OCR Text |
Show Page The Ogden Valley news Volume XVIII Issue VIII October 1, 010 The Ogden Valley news Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 801-745- 688 Fax: 801-745-006 Cell: 801-791-4387 E-Mail: slfrancis@digis.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 801-745- 879 Fax: 801-745- 879 E-Mail: crwendell@digis.net crwendell@msn.com Opinions expressed by advertisers, columnists or letters to the editor are not necessarily the opinions of the owners and staff of The Ogden Valley news. guidelines for Letters to the Editor Letters should be 300 words or less. Letters must be signed and the address of the writer submitted. The Ogden Valley news reserves the right to edit or decline printing of any submissions. Announcements Sought As a community service, The Ogden V alley n ews will print local birth, wedding, obituary, anniversary and missionary farewell & homecoming and Eagle Scout announcements free of charge. We invite residents to send their announcements to: The Ogden Valley news PO BOX 130 EDEN UT 84310 If you would like your submitted items returned, please send a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. The Ogden Valley news , while respecting all property received, will take no responsibility for lost or misplaced items. Please remember to keep a copy for yourself. Invitation for Articles The staff of The Ogden Valley news welcomes the submission of articles by our readership. We invite you to submit local historical accounts or biographies, articles pertaining to contemporary issues, and/or other material that may be of interest to our readers. We also invite you to submit to the paper, or notify the staff of local events. Awards that have been earned by the reader, family members, neighbors or friends are also sought. While the staff of The Ogden Valley news invites the submittal of information and articles, we reserve the right to select which material will be considered for publication. All material, to be considered, must be submitted with the full name, address and telephone number of the person submitting the material. The Ogden Valley news’ liability on account of errors in, or omissions of, advertising shall in no event exceed the amount of charges for the advertising omitted or the space occupied by the error. The Ogden Valley news does not endorse, promote or encourage the purchase or sale of any product or service advertised in this newspaper. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. The Ogden Valley news hereby disclaims all liability for any damage suffered as the result of any advertisement in this newspaper. The Ogden Valley news is not responsible for any claims or representations made in advertisements in this newspaper. Letters to the Editor Where’s Our Local Representation? You can be sure that ski season is near— the trees are turning color and all the yellow lines on most of the Valley roads have disappeared. It was more than four years ago that a bunch of us asked our local county representative to do something like screen the hillside on the west side of the dam to stop the rocks from falling across the highway. Hey, we live here in Ogden Valley (a resort area) where, I do believe, that we pay more than our fair share of county taxes for services that don’t seem to happen. So where does our Valley representative live? Not here to enjoy the rocks rolling across the road or guessing when it’s safe to pass because you can’t see the double yellow. Gee, it was dry and they painted the canyon road in The deadline for the OVN October 15 issue is October 1. Gary Haas, Eden Thank You Ogden Valley Business Association Members I want to personally thank all Ogden Valley Business Association members who attended the OVBA/Ogden Weber Chamber Business ”After Hours” held at Snowbasin on September 8! We had a tremendous representation of over 40 OVBA members in attendance. And a big “thank you” to Snowbasin for a fabulous venue and delicious food. A very special thank you goes to the following businesses who donated items or gift certificates for the door prize drawing: Bonnie & Hyde Inc. - Bonnie & Jeff Hyde Diamond Peak Mountain Sports - Lori & John Mortensen Free Spirit Mountain Holistic Spa - Michelle Cunninghame Gray Cliff Lodge – Jody & Steve Sniggs Sharon Lewis, LMT – Sharon Lewis Snowbasin Resort – Kent Lyons Square Foot Gardening - Mel Bartholomew Valley Escapes – MaryAnne & Bob Ballard Wolf Creek Resort – Gale Christensen Also, we can’t forget Mother Nature who provided an incredibly warm, clear evening with the first display of fall colors on the mountains! Thank you again. Lisa Karam Fuller, Executive Director Ogden Valley Business Association America—Land of the Free and Home of the Brave? America has ceased being the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. She is now the land of the special interests and home of the double standard. If we, as citizens, lie to Congress or the police, it’s a felony. If Congress or the police lie to us, it’s politics and good criminal investigation. If we dislike a person of color, we’re racist and if a person of color dislikes whites, it’s their 1st Amendment right; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in our public schools they teach that homosexuality is just another lifestyle and that it’s OK, but you better not use the word God or bring up the Bible. It’s OK to kill unborn children, but it’s wrong to destroy a bald eagle egg or execute a serial killer. We don’t burn history books in America, we just rewrite them; we eliminated Communism and Socialism by renaming it “progressivism.” We are unable to secure our borders with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel between North and South Korea; if someone protests against Obama’s Marxist/Socialist agenda and policies, they are branded right wing terrorists, but if someone burns the American flag or George Bush in effigy, it is their 1st Amendment right. Pornography