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Show Thursday, October 14, 2004 DITOfflAL SPRINGVILLE HERALD Comments Why I support Initiative 1 By former U.S. Senator Jake Garn As most people know, I have always loved to fly. Being Be-ing a pilot gives me an interesting perspective. With a bird's eye view of our beautiful state - from our expanding expand-ing cities along the Wasatch Front to canyon country and our northern forests - my love for Utah runs deep. But these days, from the air, I can also see how fast Utah is changing - and I can see the congestion and pollution that threaten our quality of life. How will we make room for 1 million more people by 2020?,The question isn't if we're going to grow, it's how. Now is the time to plan wisely for growth and protect 'what makes Utah special. This is why I support Initiative 1. Initiative 1 will raise $ 150 million in conservation bonds to protect our sources of drinking water, wildlife, farm and ranchlands, parks and trails, open space and cultural and historic landmarks - all for only $14 per year for the average Utah family. It is a conservative measure based on the principal of stewardship: we owe it to future generations gen-erations to prudently conserve the natural resources that add so much to our quality of life today. And it's not just our quality of life that's at stake; it's our economy. From our redrock canyons to our ski slopes, from the Great Salt Lake to our rivers and streams, Utah's natural heritage her-itage is our competitive advantage that attracts tourism and new business to our state. How can we afford to pass Initiative 1? The real question ques-tion is, how can we afford not to? For instance, my former for-mer Senate colleagues in the East tell of spending billions of dollars for water treatment plants in order to obtain potable water - but, by protecting our canyons, farmlands farm-lands and watersheds today, we can do the same here in Utah for far less. It also makes sense, during these times of low interest rates, to obtain conservation financing at 3 percent to 4 percent at a time when land prices are escalating es-calating at 8 percent to 10 percent. In the long run, this timely investment in Utah's future will save taxpayers millions. Initiative 1 is not about wilderness or our pubic lands -it's about rnamtaining the quality of life where we live. It honors private property rights, prohibits condemnation, ensures all transactions will be completed on a willing seller basis and guarantees lands will remain on the tax rolls. Initiative 1 funds will be awarded to projects by the Quality Growth Commission, which has an outstanding record managing conservation funds, on a competitive basis - and all finances will be subject to annual audits and legislative review. I also like Initiative l's emphasis on local control by involving in-volving local governments and civic leaders in the decision-making process. While most funding will be available avail-able for land and water protection, enhancement programs pro-grams to improve wildlife habitat, soils, arid groundwater groundwa-ter management will also be eligible. And in rural communities com-munities with different quality growth priorities, projects to build trails, recreational facilities and protect Historic landmarks can be funded too. Initiative 1 is about more than just open space. Initiative 1 has strong bi-partisan support from The Salt Lake Tribune, The Deseret News, KSL-TV, both gubernatorial gu-bernatorial candidates, numerous conservation groups and business and civic leaders statewide. It is a balanced proposal that puts people first - by allowing landowners and local communities to protect what's special to them, without government control, on an entirely voluntary basis. ba-sis. , , Finally, when I think of what other states are doing in this area, I have to ask: are we as Utahns any less proud of our natural environment? In recent years conservation conserva-tion bonds have passed in Nevada ($200 million), Colorado Col-orado ($170 million) and Arizona ($173 million) - while Utah's only state source for this purpose, the LeRay McAllister Fund, has been cut 74 percent by the Legislature Legisla-ture to less than $800,000 today. Our neighboring states recognize how important these investments are to make. It's time we did too. There's an old saying, "I didn't plan to fail, I just failed to plan." As a pilot, I can literally see this happening from the air. We can invest now by passing Initiative 1, or we can "fail to plan" and become just another western state. For me this is an easy choice. With great foresight, our forefathers carefully laid out our cities and set aside places so we can enjoy the Utah we do today. Now it's our turn to plan - and our turn to give something back. On November 2nd I'm voting Yes on Initiative 1. 