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Show Comment Free Press - Wednesday, April S, 1991 - Page 2 Editorial Election flaws outweigh center's advantages Next week, Utah County's residents will be asked to make a $7.7 million decision based on about two bits worth of information. The manner in which Tuesday's bond election for a special events center at Utah Valley Community College has been handled is not fair to the voters. And without adequate time to examine the ramifications of the proposed general obligation bond, local voters ought to reject the proposition. The 8,500-sea- t events center may be a needed item in Utah County, which has a definite lack of large neeting facilities outside of the Frigham Young University campus. And the fact that the Utah County Commission plans to repay the 20-e- p general obligation bond with a 1 per jnt tax on restaurant food sales ought to relieve concerns about increased property taxation. However, it seems odd to finance the events center by charging people who eat out (students, business people, etc.) rather than financing the center by charging the people who will use it. The project has the support of Governor Norman Bangerter. Most of our local city councils have fallen short, of endorsing the bond election, but they have endorsed the idea of letting us vote on the proposal. Te large question looming over this election is why rush for a ballot. Tho justification for all the hurry to take this issue to vote is that UVCC, which is planning to build a $10 million physical education building with or without the events center, needs to know by July 1 what kind of facility the college should design. A June election could provide that information in plenty of time, if a special election is really necessary to resolve the question. Then the merits of the center could be considered, and questions about scheduling and availability of the new center could be resolved. As it is, the center is being pitched e with salesmanship. In addition to the hasty election, the county has been less willing than usual to inform voters about the election. In general elections, county officials are conscientious enough to see that voting information - registration dates, polling places, etc. are printed in all of the county's daily and weekly newspapers. With this election, polling information has been printed only in The Daily Herald, the newpaper of record. This limited publication meets legal requirements, but it doesn't meet the needs of the county residents who don't live on Orem or Provo and don't subscribe to the Provo high-pressur- -- newspaper. In the end, the short preparation time, the special election date and limited publication of election information all seem designed to keep voters home - especially the voters least likely to vote for the center. It is a move which favors this kind of election at the expense of the county voters. . That means people who oppose the center or the method in which it has been presented need to turn out Tuesday, so that the will of a few will not determine a $7.7 million matter. The proposed events center may be a good project but this is not a good election. Not good at all. - Cliff just missed chance on 99th birthday article browsing A few days ago a lady called me on the telephone She was a relative of Cliff Austin. She informed me that Cliff was in a rest home in American Fork and wanted to see me. He would be 99 on the 28th and wanted a little write up in our local newspaper. A Vw days ago I visited Cliff at the rest home. I could see the ravages of old age but he was bright and talkative. He introduced me to an attendant and told her how I would get mad at him when he beat me at boHing. I have known Cliff for many years. In fact I was the one who hired him at Geneva Steel. He accepted a position as custodian f the blast furnace change room. He was ideally suited for this job. He had a friendly personality and got along well w ith the men who used the change room. However, he would not take any guff from anyone. There was one instance I remember. A small group of men were eating their lunch in the change room. One of the n threw a banana peeling on the floor. CI :fF walked over and told him to pick it up and i 't it in the garbage can. "What if . don't," said the man. Cliff had his mop that was still dripping waer. ' 11 let you haveone with this mop," said Cliff Ti mar picked the peeling up and put it in Li'4 container. The ne. f r'ly the man came into my office and cc plained about Cliff. "I understand," he said, "that the custodian's job is to keep thechange room clean." As I looked at his ignoramus I actually wished that Cliffhad given him a good one with the mop. Instead, I explained to him that the job of the custodian was to keep the change LA incident unfairly paints police you better believe it I get so angry when I hear so much about police brutality. I'm not condoning abuse, but every since we first heard about the incident in IA., the great hue and cry has sounded around the world and the beating has been shown every 10 minutes on every news, show on television. Did the video camera pick up what provoked the beating? No. Of course not. It's just like the ball game when the key player was called for his fifth foul when he was caught retaliating from an even more vicious punch! In the course of my job, I have to report police news. I have to read police reports. I ask myself, why aren't the busy video cameras reporting what good things policemen and policewomen do? Why don't they tell the real story? Like how many times cops walk into explosively dangerous situations by trying to quell family Just recently one of Lehi's finest was called to the scene of a family disturbance. He looked around, assessed the situation, returned to the police car and called for backup. Eventually, it took four officers (from neighboring towns) to take the offender into custody. Each time an officer of the law responds to a call for help, he's taking his life in his hands. Yes, even in Lehi. And what about all the nice things they do? When they're thanked, they say, "It's just part of my job. Glad I could help." I've called the police several times because of suspicious things going on in and around Wines Park. Just seconds later, the cops come, ask polite questions, then go about their job. Twice I've locked my keys inside the car. Twice they've responded to my