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Show TIMES Submit a Guest Editorial or Opinion at our office, located locat-ed at 538 South State in Orem. Deadlines are Monday:! 0:00 a.m. All submissions are subject to editing lor length, and The Orem-Geneva Times reserves the right to publish or not to publish a submission. & Opinion Page A2, Thursday, April 15, 2004 ( Editorial ) COMMENTARY U.S. is worlds worst for traffic deaths The United States has the worst percentage of road deaths in the world, as well as the worst record of injuries to passenger pas-senger car occupants, according to an AAA analysis of data released today by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). More than 42,000 people peo-ple are killed in motor vehicle crashes every year in the United States. That is the same as the Titanic sinking every other day each and every year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the economic eco-nomic impact of these crashes cost the U.S. more than $230 billion in 2000, the most recent year that statistics were available. "The statistics hardly begin to tell the story," said Rolayne Fairclough of AAA Utah. "How could you possibly calculate the impact of the loss of a parent, the death of a child, or a friend who is left permanently disabled?" dis-abled?" According to AAA, 80 percent of all traffic deaths and injuries occur in passenger cars. Injuries and deaths involving pedestrians account for approximately approximate-ly 13 percent, motorized two-wheelers five percent and bicyclists less than two percent. The U.S. data is in striking contrast to data from other countries such as India where car occupants occu-pants suffer only five percent per-cent of traffic injuries, pedestrians more than 40 percent, occupants of motorized two-wheelers 25 percent and bicyclists approximately 15 percent. per-cent. The findings are part of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention released today in Washington D.C. by PAHO, the American branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) at a national kick-off kick-off event to commemorate today's World Health Day and its focus on road safety. safe-ty. It marks the first time in the WHO's 56-year history his-tory that motor vehicle crashes have been highlighted high-lighted as a health risk. "We can do something about the carnage on our highways," said Fairclough. "We all need to work together so that when we send our loved ones onto the roads, we can expect they will come home safely." Vehicle occupants are the largest group of road users affected by traffic injuries in the United States and other highly motorized countries, so AAA is focusing on occupant occu-pant protection as part of World Health Day. AAA reminds motorists that buckling up is one of the most important steps they can take to protect their health. Established more than 100 years ago, AAA offers a wide array of automotive, automo-tive, travel, insurance and financial services. AAA Utah serves more than 120,000 members and has been a leader and advocate advo-cate for the safety and security of all travelers since it was founded. The Orem-Geneva Times 538 South State Street Orem, UT 84058 An edition of The Daily Herald, Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. Subscriptions & Delivery 375-5103 News & Advertising 225-1340 Fax 2251341 E-mail oremtimesnetworld.com USPS 411-711. Published Thursdays by Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc., 538 South State Street, Orem, Utah 84058. Periodicals postage paid at Orem, Utah 84059. Postmaster: Send address changes to P.O. Box 65, Orem, UT 84059. Member: Audit Bureau of Circulations NEWSSTAND PRICE $0.50 SUBSCRIPTION RATE 1 year-$36.40 (in county) (Sunday & Thursday plus Holiday deliveries) Holiday deliveries include delivery the week of Easter, Memorial, Independence, Pioneer, Labor, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. 1 year- $45.40 (out of county) NEWS We welcome news tips. Call 225-1340 to report news tips or if you have a comment or a question. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must include the author's name (printed AND signed) and a telephone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic. umpanogos Green ALWAYS IN THE LIGHT ELEGY FOR RACHEL SCOTT: Five years ago, today, Rachel Scott was one of 13 students, who were murdered by fellow classmates at Columbine High School on April 15, 1999 The echoes of those shots and bombs subside. The halls resound with grief at Columbine. How many students lived? How many died In senseless slaughters of depraved design? The after shocks at Littleton resound. The Nation reels. The continent erupts With teen-age plots: enough to go around. What is this malady, which now corrupts? But, Rachel, you were never part of these. Your luminescence glowed at Columbine! Much like the blooming buttercups in breeze, Your life was laced with shimmer and with shine! How could you know that ravagers and rage Might seek to douse your radiating light! The syllables on your poetic page, Now speak, no more, the sonnets that you write! The disbelief of Littleton resigns Itself to thrifty things, funereal. While doctors seek for any vital signs, The churches chant their songs, ethereal. Your casket, white enough to glow and gleam, Was hardly high enough, to hold the tears Of those, who came to say, good-by. The dream You had could not be felled by futile tears. Last year, portraying Simon of