Eyre made several points but they all supported her central thesis that the Bill of Rights is the ACLU's only real client. She noted that the Utah Chapter has several rather unique characteristics that distinguish it from other ACLU chapters. Primarily it is the fact that many of the local chapter's issue are directed towards separation of church and state. This is a result of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being headquartered in Salt Lake City and having such a wide-spread financial and political base. Generally, the ACLU spends more time fighting for religious freedom than in opposing religious bullying. She gave a couple of examples where the ACLU has defended the LDS church in other states in the matters of proselytizing and in stopping forced prayers (Southern Baptist) in Texas high schools.

Another thing about this ACLU chapter is that it gets considerably more press coverage than other chapters nationwide. Ms. Eyre specifically said that coverage in the two major Salt Lake based newspapers is generally fair and accurate. She surprised the group a little by saying that she considered the writing in the Deseret Morning News to be generally higher quality that the Salt Lake Tribune. However, she evened the playing field by noting that News headlines were often provocative in nature without really having any substantive connection to the content of the article.

Eyre also pointed out that most of the ACLU cases never come to trial. They prefer to handle cases through negotiation rather than litigation. Often they need to only explain their issues to groups or people and the desired changes are effected without a costly court battle.

Eyre noted that she is personally generally satisfied with Mayor Rocky Anderson although she believes he erred in the Main Street Plaza case. She also expressed concern over dangers to basic Bill of Rights issues that she perceives the Patriot Act is causing.

--Wayne Wilson