OCR Text |
Show Opinion & Commentary Page 2 Orem-Geneva Times Wednesday, May 26, 1993. Editorial mdmtlon ni ri ou ght rite? Fortunately, most seniors survive graduation night. After an all-night celebration, they go on to college, tackle the local job market, and usually become be-come leading citizens, competent com-petent parents, and downright great tributors to society. con- Orem's Garbage By Harold McCown I was weed whipping in the backyard today. Thought I would see if I could find any lions and tigers or bears in the jungle. All that hard work got me to thinking about one of my favorite topics -garbage. Years ago, residents could stack bags of yard trimmings at the curb on garbage collection day, and the refuse handlers would whisk it away. All at once. All on the same day. In fact, as late as last spring, the Spring Clean and Green cleanup happened hap-pened all at once. Today? trim the hedge, and if ifs too much for your automatically-hystered-into-the -truck-garbage can - you have to wait until next week. Put the wrong stuff on the curb for the Clean and Green pickup - you get to look at it for another month or two! All this got me to thinking harder. If our services have deteriorated dete-riorated so badly, there must be a dollar savings for us in the city's budget. So, after looking over the next year's proposed budget and talking talk-ing with city hall about the past, I found!dut what happened. Last' year it cost the city $1,912, 157 to collect the trash and pay for the spring clean-up. This year the city is projecting that it will cost $1,619,472 for the Bright Ideas Program beacons students to summer learning A summer enrichment program pro-gram which is sponsored by the BYUPublic School Partnership-the Partnership-the Brigham Young University College of Education with Alpine, Jordan, Nebo, Provo, and Wasatch School Districts-is beckoning public school students towards' hands-on learning experiences expe-riences not usually found in the home or school. Called Bright Ideas, the 1993 summer program is divided into two categories: students entering grades kindergarten through sixth grade, and students entering enter-ing seventh, eighth, or ninth grades. According to Dennis Duffy, Curriculum Specialist with the Alpine School District, the theme for the younger students is "Life in Old England," while the older students will investigate 'Technology 'Tech-nology for Young Inventors." The elementary students will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the life style of old England," Eng-land," said Duffy. 'They will participate par-ticipate in the daily activities and social life of people from the Medieval Me-dieval arid Renaissance periods of England. The junior high participants partici-pants will develop the skills nec OGT's Sidewalk Interviews Should Provo City fund the Academy Square-BYU dinosaur project? The proposal is that the old Academy Square be renovated and suited to receive the tons of dinosaur bones currently being stored underneath Cougar Stadium. We asked citizens if then think this is a wise idea. Nate Michelsen: "I think it's a good idea. It's less expensive ex-pensive than building a new museum for the bones and should help Provo find a good use for the Academy Square." VtfiipKr't But for some, graduation gradua-tion night is the beginning and end of a promising future. fu-ture. Think of the family who still mourn a son who graduated 40 years ago at the top of his class and then lost his head, quite same work. However, next year they are projecting the same service serv-ice will cost the city $1,908,101. Now let's see. Next year will cost about $300,000 more than this year. However, it will be about the same as last year. I guess the sale of the trucks and all of our garbage cans to Waste Management caused this drop in cost for this year. But in comparison compari-son with fiscal year 1992, we are about par. What happened to the big savings we were told we were going to see? As I see it, waste collection in this city has been deteriorating. Ten years ago, all the garbage we put out on the curb was picked up. The Clean and Green cleanups occurred twice a year - once in the spring and once in the fall, and they took just about everything every-thing (even car bodies). Back then, the city prided itself in keeping keep-ing clean. Now? Waste Management will pick up all you can stuff in your can (within limits), so - if you have too much, you have to leave sitting around the yard for another week or two. The fall Clean and Green was discontin-uedT discontin-uedT and the spring cleanup was made more complicated. Don't know about you, but as I drive around the city and see the piles of garbage waiting for Waste Management, I can't help but think "Are we really better off now than ten years ago?" essary to research, produce, and market their own inventions." Students in both programs will accomplish the following objectives, ob-jectives, said Duffy: -engage in high level thing activities; ac-tivities; -interact with other bright and motivated students; -enjoy learning in a stimulating, stimulat-ing, enriching, fun war, -participate in challenging