

Discipline and avoiding penalties have been emphasized in camp, with punishment meted out by Grimes for missteps in team situations. Grimes and quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Aaron Roderick whittled the quarterback race to senior Tanner Mangum and freshman Zach Wilson midway through camp, but had not announced a starter as of midday Friday.

Mangum has gotten more first-team reps the past week, according to those who have observed practices and the scrimmage.

Another big question mark entering camp was at the pass-catching positions, receiver and tight end. Freshman Dallin Holker has emerged at tight end to push Matt Bushman for playing time there, while sophomore Neil Pau’u and junior Akile Davis have improved considerably at receiver.

Receivers “are probably the group with the biggest chip on their shoulders out here. They understand that they have a lot to prove. They are getting better all the time. I think there is some depth there, but we gotta prove it,” Roderick said.

Special teams coach Ed Lamb reported that freshman Skyler Southam will be the place-kicker. Rhett Almond and Danny Jones have different styles and strengths and could both be used at punter. Aleva Hifo and sixth-year senior Matt Hadley will return kickoffs, while Michael Shelton will start the season as the primary punt returner.

Defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki said the move of safety Zayne Anderson to the flash linebacker spot manned last year by Fred Warner of the San Francisco 49ers has been “a good one,” and noted that the defense found its way the latter half of camp after getting pushed around by the offense the first few weeks.

Fort Yates, N.D. • Standing on a bison pelt, Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving was smudged with sacred grasses, presented with traditional quilts and eagle feathers and given a Lakota name that means “Little Mountain” as he was welcomed Thursday into his mother’s Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

The All-Star guard and his sister, model Asia Irving, visited the tribe’s reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border for a daylong celebration recognizing their tribal heritage and support for the tribe’s long battle against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

In front of a packed auditorium, they were honored with Lakota names during a ritual that tribal spokeswoman Danielle Finn said “is a very special rite of passage for a Lakota person.”

Kyrie Irving’s Lakota name, Hela, is roughly pronounced (HAY’-law) and means “Little Mountain.” Asia Irving’s name, Tatanka Winyan, (tuh-TONG’-kuh WEE’-yun) means “Buffalo Woman.” Both are associated with their White Mountain family.

The Irvings’ late mother, Elizabeth Ann Larson, was a member of the tribe and lived on the reservation until her adoption at a young age. Their late grandmother and great-grandparents also have ties to the reservation.

The siblings were greeted by hordes of fans, many wearing green T-shirts with the Standing Rock Sioux seal, Kyrie Irving’s uniform number, 11, and the words “Welcome Home Kyrie Irving.”

“It truly is a good day for Standing Rock,” tribal Chairman Mike Faith said, turning to the Irvings. “For you two, welcome home.”

Many in the crowd, including Char White Mountain, consider the siblings to be part of their family.

“We want him to know who his relatives are,” she said. “We definitely don’t want him to think we’re people using him for his money. He’s family.”

Jewel Felix, who considers Kyrie Irving her nephew, said she became emotional when she heard he was coming.

“I started crying,” she said. “I can’t believe it’s happening.”

The feeling was apparently mutual.

“This is finally meeting my mom’s family in their home. ... This is family for me now,” Kyrie Irving said, calling it “a very special day.”

Todd Giroux, a 14-year-old high school junior and point guard for the Standing Rock basketball team, said Irving became his hero when the star gave him an autograph at a Celtics game against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis. Giroux came to Thursday’s event wearing an Irving jersey.

“It’s amazing,” he said, adding “it makes it even cooler” that Irving in late 2016 expressed support on Twitter for tribal efforts to lead the battle against the pipeline, which opponents believe threatens the tribe’s Missouri River water supply. Thousands of people traveled to the reservation area in 2016 and 2017 to protest, with hundreds being arrested. The pipeline began operating in June 2017, but the Standing Rock tribe is leading a court battle to try to shut it down.

