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Show Citizen Wednesday, June 23, 1993 - Page 4 editorial Technology changes way we watch TV Look out. The way we watch television televi-sion is going to change - again and again and again. The broadcast industry has never been one to stand still, but it is looking to its early days to solve a dilemma created by modern technology. Rules first implemented in 1927 to protect the re-transmission rights of radio ra-dio programs may now help preserve our local television stations from the competition compe-tition presented by cable television. The problem is the rules for re-transmission of television programming were changed when cable television was in its infancy. The cable industry was facing the tough task of convincing the public that it could provide more and better programmingthan was available through over-the-air television. So in 1959, when cable was getting started, the Federal Communications System gave cable television operators the right to rebroadcast local channels at no charge, along with other cable offerings. offer-ings. It was a good deal for cable, since operators could offer local channels with improved reception along with the variety vari-ety of other channels brought in on the cable system. For years, cable television provided local channels with improved reception along with limited programming from other stations mostly re-runs of old television shows and old movies. But over the years, the industry has caught up with the technology, and now cable television offers a broad range of video entertainment that cannot be matched by local over-the-air television broadcasting. First run movie channels, all-sports programming, 24-hour news, MTV and the Disney Channel it is all there and available to anyone willing to pay the price of a cable subscription. Father left treasures, but not those of earth 1 What a difference time and places can make. Here I am in Utah and out of my east window I can see Mt. Timpanogos. Many years ago I was in another land. Out of my east window I could see Mt. Rysog. The land was Wales. There was the valley, the brook, then the mountain. My life was entwined with these things. To me the brook was a living thing. As it flowed over the rocks it had a voice. When it was bank full with winter and spring rains its voice wa strong and vibrant and spoke of strength and endurance. Then in summer its voice changed. It now sang like a sweet lullaby. This was when I loved it the most. ; It was an adventure for me to follow the brook up the valley to where it bubbled out of Pontypool Mountain. My father, bless him, did not hunt or fish. These hobbies were too expensive and reserved for the rich. As an example, only two men in the village had licenses to fish the brook and the reservoir. They were Judge Morgan and the village druggist. Father, or Tad, which was Welsh for father, was talented in other ways. He could play the accordion and resole shoes, he loved to sing and taught the children to sing in parts. He never owned a home or a telephone. I doubt if he ever spoke into one. Like most wage workers he never owned a car and I don't know if he ever rode in one. I can understand why he joined the Mormon Mor-mon Church. He belonged to the Church of England, although neither he nor anymem-ber anymem-ber of the family had been baptized. Being poor, he and his family sat on the hard wooden seats in church. Those better off financially sat on the padded seats or in the private pews. I have often thought how my parents fulfilled a Biblical quotation, "My church Legalizing sins in God's name TheU.S.SupremeCourthasapproved animal sacrifices in the name of religion. In Hialeah, Fla., the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye appealed to the Supreme Su-preme Court - in the.name of "religious liberty" - to sacrifice animals. The Supreme Su-preme Court said yes. Either the justices left this decision to their junior law clerks -- or they should have. The Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye is an outgrowth of the San teria cult which originated in Nigeria, Africa, and came to the United States through Cuba. The weird ritec are practiced by 70,000 blood-drinking Cuban-Americans living in South Florida. . There are segments of Santeria in New York and Chicago. The Supreme Court decreed that the city law in Florida unfairly targeted this one admittedly "unpopular minority faith." And thus was opened a potential Pandora's box of what Scripture warned against as "sins in My name." Historically, our Supreme Court has And with pay-per-view gaining in popularity, the medium is changing even more. Cable television no longer needs the help of the FCC to stay in business - it is taking over the business. In fact, many cable operations take place in monopoly situations which encourage en-courage high costs and poor service - all the while competing with local over-the-air television stations. So last year, with the Cable Television Televi-sion Consumer Protection and Competition Competi-tion Act, Congress tried to find a way to reduce the advantage it had given to cable -- and one method was to give local stations more balance in their relationship relation-ship with cable operators. Now those local broadcasters can force local cable providers to carry their signal an option called "must carry," or they can negotiate with cable subscribers for terms of carriage "retransmission consent" con-sent" -- which means that the local station sta-tion s can charge the cable subscribers to carry their signal. Retransmission consent is an attempt to restore balance in television programming. program-ming. Otherwise, cable television threatens threat-ens to eliminate local television stations altogether -- which would mean the loss of local news, public service programming program-ming and programming that reflects community values in a local sense, substituting sub-stituting them for the values of a nation gathered aroun d the electronic hearth of television. Such a loss would be tragic. Locally, KSL has chosen to negotiate with local cable providers for retransmission consent - which would mean the exclusion of KSL from cable companies that cannot reach an agreement agree-ment with the station. It will be interesting to watch as local stations fight for their lives against the incursion of cable. It remains in the public interest to see that both survive. , By TOM GRIFFITHS W will be one of a family and two of a city." So on Father's Day, my father taught me the meaning of courage. One day a well meaning citizen wrote an article in the local paper. He wrote, "We don't want Mormons in our town . We should unite and drive them out of town." I remember that evening in our little living room by the light of the oil lamp and the fireplace. Father read the article to us, then with a big smile he said. "In the Old Testament there is a story about Daniel, one of God's prophets. A decree had gone out throughout the land that anyone caught praying to the unknown God would be severely se-verely punished. "Someone saw Daniel praying to his God through a window and reported him to the authorities. As a result he was thrown in a den of lions. Don't worry," fathercomforted, "we have no lions in our town." He didn't leave us anything of earthly value but if memories could be painted with gold his would be of the purest kind. Paul Kkaruey HQUJS e 1991 Loa Angeles Times Syndicate been willing to limit the religious liberty of parents who withhold medical treatment treat-ment from their children. The high court outlawed polygamy for Mormons. The "religious liberty" of David Koresh and his followers was summarily abridged by federal police who stormed his "religious "reli-gious retreat." Our Republic is protected by only the thinnest veneer of civilization anyway, and when refugees from elsewhere are .allowed to import morals, mores and customs cus-toms utterly alien to our own, they become be-come a Trojan Horse threat to our own There's danger in crossing We had just left 1-15 for American Fork Canyon Road when we saw them -- hundreds hun-dreds of caterpillars trying to cross the highway from the north to the south. Derek and I were returningfrom a screening screen-ing of "Dennis the Menace," the sneak preview pre-view they showed at 9:30 Saturday morning. morn-ing. (There ought to be some kind of regulation regula-tion against displaying anythingbefore noon that would create an urge to eat popcorn, dont you think?) We had enjoyed the film and its nonsense non-sense as much as can be expected for a movie before noon, and the trip home had been filled with retelling the best parts. And suddenly there they were -- crawling as quickly across the highway as their many legs would carry themrtakingtheir chances with the passing cars which had left the remains of hundreds of their brethren smeared all over the road. So we stopped to watch and to take a photo - which you see on this page of one of the lucky ones which had made it to the other side. The picture doesn't show it well, but this particular pre-butterfly is on the white paint strip that defines the road. We had watched it as it risked life, limb and antennae. A dozen or so cars passed over this critter, the turbulence created by the passage of each car blowing the fellow over on his side. Each time he quickly righted himself, and kept on moving to some destination we could not fathom. Admittedly, we helped a little by being there along the side of the road, trying to take a picture. Cars would move away from us, and the caterpillar, allowing it to safely complete the journey. But it had risked a lot, and from the looks of the highway, the odds weren't good for any caterpillar making that particular trip. I wanted Derek to witness this mindless trek that we sometimes see in nature - I'm not sure why. I have seen it two or three times before, twice that I remember well. Once was along the highway in Ovid, Idaho, near my home. After a particularly Shopping on I never knew it could be so dangerous to do a little shopping. It wasn't that I didn't start early enough. In an effort to avoid the last-minute rush before Father's Day, I began preparations far (for me) in advance. Basically unsure of my goal, I