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Show Page 13 Times Newspaper Wedoesday, May 20, 1998 Editorial Amended ordmmKQ should he nooe By Reva Bowen Revisions to the Orem City Code dealing with site plans, approved by the Orem City Council May 12 after months of work by city staff and the Orem Planning Commission, should have the anticipated effect ef-fect of improving the site plan process. In presenting information on the revisions to the council, Development Services Director Stan Sainsbury outlined the following intents of the changes: Requiring an expiration date for site plans ' Getting the neighbors more involved in adjacent site plans Letters to America a next Titanic? Editor: Is America a Titanic waiting to happen? I shudder at the thought. If so, what is the immediate imme-diate and present danger? I fear it is the unavoidable consequences conse-quences of too many Americans A moving They say the greatest gifts you can give your children are roots and wings. To me, "roots" mean tradition, a sense of heritage,; and ties to home. Giving children chil-dren "wings", I suppose, means helping them develop the confidence confi-dence and capability to be out on their own. In the last few weeks, we have i had a couple of our family members mem-bers return to the nest in between be-tween flights of independence. A college-age daughter had a summer sum-mer job fall through, so she is unexpectedly living at home for - the first time in more than a year. A son recently returned after af-ter a two-year absence serving a church mission. Adding two extra people to the ; domestic mix has been interesting, interest-ing, to say the least. It has been kind of like opening a new umbrella, um-brella, then discovering that you can no longer put it back in its h case, or like taking apart an alarm clock and finding out the ; parts don't all fit back inside again. Just finding a place to put all the "stuff has been the major problem. Ouri-tidiness-chal-jenged garage has been re-, re-, cruited to absorb some of the overflow, but absolute chaos si reigned for several days, t While we were in the middle of moving these two people back in, the washer hose became disss dis-ss lodged from its drain pipe and I caused a flood in the basement that necessitated relocating large pieces of furniture in order or-der to pull up the carpet, remove padding, and vacuum up water. Net result: More chaos. Next, a nephew called to see if he could come and crash on the couch for a few days while he was between apartments. t Things really got scary when he I brought in some storage boxes i belonging to him and to his sis-i sis-i ter, who will return to schooljin the fall. i Besides the "stuff problem, there have been a few other dif-: dif-: Acuities: Ln'tndry rooj - With five Mjab I Making the site plan process simpler for minor amendments Addressing the issue of amending existing site plans not in compliance with the ordinance Addressing traffic issues Bringing all requirements of the ordinance together Codifying what the city has requested in the past The revisions combine, requirements re-quirements for site plans and site plan amendments into one sec tion.. Specifications for the contents con-tents of the plans are beefed up -- a computer aided design (CAD) ; drawing is required if the site plan was designed'using that type of system. Also required are a vicinity map; tabulation table for total area, total building area, total impervious area, and total landscaped area; indication of the Editor ignoring their consciences and I have to admit I'm one of 'em. What is a conscience, anyway? ... Titanically, I ask! Webster defines de-fines it as "the sense of consciousness con-sciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation obliga-tion to do what is right." First time I think I've ever looked that M3 experience different adults doing their own laundry, there have been some significant traffic jams in the laundry room. I have thought about doing a cross-stitched "Golden Rule" which would read: "Do unto others' laundry A as you would have them do unto yours. In our home, this would mean that if you want other people to take your wet clothes out of the washer and dump them on top of someone else's dry clothes, then go ahead and do it to their load. If you want someone to put . all of your clqthes in the dryer on high heat and shrink everything every-thing into a wardrobe for Barbie ' and Ken, then feel free to do likewise. If you want a basket of your wet clothes to be pushed ' into a corner where it is forgot- . ten and begins to grow black mold, then don't hesitate to use the tactic on somebody else's things. food services -1 find I cant go to the grocery store often enough. Large bags of cereal dis- s appear in a day. Gallons of milk : seem to vanish. Cookies and ; treats evaporate. But repeated , queries of, "What's for dinner?" ? are all too often replaced by the sound of the front door closing as family members take off with & friends just as a meal is about I to be served. Bathrooms - I am getting ' better at putting on make-up k and doing my hair with at least one extra face (besides mine) in the mirror, competing with me for space. And everyone seems j to need to take a shower at the s same time, so some of us slower . types are contemplating switch- ing from stone-cold showers to sponge baths, I have a feeling I am not go- ing to be suffering any time soon from "Empty Nest Syndrome. ,j But I find myself wondering, g does a mother bird feel any re- f gret after she