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Show : v: - race 4 V C:h - W.-Jr. Opinion Attend precinct caucuses A wave makes traffic congestion easier to be Monday everur. at 7 p m. inTiilx-r.H of l'K-al jl.tica! p.irt-- will ni-t in th- annual prt-ci.net ciiiKUMcs to prt p.iri- f ,r what prornw.i to ( an excit.:.,; t-l'-c-tion year This j;ras nm t-vcr.t is at the tnoMt banc ivl of party p'.i.ticv It will bv particularly m.;rtar.t thin '-ar, with M- ral 1 al raci-s loiidci with i-r.i-T of or.t-party. or.t-party. In Ki-vi ral n-n, th- i.nJivi.Jj-nn i.nJivi.Jj-nn w ho art- choii-n as county and htatc cldi-gatf at Monday's meeting will b- making crucial decisions about the nn-n and women we .select to govern us on the countv, .state and national level. Anyone who tares altfjut the.-e important decisions and that should include all potential voters vot-ers should he there. The caucuses are basically organization meetings, hut this year they will have a tremendous impact. Delegates to the state COP convention, for example, will have to pan down the number of candidates for the Second Congressional Con-gressional District race from at least nine candidates to just two for the June primary flection. That candidate will face Jim Matheson in the incumbent Representative's Rep-resentative's first election in his newly -reorganized district. County Republican delegates will narrow the field of candidates candi-dates for the Utah County Commission Com-mission Seat B from four COP candidates to two for the primary election. In some cases, the primary .". o.'u'.J 1-e circu .her In the race .tv Corr.rrui'.-n S . Cour.tv She t-r. .rJ f,r Utah ;vat A or f r exani- I'ta ;.le, it is p.-:Lle Republican tn- elates Cu'J I th'H'.-e the r.t-Xt CO.m- r:'.i--i -:.er or sherilTm convention an J bypass an election altogether, altogeth-er, since only two candidates, U.th from the COP, have filed for the-e ciTiCCS. Some might decry the one-party one-party nature of Utah County politics. pol-itics. The fact is the Republicans dominate the number of candidates, candi-dates, with many races featuring only Republicans. As a result. Republican delegates selected at Monday night's precinct caucuses will have a major say in how-local how-local and stale government looks for the next two years. That makes the precinct caucuses cau-cuses absolutely critical for this year's election. In some cases it will represent the only opportunity opportuni-ty some area voters have to participate par-ticipate in choosing men and women to essential elected offices for the next two or four years. We've listed the locations for these meetings on Page 2 of this newspaper. Most are in local schools or libraries. All are accessible. acces-sible. All voters are encouraged to attend and participate in the precinct caucuses for their voting district. This is where the political politi-cal process starts and, in some cases, w here it will end this year. Your participation is needed to see that our elected officials best epitomize the views and values of those they are elected to represent. A conflict of interest My little boys love to play with hats and their favorite ones are the policeman's hat and the fireman's hat. It's fun for them to pretend that they are participating in such a heroic profession. Hut when they take off those hats, they are transformed back into little boys who have real responsibilities of taking care of their rooms and such. Our city council is much the same way we have two city council members who wear public safety hats. But when they take off those professional hats, they are transformed into government officials who are charged with taking care of our city. Now this would not be a noteworthy thing unless you knew that shortly before Jeff Wilson, a police officer, and Mark Atwood. a fire fighter, were elected to he city council members, state law said that you could not he a full-time compensated city employee and serve on the city council. This was a protection so that no one entity would have a louder voice in city affairs than others. However, this law was recently changed and this protection pro-tection was taken away. The wisdom of changing that law was recently called into question when our city council hotly debated the $30,000 purchase pur-chase of two motorcycles for our police department. It was generally thought that in the interest of fairness. Mr. Wilson would excuse himself since, as a police officer, he had a vested interest in the purchase passing. pass-ing. Mike Ferre, public safety director, reported to the council that there was a "high motivation motiva-tion within the police department depart-ment for the motorcycles" which gave Mr. Wilson an obvious obvi-ous conflict of interest. Instead of stepping down on this issue however, he vigorously seconded second-ed Carol Harmer's motion to purchase the motorcvcles. Keith Corry. and Darold McDade dissented savins this was a need 'want thing and the timing was not rich: to buy these motorcycles. Since it was itdteMMite a tie vote, Mayor Danklef broke the tie and the motion to purchase pur-chase the motorcycles passed. I, however, have to agree with Corry and McDade because just seven days before the motorcyde issue, the public safety department presented a list to the council of their pressing press-ing needs and motorcycles were not included on it. They cited they needed an updated phone system, updated updat-ed computer software system, and the basement was not easily eas-ily accessible among other needs. However, Mr. Ferre assured the council there should be plenty of money in the