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Show CH!zn - Wextaosday, July 29, 1998 Pag 2 Opinion fife vye Pay for public officials If you're an elected official, giving giv-ing yourself a raise is always risky politically. People could easily eas-ily misinterpret the intent, and accuse you of attempting to unfairly profit from your position. There are times when this perception per-ception would be correct, but the present move to approve compensation compen-sation for officials in Highland isn't one of them. Back when the city came into being, the ideal of voluntary public pub-lic service was one of the city's founding principles. Such an ideal easily fit the realities of the demands on public officials in those days. For better or worse, that's no longer true. Highland is a dynamic, dynam-ic, growing community, and the people's elected representatives are facing unprecedented demands on their time and personal per-sonal resources, even with a city staff that the founders couldn't have imagined if they tried. Mayor Jess Adamson has discovered dis-covered after a few months in office that his position amounts to a second, very nearly full-time, job. In order to serve the city properly, he must take time from the job that supports his family and spend it in behalf of Highland's High-land's residents. Demands on the council members mem-bers are not as great, but they too must devote a significant amount of time to city business. All of them face travel costs, publications, publica-tions, and other expenses which are usually paid out-of-pocket. No one questions the fact that the city can't afford to pay these people what their services are really worth. All of those serving do so gladly, understanding that their personal sacrifices on behalf of their fellow citizens were part of what they bargained for when they ran for office. There comes a time though when the demands become great enough to force even the most The old fort walls It's hard to remember that 143 years ago the people in Ut?h County were advised to build forts to protect themselves from Indians. Soon three communities around here began building forts. Namely Lehi, Provo and American Fork. The fort in our town was to be 80 rods long and 74 rods wide. People began moving their houses into the designated 37 acre site. According to an article written by the late Ann C. Hansen and printed in the Citizen in 1975, the point of beginning begin-ning was a few rods east of 100 East, perhaps behind where the Alpine Stake Tabernacle now rests. To help you place the fort's location in our mind, think of the bell monument monu-ment now in Robinson Park. That sits on the site of the south wall of the fort. From the east corner, the wall went north to 100 North, west 74 rods, between Merchant Street and 100 West, approximately where our post office now stands, then south to 84 rods south of Main Street. At that time, American Fork was known as Lake City. An ordinance was passed by the City Council in August 1853 as follows: "Be it ordained by the City Council of Lake City that a wall will be built Kudos to Towne Cinemas Editor: Kudos to the owners of American Fork Towne Cinemas for having the courage to edit the larger larg-er than life movie known as 'Titanic." I am certain cer-tain these individuals did not make this decision easily, given the potential for litigation and the predictable, although ironic outcries of "censorship" "censor-ship" from liberals who watchdog the sovereign "rights" of people and place choice as the crowning crown-ing virtue, often above its sister virtues of responsibility, accountability, and moral certain Citizen (ISSN No. 8750-4677) (U.S.P.S. No. 018-580) Amwnbwor NATIONAL MWSMKft ASSOCIATION ?Qp (C idealistic public servant to question ques-tion whether they or their family can afford to fully bear the costs of such service. We believe that Highland has reached that point. Of perhaps even greater concern con-cern is that the increasing costs of running for and holding office may narrow the pool of those inclined to seek this type of public pub-lic service. If that happens, every Highland resident will be the loser, and Highland's fine tradition tradi-tion of dedicated public service will be the first casualty. The modest proposal now under consideration is not an attempt to provide a salary for those in office. It is merely intended to make a small dent in the personal costs associated with serving. As such, we believe it is long overdue. Some city council members have expressed dismay at the prospect and protest that they don't want any compensation. The logical compromise, if that's the majority opinion, is to approve the proposed compensation but delay the starting date of the payments pay-ments until after the next election, elec-tion, when all the cards will be