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Show C O ill HI t S Freepre"'- - . A Editorial Tabernacle dedicated for 3rd time in 82 years For the third time in its 82 year existence, the LDS Church's Alpine Stake Tabernacle in American Fork was dedi- cated Sunday night. The rededication comes following an extensive remodeling and renovation which has retained the best parts of this historic meeting house and added new features to the basement which will make certain the building continues to be a useful structure both for the church and for the community, both of which have used on this grand old structure for more than eight decades. We still have the meeting hall with its grand spaces, cantilevered balcony and antique tin stamped ceiling. This hall has played host to countless stake conferences, but has also been the site of many community concerts, Utah Symphony performances, Christmas and Easter cantatas and high school and LDS Seminary graduation ceremonies. While future high school graduations are unlikely there, the tabernacle remains the best site in north Utah County for many public gatherings. Benches have been padded and spread and spaced farther apart to increase the comfort for today's larger bodies. The organ, which was damaged by vandals many years ago, has finally been restored to its original state. Gone is the cultural hall in the basement. Once the site of many youth dances, the cultural hall lost much of its Body shape utility as the number of stake centers and ward houses increased, and the numbers of dances decreased. In its place are large rooms, offices and classrooms which will be dedicated to the LDS Church's genealogy program, area church custodial services and the LDS Church's employment services. Now that is keeping up with the times. The renovations come just in time for the open house and dedication of the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. That is probably no coincidence. The basement is now the staging area for ticket distribution for the and it will grow into that open house role as the open house gets closer. The tabernacle is also a likely site for e broadcasts of the temple dedica- off-sit- tion. There have been times when this grand old building was threatened with demolition or remodeling beyond the point of recognition. Fortunately, wiser heads have prevailed. Now with reinforcements against possible earthquake damage and renovations that make the building more useful for our current generation, the building's future has been secured. Sunday evening's dedication ceremony is an indication that the building will continue to be a vibrant part of the north Utah County Community well into Utah's next century, and the tabernacle's next century, as well. a matter of attitude For the first time in my life I looked at the female image on the cover of a magazine and felt like I could really relate to her. Dressed in shorts and a tank top, Wendy Levey was standing in a pose that I imagine every woman puts herself in, at least once a day. You know the one, sideways, so that you can see your profile in the mirror, one hand on the hip and one pressing on that offending little tummy bulge. I have pressed on my own tummy bulge so many times, that I cannot believe that it hasn't stuck flat yet. (I will keep trying.) The headline next to the young woman reads, Too Fat? Tod Thin How media images of celebrities teach lads" to' hate their bodies. At the bottom of the page there are pictures of Courtney Cox, Pamela Lee and Heather Locklear. The 17 year old is comparing her body with those of the TV stars. I recognize the look on her face, she knows that physically, she will never measure up. This particular girl is not alone in her distress about her body. After being bombarded with media images of starved, surgically enhanced and airbrushed women. American women are feeling worse and worse about the bodies that they actually live in. Adolescents may be the most vulnerable to these feelings of inadequacy, but we all know that the dissatisfaction with our bodies doesn't end with the onset of adulthood. Stand near a women's dressing room in any clothing store, especially at the beginning of swimsuit season, and listen; comments are the norm. Talk of diets, exercise and even surgery are the most common topics of conversation that you will overhear. And, of course, everyone will be making the unfavorable comparison between themselves and someone on Baywatch. The standard of "perfection" that we are measuring ourselves against is evolving into something quite unnatural and virtually unattainable considering that miss is as good as a smile Excitement (as well as tension for some) is building with the coming of the annual Miss Lehi Pageant this Saturday. For several years now, my wife and I have been serving on the committee, but my involvement with pageants goes back even longer than that. When I was but a small child, my play companions included the two neighbor girls, both of whom were about four years older than me. These weren't just girls, though, because we participated in a variety of activities, none of which included stuff like playing with dolls. Debbie's house, for example, had a little hill in the back yard that made the Slip and Slide really fun. My house had a ditch ideal for floating boats, which were just interesting looking pieces of wood. Pam's house had a unique porch with a two-fowide, two-fohigh wall in the front. One could conveniently walk along the wall without having to work at balancing. In fact, someone in that neighborhood