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Show 1 Comment Free Press - Wednesday, October 2, 1991 - Page 2 Editorial Newspaper have alway been important ifou better Freedom of Press crucial to future While newspapers tell many stories well, they do a poor job telling their own stories. But the story of our free press is important enough that newspapers ought to work harder at telling it. Next week is Utah's first "Freedom of the Press" week, an event designed to commemorate a most valuable first amendment right. It coincides with National Newspaper Week. We bring it up here because a free press is crucial to a free America. Nevertheless, there are constant pressures to limit our freedom of expression. As Walter Lippmann put it: "The theory ofa free press is that the truth will emerge from reporting and free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." A free press was crucial in the battle of ideas that lead to the Revolutionary War. And, as part of the Bill of Rights, equally crucial to the ratification of the Constitution But it was so hard to live with, that only seven years after the Constitution was ratified, the threatened Federalist Party passed a law making it illegal to "falsely" criticize the government. It's been an uphill battle for the press ever since. If a political party or ideology can control the flow of ideas, they can control the nation. When ideas aren't suppressed, the result is the kind of exchange Lippmann was referring to. The results benefit the populace, but not necessarily a political ideology. Groups and individuals who find it difficult to deal with the free marketplace of ideas represented by a free press often propose regulations which would further their own ends at the expense of the Bill of Rights. And on an annual basis, one or more of the state's legislators proposes laws that would tax newspapers, in effect taxing this marketplace of ideas, A viable and free press is crucial to g the continued of our nation, our state and our communities. Sometimes that's painful. Ideas are well-bein- and, sometimes, disturb- powerful ing. But the free exchange of those ideas is crucial to our country's future. This is a story we don't tell often, and we don't often tell it well. But a free press, as Gov. Bangerter put it, "is vital to the maintenance of an informed electorate and citizenry." And we forget this truth at the peril of our other freedoms. My love of birds put to splitting test I have one weakness. In fact, I have had it all my life. I love birds. Even now in the evening of my life I love to watch the birds out of my kitchen window. How interesting they are. Early this spring I became real excited. Two birds, yellow like canaries, came to visit us. They stayed for a few days and I hoped they would nest in one of our trees. But no, they left for another place. When I was a boy in Wales I learned a lot about birds. In fact, I had a collection of birds' eggs. I learned that if a nest had four or more eggs the mother bird would not forsake the nest if one egg was taken. So I wouldn't take an egg from a nest where there were less than four eggs. Birds are pretty much like people. If you study them they are interesting. I still remember the names of many of the birds I knew as a boy. One I enjoyed very much was a Tomtit. Every year this tiny bird made its nest in the hollow of a hazel nut tree. Even though it was very small it would lay as many as 20 eggs. I watched this nest and wouldn't tell my friends about it. Summer came to an end and it was fun to see those 20 little birds leaving the nest and fly up into the trees. Down by the brook there was the Kingfisher. What an interesting bird. It would catch fish from the brook, eat the meat and use the bones to build its nest. I once found a Cuckoo egg. It was way up in a Magpie's nest. The egg of a Magpie is quite blotchy and a Cuckoo egg is pale blue. The Cuckoo will lay one egg in another bird's nest and let the nester raise the young one. One of the most beautiful birds that came to our area built its nest year after year in a hole in the wall at the bottom of Kicker Jones garden. It had a blue chest and a red tail. I didn't know of any special name so I called it a Firetail. I must tell you of my adventure with a Thrush. My neighbor down the street aways was Joe Hoskins. Joe raised birds and small browsing JUL n By TOM GRIFFITHS K animals. One bird he raised was a Thrush. It was not much to look at but its song was heavenly. I wanted to raise a Thrush real bad, so I asked Joe to tell me how. Now Joe had one weakness. He loved to drink ale, so it was impossible to know when he was serious and when he wasn't. But as a young boy I had no way of knowing. So, Joe told me how to raise a Thrush. "First," he said, "You find a nest of Thrushes. Then when the young uns are fully feathered you take the biggest one and put it in a cage. You raise it for about six weeks, then you split