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Show Page 2 OREM TIMES Thursday, July 3, 2008 ( NEWS AND NOTES TO KEEP YOU UDOT holds open house for Vineyard Connector jCathy Allred WORTH COUNT ST Aft The Utah Department of Transportation staff hosted a full house of interested landowners land-owners and city officials at its Vineyard Connector open house on June 25. Tom Smith, who represents a group of property owners within the Vineyard Connector's Connec-tor's pathway in American Fork, was there to look at the map showing the proposed 1A alternative routes for each section length of the corridor. The corridor will carry traffic traf-fic from 800 North in Orem to Lehi's 700 South near the 1-15 interchange. "We're pretty much waiting for the Vineyard Connector and working with American Fork and UDOT," Smith said. "We're here to give our input and work with them." He said his clients support American Fork's position of taking the Vineyard Connector Connec-tor farther south of the 1500 Vineyard Connector : Web trte: udot.utah.gov vineyard Comment hotline: 801-753-7343 E-mail addreas: vineyard ? ppbh.gov Comment deadline: Through July 16 More Good Continued from Page I And the fact that the More Good Foundation is an independent, indepen-dent, autonomous voice of IDS members sharing their faith may be exactly what those who have questions about the church are looking for. Using the analogy of university uni-versity students checking a professor's rating online as a guide for how they pick their classes, Johnson said many seeking to know more about the church are more comfortable comfort-able asking questioas of non-authorities non-authorities before seeking out official sources. "We are a voice of people trying out the Gospel," he said. "It's a marvelous experience to give members a voice." Through LDS members NorthCounty WSPAPERS 399 E. State St Pleasant Grove Marc Haddock 443 3268 North County Editor mhaddockhefaldextra com liHi'l lH I i Cathy Allred 443 -3262 Lehi, Saratoga Spnngs, PI. Grove callredheraldextra com Barbara Christiansen 443-3264 American Fork Alpine, Cedar Hills bchristiansen her aldextra.com Mike Rigert 443 3265 Orem, Vineyard mrigertherakjextra com Beky Beaton 443-3267 Sports bbeatonheraldextra com Josh Walker 443-3260 Advertising Account Executive jwalker heraldextra com Volume 135 OmTmMOwyHrateEo" USPS 411-700 wwkjy nevwosof piiWwd at 399E Sow SlP&ot UW64063 rVrxfcM rxwaje oac at rNwsyi Orw Uw 84062 and at nwlng fcm Poeumem. Said tmA changes to Onsm PO Bo 65. 0-wn PjOMred vvHryi t Lee PMK&xns. vvk s a drvswr of Lee South alignment. Those who weren't able to attend the open house can find information and a map showing the alternative alignments on UDOT's Web site udot.utah.govvineyard. Not big enough to be a highway, high-way, but big enough to be an arterial road, the proposed Vineyard Connector will be either a five- or seven-lane transportation corridor joining Lehi and American Fork roads with 800 North, Orem. The American ForkLehi junction will be at approximately approxi-mately 800 E. 700 South, Lehi, or Main Street west of 1-15 in American Fork. "When we start rebuilding 1-15 from American Fork to Spanish Fork, we want to give people alternative routes to get around Utah Valley," said Scott Thompson, UDOT public information manager. "We've got at least four and a number of other projects as well." The critical four projects Pioneer Crossing at Lehi's 1000 South connecting Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain with 1-15, SR 92 from 1-15 in north Lehi through Highland, Springville's Main Street in the south end of the county, and the Vineyard Connector have a team called Access Utah County to coordinate and provide information to the public. "These four are really the main ones we want in place before the 1-15 project begins," said Joe Walker, Access Utah County communications outreach out-reach manager. sharing their own feelings, conversion stories and interests inter-ests (Johnson said some readers read-ers on his blog were surprised to learn he was a motorcycle racing enthusiast), those with questions about the church can learn that Latter-day Saints aren't a strange sect of people with bizarre beliefs, but ordinary ordi-nary people with extraordinary extraordi-nary faith. Merkley said. "Our mission is to create Web sites where that can happen," hap-pen," she said. When the story of Texas authorities removing FLDS children from the group's El Dorado ranch grabbed national na-tional headlines, Merkley said hits to More Good Foundation Web sites spiked from 15,000 to 45.000 visits from people wanting to know what distinguishes dis-tinguishes the LDS and FLDS faiths. Phone: 756-7669 Fax: 756-5274 DAILY BBBALD PUBLISHING OO. 3 Jennette Esplin 756-7669 Office Manager Julia Fullmer 344 2570 Protect Coordinator. DesignerCopy Editor Allison Davies 344-2570 DesignerCopy Editor Ashley Franscell 344 2585 Photographer Issue 27 0 INFORMED AND CATHY AUREDNortrt County UDOT's Dan Avila, property owners' representative Tom Smith, and Horrocks Engineers staff Matt Horrocks and Doug Graham look at the Vineyard Connector Corridor Alternatives map at the open house June 25 at the Timpanogos Special Service District chamber room to see how Smith's properties are affected by the alternatives proposals. In order to meet that goal, all construction on the projects must be completed by 2010 when recoastruction on 1-15 begins. be-gins. Work on SR 92 begins this month and Pioneer Crossing is on track to begin soon as well. "It's going to be a huge alternate al-ternate route," said Walker. "All that traffic has