OCR Text |
Show Pleasant Grove Review - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - Page 2 o PIN ION Set the example Ribbons ring the trees in our communities and dot the lapels of our residents, particularly during what has become known as Red Ribbon Week. The move started as an educational educa-tional forum to encourage youth to remain drug free. In some cases it has expanded to include other pledges, but the main thrust stays the same. Our youth face many of the same challenges as those across the nation and the world. It is a period of questioning both their values and their individual value. It can be a stormy period of life, and they need stable examples to be their anchors. Much emphasis has been put on those youth, along with empowering them to resist the attraction of drugs. That is extremely important. They need to know however much is thrown at them, they are strong enough to resist and to combat the temptations. tempta-tions. They are in charge of their own destinies. There is also much to be said about the parents, teachers and other adults in those young people's peo-ple's lives. In addition to providing support sup-port for children in their lives, they must set the best example they can for them and for each other. Debating judgement I can't tell you who won the Presidential Debates of 2004. But I can tell you both candidates performed per-formed better than I could have performed in the same situation. This is not modesty. This is fact. I tried debate in high school. I made John Kerry look like Mr. Consistency, and I made George W. Bush look like Ye Olde Master of the English language. In order to debate you had to be super smart, well organized, and you had to be able to think quickly quick-ly on your feet. I was only moderately moder-ately intelligent (the lowest IQ in Mr. B's debate class, thank you very much), I couldn't even organize organ-ize my socks, and my idea of a clever retort was, "Oh, yeah?" Plus, the debaters at my school were all really great dressers. In fact, one of our best debaters, Steve, was the son of Mr. Mac, the King of retail clothing in our part of the world. My best debating outfit was a pair of brown cords paired with a light brown corduroy cor-duroy jacket, a green and gold shirt and a fuzzy gold tie. Thankfully, Mr. B was something some-thing of a genius when it came to helping young people discover the level of their competence or in my case, incompetence. Debate clearly wasn't good for me, so maybe I would do better as an orator. That way I could carefully plan and write my speech, and then I could practice it until I was completely com-pletely comfortable with it. Plus, orators were allowed to be a bit more flamboyant in dressing. In fact, I had to add some groovy white patent leather shoes and a wide, white belt to my ensemble just to keep up with the competition. competi-tion. I did pretty well with my oration, ora-tion, until I ran into a judge who hated me. Usually it takes people a while to decide not to like me. But this judge hated me from the moment I opened my mouth. I could see it in her eyes, her body language and on her lips when she mouthed the words "What a jerk" to someone sitting by her. When I received her ballot, she had rated my performance as "fair" the lowest possible rating Utah County law enforcement officials have reported much of the drug abuse begins with legal drugs. In fact, both prescription and over-the-counter drugs have been used as the basis for many a teen's beginning drug experiments. experi-ments. We encourage all adults to set the proper example for those around them not only by talking talk-ing about the problems that could arise through abusing drugs but by taking ' action and following those very words of advice themselves. them-selves. Show proper respect for the power of drugs, both the over-the-counter and prescription varieties. vari-eties. Keep them away from curious curi-ous hands and minds. Discard anything no longer needed or expired, according to recommendations recommen-dations from experts. Medications may be flushed down a toilet or taken to a police station to be incinerated. Let your children know why you are taking those steps. It .is not because you distrust them but merely because you realize the impact those drugs could have in anyone's life if misused. Be honest about the strength of temptation, even with personal stories where applicable. Your children and other young people around you will appreciate your frankness and example. and had written only the word "Chauvinist!" (exclamation mark included) in explanation. Remember this was 1973, and women's liberation was exploding all around us. It was the era of Ms. Magazine, bra-burning and Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs, with Helen Reddy singing "I Am Woman" on the eight-track.To refer to someone as a chauvinist (usually book-ended by the words "male" and "pig") ranked right up there with referring refer-ring to him as a racist, a fascist or a Watergate burglar. The funny thing was, my oration ora-tion didn't have a thing to do with feminism. It was about advertising. Besides, I grew up with a strong-willed, strong-willed, independent mother and four equally strong-willed, independent inde-pendent sisters. If I had been found to have even one chauvinistic chauvinis-tic bone in my body, they would have broken it. I should have written off the whole judging thing to bad Karma, a tough session with her acupuncturist or earth shoes that were too tight. But it bugged me. A lot. I wasn't a chauvinist, and I knew it, and it bothered me this woman judged that I was because . . . well, I had no idea why she made that judgment. Ever since then I've had great respect for all who are willing to present themselves to the public to be judged and evaluated sometimes inexplicably. But I'm less interested in deciding decid-ing who won the debates or who made the best commercials, or who had the best sound bites and photo ops on the nightly news and more interested in deciding who best represents my values and beliefs. That's the kind of decision that can't be made capriciously or whimsically. Or, come to think of it chau-vinistically. 