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Show D Obituaries B2 Utah News B3 D Business B4 B, Wednesday, March The Daily Herald There are no absolutes in usage Edw in Newman, the grammar-gu- n of the 970s. made the bestseller list for months with his w itty 1 w ar against Americans abuses of the language. Remember, he subtitled his book Strictly Speaking "Will American Be the Death of English?" Yes. he insisted. New man's uptightness about American English reminds me ot a line from the landmark adolescent movie Ferris Beuler's Day Oft. One neurotic character is described as and I must, in the interest of delicate "So uptight that ears, paraphrase if he had a piece of coal in his colon, it would become a diamond. By MARK EDDINGTON The Daily Herald By bonding to pay for land acquisition. Provo has paid most of the freight thus far for the proposed fashion mall. Now city officials say its time for the developer to deliver by assuming more of the load. Provo approved the issuance of $4.6 million worth of taxable lease bonds last summer to purchase land for the mall. Add that to the future issue of $5 million worth of Laurel- bonds to bu the 19-ac- I wood Trailer Park and pay relocation costs for tenants and the city will be roughly $9.5 million in debt the total amount of debt due to bonding authorized by the Prov o Redevelopment Agency In the agreement Provo signed with JP Realty Inc. last April, the city pledged to secure land for the mall and give the Salt Lake City based firm exclusive rights to develop the mall in exchange for their "good faith" efforts to secure anchor tenants. "In our agreement with the developer we promised to secure 60 . -- .a. Xmi' V TF.-r- l Norton i we've to 100 acres for a mall done that." said Provo Mayor George Stew an. With the City Council's approv al last week of the $3.1 million offer to buy Laurelwood. Provo has now acquired 60 acres and fulfilled its part of the bargain. While not ruling out further bonding or other assistance. Stewart said he believes additional land any ac- quisition should be paid for by the developer. The current design for the proe mall posed two-storcalls for a rim; road to encircle the 100-stor- I' 0 r ..Pi ?s By DONALD W. MEYERS The Daily Herald .Jvpyr know the "rule." Historically, w hat intluential users of the language use generally becomes standard, despite rules or prejudices. Sometimes even the most rigorous of get things backwards. A good story illustrates the point. liberal In reaction to the usage Webster's Third Sen International Dictionary (the big one. in William and Mary Morris w rote a new dictionary . The American Heritage one that would tell Americans what was really correct and incorrect. To back their usage prejudices, they sent loaded usage questions to a hundred somew hat n Americans elderly and w ho made their liv ings by speaking and writing the English language: journalists, novelists, broadcasters, editors, etc. But many of these "authorities" really didn't know beans about how usage actually works. One question asked w hat is correct in the construction "He is one of those boy s w ho alw ay s get " gets in trouble. To the credit of the 82 informants. percent did get it (whose subject is right "get" "who.") whose antecedent is the closest noun, "boy s" (according to the rule book). But 8 percent had the rule backwards, including a very famous sophisticate, who foolishly replied. "I didn't spend all those hours parsing for nothing." But apparently ht did. ("Parsing" is close grammatical analysis. ) Next w cek: Lots of rules that nearly nobody even pay s attention to Daily Herald The same company that built the first portion of Orem's State Street w ill also bridsie the Murdock Can- s. al. Orem Public Works Director Richard Manning said Western PhotoJason Olson MacDonald, left, and City Engineer Nick Jones find such cracking throughout Provo. Alligator cracking is a sign of complete deterioration of a road. Project design engineer Ron Increase in traffic volume leaves Provo streets more than bumpy Editor's note: This is the third in a series of stories examining problems of i n fra s tructure. t ru ffic . Hood control, growth and economic development Road 1 1996-FY200- CondE 0 traffic. Fair A PZZT )..,ry r ty'V-- f By PAUL C. RICHARDS The Daily Herald 1 $1 1 unit here Provo's population, the city's aging streets are taking a beating. The problem is. there aren't enough funds to keep up with urgently needed repairs. The city also is grappling with serious demands for seven new or upgraded traffic signals, and an average of two more are added to the list each year. But funding at current levels can handle only one project annually. Sobering news for community leaders attending Provo's recent 0 ys Soj'ce 2 yrs B"9vo C'y 4 yrs E'g-''--- Cj I Vi-- Benowation 1 costs $4 to $5unitif I j 6 yrs i'sj rMri 8 yrs 10yrs 12 yrs 0 traffic counts indicate Provo households generate 17 to 27 trips each per day . The national average is 10. He attributed the higher local rate, in part, to large families, but whatever the cause, more trips obv iously mean more wear and tear on roads and increased needs for traffic controls and delayed to Heraia G'apnc well-kno- - SALT LAKE CITY Utah's health-car- e reform plan has moved into its second phase after being approved by the Utah Senate Tues-da- v bv a 26-- 3 vote. w 1 anymore. It y ihi ha e a comment or question afumt usacc. m rite to WordWise. ThelXiih HeraU. PO. Box 77. Pnno.CTWW-0717- . t 1995 Utah Legislature The 1995 Health System Improvement Act is part of Gov. Mike Leaviu's comprehensive seven-yea- r