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Show VIEWPOINTS A-17 Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, October28-30, 11-14, 2015 2014 Wed/Thurs/Fri, January www.parkrecord.com EDITORIAL Celebrities raise money for charities at local sport venues S GUEST EDITORIAL Food stamps and me ERICA LANGSTON Writers on the Range I am my father's pride and joy, a graduate of the University of Florida, a Fulbright scholar, a master's degree candidate at the University of Montana in Missoula, and a food stamp recipient. Without that assistance, I wouldn't be at college; I'd probably be working at a restaurant, coffee bar or supermarket. This year marks another wave of food stamp reductions as a result of President Obama's decision to sign the Farm Bill that Congress passed early last year, which promises to cut $8.6 billion to the program over the next decade. It was one of the few actions of Obama's presidency my father applauded. A 62-year-old retired warehouse worker, my father thinks of himself as blue-collar and often says that every man should earn his "fat." Not long ago, I interrupted his rejoicing over the recent cutbacks and asked him how many people he knew who used food stamps. He immediately listed welfare queens, crack addicts and too many undeserving illegal immigrants. I repeated my question, "But how many do you know?" He searched his mental Rolodex before our eyes found each other. "That's right," I said, "one." Several students in my graduate The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER Andy Bernhard Editor Nan Chalat Noaker Staff writers Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Adam Spencer Bubba Brown Angelique McNaughton Contributing writers Tom Clyde Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Steve Phillips Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy editor Alan Maguire ADVERTISING Classified advertising Jennifer Lynch Office manager Tiffany Rivera Circulation manager Lacy Brundy Accounting manager Jennifer Snow Advertising director Valerie Spung Advertising sales Lori Gull Jodi Hecker Erin Donnelly Sara Pearson Lisa Curley Photographer Christopher Reeves Production director Lisa Powell Production Ben Olson Nadia Dolzhenko April Hendrix Please be aware: The Park Record's content is copyrighted and, other than limited excerpts that are clearly attributed to The Park Record, cannot be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher. That includes both written and online distribution. The Park Record welcomes dialog about its content, but any unlicensed distribution of its content is a copyright violation. In particular, articles and photos may not be displayed on Dear Editor, program are also on food stamps. A few are single mothers with young children, some are returning to school after 15 years of cubicle life, while others simply can't close the gap between earning a minimum wage and the cost of living. We know that our situations are temporary, and one day, we hope, our higher education will help us secure a job that contributes heftily to the tax base. But right now, we would be starving college students, or almost-starving students, or even not be students at all, were it not for food stamps. The students I know who rely on this government assistance all live frugal lives; they have roommates, drive older vehicles, and have reliable work histories, during which they contributed their share of taxes. Some of us do some teaching at the university, others make lattes and bus tables while balancing full course loads. We reuse plastic grocery bags as trash bin liners. We wash and reuse foil, pickle jars and Ziploc baggies. We have few addictions, the most common being cycling. When we entered the workforce with bachelor's degrees in hand, we expected to find job security, benefits and a wage that could help us pay back student loans. What we found was part-time work, no sick leave and a salary that couldn't support even the most austere lifestyle. My father is hardly alone in making sweeping assumptions about welfare recipients. But while I have no doubt that some people abuse the food stamp system the way many others cheat and try to avoid paying their taxes, or the way that wealthy bankers try to game the banking system, I am convinced that there are countless families and individuals who would suffer without it. It may sound like a cliché, but food stamps function as a true safety net. When the program works the way it should, food stamps allow people the opportunity to transition away from government assistance and toward a more secure future. When I graduate in May 2015, I will have earned a master's degree with the aid of government assistance, and with that degree I plan to join my community as a financially independent, stable, contributing taxpayer. While my father may continue to think that I did this by working hard and pulling myself up by my own bootstraps, as the saying goes, of course, he knows the truth: I was poor, I needed the federal government to keep me afloat while I got educated, and it was there to help me. Erica Langston is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a column service of High Country News (hcn. org). She will graduate in May with a Master of Science degree in Environmental Studies. other websites. Links to the content on www. parkrecord.com, however, are permissible. The Park Record maintains a staff of writers, photographers and graphic artists who are committed to producing local news for Park City and Summit County. In order to continue doing so, the management must protect its original content. If there are any questions about this policy, please contact the publisher, Andy