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Show Opinion and Commentary 2 Vernal Express Wednesday, May 2, 2001 JACK-STRAWS by Jack WaJHs (r9 National Teacher Day For the past 16 years, communities have found countless ways lo shower teachers with thanks and recognition in celebration of National Teacher Day. On May 8, parents, students and businesses w ill once again present gift certificates, sponsor luncheons, and generally show teachers they are honored and valued. But beyond the gifts and hoopla. National Education Association President Bob Chase says National Teacher Day, celebrated annually on the second Tuesday in May, is an opportunity to express concern about the nation's current teacher shortage and stress the need to make teaching a viable career option for the next generation. "Of all the ingredients for good schools, a sufficient quantity of talented teachers is the most basic," said Chase. "We cannot afford to allow the trend to continue contin-ue where newly minted college graduates ignore the teaching profession or leave it altogether." To their credit, today's teachers are better educated and more experienced than at any time in history. According to NEA's research report, "Status of the American Public School Teacher," more than half of teachers nationwide (56.2 percent) hold one or more advanced degrees. About (52.4 percent) have been educated for at least 1 5 years, and more than a third (38 I percent) have two decades of teaching under their belts. Yet with this level of education and experience comes a troublesome fact. The median age of teachers is 42 years old -glaring evidence that new graduates are not entering the teaching field. Even more disturbing disturb-ing is the rxxir retention rate for new teachers. Twenty percent of all new hires leave teaching within three years, and only half of new teachers in urban public schools are still teaching after five years. "There are everyday heroes in classrooms throughout through-out America," Chase said. "But we must face the fact that our current teachers are getting older, and our newcomers are leaving the profession too early. We have to make sure that our top graduates enter the teaching profession and stay in teaching so the heroic acts will continue and multiply." "In partnership w ith the National PTA, NEA has celebrated cel-ebrated National Teacher Day since 1985. It is the signature sig-nature event of Teacher Appreciation Week, designated designat-ed as the first full week in May. "No other professionals touch so many lives in such a lasting way," said Chase. "We owe teachers our gratitude every dayNational Teacher Day is simply a special time lo show our appreciation for their dedication dedica-tion and commitment." This year's National Teacher Day theme, "Quality Teachers-Achieving Students...Outstanding Clasnxms," salutes teacliers for their role in the nation's academic success: dropout rates are down, SAT and ACT scores are rising, and more young people peo-ple are going on to college and earning four-year degrees. ' The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing represent-ing 2.6 million elementary and secondary teachers, college faculty, educational support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing prepar-ing to become teachers. PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters let-ters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent perti-nent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions as to contents, if not libelous or vindictive and of reasonable length (two typewritten double spaced pages). Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express and bear the writer's full name, signature, signa-ture, phone number and address. Letters for the sole purpose of expressing thanks to individuals or groups will not be printed in the forum. Letters may be mailed, faxed at 789-8690 or through e-mail at editorOvemal.com The name or names of those submitting letters must appear on alt published letters. let-ters. All letters are subject to condensation. Letters express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily nec-essarily the opinion of the Express Editor. Search and Rescue Dear Editor, The Uintah County Search and Rescue does more than the community will ever realize. They are a group of peiplc who take time out of their lives and jobs to help others in need. We had just such an experience Sunday. April 18. We w ent to help a friend of ours who w as stuck in the snow on the back side of the Red Cloud Loop up through Dry Fork Canyon. We ended up staying the night on the mountain because our vehicle also got stuck in the snow. We tried for most of the night lo dig our way out with no luck. We slept with the vehicle running all night so our families would not get cold. About 8 a.m. the first Search and Rescue member showed up with our friend who decided to walk down the mountain to see if he could call out on the cell phone. They got his vehicle unstuck and they turned their attention lo ours. One by one more members came to help uv They made it a point to tell us that things were going to be okay and not