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Show Tiananmen Square hero Chin Hai poses with Dickinson family of Orem. (See story below). mm Volume 61 Number 5 jjrffT) Wednesday, January 30, 1991 J : I ' ' ' tl f 1 g!gga3M!Bm:j .F to fichtJ Melissa, Gail (mother), Grant, Gaylya, Ch!n ,! , liai, Lisa, lix-enaa, Dennis (father) ana Victoria. ight to freedom fille By Jeanne Thayne City Editor Lying still beneath a pile of vegetables on a freighter out of Hong Kong, Chin Hai scarcely dared breath as the spears of the harbor police pierced the vegetables over and over again, coming closer and closer to where he lay. Chin Hai was a wanted man. The harbor police would have been heros if they had captured cap-tured him. "I was not afraid to die," Chin Hai told an entranced audience last Wednesday at the Orem City Center, "but I didn't want to die beneath those vegetables. If a spear had come any closer I was ready to stand up and be captured." cap-tured." Chin Hai is a criminal only in his own country. The country he loves and he is willing to die for. His crime? He is a leader, a rebel seeking change. Chin Hai personally led 2500 students to the Tiananmen Square demonstration in China from the province of Hunan where he lived in Central China. They joined with hundreds of thousands of other students in their peaceful quest. All they wanted, said Chin Hai, was for government leaders to listen to what they had learned about democracy. But no one would listen. lis-ten. The few who did were punished severely. Even Chin Hai's father, a high official in the Communist government, was punished for his son's actions. He was not allowed to work for one year. The demonstration lasted four days. According to Chin Hai they were without food, water or restroom facilities. "Many were sick," he said. "On the fourth day of June, 1989, the government still did not listen. That day the government ordered tanks and guns and began firing. I saw my friends killed. They were very young, but they were willing to die for their country. They sacrificed their lives. They loved their country but wanted democracy, peace and freedom more than their own life." "Tens of thousands were taken to prison," said Chin Hai. n ', " 'r- - . I JA''" . ' ,4& "A week ago in Beijing, a mock trial began for a friend. A month ago I wrote to President Bush to see if he could contact those over trials and ask that they (the students) stu-dents) not be punished." Because of the Middle East crisis Chin Hai has been unable to find out if anything any-thing was done. His own escape would make a good novel. Chin Hai's friends fashioned a large box, filled it with other boxes and put Chin Hai inside with two bottles of water and some bread. They shipped him on a train headed for the coast. After four days Chin Hai arrived. The water and food were long gone. Then he was placed on a coastal freighter buried under vegetables and eventually arrived at Hong Kong. "The first person I saw embraced me and said Tou are free." U.S. Consulate officials then assisted Chin Hai. He was taken directly to an d with peril for Chin Hai airport with r.o passport, no anything. any-thing. "I am an exile from my own country," says Chin Hai. "I can't return to my family." He says he doesn't know how he arrived in Utah because he'd never heard of it, but he loves it here and the family and people who have befriended him finding him a place to live and to work. Chin Hai expressed his feelings in this poem: "I am a vagabond, But I am not alone. My mother is with me. My mother is my homeland. My mother is Truth." Someday Chin Hai hopes to return to China and continue his crusade for freedom. He is a talented writer and is well known in China for his novels. When the time came for Chin Hai to go to college, he was tested along with all other students who hoped for higher education. Chin Explosive device discovered An explosive device that apparently ap-parently had been attached to the City Library outside wall was dis-covered dis-covered Monday by a city employee. The device had fallen to the ground Police spokesman Gerald Nielson saiditis believed the boxlike box-like device had been attached several days prior because another city employee reported seeing it, but did not recognize what it was. He also said investigators inves-tigators determined by the condition condi-tion of the device that it had been outside for several days. Nielson said the device was not in a functioning condition. He said he had no idea of the explosive ex-plosive capabilities at this time and did not know how it could be activated. He said it showed signs of having burned. Investigation is continuing. Corner stone ceremonies held during construction of Geneva Elementary School, 665 W. 400 N., show, left, Melvin Beckstrand, principal of Sharon Elementary School and Victor Vic-tor Anderson, president of Alpine School District Board of Education, with box that was placed in, the corner near the west entrance of the school. . .. L Hai was among the 16 percent who passed. They were assigned universities and studies by the government. Chin Hai was told to stady the Chinese language and literature. His writing ability was soon recognized and he was forced to write propaganda for the Chinese government. Chin Hai found this not to his liking and he began writing novels on the side. By time he was 23 he was well known. This probably gained him unknown friends who were willing will-ing to help him escape. By this time Chin Hai had both a bachelors and a masters degree. Now in Utah, Chin Hai has been living with the Dennis Dick-inson Dick-inson family. Mr. Dickinson manages Dare Systems Connections Connec-tions and hired Chin Hai to package pack-age cables for computers when his first job ended. When Chin Hai needed a place to stay, Dickinson brought him home to the family where he was warmly welcomed by Gail Dickinson and their five daughters and their son. Gaylyn and Lisa think this new "member" "mem-ber" of their family is pretty cool. "He teaches us Chinese (and they love to recite their new words) and we teach him English. He calls Grant 'only boy'." There are many English words Chin Hai has learned but the phrase he spoke most proudly Wednesday at the Human Awareness Fair was "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH." Chin Hai said many-students many-students learned about Patrick Henry during study sessions into western culture and books. "That was our cry at Tiananmen Square," he said. What does Chin Hai think was gained during those terrible four days? "AH the world saw our blocd spilled and the lack of concern by our government. The government govern-ment must change. The world must continue to show their concern. con-cern. Tiananmen Square is just the beginning." Speaking with Chin Hai at the City Center was Malan Jackson, Jack-son, Ph.D., Director of International Interna-tional Studies at the Utah Valley Community College, who translated trans-lated for Chin Hai. At present Jackson is helping to arrange for three other students stu-dents who escaped Tiananmen Square to find lodging and work in Utah Valley. City supports bond election for Special Events Center By Jeanne Thayne City Editor Orem City Council voiced approval ap-proval of a resolution to place the proposed Utah Valley Special Events Center on a Special Bond Election this spring. "I would be totally embarrassed embar-rassed if the Council didn't support sup-port this resolution," said Mayor S. Blaine Willes at the January 22 Council meeting. "It is a really good thing and will be a blessing to the county. It is something whose time has come." Willes said the Sports Center appears to have county-wide support sup-port and would be built in conjunction con-junction with the expansion of physical education facilities at the college. Council member Joyce Johnson said she has studied the issue and feels it would not detract either from programs planned by SCERA or by BYU. The SCERA is suited for smaller crowds than the Sports Center would attract, she said, and BYU is geared for larger crowds. Council member Jim Evans said his only concern is that the proposed Center and bond election elec-tion would not hurt the sports complex planned by Orem on Geneva Road. All members of the council approved the resolution. The proposed Special Events Center would hold approximately 8,500 people at its maximum and would be utilized for concerts, trade shows, conventions, sports activities, religious activities and other community and college events. The resolution gives the County Commission authority to place the matter on a Special Bond election in the amount of $7,700,000 to be decided by a vote of the citizens of Utah County in the spring of 1991. Wayne Crabb, principal at Geneva School, shows copper box removed from its 42-year entombment in a cornerstone at the school. Among letters in the box placed there during a ceremony marking the beginning of construction was a copy of the Orem-Geneva Times dated Sept. 23, 1948. Local Goodtime Video carries no NC-17 films In last week's Orem-Geneva Times Editorial a clerk at an Orem Goodtime Video store was quoted as saying: "We have no NC-17 videos in the store at this time, but we expect to have some in the future." Greg Wilder, owner and manager of Goodtime Video, stated today, "Goodtime Video has never carried X-rated videos in the past. Now, that the movie rating system has been revised to change the name of the X' category to 'NC-17--No Children Under 17 Admitted,' Goodtime Video will carry NO NC-17 films." "Our continuing policy is that we have never carried and will never carry adults -only movies in our stores," Wilder said. The Orem-Geneva Times regrets any inconvenience this may have caused to the Good-time Good-time management and for not quoting the owner, Greg Wilder concerning the NC-17 policy. 't. |