on the table for public examination. Or, individual council members may request that the city keep their share until someone replaces them. To ask the mayor, however, to continue his present level of commitment com-mitment without some compensation compensa-tion is asking too much in our view, even if that's what he fully expected to do when he stood for office. And, if you're looking at this as a salary, we're talking considerably con-siderably less than minimum wage here, if you factor in the amount of time he must spend on city business. The citizens of Highland should take advantage of this opportunity opportuni-ty to show their appreciation to those who serve them by supporting support-ing this proposal. around the fort of said city and the wall shall be eight yards back of the houses and running parallel with the house. The said wall shall be 12 feet high and six feet wide at the base and two feet wide at the top. Every individual owning a lot within the limits of the city shall be required to build a wall across said lot and all the extra wall, together with the gates of said fort, shall be built by a tax levied upon the property owners and citizens of the fort.- We can see that property taxes levied by the city today were not new to property owners in early days. Well, the walls were never completed complet-ed because the Indian scares faded away and the natives became more friendly. The work was abandoned, but for many years sections of it remained. The exact location of the south wall was discovered when the bell monument monu-ment was constructed. ty, i.e., the possibility that the same power that gave us choice also revealed how best to use it. By editing the movie, the theater has now made it possible for me to choose to view it without with-out having to endure immorality as the price for any moral edification the movie might offer. Until now the only choice for me regarding Titanic was to see the movie as it is or wait until someone with shared values edited much or all of the so called "art that earned the movie a PG 13 rating. Liberals who accuse the Towne Cinema owners own-ers of censorship ought to be praising them, for they are giving marketplace consumers who feel Published weekly by m,T)e Telephone Numbers Advertisty I Circulation 756-7669 News .756-5273 Pubtener BrtttBuzant Managing Editor Marc Haddock Cty Edior Barbara Christiansen Subscription price $24" per year Periodicals Pottage Paid at American Fork, Utah fWIJASTt mat mm chtnat to M M Ma ANricw ferk, (Ml MOOS 59 West Main American Fork. Utah 14003 Alan Shepard Alan B. Shepard was one of my childhood heroes. I was almost 10 years old on May 5, 1961, when Shepard climbed atop a Redstone Rocket and allowed himself to be lobbed into space in a manned mission called 'Freedom 7." For a brief five minutes of his 15 minute flight, he experienced weightlessness and actually escaped the atmosphere that surrounds the earth. He wasn't the first man in space, but he was the first American and, as a nation, we never looked back from that point on when it came to the conquest of space at least not for another 10 years. I followed that first flight intently, with Walter Cronkite as the enthusiastic enthusi-astic and informed tour guide who took me and the rest of the nation into the space age. For Christmas that year, my parents par-ents bought me my own miniature Cape Canaveral, with rockets that I could lob into space, and a gantry for my very own Redstone rocket, capped with a tiny Mercury space craft. The set included a 45 rpm recording of Shepard's lift off complete with dramatic countdown and the basically basical-ly unintelligible chatter between astronaut and the control center. For hours, I would configure my own rocket launch center, moving the equipment here and there, and sending send-ing forth the smaller rockets that came complete with spring-loaded launchers. And I listened, over and over again, to the recording that had come with the toy collection. I could barely understand a word, but with Alan B. Shepard and his simple 15-minute feat, the idea of going into space became a reality for me and for millions mil-lions of Americans like me. The nation's collective . imagination was sparked in a way that has seldom been seen before or since. Honoring the memory As part of an adult religion class taught by Susan Easton Black, we were told that in the early days of missionary work, the Elders served, not for a specific spe-cific time, but "until they started cussing." In the case of Samuel Smith, brother of Joseph, his first mission was only three days! During his first year he served 12 different missions. Among other things, he succeeded in selling a $3 Book of Mormon to John Young, father of Brigham Young. Brigham studied the Book of Mormon Mor-mon for over two years partly