to worry about anything. Even with one of our tires hanging off the side of the mountain, they kept telling us things were going to be just fine. I think I was the one who was needing to hear that more than anyone there. It took about an hour and a half to get our vehicle unstuck and back on the road with a few scary moments in between. I just want the men who came to our aid to know that they are our angels from heaven. They never once showed any fear that things would not come out the way that they did. I just want to let them know that they are the greatest group of people in the county. I also would like to encourage people in the community commu-nity to give to the Search and Rescue. I know that we will be giving to them if they need donations. They have changed our lives in more ways than they will ever know. THE NIELSON FAMILY Vemal Diamond Mtn. Road Dear Editor, As Diamond Mountain landowners and concerned citizens, we decided to drive the Diamond Mountain road and see for ourselves the extensive damage done by Ned Mitchell Construction before it could be Express (ISSN 0892-1091) Pubfcsned vry Wednesday tor $24 per year in (hopping area and $36 par year out of shopping area within ctais and $39 par year out of Mala wn USA by Vernal Express Oubishing Company. 54 North Vemal Avenue. Vernal. Utah 84078. Periodicals postage pard at Vernal. Utah 84078 POSTMASTER; Send address changes lo VERNAL EXPRESS, P.O. Box 1000. Vernal Utah 84078. Jac R Wafcs Steven R. Wafts .. Virginia Harrington.. Veto Fe TamMaytea Sari Moon JodySmuw PuUaher Editor and copubisher - .Feature writer Pubfc Notices ..i i i Adertisg Cculafion I Ctessfed Ads Phone: 435-789-3511 FAX; 435-789-8690 Website www vernal oome-mai: edHorOvsrrial.com DEADLINES ..Monday 12 noon Monday 5 pm. Monday 5 p.m. Dsptay Acfc-erbanp. Claeawerj Advening Pubic Nofces . Monday 3 p m repaired. Were we disappointed. Only at the intersection intersec-tion with the road to Matt Warner Reservoir, a small section of culvert off the road and a couple of soft spots did we see real damage and it could be fixed in a day or less by a competent grader operator. Gravel over the fences wasn't observed and we didn't notice downed or broken fences above the usual late fall hunter and winter win-ter damage. The damage from the annual spring mud boggers was at least as extensive and included the usual going around snow drifts and chewing up the right of ways. Yes, however, the company probably shouid fix the areas they damaged. We wonder if the overblown reaction to the event (and granted, unfortunate decision to walk the cat and open a road which should have remained impassable) has political implications. If so shame on those who chose to make it so. The front page coverage and damage dam-age to a good company were unwarranted. KEN and MARTY KAY Vernal Mortgage company plight Dear Editor, This letter is being drafted in hopes of preventing one of you from going through the same experiences we arc. Our home has been for sale, and recently we received an offer on it. We were hesitant to accept this offer based on the mortgage company the buyers were going through, because of a bad experience we had with them last fall. After considerable deliberation, it. was decided that everyone needs a second chance. The offer was accepted and we proceeded. Through the next few weeks as we approached the scheduled closing date, the local mortgage company representative was contacted several times a week by either the buyers, sellers or the realtors representing both to make sure everything was on track. Each time the company representative assured each of us that there were no problems and all would go fine. She drafted letters of guarantee, ordered appraisal, credit reports, etc. Consequently, based on these assurances, leases were given up, an offer on another property was made and plans for mov ing and changes of possession continued. On the day, of the scheduled closing, a Friday, the company representative informed us that a necessary piece of paperwork from the underw riter had not been mailed by mistake and the closing would need to be moved to the following Monday. Based again on her reassurances, moving and plans continued. On Monday morning, shortly after 9 a.m., the mortgage mort-gage company informed us the closing was off. In a personal phone call with the company representative we were informed that there had been an oversight on her part, her office's part and' by the underwriters, something that was out of the ordinary and did not usually usu-ally happen. Again she reassured us that this was a minor problem, and she would fix it and we would definitely defi-nitely close within 48 hours. In the meantime, three families' lives were being totally disrupted and two of them were basically out of their homes. At the approach of the end of the 48 hour period, the mortgage company representative called and again assured us everything was on schedule and not to worry. Within three hours of this conversation, we were informed that again this deal had fallen through. Upon hearing this latest development, the buyers decided to try to get financing