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Show Citizen - Thursday, January 27, 1983 - Page 3 C Court ruling puts Alpine District in tough position f mm the court m ft uURlbPlGTluN TO GCmGT ARKPOmiUlHODOSO. I The new Alpine School Board is faced with some tough i decisions and those decisions haven't been made any easier I by the recent findings of the investigation by the County At-j At-j torney and the subsequent court ruling on that investigation. : A statement released by Judge J. Robert Bullock said the -district had been troubled by "improper practices and j procedures, abuses of privileges and position, and, in some areas and at some times, gross mismanagement." : But it went on to say that there was not enough evidence to :call a Grand Jury to investigate the possibility of making : criminal charges, and that if one were called it wouldn't do any good. Then the courts sealed the investigative files. : County Attorney Noall Wootton met with the district and : filled them in on the findings in a closed session in hopes of I complying with the judge's intent that the board get in- formation which would aid in correction "of any wrongful or improper practices or procedures in the administration of the : affairs of the Alpine School District." : But because the files were sealed, Wootton couldn't name 'names. J And that's only right. Since there will be no court action on the findings of the investigation, there will be no trial, and no opportunity for individuals named in the investigation to clear ; themselves. They would be in a sense declared guilty by : association. And though there would be no court sentence, the punishment ;.meted out by society would do real personal damage to those individuals, with no opportunity for them to face their accusers. : So, according to the court, it had no choice. It had a responsibility respon-sibility to see that the district knew as much as possible to '::correct the problems uncovered by the investigation. ' But it also had a responsibility to protect those accused of wrongdoing in that investigation. That's easy for the court, but hard on a new school board. In a statement released last week, the Alpine School Board fsaid, "Although the court lacks jurisdiction to correct these ''problems, the board of education has a clear responsibility to tfoso." : Yet the board has received no written reports to aid them in iidentifying the problems that need correcting, only the oral statement of the county attorney. And no names were named, 'although it can be assumed that circumstances surrounding some of the irregularities uncovered by the investigation have ;been detailed enough to identify some individuals. t And the public, the seemingly bottom man on this complicated com-plicated totem pole, has no information at all with which to '.judge the board's actions or the past performance of district officials. We are required to accept in good faith that the steps toeing taken to correct the problems uncovered by the sealed investigation are the proper ones. But the public's faith in the Alpine District has been betrayed in the past. And it's hard to enter into a good faith agreement again on that shaky foundation. I As a result, no one is happy. The courts can't find enough Widence to bring charges. The district can't release any details jthat would justify its decisions that have public repercussions like the "reassignment" of Kent Abel. And the public is as ignorant as it was when the ruckus began unable to tell if it is fceing served or harmed by the Board's actions. ; Nevertheless, the Board has moved quickly and boldly to jnake the changes it feels necessary. And if the problems within jthe district are as widespread as it appears, there will be more jchanges soon. I The "new broom" is indeed sweeping clean. Let's hope in it's eal it doesn't heap good with bad, and send it all to the dump. jPG mayor to head By MARCELLA WALKER David Holdaway, mayor of Pleasant Grove, has been elected as chairman of the Utah County Council of Governments for the coming year. - Mayor Holdaway was selected by the members of the organization to the position. The group meets the first Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. The pext meeting will be held in Pleasant Grove. Generally the place of the meeting will move from town to town to that both the north and south ends of the county get equal representations. represen-tations. The body consists of 20 cities and f Get OUR Estimate Before YOU Spend SERVING ALL OF UTAH COUNTY the Utah County Commissioners. Discussion at the meetings will range from the Council on Arts and Humanities which is sponsored by COG to the possible expansion of the Provo Airport which would benefit the entire area. Much discussion has been given to county wide fire agreements and a committee is to report on a study of this problem. UVIDA regularly reports to COG also. Water issues such as the Central Utah Project, flooding, sharing of equipment and others are talked about. GLASSMAW AUTO & TRUCK GLASS "WE COME TO YOU" ALSO - PASSPORT" SLIDING PICKUP WINDOWS tn Windshields Back Windows Side Windows Leaks Fixed Insurance Claims . AMERICAN FORK 756-2162 Weekdays 9 to 6 c By MARC HADDOCK I think I was in the sixth grade when I fell in love with books. I already had a crush on reading, one which my parents had nurtured. I had particularly enjoyed a fantasy called "Castaways in Lilliput," which took three children to the land once visited by Gulliver. I read it twice while I was in the third grade. But it took three more years for the passion to become an obsession. That was when I got my hands on Alexander Dumas's "The Count of Monte Cristo." And I haven't spent a day without a book since. I nurtured my affection with stories by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlien and Isaac Asimov. In High School I found Ernest Hemingway, and learned to love the words as much as I did the story. I also found Ian Flemming, and learned to love reading junk as much as anything else. As a freshman at Idaho State, I spent one whole weekend in my apartment alone with John Steinbeck and "The Grapes of Wrath." I read feverishly until 3 or 4 a.m., then slept until rested, and started again when I awoke until I finished the volume. It was such an intense experience that the next weekend I read "East of Eden" the same way. I have too many responsibilities to read that intensely any more, but I still read daily. I have no great intellect. in-tellect. I don't read fast. I don't think it's made me a better person. In fact, county COG for '83 Mayor Holdaway said that eventually even-tually they