its tongue with a sixpence and the first thing you know you will have a singing thrush." So, I borrowed a sixpence from a sister and proceeded to try to split the tongue of my young bird. After being pecked several times I managed to pry the bird's mouth open and if there was a tongue I couldn't see it. Anyway, I thought I could see it and tried to split it with the sixpence. After several tries I put the bird back in the cage. I could tell it didn't feel very good. The next morning I went out to the cage and there was my bird on his back with his feet in the air, very much dead. I took it down to the bottom of the garden and buried it in a secluded spot. Yes, and I shed a few tears. I don't know whether Fm an addict or not. I don't even know if I need a support group to share my addiction with. All I know is that Fve had a love affair with newspapers since I learned to read. Maybe my addiction started with ahorse. You see, Jack Bunten (I think that was his name) used to deliver the old Salt Lake Telegram to our home in American Fork. He didn't have a car or a bicycle. He rode a great, brown horse to make his deliveries. He'd urge that great animal right up to the front porch of our house and toss the paper right in front of our front long-legge- better. Then he discovered skeet - shooting from different positions at clay targets. Then he learned to shoot "Trap," a variation of skeet. Then sporting clays, where g the targets can surprise the shooter from any place and going in any direction. And he got so good at it he began winning club tournaments. Then state tournaments. Jon Kruger was on his way to becomcompetitor. ing a world-clas- s For years Jon Kruger dominated that sport in the United States. But then, on June 16, 1989 performexhibition in Riching a mond, 111- .- a pingpongball filled with the explosive used as part of hit demonstration exploded in his hand! Jon's trigger finger was gone. In fact, -- Paul Harvey News 1991 Los Angeles Times Syndicate com-in- - trick-shootin- g so much ofhisright hand was blown away that only the little finger remained. coordinaIn a sport where hand-ey- e tion is everything it appeared a promising career was over. But the which the competing come-from-behi- courage, Iowa farm boy had learned with older brothers mani- fested itself again. The stump of a hand healed with only the little finger remaining. Yes, his gun stock could be modified... believe U d gested they start their huntbefore sunup or shoot even one bullet after sundown. That was against the law. They didnt want to door. I thought of him as a modern version of Robin Hood, a sweatered, hooded version of a knight on shining saddle. He'd flick the reins, spur the horse and ride away into the sunset. Fd wait with baited breath for the evening paper right along with my dad. We'd race each other to see who could get to the paper first. Dad would grab the front page and the stock market report to see if his penny mining stock had gone up in value. Mom would come along and ask for the woman's page with its recipes and its instructions for a new crochet pattern. Fd get the funnies and the children's page with its stories complete with an illustration to color. I've never lost my fascination for newspapers. Now I take four; five with the giveaway one. And I read them, too. I would miss my papers very much. So would my mom and dad have missed the Telegram. I'll never forget when in October the paper would announce the dates. We'd have a celebration! My dad and brothers would clean their shotguns with a cloth tied on to a string. The kitchen would smell like gun oil and wood duck-huntin- g ill. d i 0 h far- - ruin a wonderful hunt by worrying with a guilty conscience. Besides they hadahealthy Golden respect for the game warden lv Peay. Oh yes, this morning's paper announced the duck hunting dates and prospects for a far r- The has long been a staple of American advertising. Why, I can still remember when Gillette scandalized the buying public with a television ad that showed a guy shaving while a sexy female voice breathed "Take it off. Take it all off." If memory serves, a raunchy rendition of "The Stripper" played as background music. It must have been effective, because that was about 30 years ago and I still remember the ad (and the voice). An Alka Seltzer ad focused on "No matter what shape your stomach is in" with visual images of stomachs of all shapes and sizes. Of course Alka Seltzer is for inside the tummy, not out. And the shape referred to was figurative, net literal, if you get my meaning. But the ad worked, andbecame a classic. And how about these slogans: "Nothing comes between me and my Calvin Klein jeans." "Fm Suzy. Fly me to Orlando." "What are you eating?" "Nut 'n' Honey." And to this day, the folks who sell everything from iodized salt to ideas resort to slogans with more than one meaning, when it works. And often when it doesn't. If one of the meanings is