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Show Free Press - 12, 1997 - Wednesday, November Page 2 Opinion Hometown Sweet Hometown, despite the changes Election of 1997 was decisive There were no mixed messages in last week's municipal election throughout the communities in north Utah grow is the best way to manage the community's growth. Highland voters demonstrated decithat they sively, better than don't want Highland City and the Highland Water Company to merge. The vote was but it is a good bet the Highland City Council will listen. In American Fork, the strong vote for Ted Barratt was no surprise. After two years of acrimony and controversy, voters demonstrated they were ready for a change in the primary election. That carried over into last week's general election balloting. What was surprising was the strong support voters gave each of four separate bond proposals. All four proposals have been a sort of political football as the Council has wrangled for a couple of years about how to meet the city's building needs. But voters left little question about where their interests lie. The proposal to bond for $4.7 million to build a new library was approved by 77 percent of the voters. That's an overwhelming majority. The bond to purchase property in American Fork's downtown for a new city hall passed with a 63 percent majority not as impressive as the library but still strong enough to make certain city offices will remain in the center of city. Other bonds were also approved, demonstrating that local residents are ready to invest in the community's future. The remarkable thing about the election is that there were few close races in our local communities. The voters spoke with a unified voice. County. Voters sX)ke with a united voice, many of them calling for a change in leadership, others decisively approving or denying ballot proposals on a variety of issues In F'leasant Grove, for example, the voters spoke out for change, defeating the current mayor and electing all its new city officials from the upstart Action Party That means when the City Council meets for the first time in 1998, only one council member will have any experience. That's change. It is apparent that the people of Pleasant Grove felt the current administration was out of touch with the people Unrest over hearings for Block 4 redevelopment, perhaps, spilled over into the entire election. In Lehi. voters convincingly defeated two controversial ballot issues, with 78 percent of the voters were against bonding for a $17 million community center and 68 percent opposed an initiative to establish limits on the city's growth. Many credited the two issues for generating a 40 percent voter turnout. In the case of the community center, popular sentiment was that voters were not against the concept of a recreation-cultura- l arts center for Lehi, but that S 7 million is a lot of debt for the Lehi 1 community. As for the growth initiative, Lehi voters apparently felt the proposed controls were too strict, and felt that letting the city's elected officials do their job and decide how and when Lehi will My work is taking me to Phoenix this week and my absence has made me feel as though I'm practically abandoning one of my children. I'm referring not to my own offspring, mind you, but this week's issue of the Free Press. filled in for me a My couple of weeks ago and have likewise agreed to do the same this week, and I appreciate their efforts tremendousl- y. But this time, not only will I not be absent for the layout work, but I will also miss the actual issuance of the paper on Wednesday, since my return is not slated until Friday. After liter- ally decades of looking forward to reading my hometown paper, I will not be in town for the issue you are reading. I didn't even have that problem while I was out of the country for two years as a missionary. My parents purchased a second subscription for me to receive the paper in Japan and I was incredulous that the other missionaries with whom I was serving seemed to enjoy it almost as much as I did each week. Little did it matter to them that the news was two weeks old, or that they knew absolutely no one in any of the articles. For all of us, including myself, it was a taste of home. I received a news item this last week about plaques that will be placed on two graves in the Lehi Cemetery. As I read the names of the pioneers to be honored by the markers, I wondered what they were like, what specific contributions they made to the community, and most importantly, what they would think if they could see Lehi today. Their little burg has changed significantly over the years and yet in some ways has just come full circle. For example, I remember reading about various events that happened in some of Lehi's early hotels. After a long absence, we now have two hotels. When the Micron project was first announced, someone pointed out to me that Lehi City of a hundred years ago made concessions in order to have the sugar factory project locate here. Despite the similarities, of course, there are major changes that have happened since the time of the pioneers. The horsedrawn carriages of yesteryear have been replaced with bustling cars, lots of them. The traffic has even demanded the installation of two traffic signals, with more desperately needed in some other key intersections in the city. As I watch the progress of the new Albertson's store, I think of the smaller grocery stores of Lehi's past. While the convenience of r, service is a plus, there is also something to be envied in those smaller stores where everyone from the cashiers and bagboys all the way up to the owner, who was also occasionally the cashier knew you as a person, not just a customer. And while today's mega-markdeli sections off the same sort of ser multi-departme- et vice as the bygone markets, you probably won't be asked about the progress of your bunion or if you had