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Show n'rwTiir'iyi"'wK"f"r'' SIMllMJ Free Press - Wednesday, February 22, 1995 Page 2 a bandage can heal the wounds of Not even Editorial Does Utah County need Extended Area telephone service? Should the residents of the north part of the county have to pay long distance tolls to call Springville and Spanish Fork, and vice versa? Apparently, a spate of public hearings late last year which generated a lot of positive response did not generate "enough information to allow the Public Service Commission to make a good decision on the issue. As a result, Utah County residents will bereceivingquestionnairesfromthe PSC asking about Extended Area Service. Unfortunately, in this case, a survey misses part of the point. For in Utah County, a majority of the residents already enjoy Extended Area Service these are the residents and business in Orem and Provo the only two cities that enjoy county-wid- e e telephone services. The cities in the north and south parts of the county are the losers in this skewed service area- since their EAS ends at Provo and Orem for both extreme ends of the county. But there is much more involved here than the simple convenience of being able to call a relative in Salem when you live in Lindon without having to pay a charge. The current EAS setup gives Provo and Orem businesses a marked advantage over businesses that would dollike to compete for county-wid- e lars and gives Provo and Orem a marked advantage over other Utah County communities in attracting businesses who are looking for a home. It's not fair to the businesses, the communities or the consumers. It's not fair, either, when one considers that other heavily populated counties in Utah such as Salt Lake and Davis counties enjoy county-wid- e Extended Area Service. A survey simply gives the residents of Orem and Provo an opportunity to continue their community's economic advantage by urging continuation of the existing inadequate service. Since they already EAS, those resenjoy a county-wid- e to be idents are likely apathetic about whether or not American Fork or Lehi has the opportunity to make local telephone calls to Mapleton or Payson. The fact is, the PSC isn't prepared to deal with aproblem like that posed by Utah County. Its rules are rural situations, with small towns seeking Extended Area telephone service to a county seat or . - such. toll-fre- - long-distan-ce But in Utah County have a major Utah population center surrounded by several nearby smaller communities that are experiencing unprecedented growth as well. In our case, an integrated county, inlocal telephone cluding county-wid- e to the economic service, is essential g and geographical unity of Utah County. EAS for all of Utah County is an idea whose time has come. Those who get surveys should send them back with positive comments about the service. And the PSC needs to recognize that Utah County is in a unique situation - and deserves the same benefits of a county-wid- e EAS now enjoyed by other major Utah counties. pair of parents, but this soap might bring about a difference in the lives of our children. For some time now, our kids have carefully avoided the antibacterial soap that we have replaced in the pump dispenser in their bathroom. I don't know if it is the odor, real or imagined, or the medicinal color of the product, but the level of the liquid has been remaining constant for some time. So you can imagine our delight at finding a new pump filled with a delightful green gel that was purported to smell like water- melon. Being a warehouse store, the package also included traditional bar soap, but in scents designed not only to please, but also to encourage their use. And it might work, too, because they started fighting over which variety would al be used first. That incident made me think of adhesive bandages, which have also been subject to a metamorphosis over the years. I remember being excited about the prospect of being able to use the miniature strips or the little dots whenever possible. Unfortunately, the garden variety wounds one experiences as a child usually don't match the desired shape of the bandage. we well-bein- B.QifcfiQE'S ft Our many different prayers all have the same purpose POLUSBBIgJ By TOM GRIFFITHS v brance. When I was a boy in the grade school in Wales, we had prayer every day before leaving for lunch. We said it so many times that I memorized it. Yes, I can recite it: "Be present at our table, Lord. Be here and everywhere abroad. Thesemercies bless and grant that we may feast in paradise with thee. Amen." There was just one thing different about this prayer. Being Welsh, we sang it. I would estimate there were 10 different religions and one Mormon among the children at school, yet we all sang together. I venture to think that if a child complains about prayer in school, the idea was planted in him by an adult. To the rescue came the bandage barons, who signed deals with their colleagues in the animated movie field or the comic book trade to offer colorful bandages almost guaranteed to "make the hurt stop hurting." Some clever industrialist then decided to cash in on the adult bandage market and came up with flexible bandages, quasi-clotbandages and bandages with wings that easily wrap around the crookedest of body h Editor: It is hardly remarkable, these days, to witness flagrant lack of courtesy. But when the mayor of our city exhibits a deficiency of even the most rudimentary good manners in his conduct toward a lady who is a citizen ofhis community, that demands comment. The lady in question, who happens to be a dear friend of mine, is, in every best sense of the word, a lady. She is refined, gracious, highly intelligent, honest and courageous where principles are ind, volved. And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer. God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meetingof the school board." So God made a farmer. "I need somebody with arms strong yet gentle enough to wrestle a calf enough to deliver his own grandchild. "Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery and come home hungry and have to wait for lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon and mean it" So God made a farmer. - - guts 9 1995 Paul Harvey - God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die and then dry his eyes and say, "Maybe next year." "I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout and shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire -someone who can make harness out of hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. "I need someone who, in planting time and harvest season, will finish his week by Tuesday noon. Then, painin' from tractor back, hell put in another . ( 40-ho- ur 72." So God made a farmer. God had to have somebody willing to m Daylight , Savings feature. Although the price was probably close to $100 more, I started thinking that I could finally sleep at night,knowingthat I wouldn't have to miss recording a program simply from the trauma caused by forgetting to set Now we have clear bandages, ones that makeitseem as ifthe weareris not wearing a bandage at all. Talk about being in denial or altering reality. (Maybe there's a with the psychiatric unions.) Later that night, we happened to be looking at VCRs, comparing the features of current ones with the one that we had at nt my clock one hour ahead or back. The features were fascinating, but not alluring, and I guess well just have to suffer (not unlike the pioneers of yesteryear) with a plain, ordinary VCR that just plays tapes. At least we can allow ourselves the luxury of a newfangled bandage now and then. home. The manufacturers must really be feeling guilty about Flashing Time Syndrome (FTS) the inability of some VCRowners to eliminate the 12:00 sign from the front of - Lehi trespassed on her right to breathable air in her home by means of a similar disregard of basic courtesy! Are we to assume it is our mayor's contention that citizens - and especially, perhaps, women ought to keep their mouths shut when they are being abused? Or not speak up about issues that directly concern them? Certainly this excellent lady was publicly abused by the mayor during the City Council of Feb. 14. He owes her and the town he represents an equally public While he's his display of n at it, he might apologize also to the young man whom he threatened to have thrown out of the meeting for simply sharing his concerns about the construction of the tower in his neighborhood. In fact, he should apologize to each of the citizens who, when asking for the council's Mayor dissappoints Editor: What a disappointment when at the last city council meeting held Feb. 14, Mayor Gibbs and the city council, over the protest of many Lehi residents, approved a U.S. West cellular tower to be built at 2400 N. Center Street. Do we, the citizens of Lehi here in that neighborhood, mean solittle that they would let the U.S. West tower be built for a measly $7,000 annual revenue? We have received the message and the slap in the face. Thank you for letting us know what the interests of Lehi City really are. --Wendy Rogers ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in midfield and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer. God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales -and, yet, gentle enough to yean lambs and wean pigs and tend the pullets. Someone wholl stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark." So God made a farmer. ''..' It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish and finish a hard week's the e work with a drive to church. Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft, strong bonds of sharing. Someone who would laugh and then sigh and then reply with smiling eyes when his son says he wants to spend his life doing what dad does. So God made a farmer. ed - self-feed-er - five-mil- - the tower will impact in attention to their area, were similarly subjected to impatience, discourtesy and dismissiveness. With the exception of the lone woman whose dissenting vote indicated her recognition of the validity of our concerns, I'd think the council members would be sporting some very red faces, for a highly presentable community of good people - who are, after all, their neighbors and fellow citizens - were treated as iftheir legitimate concerns and wishes were of absolutely no - consequence. It was all too obvious from the beginning, that the council's decision was already a fait accompli, which turned the supposed forum for the expression of the public's objections into a sham that paid only lip service to soft-spoke- Scouting more interested pink-comb- Products Inc. that had the apol-ogyf- She comported herself according, with perfect aplomb, when her right to speak to the issue the erection of a microwave tower in her neighborhood - was impugned by the mayor, who was, both in manner and word, rude and insulting. His excuse for the inexcusable? that she had previously spoken up when the City of God saw a need, so He made a farmer Pnul This following letter arrived unsigned drool-ingd'- parts. in and as time went by it became very much a matter of money for my sons to advance in the program. "Cross our hand with a $20 bill and we'll provide youf son with an awardmerit badge." Now I'm told by my church leader that every family will be assessed $40 per year to support the SME drive. This is to cover the assessment that has been levied on the local congregation by the Church. After all, the Church leaders have been given awards for supporting the B.S.A. program. A number ofyears ago I took my son to an Order of the Arrow camp out. When I returned the next night to pick him up, it was City - citizens' rights. . -- - Mary Pobuda money than in boys dark and he was trying to locate some ofhis camping equipment he had lost during the camp out. All those adult scout leaders and Eagle scouts and not one Helping-HanOver the years I've seen several adult Eagle scout leaders use gasoline to start a fire when they should have used one small match, and seen these leaders take short cuts to the detriment of the environment when they should have stayed on the trail. At one time the Scouting program was for young men, but now it appears to be for high-price- d executives and adult leaders seeking the glory of the world. -- K. Arthur Davis d. Lehi