Kyrie Irving discussed his Sioux heritage during a January 2017 interview with ESPN, saying “there’s a home connection” with the tribe’s pipeline struggles and that he wanted to have a legacy outside of basketball. Irving this year asked Nike to put Standing Rock’s seal on a new sneaker. He also has a tattoo of the Standing Rock logo on his neck. Thursday’s visit left him with an even greater appreciation of his roots.

“I had no idea how inclusive this group is and what it means to be part of Standing Rock, be part of the united Sioux nation,” he said.

Irving, who won an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, was born in Australia and grew up in West Orange, New Jersey. He played one season at Duke University before joining the Cavaliers as the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

An Idaho man will have to cough up cash and endure some public humiliation after pleading guilty to scratching graffiti in southern Utah’s Corona Arch.

Ryan Bird Andersen, 45, has reached an agreement and pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of defacing a natural feature, U.S. Attorney for Utah John W. Huber’s office announced Friday.

Andersen has agreed to pay the maximum fine of $1,000, as well as $858.32 in restitution to the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the arch formation near Moab, and a $30 processing fee.

The Idaho Falls man also made a public statement to apologize and take responsibility for his actions.

“Although I have resolved my case with the government, I will remain committed to helping ensure that our public lands remain pristine,” Andersen wrote. “In the future, I hope that others can learn from my mistakes and always act responsibility with our natural resources.”

Andersen had been vacationing with his family at Corona Arch last March, when he scratched a heart, along with his and his wife’s initials, in the rock. According to FOX 13, Andersen apologized online after a photo of the family at the graffiti site made the rounds on social media, and people started posting negative comments about his family business.

Andersen’s guilty plea will be held in abeyance for 18 months. In that time, Andersen is barred from entering or using any federally managed public land, except for necessary travel.

Huber said Andersen’s actions were “troubling to us and anyone who values Utah’s beautiful public lands. People travel from around the world to visit these spectacular resources. Mr. Andersen learned a valuable lesson from this prosecution.”

Corona Arch is a popular hiking spot among southern Utah’s redrocks. It gained wider notice when adrenaline junkies turned the arch into a YouTube-friendly 100-foot pendulum swing— until the BLM banned all rope activities there in 2015.

On the same day the LDS Church announced it does not oppose the use of medical marijuana — under controlled, physician-administered circumstances — the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging a Utah legalization effort pivoted away from claims that proximity to cannabis use violates Mormon religious beliefs.

The group’s lawsuit now focuses on the rights of property owners and landlords. Plaintiffs say landlords would be prohibited under Proposition 2 from denying housing to medical marijuana patients, or from charging extra rental and cleaning fees to repair the property damage caused by routine marijuana use.

“Cannabis in all its forms is a pungent, odorous substance which produces a stench which lingers for months and years in spaces where it is regularly consumed,” an amended complaint, filed Thursday in Utah’s 3rd District Court, states.

Last week, the lawsuit was filed seeking to halt the placement of Proposition 2 on the November ballot, claiming the initiative is improper due to its violation of state and federal law. If approved, Proposition 2 would legalize medical marijuana in the state for patients who obtain a physician’s recommendation.

The original lawsuit also claimed that the legalization of medical marijuana would violate the religious beliefs of Walter J. Plumb, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the primary financier of Drug Safe Utah, a coalition opposing Proposition 2.

“This [religious exercise] includes the right not to consort with, be around, or do business with people engaging in activities which their religion finds repugnant,” the lawsuit stated.

On Thursday, Elder Jack N. Gerard, an LDS general authority Seventy, participated in a Drug Safe Utah press conference opposing the medical marijuana initiative. In addition to supporting the coalition’s joint statement, Gerard announced that the LDS Church does not object to the medical use of marijuana “if doctor prescribed in dosage form through a licensed pharmacy.”

He also distanced the LDS Church from Plumb and his fellow plaintiffs' legal action against the initiative.

“The church is not part of that lawsuit," Gerard said.

Plumb did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The amended complaint draws several parallels between the use of medical marijuana and tobacco. It is common for landlords to prohibit smoking on a rental premises, it states, but the law also allows for applicant tenants to be denied solely on the basis that they use tobacco.

