President Carter’s visit to Utah to accept an LDS Church “family circle” award was healthy thin – a shot-in-the-arm, so to speaE – both for Utahns and the President. And his appearance, and speech to a capacity crowd in the historic Mormon Tabernacle, brought Utah’s observance of National Family Week the local Family Month to a fittingl climax. Utahns put t eir best foot forward, with a short talk by LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball, and performances by such grou s as t.he Tabernacle Choir, the gsmond Family singing “Love at Home,” the “Lamanite Generation” of Brigham Youn University, and a chorus 0% Primary children. The President responded WHI’Il’lly and spoke from the heart as he extolled family values and reminisced on his own background on the farm “where each family member had his duties and made his contributions and all were bound together by love.” Mr. Carter added poignantly: “My first church was my family. I first heard the Bible read in my family. My first prayers were family (pgsyers, and I first learned about in the family …” President Carter noted that where the family is weak, the role played by government becomes greater. “Our fgovernment spends a great deal o effort and a great deal of money repairing damages caused by weak and broken families …” Of the Utah emphasis on family, the President commented: “I-Iow much less difficult my job would be if your mamoth crusade for strengthening the family would be success ul,” reflecting that the Mormon Church could change the course of history if we “cling to those things that should never change.” ‘ Republican Sen. Jake Gam of Utah, who returned to Washingxtlon in the same plane with r. Carter, said the President went to “great lengths to say how extremely impressed he was with the program.” Tight security conditions prevailed for the visit. The need for this is a sad commentary, in a way, on society as it exists today. Nevertheless, experience has proved it advisable. Mostly, though, the visit was marked by a high level of cordiality and friendliness. Mr. Carter skirted the ERA issue which had been projected into the picture largely by feminist oups because of the LDS Churcgs opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. He did note that the Utah Constitution has long recognized that women and men should have the same civil, political, and religious rlghts and privileges, and that “we are trying now to spread the same commitment throughout our nation.” All in all, the President’s visit was well-received and obviously stimulating to both sides. Generating Indian Power The American Indian may have lost the military and political battles, but currently he’s scoring a few points on the white man in another area – economics. Numerous tribes, capitalizing on the resources underlying their reservation lands, are driving increasingly hard bargains with corporate developers. In some cases they are establishing their own businesses and there is reported to be some interest in going international through deals with firms in other countries. The Council of Energy Resource Tribes, as reported by McGraw-Hill’s Chemical Week magazine, estimates that the 25 tribal units represented in the Washington-based coimcil own 40 percent of uranium, 11 percent of coal, 4 percent of oil and natural gas and a “large portion” of oilshale and geothermal reserves in the United States. The Bureau of Indian Affairs disagrees, however. It finds the council figures “gross underestimates.” ‘I’he nation’s growing energy needs, it appears, are generating Indian power.