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Show Of Letters from Our Readers . ,?s Mr. Editor and the community of Moab: At this time I would like to write an informative letter concerning the function of the Jaycees. A Jaycee may be any young man between the age of 1 8 and 36 years of age. There are no economic, religious, geographical, geo-graphical, or race restrictions for membership. They are a nationally recognized organization organ-ization with 7,000 established chapters across the United States. As a local Jaycee I feel that our chapter serves a definite function in the community. The men of the Moab chapter give many hours a week to promote the betterment of Moab. They are a non-profit group incorporated with the State of Utah. Any monies taken in by the 'group are immediately returned return-ed in full to the community in one form or another; such as through the March of Dimes program or the Christmas lighting project. We have financial obligations to meet as does any other Co-op and we raise money by taking on projects to meet these obligations. obliga-tions. Recently we took on the Gift Book project, which we as a group believed to be a profitable venture, and we found it to be a beneficial choice. This was to serve two functions: first, to stimulate business traffic among the participating merchants; and the second, to provide a way and means of paying for the Christmas lighting in downtown down-town Moab. We have faith that we have accomplished what we have set out to do. A Jaycee asks nothing more in return for his services than a better community for his family and friends. His investment invest-ment in today is his guarantee of the future. An expression of the spirit which lives in the hearts of the young men who are involved to better the world in which we live is cited in the Jaycee Creed: We Believe: That faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life; That the Brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations; That economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise; That government should be of laws rather than of men; That earth's great treasure lies in human personality; That service ser-vice to humanity is the best work of life. With a full belief in a definite progressive future for Moab, we are looking forward to serving you in the days to come. Martin L. Hamaker Director of the Board, Moab Jaycees Dear Sam: I am writing in regard to Initiative Proposition A in the upcoming election entitled the "Freedom from Compulsory Fluoridation and Medication Act," which would prohibit the addition of fluorides and other medications from any public water supply in Utah without a vote of the majority of the users of such water. If the subject sounds all too familiar, that's because fluoridation fluori-dation was rejected overwhelmingly over-whelmingly in Grand County a few years ago, was defeated in a mandatory state-wide fluoridation fluori-dation bill by the Utah Legisla- ture in 1969, defeated in Salt Lake City in 1972. defeated in Price in 1975, and defeated in about eight other referendums in Utah over the past several years. But in spite of the repeated rejections of fluoridation by Utah residents, the State Board of Health, in arrogant disregard for the wishes of the citizens, announced last spring that its intentions were to order fluoridation on a statewide state-wide basis without a vote of the people. There is no reason for forcing fluorides down everyone's every-one's throat, regardless of whether he or she wants it. Not as long as a dentist can periodically paint a patient's teeth with a fluoride solution, or fluoride tablets can be dissolved in a glass of water and consumed at very low cost, about I'jc a day. Fluoridation of a community's water supply is expensive, and only a very small amount of the treated water is ever used for drinking by the 20 per cent of the population that it is supposed to help, those under 12 years of age. In an effort to protect the people of Utah from such forced mass medication, Initiative Initia-tive Proposition A was placed on the ballot. Since this law bans fluoridation without a vote of the people, those who feel they want their freedom of choice preserved, should vote FOR THIS LAW. There is no basis for being concerned that this law will in any way affect chlorination of the water of public water supplies, and an opinion to this effect was recently issued by the staff of the Utah Legislative Council. Chlorine is a purifier for treating the water, while fluoride treats the people drinking the water. Chlorination Chlorinat-ion of water has never been affected by the rejection of fluoridation. It should be up to each individual, and not to a group of appointed officials, to decide whether he or she wants to use fluorides and I urge everyone ' to vote for fluoridation Initiative Proposition Proposit-ion A. Sincerely, Barbara A. Ozment Dear Editor: There are many arguments being voiced against consolidation consolid-ation and I would like to express my opinion on a couple of these: First, in regard to a 5-member Moab-Grand Moab-Grand council becoming a power block and the City and County being run by disinterested disinter-ested people with selfish interests, the power block argument could apply to our present form of government. Two of the three county commissioners could team up and make the third man ineffective. The same thing could apply with the city council. Three of the five members could make the remaining two ineffective also. The Mayor does not vote except in the case of a tie, so five of the present eight city councilmen and county commissioners com-missioners could control our city and county government. Three of the present eight city and county officials have indicated they will run for election to the Moab-Grand council if consolidation is passed. Being one of those individuals, I resent being told that I am disinterested, have selfish motives, and want to create a power block in city and county government. As to the current barrage of criticism of government by appointment, it seems that this needs some clarification. First, no one will be appointed to any position. Anyone that so desires can apply for the jobs that are presently being held by elected people. The person that has the best qualifications will be hired by the Moab-Grand Moab-Grand council for the job just as it is done by every successful business in the United States. If the hired person cannot perform the duties of the position, he will be terminated and a replacement replace-ment hired. Undoubtedly, many