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Show CO&HSTlG<S Free Press - Wednesday, May risk redundancy with a plea to prepare our communities for multitudes that will visit the Mount Timpanogos Temple in August and But the official September. announcement of the temple open house dates add an urgency to our clean-uand dress up efforts. Starting Aug. 10, and running for the next six weeks, north Utah County will play host to over a million people who are anticipated to attend the open house. That gives us about 12 weeks to get our house in We p order. Look around. There is a lot to be done. North Utah County will be scrutinized by hundreds of thousands who travel through our communities and use our streets and roads to get to the temple. They will eat at our restaurants, visit our parks, pur- chase gasoline in our service stations and shop in our stores. And they will leave with lasting impressions of our communities. We all want those impressions to be positive ones. The entrances to many of our are littered and unsightly. Weeds need to be eradicated, yards need to be cleaned up, garbage needs to be picked up and rusting automobile bodies need to be hauled away. A little paint here and there wouldn't hurt either. City beautification committees need to kick into high gear. In American Fork, the Youth City Council is taking the lead, in the absence of an active city beautification committee. It is a massive job. communities A bad guvs. this particular episode some high- tech TV. tampering was causing normal citizens to go berserk. One woman watched only a few moments of a game show before, retrieving enthusiasm waned at some point. I don't even know if I have any of them left. I can't remember why I started collect- ing matchbooks, but I had quite a few for a little kid. Although we didn't travel frequently, we did travel regularly and I gathered the different books from the hotels and restaurants along the way. Finally, I decided that they should be displayed in some book, and I undertook the project to mount them in a scrapbook. I can remember the quandary I faced in deciding how to preserve them. Pasting them in whole would not work, because the back side often the punch would be line to the writing on the front obliterated. Yet cutting them apart might ruin their future value. In the end, I decided to cut them apart to display both sides and to remove the matches in the same motion. I was quite proud of that growing collection, and intended it to grow with me. But I got sidetracked along the way, and I'm not even certain I could locate the fruits of my early efforts. Even though I didn't keep up with my hobby, I really admire those who collect things, and especially those who do it suc- These kids need all the help we can give them. Cities can make other preparations as well. American Fork is negotiating with the state to obtain the Utah State Developmental Center property that lies directly across from the temple to be used as a park. This transaction needs to be completed as soon as possible, so the city can go to work cleaning up the state's mess. Little has been done to restore the property where houses were torn down last year and the amphitheater is in need of repair. With the ongoing negotiations, the state has had little incentive to improve the property. This park could be a showcase during the open house, but only if negotiations are completed and the city can go to work soon. Time is rapidly running out. If we don't hurry, the world will come and we won't be ready. Pleasant Grove has just witnessed one of the greatest outpourings of volunteer effort ever seen in Utah with the nine-daconstruction of its Novell Discovery Park. Similar efforts are needed now to dress up the rest of our communities. Working together, we can do it. But we do need to get to work. North Utah County has so much to offer. But we need to get to work now if we are going to take full advantage of this opportunity to demonstrate that to those who will be passing through 21 for the our area Aug. of the Mount open house cessfully. Stamps, for example, seem to make a fascinating collection. At the same time, though, I find it a little confusing about the technical aspects of maintaining such a collection. Is it better to purchase stamps in entire sheets, or can you simply buy one at a time? Should the stamps be postmarked, or should they be left unscathed by some machine? Can a quality collection include a combination of those different styles? All those are questions that, in my estimation, make a common hobby complicated and more unmanageable than what I would want for myself. So, although I have saved a certain few such as those contained on let- stamps y Timpanogos Temple. a loaded shotgun from the broom closet and blasting her husband out of the hammock in their backyard. Of course, we were laughing about the nature of the show and agreed that much of the appeal probably has to do with wanting to tune in and see what outrageous idea someone came up with for that week. But the more I thought about it, the less outrageous the plot seemed. Sure, it is Brynn's Beat behavior. Either way, I am not sure if I will be again. I am pot really watching the planning on it. But then, I remember talking to one of my friends after she had been hypnotized in an effort to quit smoking. She left the hypnotist laughing about her wasted money. On the way home, she saw a dumpster and she had this overwhelming urge to pull over and throw away all of her cigarettes. She