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Show American Fork CltLzenLone Peak New Utah! - Wednesday, May 23, 2001 Page 2 By: )j ' ': Q PINION in 1 " i" mm iiiidii. ... immmmmmmi in. mimimpwiiuiiiiihij iiiimjujiui.i.mnmiii I .ft Jiff ViifciAiii" ( 1 " ' : - n n iirinin'rir iii'mi irinini i i" f i "in n 'it - Making a safe holiday As America heads into its first traditionally deadly Holiday Holi-day of the year, police departments depart-ments and safety groups are touting the same important message seat belts can save lives, and the more people who use them, the more lives can be saved. ! Proper use of seatbelts and ; car seats are the focus of drives by at least two local police departments. Lehi Police have adopted a zero-tolerance policy regarding non-seat belt use for the Memorial Day weekend. Pleasant Grove police are ' offering a car seat check Thursday, so parents can make certain their children's car seats and booster seats are adequate. These efforts are both , important, because both will ; save lives. I The National Safety Council estimates that more than 100 ; lives could be saved this Memorial Day weekend if all motor vehicle occupants were properly buckled up. Locally, that means four Utahns could be fatally injured in crashes 1 this weekend because they did , not wear seatbelts. "A simple decision to wear a ' safety belt could save your life," said Bob Parenti, the , Utah Safety Council president. "We urge all motorists to wear safety belts and properly buckle buck-le children in child safety seats." ';; ' Here are some guidelines offered by the Utah Safety Council for this holiday weekend: week-end: Buckle up. Safety belt and Certified or Well, it's official I've now qualified to be a member of Team 2002, having completed the last of three group training sessions late last month. I was assured during my interview many moons ago that the selection process was rigorous, rigor-ous, although I've since wondered won-dered how picky you can be when you need at least 35,000 bodies to do something. After all, not even the filming of the epic movie "The Ten Commandments" Com-mandments" required a tenth of that number, even in the days before computer graphics. Cyber images can't run the Olympics however, so they need real, breathing people.- Considering Consid-ering the number who live in the state, that's a pretty hefty chunk and in the end, perhaps per-haps "breathing" will become the primary criteria. The training sessions have been an interesting combination of hype, hoke and instruction, designed to get volunteers excitJ ed about the opportunity to be a part of the Games as well. as cram as much necessary infor- ; mation into them as possible during a limited time. I have to admit they made : showing up for training as easy as they promised. Sessions lasted last-ed just two hours each, and the dates and hours could be easily changed with a push of a button. but-ton. I rearranged mine several times to adapt to my constantly shifting schedule, though it may not be quite so simple when I begin the more specific training I'll be required to have for my venue and my job. It was interesting that I was the only person in my final session, ses-sion, besides the trainer of course, who already knew what my assignment would be. I wasn't exactly surprised because I knew I'd been picked up early, but I was grateful to actually know while the rest are American Fork Citizen Newlftah! ' ' (ISSN No. 1521-6845) (U.S.P.S. No. 018-580) " A member of Ha' child safety seat use is the easiest eas-iest and most effective way to protect yourself while on the roadways. When taking longer trips, allow plenty of travel time so that you can take frequent breaks. Drowsiness can reduce reaction time almost as much as drinking. Don't drink and drive. If you know you will be drinking alcohol, designate a driver who will not drink and can drive you home. Keep a safe following distance; dis-tance; use the "three second" rule. Drive friendly and be courteous. cour-teous. For small children, there are more considerations. The Utah County Health Department adds that parents need to make certain that young children chil-dren are properly restrained with car seats and booster seats. The fact is, over half of all children killed in crashes are completely unrestrained. Never place a child safety seat in front of a passenger side air bag, and always properly restrain all children 12 and under in the back seat. It is by far the safest place. Proper safety restraints are saving lives every day. This weekend, as many of us hit the road to enjoy the first major holiday of the summer season, it would be a great idea to buckle up, make certain children chil-dren are properly restrained, and drive carefully. It's one way to ensure a good . and a safe Memorial Day holiday. certifiable? still wondering, having only a vague notion of a general area, to which they might be " assigned. I was also impressed with the problem-solving techniques that were taught during these very quick classes. They encouraged us to practice them in day-today living so we'd be used to doing it by the time the Olympics actually start. It's a good idea, and will come in handy in my newspaper work, where we face challenges with limited resources on a daily basis. One of the most intriguing aspects was an anger-diffusing mechanism to use when it has become apparent that fixing the problem of your "guest" is beyond your abilities. It's suggested to go find help when something can be done, but the role-playing exercises enlightened us that there may be some situations without perfect per-fect solutions, or any solutions at all. That happens all the time here. Once a mistake makes it into print, we can only correct it we can't take back the original, origi-nal, which will be enshrined in our pages in perpetuity. For the Olympics, the goal then becomes to leave the person per-son with as positive an experience experi-ence