to go someplace ... plus it's going to be great for economic development." develop-ment." With the Redwood Road In one month alone, LDS. net received over 450,000 visits. vis-its. Through the foundation's encouragement and messages mes-sages from church authorities, church members are increasingly increas-ingly sharing photos, video testimonies and personal beliefs be-liefs through videos on You-Tube.com, You-Tube.com, Facebook.com, and other sites. Rusty Curtis, 24, a senior advertising ad-vertising major at BYU and a convert to the church, recently penned an online response to a question about LDS garments at Yahoo Answers. "I wanted it to be thorough because for some reason nay-sayers nay-sayers love to pounce on that specific issue," he said. "In the past, you got all this anti-LDS stuff online, but now with my site people can search and find out the full content on what the Church really Polio Loco hursday evening we joined the crowds at the new El Polio Loco in Lehi It seemed like a good idea after taking our granddaughter to the Round-Up all-horse parade so she could see all the ponies she wanted. The opening day crowd spilled out onto the sidewalk, but we decided de-cided to give it a shot. I had a personal per-sonal interest, since FJ Polio Loco, which means, of course, the Crazy Chicken, got its start in 1975 in Gua-save, Gua-save, Mexico. The last time I was in Guasave was in 1972 some 36 years ago where I spent the longest three months of my LDS mission. Gua save was a rocky field in the otherwise other-wise fertile garden of northwestern Mexico. It was a fairly small town, but had experienced LDS missionaries for many years. In fact, it was the only place I ever saw a no soliciting sign directed solely at my religion. The sign was direct: "No aceptamos visit as de Mormones." (We don't accept visits from Mormons.) We all had our photos taken in front of this sign, but while some might have thought this was a challenge, everyone I knew respected the owner's wishes. The town has few distinctive characteristics. character-istics. It lies in the state of Sinaloa, about 90 miles north of Culiacan, the largest city in the state and the drug trafficking capital of Mexico. Mex-ico. It has a reputation for its thoroughbred horses and quiet lifestyle. And, of course, it is the location of the first FJ Polio Loco restaurant, which started as a street side taco stand. There are lots of these in Mexico, and none of them serve the kind of taco you will find at Taco Bell or Del Taco. Each Mexican taco stand has a gimmick to attract customers. At FJ Polio Loco, the appeal was chicken marinated in citrus juices as well as herbs and spices. And the chicken was very good. So much so that it spawned an international food chain, kind of a reverse KFC. The Lehi store is one of more than 380 such restaurants in the United States, and the first in Utah. I don't think the new store in Lehi has much INVOLVED 0 reconstruction from Salt Lake County to Pioneer Crossing across to Vineyard, there will be a corridor of transportation open to drivers allowing them to bypass 1-15 until 800 North in Orem. "That's one of the chief benefits to have this in place," said Bryan Adams, UDOT Utah County program director. direc-tor. "The other benefit that we really like is at the two ends of it there will be two commuter believes." Nearly 1,700 visitors from around the world have gone to his blog about LDS doctrines and beliefs since December. Merkley said many members, mem-bers, including those who created the More Good Foundation, Foun-dation, have taken to heart a message LDS leader Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, w hen he recently admonished members to share their stories and the gospel through the Internet. In the new issue of the church's monthly magazine "Ensign" Ballard's message is reiterated. "There are conversations going on about the Church constantly," con-stantly," Ballard wrote. "Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them ... Now, may I ask that you join the conver y muchos Marc Haddock THE EDITOR'S COLUMN Li rail stops." The stops will be for Front-runner Front-runner and will provide access to the commuter rail for north Utah County from south Lehi (American Fork Main Street) to 800 North in Orem. Comments on the proposed alternative routes for the Vineyard Vine-yard Connector can be given until the deadline on July 15 at udot.utah.govvineyard, 801-753-7343, or at vineyardppbh. gov. sation by participating in the Internet to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration." Res-toration." Last week, the foundation held a special gathering of LDS. net contributors and administrators, adminis-trators, many of them not LDS church members, in Utah, Johnson John-son said. Among the participants were an atheist, an inactive member, members of other faiths, and newly baptized members of the LDS church. A prison chaplain who used a foundation site to learn more about what members believe became so intrigued he contacted contact-ed the church and is taking the missionary discussions, he said. "If that is in any way a representation rep-resentation of what we have on that site, we feel we're doing the right thing," Johnson said. libros, Ole! in common with that first Polio Loco. Inside it looks much more like a modern American fast-food restaurant than a Mexican roadside stand. But the owners have been able to keep the chicken recipe intact, and they encourage customers to tear their tortillas into pieces for use in eating the chicken and that's exactly ex-actly what they do in Mexico, with almost everything. My