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Show Review - Wednesday, July 5, 1995 - Page 4 Editorial Election sends messages Utah County is in the midst of a communication com-munication crisis. Just look at last week's failed election elec-tion to raise taxes to fund a staff for the soon-to-be completed Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork. County Commissioner Gary Herbert blames the election's failure on the county's inability to ewt its message. As a result, the jail will probably stay closed "until we can do a better job of communicating with taxpayers," the commissioner is quoted as saying in a local daily newspaper. County officials obviously feel the vote didn't pass because nobody was listening. lis-tening. Actually, the taxpayers were communicating commu-nicating too. They said quite a few things when only four percent of the registered voters turned out. They also communicated loudly and clearly when 65 percent of those who did go to the polls voted against the issue. The first message is simple. We don't want to vote in June. The poor turnout in this year's election, elec-tion, coupled with last June's meager numbers for a surprise June primary election, should send a clear statement to the Utah Legislature that June is a lousy time to hold an election. For years Utah elections have traditionally tradi-tionally been held in November along with the rest of the nation for general gener-al elections and in September for primary pri-mary elections. But last year, the Utah Legislature moved the primary election to June. This was an obvious attempt to give parties time to mend the wounds inflicted during vicious in-party fighting prior to the general election. Instead what we got was a poor turnout for the primary election, a lackluster lack-luster campaign before the general election elec-tion and Bill Orton still won. In On our diminishing patriotism The only way we got out of flag ceremony ceremo-ny was if it was raining cats and dogs or there was a foot of snow on the ground. It was something Mr. Moss believed in. Mr. Moss was the grade school principal of Teton Elementary. He had a dark crew-cut crew-cut and wore glasses. His eyes were kind but he also had a serious look that let you know you'd better not be cutting up in class or you'd be visiting his office. Teton Elementary had eight grades in all; 20 kids to a class. Every morning as ; the buses pulled away, we hurried through the school doors to our classrooms. Each student sat at his or her desk as the teacher took roll. The din of the first bell echoed throughout the building and everyone every-one sat straighter in their seats. Miss Ri Chilian would stand at the front of the room and wave us forward, row by row, to exit the building. Every class lined up in front of the school. We each knew our place and Mr. Moss had arranged us from youngest class to oldest in front of the flagpole. We were taught to stand with our hand over our heart and when the flag passed by, every hat came off If you were goofing off, the teacher would tap you on the shoulder. If that didn't shape you up) you'd get a tap on the shoulder from Mr. Moss and you'd get a work assignment or a phone call to your parents. Most of the time, everyone was on good behavior. I remember two brothers in our school, who because of religious convictions, did not pledge the flag. They were never forced to do so and were allowed to wait in the classroom. Sometimes they chose to file out with the rest of us and watch. I dont ever remember them ever being ostracized because of it. Mr. Moss assigned the "big" boys of the school to present the colors. They were the sixth through eighth grade Scouts. After school, Mr. Moss had them retire and fold the flag. We were taught that the flag should never touch the ground, get dirty or be allowed to fly tattered, at night, or in the rain. It simply didnt show respect I remember standing in front of the flagpole on a frosty September morning. The Scouf s hands gave the rope one tug after another, hoisting the flag upwards. As I watched the red, white and blue Ready or not, Plymouth Rock is the past and, like it or not, we are not going back. California is the future. California, here we cornel America's migration, east to west, is complete. As the migrants pile up against the sunset, with nowhere left to run, CaKmrnia socia-culturally and eco-. : namicaDy what we will be. ' - Hare mercy! -..-;" : - Orange County is bankrupt Los Angeles County is bleeding red ink, - f gfrtmg for its lift, contemplating cut ting payrolls, closing libraries, firing ''police and shutting down what has been the biggest free medical disk in tits After years of borrowing from the bartender, California is waking up with a hainonjou hangover! - -? Unemployment nationally is S.7 psr-cz psr-cz CsTbrraa's to 9.1 percent. - - Ia La County, one-in-for rtHs Li a xrsre, bring off the UJctLjCJ7C-. . ; IliZf of H CC lasng speak a Isn- short, Utah's GOP-dominated Legislature failed to achieve anything with a June primary. But no one was listening, and this year the Legislature mandated a June 27 election for taxing entities that wanted want-ed to raise taxes. This is the voters' way of saying they dont want to go to the polls in June. Is anyone listening? Well find out next June. The second message is simple as well. The overwhelming defeat of the proposal is meant to tell county officials thai we dont like being manipulated. When Utah County voters went to the polls two years