came up with the idea of using that wall as a ramp, much like the one used in the Miss America Pageant. Lest you start imagining all sorts of strange things, let me assure you that I always played the singular masculine role of the pageant, that of the inimitable Bert Parks. I don't remember now which one of the girls won the "pageant," or even how we conducted the show, but IH bet I really shone as the emcee. (That is, only if I didn't try to sing the theme song.) My next pageant debut happened when I was about 16 years old. At that time, I had been employed on occasion by Carolyn Kleinman as an independent contractor at The Colonial House, where I would play for ot ot East to West. From Asia through Europe and across the Atlantic to North America, in our own land, the world's last frontier, the restless pioneers who first ventured beyond the Mississippi were mostly loners seeking an alternative society. Woodrow Call left Lonesome Dove saying he wanted "to see Montana before all the bankers and lawyers get there." But then, when the fugitives from civilization's constraints had populated California and Alaska, there was no place to run to anymore. Up against the Pacific Ocean, they became frustrated and fermented. From the human zoo, the route of escape is now cut off. Our own most private property is not private anymore, subject to intrusion by postmen, meter readers, building inspectors and even total strangers, who may not be forcibly resisted. Most of us have come to see government as an adversary. So, refugees from reality close ranks Black within diverse subcultures Panthers, Aryan Militia, cults and communes. In the trial of Randy Weaver, a government witness said he was "bound by federal law, and that supersedes state law." Attorney Jerry Spence, on said, "Does the court n, Daly Planet That year, the pageant committee arranged with Carolyn to use the reception center as the setting for the swimsuit competition. Employing my working relationship with Carolyn, I volunteered to provide some background music for the event. Here was my chance to see the contestants "up close and personal," to borrow a phrase from ABC. I thought I was pretty hot Brynn's Beat Memories are made of this By BRYNN BECK the average American woman is about 5'4" tall and weighs 142 pounds. While the average model is about 5'9" tipping the scales at approximately 110 pounds. Oddly enough, the "average" woman wears a C cup bra, while the emaciated model usually claims that her D cup is completely natural. So, what are we getting for our efforts to match muscle tone with the stars?. T, he percentage of wpmen who suffer- - from some sort of eating disorder has quadruold pled since 1976, 50 percent of girls have dieted and the diet industry is raking in $33 billion a year. Women are taking pills that cause heart and lung problems, high blood pressure and even strokes, as they search for a "cure" for their body woes. A recent experiment demonstrated how desperate American women are becoming for a quick fix. In one day, 45 women rushed to enroll in a fake diet program that promised immediate weight loss if the participants agreed to eat nothing but hot-doand vanilla ice cream. These statistics can only lead us to conclude that women desire a "perfect" body more than a healthy body. And the only person yelling, "Stop the insanity!" is yet another diet monger anxious to sell you her formula for a better body. As I read the magazine article that accompanied the attention grabbing cover, I too wanted to jump on the blame the media bandwagon. But somewhere along the way I realized that the reality of this situation is as ugly as the back of my thighs. The media is not going to change! So, we women will have to! I don't know about you, but I have given up hope of becoming a 5'9", 110 pound model. So, I am going to start by exercising a new attitude. Watch out Pamela Lee. Our planet has been populated with a from The well-meani- weddings. The story I am about to relate is true. It is told to prove that boys will be boys, even when they are elders. Last Wednesday we arrived at the Salt Lake International Airport bright and well early. It was around 5 a.m. early when we got there. None of us was feeling too bright. But that was okay. This is what you do when you have an LDS missionary taking off for parts known and unknown. Steven was leaving for Boston. And he was flying out early, at 6:20 that morning. From there, the missionaries would catch a flight to, Boston after an layover. We all came to say goodbye. . It was a familiar scene, one replayed most weekday mornings in the Salt Lake International Airport. Shuttles unload large numbers of missionaries, men and women, who are heading out to spend 18 months to two years teaching, preaching and performing acts of service. As the missionaries line up at the airline ticket counters to check their baggage, many are joined by family and friends who are coming to mainly girlfriends say goodbye again. They already said goodbye once, a few weeks earlier at Provo's Missionary Training Center. But this goodbye is less formal. At the MTC, missionaries are separated from families in a regular process that makes the split quite simple. At one point in the proceedings, parents and family members go one way and missionaries go another, and then you are done. But the airport farewell leaves everything in the hands of the missionary who can ignore a couple of boarding calls before he or she take the departure seriously. When we met Steven, it was clear that he and a group of missionaries