started perusing stores, one department at a time. Men's clothing, was a good start. Steve enjoys wearing things I wouldn't be caught dead in, and he's up" to date on the latest weird fads, so it wW a likely prospect for a gift. . . ; r A-- Only one problem presented itself. With only slight variations of surfinggorillas and nimble neon Neanderthals, all those so-popular so-popular tee shirts look alike. I found apes riding surfboards down freshly-washed grocery store aisles, through stately fountains in front of governmental-type governmental-type buildings, and from rain gutter to rain gutter in the suburbs. , From the ridiculous to the insane, they had one thing in common. They all looked vaguely familiar. It's hard to tell why something so far out can seem so close to home, but I honestly would have had a hard time choosing between be-tween the varieties available to get one that wasn't already in our closet. Casual slacks was another possibility, but I had shot the wad on a name-brand variety for his birthday last year. To the best of my memory they have never seen the light of day, so that probably wasn't the best option. Shorts? Without the person who would Everybody wants a piece of our tax dollars Editor: The economic conditions of our area are low with the layingoff of many employees at Signetics, and the low salary rates throughout through-out the county. We have many struggling young families and senior citizens on fixed incomes. President Clinton and the Democratic Congress are working on the largest tax and institutions. I know on the Statue of Liberty it does not discriminate when it invites the world's "poor, tired, huddled masses." Yet, that inscription was never part of our Statue of Liberty until a do-gooder wealthy woman poet named Emma Lazarus added it 17 years after the statue was dedicated. j It was ironic that the same day the Supreme Court gave its blessing to this alien blood cult, our National Security Council, State Department, Justice Department De-partment and Immigration Department were contemplating strategy for dealing with terrorists already within our gates. If any religion's "practices" are now to enjoy the protection of our laws, an invader in-vader need only to proclaim his follower a "church" and we have no recourse. ; Any policeman has seen the escalation from animal cruelty to other kinds. A "church" that wants our animals now may next want our daughters. What most nations of Europe and Asia are electing to do with outsiders who don't conform is to send them home! TtiG Editor's eblumn By MARC 2. 3 wet winter and wetter spring, I was driving along this road only to be confronted with pavementcovered with shiny, hoppingfivgs trying to get, I suppose, from one pond to another. It just happened that the ponds were on opposite sides of the road. And to the frogs, the trip was worth the risk. The sounds of the tires unavoidably crunching the little frog bodies was not pleasant. I remembered it for a long time, and I was glad I was not a frog. A few years later I saw something similar simi-lar in Mexico, on the road between Hermosillo and Nogales. This was in the Sonoran Desert, where the saguaro and prickly pear cactus rule. I was drivi ng from onecity to another in a small, yellow Datsun, when I came upon a pilgrimage of large, dark brown bugs that looked like millipedes milli-pedes crossing the highway. This road was not as well travelled as Canyon Road, and the millipedes were having hav-ing much more success moving from one feeding ground to another. I stopped the car and got out to see what kind of creatures these were, and where they were going. There was just as much desert on one side of the road as there was on the other - with the same kinds of plants for food, and the same kind of sand. I still have no idea what prompted the millipedes, or the frogs, or the caterpillars to travel from one place to another over the the sly for your BcocCa's UJDPG By BARBARA CHRISTIANSEN wear them available to try them on, it's hard to get the right length. Besides, he's already the owner pf several pairs. He does wear. them, ibut HaW manv.does anyone f. -t - u . , .. t!-,s l '',, person reany neear Dress shirts, ties and suits only get worn , on a limited basis - not a good choice. Another day I went through several other departments. Stationery? No, to my knowledge knowl-edge he hasn't written a letter in the last 18 years. Sportinggoods? Again not a likely choice for someone who's reluctant to play even miniature golf once every year or two. Books? Those he has expressed an interest inter-est in seem appreciated enough at first, but they tend to pile up on the nightstand and do little but collect dust Maybe not. Another trip took me to the home improvement im-provement section. . I could find lots of things I'd be interested in him having. How about a gallon or two of paint for the bathroom? Maybe some dry-wall dry-wall to finish off the laundry room? Perhaps a gift of that variety might be classed as just a wee bit selfish on my part. By this time, Father's Day was fast approaching and I had to decide on something. some-thing. ";'), ' - ' :. - I