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Show Page 2 Thursday, January 8, 2009 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN In,.., ..i L.....,i , I L ,l, ,, -1,,,,-m J NEWS AND NOTES TO KEEP YOU INFORMEp AND INVOLVED A.F. 'Wonder Boy' loses vision, survives cancer V Ml Xjj Mario Ruiz NORTH COUNTY yaif ith his red cape flying high behind him, 10-yenr-old Paul Wilson dashes from one corner of his house to the other chasing after a most vile and lethal villain. Paul is Wonder Hoy, and with strength of will he punches at the air with a force that has stopped his enemy in its tracks. With no other power than the will to stay alive and support from friends and family. Wonder Hoy is Mind, and his enemy is cancer. Paul, who lives in American Pork, has been in remission from medullo-blastoma. medullo-blastoma. a malignant brain tumor, for two years, after surgery and a year of chemotherapy. He was 7 years old at the time of his surgery and sM'nl an entire year in and out of ft imai v Children's I lospital in Salt Like City undergoing treatment. Paul lost his sight tw o years ago after the first of six consecutive brain surgeries to remove a cancer that was above his pituitary gland and between his optical nerves, lie was diagnosed on Jan. 12. 2'IOli and surgery took place the next day. He went blind overnight "He was scared at first." said Paul's mother. Mary Wilson. Paul would see only black for a short while after his surgery, but after much prayer and fasting his vision F ! H ju 1 iv err A- ' ' i ' - MARIO RUIZ North County Paul Wilson plays Mancala with his 13-year-old sister Tori in their home in American Fork on Dec. 31. would improve slightly. Paul received a blessing from his grandfather and uncle that said he would gain enough sight that he would not be fearful. He can now see light and blurred shapes. "You don't teach 7-year-olds that Jesus doesn't heal the blind." said his mother. Paul has learned to live being blind and doesn't have a woe-is-me atti tude. "Sometimes the Lord gives you what you need, not what you want," said Paul. "You can get used to being be-ing blind and after a while you can like it." It was during radiation and chemotherapy che-motherapy after his surgeries that Paul began to put up a fight. "He worked so hard to live," said Mary, who is going to school at Utah Valley University to become a nurse. "He wasn't a helpless victim in the whole thing," said Mary. She says Paul took charge of his illness and didn't let up through his time at Primary Pri-mary Children's. He had strict rules and guidelines for his nurses and doctors. He even kicked a doctor out of his room one time because the doctor didn't tell Paul who he was, why he was there and what he was going to do. The doctor stepped outside and came back in, this time following the rules. Paul made up Wonder Boy to fight cancer. He had an aunt sew red capes for him, his family, nurses, other children, his service dog and his stuffed animal rabbit. He got everyone ev-eryone pumped to fight cancer. Even then it was never easy for Paul and the family. "Are superheroes scared?" Mary asks Paul. "Yes," he responds, "but they do it anyways. That's what makes them superheroes." In September the family went through a scare when one of Paul's MRIs showed something that concerned con-cerned doctors. The family was devastated thinking that the cancer could be back. In December after several tests the doctors found that it was only a hemorrhage and that the cancer was still in remission the family was relieved. "He's just so joyful and he never complains," said Mary. "He teaches you it's not about what happens to you in life it's your attitude." Paul's enthusiasm for life and will to fight is contagious. Paul's uncle Dan Wilson of Cedar Hills was diagnosed diag-nosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and most aggressive aggres-sive type of primary brain tumor, just after Paul's was removed. "It made it a lot easier to go through after seeing (Paul) go through it," said Dan who is currently cur-rently undergoing chemotherapy. "He said I could be a superhero with him." COMMUNITY NOTES Portrait classes to be offered The American Fork Arts Council will present "Portrait Study with Melody." The three-week class will begin Wednesday and run through Jan. 28. It is from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and will be in Room 3 of the American Fork Fitness Center, 454 N. Center St., American Fork. The cost is $25. Those who attend will learn to do pencil self portraits, charcoal and pastel portraits, white on black portraits por-traits and painted portraits. Anyone who wishes further information infor-mation may contact the Arts Council at 763-3081. Auditions for youth soloists with symphony The American Fork Symphony will have auditions for youth soloists for its "Salute to Youth" concert. The auditions will be Jan. 30 and applications are due Jan. 16. More information is available at www.americanforksymphony.org or by calling Maxine Steele at 756-2330. Mayor Conf inued from lige I mate, budget, projects rejected from the Ixinds, water rates, business-friendly development . affordable housing, capital facilities, measuring results for city departments, the cemetery and pressurized irrigation. "1 would like to address promoting a (xwitive attitude about economic recovery." be said. Thompson said it was natural natu-ral for business to run in cycles and that people should understand under-stand that and lie more positive about the recovery part of the cycle. "I would like to have people on tlieir own initiative be more upbeat alxHit the economy," he said. "We would like to have tliem getting educated about what business cycles are all about. People forget that we do this on a regular basis." Anticipating that other part of the cycle will not begin immediately, im-mediately, however, be said that there vv ill have to be