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Show Page 2 0 R E M TIMES Thursday, October 9, 2008 NEWS AND NOTES TO KEEP YOU Orem gives Reva Bowen NORTH COUNTY STAFF The Orem City Council bought a little time on Sept. 30 for the massive, but only partially -completed Midtown Village development on State Street. In 2004, the city created a Special Improvement District in association with Midtown Village to facilitate the construction con-struction of public parking at the development. Two of three planned parking structures one in the north wing, and one in the south wing have been completed. To finance the improvements improve-ments without the use of city funds, an interim warrant was issued a warrant secured by assessments against the property. prop-erty. The interim warrant was to come due this past Tuesday. The City Council made the decision to follow a recommendation recommen-dation from city manager Jim Reams to basically roll over the interim warrant for another days, to Dec. 1. The move gives the developer and financial Flag Continued from Page I flown by a soldier in Iraq." Long, nearly two years into his military career, bought a U.S. flag to fly from his military mili-tary truck in between his unit's convoy deliveries of supplies to American forces. He said U.S. forces were only allowed to fly the flag at American bases and installations out of respect to the Iraqis. His aim was to bring the flag home at the end of his tour of duty to present to his mother and the students at Vineyard Elementary. Shooting Continued from Page I search my property for evidence," evi-dence," said Whitehead. "He asked if we were all OK. and I said, 'Yes.' He asked what I had seen." The officer recommended that Whitehead and his family remain indoors. Shell casings from a 9 mm handgun were found on the ground, and police spray-painted their locations. "Where the shots were fired was very dangerous," Whitehead White-head said. "They were fired at NorthCounty NEWSPAPERS ' 399 E. Slate St. Pleasant Grove Marc Haddock 443 3268 North County Editor mhaddockheraldextra.com Cathy Allred 443 3262 Lehi, Saratoga Springs, PI. Grove callred heraldextra .com Barbara Christiansen 443 3264 American Fork, Alpine, Cedar Hills bchristiansenheraldextra.com Mike Rigert 443 3265 Orem, Vineyard mrigertheraldextra.com Beky Beaton 443 3267 Sports bbeaton heraldextra .com Josh Walker 443 3260 Advertising Account Executive jwalkerheraldextra.com Volume 135 Orem Times Daily Herald Edition. USPS 411-700 a weekly newspaper published at 399 E. State St., Pleasant Grove. Utah 84063 Periodicals postage paid at Pleasant Grove, Utah 84062 and at addrtonal mailing offices. PoMmHUt: Send address changes to Orem Times, P O Box 65, Orem. Utah 84069-0065 - Published Thursdays by Lee Publications, which is a division of Lee Enterprises, Inc. Member: Audit Bureau of Circulations G wssodfe ECS Midtown 1-1 1 J5fe" Walk to School Day Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn (center) leads a group of Orem Elementary students through a crosswalk as part of the school's "Walk To School Day" focused on promoting health as well as safely around cars on Wednesday. "I was surprised that even wit the crossing guard we still had motorists who are inattentive," said Mayor Washburn. "We had police officers have to pull over two people. 1 think that people who drive need to be more cautious. Thank goodness we have crossing guards there to help students." partners the additional time to put together the financing to complete the project. The money due Dec. 1 is $3.5 "I hope (students) have a sense of pride and that war is not going as bad as it looks," he said. In contrast, Long said being boots on the ground in Iraq opened his eyes to all the positive posi-tive and constructive things happening to rebuild the country coun-try and extend freedom and education to generations of Iraqis. "I hope they see the good and not just the bad," he said. Long, who was teasingly dubbed with the call sign "Superstar" "Su-perstar" by his unit in Iraq after af-ter he volunteered to represent the Air Force in an impromptu the natural gas meters, and could have hit a gas line. It was unnerving, but we were lucky." Whitehead, himself a volunteer vol-unteer in Orem's Neighborhoods Neighbor-hoods in Action organization, contacted the neighborhood co-chairmen, Wayne and Chris Tobler, who put in motion a phone and e-mail campaign of area residents requesting that city officials address the problem. "It was like we had an instant in-stant network," Whitehead said. "People were mad. disappointed, disap-pointed, and upset, but worked through the system the way Phone: 756-7669 Fax: 756-5274 DAILY HERALD PUBLISHING CO. xXXZ Jennette Esplin 756-7669 Office Manager Megan Carleton 344 2558 Project Coordinator, DesignerCopy Editor Allison Davies 344 2570 DesignerCopy Editor Ashley Franscell 344-2585 Photographer Issue 42 INFORMED AND developer more time for financing million, plus accrued interest for 60 days. Reams said the city has been contacted by legal counsel for military training video, said his convoy job was dangerous because be-cause his unit was the potential target of insurgents and roadside road-side bombs. Though he couldn't talk about specific incidents, he described life on the road as "nerve-wracking, sometimes, and scary sometimes." His unit drove an average of 3.000 miles per month. Through the long, hot hours of work. Long said he and his fellow soldiers appreciated the words of support and prayers they got from family, friends and even strangers back home. He also learned patience, it should be done. No one was mean, or nasty, or threatened or screamed at the City Council. Coun-cil. But we made our point, and it was handled appropriately. We do believe in the saying 'The squeaky wheel gets the oil.'" When the Whiteheads were planning to move from another Orem