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Show Page 2 The Ogden Valley News Volume XXX Issue IV October 1, 2023 The Ogden Valley News Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 801-745-2688 Cell: 801-791-4387 Email: slfrancis@digis.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 801-745-2879 Email: 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. Please note that The Ogden Valley News does not endorse or guarantee the professional qualifications or licensing of businesses or business owners and contractors who may advertise in this publication. Those who engage or contract with advertised or highlighted businesses or contractors are personally responsible for reviewing and determining for themselves the qualifications and licensing and insurance requirements of each advertiser where and when appropriate. 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 Valley News 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 522 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. 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 October 15 issue is October 1. Letters to the Editor Editor’s View Hypocritical When I was a child, David O. McKay was the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He passed at 96. The men who followed him served until ages 95, 74, 90, 94, 87, 97 and 90. President Russel M. Nelson is serving, currently, at age 99. I’d have thought Utah, of all places, could accept a president in his early 80’s. Ageism is not a new form of discrimination, but it is discriminatory. Our editor might consider a new line of argument against our current president lest she be considered hypocritical by not ask- ing that her current church leader be replaced by a younger man. Just saying…. Hap Stephens (One of them cranky old guys.), Eden Editor’s View was Sophomoric Political Drivel The September 15 op-ed in The Ogden Valley News (OVN) was sophomoric political drivel, and not worth the paper and ink used to print it. A nothing burger. You are again wearing your personal politics on your sleeve. Whether you want to be or not the OVN and its editorial work are a public voice in the valley. Stand up straight, use real facts. Biden is doing great. We vote, and the majority tempered by stuff like the electoral college in some instances, wins, and we elect presidents and senators and representatives. Then, currently, politics turns from the chase for the official seat of power to the very strange situation of having the losing party try to sabotage any good work done by the winners. Serving the public is forgotten, and while the party in power tries to solve very real problems, they must also face sniping and attacks and lying campaigns sponsored by the recent losers. It’s like a fan base for a football team, where half of them try to shoot their own quarterback to keep him from moving the ball down the field. This week, the news will be full of McCarthy trying to gin up enthusiasm for impeaching Biden for... um, for... um, maybe being a father to a surviving son who, um, well, he did have a laptop, and, er, um... and then there will be the threat of shutting down the government... breaking a promise they made a few months ago. Are Republicans no longer Americans? When they run for office, do they not need a platform other than “sabotage in case we lose,” and “trickle down” in case we win? Has Trump’s ability to scam and confuse really trapped that many people in some kind of henchman daze? As Biden travels the world to hammer longstanding issues into some semblance of improvement for the future, should his entire nation not support this work? He’s working for us and doing a very good job. Even though he might walk up the stairs of Air Force One a little stiffly, he’s doing the job. What has the current GOP majority in the House done this session? Has any work of the people been done? ANY? Remember the view of government that Norman Rockwell used to illustrate? We thought those voters existed—the ones that believed the foundations, the Constitution, the ones who overcame cynicism and corruption by their very numbers. They existed, we thought... that pool of rational thinkers who could smell a scam and run it out of our government. Maybe they did. Are we going to have to vote out the GOP for a few elections to find them again? Sincerely, Craig Bachman, Huntsville Ogden Valley Residents Organize, Call for Smart Growth! Asked to Attend Sept. 26 Meeting at the Library The “Ogden Valley Smart G r o w t h ” Facebook group page has one main goal: Slow the development machine down so we can figure out how much the Valley can or will change to accommodate more people. The role of our group page is to provide an effective way to show the commissioners we don’t want changes in development based on street regulating plans. When the Valley’s general plan was written in 2016, the commissioners hired a PR firm to help explain it to the residents. That was good. Then they stopped using them and during the five years between 2016 and 2021, people “in the know” made agreements and bought up land and water rights in and for key places. That’s how developers, realtors, and investors make money. No problem with that. That’s their job. However, in 2023, an asteroid comes flying in spewing smoke and flames and lands right in the middle of The Mighty Pineview. A friend of mine texted and said, “Hey, Dave, how do you like the “Brown Sewage Pump” station going in across the street? True story. That’s the name of the guy who sold the land— Brown! You can’t make this stuff up. The commissioners and the developers are using a few things against Valley residents. 