behaves boorishly Editor: I recently had the opportunity to appear before the city council representing a group of concerned citizens of Lehi and Utah County to voice our opposition to the proposed cellular phone tower. While I am disappointed by the decision of the city council to approve rezoning and construction of the tower, I am extremely disappointed by the city council's behavior and by the way they treated me. After giving me the floor I was not al lowed to complete more than two sentences in row before being interrupted and ridiculed. The behavior of Councilman Haws was especially poor. His performance was rude, unprofessional and unbecoming of an elected official. To be blunt, he acted like a buffoon. It is an embarrude, rassment to have people like that as representatives of Lehi City. semi-litera- te -- Dave Gerber Lehi Legislature doesn't support schools Editor: Why are these legislative leaders so bent on cuttingthe schools? Whenever they want to cut it has always been the schools, and whenever they want to give money it's only to the wealthy! Every poll of the citizens of Utah shows that over 60 percent don't want ANY state tax cut. They want the surplus spent where it will do the most good on schools and roads. Yet the legislative leaders, seven of nine whom are wealthy property owners or land developers, only want to carve off as much from the surplus for themselves as they can. You and I won't get that much back, but they will reap thousands and tens of thousands while our kids get crammed deeper and deeper into crackerjack schoolhouses. The more they force larger and bigger schools where kids have a harder time finding an identity, the more these "leaders" promote gangs and crime. Why cant they see this? Because the only thing they . in my mailbag. Fve tried but cannot trace its source. It is from a farmer perhaps -but more likely a farmer's wife. I've embellished the essay in places and cropped it in others, but I hope the sense of it remains intact. i City gives lip service only to others' rights issues Editor: I have become disappointed with the Boy Scouts of America and their programs of today. They seem to be more interested in raising money and in making themselves look good than in helping young men grow up. The last time I went to an award ceremony, half the time was spent givingawerds to adult leaders. And often I see the Scouting organization courting church and government leaders by giving them grand scout awards. Scouting is for young men and not for old men wanting to look good for the voters. I had four sons in the Scouting program f By RUSS DALY l ttOlG GEOifiOP -- Today is February 14. It is Valentine's Day. Really, I should get a little gift for my wife, but there is a blizzard blowingoutside. Should I venture out? Perhaps the storm will ease up and then I can go out. In the meantime I am sitting here looking out my kitchen window and wondering where the spring weather went. I was also thinking about prayer. This subject has really been kicked around these days. After all, prayer is an individual thing. I was thinking of an experience I once had when I was in the Safety Department at Geneva Steel. I attended a safety meeting in Salt Lake City. It was a statewide affair. Representatives from industries were in attendance. The invocation was to be given by the Jewish Rabbi of Salt Lake City. As the time for the start of the meeting came, the Rabbi had not put in his appearance. The chairman, knowing I was active in my church, asked me tooffer theinvocation. So without announcing the change, I went ahead and gave the opening prayer. When we broke up to attend different sessions, a man came up to me and said, "Rabbi, that sounded more like a Mormon prayer than Jewish." Before I could explain, he walked away. I thought back through my family history to my great grandmother Flook who was Jewish and wondered what her prayers sounded like. 1 have heard prayers said in m any different languages; they all have one purpose, an appeal to a higher person for a remem- - vvnsnavea tneirmacnine oecouBoiiew imn plethora of features that promise to fill practically all of the empty niches of life. One of the innovations is VCR Plus, a system of entering recording information into the machine via a code that is conveniently included in the TV Guide listings. Forget the start time, stop time, etc., just enter the numbers following the name of the show you want to tape, and the VCR does the work for you. For the family on the run, some machines had a Family Message feature. To that manufacturer, leaving notes on the fridge, either by magnet or sticky note, is passe, and the way of the future is to record your message where it is sure to be heard. If we were to have that unit in our home, the message would be along the lines of, "If you're hearing this and your homework is not done, you will be flogged." But the one that caused the most being sarcastichere) was the device While shopping last week, we discovered an item, a new product I think, that we felt would be a very welcome addition in our home. One wouldn't think that a mere package of soap could elicit such a response from a Time is right for EAS County-wid- e FTS - are seeing is the dollar signs. Utah is No. 30 of 50 states in property tax. We are already lower than the average. Why, then, do they want to cut only the school's portion of the property tax by $90 million? Not to relieve you and me; we want ' I it spent on schools. They represent only the big land developers who want to get rich quick off of explosive growth that is beginning to erode the quality of life here in Utah. Then they think they can create their own little world around themselves with all their money, to heck with the rest of us! My letter then is really a call to arms to all parents, educators, those against gang, and any others who are seeing our quality ofTifebeingtradedformoneyforthewealthy. We must deluge our representatives with calls and letters to prevent this from happening. -- David N. Cox 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's name and telephone number. Please send letters to Editor, Newtah News Group,P.O.Box7,AmericanFork, Utah, 84003. Lehi |