program Health-Prin- t to improve the access and quality of health care while at the same time holding down the costs. Its main goal is to prov ide health coverage by the year 2000 to 95 percent' of L'tahns who now don't have any. "It is designed to provide adequate health care for those who can't enter the market." said Sen. George Mantes. To accomplish this, the act outlines a few main areas where health coverage could be improved. The first is a Medicaid waiver which gives the state the ability to extend health coverage to Another area of the bill would attempt to improve the access to health care in rural areas and increase the financial stability of rural hospitals. It would also provide for The University of Utah Health Science Center to help establish health education centers to prov ide health professionals and community-based training programs m rural areas. These education centers would help provide students exposure to rural medical practice and increase medical prov iders in rurjl areas. The third area is in open enrollment, which would require insurance providers to gradually and mutually provide coverage to a certain number of people who are othcrw ise uninsurable to a preexisting clause or for some other reason. The idea is to move slowly into this and to have everyone share the costs of insurance d-- "The first concept of insurance was to bring everybody into the POOR COPY by a mechanical device hooked up to underground sensors and a push button. Area residents demanded a closed gate be installed as a way to prevent small children from wandering into the canal area and drowning, while the BOR and the PRWUA wanted the gates left open so work crews could have unlimited access to the canal banks. The gate design was approved by a committee comprised of residents and representatives of the BOR and the city. Pnce new streets. partment and Employees Associa-tiothe City Council adopted an ordinance Tuesday to boost the rate some municipal empay-oreceive for unused sick can ployees leave from 25 to 50 percent. ut Neighborhood or local roads arc the hardest hit because they are old. some going back 50 years, and the least maintained due to funding deficiencies. Arterials such as Freedom Boulevard and 900 East are better off. The city manages to s maintain 88 of arterials. using moneys from Provo's lane-mile- The higher rate applies to pool and have everybody little." Mantes said. pay a The prov isions of this bill also allow the setting up of medical sav ings accounts that are tax deductible. A maximum annual contribution of $2 .000 could be put in these accounts to be used for medical purposes. Some senators opposed the bill saying it didn't take into account the many changes expected to come out of Washington that will affect how many federally funded primarily Medicaid programs operate. "There's no question but we're going to sec massive changes on a federal level." Sen. LcRay McAlsaid. "To me. this lister. lust seems premature." Supporters of the bill say the state needs to move forward regardless of what the federal government does. "We can't stop just because the federal plans faltered." said Rod Betit. executive director of the Utah Health Department. "We don't want to turn out like some other states that have 20 percent of their people w ithout healthcare insurance." em- ployees with 20 years or more service. It also allows all employees to be paid 50 percent for all unused sick leave accrued during that calendar year. The additional upfront cost to the city is estimated at $1 (Set ROADS, Pane B2) Mayor ueorge Stewart and several others on the council, the issue was loyalty. "The thing that has always bothered me about the present policy is that the people who are the most loyal are the ones that are the most the mayor said. "Many who are not so loyal would rather take the sick time off than get 25 cents on the dollar. " The average amount of sick leave used per municipal employee each year is currently 52 hours. In penalized," Den. Bod Senate OKs health care reform plan approximately 56.000 Utahns who currently can't afford private coverage but also don't qualify for gov eminent aid. The w aiv er w ould be used to help these people receive coverage in the private sector. Personal health can translate into a little more wealth for Provo municipal employees who save rather than use their sick leave. Acting on the recommendation rule-houn- By CHRISTOPHER SCHARMAN The Daily Herald ated r of the Provo City Personnel 14yrs 16yrs 0" ce Strategic Planning Retreat. City Engineer Nick Jones said FY1996-FY200- By MARK EDDINGTON The Daily Herald 1 I : Lt-p-- r-J- With traffic volume increasing more than three limes faster than Quality Concrete was the apparent low bidder on the contract to build the bridce and extend 1200 North to 800 East. contractor The Maplcton-base- d installed the concrete roadway in the first phase of the State Street project last year. Manning said Western's bid came in below the $425. (XX) budgeted for the project. He did not have the precise figure of Western's bid available. While Western is the low bidder, the contract has not yet been awarded. Manning said the city is awaiting the issuance of a crossing permit from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation before awarding the contract. The BOR, which owns the canal, and the Provo River Water Users Association, operators of the canal, must approve the project before the permit can be issued. BOR representatives said Monday that the bureau was getting the approval from all parties before issuing the permit. City