pushes her off- spring out of the nest, forcing I them to fly? If her worm bill is J big enough, my guess is she doesnt. building height on the building elevation drawing; and a surface water drainage system designed to handle a 25-year storm, rather than a five-year storm. Sainsbury , explained that the last requirement require-ment was a compromise between engineers' preference of a "50 or 100-year storm handling capac-; ity and what is more "realistic and affordable. . Fences bordering residential zones, parking, landscaping, and solid waste containers are added to the existing list of required improvements. In an attempt to be more "customer "cus-tomer friendly" while still maintaining main-taining the integrity of the ordinance, ordi-nance, a section will give the city manager authority to approve an existing site plan if a proposed amendment complies with the word up, actually. This George Washington quote pricks my conscience: "Thank God for that little celestial spark that guides our lives called conscience!" con-science!" Could millions of Americans' little celestial sparks be being ignored? And could this malady possibly turn into a titanical iceberg? Heaven forbid! How does one get back on track to heeding herher conscience if ( it's been ignored for a great while? "I don't know!" is my first response. I've thought about it for a while now. I suspect it probably prob-ably has something to do with paying attention to our more God-given feelings. For instance, guilt and pain are probably God-given feelings that often try to warn us that something some-thing is amiss in our lives and the natural way to deal with it is to get straight with God through personal prayer and repentance. Could drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, violenttfsexual movies and magazines, maga-zines, sexual deviancies, dishonesty, dishon-esty, workaholism, sportsaholism, etc. be unhealthy ways to cope with pain, because they only deal with the symptom and not the real problem? Other feelings that may be-worth be-worth paying attention to are patience, love, understanding, reverence, gratitude, sympathy, tenderness, hope, etc. Are we a nation of individuals who need to return to the humble concept of "One nation under God"? Fast? Before the bell tolls? I'm gonna start working on my God-given conscience "tomorrow", "tomor-row", and I have to admit that it is long overdue. Merlin Ross Orem Local Scout to conduct used eyeglass drive Saturday Micah Martin is conducted an Eagle Scout service project and needs the public's help in collecting collect-ing used eyeglasses for a village ! in southern Ethiopia. The villag- ers live in poverty, with no medi- cal provisions. There are no doctors doc-tors to give them the care they need. Having glasses would be a , wonderful blessing for many of ; the people of the village. , Micah's family has contact, with this village because they have adopted three children from ' there. Once the glasses are col- lected, the adoption agent will soon travel to Ethiopia to pick up r the three children, and he will deliver the glasses safely to the village at that time. Micah will be glad to accept donations do-nations from businesses as well as individuals. This Saturday, May 23, will be the day that Micah and his Scout troop will be knocking on doors and collecting collect-ing eyeglasses. If you have any used glasses and are willing to donate them, please call Micah Martin at 226-0102. 226-0102. He will arrange to pick the eyewear up. current ordinance requirements for the zone it is located in, and if proposed amendments do not in- elude the construction of a structure struc-ture that will exceed 10 of the existing square footage foot-age of on-site buildings. In other words, a small shed could ! be added with out a lot of red tape and reappli-' cation. Projects requiring more than 75 parking stalls or which show a drive-up window or more than two drive approaches from dedicated dedi-cated streets will be required to do a traffic study. However, the requirement can be waived by the s Public Works director if it is de- Ballot choices should belong to the people ; Editor. i The Utah County Republican ' Convention and a number of other county conventions passed a resolution resolu-tion regarding the initiative petition process linked with fluoridating the public water supplies. The resolution also passed the Utah State Republican Republi-can Convention overwhelmingly. The 1998 Lecislature passed HB 405, Changing the Initiative Petition Process to Allow Adding Fluorine to the Public Water Supply. Historically, when the people want an issue on the ballot, they initiate a petition which requires the number of the signatures equal to 10 of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial general gen-eral election. This, of course, is tens of thousands of signatures. The Legislature, Leg-islature, through HB 405, changed this process, allowing a majority vote ' of a city council, a water district board, or a county commission of thf first class to place the issue of fluoridating fluori-dating public water supplies on the ballot. This would be a vote of two to five people, which would replace the voice of the tens of thousands of citizens. citi-zens. This takes the right of petition away from the people and gives control con-trol of the ballot to government. What goes on the ballot for a vote by the people should always be the choice of the people and not the choice of government. The initiative petition process was changed for one issue