The winners and the losers

• Loser: Southern Nevada is being far too arrogant and presumptuous when it comes to sucking water from Utah to supply the Las Vegas area. The Nevada State Engineer last month ruled that such a water-grab was OK and that Salt Lake and Utah counties were not truly interested parties. This despite legitimate worries that removing underground water from Utah's desert areas could destroy fragile plant and animal life and create dust-bowl conditions.

This week, Utah's Great Basin Water Network filed a petition appealing the state engineer's ruling. We wish them well. As insightful observers have noted through the years, in the West, water truly is more precious than gold.

• Winner: A runaway bull in a busy suburb doesn't usually qualify as a winner, but we liked the free spirit of the animal that got loose in South Jordan this week. The bull skirted traffic on busy streets, toured Riverton, then came back to South Jordan. Every time authorities had him trapped, he found a way to escape.

Finally, he jumped a fence and surrounded himself with a bunch of attractive heifers. Bulls may not be as stupid as people think.

• Loser: Unlike the frisky bull, a man who decided to jog naked by women working out in a health center in Sandy on Tuesday is definitely a loser. He came by twice, wearing nothing but running shoes and a hat, smiling and waving. Authorities couldn't corral him, either.

• Winner/loser: Provo deserves credit for launching a war against graffiti. The evidence suggests these efforts are working. A proposed new ordinance, however, contains a troubling clause that would make the possession of graffiti implements a crime near bridges, underpasses or public recreation facilities. That's too broad, and it probably would be enforced only selectively.

Other than that, however, the ordinance's tough 48-hour graffiti removal plan would allow Provo to make its mark, so to speak, on a problem vexing the Wasatch Front.

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