neighborhood several years ago, they were drawn to the Geneva Heights area because be-cause of the unique dynamics of the neighborhood, with its variety of cultures. "There are people from Brazil, Bra-zil, from Mexico, from New Broadcast goes digital in Feb. ' X roadcast television is fl going to undergo a big change in a few months r" the biggest change I J 1 since the introduction of S color TVs. On Feb. 17, television stations all over the country stop broadcasting an analog signal and change over to 100-percent digital broadcast. Most channels are currently broadcasting in both formats. My wife doesn't think much of all this. In fact, Sharon doesn't think much of television at all. On the other hand she maintains that I am fixated on the medium just because I can forget to call my kids on their birthdays, but I always know when a new episode of Smallville is going go-ing to air. This despite the fact that we were both born in the same year "I Love Lucy" first aired. In my parents' home, TV trays were an important im-portant part of the family room furniture. One of our cherished family traditions involved gathering around the glow of the black and white picture tube Sunday nights to watch "Maverick" and enjoy a banquet my mother made from the remains of Sunday dinner. I don't think Sharon's family ever had that kind of relationship with any electrical appliance. appli-ance. Anyway, when I first learned that television stations would not be broadcasting an analog signal after next Feb. 17, 1 was concerned that some of our TVs would become obsolete. Like most families in the United States, we own more than one television, but only one gets its signal from a satellite dish. The rest rely on rabbit ears and don't have internal digital receivers like the newer sets do. I was happy to learn that these televisions can receive a digital signal with a converter box, and that the government would help me buy one with a $40 coupon. Each household can get two of these coupons and only two. (They are available at www. dtv answers, com,) I immediately sent for our coupons, excited to experience digital reception on our old televisions. tele-visions. The main reason we had subscribed to satellite service was because the picture was so much better than the fuzzy image we could receive in our home with an antenna. INVOLVED CRAIG DILGERDaily Herald project investors, who are exploring ex-ploring the option of assuming or paying off the debt. The city is in first position on any fore- leadership skills and to highly value the freedom many Americans Amer-icans take for granted. Long said his personal creed was "I'm going to get this done, life or death," he said, which Allan said is very similar to the family's slogan, "Whatever it takes to get it done." Allan is proud of her son, who like her own father, served the country in uniform. "I'm thrilled to have him home yet very proud to have him over there," she said. "I wouldn't have had it any other way." Raised in Mexico, Allan saw the lack of opportunities chil- York, and the Polynesian islands is-lands a potpourri of people," Whitehead said. "My wife and I decided this is where we needed to be." Earlier this year, the diverse cultures represented in the neighborhood came together, holding several block parties, he said. Six of the seven districts dis-tricts in the area have held the gatherings, with food and entertainment, en-tertainment, providing the opportunity op-portunity for neighbors to get to know each other. Whitehead said he attended five of the six events. "Hopefully, the block par- Marc Haddock THE EDITOR'S COLUMN J ft closures, he said, which gives motivation to other parties to resolve the SID lien. The city's bond counsel, Laura Lau-ra Lewis, outlined for the City Council some of the other liens against the property, including $62 million by BankFirst; four amounts ($4.3 million, $4.2 million, $3.5 million, and $4.3 million) in two filings by First United Funding; and a construction con-struction hen, for which Lewis did not have an amount. "In order for those entities to preserve what they have at risk, they have to pay this interim warrant off," Lewis said. "... Your priority of lien will always be preserved." Come Dec. 1, if the debt has not been paid, the city plans to put in place a long-term financing financ-ing option, with a debt service schedule. An assessment payment pay-ment by the owner of record would be due in June of 2009, which Lewis said would give the city adequate time to complete com-plete foreclosure proceedings, if necessary, before a bond payment would be due in Dec. of 2009. dren and adults had there for education and prosperity. She hopes her son's experiences in Iraq and Kuwait remind her students and the community about the many people in the world who don't have the quality qual-ity of life Americans enjoy. She said it's important for her students to know that there are people like her son willing to fight for freedom and to sacrifice sacri-fice to make their lives better. "So they learn to work hard too and create a good life for themselves," Allan said. "They need to take control of their learning and maximize their time here." ties will happen twice a year," Whitehead said. Neighborhood Neighbor-hood clean-ups are planned for spring through Neighborhoods in Action. There will be a meeting Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. in the Geneva Elementary School cafeteria, where the Orem police gang task force will be presenting information to interested in-terested citizens. "I can just advocate getting involved," Whitehead said. "Lose yourself. Get out of your comfort zone. I think that's what neighbors are people working together." Something about where our home was placed. Once the coupons arrived, we went to Best Buy and found that the converter boxes cost about $60. But I got distracted by a nice little