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Show New Utah American Fork CitizenLone Peak New Utah - Thursday, May 22, 2003 - Page 2 Opinion Stand beside In many of our towns, veterans and citizens are conducting memorial memo-rial services to remember those who have served their country. Pleasant Grove High School alumni of the class of 1967 are honoring two classmates who, as young soldiers, lost their lives during the Vietnam War. A memorial plaque will be presented pre-sented to the families of Jim Anderson and Dave Rasmussen for the sacrifice that they made while upholding the laws and principles of the land. In Cedar Fort, white crosses will be silhouetted against the wide valley sky, while in Lehi and American Fork, songs of our country's coun-try's heritage will carry over the gentle hills that hold those communities' com-munities' sleeping heroes. While we are honoring those of the past or are giving tribute to those who are now serving, let us also remember those veterans who have given service and then have given again - those who stand as sentinels at every occasion occa-sion they are called upon, and then some. Whether in searing heat or bitter bit-ter cold, members of veterans organizations throughout our area are there to give homage to those who have fallen before them, to keep the remembrance in our Please don't A shrill whistle blast penetrated the high school gym. A clenched fist waved in the air while an accusing finger pointed out the teenage transgressor. "Thirty-five!" an authoritative voice intoned. "You're pushing!" The muscular young man with the number 35 on his basketball jersey groaned and grimaced, kicking kick-ing the ball and stamping his foot like a 3 year old who doesn't want to take a nap. His coach stormed onto the floor to suggest, loudly and crudely, that the official who made the call is visually, mentally and ethically impaired not necessarily in that order. Meanwhile, fans focused their wrath on the referee's appearance and ancestry, offering recommendations recommenda-tions that are physiologically impossible and genetically unlikely. The entire gymnasium seemed to rage with vented anger and released frustration. And you know what happened? Nothing. No matter how many tantrums were thrown, no matter how many ugly epithets were flung, the referee's refer-ee's call stood: a foul on number 35. For all that belligerent effort, nothing noth-ing changed except perhaps the diminished dignity of those who somehow seem to believe that you can leave your humanity in the car when you go to the gym. One of the great lessons that sports should teach us is that there are certain things that are always going to be beyond our control. Referees, coaches and players all make countless decisions during the course of a game. Some decisions deci-sions are good, some are not. But even when a decision is made that is obviously incorrect, agonizing agoniz-ing over it is a waste of time and energy (come on, be honest - when was the last time you saw a ref listen lis-ten to his hecklers, blow his whistle and say, "I'm sorry, I must have been wrong. Let's take that foul off the books and start all over again"). The most successful coaches and players focus their attention on responding to events as they happen, hap-pen, not on trying to change things Do you want to see a move into your town ? O Wal-Mart O Dillards Additional comments: Should council members be allowed to use their positions as spring boards for city employment?? 67 Yes. 33 &e. Comments: "The person most qualified should be the one who receives the position." 7b respond, mail to P.O. Box 7, American Fork, UT 84043, or deliver to 59 W. Main, American Fork, or see www.newutah.com. your heroes hearts of the cost for our country's blessings and to instill gratitude for those freedoms we sometimes lightly take for granted. The veteran organizations in our area, however, need your help. They need more veterans, the younger generations, to step forth and stand beside them. As one by one, each soldier passes from this life, fewer soldiers come forward to take their place. Who will honor them? Who will sound Reveille? North Utah County Coun-ty veterans in both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign For-eign Wars invite you to join them in these time honored organisations organisa-tions and help keep the fire of '5' patriotism alive. Only a handful of veterans are available to erect 1,600 American flags at the National Cemetery north of Camp Williams this Saturday Sat-urday at 7 a.m. The public is invited to participate and help put up the flags at this veterans memorial. For more information, contact 1st Vice Commander Karl Moore at 768-9897. If you are a veteran, contact your local city for your home organization, share a part of their camaraderie and plan on becoming becom-ing a participant at the next Memorial Day event. They need you. kill the ref Mm ; V ) 'HI1IIUI,IIIIIIIIIIIII after they've already taken place. The same principle is true in real-world settings, and it can be viewed from a variety of different contexts. No amount of yelling can reconstruct a carelessly broken heirloom. A dying relationship isn't revived with water that has already passed under the bridge. A wound won't heal if you keep picking at the scab. And if you want your garden to grow you've eventually got to stop plowing the same ground. Get the idea? We are imperfect people living together on an imperfect planet Our success here is not determined so much by our ability to control the external forces that influence our lives, but in our ability to respond to those forces in a productive and positive way. When bad things happen, as they inevitably will, the successful person per-son