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Show -NEWS- Covering what matters most Spanish Fork WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2007 • A3 Learning about Benjamin heritage Leaving a mark in the driving world 'Round and About Benjamin Kathleen Olsen Benjamin lost a beloved lady on Monday, May 28,' 2007, with the death of Jeannetta Lindsey. She died at her home, which she and her husband, Paul, had built many years ago. She and Paul, who died in September of 2001, had a wonderful and unique marriage. Our community benefitted from the contributions the two of them made community-wise, church-wise, and neighborwise. She loved her family and was a dear friend to many people. She will be sorely missed and we offer our sympathy to her family and friends. Funeral services were held in the Benjamin 2nd Ward Friday, June 1; burial was in the Benjamin Cemetery. ••• Impressive memorial services took place in the early morning of Memorial Day at the Benjamin cemetery. With a substantial breeze helping the flags to proudly fly, the American Legion Post 68 performed the always touching ceremony of raising the American flag and then lowering it to half staff with the echoing rendition of Taps accompaniment in the background. No matter how often this is seen and heard, it never fails to impress and recall the blessings of our country. ••• Congratulations to David Cloward who has been sustained as a high councilman in the Spanish Fork West Stake. • • • ' " • Now, another reminder of Benjamin Days (Homecoming) set for Friday, June 8 and Saturday, June 9. A bake sale is scheduled as part of the celebration and cooks from Benjamin are invited to stir up some of their favorite recipes to be sold. Please bring them in containers that do not need to be returned or have your name on your dish or pan if you want it back. Thanks for your help! The community of Benjamin is growing with new homes going up and new families are joining those who have been here longer and the mix is good! But, we do need to keep in mind our heritage, and not take for granted or become apathetic about what has gone before. To bring to mind some of the steps history has taken to bring us to this point, we are going to list some of the significant points in Benjamin's history. They may not be earth shaking but they have helped our community to be where it is today. Prior to the 1860s, Native Americans were in the area. Even today, arrowheads or other artifacts surface in the fields from time to time reminding us of those who were here before the pioneer settlers. In the early 1860s, settlers slowly moved into the area mostly from Payson. August, 1871: A branch of the LDS church was established attached to Nebo Stake in Payson. June 12, 1886: Benjamin Ward was organized (hence, the reason for Benjamin Days being held on the weekend closest to June 12 each year). 1893: The first Benjamin Ward meeting house was built. 1877: The railroad came through Benjamin. 1888: The Benjamin Silver Band was organized that provided entertainment for the area for several years. About 1900: Electric and telephone service came to Benjamin. 1903: The Benjamin Central School built, teaching grades one through eight. When kindergarten was first introduced, it was taught for six weeks during the summer. ' 1906: The second Benjamin Ward meeting house was built on the corner of 3200 West and 7300 South. An amusement hall was added in 1932. 1922: Acementroad joined Benjamin with Spanish Fork and Payson. A big celebration was held to commemorate this event. 1927: Arrowhead resort was built with facilities for swimming, dancing,and picnicking. This was a popular place for the community and surrounding area until it closed in 1975. 1948/49: An exceptionally rough winter with cold and deep snow. Animals were able to walk across the top of buried fences on the frozen drifts. Not even road graders with one pushing the another could keep the roads clear. 1956: Benjamin Ward was transferred from Nebo Stake in Payson to Palmrya Stake in Spanish Fork. 1969: Benjamin- church was closed and torn down. Church for the Benjamin Ward was held in Lake Shore while a new church was constructed. 1970: Present Benjamin was church dedicated. 1972: Benjamin School closed — students were bussed to Lake Shore School for the younger students and to Spanish Fork for the older grades. 1972: Part of eastern Benjamin was transferred to Leland Ward with that ward sharing the church with Benjamin Ward. 1978: Benjamin became part of the newly organized Spanish Fork, Utah, West Stake. 1984: Flooding ocurred as the snow melted onto already saturated ground. For a while, Utah Lake had its shore line in the northwest end of Benjamin and pumps from homes all over the community were going around the clock. 