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Show ommunity lews A2 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 Covering what matters most - N E W S - Spanish Fork Letter to the Editor 280 North Main St. Spanish Fork, UT 84660 Lajic Henderson Publisher Namon Bills. Editor Dana Robinson . Assoc. Edicor The Spanish Fork News is published each Wednesday for S37.50 per year in area and $41.50 out of area by J-Mart, 280 North Main St., Spanish Fork Utah 84660. Email stories to editor@spforknews.com Email ads to ad5@spf0rknews.com Call us at 794-4964 POSTMASTER Send address changes to Spanish Fork News 280 North Main St. Spanish Fork, Utah 84660 The entire con tent of this newspaper is Copyright© 2008 Spanish Fork News. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the editor or publisher. THE SPANISH FORK NEWS (USPS 024716) is published weekly for $37.50 per year by JMart Publishing, 280 Nordi Main St., Spanish Fork, UT 84660. Periodicals Postage Paid at Spanish Fork. UT. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Spanish Fork News, 42 East 300 North, Spanish Fork, UT 84660. DEADLINES Weddings, anniversaries, missionaries, 1st birthdays, articles, photos, letters to the editor Friday, 12 p.m. Display advertising and classified advertising Thursday, 12 p.m. Letter from a candidate Many of my friends dents. This past legislaand associates have been tive session the Repubsurprised by my candida- lican legislature finally cy for the state legislature. decided that charter More significantly, they schools were costing the have been surprised that state too much money. I am running as a Demo- HB278 was introduced crat. I've fielded so many to equalize the funding questions about it that I of charter students and decided to write this little regular district students "essay" to explain some and to give local district of my reasons for becom- tax revenues to charter ing a Utah Democrat. schools. This was goFor the past six years ing to cost Nebo District as an elected school almost $3 million dolboard member I have lars — more per student been actively lobbying than any other district our legislators in be- in the state. Because of half of public education. the equalization part of What I've come to real- the bill, even the charter ize is that I've been wast- schools were going to ing my time. Our current lose money (saving the local legislators have state millions). I spoke their own agendas and to Rep. Morley about it doesn't include sup- this bill, and he was apporting public education palled and said he would and the students of Nebo not support it. The next time I saw the bill, it had School District. An example: When been amended so that the charter schools were cre- charter schools would ated, districts were prom- not lose any funding but ised that they would not Nebo District was still lose funding. Because going to lose $3 million charter schools don't in local revenues. When have the ability to gener- it came up for debate, no ate property tax funding, legislators who represent they have been funded Nebo District opposed at a higher per pupil rate the bill. In fact, all of than regular district stu- them voted for it, except for Rep. Morley who was the only no-show for the vote. He didn't have the courage to oppose the Republican leadership. The bill was defeated and then brought back and lumped into the education omnibus bill that passed. What I then finally realized was that the 27,000 students of Nebo District along with their teachers and parents have no voice in our state legislature. We need a better balance in the legislature. In the Utah State legislature only one side of issues is being heard or presented. There is no valid debate. An 1891 letter written by the First Presidency headed by Wilford Woodruff stated: "The more evenly balanced the parties become the safer it will be for us [Mormons] in the security of our liberties; and . . . our influence for good will be far greater than it possibly could be were either party overwhelmingly in the majority." lobbyist regulation. Utah finally got a D- for ethics regulation. That was an improvement from the normal F that we have received in the past. Since the Republican legislature has almost total control, it's clear that they are the ones who have failed to institute ethics reform. In reading the Utah County Democratic Platform I had an epiphany: They are pro-life and pro-family and support fiscal responsibility. They are more compassionate to the poor, the working class. On the other hand, the Utah County Republican platform supports government funded school vouchers and I oppose them. Partisan politics is what is truly wrong with this country. I haven't found the "perfect" party platform for me. I don't believe either major party platform is "divinely inspired." There is good in both. Non-partisan city elections and nonWe need better ethics partisan school board in the legislature and bet- elections work very well. ter campaignfinanceand Partisanship has created gridlock in our nation. I recently had a discussion with a gentleman that went something like this: Me: Would you vote for a Democrat? Him: No. Me: Even if your choice was between a dishonest Republican and an honest Democrat who shares your moral values? Him: Nope. I had to wonder about that. When we become so fiercely loyal to a political platform that the platform is more important than the character and honesty of those we elect, we truly are in a world of trouble. And last, but not least, I refuse to be an armchair critic. Armchair critics are a problem our country. Everyone complains, but few are willing to step up and sacrifice their time to make a difference. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke) Sincerely, Debbie Swenson, Candidate (D) ' ..House District #66 Fire safety 101 Canning Ready or Not Dawn Van Nosdol Last week I told you how important it is to have a fire extinguisher in the car, but you also want to have one in your house and garage too. I have a friend who was making homemade French fries, and just left the stove for a moment, and the oil caught on fire. It was sad that her kitchen was damaged, but what made it even sadder was that she had just finished painting and decorating the kitchen. It had looked beautiful, but it was hard to see the beauty through the charred wood and the burnt Formica. Our neighbor's children accidentally started their garage on fire and down the street another neighbor lost their entire house because of a fire that started in their garage. Fortunately nobody was hurt in any of these incidents, but there was a great deal of financial loss and also the loss of personal items that can never be replaced. I went to a couple of web sites that give the basics about fire extinguishers and which one you need to buy for the different kinds of fires. The first web site was www.fire-extinguisherlOl. com. They explained that "Fire extinguishers are divided into four categories, based on different