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Show Coinrnieirits Free Press - Wednesday, June 12, 1996 Page 2 What to buy for the sweepstakes winner who has everything with Editorial Rack Collection " complete wooden rack sent to you with your first purchase (which you may keep, even if you decide not to order any more). Could you really bear to actually use SDice Just because it's Father's Day this week, dont assume that I'm bucking for a Primary election will be only vote for some races Utah County voters have important decisions to make June 25 when Utah holds its annual primary elec- tered the growth of third parties in Utah County mostly parties dominated by extreme conservative poli- For a couple of important public offices, this will be the only election. the Take Utah County Commission race between incumbent Gary Herbert and challenger Jim Larsen. They are the only two candidates in the race. Period. After Utah County voters make their decision in two weeks, the election is over. No Democrats have filed to contest the seat in November. Nor have any third party candidates stepped forward. So the election a week from next Tuesday offers Utah County voters their only opportunity to have any say in their elected representation at the county level until the next election in 1998. The same holds true for the race for Utah Representative Dist. 57 between incumbent Lowell Nelson and challenger Kevin Crawford. For Utah Representative Dist. 56, incumbent Christine Fox is being challenged by Lloyd Davis. The winner will face two third party candidates, Independent American Party candidate Shiela Heindel and Libertarian candidate David Piccus. But no Democrat has filed for the canseat, and historically didates don't do well in Utah elections. The June 25 primary will probably determine the state representa- But even these fringe candidates have realized the futility of running against the GOP candidate, and many are adopting the majority party's label while embracing their tion. third-part- y tive for District 56. There are a few problems here. As Republicans have continued to dominate Utah County politics, fewer and fewer Democrats have bothered to campaign for an election they can't y climate has fos win. This one-part- tics. extreme ideologies. Utah County Commissioner Jerry Grover ran an unsuccessful third-part- y campaign two years before running for the commission as a Republican and getting elected. Larsen, who ran on a third party ticket two years ago, hopes to repeat this formula by appearing now as a card-carryi- Republican. At the same time, Utahns are still learning to live with an early primary election date that has, so far, had notoriously low voter turnouts. This situation favors fringe candidates who can mobilize small special interest groups which can have a major elections, but impact in which cannot influence an election where many voters cast a ballot. The solution is for Utah County voters to turn out in large numbers for our primary election. The high-profirace between Chris Cannon and Tom Draschil for the GOP nomifor US the nation Third Congressional District might help. Those who have not registered can still do so next Monday and Tuesday. Look for details in today's newspaper. But it is up to each of Utah County's registered voters to take the time to learn about the candidates and to then vote in our June 25 primary election. For many races, this will be the only election candidates will face in the 1996 voting season. low-turno- ut le Letters hold together family ties art Out of Order Last Sunday, I decided to take on what of letter writing. I they say is the dying dug up some stationary to pen a few words to my Auntie Vi in Indiana. She's my great By KATIIERINE SCHROEPPEL aunt, actually, my grandfather's sister on my mother's side. Not long after finishing my letter, I received word that she had,, passed away, credit to Glen, which was something of an that morning at the age of 9$.Jhat,w i(K i'egaiusterjjr iny great aunt. si J;'V sad to me, but the tears I shed were for me ..;,,ynfbrjtunately, I have not yet mastered not her. (I was also embarrassed to think ,ifthe art of avoiding marital disputes, and for that she may have dropped in to see me on some reasonit seems to work better for me her way to heaven and seen the condition of to sleep and to then solve the problem later when I've forgotten what we were fighting my house.) I never actually met Auntie Vi, and for about in the first place. It makes it much that matter, I never met my grandfather easier to be humble and apologetic that way. either. He passed away in 1956 when the What I treasure most about my Auntie private plane he was flying went down in Vi is that she helped me to learn not just the names of those on my family tree, but stoSandusky Bay in Ohio. I grew quite close to her through letter ries of the things they did and what kind of writing a few years ago, however, in my people they were. As a convert to the LDS quest to learn my family history. I was church living in Utah who does not come impressed by her vitality and warmth. And from the rich pioneer heritage that is so in my family of wacky people (and by that, I much a part of this state, I am thankful to mean they're great people, but their thinkknow of the strength and goodness of the ing is a little out of whack with mine), I felt people I do come from. I had found a "kindred spirit," as Anne of In the last few