Bernhard, at ab@parkrecord.com. The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor. For more details please visit our website. www.parkrecord.com/writealetter undance is known as a time for attending movies, partying and searching for celebrities all around town. However, a few different charities also take part in the festivities, hosting events to raise money for good causes. Several of Park City's world-class sports venues took part in the fundraising efforts over the weekend, hosting athletes and celebrities in different capacities. On Thursday, the Utah Olympic Park hosted actress and television host Amy Paffrath. Paffrath rode the Winter Comet Bobsled to support Kids Play International, a nonprofit founded by former freestyle aerialist and Park City resident Tracey Evans. The stunt raised $10,000 for a sports field to be built in a community impacted by genocide in Rwanda. On Saturday night, Canyons Resort hosted a benefit concert for the Echoes of Hope foundation, started by former NHL star Luc Robitaille and his wife, Stacia. Echoes of Hope provides opportunities for emancipated foster youth and other youths in need. Famous musicians like Five for Fighting and Matisyahu performed at the event. On Sunday, the Echoes of Hope events continued, this time at the Park City Ice Arena, with NHL alumni taking the ice alongside celebrities in front of a packed house. On Sunday night, Park City proved it has more than just winter sports venues to offer when Strikes 4 Scholarships took place at Jupiter Bowl. In conjunction with the movie "In Football We Trust," several Polynesian NFL stars hit the lanes to raise money for a good cause. All the money went to the Haoli Ngata Foundation, which will use the funds to provide scholarships for underprivileged Polynesian high school students. Park City always gets attention for the world-class sporting events hosted in town -- attention that is no doubt well deserved. But, especially during a time with so many visitors in town to celebrate cinematic accomplishments, it's nice to see the sport venues put to use to help those less fortunate as well. The Luc Robitaille Celebrity Shootout just finished its eighth-annual event and has become a staple of the Sundance schedule. It's probably safe to assume it'll be back for a ninth year in 2016. Let's hope Park City can continue to utilize all its great facilities to celebrate cinema, sports and giving. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PCHS bands will put on a great gala School choice empowers families Editor: On the evening before Valentine's Day, Feb. 13, the Park City High School Bands once again will host their Sweetheart Gala dinner dance at the St. Mary's Church Grand Hall. This annual event features an elegant dinner, followed by dancing to big band music exuberantly provided by the Park City High School Varsity Jazz Ensemble. Last year, as the new school district superintendent, I attended my first Sweetheart Gala and was impressed by the talent and hard work of the student musicians as their exciting performance enticed guests to the dance floor. I invite those interested in this entertaining evening to go to the band's website at pcbands.net to find more details and learn if any tickets remain. All proceeds from the Gala benefit Park City High School band programs, which are among the best music programs in the state. Editor: Families make dozens of decisions every day. Some are as simple as choosing what to eat for dinner or where to go on vacation, but other decisions have a greater impact on the success of their children. National School Choice Week will be recognized the last week of January, celebrating the opportunity that families have to choose the best education option for their children. School choice is exactly what it sounds like, and its importance can't be minimized. For some families, private school is appealing. For others, the public school in their community meets every need. Beyond traditional public and private schools are options that include magnet schools, charter academies, faith-based schools and online learning, an option I cherish as principal at Utah Connections Academy, a statewide, online public school that serves children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Student success stories are what I appreciate most about school choice. With the option to choose, one of our students can pursue her dream of competing in Dr. Ember Conley Park City School District Superintendent the 2020 Summer Olympics. The flexibility of online learning allows this talented gymnast and gifted student to train during the day and complete lessons in the evening. That same choice allows another Utah Connections Academy student to lap his two-wheeled peers in the competitive world of motocross, while at the same time improving his test scores and overall academic performance. He enjoys the personalized learning, which allows him to move quickly through work that comes easy for him and gives him more time to focus on subjects that are more challenging. Athletes and performers enjoy flexibility in their school-day schedules. Students who need it receive extra support in order to scale academic hurdles, while gifted students enjoy the flexibility to enroll in advanced courses. Students and families customize their learning experience to meet their needs. Choice empowers families. It empowers them to find an education environment that fits best for their child, whatever that model looks like. Online school, including Utah Connections Academy, is just one of those options. Linda Harless Principal, Utah Connections Academy GUEST EDITORIAL Avoid a generation of e-addicts Reprinted with permission