budget for the motorcycles since it will take three months to get them here and the city can use traffic school funds to pay for them. While I understand that motorcycles could help our city's safety, I wonder if they couldn't have waited a little longer and filled some of the more pressing needs of public safety before purchasing the expensive motorcycles. Because of their elected positions. posi-tions. I think everyone on the council must be aware of any appearance of a conflict of interest and refrain from those votes. That way the public can be assured that the affairs of the city are being run fairly for everyone concerned. No one should be helped because someone some-one that believes in their cause is on the city council and can exert influence. It is important for our city council members to remember that when they are wearing their city government hat. they are supposed to be representing represent-ing the people of Pleasant Grove who elected them, and not their own interests. I know it may be difficult to stand by and watch while others oth-ers vote on something you really real-ly feel strongly about, but I take my hat off to those who can and do. New Utah Pleasant Grove Review An edition of The Daily Herald (ISSN N'o. 152 l-d561' J US PS. No. 435-750' 59 West Main American Fork. Utah 84003 NEW spa; ER I love to drive on State Street past w here the new Boulevard and M.icey's are. riven though I may have "to slow down a little bit as traffic is restricted to one lane only each way, it's still exciting to see the procress that is being made. Every day there is something new. Sonic Drive In is actually now-open now-open for business. I've seen quite a few cars driving through there. The Macey's building is huge and really starting to take shape. I probably "just about cause an accident acci-dent as" I go by it because I am craning my neck around to see what the store looks like now. The grand opening date is still set for May 15 as far as I know. That's less than two months away and I can't wait. I'm also anxious to see what other businesses will chose to locate in that area and it will be fun to watch them be built. It's also exciting to see how the crews are working on the road as they realign Center Street to meet the" new Pleasant Grove Boulevard. Boule-vard. All of these things have been talked about for so long that it's good to finally see work actually going on and things beginning to take shape. It's kind of like the Olympics, we've talked about the mter-ch mter-ch live for so long, that it seemed like it will never really happen. Some people even complained about the inconvenience and the additional traffic the Boulevard would bring. But now that things are happening hap-pening and we can see the end in sh-ht " it's prettv exciting and 1 think we'll all realize that it's been worth it. There's another reason why 1 enjov driving past all the road work The Happy Flagger. If you've driven past all the road work, you know what I'm talking about. Instead of the normal stoic-faced stoic-faced person holding the "Slow" and "Stop" sign, there's a smiling guy who waves at every car that goes bv. The" first time I drove by I was caught off guard and didn't know what to do, so I just ignored the man. But the wave was contagious so the next time I drove by, I c-' "u a ea as vr" -pleasant surprise toVr" who is happy 0n the'V; spreads the joy around ':; I have talked to people and thev also sa--'" thing. Travis Tholsti manager for Geneva p ? Paving, said he has rece-.' 4 al compliments from drW the flaggers. Because now there's one waving flagr v" have gotten used" to Derrick Medlin, the waver, as they drive bv everyone waves to all t.V and so the other flac? wave back as well. ? " I talked briefly with was working of course ar -T he waves to make his wcV' esting and to make f happy. He said he loves b- .. has fun. I don't think there's a.--wrong with that. The wor- be a better place if peoplj",' little happier and a lin;t! friendly. So next time you drive h road construction, be su wave the people holding th. but chances are they will ." you first. Traveling to the land of coincidence Saturday evening I found myself on TRAX on a solitary pilgrimage pil-grimage to downtown Salt Lake to attend the closing ceremonies of the Paralympics. I was there by myself for a couple of reasons. I had a free ticket, for one. They gave one to all the volunteers. Just one. We were given two for the opening open-ing ceremonies at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Sta-dium, where many bodies were needed to fill the stadium. But they moved the closing ceremonies to the Medals Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City, where they could not accommodate as many people. One ticket was enough, however, howev-er, because for weeks I had been told to find someplace to be and something to do on that Saturday night. That was the night Sharon was hosting a wedding shower for our daughter Kari, who is getting married next week. I didn't mind being told to get lost, because the last place I wanted want-ed to be was at a wedding shower. But I didn't want to go to the office. Clutching my solitary ticket, I jumped on TRAX at 9000 South for the trip to downtown Salt Lake City and was joined by a lot of other people headed to the same place wearing their Paralympic volunteer coats just like me. To be honest, I was excited to be a part of this event. I had only be able to "work" three days at the E Center as a volunteer press marshal. mar-shal. My other shifts, scheduled for non-competition days, had lifer ; s'i been