as possible under the circumstances. cir-cumstances. We hope to do the same at New Utah! I'm glad to know a new way to try to cheer people up when such inevitable blunders occur, no matter who is at fault. In any event, I guess I'm now certified or certifiable; we'll all find out which in about 260 days. Published weekly by Tie -T iVwlaliAews 59 West Main American Fork, Utah 64003 ri-miMliiiiiiimirwiiiri-iMiiyM iriniiii'iiti-fflririirii A taste of Italy, a taste of When our fellow travelers on a recent tour to Italy asked what I would write about when we got home, I joked that I would write a column about how we spent two weeks visiting the best and worst restrooms in the country. That was just a joke, although at times it did seem that we spent an inordinate amount of time waiting in lines at public rest stops especially espe-cially the stops where there was just one restroom for all 46 people in our group. But that would hardly be fair. This tour wasn't about restrooms, or about rest either. Sharon and I joined a BYU Travel Studies tour for two weeks exploring "Peter, Paul and Early Christianity" in Italy. The tour took us mom Rome to Florence and then to Naples. We were on the road by 7:30 almost every morning for the entire two weeks.' Every day we saw ancient ruins, museums, old churches church-es and some of the greatest works of art from the Renaissance. We spent our days in Rome at a hotel in the shadows of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, our nights in Florence at a resort hotel in the Tuscan hills, and the evenings in Sorento, near Naples, in a hotel built on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. We came home Sunday. While both Sharon and I are recovering from a monumental bout of jet lag, the trip was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn about Italy and see some of the most famous sights in the world. John Halh also of Highland, High-land, and his colleague John Welch, The meaning Memorial Day May 30 (traditional) (tradi-tional) or May 31 (this year's Congressional Con-gressional designation) is a day of "National Mourning." All U.S. flags should be displayed at half-staff half-staff during the morning hours. At noon, they should be raised back to full-staff. It's a sacred day to all war veterans. vet-erans. None need to be reminded of the reason why Memorial Day must be commemorated. But what about the general public, and more importantly, future generations? genera-tions? Do most non-veterans really real-ly recognize the importance of Memorial Day? Why remember? Sacrifice is meaningless without with-out remembrance. America's collective col-lective consciousness demands that all citizens be aware of and recall on special occasions the deaths of their fellow countrymen during wartime. - - Far too often, the nation as a whole takes for granted the freedoms free-doms all Americans enjoy. Those freedoms were paid fot with lives of others few of us actually knew. That's why they are ail-collectively remembered on one special day. This should be regarded as a civic obligation. For this is a national debt that can only be truly repaid by individual Americans. Ameri-cans. By honoring the - nation's No apology needed Editor: , . . . ' No apology necessaryt ; I'm responding tdi the very biased letter written by George; Brown in last week's Citizen.-;;! was in the liable meeting that." Mr. Brown spoke about and I have a very different dif-ferent view on what took place. First let me say that I think it is very inappropriate for Mr. Brown, a former city councilman, to publicly try to make our mayor look like an abusive or a prejudiced man. The mayor was in no way "abusive" or ''high-handed" as stated by Mr. Brown. . The fact that Council Member Belmont is a woman has no bearing on the way she has been or will be treated by the mayor or any of the council members. I don't know of any time that Council Member Belmont Bel-mont has been abused by any council coun-cil member at any time, as stated by Mr. Brown. Council Member Belmont Bel-mont is respected by each of the other council members. Council Member Belmont had requested that she be notified when Telephone Numbers Advertising & Circulation 756-7669 News 756-5273 Publisher .Brett Bezzant Managing Editor Marc Haddock AF City Editor . . . .Barbara Christiansen Lone Peak Editor Beky Beaton Periodicals Postage Paid at American Fork, Utah POSTMASTER: Mnd (ddrau chngt to 59 Wit Main, American Fork. UUh (4003 Deadlines Classified Advertising . . .Tuesday, noon Display Advertising Monday. 5 p.m. News Monday. 2 p.m. Missionaries Monday. 2 p.m. Weddings Monday. 2 p.m. Sports Monday. 10a.m. Community Calendar . .Monday. 10 a.m. Letters to the Editor . . .Monday. 10 a.m. Obituaries Tuesday. 11 a.m. Subscription price iiinii irriMMiin iiii iiii'rr iiiwaWWW8IIWKgB proved to be able, knowledgeable and insightful tour guides. There is no way to recount in the space available here all that we did, and it would probably bore most readers to tears. But there were a couple of observations I wanted to make about the trip. Number one, the traffic in Italy is worse than in Utah mainly because many of the roads are very, very narrow, and drivers expect pedestrians to get out of the way quickly. Just ask Highland's Karen That light was green when I started start-ed to cross the street" Swalberg, who was also on the tour. Number two, like food everywhere, every-where, Italian food can be very good, very bad and in between. We tried it all. But it was all very Italian. At the end of our first week, we were in a city call Ravenna looking at mosaics in Christian churches . that were built in the 6th century. The mosaics were incredibly lovely, and told us some things about early Christians that we found fascinating. fascinat-ing. After a morning of visits to a variety of cathedrals, basilicas and baptistries, however, the group was getting very hungry. Most of the group opted