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Show Volume XIV Issue XXIII The Ogden Valley news Page September 15, 2007 Information Sought on Tax Increases and Their Impact on Homeowners Letters to the Editor Weber High School STOMPS—What every parent must know! I was asked to chaperone the Weber High School stomp on the first day of school. Having been a Weber Warrior myself, I was excited to be there. I thought I was asked to help chaperone a dance where kids are supposed to be—oh, I don’t know, dancing? In reality, I was witnessing every mother’s worst nightmare. There was dancing that night, but it’s not worthy of being called dancing. It’s best described as “bumping and grinding,” “thrusting and “humping.” I have since been educated that there is actually a name for it—not simply parent interpretation. Its official title is “Freak Dancing.” Do I have anybody’s attention? Short of screaming “Fire” in a public building where there is no fire, I am urging parents to become aware that there is a raging fire that needs extinguishing at Weber High even if you haven’t been there to see it for yourselves. The fire that was allowed to burn that night was the fire of sexual arousal. These kids were allowed to do the following: • Kids would congregate in a large group and pack in tightly like a school of fish, and move to the music while bumping and grinding whoever was in front or behind them— boy to boy, girl to girl, boy to girl . . . it didn't matter. There was little if any "couple dancing." It was this disgusting "Freak Dancing." • When the school of fish wasn't tightly compacted, then there were girls dancing promiscuously with each other with obvious sexual overtones as boys were left to watch and imagine. • Kids were making out. Shocking? Of course not, but when someone's daughter is lying on the floor with her chest in the air while her boyfriend sits on her stomach and straddles her, while their making out, is something all together different. When these two weren't on the floor they were standing glued together while this boy repositioned the apparent problem inside his zipper. Have I got anyone's attention yet? • Rap song allowed to be played while dubbing the "F" word out that was in the chorus three or more times. But it was dubbed out you say? Why would that matter? It mattered because the students knew exactly when to shout it out in unison. The beat and the rhythm in this style of music only invites sexual energy, along with the body heat and pouring sweat coming off of some of these boys This is only what I was able to see. Who knows what was going on in the middle of the dance floor. Where is the line of decency? Where are the consequences for the lack of restraint, and what is the next step of progression for our teenagers? How I had visions of grandeur for my child's first experience of being a Weber Warrior. Obviously, I need not expand on the details of my sleepless nights and the constant reminder of the pit churning in my stomach. My hope is that you too will have these same feelings and be motivated to be a voice demanding change. My desire for change is certainly not in getting rid of stomps but in mandatory guidelines for the students that would irrevocably be upheld by the administration who is supposed to be there to keep our kids safe. Finally, I want to make it absolutely clear that not every kid was participating in this "Freak Dancing." There are many, many wonderful kids who chose not to follow the crowd, but at least 60% or more did. Even if they weren't participating they were observing. It may have been your child I watched. Please get involved! Ask your kids about it, or better yet, ask your kids’ friends about it and watch their reaction. I urge you to join me in sending a letter asking for change to the Principal at Weber High School and tell him you will also be sending a copy of your letter to the Superintendent as well. Please, don't let this opportunity to make a difference pass you by. Weber High Principal Alan Stokes 430 W. Weber High Drive, Ogden, Utah 84414 Superintendent Mike Jacobsen 5320 Adams Avenue Pkwy Ogden, Utah 84405-6913 Jennifer Jones, Liberty, Utah Speak up for what you want . . . or Take what you get . . . . Take action today on urgent issues! For information on time sensitive issues facing Ogden Valley residents, your community, and your property, log onto www.Ogden-Valley.blogspot.com Please view on line petitions and add your electronic signature if you agree with VCRD position. Valley Citizens for Responsible Development (VCRD) Mail to: VCRD, P.O. Box 115, Huntsville, UT 84317 TAX INCREASES –IRRESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT TAX INCREASES –IRRESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT VALLEY ZONING ISSUES - NEW ORDINANCES – TAX INCREASES VALLEY ZONING ISSUES - NEW ORDINANCES – TAX INCREASES Moonlit Gondola Ride September 22, 2007 Sunday Summer FREE Concerts 3 - 6 p.m. Earl’s Lodge on the Plaza 801-620-1000 ~ www.snowbasin.com Please tell us, as succinctly as possible, how the Weber County property tax increases over the past two or three years have impacted you and your family. We are trying to collect, document, and write up these personal stories to present for public record at a public hearing that is being sponsored by the Utah Legislature’s Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee at the State Capitol Complex in Salt Lake City on September 19. ASSESSOR cont. from page 1 Individually, we make some mistakes, but the vast majority of properties are correctly assessed at, close to or under, market value. Last year we significantly under assessed the town of Huntsville and hence the higher value change for this year. We know the real estate market is beginning to soften and will address it as needed. As it now stands, a preliminary check of sales from January 1 to June 30 of this year indicates we still have correct values in Ogden Valley. There are fewer sales, but asking prices are still high. Only when buyers decide they are paying too much will values go down. Remember, I am the messenger delivering the package. The real estate market was created by buyers. The package delivered by the messenger is correct. Please check with your supplier to receive the package you want. with excellent retirement benefits, the other from the Weber School district. The school teacher retired with twice, I do mean twice, the monthly pension as the retiree from the international company. I inquired from a state education representative about this; her answer was “to entice teachers we offer good retirement benefits.” Does this make sense to a 25 year old teacher with a family to raise? Putting a large portion of tax money at the end of a career means they can still complain about underpaid teachers still in the system. Is there any one out there with the will to find out how this disparity came to be? The assessor’s office is audited by the State Tax Commission regularly. We do a very good job assessing property. Please email them, before September 15, to DrienieM@aol.com or mail to: DRIENIE HATTINGH 3986 N 4750 E EDEN UT 84310 Cyanno-bacteria, X-tremophiles, Aliens: Scum of the Earth By Howard Ratcliffe of miles away, spending perhaps millions of years at the balmy temperature of 2.73 K, a temperature just above that which molecules have no motion whatsoever. Being accelerated to the velocity used in their journey would subject these scum of the universe to incredible stresses. If rockets, some sort of magnetic acceleration, or other exotic methods were used, the acceleration phase might take many years, but if an explosion were used, the “G” loading would be in the millions. Whatever methods used would have to be repeated over enough millions of years with enough living material to fill the earth’s atmosphere with the carbon of their dead bodies to even begin the life cycle. Aiming the life giving package from the distance of neighboring stars would be like throwing a baseball around the earth and hitting yourself in the head, but the direction changes would create Royalty descend from a Divine bloodline but, unfortunately, the rest of humanity descend from pond scum; so say microbial biologists obsessed with determining the origin of life. The story goes something like this. Meteorites carrying carbon and amino acids arranged into DNA smash into the earth at high speed, distributing their life giving treasure across the globe. As they die, their bodies release carbon into the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide. Not sure how the oxygen formed, but no matter; as the Sun’s rays contact the single celled bacteria, chlorophyll forms and begins the process of photosynthesis. Sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide end up producing oxygen and more bacteria, which then begin to divide. For all of us not in royal circles, our earliest ancestors are . . . Pond Scum. Ancestors of the human race began their journey to earth from many trillions CYANNO_BACTERIA cont. on page 15 |