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Show News B3 Im i Opinions B4 B Business B5 jijautah Jt3 J 5 The Daily Herald 1 Friday, October 13, 1995 Computer &ingsjback Students urqed to turn o violence Redford: Leave ethics to audience By ED CARTER The Daiiy Herald civilized art One of the biggest surprises of this) technological age is the return of Ijetter writing. Who would have thought technology would bring back this civilized art? Of course, we don't call it "letter writing" now; we call it But call this rose whatever yod will, it smells sweet to me. Anyone with a computer online" service (such as America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy) can write to anyone else with such a service. Anyone. Anywhere in the world. In a matter of seconds. And cheaply. Result: people are corresponding as never before. Well, at least as never before in this century. In ; lionise Robert Redford told several hundred Brigham Young University students Thursday the primary responsibility of Hollywood filmmakers is to entertain and the ethical questions should be left for the public to debate. discusDuring an hour-lon- g sion in the de Jong Concert Hall, Redford talked to communications students about his philosophy of filmmaking, the 1994 movie Quiz Show and his rise to stardom in the movie industry. "My goal is to simply make a film and try to do it in an entertaining way," he said. "The fact that Hollywood is a business is not new. It's always been that way." Redford said ethical decisions are the individual responsibility of each filmmaker. But the public decides what kinds of films are made by what it watches, he said. Wearing Levi's, a sport coat d and glasses, Redford displayed the charm, wit and amicability made famous in the movies he starred in as an actor. He also accepted praises yj At Bell Unheralded (See REDFORD, Page B2) the 9th century, letter writing was a major life activity, akin to watching TV today. Literate people! wrote hundreds of letters in a year. Scholar Carol Smith Rosenberg reports that "Elsie," a busy i By ED CARTER The Daily Herald wire-rimme- 11 Mimndl iffirTnniiwniMi hh.im 3Tm im - ii Filmmaker Robert Redford gestures as he responds to a question from a member of the audience at the BYU de Jong Concert Hall on iMininunl Tin I mil m t imiiwii Daily Herald PhotoMatthew R. Smith Redford addressed several hundred communications students on various issues including the media and ethics. Thursday. BYU 1 Sentencing delayed for mentally porrespondent in penned over 100,000 letters in her lifetime, and that's only counting By LAURA GOLDEN The Daily Herald mid-centur- y, the!ones we still have. j But Elsie lived in a different jige, In our own age, people have done less and less personal correspondence as the decades have rolled past. Letter writing very nearly became a dead art gone, forgotten, left behind in the stampede to the future. Not counting greeting cards, how many personal fetters have you received this yar? How many have you written? You see? enter the compu; But then tet For many of us. it is a com-pleintimidating beast. As one yJtp struggles with programming Ke? VCR or persuading the telephone answering machine to do its thing properly, I have been sliw to learn the mysteries of a personal computer and of being e. But little by little, I have learned. And I have gotten the hang of Imagine my surprise upon realizing last week that in October alone, I have been writing with some regularity to more than 20 different people. 'm not talking about business , niail. either, but about personal correspondence. And judging from what I hear, the same thing is happening to people all over the country. One woman told me, "In the past. Mother and I never managed to write, except for birthday and Christmas cards. Now, with we write two or three times a week." ; In addition to linking with friends and family. I have used electronic bulletin boards to make new acquaintances all over the map. A "bulletin board" is just a way of connecting people with similar interests. There are boards for people dealing with medical problems from cancer to chronic fatigue syndrome; boards for quil-termodel railroad enthusiasts, movie buffs: boards for pet ow ners "What cures this skin problem in Dalmatians?" Someone will and come up with an answer. another board for parents "What can I do to stop his tantrums?" Fifteen mothers will tell what worked to preserve their sanity and Junior's head. There is an entire network for senior citizens, available at special low rates. One woman asked (via of course) if I understood the connections people feel on these boards, why we seem comfortable e and at case so quickly with do not know and may never actually meet. I told her it was like camp. Remember camp, sitting around the fire talking in the dark, or hying in your bunk, whispering confidences in the night? In some with strangers is like ways, that: by means of the anonymous e technolofind democratic about cares or one knows gy (no wardrobe, age, your your yodr looks, your income), people can express themselves and connect ith a freedom that few of us k, on-lin- s. peo-ple'w- on-lin- enjy otherwise. this keeps up. people mav actually come to prefer conversa-- . tiof) to television. Wouldn't that be something to cheer about! t tlouise Lell is a semi retired BiV English pwfessor. -- Friends and relatives of 1994 victim Karri Larsen arrived in 4th District Court Thursday morning wearing pink ribbons on their clothing as a statement against domestic violence. The group was hoping to see Provo man Donald Mossburg receive his judgment for pleading guilty to stabbing to death Larsen, who had been his commwife for 3 years. on-law At a preliminary hearing last year-old year, daughter Aleshia testified she had helped Mossburg her mother hide knives from her father, and she said Mossburg had murder 1 1 -- whispered to her mother "We're both gonna die," onlv davs before the Feb. 20. 