There is a certain irony in Senate Bill 250, a piece of legislation that would allow Utah's political parties and legislators to grade its two U.S. senators. SB250, sponsored by State Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, casts a disapproving eye on our U.S. senators and seems to be critical of the 17th Amendment -- passed in 1913 -- that mandates that senators be elected by the people, rather than selected by state legislators.

It's a fact that Hooper bureaucrats are famous for approving bad ideas, like annexing our property into the sewer district with a stipulation we can't opt out until all the district's debts are paid. The mayor couldn't ink his rubber stamp fast enough. Our property tax immediately increased along with our flushing fee.

They even like the idea of cluster housing, which is jamming a bunch of houses together and leaving the rest of the property to grow weeds. I can go on and on, but I'm limited to word count. I hope the new council members have more smarts.

The "Spotted" section of the paper included a story about a food drive at Horace Mann Elementary School, of which students collected 2,328 cans of food, enough to cross three football fields. Can you imagine the work that went into that project? Also, a large amount of money for the Salvation Army and needy families was collected.

(UNEDITED) I am usually not in agreement with Sen. Chris Buttars, but his idea that we eliminate the 12th grade has merit. This is based on my being a parent, a retired high school teacher, and a volunteer for six months at an Australian high school.