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Show Page Two - The Springville EDITORIAL The spirit ol giving The Christmas shopping binge is in full swing. Friday was the biggest shopping day of the year. The malls and stores are busy with the rush of the season. This year we Americans will spend several billion dollars in the name of Christmas. We will purchase gifts and trees, decorations, food and clothing for the upcoming holiday. Each year figures say that we will spend more than the past year. . . The buying binge seems to start earlier every year. Maybe that is because the holiday decorations in stores go up earlier each year. Thanksgiving has long been forgotten in the rush to get on with Christmas almost before Halloween. Hallow-een. The commercialization leaves much to be desired. But the spirit of giving is still there and that is what we do not want to forget. It is what Christmas is all about. We all need to remember, as we make, bake and spend, to keep that giving spirit in our hearts and give to someone not on our usual Christmas list. There are lots of people out there that serve us throughout the year that we need to remember. There are also those who just need a lift. We all have a neighbor that needs to know we care. And there are children everywhere who need a recognition in their lives. There are those whose lives touch ours in each day. Tell them thank you in some way this Christmas season. Whatever you do for family, friends and others, try to make your Christmas shopping binge reflect the spirit of the season. Give a gift of love. , Primary law needed here According to a study released by the National Safety Council, more than 172 people have needlessly died between 1995 and 2002 due to the absence of a primary pri-mary seat belt law in Utah. Recently, the National Transportation Trans-portation Safety Board reissued reis-sued a recommendation that was made in 1995 to Utah and other states to adopt a primary law. States that have enacted Springville Herald 161 South Main , Springville, UTS4663 " An edition of The Daily Herald, a Pulitzer, Inc. Newspaper Subscriplions&DelivervService. . .375 5103 News & Advertising 489-505 1 Fax 489-7021 E-mail artcitya vpro.com USPS513-060. Published Thursdays by Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc., 161 South Main Street, Springville, Utah 84663. Periodicals postage paid at Springville, Utah 84663. Postmaster: Send address changes to 161 South Main Street, Springville, UT 84663. Member: Audit Bureau of Circulations NEWSSTAND PRICE $0.50 SUBSCRIPTION RATE 1 year - $36.40 (in county) 1 year -$45.40 (out of county) Thursday Only or Sunday & Thursday plus Holiday deliveries Holiday deliveries include delivery the week of Easter, Memorial, Independence, Pioneer, Labor, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiv-ing, Christmas & New Year's. (For in county subscriptions subscrip-tions only.) NEWS We welcome news tips. Call 489- 5651 to report a news tip or if you have a comment or aques tion. We welcome letters to the edi tor. All letters must include the author's name (printed AND signed) and a telephone number. We reserve the right to edit let ters for clarity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic. Herald - December 4, 2003 a rn eat E3elt primary laws since 1995 on average experienced a 15 increase in belt use. Seat belts are proven to reduce the risk of serious injury or death in a crash by 45 percent per-cent and the study shows 12,177 lives have been lost throughout the United States since 1995 because 30 states have not enacted stronger seat belt laws. A primary seat belt law is likely to save more lives than possibly any single piece of legislation Utah will consider. consid-er. It is why the Safety Board recommended states adopt these laws in 1995, and why -we continue to urge enactment enact-ment of these laws as a safety priority." Primary seat belt laws enable law enforcement officers to ticket motorists based solely on an observed seat belt violation, just as they do any other motor vehicle law. Primary laws cover 60 percent of the U.S. population. Currently, 29 states have secondary laws, which means officers can only enforce the seat belt law if the motorist is first stopped for some other violations such as speeding. One state does not have an adult seat belt law. The national Click It or Ticket Mobilization is based on a public health model proven to increase belt use, and places a specific emphasis empha-sis on teens and young adults who are least likely to buckle up and most likely to die in a traffic crash. Mobilizations are conducted twice yearly