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Show American Fork Citizen - Thursday, October 14, 2004 - Page 2 Opinion i Look at the records, not the rhetoric At least I'm not clumping you. You can at least be recycled. Docs this mean we're j v breaking up? J t K r Even just a casual glance at campaign literature and the television tele-vision ads now airing reveals that education, a traditional hot-button hot-button election issue in Utah, is once again the focus of candidates candi-dates for local and state office. The messages are all pretty similar: "Utah's education system isn't getting all the support it needs, and once I'm elected, I (insert candidate's name here) will see that ii gets more." These messages are usually accompanied by photos or video of the candidates sitting in classrooms class-rooms or walking school halls looking earnest while conversing with students or school personnel. Image is all very well, but most of the campaigns now being conducted are long on rhetoric and short on specifics and this is true no matter which party the candidates belong to or which office they are seeking. Utah Foundation, a nonprofit, non-advocacy research organization, organiza-tion, released a report last week on what it terms "Utah's education educa-tion paradox." Five years ago, the foundation reported that while Utah spent a higher share of government money on education than most other states, Utah still ranked last in per-child educational spending and remained at the top in average class size. This is partly explained by Recycling no longer an option Recent local papers included more than a dozen ads for yard or garage sales. Each of these sales will probably end with a trip to the local thrift center for items left unsold. un-sold. Used car lots dot the landscape, land-scape, and everywhere one travels there are various items for sale in front yards and driveways. Ileuse and recycling are part of our heritage of thrift and industry, at least when it comes to large items. We watched in horror, however, how-ever, as law enforcement officials sifted for days through ton after ton of garbage in the Salt Lake County landfill seeking evidence of a horrible crime. This modern mountain and others oth-ers like it are the result of a wasteful waste-ful legacy of consumption without regard for the sustainability of our natural resources. Recycling household trash can ho longer be considered optional. The benefits of recycling are clear: Wiser use of natural resources, energy conservation, and cleaner air and water to name but a few. Recycling one aluminum beverage-can saves enough energy to run a 100 watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for three hours, or a TV for two hours. Five two-1 iter plastic plas-tic bottles produce enough fiberfill for a ski-jacket. Preventing one ton of paper waste saves between 15 and 17 mature trees. In Lehi, city officials met a pub Reader's Forum Editor: Kay BryBon, Utah County Attorney, comes over as a coward. He despises his wife enough to defame her publicly in order to elevate himself. What level has he fallen to in his personal life that he must beat down his wife now former spouse in order to appear to the public and also his children as the more worthy competitor? com-petitor? In divorce or separation when tough times come children will often side with the financially dominant parent. Is Bryson looking in the mirror in making accusations against his wife? His actions and behavior are Utah's high birthrate and subsequent subse-quent low median age. The result, the foundation reported, is that Utah's labor force, which funds a large proportion of public education through the personal income tax, must support a student stu-dent population that the U.S. Census indicates is 20 percent larger than the national average. The foundation report also shows education spending as a percentage of state-generated revenues has consistently dropped over the past several years while it is going up around the country, narrowing the gap between Utah and other states. The real question shouldn't be what the size of the gap is, but it should be how candidates propose pro-pose to address overcrowded classrooms and the whole range of shortfalls in state education budgets at every level. There is also the question now of how to deal with the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, a mostly unfunded federal mandate which may force the shifting of spending spend-ing priorities in public schools. Utah voters have the right to demand concrete answers to the dilemmas faced by Utah educators. educa-tors. We strongly urge all voters to make a close inspection of every candidate's record and positions on education issues before making decisions at the ballot box. lic want by providing recycling containers as part of the garbage disposal program. While a few balked at the cost, the city estimates esti-mates that nearly 80 percent of its residents participate in the recycling recy-cling program, and since its inception incep-tion more than 1,100 tons of materials mate-rials have been recycled resulting in a savings of waste disposal costs of almost $40,000. Greenwaste containers are located throughout Lehi for disposal dispos-al of materials that are needed for composting efforts at the Timpano-gos Timpano-gos Special Service District (TSSD) waste-water treatment plant. Other communities are now considering these and other programs pro-grams to reduce, reuse and recycle. Even the press can be proud of its efforts to reduce paper waste by making the paper available online and for using recycled material in the printing of the paper. ' I encourage all readers to support sup-port and utilize community recycling recy-cling programs, and I urge you to express your support for these efforts by contacting your local officials. Together we can make sure that the only mountains in our view are the ones that have been here forever. not those of a protector nor a role model. Family unity should be his number on concern. Two more years of Kay Bryson as county attorney would be unacceptable unac-ceptable for many reasons, one of them being the county sets the standard for local law enforcement. enforce-ment. Bryson has been outwardly exhibiting classic domestic violence characteristics using the media, political ties and the law enforcement as his vehicle. Should a