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Show A6 Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Vernal Express B D Vernal TBSS 0-PN I 0 N- l V r LOCAL PERFORMING GROUPS ARE BETTER ByLesBowbi Express Editor I always enjoy taking assignments to cover theater and the arts. And nothing is more of a treat than to see the people of the community put together a performance like I saw Friday night at Outlaw Trail Theater. First, community events are one of the few times I get to use my work assignments as a night out with my wife - always enjoyable. And secondly, I'd much rather go to the theater than try to stay awake through a budget hearing on city council night. Growing up in a more urban setting, I had plenty of chances to see what big name theaters could do when they recruited actors from New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. But I always enjoyed more going to the community theater that took in the talent from the local area. It's a lot of fun to see people you know performing in community theater. the-ater. And it's great to see the talent behind the scenes, from directors and choreographers to makeup and costumes. Since I entered the journalism field, I've'also had many opportunities to go backstage with actors and crew to see how it all comes together. Now, I'm no theater critic. Like I mentioned, I've been to the theater. But I've not had a lick of drama training and my only experience in theater the-ater was when I played Tiny Tim in my fifth grade class performance "A Christmas Carole." However, from my uninformed perspective, "Annie" was among the best performances I've seen. More than 20 kids showed off talent that rivals the professionals. And the supporting cast and crew made the performance truly great. This was no surprise after I had my first exposure to Vernal's community commu-nity theater last year at "The Sound of Music." Those who have already seen "Annie" can attest to the talent of several names from last year's cast joined by many new faces. For those that haven't been there's more than enough time to get tickets. Closing night is July 5, with performances Tuesday through Saturday except July 4. Web opinion poll Each week the Vernal Express offers an online poll to its readers. To participate in the poll, visit www.vernai.com and click on the opinion link. Polls are not scientific and represent the opinions of voluntary Internet users. New polls are posted weekly and printed results represent voting as of Tuesday morning. If you have an idea for an opinion poll, e-mail it to editorvernal.com. Question for next week Most elected officials agree that there is a need to build more affordable housing. Where do you think the best location is for more affordable, often higher density housing hous-ing developments. a) In the gaps between existing developments. develop-ments. (54) b) On the undeveloped outskirts of the communities. (25) c) Anywhere as long as it's not in my backyard. (21) Question for next week Rep.. Chris Cannon introduced a bill that would remove the public comment period in an effort to streamline the approval process for new energy production. In particular, Cannon cites the need for rapid development of oil shale and other alternative fuel sources. What do you think of Cannon's proposal? a) It's about time they struck a blow against NEPA. b) There's not enough regulation. Cannon is moving in 'the wrong direction. direc-tion. c) What's NEPA? The public is allowed to comment? 7 ' b y QNTOU IDtHTIPf TUEOIIPRIT KESPOMSIBUFORYOURGETTING raw mot? r i v i! . ' a !! ps : W Si i ! r EXPRESS YOURSELF ON VERNAL.COM Each week the Vernal Express prints a sample of reader comments posted to the previous week's headlines at the newspaper's Web site. Not all comments are considered. Comments may be edited prior to printing. Government should be transparent SH wrote: couldn 't agree with Mary's editorial more. Not only docs government need to be more transparent, but more citizens need to access the information that is available. avail-able. A citizenry that is pro-active in seeking and questioning information from government officials is a foundational component of an effective democracy. Just think: if the public had accessed and questioned the information emanating from the Bush administration in 2002, we may have avoided a war that has cost, so far, 4,000 American and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives. Rather than fostering an informed, inquisitive public, Iicp. Cannon 's bill retards public involvement in government which is the antithesis of democracy. BERTHA BUTTERBEAN Really business as usual By Dana Colovich Guest Writer So you think you know what the world's oldest profession profes-sion is? Well, I am here to i am nere i-u challenge L S J that myth. I i S J.. J nyth. believe that the oldest and longest-running profession is selling lemonade. I am not talking about soda fountains or juice bars with 60 kinds of fruit drinks, or even general stores that sell everything. I am talking about the traditional (understatement) lemonade stand, the one where the entrepreneurs are all under the age of eight, and the establishment consists of a fruit box or a chair with a pitcher of lemonade, some cups piled upside down on the "counter" and the poster with scrawled crayon letters that roughly read "lemonade 25 cents," or denari, or euros, or round stones, or whatever is appropriate. I expect that lemonade stands have been around at least as long as there have been lemons. And considering consider-ing that probably no one has ever made any money selling lemonade, that is a long time. How do kids manage to get the resources and the permission permis-sion from their parents to set up shop? If the parents aren't actually complicit, they must at least have noticed when their kids started pillaging the family stores for cups and Kool-aid or started moving the furniture outside. Well, actually it's easy for kids to get adults on board with this project. Parents concoct an idea of their own they will use this opportunity op-portunity to teach their little budding capitalists about business practices assets, profit margins, production, etc. By the time they find out that the kids don't want to build a business model, it's too late. Kids are only interested in gross income. They don't want to learn about production costs or profit margins. So the parents shrug and settle. Maybe by default the kids will learn something about supply and demand. So like smart little entrepreneurs, entre-preneurs, they get their production pro-duction materials donated. Mom would rather raid the cupboards than go to the store with a bunch of overexcited kids who have no investment capital anyway. With all aspects of the business model except a passion pas-sion to be lemonade tycoons abandoned, they plunge ahead. They stir up lemonade under conditions for which the health department was invented, and they carry it outside. Here are some business busi-ness ventures that I remember: remem-ber: One day this last March, while driving through my daughter's neighborhood, I was shivering and complaining complain-ing about the falling snow while wishing that I had a nice drink of hot chocolate to warm me up. We noticed some activity ahead on the sidewalk that did not look like children making snowmen. You guessed it the children had set up shop. They were probably able to offer lemonade lem-onade without ice that day, thus cutting overhead costs considerably. My grandson's business model calls for running world's biggest and best lemonade lem-onade stand. He has gathered the production resources for a high-end stand where he will sell Brazilian Lemonade. He even understands that he needs a hot day on which to sell it. He is still waiting for a hot day though. My nieces had a good idea for overcoming the problem of selling on a high-speed street. (They employed some sophisticated advertising techniques whether they realized it or not.) In order to get potential buyers to notice their stand and not drive on by before they knew what they were missing, they positioned one little salesperson 50 yards ahead of the stand. Her job was to jump up and down and in exaggerated ex-aggerated forms of American Sign Language convey the message "lemonade stand up ahead on the right," thus givingpassersby time to slow down and pull over. I'm a little challenged with ASL myself, but maybe someone got the message. Their idea must at least partially comply with non-discrimination guidelines guide-lines though. ' I remember trying to sell lemonade once when I was a kid. We lived in Dry Fork, or the hinterlands as it was known then. My mom tried to teach me about "location, location, location," but I must have thought that if I built it, they would come. I had alittle table and a chair and I sat on my chair all afternoon. About three cars passed by and none stopped. I had to bring my lemonade back inside and serve it for supper. No one paid me for it either, which may have been a violation of child labor laws. Actually, I would be very surprised if there aren't applicable ap-plicable regulations governing govern-ing the sale of lemonade from roadside stands. Probably kids should just give their lemonade away as they have always done. Otherwise they may find out that the business-model part would be the least of their headaches when operatingin today's business environment. I IN one of V toe seven vj 1 , wopps you ( . ; ft r WHV (A ( v Public Forum - Letters to the Editor What is your opinion? The Vernal Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions on contents, if in good taste and not libelous or vindictive. Letters may be edited for grammar and style, length and content. All letters must be submitted exclusively to the Vernal Express and bear the full name, signature, phone number and address of the writer or writers. Letters for the sole purpose of expressing thanks to individuals or groups will not be printed in this forum. Submissions may be mailed to 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078; faxed to 435-789-8690 or sent by e-mail to editorvernal.com The name or names of the persons submitting letters must appear on all published letters. Letters express the opinion of the writer or writers and are not necessarily the opinion of the Vernal Express. Junius ban uncalled for Dear Editor, The allottee members of the Ute Indian Tribe formed a Ute Lands Allottee Association, Associa-tion, designed to protect and receive a fair market value for allottees' oil and gas interests. in-terests. At a meeting for the Allottee Association, John Junius' presence was requested re-quested by the allottees to see