Volume XXIII Issue IX The Ogden Valley news Page 3 June 1, 2016 Letters to the Editor Do You Love Where You Live? If So, Please Show It! Bennett Expresses Fears of What a Nation Can Become For about ten years, there has been a concerted effort to educate the community about eradicating state listed noxious weeds in Ogden Valley. The Ogden Valley news has been publishing articles and photos about dyers woad for 18 years. If you truly love the Valley, we need to continue working on this problem. The reason it hasn’t taken over yet is because of such efforts. I appreciate and applaud those who have taken the time to rid their yards and property of dyers woad and other problem weeds. I am truly grateful to all who have contributed and helped with the annual dyers woad event. But when I drive around and see how much still needs to be pulled, it breaks my heart; on average, one plant produces between 350 to 500 new seeds, which can quickly erase all of the hard work by conscientious property owners and community members in a very short time. I was prompted to write this after receiving an email from a relative newcomer to the Valley who wrote the following. “It was a nice family service activity (annual weeds day held May 14).... I feel, though, that no one cares in the valley. If it is a matter of bio diversity and survival of endemic species, it should be explained more, maybe, and we should reach out to the LDS community to have more support and more help from the Huntsville Stake and all their members. We still could get rid of these weeds with diligence and a long term commitment. Just a thought....” Do you love where you live? If so, then please show it by pulling, spraying, or at least cutting off this year’s crop of seed heads of dyers woad that are now forming! Jeannie Wendell, Liberty Caitlin Gochnour Deserves Our Support & Votes We are supporting Caitlin Gochnour for Weber County Commissioner, and we strongly urge you to vote for her in the upcoming Primary election in June Caitlin Gochnour has been a personal friend of ours for many years. We became friends after she, her husband, and their family moved from Panguitch, Utah back to her hometown of Ogden. Since then, Caitlin has successfully raised three wonderful children, fulfilled her many civic and church responsibilities, and achieved great successes personally and professionally. About the time her children were entering college, Caitlin herself also returned to school and earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration. She had also won election to, and successfully served two terms (eight years) as a highly regarded Ogden City Council member. Now (after fulfilling her self-imposed term limit of two terms on the Ogden City Council), Caitlin is running for the Weber County Commission. Caitlin Gochnour has the education, background, and track record necessary to be an effective community leader. Caitlin takes the time to listen and then works hard to really understand all sides of each issue. She has repeatedly demonstrated proven abilities to effectively analyze that information and to make the best decisions for all her constituents. She has a sense of responsibility to all of the Weber County electorate (and not just to certain interests). We believe she will be able to bring a fresh, new perspective and a proper balance to the governance of Weber County. Please learn more about Caitlin at the web site <www.caitlingochnour.com> Or go to “Caitlin Gochnour for Weber County Commission” on Facebook. You May Be Disenfranchised. - Because of the way that the current election process has been set up, you will be disenfranchised and unable to vote at all for a Weber County Commissioner unless you are registered as a Republican and vote in the Republican primary election Tuesday, June 28. If you are not registered as a Republican and you wish to vote, you can easily change your affiliation for this election. To do this, go to the secure State of Utah web site <vote. utah.gov>, click on Register to Vote, fill out your ID information (driver’s license number is needed), complete the next registration form, and select “Republican,” and click register. This Is an Important Election. Especially for the Ogden Valley - For those of us who live in Ogden Valley, the three Weber County Commissioners are the only local elected officials who represent all of us. And, as you well know, their decisions and actions have great effects on our everyday and future lives. (For example, soon our county commissioners will be adopting a new General Plan for the development of the entire Ogden Valley and surroundings. The commissioners will then also be at the center of the processes to codify the laws and ordinances that will make operational that plan.) This is a critical time for us to have a county commissioner who will listen, who will take the time to understand, who will study, and who will then make the most reasoned decisions for all the citizens of Weber County. We believe Caitlin Gochnour should, and will be, that commissioner. We believe that she will help to bring a reasoned and balanced approach to county government. Lee & Brenda Schussman, Eden Ogden Valley SCIENCE Summer Camps Educational Youth Hiking Adventures Focusing on Science and Art Hear It, See It, Touch It, Smell It & Taste It Student Ages 6 - 10 Registration $95/camp Each session will be from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM and is restricted to a maximum of 10 students. For more info on classes and dates call Nicole Householder at 801-675-9017. Email nicole@thg-cs.com or visit www.thg-cs.com Shortly after Bob Bennett’s passing, I was privileged to hear his son Jim speak of his father’s last days. We knew Bob Bennett, a three-term Republican Senator who lost in Utah’s 2010 primary to two tea party opponents. He represented what was honorable about his politics, his Mormon faith and his relationship to the world. His son’s remarks affirmed my thoughts and fears of what a nation can become when it “registers” Muslims; targets Mexicans; and disenfranchises the elderly, the poor and those in need of health care. I quote, “So I was standing there with him in the hospital and out of nowhere he asked me, ‘Are there any Muslims in this hospital?’” Jim Bennett told NBC News Wednesday evening. “I said, ‘Yes, dad, I’m sure there are.’ And he was very emotional and said, ‘I want to go up to every single one of them and tell them how grateful I am that they are in this country and apologize on behalf of the Republican Party for Donald Trump.’ “He felt like immigration required a comprehensive solution, Jim said of his father. “And that didn’t go over well with Utah delegates who just thought that building a big wall, in a Donald Trump fashion, was the only way to go.” Jim’s mother told him that Senator Bennett increasingly expressed a sense of inclusion for ostracized populations. Jim said that after 9/11, his father became interested in learning more about Islam so that he could make informed policy decisions on the Senate floor. “I think he got increasingly troubled as he saw the Republican Party becoming the party of Trump,” Jim said. “I think Trump’s rise was really the motivation for him to recognize the importance of expressing his desire for inclusion. He just felt it was his responsibility to push back. “I was just very proud of him,” Jim added. “It just demonstrated the integrity of my father; it wasn’t just a public front, that even in personal moments of his last days this was something that was of deep concern to him and that he was thinking of other people before he was thinking of himself.” Do we find ourselves in the middle of the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes? Are we looking at something we are being told is going to be okay and are afraid to say the truth of what we really “see.” The quote from Martin Niemoller who was a prominent Protestant pastor during the Holocaust may help us focus our vision a little better. He had initially been an anti-Semitic but as time wore on he became an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Hate will not make us great. First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me— And there was no one left to speak for me. Respectfully submitted, Sharon Holmstrom, Eden Memorial Day Cemetery Schedule May 30, 2016 Each year on Memorial Day, the American Legion Ogden Valley Post 129 holds Military Honors Memorial services at four Ogden Valley cemeteries. The schedule is as follows: Liberty Cemetery 3900 N. 3500 E. Liberty 9:00 a.m. Lower Eden Cemetery (Meadow View) 5100 E. 2200 N., Eden 10:00 a.m. Upper Eden Cemetery (Mt. View) 5500 E. 2770 N., Eden 11:00 a.m. Huntsville 12:00 p.m. 5500 E. 100 S. Huntsville After the ceremonies, a potluck lunch will be held at the American Legion Post 129 at 1:00 p.m. in Huntsville located at 604 S. 7800 E. Please bring your favorite dish! For more information, call Clay Poulter at 801-391-0919 or 801-745-3802.