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Show Thursday, July 31, 2008 Page 2 OREM TIMES NEWS AND NOTES TO KEEP YOU INFORMED AND INVOLVED Passport fair on Saturday slated to assist travelers t . Michael Rigert NOPTH COUNT ("STAFF . Whether you're just planning plan-ning a weekend getaway to British Columbia or a full-fledged three-week tour of the British Isles this fall, the Mountain Shadows Post Office in Orem Is hoping to meet area travelers' needs with a special passport fairn Saturday. A first-time event offered by the U.S. Postal Service's Mountain Shadows branch in Orem, 877 E. 1200 South, the passport fair Is designed to aid those planning to travel in the future, particularly travelers whose work schedules conflict with standard passport customer cus-tomer service hours or families with small children, said Mark Shaw, customer service manager man-ager at Mountain Shadows Post Office. Extra staff on loan from Salt Lake post offices will be on hand Saturday to assist people in filling fill-ing out applications, taking photos pho-tos and paying fees, he said. The Mountain Shadows post office is among the few still left along the Wasatch Front where passport applicants don't have to schedule an appointment in advance. In some instances, applicants appli-cants may wait two months just to get an appointment at a post office to process their passport applica tion, Shaw said. Many come from Salt Lake City, Park City and communities in south Utah County because of the convenience conve-nience of same-day service. "We're a walk-in service," Shaw said. "We'll have a lot of people to process a lot of passports." Though the Mountain Shadows office typically processes and mails off the same-day 20 to 25 passport applications daily to the U.S. State Department for approval, staff have done as many as 40 in a single day, he said. When a recent passport fair was held at a Salt Lake area post office, nearly 170 passports applications applica-tions were prepared. Turn-around times for receiving passports in hand are currently running anywhere from as short as two weeks to 4 to 6 weeks for routine service, Shaw said. The State Department advises travelers trav-elers to apply for passports at least two months prior to departure. Rick Brandon, Orem's Postmaster, said passport applicants are encouraged to print and complete their applications ahead of time by going online to traveL state.gov. Applicants need to wait to sign the form in presence of the passport acceptance ac-ceptance clerk at the post office. Shaw said filling out the application forms ahead of time is particularly helpful help-ful in speeding up the application processing pro-cessing time for families with several children. Travelers applying for passports need to bring required documentation including: includ-ing: Proper proof of U.S. citizenship or naturalization (state-issue birth certificate, certifi-cate, previous U.S. passport, or natural ization certificate). I One officially acceptable state or government photo identification (drivers license, military photo ID, or state-issued photo ID). I Passport applications require two recent identical photographs that can be taken at the post office ($15) or a local portrait studio that takes passport-specific photos. Though the State Department authorizes autho-rizes passports, Shaw said it's the Postal Service's job to verify the applications and try to ensure that customers have a good experience. "We don't want to put something together to-gether and have the State Department reject the application because there is something wrong with it," he said. "It's pretty heart-breaking when a trip is planned out of the country and the State Department says 'Sorry.'" The cost for a passport is $100 for applicants ap-plicants ages 16 and older. For children under 16 years of age, the cost is $85. If you only plan to travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean, a lower-cost alternative to a passport may be the new passport cards introduced just this month. They are $45 for adults and $35 for children. The only drawback to the passport card is it's only valid for land and sea travel between the U.S. and the aforementioned North American destinations. des-tinations. Customers can go to usps.compass-port usps.compass-port or call 800-ASK-USPS to get the location of passport Post Offices nearest them and each office's passport customer service hours. Hunt Continued from l'tifr I made black (xjwder," Johnson said. Johnson would not elaborate on why Miller was charged with obstruction of justice. The basis for a defendant's charges is usually out lined in a probable cause statement, which is entered into the public record when the Utah Owtity Attorney's Office files criminal charges. But because Hunt's mother, Mindy Carter -Shaw, requested that Miller be given a summons to appear in court instead of being arrested, there will likely Ik: no public record of the allegations behind tb- obstruction ob-struction charge until the case goes to a preliminary hearing or trial, Johnson said. "All I can say is, based on information contained in the police report ... the state is con fident that it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable douM that Craig obstructed justice while Iithi police and fire was investigating investi-gating his role in this tragedy," Johnson said. Carter-Shaw spoke briefly at a press conference at Primary Pri-mary Children's Medical Center about Miller, saying she wanted the man to m summoned to court instead of arrested. The iwlice and county attorney have worked closely with her and