1 hope you will too. Springville Herald 269 E. 400 South Springville, UT 84663 An edition of The Daily Herald, Pulitzer Newspaper, Inc. 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We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic. Meet the candidates night set The SpringvilleMapleton PTA Council is sponsoring a Meet the Candidate evening. Each candidate running for the Nebo School District Board of Education will introduce in-troduce themselves and answer an-swer questions. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. in the Springville Junior Ju-nior High School auditorium. Vote for Editor: Washington, D.C., known as the murder, crime, welfare, wel-fare, drug, AIDS and illegitimacy illegiti-macy capital of the nation, is also deeply in debt financially financial-ly and is ready to declare bankruptcy. Washington, D.C., which is a typical democratic demo-cratic bastion and votes about 90 percent for democratic democ-ratic politicians, typifies what the Democratic Party's philosophy of hedonism and materialism does to people morally and fiscally. As we observe other areas or cities nationwide with high murder and crime rates and other characteristics like Washington, D.C., we find that they are also bastions of Parents urged to attend drug abuse prevention event Editor: Red Ribbon Month has come again. Many families in our community com-munity are reminded every day or the problems of risky behaviors by our youth due to personal experience with them. Others don't believe they have been or will be affected. af-fected. School and community activities ac-tivities planned during October, Octo-ber, designated Red Ribbon Month, help call attention to the need for youth to remain drug-free. Since 1997, the Springyille-Mapleton PTA Council has sponsored a parent par-ent education night each October Oc-tober to teach parents about youth substance abuse in our community. This was in response re-sponse to the discovery that in 1996 a large group of young people at SHS were using heroin and other opiates. opi-ates. Many of them developed devel-oped powerful addictions that destroyed or severely affected their lives and those of their family members. Each year, more youth begin be-gin using opiates and other drugs. They often start with the pain killers such as Lortab and Oxycontin that they find in their own medicine medi-cine cabinets. The medications medica-tions are often prescribed by doctors to the youth or other family members for post-surgical pain, injuries, wisdom teeth removal., etc. When youth continue taking tak-ing the pills beyond the days needed for pain relief and use them in larger amounts to get high - the problems begin. be-gin. They can become addicted addict-ed and must use more and more just to get through each day. When the large quantities of pills they need Don't neglect the local arts Editor Living as we do with a world-class museum in our midst, we often neglect it. Since it is here, we can visit anytime, so we put it off, waiting wait-ing for a day when we have more time, more energy, or are "in the neighborhood." Sadly, years pass us by, and I wonder if we'll all be like a friend who recently left, who said to me as the moving van pulled away, "We were so excited ex-cited to live in a city with an art museum, and we never saw it." They had lived in Springville for eight years. As a museum volunteer, I am frequently called to serve in some capacity there. It gets me away from my everyday life and into a world where art thrives. Believe me, it's a good place to visit now and then. My usual life of laundry and bills, children, work and floors to sweep always waits for me. Somehow, it s easier to face after a trip to the museum. muse-um. The BouereauRockwell Exhibit Ex-hibit is featured there through October 24. As I sat at my post, I listened to comments people made after visiting. Most stopped to chat, feeling a need to express what the exhibit ex-hibit meant to them. "I have to say I've changed my attitude aDout Norman Rockwell as an artist after seeing his work displayed, rather than on a cover of The Saturday Evening Post," one man commented! "There is much more there than meets the eye in prints." moral and family values the Democratic Party and vote very heavily for democratic democ-ratic politicians. Conversely, we find that areas and cities which have the lowest murder mur-der and crime rates vote very largely for conservative conserva-tive republicans and moral values. After the 2000 presidential election, a research study revealed re-vealed that areas nationwide which voted for democrat Al Gore had homicide and crime rates over six times the areas which voted for republican George Bush. Moral and family values are the key to crime and the problems of our nation. If we want to drastically reduce murder, crime rates and re can't be obtained, they change to heroin to get the opiates