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Show Review - Wednesday, April 29, 1987 - Page 2 uinui.mjwiiLJM B , n Scholarship pageant deserves community support That's why such pageants are worthwhile, especially on the local level where a larger percentage of girls can enioy the benefits of pageant participation -- - and where community members can identify more closely with the young woman who will be responsible to represent them throughout the year. That's why dedicated committee members work long hours often with little recognition, to make certain the pageant experience is beneficial for the participants, and entertaining for the audience. And that's why community members should support Saturday night's Miss Pleasant Grove Pageant at Pleasant Grove High School. The pageant and its outcome is significant for the contestants and the community. Saturday night, 10 beautiful young women will compete for the opportunity to represent Pleasant Grove as Strawberry Days Queen and Miss Pleasant Grove for the coming year. The road to the pageant is not easy. For months the contestants have prepared, honing talents, developing poise, studying current events and history, and, more recently, preparing for the pageant's production number. Rewards of pageant participation can be numerous scholarships,' awards and opportunities. For the winner, the pageant will be an opportunity to serve the city throughout the year. As Miss Pleasant Grove, the pageant winner will represent the city in numerous parades, at ground breaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies, as well as other official events. By representing the city in these events, the new Miss Pleasant Grove will have an opportunity to pay back her community for what the community has given her as a city resident. , The new queen will serve as a role model tor otner young girls, and will learn lessons of service and poise that will benefit her throughout her life. She will also have the opportunity to "compete in me Miss Utah pageant next year - for a title that includes even more opportunities for growth and service. The pageant also benefits other contestants, who learn valuable lessons about life as they set a goal and then work towards it. Little Girl loves Big Mouth By MARCELLA WALKER p.g. blab There have been a lot of animal stories in the papers lately.. I was especially intrigued with the one about Big Mouth and Little Girl, the two whales which were shipped to Sea World. It seems that Big Mouth was very ill and had to sent for treatment to Sea World. Big Mouth lives in Minnesota in a tank with his beloved Little Girl. Little Girl loves Big Mouth so much that they feared for her well being if she did not accompany her mate to California. That is a touching story. Love now-a-da- often does not quite stretch far enough for a mate to accompany the other anywhere, let alone clear across the country in the belly of a cargo plane. I'm now talking about humans. The divorce rate right here in River City is enough to stagger the naive. I am appalled at the number of people who have been married for many long years, who finally decide that they cannot stand their mate another second and give up the ship. I'm not saying that it should never happen, because I am sure there are instances where the couple has had trouble, serious trouble, for many years and have tried, perhaps too long, to make things work. I also firmly believe that people rationalize and walk away from problems by getting a divorce and they would have been better off to work it out together. Now that we American's are after she took one puncn too many from him and decided to call it a day. I had no idea she had been abused. In these cases, divorce was the only answer. I don't see how they stuck it out as long as they did. On the other hand, there are so many fine people who argue over trivial things and toss in the towel rather than overlook a lot of the little things that irritate. Early in my marriage, my husband casually mentioned that the toothpaste should be squeezed from the bottom. He has never mentioned it since and I have tried to watch where I squeeze. We have not let little things get in the way of big things, like the way we truly feel about one another. Statistics show that many people get in fights over money matters and this leads to divorce. I don't un-derstand this. Certainly your money worries are going to be greater after a divorce. It usually always is as the woman tries to make do with child support and the man tries to support two homes. The only time thisis not the case is when a sweet young thing marries a wealthy old codger just to get his money, the marriage lasts two months, she then is well-of- f for the rest of her life and divorce cost her nothing except a couple of months of her time. Ann Landers talks alot about