because he wasnt a very good reader. His mother taught him to read from the family Bible, but in all of his youth, he had less than 12 days of formal, classroom class-room instruction. In fact, he didn't like to write very much either. He often quipped that when the Lord asks him for his journal, he would say, "Wilford, step forward." (Wilford Woodruff kept a daily diary for some 63 years!) By trade, Brigham was a painter, carpenter car-penter and glazier (glass maker). His first assignment as a member of the Twelve was to build the Kirtland Temple. Tem-ple. Even after it was dedicated, Brigham continued to work on it to make it as perfect as he knew how. Even after the building fell into the hands of apostates, he continued to work until he finally told the apostate leader, Warren Parrish, that he had completed his assignment the best he knew how. Mr. Parrish asked Brigham to tell the congregation of his work and they all cheered him. Brigham then gave a second sec-ond dedicatory prayer and the congregation congre-gation cheered him again. He then proceeded pro-ceeded to testify that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Lord. At that point they pulled out guns and knives, literally literal-ly whipped him, and then chased him out of town. When Joseph was in Liberty Jail and Governor Boggs had issued the extermination exter-mination order, it fell on Brigham to Reader's Forum as I do the power of additional choice at no cost in personal choice to patrons who feel otherwise, and who wish to attend unedited versions of the movie. No community that is clear about morality would lament any censorship act intended to remove the world's dross from their daily spiritual spiri-tual life. For such communities, censorship is a moral imperative and still a virtuous construct. Tolerance is measured and not elevated to an overriding virtue, for human beings do not live in isolation. A writer once stated, Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything." When we become so accommodating of evil Deadlines Classified Advertising .. .Tuesday, noon Display Advertising ... Monday, 5 pm. News... ......Monday, 2 p.m. Missionaries Monday, 2 pm. Weddings Monday. 2 p.m. Community Calendar . .Monday. 10 a m. Letters to the Editor .. Monday. 10 a m Obituaries ..Tuesday. 11 a.m. was more than Within months, we made a collective collec-tive commitment to put a man on the moon before the decade had ended. And with a massive output of public funds and personal talent, and with the blessing of a mostly united populace, popu-lace, we were able to meet that goal. In my experience, it is probably the most impressive feat our nation has accomplished. I am uncertain we will see anything like it again. I personalized the entire experience. experi-ence. After my own Cape Canaveral wore out, I converted a large cardboard card-board box into my own space capsule. Donning a cardboard helmet, I would climb into the box, close all the flaps, and go exploring space. I read books and magazine articles, arti-cles, and followed every subsequent launch with great interest as we graduated from the one-man Mercury launches to the two-man Gemini program pro-gram and finally to the three-man Apollo spacecraft which would eventually even-tually take several Americans to the moon including, interestingly enough, Alan B. Shepard, who played golf on the lunar landscape as a member mem-ber of the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 in his first return visit to space since that initial launch about 10 years earlier. Four more missions to the moon would be made before the Apollo program pro-gram was abandoned and we would forego the poetic lure of lunar exploration explo-ration for the more practical space of Joseph Smith was Brigham's lifelong pursuit lead the saints to safety out of Missouri.- However, as soon as this was accomplished, Joseph called the Twelve on missions to England and prophesied that they would leave from Far West. Although Brigham was now in Quin-cy, Quin-cy, Illinois (closer to England than Far West), he was determined to risk his life to go back into Missouri to leave from Far West as the prophet had said. Even Joseph's father pled with Brigham not to go back. However, Brigham and others oth-ers of the Twelve prayed that the eyes of the Missourians would be blinded and they rode back. Not only did they arrive safely, but they laid the cornerstones of the temple while they were at it. He then traveled east to Nauvoo and contracted the "Strange Fever" (malaria). (malar-ia). At this time he was so poor he didn't have enough money for a coat and so sick that he and Heber C. Kimball left for England lying in the back of a buck-board. buck-board. They stopped long enough to force themselves to their feet and call for their sick wives, who appeared at the door. They then waved white handkerchiefs hand-kerchiefs in a Hosanna shout. In a year's time Brigham baptized over 1,000 new converts. