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Show triple c arena GARDENING with Charlie LETTER TO THE EDITOR Just when Utahans are reveling in the collaborative miracle of the passage of the Washington County lands bill, we’ve reverted in Wayne County to hollering past each other from our old soapboxes. I truly believe that much common ground exists amongst these good-willed neighbors of ours. As I worked on my book, Bargaining for Eden, I spent the better part of ten years pondering how we could find our way to that common ground more often, and I summed it up in a “Credo” at the end of the book. I send it along now, as my peace offering in the midst of the polarizing battle stirred up by the War of the Poets. Stephen Trimble, Torrey COMING SOON! THE 2ND ANNUAL GARFIELD COUNTY GREATEST HORSEMAN HORSEWOMEN COMPETITION Men’s Events • Team Roping Heading (2 steer) • Team Roping Heeling (2 steer) • Calf Roping • Obstacle Course/ Trail Competition • Sorting/ Working Cow Horse • Reining Women’s Events • Barrels • Poles • Breakaway • Obstacle Course/ Trail Competition • Sorting/ Working Cow Horse • Reining PRIZES 50% of entry money will be paid out plus added money 1st Place- Buckle plus 50% money 2nd Place- 35% Money 3rd Place- 15% Money In case of a tie we will have a surprise event to determine a winner. Entry forms will be available on website by March 1, 2009. www.brycecanyoncountry.com 435-616-2282 or 676-8949 PLEASE REMIT TO: Triple “C” Arena P.O. Box 709 Panguitch Utah 84759 Also: On April 17th, there will also be a Reining Clinic at 6:00 pm. The cost is $25.00 per person. Advertise in the Insider Call 676-2621 to place ads. Credo: The People’s West Lifelong locals know their home. They understand the land’s intimate cycles from decades and generations of living in place, a miracle of stability and identity. We can never hope to restore or sustain landscapes and watersheds without the cooperation of local citizens. They rightfully resent and subvert any management scheme that excludes them from decision making. We need mutual trust, respect, empathy, and accountability. The hits and misses of long-term elders can teach us all, while passionate newcomers— community members by choice—brandish a fierce love for their new home that can reinspire old-timers. Honor every skill and talent in the community. Involving too many people is always better than leaving someone out. Economic health is essential for community health. If we don’t create affordable housing and decent jobs for full-time residents, the community will lose its multigenerational roots. The working rural landscape will collapse into parody. Ecological health is essential for community health. Conserve land for the land, and good things will come to people and community, as well. Rapid, unplanned growth profits only the boomer, rewards only the developer, and will in the long run fail citizens and destroy their sense of place. Leadership must come from within the community. A master plan is the key to the future for each landscape—an inclusive, place-specific vision conceived in the broadest possible dialogue. Proliferating roads and off-road-vehicle use fragment the integrity of surviving wildlands. Concentrate development where it already exists. Preserve agricultural land and the wild habitats it holds. Ranching on public lands contributes to the American cultural quilt. But cows should have no special rights. Where cattle and sheep damage the land, eliminate grazing and manage for restoration. That public lands make up most of the rural West is a positive—an asset. Keep public lands public to create a buffer between village and wildland. With privatization of the commons, we lose community access. Refuse to drown in the deluge of change. Channel those floodwaters to power community dialogue. Continually reassess any plan for a specific landscape and its neighborhoods. Insist on ecological sustainability, health, preservation of cultural tradition, and protection of biodiversity. Keep talking, no matter what. Keep listening, no matter what. Restraint is both visionary and conservative. Wildness is everywhere, but wilderness is a special category. Designate and preserve large wilderness areas on public land wherever possible—several in each bioregion and connected by corridors. Establish local and regional land trusts to purchase critical private lands and hold conservation easements. One person, one passionate person speaking out stubbornly and relentlessly, can still make a difference. Hard work by one individual can start a revolution. Arrogance is the opposite of relationship. Don’t hesitate to use words like compassion and love and honor. Depoliticize and humanize the issues, and fling open the windows on bureaucracy and authority. Remove obstacles to healing. We are stuck with our untidy web of conflicting values. We all have our Edens, our devils, our bargains to strike. We are responsible for planning, making decisions, acknowledging duty, accepting stewardship—and for wrangling through as a community. Start