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Show Lone PeakPleasant Grove - Thursday, August - Page 2 Opinion It's time to move on On Tuesday, the Utah County Coun-ty Commission decided 2-1 against putting the issue of creating the Pioneer School District by dividing the Alpine School District on the November Novem-ber ballot. Just as there are some who will be very disappointed by the Commission's decision, there are others who will be extremely relieved. Those registered voters and property owners who live outside out-side the proposed boundaries for the Pioneer District may have seen a slightly lower property tax rate. Supporters of the split argued that the Pioneer District Dis-trict committee study that showed a projected 40 percent tax hike for property owners within the proposed Pioneer School District did not take into account other creative budgeting methods and resources. Others argued wording in the law would put career salary, benefits and retirement security at risk for the new district's faculty and staff. The communities involved in the decision now have four years to work out and amend any foreseen problems in the ordinance. During this time the property tax base will change. We would like to applaud Rep. David Cox for his pioneer ing efforts to establish the groundwork of this process to allow the creation of a new school district. While some have not agreed with his logic and others determined deter-mined the new law is in need of improvement, the scathing i criticism of Mr. Cox's personal and professional life during the public hearing process was undeserved. He knowingly put his legislative leg-islative career at risk to provide pro-vide an opportunity for his constituents to state their position posi-tion in what became a controversial contro-versial school district issue. Five years ago, an effort to divide the district would have been embraced and overwhelmingly over-whelmingly supported by Lehi-area Lehi-area voters. The Commission-appointed ad hoc committee also deserves appreciation from residents in the area. They devoted time, skills and knowledge to study the potential impact of the creation cre-ation of the Pioneer School District. It wasn't an easy task. With the final decision made, it is time to look towards reconciliation and working together toward providing pro-viding the best possible education educa-tion for our area's children. We need to support those within the existing system. Together, we can lead out in the state of Utah as a district of excellence. Rain and tears on the mountain It's cold in the nearby mountains moun-tains this morning. Unseasonably cold, and rainy. I tried not to think about it as I struggled to get out of bed. Tried not to think about how good it feels underneath those nice warm covers. 1 Tried not to think about the toe-warming comfort of hot water splashing on me during my morning morn-ing shower. Tried not to think about it as I slipped my feet into dry, comfortable socks. Then I looked outside. Overcast. Dreary. And cold. Unseasonably cold. I shivered, and only partly because of the chill on the hardwood hard-wood floor. I looked toward the mountains, where thick, dark clouds hung heav-ily heav-ily Misty streaks between the clouds and the mountains suggested sug-gested rain. More rain. As if it wasn't enough that a 12-year-old boy is missing in those mountains, moun-tains, and has been missing for several days. Does it have to rain on him, and on those who are searching for him? Does it have to be so cold? "Morning, Dad." The husky young voice behind me startled me. It's a voice I've heard every morning for nearly 13 years now, and to a certain extent I guess I've taken it for granted. Occasionally I have even shushed it into silence. But not this morning. This morning it was among the most pleasant sounds I've ever heard, and I rejoiced in its just-awakened just-awakened pre-adolescent sound. "Good morning, Son," I said as I ruffled Jonathan's blond hair. "How are you feeling?" He looked up at me with eyes still heavy with sleep. He smiled a happy, groggy smile and flashed his typical "thumbs up" signal. "Good!" he said with as much enthusiasm as he could conjure at 6:30 a.m. "Awesome!" As we knelt together as a family fam-ily to say our morning prayers, I . ... . i couldn't help but think of another family not far away from where we live. Doubtless they were praying pray-ing too. Praying with all their hearts and souls, just as they have been continuously since their son and brother turned up missing during a Scouting trip a few days ago. I saw them for the first time on TV last night. They all looked so tired, so weary, so drained. They had been searching for their lost boy for days. And they were going to continue contin-ue to search even though rescue professionals were telling reporters that, given the terrain and the unseasonably cold weather, weath-er, the chances of finding a whole, healthy boy were . . . well, diminishing dimin-ishing with each passing day. "I won't leave my son up here on the mountain," the heartbroken heartbro-ken father said as a light rain drizzled heavenly moisture to match his tears. "I can't. I won't." Kneeling there next to my own 12-year-old son, I understood exactly what that father was feeling. feel-ing. I knew he would give anything any-thing in the world to have his son within arm's reach this morning, sleeping through family prayers. Or to know that his son is warm and comfortable, with a heaping bowl of Apple Jacks just an "amen" away. Or to know that there is a sturdy, secure roof over his head, protecting him from the rain. And the cold. As this is being written, the final outcome of the search for the missing boy is uncertain. With countless;, others, I will continue to pray for a miracle. And I will pray that I will never again take for granted the wondrous won-drous gift of parenthood, and having hav-ing my children here with me. Safe, secure and warm. If you're reading this, thank a tea( J The ability to read and write is one of the greatest achieve-, achieve-, ments of mankind. It is the cornerstone ol knowledge and learning. The amount of knowledge that can be committed to memory is finite. Yet the knowledge contained by the printed word is practically practical-ly limitless. The acts of writing and reading read-ing are nothing short of miraculous. miracu-lous. An alphabet of twenty-six "scribbles" allows speech to be transcribed to papyrus, a stone tablet, a piece of paper, or a computer screen. A person in a distant place or time can, by reading, translate those "scribbles" "scrib-bles" into