piped into our homes via TV or the Internet is OK, but never put up a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated criminals by simply calling them sick people who need understanding and love; human embryos can be destroyed for medical research, but heaven forbid if an animal is used for medical research. The government takes money, by force, from those who work hard for it and then give it to those who won’t work; we all support the Constitution when it supports our ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if it is politically correct. Parenting has been replaced by the school, day care centers, video games, Facebook, Twitter, and texting—not to mention Ritalin; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs and entitlements; the similarity between the Gulf Oil Spill and Katrina is that neither President did much to help. And how does the government handle major problems today? It appoints a committee to point the finger and place the blame, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes, and then has the audacity to tell us the problem is solved so they will be reelected. Only legislators pass laws, who caused the problems, and then beg us to elect them again so they can go back to Washington, D.C. to fix the problems they created in the first place. My philosophy is to drink upstream from the heard and not get mixed up in the thick of thin things, but in today’s society, this is becoming more and more difficult to do because the window to our government is all fogged up with government diatribe and lies. Believe me, letting the cat out of the bag is a lot simpler than trying to put him back in, but this November we must. Lonnie D. Crockett, Ph.D. Huntsville Guest Commentary An Elephant In The Room There’s an elephant in America’s living room, one that we’ve been attempting to define using several “blind men.” The “elephant” is border security—illegal immigration (BS-II). The blind man holds an elephant’s tail and has a very different description than the man who examines the ear as do those who inspect a tusk, a trunk, or a foot. Unfortunately this incomplete description of an elephant compares to our understanding as a nation of BS-II. Our perceptions of the problem are influenced by special interest groups, politics, media biases, and our own personal experiences. Often blamed are the “greedy business/industrial interests” for perpetuating the problem while others blame drug cartels, failed American leadership, and failed foreign economies. There is no complete picture of this “elephant in our living room” and there desperately needs to be. How else can we expect to make significant progress in solving a problem that causes states to take matters into their own hands to protect their citizens? How can we expect to solve a problem that we don’t fully understand? Answer: We can’t, we haven’t, and we won’t; not until we take the steps to clearly define it in terms that everyone can understand. Until we remove the hyperbole from the discussion we have little chance of success. What is needed is a Special Commission on BS-II composed of knowledgeable, dedicated, and open-minded individuals to not only define clearly what the problem is but to also develop recommendations for a solution. Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah recently bemoaned the fact that Congress spends too much time, in his opinion, honoring professional athletes, naming post offices, recognizing special occasions such as “Pollinator Week” and “Train Week.” Some might say that this is important work but is it really what should be occupying a significant amount of time of the highest legislative body in the USA? Many Congressional Committees produce televised hearings on subjects such as college football’s BCS (Bowl Championship Series), steroid use by professional athletes and other subjects, the major benefit being more “face time” for the stars of the hearing our Senators and Congresspersons. If Congress can devote a significant amount of time investigating marginally important issues and many other duties that are largely ceremonial then it should be willing to assemble the right people to address a real problem that just doesn’t seem to go away no matter how hard we ignore it. Utah is not a border state but Governor Herbert recently convened a diverse panel to look into BS-II; a very positive step. The responsibility for border security, as has been noted frequently in recent months, is with the federal government. Shouldn’t the federal government spend less time suing states and more time getting to the bottom of something that affects every American and many people who are guests in this country? Elephants are legendary for their long memories. They also require heroic clean-up efforts; if you have been to a circus recently you may recall the shovel brigade that follows the pachyderms. We need to have the “elephant” in our nation’s living room accurately defined and humanely accommodated otherwise we will all be drafted into the giant shovel brigade. John W. Reynolds, Pleasant View Car Show The Ogden Valley news has the sole authority to edit and locate any classified advertisement as deemed appropriate. It also reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Note: The contents of The Ogden Valley News are copyrighted. To protect this publication and its contributors from unlawful copying, written permission is required before any individual or company engages in the reproduction or distribution of its contents, by any means, without first obtaining written permission from the owners of this publication. June, or maybe she does live here and just likes those trucks in her lane? Think about that when you vote in November; local representation for county commissioner might be good for a change! Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. MOUTH OF OGDEN CANYON l For information call (801) 392-3902 l www.rainbowgardens.com |