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Show Pleasant Grove Review - Thursday, Decemer 2, 2004 Opinion fife ftYpil Set aside the past differences The communities in north Utah County are growing closer together. Taken on the social level, that means they could be sharing resources, combining activities and working for the good of the entire population. Where such cooperation takes place, they are to be commended. On the physical level, there are other meanings. Just as newborn twins in a crib have plenty of room until they grow and begin to move around, our cities have had a few instances in which they have bumped into each other and created cre-ated friction between them. Those cases have caused their share of heartache and hard feelings. feel-ings. Those with long institution al memories may feel they have cause to react negatively to their neighbors. Today all our cities are continuing contin-uing to be faced with growing pains. Not only do they have concerns con-cerns about providing services for present and future residents, they must exercise caution and take into consideration the surrounding surround-ing communities. ' For example, American Fork is currently facing potential bound ary conflicts with both Lehi and Pleasant Grove. Each is probably consulting attorneys to detennine how best to preserve their interests. They are not alone. The potential for conflict also applies to our smaller cities and to the newer ones. Each must decide the best course of action to pursue. Each must look at the whole picture and take all the facts into consideration. consid-eration. It would be easy to let the memory of past perceptions of injustice serve as the deciding point for future action. It would also be a shame if that is what drives negotiations between neighboring municipalities. We encourage civic officials to be civil in dealing with each other, to remember that we are all working work-ing toward the same goals of serving serv-ing the public and meeting its needs. It is not a time for one-ups-manship, jealousy or petty disputes. dis-putes. While there may have been past instances of conflict, these must be set aside to allow a fresh look at the facts and issues. The future is too important to all of us to let the past get in the way. - - - - My wife the bacteria buster Anita is not what you would call a neatnik. She's clean. She's tidy. She's organized. But she's not obsessive or compulsive com-pulsive about it. At least, she wasn't until last week. Perhaps it had something to do -with all of the guests who had been invited to come to our house for Thanksgiving. I think it had more to do with the new steam cleaner she bought. You put that kind of technology in the hands lof a homemaker whose mother is coming over for Thanksgiving "dinner, you're just asking for trouble. ; "Look at this!" she squealed at the first application of compressed ;steam on a dirty hallway wall. Gunk (that is the precise technical term for stuff that accumulates here and there in your house) was streaming down the wall. She wiped it up, and suddenly the wall looked pristine and new. ; 1 his is amazing!" Evidently, the mix of "easy" and "clean" triggers powerful emotional reactions in certain females. Near as I can tell, it's akin to what men feel when they first rev up a new power tool. . It's primal. And uncontrollable. - Anita's experiment with her new toy quickly turned into two hours of late-night wall-washing. By midnight we had the cleanest walls in town, and I was checking the Yellow Pages for the nearest chapter of Steam Cleaners Anonymous. ; Soon our family was sucked into the vortex of steam cleaning. .Bathroom sinks and tubs were fobbed of their gritty character. lEvery blind in the house was Ttaken down and taken outside for a thorough cleansing. When she started working her way through kitchen appliances, I knew there was no stopping her. Nothing was safe from her relentless pursuit of steamed cleanliness. I just hoped she would get control of herself before something tragic happened. I should have known trouble !was afoot that morning when I tound her standing at my office door, looking longingly in the general direction of my desk and computer equipment. "What are you looking at?" I asked as I rushed to position myself between my filing cabinets cabi-nets and Cruella DeSteam. "There's nothing here for you!" She smiled sweetly. "Of course not," she said. "I was just . . . you know . . . looking." look-ing." In retrospect, that should have been my first clue. But she fooled me with those big, beautiful eyes and the pleasant, innocent smile. Without the steam cleaner strapped over her shoulder and the cleaning wand in her hand, she looked much like the wonderful, wonder-ful, gentle woman I married and less like the maniacally obsessed grime-fighter she had become: Bacteria Buster. By the time I came home from work that night it was too late. "Dad, the computer is weirding out again," Elizabeth complained. "It won't write anything. It turns on just fine, and you can point and click to do things, but if you try to write something it just makes funny noises." Terrified, I looked at Anita, who grimaced guiltily. "Well, the keyboard was so dirty," she said. "I didn't think a little steam would hurt." If it's true that "cleanliness is next to godliness," then my ergonomically-designed computer keyboard is probably at this very moment resting on a desk next to the Almighty Himself (no, not Bill Gates; the OTHER Almighty). But this much is certain: it IS resting on that desk. It isn't working. May it rest in peace. Thankfully I had an old keyboard key-board in the basement, and in no time the computer was up and running without the funny noises. Anita seemed genuinely relieved and anxious to help. She smiled sweetly and asked, "Would you like me to give it a good cleaning?" I'm pretty sure she was kidding. kid-ding. But I'm keeping the keyboard key-board covered just in case. Benefits from life's little squiggles It was first grade, and I was bored. There were these workbooks work-books we were supposed to do everyday at Sartori Elementary Elemen-tary School. Every day I would finish early, and I would have to wait for my classmates to complete the page. One day to entertain myself, I went back and creatively squiggled over the underlines under the correct answers. I thought it was artistic, my teacher thought otherwise. She gave me a sound lecture, and every answer that was squiggled squig-gled under was marked wrong, because I hadn't followed the directions. The squiggles, she said, were not underlines. Looking back, maybe she was a little bit stressed that day, having reached her limit on the kid-Richter kid-Richter scale. Forty-five years later, I am a Sunday School teacher of some very bright, very good but often active eight-year-olds. By the time the third hour of my Sunday meetings comes around, many of them have a lot to say, and some