Show Oai otxaiTMner Opinion Ji HhJdy Juiy IlMO 1A VIEWPOINTS Doonesbury by garry trudeau By Bruce Tinsley Mallard Fillmore CX NCvA IbUcy at OWlHEl 3 AT U6T J250ipes ' fftl CfeT ASN - WflPKrtg- TisssU for rf && vc iTH Ct MfCMce you Qu y& &&? A 1 COLUMNS of children Sharing in reading books can bring magic to the lives - Unlike watching TV or video games opening books builds parenting bonds It wasn’t such a bad life for me but I hated it for my mother People told her when she left my dad that she was going from a frying pan to a fire She of course told them where they could go Daddy was right as I saw it Hitler would’ve been toast with her By SHARON RANDALL Scnpps Howard News Service Mine was no storybook childhood - except that summer when I fell in love with Rhett Butler and Brer Rabbit I w as 9 going on 10 when my mother said 1 could spend summer vacation with my dad He lived on his family's farm in the North Carolina mountains never left home except to fight -first the Germans then my mother The war would have ended a lot sooner he said had Hitler been married to her My parents’ war ended in divorce when I was 2 but they still fired salvos through me My dad retreated to the farm hoping to take me with him But 1 had to go to the front as he put it to live with my mother and her new husband She doled me out to my father like crumbs to a starving bird - a day here a weekend there a week in summer if we got lucky One summer we got extra lucky The battle was heating up on the home front so my mother either to please or protect me farmed me out so to speak for a whole month The first week I thought I’d died and gone to heaven I was doted on night and day by my dad and my grandparents sometimes all three at once The second week they remembered that they had chores Swell I had to fend for myself Like a soldier in peace time longing for battle I began to miss my mother Homesickness they say is in your head Don't believe them It’s in your gut When I stopped wretching my grandmother pillowed my head in her bosom and began reading to me from a strange-soundin- g book about a smart rabbit and a stupid fox And there just like that loneliness left me and oh the magic began I fell asleep in my grandmother's arms dreaming of a briar patch Next day she handed me a book big as the family Bible “Read yourself a little ‘Gone with the Wind' today” she said “and tonight I’ll read you more ’Unde Remus” What kind of woman sends a child out to play-alday with Rhett Butler then calls her in at night to Brer Rabbit? My grandmother God bless her Everyday I would read to myself - by the creek in the porch swing under the canopy of a giant fir and every night she would read to me know which I loved more I don’t What I learned both in the reading and being read to was more than a revelation It was for me a revoluuon My world would never be the same I think about that summer whenever I see children glued to TV shows or video games or computers Not that such things are inherently bad I get glued to them too But they can't change a child's world in quite the same ways that reading and be- ing read to changed mine So Here’s the deal Before summer is over I promise to read to at least one child and to hear that child read to me That's it Nothing fancy How about you? Want to help me change a piece of the world? Sharon Randall is a winner of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and the Best of the l West commentary awards LETTERS Taylor Canyon tram idea should bo burled If the federal government in Pioneer Day celebration: A long-tim- e good idea Washington can create the Staircase National Monument without input from “local" officials then why does the Forest Service listen to local politicians concerning Jaylor Canyon? The other side will be festooned with gondolas restaurants condos etc and will prod vide easy access to the upper part of the mountain for a fee The Taylor Canyon parcel needs to be included in the land swap and the tram idea needs to be buried somewhere where no one will find it again The next time someone has $200000 with nothing better to use it on give it to St Ann’s or something like that year-roun- It seemed like the Taylor Canyon parcel was one of the most coveted now it is being dropped for’ an expensive project that will probably lose money and will certainly detract from the beauty of the mountain Earl would have figured out a way to build the tram in time for the Olympics with our money if it had been a Brett Fuller Ogden Express feelings about tram to city officials Ogden City Mayor Glenn wants to build a tram starting at the top of 27th Street up Taylor Canyon to Snowbasin Ski Resort There would have to be a parking lot built above 27th Street as well as the tram station ticket booth and possibly restrooms snack bars etc swers about who’s going to pay Me-cha- m The mayor says the tram will be a tourist attraction but the quality of life of the people who live here will deteriorate The scenic beauty of the hiking trails in Taylor Canyon will be ruined The peace and quiet of this neighborhood will be shattered The natural beauty of our mountains will be spoiled When commercialism comes to a residential area crime increases When traffic increases traffic accidents increase Polk Elementary School is on 27th Street With the increased traffic there