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Show Free Press - Wednesday, September 25, 1985 - Page cmnment 2 This autumn brings blessings of its own you better believe it show Earthquakes planet's whims By BETTY FOWLER Monday marked the official end of summer and the beginning of autumn. I've already been humming "September in the Rain" and "Shine on Harvest Moon," but I can't believe it's time for corn stalks and "Boy, we're magnitude of the damage and misery caused by last week's two earthquakes in Mexico is difficult to grasp. The count of confirmed deaths climbs by the thousands daily. Over 10,000 are estimated to have been injured as buildings crumbled into debris, entombing the dead and the living. Over 300,000 persons have been left homeless in the wake of the destruction. Amid the stories of loss, pain and suffering emerge glimmers of hope for those survivors who have beat tremendous odds as homes and hospitals collapsed, The trapping them inside. But the overall message from what happened in Mexico City and the surrounding area is that we hold a precarious position on a planet that is subject to catastrophic change from time to time, with no prior warning and without respect for humanity. Technology can help soften the blows dealt by mother nature. Buildings can be erected to withstand such disaster - and part of the devastation in Mexico is a result of buildings not meeting that kind of standard. But our technology cannot predict or prevent earthquakes, and the devastation stands as a terrible reminder that despite scientific advances, nature still reigns on the land. It also brings us closer together, as we watch the death toll mount and realize that if our earth had shifted in another location, it could have been our community that was reduced to rubble. While the destruction took place in another country, it happened to our fellow humans, and we should move swiftly to help relieve the suffering caused by last week -- killer earthquakes. letters to the editor Salary information flawed Editor: An article which appeared in the Deseret News Sept. 20, 1985, announced that the Classified Employees of Alpine School District had settled for a 4.5 percent increase in wages. This is true of some of the classified employees, but for thosewith more than three years experience, this is not true. Those with more than three years experience received a bonus of 2.25 After percent for the year 1985-8one year this bonus taken away. In 1984-8those employees having more than three years received a 2.1 percent bonus. When the figures the net are presented for 1985-86- , increase for classified employees receiving a bonus is .15 percent over A far what they received in 1984-8cry from a 4.5 percent increase! Those in administration are 5 happy to take a 4.5 percent increase. For example: one in administration making $25,000 has a pay increase of $1125 over last year's pay (bottom of the scale). Whereas a classified employee at the top of the scale of $20,000 would receive $30 more over last year's salary. This is a typical example of how information is presented to the media. Why is there unrest among the employees of Alpine School District? It is easy to see when the facts are brought to the surface. Too bad the 176 who voted to ratify the contract didn't understand the facts. I hope the public can better understand the plight of the classified employees of Alpine School District. -- Stephen M. Chipman named in salary dispute Fact-find- er A has been named in an weeks to have things ready for him to effort conclude salary to go but again it may be sooner," negotiations between the teachers in Nick Franklin, AEA president, said. Franklin said the AEA officially the Alpine School District and the district, and bring about a' salary asked for a fact finder Sept. 9, with the school district having two weeks agreement between the two groups. Dr. Clark L. Cox, district to respond to the request. Dr. Cox and the district agreed to superintendent, gave the the after Wednesday's 18 for the use of a Sept. after an negotiating negotiations again failed. Officials say the specific problem session between representatives of the two groups again failed to areas to be addressed by the factfinder are still being developed, but resolve the salary issue. Donald Ulmer, finance specialist the main issues will deal with from the State Board of Education, salaries. will serve as officials "Everything but the base salary issue has pretty well been negotiated said. Ulmer was chosen by the two and it has come down to this one groups from a list of five people issue," Mr. Franklin said. recommended Negotiating teams for each side by the Alpine Education Association, and has have compromised and agreed on for the each of the other contract issues, agreed to serve as school district, a spokesman for the officials said. are District administrators district said. No firm schedule has been set for standing firm with an offer of a 4.5 r him to begin as a percent increase. Teachers had however it is expected to be within sought a 5.5 percent increase, but the next two weeks. Wednesday came down to a 5 per"It will probably take us two cent increase, Mr. Franklin said. fact-find- fact-find- fact-find- lf fact-finde- r, fact-find- fact-finde- Be wary of young pedestrians Marianne Fuller, crossing guard at the State Street crossing guard for Lehi is Elementary, asking cooperation from motorists in protecting students who have to cross the highway. Motorists are not observing the yellow flashing lights on school crossing signs and often do not wait for children to finish crossing, according to Fuller. She said that she tries not to hold up long lines of traffic, but often the children have to wait several minutes before they can cross the road. Evidently, motorists on Highway 73 aren't as impatient as those on Highway 89. Carrie Smith, safety guard at Meadow School, says she