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Show Lehi Free Press New Utah! Wednesday, January 6, 1999 - Page 2 Opinion l&ffeggeftl Making someone's list can be a good thing after all; ! No rush to judgment in shooting Despite what we see on television police dramas, it is a rare occasion when a police officer fires his or her weapon in the line of duty, especially in smaller communities like ours. In fact, many local officers have never had occasion to draw their police revolvers, let alone fire them, in the course of keeping the peace. For example, Michael Ferre, who has headed Pleasant Grove's police department for over 30 years, only recalls one episode in his career, prior to last Tuesday, when a member of his department discharged a weapon outside of the firing range. At the same time, the public relies on those same officers to be prepared, mentally and physically, to use whatever force is necessary to protect us as well as themselves, when they feel lives are in danger. And we rely on them being able to make these crucial decisions on the spur of the moment under the most stressful of circumstances. Indeed, we place a tremendous amount of public trust in the men and women who carry the badges of law enforcement. That's exactly why the two officers, one from Pleasant Grove and the other from Orem, who fired on and killed David J. Walker last Tuesday afternoon deserve a fair and complete investigation into the incident. Orem Police Sgt. Harold Peterson has been a member of the force for 15 years, and this is the first time he has fired his weapon in the line of duty. Pleasant Grove Detective John Clayton came to Pleasant Grove two- - "You're on my list," a friend told me electronically the other day. Now years ago, that would have been practically the end of the world, but in today's high-teclife, that was quite a compliment. I was flattered by making to this person's list, though, because she had told me how to get on the list, and once I attempted it, she accepted me into her domain, literally, by approving my name to be included on her list of elece friends. tronic Have we ever come light years from the Native American days of sending smoke signals? People started sending letters, and that wasn't fast enough, so they invented the telegraph and people started sending telegrams. Alexander Graham Bell tinkered around and soon had us reaching out and touching our friends, and not just with dots and dashes, but with real sounds. I remember going to the state fair in fifth grade and seeing the "phone of the future," which could transmit pictures as well as sounds. Back then, it seemed like a farfetched idea, but it is certainly possible now. Think how strange it is that we went from letters to telegraph to teleback to a phone, and now with sort of telegraph again. But, just as we had to start looking into our telephonic future by having Caller ID to see who was on the line before we answered, we can now have e before we ICQ to see who is send out our Perhaps we have become obsessively impatient now that we have the technology to do so. Even in the way, though, being on someone's list is a years ago, after a stint as an undercover officer throughout the state. He'd never fired his police weapon in the line of duty, either. Until last Tuesday. That's when, following a hectic hour-lonchase through the streets of Orem, Pleasant Grove and American Fork, Officers Peterson and Clayton found themselves unexpectedly in a confrontation with Walker outside what turned out to be the home of his parents. The officers claim that Walker pivoted towards them with arms extended holding a metallic object which the officers took to be a gun, but which turned out to be a knife h with a blade. Both officers perceived a threat. Both fired. And in a split second, what started out as a mission of mercy to help a troubled man who had been threatening suicide turned into a tragedy which claimed his life. Since the shooting, there has been plenty of second guessing and ample criticism of the police. In this case, however, second guessing is pointless until the incident is investigated completely and all the answers are available. This is an extraordinary incident, and a tragedy for all concerned the family and friends of Mr. Walker as well as the officers and their family members. What needs to be determined is if the officers acted within the parameters of their training and responded appropriately to a perceived threat. Until we know that, speculation serves no constructive purpose. and-a-ha- lf mail-typ- two-inc- th on-lin- Reader's Forum Thanks for first Night' A is never easv esneriallv Progress o where computers are jinvolved. Butj this week marks a subtle step forward for New Utah! The page you are reading was never produced on paper until it was trans-fere- d onto newsprint in the Bountiful press that prints our newspapers. Instead, it was reproduced as a negative directly from my computer. There's nothing very fancy about the process anymore. It's been around for years, and many dailies produce their entire newspaper this way. But weekly newspapers lag behind in the technology curve because we don't have the resources to invest in expensive page imaging hardware that is available. It's kind of like DVD or high resolution television the technology is there, but not everybody owns one yet. The device is called an imagesetter and I have written about it before. But getting this "printer" to work with our system like we all hoped it would work h has been a process. It started with a trip to Phoenix, Ariz., where the folks who refurbished this particular imagesetter took me through its paces. I had worked with similar equipment at another newspaper, so I was familiar with the basics. But the set-u- p presented some obstacles. Editor: We would like to express our appreciation to Lehi City, Mayor Ken Greenwood, the Sundowners Band and Carl Mellor for the New Year's Celebration. The music was great, the food was good and even though we don't dance all that much, seeing our friends and neighbors who were there, made this one of the most enjoyable evenings we have spent. It was wonderful not to have to be out on the