from The Salt Lake Tribune. A common expression uttered by a confused person is, "I don't know whether I'm coming or going." Restoring a proper sense of direction is important for the various agencies that are figuring out how to regulate products that could be harmful in some situations but benign, even helpful, in others. Tops on that list is the phenomenon of "vaping," or the use of electronic cigarettes. The increasingly popular e-cigarettes are touted as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes, even a way to quit. And, in many cases, that may be true. Folks with a heavy cigarette habit could use e-cigarettes to step down their intake. They could avoid inhaling - or filling the room with - tar and an unknown amount of carcinogens, without the withdrawal symptoms that those trying to quit smoking by other means may find insurmountable. Key to the regulation of e-cigarettes - their chemical make-up, their availability and the taxes charged - is the coming-and-going question. If the user is going - using e-cigs as a way out of addiction - then health authorities should be supportive. If the user is coming - vaping even though they have never smoked - then the state has an interest in preventing e-cigarettes from becoming an on-ramp, mostly for young people, to a life of addiction. Utah law already requires an extra level of labeling for alcoholic beverages that are flavored in ways that hide their normal taste and seem likely, if not outright designed, to attract underage consumers. That law, despite recently renewed complaints from brewers, should remain in force. We need similar rules to discourage sellers from sweetening up vaping kits as a way to appeal to children who otherwise would never touch them, and who have no need of being weaned away from a tobacco habit they don't yet have. Cigarettes and e-cigarettes both exist to deliver a highly addictive substance, nicotine, to the user's bloodstream. (And to make money.) Some regulation is necessary. We have only the manufacturer's word for what is in, and what rises from, the liquids that recharge e-cigarettes. Given the long history of a tobacco industry that manipulated, and dissembled about, what their products contain, and what they produce upon combustion, that is clearly unacceptable. A recent survey by the Salt Lake County Health Department showed large disparities between the levels of nicotine promised and those actually contained in the liquids used in e-cigarettes. They could be making it easier to become an addict, or harder to stop, than the makers imply. The chemical content of e-cigarettes would best be regulated, and tested, at the federal level. But local health agencies have not only the right, but the duty, to do what they can to deter the creation of a generation of e-nicotine addicts. GUEST EDITORIAL Give police review process true independence Reprinted with permission from The Salt Lake Tribune. If there's one thing on which we can all agree in the debate over police shootings, it's that body-cam videos do not bring everyone to the same conclusion. And that is an argument for making sure the public reviews of police shootings are just as visible as the videos. Dillon Taylor and James Barker died from gunshots by Salt Lake City Police officers in recent months and, in both cases, video from the body cameras of the officers who fired the fatal shots brought a wealth of information. Without them, there would have been much more reliance on eyewitness statements, which are notoriously subjective. Still, in both cases the videos have brought forth a wide range of opinions - from the officers acted responsibly to the officers never should have pulled the trigger. In other words, no amount of physical evidence will overcome the need for someone to interpret that evidence and draw a conclusion. That "someone," in the case of Salt Lake City Police shootings, is actually several groups. The District Attorney's office has to review any homicide to see if the shooter committed a crime. The officers' internal-affairs department also investigates to see if any of its policies and protections were violated in the shooting. And then the families of those who have been shot have the chance to take their cases to court by filing a lawsuit, meaning a judge and/or jury may also get the responsibility of deciding if the officers acted legally. There is one more body that gets to weigh in, and, arguably, it is the most important one in terms of bringing the public into the very public responsibility of law enforcement. That is the city's Civilian Review Board, made up of citizen volunteers from the city who review every fatal shooting (and many other events). That is why Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker's decision to publicly release the CRB's report on Taylor's death is a step in the right direction. Becker's decision to release such reports likely will mean that the CRB's report on Barker's death will be public, too. The mayor may not have had much choice. He acted as The Tribune was appealing the city's denial of a Government Records Access and Management Act request for the Taylor report. And that raises another issue: the CRB's independence. The review board may be populated with outside citizens, but they still get their legal advice, including the decision to deny the Tribune's request, from the City Attorney's office. Becker's predecessor, Rocky Anderson, has pointed to that as a flaw, and he's right. Policing is tough, and in the recent climate it's gotten tougher. A genuinely open and independent review process will breed confidence, and that ultimately will bring citizens and their protectors closer together. |