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Show ' I : By BRYAN GRAY . " ii 1 j v 'i ' " ., , . ...''.'? ---r--- ,- - . ,, ; J . ; " ''' '-'"X-1; " Should Mr. Chips play C role of teamster? II J 1 1 , "J .1 - -.- - - i j-Fi-yi ' 'Ki The meteorologists tracked Hun ricane Hugo but failed to see Hur- ricane Davis, an unexpectedly ill' wind that began as a frustrated breeze but last week twisted its way through some 60" Utah schools. Hurricane Davis created no " physical damage, but it sure raised ' the noise level. f Hurricanes normally destroy restaurants,- but - Hurricane Davis'-' boosted business dramatically .-The --normally --normally sleepy morning crowd at Denny's and Dee's was joined last Friday by literally hundreds of students. Waitresses were unable to . fill the side orders of root beer arid hash browns. If the restaurants benefited by the wildcat walk-out the teachers will benefit, too-at least -in the sliort " term. -While lamenting the strike, Republican leaders are now falling over themselves in promising mas-4 mas-4 sive amounts of new funding for '? education. 1 When UEA ' president Jim Campbell threw out a figure of ; $150 million on a late-night talk--' : ' show Gov. Norman Bangerter cried that Campbell's figure had doubled in only one week..But a ; conservative GOP senator briskly ' . ' 1 ' ' - ';)" .:- . ' ,'" .'" -V ' ' ' - ', 'f': :" V nodded, telling Campbell that $150 million is not "out of reach.", - Such talk is an amazing turnaround, tur-naround, comparable to die University Univer-sity of Utah's late-season drubbing of BYU in 1988. And it all began vith a few shrill voices at Davis High, School, a school packed with top-of-the-pay scale veteran teachers and a school which percentage-wise has one of the lowest UEA memberships in the state. ; " The walk-out last Friday was or-chestrated or-chestrated without a baton. Davis High's faculty made noise on Thursday night, unexpectedly walked on Friday morning and, in doing so, basically snubbed the county and state's union leadership. Without the media, jhejncidentJ would have ended there, but KSL's airwaves proved too strong., The thought of a wildcat strike and its ' resulting confusion was a much better vehicle in which to "send a message" than an organized strike choreographed by union honchos The public can plan for an organized organiz-ed strike; it. can only be surprised and exasperated by a wildcat ; : So the teachers "sent the messcse", and those parents who were inconvenienced heard it loud and clear. In that sense, the teachers were smart. If their union wouldn't call a halt to business as usual, the . teachers would. They were tired of J being coddled and weary of receive ; ing a pat on the back. This time they t, wanted money-and despite the chatter of asbestos removal, classloads and textbooks, the de- mand was clean Increase Our Salaries. . ., I All of a sudden, Mr, Chips was a :-M media celebrity:-with varying, results, v Teachers : generally came across well on radio and TV inter- rview$. The eing Bountiful-area teacher leaving the classroom was - an instant hit. Less successful was a Davis High teacher who told a radio interviewer she was tired of being poor-but that sjie made "only" $30,000 per year. On the Cyclops scale. Gov. Bangerter also fielded ; the crisis smoothly, although his recommendation to "take a few aspirin and go back to work" was .uncharacteristically silly. On the media side, most broadcasters acted professionally, ,' although KSL's v Shelly Osterloh blatantly displayed . her disdain for the walk-out Come January, the teachers will 3 receive their raise, one which most . Utahns will agree is deserved. In : the short term,, the teachers canT boast of a victory. But in the long-2 term, the victory might ring hollow. q On the morning of the spreading walk-out, I . made three telephone,, 1 calls to business clients. All three .r.-, , are rather laid-back, rational profe.i.p sionals. All three joined teachers in Wv A opposing last fall's tax rollback. "And yet all three were succinctly -sq 7 irate, -;rzrlsdii7iic"-f::- :fjr- vr "It they caif tjvork- through th!- legislative process, then they should v"! 811 Quit their jobs said a normalIxg.il calm management professional. "U "?f they think they're underpaid, thenx' S ,et them find a job that pays more." There's,, the :mb.The- PTA,ur boosters will Continue to support the teachers. The tax protesters will 0til ; continue to ask for budget cutbacks, f j ,But what has the walk-out done tofco the murky middle-ground, the voter bs 1 who dislikes confrontation and -a avoids signing petitions? Will he.or-w she accept Mr. Chips acting more w lke a Teamster? j- a ' -. vy " - When is a victory not a victory? I'll leave that question up to Dan "." Jones and Dr. Ray Briscoe. ","0 - '" - ' -j 0 |