may want to get all the cities involved in the Timpanogos Water Management Agency. He noted that some cities have indicated they are ready to join and others have been invited to do so. He emphasized that COG cannot make policy for individual cities and so has very few motions actually placed beore them but it is a good sounding board for problems which the cities have in common. He also stressed that it is a good way to get communication going between the towns. CALL US to see how you can SAVE MONEY by packaging your Personal Policies under NORTHWESTERN NATIONAL'S Personal . Protection Plan Savage - ) the editor's column it's probably made it harder to relate with people. But I can't stop! Outside of my family, I've gotten more pleasure out of books than anything else in my life. And let's face it, even then it's easier to close a book than a three-year-old's mouth. ' It's a passion I want to share with lny children. I can't picture my life without books. I don't want to picture their lives without them. That's why I'm having a hard time coming to grips with the so-called controversy surrounding the Jr. Great Books program. To understand the hubbub, I felt forced to go to the Library, where I was able to read through the selections selec-tions in Jr. Great Books, as well as some material prepared for the discussion leaders. I assumed I would come away from the reading with strong feelings either for or against the program. I was wrong. The stories in Jr. Great Books are the same stories I've been reading to my kids since they were three. Margaret Brown's "Stone Soup" was a staple in their young diet. So were many others. In fact, about half of the stories I read in the Jr. Great Books selections were from books I find on our bookshelves at home. But much of the controversy has not centered on the selections themselves, them-selves, but the questions asked the children in the discussion after the reading was over. And I find that over the years I have come to ask myself the kinds of questions as I read as are asked in the For instance, he reported that a satellite prison has been proposed for the Utah County area and the representatives of COG have taken this matter under discussion in order to give iriput to the state. COG was disbanded for some time but reorganized a year or so ago with Mayor Malcolm Beck, Mayor Jim Ferguson and the County Commissioners Com-missioners being among those enthusiastic en-thusiastic to start again. Mayor Holdaway noted that the organization will probably form two solid waste districts, one for the north end of the county and one for the south Leavitt Insurance Agency WHO'S 11 a- Jr. Great Books discussions. I've always tried to understand what the writer was trying to say probably because I've had aspirations of someday being a writer. Or maybe I've had those aspirations because I think that way, who knows? The point is that somehow, by instinct in-stinct or whatever, I have come to read stories the way Jr. Great Books wants kids to read stories. And I wouldn't have it any other way. But can someone else teach my children to read that way? Will any old discussion leader be good enough to give my daughter or son the feel for reading that I want him or her to develop? My reading as a youngster had no real direction. I read what I wanted, what interested me. If my parents had known half of the time what I was reading, they probably would have burned the books. And I could have been denied a great experience with an author they didn't think appropriate, ap-propriate, but one I enjoyed, and one who expanded my understanding of what went on inside and outside of me. Do I want my children to find their own direction that same way? Or do I want someone else to instill it in them? If they don't do it on their own, will the program do it for them? Or will it teach them to hate books, like so many people seem to do? Do I want them to find their own questions, and then look for the answers? an-swers? Or do I want an adult to provide the questions for them? And how do I know the questions will be end, in the near future. Presently there is only the one Solid Waste District. The mayor is strongly behind the Utah County Council for Arts and the Humanities which is sponsored by COG. Duke Major and Karla Haynie represent Pleasant Grove on that committee. At present a steering committee comprised of Utah County mayors is working on organizing this council. A conference has been planned for April at either Utah Technical College or BYU. PLEASE READ Thanks for your attention. We simply want to tell you about dirty chimneys. Over 60,000 chimneys burned in 1980. Between 1978 and 1980, deaths from chimney fires rocketed 69. Dirty chimneys can burn and take human lives. That's why you should give us a call for a Free Inspection. The inspection costs you nothing. But it could reveal a dangerous chimney. If it does, we'll sweep that chimney with precise brushes and our powerful "SootSweeper" Dust FREE INSPECTION Timpanogos Soot Slayers 785-0446 the right ones to make the reading mean something to them? That's too many questions, and I have too few answers. But I do know this. Anything that keeps books out of the hands of children worries me. I believe children are intelligent enough to evaluate what they read and make correct choices about what is right and wrong in that reading. They have to make those same determinations every day in how they live. When they aren't home, they do it on their own. And they can do it on their own when they read. So while the program itself leaves me with a lot of questions, I have come up with some very definite "ifs." (How's that for a contradiction?) con-tradiction?) If Jr. Great Books will help children enjoy reading because they understand un-derstand it better, then I have to be in favor of it. If it will give them the tools to evaluate what they read, then I'm even more in favor of it. If it will teach my children to love reading as I do, I'll give the program my undying support. Although I doubt any program can do that. I'm convinced that that love must grow on a one-to-one basis, person-to-book, as I found it with "The Count of Monte Cristo." Any good reading program can provide an atmosphere conducive to creating that kind of relationship. The question is, will the Jr. Great Books program do it? And I'm still not sure. 'Browsing9 gone today, but here tomorrow Browsing by Tom Griffiths is missing from this week's Citizen because Mr. Griffiths is recovering from recent surgery. We will resume Browsing in next week's newspaper Collector. Cleanliness guaranteed! 75 East Main American Fork ... 756-5205 |