isn't any problems. having "Motorists are being very polite." up. We're going to whip on our way." We're 'em. pumpkin pie. Did that sound good to these jaded Football and feathers. Somehow, in my mind, they're synonomous. ears. We needed candy apples and Indian Summer is just a misnomer for football and hunting seasons. popcorn. We needed hot chocolate and hot dogs. We needed all the And both are exciting. Lehi's homecoming game was fun. accompaniments. I needed a big chrysanthemum There were as many cheerleaders as with an L and purple and white were a fans for while there. there Then the stands started filling up ribbons. I needed a crisp red apple and you could feel the adrenalin and a warm plaid blanket. I needed pumping in the stands and on the that win. The student cheering section was field. I heard one young player saying, terrific, the Pionettes did great and the cheerleaders WOW! We need to start tail-gat- e parties at the Pioneer's games. We need to Gang get that enthused about Lehi's sports. They can idle down on the Big Blue and get going on the Big Purple. And now, the hunting season. The orange shirts and hats are making their annual appearance in the windows of sporting goods stores. Deer widows are getting out the venison recipes. Grub boxes are being cleaned and aired. Trailers and tents are being Below-Main-Stre- readied for the October exodus to the hinterlands. Optimistic nimrods are stocking up on film and firewood. The old Coleman gear is polished and primed. You can almost the taste the fever. Elk hunters are still basking in the beauty of their hunt. Loyal wives and mothers are looking for bargains on tapes so their mighty hunter can spin his yarns for posterity. Ahh yes. Autumn. Who could ask for more. We'll just forget about tax deadlines, fuel bills, icy streets and warnings of "there's just 83 shopping days 'til Christmas". Let's enjoy autumn and it's rich store of blessings. What more could anyone want? Mrs. Thiel puts my memory to shame I didn't appreciate Grace Thiel until last week. That means that for almost 25 years she has stayed pretty much in the background of my memory. After all, fourth grade teachers rarely make that strong an impression on the 9- - and students who run their way through a year of school. As one of six teachers who put up with me at the A.J. Winters Elementary, Mrs. Thiel has always been remembered with affection -but I couldn't remember why. After all, the teachers who touch a kid's life tend to come later, when we are more conscious of the world around us - not to mention, much more conscious of ourselves. As a result, I may have overlooked Mrs. Thiel. Instead, two English :eachers have held a prominent position in my memories. One is a woman I can't name, who aught me only for a couple of months during my sophomore year A'hile my father served a term in the Idaho State Legislature. Away from the hometown, I oecame an unknown value. She didn't know my parents, nor my brothers. And she thought I could write. So much so that she convinced me. The other was Mr. Munk, who the editor's ago, and who is now all of 84 years old, puts me to shame by remem- column h -- bering me better than I remember her. I heard from Mrs. Thiel in a roundabout way last week after I wrote a column about what children want to be when they grow up - and I mentioned that dinosaurs captivated me when I was a youngster. Specifically when I was a fourth grader. Claire Kinross of Pleasant Grove read the column, and remembered a recent conversation with an old friend of hers - Grace Thiel. It seems Mrs. Kinross had been in Montpelier recently, where she had worked for many years for UP&L, to help Mrs. Thiel celebrate her 84th birthday and mentioned my name. Bear Lake Valley is small, and my last name is a familiar one. And Mrs. Thiel remembered -"Oh, yes. I taught him in the fourth grade." How did she remember that? Hundreds of kids passed through Mrs. Thiel 's fourth grade class -maybe even thousands. How do these teachers pick out each face and remember it for 25 years? She even remembered calling me by father's name - Max - more than one time in class, even though she knew better. By MARC HADDOCK - my family very well. He watched me grow up playing with his son, and then taught me as a Senior - and made an impact he will because I'm never appreciate, certain I didn't make that much of an impact myself. But Grace Thiel, who taught me English and more so many years knew -- And then, Mrs. Kinross said, Mrs. Thiel asked her to say, "Hello" to me for her and to ask "if he's still crazy about dinosaurs." At the time I was. I talked about them, played with plastic models of them, read books about them and drew them all over my notebooks. Those childhood obsessions are and not particularly normal, noteworthy - but Mrs. Thiel remembered one obsession long after it had faded from my memory. And who knows how many other children's obsessions are tucked away in that bright mind. You see, there are teachers who touch our lives and, sometimes without even realizing, make an impression that will last a lifetime. Who but a teacher would think that the process could be reversed, and that an ordinary student, such as I was, could touch a teacher's life so indelibly that 25 years later one's visions of a tyrannosaur stalking a brontosaur would remain imprinted on the memory of the other. Mrs. Thiel, it would seem, knows that very well. I'm just learning it, but how many of her other students are walking around, unaware they are remembered by someone they have relegated unwittingly to the corners of the mind that are visited too seldom. Judge upholds discipline in classroom The case of Davis versus Phillips convened in Judge Mathews court. Neither Mr. Davis nor Mr. Phillips were represented by an attorney. Judge Mathews declared the court open and .called upon Mr. Davis to present his case. At best he was not an educated man and