infidelity in marriage by one partner or another and she urges the slighted least the first time. This sounds good to me. Thereart occasions that get gossiped about around here when a bishop or other high ranking official has an fo. discretion and somehow the wort gets out and about. Most times that this has happened, that I have known about, the gj wife has stuck it out and in the end all has worked out for the good, n would certainly put a strain on marriage for a while and then would always be that little bit i wonder about trusting them again. ! Sometimes, though, the marriage is not saved. Someone is let s devastated. I Certainly I am not a marriage E counselor. I am not even an exper, " on love, except that I have a great love for my husband and my (ant s and, heaven only knows that I nail & read a lot of good love stories over H the years. h But it would seem to me that should be more like Big Mouth as 61 Little Girl. We should be complete le devoted to each other, through ai kinds of trial and error, sorrow at; pain. We should follow the other t the ends of the earth to keep the: happy and safe. Sometimes we should take lessis 'ei from the animal world. They do ro get divorces. (Although the ferni; al)i peregrin falcon in Salt Lake 0; aw apparently changed mates k season. What was the cause, dow ' think?). a ma willing to bring things out into the open, we hear everyday about women being beaten by their husbands, children being abused in the awfullest ways, and murder-suicide- s. The recent case in Springville where the woman apparently became unhinged and killed her child, her husband and then herself, has stunned the entire valley. Everyone I have talked to who knew the woman said she was a very gentle person, a bit strange in her recent religious convictions, but none the less a nice person. What happened? A friend of mine left her husband after many years of trying to deal with a drinking problem that most everyone did not even know existed. Another friend left her husband (letters to J Supports principal Editor: As parents of children enrolled in the Spanish Immersion Program at Manila Elementary, we would like to express support for Principal John Burton. While we are sad-dened by the termination of Ms. Jepson's contract, we do not believe that Mr. Burton took such action out of personal prejudice. We are pleased with the Spanish Immersion Program and are grateful for the choice experience it has been for our children. Ms. Jepson is a fine teacher and we feel that she has made a great con-tribution to the Spanish Immersion Program. We also feel that Principal John Burton is an excellent ad-ministrator and we have great confidence in his judgement. It has been our experience that his decisions are based on his concern for the students who attend Manila Elementary. We would like to thank Principal Burton for his support to the Spanish Immersion Program and his fine work in guaranteeing a quality education for our children. We do not know the reasons for termination of Ms. Jepson's con-tract. There are those who have criticized that decision and want specifics to justify the termination. Principal Burton has displayed integrity by refusing to make that information public and is at-tempting to keep Ms. Jepson's file confidential. We feel that allegations of discrimination by Principal Burton are completely unfounded. We wonder if there wasn't a better way to help resolve this unfortunate situation than to cir-culate a petition protesting the termination of Ms. Jepson's con-tract. It made us feel as if we were "choosing sides." Who did we support? Principal Burton or Ms. Jepson? Petitions of this kind often fracture feelings of cooperation and destroy unity. When emotions are running high, it is easy for accusations to fly and friendships to be irreparably damaged. We only ask that this situation be handled with respect and consideration for all involved. Let's be careful to insure that the hype of the media and the fervor of parents do not destroy a good principal or a fine teacher. -- Kristy Suojanen Becki Grass Johnson Also supports principal Editor: Recently we, the staff and faculty of Manila Elementary, have become disturbed and concerned about statements that have been published and said about our principal and school. We feel it necessary to voice our opinion about these accusations. First, we give our complete support and trust to our principal, John Burton. We have found him to be fair and considerate. He is conscientious and thoughtful in the way he administers his respon-sibilities as principal. He con-tinually shows by his actions that he is committed and concerned for the students, faculty and staff at Manila. We feel very fortunate that he is our principal. There have also been unkind statements made about the faculty and staff members of our school. We feel