some budget cuts in tlx? city. "Until the economy recovers and we have a better flow of sales and property taxes, building build-ing permits and fees, the city is faced with budget cuts." be said. "We are going to have to do some trimming of our budgets. bud-gets. We are doing it now." He anticipated further cost-cutting cost-cutting measures. "For 20!!t I think we are in the budget -cutting mode," he said. "1 am not sure we will have enough recovery soon." Thompson said the council would be meeting with department depart-ment heads to address methods meth-ods of cutting budgets which would have the least effect on performance. The economic cycle may he part of the reason five bond issues is-sues were defeated at the polls in Novemlier. Thompson said the city had some decisions to make about the projects because be-cause they were considered essential. es-sential. The funding, how ever, was not available because none of the bonds passed. "It is really the balance be-tween be-tween what projects are so critical, like threats to safety." lie said. "We have to figure out what components to those bonds w e can address with other funding." One example that has been cited for a safety concern is the Beehive Park road which runs west of Beehive Bee-hive Park on 700 North and provides access to Art Dye Par k. It Ls a narrow, two-lane road, which the bond funding would have expanded. Business owners have recently re-cently complained to the city about the impact new culinary water rates would have on their companies. Some said they would have to close their doors because they were facing fac-ing a 600 percent increase in rates. Thompson said the city would re-evaluate those rates to make them mot e fair. "We have got to figure some fair and equitable water rates." he said. "We have to look at them again." In a related issue, Thompson said he hoped the city w ould be able to create a more welcoming welcom-ing atmospliere for businesses and developers. "We would like to have a business-friendly development process," lie said. "Some examples ex-amples are our fee schedules. We also want to be able to put tilings through the system in an expeditious manner. We have made progress, but I still feel we have a ways to go there." He added tar geted housing to tlie list. "I would also like to see our city give more encouragement to affordable housing options." he said. "There is an affordable housing initiative that the county coun-ty and state have underway. I want us to be able to support sup-port that in some way. I think we will probably have some smaller scale test projects, then maybe we can expand from there." Another of Thompson's goals is more complete, more readily understandable financial finan-cial tracking. "1 would like to have us be able tu track financial measurements mea-surements for the city," he said. "We have plenty of financial fi-nancial reports. The public accounting ac-counting process is so difficult to understand for the layman." He said the city's financial department did well in its planning, plan-ning, but he would like to see some different formats. "1 would like to get us some measurements that we could track on a monthly basis, comparing month to month and this year compared to last year. 1 want the ability to more precisely measure our financial position." He said he was pleased with the city's financial outlook. "Though we have these shortfalls from revenue that has not come in. we still have had responsible financial man agement, and we still have reserves that the state suggests sug-gests in our general fund," he said "We are still within those limits they suggest. We just don't want to tap them down any further. We want to make economies that will keep us in a relatively safe position." In a similar vein, he would like to see the city update its procedure for creating a capital capi-tal facilities plaa to include a time line and other options. "We require annually a capital capi-tal facilities plan. We always do." he said "We really don't go too much further after that. I want a time line and further options. A good example of this is repair and maintenance of our streets. 1 would like a 10-year schedule of what we do to always stay on top of our roads being in good shape." Thompson would also like a system to measure how effective effec-tive the city departments are. "I would like to get a system of measuring results for the city departments," he said. "How do we measure how effective they are?" He gave the example of plowing snow. "How many miles do we do in a certain amount of time?" he said he would ask. He looked to the future and said he would like to have the city prepared to have some new development options in place. "I also want us to be smart at looking at transit-oriented development around the Front-Runner Front-Runner station," he said That is slated to be on the west side of the community and some have asked the city to consider creating creat-ing a walkable. higher-density housing area with a retail component com-ponent near the station. "We have got to have some city studies and zoning that makes sense for such a development." devel-opment." Thompson said. "I think that is a fairly immediate need." He said it was good timing that the city has started its pressurized irrigation system. The multi-year project began at a time when the economy brought about competitive bids, he said "It has been a fortuitous timing tim-ing for us to have the project with heavy contractors looking look-ing for work," he said. "11131 has helped us with some economies." econo-mies." He said the project was progressing pro-gressing well and that the city was happy with the services of the contractors. NorthCounty I Planning makes for a smooth season NEWSPAPERS 393 E S:.