heard about the milkman and the divorcee down the street. If the two pioneers could come back, they may be saddened to see that some of the buildings of their day have been demolished, either by time or by the hand of men. The tabernacle, for example, where they may have worshiped and may have even been a part of building, has been replaced by a more functional church. Property that was once occupied by schools may someday contain civic facility. a multi-millio- n In one of the historical accounts of the city, one of our U.S. presidents came through town on a train. I believe the train stopped here briefly and a local band played in his honor. Politicians aren't likely to visit our community like that again, especially with Washington being so far removed from the people. But the chance of a train carrying passengers to and from and through our community isn't so with the growing need for alternative modes of transportation. The sheer numbers of people ought to be enough to bewilder these two pioneers. With only a few hundred residents, they probably knew everyone and his dog, literally. Today, one hardly even knows one's own neighbors, let alone the people down the street. So it may be kinder to take them to Cedar Fort, where things may not have changed as drastically as in the big city. Just don't let them see Eagle Mountain along the way. A few words about endorsing candidates usually feel there is enough of a difference between candidates to justify the need for such an endorsement. But this year, there were issues that simply needed to be stated. They were important and valid issues, and we felt that a candidate endorsement was the best way to bring those issues to light. But this is not the first time we've given such an endorsement. It won't be the last. Elections are over. Tempers have cooled. Most of us are tired of hearing about it and are ready to move on with our lives. Well, not so fast. Before I can move on I feel a need to clear the air about a few things that have been discussed in private and in public and on the editorial pages of our newspaper. First, over the last few weeks several people have made it clear that they think our newspaper should mind its own business. Just give us the facts, they say, and don't you even think about endorsing a candidate. Should editorials run on the front page of the newspaper? Should newspapers endorse political candidates? We think the answer is an unequivocal "Yes." Endorsing candidates has been one of the roles American newspapers have played in elections as long as we have had elections. We don't always do it. We don't Standard practice, of course, is to keep our opinion on the newspaper's editorial page. That's where we put your opinion, too. We have a strong commitment to our editorial page, dedicating an entire page each week, giving as much room as we can to local letters to the editor. While that's not unusual for daily newspapers, few weekly newspapers like ours dedicate the kind of space to editorial opinion that we do. But front page opinion pieces are unusual in our newspaper. In fact, I have only run two in the last 15 years, and both have appeared in the last few months. It is an extraordinary measure called for by extraordinary circumstances. Some may think the newspaper is using its influence in an unfair fashion. We felt the issues were so important that we needed to use our influence as strongly as we could. A front-pageditorial is about as influential as we can get. Do these editorials really e make any difference? The candi- date we endorsed won the election, but I doubt the newspaper had much of a role in that result. Ted Barratt won the primary election decisively. We had every reason to believe he would do the same in the general election. Do people vote the way our news paper tells them to vote? Not necessarily. We have supported as many unsuccessful issues as we have successful ones. So why write editorials? In a phrase, to make people think. Editorials aren't necessarily designed to make up people's minds for them, but to encourage them to make up their minds for themselves. For a couple of years, when I was driving to Provo on a regular basis in the middle of the day, I would listen to Rush Limbaugh. While I found him entertaining, I also found I agreed with almost nothing Mr. Limbaugh had to say. But listening to his ideas and reasoning helped me clarify my own thinking. It exercised my brain. It helped me understand why I felt and thought the way I did. And that is what our editorials should do. I doubt that anyone reading that controversial front page editorial changed his or her mind based on our opinion. But if it made them think about the election, look at the issues and analyze their own vote, then it served its purpose. If they disagreed with it, fine. By the time they finished reading, they had a better understanding of their own feelings. Finally, I don't think a newspaper should be a passive member of the community. A newspaper that is afraid to take a stand gives its home town a pretty weak voice. We want to be fair, and we want to be read. Most importantly, we want to help build our community. We can't do that unless we are willing to take a stand when it matters most. Reader's Forum Mayor Gibbs offers apology Editor: Having spent my life in law enforcement, I considered myself to be a worthy candidate for public office and was elected mayor in 1993 by the citizens of Lehi. Many of my personal goals for my term as mayor were realized and I have been pleased to work with the Lehi City Council in bringing to pass important progress in many areas. During the past four years the city's planning and zoning regulations have been totally rewritten. Major economic development projects have been undertaken that promise to provide great benefits to Lehi for many years to come and the organization of the city itself has been dramatically changed in an effort