were not going to take much of anything seriously. Feeling free of the fetters and restrictions of the MTC life, they were obviously in a lf take-it-eas- y mode. They knew they were heading on to seri- - The federal government as Barney Fife persistent migration prisingly inexpensive and we had connections in getting a room at a discounted rate. We had attended local and state pageants here in Utah, but our eyes were really opened at that event. (Perhaps not for the reasons you might expect) First of all, a televised event is radically different in person from what one sees at home. The introductory parade of contesBy RUSS DALY and we only tants was watched a replay ofit on giant screens in the auditorium. stuff to have pulled off a major personal Second, one feels a sense of disillusionment to see the emcee actually reading from coup like that. At any rate, I arrived at the back door at the cue cards. As a member of the television the appointed hour, just as one ofthe judges, audience, you know in the back of your mind television personality Dick Nourse, drove up that he or she is using a crutch, but you are in his big silver car. Back then, celebrities of slapped with a dose of reality when you see that magnitude were never seen in Lehi, it happen behind the scenes. and I showed him the proper respect like Speaking of behind the scenes, we had I another eye opener occur right beneath our any respectable gawker would do noses. The "way up in the back" tripped up the stairs. Figurative thoughts quickly replaced my wasn't really that far back, and not up at all. embarrassment, and I went into the center In fact, Leeza Gibbons was sitting on the to take my ringside seat at the piano. I main floor, directly below the balcony. As we should have been more dedicated to my leaned forward in our seats and looked over the rail, we had a bird's eye view of Leeza. practicing, though, because I used up my Poised and polished while on camera, we visual allotment in reading the music. I was too busy reading the measures to read the were frequently amused to watch her measurements. rearrange her accoutrement between each I have had the distinct pleasure of shot. She must have been uncomfortable in accompanying several contestants in her sequin gown, because she tugged at the sundry pageants. These contestants have bodice every 30 seconds. (And you thought included vocalists, flautists and even a June was bustin' out all over.) string bass player. (Yes, you read that last Pageant detractors may scoff at the benone correctly.) efits to such programs, but they may have At Southern Utah State College, an never seen the preparation that takes place. acquaintance of mine entered the Miss Not only must the participants have a talSUSC Pageant as a bass player. She gathent in many of the pageants, but they must ered a drummer and a pianist (me) to assist be able to answer questions and speak her in formulating her talent. Afterward, a impromptu. It is a remarkable experience to watch but frank judge informed her that "nice young ladies don't play the bass." these contestants as they learn more about Perhaps that judge wasn't aware that my themselves and the world around them. fellow student not only participated with They learn to consider vital issues and to the orchestra, but also with the marching express their views on a variety of subjects. band. (Visualize that one, folks!) Now there's Some of them could even tell you who talent. Donna Shalala is. (Do you know?) A few years ago, we had the opportunity I'm looking forward to the pageant on to attend the Miss Universe Pageant, which Saturday night, and since I'm not going to was held in Las Vegas. The tickets were sur- - sing, you may be looking forward to it, too. Paul Harvey News 1995 Paul Harvey Products Inc. understand that your federal law takes precedence over any state law?" The witness replied, "That is correct." Spence remarked, "Poor Idaho." I was personally involved in FBI negotiations during the standoff at Ruby Ridge. While my participation was nominal, it helped me properly to evaluate the subsequent movie on the subject. Families seeking isolation on a Montana ranch or in a Texas commune or on an Idaho mountaintop imprison themselves at no cost to the rest of us until we bring in the troops, tanks and flame-thrower- s. More recently, there were "The Freemen." That designation sounds ironic the very idea of a handful of lawbreakers confined to a Montana ranch house calling themselves "free." But, in this instance, the might and majesty of the United States government converged to flush them out while overcrowded Texas prisons are being downloaded onto the mean streets of Dallas. We let rapists run loose because there is no room in jail yet to lob tear gas at a family that has skipped paying its taxes. We look like Barney Fife, pompously asserting his authority against a jaywalker in Mayberry. We mobilized armies at Waco and at Ruby Ridge when our only legal justification was the presence of unlawful weapons. We have 400 gangs of criminals in the city of Chicago, all of whom are armed with illegal weapons, yet we tend to surrender whole cities to them! So, it is the "selective indignation" that is an embarrassment. We'll shoot to kill the Weaver family in their shabby cabin and subsequently decorate our lawmen as though they were war heroes, while the slave traders and drug smugglers and border jumpers and their friends in high places enjoy comparative immunity. As the son of an early days Oklahoma lawman, my inherent compassion for lawmen