-v S: TVsm-i 3-eve- Home Delivery 375-5103 De;wry b 6 a.m. Manfri 7 a.m. Sat Sun For riissnig paws, ca.i by 9:30 a m. SUBSCRIPTIONS New subscriptions -"esrarts. del ve- or billing irrtpmgrion. cal 37S-51C3 wf-k days from 6 a.m. to 5 3C p m. Phone: '69 Fax: rv SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMS Ttijr f'l S3". SnJr K w-,i.3.f DAILY HERALD PUBLISHING CO. sr t: 5 : ,v, 5 Ht SO 1 WCa delivery incluflf-s, dplwy Cie wwks ct taster. 'We-nona. Cav. 'IrwIependeToe Dav. 'PH-irifT Dav, labor Day. Tra-.g viTg Cnnsnat anc Mew Year s D Barbara Christiansen 443-2264 American Fork. Alpine, Cedar HiHs bclhristianser -aldexra com 02321 Jennette Esplin 756-7669 Gassnecis, OP'ja'ies, CeieDtsxms. Legate Kira Johnson 344-2558 NoTi Oxrry Coo'dnsror k;chrso" Q '"e'a'aevra.co" Megan Carieton 344-2573 Proiec: Coordinator DesignerCap- tdtor Alison Davies 344-2570 'Desgner'Cops Edor Volume 135 Issue 54 A-iew CtaWi - arntv- tT'ltw- Dw Hum Ml USPS Ctt-SM t wutwHv vmsuscw iduMVwc i! 39H So St iowit Go i Hr ftnaOat! anmp sue a- Ptawn Sra Urn' 841S; ire. m Milan -m cnim. Sstc mtoss c-to v Mn-r Carry Newnrnnrs F'O fk 7 Awior ton Jr M3a-Kk'7 Pjtwiec tu Lm "xhctho-k US T-v-'i&- 1 5 33 he decorations are down. The tree is tinder. The tinsel got tousled and has been tossed. The turkey is soup and whatever is left is in the freezer for anolher month until we can stand to lock at it again. Christmas is over. I anticipate tlie holiday season with the best of them. I plan ahead and spread out my shopping so it will not affect any one paycheck too much, t look for clues all year long so I can get just the right gift for my kids and grandkkls. I plan to have my s!pping done before Black Friday. It s not worth the bargains to get stuck in crowds like that. Noway. I ev en stock up on my regular household purchases so I don't need to go to any kind of super center between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Vi;h a little bit of luck, my purchases w ill hold out until Jan. 15 and I wont get stuck in any traffic jams in the parking ks. VYe have one son who lives in Arizona. We even pSan ahead so we can get their family's package in the mail krig before the rush at the post office begins. In other words, we are prepared. The purpose of aE this preparation origi-rsaSy origi-rsaSy w as to give us time to enjoy the season, to remember the joy and peace and happiness being win friends and f am3y provides to us &1 Beirig prepared gives me time to select recpes mi bake for friends and neighbors. Being prepared aaows Tie to get to sieep al a decent hour so I can get enough sSeep to avoid that kind of stress. One thing doesirt do and probacy nev er utB do for me is to he S1 out Christmas cards and the annual f a.?i!y newsta-.er. I gyess the shoemaker's children adruaTX- do go barefoot ard the writer's newsletters news-letters never get done.. That must be an oecu-palioraal oecu-palioraal hazard. AH trie p":A--r. he-'Vps us better arfikipate Barb's Wire BARBARA CHRISTIANSEN the season. I don't rush things as much as the merchants do. but t enjoy getting the lights out and the decorations up. so we can have a festive atmosphere in our home. And while that is great, it is just as fantastic to reach the stage where everything is again boxed up and in the storeroom. 1 look forward to the days off from work, but I also look forward for-ward to getting back to a regular schedule again. It's a relief to actually ac-tually have meetings to go to, to having five days to get my work done instead of three and a half or four. I think I have reached that stage on the "You Know You're Getting Did hen, chart You know you're getting old when work becomes more fun and fun becomes more work. So true, I qualify for about 75 percent of those items. This year for Christmas, my son and daughter-in-law gave us a great present. They presented us w ith a check, along with a note. It said it was good for any kind of home improv ement project we wanted. We could choose They would provide a portion of the Funding and, most import anth', the labor. Now that the Christmas boxes are back in storage, the flaky paint, faded curtains, rusty medicine chest and other items around the house are much more vistsk than they have been for a couple of months. It is defmitefy time to contemplate some modificatiorss to our decor for the other 10 months out of the year. Were started a Est so we can make an informed in-formed decision about what project to pursue. Again, we are trying to be prepared. The only profckrn is that the fcst is not long it's wide. Everything is at the top. I Barbara OtorirtiaswMi is editor of the American FoHfe Citizen. She may be reached ct 443-3264 or bchristiansm heraldextra.ccmi. Funds Continued from Page 1 that have been funded for a while, to get them on the ground." Spencer said the city would scale back some projects to have them fit within the available funding. "We are trying to be creative cre-ative and work w ithin the funds that we have available, to phase and scale the project as necessary- to accomplish the primary goal of the projects," proj-ects," he said. With the scaling back, the projects are smaller than previously pre-viously planned. Spencer said, 50 South basically is reconstruction of TOO East intersection and approximately a half block in each direction. We wul be adding turn lanes in all directions, preparatory to improvements im-provements for signal That traffic signal is planned for a time in the future. The projects need to goto bid by June 30. Some will be ready sooner than that. "It looks Eke the Center Street trail will go to bid in January and the Art Dye trail in February, Spencer said. "We hope the 50 South project will go out in April or May and the River and Southern Rail trails by the June deadline." Spencer said the dry appreciated ap-preciated the other agencies working to help the city complete com-plete some of the propects. "We art grateful that LTX3T and MAG are teaming qp wzhustohEp somerhirsg happen versus havrg &3 these projects staS," he said. t. ? n f! 1 1 |