OCR Text |
Show Cofifllnni Page 2 Orem-Geneva Times Wednesday, March 16, 1994 Editorial Orem Junior High track project presents opportunity for healing Optra) With its Community Development Devel-opment Block Grant funding of $50,000 to Orem Junior High School to construct a new rubberized rub-berized track, the Orem City Council has presented the Orem community with not only a challenge chal-lenge to raise part of the $35,000 cost balance for the project, but also with an opportunity to help heal a sore spot As the CDBG allocations were presented in two recent city council meetings, some area residents and city council members mem-bers expressed their opinions that Orem Junior High School Opposes city owned golf course Dear Editor, CITIZENS' ALERT. This Orem City Council is going full-steam full-steam ahead to build an 18-hole golf course at your total expense, and without your approval. They held a closed door meeting meet-ing to purchase more high water level, mosquito-infested property around 400 South and Geneva Road. It is going to take up to 120 acres to build a large golf course. They already own 50 acres there; whenever a government entity purchases property, there is no longer any tax income for the schools. They have also been considering consider-ing purchasing more property for another fire station and another police station, which I consider to be exorbitant, unnecessary over-reaction. over-reaction. The city council agreed to give the Scera Theater $130,000 to build some new toilets for the Scera Shell. Later, they questioned ques-tioned where the money was going to come from. A standard answer from the city staff is that they have reviewed the budget, made a couple of adjustments, and find that we can manage it ok. There is always more money hidden away in department reserve accounts. Orem City needs to go to zero budgeting, and lower taxes. The city council has bonded for $10 million the past two years to build an addition on the library, and build a new sewer treatment plant. They are in the process of rebuilding the burned-down burned-down Senior Citizen Center. They will have an on-going State Street renovation project with replacing some water and sewer lines, replacing sidewalks, curbs, and gutters, and landscaping. Local legislators evaluate recently concluded session by REVA BOWEN City Editor With the recent ending of the 1994 session of the Utah State Legislature, local lawmakers listed many positive results, but also expressed some concerns as they evaluated the assembly. Schools Senator Craig A Peterson said that he felt the schools were one of the primary beneficiaries of the session. Funding rose by more than $100 million to $1,348 billion. An overall raise and benefits increase package of 4.5 percent was provided for public school teachers, who will negotiate their raises with local school districts. 'We spent a lot of money on education," said Representative R. Lee Ellertson. Representative Doyle M. Mortimer Mor-timer said that the Legislature "gave education more than they have ever been given before." He noted, "As a Legislature, we set out to address the needs of education before we ever considered a tax cut. We felt like we met their needs, then gave the tax cut." The tax cut was an eighth-cent reduction in the state sales tax. Senator LeRay McAllister said he felt the Legislature dealt well with education and public employees, moving in a direction that pleased both groups. The state public employees were also funded to receive an overall pay and benefits increase of 4.5 percent Representative Norm L Nielsen Niel-sen said that though it was a "tough call", he voted to support the repeal of tax exemptions as a way has been somewhat "neglected" by the school district. Mayor Stella Welsh said that she felt the school has been treated like "a poor cousin." Other patrons of the school disagreed with that opinion, pointing out that the district recently funded a $385,000 library improvement there, making a significant investment in the school's interior. The school district has committed $10,000 toward the construction of the new track. Though some questioned whether the track project should These kinds of projects are what our tax money is intended for. A golf course is a rich man's playground, and I do not believe our tax money should be used to build a golf course. I do not know of any municipal golf course that is running in the black without a sustaining yearly tax subsidy. We have been subsidizing the Recreation Center by about $125,000 each year since it was built, and they are probably going to have to subsidize it this year by $185,000 and over $00,000 next year. Privatization is the answer. There is bad management, high administration, salaries, and benefits, new equipment, maintenance main-tenance and upkeep expense after such a project is built. The operating income does not come near meeting those costs, plus principal and interest payments. The route our city council is taking will bankrupt the citizen