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Show Comment Free Press - Wednesday, August 14, 1991 - Page 2 What it takes to run for office today yon better Editorial Okay, I've decided to run for office. I've never been in politics before and I've absolutely no money to finance my election campaign. I've got to think of something to help get my name before the public. True, being a mother to ten kids and a wife to a farmertruckdriver, aren't much for the credential pool, so my committee (family) and I must come up with some Political campaigns beginning too early One thing the recent Joe Cannon controversy has pointed out is that campaigns for national elections are too long. Here we are, more than a year away from the general election, and we are already being treated to an airing of dirty laundry that isn't very dirty and is very old. Let's hope that soon this particular issue can be put to bed. But how many other irrelevant youthful indiscretions of candidates will we be subjected to before we have an opportunity to get down to what matters in this kind of election-- where does the candidate stand on the issues that are important to us. In addition to creating an atmosphere where the trivial becomes important, these lengthy campaigns Certainly, the legally outlined filing dates are necessary to keeping the election process orderly, but some sense of moderation ought to be exercised by our local candidates to prevent campaigns from becoming drawn out and tedious to the point of utter voter apathy. In the name of maintaining interesting elections, senatorial and representative elections should begin about the same time as the professional baseball season for the election year in question. The candidates can be lining up their delegates for crucial state political conventions before that, but they should lay low as far as the general public is concerned. Once the campaigning starts, it would be a favor to voters everywhere ifcandidates would pay attention to issues that matter but that's another editorial. Let's not start campaigning too early, for fear of draining all of the juice out of the political system before the electorate is ripe. tive to run for public office for anyone without a substantial war chest -- and that increases the odds that we will have candidates who are bought and paid for by major campaign donors, rather than loyal to their constituents who actually cast the bal - Our fathers leave us a long lasting legacy I am an avid reader of the Readers Digest and enjoy the stories of fathers and sons. I am here because of my father. Even though my physical and mental makeup may be the result of generations of genes, it is he who has greatly affected my life. It would take a book to record all things he did for me, but a few of importance come to my mind. Many times as a family we would sit together in our little living room and talk about the hardships of life. He would read to us from the scriptures: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like unto one of these, and are you not more than the lilies of the field?" He would remind us that we were more than the lilies of the field. During my life, when problems seemed very large, I would sit once again in that little Welsh living room and listen to his advice. My boyhood life was different from what it is in our community. It was different and exciting. For example, there was the time when four of us boys took a bicycle trip into the country for several days. Our sole belongings were the clothes we wore and a raincoat. As for money? We couldn't raise a few shillings among us. The first night out it rained and we slept under a hedge. For the utmost in misery you should try sleeping under a hedge in the rain with only a raincoat for shelter and warmth. But morning did come and with it a touch of sunshine. So we rode on into the next village where one of the boys had a relative. Now, mind you it wasn't our intention to cadge from our relatives but the warm milk fresh from the cow with a thick slice of homemade bread was delicious and gave us zest to continue our trip. The next night we slept at a place called Tintern Abbey in the Wye Valley. This was a beautiful old abbey that was built many hundreds of years before. It was in a sad browsing . pfi-- T state of repair. There was a story associated with theold abbey that when the harvest moon was full, the ghosts ofdead friars would walk through and around the abbey. As we laid our raincoats down by the wall of the old building we looked up and saw the full moon come floating out of the clouds. But tired boys are not afraid of ghosts slept a dreamless sleep. A short distance away from the abbey was an orchard, the apple trees were heavy with fruit. Could you blame us if in answer to our watering mouths and growling stomachs we sneaked into the orchard and took a few as they say apples. But alas and in jolly old England, we had been spotted by a bobby who cane running to catch those apple thieves. However, I don't believe there is a bobby alive who can catch a scared boy on a bicycle. So, munching on half ripe apples we peddled on our way. The last night we spent under a huge beech tree, it's limbs spread out like an umbrella. The only drawback was that horses and cows also liked this tree and left their evidence behind. But a barnyard odor didn't keep us from sleeping. we lack-a-da- gimmicks. Okay! We've thought of something. What about the environment, Betty? Do you think concerned citizens will elect a woman who has cluttered up the environment with 10 kids? I ain't never smoked grass. In this day and age that information hits just the right note. It identifies me with all the liberal society out there, and in the conservative element where I'm usually associated, well, confession. And, well shucks, this is a tough thing to confess, but I gave too much money to help others in the 1990 political arena. Some of my money went to help Wayne Owens get elected! Have you ever heard of anyone being maligned because they donated too much money? Ahhhh me. soul-bendin- y -- nation's biggest business. The announced purpose of government "welfare" originally was to provide temporary assistance to people in trouble. The temporary assistance has become permanent. It has become easier for a family to stay on welfare than to break away from dependency. Thus we have families that have been on welfare for five generations. Gov. Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin called it "a human tragedy" and promised "welfare reform." He had to seek and get special dispensation from the federal government to test some innovative ideas. He did. And they worked. When the governor took office in 1987, Wisconsin was supporting 98,295 families with "dependent children." As of January this year that number had been reduced 18.5 percent. The only state in our nation where welfars rolls were reduced this past year is Wisconsin. Let'iexamine how it was accomplished. Wisconsin provided both incentives and Paul Harvey News 1991 Los Angeles Times Syndicate opportunities to enable welfare recipients to find jobs and to keep them. Teens were encouraged to stay in school and graduate through something called the "Learnfare Program." And absent parents were motivated to support their children. Now -- how? Wisconsin allows any welfare recipient willing to take a job to keep a larger portion of his or her income for a longer period of time. In households, many rewill allowed to work past be soon cipients the federal limit of 100 hours of a month without losing their welfare benefits. For any welfare family that moves off the welfare system, the state provides 12 two-pare- nt f-- H target and get the venom out of their systems. Let them shoot their barbed arrows at the target NOW, then forever hold their g By BETTY FOWLER peace. Can you see the political moves? Are you with me? Hey, this is National stuff. This little old gray-haire- d lady doesn't run a huge company, and she doesn't belong to smarts behind all my - All free publicity with no potential of my wicked past coming back to haunt me. HI have truly taken the wind out of my political enemies' sails. Enquirer-typ- e There was no intention to defame This was going to be a column about baseball. I've been working as the resident sportswriter since our regular one was in the hospital, and that meant four American Legion games and a Little League World Series. That's a lot of baseball. But it's the kind of stories our papers rely on, since they are your kids and my kids involved in these sports. Instead, if s going to be about hardball, the kind public figures play when they feel like they need to protect their image. Who can blame them? In last week's column I poked a lot of fun at Joe Cannon, candidate for U.S. Senate, and I poked a lot more fun at all of the hullabaloo we've witnessed over a stupid incident which has already had a lot more news space than it merits. I half expected to hear from Mr. Cannon, but he's a public figure, a candidate for national office, and he's going to hear from a lot more critical and influential people than me over the next several months. He is learning restraint. I did hear, however, from Stephen Studdert, who merited one sentence, 21 words, in the column. The paragraph was designed to point out the irony that these two individuals who are now influential in local politics had, according to news reports, met earlier under circum stances that were not making news, or as the case may be. I was trying to be funny. Some people were not amused. To be fair and I always try to be fair Studdert was very nice when he called me on the telephone Monday night at home to tell me about a fax I would receive from his lawyer Tuesday morning. He was concerned mainly because this column appears in his hometown newspaper. I was flattered he considers it such. s, goes on to say that the statements are "extremely offensive, damaging and absolutely contrary to fact." And then it asked for an "Editorial Apol- The Editor's Column ogy, correcting the factual misrepresenta- tions and blatant innuendo which are so damaging to Mr. Studdert." Here's some more: "We expect that you will state that Mr. Studdert has never been suspected of or arrested for drug abuse, and By MARC HADDOCK He was concerned because his kids are being subjected to ridicule. My own kids have received their share of harassment because people didn't like the way I did my job. I can empathize on this point. And he was concerned because, he said, the entire incident, as reported in the press, paints an inaccurate picture of him. So I asked him, "What did I writer To be frank, I couldn't remember. And he read back to me the offending passage. I'm going to write it here, because this explanation requires it. In the first place, the column sets the stage with a friend perusing the columns of a local dajly newspaper, and commenting on the Joe Cannon smoking pot incident. Then this fictional character, I call him Grumble, states that the cast of characters in the news stories is intriguing. So I go: "You mean Stephen Studdert as the BYU undercover narc who provided the grass and now says he can't remember the incident?" That's what I wrote, and Mr. Studdert took exception. His attorney took even more exception -- and I quote: The American Fork Citizen states that Mr. Studdert provided illegal substances and has had memory failure." It that any enforcement action ever taken by Mr. Studdert was solely as an employee of a law enforcement agency, operating under proper supervision, and within established law enforcement procedures. There is not one shred of confirmation that Mr. Studdert ever provided actual drugs to any person." So stated. I never said he wasn't. The column simply stated that news reports of the week had set up the "cast ofcharacters" as I described them, and that I found it ironic that these two men who worked for the Reagan Administration in later years had been linked in news reports of the present day for activities that were supposed to have taken place a long, long time ago. - That was all fact and on an opinion page, no less. I also said I didn't think the entire mat-- , : ter was newsworthy. I still don't-- , ; But as long as these folks want to go manure pile, I stirring up this guess we'll all go on smelling it. Frankly, I'm looking forward to putting it to rest. This publication never had any intention of saying anyone participated in criminal acts, or of defaming anyone's character. If that's how things came across, I apologize. : now-famo- ld It was intended to defame the political . process which magnifies trivial events in a candidate's adolescence when there are so many more important things on which we should focus our attention. And for that, I won't apologize. Life deserves our very best efforts By JOSEPH WALKER It wasn't that my first semester at college was a total waste academically. My roommate, Dave, and I learned a lot together. For example: -- We learned that if you're really careful you can squirt an