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Show Page 2 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Thursday, February 21, 2008 EC NEWS AND NOTES TO KEEP YOU INFORMED AND INVOLVED - - - - - - i American Fork officially becomes a Tree Barbara Christiansen NORTH COUNTY STAFF Councilwoman Heidi Rode-back Rode-back announced at the Feb. 12 meeting of the City Council that American Fork had met the qualifications to become a "Tree City, USA." The official designation would give the city preferential status to receive grants and qualify for high amounts, Rodeback said. It also enhances the public image and projects a positive image to residents and businesses, she said. "We have created a standard for care for our city trees," she said. "We have a great stewardship." stew-ardship." To qualify for the designation, designa-tion, American Fork needed to establish a tree board or department with a professional forester, have a tree care ordinance giving the board authority to implement an annual an-nual community forestry work plan, have a budget of at least $2 per capita to support the program and have an Arbor Day observance with a tree planting or award ceremony. Rodeback said the budget the city has is a modest one, with the $2 per person already being spent by the parks department de-partment for tree planting and maintenance. COMMUNITY NOTES Friends group formed Elizabeth Eliz-abeth Neibaur made a brief presentation at the Feb. 12 City Council meeting and urged the council to make sure the property where the American Fork Riding Club is located is appropriately used for recreation. recre-ation. The city is planning on converting the land, near the Fox Hollow Golf Course, to a reservoir for the city's secondary second-ary irrigation system. Neibaur said she had formed "Friends of the Tri City Recreational Recre-ational Area" to keep watch on Yard sale Continued from Page 1 conducted. With the new law, items may not be displayed earlier than 12 hours before the start of the sale and must be removed re-moved within 12 hours after the sale has concluded. A similar restriction with 12-hour provisions controls the NorthCounty NEWSPAPERS ' 399 E. State St. Pleasant Grove Marc Haddock 443-3268 North County Editor mhaddock heraldextra .com Cathy Allred 443 3262 Lehi, Saratoga Springs, PI. Grove callredheraldextra.com Barbara Christiansen 443-3264 American Fork, Alpine, Cedar Hills bchristiansenheraldextra.com Mike Rigert 443-3265 Orem, Vineyard mrigertheraldextra.com Beky Beaton 443 3267 Sports bbeaton heraldextra.com Josh Walker 443 3260 Advertising Account Executive jwalkerheraldextra.com Volume 135 AmencanFcxkCittfen Daily HfaldEioti USPS 018-680 a vwsklvnewspapst published at 399 E State St, Pleasant Grove. Utah 84063 Pencdeals Postage Paid at Pleasant Grove. Utah 84062 and additional mailing offices Poetmmtar. Send address changes to the American Fork Otran, P.O. Bw 7, American Fork. UT 84003-0007 Published Thursdays by Lee : Audn Bureau of Circulations i k A ; i,i j Jeff Kendall and his horse Makin' a Wonder at stables near the group named Friends of the Tri City Recreation Area has been area. the land and ensure that it complies com-plies with conditions placed on it by the state decades ago, designating it be used for recreation rec-reation or it would revert to state ownership. City officials said the land was incorrectly included in that area, since it was originally in city ownership owner-ship and not granted from the state. "Legal counsel is working work-ing with the state to resolve that situation," Mayor Heber Thompson said. Whether or not the land is subject to the legal requirements, require-ments, there are many who want to see it continue to be used for recreation, Neibaur said. "The property has been used for 37 years for recreation," signs advertising the sale. It also limits the number of signs to four, although Rodeback said limiting the number of signs could be hard to enforce. City Chief of Staff Melanie Marsh said too many signs contributed to clutter. "Maybe we could post a list of the sales at the library or on a community bulletin board," she said. Currently, there is a section Phone: 756-7669 Fax: 756-5274 0 DAILY HERALD PUBLXSBIMO CO. Q7TJ Jennette Esplin 756-7669 Office Manager Julia Fullmer 344 2570 Project Coordinator, DesignerCopy Editor Megan Carleton 344 2570 DesignerCopy Editor Ashley Franscell 344-2585 Photographer Issue 8 Publications, which a a division ot Lee Enterprises. Inc. 9 . , she said. "Many people love the area as it is and do not want to see it changed. I would speculate specu-late the property is worth half a million dollars. I would plead with you to reconsider American Ameri-can Fork's plans to build its irrigation ir-rigation pool on this property." Councilwoman Sherry Kramer said one option the city could pursue would be to construct the irrigation pond and open that up to the public for recreational purposes. City proclaims White Ribbon Against Pornography Month American Fork has joined other communities in the state in declaring February as White Ribbon Against Pornography month. Cindy Moreno, president on afcity.com advertising yard sales for free. Those interested should click on "residents," then "yard sales" from the pulldown pull-down menu. Rodeback said she did not want to place too many restrictions restric-tions on yard sales. "I have always felt that yard sales are community building," she said. "You get to know your neighbors better. They also help people of modest Surviving