SLOC officials, "just a few months away from unveiling
a new $1 billion-plus budget for the 2002 Winter Games,
appealed Friday for Utahns to be patient with organizers'
planning effort," according to John Keahey of the SALT LAKE
TRIBUNE. SLOC Chair Robert Garff "defended [SLOC's]
practice of working behind closed doors, saying "we don't
want fake peaks. We are building to a crescendo.'" Garff:
"We have to have time to make our plans, orchestrate them
and detail them" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 6/27). While Garff
"acknowledged" that Utahns "are nervous and frustrated that
they don't know more about the Games," IOC VP Anita DeFrantz
said that Utahns "should show support for organizers ...
even if they don't always know what's going on." She called
such support "key to the success of the Games." DeFrantz:
"(The public) should be satisfied these folks are doing a
good job" (Lisa Riley Roche, DESERET NEWS, 6/27). The news
came as SLOC officials and IOC "oversight officials" met for
three days. Among the IOC's "chief concerns" is getting key
SLOC positions filled, including finding a sports director.
(DESERET NEWS, 6/28)....Some of the "experts in staging
Winter Olympics" left Salt Lake City "saying 2002 organizers
are farther ahead than their counterparts in Nagano, Japan,
were at this same point" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 6/28).