types of fires. Each fire extinguisher also has a numerical rating that serves as a guide for the amount offirethe www.hanford.gov/fire/ is expelled from the extinextinguisher can handle. safety/extingrs.htm" talked guisher. Since the fire could The higher the number, the about the different types of re-ignite, continue to apply more fire-fighting power. extinguishers that are out the agent even after the fire The following is a quick there for you to buy and appears to be out." guide to help choose the what Class of fire they are When using a fire extinright type of extinguisher." able to fight and how they guisher, always remember Class A extinguishers work: to P.A.S.S. - Pull, Aim, are for ordinary combus"Dry Chemical extin- Squeeze, Sweep. tible materials such as pa- guishers are usually rated Pull the pin at the top of per, wood, cardboard, and for multiple purpose use. the extinguisher that keeps most plastics. The numeri- They contain an extin- the handle from being accal rating on these types of guishing agent and use a cidentally pressed. extinguishers indicates the compressed, non-flammaAim the nozzle toward amount of water it holds ble gas as a propellant. the base of the fire. and the amount of fire it Halon extinguishers Stand approximately 8 can extinguish. contain a gas that inter- feet away from thefireand Class B fires involve rupts the chemical reaction squeeze the handle to disflammable or combustible that takes place when fuels charge the extinguisher. If liquids such as gasoline, burn. These types of extin- you release the handle, the kerosene, grease and oil. guishers are often used to discharge will stop. The numerical rating for protect valuable electrical Sweep the nozzle back class B extinguishers in- equipment since them leave and forth at the base of the dicates the approximate no residue to clean up. Ha- fire. After the fire appears number of square feet of lon extinguishers have a to be out, watch it carefully fire it can extinguish. limited range, usually 4 to since it may re-ignite! Class C fires involve 6 feet. The initial applicaIf you have never felt electrical equipment, such tion of Halon should be the thrill of using afireexas appliances, wiring, cir- made at the base of the fire, tinguisher to put out a fire, cuit breakers and outlets. even after the flames have you have got to try it -it's Never use water to extin- been extinguished. Water These extin- great. Actually it would be guish class C fires - the risk of electrical shock is far too guishers contain water and a good idea to get the famgreat! Class C extinguish- compressed gas and should ily together and sacrifice a ers do not have a numerical only be used on Class A (or- refillable fire extinguisher rating. The C classification dinary combustibles) fires. so that everyone will have means the extinguishing (Personally I feel these are a working knowledge of what to do and what they agent is non-conductive. the least effective) can expect. That valuable Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Class D fire extinguishexperience will only cost ers are commonly found extinguishers are most ef- you the expense of having in a chemical laboratory. fective on Class B and to refill the extinguisher, They are for fires that in- C (liquids and electrical) but the experience gained volve combustible metals, fires. Since the gas dissuch as magnesium, titani- perses quickly, these ex- will be very valuable. um, potassium and sodium. tinguishers are only effec- Another way to gain fire These types of extinguish- tive from 3 to 8 feet. The fighting experience is to ers also have no numerical carbon dioxide is stored as become CERT trained or rating, nor are they given a a compressed liquid in the to volunteer at your city's multi-purpose rating - they extinguisher; as it expands, volunteer fire department are designed for class D it cools the surrounding - and if you live in Salem fires only, www.fire-extin- air. The cooling will often City, they could really use guisherl01.com" cause ice to form around you. Now go get prepared The web site "http:// the "horn" where the gas - physically and mentally. There and Back Again Shirlene R. Otteson Your chuckle for the week: During an electronics lab session, a student was assigned to design a circuit that would turn on certain lights, depending on the position of four switches. The student was sure that he had done it right and beckoned his instructor to pass off his work. While flipping through the switch combination one was found that did not work correctly. The student then followed the wires and found one that wasn 't properly connected and after fixing it, the instructor rechecked the combinations. Addressing the student the instructor said, "You are now ready to graduate and get a government job. In correcting thefirstproblem, you created two more." The canning season is beginning to slow down somewhat. Because of the cooler weather, the tomatoes are not ripening as fast and most peaches are sitting in bushel baskets but getting riper each day. The whole harvest season is about 10 days later than usual. Gardeners were later trying to get their gardens planted with some re-planting tomatoes a couple of times because of the unexpected late frost temperatures. A good neighbor of mine brought me a bushel of peaches the other day. And I couldn't help but notice that it didn't have much of that old peach fuzz on it. I remember going over to Orem years and years ago to pick peaches for my Mom and I and the peach- es were just coated with mat awful fuzz. By the time I got through picking, I felt like I was on fire. I couldn't wait to get home and wash my hands, and arms and even change clothes if had to. Pears are so good to eat, but they are a nuisance to bottle. Because they are picked green then you have to wait for them to ripen which they do just a few at a time. Maybe just a few quarts one day, then a steamer full the next day. Because of a very busy summer, we haven't done as much this year as in years past, plus I had a lot left from last year so really didn't need to do a whole lot. Because of a very busy summer, we haven't done as much this year as in years past, plus I had a lot left from last year so I really didn 't need to do a whole lot. I have probably made more jam than anything. Nothing like homemade jam without all those preservatives. This a good corn chopping weather and I'm hoping it will hold for a another several days. In years past, there have only been maybe a couple of times that we've chopped in wet fields. Besides trying your patience to the limit, it's hard on the the machinery. I love to see the chopper in the corn field and as the rows diminish in number, you can see the pheasants running from side to side into the standing corn to hide. But, as the last 4 or 6 rows are chopped and there is no place left for them to go, they allflyaway seeking another field. So enjoy this weather. The frost will soon be on the pumpkin! |