Cyrene, You carried Jesus' cross upon your back, Along the Via Dolorosa scene. Today, again, you follow Jesus' track! So much within the casket, there, was hid: That angel of a girl; her winning smile. Her blessed beauty bloomed, beneath the lid, As loving friends approached the precious aisle. With tender tears, they left their fond farewells, Upon her casket. Each and every note, Enunciated how each bosom swells With thirsty things for Rachel, which they wrote. THE EPITAPH Here rests her head, among the Columbines: A girl to fortune and to fame, unknown. Though tragedy befell, the sun still shines, And God receives her, as His very own! Vast was her vision. High were all her hopes To make her bright and witty verse a force: To tie her talents to some regal ropes, And charge the World to change its bitter course. Her virtues, here, need no more accolades. Her frailties lie, forgot; beneath the sod. Now, far removed from guns and gross grenades, She sojourns in this plot, bequeathed to God! "We are told never to cross a bridge until we come to it, but this world is owned by men who have 'crossed bridges' in their imagination far ahead of the crowd." -Anon. DEADLINES Because of the increase of new stories & advertising slotted to the Orem-Geneva Times, our deadline for news & advertong is 10:00 a.m. monday. items need ; to be brought to the orem-geneva times at 538 South State, Orem. Entries may be edited for length and content. ' If you have any questions flease call our office at 225-1340 Ardis Christensen Eastmond was one of many war brides. When asked why she married just before her fiance was to be sent to serious combat overseas, she answered, simply, "I loved him." Ardis was one of the first secretaries during the construction of the Geneva Steel plant; offices were in the relatively new Vineyard War chapel, which the government purchased, along with dozens of Vineyard farms. The steel plant occupies the northern half of the town of Vineyard. Several years ago, the local VFW chapter sent Ardis all her husband's medals and awards. These were put in a display case. My brother Lorimer and his wife took me for a ride one Sunday afternoon, and we ended up at Saratoga Resort, though it was too early for the resort to open. While we were walking over the lawns to the edge of the lake, I met Taylor Eastmond, whose folks owned the resort, and whom I hadn't seen for about six years, since we were at BYU together. He had been on an LDS mission and had changed considerably. Taylor told me he had been drafted and would be going into the army soon. He asked me if he could write to me, and late that same summer, I received a card from Camp Roberts, California. Thus started a courtship by mail that lasted through the terror of Pearl Harbor, at which time Taylor was shipped to Fort Lewis, Washington. He came home on leave in April 1942. At the end of the two-week furlough, we had decided to marry, but thought it best to wait until after the war. Two nights before he had to return to camp, he gave me a beautiful diamond engagement ring. I kept working at Geneva Steel, and we wrote to each other every day the summer of 1942. About the first of August, he started writing that he wanted me to come to California and get married before he went overseas. His outfit was about ready to ship out, and all leaves of any length had been cancelled. I was hesitant, but he finally gave up letter writing and resorted to telephone tele-phone calls. He was very persuasive. He felt very deeply that if we were married, he would have a greater chance of coming home after the war. So his mother and my mother and I met him at my aunt's home in Oakland, where he could come on a weekend pass. We were married on Saturday evening, October 29, by the local LDS bishop. We were lucky to be able to get a lovely room in Pacific Grove, within commuting distance of Fort Ord; Taylor could come home about five o'clock each night and had to be back at the base by 4:30 the next morning. We had about one week together. togeth-er. We used to go down the beach in the late afternoon, after-noon, and Tay would recite poetry while we watched the waves roll in. But all night long, we could hear the big guns at Fort Ord, practicing artillery. Then one night Taylor didn't come home. I went down to the base, where everything was under tight security. The women said goodbye to their husbands, for some of them a permanent goodbye. good-bye. The men had no idea where they were being sent. The unit was sent to Virginia, then on to Italy, where Taylor participated in the invasion of Anzio, Italy. I wrote him daily. Then in February 1944, Taylor's parents were notified that Taylor had been wounded in action, though it was about a week before we learned the extent of his injuries. He had been hit with shrapnel in the legs. He had emergency field surgery, was moved to Naples, and then onto a hospital ship. His letters were severely censored, but about June, he began to hint that he might be coming home soon. I had been sort of expecting him, but he really surprised my by walking in one Friday evening about 8:00 p.m. On receiving a phone call from my mother, I started to run home. I could see Tay running toward me, and we had quite a tearful reunion. If you would like to help with the Orem City Veterans Oral History Project, please phone Don Norton, 225-8050. Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country." -Anais Nin, The Diaries of AnaTs Nin |