By ERIC D. SNIDER
Rick Waltman wants the Deseret Gym to stay, and he's not afraid to voice his opinion.
Waltman, a 40-year-old airline pilot and insurance agent, took out a quarter-page advertisement in Sunday's Salt Lake Tribune asking Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not to tear down the Deseret Gym to make room for a new tabernacle.
'This building will no doubt be a spectacular edifice, but we have to ask if this is the wisest and best use of our tithing dollars,' the ad says.
President Hinckley announced at the April 1996 General Conference that the church was planning to build a meeting hall that would seat four or five times as many people as the Tabernacle on Temple Square.
LDS Church spokesman Don LeFevre said soon after President Hinckley's statement, the church announced 'the block on which the gym sits is the preferred site.' LeFevre said the church, which owns the gym, had not definitely decided to tear down the gym to make room for the new meeting hall; church leaders were merely considering it.
'There were a lot of engineering and architectural studies which needed to be completed,' LeFevre said.
Even now, LeFevre said the church has not announced any decision. 'Neither you nor I know whether a decision has been made; it will come from church leadership,' he said.
Waltman sees things differently. 'The decision clearly has been made. They're making arrangements to sell things from the gym. They've let employees go. The date we hear is sometime around the first of June.'
Gym manager Tom Peterson was unavailable for comment Wednesday, and his secretary said he was referring all inquiries about this matter to the church public affairs office.
Waltman said the ad cost $2400, and most of the tab was picked up by fellow gym-enthusiast Wally Holman. The Deseret News refused to run the ad, Waltman said.
Waltman said he doesn't think he can change the church's mind. 'We're hoping for a miracle,' he said. 'The YMCA is looking for a place to build something like the gym. We're hoping the church will cooperate with the YMCA and maybe even donate some property or some money.'
Waltman said he can understand why the church doesn't want to be 'in the gym business,' but he has trouble dealing with 'having a one-of-a-kind facility being torn down.'
'It's really a fabulous facility,' he said. 'I hate to see it replaced with one that we don't need.'
The ad says most stake centers are equipped with satellite systems, and 'it will be impossible to build a tabernacle big enough to keep up with the growth of the church.'
Waltman describes himself as an 'active member' of the church. 'I did not perceive this as being an attack on the church or the prophet,' he said. 'I support him wholeheartedly. I think honest feedback from the community is important.'
The first Deseret Gym was built in 1910. That building still stands, but no longer functions as a gymnasium. The current gym was built in the 1960s.