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Show 1 i Puli-cirt Inside INSIDE: BYU Special Events .page 9 Geneva Oww O t c-j t3 uu iic"if"i" lu'C1 i J. w.ii , . -cu I i ci i c J. C w i i L J L JL L J I bsl 70th yearNumber 1 1 0 2000, The Orem-Geneva Times Orem's Locally Owned Weekly Newspaper WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2000 538 South State Street, Orem UT 84058 (801)225-1340 Karen Noble (right) accepts the inaugral DeLance W. And Dorothy H. Squire nursing scholarship in a ceremony at Timpanogos Regional Hospital last week. Nursing scholarship to honor DeLance and Dorothy Squire Timpanogos Regional Hospital is pleased to announce the establishment of the DeLance W. and Dorothy H. Squire nursing scholarship endowment in conjunction with Utah Valley State College. DeLance has served as the inaugural board chair of Timpanogos Regional Hospital. He was instrumental in the planning and opening of TRH. He has served the City of Orem in several capacities including a four-year term as mayor, the executive director of CEDO, a member of Orem's strategic plan committee, am ember of the Provo-Orem Chamber of Commerce Board and a trustee for both Utah Valley State College and Mountain View Hospital. "As we contemplated what we could do to recognize DeLance and Dorothy for the many contributions the' have made to healthcare and to the community - we thought it was most appropriate to honor them with a nursing scholarship endowment in their name," said Ken Armstrong, CEO of 'l'mipanogos Regional Hospital. With the nursing shortage that exists both locally and nationally, the scholarship is intended to draw a person to the healthcare profession who might feel the challenges 'associated with obtaining an RN degree are too overwhelming. The only requirement the Squires have put on the nursing scholarship is that he recipient be a single mom. The inaugural recipient is Karen Noble a nursing student at Utah Valley State College. ! . . - . 1 tt ir nr H.Sir III n Ik -v. V L -f.- s sA V .- 1 A beautiful three-tiered water fountain graces the entrance to the site of the new St, Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Orem. On Sunday Fr. William H. Flegge, Pastor of the Church which has relocated from Provo to Orem, welcomed wel-comed hundreds of members to the new Catholic Center which will house all activities of the Church, which traces its roots back to 1892, when Catholic priests Father Escalante and Father Dominguez became the first non-native explorers in this area. BY FATR1CIA KNOELL TIMES REPORTER To ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Kipp Robins, it's a no-brainer fluoride helps prevent pre-vent tooth decay and the easiest and cheapest way to get fluoride and teeth together is to add fluoride to the culinary supply. "All natural water supplies already have some fluoride in them," Robins said. "But what occurs naturally isn't enough to do the good needed." So, where does a doctor who has nothing to do with dentistry develop his passion for the cause of fluoridation? "It started when I was a medical student in St. Louis," Robins recalled. "I got to know a dentist there and he told roe he could tell just by looking in someone's mouth if he or she was from Utah, because of the number of fillings and cavities" The reason for that indictment is that Utah is the 50,h lowest state in the amount of fluoridation fluori-dation in water (only 3.1 percent of the public water supply has one-part-per-million of fluoride fluo-ride to water that dentists recommend) and that was a sobering piece of information for a man who planned to make Utah his home and to raise his family in this state. It became even more sobering as Robins paid for fluoride pills and tried to remember to give them to his 10 children every day. The added water cost of about 50 cents per year per family is minimal compared to the cost of fluoride pills or major dental services that can be minimized through the use of fluoride. Independent studies, following four communities communi-ties that fluoridated their water in 1945, showed that tooth decay rates in these communities com-munities declined, on average, 56 percent more than demographically similar communities whose water supplies were not fluoridated in a 15-year period. Theftssue is taking the forefront for Robins at this time because of recent legislation that allows class II counties (Utah, Davis and Weber) We-ber) to put fluoridation to a county-wide vote. That privilege was formerly reserved only for the more rural counties. According to Robins, there are two ways to get the legislation on the county ballot this fall. One is to have at least two of the three county commissioners vote to put it on, the other is to have at least 10 percent of the people in the county sign petitions in support of such a ballot bal-lot issue. One thing that makes Utah County unique among the three counties class II counties considering con-sidering this issue is that most of the cities have Right: This life-size figure of St. Francis of Assisi, which set the spiritual motif for the Provo St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church for many years, was moved to the newly-completed Catholic Center in Orem last week to grace the lobby of the new facility. St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church completes move to larger Orem Center BY CLYDE E. WEEKS, JR. OREM-GENEVA TIMES Excited communicants at the St. Francis Catholic Church moved, during the past week, from their historic church building in Provo to their new facility in the City of Orem, leaving behind a building build-ing over seventy years old, which is not only worn out, but which is unable to provide sufficient suf-ficient chapel space and vehicle parking for its growing membership. mem-bership. The celebration of new facilities fa-cilities for St. Francis of Assisi parish is the latest chapter in the Catholic Church's presence in Utah Valley which dates back to the 18th century, when Franciscan Catholic priests Father Dominguez and Father Escalante became the first non-Native non-Native explorers in this area. ESTABLISHED IN 1892 Yet, it was not until 1892 that the St. Francis of Assisi parish was established by Lawrence Scanlan, who later became bishop of the Utah Catholic Diocese. During the early years, the growth in the Catholic community commu-nity was slow, but in 1942, hundreds hun-dreds of workers moved to Utah Valley to help construct and operate the Geneva Steel Plant Among those new-comers were many member of the Catholic Church. In 1931, the Franciscan fathers fa-thers returned to Provo and op erated the parish, until 1996, when Father William H. Flegge was transferred to Provo as pastor, pas-tor, after having served nine years at the St. James parish in Ogden. What Father Flegge found in Provo was an old church building build-ing at 172 North 500 West, located lo-cated in a commercial area. The facility was becoming increasing inadequate to serve the growing congregation. HIGH ATTENDANCE It quickly became apparent to Father Flegge, that steps needed to be taken to accommodate the overflowing attendance at the 15 masses held throughout the week, since the existing build- J . 