of the present elected people will be hired to the same position if they choose to apply, and in fact they are guaranteed a comparable position pos-ition for one year after consolidation takes effect. For example, the city council recently hired a city administrator. He was chosen from 38 applicants and comes highly qualified to fill the More Letters position of city admiistT It is true that the citizens 1 Chr elect fewer officials ud fk. consolidation, but hoPefu, I11"' they will have a wide choic, ' qualified local pe0p,e choose from for positions 2 V1 the Moab-Grand council The Having been a city C0Unci (Iten man for almost three years ann rises knowing the problems f operating a city government f" and, to a limited degree i ' county government, 1 ' sliers positive that consolidation U silic necessary for the most effec t.ve operation of the city and I QVl county. Growth as inevitable i 1 Moab and Grand County and ; It. as I see it, this growth will be : 1 orderly and well-pUnned at 'flfltl the least possible expense ,o , us, the taxpayers, under consolidation. Sincerely l Keith WPet: j Dear Sam, ' In this letter I would like to answer one of your last weeks letters. Since Watergate many of us do question the health of our Democratic system. Democra- I cy - "Government by the people and belief in or practice i of social equality." Some of us 1 have not let apathy take over ' when it comes to political ' action. Laws and ordinances ' have been written to take care of problems so we do not feel it a waste of our time to try and .guide the elected officials to use their mature judgement to come up with an equitable V decision. , ' Democracy would 'be .very healthy in our town as well as ll the nation. i j f( I feel we have very little I p protection from those who I F would undermine democracy. I ' Nov. 2 you have an I opportunity to elect candidates ' U that will protect our democra- ' ' tic way of life.' I Pa Ann Spinks Grl Sam, The lack of polite service in' this town is really a problem. M We recently stopped patron- J age of several businesses '' because of the rudeness we J : encountered each time we ' went. I In most of the local shops J the sales clerks are verv sullen 1 and even discourteous. 1 It's been so long since we were greeted with a smile or I noticed with a simple nod. Instead we're treated as a nuisance. We get the feeling we're bothering the business by just t being there to make out k purchases. It makes us feel as k if we're expected to apologize k for existing. k What happened to the k "Thank-you, come again" k heard long, long ago? It would : k really be surprising to hear J even a "see-ya later" now. j This apathy is really getting j terrible. We're still the paying J customers. j Most places we go we're j met with an I-don't-give-a- J darn attitude. It's too bad J because we'll take our busi- J ness out of town. It is worth J the travel expense to feel J appreciated for our patronage. J Connie Ferguson J Mr. and Mrs. Clay R. Atwooj J Dear Sam: J Again, I want to thank yo I for making this section of your t paper available to all sides of a question: doubtlessly, this is fc an unheard of situation ffl I many countries where person- k al freedoms have been lost! k It appears that those '! are working for Consolidation k would have the public believe k that those who are fighting W k consolidation issue are tyring k to "Scare" the voters. What is k actually being done by the k anti-consolidation workers is k that of presenting the facts k the public and supporting k them with actual quotations S direct from the Consolidation B proposal. If you read fear w K these facts when p maybe that snouic, - i you something - perhaps y f should open-mindedly revie i the entire proposal, and " k knows - maybe you, would join the hundreds are opposing it! , i We have some very g fl' friends who are imm no 1 from an European coutrj j where the individuals h. os their personal free a These friends have retf J Consolidation propo they too, find the i frightening--AiiceMcKiney on PageC2 More Letters to the Editor . . . Sam: Harry Truman caused me to change into a Republican but it took Nixon plus Ford to change me back into voting Democrat --maybe not entirely but nearly. All we hear from both parties is about the party and not what is good for me. I do not care what is good for any party as I do not believe that they care for me. What I care about is security for my old age and a stop to the spiraling inflation, that seems to have no ending, now or in the future. The Republicans have prom ised, through Ford, time and time again to halt inflation but every time I purchase anything it has a higher price. As far as I can ascertain the only people benefiting from the Republican Republi-can Adminstration are those who do not care or worry about high prices as they can afford the hike. I would have voted for Reagan if he had won the nomination. I lived where he was Governor and found that he kept his campaign promises. promi-ses. He would have made a good president but political maneuvering on the part of the "ins" kept him out. This was a great loss, not only to the country but to the so called party. I predict that Ford will not win over Carter in spite of placing a new lock on the White House that is supposed to be JIMMY PROOF. All I can say is Nix to Nixons Ford as I can see no difference between his policies and Nixon's. As for Dole, Ford's running mate, aside from his war record and his support for the handicapped, I find nothing in his record to recommend him to those of us caught in the web of inflation. W. D. McArthur Dear Jaycee Gift Book Holder: We are most happy that you have chosen to support your local merchants and the Moab Jaycees by purchasing your 1976 gift book. It is our hope that you will become a steady customer of many of our fine participating merchants. It is for this reason that we are sure you will find most of our merchants quite eager to please you. Important! All the certificates certifi-cates from "Betty's Shaklee" are unredeemable at this time! But that does not mean that you will be unable to receive your free shaklee gift. To have your free pint of basic "H" (biodegradable all purpose cleaner) please call . Rick Sanders at 259-5493 or Barbara Bar-bara Ozment at 259-7811 and an authorized Shaklee representative repre-sentative will deliver your free Shaklee gift to your home. (Please allow eleven (11) days for delivery.) Thank you again for your community support. IThe Gift Book Management Accounting Center, P.O. Box 198, Coeur d' Alene, Idaho 83814 |
