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Show Bimii111lil! Free Press - Wednesday, April 26, 1995 - Page 2 The worthy goal of becoming color blind Editorial We had just moved into a new neighborhood, and our children soon formed Making tough decisions City Councils are supposed to make hard decisions. That's why we elect them. Often, however, there is a tendency to pass these hard decision off to an entire community, rather than take the risk of giving offense or making a decision that is ultimately unpopular. Alpine City is faced with just such a dilemma. The city needs a new fire station. The current station, located in the same structure as the city hall, is inadequate. It is old, in ill repair and poorly suited to house the expensive equipment in which the city has invested to protect the homes and lives of Alpine's residents. And with more homes and more lives, the need for an adequate station grows daily. Now is an ideal time for the city to build a new fire station. Alpine has received a federal Community Development Block Grant of $100,000 to help fund the new structure but the city must act in a year and a half or the funds will be lost. And a lot more than $100,000 is needed for an adequate fire station. Finally, a city government has a legal responsibility to provide for the safety of the city's residents. If it fails to do so, it can be held liable. Failure by a city to provide adequate fire protection is an invitation for litigation. But to spend the more than half million dollars that will be needed to build a new fire station is a big step for a community the size of Alpine. Naturally, it is a step the city does not want to undertake lightly. But it is the wrong sort of decision to take to the public. Bonding for a new school, a new swimming pool or a public golf course does call for a public vote. Here there is an opportunity for differences of opinion, and without public support the project should not go forward. The city council is charged with providing police protection, fire protection and ambulance protection. The public mandate is already there. Council members, not the general public, should be the ones to decide how that responsibility is to be met. Passing that off onto the public in the form of a bond election is an act of cowardice on the part of council members. This is just the kind of issue council members are elected to decide. Public hearings can provide the necessary input, but the tough decision lies with the people who ran for office to represent the wishes and best interests of their community. The question is not whether the city wishes to spend the money to build a which is what a bond new fire station election will decide. The question is whether Alpine needs the new structure. If the answer is yes, then the city council has a moral and legal responsibility to build the fire station, regardless of public sentiment. A bond election on the issue is just a way to get the council off the hook, when, in fact, making such decisions is why they were elected in the first place. Tales of missionaries I like that part of the Citizen that shows the pictures of the young men and women who have accepted calls to go on missions for the IDS Church. Now this article is not intended to glorify the missionary program for other churches have missionaries also, but is to show that these young people have different personalities and way of life. My observations were made in the mission quite a few years ago. Elder Mason came from Arizona where he had lived and worked on his dad's ranch. He came to Wales fresh from the ranch. Nothing young phony about him, just a clean-cu- t in Wales Browsing i man. He was tracting in the town of Newport. He climbed some steps to one house and knocked at the door. A man answered and the Elder said he was a Mormon missionary and wished to talk with him. The man pulled out a handgun and ordered Elder Mason off his property. "I don't want anything to do with you Mormons." blankety-blan-k Elder Mason walked down the steps, then looked up at the man. There was no anger in his voice when he said: "Mister, bring that gun down here and IH show you how to use he continued: "I would like to have back on my dad's ranch in Arizona. We you would put you on one of his bucking horses and you would have the ride of your life." The man lowered his gun and asked, "Were you a cowboy?" "You bet I was, and proud of it." The man put down his gun and said, "Come on up. I would like to talk with you." So Elder Mason went up and had a conversation with the man. He was not converted, but a cowboy told him more of the Mormon Church than he ever knew before. Elder Barlow came into our area and made quite an impression. He was impeccably dressed. It was quite obvious that he came from wealthy parents. One Sunday arrangements were made to visit the Tazwells. They lived about two miles out of town and there was no mode of transportation to their home, so it was a matter of walking. So Elder