1 nrn ui vuuiu nwuuuuuuou; uiujr ouu people. Church officials spent over $25,000 during the next few years on engineering engi-neering studies and architectural designs, de-signs, hoping to find a way the church could better accommodate its members. mem-bers. "We spent a lot of money, looking at ways to expand the facilities here," Father Flegge said, "but nothing could change the fact that there were only 40 parking spaces on this property." prop-erty." OREM SITE PURCHASED Fortunately, the Utah Catholic Diocese had purchased an Orem fruit orchard from fruit grower Toffee Hauzen, over 20 years ago, providing an adequate site to build a structure, large enough to meet the needs of the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. The last two years have been spent Continued on page 4 independent water systems. That means that no city would be forced to fluoridate, even if the majority vote of county residents resi-dents was in favor of doing so. "The county commissioners have asked the mayors of each city to find out how their cit ies feel about the issue and make a request to the com missioners that it be put on the ballot, if that's what their city wants," Robins said. "But even if it gets on the ballot and is passed, any city that doesn't vote for it has the right to not fluoridate. fluo-ridate. That isn't the case in Wcbcr and Davis counties where the wa ter system is county-wide county-wide rather than having each city own its own water." wa-ter." Lindon Mayor Larry Ellertson counts himself as one who is in favor of the concept of water fluoridation, "it seems to be the most effec tive way to administer something that is good from a dental health standpoint," stand-point," but he is happy that each city would retain individual rights on the issue. is-sue. "I'm of the opinion that it is a good thing to have discussions on the matter as cities and as a county and to let the people speak in a vote," Ellertson said. "I do like the fact that each community can have its own say, because I don't think it would be fair to have the a city be very against the issue, but have to go along with it because 51 percent of the county voted for it." While Robins is also for the rights of the individual cities, he hopes that, if the issue is put to a vote, it will get a definitive defini-tive 'yes' from every community. "If the fluoride is in the water at one-part-per-million, that's all anybody really re-ally needs, so a dentist would have to be really careful and find out exactly where someone lives before prescribing fluoride pills," he said. "And people would have to know where there is and isn't fluoride fluo-ride if they moved from one city to another an-other within the county." In his bid to see fluoridation a reality in Utah County, Robins stresses the fact that no study ever conducted by any accredited ac-credited medical entity has found that a mouriaey in m Your Water? tn Yes J? i uTr II V II 1 SJ i . . i j y I M I If I J Ij small amount of fluoride added to the water causes any danger to those who drink it. "The concept of fluoridation is backed by the Ameri can Medical Association, Associa-tion, the American Dental Association, Associa-tion, the US Pub lic Health Service, Ser-vice, the World Health Organization, Organi-zation, the American Cancer Can-cer Society, the American Academy Acad-emy of Family Physicians, the American Academy Acad-emy of Pediatrics Pediat-rics and virtually every other major ma-jor national and international health organiza tion, as well as by the national PTA," Robins said. "For that to be the case, they must all consider it safe." With that information in hand, Ellertson believes that fluoridation has merit, but said he feels that he would like to know more about the pros and cons. "From what I've heard from friends in the medical community, there is absolutely no harm in the amounts of fluoride they're talking about, and a lot of good comes of it," he said. "But I want to hear from the other side as well. After all, once it is put into the water, it would be hard for an individual who didn't want it to get it out." Robins, however, has no qualms and has been working to make sure the issue has the best chance possible pos-sible of getting on the ballot in this presidential election year. To that end, he circulated petitions peti-tions at Orem's SummerFest, Provo's Freedom Festival, Lindon Days and other city celebrations last summer. Those petitions are now available to be signed at dental offices of-fices throughout the county. Included In-cluded in those who have signed the petition is an impressive list of nearly 600 doctors and dentists in Utah County. "The support of the medical and dental community is nearly unanimous," unani-mous," Robins said. "The best way of getting this on the ballot is to have the county commissioners, with the support of the mayors, put it on. But the way I see it, the petitions will help show the mayors that the support sup-port is there, and if we can get enough signatures, we can get it on the ballot whether they vote to put it on or not. I want to see this go to the people for a vote in a presidential presiden-tial year when the turnout is the largest." To Subscribe to the Orem-Geneva Times by calling 225-1340 or come by our office of-fice at 538 South State St. Orem, UT 84053. See us on the Web at WWW.CREMTI M ESXOM POOR COPY 1 s |