I !.""'"' "Jhere are hundreds of stories sto-ries about the hardships endured by the residents of Cedar Valley during last Wednesday's blizzard. We J experienced two of them. My wife, Sharon, had driven home in the blowing snow early Wednesday afternoon. She called to tell me how terrible the storm was and I told her to take heart, that in Pleasant Grove, the snow had stopped. She told me I was brushing off her concerns, but I just couldn't see the problem. When I drove the few miles home to American Fork, it was very different. dif-ferent. We were happy to bundle up. Then our daughter, Kristy, called on her cell phone to tell us she couldn't get to her Eagle Mountain home from her job teaching gymnastics at Lehi's Legacy Center. She was in her car on S.R. 73, waiting for traffic to move even just a little. She was worried about her four children, who had been left playing at the homes of friends and about her husband, Ian, who was on a bus making the trip from downtown Salt Lake City. Both parents were frantic, and completely at the mercy of the elements. By 8 p.m., Kristy knew she wasn't going to get to Eagle Mountain that night. The road in was closed for the night. She joined the hundreds of cars milling around the Saratoga Springs Smith's parking lot, and used her cell phone to find someone who could stay with her kids. Her 9- and 6-year-old sons cried on the phone, distraught that their parents had been ripped away for the night. Eventually Kristy turned around and headed for our home in American Fork, seeking seek-ing the security of familiar surroundings and sympathetic company. She wasn't happy, but she was safe, and her kids were safe, and that would have to be enough. About the same time, Ian was on the other side of the Point of the Mountain, still in the bus which had made it from downtown Salt Lake City to Sandy in just under three hours. We kept in touch, and when we reached him just after 10 p.m., the bus had finally reached the Thanksgiving Point exit, where BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorth County Fox Hollow Golf Course. A formed at help maintain the of Communities for Decency, appeared at the City Council meeting Feb. 12 as Mayor Heber He-ber Thompson read a proclamation procla-mation with the declaration. Moreno said the group is working with government officials offi-cials in several cities and even the governor's office to help increase awareness of issues associated with pornography. "One of the purposes for this is it helps bring awareness ... of the devastating effects of pornography," she said. Moreno said her group is a statewide, nonprofit advocate against pornography, started in 2001. It works to bring awareness to parents and leaders lead-ers alike to help them understand under-stand methods used by pornog-raphers. pornog-raphers. This year, the group means meet their bottom line. My concern is that we don't go too far." She proposed changes to the penalties in the ordinance. It originally had a provision which considered noncompliance noncompli-ance as a Class C misdemeanor, misdemean-or, with fines and penalties possible, even for a first offense. of-fense. Under the law as adopted, the first offense calls for a the winter storm til '! k-Il Marc Haddock THE EDITOR'S COLUMN --I. City, USA' will have a billboard campaign in which high school students compete to design a billboard and slogan about the dangers of cell phones. Like any other new technology, technol-ogy, Moreno said, pornog-raphers pornog-raphers are beginning to use cell phones to spread their messages. The campaign is intended to allow teenagers to teach their peers and their parents about using technology technol-ogy safely. "When kids are doing something, some-thing, you find that they're going go-ing to listen and pay attention when their peers are doing it," she said. Moreno said children are natives na-tives to technology, and Communities Com-munities for Decency holds assemblies at schools to help parents understand what their children and pornographers alike have access to. Council approves plans On Feb. 12, the City Council approved ap-proved plans for the Main Street Plaza development, east of Target. They include the Olive Garden Restaurant, Paradise Para-dise Bakery and Cafe and two other buildings, whose tenants have not yet been revealed. City seeks proposal for float American Fork City has decided to seek proposals for a new city float which would be used in parades during the summer season. The float which has been used is more than four years old and in need of being replaced to properly represent the city, council members said. "It is badly needed," Councilman Council-man Shirl LeBaron said. Night at the Museum The Hutchings Museum comes "alive" at a Night at the Museum Muse-um event Friday from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Historic characters and animals including T-Rex and the Easter Island Head come to life at sunset at 55 N. Center St. in Lehi. Admission is free. written warning. A second is considered an infraction; a third is a Class C misdemeanor and four or more a Class B misdemeanor. Storrs said he was optimistic that the ordinance would help clean up the community. "I think it is going to help," he said. "I think it should have had more teeth in it, however." his truck was parked in the park-and-ride lot. About six commuters got off the bus and walked down the off-ramp off-ramp to the parking area. The bus driver said he wasn't going to try to get off the freeway and then get