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Show Comment Free Press - Wednesday, April 17, 1991 Abortion issue: No easy answers anti-abortio- pro-aborti- "Pro-Life- "Anti-Choic- or "Anti-Life.- " But with the peculiarities of Utah's new law, the question being debated revolves around the sanctity of life as seen by both sides. e A advertisement in Tuesday's Salt Lake Tribune claims that Utah's full-pag- law will force women to seek "dangerous, illegal abortions," with the net result being "Women will die!" Pro-Lif- fetuses will continue to die. Whose life is most valuable, anyway? The problem with these viewpoints is they leave no room for compromise, and compromise is the very basis upon which representative government must be based. Very few decisions made within our political system completely satisfy both sides of a given issue. But the compromise decision is a delicate framework that gives some to both sides, and takes some from both sides. The abortion issue defies that process. With such disparate viewpoints about the same issue, there is no middle ground to be laid here. And the net result can only be greater polarization as interest in the issues grows. That polarization will be evident today Coalition rallies as the Utah at a state capitol - with the inevitable counter-rallby the state's strong contingent. And it is destined to continue. There is no easy answer here. Only many more years of conflict, turmoil and division. Pro-Choi- -- Pro-Lif- e returned he was warned that if it happened again he would be terminated. Two weeks later ithappened again, right after payday he was gone for a week. When he returned his termination papers were waiting for him. His parting from my office was sad. With tears in his eyes he explained that he was fired from his job in California and wanted to start over at Geneva. When he left I wondered what would become of him. I was soon to learn. About two o'clock in the morning my telephone rang. It was Alex calling from a motel room in Provo. He was sobbing. "I need help," he said. "I am about to end it all." I begged him to be patient and promised him I would be with him in a few minutes. I dressed and drove down to his room. He was not a pretty sight. " He had been drinking since he left the plant and had not had anything to eat. 1 , also be. The prophet Jeremiah was neither the first nor last to reason: "They have healed the wounds of my people only superficially, saying 'peace. peace' yet; there is no peace." We've left Iraq engaged in savage civil war in which President Bush said he had no intention of getting involved. He hopes Saddam Hussein will be overthrown by his own military, but our troops will stay out of it. Desperate Iraquis flee their devastated country some blaming us "for not the job." Our president, admittedly conscious of his place in history, has to know that future historians will what fin-ishi- second-gues- s By BETTY FOWLER wearing short Levis, held up by suspenders, and I was disappointed to learn that my preconceived notions were all sadly amiss. ; My goodness. All the people I met with those farmerish-typ- e names were intellectuals to say the least. I had to revise my opinions when I met Norine Fox down at the high school. I somehow didn't expect to see a distinguished, neat, sharp-eye- d lady, with an immense ability to teach and lead young folks in educational paths. Then I learned to play bridge with Ruth Goates Wing (can you imagine a name like that?) But Ruth was a doll with no fleece in sight. Jean Lamb proved to be a remarkable gal with worthy goals galore, and Arva Bone, head and shoulders above most educators, turned out to be one of my kid's best - spring had arrived when I woke the morning and I couldn't move my right arm. The pain was' piercing at my meager biceps, right near the inside of the joint. The Editor's ; Last fall, the biceps was perceptibly larger the efforts of a summer digging ditches and laying sprinkler pipe in our new yard. But during the winter, there was no sprinkler pipe to lay, no ditches to dig, no barge to tote. The snow? Well, I've always believed that good be Mr. Sol is the best snow shoveler known to man. And as an advocate of alternate energy sources, I removed the snow from my sidewalk the d way. ' But springtime means a certain amount of pain. I knew I was headed for trouble when Seth started asking for a baseball bat. is coming, and Yeah, little league-tim- e the kid wanted something to start hitting the ball around with, Sohe asked like this: T)ad. Do you think maybe you could sort of look around, kind of, and see if maybe you can sort of find a bat for me this year?" What fools we parents are. I sensed no urgency, and responded, perhaps a bit too lightly, "Sure. I'll see what's available out there." The next day's