son-in-law and I were impressed im-pressed with the chicken, which has great flavor. My wife was put off by slow service, but the store was so swamped with first-day customers, I think we ought to give the place a second chance after the excitement has died down. From the opening day crowd, it was clear that the restaurant was a favorite with our Latino population, which made up about half of the customers. And they were having a great time. While I have no desire to return to Guasave, I'll be going back to FJ Polio Loco again. Tuesday, which was on Jury 1, was a day of firsts, including the first effective day of the North Utah County Library Cooperative, an interlocal agreement that allows people with library cards from American Fork, Lehi or Pleasant Grove to use their cards at any of the libraries. Eagle Mountain is also part of the agreement, but users must pay a nominal fee. It was an honor to be the first American Fork Library patron to check out a book from the Pleasant Grove Library. About the same time, my colleague, Cathy Allred, was checking out books from the American Fork Library with her Lehi library card. It took three librarians to get me into the Pleasant Grove system not that it was difficult, dif-ficult, but it was new, and they were quite excited and very nice about it. I don't intend to use the Pleasant Grove location for all my library needs American Fork is still my home. But since my office is in Pleasant Grove, it will be nice to have the option, op-tion, and to expand my options. UVUphoria Continued from Page 1 Matheson, D-Utah. The new Digital Learning Center, which doesn't have a formal name for lack of a naming donor, was dedicated by President Monsoa Pastor Scott McKinney of the Christ Evangelical Church in Orem offered an opening prayer at the ceremony. "Bless all the students who come here," Monson said in his dedicatory prayer. "May all truly gain the knowledge they seek as they come to Utah Valley University." Monson generated a lot of attention from those who wanted to meet him. He was thronged before the ceremony ceremo-ny and at a luncheon after. Members of UYTTs student government sneaked into the luncheon to snap a picture with him. Sederburg said Monson has been a friend of the university for a long time. "You are a true Wolverine," Wol-verine," Sederburg said. Before Monson spoke, he walked over to 91-year-okl Wilson Sorensen, former president of the institution, shook his hand and placed his white UVU baseball cap back on his head. As a member of the board of regents, Monson was at the 1975 groundbreaking for the Orem campus. At that groundbreaking, Monson said everyone was assembled and ready to go including includ-ing the governor except Sorensen, who rode up on a horse, hitched it to the bleachers and went on with the ceremony. Sorensen said he rode the horse because the school had a rodeo team. Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn, Wash-burn, who attended the UVUphoria celebration, the library tour and Tuesday's dedication, remembers standing stand-ing on the gravel pits where the university now stands back in 1975 as Wilson Sorensen So-rensen explained his vision of an institution of higher learning that might someday become a university. "In my lifetime, to see that fulfilled, is really gratifying," Washburn said. "To have Wilson Wil-son Sorensen there and the fulfillment of his dream was a real high point for me." Monson, who grew up spending summers in Provo Canyon, said visiting the UVU campus "was like coming com-ing home to me." The transition of the state college into a university, Washburn said, is a wonderful wonder-ful thing for Orem and the community. A large percentage percent-age of Utah Valley residents attend there and with the current economic challenges faced by the community and the nation, the new university univer-sity will be an added benefit. "Having that school with university status provides us . an opportunity to give a first-class first-class education to our students stu-dents without having to travel far away. They can stay at home, for the most part ... Tuition Tu-ition is affordable," he said. The prestige of having a high-quality university in Orem's frorft yard doesn't hurt either. More residents will have access to educational education-al and employment opportunities, opportuni-ties, academic programs and the arts than ever before. "Well have much deeper and more accredited programs pro-grams that will bring to our community things we dont even envision right now," Washburn said. "This is a really re-ally big deal for Orem." On Monday, intertwined green "U" and "V" symbols were found painted at intersections inter-sections along University Parkway in Orem to celebrate cel-ebrate the transition from Utah Valley State College that is Finally official The change to university was accompanied by a party that lasted all day. Festivities lasted all day and into the night, including a dance that lasted unto midnight. More than 15,000 people, including Utah Senate President John Valentine and other community and university leaders, celebrated at UVLPs Brent Brown Ballpark Ball-park in the 90-degree heat with an outdoor concert that included a clogging duo of UVU students and country music stars Josh Gracin, Joe Nichols and Collin Raye. Valentine said the transition to university began for him when he was in the house of representatives and students would ask for an educational opportunity cke to home. "Today is a fulfillment of a dream I had back in 1988 when I first ran," Valentine said. I Michael Rigert also contributed to this story. 1 If |