OCR Text |
Show i u M E S iil-xmit i fl. . i r- i Opinion at our off;,., . COMMENTARY ed at 538 South urem. Deadlines Monday 10:00 a.m c All submissions are subject to ediii and The Orem-Geneva Times reserves8 ' publish or not to publish a submission ' A2 Thursday, April 17, 2003 Opinion Century of Po I T T ' I j-ierues in Kjrem n m m w. ie to inor- ays & CrrZs cwfe play important role Dear Editor, One of my fondest Boys & Girls Club memories is the 1998 dedication of the 2,000th Boys & Girls Club, the Andre Agassi Club in Las Vegas. I was so proud to be a part of that landmark event. And I share your pride that -- in only four years the movement achieved yet another landmark its 3,000th club in Camden, N.J. Please accept my heartfelt congratulations for the exceptional commitment and dedication that led to this marvelous achievement. Because of your efforts, hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of addi tional young people have hope, opportunity and the promise of a future. At the same time, however, there are still millions of children who need a Boys & Girls Club. I am confident you will continue to seek out and serve those who need you the most. Of special concern to me are the young people whose fathers and mothers have been deployed to serve their country. I am grateful for the dedicated Youth CenterBoys & Girls Club staff and volunteers volun-teers on military bases around the world. They have dedicated themselves to sup porting those who put their lives on the line to protect and defend the American way. But there are also thousands thou-sands of deployed military with families living offbase. It is my hope that every Boys & Girls Club in America will open their doors to the children chil-dren of these families as well. Just as you did during Desert Storm, I hope you will make a special effort to find these families, invite their children into your clubs, provide pro-vide free memberships and special activities, and help to support them during one of the most challenging times of their lives. Boys & Girls clubs have always been there for our nation. I am certain you will be there now for the men and women of our military. In doing so, you demonstrate once again the extraordinary American spirit that has propelled this movement and our beloved nation to greatness. With great respect and admiration, Colin L. Powell Secretary of State Thanks to Utah Legislature for fighting against tobacco Dear Editor, As part of National Kick Butts Day earlier this ' month, the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Utah would like to thank the Utah State Legislature for helping kick butts during the 2003 legislative leg-islative session. Thank you for realizing the importance of maintaining tobacco prevention pre-vention and control program funding. We understand the gravity of the state's current funding .difficulties and recognize rec-ognize that allocating tobac co prevention and control moneys as a "quick fix" to compensate for budget shortfalls short-falls must have seemed appealing. States such as Wisconsin, New Jersey and Missouri have taken this shortsighted step. Tobacco prevention and control programs are fundamental funda-mental in reducing death, disease and costs that tobacco tobac-co inflicts upon taxpayers. Yearly, tobacco kills roughly 1,218 Utahns and costs Utah approximately $273 million in tobacco-related health care costs. Every dollar spent in tobacco prevention saves roughly $3 in medical costs. Funding tobacco prevention pre-vention and control programs pro-grams not only saves lives but also increases revenue for the state in the long run. Utah's statewide tobacco prevention and control programs pro-grams have been successful. Fewer students and adults smoke, and more smokers want to quit. Our hope is that Utah will continue to use its resources sensibly until we eliminate the devastation devas-tation caused by tobacco. We urge continued support of funding for tobacco prevention preven-tion and control in Utah, which will give Utah a fighting fight-ing chance to prevent another anoth-er generation from becoming addicted to tobacco. Tug Gettling, Kim Parker CTFU co-chairs Q)ivt &A&c duet t Memwiet 5 fie )aif the Wcvt Ended The Utah Valley Elder Quest of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Utah Valley State College is comprised of some 200 local senior citizens, many of whom recall and write down their memories and life experiences, experi-ences, such as the one presented here. , ' WILLIAM B. HOWARD On May 7, 1945 I was in Zwickau, Germany. I had spent the last five months chasing the Nazi army