by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign of the National Safety Council in conjunction with law enforcement enforce-ment agencies, state highway safety offices, National Highway High-way Transportation Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and MADD. Law enforcement officers all over this country are doing a great job saving lives through seat belt enforcement, enforce-ment, but Utah and 29 other states are operating with a severe handicap. A national survey of 800 Americans conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign in May, 2003, showed people in states with secondary laws support enactment of primary laws in their states by a 2-to-1 margin. During the Mobilization, Utah law enforcement officers offi-cers will intensify enforcement enforce-ment of seat belt and child passenger safety laws by setting up checkpoints and saturation patrols across the country. Seat belt violators and drivers failing to restrain their child passengers will be ticketed. An injustice to one is a menace to all. Montesquieu Forced arCiit ration of malpractice claims Editor: In the past few days, many if not most of your readers have, received a "Dear Patient" letter from Intermountain Health Care informing them that they will no longer receive services from IHC unless they agree in advance to give up their right to a jury trial of any potential medical malpractice claim they might have in future. Friends and colleagues col-leagues have asked me how this requirement can be legal. They are alarmed. They know that more than half of the hospital beds in Utah belong to IHC, and a similar proportion of doctors and clinics also are IHC affiliates. affili-ates. They know that in many Utah communities, their only choice is an IHC facility (St. George and Logan come to mind). I have to tell my friends that forced medical arbitration arbitra-tion is legal in Utah courtesy of a very short-sighted legislative legis-lative response to the medical industry's vociferous and vocal attack on the courts. The rich and powerful medical medi-cal lobby panicked poorly-informed poorly-informed citizens all over the Springville Police report Springville Police had 229 calls last week including 25 for animals. Nicole L. Brown, 865 E. 300 South, Spanish Fork, was cited for shoplifting at Wal-Mart. Tony Don Carter, 264 W. State Road 5, Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove, was arrested for an outstanding warrant. Wendy Sue Dixon, 388 E. 300 North 23, Springville, Spring-ville, was charged with criminal trespass, assault and telephone harassment. Michael Mi-chael Thomas Jaynes, 621 E. Swenson 4, Springville, was arrested for assaultdomestic violence and possession of alcohol by a minor. A male juvenile was charged with criminal mischief. mis-chief. Kathryn Jane Roberts, ,.94 SL525 .West,:. Springville, was arrested for a warrant. A male juvenile was arrested for being ungovernable, possession of tobacco by a minor, shoplifting and possession pos-session of alcohol by a mi-' mi-' nor. A male juvenile was charged with burglary of a vehicle and theft. David Charles Welch, 190 W. 400 South bsmt, Springville, was arrested for a warrant. Jamie Hunter, 550 S. 500 East 1, Springville, was arrested for DUI. Camie Hayter, 150 N. 100 East 1 , Springville, was cited for shoplifting. Nancy Jimenz-Guttire Garcia, 590 S. 500 East iO, Springville, was cited for disturbing the peace. Shannon Shan-non Sermersheim, 149 W. 200 South, Springville, was arrested for a $970 bail warrant. Auto burglaries resulted in the loss of speaker, stereo and remote control from an unlocked truck; wallet; stereo and amp. turkey, rolls, butter and milk. A TVVCR combo was taken from a vehicle in a garage as well as a Sony CD player, CDs, backpack and credit cards. Several items were taken from various storage sheds including Christmas Chri-stmas ornaments, hundreds of CDs and a 3006 gun. Police are charging a 26 year-old woman with child endangerment. She was taken in for mental evaluation. A man tried ; to charge several hundred dollars in items on a gift card at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart. He was confronted and fled in an Olds Cutlass. It was later found that he had charged lots of merchandise at another Wal-Mart on the same gift card of $20. Other thefts included tools from a garage; bathroom faucets and toilets from a home under construction; wedding ring; $200 cash from a wallet; bike; and medication from a purse. The witch hazel plant is so called, it's believed, because its forked, twigs once though to have magic power in pointing out hidden springs of water. nation last year with doctors