If Proposition 2 is approved by voters, the lawsuit claims, medical marijuana users would be elevated above tobacco users under the law.

“The creation of a class of cannabis-using tenants who cannot be denied housing by Utah property owners and who are free to use cannabis on the property of others," the lawsuit states, “does not advance the underlying objective of ensuring that cannabis is available for the treatment of their maladies."

Robert Spjute, a Salt Lake City-based attorney and partner at the firm Shumway Van, said the issue of a tobacco-using tenant’s rights is complicated and without definitive answers in Utah law. Landlords can prohibit smoking on their property, Spjute said, and could likely deny housing to an applicant who smokes.

Less clear is whether a landlord could evict an already-approved tenant, Spjute said, for smoking away from the premises or otherwise using tobacco in their day-to-day life outside the rental property.

“It depends on what the lease says,” Spjute said. “If the lease said ‘You can’t smoke anywhere in the world and rent this apartment,’ that would be tough to enforce.”

Spjute had not read the lawsuit, and was unable to speak to its specific claims. But he added that the larger debate over medical marijuana raises a number of interesting property and tenant’s rights questions, such as the ability to evict someone for violation of federal law, which current classifies cannabis as a Schedule 1 controlled substance.

“That’s kind of a wacky place,” he said of the potential conflict between state and federal statute. “I don’t know how that would be resolved.”

When asked about the amended lawsuit, DJ Schanz, campaign director for the initiative-supporting Utah Patients Coalition, said that Plumb is “the gift that keeps on giving.”

“The man is obsessed,” Schanz said, “and obviously not grounded in reality.”

The one-time law partner of Sen. Orrin Hatch, Plumb is a real-estate attorney and developer who has for years been a vocal crusader against what he says are the evils of marijuana.

Schanz said Proposition 2 does not legalize the smoking of marijuana. Patients with the requisite documentation would be able to obtain the cannabis flower, he said, but would need to convert it into other forms, like a vaporizing oil or cooking butter, in order to comply with the law.

He said initiative organizers respect and believe in property rights, but that it is wrong to discriminate against individual tenants on the sole basis that they use medical marijuana.

“We agree that for destructive behavior and for damage to property, the landlord should be able to take appropriate measures,” Schanz said.

Schanz said he’s glad to see the plaintiffs drop the more offensive portions of their lawsuit, particularly the labeling of medical marijuana users as “repugnant.” But he added that he expects the amended complaint to be dismissed as frivolous.

“[Plumb] is doing more harm to the LDS faith than any anti-Mormon,” Schanz said.

This Pat Bagley cartoon appears in The Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. You can check out the past 10 Bagley editorial cartoons below:

• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/23/bagley-cartoon-word-high/" target=_blank>Word From On High</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/22/bagley-cartoon-tell-truth/">To Tell the Truth</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/21/bagley-cartoon-sexist/">Sexist Beasts</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/20/bagley-cartoon-reefer/">Reefer Madness</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/17/bagley-cartoon-this-land/">This Land Is Trump’s Land</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/11/bagley-cartoon-take-me-2/">The Mormon Rebrand</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/11/bagley-cartoon-take-me/">Take Me to Your Leader?</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/09/bagley-cartoon-misinfo/">Misinfo Wars</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/08/bagley-cartoon-good-old/">The Good Old Days</a>
• <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/bagley/2018/08/07/bagley-cartoon-insurance/">Insurance Magic Trick</a>

Want more Bagley? Become a fan on Facebook.

As Utah's fairly uneventful preseason football practice moves into its final week, coach Kyle Whittingham is keeping track of the tumult elsewhere in college football.

Even beyond his friendship with Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, Whittingham tries to remain aware of developments in the profession that can educate him, in his 14th season as a head coach. Whittingham, one of the most prominent members of Meyer’s expansive coaching tree, won’t comment directly on Meyer’s three-game suspension. Yet he’s following what has happened in the programs of Meyer and Maryland coach D.J. Durkin, another Meyer protege, who was placed on administrative leave Aug. 11 during a school investigation.