conversation went like this: "Dad. Did you get my bat yet?" "Well I haven't had time. But I'll look." And the next day. "Do you have it?" "Have what?" "My bat, of course!" The next day: "Do you have it yet?" "Look, son, I've really been busy. Give me a chance. "Don't worry, Dad. You don't have to get - Ig I ordered a pot of coffee and got a couple of cups down him and got him quieted down. I called his parents in California and they promised to leave right away. I called my boss and explained the situation. He advised me to stay with him. Later that afternoon his parents arrived. What lovely people they were. I saw them put Alex in the car and drive away. The end of a cruel drama, I thought, but I was wrong. About a week later I received a letter from Alex's mother. There were tear stains on the stationary. The letter told how her son had taken his life. He had been working with the gardener on the grounds of the institution where he had been assigned. They found him in the tool shed. He had hanged himself. There were other incidents I could relate but none as sad as Alex. He had everything to live for but threw it away for a drink of booze. place for the policy." He recommended the proposed policy be used as an administrative guideline and not a board policy. Under the proposal, temporary employees could be hired on a basis to "permit rapid and expedient hiring of personnel to fill positions which are temporarily vacated." week-to-wee- .'- - I knew k Jobs would also to be kept open for employees called up by the National Guard or Reserves. Paul Harvey News 1991 LotAngele Timet Syndicate ever he does next. When he stopped our troops short of vanquish ing the enemy, he m ay well have added one more miscalculation to this involvement if he underestimated the resilience of the wounded Hussein. One gets the impression that President Bush is projecting strategy a day at a time, that there is no "plan" for stability in Iraq or, for that matter, in Syria and . Iran. Both latter nations have been giving Iraqui rebels some support. Syria's Massed maintains his own flock of terrorists, ' V! Column By MARC HADDOCK me a bat, or anything else, for that matter. I'll be (sniff, sniff) just fine." And so, in three days, the baseball bat had gone from a "maybe, sort of proposition to the overriding symbol of a father's love for his son. I started shopping for a bat. Have you seen how much some of those things cost? Of course, not any bat would do. The one requirement was that this one be made of solar-powere- , . Lehi-ans- " metal. ? At the first store, little league metal bats started at $26.99 and some went for up to $60. That was a little out of my league. I finally found a metal bat, just the right size, that I could afford. And we were in business. That's when the trouble started. Because my business is pitching causes and throwing out unnecessary verbiage (like that last sentence). When it comes to pitching baseballs, hey, I never played the game. When I was little, I stayed home on the opening day of little league tryouts, not willing to test my nerve against that little hard ball that hit you looked like it could hurt so much somewhere sensitive. And I was nsitive kid all over So here I am with a kid who now has every thinghe needs to play a baseball game .. everything except a pitcher. "Dad?" I know what is coming next here. "Can we go play baseball?" "Want to try out the new bat, huh?" Guess who gets to pitch? Yup, the same guy who still flinches when that hard little ball heads towards his head. Actually, it wasn't so bad. Seth and Jeff and I headed for a ball? diamond, and about 10 minutes into. batiis ting practice, along came three other kids,v They were a year or two older, and had this knowing look of major little leaguers. But we invited them to play. And they said okay, as long as I would pitch full time. They would bat and field the ball and run the bases. And the transformation from bush league to little league was instantaneous. I was "The Natural." I started looking for a file to scuff the ball just right. I lickedmy fingers before every pitch, trying to put a little something extra on the ball. Basically, I was deluded. The outcome was the sixth grade kids had a heyday putting easy pitches into an outfield manned by two fifth graders. When we finally got them out, the fifth graders and fourth grader had a heyday putting pitches into the outfield. I put them over the plate, all right. And now, after one session, my arm is ready for a sling and my ego ain't doin' so well either. - Ah.spring.Whatawonderfultimeofthe ' year. Tomorrow we're heading for the batting ? cages. ,, Letters to the editor Lake deserves our attention to restore its beauty Editor: Today I was walking along the shores of Utah Lake watching the migratory birds who use