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could stop him from fulfilling his assignment from God. When Joseph was martyred, Brigham was on a political mission in the East, gathering support for Joseph's presidential candidacy. On the day of the martyrdom, June 27, 1844, he and Wilford Woodruff were in a train depot in Boston. Such a black feeling of despondency came over them that Wilford Wil-ford wrote that since that time, nothing else ever seemed so sad. 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 Person 59 W. Main. American Fork a hero shuttle and the exploration of places a little closer to home. In the 37 years since Alan Shepard made that first space flight, space launches have become so routine that we have forgotten how dangerous space travel can be with the notable exception of Challenger, which brought it all close to home again when it exploded during lift-off. But I've been to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and I've seen the capsules these brave men entered to be launched into space. Compared to the Mercury capsule cap-sule used by Shepherd and the other early astronauts, my cardboard box was downright rodmy. It must have taken nerves of steel to takes one's seat in that tiny capsule cap-sule atop a device as explosive as a Redstone rocket, knowing that your escape system had proven imperfect in some of its previous tests, and that a handful of rockets had disintegrated disintegrat-ed on the launching pad or in mid-air in other tests. If anyone wants to relive those moments, the movie "The Right Stuff" gives a pretty good picture of the "space race" and the experiences of our first astronauts. "Apollo 13" can remind us of what a risky business space exploration remained, even after we'd managed to land on the moon. Shepard's death this past week brings back all of the excitement and idealism of those early years, when brave men ventured forth in tin cans to expand the limits of our understanding under-standing and our universe. He typified the type of grit and resolve necessary to accomplish any great task. By being willing to risk his life for the simple goal of learning more, he changed our world and the way we perceive it. We could use more men like Alan B. Shepard. When their feelings were confirmed, their first thought was "All is lost there will be no more church." But then Brigham slapped his leg and said, "All is not lost; remember that Joseph said he gave us (the Twelve) all the keys to bear off the Kingdom." Brigham Young wanted so much to be worthy of Joseph in the next life that he did at least two amazing things. At the time of Joseph's death, Nauvoo was far from complete; the temple was only half finished and nearly all of the homes were log cabins; Joseph had wanted Nauvoo to become the "Jewel of the Mississippi " Although Brigham knew the saints would go West as Joseph had prophesied, he changed the name to the "City of Joseph and told the saints to finish their brick homes and dedicate them as a memorial to Joseph Smith. He also finished and dedicated ded-icated the temple. At the same time, the saints turned their parlors into wagon-making shops to prepare for the journey west. At one time Nauvoo was considered so appealing appeal-ing that someone in the East suggested that Washington be moved to a more central location somewhere like ... Nauvoo. Brigham did indeed make the City of Joseph the Jewel of the Mississippi. Missis-sippi. In addition to that, for some 10 years after arriving in Utah, Brigham Young placed newspaper advertisements in every town where Joseph Smith had lived. The ads said something to the effect that he had a dear friend named Joseph Smith and if anyone had ever felt wronged by his friend, they should put a dollar amount on it, send Brigham the bill and he would pay for it. As far as we know, he paid every request. And why would Brigham Young do all of these things? Because he knew and loved the Lord and His prophet. And when he died, the last words he spoke were, "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph!" that we neither recognize or oppose it, we soon fear it, then negotiate with it, and eventually tolerate tol-erate and embrace it as a virtue. Thank you Towne Cinemas for standing tall among the moral midgets that are your critics. You do not stand alone in what you are standing for and against! It is individual leadership acts like these that will help this city hold on to the qualities that brought me here from Las Vegas five years ago, and may give others the courage to stand tall in their businesses and communities. communi-ties. Jim Birrell American Fork By Fax 756-5274 BY E-Mail editorOnewutah.com |