across France, Luxembourg and Germany in Gen. Patton's Third Army. More specifically, I was a corporal and assistant squad leader in Company C of the 314 Combat Engineer Bn. of the The Orem-Geneva Times 538 South State Street Orem, UT 84058 An edition of The Daily Herald, Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. Subscriptions & Delivery 375-5103 News & Advertising . .225-1340 Fax 2251341 E-mail oremtimesnetworld.com USPS 411-711. Published Thursdays by Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc., 538 South State Street, Orem, Utah 84058. Periodicals postage paid at Orem, Utah 84059. Postmaster: Send address changes to P.O. Box 65, Orem, UT 84059. Member: Audit Bureau of Circulations NEWSSTAND PRICE $0.50 SUBSCRIPTION RATE 1 year-$36.40 (in county) (Sunday & Thursday plus Holiday deliveries) Holiday deliveries include delivery the week of Easter, Memorial, Independence, Pioneer, Labor, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. 1 year- $45.40 (out of county) NEWS We welcome news tips. Call 225-1340 to report news tips or if you have a comment or a question. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must include the author's name (printed AND signed) and a telephone number. We reserve the righ to edit letters let-ters for clarity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic. 89th Division. We had been in Zwickau about a week. We were stopped now because we were within 50 miles of the Russians advancing from the east. We had agreed with them to keep this much distance between us. Our duties the past few weeks were to dispose of captured ammunition and explosives. There weren't many, so we had some free time. We even played football foot-ball in the park or toured the city. We anticipated the war ending soon. This morning we were playing cards around a dining din-ing room table in a three-story three-story home we had "borrowed" "bor-rowed" as our quarters. At about 10 a.m., someone walked in and announced that the war had ended. There was no yelling or celebration, cel-ebration, just a feeling of relief. We hardly looked up from the game. When I did get a break, I got off two letters let-ters to my family and girlfriend girl-friend to let them know I had survived the war. Also, censorship was now off so I could write in detail about where we were and what we had been doing instead of just vague hints or bland remarks about anything. I could even write mushy stuff to my girl that I had been reluctant to have a censor read. A couple of fellows found some German army uniforms. uni-forms. They dressed up in them and got their pictures taken. Some of us played football in the park as we were not assigned any duties that day. After lunch, our platoon photographer, a little Chinese fellow named Horn, took pictures of our platoon, squad and individuals individ-uals and printed copies of all of us. Then we all went swimming at the local indoor spa that the army had taken over. The pool and baths were full of soldiers sol-diers skinny dipping, so we dove right in. It was our first chance to get clean in several months. Did anyone but me notice that the attendant handing out the towels was an old lady? She appeared not to notice several sev-eral hundred naked men frolicking in the pool. After supper, we attended a movie at a local theater that we had "liberated." A jazz band had even been formed to give us a live concert con-cert before the show. Later in the week, some displaced people from forced labor camps that were liberated performed for us with their native songs and dances. While we were very relieved that the war in Europe was over, we were still sobered by the fact that it could be a year or so before we would get home. Now the war effort would be fully shifted to the Pacific, and very few ships would be available to get us home. Points were given to determine deter-mine priority for going home. Points were given for a wife and children, months of service and months overseas. over-seas. I was very young and had few points by comparison, compari-son, so I prepared to stay for at least another year. My fiancee, Ellaree, was in the Waves in Washington, D.C. We planned to get married mar-ried as soon as we could both get home. When the war with Japan ended, she could have been released immediately, but they asked her to stay another six months to help finish the paperwork. They offered a promotion to stay. She asked my opinion, and I said to stay as I saw no chance of me getting home in six months. But I did get released in May 1946 and beat her home by a couple of months. We were then married mar-ried in