made another quick trip to the store, spend legislation in history. Utah County Commissioners have set a huge bond election property tax increase to build a brand new county jail facility. . Alpine School District had a voted property prop-erty tax increase last year to build two new junior high schools. Now the Alpine School Board is planning on taking advantageof thegenerosity of the taxpayers by increasing the property taxes by another $40 to $50 this next year. The school district had a $23 million surplus cany over from last year's budget . and they anticipate having a similar surplus sur-plus tocarry over next year. That is millions Thanks for help with grad party Editor: . We would like to thank the following businesses for their generous donations to the American Fork High School's Class of '93 graduation party: M - Arbs, Smith's Food and Drug, Fakler Tires, Walker Oil Co., Gene Harvey, American Ameri-can Fork Pet Clinic, Classy Cuts, Aline Credit Union,' Geneva Steel, Peppermint Place, Bank of American Fork. Also Benson Bolt, Dr. Ron Saunders, Dr. -Editor :;7 The members of the American Fork City Youth Council would like to thank the following stores for their donations to support sup-port our Youth Dance: Bank of American Fork, Marko Auto Parts, Gunthers,Help-U-Mail, Jones Paint Dance had great that road HADDOCK most dangerous of surfaces, when obvi- ously the same conditions existed on either side of the road. Did one caterpillar start the journey and; entice his fellow caterpillars to follow - most of them to a quick and squishy death?!) Or were these butterfly larvae following; some prompting embedded deep in their-1 beings - some type of migratory urge that just could not be denied? ; And how much, I wonder, are we like' they are, following others, or our own urges,! across the dangerous highway to get to a; place that is very much like the place we' just left? C Anyway, Saturday morning Derek and I; cheered the survivors, watching as 10 or so of the caterpillars made it to safety on the! other side of the highway. Some, as I men-; tioned above, we may have helped a little -. feeling a sense of pride mixed with guilt -! after all, some caterpillars are voracious; eaters, and I have no idea what kind of. future butterflies we were preserving. '. But for the most part, the effort made me ; feel good, like I had helped a small creature across a great chasm to a land where it '. could find whatever it waslookingforon the other side. ' '. The feeling lasted for about a quarter of ; a mile, when we found another group of -caterpillars crossing the highway - going ! the other direction. favorite guy this time in the middle of a visit to my . mother's. Good timing - he wouldn't even have to know I would be going shopping. Success would be mine on this trip. I '. knew it for two reasons the way the ; opportunity arose to sneak in the shopping spree, and the fact that the deadline was ', imminent and I was desperate. As I entered the store and reached opti- mistically for a shoppingcart, J happened to ' r InnlrrinwnthA first nislAanHraiiohtjriirhtnf ! Tr.ro-;"n"T--i Steve. Quickly ducking back behind the beach ! towels, I ran into a family I knew. J "Help," I cried. "Hide me." 2 Obligingly they circled round me as I J quickly explained. They went into action. Louise and I ducked into the computer program section and checked out the contents while Mike played scout and kept a wary eye on Steve. I Their daughter noticed that my da ugh- ter was also along, so she tried to follow her and keep me out of her sight, too. I All the more interesting was the fact that Carol was doing her Father's Day ; shopping so she was trying to stay out of sight of her dad. Jj Bobbing and weaving, we managed to dodge the two of them. Ducking and running, we tried to stay hidden and still see what things Steve was looking at. Success! 2 Not only did I manage to buy a too) he r didn't have; I got my exercise while I was ? doing it , I of dollars, not thousands of dollars. I believe J this superintendent and school board needs J to be more realistic and accountable to the taxpayers. I The certified tax rate established by the county is .007871 which would provide the ' same income to the district which . was 3 authorized by the voted leeway.' J I believe the school board needs to pro- vide a little back bone and adjust the budget to the certified tax rate. All of us have to J adjust our budgets and be more respon- sible. Especially in light of the tax increase i mania. - ;.''' , ' -t . . , - ''.. -Bob Wright; Paul Robinson, Parker's Drive-In, Cory ' Adams Photography, Lehi Employees Credit Union, Alpine Gas Fireplace, American Fork Radiology, Kevin Behnet attorney. - And Little Things Mean a Lot, Sounds i Easy Video, Newtah News Group, Little J Caesar's Pizza, Copy Rama, Albertson's, 'J R.C. Willey, Laidlaw, Swen's Schwinn, Six Star, Hart's and Bromley Farms. I . Sharon dePaula ' " . . - AFHSPTSA and Glass, Bruce W. Bowen, CLU, and Nuttall's. - i We feel our dance was a success thanks ' to their support. -Mindy Thornton J American Fork City Youth Council 1 ifafll support |