taxpayers. The city will do all right. They will just continue to raise taxes. They are planning now for more user fees and a city-wide city-wide special district recreation tax, in addition to our bonded indebtedness. Where will it stop? They go into special closed door sessions to figure out new ways to increase our tax burden without having to ask for our approval. ap-proval. The question as to whether or not the citizens of Orem feel a need for an 18-hole municipal golf course should appear ap-pear on the regular general election elec-tion ballot in November, before they take any more steps in that direction. What is the great emergency rush? Bob Wright 1010 N. 700 W. Orem, Utah to generate additional revenue for schools. "Alpine School District Dis-trict has been hurting so much. Hopefully, it equals out over the long run in investments for schools." Youth Corrections Ellertson and Peterson mentioned men-tioned legislative attention to Youth Corrections as a positive aspect of the session. Peterson said that funding is in place for another six juvenile court judges, and one is coming to Utah County. With increased in-creased funding for juvenile detention, deten-tion, about 70 beds will be added to the Utah County facility. Ellertson said new funding in Youth Corrections will provide 15 more parole agents to the juvenile courts. A $1 million appropriation will fund an "alternatives to incarceration" incar-ceration" pilot in-take program. Two receiving centers (one urban, one rural) will be tried out as places for police officers to take law-breaking law-breaking juveniles not fitting the incarceration profile. Then at the center, personnel can determine whether a youth goes to detention or Family Services, while the police officer is able to get back on the street Other positives Peterson was able to see a measure that he sponsored, a Victims' Rights Amendment to the Utah State Constitution, approved and set to be put on the general ballot in November. If approved by voters, it will give constitutional rights to victims of crime. In addition, a related statute was passed, which Peterson said will become law in April. Senate be taken on as a civic, rather than a school district, responsibility, respon-sibility, now that the money has been allocated, the community com-munity should step forward to assist the school in raising the balance. The track facility would provide pro-vide benefits to Orem as a whole. The school's location on 800 North, an exit of 1-15, puts it at one of the gateways to the city, and the new track would be an aesthetically-pleasing sight. Outdoor school facilities are ex- tensively used throughout Orem for city soccer and baseball Helping your .child Succeed in by Lily Eskelsen, president Utah Education Association Freddie is an 83-year-old grandmother. She was born in Holland. Her current job is seeing how many hugs and kisses she can pass out in Mrs. Hart's first grade. She's going for the record. She gets to school before the kids arrive and helps Mrs. Hart get ready for the day. She listens to kids read. She grades spelling papers. She's spent a few hours in class every day for the past three years. And she loves Mrs. Hart. She loves the kids. She loves the school. She loves her life and her new work is one of the reasons why. There's a difference between Freddie and some of my other friends who are retired. With others, our conversations often head straight for the "ain't it awful" categories. And when you're a teacher, people will dwell on the problems of schools today. Kids are disrespectful. Parents have dropped out. Teachers are burned out. And nobody can do anything about it. But when I talk to Freddie, she tells me about the reading project her kids are working on. She tells me how excited they are about the school play. She'll tell me about a child who came to school in tears and how hard she worked to bring back a smile. Shell tell me about a boy who was pouting and angry, and how far a little word of encouragement went so that he laughed at his own silliness. She'll tell me about nil the first Bill 156 provides for victims of crime to be present and heard at court proceedings, and provides victims with the right to privacy and the right of a speedy trial for the accused. Representative John L. Valentine said he was encouraged en-couraged by the adoption of the Limited Liability Partnership Act, which gives businesses more choices in how they are structured. struc-tured. He said the passage of the measure "makes Utah a haven for businesses," as one of only four states to have enacted it. Child Welfare Reform Act Mortimer said he was personally personal-ly happy with the passage of the Child Welfare Reform Act, which he co-sponsored. He termed it a "significant piece of legislation for the state." Mortimer said the reforms were passed to answer a lawsuitby the National Center for Youth Law. He said such organizations have traditionally wanted a lot more intervention in families than Utah has been willing to