titillating, so much the better. Country music has elevated the double entendre to an art form - with virtually every song title holding more than one meaning. ("If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me?" "We're Two of a Kind, Working on a Full double-entend- AndFmnot above agooddoubleentendre in a headline now and then, when it fits - '. hunt this year because of the wet ' weather. The announcement gave me a , thrill reminiscent of the days when a big brown horse with a tall handsome delivery boy left the Telegram on our doorstep the paper that announced that duck hunting season was near. But, nobody can make ducks taste like my mom. She roasted them in the big black oven of our fearless malleable range, but not until they'd been picked, singed over a blazing newspaper, and soaked overnight ' in salt water, stuffed with homemade bread crumbs and roasted about three hours in a - By BETTY FOWLER - polish, and the men would count their loose change to see if they had enough money for the necessary licenses and duck stamps. One time John paid for his duck stamp with 200 pennies we'd all saved in one of mom's fruit jars. Mom would bake an extra batch ofbread so she'd have enough bread crumbs to make her delicious breadsage stuffing for the ducks she was planning on having dinner the next day. She was seldom disappointed. Dad, Bill, John and Doug would pound on the back door and display their wares just like kingly potentates of old. There's be a couple of greenheads, a mallard and a teal, spread out on the porch. My mom would squeal with joy. There would be duck down for feather slow oven. Recycling? Sure enough -- 1 think recy- cling began with duck feathers turned into pillows and ticks; newspapers used to singe ducks, wrap the leavings (guts) and then to begin the fire in the big black stove that would roast the ducks to perfection. Sure, Ihave an addiction.... Wouldn't you have if you were me? - - problem with the campaign they won't misunderstand the slogan, read it the wrong way, and then go about "getting it on." And I've been around hospitals enough to know the message is superfluous. People who work around emergency rooms already wear their helmets. But I can't help but think someone, some- -' where hasn't thought this out. And some- one, somewhere is going to pay dearly for it. BYU is too staid to put up with such suggestive slogans for very long - espe- - re House,") , good This double entendre is a bad idea The Editor's Column By MARC HADDOCK ' . ' cially on Conference weekend. both the story and space allowed. Can't you just see the camera panning ' But today I think the double entendre the campus Friday night during the BYU- may go too far, if plans for an ad campaign USU football game focusing on a "Get it On" to urge motorcycle-ridincollege students poster? . to wear helmets is carried. The problem of course is that the univer- The idea comes from a national camsity is now caught in the kind of dilemma . paign picked up by the Utah Department of that haunts BYU regularly. t Health and Intermountain Health Care If the school refuses to put up the plac- ards Wednesday, as is planned, I can envi-- , hospitals. The slogan for the campaign urges stusion national news stories aimed to make dents to "Get it On," referring of course to the school look prudish, foolish and reacmotorcycle helmets. tionary. And plans are to post portions BYlFs If they go ahead with the plan, some campus this morning with "Get it On" plac- folks will be offended, and we're back to ards. Wherever motorcycles can be found, national headlines. BYU students will be urged to "Get it On" For an institution as image conscious as . in bright, bold letters that are designed to BYU, this could all be very painful. leave an impression so the road doesn't. s This is all too late, of course. And Local hospital parking lots will also sport Wednesday has dawned with the "cri- the "Get it On" placards, just in case sis" avoided. Maybe Fm all wrong. But I think there is a lesson for us all plan on motorcycling homefrom their stay at Utah Valley Regional Medical Cen- here. Double entendres are a double-edgeter. sword and we'd better think twice before Now I'm all for the use of motorcycle using them. As for the BYU motorcycle helmet cam- helmets, even though Fm not personally much in favor of motorcycles. And I don't paign, I have a suggestion. Maybe a better think the students at BYU will have any slogan would be: "Don't Take it Oft" - g . ? . per-hap- pa-tien- ts d Letter to the editor Shut down of recycling program a step backwards Editor: I am a Lehi transplant who has taken much pride in the strides Utah and Lehi have made to clean up the environment and to m ake better use ofour natural resources. That pride was strengthened when I read in the "Lehi Free Press" that our city was beginning a recycling program that would help our planet as well as benefit the restoration of local buildings (including the Memorial Building). My family took the city's lead, and developed a recycling program of our own. Imagine my shock when I found that our Winning is getting back up With four older brothers, a boy has to work hard to keep up; extra hard to excel. Many younger brothers do. Jon Kruger did. The Grafton, Iowa, farm boy practiced target shooting until nobody could do it pillows, and enough meat for a couple of meals, not to mention the duck grease that , would be used to soften dad's leather workshoes. My dad would count the shells they'd , used for the hunt, chastising the boys if they'd wasted even one bullet They'd talk . about what brand and what chill was best , for ducks, and worry about how much the , Super X bullets had cost. Dad would scold if anyone even Bug- - , With Velcro on the stock and Velcro on a glove he could hold the gun in place. And he would just have to retrain the little finger to manipulate the trigger-Fol- ks who saw John's first struggles with the makeshift Velcro glove and the awkward retraining of his littlest finger pitied him...for only a little while. Just six weeks after his accident Jon entered the Minnesota State championship shoot...AND HE WON... And three months later he won the NSSA World Championship. And he's still winning. In 1990 he sew new world records in sporting clays. In the last year he has entered 40 tournaments and he has won every one. Jon is also a gifted professional cabinet maker.. .and, yes, he can still do that, too. ; Except that he has little spare time anymore - what with competitive shooting and his teaching. He teaches shooting. And he teaches sporting clays course design. And if we will pay attention, I expect Jon Kruger has something to teach us all. city had taken a giant step backward by removing the trailer from Center and 200 North. For over a month now, I have driven around town with a car full of milk jugs, plastic detergent bottles and stacks of newspapers. They stay in my car because I have found no where else to take them, and because guilt will not allow me to throw them away. Please, Lehi City, return to your better ways. Maybe a great profit was never made from the project. Maybe it was a hassle to administer. Maybe the trailer was a bit of an eye sore. But, despite it all, it was the right thing. You now have the obligation and responsibility to help us. If we are to make this city, this state and this world a better place, Let it begin with .'. . us! -- Michael D. Corbelt Lehi District shortchanges students Editor: use them somewhere else. I am not a teacher. I am a parent of four daughters who attend school within the Alpine School District. There is currently in Utah Valley a battle being waged. And those that stand to lose the most in this battle are our children. The Alpine School District and the Alpine Education Association are engaged in a fierce standoff. The Alpine Education Association who represent the teachers in our schools have rejected the district's disparaging teacher contract proposal. If the problem were just money Fm sure parents throughout the district would contribute what they could to make the difference. The problem is not money but respect. The Utah State Legislature provided a 3.1 percent increase in educational funding intended to show respect for our public school teachers by increasing their compensation to bring them near parity to their peers in other states. Most of Utah's school districts passed those funds (and more in some cases) on to the teachers who deserved it. But the Alpine School District has decided to take the additional state funds increased revalong with their 1991-9enues (up 6." percent over last year), and their 1991 surplus of $21,661,420 along with $2,000,000 insurance reserves and 2 If you're wondering where all the money a percentage of the overall 1991-9budget, district and school administration will take up 24.3 percent. And the district's business office will use another 16.4 percent. That's a total of 40.7 percent for administration and business expenditures. Teachers salaries will account for only 4.6 percent of the overall district budis going...as 2 get. For years teachers have been doing their extraordinary jobs for substandard pay. The state legislature has made an effort to right this injustice. It is the duty of all school districts to follow the intent of this legislation and the will of the people of Utah. The Alpine School District is out of step with the rest of Utah County's school districts, both Nebo and Provo school districts have settled with teacher salary increases in keeping with the intent of the ' legislation. We cannot let a handful of bureaucrats who do not teach our children determine the worth of those who da We must all show respect for the teachers that . have influenced our lives and let the Alpine District officials know who they work for and what we want for our children! Jim Greer out-of-tou- Own |