Editor:
Shannon Harper’s vicious editorial against Judge David Young certainly illustrates the undiluted power of ignorance, bias, misinterpretation, and plain, old-fashioned gossip among today’s college-age citizens. Since when is Redbook Magazine a reliable source for informed commentary on any subject? How intellectually responsible is it to accept without question accusations against judges from attorneys and defendants who may have lost cases in their courts?
I know Judge Young very well, and assert unequivocally that he respects women and men equally and treats all people with warmth and courtesy. To claim that Judge Young says or even implies anything at all about his own beliefs in court is downright laughable to anyone who knows anything about him.
The case that uniformed people say shows Judge Young’s bias in questions of religion is actually about the problems of joint custody and the commitments parents make when they request it. Judge Young would have made the same ruling no matter what the religious or philosophical background of the parents. Of course, Harper wouldn’t know this because she obviously hasn’t read the case for herself, but has simply accepted the media version which has been, as usual, grossly distorted.
To understand the quality of Judge Young’s judicial work would require reading many cases and comprehending the intricacies of the law as it actually works in our complex legal system. Today’s reporters are not likely to acquire the expertise, or even to spend the time to do such research. Better-informed people have a great deal of respect for Judge Young and for the years of work he has dedicated to Utah, its laws and its people.
Responsible research is the special enterprise of universities and their students; thus, it is particularly disheartening to read such uncritical acceptance of unreliable and even contemptible “evidence” in The Daily Utah Chronicle. In reponse to the headline of Harper’s editorial I reply, “If you love truth, do your own investigation.”
Patricial C. DahlAssociate InstructorUndergraduate Studies