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Show Press New Utah! Wednesday, December 30, 1998 - Page 2 Lehi Free Opinion It's a small world after all, sometimes way too small A thank you to our readers It's been an exciting year at Newtah News now New "Nobody will be Christmas Day." it, either. Our newspaper management Utahl explored many options before On this last edition of 1998, n adopting the single-namwe want to extend a thank you format that has changed to our faithful readers who have the look of your hometown stayed with us through a year newspaper. of growth and transition. We decided to keep the familWe understand the sense of iar parts of the newspaper intact ownership many of you feel in important things like our coverage of the milestones your hometown newspapers. Many have grown up with a copy in the lives of our readers. At of our publications in your home the same time, we have been able to provide more local city arriving regularly each Wednesday to tell you about what news for our readers than ever was happening in the lives of before, including feature stories on your friends and neighbors, your friends and neighbors. And while expanding our coverage of many can remember when that paper arrived each Thursday. growing cities like Alpine, If you are like our families, Highland, Cedar Hills and Lin-dohave out saved and clipped you stories about weddings and misIt's been a challenge, but the sionaries, Sterling Scholars and feedback we've received from Reflections contest winners, you tells us it's working.. We high school state championships haven't made everyone happy, and little league winners. but positive comments outnumSo when we start monkeying ber the negative by a substanaround with something like a tial margin. hometown newspaper, we expect Thank you for reading these ' a battery of discontented readpages week after week. We owe ers to turn up at our doorstep, everything to the people who read our newspapers, because demanding a return to the expected. they also provide us with the But we also knew that we news we gather each week to fill could not continue to provide those pages. A lot happened to us hometown news coverage to the in 1998, mainly because a lot communities of north Utah was happening to you. That's the kind of community County under the old system. There just wasn't enough news partnership that will keep our hometown newspapers strong space in our papers to do that, and not enough advertising sup- for 1999 and many years to come. We appreciate you. port to add enough pages to do five-editio- e, n. Does video game foster bad driving habits? Sharon says I'm driving worse To hear her talk, that's than usual. pretty bad. cars that zoom along at speeds of if you can 1,000 mph and faster just stay on the track. Actually, my driving has been an issue for a couple of years now, ever since she started complaining that I was "too left," meaning I tend to hug the center strip on the road. I used to think it was an optical illusion, the result of her sitting on the right, front side of the car. You can't really tell where the left side of the car is from that position and it often looks "too left," I guess. I don't really know because I make a better driver than a passenger. As a passenger, I tend to suffer from motion sickness, but that has never bothered me as a driver. As a result, I like to drive and usually do, unless I'm letting one of the kids exercise his or her learner's permit, in which case everything looks dangerous from the passenger seat. Maybe she's right. I do get an occasional dirty look from the drivers coming the opposite way, as if they might think I was taking my half of the road out of the middle. I'm trying to "right" myself, but if you see me coming and I'm "too left," please let me know. Anyway, that's not the new problem, which is that I'm speeding up too fast, slowing down too late, and acting like I'm going to ram some "opposing" driver into the guard rail if they get too close. These are all tendencies that would be engendered by a game of X, all right. And they represent a change of pace. Usually, I get complaints that compare my driving with that of "a little old lady." With apologies to any little old ladies out there, I take some offense at that. But after all, I drive a Geo Metro; how fast do they expect me to go? I think there's a lot to be said for being careful and watching out for the idiots on the road. Not you, of course, but you know they are out there, and if you aren't on the lookout, they will get you. I watch for than that? X is the perfect Actually, man. It game for a middle-agegives you the thrill of high speed driving without threatening anyone. And you can pick it up and play for 15 minutes, and then get on with your life. Derek, who is 17, tried to interest me in his new Zelda Nintendo game. When I deferred, he said with just a hint of condescension, "Oh yeah, this kind of game makes you think too much." I didn't bother to explain that it's time, not thinking, that determines my interest in home video games. He may have endless hours to invest in staring at a video monitor and trying to make the program do fancy tricks. I don't, unless you count building endless newspaper pages on the computer screen. But I can drop into the banana chair and reel off five or six races of and emerge exhilarated and accelerated and ready to get on with is expected the things a to do. As for the driving, I'm trying to approach the whole thing with a degree of sensitivity. I mean, I play Goldeneye with the kids (in the mode), but I would d never dream of going off and actually shooting anyone. Why should a game of driver to prompt an try to zoom between two slower moving cars, nudging one of them off the road and into the guard rail in the process? It doesn't tempt me, but if you are worried, watch out for that dark blue metro, coming down the road "too left" and with an attitude. The driver could be dangerous. ro d (ISSN No. 1521-685- (U.S.P.S. No. A 