years, I've gotten caught Green Gables would say. up in my weekly writing deadlines. I've Growing up in California, I knew Auntie found it difficult to find time to write perVi and Uncle Glen as the ones who sent the sonal letters and I'm afraid I haven't kept in crisp one dollar bills at Christmas time. In as good touch as I would have liked. Rather than add that to my alphabetized list of fact, last year, when I was going through some boxes at my mother's, I came across a things I feel guilty about (between the too batch of old Christmas cards, included in much junk food that I eat and the mending them were three that Vi had sent to me, my that sits untouched), I think 111 just be brother and sister dated in the late sixties grateful that I did get to know and love my with the bills in mint condition still inside. Great Aunt Viola. When I married my husband, along with As I read her letters and the little booksome cash, came advice. She admonished us lets of the writings she had prepared, her to never go to bed angry at each other. She sweetness and goodness touched me deeply. added that she and Uncle Glen never I think I selfishly wanted her to live forever in that nursing home in Indiana. Now that fought, ever, in their entire married life. You she's gone to where a postage stamp can't may scoff, but I'm sure it's true. She later wrote me that when she was in reach her, I think IH honor her memory by the presence of someone who was doubting teaching my children the wonderful things she taught me during our all too brief the veracity of that statement, my grandmother backed her up on it, but gave all the : -- ' present. In fact, the idea for this column came from a catalog that had an item that might interest my wife. The catalog was published by the telephone company and featured all types of telephone directories from around the world. You can order directories from around the country or from around the The Daly Planet By RUSS DALY world. In such a listing, I always look for infor- own is a collector's edition that was offered mation regarding different places we've some time back. The pieces were made of lived. I check Maryland and Japan, and in real gold, I believe, and the whole set was proxy for my wife, I also glance at Bolivia. housed in a fancy wooden chest. The Maryland directories, one white The real distinguishing factor, however, pages and two yellow pages books for our was the money. We're talking cold, hard area, were quite substantial when we lived cash, genuine legal tender Federal Reserve there. The price of purchasing one now notes in all the denominations. indicated that they were still a large item. What fun it would be to bring out that I knew that Japan would only offer set for a spirited game of Monopoly among directories for the big cities. Since friends. Of course, with this particular Hiroshima, where I lived for seven game, the Monopoly host would have to be months, only had a tiny population of especially careful about cheaters, with about one million people, it wasn't even a some of those friends. consideration. Neither was the Tokyo Anyone who likes to secret money away under the board, for example, might be a directory at its price. But Cochabamba, Bolivia, offered a real prime suspect for someone who might like to secret some of the real money away in bargain. I could have purchased a directory for that city for about $14, even less their pockets. The player who tries to disthan what I would have to pay for a Salt tract a landlord from collecting rent by Lake book. pushing the dice onto the next player Despite the great value, such a gift should also be watched. would fit into the category of "for the perIf you won a magazine sweepstakes and son who has everything" because she had nothing better to do with your money, would likely only know a handful of peoperhaps this would be the ideal conversation piece. ple. If we win one of the magazine sweepSpeaking of magazines, I am amazed at stakes and join that group of people who the vast number of figurines and other coldon't need anything, perhaps 111 splurge lectibles that are sold in today's periodion such a useless gift. cals. The Monopoly game I have now, a treaI know that people like to collect certain sured gift from my sister years ago, is a dolls, but who really purchases "The special anniversary edition. It came with Vivien Leigh Commemorative Scarlett O' two sets of money and a cute little Hara Collection" or "The Civil War Chess spinnable rack that holds all of the unsold Set?" deeds. Just for laughs, say you do succumb to But the set that would be really fun to ordering the "English Country Village Anyone who thinks his or her city counhas problems need look no further than Provo to find a city with bigger problems. And the problem isn't that Provo is a larger community. It is that its city officials are smaller. Take, for example, the current controversy over audio tape, where the council members and Mayor George Stewart are attempting to crucify council member Shari Holweg because of her penchant for taping telephone conversations and other meetings. After all, Holweg violated no laws when she taped telephone conversations. It is perfectly legal to tape a phone conversa-- ' tion as long as one of the parties is aware the conversation is being recorded. What is illegal is when a phone line is tapped and neither party is aware of the recording. And that's legal, if you can get a