for a of Memorial war dead, we preserve their memory mem-ory and thus their service and sacrifice. sac-rifice. How do we remember? Means of paying tribute vary. Pausing for a few moments of personal per-sonal silence is available to everyone. every-one. Attending commemorative ceremonies is the most visible way of demonstrating remembrance; placing flags at grave sites, marching in parades, dedicating memorials and wearing Buddy Poppies are examples. Whether done individually or collectively, it is the thought that counts. Personal as well as public acts of remembering are the idea. Public displays of patriotism are essential if the notion of remembering remem-bering war dead is instilled in the young.' . "Strewing with flowers or otherwise oth-erwise decorating graves of comrades com-rades who died in defense of their country during late rebellion" became a tradition with the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union veterans organization that made honoring Civil War dead a Reader's Forum MHTN, the architects that designed our new courtspolice building, had done some preliminary designs for the remodel of our current city hall. The designs that were delivered to . city hall on Tuesday, May 1, were hot addressed specifically to any council member. The information was put in each council member's box on that Thursday. Apparently the information was put in the boxes after Council Member Mem-ber Belmont had picked up her information. If she would have checked her b ox at city hall prior to the city council meeting on May 8, she would have found the information informa-tion she had requested. The mayor, to defend him, did stop Council Member Belmont as she kept badgering Mr. Wanlass about the missing design specs. Council Member Blake made a statement that the information was in his box when he picked it up later on that Thursday night. Mayor Barratt pointed out to Council Member Belmont that the memo from MHTN wasn't addressed to anyone specific and that she was out of line continuing We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must include the author's name (printed AND signed) and a telephone number. num-ber. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, punctuation, punctua-tion, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic. HOW TO REACH $ By Mail: P.O. Box 7, American .L UT 84003 In Person " 59 W. Main, American home restaurant near the site of the last church we had visited, but Sharon and I, as well as the Hootons, also from Highland, opted to return to one of the town's piazzas to visit the local McDonald's. We were ready fdV a taste of home. j It was great. . "' ' A week later, the group was back in Rome, seeing some of Botticelli's achingly beautiful sculptures and then visiting the Pantheon. In the process, we came upon the first McDonald's built in Rome. This was Saturday, our last day in the city, and by this time almost everyone every-one in the group was hungry for some ail-American food. When we got our half-hour break for lunch, we made a beeline for the golden arches and lined up to place our orders. . This Rome McDonald's is in a beautiful building just a block from the Spanish Steps. It caters to people peo-ple from all over the world, and features fea-tures not only the regular McDonald's McDon-ald's fare, but an ice cream shop and a salad bar as well. And it was very busy. All went well until Sharon stepped up to the line and placed her order, "a cheeseburger with no pickles and no onions, please." The Italian McWorker looked at her for a minute, and then went about the process of bringing the most efficient fast food assembly line to a screeching halt for that most inefficient cf all items, a special spe-cial order. McDonald's are the same all over the world. ' Day civic duty for all citizens. Until 1882, the practice of placing flowers flow-ers at grave sites was known as Decoration Day. Think of those who, in Lincoln's words, "gave the last full measure of devotion," and you have some idea of the price of liberty. It has been a terrible price to pay if freedom free-dom fails, but a small price indeed if the world can eventually be free. New York was the first state in 11873 to legalize May 30 as Memorial Day. By 180, all northern north-ern states had followed suit. Until the National Holiday Act of 1971 (PL. 90 - 363), Memorial Day was observed each May 30. . Changing the day merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of that day. No doubt, this has contributed con-tributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day. Perhaps the most profound tribute of all was made on the first national memorial observance in May 1868 by then Gen. James A. Garfield when he said: "They summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved ' all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and virtue." her attack on Mr; Wanlass. Maybe the apology should come from Council Member ,Belmont to Mr. Wanlass.: , ; It was also interesting that Mr. Brown admitted that when he was a counpilman he would go through other council , member's boxes to review, information. Was that a proper procedure? I don't think so!' As elected officials we should always take the high road with integrity: and honesty. It's a sad affair, in our city when a small group of citizens can act like they know everything about everything . and have an answer to every issue that comes before the city council and elected officials. Why not let us do our jobs. We will vote for the right thing for every citizen and not be pressured by a few who think that they are speaking for all, which they're not. The nice thing about our country is that the people, all of the people, have the right to vote, and if we as elected officials don't do the job that the majority of the citizens expect, they can elect someone else. Councilmember Tom Hunter Fork, Fork By Fax 756-5274 By E-Mail editor0newutah.com t r 1 m JFOOR BMW" Mi4 |