pitiful call for help. Minutes later, my keys have been ft clean. This would be impossible if all the users of the change room threw their garbage on the floor. "We are fortunate to have someone like Cliff who takes an interest in the change room. The man gave me a dirty look and said, "I reckon I will have to take it up with the Union." He must have thought it over, for I heard no more about it. Cliff was physically strong, yet he was gentle. He was also artistic. He enjoyed making objects of local scenes and giving them to his friends. I am grateful I was one of the recipients of one of these choice gifts. When he was in his eighties he joined with the senior citizens in their bowling league. I can't say he was a good bowler, what man is? Yet he had a lot of fun. Cliff didn't quite make it to 99,but 98 is a good age, especially when you make so many friends. Well, Cliff, in the eternal plan of things, you will be there making it a bit of heaven. room ing, very seriously. They endure much, when down deep they'd like to retaliate. And sometimes the fuse just isn't long ensuing-publicit- By BETTY FOWLER retrieved and I've been able to go on my way. Sure, police officers sometimes lose their But, wouldn't you if you could see someone's life being threatened or someone's kids being put at risk? I'm sure that there are those among us who would lose their tempers if they were provoked as often arid as insidiously as our cool. police officers. Some armed robbers who had been taken into custody after being caught robbing a store taunted police officers who were questioning them following the robbery attempt. They smirked and bragged about their exploits. How would you react? No, I'm not proclaiming being stupid. That's what retaliation is all about - and it's very stupid, even dumb, to retaliate. -- We got our garbage schedule in the mail yesterday, and frankly, I'm impressed. Someone went to a lot of work with colors and numbers and all to let us know when our garbage is going to be picked up Burroughs Wellcome Co. will give you 00,000 if you can finger the person who oolluted its Sudafed with cyanide. Much is at stake in this nefarious tampering with medicinal products. The pill m aker is being sued for "negl ; by the spouse of a dead victim. Since the Tylenol tragedy of 1982, which cost the lives of seven Chicagoans and has never been solved, all medicines have been required to include from now on. All we have to do is hang onto this handy little calendar, which everyone will keep close at hand, so we can figure out which days to take out our garbage. This new system takes all the guesswork out of garbage pickup. Before, if there was a holiday in the. recent past, you never knew when they were going to pick "up the trash. And I've spent more than one morning running across the street in my bathrobe with a trash can in hand so the garbage men could empty the cans on their return visit, since they had just passed our side of the street. I guess I need to add a little explanation for those of you who aren't blessed with Laidlaw as your trash collection agency. I guess holidays are a problem for garbage collection. Because while the collectors take a day the garbage just keeps accumulating. Despite that, many of us put our trash out on the usual day, just in case. There is nothing less welcome around the house than the remains of a week-ol- d chicken dinner, for example, and we wanted to make certain it didn't linger any longer. I know how this works from experience. I took last Friday off and when I got back there was twice as much mail piled on my 1-- 15 The at Editor's Column ; non-tim- er two product. tamper-resista- features in O 1991 Lot Angeles Times Syndicate By TOM HOLLINGSWORTH A structure in Lehi that is over 25 years old may soon be replaced, according to UDOT officials at a recent meeting of the Lehi Chamber of Commerce. It has been proposed that the interchange on the east end of Lehi be changed to accommodate traffic that wishes to enter or exit Lehi City from either the north or south on The existing structure has long been a topic of conversation, as well as, a source of frustration for many Lehi resi- dents. In the first place it has proven to be a factor in many accidents as north bound exi ti ng traff e seek s to m ake a left turn on to , Obviously, that's not enough. Maybe you have an idea. Every health product poisoning since 1982 has involved a capsule, a two-pa- rt dissolvable gelatin container that can be separated. Johnson and Johnson, which makes Squibb, which Tylenol, and Bristol-Myer- s ' ' can afford. each stopped using capsules, selling their products only as hardened tablets or gelatin capsules that cannot be separated. One cyanide poisoning case in Seattle makes-Excedrin,h- one-piec- e Excedrin. In that involved Extra-strengtcase, a woman was found guilty and sen h -- -- Interchange faces needed change tenced to prison for thus killing her hus- band and another woman. Publicity relating to that case might have inspired a copycat killer. One poisoning of the product Contact was traced to a man who speculated that he thus depress the price of its manufacturer SmithKline s stock and "make a killing" in the market. There is a limit to the precautions we Paul Harvey News help. When July 4th rolls around (on Thursday this year) we can simply change our publication date permanently to Friday least until July 24th, when it will change to Monday. And on Labor Day, a Monday, we will move the date back to Wednesday V 'J to give us time to get some fresh news put together on Tuesday. What could be more simple? It ought to work for everyone. MARC HADDOCK By Why, we ought to consider altering our calendar so that holidays don't even count in the numerical structure of things. And that way we could keep things on the same ' desk the garbage just keeps piling up. day withouthaving to pay for the holidayfey' You come back from a holiday and have ' working extra hard the day after the holi-- 1 to put in two days' work in one day's time. day. " The work accumulates while you have fun. The mathematics of this might get a Up until now it's been a natural law that little tricky, but a Cray supercomputer all holidays must be paid for with extra could probably figure it out. labor when you come back to work. In the meantime, holidays would take on a new meaning, and leisure time would Well, Laidlaw has come up with an in- hours e