Ohio State sanctioned Meyer for not properly dealing with domestic-abuse allegations against assistant coach Zach Smith. Maryland is responding to the death of a player resulting from conditioning drills in May and a recent ESPN.com report describing the program’s “toxic culture.”

Whittingham’s approach is “always trying to learn from everyone,” he said. “Pay attention to what’s going on with other people and try to learn vicariously as best you can. Yeah, absolutely. It would be ignorant to not pay attention to what’s going on and glean information from it.”

Meyer remains influential in Utah's program, having coached the Utes to a 22-2 record in 2003 and '04 before departing to Florida. Whittingham was his defensive coordinator for those two seasons. Gary Andersen, who has returned to Utah as a defensive line coach, worked for Meyer in '04. Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley was a star safety for the Utes in the Meyer era (Andersen and Scalley were not made available to the media this week after Meyer's suspension was announced).

Weber State coach Jay Hill, whose team faces the Utes in Thursday's season opener at Rice-Eccles Stadium, was a member of Meyer's support staff at Utah.

In the Maryland case, strength and conditioning coach Rick Court resigned, after being at the center of the school’s investigation and the ESPN.com story about abusive behavior of players. The harsh atmosphere continued even after the death of freshman offensive lineman Jordan McNair that stemmed from an offseason team workout, the story said.

Whittingham is known for administering a hard-working, developmental program, but is conscious of treating players properly, including their offseason work with strength coach Doug Elisaia.

“We're always evaluating everything, and this is a players-first program,” Whittingham said. “Every decision we make is based upon the players and their welfare.”

Whittingham does miss the era of two-a-day practices, eliminated by the NCAA. He would rather have more practices in a shorter time frame; the Utes started Aug. 1 and will have practiced 25 times in 29 days before taking the field against Weber State. That's a long time to practice without playing a game.

The new calendar adds “a few days you wish you didn't have,” Whittingham said. “Make no mistake, we need these practices, but I was a fan of [the days] when there was a little more compressed time frame.”

Sophomore receiver Britain Covey, who missed two seasons during a church mission to Chile, is eager to play in a game for the first time since December 2015. “We don’t do much live work out here, so I’m just waiting to get tackled, get that feeling back,” he said.

Two members of the prominent polygamous Kingston Group have been indicted for their part in an alleged $500 million fuel tax-credit scheme, according to documents unsealed Friday.

Washakie Renewable Energy CEO Jacob and CFO Isaiah Kingston, as well as Lev Aslan Dermen (also known as Levon Termendzhyan), are accused of gaming an IRS tax-credit program that gave payouts to companies that produced renewable energy. The men allegedly did so through false filings and money laundering, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Washakie Renewable Energy LLC is operated by and partly funded through the Kingston Group, a Utah-based polygamous church with fundamentalist Mormon beliefs. The church is also known as the Davis County Cooperative Society and the Latter Day Church of Christ. Jacob and Isaiah’s father, John Daniel Kingston, is the patriarch of the group. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints no longer endorses polygamy.)

Dermen controlled Noil Energy Group Inc. and worked with the California-based SBK Holdings USA Inc., which the Kingstons allegedly funneled money through as part of the scheme.

Jacob and Isaiah Kingston and Dermen allegedly falsified production records and other documents, which they submitted to the IRS for refunds from 2010 to 2016.

To encourage the production and use of biofuels in the United States, the agency gave companies credits of $1 or 50 cents per gallon of renewable fuels produced. The IRS gave more than $511 million in refunds to Washakie, according to the Justice Department.

Washakie Renewable Energy, which is based in Salt Lake City and has a production facility in Box Elder County, billed itself at the time as the “largest producer of biodiesel and chemicals in the Intermountain West," according to the release, but the indictment says the company wasn’t producing much fuel.

Instead, it says, company officials bought, sold or made others purchase fuels and biodiesel products, which were then rotated or otherwise moved around through other companies in the country and at least one in Panama to keep up the appearance that Washakie was producing fuel and, thus, eligible for the credits.