meaningful speech and thought. And there is so much to be read, from the light to the sublime. sub-lime. Funny jokes can brighten our day, friendly letters can lighten our load. Thoughts of the greatest teachers, statesmen, and philosophers await our eyes and our minds. Sometimes the ability abili-ty to read develops quickly, but it frequently takes time. However, Howev-er, in just a few short years, a child's reading often progresses from "see Spot run" to "Fourscore and twenty years ago..." Teachers work patiently and persistently with children, leading lead-ing them through the alphabet to words to sentences to paragraphs para-graphs and to great thoughts. The gifts of knowledge that a child gains is a gift that lasts a lifetime. "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence sw ist and wj ' everywhere Ma Parents, neighC spent this wert at students who?N eir classroKU I've mPt '. WeT ed carincr . i se hard for the 7 S$' their studtC worked wjhniycld f I thank TU8 x.cxVe KanaiedtheUgKt, m my life. The. gift of reading one of life's OT J! you re reading A i.1 l 1U3I tC to thank a teacher. ' Linda Butler mk. ed at Undasbutk To get a smile you must give a Well, last Friday, my sister-in-law and I took our children to get their annual "grandsons" picture - her three boys and my one. Each year we present the finished fin-ished shots, in all their various sizes, to Grandma for her birthday. birth-day. And I now have a new pet peeve. Grumpy photo studio workers. How do you expect your customers, especially kids, to smile if you're a grouch? Of course, I realize that we maybe didn't start out the photo session on the right foot; we were waiting with all our boyish loudness at the studio, before she even opened up the store. And four boys under the age of five are a bit much for anyone that early in the morning. And it probably didn't help that before she got the studio ready, the three older boys scrambled onto the photo bench, ready and eager to get their pictures done. (She really shouldn't have told us to "Come on back," at that point, though. Stace' Really, these are boys we're talking about, they're not good at demurely waiting around ...) And yes, it also probably didn't did-n't help when the boys started to play swords with the big crayon props. And it was rough on all of us when my sister-in-law's youngest, who is one, shrieked and threw a tantrum and knocked into the other boys every time we tried to get him up on the bench. But we couldn't help it that each time she put them in position, posi-tion, those little wiggly bodies sort of "drifted" as she wal' ed back to the camera. And when I noticed on one shot that they all weren't quite in the picture, she snapped, "Well, that's because they aren't where I pm At that point, her approach to producing w mi bume rattv nM w: forced, and she waslD i the boys (minus the youngest, of course) and willing to smile at if But my sister-in-law's fe this small shy smile, andi xer now many times fc whacked him with tk that's all she got. Final; she knorkpH him nfftUU told her, That's his sn-i all you're going to get Take the picture." So, acknowledging al: I still think if you're work in a photo stai: caters to kids, you bete: happy person, no mar; Even when two harries: and four romping boy; descend on you in Mf' Keaily, isn t it m tion? irar tecen f irar idfo iwtl jbrar Brfut tie Reader's Forum li ill p: mdii ynet icilit omm he ne "Wi rtist Editor, I begged the media to have a debate of the issue of dividing Alpine School District during July in order to refute the misinformation mis-information spread about it. They refused with one paper saying that they felt it would be on the ballot and would then have the debates. With the commission vote that is not to be. I wish we could have had the open debate. It's hard to see the hundreds of hours invested in this lost, mainly because of misunderstandings. misunder-standings. If we could have had several debates well attended and reported on, I think there was a 5050 chance we could have won the election. I am absolutely convinced that the new district could have been successful. Our tax base is rapidly increasing and the per-pupil per-pupil amounts would have been the same as they are now anyway. any-way. One teacher gave me a solution this summer I hadn't thought of though. If the district were to prepare for an eventual division in their planning, and then when ready ask the County Commission to put it on the ballot, it would work out a lot better. However, the sooner the better, bet-ter, because we are falling farther far-ther behind every year in buildings build-ings and I fear we are going to end up seeing our kids bussed as far as Orem to go to school" just as they are doing in Jordan and Granite Districts now. One last thing, though some people joined this district division divi-sion movement because of one issue or another, it was never fundamentally an indictment of the District or its administration. administra-tion. To me it was and still is about size. Alpine is better than comparably sized districts because sfhe a ihe di Ci nationwide because employees auu P"""" er the bigger a flst' n beyond a certain size, difficult it is to operate v an d effectively. Most. imDortantly, it is politically to t schools needed at the need to be. tag ""' k big schools and as the Association of Secondar?-pals Secondar?-pals has concluded, Hang should be bigger than 11' dents." c Schools thai are 0r.-;s the community mRCi Id i indent narticipatioD-jestec ... whei'8 uation rates, gang, drug, and ale laics, a"" . i. . j .,,1 traffic1 ana uiuw. , f her y. "MO 4at ""b1" T 1 nity for the Lehi i area. , - Kep-1 1 'th, LZ Mlfutm Pose ublic Mi the American Fork American Fork resident J. Ryan Moody has released a CD of solo piano hymns he has arranged. Titled "Sunshine From My Soul " the CD features LDS hymns arranged and played by Moody with string accompaniment from bam Cardon. Wheelchair-bound because he was born with spina bifada, Moody has a usinStyle, f Playing the Pian0 witht using the pedals. aSiSJSSfi)$ Alift, Ll his been hm, town rpmpt.prv survey I'as ,iw i p anu !cre Survey markers are in P'e'The sur4en snrvnv nvin lms been fll(-c1' , Jf L .....j, . ii" 'try greatly simplily uie yi ,;, right location whenever a new g ' Lehi id tt; th Cedar Fort According to Dennis Malmstrom Cedir Forts council member over the cemeterythe The Lehi City Council aPP'e A, ncil meet" name Mayor Ken l.i" W'r1" n ju:u n i,i The daugw ,Ve i ..lip WHf , BKol and Jackie Greenwood, same day as the meeting. 1" tlier was appreciative. ;ed |