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Show Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Wednesday, October 26, 2005 A5 Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition Celebrating Heaven Help Us By Corrie Lynne Player Support troops to find peace of mind Thanks to all of you who have left messages on my website, and emailed me or written me in care of the paper. Most of you have given me very positive feedback, although a couple of you haven’t liked either my wording or what I had to say. But whether or not you agree with me, I love hearing from you, because it means you’re reading my column! And that’s a good thing–columnists excel or fade away, depending on whether or not people read them. The few criticisms I’ve received have centered on what the reader perceives as my advocating rigid control of children, especially teenagers. I have been rather strong in condemning what I perceive are vulgar and slutty fashions. I believe that young people can express themselves without being vulgar, showing way too much skin, or following the “barely there” dress standards set by MTV and the rest of Hollywood. I don’t think anything is accomplished by allowing adolescents such ridiculous “freedom.” I’m not alone in advocating modesty in dress—church leaders of most denominations agree wholeheartedly with me. In fact, I’ve read several essays about how European and American fashions, coupled with our over-sexed media, are a chief reason that radical Islam views us as the Great Satan. They don’t want our moral laxness to pollute their culture, and many of the wackier ones feel no compunction about killing us in retribution. I’m not saying they’re correct in any way (please, nobody call my editor and yell that Corrie Lynne Player says terrorists are justified). But spreading freedom and democracy becomes a much more difficult challenge when those to whom we want to give these gifts view us as morally bankrupt—why should they want what we have? They don’t look past the surface of our words; all they see are naked bosoms and barely covered bottoms. As we support our troops in harm’s way and debate foreign policy, let’s consider the example we are setting for the rest of the world. We should conduct ourselves in such a way that we show the world what can be accomplished by a free people through strength and character. Strength and character are modeled first within families. I suggest that the only real impact we can have on current events is the direction of our own lives. We can debate and holler, pontificate and criticize, but at the end of the day, complaining and grumbling, and even anger, accomplish nothing. Our energies would be far better spent in cultivating peace within ourselves and within our families. What we can do can be found in Isaiah 54:11, 13-14, 17: “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted; behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear; and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” The foregoing means that those who are afflicted and troubled by this war-torn world can rely on the arm of God. Wars will cease when all men live according to His laws. While we want peace, we believe that our nation faces an enemy with a Middle Ages mind-set; we must use our military might to destroy those who would destroy us, but after we have defeated our enemies, then we will succor them, as we did Germany and Japan after World War II. I want to reaffirm my basic parenting philosophy, which is that good parents should be ethically grounded and have a sense of humor. I’ve repeated over and over that anger, confrontation and abusive language do nothing to change behavior and bring peace. Together, with a smile and with a reliance on God, we can change society and the course of history. MT. PLEASANT —Some of the popular themes residents of Sanpete identify with are: “The way it used to be” or “The good old days.” Well, one of the most important things people did in the good old days was to celebrate at certain times of the year. The pioneers celebrated the spring planting, the shearing of the sheep, and got together not only for quilting bees but for peach and apple bees as well. These fruit bees mostly involved teenagers and young adults who were called together in the evening to participate in processing of a harvest of fruit. The kids would work and socialize for a few hours—and then hold a dance to celebrate and have fun. Thus there were two reasons young people came together: One was that many hands make light work and the other was that at certain times of the year, the harvest was so big that it took everybody working together to take care of all the bounty. Of course nowadays we have machines to process fruit, and we also have the wonders of modern technology to refrigerate and trans- Some of the wares offered at Honest Apples Days at Native Wines, including apple cider vinegar in beautiful glassware. Associate publisher Oct. 26 - Nov. 3 Casino Star Theatre 78 S. Main, Gunnison 528-STAR casinostartheatre.org Prices: Adults $5 Children under 12 $3 Double Feature Week Patrons can see both movies in one evening for only $8 Fri, 28th - 7 pm ...... Work & Glory Sat, 29th - 7 pm ...... Work & Glory Mon-Thurs-7pm ..... Work & Glory 9pm ................ Corpse Bride 5:30 & 9pm ... Corpse Bride 5:30 pm .......... Corpse Bride Native Wines co-owner Bob Sorenson tralks apples with celebrants. Moroni council votes ‘yes’ on rate increase to repay sewer improvement funding By Janice Vincent Work & Glory and Corpse Bride port our harvests. We have big grocery stores with foods of all kinds available year round. We have everything we need except for a celebration! Well, actually we do have a celebration— Honest Apple Day in Mt. Pleasant. And last Saturday, it brought scores of people together, everyday folks and ugly witches, for a parade, pie eating, wine tasting, a “splittingthe-apple” ceremony and more. Congratulations to winners of the pie baking and ugly witch competitions. World’s Best Apple Pie Contest: First place (again): Carl Larsen, Mt. Pleasant Second place: Christensen Kids, Mt. Pleasant Third place: ALL PHOTOS KEN HANSEN / MESSENGER PHOTO Paula Hamilton, Mt. Pleasant People’s Choice: Paula Hamilton, Mt. Pleasant Honorable mentions: Veronica Christiansen, Kris Mills, Deanna Gundry. World’s Ugliest Witch Contest: Ugliest Witch: “Ugly” (sorry we didn¹t get your real name!) Most Beautiful Ugly Witch: Ranae Lee Ugliest Kid Witch: Kaitlin Swensen. MORONI—Moroni residents can expect to pay a sewer rate of $20 per month starting in November. The Moroni City Council decided at its meeting Wednesday, Oct. 19 that the increase in sewer rates will be used to pay back a $750,000 Community Impact Board (CIB) loan, which covers five separate sewer system and facilities projects for the city. The city has made payments on the loan for the last three months with no collection from citizens. Council member David Crosland recommended increasing the monthly sewer rates to $20, up from the earlier proposal of $17 per month. While the actual loan payment required would amount to an increase of approximately $3.45, the council proposed making up the difference with an estimated surplus in the sewer bond. Although the surplus is earmarked for emergencies, or alternatively, a reduction in the total loan amount, and Mayor Scott Robertson expressed concern over a second rate hike in the near future if there were an emergency requiring use of the funds, the council unanimously agreed to assess at the $20 rate. Other council agenda items included resolving a number of longstanding issues. One of these is the Opera House parking lot, an item that had been on the council’s wish list for years, according to City Recorder Barbara Gordon. To complete the parking lot, the CIB has extended an offer of a grant of $30,000 from the FEMA-based CIB, or a threeyear delayed, zero percent inter- est loan covering one of the lower bids. The council passed a motion to accept the delayed loan as long as it covers the full amount of the council’s approved bid and is delayed four years, giving time for the city to collect enough to pay back the full amount of the loan a year after the larger bond loan is paid off. With approval of one of the lower bids on the Opera House parking lot, certain aspects of the construction would not be completed, leaving certain tasks to the responsibility of citizen volunteers. Volunteer hours will also provide the answer to a recent park security issue raised by Councilman Milton Larsen (not in attendance) because of the gate removal from the recreation center. After much discussion spearheaded by council member Greg Morley about preventing fourwheelers and other unapproved vehicles now that the gates have been removed, council member Paul Bailey agreed to design and install an inexpensive pole blocking system to prevent vehicle entry and reinstate security at the center. Later in the meeting the room became silent after Robertson passed around a draft letter to be signed by all mayors and council members. The draft letter is meant to represent all cities in Sanpete County and was addressed to the CIB. The hush was finally interrupted by the mayor, who asked, “What, too harsh?” The letter is a proposed protest against poor treatment of Sanpete County representatives compared to the better treatment by the CIB of other city and county representatives around the state, a distinction the mayor has (See “Sewer” on A10) |