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Show THE SENTINEL Thursday, May 22. 1980 2 Poge School pinion Editor: '. Last week ! wrote a letter concerning the Riverton Fire Department and the effort being made to reduce the speed of the firemen in their vehicles. Mr Bill Allinson called me and expressed disappointment at my comments as he and his group had in fact, called Mr Beckstead about the problem in question. Mr Allinson informed me that it was primarily the speed with which the firemen were coming to the station and the danger they were exposing the youth to in the proximity of the ball parks. I appreciated Mr Allinson 's concern as well as that of his for the safety of the youth particularly in that area. I extend to them my apology if they were upset by my comments. I in no way wish to see the youth exposed to danger and possible accident. It would be well for the firemen to observe extreme caution while proceeding through that area and the few more seconds it takes to get to the station could prevent injury or worse to some child or adult. I also extend my congratulations to Mr Beckstead for his prompt response to a citizen's request for assistance. At this time I would like to make a request of Mr Beckstead that the citizens be assured they are not going to lose their presently staffed volunteer fire department. A note to this column would be appreciated. s J. D.Gaylord Johnson President Riverton Citizens for Consitutional Government Editor: Throughout the entire Riverton City battle, the news has been very biased. They have given much coverage to the "Constitutional Group." Another group has .formed, "Concerned Taxpayers." At the County Commission meeting, Monday, May 12, Raymond Maynard, representing this group, presented a petition of support stating, the undersigned registered voters support the Council in efforts to cut taxes and wanted the County Sheriff in Riverton, and requested the County Commission to sign the contract. The petition had nearly 500 signatures on it of d registered voters and only approximately of the city had been covered. I question the news media. Why was this not "Constitutional reported? When the a petition, it was blasted Group" presented across the screen and headlines. Are there special qualifications to get in the news? It seems that there is no justice in this world. Even though the council has defeated the Mayor and group, "made up of firemen and wives, policemen and wives, and losers of the election and families" three times in court, the Mayor is continuing to sue the City and Council. In eight law suits, Riverton City is named in million seven. Approximately one and dollars in damages is being sought by the Mayor group from the City. Does this sound like dedicated residents who care about Riverton City, Riverton citizens, or you the taxpayer? Or does this sound like some greedy, scheme by people who could so-call- one-thir- so-call- one-ha- lf careless? It is really very sad that some good people have been caught up in this group. Think it over people . . . what is really happening? Our present Mayor has his own laws to live by . . . the Courts another. This is a little Hitler tactic. The court has ruled in the Council's favor three out of three times. Doesn't that tell you something? It is now time for the people to stand up and put a stop to this game that the Mayor is playing with our tax dollars, and ask for his immediate resignation. We should have a government consisting of a group of five Councilmen, to make the decisions and laws and whatever need be, to make this a sensible, reasonable City to live in. We definitely do not need and do not want a one man government. s Joseph K. Morrison and Home by Dr. Daryl J. McCarty Executive Secretary Utah Education Association r Friends walked around shaking their heads for days when they found out the truth about Jennie. The truth about Jennie is that she's a drunk. Her parents are drunks, too. Maybe that's what caused Jennie to confess her agony to her friends. She weRt and hysterically told them her life was destrbyi- i- that she was doomed to spend the rest of heniays going into a stupor or coming out of one. She'd seen it all, and she didn't like the future she saw for herself. Her friends hadn't seen Jennie drunk until that evening she spilled it all. She'd told them about how, when they'be been gone on the senior outing, she'd been in the garage pouring down wine. She'd described a lot of other times, too, and she was frightened for herself. Funny thing about kids. They somehow seem to know what's needed when somebody's v- suffering. A few of Jennie's friends had been drinkers, too. They stopped it right then. They refused to or even risk having Jennie see them at it been hear that they'd drinking. All the kids in her circle drew close to Jennie and plenty of others who had hardly known her. They never let her go anywhere alone. They invented places for her to go things for her to do with them. told all to Jennie since few months been a it's in drunken moment of candor. a friends few a During those few months, her friends have never quit on her not once. During that time, Jennie hasn't taken a single drink of any kind of alcoholic beverage. At this point, nobody can say for sure whether Jennie will make it. Maybe she's frightened enough to quit. Maybe that beautiful example of mass friendship will give her strength to tear herself away from the bottle for good. Maybe not. This much is clear: Sometimes parents can learn a lot by watching younger people. : . . . hours a year minimum training. Our men are qualified! You can check with POST, the County Attorney, the Robbery Squad, also the Detective Division. In this respect, we don't see how this person can say that the County officers are more qualified. The County came out and showed us some of their statistics which were not impressive at all. If the County is so well staffed, how come their crime rate is over 71 percent while Riverton 's is only 14 percent per capita. We don't think you can ask an already overworked, understaffed department to take on more work and expect quality and fair service. You can expect only so much out of these men. They are human beings, not robots or machines. What's the matter with this citizen? Is he or she so ashamed of what was said that heshe doesn't want hisher name associated with hisher own words? It also upsets us when fmeone tells us to just sit back and let these men do the jobs they were voted in to do. Just because you vote someone into office, you don't let him do as he pleases. If we vote someone in and he starts doing wrong, we will let him know. We will not uphold wrong. Just because you vote someone in does not mean he can dictate to the citizens. There are some things in which the people should have a say. This is one of them . The council talks about saving the citizens money. Do these councilmen realize how much cheaper it would have been to let the citizens vote on this matter instead of having to file lawsuits against them for violating constitutional rights? The only reason we can see why these men won't let the people vote is because they know deep in their hearts that they really don't represent the majority of the people