canceled. The three days had been a great experience, though, and I saw a lot of sledge hockey. My job was to work with the photographers. That put me on the floor right next to the ice for every game. The final day, I worked all three games, including the gold medal contest between USA and Norway which has been described by many as the best sledge hockey game ever played. The game ended in a shootout after a 10 minute overtime over-time failed to resolve a 3-3 tie. The USA team fell behind in the shootout, but turned that around to win the game 4-3. The crowd was large and the E Center was filled with energy. The gold medal ceremony was exciting and emotional everything one could hope for as Old Glory was lifted lift-ed to a place of honor in the E Center arena and the crowd stood and sang the Star Spangled Banner. Ban-ner. I wanted to end the experience on another positive note, and the closing ceremony seemed like a good way to do that, so here I was clothed in my volunteer garb heading downtown. I struck up a conversation with the man ; young daughter seated 7: from me. They were from P;-and P;-and were headed downtowr.i Disney on Ice at the Delta U right across the street fr;; Medals Plaza. As we chatted I mention: I had been banished k evening because of a t;: shower, and he mentioned i: daddy-daughter date had prompted by a similar eve:.: that was being held, coinci: : ly, in American Fork. Wait a minute, I thoup: was from Payson and sorai'j fiance. And his wife was it; shower in American Fork.. "Wade Gardiner?" I asked "That's the one," he m: turns out his wife is the sir; my daughter's new mother-iii There we were, con :i strangers riding to the bin talking about our wives wh; enjoying themselves in my :J room playing goofy game I handing out marital advice daughter who would soon t. 1 ried to his nephew. We'll of each other next week, I 1 The closing ceremonies' great, complete with pag-great pag-great music and some spec: i fireworks. The highlight of the J however, was that one mo: marvelous coincidence, unpersons un-persons whose paths won.: in a dozen days had a prt-encounter prt-encounter on the way tc where else. Mother Nature's reawakening Todav is the first, dav nf snrincr The vernal equinox. Today the hours of daylight equal the hours of darkness. dark-ness. From now until mid-June, the first day of summer, the days will be getting longer. This lengthening of daylight makes me think that Mother Nature is opening her eyes, once again, after a long winter of sleep. Every year Mother Nature hibernates. hiber-nates. She "closes up shop" and sends the birds on a long winter vacation. Then, wrapped in the fallen fall-en leaves of autumn, and covered with a blanket of downy white snow, she silently sleeps. Mother Nature is a sound sleeper, sleep-er, whether she covers herself with a thick blanket of snow or a thin one. This year her snowy covering was thin, a bit threadbare, so to speak. And without that thick mantle of snow, our possibility of luxuriant summer lawns is lessened. However, now is the time for Mother Nature to shake off her shroud of sleep. Daylight comes ever earlier and lingers longer in the evening. A variety of early rising songsters greet me from the limbs of my still slumbering trees. Silhouetted against pale blue skies, these songbirds flutter and chirp amongst the barren branches. "Up! Up! Cheer-up, cheer-up," they sing to me, and I with a smile I heed their advice. The earth has swollen within my flowerbeds and slim fingers of green stretch forth to glisten in the sunlight. sun-light. Soon these slender stems will swell and give birth to vibrant blooms of color the reds, purples, oranges, and whites of tulips and narcissus. The worms in the earth awaken and begin their unending job of churning, mixing, and plowing through my garden soil. Such simple sim-ple creatures, so small, and yet so strong. I appreciate their silent bulldozing, bull-dozing, and soon the lacy roots of my tomatoes, squash, and corn will, too Small creatures make their tiny appearance as they buzz and hum about me. Although I know that their nuisance will increase catching catch-ing sight of a lone housefly gives me pause to wonder. How and where did thus tiny creature survive such a long winter? Evpr so sil entlv, small ; again begin to spin the? webs. Not their full, wide summer, but tiny, tentative - Al ,,coon Kilt ffilt. the- oi spring wnispei -they bring me wishes of come, at other times they Soon they will invite tn)'; outside to launch their f-emissaries f-emissaries to the blustery The breath of the breezes melts the icicles.. songs are a delightful drip as they slowly depa- The dance of tiny r water as they make through the snowpiles ar.- driveway is another the coming of spring-Yes, spring-Yes, Mother NatunL" awakening. Sometimes U see her stretching her a.- ; warm sunlight. Then 0"--: : reluctant child, she P- white winter covers ba -.; on fnr n feW ffiO-- ',! soon she will shed the-- 'V and the dance ot uie . ; color and in vigor ana it Nature's invitation of us, all we need is;;. taste, touch, and smell -- spring. Te'eohore Njr.te's V;-;;-- ?--- Periodicals P.-.t5re Paid at Arrencan F:rk. Utah a;-SWi; : sere aoo-sss aroe to S War .-ncar -yx L-jr jiXj Deadlines -2. L - ' we welcome letters to the editor. All letters mu Mh rsr'e- r--, i - a'P' r .,, "amfci (printed AND signed) ana a ter. ve reserve the right to edit letters for cla :.. k w., ,u iciiym. Liners are wbilum - HOW TO RFACH U By Mail P.O. Box 7. American Fork, UT 84003 In Person 59 V. Mam, American Fork by 756-52'- BY E-M. editor ne-2 ' iinaaaiBBim |