plasma screen, and Sharon dragged me out of the store before we spent any money. I figured we would return, re-turn, but Sharon thought "we" had decided that one TV was more than enough. So she threw our two (and only two) coupons away. It took a while, but I eventually forgave her. A few months later, a colleague at work, at my urging, sent for her two coupons and gave me one. And with that, I was back in the game. That day I went to the store, bought the $60 converter box for 20 bucks, and came home with the converter box. I hooked it up and turned it on. This is what I learned: Hooking up the converter box is as simple as hooking up a VCR. The unit comes with its own remote control. Digital signals are great, or they are non-existent. There's no middle ground here. There's no snow, no fuzz, no static You have reception or you dont. That's what digital means. There are a lot of digital channels over 20 available in our area. Most commercial stations broadcast just one channel But the public stations, and a few commercial ones, have more up to four separate channels. For. example, BYU-TV, which is different from KBYU, is broadcast on Channel 11.3. KITED broadcasts several channels as welL which means that in the morning one can watch a good adult educational program when Dora the Explorer is playing on the regular channel. In fact, I think if most people who are still using analog televisions could see the improvement improve-ment by using a digital converter box, they'd make the change tomorrow. It took me a week to get Sharon to sit down and watch the old TV downstairs, and see the improvement. She was sort of impressed, but it's only televisioa And that doesnt matter much to her. Not unless un-less I happen to foul up the taping of her daily dose of "The Young and the Restless." Then all of a sudden it matters a lot. I guess we all have our vices. Artist Continued from Page 1 boys (and their personalities) in a nativity scene. She does most of her work at night after the children are in bed from her tiny blue studio stu-dio in the basement. "I don't have a lot of time to do art work, so if I'm going go-ing to do something, it has to mean something," she said. She's also done portraits of extended family members and neighborhood children as gifts or as payment for their parents' babysitting time. One of her upcoming project depicts a scene of Jesus Je-sus Christ. "I'm five or 10 projects (in the works)," Kotter said. "I have so many ideas I can't get them all down." Doug Kotter said his wife fully invests herself in things she gets involved in, whether it be raising their sons, piano lessons, church, or her artwork. art-work. "One thing about Angela is that everything she does is from the heart," he said. Yet the Mountain View High School alumnae hasn't always been a budding visual artisan. A talented pianist and piano instructor (she gives lessons at her home twice a week), Kotter accepted accept-ed an academic scholarship to Utah State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in piano pedagogy. She didn't draw or paint at all in college but rather was a member of the Aggie ballroom dance team and the marching band, where she met Doug, a school teacher, who she calls her biggest faa Rather than the artsy, creative type, she describes herself as more of a "band geek." It wasn't until five years ago when the family moved into their Orem home and Kotter was at home fulltime with the couple's first child that she signed up for a colored col-ored pencil class at Robert's Crafts. Merely by coincidence the class's teacher, Julie Ann Allen, an artist in her own right, was working on a master's mas-ter's degree in graphic arts at Brigham Young University. Univer-sity. Allen recognized Kot-ter's Kot-ter's potential, mentored her, and the more Kotter learned about her new pastime, the more fervent her interest became. "Like most of music is learning to hear, most of artwork is learning to see," she said, describing how she'll work out a particular element of a painting out on paper and in her mind until figuring out the best way to execute it. "You need to spend more time looking than drawing." Buoyed by the encouragement encourage-ment of Allen, her parents and Doug, the largely self-taught self-taught Kotter forged ahead and created "Lear that depicts a flaming red Canadian Ca-nadian maple leaf, the first installment in her front-yard nature trilogy. Her mother encouraged her to enter the piece into a Utah art contest sponsored by the American Association of University Women of Utah from which she took home her first prize winnings, a cool $1,000. "I hadnt thought of entering enter-ing anything ... When I got the first-place blue ribbon, I cried," she said. "That was a huge blessing because doing art work takes money." Since then Kotter has reinvested her cumulative competition winnings into replenishing materials including includ-ing colored pencils that run about $1.50 a piece and custom cus-tom framing for her original pieces that can easily get into the hundreds of dollars. "We still haven't found a sponsor," Doug jokes. Prints and greeting cards featuring Kotter's nature trilogy tril-ogy will be available at the Pretty Posh Boutique, 24 E 980 North, in Orem, that will be open today and Friday, 3-8 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.ra-3 p.m. The events will include the works of nearly 30 local artists and craftsmea But Kotter says any money mon-ey she makes simply allows her to continue exploring, refining and experimenting with her new-found talent. She doesnt ever want to create art out of need to produce pro-duce a product. "Spending that much time on something you don't like is pointless ," she said. "Doug jokes that art is cheaper than therapy. As a mom, your mom bucket is always being emptied. Artwork Art-work fills my bucket so I can get in the fray with a smile." v |