as opposed to lawless ones has deep roots. But it also contributes to my embarrassment for lawmen when they are mismatched in fire fights or misdirected by politicians. The Editor's Column By MARC HADDOCK 'rfTi? S' 5 oua businesKbut they didn't want to take this moment too seriously. We sat and chatted for a while, taking , some family photos and listening to tales about the last three weeks of Steven's life. The first call to board the flight to Denver came. Some elders and sisters boarded the plane. Others remained to talk. The second call came. The remaining elders and sisters boarded the plane, with the exception of Steve and two of his traveling companions. One was deeply involved talking to family members, the other, who was from California and had no family at the airport, was busy looking nonchalant. The final call came, and we started to get nervous. But these three young men showed no inclination to board the plane. They would wait for the final call. After all, they were young, in charge and had the world at their command. By this time, Sharon was pacing. My wife has little use for tardiness. (The fact that I routinely run five to ten minutes behind is a constant source of frustration to her.) The elders kept talking. A second final call came, and a third. The door was closed and the airline employees replaced the flight numbers and times on the marquis as the three elders sauntered (I'm not exaggerating) to the door, opened it and walked through hoping to board the plane. About 30 seconds later they came back out again, no longer sauntering, no longer looking nonchalant. In fact, they looked angry. But you have to remember that anger is a secondary emotion, prompted by other feelings. In this case, I believe, the primary emotion was akin to feeling really stupid. I couldn't stand the tension. I got up and walked down the concourse, taking a seat with my back to the action, so I could check it out now and then but not get involved. To our credit, I think, not one adult in the group moved forward to plead the elders' cause. We all sat in a kind of stunned silence and let these young men clean up their own mess, as peeved airline workers them on a flight an hour later. They would have to run to make their connection in Denver, but with luck they could rejoin their traveling companions. We spent another 45 minutes talking about this and that, dismissing excuses and listening to apologies. When the next flight was boarded, these three wasted no time. By then, it was a relief to see them go. According to a letter we received Saturday, they got to Boston. No details were forthcoming, but we hope they arrived with a little more humility than they brought to the airport. As for us, we will never toy with an airline's departure threats. We all learned a lesson at the airport last Wednesday. Letters to the editor' Fox has been fine representative Editor: It has been my pleasure to serve with Christine Fox in the Utah House of Representatives since July 1994, I would like the citizens of Lehi to know that they are well represented in the Utah Legislature. Christine Fox is knowledgeable and well respected. She is very influential because of those very traits. That is why she has been elected to a powerful position of leadership. And she has exercised that leadership with great skill. I have observed her on many occasions as she has walked over to members of the House of Representatives to share valuable information with them or to give them advice as they work to pass off a bill that is of concern to them. She has been an outstanding mentor to many of us. Christine Fox epitomizes the best in a public servant. I hope the voters of Lehi will recognize her honesty and effectiveness and return her to the Utah House of Representatives. - Sheryl Allen Bountiful Worthen's son reflects well on father Editor: I am a Saint sister living in Barry, South Wales, U.K. We are part of the England Bristol Mission. For the past few months my family and I have had the great pleasure of getting to know Elder Worthen, a zone leader here, who hails from Lehi. Latter-da- y We have always endeavored to welcome missionaries from all over the world and occasionally are privileged to associate with someone very special. This is the case with Elder Worthen. He is enthusiastic, spiritual, funny and a wonderful example to our sons. We love having him in our home and consider him to be a great friend. During his visits, he has passed along copies of the Lehi Free Press which we have come to look forward to. It is very strange for us to read a 'local" newspaper which deals so nonchalantly with the Church and Church matters, i.e , missionary calls, etc. We are iacky in this part of the world if people even know what we believe without confusing us with Jehovah's Witnesses or sects. have been amused with the g and in the case of Judge Worthen and the Mayor and as we don't know either personally, it would be wrong for us to comment. I would, however, like to make one point. The Lord teaches: "By their fruits ye shall know them." I don't know Judge Worthen, but I do know his son and his son's principles. If the old adage "Like father like son" is true, I think Judge Worthen must be a really great guy! Elder Worthen has a great love and pride for his parents and his hometown but his love of the Lord and the Gospel literally shine. Thank you, Brother and Sister Worthen, for such a wonderful missionary and thank you, Lehi, for being such a wonderful Latter-da- y Saint community. We fro-in- to-in- g -- Isobel.Querin-Stewart |