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Show Page 2 The Ogden Valley news Volume XXV Issue XIII August 1, 2019 The Ogden Valley news Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 801-745-2688 Fax: 801-745-2688 Cell: 801-791-4387 E-Mail: slfrancis@digis.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 801-745-2879 Fax: 801-745-2879 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 OgdenValley 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. 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. The deadline for the OVN August 15 issue is August 1. Letters to the Editor Please Help Zack Wimmer! On February 20, 2019, Zack Wimmer, formerly of Eden, was in a near-fatal multiple car accident in Midland, Texas. Aside from a broken ankle, thankfully none of the other people in the accident were injured. Zack’s neck, back, legs and ankles were broken. His spleen was ruptured, liver lacerated and brain/brain stem were injured as well. It was the most devastating day of our lives. Zack was wearing his seatbelt, he was not on his phone, he does not use alcohol or drugs; this was an accident, a very sad, very bad accident. The doctors at Midland Memorial Hospital gave him a “slim to none” chance of survival. They told us we needed to gather the family in to say goodbye. They didn’t expect him to live a day, then two... then three.... His will to live was obvious! We knew the only hope we had was to get him to a Level One Trauma center. He stayed there in ICU for two months with his family by his side. He endured multiple surgeries, blood transfusions, respiratory interventions and with lots of prayer and patience, his gains were unbelievable; the staff and doctors were amazed. After a long journey, loads of medical interventions, and time to learn to breathe, eat and even stand for short periods, we are now feeling the impact of the financial burden. He has made great improvements, has a wonderful outlook, but knows he has a long road to recovery in both physical and occupational therapy. His Doctors and therapists are very pleased with his progress. He has come so incredibly far. He continues to work on standing independent of support. Zack is able to walk short distances with a walker and can travel independently for short distances in his wheelchair. Initially, he was told his right side would be paralyzed. He is regaining function in his hand and arm, though not all of his fingers. It will take time. Due to his brain injury his body has grown more bone around the plates and screws in his left leg (basically like having a second knee cap). This makes it extremely difficult to bend his leg, which impedes his walking independent of support. Neurologically, he is still having some issues with short and long term memory; though, to most people he seems to have no deficit! He has a very long road to recovery, and will cer- tainly endure more surgeries as he continues to strengthen his body and mind. He is intent on becoming more independent every day, though he still requires assistance with most tasks. All in all, it is a miracle he is alive. His will and faith have helped him so very much. Past costs are high; we have paid all we can and the bills continue to come in. We still owe the hospital alone over $100,000. Until his wife can get him on her insurance in January 2020, the bills will continue to grow. The last five months have drained our family’s financial resources. We now have no other option but to ask for help. Our hope is we can continue to provide him with physical and occupational therapy he needs to be independent again. He is 31 years old, happily married, hopeful to someday have a family, and has an entire life ahead to live. Please help our family help Zack! Please visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/zack039stragic-car-accident or make a deposit at Wells Fargo Bank. Alison Wimmer Airbnbs, a Shooting, and Growth We used Airbnb to rent our home to four people for two nights. What we got were 60 to 70 people coming together for a drinking and partying event. The party was crashed and trouble followed. Shots were fired; the police came, took control, and shut down the party. We were unaware of any of this until the next morning. The people who crashed the party, probably still angry about what happened, returned the next day. They fired five to six bullets through the front of our home, kicked in the front door, and left. With the help of local observant youth, the police were able to arrest the people involved in the shooting. Could this situation have been prevented? Yes. I’ve learned through this experience that many property owners use surveillance cameras to monitor their properties. Most added the monitoring equipment only after an incident occurred, but this was more than an incident and endangered our neighbors. I feel that with proper monitoring, the property manager could have notified us and called the police much earlier. My wife and I accept full responsibility for this lack of oversight. We only recently started using Airbnb. At the time we entered into our agreement, we were told “everyone was doing it” and had no knowledge that it was technically illegal. Ignorance is not an excuse, but it is was what it was… and, yes, a number of people do utilize Airbnb rentals to supplement retirement income and help maintain their properties in the valley. Is this a bad thing? A large number of second homes exist in the Valley and using them as short-term rentals may be one of the factors that is slowing down construction and keeping the Valley as it is. The focus in “The Valley” is on recreation, especially with the Valley being home to some of the county’s best skiing. The visitors that resorts attract need housing, and bring needed income and jobs to the Valley. The visitors do need places to stay. A large number of locals and non-locals recently turned out to speak against a zone change for a cement plant. The turnout was impressive, but there were a few local developers who acknowledged that the facility was needed because growth is happening. Unplanned for growth leads to the cement plant application. If there is not adequate housing for visitors and there is a need, will the next zone change application be for more condos or perhaps a Holiday Inn next to the Village Market? Using existing housing units to fill a need may slow down new construction. A wellregulated rental program could accomplish this. A recent article in The Ogden Valley news suggested that many Airbnb participants use the added revenue to help pay mortgages. This may be so, but in our case the revenue collected from our Airbnb rentals was used to finance our nonprofit. This nonprofit, Understanding Us, has created a successful cutting-edge program at a local school for children dealing with autism, and another that helps the homeless deal with addiction and mental health issues. My wife Marita and I have decided to move away from Airbnb, but still need funding for our programs. We will be organizing small seminars and group discussions at our home that focus on issues that concern us all. The first will be a common sense discussion on guns in our community. We will not be removing the bullet holes until after the talks. The situation has provided us with an opportunity. The setting couldn’t be better. The greater community’s inability to impact the high numbers of suicides will be another; growth, addiction, and the basis for political and religious perspectives yet another. All are intended to promote the idea that only by looking at new ways of addressing our concerns can new solutions be made possible. Through this effort, we hope to generate funding for our work. Marita and I used the income to support our nonprofit, Understanding Us. It is developing new programs based on new ideas working with the mentally ill homeless, children dealing with autism, and teens at risk. All rental income went into the nonprofit. I ask again, is this a bad thing? Marita and I would like to express our thanks to our immediate neighbors for the support they’ve provided during and after the shootings. Their support is what makes the community special. Thank you, Bernie and Marita Hart, Eden, Utah Understanding-us.org |