only the issue of medicating our public water supply with fluoride. This sets a very dangerous precedent. Fluoridated water has been classified clas-sified by the FDA as a "product". With that classification come all the legal concerns and liabilities of any other product and government would be liable. Tax dollars could pay for expensive personal injury lawsuits. Purifying our water is not the same as medicating our water. Fluoride is a medication, not a purifying agent. And fluoride is a poison. The warning warn-ing on every tube of toothpaste containing con-taining fluoride read: "Keep out of the reach of children under six years of age. In case of accidental ingestion, inges-tion, seek professional assistance or contact a poison control center immediately." im-mediately." EPA scientists, engineers, and attorneys at-torneys who assess the scientific data for Safe Drinking Water Act standards stan-dards have gone on record against the practice of adding fluoride to public drinking water. Japan and nearly all of Europe have rejected fluoridation. The resolution passed everywhere was presented because the citizen delegates understood that medication medica-tion should always be a personal decision de-cision and that the right of initiative initia-tive petition should belong exclu-; sively to the people. Thank you, Lauri Updike Provo Roll Bnds For Sale 538 South State Orem 225-1340 termined that such a study would be 'unnecessarily cumulative or wouldnot add useful information to the available facts, . - Under the new law, develop- ... ' ers will be required Under the new law, I to attend a pre-con-developers will be required struction conference to attend a pre- ' k prior to the issuance ' construction conference of a building permit prior to the issuance of a Utilities repre-building repre-building permit. sentatives, inspec- ; - wjts, etc. wiu auna so all understand what the others oth-ers expect (This requirement can also be vaived by the Public Works director.) A preliminary title report is now required, and the revised law includes a section on improvement bonds. Applicants will also be asked to hold a neighborhood meeting prior to submitting an applied jut lanogos Green it i J , ! OL' BLUE EYES IS GONE Paean For Francis Albert Sinatra 1915-1998 Two years ago, I found myself on vacation, Pool- side, in Palm Springs, California. Lazing in the sun, I glanced over at Frank Sinatra, vl Lounging next to me on a plastic chaise lounge. "Hello, Frank!" I said. You won't remember me, But I have known you for most of my life. I shall never forget the day, back in 1943, when I met you. As a 17-year-old U.S. Marine, I was exploring the streets Of Honolulu, Hawaii, when I saw a movie theater marque That had your name in lights: "HIGHER AND HIGHER" starring FRANK SINATRA. I bought my ticket and went into the darkened theater, Expecting to hear some of your familiar songs. But you sang some charming new songs I had never heard, before. And you lit up the screen, as you sang! Over the years, I heard your voice, singing All the great songs, in your own inimitable way. I saw all of your motion pictures. You always knew how to caress a musical note With your golden vocal chords; and you placed Your stamp of excellence on a long Hit Parade of songs. You always used That Old Black Magic" To charm your leading ladies in the movies. You made us feel warm and safe, and even patriotic, As you gave your righteous rendering of "The House I Live ln.r Through it all, you had to do it your way. And you always did it with style: the Frank Sinatra style. Some people may still think of you as "My Funny Vafentine." Others connect with you, emotionally, As they hear you sing, paternally, of your daughter; "Nancy, With The Laughing Face." Some may take offense, and even cringe, To hear you sing "The Lady Is A Tramp," Without understanding that what you really mean is "The Lady is a Champ!" You loved singing love songs, and lovers throughout The world have made your musical expressions their own: "Fly Me To The Moon" "You Will Be My Music" "Send In The Clowns" "You Go To My Head" Now, here we are, together, both sunning . By a swimming pool in Palm Springs, California: I am still blessed with good ears to hear And reminisce in all the music of your life. As the man said: You have done it all and sung it all! And I have enjoyed it all! Frank Sinatra, it has been the experience of a lifetime To have known you, through your music, your movies, And even through some headlines in the newspapers That may have been less than flattering to you. Like vintage wine, you have achieved A kind of immortality on this earth through your music. And, as you have sung "I Did It My Way!" so often, Perhaps, some of us Sinatra fans may have been inspired To have done it "our way," too! Bon Voyage! fimess : tion for site plan approval if the site plan is in or adjacent to a residential zone. The regulations establish a two-year time period for which site, plan approval is , valid. Sainsbury said it takes soma projects more than a year to put together financing and tinish up other details, but having the time limit will make it so approved projects cannot languish on the drawing draw-ing boards indefinitely. Simplifying a complicated process, clarifying requirements, require-ments, involving affected neighbors early on in the development de-velopment process, planning and coordinating... The improvements im-provements appear to be positive posi-tive steps that can only make the process better. v 'v. N.'. mi i |