will accept the challenge, and instead of wasting precious time and energy shaking a fist at the heavens and raging about the unfairness of it all, they will fpcus their attention on the most ifopor-tant ifopor-tant matter figuring out a way to deal with it. ',s Please don't misunderstand. Fm not saying that there is anything wrong with protesting injustice when we see it, or fighting for pur rights when we truly believe we have been wronged. That is an appropriate way to respond to certain cer-tain kinds of challenges. But we've got to pick our battles carefully and save our best efforts for the fights that really matter. Otherwise well find ourselves constantly at war with a world that is crammed full of frustrating possibilities possi-bilities at home, at work, at BchooL at church and on the basketball court. Especially on the basketball court. Wal - Mart or a Dillards Thanks for the At the end of next week, an era will close for our family as our youngest child makes her final exit from elementary school. We moved to American Fork 14 years ago, and we've had a student at Barratt Elementary every one of them. There was even one year when we had four children there all at the same time. Many of the teachers, administrators adminis-trators and staff members we've associated with during this lengthy stretch have been reassigned, promoted, pro-moted, retired or otherwise moved on. A few have even died, but I still want to pause a moment to thank all of them and those still present for all they have done for my children. chil-dren. I do not hesitate to say that Barratt Bar-ratt is a fine example of what can be accomplished in American public pub-lic education with the help of dedicated dedi-cated employees and committed community volunteers working together for the benefit of the students. stu-dents. It's not that Barratt has been spared its share of the overcrowding, overcrowd-ing, sparse resources or discipline problems endemic to institutions in Enjoying our Shortly after I was hired a few years ago as a correspondent for the Lone Peak Edition of New Utah, I remember a friend expressing sympathy for me, noting not-ing the challenge I might have in finding anything to write about in this north Utah County area. Just for a moment, panic flashed across my mind as I thought, "What if that is true? What will I do if there really is nothing to write about?" Well, I have to tell you that once I learned how to open my eyes and ears and be more aware of the area and people, I found that there was no such thing as "nothing going on" in this neck of the woods. We are in the middle of three growing communities, with diversity diver-sity and variation, all three of which offer exceptional opportunities opportuni-ties for families and individuals to be a part of a promising future. There are seven schools in the CEDAR FORT Amy Taylor, Cedar Valley Elementary Elemen-tary School's second grade teacher, received the "Utah's Teacher of the Week" award. Bill Whitworth of Strategic Staffing visited Taylor's classroom to present her with the lovely crystal plaque. KSL 1160 Radio, which sponsors the award along with Strategic Staffing, aired their "Teacher Feature" radio tribute to Amy Taylor. CEDAR FORT Cedar Valley Elementary kindergarten, kinder-garten, first, and second-graders will enjoy a visit from Snoopy on Tuesday, Tues-day, May 27 at 9 am for Met Life Auto and Home's "All About Me" presentation. pres-entation. Sgt. Joarm Murphy of the Utah County Sheriffs Dept. will fingerprint fin-gerprint the students and help them recognize "stranger dangers." For more information call Agent Lynette Webb at 319-7818. EAGLE MOUNTAIN The concept of The Ranches Academy becoming Eagle Mountain's premier charter school was discussed at Alpine School District's May 13 meeting and should be listed as an action item on the district's June or July meeting agenda. If the Academy receives a positive vote from Alpine School District, the charter school will be able to pursue state funding and proceed with plans to open in the fall 2004. If the concept is not approved, organizers will pursue approval through the State Board of Fduca-tion.The Fduca-tion.The Ranches Academy charter t outlines grades kindergarten through sixth, with class size limited to 20 students stu-dents per class and a maximum school enrollment of 220 students. FAIRFIELD The American Legion, District 8 will conduct a flag retirement ceremony ceremo-ny at sunset on Saturday May 24 in the Camp Floyd Cemetery. The Utah Fife and Drum Color Guard will perform. per-form. Spectators may bring their own memories Barratt Elementary the Alpine School District and elsewhere, else-where, but the impact of these vexing, vex-ing, ongoing issues has been much softened by the caring and creativity creativ-ity of those connected to the school. I hasten to add that my particular particu-lar children won't necessarily be remembered there as outstanding scholars and citizens in every respect, but that's precisely the point Despite the school's challenges and each of my children's particular particu-lar issues, they have not only survived sur-vived but mostly thrived in an environment envi-ronment which must cater to the group but did not sacrifice individual individ-ual opportunities for expression to get there. It was our experience that the vast majority of teachers and others oth-ers we associated with at Barratt were not only aware of the different needs and characteristics of our children, but they made genuine attempts to serve those needs with multi-faceted three-city area, with two more to open this falL We are talking about thousands of children and young adults who can keep any mom or dad experiencing "transient" living just to get to