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Show Page Four FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1960 THE SALT LAKE TIMES the salt lake pulseI By BOB HICKS While the well wishes for the holiday were exchanged, a na-tional blight upon the otherwise gay celebrations shadowed every state in the union, and Utah in particular. Our traffic fatalities reached the all time high. The national average fell off, but we topped ours. Pressure is being brought to bear upon the legislature to stop this slaughter'. Governor Clyde will no doubt try to follow Gov. Abraham Ribicoff's example in ! Connecticut in an effort to spare . the lives of the state's citzens from themselves. One or two ' suggestions from this writer may not be out of place. 1. In Sweden a new law fixes holiday traffic at a rate not to exceed 50 miles per hour. The result on this Christmas week-end was one fatality, a pedes-trian. Perhaps the state should curtail driving to the extent of placing a limit of 35 or 40 miles per hour. It may be argued that "we've got to get there," but on a holiday the joy is killed, along with the driver and others, if they never get there because of an accident. 2. Just obeying the ordinary rules of courtesy on the road. In addition it seems reasonable that drunken driving should now be made a criminal offense. A program on television the other night, dealing with the problem, pointed out that every drunken driver is a potential killer; it is time, under the light of re-cent events, to stop treating this matter so lightly. Either the penalty must be made severe enough, or the great highway massacre will roll merrily along. In a state such as ours where the people have an international reputation for decency, fair play and friendliness, it is time we started a new program that will be emulated elsewhere. Traffic safety is an empty term until the lives of the people are assured, especially on holiday occasions, of peace and safety on the road. , THE SALT LAKE TIMES Btah.$ Combined with The Salt Lake Mining & Legal News rearleSS Published Every Friday at Salt Lake City, Utah Iii, Entered at the postofTice at Salt Lakj City as second class matter August 23, 1923 under the act of March 8, letVSpaper 7n South West Temple Telephone EM 64 GLENN BJORNN, Publisher Subscription Price $3.00 per year in advance "This publication is not owned or controlled by any party, clah, clique, faction or corporation." Vol ume 40 Number 32 " the-LE-ASED GRAPEVINE An agreement was ordered drawn up this week by the Salt Lake City Commission between Salt Lake City and Zions Se-curities Corporation for a land trade which will permit devel-opment of a 30 acre park on Sunnyside Ave. east of the Na-tional Guard Armory. L. C. Romney, parks commissioner, said the city owned land of 35 acres bounded by Wasatch Blvd., Hempstead Road and 5th South, was appraised by experts at $10,-00- 0 an acre compared with the land owned by Zions at $12,000 an acre. Commissioner Romney said, we vill trade the 33 acres for the 33 acres on Sunnyside which will not involve any money being spent by the city." Bids will be opened by the City Commission Jan. 5 at 10:30 for construction of plumbing, heating and electrical installa-tions at the temporary city jail facilities on the third floor of the County Jail. The Commission will receive bids until Jan. 4 at 5 p.m. A check for $662,579.49 was received this week by Mayor J. Bracken Lee from the Utah Tax Commission for Salt Lake City's final quarterly payment this year from proceeds of the half cent optional sales tax. The tax mission said the payment was for the period Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, 1960. Salt Lake City will resist any claims or lawsuits arising from damage suffered by residents of a westside city block when a 16 inch city water line blew a dead end plug and flooded the block last week, City Atty. James L. Barker announced. Mr. Barker said that after conferring with Charles W. Wilson, superintend-ent of the City Water Depart-ment, it was his opinion the city was not negligent in any way, and therefore not liable for the damage caused by the flooding. Department of fish and game spokesmen reminded sportsmen that with the advent of the new year, the new 1961 fishing orders approved late last month by the fish and game commission will go into effect. Anglers planning mid-wint- er fishing trips should read and study the new regulations before going afield. The effective date of change over to the new regulations is the end of the late fall and win-ter special whitefish season on the Weber River. This special season will, however, contine to Feb. 15 on three other popular watersthe Logan, Blacksmith Fork and Duchesne Rivers. Gary A. Winn, son of Brig. General and Mrs. Alma Winn, 1640 West 4th North, Salt Lake City, has been awarded silver wings of a pilot in the Aerospace Force and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force on completion of his basic training at Reese Air Force Base, Texas. Lt. Winn trained as an avia-tion cadet on assignment from the Utah Air National Guard and was given the oath of office his father. by The new lieutenant is returning to his guard unit at Salt Lake City. The State Board of Education in its regular meeting held in December took official action to the effect that they are now re-ceiving applications for the posi-tion of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. They expect to consider making the appoint-ment some time in January. The State Board reviewed the results of a questionnaire from prominent educators and citizens relative to the criteria for the selection of a State Superintend-ent. City Commission Adopts Budget Of $12,718,944 for '61 Salt Lake City Commission this week adopted a general operating budget for 1961 of $12,718,944.00. The vote of the