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Sex Trafficking in Utah on Access Utah Wednesday

Shared Hope International, sex trafficking, child sex trafficking
Shared Hope International

"I didn't know about sex trafficking until I was in the middle of it. I found out that they actually had chosen me." 

So goes a clip from the website of Shared Hope International, which seeks to combat child sex trafficking. The problem is growing internationally, and it's here in Utah. You've probably seen the report- girls as young as 14 were coerced into performing sex acts for Utah men who patronized the back rooms of three Salt Lake area so-called massage parlors. We're going to talk about this problem with John Swallow and Kirk Torgerson from the Attorney General's office and Linda Smith from Shared Hope International. 

 
Also on the program we discuss the question of re-naming Dixie State College as the College hopes to reach University status. John Jones and Dannelle Larson-Rife wrote an op-ed piece for the Salt Lake Tribune, which states it is time to remove the "Dixie" from the college's name. Larson-Rife joins us on the program. 

Tom Williams worked as a part-time UPR announcer for a few years and joined Utah Public Radio full-time in 1996. He is a proud graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal and Utah State University (B. A. in Liberal Arts and Master of Business Administration.) He grew up in a family that regularly discussed everything from opera to religion to politics. He is interested in just about everything and loves to engage people in conversation, so you could say he has found the perfect job as host “Access Utah.” He and his wife Becky, live in Logan.