OCR Text |
Show New Utah American Fork GtkenLone Peak New Utah - Thursday, July 17, 2003 - Page 2 Opinion r Ante up and file Speak up, but please sign your name July 15 was the first day that thoae interested and qualified could file for the upcoming city elections. There are many public officials who would like to see more residents resi-dents participate in their local municipal government, particularly particu-larly those who have been critical of their representation. In other words, as a gambler would say, "It's time to put up or shut up. Flay your hand, or withdraw with-draw from the game." While the initial step of filing bt-gins the process, running for an electoral office can be expensive and time consuming. Once elected, the pay is poor and the hours are long, and it is a service short on material benefits. Some politicians on the city level of government may even lose revenue as they take time off from their businesses and occupations occupa-tions to carry out their responsibilities responsi-bilities as a council member or mayor. There are, however, a few benefits. bene-fits. Those in office get to know their city, they have an opportunity opportuni-ty to introduce new ideas, and they gain an appreciation for those who have served before them. Residents have until Aug. 15 to put their names on the ballot. If enough candidates file in each community, there will be primary elections to narrow the choice for each council seat to two candidates candi-dates for the general election ballot. bal-lot. To be able to file, one must be a registered voter, at least 18 years old, and either have been that city's resident for 365 days before the election, or have been a resident resi-dent at the same address for 365 days and been annexed into their city. Those who are interested can file for their municipal election with the city's recorder. Some cities have a minimal filing fee to cover costs. There are qualified residents who may need only a vote of confidence con-fidence and a nudge in the right direction from a friend or acquaintance to begin the campaign cam-paign process. If you know someone some-one who would make a worthy candidate, let them know. Candidates often don't know the outcome of the campaign and election, which sometimes seems to be a roll of the dice. It takes courage and commitment to volunteer vol-unteer to serve one's community by running a political race. For the civic-minded citizen, however, the race is worth the gamble, because running in the municipal election has payoffs that can help both the residents and the person in the campaign. The time to talk about what could or should be is over. The game is on the table. It's time to ante up. Controlling Nature A toothbrush. That's all I needed. need-ed. But not just any old toothbrush. None of your bargain basement, wimpy bristled, use-it-twice-then-throw-it-out toothbrushes this time. No sir. This time I was going to get a toothbrush that could withstand the beating I seem to inflict upon instruments of dental hygiene (you should see what I do to dental floss - it isn't pretty). Perhaps I have toothbrush-intolerant toothbrush-intolerant enamel. Or perhaps I have latent hostility issues that cause me to Hulk out in front of the bathroom mirror. Or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I grew up with two dentist brothers-in-law who insisted on vigorous brushing - or else. Whatever the reason, I am hard on toothbrushes. I was determined to get the best toothbrush I could find. It was the only thing I needed when I walked into the store that day. I was prepared pre-pared to spend as much as three or four dollars on the brush. Little did I know that three or four dollars dol-lars wouldn't even constitute a decent down payment on a state-of-the-art toothbrush. There are toothbrushes with engines - I'm not kidding about this. They have more horsepower than my Toyota. I don't want to compete in the Indianapolis 500. I just want to brush my teeth. Finally I settled on a nice, sturdy, stur-dy, no-nonsense toothbrush that looked like it would get the job done for at least the rest of the month. Then I noticed that this toothbrush was also available in a five-pack for even less per toothbrush tooth-brush than I was going to pay for the one I had selected. If one toothbrush tooth-brush is good, then five is even better, isn't it? Sure, it was more than I was planning to spend during dur-ing this trip to the store. But it CEEg? - - - - mm would be worth it in the long run. Wouldn't it? After picking up the box o' brushes I noticed another good deal: a package of four tubes of our favorite toothpaste for a very good price. Well, I couldn't pass on that deal, could I? It seemed so cosmi-cally cosmi-cally synergistic: toothbrushes and toothpaste. It flowed naturally natural-ly from one to the other - and such good prices! Then I noticed another great price on a multi-bar pack of soap. And then another great deal on shampoo. And they had such a good price on the new Harry Potter Pot-ter book. Nearly $100 later I escaped from the store with my debit card smoking. Of course, this isn't unusual for me. I'm the reason store managers prepare those attractive displays and mega-sales offers - they want to entice me into being impulsive. And usually I oblige. But no more. Although it is my nature to be impulsive in the grocery gro-cery store, I've decided it is time to go against my nature. Our burgeoning bur-geoning cupboards and our crashing crash-ing budget both demand it - not to mention Anita. And that's OK, I think. One of the most important things we learn in this life is when to trust and act upon our natural inclinations, inclina-tions, and when to control them. There are times when "that's just how I am" is an explanation, and times when it's a cop-out. Even when dental hygiene is at stake. p)(M0DlMB Should the Alpine School District be divided? O No. O Yes, Orem should split off O Yes, Lehi and Lehi west should split off. O Yes, Orem and Lehi area should divide off. Additional comments: Due to technical difficulties, we are repeating last week's question. 