ago and okayed the $22 million to build the new jail, they figured they were through with the issue. When the county turned around and told them that now they would need more money to operate the jail, voters felt they had been suckered. Why weren't they told from the outset out-set that more money would be needed once the jail was built? It's like buying an expensive electronic toy and then finding out you have to pay $60 more for the special batteries needed to make it go only on a much larger scale. And so they said, "No," with the few who were speaking saying it in a big way. The county can bemoan its inability to communicate its needs to the voting public. But they need to understand that the voters were communicating as well. The voters were saying, "Please treat us with more respect. Give us elections when we expect them instead of springing spring-ing them on us at unusual and inopportune inoppor-tune times of the year. And give us the information up front' rather than after-the-fact, as it came in this year's election." Is anybody listening? Crass Roots By BECKY GRASS JOHNSON Copywright 0 1995 ascend against the crystal clear sky, I wondered won-dered how many had given their lives for that flag. The teacher told us that thousands thou-sands of soldiers had died fighting to defend it'. Was there a library book that held the answer? Or was it a number known only to God? My six-year-old world was filled with wonderful things. My family, a dog named Pepper and jumping rope with my friends. I didn't know much about death, but it seemed scary to me. I wondered if I would be willing to give up the things that I loved for freedom. The thought of giving one's life seemed beyond comprehension. Yet there were those who had paid that price for me. My voice joined with the others as the children of Teton Elementary recited the Pledge of Allegiance. After the pledge, Miss Richman's class filed back into our classroom. She'd call on a child to offer prayer, then spent the next ten minutes reading to us from the Bible. After that, it was spelling, arithmetic and morning recess. IH never forget the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated or the hushed reverence that filled the classroom when my tearful teacher asked us to offer a silent prayer for the President Today are some who would be critical of Mr. Moss. He might be labeled as a fanatic fanat-ic or a chauvinist. After all, I dont remember remem-ber him ever giving a flag assignment to any girls. As for Miss Richman, she would be roasted for singing "Battle Hymn of The Republic" or explaining what an ark is and how it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. If she were teaching today she could expect a lawsuit from the ACLU and possibly lose her job. Thirty years later, my heart still swells when the flag passes by and I am grateful I grew up in a time and place where people peo-ple believed that God and patriotism belonged in the classroom. I am sorry for my children. California here we come Paul n-j Harvey News 1995 Paul Harvey Products Inc. Nine million people ia the largest county in ear comity can so longer afford to feed, finance, educate and medicate med-icate a limitless influx of outsiders. The "melting pc" has become a pressure-cooker. Ten percent of California's general-fund general-fund budget goes to the support of illegal aliens. Two-thirds of aS babies born in the Los Angeles County public hospitals are bora te mothers who art illegal sjossunstaL f , Every taxpejinf California family is Lagoon is always a ride into A couple of weeks ago we went to Lagoon for the day. Our daughter and her husband and family from Madison, Wise., were here and they wanted to go because they dont have anything like Lagoon close to their house. I was rather eager to go to Lagoon myself It has always been one of my favorite places and there have been times when winter was so long and cold that I would picture Lagoon in my mind to try and bring a touch of summer sum-mer to my heart. . We went on a Wednesday so that the crowds weren't too bad and the lines were not so long. We had an interesting situation come up right off the bat My daughter's children are ages 10, 9, 6, 4, and 22 months. We first took the children over to the baby rides. After going on a couple of the rides, we noticed that Alecia, the 10-year-old, was too tall to ride any of these rides and she was looking a little woe-be-gone. About the time her grandpa was about to say he would go take her to ride on some bigger big-ger rides so that she could have a turn, her father, Paul, volunteered to go with her. It worked out great She got to ride on some of the rides which are a lot more fun for her without having to stand around and watch the little ones ride for a while. I think the little ones rode on almost everything. The little cars, the little bumper cars, and a few of the others they would have ridden on all day if we would have let them. Right after we ate supper, my four-year-old granddaughter asked me to ride on the Tilt-a-whirl with her. The big sisters and dad were riding on the Jet Star. It is not wise to ride on the Tilt-a-Whirl right after you eat. I was very glad to get off Mormon folklore teaches us about ourselves Somewhere in Alaska two LDS missionaries mis-sionaries ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Unless they could get home, they would certainly freeze to death. Three men showed up with gas cans, filled their vehicle vehi-cle and left. The missionaries