meetings and games and parentteacher conferences. Because of the high quality of life offered here, newcomers from almost everywhere have joined our numbers, and brought new ideas, programs, and enthusiasm. That growth has also brought about interesting and creative responses from city leaders and planners as they strive to solve never-ending problems such as enough water, streets, safety, and garbage pickup for us all Additionally, we are made up of groups of strongly motivated peo SyCfi 10 1 1 1 1 i l J, 1 i , torn or tattered flags for retirement. For more information call Mark Trotter, Trot-ter, Park Manager of Camp FloydStagecoach Inn State Park at 768-8932. FAIRFIELD On Sunday, May 25 at 1 p.m., the American Legion will honor veterans with a memorial program in the Camp Floyd Cemetery. Rex Bass will be the featured speaker and the Utah Fife and Drum Corps will play patriotic music. For more information call Mark Trotter, Park Manager of Camp FloydStagecoach Inn State Park at 768-8932. LEHI Mardee Leigh Jones, of Oakley, Utah was named the Lehi Roundup Rodeo Queen on May 17. Her first attendant will be Melanie Haddock and her second attendant will be Patricia Patri-cia Ann Mabrey. The annual Queen Contest was held at the Coyote Creek Ranch arena and Cactus Room. LEHI A Patriotic Fireside, "American, And Proud Of It," will be held Sunday, May 25, at the Lehi South Stake Center, Cen-ter, 500 W. 600 South, at 7 p.m. Kathy Simmons, who currently has a son stationed in Iraq, will be sharing an excerpt from a letter her son recently sent home. Her son, Joseph Earl, has played a major part in the conflict Other keynote speakers will include Dan Hess and Alvin Schow. UNDON Timpanogos Academy moved a step further last week in its proposed expansion to add seventh and eighth grade classes to the school. The academy has received initial approval from the Planning Commission for the addition, and If all goes well, the expansion would be complete In time to begin the 2003-2004 school year. UNDON The Lindon Planning Commission in the limitations of the institutional institution-al setting. That was perhaps the thing which I came to appreciate most about this school community, and from personal observation, I can state with certainty that it isn't like that everywhere. Aside from the very important fact that each of our children emerged from this school with a suitable command of the basic subjects sub-jects as a foundation for their further fur-ther education, all of them look back on experiences they had there with great fondness. Our oldest Barratt graduate will be sending a child of her own to school next year, but she and her siblings still exchange Barratt memories at family gatherings. The older ones have also, whenever possible, pos-sible, been involved in or supported the younger ones in their school activities, partly as a way of reliving reliv-ing their own. We understand how fortunate we've been, so on behalf of my entire family, I offer thanks to all of you who've contributed to making our years at Barratt so memorably rich and productive. communities ple who get involved. We vote and run for offices, we lead all sorts of organizations and projects, we work hard in our jobs and on our land, we set goals to better ourselves our-selves and the surroundings, we care about our country and our world, and we pass those characteristics charac-teristics along to our children. Because of that, great things happen here, and will continue to happen here in this Lone Peak area. Here where we have solid, deeply rooted values that help to keep our rapidly changing world a little more in focus for us, we are able to look at our neighborhoods through a sort of kaleidoscope. The ever-changing, multi-' faceted view is part of the beauty, and we are able to enjoy the whole, wondrous picture right from the very center. And, thank goodness, each one of those bright splinters of light could be another story to tell. jOJI agreed to recommend final approval last week for an eight-tot subdivision located where the new Lindon Wal-Mart Wal-Mart will be built The Wal-Mart superstore super-store will occupy the largest tot, while the other seven lots will be available for other commercial establishments in the future. No information regarding regard-ing future tenants for the additional lots was available. PLEASANT GROVE Cami Cushing was named the Strawberry Days Rodeo Queen for 2003 with Brittany Murano as first attendant There was a tie in the judging judg-ing points, so there will be two second attendants, Brittany Murray and Kan-dace Kan-dace Jacobs. There were 1 0 contestants contest-ants who participated in modeling interviews and horsemanship May 3. PLEASANT GROVE The Pleasant Grove High School Class of 1 967 will be honoring Jimmy Anderson and Dave Rasmussan, who fought and died in the Vietnam War, with a memorial program on Friday, Fri-day, May 23. The program win begin at 7 p.m. in the high school library on 700 E. 200 South and the public is invited. Class representatives will present to the Anderson and Rasmussan Ras-mussan families a memorial plaque that will be displayed in the school. PLEASANT GROVE The Pleasant Grove American Legion Auxiallry and Pleasant Grove City are hosting a Memorial Day Service Ser-vice May 26 at the Pleasant Grove Cementery, 500 N. Main Street The program begins at 9 a.m. There win be a flag ceremony and short program. SARATOGA SPRINGS The new Saratoga Springs Smith's development at 1320 N. Redwood Road opened for business on May 20. Zons Bank also celebrated its grand opening located inside Smith's. The landmark opening is the beginning begin-ning of the city's new business district area plans. 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