Barlow, my father, and Elder By TOM GRIFFITHS Y Arthur set out for the Tazwells. Elder Arthur was 73 and this was his third mission. The Tazwells lived in a pretty flower bedecked cottage on the bank of a canal. A cottage meeting was held and afterward Mrs. Tazwell prepared a lunch. She served some boiled eggs fresh from the coop, a glass of milk from their cow, and some thin sliced homemade bread, buttered with homemade butter. Everyone ate and enjoyed the meal except Elder Barlow who refused to eat. On the way home Elder Arthur scolded Elder Barlow for not eating and told him of a time when David O. McKay was president of the European Mission. One day he visited an elderly woman in Germany. All she had to offer was a slice of stale bred, but David O. McKay sat down and shared it with her. I am happy to report that Elder Barlow changed with time and learned the lesson of humility. There was one young missionary who was assigned to our area He visited with our family quite often, sometimes staying overnight. Our mother loved this young man and said on occasion that she would like adopt him. He was from American Fork. His name was Melvin Grant. I salute missionaries of all churches in trying to make this a better world. friendships with the children next door. The only problem was that, in relating stories of their activities, some of our children perceived that they needed to add the qualifier "the black kid" to the end of the other child's name. After we pointed out that the obverse qualifier, "the white kid," placed on then-ownames would sound ludicrous at best, they dropped the unnecessary phrase from . the end of their friend's name. We hope that their understanding of that situation will stay with them as they continue to mature, and that it will help them lead their generation into a greater sense of community with the world. At a workshop I attended last weekend, one of the speakers addressed some issues facing "people of color" and gave specific examples in Los Angeles, the city of his childhood as well as his current residence. He spoke of the demographics of the city, saying that south central Los Angeles is no longer "black" or "brown," but a combination of the two, the color lines blurring as the two races have increasingly intermarried. Many of the racial tensions surely remain, but in a metropolis like Los Angeles, it would seem that at least some of the barriers could be removed simply by the interaction of the great numbers of In a small town like Lehi, however, eth. nic barriers may be harder to break. Our community was founded by a group of people of an extremely similar ethnic and religious background. Even those who started moving in after the initial settlement weie of like mind, even if the occasional "bad apple" wormed its way in as well. You Paul Harvey V 2-t- ever-changi- ffij The Daly Planet By RUSS DALY The last couple of decades have brought people to Lehi who may not fit that mold, and some interesting situations have developed. First, some of these new residents bring along new citizens in the form of children who are born here, and although their linbloodeage may indicate a certain ethnic line, they share the same birth backgrounds as children of native settlers. True, their facial features, and maybe even their language and cultural practices, may be different, but they are the same members of the community. Second, these additions to our area bring a unique opportunity for all of us to learn about other cultures of the world, to look outside of ourselves and directly into the eyes and hearts of others. Actually, we are already making several attempts at bridging xthe gaps. One of those ways is through the Spanish Immersion program at Meadow Elementary. Several years ago, a group of supportive parents encouraged their children to join a class that would do most of its school work in Spanish. I'm sure the program had its problems in the beginning, and many students may have been frustrated, but the attempt was noble, and those who have persisted with their language studies have probably reaped at least some of the fruits of their experiences in other parts of the country that can serve to enhance the knowledge that we all amass during life. But perhaps the greatest tool is one that happens more or less every week in the departure of a missionary. From the very moment the missionary gets the call, he or she begins an incredible journey into the lives of other peoples, whether it is across the country or halfway around the world. The first step is to figure out the geographic details. Shreveport may sound almost as foreign as Sofia and, to a particular missionary, may entail a culture almost as different. One friend received a call to Bulgaria, and called our house to get some background information. My wife had served in Bolivia, however, and directed her away from South America to Eastern Europe. They may not be "the most spiritual two years" or even "the best two years," but they should be