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Show : V- v "' ' SM' Z New Utah - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - Page 12 More than 3,300 oppose district split on petition Annette Johnson with one of her patients. AF Hospital nurses honored Intermountain Health Care recognized three American Fork Hospital nurses for excellence at its first Excellence in Nursing Awards for Utah County hospitals on June 1. Carol Gordon, a registered regis-tered nurse in American Fork Hospital's Intensive Care unit; Annette Johnson, John-son, a staff nurse in the hospital's MedicalSurgical unit; and Tiffany Spencer, a Labor and Delivery nurse educator, were recognized recog-nized by IHC as representing represent-ing the best in clinical nursing practice. Johnson is also one of three awardees who Was to represent rep-resent Utah County at IHC'b system-wide luncheon lunch-eon for Excellence in Nursing Nurs-ing on June 23. "You are the cream of the crop; the best and the '. brightest! If the communi ty believes that IHC repre sents excellence in health care, it is because our nurses represent excellence," excel-lence," said Gail McGuill, IHC Urban South Region Chief Nursing Officer, at the awards dinner. Nurses were nominated by their colleagues for excellence in nursing in at least three of seven areas: professionalism, image of nursing, quality of care, autonomy, consultation and education, role model and leadership and communication. com-munication. Typical of nomination entries were comments made by Maria Martinez, a registered nurse in the Intensive Care unit at AFH, who explained that Gordon represents excellence excel-lence in nursing because Bhe Berves as a resource to patients and their families as wen as to ner colleagues. col-leagues. "Carol takes her time to explain procedures and tests to patients and their families to ensure that everyone involved understands under-stands and can make informed decisions," said Martinez. "She has been a nurse for over 30 years and she is very willing to train new nurses and to help them succeed." In addition to the three American Fork nurses, IHC also honored Shauna Hill of Orem Community Hospital and nine nurses from Utah Valley Regional Medical Center: Maria Black, Kris Crowther, Cynthia Cyn-thia Farnsworth, Leah Hallam, Christie Johnson, Wesley Larsen, Carolyn MacKay, Mary "Cindy" Paulson and Rebecca Robertson. CIK By Amie Rose Utah Valley staff Lehi area residents have gathered more than 3,300 signatures during the last two weeks from people who don't want the Alpine School District to split. The group planned to present the signatures to Utah County Commissioners Commission-ers on Tuesday, said Liz Dixon, a Lehi resident who has children attending Freedom Elementary, in Highland. But because the meeting wasn't a public hearing, they didn't get the chance. Commissioners accepted a report and recommendation recommenda-tion against the split from the commission-appointed ad hoc committee studying the issue during their regular regu-lar meeting Tuesday, and opened a 45-day public comment com-ment period on the issue. They will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. July 28 before deciding whether to put the issue on the ballot in November. The proposed district's boundaries would be the current Lehi High School boundaries, with the exception excep-tion of the 600 Lehi students stu-dents who now attend Freedom Free-dom Elementary in Highland. High-land. Under the plan, those students would continue to attend that school but eventually even-tually be folded into Lehi schools. Utah County Commissioner Commis-sioner Jerry Grover said when the county gets any petition with a significant bu RUSSMcKCUl A " - A " t A .7. y. " f i. f- - . ; Around the World In 80 Days ! Rating: 1 star When taken at sheer volume vol-ume of people, Jackie Chan is the most popular movie star in the world. That's really saying something. He has become popular all over the world much as our movie stars in America have, by making mediocre movies that cater to the general population. Not wanting to break his winning win-ning record, Around the World in 80 Days is a silly, slapstick, saccharine-soaked saccharine-soaked mishmash of a movie. Around the World in 80 Days is loosely based on Jules Vern's novel of the ; same name. It revolves around Phileas Fogg, an errant and promising young inventor who refuses to let anything get in the way of the progress of the world, even the ministry of science. sci-ence. Fogg is in need of a new valet when Passepartout Passepa-rtout (Jackie Chan) falls, literally, out of a tree. Thus begins two hours of the aforementioned mishmash, lightly touted as comedy. The duo gets in loads of trouble as they each help one another to get around the globe in less than 80 days; Fogg to win a life-changing life-changing bet, and Passepartout Passepa-rtout to return the Jade Buddha that was stolen from his village in China by the infamous and deadly Black Scorpion, (evil music plays, da, da, da!) a nefarious nefari-ous band of bad-guy soldiers. sol-diers. Along the way Fogg and 003000 mm Passepartout meet loads of new and interesting people, get in loads of fun, and