did it and hasn't smoked since. For all I know, I could be one of the newest members of the X- - Files fanatical following. True or false? There is a hired gun in your phone book, listed under "lawyers." He'll knock off your worst enemy or your best friend for a contingency fee. You can choose a target with celebrity status, and you and your hired-gu- n lawyer may both get rich. You only need to allege some wrongdoing (sexual harassment is presently the vogue) and your victim, guilty or not, is likely to choose a private settlement over a public trial. if a court dismisses your lawsuit as capricious, you can threaten to write a book. If your target is an acknowledged y' unlikely that someone would snap1 after five minutes of the Price is Right. But it wasn't that long ago that a little girl was kicked to death on a school playground Power Ranger style. And violent television has been listed as a factor in many cases of child, or adolescent violence. A quick trip to the library revealed that television has been linked to all sorts of unpleasant things ranging from obesity, to attention deficit disorder and the aforementioned violence. I also discovered that when an individual is intently watching TV. they are in a trance like state very similar to hypnosis. (If you have difficulty accepting this theory, I invite you to try to have a conversation with my husband while the TV. is on.) In this state we are more susceptible to suggestions that are made to us. Which totally explains the success of the shopping channels. Hmmm. Maybe some of the appeal is based on making the outrageous seem just a little bit plausible, or making us see a bit of reality in strange human It FJ fcj IIT1V1 1995 ' Paul Harvey Products Inc. Or, "public person," there is virtually no limit to the damning things you can write, however true or false! In Happauge, N.Y., Chuck Jones says yes, he did fake a lewd photograph yes by putting Maria Maples' face on another woman's nude body. And yes, he did fax copies of the photo to husband Donald Trump's country club. But there is nothing anyone can do about it, says Chuck Jones, because the his First Constitution protects Amendment rights. "I can say," boasts Jones, "anything I want!" : Editor: If you live in Lehi, you need to be aware of the problems you may face with the city's Beautification Ordinance. You also need to be aware that a scheme is afoot to make matters worse. The present ordinance nowhere says how much of the offensive (your Alpha Romeo and '57 Chey collector) cars, building materials, etc. 'you are allowed to have,.Thus, if they want, this beautification committee,, can require you to have nothing whatsoever of these things on your property. (And they do want.) The present ordinance states that the committee will inform a property owner of a problem and request that they correct the situation. The proposed regulation also states this. In actual practice, they ask you to appear at a hearing before the committee, but they won't inform you as to what the problem is prior to the meeting. This violates due process. The new ordinance They want to raise the fines possible from $50 a day to $200 a (a lot of us don't earn day for $200 a day). They want to make it an offense for grass to be longer than six inches (6:), weeds, too. (Do you know how long a weed takes to grow six inches?) Pianist Van Cliburn's mother, while she lived, cautioned him many times about the lurking vampires who feed on blue blood. Even Billy Graham's immaculate life and ministry have more than once been targeted by some mercenary. Billy, always attended by a family member or a lifelong friend, remained invulnerable to any suggestion of personal scandal, so would-b- e detractors resorted t,o allegations of fiscal imprudence. Any such allegations were demonstrably false, but meanwhile, the mercenary did from some of my ancestors, which not only provide the musical interest, but the sentimental attachment as well. We've laughed at some of the titles in By RUSS DALY "Who Takes Care of the the collection Caretaker's Daughter When the Caretaker's Busy Taking Care?" is one of my personal but the songs are actually a ters from friends visiting or living in for- favorites as well as a musical of I little bit not consider would countries history eign timeline. myself a stamp collector. Some of the music has even become Perhaps my extensive amassment of sheet music might qualify as a collection of useful in the process. One vocalist that I've sorts. On the other hand, it might nothing accompanied needed a certain piece of music to sing at his father's class reunion. more than a motley assortment of and throw-away- s. Despite the I had just discovered that very selection in the collection, and we were able to provide very real possibility of the second alternative being applied, I treasure my treasures the group with songs that they remembered from their school days. for various reasons. Another song, "Along the Utah Trail' The collection started with music that was purchased new when I was a child. I will be used in a reunion this summer, can tell they are old simply by looking at much to the delight of my wife's family, the price: 75 cents back then compared to many of whom cherish that song as a famthe $3.95 one pays for a typical piece of ily favorite. The assortment also includes some sheet music today. I use the term "new" loosely, because worn issues of The Etude magazine, an the selections were usually songs of a oversized periodical that included