back on again. They were virtually parked there anyway. When he reached the truck, he started the engine to get warm and wait until the roads opened. Finally someone came and invited him to a church, where they had warm food and a place to rest. He finally got home at about 1 a.m., driving on the old Lehi-Fairfield Road, now call the Pony Express Parkway. Kristy was up very early Thurs day and was on her way home as well. By 6 a.m., the whole family was reunited. The storm and subsequent ordeal was just a memory. Those experiences were echoed in the lives of hundreds of people. Many were forced to abandon their cars and then had to pay the tow truck company to retrieve them. The storm taught some of the television stations sta-tions that there aren't enough roads in and out of Cedar Valley. But would more roads have made much difference, with driving conditions condi-tions similar on all of the roads? This was a weather-related incident, not a traffic one. We all know we need more roads, and the responsible agencies are working on the funding (roads are very expensive) and other details. But there are lessons to be learned here, the first being that sometimes weather is more powerful than any human force. Be prepared keep an emergency kit in the car with food, water and other necessities. Have a warm coat, even if you think you aren't going to leave the car. And be thankful for your community. Last week, people pulled together to make it through that dark and stormy night. Neighbors Neigh-bors cared for the children of other neighbors. Churches opened their doors to give safe haven to travelers in need. The experience of people in my family was multiplied hundreds of times. An no one was seriously injured. That's extraordinary. Youth Continued from Page I bers. Councilman Shirl LeBaron LeB-aron had the assignment to oversee the group and began working with Evan. Their charter says they focus on serving the community, com-munity, youth leadership development, de-velopment, local government experience and increased communication between youth and adults. The Youth City Council is made up of a mayor, five council members and a recorder. re-corder. They are mayor pro tern Mikayla Orton, Steven Mitsuda, Christie Bruening, Richard Flores, Bethany Richards and recorder Kay-lee Kay-lee Bromley. Each council member is responsible for certain areas in the community, commu-nity, much like their adult counterparts. One oversees the public safety and courts committee; another has responsibility re-sponsibility for water, sewer, irrigation, streets and roads. One cares for parks, recreation, recre-ation, planning and zoning; a fourth covers beautification, clean-up drives and youth involvement; in-volvement; and the last does community events, publicity and Chamber of Commerce matters. They have been making plans for projects they would like to accomplish. Some of their first goals include cleaning up the skate park and helping to maintain it, holding a book drive, helping help-ing the city finish sidewalks and having a fundraiser to build new ones, increasing community and teen awareness aware-ness of city events and activities, activi-ties, teaching youth how to be involved, creating opportunities oppor-tunities for that involvement in service projects and with groups, and involving the youth in cleanup and beautification beautifi-cation projects. Evan Nuttall said the youth were lucky to have a skate park and should appreciate it. "We are very privileged to have a skate park in the area," he said. "It should be a safe environment. I would like to make sure those requirements re-quirements are met and fulfilled. ful-filled. We would like to make sure we respect what the city has done for us." Evan said he would love to have more youth join the group. "Anyone that wants to make a difference, wants their voice heard, in my view this is the best avenue for the youth," he said. "If we had another 20 kids, I would be happy." He said he was pleased with those who were already involved. "I have been really surprised sur-prised with the number of youth who want to be involved," in-volved," he said. Councilwoman Heidi Rodeback Ro-deback agreed, both with the number and their quality. "One thing's certain," she said. "If our future is in the hands of leaders like these, then we're in good shape." Meetings The Youth City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month, from 5:30-6:45 p.m. in American Fork City Hall, 31 N. Church St. (50 East) Builders Continued from Page 1 places give any developer anything they want. We have tried to maintain some degree of openness to help maintain our community standards. I think that development has to pay its fair share." Lindon received the highest high-est score of 4.64. Joining Lindon among the entities that received rankings rank-ings in the 4-point range were Highland, Lehi, Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove, Spanish Fork and Utah County. Cities in the 3-point range were Alpine, Cedar Hills, Eagle Mountain, Mapleton, Orem, Payson, Provo, Salem, Santaquin and Springville. Joining American Fork in the 2-point range were Draper, Saratoga Springs and Woodland Hills. Association officials said they had no suggestions for improvement for the cities and no examples of best practices from cities such as Lindon that received good marks. Officials said they eventually plan to meet with every city in the county to discuss the survey results and will share some comments com-ments from specific builders. |