with a few pints of ale under his belt he was not the best candidate to present a case. He stood in the witness box and swore to tell the truth. These were his words. "Yer honor, my boy was sitting in his class at school when his teacher (pointing a finger at Mr. Phillips) took him by the ear as if he were a bloody Neddy (donkey) and walked him to the front of the class and there rapped his knuckles with a cane, causing them to be red and blistered. "Then after school I waited for Phillips to talk to him about his cruelty to my son. It was then he punched me on the jaw and knocked me down. It's a bit of satisfaction I want for this treatment." By the time he sat down there were beads of perspiration rolling down his face that he mopped with a red handkerchief that had been yard gate?" the judge asked Mr. spend less time at the local pub. "The case against Mr. Phillips is Phillips. He explained that Mr. Davis had hereby dismissed." tried to hit him several times but It was about this time that my because of his experience as a mother passed away and this tough boxer he had avoided the blows. Mr. Phillips met me at the When he saw that Mr. Davis was classroom door and put his arm around my shoulder. His arm was getting nasty he ended the conflict by laying one on the jaw of his strong and it gave me courage. At recess he found me and asked me to opponent that ended the physical have lunch with him. quarrel. He found a secluded room and Judge Matthews was silent for a few minutes. Then he asked Mr. together we shared his lunch. There Davis to stand. were two meat sandwiches. He gave "Mr. Davis," he said, "it is the me one. There was a piece of cake duty of a teacher to teach, and the that he broke into two pieces, giving duty of the student to learn, it is me one. There was an orange that also the duty of the teacher to keep he peeled and gave me half. order in his classroom and to When we were through he said a when necessary to few words, but they were words that discipline came from his heart. preserve that order. "Your son was a disruptive in"Tom," he said, "I know that fluence in the class and it was words cannot ease the pain of your necessary for his teacher to loss, but you see my mother died discipline him. As for you, you tried when I was your age and the world to uphold your son in his bad seemed rather empty, so I know behavior. Furthermore, you took how you feel. Your mother, like the law into your own hands by mine, wants you to grow up and trying to do physical harm to the succeed, and success comes teacher. For this I am fining you 10 through learning." shillings and also recommending Dear Mr. Phillips, only a school you spend some time with your son teacher, but a lifebuoy in the and teach him some manners and stormy sea of life. browsing used to wipe his nose. The judge then called upon Mr. Phillips to defend himself. He told of the Davis boy's behavior in class, of how he was dipping the braids of the girl who was sitting in front of him in an ink well. "I warned him several times to desist but he continued. I did lead him by the ear to the front of the class." He then explained why the boy got cracked on the knuckles. "What happened at the school Field trips will depend on school Shakespeare's immortal question "to be or not to be?" could apply to field trips for Lehi's school children. has District Alpine School budgeted some funds for field trips, according to Russ Felt, principal at Lehi Junior High School, but the small allotment will have to be supplemented if students are to have field trips. "I want the kids to see the Rameses Exhibit. We'll dig the money up someplace," Felt vowed. When Lehi Elementary principal Paul Rasband told PTA officers that there was no money for field trips, PTA president Bonnie Hardman and got busy. The enthusiastic workers have raised over $600 and have planned activities. two more Meadow School students will also s for depend on the PTA field trip money. "I'm going to steal Paul Rasband's idea," Meadow School principal, Jack Reid, said. Parents of Meadow students are cooperating with the PTA to raise the necessary field trip money and several outings are almost a sure thing. "We'll ask teachers to figure costs and then ask the PTA to ask for The funds already donations. budgeted will be used so every child in the school will have at least one State School Superintendent Leland trip this year," Rasband said. Richard Rowley, principal at Sego Burningham. Earlier this year, Lily School said that no field trips Burningham sent a memo to all have been planned at the school. state school districts reminding "We don't have any money to fund a them of a 1975 attorney's opinion field trip. If we can get the PTA to which states it is illegal to charge parents anything extra for activities help we'll take the kindergartners held during school hours. somewhere," he said. The opinion specifies "there are to Rowley said that the fifth and sixth grades are going to Salt Lake be no charges for field trips, City to hear a Utah Symphony lyceums and other such programs program, but nothing else has been provided by the school during regular school time." planned. administrator District The question of funding field trips Gary was addressed this year by then- - Keetch explained that such an field ! fund-raisin- g fund-raiser- nriT i. 75fi.fi?4Q .: I 640 (TAYLOR II r&$ MAID BEAUTY I ol We will meet or I I opinion has the force of law for school districts, although for the past several years local school have asked parents to help pay for transportation and other costs for field trips. reminded school Burningham districts of the policy "so that equal access may be afforded and the program will not differ for those who have the ability to pay and those who do not." The ruling affects grades kindergarten through eight, and does not involve after-schoactivities. 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