OCR Text |
Show i i c Citizen - Wednesday, February 26, 1986 - Page 2 Winter not over for Utah Valley North Utah County residents would be well warned to not take the current wanning trend too seriously. After all, it's still February. ' To be sure', an early end to this winter was predicted by some local groundhogs. But that prediction was contradicted by the findings of other groundhogs, both here at home and across the country. And the blue sky and bright sun have fooled Mother nature, as flowers are beginning to bud, and trees will soon begin to blossom long before either should ever happen. That's caused some problems. This early spring-like weather has been painful, with May showers in the middle of February, coupled with early run-off, causing some disasterous flooding in Utah County and in other parts of the state. The warmer weather also gives an interesting slant to I" h's favorite winter passtime - skiing. Spring ski weather in February is a novelty. But without some new snow, all this sun will make the slopes pretty rugged before the season ends. But it's a good bet the blue skies won't last. This is not a plea to pay attention to the old sayings about March coming in like a lion. If the current weather trend continues, the year's third month's entrance en-trance will indeed be much more like a lamb. But it would be a good time to remember that Utah County's weather is fickle - especially in the springtime. It's a good thing to remember that spring has not arrived in Utah County until it snows and the temperature tem-perature climbs to over 70 degrees in the same hour. And it usually does that sometime in June. Until then, enjoy the sun and carry an umbrella . c letters to the editor More money needed to support education for Utah children Editor: I am a high school biology teacher in the Alpine District, and a mother ofcf&ree children We are not native : to Utah, but there's no place we'd rather live. Utah's solid family life offers us the best kids you'll find anywhere. What baffles me is the contradiction con-tradiction between, values and budget. Most Utah people agree that children are our greatest resource. Many acknowledge that the glory of God is intelligence. But that standard is not backed up with funds. How can we praise . the value of youth in our churches while we plan for sub-standard' school budget in our legislature? Utah's present financial philosophy , refutes our value system. Medical advances have made great strides in saving lives, at tremendous costs. Although prices have doubled - tripled - quadrupled - no one dares to challenge the value of better-testing facilities, better monitoring, better surgical technique. If it saves peoples' lives, Hoggard gets thanks for efforts with student at AFHS Editor: We would like to take this opportunity op-portunity to publicly thank a . teacher at the American Fork High School, Mr. Bruce Hoggard, for his efforts in behalf of our daughter, Gina, who was a student in American Problems class last semester. We appreciate your taking the time for her in class, to make it interesting so that it sparks a desire for learning and for the kindness you have shown her. She talked about the class each day she took it and therefore shared with us some of the things that we were unaware of, she was able to talk freely to us and I'm sure this was due to the fact of the way you treated the subjects with your classes, things which we as parents of teenagers have to deal ' with daily and for the teens themselves who are at this stage in life, going through some emotional, ' difficult times. ' The letter we received in the mail . from you commending ' Gina and thanking us for exemplary behavior Alpine opens text review to public on March 3, 4 The public is Invited to participate par-ticipate in the Alpine School District textbook adoption process by reviewing potential textbooks for science and social studies at the elementary level. The textbook review will take place on March S and 4 (Monday and Tuesday) from 1:30 until 7:30 we'll pay the price. Why, then, is Utah willing to accept . minimum r mind-saving facilities? Educattotfba also made , great strides timu1au)g interest -- focusing on individual heeds -providing long-term memory experiences ex-periences - balancing left-brained with right-brained thinking - all at a price. These advances cannot be mains treamed in an atmosphere of minimum budget. I urge you to stand up for Utah's greatest resource, and to confirm Utah's value of intelligence. Stand up for kindergarten - stand up for career ladder - stand up for lower class size - stand up for the best equipment and media. We don't insult the doctors' intelligence in-telligence by asking them to use 1930's medical technique. Stand up for educational intelligence and fight for drastic budget increases. Let Utah rise to take a lead in offering of-fering the best education in the nation. -Cynthia Otto Orem in class is something we wish to give you an "A" grade on - it is such a good idea - we realize letters of failure have to be sent too, but they could include a note of encouragement en-couragement in them - the personal touch goes a lot further than a plain deficiency notice. I'm sure Mr. Hoggard could make a failure notice in such a way. , ... We want him to know it goes a " long way to restore our faith in " human nature and especially with all the controversy about the teaching profession, and the schools in general. We are glad there are a few dedicated teachers left like the ones we enjoyed in our days at school. Again Mr. Hoggard, thank you so much and PLEASE! PLEASE! " keep up the good work. I know it has made us want to encourage Gina more and give her more praise on her efforts in school. She, too, is , pleased with the words of encouragement en-couragement from you. -Mr. and