1) The complexity of this massive plan. It’s so big, you can’t get your head around it. 2) Apathy. People think they’ll outlive it, and they won’t have to deal with it. Or, it’s not in their backyard so it’s won’t impact them. 3) Receptiveness of the people. So far, the only issue that I run into is that people don’t want us to point out John Lewis‘s name. I guess when you’re frustrated and upset, you lash out at the closest thing you can find, and that’s John Lewis. In reality, he’s following the general plan, and has approval and all-in support from the commissioners. It’s too bad he’s taking all the heat, but it’s our Weber County Commissioners as well. Now an asteroid is going to hit, that could cause major destruction that can be averted if we act now. I sat out in my truck with some signs sitting against the side of it. People kept coming up to me, wishing us well, saying they were praying for us, and thanking us for doing our work. Nobody came up and said, “We want more development.” If there are people who want development the way it’s going now, they need to step forward because I haven’t seen or heard from them. The upcoming planning commission meeting on September 26 at 5:00 p.m. at the Ogden Valley library in Huntsville is very important for citizens to attend. Be there! I don’t think they’ll allow pitchforks and torches in the library, but you get the idea. Our battle cry is, “No road changes or additions!“ Learn more by visiting our Ogden Valley Smart Growth link at facebook.com/groups/20 4396585824727/?ref=share_group_link. If you would like some signs, they’re $7. All monies collected will be donated to the Ogden Youth Homeless Shelter. Our other sign, “Keep the Roads the Same in the Valley!” are $6. Dave Carver, Eden Disagreement With Editor’s View After Reading First Paragraph Regarding the Editor’s View, “Forward or Backward” (Aug. 15 issue of The Ogden Vally News), I disagreed after reading the first paragraph. How one could agree that compassion, equality, freedom, and progression (CEFP) were unknown to humanity before the Christian era is preposterous on its face. Christianity as a religion, and Christians in particular, here over millenniums seem to have always taken credit for good things that happen but never have taken responsibility for any bad things that occur. Let’s keep this simple because my reply won’t be near the length of the Editor’s View. I’ll assume most readers will agree that the Old Testament (OT) is not Christian writings and since it starts from the beginning of earth time, I’ll limit my points here to just 2K years before Jesus. Would any one reader, or one that reads the OT on a regular basis, state that there is not one example of CEFP in the history that’s written here? I could write, paragraph by paragraph, my agreements (few) or disagreements (many) as to the information stated and, when applicable, if I concur with the conclusion reached but space limits me. I believe the central theme of this View (based on the book The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener) is twofold. First, why people in “droves” are turning away from Christianity (I’ll assume mainly in the U.S. and, second, it’s because of Christianity, we have come to revere the individual and his rights over any form of government, especially here in the U.S. I dissent from both premises. My short answer to the first is that I believe some are turning away from Christianity because they realize or understand that religion, in large part, is the source of our division, divisiveness, polarization, and polemic politics. I refer to T. Jefferson and one of his writings about the separation of church and state. He supported the First Amendment because he was a firm supporter of freedom of religion and more concerned with the influence of government on religion than with the possible influence of religion on government. This second situation is exactly what is occurring now and not in a good way. With our now supermajority Supreme Court, if you believe Roe was overturned based on purely constitutional reasoning, I’ve got a bridge to sell you over the Ogden River. There is no doubt in my mind that three of the last four appointed judges lied during their confirmation hearings and that they overturned Roe because of, and due to, their religious beliefs. Period. They also ruled against gun safety, LBGTQ laws, gerrymandering laws, voting laws, and environmental laws. The only reason these majority justices can be considered “originalist” in their interpretation of the Constitution is their convoluted reasoning reaching their respective decisions. Now, since I’m running out of space, the individual and individual rights credit. I’m not aware of any religion, with Christianity at the top of the list, that discusses, promotes, or supports individual rights. By definition, religions require the individual to agree, upon joining (or being brainwashed as a child), that the individual submit to the basic beliefs and provisions of the faith. If one violates, or even challenges, especially in public, these articles of faith, they are excommunicated and, in some faiths, you’re even executed. I don’t think these policies promote the individual or his individual rights. Near the end of the View, the Editor refers to parts of the book dealing with the people of Israel and how they had some voice in the “appointment” of a king, or a “regime.” I don’t have any recollection of any peoples having this “voice.” Jumping forward to our U.S. history, I would not say we always promoted the individual or his rights. Our history (Revolutionary times through approval of our Constitution) spoke more of “the people” (a very limited group) having a voice and that was in regard to the kind of government they wanted (“consent of the governed”). The Roe decision is the first time a Constitutional right has been taken away and it was based on religion. More of those rights are being considered on the chopping block. We did want some citizens to be part of the state, to participate in how our representatives exercised their power over us, and to always keep an eye on what our levels of government did. This is not a bad thing. Based on the above, I’ll have to read the book on how and why Scrivener believes that from this LETTER cont. on page 11 |