THUMBS UP: It’s hard to believe it’s nearly here already, but tickets went on sale today for Ogden’s Pioneer Days Rodeo. We love summers in Utah, and rodeos are one of the best parts about it. Just 34 days until it starts!

THUMBS UP: We appreciate Ogden’s commitment to Juneteenth, which started Friday and continues Saturday and Sunday. As Weber State’s Adrienne Andrews said, “Juneteenth provides us an opportunity to engage in a fuller celebration and understanding of American freedom. It is also a helpful reminder of what is at stake when we fail to recognize the full humanity of those different from ourselves.” One of the biggest challenges the festival shared was letting Utah residents know that the celebrations this weekend aren’t just for people of color. All are welcome.

THUMBS UP: It was fitting that Associated Press shared the story of an Ogden family’s journey raising two intersex children in the month of June. While the family and their children have faced meanness and even physical violence because they were born where internal or external sex characteristics aren’t like typical male or female bodies. According to the report, 3 in every 200 births to 1 in 2,000 are estimated to be intersex.

“Doctors have long performed surgery and administered hormones to intersex kids to make their bodies more like typical boys or girls, but there’s a growing pushback. Five states have considered banning surgery until they’re old enough to consent, citing serious potential side effects, but most bills have stalled amid pushback from doctors’ groups who say the proposals go too far,” the article states. It’s a complicated issue, and more so for the kids growing into adults trying to navigate life. They are brave. Rather than ridicule them for a medical condition they were born with, we as a community need to do better at loving those who may seem different. To this Ogden family, thank you for sharing your story.

THUMBS DOWN: Listen, there is going to be a variety of political opinions in the world, and even in Utah. Our nation is divided into political parties and ideologies we feel forced to align with. Regardless of one’s opinion on other people’s political viewpoints, disagreements should never result in violence. America is a great nation because of its diversity and that mix pushes us to broaden our perspectives and compromise. Whether or not a Kaysville man allegedly called U.S. representatives and senators threatening to hurt or kill them will be up to a federal judicial process in Salt Lake City.

Prosecutors in the case have alleged that a Kaysville man placed at least 2,000 calls to Washington offices of elected officials of a certain party, and threatened to harm them.

In one call last month, the man reportedly called the office of an unnamed U.S. representative and purported to be standing behind him and ready to “shoot him in the head” because “the Russians want him taken out because he is trying to remove a duly elected President,” according to charging documents unsealed Wednesday.

While one would think it goes without saying, violence will not bridge political or social divide. Progress and improvement in our government comes from a willingness to listen, to work together for the people, and do so in a transparent manner.

THUMBS DOWN: What is going on in Woods Cross? Earlier this week, Woods Cross Police Chief Chad Soffe said he was not looking to terminate the unidentified officer who pulled a gun on a 10-year-old black child playing in a front yard, whom he supposedly mistook for a potential suspect during a pursuit of armed suspects. The community is upset, and rightly so. Whether it was an intentional or subconscious racially-motivated event, the family deserves more than a half-baked apology.

THUMBS UP: Happy Father’s Day this weekend to all the Northern Utah dads.

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