1994 murder. Mossburg reportedly had been severely depressed at the time. The defendant admitted he Couits Beat stabbed Larsen repeatedly while the two were in their bedroom. He then tied the scene and Larsen stumbled out to the front lawn of the home where a neighbor found her. She was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Police located the defendant in another part of Provo two days after he had killed Larsen. He said he had attempted suicide and told an officer "I know did it. I know I did it." He admitted he had been high on drugs on the day he killed Larsen. The stale offered a plea bargain, recognizing that evaluators were likely going to conclude Mossburg suffers from a mental illness and recognizing a trial would be detrimental to the defendant's children. Mossburg pleaded guilty and mentally ill on a reduced charge of second-degre- e felony manslaughter and a charge of using methamphetamines during his August arraignment. At that time, the court ordered the defendant to have an evaluation to determine if he suffers from a mental 1 third-degre- e ill killer illness. The defendant's attorney. Mike Esplin. noted Thursday that an evaluator has ruled Mossburg is mentally ill. Esplin requested a hearing date to discuss what effects the defendant's illness mav have had in relation to the murder. Judge Boyd L. Park set a hearing and sentencing date for Nov. 21. If the defense can prove the murder was connected to the defendant's menially ill state of mind, he may be placed in the custody of the Utah State Hospital. Otherwise. Mossburg. who is currently being held at the count) jail, faces a possible prison sentence of one to 15 vears. Residents still unhappy with concrete company By DONALD W. MEYERS The Daily Herald Despite a neighborhood meeting and promises that problems would stop, Orem residents say Western Quality Concrete is still being a bad neighbor. The Mapleton-base- d contractor is still conducting night operations at its temporary concrete batch plant at 600 South Orem Boulevard, although the number of days per week that the nocturnal rumblings occur has decreased. But the head of the concrete company said he is caught in the middle between appeasing the residents and meeting a tight construction schedule. Western Quality was awarded the contract for the State Street reconstruction project. The plant grinds the material excavated from the State Street project and recycles it into concrete for the new roadway. Residents have complained about the plant since May on the grounds that it was operating almost around the clock and their homes and outdoor equipment are being blanketed by dust blowing over from the stockpiles. During a recent meeting with the residerts. city officials, representatives of the Utah Department of Transportation and Western Quality said operations would be confined to daylight hours and steps taken to correct the dust problems. "The) haven't done the things they said the) were going to do." said Julia Crowley, a resident of the Orchard Creek condominiums. The condos are across from the plant and have borne the brunt of the problems. Crow lev said the plant still operates 24 hours a day. but only four days a week instead of the almost continuous operations that took place earlier. "Still, it's noisy, and people are not sleeping as well as they should." Crow ley said. Dust is also a problem from the site and is causing respirator) problems, some residents claim. Alec Dunn, another resident, said residents using carbon monoxide detectors have found large amounts of the pollutant in the complex. Alan Ellis. Western Quality president, said he is trying to do what he can to satisfy the residents, but said it's a difficult balancing act. "We have to make every effort to take care of the residents, but w e also have the people on State Street and the businesses wantins J J us to hurry and get done." F.llis said. "I sympathize with the residents, but there is going to be construction activity and the inconvenience that goes with thai." Western and its subcontractors have taken steps to reduce noise and dust, such as limiting deliveries to daytime hours, moving the truck staging area to the east and putting extra water on the material piles. He said a crusher that was initially shut down on Sept. 20 but w as put back on line this week is creating some noise. He said that machine w ill be turned off w ithin a week. The construction work i expected to be completed during the second week of November. At that nine. Western Quality will dismantle the facility and clear the she so a developer can build on it. ) Thousands of l.'tah school children saw and heard anti-vi- lence messages Thursdav as "Tfirit ' Off the Violence Day" marked; third vear in the Beehive State." ; Turn Oil the Violence Day. rb moled by the Utah Council jfor Crime Prevention and. locally.trjy the Provo Police Departniilrft gave children and llieii parenfs'a chance to escape the v iolent world of telev ision and other media. : "Parents see society changing and they don't feel like there's anything they can do." said Barbara Smith, spokesperson for'lhe L'tah Council for ("rime Prevention. "But there arc things we can do to curb the violence that comes into our homes. "The goal is to make sending all this violence stuff into our homes less profitable." Smith said the aim of Turn ( )tf the Violence Day was twofold: first, to encourage citizens not to watch violent television programs or movies; and. second, to teach childien constructive and nonviolent ways to deal with anger. "The biggest success we are seeing is that people feel like there are things they can do to deal with v iolence." she said. j Al 10:45 a.m.. hundreds of public elementary schools showed a program broadcast on KL'ED Channel 7 that taught 5he