genious solution to this problem. Every become quality spent time there is a holiday, your trash day outside the loop of our complicated lives. It may take some time to sell the idea, changes to the next day permanently or at least until the next holiday, when it is but I'm glad Laidlaw took the trouble to kicked up another day. give us this idea. This week your trash day is Tuesday, Why, I think we have an inalienable' and next week it changes to Wednesday right to have our leisure time without having until the next holiday. You get the idea. to be penalized for it when we go back to At last,, someone has found a way to work. make a paid holiday painless when it's time In the meantime, I've also figured out a to get back to work. way to make sure my garbage is ready for I suggested we try it at the newspaper, collection, in case I forget to look at the with mixed results. colorful calendar the Laidlaw people were I figured that after Memorial Day on so kind to mail me this week. Just park your garbage cans at the curb May 27, we could move our weekly publication date to Thursday permanently. This where they are always ready for pick up. Then you'll never be caught unawares when way, we can enjoy the holiday without having to work twice as hard on Tuesday to get a your revolving trash collection day rolls around. newspaper out on time. Lehi's Main Street. The stop sign at the end of the off ramp has a sizable blind spot that has contributed to many collisions in that area. Another problem with the structure is that is does not accommodate traffic wishing to exit the freeway traveling southbound on Cars are unable to gain access to the freeway going north from main street. These noticeable deficiencies will be corrected, possibly beginning this fall, by the advent of a new clear span structure that will provide a clear view for all traffic. This feature, as well as providing ramps for Who has the key to eliminating consumer terrorism? 1 enough. Here's one incident when a cop loses his has blown cool, and the the L.AP.D. away. Law and order have v taken a major setback. For years now, the liberal attitude has gradually diminished a policeman's ability to control a situation. This liberalism, sometimes called freedom, has gone against all who believe in fairness. In our zeal to be fair, we've gone overboard. We now put our policemen at risk because they can't protect themselves without worrying about a major lawsuit brought by a big crime syndicate, or even a small time petty criminal. We have a wonderful country where freedom is the watchword. Watch out, folks. We just might have liberalized ourselves into dangerous territory where we might as well give crime and criminals a free ticket to exercise their "rights in any way they choose. Thomas Jefferson, after signing his name to the Constitution, expressed the opinion that someday, down the road, our very democracy, the very freedoms our forefathers fought and died for, would do us in. He is being proved right isn't he? Cops are a tough breed. We'd better be careful or we won't have any. Who'd want to be placed in the situations they're placed in every time they're responding to a call for Laidlaw finds way to make holidays work off, By TOM GRIFFITHS cautioned about being careful in volatile situations. They take their jobs, their train- fights? And it's got to be picked up sooner or later. Before, when there was a holiday on Monday, you just took it for granted that the trash would be collected a day late that week. 1 Any coach will tell you that. Any cop worth his salt will tell you that. But sometimes it's impossible not to hit back when provoked. Sometimes you do it with your tongue, by saying something stupid. Other times you do it with your fists. Either way its extremely unwise. Cops have very long fuses. They are Blister packages, sealing each pill with a second layeroftransparent plastic, have been tried. Another approach was to wrap each pill in aluminum inside a sealed outer box. And with the Sudafed killings unsolved, consume. we could be in for more. Psychologists try to profile these killers. Some, like the typical arsonist, may construe the subsequent news medica coverage as some kind of perverted personal triumph. Others may visualize poison pills as the perfect crime with which to dispose of , somebody in particular. But the person who spikes some product on the store shelf with no specific target in mind is hard to figure. The FBI and FDS recognize that though we might find a way adequately to protect drug products, other products are even more vulnerable - milk, bread, eggs. There may be no adequate protection against consumer terrorism. Meanwhile, a minuscule handful of crazies is compounding the cost of most everything we Discounting research, 91 percent of the cost of most pharmaceutical products . is now "packaging. ' traffic from all directions, will be a great advantage to the city of Lehi. UDOT officials were also quick to point out that the new structure will be a compressed diamond configuration that will take up less space than most interchanges which are seen along the corridor. This type of structure is designed to help eliminate the large amount of acreage that is usually required for a new interchange. The advantages with this structure is that it does not require many existing businesses to relocate. In addition to the interchange Lehi may also benefit in a package that UDOT is hoping to fund in conjunction with the new , overpass. It is proposed that the system from the recent renovation at the point of the mountain will be resurfaced with concrete to the' west American Fork exit. The approaches to the freeway at the Lehi Main interchange will also be done in concrete. Many in Lehi think that the new interchange will help revitalize Lehi City and its business district. In re- cent weeks many proposals have been heard with respect to helping our city move forward, and the new interchange may wellbe the shot in the arm that the city fathers have long anticipated. Another item of interest discussed at the Chamber meeting was traffic signals and how the state determines just where they are placed. In this discussion two areas in Lehi were mentioned: one at Main and Center and the other at State and Center. It looks possible In the near future some feasibility studies will be done to deter mine the costs and eligibility of these particular intersections. |