the conversation before a crisis. Share information and frustrations and dreams and anger and joy. Stomp along the riverbank together. Work together. Cook and eat together, tell stories together. Laugh together. Thrash through conflict to higher ground. Inclusivity requires trust and openness from old-timers and newcomers alike. We call it paradise, this land of ours. We call it home. Like our nation, the West is in the middle of its arc. We must remain both vigilant and tender if we wish to preserve its authenticity. We can do this. As a community —we are not yet too old, too greedy, or too cynical to take wise action together. How to Save Money and Time Completing the FAFSA Financing a college education is becoming increasingly difficult for many Americans, making competition for grants, loans, work-study, scholarships and institutional financial aid more intense than ever. Incorporating a little strategy and planning can increase your family’s chances of receiving federal student aid and create more time for finding other ways to save money for college. Any student requesting federal financial aid is required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year. FAFSA information is used by Federal Student Aid to calculate the expected family contribution, which is subtracted from the cost of attendance at the school(s) a student plans to attend. That amount determines a family’s eligibility for federal aid. FAFSAs for the 20082009 academic year are being accepted between January 1 and midnight Central Standard Time, June 30, 2009. However, don’t wait until the last minute because federal aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, most states and schools use FAFSA information to award their financial aid. Note that schools and states often have their own forms and Page 7 The Garfield County Insider April 9, 2009 deadlines. Following a few simple pre-planning steps will help you complete the FAFSA more easily and faster, ensure your information is accurate and complete, and ideally save you thousands of dollars. First, read and complete the FAFSA questions in advance at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Federal Student Aid estimates that first-time users will need less than an hour to complete the worksheet; however, it will take less time if you come prepared with all of the necessary information. If you haven’t already, complete your 2008 tax returns. Federal Student Aid recommends that you do your taxes before completing the FAFSA because you must report your income earned in the previous year. You can save time by using certain tax preparation software programs that allow you to automatically transfer your tax data into an online FAFSA worksheet. “The College Student Financial Aid Worksheet in TaxACT Deluxe eliminates time and effort involved with completing a FAFSA worksheet,” explains Leigh Aragon, spokeswomen for 2nd Story Software, Inc., makers of TaxACT. “Other features also help identify tax credits, deductions and Charming Annual Vines Would you like to cloak a summer porch in cooling shade? Hide an eyesore such as a chain-link fence? Dress up an arbor? Annual vines offer foliage and flowers (some fragrant) for many situations, and they’re perfect for creating a cottage garden look. Some annual vines grow fast and densely enough to make good screens, such as: • morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea) with blue, purple, pink or white flowers • scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus) with red flowers • black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata) with brilliant orange blossoms and striking black throats • cup and saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) with bluepurple flowers Other vines may not cover much ground in one summer growing season, but they are distinctive and fun to grow: • purple bell vine (Rhodochiton atrosanguineum) with purple bell-shaped flowers and heart-shaped leaves • canary creeper (Tropaeolum peregrinum) with yellow flowers • sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) in a multitude of colors and all fragrant • mandevilla (Mandevilla sp.) with large, exoticlooking flowers in shades of pink • bougainvillea (Bougainvillea sp.) with luminescent fuchsia, pink, or orange double flowers. (These woody vines can be moved indoors for the winter.) Because they grow so fast and are temporary, annual vines lend themselves to experimentation. Here are some ideas to get you started: 1. Make a bamboo or twig tepee for your kids, and cover it with an annual vine. 2. Plant vines next to a tree 10 to 14 feet tall, and let them scramble up the trunk and into the limbs for a blooming tree until frost. 3. Use them to blanket a problem slope or fill a new flowerbed in a hurry. 4. For instant charm and color, frame a door or win- dow with a vine climbing a string trellis. 