have largely respected her wishes, she said, "I feel there's no reason for him to be in jail," she said. "It pulls him f rom his family. It hurts him. We're already hurt; it's not going to change my ion's outcome." Cailer-Shaw said she wants to remain positive and does not wish for anyone to be harsh toward Miller. I ravis Shaw, Hunt's stepfather, said the family has spoken with Miller and they know that it was a mistake. ; "We've just talked with him, and he just expressed his remorse," re-morse," Shaw said. "I le truly would trade places with him if he could." Shaw said he hopes that if anything comes from the tragedy, it will be that others will think before they light a dangerous explosive and thus prevent similar accidents. Hunt spent 12 hours in surgery sur-gery on Monday at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City as doctors tried to save his left leg, and Johnson said the thoughts and prayers of the county attorney's office are with I lunt. "Although the judicial process pro-cess has to run its course, in the background we want people to focus oh the great life that Bridger has led and the potential poten-tial that he still has in his life to be a contributing member of society," Johason said. Hunt has been described as an aspiring professional skateboarder by family members mem-bers and a loving, active boy looking forward to starting junior high school this fall by his aunt, Dana Luke. His only fear was that he might not be buff enough for the new girls in school so he spent the summer toning up, she said. In a news conference Tues day at Primary Children's Medical Medi-cal Center, pediatric trauma surgeon Dr. Eric Scaif e said Hunt's reconstructive surgery went well, and he believes that the boy's leg will be saved. Several Sev-eral teams of doctors worked on the leg through the night to repair damaged arteries, tissue and bone. "That reconstruction took a long time, and it required multiple mul-tiple metal plates on the pelvis and multiple fixation screws in the head of his femur," Scaife said. Several teams of surgeons took part in the operation, including vascular surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and plastic plas-tic surgeons. Doctors cut out damaged tissue in the leg and worked to rebuild the veins and tissue in Hunt's hip. A 12-centimeter piece of Hunt's femoral artery was replaced with a vein from his thigh, and muscle from his leg was placed over the wound so the healthy tissue can help damaged tissue heal Although the operation went well, Scaife said Hunt will certainly cer-tainly require more surgery . in the future to complete the recovery process. It will be hard to predict the outcome for Hunt, and Scaife said the biggest big-gest obstacle at the moment is fighting infection. "Now, he's still left with a large, almost dinner plate-sized, defect that doesn't have any skin, and that has a special sterile dressing over the top," he said The dressing, known as a vacuum-packed dressing, will be kept in place for the next couple of weeks with the hope that the area wDl heal to the point that it can accept a skin graft. Scaife said he does not know how long Hunt will be hospitalized, hospital-ized, but it will be at least one to two months. Hunt's leg will most likely be saved, but Scaife said he does not know what the extent of the use will be. The femoral nerve was also severed sev-ered and will probably not be repairable. Without the femoral nerve, the knee cannot be stabilized stabi-lized without a brace. "We're discussing nerve grafting and so forth; I'm not sure that this is a nerve injury that is repairable," he said The sciatic nerve may be intact, which will improve function in the leg. but Scaife said doctors will not know the condition of the nerve until Hunt wakes. Doctors have been monitoring Hunt's vital functions func-tions and gradually weaning him from sedatives, and Hunt remains on a ventilator. Carter-Shaw said the ventilator ventila-tor scared Hunt, who thought he did not have enough fluids because his mouth was so dry. "I think I'm going to die because be-cause I don't have enough water," wa-ter," he said before his surgery. "Don't let me die because I don't have enough water." Accounts have been set up under the name Bridger Nathaniel Na-thaniel Hunt at Zions Bank and Central Bank, and Carter-Shaw said friends and neighbors have been very kind throughout the ordeaL A fundraiser will also be held Aug. 7 at Bonneville Park in Orem, and Hunt's friends have gone from door to door and held bake sales to help raise money and awareness. "You girls and you boys are so precious and so sweet," Carter-Shaw said NorthCounty NIWSPAPERS 399 E S'H'e 0t Gcovo Phone: 7 7CC9 Fax: 756-6271 Marc Haddock 443 5208 North County Editor mhaddo?h:jrqfJfj!tra m til, 1 ZI $ JQJL . - , 1 Cathy Alfred 443 3202 Lehi, Samtogn Springs, PI Grove c.dlte!ildAil'rf(lt;ltQ COCO Barbara Christiansen 443-3264 American Fork, Alpine, Cedar Hilfr Mike Rigert 443 3265 Orem, Vineyard mrigertheralnViytra com Beky Beaton 443-3267 Sports bbeatonGhwaidextra com DAILY HERALD PUBLISIUMO CO. -,.,. jt i Josh Walker 443-3260 Advertising Account Executive iwalkerheraldextra com Jennette Esplin 756 7663 Office Manager Megan Carleton 344 2553 Project Coordinator, DesignerCopy Editor Allison Davies 344-2570 DesignerCopy Editor Ashley Franscell 344-2585 Photographer Volume 135 Issue 31 (yf T r-w, ('V Hj!,'J trrt'fjr. USFS 411-700 4 wy WHVJ' orM' m, ''ft f: Van? Vrm"-,:ti Pottnuttir 'jfr 4 vtmf 0zri?i to O'''" T r-i f'O fn 65. Reliving Osmond memories ien I was an LDS missionary in Mexico Mex-ico my mother