a great chance to acquire a respect and understanding of others, lessons that bridge the gaps both abroad and at home. With all of the varied opinions about the coming growth to our area, everyone agrees that there will be challenges, fhe greatest of which may be to not create any unnecessary barriers along the way. our area never know who you'll run into For some reason, we just keep running into the same folks as we go through life. And they turn up in the most unexpected places. For example, when my step-so- n Dana there was brought home his fiancee-to-bsomething vaguely familiar about her. One day Dana told me that Donni's mother knew me, and had, in fact, gone to high school with me. Since I went to a small high school in an obscure corner of Idaho, that seemed like quite a coincidence. But as soon as he told me that Donni was Cheryl Tolley's daughter, I knew why she looked familiar. Pulling out my high school yearbook for my junior year (Cheryl was a year older), it was easy to spot Donni's mother because she looked just like her daughter. And looking at the picture, memories flooded back. Memories about Cheryl and her sister, Terry, who was supposed to have had a terrible crush on me in the 8th grade e, or so. I remembered that Terry told me her older sister, who had a knack for likening people to inanimate objects, had said I reminded her of a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. (Cheryl denies haying ever said any such thing, but the memory is planted indelibly in my mind. Besides, I have decided over the years that she was probably right.) I remember a party at the Tolley home have many memories of the same places and the same people. And Sharon's brother, Lynn, who lives in Highland, was in a family home evening group with Cheryl when they were both Editor's Column c-.- t By MARC HADDOCK where we listened to rock and roll music ("The Night has a Thousand Eyes") and danced some slow dances. I also remember being a real jerk when I found a different girlfriend. ?j So it has been interesting over the past few months to get to know Donni's parents and to become reacquainted with Cheryl. Terry will be coming for the wedding, and that meeting should be most interesting as well. But here is where the story gets almost eerie. Sharon, my wife, in talking with Cheryl found out that they had attended the same elementary school in Rigby, Idaho, with and were many of the same teachers only a year apart. Both of them were quite young at the in the early grades time but they . , students at BYU. Last week, Cheryl's mother and father were visiting and invited us all out to dinner. Mrs. Tolley was the school secretary at our high school. In a town like that, the secretary knows everybody in the school. We spent much of the meal time reminiscing about the people who populated my youth talking about where they were now and where they had been. We will probably be seeing more of each other. The wedding is a week and a half away, and these two families that seem to keep;.running into each other will have many more opportunities for collisions, foreseen and unforeseen. It seems inevitable. ; I think the big lesson here is you should be nice to people you think you may never see again. Fate has a way of bringing us face to face with our failures and our successes at different points throughout our - lives. At this point, I'm pretty happy that I left a positive impression with the Tolley even if it was family when I was a kid as a can of chicken noodle soup. I can think of a lot worse things one can be. Letters to the editor UN is seat of totalitarian New World Order Editor: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. It is time we examine the ramifications of membership in this global body. The U.S. Constitution is based on the n and premise that our rights are the government was formed to protect n those rights. The United Nations Charter, on the other hand, is based on the premise that our rights are granted by government (U.N.) and therefore may be restricted or taken away by the same government. It is time that the U.N. is exposed as the seat of an upcoming totalitarian New God-give- God-give- World Order, based on Lenin-styl- e communism. Ezra Taft Benson said, "After many years of observing the U.N. in operation, after carefully researching the less publicized aspects of this organization...I reluctantly have been forced to the conclusion that the UN's potential for evil far outweighs its potential for good." Priceless information about the evil intentions of the UN. may be found by studying the following books: "Freedom on the Altar, The UN.'s Crusade Against God and Family" - William Norman Grigg (American Opinion Publishing, Inc., P.O. reasons why the flat tax is unworkable and unfair. It's argued that the flat tax would favor the rich. On the contrary, it's the rich who are benefitting from the present graduated tax with its many and varied deductions and loopholes. For example, a state legislator