Mormon opposition raises more doubt on MX siting

Gov. Scott M. Matheson says Mormon opposition to desert basing of the MX missile improves changes that the $34 billion weapons complex won't be built in the Great Basin valleys of Utah and Nevada.

Spencer W. Kimball, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, broke a long silence on the controversial weapons system and strongly ciritized Air Force plans to hide 200 MX missiles in a system of 4,600 shelters spread across the two Western states. Mr. Kimball, spiritual leader of a million Mormons in Utah -- two-thirds of the state's population --deplored the nuclear arms ra ce and asked the Reagan administration to find an alternative way to protect the nation from an enemy attack.