we have a friendly, helpful spirit at Manila. There is a strong feeling of interest and concern among the staff and faculty. At no time have we seen any examples of discrimination from the ad-ministrator, staff or faculty members. The accusations of discrimination are unfounded and unfair. --Edna C. Haley Lyda M. Makin L. Jean Patterson Randy Haskell Bill Hanvey Norma Bills Christine Newman Gwen Taylor Kathleen Whiteley Jennifer Marrott Cynde Austin James E. Marrott Carolyn Miner Pamela McKinney Nita Jones Claudia Olsen Daniel D. Gann Carolyn Horrocks Suzanne Webb Ruth Jensen Bennett Greene Karen Crosby Zella Perrenoud Lori Martin Linda Smith Susan Wicks DeAnn Smith Susan Barlow Donna Gurney Jackie Smith Kathie Drake Pennie Browne Carol Rawson Carolyn Estes Kathleen Hinckley Janna Kunz Linda Flewallen David Opthof What did we do to prompt 23 phone calls? r the editor's column J By MARC If I I HADDOCK publication carried the con-troversial letter, but 23 people didn't call me up to complain -- - and not anywhere near 23 people showed up to picket the store. Not even the stupid things I said about Highland a couple of years ago prompted 23 phone calls. There were about six calls then, most of them from people who were really angry. And I could tell by the way people looked at me that they didn't agree with my opinion. But 23 people didn't let me know they were angry about it by calling. At this paper, we've left out the TV listings when we had to, and didn't get 23 calls. We've held the list of babies for weeks and didn't get 23 calls. Several other stories have gathered dust for a week or two without prompting that kind of 1 uapuilBC So what could we leave out that would make 23 people call to com-plain? You see, the problem is we just have so much space to put the news - and we almost always have more news than we have space. Small papers live by a creed that paraphrases the New York Times: "All the news that fits, we print." And that's where we get in trouble. It comes down to deciding what news is most important to put in the newspaper, and it's a judgment call. After all, every story is the most important to the people involved in the story. And so who is to decide whether we run the story about the horseshoe tournament or the music recital, if we have to pick between the two? Just for your information, here are the guidelines to determine what goes in the paper and what doesn't: Nearness - The main point of a community newspaper like this one is to tell about what is going on in the community. If we are faced with two stories, and one takes place in Provo while the other takes place in your home town, we run the home town story -- always. Timeliness - This is tough for a newspaper that only comes out once a week in a community covered in varying degrees by three daily newspapers. Still, we try to keep our news fresh. And if a meeting is happening this week, we make a real effort to get in this week's newspaper. Size - How big is the event? A fire that burns down a home is a bigger story than a brush fire. The greater the magnitude of an event, the greater coverage it should receive. Of course, it's a newspaper's job to carry a wide range of news to appeal to a broad cross-sectio- n of readers. And we try to do that. too. does the story affect? We try tor; stories affecting more people belt" stories that relate to a if we have to makea choice Policy - Some stories are deft; j by policy, although newspapers' I to be pretty flexible. Neverthele we try to keep promotion piecest:; minimum and put real news into pages. Newspaper policy, : defining what types of stories , can't run, help us do that. So, what did we leave out? i last week we left out the w installment of "The Sr Testament." That's right, "The Storm If ment." After all, it doesn't of the criteria I've listed above. Nevertheless, we have n commitment to our readers lot this installment package, and"; we make that kind of commit and fail to deliver, we But last week there just any place to put "The Testament" and, in a moment of decision, I said. leave it out one week notices." They noticed, all right. V to can t three noticed enough complain. Who knows ho ' noticed and just though, done newspaper had again. . But they won't have to more. $ We might make stupid but we try to only make theJ There's a lot of Storm J w in today's newspaper, enjoy. 