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Show New Utah Pleasant Grove ReviewLindon Edition New Utah - Thursday, July 10, 2003 - Page 2 Opinion Dii School district split requires scrutiny The Fourth is cool at the pool A campaign is quietly starting to divide the Alpine School District Dis-trict into two or more smaller districts. If it succeeds, there are sure to be some major impacts on both taxpayers and students in our area. The first push is coming from Orem and is supposed to be about "the education of the children," chil-dren," but it's easier to understand under-stand in simple economic terms. That city is nearing buildout, so projections show that no new schools will be needed there. Those in favor of the move, including at least one city council member, do not want to continue to finance new schools in the fast-growing north end of the county. Besides that, Orem lost its majority position on the school board with the addition of two members representing north county residents last fall. So, Orem's board members will no longer have the final say on how the district's money gets spent. Never mind that north county residents paid for the building and improvement of Orem schools, whether they wanted to or not, during that city's era of rapid expansion; now that the situation is reversed, those in favor of the split don't want to play anymore. The reasons behind the movement move-ment to create a new district for Lehi and adjacent cities to the west appears to be more about the desire for local control. There are some who believe that smaller districts can reduce administrative costs and class sizes. Those might be desirable outcomes that make the proposals propos-als worth examining, at least. There are many other issues that would have to be looked at though, not the least of which is what would happen when Orem's huge commercial tax base is removed from the funding mix for the north county. The house bill that makes the district-splitting process possible is new. It requires 15 percent of voters meeting set specifications to petition for the proposal to move forward, and an impact study would then be done before anything else happens. This is an issue that will be getting plenty of consideration in the months ahead, and we'd all better be paying attention. Born again driver A friend of mine - we'll call him Joel - had to go to traffic school last week. For the second time. In two months. Joel isn't the worst driver in the world, although his wife - we'll call her Annette - might argue that point. She has pretty much worn a "sympathy brake" hole into the passenger's pas-senger's side floorboard in the family fami-ly van. During nearly 26 years of driving with Joel her life has flashed before her eyes so many times she's beginning to think she should collect col-lect acting residuals. Watching him negotiate rush hour traffic recently she mentally made out her will so many times her brain got writer's cramp. Which is why she sent him off to traffic school with simple instructions: instruc-tions: "Pay attention." So Joel went to traffic school to satisfy his family and his insurance company (which has never actually driven with Joel but has recently raised his insurance rates as a consequence con-sequence of those tickets). He wasn't expecting to learn anything until Officer Holland began talking. Officer Holland is a veteran police officer who obviously knows what he is talking about. He is in superb physical condition, with forearms fore-arms like Popeye's, only without the anchor tattoos. He had just completed complet-ed a tiring graveyard shift, so his eyes looked bloodshot and just a little lit-tle ornery. And he was about to leave on a long car trip with his wife and children. , Clearly this was not a man to be trifled with. For 90 minutes Joel and about 45 other traffic school attendees atten-dees received a rapid-fire education in driving do's and don'ts from Officer Offi-cer Holland (not counting the 20 minutes or so they spent watching a 40-year-old Disney cartoon, with Goofy illustrating three different ''jtLtfsnr-rr- 3 kinds of bad drivers: Timidicus, Fig-itus Fig-itus and Neglecturus). He talked about how attitude determines how people drive, and how a bad attitude plus years of driving experience was often the worst combination with which he had to deal. Joel squirmed a little bit on that one. He knew he sometimes had a bad driving attitude. But what are you supposed to do when everyone else on the road is such an idiot? Joel also squirmed when others in the class started talking about their driving pet peeves: people who drive while talking on a cell phone (guilty!); people who drive while eating eat-ing (guilty!); people who drive while shaving (guilty!); people who tailgate tail-gate slower drivers in an attempt to force them to move over (guilty!). Of course, Joel also shared a few pet peeves. When he mentioned those who drive with a child on their laps, Officer Offi-cer Holland shook his head angrily. "That's something I just won't tolerate," tol-erate," he said. "If I catch someone doing that . . . there's just no excuse. That's like using your child for an air bag." By the end of traffic school Joel felt like a born-again driver. Today he is driving a little slower, concentrating concen-trating a little more and trying to be more courteous and patient - even with . . . you know . . . idiots. Like Officer Holland said, it's never too late to change your attitude. It will make the road safer for everyone -not to mention the peace it will bring to Anita and I. Er . . . I mean, Annette and Joel. jg Rrof- n" "Vpr' -w . N-w 3 Should the Alpine School District be divided? ONo O Yes, Orem should split off. O Yes, Lehi and Lehi west should split off. O Yes, Orem and Lehi area should divide off. Additional Comments: Should the Town of Cedar Fort suspend the annual July 23 water fight because of the 5-year drought? 