elsewhere, but upon contacting con-tacting the mortgage company, they were told the appraisal fees and credit reports along with other personal per-sonal information in this file, were being held until an additional processinghandling fee of $350 had been paid. At present, because of the mortgage company's actions, one family of six resides in a 24-foot camp trailer, another makes plans to turn to family for housing, hous-ing, worldly goods are in storage units, pets live in kennels ken-nels and a beautiful home sits empty as all wait to see if their plight can be fixed by another mortgage company. In my last personal conversation with the company representative, she informed me she would no longer be employed at the company. I later learned her partner and husband had terminated her employment She now refuses to take calls from any of the parties involved, as we've tried to reach her multiple times. In discussing this situation with a representative of the Utah State Department of Commerce and Commercial Code, it was decided that while the company's com-pany's actions may be immoral and unethical, they are not illegal. Along with the monetary set backs we now face, all of us involved in this ordeal have lost a little faith in trust, integrity and our right to feel secure. KAY SMUIN STACEY and JENNIFER SCOTT TT k s v rCT .1 1 I rj - - i ! YOU AWT CUTSlDB THIS f EAJJTlFlIL 5PRIKS-UKS WEATHER ENJOY IT, WR0 CAN ENU0Y IT, IT AIN'T SUKNA LAST; YtU KNOW IT WONT LAST WE'LL PAY f OR. IT OH HOW WEIL PAYR)R IT YOU KNOW WEfVE GUNNAPAYF0⁢ I Make joyriding a business by William G. Stothers Let me understand The Navy takes a bunch of civvies for a joy ride on one of their precious hush-hush hush-hush submarines and lets them drive. Naturally, they run into something. some-thing. And that's serious when it's a fishing trawler with real people on board. Nine people are dead, and the trawler lies on the bottom. What kind of "normal" behavior is this? In the wake of this tragic smash-up in the Pacific, the Navy suspended civilian ride-alongs. Then the Army no fools they followed suit Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld slapped a military services-wide "moratorium" on civilian ride-alongs. No more joy rides. Then, quietly, the' military reopened the ticket window again. Free rides are back. The PR value is just too important, the brass says. Yes, the military does love to show off its hardware and the Spit & Polish of the troops. This wows the public, politicians and the press. For many, these joy rides are thank you's" from the military for contri-" butions to military-related causes (as in the Greenville case.) But, incidentally and totally unintended (of course,) . this kind of public schmoozing lets the military show itself off at its best, and tell everybody every-body who will listen how good a job they do. And of course they could do even better if they just got more money. They always say they need more money. Well, here's a solution. Let's make this activity more businesslike. Really, the way it's done now is too country clubby. Let's learn a lesson or two from the cruise line industry, the airlines and hotel boys. The rent-a-car business knows a few tricks, too. Start making some real money to flesh out those governmental gov-ernmental needs. Let the military charge market rates to civilians for these freebies. Plenty of rich folks would pay handsomely to ride in a nuclear submarine, sub-marine, fly in a stealth bomber, or drive an M l tank. And I'm sure they would be more than happy to pay extra for other perks. They could pay a surcharge to get to drive a sub, more yet to fire a torpedo, and top dollar to launch a missile. The possibilities are limitless. Think NASA here. NASA should think NASA here. The Russians sold a trip to the late, lamented MIR space station (hardly a five star hotel) for $20 million to a U.S. businessman, but NASA was slow to agree. What a lack of vision! Now the Russians have given the final go-ahead for Dennis Tito to ecome the world's first space tourist. He's set to be part of a three-man crew on a Soyuz rocket for a 10-day junket to the International Space Station. NASA should get with it. So should the Air Force. You could pay to lob a few rockets at the demonized Saddam Hussein in the so-called "no fly zones" of Iraq from the cockpit of a supersonic fighter. Wouldn't it be great to have bragging rights for popping off a few rounds while zooming along in a stealth fighter? Probably not too many of us would want to shell out much to slog through Army or Marine Corps basic training. But someone, no doubt, would be willing to pay something even to play in a service band. Om-pah-pah. Then again, maybe people who fork over large helpings of moolah for diet programs pro-grams would jump at the chance at Basic Training to shed pounds and build up those abs. Get your own D.I. for a personal trainer. And why limit it to the military? Hell, the Commerce Department has long blazed a trail of perks for payment, hasn't it? Bill Clinton saw the potential, renting out . the Lincoln bedroom in the White House, but that was to big-time