they need. I believe many of Springville's youth had no idea that experimental drug use would lead to such terrible terri-ble consequences. In addition, addi-tion, abuse and addiction to drugs often lead to other behaviors be-haviors such as habitual lying, ly-ing, theft, forgery, use of pornography, sexual promiscuity promis-cuity and numerous diseases. The availability of opiates and other drugs isn't the only problem. Another is our attitude atti-tude of denial as parents. Most of us would never believe be-lieve our son or daughter would ever choose to even try drugs, much less become an addict. We are good parents, par-ents, involved in our children's chil-dren's activities. We have strong families and good neighborhoods, but our children chil-dren face serious challenges today that need more attention atten-tion than we may be giving them. Our children will be exposed ex-posed to drugs, pornography, pornogra-phy, gang activities, etc. many times in their lives, as early as elementary school and lasting through college. It is imperative parents learn about these dangers very early in their children's lives to have a chance to prevent problems. All of our children are at risk, not just the ones from disadvantaged families as some may think. There are tools we can use to increase the chances children chil-dren will be able to resist risky behaviors. The strong religious activity of many in our community is one of them, but there are many others that we need to learn about. He's right. I remembered walking out of an art class many years ago when the teacher said Rockwell "wasn't an artist." I came to his defense de-fense and was rebuffed by the more knowledgeable instructor, instruc-tor, who tried to define "illustrator" "illus-trator" but in the process suggested sug-gested Rockwell had no talent, tal-ent, no depth, and "only painted paint-ed what he saw." Would that I could do the same. Droppin that class cost me dearly, but nave never regretted it. On his way out, the man continued, "I love the way this exhibit was curated serious, seri-ous, yet whimsical there's a lot to be said for realism it's been neglected of late. It deserves de-serves more serious study." Another man came out exclaiming, ex-claiming, "There's a Renoir in there! Little, but a Renoir." This exhibit includes the work of some 20 artists who continued to paint realistically during the period of expression expres-sion in art when most of the art world thought it was time for a big free-for-all. One painting in particular shows a scene beside a river in Denmark Den-mark that is so realistic, I found myself reaching for an imaginary skirt so I could step over the dew-dusted weeds onto a path to the past. Another Anoth-er painting featured large trees and sunlight casting their shadows onto a whitewashed white-washed home so real, it seemed as though you could see the leaves moving in a gentle summer zephyr. I finally started asking people peo-ple for their names so I could store family values to our nation, na-tion, the simple solution is to vote for conservative republicans repub-licans who believe in and care about moral and family values. Democrats have the propensity to vote for materialism, mate-rialism, government f reebies and Satan's welfare state -the negative principles that will turn this nation into a third-world tyranny and slavery. Whereas, republicans vote primarily for moral and family fam-ily values, the principles that made this nation the greatest and freest in history. President John Adams said, "Our constitution was only made for a moral and For this reason our education educa-tion night this year will have a different format. Our focus in past years has been only on the terrible consequences of youth drug use to families and the community. Though this is important, we have decided de-cided parents need to learn more about what they can do to prevent problems than only to focus on treating them after they occur. Prevention Pre-vention is the only way to be sure of a positive outcome. Once serious drug problems etc. exist, lives will be changed forever, with no way to go back to the way things "used to be." We are especially encouraging encour-aging all parents of elementary elemen-tary school children to attend. at-tend. All children will bring a notice home from school inviting their parents to attend at-tend the meeting on Tuesday, Tues-day, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Springville High School auditorium. audi-torium. PTA, Youthnet and your community leaders will be presenting "the 40 assets" to help protect our children and families. I urge parents of children of all ages to come and learn. At the close of the one-hour meeting, Youthnet parents and substance abuse counselors coun-selors will answer questions about youth substance abuse. Those of us whose child has lost the fight to overcome