Money obtained in the alleged scheme was used to buy Jacob Kingston’s personal home, a $3 million, 14,000-square-foot mansion in Sandy, which federal authorities raided in 2016, alongside other Kingston Group-related properties. No one was arrested then, and authorities didn’t comment on the raids.

A year before the raids, the company agreed to pay a $3 million fine to resolve allegations that it had sold credits for renewable fuels it hadn’t produced. The company said that instance was a mistake due to a “misinterpretation” of the law.

The unsealed indictment said money from the fraud also helped raise funds for the Kingston brothers to buy a 2010 Bugatti Veyron for $1.7 million.

According to the indictment, the Kingstons and Dermen used “burner phones” to communicate about the alleged fraud.

Jacob and Isaiah Kingston are in federal custody and have pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, Jacob Kingston faces a maximum of 87 years in prison. His brother and Dermen could be sentenced to a maximum 20 years. The court also intends to take back all money used in the alleged scheme, the Sandy mansion and the Bugatti.

Representatives from Washakie and the Kingston Group didn’t immediately respond to The Salt Lake Tribune’s request for comment Friday evening.

In less than a month, Urban Liar will be back on the job.

Never mind the deceiving, the conniving, the covering up.

Coach Liar (you might know him as Meyer, but let’s stick to a more suitable moniker) will return to the Ohio State sideline not much poorer for his troubles, with nothing to stop him from reclaiming his swagger before the leaves change colors.

Such is the state of college athletics.

Coach Liar is really the perfect symbol for the scoundrels and grifters that make it such a cesspool.

Of course, he had no business keeping his job as the Buckeyes football coach, not after he spent the better part of the past decade hiding, denying, ignoring and justifying the horrific behavior of assistant coach Zach Smith.

Now, if Coach Liar had pawned off a pair of pricey Jordans, or taken a little money for selling the signature of his very own name, or gotten a sweet deal on some tattoos, he surely would’ve faced the wrath of the Barney Fifes over at the NCAA. Then again, he isn’t likely to stoop to such levels since he actually gets paid to do his job.

The first of those aforementioned offenses got a bunch of North Carolina football players suspended for up to four games this season. The second happened back in 2014, resulting in a four-game suspension for former Georgia running back Todd Gurley. But Tattoogate is what takes the hypocrisy to a whole new level, especially since it also involved Ohio State.

Star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and four of his teammates had to sit out the first five games of the 2011 season for, among other things, receiving discounts on the ink jobs they got from a local parlor.

That’s right. In the world of college athletes, cut-rate tattoos are a more serious offense — two games more serious, to be exact — than a head coach looking the other way when faced with at least two allegations of an assistant beating up his wife, not to mention a whole range of disturbing acts that should’ve cost Smith his job.

To recap, there was an arrest for drunken driving, a recruiting trip to the strip club, failing to pay bills on time, showing up late for work or not at all, having an extramarital affair with a school secretary, checking into drug rehab, and taking sexually explicit photos of himself at the White House during a team visit.

Employee of the Year, Smith was not

Still, Coach Liar saw no reason to dole out a pink slip until about a month ago , when it was inconveniently revealed on social media that Smith was accused of violating a protective order taken out by his now ex-wife. Also coming to light was Courtney Smith saying she was abused by Zach in 2015 — allegations that she had shared with Coach Liar’s wife, Shelley.

But The Ohio State University, leaving no doubt that winning championships trumps all of Coach Liar’s failings as a supposed leader of young men, decided that a worthy punishment would be to sit out the first three games of the season , thereby allowing him to return in plenty of time to lead the Buckeyes to another Big Ten title.

Coach Liar also was ordered to forfeit six weeks in salary, which we figure will cost him roughly $876,000. Ol’ Urban should be able to absorb the financial blow without much scrimping since he’ll still collect more than $6.7 million this year.

“The suspensions are tough, but I fully accept them,” said Coach Liar, sounding very much like a guy who knows he got away with the crime .

While Zach Smith was never charged and has denied any wrongdoing, Shelley was so concerned about how he would respond to finally being fired that she sent this text to her husband: “He drinks a lot and I am not sure how stable he will be. Afraid he will do something dangerous. It’s obvious he has anger/rage issues already.”