Mrs. Leonard O'Dell p.m. in the Teacher Learning Center, 2nd floor of the Harrington Building, 40 N. Center, American Fork; : . ... , Patrons wishing further in-foramtion in-foramtion on the reviews or on the textbook adoption process may contact Sharon Beck with the Alpine School District at 756-9671. Editor conventioned We are sorry to report that for the second time in over three years, Mr. Haddock is not able to produce his weekly Column. - The poor man tried hard, too hard in fact. But after he had stared at the computer screen for two hours without typing a word, we decided to give him a break. We don't feel it is any shame that he just couldn't get a column, or anything else, for that matter, put together this week. Everybody has an off day. . - Of course, the last time this happened he had a good reason. After all, it was election week, and elections are hard on everyone. This week, Mr. Haddock's excuse is quite a bit weaker. It seems he was conventioning this weekend with other members of the press -and he still isn't himself . You wouldn't think that three days in St. George would affect someone so, especially someone who does not partake of alcoholic spirits. On the other hand, Mr. Haddock did overindulge at the dinner table, as well as the breakfast and lunch table. (It was even reported to us that he made the rounds after dinner Saturday and snatched uneaten Jelly Bellys off of other tables, collecting a large number of the jelly Money not answer to There seems to be a tremendous, problem these days concerning education. Frankly, I cannot see where there is any great problem, unless is that teacher organizations feel that money is the answer. However, time has proven that money is not the answer to education's problems. One would think according to our Governor that unless more money is set aside for education this state is going to go down the drain. 1 This is not saying much for we old-timers, many of whom attended the little red school house, yet helped America to become the greatest nation on earth. We did not have such things as counselors, yet we made our way in the world. In fact, I am wondering if many parents rely on the judgement of school counselors to guide the desUnyi&eir children, which In some- ases roay be erroneous. f The road of the counselor can be rocky and trying. For example, a woman brings her boy in for counsel. She expects the counselor On the hereditary nature of parenting My husband and I have gone round the bend. It's okay though, I've been expecting ex-pecting this. In fact, I knew it was coming long before it happened. I think I suspected it the first year as parents when we suddenly started to talk in strange ways and exhibit bizarre kinds of behavior. We never slept. We talked in monosyllables and we considered it a good day if we got through it without spitup on our sleeves. When the babies cried, we were up. When they didn't we were up checking to see why not . We arose at 3 a.m. one night to return home from Grandma's because our newborn son wasn't sleeping well in "a strange crib." Then we turned around in Nephi after two hours driving and went back to Grandma's for his favorite blanket. Days began to go -by without a more exciting conversational topic than "Did he burp for you last night? What was his rectal temperature?" And we didn't care to know much more than that. ' At the dinner table we found ourselves comparing notes on successful potty-training techniques and combating colic. I knew we were losing our grip when we started accepting this aiiiiiiiiiiimimiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiMiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiL Z Utah County's Distributor z for ARP on electrical E alternators & starters E for all foreign or domestic s autos, trucks & mobile homes ENGINES These Japanese engines have less than 10,000 miles on them and are complete with wires, alt., starter, carb., sending sen-ding unit, water pump, fan belt -the works. limplat Tytr7J.7f ISSfcc Honda 7S-7I mice Inc. Trans. 595 670 the editor's column By MARC HADDOCK By THE STAFF beans before the waitresses asked him to leave.) ' And then there was the sun. After leaving a cloud-covered Utah County, Mr. Haddock found himself under the harsh glare of old Sol during his stay in southern Utah, and then returned only to more sunlight. Part of his condition could, then, be attributed to sun stroke. browsing J, f?k to say that the boy is sure to become the president of a billion dollar corporation. What -does-the ".cdtaseloru ffly? Well, something like this. Why, Mrs. Brown, I can tell by looking at Billy's hands that a great career awaits him in the field of surgery -or could it be a concert pianist? Anyway, it's a toss-up which road tidbits Copyright 1985 Sharon Morrey By SHARON MORREV , routine as normal. ' And who can blame us? ; We'd done well to last as long as . we did, what with the lack of sleep, quiet and control. S A jury of people with six kids each would never hold us accountable for being berserk now. How long can sanity exist with constant interruption and chaos?.: (Actually I never did see how it -could work, this parenting business.) , : You're outnumbered first of all , (even with , just one child) and secondly, the kids have all the Alternators and Starters for Imports S Puces slatting as low as 20M I ; ' AirtomotWa jjj. Replacement Ports 5 DAVE'S I ,Autcmotrve Service . '445 E. State Rd., : Pleasant Grove 7R5.fiM 1 1 l (3 By TOM GRIFFITHS l . v U l A ' ni 1 M v5 in out after St. George And he was suffering notably from a swelling in the cranial region which started Saturday evening. It seems they give awards at these things - nothing important, mind you. But Mr. Haddock is so competitive. com-petitive. I mean, he cheats at Scrabble and mercilessly bankrupts