nonviolent message. The feature J speaker was l'tah (iov. Nfiljci Leav itt. ; ; Several Provo businesses supported the Police Department's' "Turn Off the Violence. Turn On .1 Book" pledge dine. The department collected book donations fiom more than a dozen outlets to be distributed free of charge t'i children who made a pledge of nonviolence. "It's been really successful," said Ryan Day. community u specialist at the Provo I'D. "When the kids come in. we try U gel their parents to sien the plcdae; too so they can show this is lor ' everyone." Each of the 25(1 children and parents who pledged to avoid io-- " lence in five ways was given a tjee: nonv iolent book. The Police Department also handed out free coupons lor non-- ; violent videos at several Provo v ideo stores. The month of October has befii declared Crime Prevention Month by the National Crime Prevention Council. That group is promoting the theme "Crime Prevention Starts in the Hume." KL'ED will be airing special programs throughout the month. Beginning Monday, programs such as Barney aijJ friends. Puzzle Place. Reading Rainbow and Mr Rogers' Neighborhood will carry messages about how to act aeauist violence. e Welfare reform impact on state uncertain By SHEILA SANCHEZ The Daily Herald Although congressional leaders are working on compromises for welfare reform legislation, they are creating uncertainty in Utah because nobody can predict what exactly w ill happen with state welfare programs. d Republican Reps. J. Brent of Springville. Doyle M. transform Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the standard welfare program, by stressing work and child support. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in March thai would turn most welfare programs over to the states. Under the mea sure, states would receive billions in federal funds each year from fiscal vear 1996 through 11 seal year 2000. The states would have the flexibililv on how they allocate welfare funds. The Senate also passed legislation in September which converts welfare and child care programs over to block grants. Advocates for the poor worry that states won't be able to help all needy citizens since money will be allocated based on the amount of welfare funds they received trom the tederal government m fiscal vear I91M That Hay-mon- Mortimer of Orem and Lloyd Frandsen of South Jordan are planning to sponsor legislation during the upcoming state Legislature that would create the Emergent-- Assistance for Needy Families (EANF) program. Like Utah's widely touted Single Parent Employment Demon- Effect of block grants analyzed By SHEILA SANCHEZ The Daily Herald ) stration project (SPED). EANF would emphasize through employment. The three legislators have indicated that if Congress gives stales flexibility to design their ow n welfare programs through block grants, they should start working sewn on a program that w ill help those on public assistance get out of poverty. Support also exists to expand SPED. The program allows welfare recipients to get off public assistance by helping them become Its purpose is to Utah's Office of Family Support (OFS ) has created a team of experts to analyze how funding of programs administered by their department w ill be affected by block grants. Members of the learn include Helen Thatcher, assistant director of the OFS: Bill Biggs, coordinator of Utah's pilot welfare proParent titled Single gram ProDemonstration Employment Mason legislative Bishop, ject: coordinator for the OFS, John Davenport, coordinator of the main welfare cash assistance program known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children: Jill POOR COEY Drun. Utah's specialist on the Food Stamp program: and others. Mason said the team's focus is on and unemployment and underemploy ment of women who are on welfare. "We believe the OFS should become an employ ment-sup-- i. .led operation rather than an eligibilil) focused operation." -- Bishop said Congressional legislation approved by the U.S. House and Senate this year eliminates the AFDC program and gives states a lump sum of money to fund services foi the poor. Block grants will be tapped at a level that OFS officials fear won't adequately provide for increases in demand due to inflation, popula tion growth, or a had economy "There must he a consolidation ot agencies and services, not just cooidination The slate will noi be able to meet all needs. Communities and individuals will need lo lake more responsibiiiiy." an executive summary ol block grants presented lo Utah's Legislature Hunan Services committee say s nutrition, housing, employment and training programs are sI.mpiJ loi reduced funding thiough grants. In exchange toi 'ess money. Congress is otleniic lewer federal rules attached to how the grants can be spent Members Utah's Wellaie ot Reform Coalition say the debate at the st.ite level will tocus oil whether the wellaie s stent can be "reformed" to continue lo help low income families while iei ing financial assistance Others s;i the contto-- . ersv iiv-Utah's wellaie telorrn will cifvr on employ abilily related cducwt H and job skills training Bill Biggs, stale cooidinaici u Utah's SPED program, said' the answer lies in how well employer kt employees and the stale togethei "Nc must provide moie -- r Team members are recommending that a majoi departmental change occur in stale government The team envisions of Work-lorc- e a new "Department The Connections" Oltice ol Family Support would leave Utah's Department of Human Sen means no increases to account lor inflation or growth Gov. Mike Leav ill's ( Mticc estimates that, compared with what current law would have bioughi to Utah in the upcoming ye.ii. somewhere between Sii million ..n.J ST5 million less m federal mo ,iis will actuallv ainve lor state government purposes Financial assistance, child c.irc. -- ices. (Sii N FIT UvK. Pane l2? |