followed their tracks only to find they had altogether altogeth-er vanished. Did it really happen? Was it the Three Nephites? According to an article in the May issue of Brigham Young Magazine by my freshman English teacher and folk-lorist, folk-lorist, William A. Wilson, that may not be the most important question. Folklore, by definition, is the oral repetition repe-tition of a story from person to person and from generation to generation. Taken as a whole, folklore is a mirror of our deepest feelings. The stories illustrate values, traditions tra-ditions and principles we cherish most. Latter-day Saints have their own well- developed culture and a world pipeline for folklore that is second to none. The above story, for example, illustrates that God can and does intervene to save lives, especially the lives of those who have dedicated their full-time effort to his service. The story confirms our faith, right? There was a missionary thousands of miles away from home. He was starving to death. He didn't have anything to eat, so he knelt down to pray. When he finished, a man came to him with a piece of bread covered cov-ered with a towel He ate the bread and kept the towel. Months later when he returned home, he brought the towel to his wife. When she saw it she asked him where he had found her towel. He then related the story to her. She told him that the same day he was starving to death, a man came to her door and asked for some bread. The only bread she had was a piece that she was baking and because it was fresh she covered it with that towel. This particular event has reportedly am sat j tm m m m A . EDITOR'S NOTE: In extracting information for the history of Pleasant Grove, researchers found this in the Deseret News about how the early settlers celebrated the Fourth of July. The first celebration of Independence Day took place in Pleasant Grove on July 4, 1853. The committee members were Richard Johnson, C. Perry Liston and John Banks. John Banks was the orator of the day. At this time the first chorus singing of children was introduced and one of the ' pieces produced on this occasion com- paying, contributing $400 a year to support sup-port the sneak-ins. Los Angeles has three murders a day. Judges reverse what people vote. Such is the resultant ferment that juries are intimidated by menacing mobs. Los Angeles is a microcosm of what the rest of us soon will be. California colleges are trying to follow the lead of the Supreme Court to end favoritism for whatever reason but a student generation spoiled by special dispensation threatens to riot And professional pro-fessional protesters are fanning such flames everywhere. Californiani hare gallantly absorbed the worst of our nation's natural disasters disas-ters and landed on their feet Now, for the sake fas sU, they must mobDize the courage to call problems by their right , names hums, cheats and spoOsd brats ' before there is nothing left to burn. i Does-paring Cahforniana, confronted , by a cacophony of conCkts, are feeling hopeless, Please, you must noti Ton are our only hope. If not you, whe can demonstrate that the grave new world is searrirable? - An oia-TasHionea i-ounn in rieasani throve PG Blab By MARCELLA WALKER .-IP at the end of the ride, even though I have always enjoyed that ride. Just adjacent to the Tilt-a-Whirl is that new Sky Coaster or whatever they call it. It takes brave souls to do this one. One to three people are wrapped in safety safe-ty gear and strapped together. Then a fastener fas-tener is hooked to their backs and they are lifted up, parallel to the ground to a height of about 17 stories or about 150 feet. Then they are unhooked and they plummet plum-met toward the ground. Rather than being jerked back up by a bungee cord, the riders swing out in a huge arc. They go back and forth until they are low enough that they can grab a hook held out to them and then they are brought back to Earth. I wouldn't do this for anything. No way. But there were surely a lot of people riding it Most were young and probably they didnt have a lot of common sense. By young, I mean teens' and early 20s. And besides they were paying $15 to $25 per person to scare themselves to death. I did not get to ride the rollercoaster this time. We were so busy getting the children on all of the rides we wanted them to go on that we did not make it to the rollercoaster. Ill try again another time. Looking over the Obvious By BRETT BEZZANT occurred on three continents, in five countries, coun-tries, and in a number of different states. In some versions it was the missionary's wife who baked the bread. In others his mother. Sometimes she gives the bread to a stranger who came asking for food and other times she simply put a cloth over the bread and it mysteriously disappeared. The bread comes wrapped in a linen nap kin, a dish towel, a patterned cloth, a : art. or even a newsnaner. And sometimes the stranger brings biscuits, a sandwich, or even apple pie. I like to think there is an original, true story and that repeated tellings have added myriad variations like the game we play about gossip. Whisper something in someone's ear and pass it on through several tellings and see how different the end is from the beginning. Certainly the story did not make itself up. However, truth may not be the most important question. What do the repetitions repeti-tions of these stories tell us (as a mirror of our deepest feelings) about ourselves? This and many other stories have survived for generations. The