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Show Page The Ogden Valley news Volume XIV Issue XVII November 15, 007 The Ogden Valley news Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 745- 688 Fax: 745-006 Cell: 791-4387 E-Mail: slfrancis@att.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 745- 879 Fax: 745- 879 E-Mail: crwendell@att.net crwendell@msn.com Opinions expressed by advertisers, columnists or letters to the editor are not necessarily the opinions of the owners and staff of The Ogden Valley news. guidelines for Letters to the Editor Letters should be 300 words or less. Letters must be signed and the address of the writer submitted. The Ogden Valley news reserves the right to edit or decline printing of any submissions. Announcements Sought As a community service, The Ogden V alley n ews will print local birth, wedding, obituary, anniversary and missionary farewell & homecoming and Eagle Scout announcements free of charge. We invite residents to send their announcements to: The Ogden Valley news PO BOX 130 EDEN UT 84310 If you would like your submitted items returned, please send a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. The Ogden Valley news , while respecting all property received, will take no responsibility for lost or misplaced items. Please remember to keep a copy for yourself. Invitation for Articles The staff of The Ogden Valley news welcomes the submission of articles by our readership. We invite you to submit local historical accounts or biographies, articles pertaining to contemporary issues, and/or other material that may be of interest to our readers. We also invite you to submit to the paper, or notify the staff of local events. Awards that have been earned by the reader, family members, neighbors or friends are also sought. While the staff of The Ogden Valley news invites the submittal of information and articles, we reserve the right to select which material will be considered for publication. All material, to be considered, must be submitted with the full name, address and telephone number of the person submitting the material. The OgdenValley news’liability on account of errors in, or omissions of, advertising shall in no event exceed the amount of charges for the advertising omitted or the space occupied by the error. The Ogden Valley news does not endorse, promote or encourage the purchase or sale of any product or service advertised in this newspaper. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. The Ogden Valley news hereby disclaims all liability for any damage suffered as the result of any advertisement in this newspaper. The Ogden Valley news is not responsible for any claims or representations made in advertisements in this newspaper. The Ogden Valley news has the sole authority to edit and locate any classified advertisement as deemed appropriate. It also reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Note: The contents of The Ogden Valley News are copyrighted. To protect this publication and its contributors from unlawful copying, written permission is required before any individual or company engages in the reproduction or distribution of its contents, by any means, without first obtaining written permission from the owners of this publication. The deadline for the OVN December 1 issue is November 15. Letters to the Editor Change the World . . . Save a Life Today! Weber High’s chapter of DECA, an international association of high school and college students studying marketing, management, and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service, is holding a Community Service Fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis. The event will be held Wednesday, November 28. Please plan on attending this fun evening of comedy at Weber High’s auditorium beginning at 7:00 p.m. All tickets are $5. Donations can also be made at donation cans set up at area grocery stores, including Acres, North Ogden’s Smith’s, Stop & Shop, The Valley Market, and Wangsgard’s. Online donations can be made at www. fightmsutah.org by clicking on the left hand side of the website at “Tribute and Memorial Funds.” Next, search for Devin Richard Shaum. It will bring up our page and from there you can make an online donation. All proceeds will go to the National M.S. Society. This is such a great cause! We appreciate anything you can donate. Thank you, Seniors of Weber Chapter DECA. Danielle Shaum & Sadie Shupe, Weber High DECA members Senator Alan Christensen Conspicuously Missing From Property Tax Relief Issue Senator Alan Christensen, who represents Valley residents down at the state legislature, has missed two very important tax meetings that have been held to try and reduce the heavy property tax burden forced on Weber County residents. At these meetings, which Christensen failed to attend, several good ideas were expressed. Acquired value—what you can afford, and what the home is worth—is the key issue. If you sell, the new owner pays taxes on the new price paid for the home. A small yearly 2 or 3% increase on a property is understandable, but it must have a cap. Control of property tax increases should never be left to a small group of elected officials. Their past performance validates that! Tax increases should be approved by the people. A legislator said in one of these meetings that caution should be taken to avoid a “knee jerk reaction because Utah’s taxing system is working so well.” Working well for whom! It is not working well for the poor and middle class residents of Weber County when the tax they are forced to pay increases in some instances over 100%! It is not working well when people, young and old, are forced out of their homes! Our elected officials need to correct the problem in the up-coming legislative sessions. Rebates need to be given to the young, old, poor, and middle class for the gouging we are forced to pay this year. The federal government released information that Social Security payments would rise by 2.3 percent in January. That works out to $24 a month for most households. Senator Christensen; Representative Froerer; Commission members Bischoff, Dearden, and Zogmaister; and Assessor Madsen need to realize that property taxes heavily beyond this rate are immoral! Those public officials who attend the tax property problem solving meetings, who honestly work for a fair solution for the people they represent, are to be commended. For those who don’t attend, or who attend and do nothing, it would be wise not to get too attached to your present job—considering the probable outcome of your next bid for re-election. Robert Jacobs, Eden Warnings to UDOT and Weber County Commissioners Fall on Deaf Ears—Traffic problems in canyon continue to worsen Recently driving up Ogden Canyon I found it blocked, again, by another accident. Then I pass a drilling rig at the Two Rivers Development that is now laying on its side because the marshy ground in the area can’t even support the truck’s weight and initial construction efforts on a development you permitted in Huntsville—but should NOT have. Those of us living in Ogden Valley have tried repeatedly over the years to warn about the impact of development on this Valley and, in particular, on the traffic in Ogden Canyon but we still continue to see our warnings fall on deaf ears. As these problems rear their ugly heads for all to see, residents continue to offer help with solutions, striving to get your attention. Acknowledging that no answers will be perfect, we continue to stress some of the following situations and possible solutions: 1. The developments you are allowing to go on, without restriction or regulated low Valley. I will state, unequivocally, that density, will put even more pressure on most of the traffic closures, accidents, Ogden Canyon and upon all who use it. and deaths can be contributed to small 2. Decisions continue to be made that are automobiles, motorcycles, and trucks trycounterproductive, and are increasing the ing to pass, dart in and out of traffic, problems, such as requiring a “safety speed, and/or follow others too closely. space” around bicyclers in the Canyon They are more of a danger in the canyon who don’t know enough to avoid it, or are than professional drivers and commercial pompous enough to endanger the entire vehicles. flow of traffic going both ways. A non4. If these “larger” vehicles must find an altermotorized pathway needs to be built! native access into the Valley, i.e. over North 3. Prohibiting “large” vehicles that are conOgden Pass or Trappers Loop, liability nected specifically to construction will will not decrease but increase as these are solve nothing. I believe statistics will the places proven to put more risk to those show that these “large” vehicles’ records vehicles as well as to the traffic already for safety in Ogden Canyon are nearly using these roads. If you restrict “construcperfect. Especially for “local” drivers. tion vehicles” just because of their size, then We’ve run a 10-wheeler up this canyou must also restrict other “high profiled” yon for over ten years without incident. vehicles servicing the Valley such as: The record is the same for many other excavating and construction companies originating and doing business in Ogden LETTERS cont. on page 17 Letter to the Editor Submissions Please note that all letters submitted for publication in The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS must be signed; however, in some cases, letters may be printed without a name with the name on file with OVN staff. If you have submitted a letter without this information, please resubmit with the required name. For our files, a contact telephone number is also requested. |