entire can of shaving cream into a large balloon, and that one such balloon accurately dropped from a r window is sufficient to cover a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle; -- We learned that peas have the perfect density for bombing in a cafeteria food fight, and that applesauce doesn't; learned that it takes about two secondsfor heavily amplified sound to travel a quarter of a mile. (We conducted this experiment ourselves, using Dave's stereo, four speakers facing out our dorm window toward campus and the long scream from fifth-floo- long-distanc- e Wisconsin changes trend in welfare state Our Ship of State is sinking in an ocean of red ink and the biggest part than 50 percent - is "welfare." One if every 16 American families is on welfare. The "poverty industry" is now our Oh sure, I just might go into debt. That gives me something in common with all the candidates in the last election. And a lot of them haven't been able to recoup their financial losses yet; even those who won. Then, I could have my name printed onto lots of targets and turn loose all those mighty hunters out there. Let them have a go at the innocent face on the bow-hunti- there's nothing that touches hearts like a non-new- B and believe it vote-getti- ng lot. are so costly that it becomes prohibi- the ACLU OR NAACP; she just lives on a quiet street in a quiet little town right smack in the center of Mormondom. That in itself is enough to get me headlines. Free headlines. I'm going to cash my last meager savings into two dollar bills, go downtown and hand them out to people on the street. Fm going to go to the schools and give each child a fistful of $2 bills. How's that for campaign-ing- ! monthsof transitional day care plus medical assistance. ; Thousands of people who wanted to get off welfare were able to do so with this helping hand. Next, Wisconsin, in four pilot counties, will try providing dependent children aid to one child only. Thus to discourage women from having more and more children in order to secure increased AFDC checks. Does this not punish the children? Additional children (beyond one) would receive food stamps and medical assistance but the parent would get no further cash payments for the additional children. The objective, of course, is to delay pregnancy and parenting until a family is prepared to provide for additional children. And all parents, single or married, would be required to complete high school, and to participate in employment and training programs. Congress' traditional response to the welfare overload is to appropriate more of your money. Wisconsin is trying to demonstrate a response that is less socialist, more related to the traditional American bootstrap tradition of - self-hel- Value Speak "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. Two seconds after we cranked it up heads started turning on campus. We even made the university newspaper the next day under the headline, "Mystery Sound Baffles Secu- rity") Unfortunately, I didn't take physics that semester, so I didn't get any credit for all of our exhaustive research. Which is at least consistent, I guess, because I didn't get much credit in any of the classes I did take, either. Not that I wanted tofail. I studied. When there wasn't anything else to do. When I showed Dad my first collegiate grade report, I expected a flash of anger and frustration. He was, after all, footing the bill for what appeared to be a fairly bogus educational adventure. He was entitled to at least a little righteous indignation. "Dad, let me explain..." I said, opening a speech I had been practicing for days. He held up a hand to stop me. "You don't need to explain anything," he said calmly. "I know that the first semester of college can be tough." Then he glanced at the report again. "I just wasn't expecting it to be this tough." I could see the disappointment in his eyes --- eyes that had always been filled with pride at every high school accomplishment and success. The thing that concerns me most," he said, "is the fact that you didn't even try. These grades don't tell me that route not smart enough to succeed in e. i They tell me that you didn't put forth any effort. And if you don't learn anything else from youftfirst semester, you're going col-eg- to learn that if a thing is worth doing at all, it's worth giving it your best effort. Anything less than that is a waste of time, money and talent." With that he tore my grade report in half and tossed it in the garbage can. He started to leave, then he stopped and turned to face me once more. "You've got one semester to see what you can do when you really try," he said. "Aren't you curious to know how far your best effort can take you?" . As it turned out, I was. Don't get me wrong. I didn't become a Rhodes Scholar or anything like that. But I tried harder, and my grades improved significantly. And every once in a while I attacked a project with my whole heart and soul, and I found out that my best effort was usually pretty good, if I do say iso myself. Of course, I'm no different that a lot of folks that way. Many of us try to cruise through life, expending only as much energy as needed to keep ourselves afloat. Only occasionally, when circumstances thrust themselves upon us, do we achieve the level of excellence we are capable of. At such times we often amaze ourselves with what we are able to accomplish when we really, really try. And then we slip back into calm waters, and resume floating. Life saves its greatest rewards for those who have the strength and courage to escape the comfort zone. They aren't necessarily more talented or more capable or even luckier than anyone else. They've just learned how to harness the best that is within them. They refuse to settle for "adequate when they are capable of "superb." And they understand that the only thing e that's good is a steak. At least, that's what Dad used to say. And he was right. "Do Your Best" isnt just a motto for Boy Scouts. It's a powerful philosophy for living. Ifyou're going to do it, whatever "it" is, do your best. That doesn't mean you have to be the best there is just the best you can be.. Even if that eliminates a few shaving cream balloons. . , half-don- - Policy on letters to the editor letters to the editor. All letters should be typewritten and double spaced. Letters must also be signed, We welcome and must include the writer's name and telephone number. Please send letters to Editor, Newtah News Group, P.O. Box 7, . . American Fork, Utah, 84003. ; |