news of bygone era that my parents wanted me to musicians of the day, reviews, and several learn to play for them, the type of music pieces of music from various composers. I was first introduced to the magazine that, to a child of the 60's and 70's, was over two decades ago, when my family viseven worse than elevator music. Later, as I was able to start buying my ited a small historic town in California. own music, I turned to what I considered My mother and I were browsing in some the likes of Manilow stuff, shops when she spied two issues antique Barry popular and Billy Joel, along with other hits such in one of the stores. She knew I would as Nadm's Theme and the Theme from enjoy it for its musical content, but Jaws. through the years, it has also served as a Price is no longer the only clue to the memory of a family vacation in the setting music's age: my version of popular music of my paternal ancestors. dates me when I try to get my young piano Maybe a collection doesn't have to be fancy, or neatly organized, catalogued and students interested in songs that they perceive as displayed, or even valuable to anyone but the owner. It's the memories that one's coTo add credibility to my "collection," I have added quite a bit of really old sheet llection invokes that makes it priceless. Daly Planet hand-me-dow- "oldie-moldies- their noses in everyone's business. Some of these people aren't happy with mere lawns in This is the same guy who now refuses to your yard, even though neither ordinance answer questions when you offer to fix things requires you to have a lawn at all. You can't leave it up to someone's good will up if you could just know what the problem to protect your from governmental abuse. Too is. Why should we have to put up with this? They want you to stay home until two often, they only have good will towards their cronies. Or just as often, they don't have any hours before collection of your garbage (and who knows when the garbage will be picked good will. That's.one of the reasons laws are m th up?. Or evert which day sometimes).' Until .1 JWLMUtfiejENE P106They want Clint Carter to be the "enforce- ment officer." . .I - . . . ... ..- .. be kept out of sight. '' ' There heeds to "be an application of the "reasonable man" standard in Lehi City's Nuisance Abatement ordinance. Nowhere in the ordinance does it say cars, car parts, machinery, lumber, sheet metal or anything else shall be deemed a nuisance "if it exceeds in disorder or amount what a normal person would feel to be reasonable." Instead, we have gardening enthusiasts and men who don't know where to find the handle on a wrench administering an ordinance which has no limitations on their actions. Then to make matters worse, they don't wait until reasonable people (our neighbors hopefully) complain about something. They are out there like wanna be policemen (which is in violation of the present ordinance) with nmnntirf, ' ITrarnmmAnt f rt Dftt Til A loUTQ are also there to define how far government can go; 'o protect us from people who go off the deep end and enjoy themselves too much at our expense in the performance of their duties. These people aren't even functioning in accordance with the procedures outlined in the present law. The new proposed law outlines the same procedures, but it's reasonable to expect that they don't plan to adhere to their guidelines in the future either. We need to save ourselves and Lehi City the expense of having to dismantle this law in the courts. The way to do this is to go to the City Council meeting in June, and tell them that they work for us and that they are to facilitate our being able to have the lifestyles that we want, not dictate to us. Theo G. Rasmussen Questions raised about selection of judge Editor: It is with much thought, emotion and trepidation that this letter is sent to the citizens of Lehi and anyone else who might be interested. I was one of the "finalists" who was interviewed on April 24 for the position of City Judge. As with everyone else (with maybe the exception of one), I submitted my application in good faith several months prior to this date. At the time there was information published in the Lehi Free Press that Mr. Lars Jenkins had been appointed to this position in January. Evidently, in studying Lehi City policy it was determined by the City Attorney, that the position must be advertised. As such, this was done. However, doesn't matter Paul Harvey News vM't The Beautification efforts in Lehi are out of control 10-Se- BRYNN BECK pre-190- 0, Letters to the editor peek at our culture? My husband and I went to visit some relatives this weekend and we ended up No, actually we watching the ended up catching the Double (It ' was truly our lucky night!) I have to admit that I didn't mind hav' ing an excuse to watch the show. I had been curious about it from the first eerie green commercial that I had watched and had enough background to know that the contain some pretty bizarre subject matter; aliens, supernatural occurrences and an on going coverup by the US government. I also knew that the show has become extremely popular, with a large, almost fanatical following. The first half of the Double provided history about the show's developthat winds through ment and the sub-plthe weekly installments of the series. There were plenty of startling scenes from past episodes that included mutants, computerized cockroaches and, of course, the required little green aliens. The special effects were surprisingly