principles in all of the above versions ver-sions remain constant i.e., God loves and is aware of each individual. When we help others, we are only helping God (or our selves.) There are angels watching over us, etc. When sister missionaries started serv a bbbbbbbb si m - -a menced with the following words: "We come from the hill side, "From the farms where cooling rills glide, v "From the mansions by the wayside, lb attend the common school." Independence Day, July 4, 1857, was celebrated in fitting style at Pleasant Grove. Captain Samuel S. White's Company of Infantry announced the dawn of day by volleys of musketry, at which time the national flag was unfurled. The band then serenaded around the city, the infantry continuing to fire salutes at intervals. At 8 a.m, the Sunday Schools under the direction of Superintendent Hiram Winters, Sr., met at the school house, formed a procession, being joined by the Company of Infantry and bands and paraded the principal streets. The citizens assembled at the city tal1 Policy on letters We welcome letters to the editor. All letters should be typewritten and double spaced. Letters must also be signed, , and must include the writer name and telephone ; number. Please send let- t ten to Editor, Newtah ' News Group, P.O. Box 7, American Fork, Utah, 84O03. ' , - . - the past I did not know that they have a ride on the far north end of Lagoon now that is a water tube ride on a rubber raft Riders can wear their regular clothes as they are not dumped into water when tha ride end. They get on the raft and it goes down through one of two tubes which have water flowing through them. However, water manages man-ages to splash into the tubes as they come down and almost everyone gets out of the ride with a wet bottom, legs and net The biz ferris wheel type ride looks fun. I didnt go on it but our daughter and family did. They said it was really nice. The view from the top is supposed to be BDectacular and the ride takes about 20 min utes because they have to load it up, go around several times, and then unload it One of thethingn I wanted to do was to get a nut sundae on a stick but we never did get to do that We did get to ride on the log flume, train, stagecoach, axy nae, merry-go- round, and you heard about the Tut-a-Whir. episode. I rode Colossus once years ago, but never again. In fact only at the end of the Sky Ridel was I down to the south end of Lagoon at all! that day. I can tell you anything you want to know at all about the baby rides, though. It was 10:30 p.m. before we started fed home. It was only moments until the car was very quiet as five little children, worn com-l pletely out by a day of run, closed their eyes for the nde home. I can remember now much 1 enjoyed Lagoon when I was a little girl and when w J rode the Bamberger home m those golden olden days, my eyes dosed, too, on a greatf day of perpetual run. ing in far greater numbers, a story surj faced about strong, large men (sometime with swords) traveling with these sister and protecting them against a convicte murdererrapist Only the rapist would sei the large men. Since 1985 there are somi 37 versions of this story, which illustrate? not only our deepest hopes, but also ouf deepest fears. ' The tragic part about Mormon folklorj is the brand of stories that cause anxietj (or panic) and run counter to gospel prhf t tt r i w I cipiea. now, lor example, can mormon give any credence to the idea that God wfi get his most urgent message out through vanishing hitchhiker or a group of self-prj claimed holier-than-thoua and still claii to be well-grounded in the faith? Furthermore, how can we take son? sadistic delight in telling stories that iUuj trate God's wrath against those who pe secute the churoh-eeiect its messeneelra? profane the sacred? Sometimes the pro. eration of these stories reveal more ab ourselves thanVe wouldlike to admit Sometimes questionable folklore its way into print One example is N.! 3 111- A 1 rWTT. T. J X" . Persecutors of Joseph Smith.Vfe now k many of his conclusions are pure myth. . Another title that has gamed an cult-like following is Betty J. Eadie's Kmhrruvt mi th I .iaht A Inral twin owner tells me no other book even i A . AV i -a j a s I'll T 'a a A T ! vim mi r iiiiiih mn run wniir nn i it hhv iinini our Mormon culture? Do we repeat these stories because our own lack of spiritual experiences? ences too sacred to ten, especially when they may be elevated (through hundreds of re-tellings) to folklore status? Hmmm, something to think about .saw nrnan ottap mnmns wm rnn nmv cann nraver dv rresiaeni nenson waixer. an a x a w . Arlivaea m hah a If at rhsa Vmnriao NihAAl was given by Alonzo Winters. This, was fol lowed by a song composed by Thont Peck J l mn. . m k . ana sung oy wuiuun do., rrampian, an oration ora-tion by Thorit Peck, music by the band, address by Joseph L. Heywood, comic song by William West, etc. 'y-:'v'w In the afternoon, commencing at 2 p p-i there was singing by the choir, music by the band, an address by Bishop Walker, a comic song by Benjamin H. Johnson, recitation by teachers and scholars of the Sabbath School, songs, comic and sentimental senti-mental songs, toasts and sentiments. The remaining time until midnight except the hour to partake of refreshments, was occupied occu-pied in the dance, interspersed with comic songs, recitations, etc. ; Peace and plenty characterixed the occasion and all seemed to enjoy themselves. them-selves. -. r:' .. to the editor - . " - . - |