provide. Mortimer said, however, that liberal and conservative factions got together and worked out a plan where the state will proceed with caution before intervening, work hard for family reunification for one year, then actively seek placement place-ment of children removed from homes. He said some children in the state have been in foster care for ten years, and the hope is that enactment and compliance with this measure will prevent similar situations in the future. Mortimer added that he feels teams, and the new track would enhance all of the field facilities at Orem Junior High. Since the rubberized track would be unique to the junior high schools in Orem, it might be used by the other schools in their training, and could become a focus for pride and school spirit that will foster other "positives" at Orem Junior High. Strong faculty and staff, administrative, administra-tive, PTA, and student commitments commit-ments to the school make it a virtual certainty that this would happen. A new Orem Junior High school ct graders who have come back over the years to say hello to Grandma Freddie and get their hug. She knows these children have problems and are sometimes some-times difficult, but I've never heard her whine or complain. She's optimistic about our, future. She knows what these kids -'-even the most troublesome are capable of. She knows shell be an important part of that future, and she's not going to waste a moment. Freddie told me that it's nice to have computers and new textbooks. But she said the real help Mrs. Hart needed was another set of hands. Another pair of arms. Hands to zip coats and blow noses and tie shoelaces. Arms to hold and carry and hug hello and hug good-bye. Without a whisper of arrogance, ar-rogance, she will tell you how much her children love her. In her beautiful accent shell say, "Who can blame them? Who couldn't love me!" Yes. Who couldn't love someone some-one who was there simply to love you back. Orem-Qeneva limes USPS 411-700 Published each Wednesday for $10.00 per year by the 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 that every one of the concerns in the lawsuit was answered by the new measure, and Utah should now be able to withstand any related re-lated lawsuit and win. UVSC and Signetics Nielsen termed the just-ended session "the most personally satisfying satis-fying session I've ever had." He said his major goal was "to get ourselves in position to buy the Signetics building." The building would provide pro-vide new space to Utah Valley State College. The Legislature did appropriate ap-propriate $2 million to be invested in the building. With the possible sale of the Provo campus of UVSC for $3.5 million, Nielsen said the school is "positioned with funds" to move toward buying the facility. "I am a3 pleased as I can be about it" he said. Recreational trails McAllister said that an area of particular interest to him is that of riverway enhancement and canyon and recreational trails. He was pleased with a $1.1 million matching funds allotment from the Legislature. With a local governments govern-ments match, it may be possible to complete projects such as making a trail from Utah Lake State Park along the Jordan River to the Point of the Mountain. Concerns Legislators also expressed some concerns coming out of the session. Peterson said he was not happy with the amount of time that was wasted in debate. "I have to agree with the criticism we took on that" he said. He cited the "almost two School track could go a long way toward healing the perception, percep-tion, right or wrong, that the school has been neglected in the past. The CDBG Citizens' Committee intensively studied many possible projects to fund with the CDBG money, and the conclusion was that this project would meet federal guidelines for use of the money, which require re-quire that projects benefit low and moderate income residents, resi-dents, prevent or eliminate slums or blight, and meet an urgent need. In approving the grant, the Rocky Mountain Anglers host walleye fishing clinic Utah Lake State Park and Backcountry Magazine Utah's Outdoor Radio Magazine will host a walleye fishing clinic on March 19, 1994. The Rocky !Mountain Anglers Club, a walleye wall-eye fishing and conservation association, as-sociation, will conduct the seminar, semi-nar, which begins at 7:00 p.m. at Utah Lake State Park, located at 4400 West Center Street, Proyo, George Walker, president bi the Rocky Mountain Anglers Plub, will conduct the seminar and Kent Erickson will discuss trolling and crankbaits. Todd Detz will explain jigging techniques techni-ques and other members of the Rocky Mountain Anglers will participate in a question and answer panel following the presentation. A $1 State Park entry fee will be charged per person. per-son. Early arrival is recommended, recom-mended, due to limited seating. Mike Hall, representative from Luhr JensenBerkley, will demonstrate fishing and boating equipment and answer fishing questions before the seminar. Utah