academic, creative, artistic, and productive endeavors. The elementary schedule is from 8:15 am to 12 noon, Monday thru Friday, July 5 to 16. The junior high schedule is from 8:15 am to 2 pm, Monday thru Friday, July 19 to 23. The total cost perstudent is $95.00, with a $5.00 discount if registered before June 1. The program is open to all interested in-terested and motivated students of the required ages in the partid- Eating districts. The sessions will e offered at locations in both Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley. . Further information and application ap-plication forms are available from Dennis Duffy, Alpine School District, Dis-trict, 756-8475. Melissa Michelsen: "It is a positive move for Provo to restore re-store the Academy and make it a type of museum. It is a historic site and deserves some attention." Mark King: "I don't think so much funds should be used to restore such a hideous building. The city will spend more money giving the dinosaur bones that it does to give the homeless homes." literally, in a grinding tragic crash into abridge on graduation night. Speed and alcohol superseded all the high grades, studies hopes and dreams for a great future. . Today it can be drugs that take over. Peer pres-' There are just a few Utah smokers but there is no decline in smoking Although the number of smokers per capita in Utah is very low, there was no real decline between 1985 and 1990. That's according to the Utah Trend Report on Smoking published pub-lished by the Utah Department of Health. About 16 percent of all adults 18 years of age and older were "current smokers" during those years. Lynne Nilson, program manager in the Bureau of Health Promotion and Risk Reduction, says the report identifies several key factors that relate to a person's' smoking status. For example, ex-ample, females are less likely to smoke, those from 25-59-years-old are most likely to smoke, and adults with less than a high school diploma were seven times more likely to smoke than those with a college degree. Nilson says this information will enable the department to target tar-get smoking cessation programs to specific populations. "However," "How-ever," she says, "an individual's decision to smoke involves a com-' plex assortment of psychological, sociological and possibly biological biologi-cal factors. We must also take Helping yourphild Succeed in school by Lily Eskelsen,' president Utah Education Association I was at the end of my rope. I was going to invest in a crystal ball to figure my kid out After 16 years I still didn't have a clue what was rattling around that head of his. One minute he was my pride and joy and the next I was blaming his behavior on whatever gene was found in the Y chromosome. Then I walked into his room to find the comb he'd borrowed (without permission). And as I waked in, tripping , over a pile of dirty clothes beside the laundry hamper we gave him expressly for the purpose of keeping keep-ing his clothes off the floor, I knew. His room was the clue. His room was the crystal ball. His room was the window to his very soul. A metaphor for this personality. person-ality. His room was a mess. It's always al-ways a mess. Itfs disorganized. You can't find anything. It's full of half-finished models next to his half-finished school work under his halfeaten apple. There's the clarinet and the saxophone he begged for until he found out it was work to practice. The daily planner we bought him is sticking out from under the bed covered with dust On the other hand, his room has a sense of humor. He's got cartoons pinned up on the wall. A Calvin & Hobbes book is on top of his Webster's Dictionary. And he's reading all my Dave Barry books (Dave Barry being the funniest fun-niest writer in the galaxy). And the sign he hung on his door shows a kid rat telling his mother rat, "What do you mean? It's sup NATE MICHELSEN &lx 77'y : Ov ' sure and the heady excitement excite-ment of freedom from the daily drudgery of homework, home-work, assignments, and the constant hassle (actually encouragement) from teachers and parents, can bring down more than a few otherwise responsible students. stu-dents. Even a just this one these factors into consideration when developing programs." According to Nilson, 51 percent of Utah's smokers have made an attempt to quit over the past year. She says the response to a recent free nicotine patch project that is co-sponsored by the department has been tremendous. During the 24-hour period following the project announcement, more than 1,100 people called to requestinfor-mation requestinfor-mation about the withdrawal program. pro-gram. Other department anti-smoking priorities include preventing young people from starting smoking, smok-ing, enforcing tobacco laws, reducing youth access to tobacco, and smoking cessation programs for youth. The Utah Trend Report is based on data collected for the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Surveil-lance System. The monthly telephone survey randomly questions ques-tions adult Utahns about their health habits. The margin of error is plus or minus three percent. per-cent. A "current smoker" is defined as someone who has smoked at least 100 cigarettes and who currently smokes. posed to look like a rat's nest'" - But then again, his room is scary. Scary to a parent, that is. He has the most frightening pictures pic-tures of hard-rock-type people who look like they're the poster children for Home Security Alarms, Inc. His growing stack of CDs and tapes are beginning to carry warning labels from the Surgeon General. And one of his friends gave him a sword. A real one. How sweet ' And yet, in some ways, there is something sweet." His room is sentimental. He's kept his stuffed animals. And his Little League baseball hats. He's got pictures ' from grade-school soccer teams and ribbons from old school contests con-tests and plaster art projects. But who can figure out the things he's chosen to treasure? The Collections which make no sense to me. He's filled his room with stacks of empty pop cans, movie ticket stubs, ashtrays he won at the Dime-Toss at Lagoon, and pens that have run out of ink. He howled once when I threw away a. gum wrapper from a Special Spe-cial Collectable Gum Wrapper that will undoubtedly be worth big money someday. Parents, a walk into your child's room is a walk in to their brain. And that's important to know, because it explains one of the great mysteries of life. It explains ex-plains why no matter how many times we dean up and throw out and put that room straight, it will -always return looking like the kid. And it will never look exactly the way we think it should. , MELISSA MICHELSEN time" kind of celebration can be deadly. Fortunate are those students stu-dents who attend school parties, or meet with trusted friends in familiar surroundings and have a fun send-off to adulthood without "losing " their ffl Clyde eT From Sagebrush To Steel (rom sagebrush to steel-a century spans An epoch of contrast, an era of bloom: Where time glances backwards, as history scans The benchiand beginings and latter-day boom. A tough breed of women and men were the ones Who channeled the water with primitive tools, And plotting the future for daughters and sons They hired some teachers and founded some schools. "We're going to Spencer," the young marrieds said, As they hitched up their buggies and raced through the snow To the little log schoolhouse where Irving Pratt read From the book on "child training" so long, long ago. They tenderly nurtured their faith and their fruit In the churches and fields where their labors were good. With the role of "good neighbot" a common pursuit, The cooperative effort was well understood. Evolved in the "Twenties": a town and a name; And with "Orem" the benchiand was never the same, As water and street lights and sidewalks and roads Served the gradually increasing Orem abodes. The "Thirties" saw SCERA bring play to the town During years of "Depression" when incomes were down. War clouds of the "Forties" brought need that was real: And to Orem came Industry, Manpower and Steel! The flourishing "Fifties" brought Orem the name: Utah's fifth-largest city of "good living" fame. The "Sixties" resulted in plenty of shopping To keep any family hoping and hopping. . The "Seventies" brought us a new City Hall, Right along with that great University Mall. Utah Technical College was built in the "Eighties" . To teach everyone: the men and the ladies. As the "Nineties" light up on the hourglass of Time, We see Orem appear at its predestined prime, As pioneers of the present take a look at the past By reflecting on people and mem'ries that last. For the past is a prelude to greatness ahead In a city where planning and progress is led By a people who pray and by people who give, And by people who love, and by people who live. As the future looms promisingly into view They will cherish the old and look on to the new With a vision of building a city supreme Where the people can prosper and children can dream! Let the child in you go wild! Easter Seals announces its Third Annual "Playhouses For Friends." Playhouses is an extraordinary ex-traordinary event where local architects ar-chitects and contractors donate their services to build children's fantasy playhouses. These playhouses will be auctioned off fqr, the benefit of Easter Seals programs and services. Orcm-Qmcva limes USPS 411-700 Published each Wednesday for $10.00 per year by the Orem-Geneva Orem-Geneva Times, 546 South State Street, Orem, Utah 84058. , ' Second Class postage paid at Orem, Utah 84057 ! POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Orem-Geneva Times, P.O. Box 65, Orem, Utah 84059 : heads" in a dangerous alliance al-liance with some of youth's most deadly enemies: drugs, alcohol, speed, or sex. Here's to the smart kids: the ones who survive graduation night and live to face a bright and un-blighted un-blighted future.. Easter Seals provides services to more than one million people throughout the country and over 6000 people with disabilities and their families in the state of Utah. Easter Seals stresses equality, independence, in-dependence, and dignity for people with all types 'of disabilities. dis-abilities. For more information call 531-0522. |