What was Coach Liar’s response to such an alarming message?

Nada.

He didn’t even bother getting back to his wife, much less take any steps to help ensure Courtney Smith’s safety.

And Coach Liar certainly didn’t have to fret at all about the MIAs over at the NCAA because they’re too busy trying to root out any side hustles attempted by those indentured servants they call student-athletes.

He did have to respond when asked at Big Ten Media Days whether he knew about the 2015 allegations. True to form, he breezed right past the truth and went with the flat-out lie. Furthermore, he may have taken steps to wipe out any text messages older than a year from his cellphone, just to cover his tracks a little more.

Not wanting to cook its golden goose, Ohio State looked at that overwhelming body of evidence and decided three games on the sideline was a fitting punishment. If Bernie Madoff had faced these guys, he would’ve been judged a petty thief.

In fairness, Coach Liar and Ohio State are simply playing an end game that works so well in college athletics.

Call it the Three A’s.

Admit (to mistakes in judgment).

Apologize (profusely, if possible).

Accept (a slap on the wrist that causes no real damage).

Then, tell everyone it’s time to move on.

“We have a valuable lesson that we’ve learned,” said athletic director Gene Smith, who also received a laughingly brief suspension. “We’re going to move forward. And we’re going to be stronger for it.”

They know it won’t be long before we’re moving on the next scandal.

They know college athletics is nothing more that lather, rinse, repeat.

Just make sure to leave all the dirt.

Senior Tanner Mangum will be BYU’s starting quarterback when the Cougars line up against Arizona on Sept. 1 at Wildcats Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.

Ending more than six months of speculation, BYU coach Kalani Sitake released his depth chart for the 2018 season late Friday afternoon, and it shows the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Mangum as the starter and freshman Zach Wilson as the backup.

The announcement does not come as a huge surprise. Mangum received the bulk of the reps in the final week of preseason camp, which concluded with Thursday’s scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Mangum, who started in eight games last year, said Thursday that he is confident he can lead the Cougars to a win in the season opener.

“Oh yeah, we both can. Absolutely,” Mangum said. “We have both played well this camp. We have both shown that we can run the offense and lead the team and make plays.

“Regardless of who is in, we are confident that we can go out there and execute and get the job done. And that’s a good thing to have. To be able to have depth and competition and guys that push you. That’s something that helps every team.”

Wilson was in the running to become the first true freshman quarterback at BYU to ever start in a season opener. He’s listed on the depth chart as having the exact same height and weight as Mangum, 6-3, 205.

Wilson was playing at Draper’s Corner Canyon High last fall, but graduated early so he could participate in spring camp and join the quarterback derby, which also included junior Beau Hoge and sophomore Joe Critchlow last spring. Hoge was moved to running back the first day of preseason camp, and midway through camp offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick said the competition had been narrowed to Wilson and Mangum.

Like Mangum, Wilson said Thursday he was confident he could deliver a win if called upon.

“Yeah, I do,” he said. “I think any quarterback in the situation can as well. I think we are all well-prepared. I think any of us in the right situation will be able to make plays on this team.”

In the end, coaches went with the experience and steadiness of Mangum over the higher ceiling that Wilson seemed to display in camp. On Thursday, BYU coach Kalani Sitake did not rule out the possibility that whichever quarterback did not win the starting job would still see significant playing time this season.

“Yeah, I love the quarterback group,” Sitake said. “I have been really pleased with Tanner and Zach and the way they work within the offense. They have a good command of the offense and are making good decisions. Actually really surprised and excited about the up and coming guys, too. I mean, [freshman] Jaren Hall has done some great things and Joe Critchlow has done some great things, so it is a good group.”

There are a few surprises on the depth chart, which BYU usually waits to release on the Monday before the first game of the season.

Freshman Darius McFarland, a returned missionary who was recruited as a defensive lineman, is listed as the backup fullback behind Brayden El-Bakri.