the audience buckles with loads of laughter (well, at least the first two are true). To be fair, Around the World in 80 Days is a fun family film. There is little in it to be offended at, the humor is goofy but not crude, and the moral is passably decent. The laughs are there, but just because the humor is so physical and superficial. superfi-cial. The best part about this movie is the great guest spots, Owen and Luke Wilson play the Wright brothers, Kathy Bates plays the Queen Mother, very funny. This is not a bad movie, its just a movie that's not worth paying more than a dollar for. Myla Dutton receives Beacon of Hope honor from Intermountain Health Care '. Myla J. Dutton, execu-', execu-', tive director of Community ! Action Services for the past 25 years, is the first recipi- ent of the Beacon of Hope ; Award from Intermountain Health Care. The award is J designed to honor Utah ; County individuals who are ! making a significant ! impact on the health and I well-being of their neigh-' neigh-' bors and fellow citizens. j "There are bo many peo-; peo-; pie in our community who ; are doing wonderful things J to help us all be healthier ; and happier. We wanted to I recognize these people and ', thank them for their dedication dedi-cation to improving the ' quality of life for those j; around them," said Mark Robinson, chair of the Cora-jlmunity Cora-jlmunity Outreach Commit-!tee Commit-!tee of the Governing Board ;for IBC'b Urban South ;! Region. ',' Dutton has committed both her personal and professional pro-fessional life to building self-reliance in families and strengthening the Utah Valley community. Her work is based on her belief that people living in poverty pover-ty and their communities can work together to overcome over-come challenges and bring about positive change. In addition to her work with Community Action Services, Ser-vices, Dutton serves on a variety of community boards and councils for the purpose of promoting the concerns and needs of low-income low-income families. She serves on the executive execu-tive community for state providers under the community com-munity services block grant, which advocates for low-income families and enlists their help in finding solutions for their communities. commu-nities. Dutton has helped to initiate Healthy Utah Val ley, served as a leader in the Utah's Continuum of Care for the homeless and advocated for literacy as part of the Utah Literacy Coalition and the Moun-tainland Moun-tainland Literacy Coalition. "Myla is a tremendous advocate for low-income families. She has worked for years to create programs pro-grams that teach and re-enforce re-enforce self-reliance, which can alleviate many other challenges in a family's life. We applaud her efforts" said Robinson. Anyone living in Utah County is eligible to receive the Beacon of Hope Award. Residents may nominate a person they feel is making "significant contributions to the health and well-being well-being of Utah County residents" resi-dents" by contacting the Public Relations office at Utah Valley Regional Medical Med-ical Center at 357-7207, number of signatures, he's inclined to put it on the ballot. bal-lot. The petition that prompted the study had 1,208 signatures from registered regis-tered voters in the proposed new district area. A majority of voters in both the proposed district and the remaining Alpine School District area would have to vote for the measure meas-ure for it to happen, according to state law. Grover said the assumption assump-tion that voters would reject the proposal was a poor reason rea-son to keep it off the ballot. The ad hoc committee recommended against the proposal 5-1 after a financial finan-cial report estimated property prop-erty taxes for schools would increase 40 percent in the Pioneer District area, which translates into a 24 percent total property tax increase. Rep. David Cox, R-Lehi, part of the ad hoc committee, commit-tee, was the only member to support the split. Cox sponsored spon-sored the bill that allows school districts to divide. Some of the 3,300-plus signatures on the opposition opposi-tion petition are from people peo-ple who signed the original petition to study the issue, Dixon said. The people who signed the petition aren't alone in their opposition. The proposal pro-posal is also opposed by the Utah Taxpayers Association. Associa-tion. The association says the district split would discourage dis-courage businesses from coming to Utah County. "It's actually not in the best interest of Utah County Coun-ty said Mike Jerman, association asso-ciation vice president. . The estimated property tax increase would keep businesses out of Northern Utah County and push them into Salt Lake County, he said. The county should be trying to attract businesses busi-nesses to that area because of its proximity to Salt Lake County. Mark Robinson, an attorney attor-ney and member of the ad hoc committee, said the financial information wasn't was-n't the only reason five members of the seven-member committee didn't recommend recom-mend the split. "We looked at what's best for students," he said. "We really looked at what we thought was best for the kids in the entire