threatening to go out of business because of the "malpractice "mal-practice crisis." The facts show just the opposite: doctors doc-tors were not going out of business, the sudden rise of medical malpractice premiums premi-ums was because of several years of insurance industry price wars, and some of the doctors that led the charge for "tort reform" nationwide : were those who had harmed patients repeatedly. Doctors and hospitals point to large malpractice verdicts in other states and say that you, the Utah citizen on the Utah jury, are "irresponsible" "irre-sponsible" and "runaway") when you make a decision after hearing all the evidence. evi-dence. Doctors and hospitals will never acknowledge that the vast majority of malpractice malprac-tice claims in Utah (and elsewhere) are settled before trial. Both sides know that a mistake was made. Both sides also know that the doctor wins at trial 9 times out of 10. Doctors and hospitals hospi-tals will never acknowledge that when a jury awards a large verdict in Utah (as it COMMENT Gol Wesi mvis Editor: Army Lt. Col. West, after having a brief discussion with an Iraqi citizen about terrorism, fired his pistol into the ground about scaring the britches off said citizen. Behold! The citizen revealed a plot to kill several of Col. West's men soon. Col. West then directed action be taken that protected his men just as any thinking commander would. But alas! According to some obscure, insipid military mili-tary regulation or Geneva Convention concerning interrogation inter-rogation of civilians,! requires a Military Court Martial for firing a weapon in the pres FTM not Editor: There is a time bomb ticking under the foundations of what's left of America's free-enterprise economy and national independence. . . the Free Trade Area of the Americas Ame-ricas (FTAA). Every state, industry and every American will be effected by this FTAA time bomb if we allow it to go off. Like most time bombs the FTAA is deceptively packaged pack-aged to appear to be something some-thing it is not. In the FTAA's case it comes int he suitcase of "Free Trade" as if this is merely a safe extension of the "free trade" still somewhat some-what enjoyed within our Medicaid Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff announced that Utah will receive $97,5-83 $97,5-83 to settle a Medicaid fraud lawsuit with Abbott Laboratories. Labora-tories. The international pharmaceutical and nutritional nutrition-al product company defrauded defraud-ed state and federal Medicaid programs by double billing for feeding pump sets. "We will do what is necessary to insure the integrity integ-rity of the Medicaid system. It is our hope that cases like this will deter others from trying to take our tax dollars," dol-lars," says Wade Farraway, director of the Medicaid Fraud Unit at the Attorney General's Office. The nationwide civil settlement requires Abbott to pay $382,408,087 to the federal government and $32,046,662 to be distributed to 50 states and the District of Columbia. Utah recovered $188,337 in federal and state Medicaid funds-$97,583 will go directly to the state. Abbott's Ross Products Division defrauded the government gov-ernment by telling companies that purchased the feeding pumps to charge Medicaid for tubes that were provided did a year or so ago against IHC), it is either because the cost of caring for the injured patient is huge or the doctor or hospital tried to cover up the mistake. As a physician, I believe that doctors and hospitals that force patients to choose between arbitration or treatment treat-ment are wrong, unethical and uncaring. As a lawyer, I believe that forced medical arbitration harms citizens and is contrary to law and fundamental funda-mental principles of fairness. As a patient, I am incensed that I am forced to give up a basic right to receive medical treatment. That said, we "dear patients" pa-tients" are now in a pickle if we don't like to be bullied. There are three things we know. First, doctors and hospitals make mistakes (just like everybody else) and that is why they have insurance (just like everybody else) and so they require confidential arbitration. Third, doctors and hospitals have much more power than any individual individ-ual patient and that is why they can force arbitration. If you object to forced medical arbitration, like my alarmed ence of a freed citizen. Well, the upshot is Col. West could lose potential promotion, retirement and possible incarceration for years and a dishonorable discharge. Why? Because he wanted to protect the lives of his men! Are we not in a War? Do commanders have a responsibility responsi-bility to preserve