judge's permission. Any reporter knows this, because reporters often tape record telephone conversations without telling the other person a tape is running. If you are a reporter, you assume that the person on the other end of the line is aware of that fact, and should be aware that you are probably taking notes. A tape of the conversation is simply a more accurate record of the conversation you often get with notes. For several years, a tape recorder was permanently attached to my telephone and I used it on occasion when I thought the discussion merited its use. And there is nothing wrong with that. There are claims being made that Holweg's behavior was unethical when she taped without telling. But I haven't heard that she used the tapes for anything other than prompting her own memory of the conversation. There have been no accusations that the tapes were used to coerce or blackmail anyone into doing anything. They were not used to compromise another city official. They were not used in any way to harm anyone. That didn't happen until Holweg's cil brother stole her tapes and delivered them to the mayor, who then used them to harm Holweg herself. Which probably says that while taping isn't illegal or immoral or even unethical, own who will follow him. A father is a thing that gets very angry when the first school grades aren't as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son though he knows it's the teacher's fault. A father is a thing that goes away to war sometimes ... and learns to swear and shoot and spit through his teeth and would run the other way except that this war is part of his only important job in 'ife, wbich i Paul Harvey News 1995 Paul Harvey jh-- Products Inc. is making the world better for his child than it has been for him. Fathers grow old faster than other people. Because they, in other wars, have to stand at the train station and wave goodbye to the uniform that climbs aboard, and while mothers can cry where it shows, fathers have to stand there and beam outside ... and die inside. Fathers have very stout hearts, so they have to be broken sometimes or no one would know what's inside. Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren that are smarter than anybody's. Fathers fight dragons almost daily. L. ... jars d for cooking? toast? On the other hand, since you have the complimentary wooden rack, how could you not order the complete set to fill it? Several years ago, we walked through the posh Neiman Marcus store, just to see how the other half lives. At the invitation of receiving a freebie, like a Christmas ornament or something, we completed an application for a charge account As a result, we started receiving their catalogs, and we really saw how the other half lives. One of the first catalogs included a vehiHummer, one of those flat Jeep-lik- e cles used in the military. I suppose someone might be in the market for a $50,000 vehicle (plus shipping), but I'm not among that group. Unless I win the magazine sweepstakes, that is. The following year, we decided to purchase something at the store in order to keep receiving the catalogs. About the only thing that was within the scope of our budget was a tote bag, modestly priced at $10. We felt that we should probably buy something else so that we didn't appear out of our realm, so we added some perfume. The sales associate read through our facade, though, and looked a little miffed that we had chosen the spray instead of the more expensive cologne, and that we wanted the standard issue tote, which she practically threw over the counter at us. Oh well, perhaps she only worked at the store because she wanted to see how the other half (those that don't need to win the magazine sweepstakes) lives. The Editor's Column By MARC HADDOCK They hurry away from the breakfast table, off to the arena that is sometimes called an office or a workshop. There, with calloused, practiced hands, they tackle the dragon with three heads: Weariness, Work and Monotony. And they never quite win the fight, but they never give up. Knights in shining armor... Fathers in shiny trousers... There's little difference as they march away to each workday. Father make bets with insurance companies about whoU live the longest. Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting. Even as the odds get higher and higher, they keep right on betting more and more. And one day, they lose. But fathers enjoy an earthly immortality, and the bet's paid off to the part of him he leaves behind. I don't know where fathers go when they die. But I've an idea that after a good rest wherever it is he won't be happy unless there's work to do. He won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore. Hell be busy there, too repairing the stairs, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way. I bet if anybody asked, they would find Holweg hardly ever listened to a single tape. Most telephone conversations are boring enough the first time around, and they are very hard to listen to a second time. I quit taping phone conversations when I realized it's more painful to pick quotes off a tape than from a notebook. You can find the good stuff scanning quickly through written pages, but when you have to review an entire conversation word for word, it really slows you down. Instead, I imagine Holweg kept the tapes as a form of self protection, just in case someone accused her of saying something. $he didn't say or making promises "she1 'didn't make: If needed, she could e' the "appropriate tape and defend her that fC'i -- s it probably isn't always smart. After all, this isn't the first instance of secret tapes being used for political purposes,' either. Richard Nixon maintained a sophisticated taping system in the oval office, and used it from time to time. These tapes were not used to harm anyone other than Nixon and his cronies, when the tapes were used to document Nixon's personal involvement in attempts to cover up activities surrounding the infamous Watergate break-in- . But I haven't heard that Holweg's tapes prove that she was guilty of any specific wrongdoing in regards to her political office or her personal life. In fact, the only thing she is guilty of is making of telephone conversation and since that's not a crime, what kind of guilt is that? Nevertheless, the mayor and Holweg's fellow council members are treating this behavior as an impeachable offense which is nonsense. Holweg's offense is disagreeing often and vocally with Mayor Stewart and other council members. She is guilty of being a Democrat in Utah County, a more serious infraction of good sense than taping telephone conversations. She is guilty of being vocal. She is guilty of being a pain in the neck, and then handing her opponents a bit of rope in the form of magnetic tape with which to try to hang her. pro-'duc- position. That type of behavior may be a little but it is not illegal, and I don't paranoid think it is unethical. I can't say the same for the individuals who invaded Holweg's private property, stole the tapes and then broadcast them to the world. That is illegal, and it is unethical. It is a reprehensible invasion of personal property rights. The Provo City Council censured Shari Holweg for unethical behavior, but they got it wrong. If anyone should have been censured, it is the Provo mayor and the city council members who voted to condemn Holweg. The law says we can tape conversations in which we are participants. It doesn't say we can go into another person's bedrooms, remove her private property without her knowledge or permission and without a court order, and then make the existence and nature of that property public knowledge for purely political purposes. Provo's city council ought to be ashamed of themselves. As for us, maybe we are better off than we think with our down-hom- e city governments. Letters to the editor Lehi plans big Centennial Gala I thank and congratulate all the local people who have participated in Utah's What are fathers made of? H house-shape- Wouldn't you worry about dropping your oregano house in the spaghetti sauce? Or worse, how would you react to seeing your four year old tenuously clutching, yet vigorously shaking the cinnamon on her Provo is proof that other cities aren't so bad Editor: (Editor's note: In response to frequent requests from readers, the following previously published column is being printed again.) A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. A father is a thing that frowns when he feels good and laughs very loud when he is scared half to death. A father is sometimes accused of giving too much time to his business when the little ones are growing up. That's partly fear, too. Fathers are much more easily frightened than mothers. A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks and never quite the man his son believes him to be and this worries him sometimes. So, he works too hard to try to smooth the rough places in the road for those of his the little Centennial events. Our Lehi activities have centered on touching the lives of real people of the past at little or no cost to the participants. Nearly 1,000 people showed up at the Centennial train stop in Lehi. Lehi and Cedar Valley schools produced events that brought heritage to life to thousands. Lehi Arts Council production of "Rags" and the Lehi and Lehi South Stake's production of "Handcarts West" involved hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators. Anyone who has ever lived in Lehi will want to return on Friday, June 21, beginning at 7 p.m. at the high school where they will participate in Lehi's celebration of the century. A program will unfold at the football field and by 8 p.m. three huge dances will allow swingers to dance to their favorite dances of the past. Children's activities and historical displays are included and all are free. Compare this to most community dances in Utah that are costing $15 to $20 per person and limited to a few hundred people. Probably Utah's largest birthday cake will be served and old fashioned root beer will be the drink of the evening. The June 21 Centennial Gala will be the beginning of a full week of Lehi d Roundup family activities all flavored with local historical heritage Sunday's Concert in the Park, Monday's Family Picnic at Wines Park, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday Historical Bus Tours, Tuesday's free Hutchings Museum and free swimming at the Lehi Pool, Wednesday, Sidewalk Sales, BBQ Dinner and Cowboy Poetry, Thursday, Friday and Saturday's Famous Parades and World Class Rodeos. We in Lehi invite all citizens of Utah to come home to Historic Lehi where Utah's Centennial Heritage comes alive. Carl Mellor LehiCedar Valley Coordinator Utah County Centennial Committee fun-fille- Policy on letters to the editor 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 or through email at Newtahaol.com. We A |