and that if an election were held, they would be defeated in what they are trying to do. Why won't those men follow the Constitution of Utah as stated in Article I, Sections 1 and 2. These men are trying to take away God given rights. We are absolutely appalled at the people who want to force their opinions on us. There are some people who think just because some own businesses in Riverton they don't have the right to be for one side or the other. If these people are citizens of Riveitoi, they have the right to voice their opinion without being harassed. People who do this kind of harassing are trying to take away God given rights. s Concerned citizens who will sign their name to what they write. Mr and Mrs Wm. S. Lester Editor: 40 Recently I visited the Legislative Research Library at the State Capitol Building and discovered that the voting record of our elected representatives and senators are not available except in the journals of the bills presented and passed. This means in order to find but your legislative representatives voting record for the past two years you must go through all the bills to see how your representative has voted1 on each individual bill. One of the assistants at the library suggested it could easily take a month just to check the record of just one representative. The United States Congress has an alphabetical list on congressmen and senators with their voting record available. This could and should be done in our state and could be accomplished by voters contacting their representatives to help sponsor a bill supporting publication of individual voting records of representatives in the state of Utah. sPatAshby 5 Controversy over the closing of court proceedings has been sparked lately by Supreme Court rulings that the defendant has a right to a public trial, but the public does not necessarily have the right to witness trials. The early patriots in American revolted against England for many reasons, including secret trials and punishments handed to defendants. In 1979, Judge Ted Weisenberger ruled not to close a pretrial hearing in a Walsh County Court in North Dakota with these words: "The first question before the Court is whether or not justice is furthered by secret proceedings, for any time the public is excluded, the proceedings are secret. It should not be necessary to remind anyone here that one of the primary goals of dissidents in all dictatorships is the right to a public trial, because the rights of the defendant are protected by a free press generally, rather than trampled upon as has been the presumption here. I would prefer the press be present at all times. It keeps everyone honest. This is my opinion and obviously was not dictated by the Supreme Court." . Editor: We are writing in reference to the article in the May 8 opinion section from a concerned Riverton citizen. There is more action in Riverton than most people realize and without proper police protection it will get worse instead of better. These men need their individual cars. If more officers are needed than are on duty, these other men can be there in a minimal amount of time. If they don't have their own cars, it will take them a long time to respond if they are able to at all. They don't use their cars for family use, it has been stopped. Z We don't know what this person means when they say that the County has a lot more backup Z available. The County is required to give our j officers backup whenever needed. We don't Z know what this person means when they say Z the County is better trained. A police officer is required to get at least 40 hours a year training. Z Any police officer is required to have POST , training within 18 months after they are hired. Z Over half of our police department are certified instructors. We have one that is a firearms "instructor, one in police baton, one instructs EMT training, also a POST (Peace Officers Standards Training) and pursuit driving instructor. Most of our men greatly exceed the !t5 r. '4 rrv jv- ro v.x V. - 5 iff dmig lach bach hur Trinwmj the fat off city goverment After spending each oning wotting or tie next year's Mitt, West lotto's treewnr; take tin lob Stodwel, heraMgs (aid their daily loi Otsei, city Manager; BlabM CehriRg, city planter; director owl CoRin Cbristensei, finance crty pawticipatwf pari to jof few swvhre ipconiaf bidget joint amid the park) they il be H tfct m tlw Foarth of Jl six-mi- 4 Mass meetings give political power to fen By Kent Birch UPA State Reporter Nearly 90 percent of the state's eligible residents had no influence on the most basic, vital political process in the last election. Yet, if this year was like past years, 5 to 15 percent of Utahns eligible to vote attended May 19's mass meetings. Access to the state's political system is by statute a simple matter. Any resident who will be 18 at the time of the November general election has the right and obligation to participate in the mass meeting of his choice within his voting district. Minorities who have organized political machinery effectively have been able to exert influence far beyond their numbers. Only 10 percent of the Russian people are Communist Party members. Still that minority holds dominant control. It is an irony that about the same percentage of Utahns feel it important to attend mass meetings. Rather than being a government of the people, ours has become a government of special interests. There are groups willing and ready to spend money and time to make certain that their particular desires and needs are met. They are more than capable of supporting representatives who may be favorable to their goals. This is one reason taxes have continued to grow faster than the economy during the past 50 years. There are those, who benefit economically from the continued growth of government programs and restrictions. The average taxpayer now must work from January 1 to May 11 to pay his share of the tax burden. The only effective way to combat that kind of influence is for individual citizens to become involved early in the political process and for them to remain in contact with the workings of the government. The May 19 date is past, but it is not too late to become informed of the issues at stake and the candidates who will be chosen in county, state, and national conventions. It is not too late to begin work for those who will best serve you. If you did attend your local mass meeting, consider yourself a responsible citizen. If you attended and were elected an officer in the voting district, be the best officer ever elected to that position. If you were elected, then expect to work. Fulfill your commitment with reliability and thoroughness. If you are not an elected officer, support those who were elected. Find out who they are and become involved in the political process. That process has been neglected as of late. Not only are foreign powers wondering what we're all about and just how far they can threaten us, but many Americans, like you, are wondering. Become involved in our political process. Our strength must come from within, and it must come now. Kent Birch is a University of Utah journalism student intern assigned to the State Auditor's Office at the State Capitol, Salt Lake City. |