this as a stop along their route. Beautiful birds upon a filthy shore!! - Now can US win Persian Gulf peace? The U.S. military command was prepared for the Gulf War with weapons, tactics and strategy that proved ultimately effective. The "war" lasted 43 days. Have we the diplomatic strategy to ' win the peace? Even Kuwait, which we rescued, could come unraveled. As surely as Vietnam was more than we could handle, this commitment might , Bat crack, arm twinge heralds Spring elbow Ey J9W GRIFFITHS . . up in jl ; t teachers, and was a delight. Anyway, tell me why I can't remember Tom's name. It's actually so short, and so easy. My first son was named Tommy, and Tom tells me that he was named after a nice girl nicknamed Tommy. Maybe it would be easier for me if I call him Thomas, or Doubting Thomas, or something more memorable than Tom." Eureka! I've got it. I just remembered a technique that Jane uses to remember telephone numbers. Think of their birthdate and something else to identify them: Like Jan was born in 1949, and was 12 years old when I discovered this trick. That's how I know Jan's phone number, Easy huh? So, if I remember Doubting Thomas or Thomas Jefferson, I should be able to remember Tom's n ame in time to say, "Hello." Makes sense doesn't it? ' ' But then, there are those names like Brett and Brent, so much alike. How do you remember which is which? Ann always wanted to change her name from just plain Ann to Ann Sue Fowler. There for awhile she wrote Ann Sue on all her papers. Sally and Suzy wanted to change the spelling of theirs. Salh and Suzi sounded much more sophisticated. Sally cast aside her dream name when she got older,and now she's just plain Sal. Suzanne still uses her favorite shortened version. My granddaughter was doing some genealogy and she found out my real name is Rebecca Ann. She was literally shocked. She thought she knew me so well. Ha ha. I guess I've fooled a few people too. Anyway, there's the shortened version ? of Lehi people. Do you call yourselves Lehilights? Lehites? Or what? Golly, maybe there's an answer to this name quandary. Call and let me know your opinion 756-491- ; Board decides against policy Members of the Alpine School District Board of Education have decided to not approve a policy on the hiring of employees on a temporary basis. A policy on the hiring of temporary employees had been introduced by Superintendent Steven C. Baugh at an earlier board meeting because of the call-u- p of eight district employees to serve on active duty with the National Guard or Reserves in connection with Operation Desert Storm. With the war coming to a close, however, Baugh said there is "no longer a need in We have the nicest guy working for us as an advertising executive. But, he has one of those difficult names a remember. Tom Hollingsworth. Tom. That name is so generic that it goes in the same category as Joe, Ed, Fred and Mike. Tom is just so hard for me to remember. Tom has worked for us for many months, but when I see him, wave, and yell "Hi,......" all my senses leave me and I call him Ricardo, or Alesandro, or some such name as that. Tom just smiles at my small error. He is so gallant. He really deserves a name like Lochinvar. , Now, if it was last names we were talking about I'd be okay. For instance, last week, someone mentioned a guy named Warnick and I knew for certain that person was from Pleasant Grove. You can always tell when news of an Olpin, a Bezzant, a Walker or a Monson is mentioned that they must be from Pleasant Grove. History dictates that people by those names come from Pleasant Grove. Or when you hear names like Chipman, Shelley, Greenwood or Beck, you automatically know that they come from American Fork. When I used to go with my friend Jean, and her dad, Roy Okey, to deliver Draper feed in Lehi, I couldnt get over the funny Lehi names. But thenthe names fit. Here we were, riding along in Roy's truck delivering animal feed to folks named Fox, or Goates or Lambs. Somehow that made sense to me. Then we'd drop off a bag of bran to Bones, or Wings, and even that made some kind of sense to a loyal American Forker like me. When I moved to Lehi something I said I'd never do -- 1 became acquainted with the Foxes, and the Bones, the Wings, the Goates and the Lambs. My mind's eye had conjured up visions of farmers in overalls, or nice round guys 1 Alcoholism has ruined lives of too many browsing I read an article the other day that condemned the drinking of alcoholic beverages. It cited incidents where lives had been destroyed through its use. I have in my possession two letters from a mother in California that tell of such an incident. It happened when I worked at Geneva Steel. He came from California and wanted a job at Geneva He was in his thirties and appeared to be perfectly healthy. He