0 Yes 100 No To respond, mail to P.O. Box 7, American Fork, UT 84043, or deliver to 59 W. Main, American Fork, or see www.newutah.com. Clear weather and hot temperatures temper-atures made celebrating our Nation's birthday at the Pleasant Grove pool a must-do again this year. Our family has celebrated J uly Fourth at the pool for the last seven years - ever since the pool has remained open through the fireworks display. The first year was great. There were less than a dozen families there; we felt like we had the pool to ourselves. During the fireworks show, my children swam and dove into the pool. They loved swimming swim-ming in the dark, the bright lights of fireworks exploding overhead. I enjoyed the fireworks show from the luxurious seating of the hot tub. What a good life! The following year a few more families came to the pool and the pool was closed to swimming as the fireworks show began. My children and I sat together on our blanket, with a perfect view not only of the fireworks overhead, but of the firemen beneath. WW' Watching the firemen light those enormous mortars was a show in and of itself. I was and am impressed with both the professionalism profes-sionalism and the sense of fun that the firemen display as they provide Independence Day entertainment enter-tainment for our community. This year the lawns surrounding surround-ing the pool were covered with people. "The biggest crowd we've had this year" according to Diane Johnson, pool manager. The "Fourth of July Pool Party" as my kids have dubbed it, has grown larger every year. Where else can you dip in the pool for respite from the heat, then enjoy a picnic dinner with your family, topped off by the city's magnificent magnifi-cent fireworks display? We were at our usual spot last Friday, enjoying the beauty of the iPPor' colorful explosio mg to avoid bein;AVf ;-tah felloutthatraiSUJ'trThe one of the HV end and S 6' impact. Dry Era!ploi W' field quiSyrf Punching 0f firS f r Pended for ay :kd-while :kd-while the Zl the fire. With , Sol, squirm a cheers for our ... "iw night Rln, l ;t. fart i aPplai;;M. Basf sky. bari ke stt atj-lrs nnH otJ A i ' DUrfi,.'ot to My children said J e a, donate some of mrs. money to the fire oWi If t the guys who know doing can light some Tevast stuff next year." ie wi Sounds good to me.IV I) big, bright Fourth of, need a city's celebration keeps tV better and better. yssib: Linda Butler canbe J Ore Undasbutlerjuno.coni " divide Distrii Reader's Forum ions, i t is a It relv o Director says good-bye toPGYT Editor: In March, after helping help-ing to produce 21 shows involving almost 1,000 children in Pleasant Grove Youth Theatre's , nine-year history, I knew I would not be continuing, continu-ing, but hoped that the program would, so that additional children, wanting similar opportunities, opportu-nities, could benefit. I met with Jan Shel-ton, Shel-ton, an award-winning director with whom I have been acquainted for years, and her business partner, Gayliene Omary, just prior to the announcement of their purchase of what is now "The Grove Theatre." I asked them to produce pro-duce and direct PGYT's annual Strawberry Days theatre workshop and suggested they approach Pleasant Grove City officials offi-cials about their new business taking over, on a contract, Pleasant Grove Youth Theatre's three yearly musical theatre the-atre productions. They agreed to act on the suggestion. Pleasant Grove City officials have embraced the proposal, with some modification, and have decided to no longer sponsor a children's chil-dren's theatre program. As the curtain closes for PGYT, it seems appropriate to recount some of its history and acknowledge those who helped make it a reality. In our first months of creating an organization, organiza-tion, before it was determined deter-mined that PGYT could be an official city pro gram, Scera Executive Director Norm Nielsen offered not only encouragement encour-agement and moral support sup-port but also an invitation invita-tion to include our production pro-duction as part of the Scera Shell season ticket for which we would be paid. The opportunity to perform our show, first in Pleasant Grove and then at the Scera Shell, lasted for five years with those young cast members certain cer-tain that their Scera experience was only about one step away from the lights of Broadway. Broad-way. One performance at the Shell that first year is particularly