7b respond, mail to P.O. Box 7, American Fork, UT 84042, or deliver to 9 W. Main, American fork, or see www.newutah.com Complaints, compliments, commendations. com-mendations. Whatever you would like to say, you must be willing to go cn record. Within the last three weeks. New Utah has received four letters let-ters to the editor which we have not been able to publish. The Readers' Forum is just that - a forum for readers to express their views. Each letter may prompt discussion through other letters and thereby provide a service to the community. Writers may agree or disagree with city officials, newspaper people, or others. oth-ers. That is not the point. The important factor in determining whether those letters may be printed is if we can verify whether the person in whose name it was submitted actually wrote it. Of course, it goes without saying say-ing that the letter cannot be libelous or create other legal problems. prob-lems. In one instance, the individual put only a name at the bottom of the letter. It was a fairly common surname, and we were not able to trace it to a specific person. We thought we had it figured out, but found out the person we thought it might have been had not written writ-ten to us. On another letter, there was a name typed, and an address hand written below it. The name was a woman's and there was no number num-ber corresponding to the address in the telephone book. I went to the vicinity twice before I could find someone home at the most likely house. You guessed it, there was nobody by that name living at that home. It is unfortunate that the letters let-ters could not be verified. They made some interesting points and were thought provoking. There seemed to be some research or first-hand knowledge that went into their creation. Both of those letters addressed issues in a way that would have caused the government officials or citizen leaders to carefully consider consid-er the way they spend the citizens' money and the policies they create. cre-ate. In each, the points made critiqued cri-tiqued methods employed by others, oth-ers, but did not attack their character. char-acter. They would have been printable, if only they had been properly documented. This is a plea for letter writers and anyone with an opinion to have the character to publicly defend their positions. There is a reason for the phrase "Stand up and be counted." In very rare instances, there could be an adequate reason to withhold a name. That comes only if the writer has justifiable reason to fear for his life or health because of his opinion. Otherwise, please sign your real name. Please include a telephone tele-phone number where we can reach you to verify that you are " the writer. The public can benefit from your thinking only if you follow the rules. The lawnmower and the bra strap The only thing I hate about mowing mow-ing the lawn is getting the darn lawn mower started. We've never had a mower that was easy to start and our present one is no exception. It is finicky about being primed just right The instruction book says to push the primer button three times but this mower refuses to budge unless it is primed no more or no less than ten times. Then sometimes some-times it refuses to co-operate. It has become even more finicky since I accidentally filled the gas tank with water. Well, how was I to know my husband hus-band kept water to dilute the sprayer in a similar reddish plastic container? It goes without saying that once I get the infernal machine started I keep mowing until it runs out of gas. I have two inviolate rules: Don't wake a sleeping baby and don't stop a running lawn mower unless there is an emergency, of course. I was on the second half of the lawn and the second tank of the mower when I felt something fall down my arm. It was my bra strap and I realized my bra had come undone. Now, I am an ample woman but I had another layer under my tee shirt so a little problem like that wasn't going to stop me. However, after three or four more passes across the lawn the strap slipped out of the sleeve. I carefully kept the lawn mower alive with one hand while I stuffed the strap back with the other. That didn't last long and soon the whole side of the darn thing was hanging out of the same sleeve. I slipped it off my arm with one hand and stuffed it under my shirt and hoped the other half would stay put and went on mowing. Alas, soon the bra was making its appearance dangling from my other sleeve. I still refused to stop the mower to fix it so when I found myself in a corner somewhat pro tected by grape vines I managed to pull the whole thing out through that sleeve with one hand and keep the mower running with the other. Now I didn't have any pockets in my sweat pants and decided if I stuffed the bra in the waistband it would sooner or later fall either off or down my sweats so I wadded the dang thing up in my hand and kept on mowing. If anyone even noticed I figured it would look like a large scarf or something. But just as I was finishing the