At tight end, freshman All-American Matt Bushman is listed as the co-starter with three other players — freshman Dallin Holker, junior Moroni Laulu-Pututau and converted offensive lineman JJ Nwigwe.

Dylan Collie, the transfer from Hawaii who redshirted his freshman season at BYU before a church mission and a transfer, made the starting lineup at slot receiver, along with Aleva Hifo.

Athens, Ga. • Jake Fromm was only 10 years old when he talked his grandfather into taking him to a store in Macon that featured Georgia Bulldogs merchandise.

It was there that the young Fromm spotted a Herschel Walker helmet. The sticker shock hit Bill Haskins but didn’t deter his young grandson. Fromm, already a big Georgia fan, was determined to own the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner’s helmet.

“It was 200-something dollars,” Haskins said Thursday in a telephone interview. “He almost worried me to death. I wound up getting the helmet for him. That was a highlight for him for about a year.”

The memory made Haskins marvel at how times have changed. The helmet still sits in the family home, and Fromm has risen to the celebrity status among Georgia fans once reserved for Walker and few others.

As a freshman quarterback last season, Fromm led the Bulldogs to a win at Notre Dame in his first start, its first Southeastern Conference championship since 2005 and a Rose Bowl win in the College Football Playoff.

Georgia lost to Alabama in the national championship game, but for Haskins the 2017 season will be tough to top. Georgia was No. 3 in this season’s first AP Top 25 .

“His first season was something I’ll probably never experience again in my lifetime,” Haskins said. “It was just one heck of a ride. Just unbelievable.”

Haskins may be the only member of Fromm’s family available to talk with reporters about last season or the quarterback competition with Justin Fields . Coach Kirby Smart has not made Fromm available for interviews during preseason practice, and now the coach has extended the no-interview policy to Fromm’s immediate family.

Fromm’s father, Emerson, told The Associated Press on Thursday “I’m not getting into it with Kirby. Kirby doesn’t want me to do interviews.”

Haskins said Smart “has got a lockdown on everything.”

“It’d be a little harder probably for him to say something to me, but they don’t like for any of the family to really do stuff like this, to be honest,” Haskins said.

Smart may be wary of comments regarding Fromm’s competition with Fields. All freshmen, including Fields, are shielded from interviews.

Despite the secrecy, Fromm is widely expected to retain the starting job for the Sept. 1 opening game against Austin Peay. Smart said he has no plan to make a formal announcement about which quarterback will take the first snap in the opener.

“I haven’t really thought about it to be honest with you,” Smart said Wednesday. “We’re letting those two guys compete. Jake is going with the ones almost the whole time, so we’ll handle it as it goes. ... We look at it as those two guys are competing and will continue to compete.”

Fromm impressed Smart and teammates with his poise and leadership in the huddle as a freshman. Left tackle Ben Cleveland says Fromm has even more composure entering his second season.

“He’s got more confidence than anybody I’ve ever seen at the quarterback position,” Cleveland said after Friday’s practice. “He’s very vocal, knows all the checks and he knows what needs to be done. Our whole offensive line has faith in him to make the right calls and get us to where we need to be.”

Wide receiver Tyler Simmons referred to linebacker Roquan Smith, the leader of last year’s defense and the No. 8 overall pick in the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears, when he described Fromm as “like the Roquan of the offense.”

It will not be a surprise if Georgia finds immediate playing time for Fields, the top recruit who showed his skills as a runner and passer in Georgia’s spring game.

Fromm ranked ninth in the nation in passing efficiency while throwing for 2,615 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season. He kept the starting job after taking over for the injured Jacob Eason in the 2017 opener. Eason has transferred to Washington.

Now there is a new challenge from Fields.

Haskins recalled Fromm beating out a senior midway through his freshman season at Houston County (Georgia) High School. He said his grandson enjoys competition.

“I just think he looks at it as just another challenge for him to help him get better,” he said. “I think it’s good for him and I hope it’s good for Georgia, too.”

Added Haskins, briefly forgetting the media blackout: “I think he’ll tell you the same thing.”