memorable, memo-rable, because the cast refused to stop performing perform-ing during a cloudburst despite an announcement announce-ment canceling the rest of show due to the rain. This prompted an audience member to write to the Deseret News, "... I have seen everything from "Charlie Brown" to "Les Miz" but will ever regard the dedication ded-ication of those children most outstanding. I give them a soggy ovation." And then there is the incredible Anna Mur-dock, Mur-dock, playwright, director, direc-tor, costumer, set and specials effects designer extraordinaire and founder of the 25 year old Spanish Fork Children's Chil-dren's Theater, who has given much invaluable advice over the years as well as rented costumes, set pieces and directed one of my favorite Strawberry Straw-berry Days mini-musicals, "Robin Hood." She could have chosen to be too busy to offer assistance once she realized real-ized how obviously clue less both our novice director and I were that first year, but she helped because she loves how participating in musical theatre benefits children and she wanted more to be able to participate. Hopefully, those in Utah who are involved in the arts know of the valuable resources the Utah Arts Council provides. pro-vides. PGYT could not have lasted for nine years without them. In addition to the funding we have receive through UAC grants, much has been learned and motivation renewed by attending classes on everything from marketing market-ing to board structures and mission statements to publicprivate partnerships part-nerships and arts administration, to name a few. The opportunity to network and learn from others in similar organizations organi-zations while attending such classes has also been a real plus. Another great organization that has provided training is the Utah Nonprofits Association. Their class on the standards that ethical organizations adhere to and, therefore, how they operate, has been particularly enlightening. Thank you, Pleasant Grove City, for the financial finan-cial support we received the last seven years and for providing rehearsal space for our school year productions during the past five years as well as rehearsal and performance perform-ance space for our Strawberry Days shows and our Heritage Festival Festi-val melodramas. Thank you, also, to the Pleasant Grove Arts Councaforthei-T on PGYTsbetefl thank you goes.,;, , shamgtheustgprh; . We would hi no renearsalspL, nrst lour years ; place to l!4 Ure school year pr.: moc during anyofcpicke: years without fej,opu; n special IE:.. must go to all il ents who nr. financed their i participation iii programs dn tenure but vol: countless hours: make those ale: performances k f loved seeing lk-i e of them. ' I need to te"8 tion my daughter; , 11CJ CLUU im-t;. out their desire: musical theatre tions, there have been a P, Grove Youth Tl 1111 JUJKUni" . Inc paint: , r 1 : AT-ir aerruijouiuo-ji "such nrnviHe sometrc:!. f ,r.pwu for own my lara taken me onaii' that what lei-fo something Fs' Most numerous otherc- lives over the tures It is also nf (eren state that no ;: ne possibly 'jMwbi tremendous &j required of mp-'artis-Dan, making i! Texpla for me to have t necessary t fences PGYT. (lis rj A rousing pages applause nee riven for fle- vnnt.h TheatrM everyone vfho with its success curtain falls'0" time' -Jut former PG; UTAH COUNTY Youth ages 8 to 16 who operate ATVs or off-highway motorbikes are invited to attend an Off-Highway Vehicle Education class on July 1 9 at Five Mile Pass, which is located on the outskirts of Fairfield, off the right side of State Route 73. The class, which will be hosted by Utah State Parks and Recreation, teaches basic riding skills, safety, equipment, laws and ethics. The 4-hour 4-hour class costs $10 and pre-regis-tration is required by July 14. Those who wish more information may call 1-800-OHV-RIDE. AMERICAN FORK American Fork City kicks off its Steel Days celebration this weekend with a Decorated Door Show Thurs day, Friday and Saturday, July 10, 11 and 12, from noon to 4 at the library. There will be a Craft Expo and Children's Chil-dren's Fair at Robinson Park (100 East and Main) from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday. There will be a Dutch oven cookoff, also in Robinson Park, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. There will be a Children's Parade at 5:30 from Lions Park at 300 West and 100 South to American Fork City Hall. It will be followed by a flag ceremony at City hall. CEDAR FORT Tickets for the Cedar Fort July 24th Rodeo will go on sale at the Cedar Valley Country Store starting July 14 through July 23. Advance ticket prices are $4 for adults and $2 for children 7 to12yearsold.ckets . . jiior more-3 cost one uumc. , and $3 for children 7 Children 6 years old an free. LEHI Sound Accord, a v , appears on Juiy CTot QT J.I N. v' Mike Bearden the gPa tenL Tony lead, Beams". MnGuire: baritone, and bass, Taylor r a: Accord sings i h ain's iazzaiu nines, iw" ' ms ii The musical 9Pj! site, www.soundacc Lehi Arts Councils5 the Park series. nnitf BTf wwiffftrmm Mt-nrtftnirmr nr tint rrrt rtTJT'Tftn ywfgyy i r rr wwrww:n K7-f9frrtrri.rr-'Lri.r SFVT5 |