officials are hoping to install the footings for the bridge by April, when the canal w ill be filled with water for the irrigation season. Manning said a second contractor will install the gates on the canal road. The gates w ill be oper- Provo city employees to benefit from good health in Provo. These and other topics were discussed at the recent FY Strategic Planning Retreat attended by go eminent, chic, education and ecclesiastical leaders. Today 's article is on streets and expects to recoup the money it Juts invested or will invest in the mall from the dev eloper, a share of the mall leases or some combination of the two. The financial arrangements between Provo and JP Realty have not y et been finalized. Dillard Department Stores Inc. has already signed on as an anchor for the mall, and the city and JP Realty are expected to announce the signing of a second anchor soon. Construction on the mall is slated to begin late next summer and should be completed bv the fall of 1997. property . Before the road and mall parking can become a reality. JP Realty and or the city will have to secure land on west University where six hotels currently stand: Motel 6. the Holiday Inn. Colony Inn. Rome Inn. East Bay Inn and the Super 8 Motel. Cost estimates for acquiring the land and compensating the hotel owners range from $10 to $12 million. Despite the $9.5 million bond cap imposed by the Provo RDA. Stewart said more debt could be authorized if necessarv. The city Mapleton company wins bid to bridge Murdock Canal WordWise New man capitalized on two surefire w ays to sell a book, one legitimate, one cheap. This popular he's broadcaster has a gixxl wit clever and has a good ey e for hilarious and just plain awful misuses of American English. That's good. But he also exploited Americans' mania for correctness the simpleminded notion that any language use is either categorically right or wrong. As this column has tried to emphasize again and again, there are indeed rights and wrongs in language use. but no absolutes. Usage just doesn't work that way. And someone as linguistically sophisticated as Edw in New man surely ought to know that. So Newman often hits the mark, but then misses it. In one breath he spots a real usage zit, then in the next mistakes a beauty mark for a blemish. For example, he makes fun of people w ho use "more importantly" when "more important" presumably is more logical (the phrase is a shortened form of "what is more important." so "important" is an adjective, not an adverb). "Hopefully" traditionally has meant "full of hope.", as in "He looked at her hopefully. " Now it's come to mean "It is hoped that. "or "I hope that." Are my many English faculty colleagues klutes because' they w rite "more importantly ".' Or use '' to mean ' I hope hopefully .' that" Newman, and others like him. would have us think so. The fact is that these usages, w hatever their past history . are so w ell established now that most educated users of the language no longer 1995 City officials: Mall is now in developer's court rV':;. Don 1, 50.000 pci'ycar. Personnel Department Director Eric Mausscr said the ordinance would serve as a powerful incentive for employees to stay on the job rather than abuse sick leave. He also indicated that it made fiscal sense to pay 50 cents on the dollar for unused sick leave rather than pay the full amount to employees who might otherwise use the leave. He argued the change would b(K)st productivity and result in long-tersavings for the city. looking at companies with a similar policy, Mausser said the evi- dence shows paying employees more for unused sick leave decreases the amount of leave used. Councilman James Daley concurred. "I believe that paying 50 cents on the dollar gives employees more incentive to come to work than 25 cents on the dollar. I think this a step in the right direction." he said. Even with the change. Stewart said he has received assurances from the Finance Department the will not require increased pay-oa budget hike. The increased for unused sick amount of pay-oleave will be offset over the long term by the city pay ing for fewer used sick days at the higher rate. City Council members unanimously approved the ordinance. ut ut Safety director opening gets nationwide response By DONALD W. MEYERS The Daily Herald The quest for a new Orem Public Safety director has brought responses from around the country . City Manager Michael Dyal said the city received 43 applications for Public Safety Director's position, which became vacant last summer when Ted Peacock retired. While the position was only advertised within the Utah region. Dyal said resumes came in from as faraway as Hawaii and Virginia. The initial sifting reduced the pile to 23. The survivors of the first cut were sent a written which the city will use to winnow the field down to at least six candidates to go before an in ques-tionair- e. terview committee. Dyal said the committee will consist of three city managers, a fire chief and a police chief, all from outside Orem. "It not only gives another perspective to my perspective, it also gives the expertise of a police chief and a fire chief," Dyal said of using officials from other communities to screen the candidates. Dyal stressed that he will not be a participant in the committee's work. The committee will select between two and four candidates for the final interview, which will be conducted by Dyal. Last ear. the city advertised nationally for the city manager's post after Dan I Berlin resigned. Dyal w as hired after a nationw ide search which attracted 157 candidates. |