budget was 4 to 1 with Commis-sioner J. K. Piercey voting in opposition. Commissioner Piercey said he did not feel that the budget was "realistic." He said that since January of this year there have not been funds available to fill vacancies in the police, fire and health departments. "I can't vote to take away public safety from the people," he said. He said the department, under the budget, would be short 111 persons. Mayor J. Bracken Lee said he did not agree about the 111 fig- - ure. He suggested that the com-mission meet with Mr. Piercey and heads of the various depart-ments in the Public Safety De-partment to review the budget and determine how much it can be raised. Outlook For the New Year (Continued from Page One) York where, literally, one well-aime- d rifle shot could have marked the beginning of World War III. We have just gone through a political campaign of unique intensity, in which the decision was agonizingly close. We have witnessed a reign of terror in Africa which reads like a chapter from the Dark Ages. We have seen the establishment of what amounts to a Com-munist dominated state a few miles from the Southeastern tip of this nation. And in a single year some 40 new countries ' with their own flags, parliaments, aspirations, and latent and unknown powers, have come into being. On top of all this, we have our deep and passionate con-troversies at home as to what should be done in such diverse fields as education, medical care for the old and indigent, the production of electric power in the nuclear age and, above all, the proper role of government in ordering and directing the lives of the people. t So "Distraction" is the symbolic word. Our minds are torn in a hundred fragments. The problem has been compounded to an enormous degree by magical progress in the arts of com-munication, visual and verbal. In a matter of seconds, some event taking place half a world away is made known to us, in word and pictures. In a matter of hours, we ourselves can physically travel half a world away from our homes. It is no wonder that, living as we must int his turmoil, it becomes, as the old French proverb has it, more and more difficult to see the forest because of the trees. Fundamentals become dim and may even be lost beneath the cruel and blinding light of changing and threatening events. But some things do not change. That is what we, because of our heritage and because of our inescapable position as leader of a free world confronted by a slave world which wants to destroy us, cannot afford to forget. The question is :t What is it all for, this spending of almost unimaginable resources of energy and treasure on a scale never before so much as approximated in history? Why may we be asked, as a people, for personal, material sacrifices greater than any we have yet known? There is a simple answer that we must defend ourselves and our friends among the nations against the forces of dark-ness which are our enemies: But that is not the whole answer by any means. The real answer is that we are doing this if it is to have any real and permanent meaning at all in order to preserve the best and oldest ideal that history knows, which is freedom. Freedom means many things. It means a high degree of personal responsibility and pride, in which one cares for himself and his family without looking to government for aid unless no other avenue is open.-- It means, in the fine old sense of the phrase, a government which is the servant and never the master of the pople. It means that leadership and national purpose come from the pepple and are not imposed upon them from above. It means a deep spiritual belief that every man is important, as a person and an entity and that men" in the mass can never be allowed to submerge the individual and make him a number among faceless millions of numbers. Whatever we have done, are doing, or must do, will be worth veery necessary cost if this ideal is kept bright and shining before us. But if we lose it if we allow the individual to become a powerless, driven pawn in a game played by rulers everything worthwhile will be lost too. ' Teenagers From Abroad Find Real America Some 2300 intelligent and attractive teenagers from 50 nations this year are spending approximately ten months in U.S. homes, attending U.S. schools, and forming lifelong im-pressions of the "real" America in one of the most remarkable educational experiments ever launched. i Similarly, about 1300 American teenagers are living in homes abroad learning new languages, gaining a new com-prehension of international problems. J. D. Ratcliff describes the success of the program in a Reader's Digest article: "I talked with dozens of exchange students and attended many of their final sessions. There was almost unanimous agree-ment on many things. Nearly all had gained a deep respect for U.S. democracy. All had made friendships they were sure would last a lifetime. ( At first government sponsored, the exchange program is now in the hands of five private agencies: the American Field Service, American Friends Service Committee, International Christian Youth Exchange, National Catholic Welfare Confer-ence and the Michigan Council of Churches. It costs about $1000 to give an exchange student a year in the United States transportation being the major expense. Bed, board and pocket money are provided by the volunteer family. In Europe there are above 10 applicants for every place avail-able; in Japan, 50. Screening committees make a careful check of students and host homes. Students must be intelligent, adaptable, out-going potential future leaders. They are matched, insofar as possible, with young people whose families are of similar eco-nomic status, cultural and religious affiliation. Just For Today . . . Just for today I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." |