have trouble trou-ble sitting still. This Sunday, the students were surprise to find their aw I teacher struggling with reverence rever-ence during the Primary meeting. meet-ing. You see, the child sitting next to me was having trouble being quiet, so I whispered to him, "Did you have Mountain Dew for breakfast?" No, he answered seriously, Red Bull. Then he grinned. Thrown off guard, I chuckled, chuck-led, and the other students looked over at me and raised their eyebrows in mock dismay. I knew I had better behave. Their classmate, however, was encouraged. "My mom has a shirt with holes in it. My dad calls it her holy shirt," he said. Another grin. We had 10 more minutes until Sharing Time was over. "Shhh," I shushed softly. "Wait until class." Conspiringly, he whispered back, "OK." Kids are so much fUn o of the things they 8a just humorous, but Vet thinking. get yu During the political can, paigns in October, I askeda class who they thought J president of the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-dl Saints was. a? "I know, I know," came tfc cry as half a dozen hands r 7 up. The first to answer ,e? "George W. Bush!" A few t ' ded appreciatively and smiled' A couple looked a little pu ' zled. I love my class, and I iook forward every Sunday to hear mg their answers and their refreshing way of looking at things. I hope they never have to feel ashamed because they "squiggled" when they should have "underlined," or because I get tuckered out. I take joy in the fact they now know the difference dif-ference between the President of the United States and the president of the LDS Church. I think they do anyway. Then again, maybe having Gordon B. Hinkley as President Presi-dent of the United States isn't such a bad idea. 'iip1 rOD Jits' ruin j: -fit' "w ;eti 3 at alff -la: J 'Sc ant p.m. i- ;;ve 1. . 1 of''f -i;tl "Kudos to the Cedar Hills City Council- The Cedar Hills City Council gets my kudos this week because of their tireless efforts with the golf course shortfall issue. This opinion might not make me popular around here, but hey, junior high, high school? Me, I was never really in the "in crowd." In these past few months, the City Council has constantly worked to make any information concerning the golf course losses and the possibility of a service fee, available to the public through meetings, the newsletter, newslet-ter, and the city website. Since earlier this year, they have been looking at all sorts of options for dealing with the course from selling it, to closing it, to fees and taxes for it - and they've willingly willing-ly disclosed any information they could about their findings with the public. So when residents come in to City Council meetings saying the council hasn't been open with the 1 mm 'im 1 public on this, frankly, I look at them a bit funny. Seriously, where have you complainers been the last few months of City Council meetings? This issue has been on the agenda agen-da every time since late September. Septem-ber. Where were you? This City Council, for whatever whatev-er faults you may have with them, is one of transparency. That seems to be their motto. Transparency in government. Since the beginning of this year, they have been consistent in their goal to explain all issues to the public. But they can only do it in so many avenues. You, the citizens of Cedar Hills, need to step up and do your part. The council can't go door to door and hang out and watch TV with you and fill you in on all the recent issues during commercial breaks. If you want to know what is going on, come to the meetings, read your newsletter, browse the Web site, read the newspaper, do something! And most of all, listen. Listen to what the council is saying before you whine. These are - responsible people on the council, trying their hardest to work together for the betterment of Cedar Hills. They aren't super-heroes, super-heroes, they are just citizens like you who care enough to spend quite a lot of time (and too many late nights) tackling the hard issues facing this growing city. So get in there, talk to your city leaders, question them, find out about the issues. Of the many local governments govern-ments I've seen, this one is one that will give you as straight an answer as they can. Really. '-.Hi ": ian jion -.1 c ::!ec :::ta '"is arb Readers Forum PTA, school organiztions need to find a new solution For the second time this year, two of our grandsons, who attend Lehi schools, recently wanted us to buy items from catalogues they had been given at school in an effort to raise money. In addition, we are also contacted con-tacted by students in the neighborhood who attend di(7' ferent schools but are also doing fund raisers. We feel it important to support sup-port these ever-escalating programs pro-grams not only to help the schools, but to validate the young people and help build their self-esteem and reward their courage in coming to the door. However, from what I hear, the young people are being unduly pressured to get out and sell the items in the hopes of winning a prize and receiving receiv-ing recognition. This often forces the young children to be out alone after dark frantically trying to sell the items. With such reports in mind and the fact that most of the school year is still ahead, I am of the opinion that enough is enough, and these fund raisers - are out of control and need some serious revaluation in an effort to find a better, more efficient way to raise needed, or wanted, funds. If the schools are so desper- something might be wrong at the district level. At one time, the Legislature set aside money that was to be used specifically by teachers for the purchase of needed items for their individual programs pro-grams which included almost anything from paper and pencils pen-cils to furniture for the room or other items to support and-or enhance the learning process This was to have been an ongoing on-going yearly program. I think the time has com for the schools and various PTA organizations to take closer look at these ing programs and find a bet solution. : un -;es ::th : Dis -:.in - se Hard .-' Eo -;jt( -J ict c t "tie '-" CO '-II, i ?-on; Hard T).l; iiiivm ately in need of money, then - Julian Lehi : teifflij if (iianiniinrilte" Eagle Mtn. As it did in 2003, the Eagle Mountain Firefighters Association Associa-tion is offering emergency medical med-ical kits to the public. They will be sold at half or less of the kit's retail value for the 2004 holiday season. The kits contain the same types of items "-u oy emergency medical professionals. pro-fessionals. For each kit sold, Safe Community USA will donate $5 towards the department's needs in emergency medical equip-ment. equip-ment. Safe Community USA is 'i dedicate nonprofit program liiOninor roiunuinities lifesaving emergency ",l kits at cost. ,a nur. A $95 citizen kit can w chased for $37.19.A pf " Ul, kit, usually sold rclU Co, can be purchased for ' D v v V |