highway on New Year's Eve to have high quality entertainment. We hope this will become an annual event. Thank you! Glen and Phyllis Gray Editor: An open letter to the citizens of Lehi. Every once in a while, a person gets to have an experience that makes life seem extra special. This New Year's Eve party, with lots of good people to ring in the New Year with, was one of those times for me. Good people are what make Lehi the great place that it is. The landscape keeps changing and there are problems and consternation for sure. However, good people make it all worthwhile. I would like to take this opportuni We received a Christmas card, albeit late, from one of my wife's rela- tives. They wrote no personal note, just signed their first names on the inside. If I have met them in person, and that's a big 'if in my recollection, it would have been nearly 20 years ago at our wedding reception, and I don't even remember if some of my friends or relatives attended, let alone the relatives of my new bride. So somewhere in their home, whether it be in an officially organized address file or the back of the junk drawer, was our address. Did they really know the people to whom they were sending a card? Should we in return send a Christmas card to them, signed only with our first names, and no indication of how we know them? Still, despite the little nagging doubts as to the level of their actual cognizance of us, and especially their niece, .we are flattered to be on their Christmas card list. When we found ourselves shopping for pet food a few nights ago, we happened upon a friend of ours who was working at that particular store. Although she was in one department when we arrived at the store, she expressed her wish that we had come to the pet department so that she could help us. She was delighted when she found that we had, in fact, come to the store for pet supplies. She went on to tell us that she is g I printed the first page from my handy PC last Thursday. That's how long it's taken us to find the right combination to get the imagesetter and my computer to "talk to each other." In the process we've purchased new software, added a little hardware, upgraded my computer to Windows 98 and sweated a lot of tears and a little L New Year's was great mayoral thank you great ego boost. Progress painful, especially with computers ty to thank "ALL" who helped make this New Year's Eve party so successful. Everyone who helped in any way planning, advertising, providing food, decorations, entertainment, etc. They were wonderful! To those who chose to attend, I salute you! Without someone to enjoy it with, it would have all been in vain. Because of "ALL" of you, I had a great time! I hope you did too. Who knows, maybe we can do it again sometime. Thank you and Happy New Year! Mayor Ken Greenwood Editor: Many thanks are deserved for everyone who volunteered to make Lehi's "First Night" an extra special event. Thanks to our neighbors, Wendell and Gwen White, who urged us to go. We had a great time with many old friends and many new ones. The large variety of food was exceptionally good, as was the music provided by Lehi's own Sundowners. Thank you, Lehi City, for helping all those who attended have a memorable experience welcoming in 1999. Jim and Marge Davis regular-customer- h g known as "The Pet Lady" by and we smiled, not realiz-in- g how important that would be. just For that night, not only was she a friend and an employee, but she really was "The Pet Lady," qualified by her experience to make recommendations about particular brands and the results she has found with her own pets. How pleasant the shopping experience was to be enhanced by interaction and assistance of a friend. We found the same thing when we ventured out to a movie the other night. While waiting in line, we saw several of our friends, who stopped to say hello or to put their two cents worth in about the movie we were about to see. Of course, as Murphy or one of his wise friends observed, the chances of scene are dramatically being increased by one's not wanting to be seen." And, true to that adage, we did also run into my editor that night. On any other night, I wouldn't have thought twice about being seen in a movie theater the same night as he was going to be present. Murphy was right: I probably should have been home working on my assigned tasks rather than lollygag-ginabout at the show. Even with the initial discomfort at having been "caught," I am glad that we both had the opportunity to share the experience of seeing the show, for now we can remind each other of some of the great scenes and the great messages that were contained in the picture. Yes, it can be a marvelous thing to be on someone's list, particularly if it is the list of friendship. three-mont- WORK Pi ft blood. I don't want to get bogged down in years Macintosh com- the gory details, but anyone who has puters have been used for this kind of reformatted a hard drive and work. While your PCs have done woninstalled a new and improved operatderful things, they just weren't built ing system can identify with the for graphics work the way Macintoshanguish of getting everything back up es were. to speed. It made for a long holiday So everything was built to talk to week. Macintoshes. In the process, we've learned a lot. But Bill Gates, who knew a good Personally, I've re- - installed my thing when he saw it, has spent years and Internet service about three changing PCs so they act and look like times, as well as other crucial softMacintoshes. This is what Windows is ware. Repetition is a great teacher. all about. And it worked. Today we hope you see the fruits of In our office, we have several comour labors. I'm writing this Tuesday puters that use Windows, as well as morning, and we're still working out a the older DOS, to get the computers to bug here and there. But I have high do what need to do. We also You see, for ail have they two Macintoshes for advertising and photo work. When our imagesetter arrived, we promptly hooked it up to our network and found that our Macintoshes could print to it right away. That was in September. hopes. Once it all gets up and running there will be a