to stabilize the management of city operations. City services have been improved and millions of dollars have been allocated to major facility improvements in all utility systems. The power distribution system is in the midst of a badly needed and long overdue overhaul to improve efficiency and service to our communi- ty ing the past four years. My relationship with the city council has been rocky and our decisions have been punctuated by strife and discord, but in the end we find we have made good progress. It is unfortunate that my decision during the recent election focused attention on people rather than progress. If I could back up the clock and those days, I would have maintained silence on the matters that have disturbed the Worthen family. I am truly sorry for the decision I made to share information about matters already settled. I allowed myself to become embroiled in a debate about who should serve our city when instead I should have exercised my right to vote and encouraged others to do the same while at the same time sharing the success of the last four years. My actions brought the kind of notoriety that nobody wants for our citizens or our city and I offer my sincere apology for exercising poor judgment in this matter. For the hurt caused by my actions, I apologize. re-liv- e William L. Gibbs Victory in Vietnam? Recreation programs and facilities have been expanded and upgraded. New parks, playgrounds and recreation areas have been opened and more are planned for the future. All of this work was done while maintaining the stability of tax and utility rates. It is true that our budget has increased dramatically, but the individual burden of the homeowner has always been on our minds and we hope you agree that we have controlled the burden dur Editor: While on a recent visit to Vietnam, I was astonished at the friendliness, even affection which the Vietnamese people showed when they learned that I had been there as an American soldier. W;hy this remarkable friendliness there, while here at home our Vietnam veterans can still expect quite the opposite reaction from their own people? Published weekly by U.S.P.S. No. A Tie 8750-466- 9 309-50- 0 iew(aliiews Jroiip member ol r1LM.fT(:"V!ftWW vtmico worn NATIONAL ASSOCIAT-O- NEWSPAPER 59 West Main American Fork, Utah 84003 to believe? But is this the truce picture that emerges today when we take a step back to gain a realistic historic perspective of the event? Was the Vietnam War won or lost? And if so, who won, who lost? It's important to remember that the Vietnamese Regular and the American Soldier were never really fighting the same war. His was a continuation of the war which the Vietnamese had been waging for years against a string of invaders Chinese, Japanese, French, and finally, the Americans. He was fighting for his homeland. And although he failed to win a single decisive battle, for reasons we all know and understand, America chose not to exercise its full power and & Circulation News Publisher Managing Editor Brett Classified Advertising 3 Display Advertising Bezzant Marc Haddock Russ Daly City Editor Subscription 9 price $24 per year Second class postage paid at American Fork, Utah Postmaster: tend address change to 59 West Main, American Fork, Utah 84003 . . . . News noon .Tuesday, .Monday, 5 p.m. Missionaries Monday, 2 p.m. Monday. 2 p.m. Weddings Monday, Community Calendar Letters to the Editor Obituaries .Monday, . 2 10 p.m. a.m. a.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. .Monday, So what about our war, the war of the American soldier? Ours was a war of idealism. We were told we were over there to stop Communism from taking over Southeast Asia. Well, how many nations in Asia, or in the entire world for that matter, have gone Communist since the Vietnam War? Look at the reality which now prevails in Vietnam itself. It is long past time for us to end the delusion of a war lost and for a general overhaul of American perception of this watershed event in history. We need to open our eyes and end 25 years of confusion and shame. Today's reality testifies mightily that the American sacrifice in Vietnam accomplished its stated objective and that those who fought so bravely there are true heroes of this nation. It is now time for the pain to end. Lincoln's words at Gettysburg seem remarkably applicable to Vietnam: "It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain...." In Vietnam today, the seeds of personal freedom, and free enterprise, and a better life for all are taking root and growing. I have seen it with my own eyes. This, after all, is what the American Soldier's Vietnam War was all about. Barney Visser and Joe Hartt All letters must include the author's name (printed AND signed) and a telephone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic. We welcome letters to the editor. Deadlines Telephone Numbers Advertising ISSN No. For years now it's been said that the Vietnam War was lost, that it constituted nothing more than a huge waste of life, time, goods, and that from it sprang nothing but bitter fruit of frustration and despair and endless suffering of mind and spirit. About 57,000 casualties fell during the fighting. In the long years since, it is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 suicides must be added to the final body count among American troops who fought there. Why? What has driven these good and worthy men to such an end? My sense of this tragic reality is that it stems from a deep and deadly guilt which feeds upon a massive misinterpretation of history, officially sanctioned and accepted for years pretty much without question. These late casualties are convinced that they lost the War for their Country. And given the line of thought which has prevailed, what else has there been 10 HOW TO REACH By Mail P.O.Box?, American Fork, UT 84003 59 In Person W. Main, American Fork US By Fax 756-527- 4 By newtahaol.com |