Fishing and Outdoors and Western Angler Magazine will distribute free magazines to the public as well. The seminar officially begins days" spent on debating specifications specifica-tions for window tinting as an example of wasted time. Peterson also said, "I was sorry we were not able to come to a better conclusion on the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms." The Legislature Legisla-ture passed a gun control bill, mandated man-dated by the federal Brady Act, that requires commercial gun dealers to conduct a background check on potential purchasers before selling them a handgun. After much debate and compromise, com-promise, a moratorium was approved ap-proved that will keep cities and counties from enacting new gun laws for one year, while the issue is studied by a task force. McAllister also said he was concerned con-cerned about the gun legislation. He said his position supports the right to bear arms, and he feels that right should be preserved, although al-though it has been threatened by local governments having the option op-tion to pass their own laws. Growth of government Some legislators mentioned a concern with the growth of government govern-ment Mortimer said, "I don't feel good about the fact that government govern-ment grew another half-billion dollars." dol-lars." The state budget is now $4.5 billion. He said he hopes the new funding does not become cyclical and lead to a built-in tax increase. Ellertson, too, expressed concern con-cern with the amount of new money put into the spending base. "I hope we haven't got built-in programs that will require a tax increase in coming years," he said. Valentine said he worries Orem City Council also required re-quired the condition that the balance of the money for the track be raised by December 31, 1994. If that does not hap-, pen, the money will be rolled ; over to the CDBG funds for the : next year. The Orem-Geneva Times urges Orem residents to support Orem Junior High School in acquiring ac-quiring the funds for the track project, in the hope that perceptions percep-tions can be healed and the new track can be a "starting line" for continuing progress at the school. the second annual Utah Lake State ParkBackcountry Maga-. zine walleye fishing contest, "' which runs from March 19 through April 30, 1994. The angler with the longest walleye caught will win prizes from--various contributors. Walleye'-legally Walleye'-legally caught during the contest ' time frame in any of Utah's fishing fish-ing waters are eligible for the con-' latest. Contestants should bring thai?, walleye to be officially ; measured at Utah Lake State Park. No fees are required to enter the contest and contestants fish at their own risk. Chris Miller, park ranger" from Utah Lake Sate Park, said that last year's competition went well, with Rick Elston catching the longest fish at 31 38 inches." Nicole Fuller, a seven-year-old from Elkridge, won a fishing rod with her walleye measuring 26 h m i incnes. Backcountry Magazine is an outdoor radio program which airs' on AM 960 KOVO from 6:00-7:00" Saturday mornings. Various outdoor out-door topics are discussed each week which include hunting, fish-: ing, camping, hiking, biking, out-- aoor cooKing, gnosi town-getaways, town-getaways, and various guests from outdoor-related fields. ' Questions regarding the wall- ' eye fishing clinic or fishing con- ' j . i . i i i . test should be directed to Utah Lake State Park at 375-0731 or Brian Brinkerhoff, editor of Backcountry Magazine, at AM 960 KOVO, 373-9600 or 378-3141. 378-3141. about the "potential for a property proper-ty tax increase" in future years. The Legislature did, however, put $9 million into the school fund to " offset what otherwise would have been a small automatic property tax increase. McAllister said that bonding for $100 million in revenue bonds concerned him. "It was questionable," ques-tionable," he said. "It probably should not have been done." State Centennial Nielsen said he regrets that more was not done in the Legislature Legisla-ture to prepare for the state's upcoming up-coming centennial year. He said the Legislature keeps putting it off, and next time they meet the celebration will only be a year away. Some things are being done, Nielsen said, but more could be done with heritage arts and cultural cul-tural arts. He would like to see "more focus and more excitement" about the centennial. McAllister also said he regretted that an abortion law, passed by the House, was kept locked up in the Rules Committee, of the Senate, and was never considered. con-sidered. The bill would have required re-quired a woman to consult face-to-face with a doctor 24 hours prior to receiving an abortion. Citizen input Mortimer made the observation observa-tion that legislators "mean well", but it is hard for them to say no ' once they get involved in a legisla-' tive session. He said the best thing citizens can do is to call their legislators and remind them to be careful in spending tax dollars. |