1985: Benjamin Ward was divided into two wards bringing back the part of the original ward that had been in Leland Ward. The dividing line was 3200 West with families west of 3200 West in the Benjamin 1st Ward and families east of the dividing line in Benjamin 2nd Ward. Early 2000s: A government wild life refuge was established in part of Benjamin's west end. This listing is just a brief overview of our history. In coming columns, from time to time, we'll touch on other happenings. Are we really honest, law-abiding citizens? Ramblin' Roads Charla Zeeman How honest are we as a people? What will we and will we not do? I really like to think we live in a safe environment. One where most people are honest, law-abiding citizans. But sometimes I really wonder. How many times do we fudge just a little on the speed limit? What about stop signs? My car just does not feel like it is going as fast as it is. Thank goodness for my speed control button. Yup, if you are riding with me, you will find that the button is lit at 25 miles an hour or whatever the speed limit is. I know it sounds ridiculous, but that car feels like it's going ten miles slower than it is. As for stop signs, I tend to be extra careful here, especially on four way stops. I always slow down at intersections. I've had too many people glance both ways at a stop sign. If nothing's coming, look out. They speed up and here they come. How about watching for cars, if you are a pedestrian? Please do so. We cannot always see you from our cars. My car also has a surprisingly large blind spot just to the front and side of me-right where a pedestrian would be. Sometimes my car is scary to drive. Most drivers are safe and considerate. But once in a while you find a driver like the idiot who passed me in Spanish Fork Canyon. The driver passed me using the oncoming passing lane. I slowed way down to let him pass and held my breath. Just as he was clearing my front bumper, he saw an oncoming car. Luckily, my car has wonderful breaking capacity. I think I nearly stopped. Further down the canyon I could see him barreling along, leaving me far behind. I checked my speed — 65 in a 65 mile per hour zone. His speed had to be 70, 80 maybe even 90. Hopefully he is one-of-akind. So much for cars and drivers. We have just finished Memorial Day weekend. Which brings me to another honesty question. What constitutes grave robbing? Most of us will shudder at the thought as we remember the habit of digging up a grave, entering the confines of the casket and removing whatever may have been buried along with the deceased. Well, my friends there is another type of robbing graves. Several years ago, I heard of a lady who lived across the street from a cemetery in a rather out of the way area. Shortly after a funeral, when the family had gone home, this lady would visit the grave. She could not bear to see all those beautiful, expensive flowers go to waste. Therefore, they ended up in her home where she could enjoy them. Perhaps she should have received an arrangement with a card reading: "Here my dear, is your share of the flowers from my grave site. Sincerely, The Deceased." Every Memorial Day, I hear of people who have flowers removed from their loved one's grave. There are even people who remove toys from children's graves. True the deceased may not care, but their families do. Frankly, I believe the deceased can and do see what we are doing. I don't want some strange spirit entering my home to view their flowers. If for no other reason, I'm not going to retrieve anyone else's flowers. I only wish all of us could be more caring about other people, wherever we may be. my living room for Justin to come downstairs, I heard All That Jazz my car go Vroooom! a little Jazlyn Crandall bit and thought, "Oh my car is just switching gears. I am afraid that in my last That's probably because it's column, I may have offended been sitting there for a few many people. To counter the minutes." last, I say, "Be safe when . I really don't know you drive," and end it there. anything about cars if you Everybody needs to know can't already tell, so I just that my column is supposed let my car rev on. Finally to be light and slightly my brother met up with me humorous. Do not take in the living room and we anything I say too seriously. proceeded to the driveway. This column is just my own As I started to walk around musings. my bumper, for some reason, In an e-mail I received, I couldn't get through when it was implied that I get into I realized that cars aren't more almost-wrecks because usually parked pressing into I am young and possibly garage doors. impulsive. Now that's a Realizing that I had left funny story. the car in drive, I hastily About a month ago, I hopped into the driver's seat, was hurrying back from put the thing in reverse and my job in order to pick up parked. The dent turned out my brother for a party (not to be pretty bad. However, going over the speed limit of since my dad is an amazing, course). When I reached my world-renowned garage guy, driveway, I left the keys in he popped the dent back and the ignition thinking, "I just the garage door still operates gotta get Justin, I'll be back fine. in a sec." So as you can see that While I was waiting in writer was correct — I really can't drive. Oh and by the