will be increased danger for our children walking to and from school ' for the proposed tram The owner of Snowbasin Earl Holding also owns the Taylor Canyon land He will profit from the tram but he’s not interested in paying for it That means we the taxpayers will pay for it - just as we are already paying for the new road to Snowbasin that is soon to be constructed Company Daughters of Utah Pioneer for the privilege of repre- the senting Weber DUP County as Pioneer Queen There is one point I would like to clarify regarding Pioneer Day celebrations Contrary to the Standard-Examincoverage celer ebrations commemorating Pioneer Day in Ogden did not begin “65 years ago” but were held in this community as early as 1856 and continued throughout subsequent years As stated in Roberts and Saddler’s “History of Weber County” the 1856 Pioneer Day celebration included a parade In 1871 a grand celebration was held A procession formed on the Tabernacle Square and marched to Union Station In 1913 David O McKay directed the Pioneer Day program A parade was held which indud-e- d floats depicting the growth Bum plant must stop playing games tradition and development of the area “Beneath Ben Lomond Peak” describes the celebration of 1916 “On July 24 the Daughters of Utah Pioneers sponsored one of the most outstanding celebrations ever held in Weber County The festivities began with a parade Many organizations had floats depicting pioneer life of Utah A program was held following the parade At 1 pm the pioneers were guests at a banquet held at Idlewild in Weber Canyon Games were played in the afternoon I would like to make a few observations regarding the July 18 Standard-Examin- article er “Da- vis bum plant pollution study disputed” First state and bum plant officials say that a health risk assessment done by bum plant consultants shows that releases from the bum plant are not a health threat The risk assessment they reference is based on easily ma- nipulated computer modeling and doesn’t include any site specific data about local ambient air soil or vegetation contamination The validity of the stack sam- times (not even close to twice a year) The bum plant is using leor gal tactics not health-base- d scientific data to get the state to remove stack testing requirements from their permit Third the state was quoted as saying “we feel the bum plant is operating within the federal regulations” Who knows what regulations the state is referencing because the dioxin limits in the bum plant permit state-approv- are three times those proposed by the EPA The state rarely shows up to watch critical sampling events or monitor operations In conclusion I'd like to ask bum plant director LeGrande Bitter and Davis County Commissioners Dannie McConkie and Gayle Stevenson to stop ple data included in the assessment isn’t addressed in the risk assessment either In my opinion The celebration was climaxed by a grand display of fireworks in Lester Park Mayor Harmon Peery expanded the celebration by initiating the first rodeo and named the event “Ogden’s Pioneer Days” the environmentally and public health challenged management at the bum plant hasn’t collected any sample data because it may show the bum plant is a health threat Second the article indicates that the bum plant does twice yearly stack testing The article doesn't say that the bum plant has only sampled their stack for dioxin and other toxics a few I hope we will remember to give honor to our pioneer ancestors and to all those who followed and helped to keep their memory alive Diane Parker curator Weber County Pioneer Museum playing games with the health of local residents collect some representative and valid data and invest in some 1990s style pollution control equipment D Larsen Layton Those of us who pay taxes should have a say as to how our tax dollars are spent But in this case the tram proposal is being decided with no taxpayer input We need to let our mayor and city council know how we feel about the tram proposal The tram is unnecessary as well as environmentally destructive We have a good quality of life here Let’s keep it a place where we want to live and raise our chil- dren Karin Hayes an- - Mayor Mechain has no Weber County has just concluded the observance of Ogden Pioneer Days This was a very memorable experience for me I would like to thank the Roy Ogden wwnmv mwnmv Gl totally cool Ray-Da- n sunglasses when you ’’ buy an Ericsson mobile phone Q 4 Sprint PCS ?$Sixbt ERICSSON FREE Long Distance tor 6 months with VolceStream FREE Night and Weekend calls tor 1 year with Sprint SourxTowM MaU I2SWSOO 134 L MOOS 24M400 OnNMN NTWCATSHaU 34-120- StJ-530- 0 Cu"TlM MM or I nnwn to pAan ana by l&Mby ww11 pnMM ik hand Ciada an mnQ Provo Oodcm UrTONHushAU MMH US-100- 0 49S-24- Layton wM fcnmd ama aMy Bowmna SAN3Y Murray 0 4 may 'ampa mjgust t we 0 —MUM m omM Mb nca pm rmrm nm iv LESS I I i St may ha mUMMom Mrty “ " w w a no tmaaMi aaf a on abwMwbi-H'-uM MJMb MM d 4 I aurydaaaaa am nM year beMmct oWa gffWNhd 10 y vtnm fawnoaon aa tar -M b ium V M a y Hurt I ti nn on iMiWKf 1 I Of "? oil pram oftyrm V Mitudn Aamond whum brand namy hv WM ir " nd '' paymynyt " l KM '' ( M nM W U haa M halanrt wdl b 4ua Alth ma you may pay 0 tut at your Marx that monthly fmjnct tharg mm M t Imv antf rhu mi I l r trwnttn 4 m MCaiha Valm o wti M CWh to |