5. Even tiny courtyard gardens or apartment balconies have room for annual vines. Most have relatively limited root systems so they adapt well to life in containers. Tending To Their Needs In general, annual vines, like so many plants, like full sun and well-drained, good-quality soil. However, if planted in soil with too much manure or fertilized with too much nitrogen, they tend to produce excessive foliage and not enough flowers. If you want to fertilize, work a little compost into the soil, or at most an all-purpose fertilizer, such as a 5-10-5, according to label directions. The best time to fertilize is just as plants begin to bloom. It’s important to provide support at planting time. Most vines climb by twining, so provide a pole or stake and they’ll twine right up (though it never hurts to give them a guiding hand every few days until they’ve begun twining on their own). On a building or other smooth, flat surface, construct a trellis of wood, string or even monofilament fishing line, which creates a nearly invisible support. Unlike perennial vines, even vigorous annual ones are fairly lightweight and seldom topple their supports. Once these vines are established, few pests or diseases bother them, other than occasional aphids (plant-eating insects), which can be controlled with insecticidal soap. For more tips and garden information visit www.garden.org A former floral designer and interior plantscaper, Kathie Bond-Borie has spent 20 years as a garden writer/editor, including her current role as Horticultural Editor for the National Gardening Association. She loves designing with plants, and spends more time playing in the garden – planting and trying new combinations – than sitting and appreciating it. Suggesting your teenager wear their seatbelt as they walk out the door with the car keys is a life saving piece of advice. Subtle little reminders for your teen driver such as a key ring that says “Click it or Ticket”, a dangling air freshener with the “Don’t Drive Stupid” message, or a “Buckle Up” window cling in your driver’s window are helpful. For parents of teen drivers, we have an even better suggestion: wear your seatbelt every time you drive anywhere. Good habits are most successfully acquired through good role modeling. Not only do teenagers have the lowest seatbelt use rate, they also have the highest crash rate of any age group. Parents, grandparents, teachers, aunts, uncles, etc.: be a good example! These teenagers are watching and learning either safe or dangerous driving habits from you every day. We often hear the excuse from people in rural areas that they wear their seatbelt on the freeway but not around town. That attitude has killed a lot of teenag- ers. Although more crashes occur in large urban areas, more fatal crashes occur in rural areas. The leading cause of death for teenagers in America is traffic crashes. Compared to other age groups mile for mile, teenagers are involved in three times as many crashes. According to a recent study conducted by Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee only 59% of teen drivers use a seatbelt. Even more appalling than this statistic, the percentage of teen passengers using a seatbelt is only 42%. Considering that two thirds of teens who die in car wrecks are not buckled up, this is a scary statistic. In Utah, a teen crash occurs every 35 minutes. Continually remind your teenagers to wear their seatbelt. And remember, when you are driving a vehicle you are responsible for every person in your vehicle, so make sure they are all appropriately restrained. For more information on teen driving please visit www.nhtsa.gov. PARENT SEAT BELT USE INCREASES TEEN SEAT BELT USE strategies that can reduce a family’s income.” The higher a family’s cash assets and adjusted gross income, the less government assistance a family will receive. So, in addition to consulting your personal attorney or accountant, Aragon also suggests taking the following measures throughout the year in order to maximize your 2009 tax deductions. * Contribute as much as you can to your retirement savings account. * Prepay state taxes before the end of the year. * Contribute to a flexible benefits plan. * Make energy efficient improvements to your house. * Pay down or pay off loans and bills. * Sell bad investments by December 31. Third, gather your tax returns, Social Security Number, driver’s license, bank statements and investment records. You’ll want these documents for reference only; you do not need to mail them to Federal Student Aid. If you intend to complete the online FAFSA worksheet, apply for a PIN. A PIN will give you free access to your information on the www.fasfa.ed.gov Web site and allow you to electronically sign your FAFSA. Since your worksheet cannot be processed until it is signed, completing the free online worksheet and signing it electronically is by far the fastest way to submit. Following these easy steps will help simplify and quicken the process of filling out the FAFSA, as well as increase your odds of obtaining the most Federal financial aid for 2008-2009 and in years ahead. To learn more about FAFSA, visit www.fafsa.ed.gov. Information about TaxACT Deluxe can be found at www.TaxACT.com. Courtesy of ARAcontent |