309-50- member of NEWSPAPEH ASSOCIATION NATIONAL dren alike were busy seeing both possibilities for the future as well as technology that is available today. We had to chuckle, though, that one of the most fascinating exhibits was rather despite its sponsorship and attendant displays by a highlow-tec- h, though I worried a little that the children would be bored. At first, they might have been, but when they saw a video depicting African natives eating bugs, their interest heightened; then, around the California. corner from that display, the hall Using the pretext of spending the became a hands-o- n museum, where Christmas holidays with relatives in they could touch exhibits and try out Las Vegas, we headed south, the chilsome oddities for themselves. dren thinking that that was the extent It was a hit they came away fasof festivities. cinated and we came away doubly In Las Vegas, the kids started excited that we had chosen something inquiring about the location of the they liked. hotel where we would be staying. We The next day at Disneyland, we told them it was on Stanton Avenue soon found out that we had grossly and asked them to help start looking d the mindset of for it. (Later they would claim that we thousands of people, whom we had had deceived them, but the hotel real- assumed would want to spend Crist-ma- s ly was on Stanton Avenue, we just Day at home with their families. omitted the fact that Stanton Avenue Many of the rides had incredibly was located in another state.) long lines, particularly the more popuA few miles outside Las Vegas, we lar rides. Was it worth a 70- - to broke the news to three very increduwait to ride on just one ride? lous children. We thought not. We had opted to make the arduous So we moved to the Innoventions trip all in one day so that we would exhibit, an attraction which the attennot have to extend the travel into a dant warned people standing in line second day. Thus, we had all of the day was "not a ride." It didn't seem to disof Christmas Eve to have fun as a fam- - courage anyone, because the line did not get any shorter. iiyBecause of our positive experience Although the children weren't in on any of the planning, we had already the day before at Ripley's, we felt searched the Internet for information mostly comfortable with the idea of about activities and interesting places the children seeing a similar display. to see in southern California. We even We were definitely not disappointprinted out some of that information ed. to take with us for ready reference After an initial presentation on the when we arrived. possibilities available through techFrom our inquiries, we learned that nology, the narrator let the audience both Buena Park and Hollywood, loose on several displays, two floors among other cities throughout the full of displays in fact, which he world, have a Ripley's Believe It Or encouraged everyone to try. Not Museum, or Odditorium as they Again, the hands-o- n experience was like to call it. a very positive one for our family. From the many computer displays Having read several of Robert Ripley's books in my own childhood, I felt to the auditory heart exhibits and the that this would be fascinating, even driving simulators, adults and chil under-anticipate- 100-minu- te - tech company. The Honeywell exhibit featured tubes that children could crawl through; we knew that our would really enjoy it, but we had no idea that the others, who range in age from 10 to 16, would also find it interesting. It was no wonder that all of the older three were eager to enter the tubes in search of their younger brother who didn't want to come out. When hundreds of people who I believe were local residents who purchase annual passes in order to participate in activities like parades starting lining the park's Main Street, we decided to return to our hotel across the street to eat lunch and have a nap. We didn't return until about 7 p.m. and a new group of people were already lined up for the second showing of the parade, leaving the lines to the rides we had passed earlier fairly heating duct-lik- e four-year-o- ld short. On Saturday, we went to Hollywood, and in the process decided to do some shopping for new school clothes sales. The chilat the dren treated the experience as they do all shopping experiences, with complete boredom, until the two older boys spied actor Martin Landau shopping for shoes at the same time. The kids surprised me, both with their interest in some of the things I feared they would dislike, but also with the mostly good behavior. Still, they did get rather antsy on the return ; after-Christm- trip. Despite my having vowed to never say what my father always used to say upon our return from vacations, I decided that it truly is "good to be back in Zion." And after seeing the "madding crowd," I'm glad I'm back in our small world after all. that's what Dan Jones is asking about state-sponsor- ro four-play- ' About a week before Christmas I was randomly selected for a Dan Jones telephone survey. "I don't know" and "I don't care" were not possible choices, so I really had to think and express some very anonymous opinions. I thought you might be interested to know what the pollsters think you're thinking about. For example, they asked if enough money was being spent to relieve traffic congestion in Utah County. I told them I didn't think so, but they didn't ask how much more I was willing to pay in taxes. Will Utah County be better off for hosting an Olympic event? Probably; at least when I'm feeling Olympic, but in what way, immediately or in the long run? Do I approve of widening of Provo Canyon? As fast as Heber and Utah Valleys are growing, where else could we better spend some of that money to reduce traffic congestion? Did I approve of Congressman Chris Cannon's performance? (This was probably an indirect way of asking about the impeachment proceedings something for which Cannon will be remembered far more than anything else.) Did