graphic. After being brought up to speed by the first half of the Double X, we were better prepared to actually watch the show. Without any previous X training, I wouldn't have been able to catch the more subtle plot twists, or tell the good guys from the music Some of these pieces date back to when the San Francisco Examiner used to include a piece of music in their Sunday edition. Other pieces have been handed down Once I was a phillumenist, but my Countdown: 12 weeks to temple open house In Page 2 What have you collected philately? Editorial X-Fil- es: 15, 1996 - sell some books. g media, in hardball competition for ratings, are entirely aware that noise makes news. Shielding themselves behind such words as "alleged" and "accused" and "suspected" and "believed" and "some say," they proclaim or print all manner of unfounded innuendo. A cruel result of First Amendment misuse is that valid grievances become suspect. Allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace are being so exagblackmailers that gerated by legitimate complaints tend to be discredited. Another downside of unfounded sensationalism is that listeners and readers may become cynically unwilling to believe anything they hear or read. That would be a sad sacrifice, jeopardizing public trust and diluting our media's historic opportunity for public enlightenment. Until this present excess undoes itself don't let the as excesses always do headline writers rain on your parade. As Mark Twain is said to have said of the music of Richard Wagner, "It's not nearly so bad as it sounds." Scandal-mongerin- Jenkins was never appointed. Because it had been about two months since I had applied, I decided to contact the Court Administrator's Office the first week of April to find out additional information about the orientation course which the selected individual must attend once appointed. I was told that the course was being held that week. Still naive and believing in the integrity of our elected officials, I waited until April 18 when I was contacted by the Deputy City Recorder informing me of my interview on the 24th. Over the weekend I had the strong feeling that something was amiss. As such, on Monday morning I again called the Court Administrator's Office to determine that Mr. Jenkins had indeed attended the orientation session the first week in April. How conMr. venient that the interviews were scheduled after this time frame. There was no way at this point that the other four "finalists" could compete for the position fairly. Now I don't know what anyone else's experience has been as far as interviews are concerned, but I don't think I have ever gone to an interview before where the candidate and has attended has been mandatory training. Contrary to the Lehi Free Press article last week, the interview panel consisted of the City Attorney, who, by the way, didn't even have our applications. It was determined that I did meet the minimum statutory qualifications. (I was alive and breathing). In addition, I had attended a very extensive training course specializing in Administrative Law. My present employment also lends itself to this type of position. Upon the conclusion of the interview, I was told that an announcement would be made and whomever was selected would be appointed in the City Council meeting on May 14. The letter from the mayor arrived at my home on May 7. Imagine my surprise when I was not selected for the position not! However, it was a surprise when Mr. Jenkins was sworn in later that evening in a Special City Council Meeting. Did I act in good faith in this situation? You bet. Did the City of Lehi In my opinion, no way! The policies and laws of the City and the State are in place for a reason. Do our elected officials work for the citizens of Lehi? I thought they were supposed to. As a citizen of Lehi did they fairly and ethically work for me? Or you for that matter? Was Lars Jenkins the best candidate for the job? We'll never know; he was given an unfair advantage by not being unappointed and mandated (as per city policy) to compete as the other candidates. Since this incident and others in the recent past, I have come to the conclusion that we as citizens of this city have the responsibility to speak out if we do not agree with something. By maintaining our silence we concur with what is going on. I, for one, will no longer be silent. What about you? Lori Worthington Yearbook problems at junior high Editor: I would like to voice a concern I have that I think will be shared by many parents of Lehi Junior High students. This year, the principal, Mr. Spencer, has decided to not pass out the yearbooks until Thursday, May 23, around noon. He is allowing only two periods to sign the yearbooks, which is exactly the same time the senior high is having its graduation. There is no way for the kids to attend their brother's or sister's graduation and still get the books signed, since they have to wait until 12:45 p.m. before they are allowed to sign the books, even though they receive them at noon. The graduation starts at 2 p.m. in Provo. My son feels bad that after he has paid $18 for the book, he now will not be able to get the signatures of his friends that he has known this year. We, too, are disappointed. If you share my concern, please call the junior high and let them know how you feel about this situation. Perhaps the matter can be reopened and resolved. The number at the junior high is Ask for Mr. Spencer about this yearbook situation. Madge Bryson 768-701- 0. |