It got off to a bit of a rainy start, but then the sun came out and so did the street performers, a group that included daredevil jugglers, musicians, magicians, dancers, comedians and even animal enthusiasts.

The Salt Lake Arts Council presents the first Busker Fest along Regent Street in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday. It celebrated the tradition of street performance and observing the city’s vaudeville roots, young and old were drawn in to observe and participate.

Madison, Ill. • The head of competition for IndyCar said Friday that Robert Wickens’ car performed exactly as it was designed when it tore to pieces during a frightening wreck at Pocono, leaving the Canadian driver hospitalized with serious injuries to his spinal cord and extremities.

Jay Frye also acknowledged that a host of improvements could be made — to the car itself, to the fencing that shredded the car and even to the injury reporting process that some criticized as being much too slow after last Sunday’s accident.

“Any time you have something like this happen, you look at it,” Frye said during a morning downpour at Gateway Motorsports Park, where the series will race Saturday night. “What was good about it? What was bad about it? Did it do its job? What could be better? How long did it take to fix?

“We were very encouraged by how the car held up, certainly not satisfied though, because the driver was injured. We’ll never be satisfied until that doesn’t happen.”

The accident occurred early in the race, when Wickens made slight contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay and catapulted into the fencing above the SAFER barrier. Hunter-Reay barely managed to slip under Wickens’ car as it helicoptered along the fence, and other drivers began trying to dodge the debris.

Takuma Sato, Pietro Fittipaldi and James Hinchcliffe also were involved the crash. Hinchcliffe, a fellow Canadian and one of Wickens’ best friends, had minor injuries to his hands from the debris. The fence sustained about 80 feet of damage, delaying the race for about two hours.

Wickens’ team owner, Sam Schmidt, said this week he would like to see the SAFER barriers at speedways extend higher in places where they wouldn’t obstruct the view of fans. Traditional catch-fencing used for decades is designed to keep cars from catapulting over the wall, but in the case of an IndyCar, it also tends to grab hold of the chassis and break it into hundreds of pieces.

“We’ve very aware of what goes on globally,” Frye said, when asked whether there are innovations elsewhere in wall design that IndyCar might implement. “There are certain minimum requirements we want, and most of our promoter partners greatly exceed our minimum standards. But yes, like with the car, we’re encouraged but not satisfied. We always want to look to help any way we can.”

Frye also said Pocono officials, working hand-in-hand with IndyCar, did a remarkable job to get the fencing repaired, even though some drivers expressed concern with the quick fix.

“Again, same thing we talked about — we’ll look back at all this stuff and see if it was done 100 percent correctly,” Frye said. “We think it was safe. We don’t think there was a problem there.”

Yet there was an issue in the chain of communication following the wreck, Frye said. IndyCar has been criticized for taking too long to report that Wickens was alive and alert, leading to confusion and concern that extended from the garage area to fans watching at home.

“Five drivers came into the care center. One of them was injured, obviously, injured enough that he had to be transported,” Frye said. “At that point the biggest concern is we’re taking care of our drivers and we’re taking care of our drivers’ families, so they understand what is going on.

“There was probably 10 or 15 minutes that we figured out how we could do better next time. There was one thing we probably missed. There was an error as we went through. But it will be better next time.”

Then there are potential changes to the car itself.

While the windscreen IndyCar has been developing likely wouldn’t have helped Wickens, it could have prevented injuries to other drivers from the debris scattered by his car. Prototypes of the screen already have been tested by Will Power and Josef Newgarden, and the next step is impact testing.

“Everybody has said, ‘Just put it on the car,’ but there’s cause and effect to everything you do,” Frye said. “And the negative effect could outweigh the positive. So that’s why we’re doing the testing.”

Frye admitted “we’re about a month behind where we want to be right now,” and the first round of impact testing will likely take place the first week of September. Then there will be a second, more extensive round of testing before the windscreen is ready for another on-track test.

“We haven’t talked much about the screen lately, but we’re full-speed behind the scenes, like we have been,” Frye said. “Whether last Sunday had happened or not, we’d be full-speed-ahead still.”