sent me a cassette tape of the Osmonds. This was the early '70s, and not everyone in the mission had a cassette player, since they were relatively new. No policies had been developed about listening to music on Monday, which was our Diversion Day. This was the precursor precur-sor to the Preparation Day missionaries mission-aries now enjoy. Missionaries were expected to wind down a little on Monday. "Diversion" "Di-version" was an important part of the week, and we could spend the time writing letters, arranging to have our laundry done by the local church sisters (who would beat our white shirts to within an inch of their lives with rocks at the neighborhood lavenderia), seeing the sights and, when appropriate, listening to music, which was also supposed to be appropriate. Up until my mission, much of the music I listened lis-tened to probably would have been considered inappropriate. "The Doors" for example would never make the cut. When a friend and I drove from Idaho State University to Salt Lake so we could go to The Doors concert at the Salt Palace, Pal-ace, we learned upon arrival that "The Doors" didn't even make the cut for the entire state of Utah the concert had been cancelled Other music I couldn't take with me included The Band; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; and Bob Dylan. (OK, I snuck a little Dylan down with me, but only the early, folk stuff.) " When my mother mailed me two cassettes, I wasn't surprised to find one was by the Mormon Mor-mon Tabernacle Choir. This was deemed most appropriate. I'm not sure what she was thinking think-ing when she sent the Osmonds' "Homemade" cassette. I doubt she had never heard the Osmonds outside of the Andy Williams Show. She probably prob-ably had no idea they sang "rock and roll" music. mu-sic. Since they were Mormon, she obviously decided they were deemed appropriate as welL It was new music, and American cassettes were difficult to come by, so I listened to the tape often, partly because it was new music. It wasn't bad. I particularly liked a song Marc Haddock THE EDITOR'S COLUMN named "Shuckin and Jivin'," (no jive). And that's how I came to share many of my Mondays in Mexico with the Osmonds and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I had a chance to repeat that experience, ex-perience, sort of, Friday night at the LDS Conference Center for the annual an-nual Pioneer Day Commemoration Concert, which featured the choir and the Osmonds all of them who are completing their 50th anniversary an-niversary tour. It was my first visit to the Conference Con-ference Center, and despite having seen the auditorium on television during General Conference, I was unprepared for the vastness of the room. It is massive and modern and marvelous. When we saw all the people walking walk-ing to the concert, I didn't think they'd be able to fit them all in, but they did It's one of the largest gatherings of elderly, white people I've ever seen. I mean, I'm 57, and I'm pretty sure I was under the median age, at least for my section of the auditorium. It was an odd audience for songs like "Yo-Yo" and "One Bad Apple." But the music was well received. It was a good concert. They didn't sing "Crazy Horses," but I don't think anyone expected them to. There was a nice selection of Osmond hits, some very nice songs by the Tabernacle Choir accompanied by the Orchestra at Temple Square. Marie wowed the audience with a rendition of "How Great Thou Art," backed by the choir. We were also excited to hear the choir sing a rendition of "Down to the River to Pray," a spiritual written by Choir director Mack Wil-berg Wil-berg for the Timberline Middle School Choir. It was clear when the last chorus of "Come, Come Ye Saints" was sung by the combined Mormon Tabernacle and Osmond choirs, included in-cluded the two older, non-performing brothers who signed the lyrics, that this audience was more than satisfied. Three times we stood, once for the Osmonds, Os-monds, once for the Choir and once for everybody. every-body. It's a good thing the conference center is big, because it had to hold a lot of love last Friday night. Force Continued from Page 1 "That's a vital element in combating gangs," Edwards said. "Not allowing them to keep their stuff up." The majority of gang members who are hanging out in parks or recruiting new members in schools are junior-high aged kids, Gaines said. Everyone from school principals to teachers to janitors have been key in quickly reporting graffiti or assaults that serves to curb further gang activity in schools. In some cases, school janitors have done such a speedy job of cleaning clean-ing up gang-related taggings that police officers have had to ask them to wait to remove taggings until after police have photographed the crimes for evidence. Because of the teamwork of Orem schools and school resource police officers, Timpanogos High School didn't have a single instance of gang-related graffiti on the school's property last year, he said. "They didn't let the kids just hang out and at other schools, it was really limited" lim-ited" Gaines said. More and more, perpetrators perpe-trators are being caught in the act of tagging property because an alert citizen or school employee saw something some-thing and called 9-1-1, he said "If they see something suspicious sus-picious especially a group of kids hanging out in parks or in the streets or locations where graffiti has been known to be seen just call" Gaines said "If they see graffiti report it." To report graffiti or suspect sus-pect gang-related activities, contact Orem police at 229-7070. 1 L |