way, now my brother has his license. V^atch out Spanish Fork! (Justjoshin.') It's summertime. How unbelievable. I never thought we'd get through the terrible months of Cold, Colder, Wet and Windy. (These would be the abominable months of December through March.) I love the warmth! All I want to do right now is dance in the sprinklers and chuck water balloons at people. In fact, my life's ambition (for this summer) is to visit as many people's lawns that are being watered and run around under their sprinklers for 15 seconds. Hopefully, I can be sprayed by over 100 sprinklers that way. Everyone keep your sprinklers out for Jazlyn. The best aspect of summer is actually being with your family and friends. Some people don't ever realize that this happens during the summer because they sit in bed reading books all day. (Summer before tenth grade, true story.) All I can say is, ALL ABOARD: Ticket to Ride is a game of light strategy that even a 10-year-old can play. It consists of trying to get to several destinations using your allotted trains. Courtesy photo Get a clue on how to get ticket to ride Bored? Games! Bob Stutz When I was a kid, I went everywhere on my bike. I used it to get around on my paper route. I rode it to my friends' houses. I rode it around when I was bored and looking for something to do. Then, sometime between my 16th and 17th birthdays, I ditched the bike and went everywhere in a car. It wasn't always my car; in fact, it rarely was — it was usually a friend's. But if we had somewhere to go, we would hop in and speed off. Yep, that car took us just about everywhere we wanted to go. Even our family vacations were taken in cars. I think we may have flown once or twice, but usually we drove the 100-700 miles required to get to Disneyland, Park City or the grandparents. Yeah, I was born too late to experience the fun of riding on the iron horse at the turn of the nineteenth century. That is, until I served a mission for my church in Switzerland. Then I learned how convenient and fun traveling by train could be. We could make a connection in almost any town and just had to make sure we left early enough so we wouldn't miss the last train out. This week's game brings back the excitement of making connections by train throughout the USA in the early 1900s — buy your tickets now! Title: Ticket to Ride Publisher: Days of Wonder Type: Strategy Game Ages: 10-99 # of Players: 3-5 Time: 45-90 minutes Ticket to Ride is a board game in which players claim train routes in an effort to complete their train tickets to different destinations on the board. To begin, each player takes a set of 45 matching plastic trains. Next, each player is dealt three Destination Tickets. These tickets will determine the routes you must connect during the game in order to score extra points. The destinations on the tickets can be short (like Kansas City to Houston, worth less points) or long (like Seattle to New York, worth more points). You must keep at least two of the three destination tickets you have been dealt, but you may return one if you like. Since you get negative points for any destination tickets you don't complete, this can be a very important part of the game. Then each player is dealt four "train cards," which come in eight different colors and in the rainbow colored wildcard. These colors match routes on the board. For example; you can only connect Los Angeles to El Paso by playing a set of six black cards or Las Vegas to Salt Lake City by playing a set of three orange cards. On your turn you can draw two new cards to help you to collect the right set of cards you're looking for so that you can claim another route that will help you to connect the two cities listed on your Destination Tickets. You will usually need to claim three to seven consecutive routes to complete one of your Destination Tickets. And then the game begins. On your turn you may draw two cards, or play a set of cards and claim a route, filling it with your plastic trains, or even draw new destination tickets if you have completed the ones you have. The trick is claiming the routes you want before the other players take them. If they beat you to it, you may have to go the long way around, or lose a chance at making it to your destination altogether! Game play continues until one player has used up 43 of their 45 trains. Then everyone takes a final turn and the points are added on or subtracted for each player's Destination Tickets. The player with the most points wins! Ticket to Ride is a great game for those who are looking for something new and lightly strategic. The box says 8+ can play, but I'd up that to 10 years of age. While Ticket to Ride can be a fun game for the whole family to play, it really shines when played by three to five adults. It's competitive, but not bloodthirsty, which make's it great when you invite a couple over to your house to play and get to know each other. You can get Ticket to Ride at Funfinity in Springville or at the Blakfyre Games in Orem. It'll be your ticket to fun this summer. |