1 Si: 1 'iearc' ey $J rvTA V 1 w'" come' ow ow 'on9 ti XP'W do I have to wait? Treasure Every day this past week I've been treated to a warm golden glow in my kitchen. The gold is the reflection of the brilliant yellow leaves of the large ash tree that stands outside my kitchen window. The air seems filled with a golden luminescence as if I'm looking at the world through gold-tinted glasses. It's inviting, and it's beautiful. Gold is a warm color. Sunsets are golden, as are the flames of a fire. Gold is regarded as one of the most precious of metals. Gold medals go to first-place winners. The "golden age" of something is considered its pinnacle. Treasured items are "worth their weight in gold." There are many golden moments in our lives, and these are to be treasured. Couples fifty years married celebrate their golden anniversary. anniver-sary. We all embrace the golden opportunities in our lives; our ALPINE The sign ordinance states that no sign shall be posted in the roundabout, "but there are always exceptions to the rule. On Oct. 12 the City Council approved Marvin Mar-vell Mar-vell of Orion Outdoor Lighting to leave a 2-foot 2-foot by 3-foot sign advertising his company compa-ny displayed in the roundabout until Jan. 2. Marvell donated the lighting for the roundabout round-about and now will donate the roundabout's round-about's Christmas lights in exchange for allowing his sign to remain posted. AMERICAN FORK A group of residents protested Oct. 12, when the American Fork City Council deleted an item from its agenda. The the golden lives are much more pleasant if we treat one another kindly as prescribed by the Golden Rule. We delight in the soaring grandeur of a golden eagle, and autumn is the time to munch on tasty golden delicious apples. As children we delighted in Rumpelstiltskin who could spin straw into gold, and we envied the vast riches including pots filled with gold which were hidden in Ali Baba's secret cave. We were both envious of and horrified by King Midas' golden touch that grew from greed into tragedy and wished that we could be lucky enough to find our own pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. These stories still are told or read to children by loving parents par-ents who hope their children will enjoy the sweetness and peace of golden slumbers. developer representing the Schureman annexation annex-ation asked that the item be removed, but the residents wanted the council to address it anyway. One of the main issues was a grant which the city is seeking to help fund trails in the area, in the Hunter Park property prop-erty on the community's communi-ty's northwest side. Mayor Ted Barratt told the residents he. wanted want-ed to discuss the issue with all the council members in attendance. atten-dance. He also said there were some items the city staff needed to research prior to the decision. LEHI Preparations for Cabela's are moving along. On Sept. 28, the Lehi City Council members unanimously agreed to finalize the terms and conditions of the issuance and sale of $9 million in sales tax revenue bonds, approved $1.18 million for power material and supplies to install power infrastructure to service Traverse Mountain Moun-tain and Cabela's, and OK'd the subdivision of two acres as a designated desig-nated portion of the 45-acre 45-acre Cabela's site. The $9 million funding was closed on Oct. 11 and will be used on infrastructure infra-structure such as sewer, water, power and more to the site in north Lehi. The deal was closed on Oct. 11. While the city is issuing issu-ing the bond, Cabela's is the purchaser and repayment will come from a portion of the sales tax generated from the site. If the $9 moments j air ria riff o S?0 : N'ei The golden light I enjoy in my kitchen won't last much longer. Chilly autumn winds have blown many of the brilliant leaves from the tree's boughs. In just a few more days these golden leaves will have fallen to. the ground. Other memories will be made as the leaves are crunched underfoot, jumped in by children and eventually iiiit Via . - - - - - r- n Winter will come, and with it I'll look out my kitchen window and see a different kind of loveliness loveli-ness - the stark beauty of bare black branches against slate gray skies. Although the golden time is past, I'll remember and treasure those brief moments of golden glory. I recall the words of the poet Robert Frost, "So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay." Gold may come and gold may go, but my golden memories will stay with me through the end. Linda Butler can be reached at lindasbutlerajuno.com. 3 V -Be -Said -a. v "ie, ; sail she: -3 s saw 'ri scrip ea yntt lotn -of ie million is paid back sooner than 20 years ; ! - said the deal terminates, if-iej repayment goes past 20 Qnrl tVipre is not enough business to pay, off the bond, the debt is erased. EAGLE MTN. Tiffany Ulmer and Lynette Perkins were sworn in as the nevr Neighborhood Watch Coordinators for te City of Eagle Mountain. Moun-tain. Ulmer and Perkins have both served in their owj neighborhoods, an will now coordinate the efforts of all of the Neighborhood n programs in the city-Council city-Council member Linn Strousc thanked Ulmer and Perkins for all the) do in the city. "We have so niuc" voluntarism," she said- : net a |