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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.N. Banned From Small Utah Town

Aired July 27, 2001 - 08:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: In Utah, officials of a small town have their own U.N. boycott, but they've had to modify it.

Our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth -- and he explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: La Verkin, Utah, a small town that tried to keep out the world. This community of 3,400 people chose U.S. Independence Day to tell the United Nations to get out of town. A new ordinance made it a crime to show the U.N. symbol on city property, permit U.N. employees to visit or allow city contracts with U.N.-affiliated businesses.

DAN HOWARD, MAYOR OF LA VERKIN, UTAH: We just feel like the U.N. is going in a direction that we're not agreeing with.

ROTH: Two-thirds of Utah is owned by the U.S. government and there is concern in La Verkin that United Nations environmental policies could influence how U.S. land is used.

Councilman Al Snow proposed the U.N. Free Zone Ordinance.

AL SNOW, COUNCILMAN, LA VERKIN, UTAH: As I pick up the papers and read articles in different magazines, I am seeing things where the sovereignty of this nation is being -- it's being jeopardized.

ROTH: But the United Nations poses little threat to La Verkin because it can't impose its will on the U.S. government.

FRED ECKHARD, U.N. SPOKESMAN: I think I would just hope that the people of La Verkin would see the United Nations for what it really is, an inter-governmental organization working for the betterment of humankind and not a threat to the people of La Verkin.

ROTH: International cuisine is not on the menu at Kent's Drive- In.

KENT NEAL, RESTAURANT OWNER: It takes a real man to stand up to the powers that be.

ROTH: One man who stood up to La Verkin was Utah's attorney general who said the new law was unconstitutional, prompting a U.N. style compromise. La Verkin might have wished it had Security Council veto power once wielded by a former U.S. ambassador.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There's some people around who think that the U.N. is going to steal their lawn furniture or swoop down and take their life away. I think the important part is for all Americans to understand that the U.N. is a force for good.

ROTH: You still can't fly a U.N. flag at city hall.

ROBERTA NEAL, LA VERKIN RESIDENT: I think it's La Verkin. It begins very much -- I think it says who we are.

ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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