district." .Another reason the ad hoc committee cited for not recommending the split was the question about teachers. State law isn't clear about how teachers would be split between the two districts. Cox said he has filed a bill title in the state legislature legisla-ture that would clarify the issue, but the bill is not yet written. It would provide for teachers to stay with their school buildings, and allow for some teacher transferability transfer-ability between the districts for several years. If the commissioners put the issue on the ballot in November, Cox said he will try to get the bill into a September Sep-tember special session of the state Legislature. Alpine School District approves $335M budget Members of the Alpine School District board of education approved a budget of $335,655,260 for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. The action came at their June 15 meeting held at district offices in American Fork. No one attended the public hearing which preceded pre-ceded the vote. Rob Smith, district business administrator, administra-tor, said the budget is $34.2 million less than the 2003-2004 budget. The decrease in the budget reflects construction of two elementary ele-mentary schools and a middle school as part of bonding approved by the public in 2001. Approximately 92 percent of the approximately approx-imately $232 million general fund budget is for salaries and personnel which includes moneys for the staffing of the new schools which will open for the first time this fall. Smith said most of the revenue is being spent on instruction and "that is exactly where it should be spent." Although the budget is down from the last fiscal year, property taxes on homes will raiBe by $15.59 for a $150,000 home. The major part of this increase is because of debt service requirements. The budget is built on anticipated student stu-dent growth of 1,500 students. This is a reduction from the nearly 2,000 students who entered district schools last year and is anticipated because of the growth of charter char-ter schools in the district. Officials anticipate antici-pate a total enrollment of over 52,000 students. stu-dents. Copies of the budget can be found on the district website (http:sb.alpine.kl2.ut.us) on the Internet. American Fork woman named state educator of year By Candice Livingston It takes a special kind of person to fill the role of Special Spe-cial Ed Educator of the Year for Utah State. Penny Craig of American Fork is just that type of person. On May 10, Penny Craig received a call from Peter Ingle, past president of the Utah Division for Learning Disabilities. He informed her that she had been nominated nomi-nated and awarded for Special Spe-cial Educator of the Year. "I was very surprised," Craig said. "I feel very honored hon-ored and at the same time it feels kind of strange to get an award for doing something some-thing that I love." "When I was called about it, I just thought it was about time and it was well due," said her husband Curtis Cur-tis Craig, a physics teacher at American Fork High School. "There wasn't anybody any-body better suited to receive that award." Craig wa? nominated for the award by Katie Sampson, Samp-son, an assistant clinical professor at Brigham Young University. In her nomination letter, Sampson wrote, "Penny stands out as the type of special educator that changes the world one child at a time through her constant con-stant ability to work with each child's unique abilities." abili-ties." These unique abilities are among the things that keep Craig motivated. "Discovering "Dis-covering and building on a student's strengths is really the key to success for that student and is very rewarding reward-ing for me." Craig has been part of Utah's educational system for 19 years. She taught resource in Jordan School District for four years before joining Alpine School District. Dis-trict. She just finished her fifteenth fif-teenth year in the Alpine District. Over the past year, she worked as a teacher on special spe-cial assignment. She worked with student teachers, interns and cohorts from BYU. "This has been a great experience she said of the past year. "I am really impressed with the quality of teachers coming out of college." Craig also acknowledged the other special education teachers throughout the state when talking about her recent award. "There are so many, many wonderful special education teachers who are just as deserving of recognition for their hard work," she said. In addition to devoting her time and energy to the field of Bpecial education, Craig is the mother of five children, four daughters and one son. She is originally from Idaho, but attended BYU and has lived in Utah for 22 years. "When she's at work, everything is work; and when she's home, everything every-thing is about home," her husband Curtis said. "So she has really been able to find a strong balance between teaching and being a mom." "A lot of people have a hard time with that," he continued. "I think Penny has been able to do it with grace,, and with style and panache." Craig was honored for her nomination and award at an awards banquet held at Westminster College on May 14. |