his men to the best of his ability in time of desperate conflict? Someone in a high place in the USA could put an end to this stupidness. The President, Presi-dent, The Secretary of Defense, De-fense, the Senators, ; the Congressmen or the public good tot United States. But the package pack-age is a deception. NAFTA, the North American Ame-rican Free Trade Agreement, is the predecessor to the FTAA. NAFTA was packaged pack-aged as a great idea that would open our borders to our neighbors, Mexico and Canada, for "free trade" and increase jobs in the USA. Instead, after ten-years of NAFTA, it has brought our already over regulated industries indus-tries under additional regulation regula-tion by the World Trade Organization (WTO), opened American companies and industries to foreign competition competi-tion at low-wage prices and made our borders porous to settlement for free with the pumps. C.G. Nutritionals, Inc., an Abbott subsidiary, pleaded guilt to one federal count of obstructions of a criminal investigation of health care offenses, was ordered to pay a $200 million fine and was placed on five years probation. proba-tion. The plea agreement requires Abbott to cooperate with any additional investigations. investiga-tions. The Attorney General's Office oversees the Medicaid Fraud Task Force to protect the integrity of Utah's Medicaid Med-icaid program through investigation, inves-tigation, prevention, prosecution prosecu-tion and financial recovery. The public can learn more about the task force and report abuse at http:attorne-ygeneral.utah.govmedicaid-fraud.htm or by calling (800) 244-4636. Bats and whales depend on their hearing to navigate in the dark. . Amelia Earhart was the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air and the first woman to fly it alone. friends, what can you do? ; I suggest that you carefully careful-ly read the arbitration agreement agree-ment and demand that the doctor or the hospital explain it to you. Ask these questions: ques-tions: Can I appeal if I lose? What happens if I don't want to sign this agreement? What happens if I sign it and then change my mind? Why should I have to give up a constitutional right in order to get another basic right? How am I going to be taken care of when (not if) the hospital or doctor makes a mistake or injures me? When you don't get answers an-swers to these questions and others, I suggest you follow the instructions in the arbitration arbitra-tion agreement and withdraw your consent within the thirty days allowed for that. Do this every time you are required re-quired to sign the agreement. Do it repeatedly. Pretty soon, the medical industry will get the message: Clean up your act and don't do it at our expense. Clark Newhall MD, JD, LC Salt Lake 801-363-8888 PAGE ai meifal outcry. I have called all of the above pleading for common sense to prevail in time of war. We need to help the good officer to receive praise not condemnation. Col. West needs a medal not a Court Martial. . This is a deadly war in Iraq, the headlines testify to that each day. We, as a nation, must give our commanders com-manders and military men, who try to root out these citizens terrorists. Leo J Lee ,-JJLi:oL,IJSAF . Retired i. Springville1 America illegal alien immigration and illegal narcotics trafficking. If the FTAA is allowed to be built this entire continent will become like one unified nation, regulated from Alaska Alas-ka to Chili by supra-national authorities. We will be gradually grad-ually unified economically and politically with foreign governments, even communist-dominated governments like Venezuela's, under authority of a European Union-like arrangement. Our constitution system of federalism feder-alism and would be betrayed by this FTAA device. Bliss W. Tew Orem, Utah wiapieton Police report Mapleton Police had 44 calls last week with six for animal problems. Ronald Chilton, 610 E. 100 South, Pleasant Grove, was cited for driving on a suspended license. A dog owner was issued a misdemeanor misde-meanor citation for allowing their animal to run stray. Some picture slides and a slide holder were found on the roadside on South Main. Contact police to recover. Health notes Are you confused by the abundance of information on obesity and weight loss? Located at www.chid.nih.g-ov, www.chid.nih.g-ov, the Combined Health Information Database contains con-tains thousands of summaries of articles, books, pamphlets, videos and educational products prod-ucts concerning healthy eating and other topics that you can search, by keyword. For more information about weight control, contact the Weight-control Information Network at 1-877-4627. |