Cindy King

Out of the mouths of babes sometimes comes the incentive to act. This is the case for Cindy King, a humanist with a passion for justice. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Cindy received a BS in Physical Anthropology from the University of Utah. Although her dad is descended from Brigham Young's brother, her family was not predominantly Mormon. In fact, her dad's parents came to Utah from Nevada and her mom's parents came from Oklahoma, both families working for the railroad. Cindy met her wonderfully supportive husband, Arthur Clark King, through the Unitarian Church. He is an Environmental Scientist with the State Division of Air Quality. They have two children.

When Cindy's daughter was very young she asked her mother why the government caused air pollution. This innocent query jarred Cindy, who then became involved with the Sierra Club. She served on the Utah Chapter's Executive Committee from 1986-1996. She founded and ran the Club's Environmental Health Committee from 1986 to 1990. Under her leadership, the committee brought litigation against U.S. Pollution Control Inc., purportedly the largest solid/hazardous waste incinerator west of the Mississippi. Although they lost this battle on a technicality, they won the war. The facility eventually suffered losses and shut down. Cindy studied at Salt Lake Community College, receiving an Associates degree in Environmental Hazardous Materials. She became the Utah Chapter's Hazardous Waste Specialist. In this position, she attends public meetings on various environmental issues - most recently on incineration - which spews pollutants into our air.

Cindy was appointed by federal officials as the Utah citizen representative on the Defense Department's Committee for Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment. Her appointment was opposed by Utah State officials, angered by her activism. Cindy travels to D.C. three times a year to sit on this committee, which has already identified six alternative ways, other than incineration, to dispose of these weapons.

Cindy and her children were interviewed for a Greenline documentary, aired on PBS in the East and on the West coast. Four years ago, as Vice Chair of the Utah Sierra Club, Cindy testified during Utah Wilderness hearings. When she faced a packed auditorium and stood silently for two of her three minute time allotment to protest State Environmental Policy, the crowd went wild with support. Cindy has suffered personal threats to herself and her family because of her activism and her present litigation status against the State on the incineration issue, causing her to change her phone number.

Cindy espouses an essential "Trinity" of Celebration, Fundamental and Engagement, i.e. the Celebration of Life, the Fundamental of breathing deeply, essential for a full life, and the Engagement of the brain before opening the mouth, essential for effectiveness (and saving oneself from embarrassment.)

Cindy's extraordinary courage is driven by righteous indignation and anger. Taking action and getting results are her vindication. When a State bureaucrat questioned her intelligence, she retaliated by registering in a Master's Program in Environmental Policy in Public Administration and Government Regulation at the U. But her ultimate opponent, a difficult one to vanquish, is the complacency generated by the dominant Mormon tradition of not questioning authority. Officials who disregard public health know no fury like the fury of Cindy King.

--by Mary Sanderson