lawn my neighbor came out on his patio. Without thinking I raised my hand and waved - you guessed it -my bra at him. I hoped he was far enough away not to be able to tell what was actually actu-ally in my hand. Thankfully, he's too much of a gentleman to ask. I quickly quick-ly put the mower away embarrassed but triumphant I had finished the lawn without having to re-start the mower. But next week I will make sure everything is secure before I start Reader's Forum Don't split the school district Editor I read with interest the article in the Free Press regarding splitting Alpine School District There are two old sayings that came to mind. "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," and "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." As to the "Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," can we believe that there are no advantages to having hav-ing a larger district and all the problems that Dave Cox alludes to could really be solved by the mere act of splitting the district? I would hope that we as Lehi residents would be wiser than that! How does splitting the district address the real challenge of increased growth? Remember Lehi, when all is said and done, our schools are the still the overcrowded ones in the district. We need to remember that we need another high school built in our area. Do you really think that the "proposed Lehi district" could solely support the financial obligations obli-gations necessary for a new high school, not to mention the needed elementary ele-mentary schools and currently cur-rently constructed jr. high school? Do you honestly think that Lehi has enough commercial com-mercial tax base to support sup-port the building process now and in the future? Are we willing to have our taxes raised substantially in order to meet past debts along with future financial finan-cial obligations? In these few questions, I have only addressed physical buildings, not operational costs such as teachers' salaries, textbooks, text-books, supplies, activities, and general up-keep plus numerous expenses that we as the general public are not even aware of! When all is said and done, are we really going to be better off? As to the saying, Don't bite the hand that feeds you," we need to think beyond the idea of an impact study as to the outcomes out-comes such a study might create. We need Orem, just as they need us to bear the financial burden of quality education. Do you think that any Orem residents will be supportive of future bonding if the current cur-rent "mud slinging" persists? per-sists? What do you think will be the outcome if the impact study demonstrates demon-strates that it is not feasible feasi-ble to split the district? YouVe right - a split district! dis-trict! What we need right now in our "under-funded" and "under-supported" education system in the state of Utah is a focus on coming together for the best interests of our children. chil-dren. A district divided either formally or informally' infor-mally' is not in the best interested of educating our children. As to our elected representative repre-sentative for District 57, Dave Cox. I find it ironic that he can be a contracted contract-ed teacher in Alpine School District and consistently consis-tently find ways not to support the district in updating up-dating programs, policy, and curriculum to meet national educational standards. stan-dards. I am amazed that as an employee of the district, Dave Cox does not see the advantages of teacher education, school to school mentoring, and improvements improve-ments in the education of our children that comes with the current size of our district? One may wonder if he has taken advantage of any of these great opportunities lately. Finally, how can a contracted con-tracted teacher in the Alpine School District and current legislator lead and support a committee that is advocating splitting the district? Isn't this a conflict con-flict of interest? Does he truly have his students and the other children in District 57 at heart? If there is anything to be gained through splitting split-ting the district will there be much more lost in the process and outcome? Come on Lehi - think about the consequences of this short sighted and unrealistic idea! Think twice before you sign a petition and think twice about Dave Cox next time in the voting booth! - Troy Carlton Thank you to kind stranger Editor. A couple of weeks ago, our 13-year-old son and some friends were at Tri-City Tri-City Golf Course selling golf balls. A man in a truck pulled up and bought a few golf balls from the boys. Our son's bike was lying at the side of the road and when the truck pulled out it ran over the bike and bent it Whoever this man was he could have driven off and we'd never have known who he was, we would have just been mad about the bike. But in this case, this man told our son to wait where he was. About a half hour later, the man pulled up again and had a brand new bike in the back of his truck and gave it to our son. We knew nothing about this incident until our son rode up on his new bike and told us the story. We dont know who you are but we wanted to thank you for your act of kindness. It seems that we hear so much about the bad side of human nature, that we wanted to write and let you know that we appreciate the example you set for our son. He was very impressed and we were able to talk about taking responsibility and treating others the way he would wish to be treated It is a lesson he wont soon forget Again, thank you whoever you are. - Ralph and Susan Cornell |