01 And if you find , stupid that we've done, let us know. u( We like to hear from)0 it's just because wefou Every once in a while, we will do something really stupid in the newspaper. I know. Some of you think we do something stupid every week. But we only hear about the really stupid things we do, and even then complaints don't come in large numbers. There just aren't enough readers in our coverage area to generate a lot of comment, because most of you have to be pretty upset before you are motivated to pick up the telephone and call in a complaint. But last week we did something stupid enough to prompt 23 people to call and complain. For a newspaper our size, that's a landslide of public concern - the kind of complaint we aren't going to take for granted. We know that for each person who took the time to call, there a lot more of you out there who were upset - to varying degrees - but who weren't upset enough to register a formal complaint. What prompted this extraordinary public outcry? And it was ex-traordinary. Nothing I've seen since I've been in the newspaper business has prompted 23 calls. The outrageous editorials 1 wrote at BYU (where we had a lot more readers - and a e share of kooks) only brought in a couple of letters - the idiotic type for which college newspapers are noted. When I was with the Emery County Progress, I ran a in which the writer called local construction workers who were building UP&l.'s power plants "trailer trash." The letter got a lot of people exercised, to the point that they set up a picket line in front of the letter-writer'- s newly acquired grocery store. The television stations came to cover the picket lines after my small Police investigate rape, thefts Pleasant Grove Police are in-vestigating the reported rape of a woman on Apr. 21 at her home. According to Detectives Bert Bean and Cody Cullimore, the woman was raped by a man who entered her home through a window and left the same way. She told police that she had talked with the man earlier at her home but she did not know his name. Police are currently trying to locate the suspect. The incident occurred between 10 p.m. and 11:30p.m. A Colt .45 was stolen from the home of Shawn Manning, 597 E. 500 North, on Apr. 26. The gun is valued at $500. Officer Jay Thornton reported that there is a suspect. Police are looking for a suspect in the theft of a car owned by Wayne P. Keith, Lindon. The vehicle, a 1978 Audi Fox, valued at $4,500, was later recovered in Provo. Melissa Bennett told officers that $20 was taken from her purse while she was at a wedding reception in the Pleasant Grove East Stake Center. The purse was taken from a room in which gifts were being unwrapped. The purse was later found under a water fountain in the building. Det. Bean said there is a suspect. Wade Peterson reported his bike was stolen from the Pleasant Grove East Stake Center property on Apr. 22. The bike, a black Huffy BMX, is valued at $100. There are no suspects. A home owned by Ethel M. Doyon, at 965 N. 500 East, had a double paned window in the garage broken by a dirt clod. The window is valued at $70. There is a suspect, according to Officer Jeff Wilson. A female was arrested for shoplifting at Nortons on Apr. 18. She took items valued at $2.85. A woman was arrested for intoxication at 450 N. State in Lindon on Apr. 24. Speech clinic holds onen housf A new Speech and Hearing Clinic at American Fork Hospital will hold an Open House on Thursday, April 30. from 1 to 4:30 p.m. During this time, free hearing and speech screenings will be offered to the public on an appointment basis. Free gifts will be given to all visitors. This clinic is located on the lower level of the hospital and will be offering free screenings on a regular monthly basis. In addition to screenings, testing and therapy will be provided for related health care needs. For hearing concerns, screening will test sensitivity within the normal ranges J to determine if a hearing aid, for example, is needed. At this time, screening is available for five years of age and older. In the future, additional equipment will be able to test from six months and up. Speech therapists will identify and work with problems such as ar-ticulation disorders, stuttering, cleft palates, voice disorders, stroke-hea- d trauma, language delays as well as others. Family practitioners can now work with speech pathologists and audiologists as a result of a cooperative effort with the staff of Utah Valley Regional Medical L Center. ,..h Working closely tors, the clinic can a , severe cases to Dr. and m the Ear, Throat (Ololarynologist) American Fork HospiWj Craig Smcdley, j(ail; ministrator, enthu sj dorses the new Spceo Clinic. "We are hapP) new service to meet i" J community." r For a free speech screening appoint rn M sday, April 30, plea L Fo.kHospital.75G-f.00l- . A female was arrested for criminal mischief in connection with an incident where bleach was poured into a gas tank. A girl was arrested on the same charge last week. Steve Fordham, 805 N. 600 West, reported his window had been shot with a BB gun. The window is valued at $100. There are no suspects. Terry Marchbanks, 595 S. 400 West, Lindon, reported that someone hit his Jetta Volkswagen while it was parked in his driveway on April 27 causing $300 damage. There are no suspects. |