OCR Text |
Show f; Dear Editor, ! I've been watching Rep. James V. Hansen for the last eight years and I've learned something that is interesting: you can use - mediocrity to your advantage if you're a congressman. Ypu don't have to have any clout with your colleagues; they 'r don't even have to know you from Adam. All that you have to ' do is vote against every appropriations bill and then you can call - yourself a "fiscal conservative" (voters love 'em). There is always one line in the bill that you can attack and thereby justify your negative vote besides it will pass anyway. Who cares if it means that you have no pull to help those you're elected to represent. You just tell your people that you have a "National Agenda" (that sounds important). If you sell it hard enough, most folks won't realize how ineffective you really are. ' If it looks as if your re-election is in doubt, then you beg to get on the sponsor list of a popular bill (one that is sure to pass). , That way you can brag that in your eight years in Congress you , accomplished something. Right now, there are 1 1 Congressmen, Congress-men, including Hansen, that are telling their constituents how they single-handedly got us the 65 mph speed limit, although Hansen neglects to tell us that he voted against it in the veto override. Please extend my thanks to Mr. Hansen for this important lesson on the value of mediocrity. Barbara Kilgannon ' Farmington Dear Editor, Three cheers for Ruth Kennington, for doing the job that we the voters elected her to do! We're not letting you take this 'blame' for your co-workers. . .We're giving you credit! (blame?) Stand tall Ruth in the days ahead. We're sending you help. Help that won't be so immature as to 'blame' someone else for their mistakes. Why didn't they blame the 'burn plant' that we're stuck with, or the poor land investments they have made, or their little game of "We'll move him there, we'll put you here, and we will all win, and be Fat Cats together?" (Come on, give the voters a break.) ; Now, let's hear it big for Golden Sill, Howard Stoddard and Margene Isom. r .1 Barbara W. Woodward 5 Layton ; Dear Editor: I am not usually affected by editorials one way or another. I enjoy reading about individuals' views on the various subjects I explored by the editorial letters. However, last week one letter I went a little too far in personally attacking someone that I know to be very different than described. I am referring to the libelous t and unsubstantiated comments made by a Mr. Roy C. Evans about Gayle Stevenson. To anyone that knows Gayle Stevenson also knows by last week's letter that Mr. Evans does not know him. To even hint that Gayle Stevenson is arrogant or in any way dishonest is a farce. Mr. Evans must be referring to a different person because if he really knew him you'd think he would at least know how to spell his name. Mr. Evans wrote about a Gale Stevenson. I don't know where Mr. Evans got his figures on the percentage percen-tage of teachers and administrators who opposed his possible appointment to superintendent but I think it would be more r realistic to estimate that 90 percent were disappointed that he j wasn't selected. In fact all those that I've talked to. I I also know Gerald Purdy and doubt very much that he would j agree with Mr. Evans' statements or approve of his name being I used as it was. I This is the first letter I've ever written to the editor of any ! newspaper and perhaps I should have overlooked Mr. Evans' ! letter, considering the source, but I couldn't resist setting the j record straight. Davis County can do no better than a man like Gayle Stevenson as one of its commissioners, j I only hope that there is not a Roy C . Evans of Bountiful in my j family tree, i Teresa Evans i Dear Editor: I A few corrections are needed to some incorrect assumptions j which Melza Gramoll has made about the Sept. 6, 1988 meeting of the Davis County Board of Education. The Board did not "politicize" the meeting by inviting a large attendance. We publish our agenda according to law and also j routinely distribute copies to the schools in our district, the I PTA, and other individuals who have requested them. As a -ii result, we frequently have a large attendance, and that attend- ance has never been, nor ever will be, deliberately "stacked." Mrs. Gramoll was allowed to express her opinions concerning j the tax initiatives on Sept. 6. The Davis Education Association ! was allowed to make a presentation to Board members of tee-j tee-j shirts in accordance with their request to speak which had been ! made prior to Mrs. Gramoll's request. In addition, Mrs. Sheri-lian Sheri-lian Rowley, an active member of the Association of Retarded I Citizens, addressed the Board of Education as she has done on I previous occasions at her own request. She did choose to speak ! in opposition to the tax initiatives which,made her presentation contrary to Mrs. Gramoll's. I The Board of Education regularly allows presentations as a i part of our agenda and does not solicit people or organizations to i do so. Each presentation is considered separate and apart from j any other presentation. Sometimes the different presentations : in a single evening are related to each other and are on the same ! topic. A second opportunity to speak in the same evening on the same topic is not allowed because this is not meant to be a i debate. The Board of Education does not structure the presen-i presen-i tations beyond scheduling them as the requests are received. 1 We invite Mrs. Gramoll to attend our meetings on a regular i basis as many other patrons do, and then she will have a better i understanding of our agenda format and attendance, i ; Sheryl L. Allen ' President z- Davis County Board of Education Dear Editor: 5 In response to an article written in the Sept. 28 Clipper by Roy r C. Evans, we also have comments to make concerning Gayle s: Stevenson. Nowhere can there be found a more honest and caring indi- vidual. He does regard "procedures and protocol," and he wants to serve the people of Davis County. It seems appropriate that if Mr. Evans is holding a grudge : against someone that he should go to that person directly and clear up untruths before slandering them in a public paper. Mr. Stevenson, your name needs no defense. Good luck and i we, as do many of your numerous friends, support you. : Connie Lewis Bill Russell |