over-come addiction wish we could go back to their childhood child-hood and do something different dif-ferent to change the outcome. out-come. We can't do that, but we find some comfort in trying try-ing to help other parents be vigilant so it won't happen to their child. Marianne Stephens Mapleton credit them with the words they'd used to describe their experience. Mrs. Jamie Towse, a home-schooler home-schooler from Elk Ridge, went in with her daughter, Callan, and sons Cody, Will and 6-year-old Christian. They spent nearly an hour at that exhibit alone. I was amazed children so young could be so attentive, so I asked them about it. "We talked about how Norman Rockwell's contemporaries con-temporaries were all doing Jackson Pollack-type work. We did one ourselves spattering spat-tering paint all over a canvas on the kitchen floor it was nice to see the Renoir in there, for perspective on Realism." Wow; and I thought my kids were good at art. Springville Museum of Art goes out of its way to help get us out of our ruts. The first Monday night of each month is open for Family Night from six until 8 p.m. with special activities ac-tivities for children. Entry to the museum is always free, but donations are deeply appreciated. ap-preciated. The BouguereauRockwell Exhibit is just $4 for adults and $2 for students and seniors. se-niors. If you get a crowd of 50 together, you can all see it for $3 a head. This is so much less than exhibits like this cost in larger cities, and it is very worthwhile. I hope everyone makes it a priority to visit the museum this month before it snows and makes yet another excuse to stay away. KjirstinYoungberg Mapleton religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government govern-ment of any other." President Gordon B. Hinckley of the IDS Church in his excellent book, "Stand a Little Taller," wrote: "We are involved in an intense battle. It is a battle between right and wrong, and between be-tween truth and error, between be-tween the design of the almighty on the one hand and that of Lucifer on the other. For that reason, we desperately desper-ately need moral men and women who stand on princi- Eal, to be involved in the po-tical po-tical process." Art Larson Springville Come attend annual Red Ribbon meeting Editor: On behalf of the : SpringvilleMapleton PTA ! ; and Youthnet, a grassroots 1 non-profit citizens group, we invite all parents, but es- ' pecially you parents of young children, to the Annual An-nual Red Ribbon meeting which will be held on Tues., Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Springville High School Au- I ditorium. f The topic being discussed will be how to protect your I children from high-risk be- l haviors such as substance ; abuse, inappropriate sexual behavior, violence and poor I performance in school. This meeting will benefit all parents of any age chil- dren but we are suggesting I that especially the parents . of young children should be concerned enough to attend. - Many recent studies sug- gest that the reason that : many of our youth engage . in high risk behaviors, is be- cause they are deficient in the assets or values that pro- tect them from these behav- 5 iors. We will discuss at this ' meeting a program that will provide the ways and means by which we can equip them ; with these assets in their ; lives. The earlier that our children chil-dren live these assets, the' greater the chance that they : will remain untouched by these destructive behaviors. There will be many community com-munity leaders, law enforce- , ment officers and experi- , enced parents to answer your questions concerning local problems or current , concerns you may have about your own child. We would all be making a serious mistake if we trunk that our families are immune im-mune to these risks. It does not always happen to someone else, and it is not always a reflection of poor upbringing. Every child in , this community is at risk. Unless something more is done, it is a well-documented fact that despite our best efforts, a significant percentage per-centage of your children. will become involved in sub- : stance abuse, inappropriate! sexual behaviors, violence, andor poor performance in . school. Please mark on your cal- : endars the Red Ribbon Night, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at ; the Springville High Auditorium. Audito-rium. This will be a great first step in understanding exact- , ly what you are up against : and what we can do as par-, ents and members of the; community to protect your ; children. We sincerely hope that you will take advantage of ; this important opportunity to reinforce, support and protect our young people. The Springville Mapleton Youthnet Board of Directors The Springville Herald Customer Service 375-5103 489-5651 Fax 489-7021 239 E400S. 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