if he could represent them: over 150 allottee's attended the meeting in Roosevelt. A few days after the meeting, meet-ing, a Business Committee resolution signed by all six members surfaced to exclude John Jurrius from the territory terri-tory of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The Business Committee has crossed the line by interfering with allottee al-lottee members' business by trying to exclude John Jurrius. John has not interfered in tribal government or business. He has not been on reservation lands since the Business Committee accepted ac-cepted his so-called verbal resignation. The Ute Indian Tribe Constitution and By-Laws By-Laws do not give the Business Busi-ness Committee authority over tribal allottees. They have stepped outside their authority. The tribe does not have an expulsion ordinance. The Business Committee may elect to exclude from the territory from the O&U Reservation Res-ervation persons not legally entitled to reside therein by an "ordinance," which shall be subject to review by the Secret ary of Interior. To exclude Mr. Jurrius from the reservation by resolution is illegal il-legal and unconstitutional. So Mr. Chairman what Constitution ore you follow ing? Resolutions and ordinances ordi-nances that provide maintenance mainte-nance of law and order on the reservation which safeguard and promote peace, safety, morals and general welfare of the Ute Indian Tribe which regulate the conduct of trade which directly affects nonmembers of the U&O Reservation shall be subject to review by the Secretary of Interior within 10 days as a manner of review by the terms of our Constitution. This resolution that was passed is illegal! And you can't interfere with allottees' rights! Tribal members, wake up! Look what type of change the new council has brought us: a step back into the '70s and '80s; a step backwards into poverty and dependence on the government. We have a chance to be financially and economically independent with the guidance of John Jurrius. How many audits and how much money is the new council coun-cil going to spend to tear down our tribe? The new council is promoting micromanage-ment. micromanage-ment. Tribal members who support John Jurrius cannot get hired. We need a positive change, and the financial plan referendum refer-endum still stands, and we can still make it become a reality! Wake up! Richard Jenks Jr. Fort Duchesne Concern about racer's treatment Dear Editor, We are a family concerned about Diamond Mountain Speedway. People go to the races to enjoy themselves. Some pay to race or to watch their fam ily race. But one person can ruin it for all family and friends. It seems they change the rules at their convenience.! don't think it's fair to the ones who pay hard-earned money to race. On June 7, there was a street stock racer that was teched numerous times, then passed to race and won second place. After that, one driver complained and the second place driver was disqualified because his tires were too wide. What was the meaning mean-ing of teching him so many times? The racer talked to officials of-ficials and was told he could get disqualified anytime they decide. So then, why do they have rules if they can't abide by them. It seems they pick and choose who they want to win, all because one person was unsatisfied with the results, What kind of example are they trying to set? Is it fair because one is local and the one disqualified is not? In the rules and- regulations regula-tions it states that when one person wins three races in a row, they should move up a class, which only seems fair, but the person who complained com-plained won three in a row, so why is he still in street stock? They follow the rules how and when it benefits them. As paying spectators and a concerned family we like to see everybody treated equal. Joylynn Arrive Roosevelt Race officials' ruling unfair Dear Editor, There is a group of people concerned about the race on June 7- There is a driver that has raced Diamond Mountain Speedway many times and is familiar with the rules and regulations. His car was teched that night and he was asked to cover the rear end of the car. The driver did what he had to so he could race. The tech team went over the entire car again and got the OK to race. Later that night the car took second place in its class. Another driver that races the same track complained about the second place winner's win-ner's car. With no hesitation, the tech team disqualified the second place winner. We feel that there should have been a better explanation explana-tion for the way things were handled. The car was teched more than once and passed to race. Then, because of one driver's complaint, the car was stripped of his winnings. win-nings. We feel the track team handled things unfairly. The rules and regulations are set for a reason. The track crew should be most familiar with them, and they should not be broken tn favor of anybody any-body or anything. Not some, but every racer is familiar with the rules and regulations. regula-tions. We would like it to be fair to everybody. Don't cheat or get upset if it doesn't go the way you planned. The spectators do hear and see everything. The spectators pay to watch the races and enjoy themselves. If it wasn't for their support, there would be no track or races, Treena Gardner Roosevelt |