Nebo School District violate Wendy Weaver's rights of free speech? The bigger question here is: When is a school teacher an individual with rights of free speech and when is a school teacher a representative of an "alternative lifestyle?" OR can it get any more ridiculous that a teacher's religious speech is restrict- - them diligently, a tendency which may, in fact, contribute to my leftward drift. Also, I think 47 is too young to be accused of senile driving behavior. After all, it's not too old to get a Nintendo game for Christmas. What better proof of youth is there ed when hisher sexual lifestyle speech is protected? All I can tell my children is that we live in one strange, but politically correct country. While we're on weird politics, they also asked if I thought "Bible Week" proclamations were a violation of the separation of church and state? I guess to be safe we could call it "Constitutional Sources Week" because the founding fathers referred to the Bible far more than any other source when they wrote the U.S. Constitution, which, ironically, is now interpreted to discourage Bible reading. Is life in Utah County better than most other places? Yes at least until everyone else finds out about it. Where else in Utah County would I live if not where I am now? Anywhere North of Orem seems okay to me. Am I familiar and concerned with the Y2K problem? Y of Course! Stay out of elevators, airplanes, financial institutions or anything else run by a computer. How much food storage do I have and how long could my family live off it? Unless we have to attend a Donner Tupperware Party, I figure we can make it until Wendy's gets their Y2K problem solved. Do BYU suspensions tarnish the reputation of the University? I mention this one because the more I think about it, I have to say, "No." If the university didn't have the kind of reputation it has, no one would think twice about "honor code" violations. Is the Y on the mountain a landmark or an abuse of the natural habitat? That isn't the exact question, but I figure it was raised by the same people who think we can get by without widening Provo Canyon. Why don't we add a 2K to it? Do I own the video Titanic? Of course, you can guess the next question: Is it an edited version? I just bought the CD; we didn't think about editing that. Are retail establishments within their rights to edit videotapes? When I buy a videotape to view in my own home, I may decide to have someone splice in my home movies, all without charge to Paramount Pictures for my creative additions. Should we build a causeway across Utah Lake? Only when we're tired of driving in the mud. The questions I didn't have to think about were: Should UVSC become a state university? Yes! Should they have a football pro- gram? Yes! Has construction curtailed my travel to Salt Lake? Yes! (A perfect example of looking over the obvious.) Reader's Forum er Donate blood, the gift of life half-cocke- Editor Jeffrey Grant Huefner is two years his picture taken while sitSanta's on lap and he whispered in ting Santa's ear about the gifts he wanted. But two years ago, Grant received the most special gift he will ever receive. He received the gift of life. Thanks to generous donations from volunteer donors, blood was available for Grant when he experienced a serious g allergic reaction to a le Published weekly by KawUtah! Don't believe everything you read, especially that sentence, because everybody and their dog seemed to be at Disneyland on Christmas Day. But, we decided to incorporate the spirit of Christmas giving and the monumental effort of vacationing with children into one activity, and we ventured forth with our little clan to experience some of the marvels' of the wonderful and wacky world of southern So I don't think there's anything to it, but she claims my new video game might be responsible. That's a right, my very own video game cute little Nintendo 64 game called X, that lets you fly through a series of courses in hovering race at Disneyland on ..Tie Jewtahews Jroup 59 West Main American Fork, Utah 84003 old. He had heart-stabilizin- Telephone Numbers & Advertising News Publisher Circulation Deadlines 9 .Brett Bezzant Display Advertising News Marc Haddock Missionaries 3 . Managing Editor City Editor - Classified Advertising RussDaly Subscription price $24 per year Weddings Sports . . .Tuesday, noon Monday, 5 p.m. Monday, Monday, Monday, .Monday, 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. a.m. 10 Periodicals Postage Paid at American Fork, Utah Community Calendar . .Monday, 10 a.m. Letters to the Editor . . .Monday, 10 a.m. POSTMASTER: Obituaries lend addrast change to 99 WMt Main, Amtncan Fork, Utah 84003 Tuesday, 11 a.m. medication. He received numerous blood transfusions and spent several weeks in hospitals. Today he's healthy and happy and on Santa's list of mischievous little boys. A blood donor makes a miracle with every donation. The reward is knowing that Grant Huefner and other boys and girls, men and women, are alive and well because of the donor's gift. At the holidays, people often reflect on the values that give meaning and satisfaction to their lives. They wish for peace on earth and joy to mankind. They share of themselves and spread holiday cheer by giving gifts, whet her expensive or fun or crafted by loving hands. Yet the most precious gifts a person can give are an hour of time and a pint of blood. This holiday season, the American Red Cross encourages people to donate blood for patients hospitalized at Utah hospitals. What could be more important than the gift of life? Call to schedule an appointment. Gary J. Ouellette Chief Operating Officer American Red Cross We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must include the author's name (printed AND signed) and a telephone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic. HOW TO REACH US By Mail P.O. Box 7, American Fork, UT 84003 In By Fax 756-527- Person 59 W. Main, American Fork 4 By editor newutah.com |