his own children just to win a game of Monopoly. And it's been rumored , that he memorized all of the answer in Trivial Pursuit just so no one could ever beat him. So these silly little contests mean a lot to him, even if they don't mean diddly to his readers. It was bad enough that his, newspaper won the general: ex-, cellence award for the second time, in a row, and the third time since he started editing the newspaper. That gave his ego a boost that wouldn't; , ',., But when three editorials he wrote took all the awards in the editorial writing competition, there was no stopping the man. His wife reports that he even showed his plaques to the diners in the restaurant where he stopped to eat on his way back from St. George. It was more than any of us in the office could stand. Finally, after three days away education he decides to travel. One appears to , be as good as the other." F, Another mother brings her son' in ' for the counselor's analysis. The counselor looks at Willie's pug nose and exclaims, "I have never seen such a profile! This lad will without a doubt become another Barrymore . or Richard Burton." Then another mother comes along dragging her son, Archie. The mother is expecting a comment such as this. "My goodness, Mrs. Jones, this boy cannot be anything but a judge. Look how his shoulders stoop. Already he has the appearance ap-pearance of having served a lifetime on the bench. After we fill him up with a little algebra and some chemistry, he'll be prepared to take up the gavel." At the beginning of the fall semester,, a woman wearing a .fur cpat and -apparently rbetongingto the -upper-crust brought her son gin for counseling. "What would you advise Wilfred to study?" she asked. The counselor looked at the boy and was about to say, "A ammunition and don't have to play by the rules. They can be mean, sulky and get chocolate all over the front of you, but you're not allowed to retaliate. ... Parents are operating totally in the dark, against overwhelming odds. ' When I dramatically dumped a whole box of little Lego building blocks into the garbage because' no one would help pick them up, I was concerned about my mental balance - but when I spent the next three - hours laboriously retrieving them - because I remembered what I spent .for them, I knew it was all over. When I'm down on all fours under . my daughter's high-chair, plucking wet macaroni and cheese from the' floor, (all the while dodging drips from her rootbeer popsicle) I know there's no hope. . ' . ' And when Bob calls long-distance and we spend the entire $5 worth of phone transmission like this :'.' , .r "Did you get one?" "Yeah, but I had to pay a high price." ' , V "that's okay. We had no choice." J1 "Yeah, that's what 1 figured, we 'were running out of time." "You did the right thing. I'm glad . you got 'em." (Who would ever believe we were 4:n : r: nn i o uwcuasmg Dig mieeis : i MV ni.. An .: nus JJUtm LOVES JO o m r o DEPEND ONOUAIITY BANK 9N THE 756-9583 from home our editor exhibited some of the classic symptoms of sensory deprivation. Out of the presence of his household of six children, be lived In a world devoid of noise. Sleep was Impossible without a baby crying in the next room. And despite the prodigious amounts of food Mr. Haddock ingested at the convention, he reported that the dining area was too quiet, and his digestion was hampered. We Just got so tired of him we sent the poor man home -where he could enjoy , some of the home-grown noises that he missed during his brief vacation, and we could enjoy some peace in the of f ice. , We wanted to give him time for the swelling of his head to subside so that he might to return to his more common state of manic-depressive behavior, punctuated with a healthy dose of paranoia and cynicism - the required condition of all weekly newspaper editors. .. When he comes back to work, his new hat may even fit him again. . Really, it was nice to get him out of the office for a while. Things seem to run much smoother when he's gone. We're regret to announce, however, that he will return next week. 1 woes bricklayer," then he looked at the , woman and changed his mind. "With the proper studies," he said, "this boy could become a psychologist and make a million dollars a year." Imagine this case if your'; can. Mrs. T. Emerson Wright came in with her son Chester, "What are Chester's plans?" asked the counselor. "Will it be mechanical drawing, modelling, or..." and then noticing Chester's size, "football?" "It will be Latin, Latin, Latin," said the boy's mother. This caught the counselor by surprise. , "Latin," he said. ,"Why, whenever we mention Latin around here, the students scatter like flies. Our Latin teacher has only two pupils in her class and one of them is absent half the time." Mrs. Wright insisted it would be ('Well' aid the. eouiiselor"0e you understand that Latin is a dead language?" "That is very appropriate,". said Mrs. Wright. "Chester plans on becoming an undertaker." The question is . . . what do we tell people? That we went bananas over a baby who puts them in her hair? That we are crackers because of cookie crumbs in the sheets? Do we admit that we can't hold our own with little humans one-fourth our size and 30 years our junior? , In a minute! i ' ISSN No. 87SM677 . , U.S.P.S. No. 0185-8000 f Published weekly except temi-weekly for Thanksgiving and Christmas by Newtah, Inc. 59 West Main American FortUuh mojo Telephone Number : Advertising ft Circulation tw.7m .News..'... .756-5273 Pllhltckar DMii 11 r ! --.. men iv. oezzani ; .... """" marc Haaaock Subscription price $12" per year Second class postage paid at American Fork Post Office PonlmMirr Send tddran chna to W Weil Mim. American Fort. Uuh MOB S SAVE FUEL i '7h, i a SAVINGS1 L&f niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiH |