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Show A7 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, June 17, 2008 VIEWPOINT Opinion and Letters to the Editor Boy Scouts prove their value with honor James L. Davis Established January 2, 2007 James L. Davis, Publisher & Editor w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w Colleen A. Davis, Co-Publisher, Office & Advertising Manager Josie Luke, Assistant Editor Lyndsay Reid, Advertising Design Charlotte Williams, Advertising Sales Kathy P. Ockey, Staff Journalist Casey Wood, Webmaster Our Vision To be a valued member of the communities we serve and to be trusted as an honest, truthful and reliable source of news. w w w Our Mission To inform, entertain and provide a public forum for the discussion of events impacting the people of the Emery County area and to inform with news and features relevant to those who call the Castle Valley area home w w w Our Principles We will be ethical in all of our efforts to provide information to the public. We will be unbiased in our reporting and will report the facts as we see them and do our best to focus on the good news of the county, its people, history and way of life. We will be strong and active members of the community and assist in any way that we are able. We will strive to provide the best quality product possible to our readers and advertisers...always. We will verify the details of news we are reporting and if a mistake is made on our part we will correct it immediately. We will always listen to suggestions on how to do our job better. Editorial Submission Guidelines The Emery County Review welcomes and invites letters to the editor and guest opinion articles on public policy or current events. We welcome letters of thanks to individuals who have helped make our community a better place to live, work and play. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions for space constraints, clarity and errors in fact. Submissions must include author’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be published. Letter’s and opinion articles can be sent to jldavis@theemerycountyreview.com, mailed to The Emery County Review, P.O. Box 487, Orangeville, UT. 84537 or faxed to 435-748-2543. PUBLIC FORUM Thank You Notes After reading the article in last weeks Review about “Thank you notes… a Lost Art, I had to write about the article. I have two children and my children often receive birthday presents, gifts for different events and graduation presents. I would make my children send thank you notes for all presents from relatives and friends to acknowledge receiving the gift and express their appreciation. That was how I was raised and I wanted to pass the etiquette onto my children. I would attend weddings, graduations, bridal or baby showers or drop off gifts if I could not attend and I would wonder if the couple or individual liked the gift or even received it. Is it too much to do a simple thank you? Do people just take the gift for granted or is it just “expected?” I think it is rude and inconsiderate that people can’t take the time to acknowledge a gift. What is wrong with a simple “thank you” note, especially if it’s a personal gift designed for the person. Is it a Utah tradition that people don’t send thank you notes? My daughter recently got married and she had a huge shower and wedding. She ended up writing more than 200 thank you notes (we even had a “thank you” at the wedding reception) and a lady called her up and told her it was so nice to receive her thank you note, so you see people really do enjoy receiving a thank you note. Yes it does take time, but it also brightens one’s day by knowing the person cared enough to acknowledge their gift. Try it sometime. Cost of a stamp: 42 cents. Cost of notes (package of eight) maybe: $2. The effect: priceless. - LuAnn Koch Castle Dale When it comes to preparing young men for the many twists and turns they might face in an often tumultuous world, there is no greater organization than the Boy Scouts of America. The lessons on survival and the code of honor that young men in the Boy Scouts are taught at an early age will carry them through the rest of their life, even if they aren’t always paying particular attention. In my own experience as a Boy Scout, I did not dedicate myself to merit badges or moving up in rank. I was perfectly happy being a Tenderfoot and ended my Boy Scout experience as such. I was a Scout because I loved the camping trips, the camaraderie of friends, and the many adventures we went on. Although I did not devote myself to the Scouts as I now wish that I had, my Scout leaders still managed to get some lessons past my stubborn defenses. I considered that in the past week as two events brought the Boy Scouts to the attention of national and local media. First, Boy Scouts trapped in a tornado in Iowa used their experience as Scouts and lived up to the Scout motto of “be prepared” to helping victims of the twister. They used their first aid skills to help others, and they used chain saws to clear fallen trees from the roadways. They were scouts in the finest sense of the word. Locally, we have another example of scouts working together to help a community. More than 500 Order of the Arrow Scouts have gathered in Emery County to work on removing the evasive tamarisk tree from the Manti-La Sal. The project is the largest of its kind, and is being done by the same Boy Scouts of America that is so often berated by organizations intent on destroying an organization that continues to help mold the best and brightest this nation has to offer. In Emery County the Boy Scout program is strong and vibrant and in most of the communities in the county it is obvious to see the efforts Scouts have made to improve communities with a variety of Eagle Scout projects that improve the way of life for everyone. Sadly, there is no such organization for girls in Emery County. The Girl Scout program is missing in the communities of the county and for hundreds of young girls the possibilities that such a program could offer might never be realized The Girl Scout program was developed as a counterpart to the Boy Scouts of America. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it is based on the Scouting principles developed by Robert Baden-Powell. The Girl Scout program would and could offer the same benefits to young women of the area that the Boy Scouts so admirably does for young men. The example in Iowa and right here in Emery County of what being part of the Boys Scout organization can teach young men about being prepared and being a giving, caring member of society is something the world needs far more of, not less. And the young women of the world and our community could benefit from the same type of commitment and organization. Judicial supremacy strikes in Oklahoma Phyllis Schlafly Copley News Service The elected representatives in Oklahoma passed a law to stem the tide of illegal immigrants and, faster than you can say “judicial supremacy,” a federal judge blocked its enforcement. The court suspended key sections of the law even before it was due to take effect on July 1. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act was designed to prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs from Americans and from evading taxes by working in the underground economy. The Oklahoma law passed the State Legislature by overwhelming, bipartisan, veto-proof majorities (88-9 in the House, 41-1 in the Senate) and was signed by Democratic Gov. Brad Henry. Public opinion polls reported that the law enjoys 88 percent public approval, and it was recognized as a model for other states to copy. The law required employers who have contracts with the state of Oklahoma to use the Oklahoma Status Verification System to verify the legal status of their employees. The law expanded the definition of “discrimination” to include firing a U.S. citizen while retaining an illegal as an employee. The penalty for violating this law was requiring the employer to withhold state taxes in a manner to ensure that Oklahoma would receive all proper employment taxes, including taxes for those employees who are not legally in this country. Oklahoma should certainly be able to protect itself against the non-payment by illegal immigrants of taxes that Americans pay as a matter of course. Even though the new Oklahoma law didn’t go into effect, it is credited with reducing Oklahoma unemployment significantly below the national average. The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Randy Terrill, said, “Oklahoma is no longer OK for illegal aliens.” The big national news this month is the Department of Labor announcement that U.S. unemployment has surged to 5.5 percent, the sharpest monthly spike in 22 years. The unemployment figures are particularly painful for teenagers; only about one-third of 16- to 19-year-olds are likely to get summer jobs. The employment picture in Oklahoma is quite different: Oklahoma’s unemployment rate is now only 3.1 percent and dropping. That’s because after the Citizen Protection Act was passed a year ago, illegal immigrants began leaving the state. The lawsuit to overturn the Oklahoma statute was brought by the leading trade group for large corporations profiting from hiring illegal immigrants at the expense of U.S. citizens. The name of the case is Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. Brad Henry. The judge granted standing to the Chamber of Commerce to sue even though it had not been hurt one iota by the law that had not yet taken effect. The judge, in effect, legislated from the bench by blocking the statute from taking effect, so all its benefits might never be known. The judge accepted the chamber’s argument that Congress has preempted state laws by federal statutes about immigration. But we all know the federal government is incapable or unwilling to carry out the necessary enforcement of existing laws that the American people deserve to have enforced. There is even a federal law called the Tax Injunction Act that prohibits federal courts from interfering with state taxation. The court sidestepped that law, declaring that the federal court could interfere because the Oklahoma statute is more like a regulation than a tax. Across the country, 43 states have passed more than 182 immigration-related laws. Several leading decisions, such as the federal decision reviewing the ordinance passed in Valley Park, Mo., have upheld the laws against challenges. Taxes and jobs are not the only reasons why states need to protect their citizens against illegal immigrants. Terrill says, “Our Bureau of Narcotics here in Oklahoma estimates that something in excess of 40 percent of the drug trafficking through Oklahoma is directly attributable to our illegal alien problem.” Courts should not interfere with legislative remedies to protect U.S. citizens from losing jobs to illegal immigrants who might not even be paying taxes on their wages. And we certainly should not tolerate drug trafficking coming in from Mexico. Overturning the massive votes in the Oklahoma legislature and the will of the people makes this decision one more example of how courts are trying to make themselves an elite branch of government whose every pronouncement is accepted as “the law of the land.” It’s time for Americans to rise up and reject the rule of judges and return to rule by our elected representatives. Congress can and should withdraw jurisdiction from federal courts to interfere with prudent attempts by states to protect their governments and lawful residents. Congress could simply amend the Tax Injunction Act to clarify that federal courts lack authority to entertain any challenge to a state law that involves the collection of taxes from illegal immigrants. (Phyllis Schlafly is a lawyer, conservative political analyst and the author of the newly revised and expanded “Supremacists.” She can be contacted by e-mail at phyllis@eagleforum.org.) |