DisKxsa'Ji Party contributors. The public purse is what needs lining. How about paying a few thou for the chance to bring down an ancient piece of old growth forest Now there's a trophy for the den maybe even build the den. I'm sure there are plenty of Americans who would jump at the chance to buy their way into the labs at NTH to help find a cure for something, or to be able to say they were part of , the team that cracked the genome. Or, how about writing a check on your numbered Swiss bank account to the OA's black budget to play cloak-and-dagger behind the lines in Paris? Or, maybe be a mole for the FBI? A friend offers this opportunity, opportuni-ty, probably the best of the lot: why not peddle the rights to throw the switch at executions? Chipping, away at big tobacco by Eduardo Moncada Sharon Citta never saw a cigarette touch her mother's lips. Instead, Sharon discerned her mother's addiction by the scent of burning tobacco that made its way into the walls of the Citta home, the lethal taint that also patiently burrowed bur-rowed its way into the delicate walls of her mother's heart The tobacco industry made smoking appear glamorous to my mother," says Sharon, today a mother of five who visits her mother moth-er a smoker for 30 Years, and now an ailing victim of tobacco-related tobacco-related emphysema and heart failure - in a nursing home. Things haven't changed. Today, tobacco, corporations like Philip Morris blatantly bla-tantly spread addiction to young people through .images like the Marlboro Man. It's so hard to make these kids see that the tobacco corporations cor-porations are aiming right for them," confesses Sharon through a frustrated sigh. That's why,' when she received a postcard in the mail from Infact, inviting her to a protest outside the offices of the Leo Burnett advertising advertis-ing agency in downtown Chicago, she knew she had to be there. Leo Burnett designed the Marlboro Man as "the right image to capture the youth market's fancy." The ad campaign cam-paign made Marlboro the cumber 1 cigarette brand among U.S. youth. Infact, a national grassroots corporate accountability organization, organiza-tion, has been working on a Tobacco Industry Campaign since 1993. Leo Burnett is complicit in spreading tobacco addiction in more than one way. While churning out images that aid Philip Morris in hooking generations of young people, peo-ple, Leo Burnett is also responsible for the "feel-good" commercials that highlight the tobacco giant's charitable giving. Flooding prime time television since late 1999, the ads are an effort to polish Philip Morris's tarnished image in the eyes of consumers and policymakers. Meanwhile the world's largest tobacco corporation continues to spread addiction, disease, and death. Sharon Citta is joined by concerned con-cerned individuals around the world who are taking part in the Second International Week of Resistance to Tobacco Transnationals. The event is organized by members of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT.) which inciudes 65 consumer, human rights, environmental, faith-based, faith-based, public health, and corporate accountability organizations from 40 countries. Through demonstrations, demonstra-tions, press conferences, and educational educa-tional events, people from Argentina to Zambia are coming together to bold giant tobacco corporations cor-porations accountable. A key organizing tool for the International Week of Resistance has been "Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft and Global Tobacco Addiction," a tori-hitting documentary docu-mentary that exposes Philip Morris's deadly abuses. The film shows bow people at the grassroots level are directly pressuring the tobacco giant by joining the growing grow-ing Boycott of Philip Morris's Kraft Foods. NATT was formed in order to build public support around the world for a tough global treaty on tobacco, known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Driven by the World Health Organization, the FCTC could set global limits on the tobacco tobac-co industry's advertising, promotion and political influence. In the face of a staggering public health epidemic epi-demic that by 2030 will claim 10 million lives a year if current trends continue, people around the world are rallying together to push for a strong FCTC For people like Sharon, the treaty is a step toward protecting her kids, and kids across the g!obes from tobacco addiction and disease. Such people have seen through Philip Morris's slick public relations, rela-tions, and are demanding real change. In the beginning of May, a second round of international negotiations nego-tiations is taking place in Geneva, where a substantial section of the treaty will be defined. Philip Morris is pilling oat all the stops to undermine under-mine the ctaty. From protests in India rejecting the entry of tobacco transnationals into the country, to the protest outside the Leo Burnett advertising agency, those who have felt the tragic impact of tobacco firsthand, like Sharon Citta and others, oth-ers, are joining in this important movement for corporate accountability. POOR |