August 1946 after a four-year engagement and began college on the GI Bill of Rights. c Column 3 United States Postal Service is inaugeratei: CLYDE E. WEEKS, JR. Times Correspondent Part 15 On Aug. 12, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed ' the Postal Reorganization Act into law. The act essentially created an independent government agency, removing the postmaster post-master general from the president's cabinet and effectively eliminating politics poli-tics and politicians from the management of postal affairs. In addition, a presiden-tially presiden-tially appointed nine-member Board of Governors was created to operate the postal establishment and to appoint the postmaster general gen-eral and deputy postmaster general, who became the 10th and 11th members of the board. Less than a year later, July 1, 1971, Postal Service Day was declared, with the inauguration of the United States Postal Service, replacing the venerable 196-year-old United States Post Office Department. In the observance of that occasion, a new 8-cent postage stamp was issued, featuring the postal eagle in flight. That postage stamp appeared on millions of First-Day envelopes, featuring featur-ing a Pony Express rider and a modern-day postal letter carrier delivering the mail. Far-reaching changes in the postal establishment saw the decentralization of postal management from postal headquarters in Washington, D.C. to five regions in the United States, each having its own regional postmaster general and staff. No longer to be financed by 3-cent stamps and congressional appropriations, appropri-ations, the new U.S. Postal Service was mandated to become financially self-sustaining. Improved customer service serv-ice and greater autonomy in operations became the hallmark hall-mark of the new Postal Service. On April 30, 1973, a series of stamps, depicting postal people was issued. Those stamps focused public pub-lic attention in a unique and personal way on the most important asset of the U.S. Postal Service its people. In the lobby of the Orem Post Office, a colorful visual display was made, featuring the series of eight postage stamps, depicting postal employees in their actual n0?.- , situa'- I All QlTInl,. wgiiiigjuLeu xne wide, ety of tasks performec dedicated postal emplG in moving the mails. ' Local artist Jon Gar .1.1 n W expanaea tne origin cent postage stamps neroic size m a tribute trie outstanding emplo-of emplo-of the Orem Post Office The "Postal pK depicted on the sta: i ougcu ii uiu a ibner car picking up collection mail to a retail clerks , too ,rea . - tools 'i stop serif1 ?Jlat i loci tiiifaci M ;jrate :;inanc the .cosed desci ; being i6"ta -hair.i a luowmei at me coir Also shown was one st showing eight letters- machine operators worj'1 lhat stamp was adjace: one depicting two cL processing mail throe canceling machine. One stamp showec separate postal wok milliner ndd-siyprl mail -I'1 . mg aiong a mecnanical Another colorful s' showed a typical post d scene with two mail di: utors sorting mail intot; ual distribution cases, Two stamps showed Aind a r delivery people in actiiitaied city carrier fingering rrank to on the street and a m carrier delivering mail a rural box. On the heels of the o: ing of Orem's Univer Mall in 1973, Orem's se: post office a self-ser postal center was op; for business in 1976. Located in the pari1 lot at 1230 South Street, the mini post a offered 24-hour basic d ing services to the pc Erected as a convenieti Orem residents and 4 shoppers, the blue : white six-sided strut: was furnished with thf est in postal product: pensing equipment. Motorists could F immediately adjacent to: postal unit and walkot: few steps to deposiu mail or use any of the v-ing v-ing machines and sen-Postal sen-Postal customers could: letters and package; wpII as huv stamps, f cards, envelopes, and 4 mum parcel post fls at regular post office r; The station was open? round. Also reflects? new look of the US. ? ; Service, postal clerk ; lotor r.arriprs were ' attractive new un1 included new Beit shorts and knee so well as pith helmets. 'n the t ',5, the) Therew tester; iFrai A aftei ::Utah 1th ; Heal "Jed -Servic J to 'id an ; Count ':h ti ;4gof imuin Ss has '! of tah c ent 'i:Perfc !'ser NEXT WEEK: A": lion-dollar bullae DEADLINES Because of the increase of news stories & submitted to the OremLindon Times, our de: for news & advertising is 10:00 a.m. Monday- Itfm nppH i a ha ii'iutonT --. uv,u iu uv UlUUglll III IUC " - 1 MS !outh State Street, Orem. Entries may for length and content If you have any questions please call our o 225-1340 ivbt IV ... it t |