had a friendly personality and was one of those fellows you couldn't help but like. Manpower was short in those days so we put him to work without questioning his back: - ;J : t J j ; ground. ; For two weeks .he was an excellent employee, then he was off for a week. A check showed him to be drunk. When he 2 . e The answer, of course, is that if abortions continue, countless y Page What's in a name?More than you think! you better believe it Editorial With its recently enacted abortion law, Utah now stands at the forefront of the most divisive political issue to confront our nation since slavery. Abortion is an issue that goes beyond politics, beyond preferences. Its main issues touch all of US deeply, but in such different ways, that abortion may defy all attempts to find a solution everyone can live with. Instead, the issue of abortion is likely to continue to polarize opinion in our nation for years to come. Even the labels the two sides on the abortion issue have chosen make agreement on anything difficult. Neither chooses to be or Instead, we are faced with theTro-Choice- " " movement and the movement with the respective sides labeling their adversaries as - prompting U.S. News & World Report to comment, "President Bush is dancing with wolves." , President Bush had wanted to make a victory visit to the Middle East specifically Kuwait - this month. That has been postponed. I hope we are going to stand aside until the clouds clear, until the several fractious factions heal themselves and secure take a pet out and shoot it then leave its body to rot in the open? As a single mother, with a very limited budget, I look for free outings with my children. The lake offers - their borders. President Bush has done much to promote the healing of our national psyche after the ignominy of Vietnam. Having ignored our Vietnam veterans, our leadership has now mounted a massive, choreographed campaign of patriotic hoopla. That's all right but that is not all the healing our nation needs. It's an historic turnaround for the United States, so often accused of meddling being invited to meddle. Our president has a perfect opportunity to proclaim to the world that we have problems at home demanding our concentration and our resources. We can still be "the world leader; any leader leads most effectively by example., . that. It saddens me to see the shore so thrashed and having to try and explain to my children why a dead dog is lying there next to a pile of garbage and why they have to be careful not to step where people have thrown ? r I always end up picking bag fulls of garbage off the shore and taking it home to dispose of it. I went out today to get inspiration so I could paint. Instead I ended up burying two fluffy white rabbits who were probably someone's pets, but looked as though they had become targets for practice. I've also buried dogs whose lives were lost upon this shore. In times such as ours why would anyone their garbage out where they just stopped. The nation gasped and scoffed as medical waste washed upon our seas shores. The communfCfcs all pulled together and did something about it. Our hearts went out when Alaska experienced an oil spill and we vowed heads would roll. Well, I've seen medical waste outright dumped upon our shores, needle syringes, . ; catheters, collection bags, surgical masks. I've seen open containers of used oil and picked up hundreds of empty oil cans. We read magazine articles about marshes i and lakes that were once polluted but are now cleaned up by concerned and caring citizens. I've heard so much negative about Geneva polluting, but their'waste water is much cleaner than the lakes. I, myself, am doing all I can to clean up the shore, but it is beyond my ability to clean it up and mike it beautiful again. I would like to get everybody involved. Let's make a lake we can be proud of, a place our kids can play without having to watch for glass and junk. So let's all pull ed citizens, Boy Scouts, business persons alike. Make it a community project, a Saturday " learningexperienceaboutourenvironment and how to care for it and preserve it. With the growing numbers of humans we need to set aside places for our future and now would be a great time to clean up j our lake and set it on a future of beauty and ! cleanliness. I am free to help launch a project, so all persons interested can contact me at Box 579, American Fork, Ut. 84003. Address that to Beki. Let's make our lake beautiful! -- Rebecca Wagner ' ; together-concern- Policy on letters to the editor We welcome letters to the editor. All letters should be typewritten and double spaced. Letters must also be signed, and must Include the writer name and telephone number. Please send letters to Editor, Newtah New ' ' Group, P.O. Bos 7, American Fork, Utah, 84003. |