living 50 miles or more from the state house can deduct from his taxable income $139 each day his legislature is in session whether he attends or not! Regarding the charge that a flat tax would hurt the poor, Specter is willing to excuse any family of four making up to $25,000 from paying any income tax at all. Armey would raise that ceiling to $36,800. But the accountants, the lawyers and, more especially, the army of bureaucrats who make a living off the presently complex tax system are fighting for their professional lives. That latter army is an enormous burden in itself. Over the past 20 years, the IRS had doubled its budget and increased its number of employees by 20 percent. Re-rea- d Jefferson's complaint, and recall that the tax revolt of 1776 ushered in many years of prosperity and freedom. Box 8040, Appleton, Wise. 54913 (414-749-378-3; "Global Tyranny...Step By Step, The United Nations and the New World Order" - William F. Jasper (same publisher as above); "An Enemy Hath Done This," chapter 14, "The United Nations Planned Tyranny" - Ezra Taft Benson (Parliament Publishers, Salt Lake City, Utah). We must educate ourselves as to the evil intentions of this world body, then act accordingly. Rob Schulthies Provo Scout leaders made difference Editor: Quiet tax revolt is underway April 17, the last day for 117 million Americans who pay taxes to pay them, has come and gone. Last year, the IRS sent out 33 million S'ri-Newspenalty notices to people for underpay' ing, not paying on time or any of 138 other reasons. Americans generally view the federal income tax as complex, intrusive and burdensome. Gallup pollsters find Americans, 1995 Paul Harvey Products Inc. 1, feel their federal taxes are too high. That's a lot of dissatisfaction! That may be the most dissatisfaction since Thomas Jefferson comp'ained that King the 1996 presidential race. Presently, George had "erected a multitude of new American taxpayers are paying an offices and sent hither swarms of officers "income tax plus." The "plus" is the to harass our people and to eat out subfrightful cost in time and money that we stance." spend keeping, sorting and tabulating There is a peaceful tax revolt undertax records all year long and the tax accountants we have to hire at year-en- d way today. to interpret the tedious and Among the options being considered tax laws as they apply to us. by Congress is the "flat tax." This is a So diabolically complex is the present single, flat income tax of, say, 17 percent, which everybody would pay with no system that government tax lawyers will admit privately that they don't underexceptions and no deductions for anystand it! thing. Accountants and tax attorneys are Architects of the flat tax are Arlen Specter in the Senate and Richard understandably in favor of the complicated present system. They are supplyArmey in the House of Representatives. The flat tax could be a major issue in ing the media with a steady stream of . n people. wnrk. Another angle is that of students who study abroad, or who are able to partici-pat- e with groups in various parts of the country. Although I am extremely skeptical about the latter group, particularly with high school groups going great distances, the more organized "tours" have proven to be educationally beneficial in the long run. Some young ladies have found employ, ment as nannies and may have found some Some of the most memorable events I recall as a youth are those surrounding activities with my scout leaders. I'm grateful for those men and the sacrifice of time they made on my behalf. They taught us lifelong lessons of to be responsible for our own actions, honorably doing our duty to our country, local community and to God. These lessons helped prepare us for mis self-relianc-e, sions in the LDS Church and life in general. , For all of the sacrifices they made, sacrificing time away from their families and other interests, I hope someone gives them an award. Anyone who is selfless enough to give back to the youth of their community and teach high values, morals and character for no monetary reimbursement, deserves an award for their efforts. Bruce F. Childs Pool water is irritating Editor:. We appreciate the American Fork City Recreation Center and its staff. We are grateful for the healthful benefits we receive from daily use of the facility, especially the water aerobics classes. There is, however, a recent unhealthy benefit we are receiving that we do not enjoy, namely rashes and itchy skin due to the necessary increase of chemicals used in the pool. We understand the problem will be alleviated when the "bubble" is removed in May, but unless the city provides an oxygenator the problem will return in the fall. We strongly urge the city to appropriate the funds for the oxygenator and put an end to this ticklish situation. Geri Harmon Lori Bennett Lynette Chidester Deane Winters and 63 others 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. Box 7, 'American Fork, Utah, 84003. |