powerful authority figure fig-ure with an unethical retaliatory mind be allowed to stay in office? Absolutely not. Judy Prke, American Fork Why do I remember things that Every time I type the date of this week's newspaper, I am reminded it is my husband's birthday. Of course, I wouldn't want to let anyone else know, so I won't tell you about that. He might be embarrassed. I do wish a happy birthday to my friend Sharon, however. It's easy to remember her birthday because it is the same day. Unfortunately, most other , days and dates and events I have a hard time remembering. It's a , good thing I don't have 10 kids, because I would never be able to keep track of their special days. Maybe that's why my first two were twins, so they could share a birthday and Mom wouldn't have to work as hard to remember remem-ber two different dates. Calendar dates, of course, are a combination of the name of the month and the corresponding day. Perhaps that's my downfall. For some reason I don't have as hard a time with telephone numbers. I can remember my numbers for the last few places I Reeve was a real super man, like the character he portrayed Christopher Reeve wasn't REALLY Superman - he just played the Man of Steel in the movies. But for a few moments in Los Angeles 17 years ago, he seemed pretty "super" to me. I was working at the time as a television critic for a small metropolitan metro-politan daily, and I had traveled to California to represent my newspaper news-paper at one of the semi-annual press tours there. During these press tours we watched upcoming television programs, and then had press conferences with the stars and producers associated with the show. The idea was to provide material we could use in our columns around the time that the show actually aired. As you might expect, the television televi-sion networks took great care to see that everything was Just Right for the critics on the days their shows were presented. Accommodations Accommo-dations were always first class, and meals were bountiful, rich and sumptuous (I blame my diabetes on heredity, Dr Pepper, laziness and 36 weeks of Century Plaza Hotel cooking - not necessarily in that order). Special attention was always paid to the critics from larger newspapers, which meant I was usually on the low end of the press conference pecking order. Kay, on the other hand, was the Grande Dame. Hers was the largest newspaper news-paper represented at the press tour, and she took full advantage of the privilege and priority that have lived and those belonging to my long-lost friends. They are so lost that I can barely remember remem-ber their names, but their phone numbers are still fresh in my mind. You would think with this character trait (I can't call it' a skill), I would be good at math. Nope. Too bad, though. , The strangest area where I can remember numbers is license plates. Don't ask me how or especially why I have the ability to remember my vehicles' vehi-cles' numbers. It used to come in handy when you would check into a motel. Every few years when we went on a vacation, my ego would be stroked when the motel clerk status allowed. She always sat in the middle of the front row, her huge purse occupying the seat to her left and her stack of notepads and press materials occupying the seat to her right Whenever Kay wanted to ask a question, she had the floor no matter who else was speaking or what else was going on. And after each session, producers produc-ers and network executives would hover around her to make sure she got everything she needed and to see if she wanted them to bring any stars over for her to speak to individually. Meanwhile, the rest of us crowded around stars and producers produc-ers and fought for their attention to ask an individual question or two. I still have pencil lead in my arm from an overly zealous critic from Akron who thought I was horning in on his moment with Tony Danza. I don't remember what the television tele-vision project was that brought Christopher Reeve to the TV critic press tour. I just remember that he was there - tall, handsome and intensely pleasant - and that for some reason, I had a question I was dying to ask during the press conference. m r -J I bkNMfeMtji J rmrntmmtmtmmmitmmKmmmmmmmmm . don't matter? would ask our license number, and I would be able to recite it without hesitating. That doesn't seem to be of any value these days, though. It's too bad I can't go on Jeopardy Jeop-ardy and win a few thousand for reciting my license plates through the years. Other than for monetary rewards, there should be some way that I could use this trait. Hmmmm. . . . Let me think Well, I drew a blank, and I bet you did, too. The parallel that comes to mind would be to quote chapter and verse where certain scriptures scrip-tures are located. It sounds pretty logical, I must admit. It's a short name and a group of numbers. But adding even those small groups of letters makes my mind go blank, and I am tongue-tied when I start a search. All I can remember is it's on the left side of the page, or something equally equal-ly as non-helpful. Maybe some day I will think of something. "Mr. Reeve," I began from my place on the back row, "it was recently reported that . . ." "Chris," Kay cut in, "are there plans for another 'Superman' movie?" Reeve looked at Kay and smiled charmingly. "Excuse me, Kay," he said, "but that gentleman back there was asking a question." I couldn't see the expression on Kay's face, but I could see the black smoke curling out of her ears. This just wasn't done. Kay was given precedence over EVERYONE - especially young guys on the back row from the 40th largest television market. "Uh, Chris," a man in a suit sitting sit-ting next to Reeve whispered, "perhaps "per-haps you could answer Kay's question, ques-tion, and then the question from the back row." Reeve's expression 1 never changed. He just kept smiling at Kay and said: "I'm sure Kay understands. The other gentleman was first." Then he looked back toward me and asked: "What was your question ques-tion again?" There were a few guarded chuckles from my colleagues, who later told me they thought I was brave for defying Kay. But it wasn't was-n't me. It was the guy up front, the nice guy, the guy who dared to apply simple rules of courtesy to a setting that traditionally ignores such nicetiea You know - the Super Guy. 3 .-. 't POOR |