lot of other neat stuff we can do, stuff like use more color, get better photo reproduction and provide you with a better looking newspaper. All in the name of progress, which, like I said, isn't necessarily easy. . Let's all resolve to act a little more grown up in 1999 This is the time of year when Ameri cans traditionally consider making resolutions for For those who are inclined to do so, this is basically a very personal matter and one where outside suggestions are generally of little value. However, I'd like to suggest one resolution that every adult in our communities, myself included, could really take to heart to act more like a grown-u- p this year. The two very different aspects of my take job city and sports coverage me to more places and expose me to more people than almost anyone else around. During the past year I've observed a lot of unnecessarily unbecoming behavior that does not reflect the best that I know to be in the people displaying it. Our communities are dynamic and facing sometimes painful changes. They are also full of passionate people of every stripe, so conflicts are bound to occur, but there is no reason that the worrisome national phenomenon of "road rage" should creep into our coun ftevUtah! (ISSN No. cil chambers, offices, homes, classrooms and gymnasiums as well (and it would n't hurt to look at ways we can avoid it on the road, too). We are becoming a meaner society all the way around, and we are not immune here. The poet wrote, "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me." The only way we will return to a more civil society is if each of us looks at ourselves and focuses on those areas where our conduct sometimes falls below acceptable standards of adult behavior based on eternal principles rather than popular culture. Let's select from the following list whatever applies to us and design a personal program for change. If none of these apply to you, I'm certain a little thought will produce some that do to which the same kind of remedies can be 309-50- A member of NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION 1 Telephone Number Advertising News & .... Circulation froup 59 West Main American Fork, Utah 84003 Deadlines .756-766-9 ...756-527- Publisher jew(aliiews 3 Brett Bezzant Managing Editor City Editor Marc .Haddock ....RussDaly Subscription price $24" per year Periodicals Postage Paid at American Fork, Utah POSTMASTER: mtk! i.. 1 a learning partnership with the students instead of presiding over our classrooms like an omnipresent dictator. Let's use all our creativity to find ways to allow students to express themselves while still holding them to standards appropriate for their age and progress. Let's challenge ourselves to transform "busy work" into meaningful educational exercises. To coaches: Let's stop treating players like indentured servants and allow them a life outside the team ... and To members of city councils, planning commissions, and government, community or business groups of every kind: Let's see if we can find ways to disagree without being disagreeable. Let's quit trying to find wrongdoing behind Published weekly by 1 self-estee- m applied. 1521-685- (U.S.P.S. No. every action, and. have ,1a little faith in people s judgment ana tneir good intentions. Let's quit being slaves to the past and learn to forgive even when we are the ones wronged. Let's try to find ways to build up instead of tear down, and quit trying to boost our by trampling on someone else's. Let's think before we speak and have the integrity to back up our public pledges with suitable action. . To educators: Let's decide to stop seeing a challenge to authority in every schoolboy antic. Let's see if we can form Kttmt Waat Mam, American Fort, Chang to Utah M003 Classified Advertising . . .Tuesday, noon Display Advertising '. . . .Monday, 5 p.m. News Monday, 2 p.m. Missionaries Weddings Sports never interfere with their education, whatever else we may do. Let's try to remember that our players are stul kids, even if they're 6'8" and weigh 250 lbs. They'll learn a lot from whatever we do let's make sure it's what we really want to teach. And please, let's maintain a sense of perspective. These are games, not a war for the survival of the universe. We coach our players not to mouth off at officials, and hopefully to maintain good under all circumsportsmanship stances. This works bes t if we follow the same rules ourselves. Let's be determined to sit down andor shut up before we get a technical or otherwise embarrass ourselves as well as our players and school. To parents: Never forget that research shows one criticism will wipe out six or more offers of praise. Ifa child is involved in sports or any other activity, let's curtail our tendencies to them. They need our encouragement and a sounding board, rides and money for equipment and camps, but not a constant, carping nag. If a son over-mana- Community Calendar Letters to the Edtor . . .Monday, 10 a.m. Obituaries Tuesday, 11 i.m an actor or artist, or whatever we aspire for them to be, they'll get there on their own. If they don't, trying to push them will breed only resentment Please see suggestions under the other headings as well, as all may apply in relationships with our children. Finally, let's all treat those closest to us our families and other loved ones with at least as much consideration and compassion as we usually show for unfortunate strangers. Let's raise our voices less often, let go of grudges, prohibit calling each other names, and determine to spend more time having fun together. When I was discussing the idea for this column with our publisher, he pro-- , yided the perfect solution to most of our habits by suggesting quite succinctly: "Some just need to lighten up." Touche, boss. We welcome letters to the editor. 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. Monday, 2 p.m. Monday, 2 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m. . .Monday, 10 a.m. ge or daughter has what it takes, including the desire, to play college ball, become HOW TO REACH US Bv Mail P.O. Box 7, American Fork, UT Bv Fax 84003 Person 59 W. Main, American Fork In 756-527- 4 Bv editor newutah.com POOR |
