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Show DECEMBER 22, 1987 L, '(CvajDdtps By December, by tradition, is a month for spreading joy. ..But this year some folks in Davis County are also spreading silliness. The issue at hand is both environmental and alphabetical. To some, its a matter of school pride. To o,.iers, its a matter of irremovable cement. The controversy concerns the boosters in the Heights area who are requesting approval for a large D to be cemented on a nearby hilltop. Davis High fans have always thought they were King of the Mountain and now they want to mar the mountain too. And why do they want a letter on the mountain? Simply because Bountiful High, Viewmont High and Layton High have one. (This argument is similar to the discussion most readers have had with their younger children: I need a $170 remote control car. Dad. ..Why?. ..Because all the other kids have one. ..But son, if all the other kids jumped off a cliff, would you jump off the cliff, too? etc. etc. etc.) The letter D wouldnt make the Davis team play any better. The letter "D wouldnt raise ACT scores. The letter D wouldnt raise a teachers salary. The letter "D wouldnt attract more fans to Davis games. All the letter "D would do is provide alphabetical equity and provide Davis with bragging rights for the newest cement. Faced with dire issues of inadequate funding, declining academic standards and the budding threat of students spreadd diseases, youd think a letter on a ing hillside would draw only minimal review. But a recent Davis School Board meeting turned into an Abbott and Costello routine with Dr. Ray Briscoe winning the award for the best Bob Hope impression and also the award for the most sensible comments. If we get the junior highs to put up their letters, too, we could save money on not having to buy an entire alphabet, quipped Dr. Briscoe. Our mountains are beautiful and made significantly less beautiful with the letters. can see how a B is Henry Heath placed a good barb too. but Heath later made a foolish But a not unsightly D.) I think the board comment dont by philosophical adding, should restrict what local schools are doing. (If thats the case, Mr. Heath, then allow Layton High to continue showing its American Red Cross film on AIDS!) The best line of the evening came on an observation by board dont want the mountainside to look president Sheryl Allen like alphabet soup) when she commented that she had not seen the lighted L for Layton High. Thats because they only light it when they win a game, she was told. Thats why you havent seen it lately. I dont know if the letter D would result in an environmental plague. But I do know that a cement letter has nothing to do with education. At a time when elementary children are bringing home unreadable worksheets due to aging mimeograph machines and at a time when junior high students are being forced to share textbooks it seems to me the money raised for mounting cement letters could better be used to cement learning into student minds. The Davis High crowd has often crowed that it is different than all the other schools in the county. Davis supporters are proud of this difference. And if they really V want to be different, they should scoff at the existing Davis should say, We dont have to adopt an otherand wise pristine mountain to show our class. Instead, well win another Region championship and graduate a few more Presidential Scholars. Our students will make the mark and without marking up a mountain. Davis High wants a D for the wrong reason. Oh, Davis fans could naturally reply with the title of a Shakespeare play: Measure for Measure. But Id respond with the title of another Shakespeare classic. The letter D controversy is indeed Much Ado About Nothing. Kaysville-Farmington-Fru- it sexually-transmitte- -- (I (I Johnny-come-late- ly B, L. Computerized lunch Continued from page one tern which costs only $800 for a complete unit, will be placed in all four extended day schools at one week intervals. Next year, the program will be ready for use in the five schools that will be going on the extended day program. Other schools can use the program as principals request it and as money becomes available. A program using a card reader or a light pen will be implimented in the school libraries very soon. On the secondary school level, the data processing department is developing an electronic cash register that will make the job of serving school lunch easier in the schools where a variety of menus are offered. Reflex-Journ- al Published weekly by Clipper Publishing Co. Inc. 96 South Main, Bountiful, Utah 84010 Weekly newspaper published at Layton. Utah every Tuesday, in the interest of Davis County and colonies formed by former residents. Address all correspondence to 197 North Mala Layton, Utah 84041. Subscription rate: 25c per copy, $6.50 per year, mailed In county, $7.50 per year outside. John Stahl. Tom BuMlbrg OwnerPublisher Jr. Editor Cholesterol screenings offered Brian Cray By CHERIE HUBER If youre worried about your cholesterol level or just curious about what it is, you can have your count done at the Davis County Health Department on Thursdays from p.m. in Clinic Room 4 in the basement of the County Courthouse. The fee for the service is $5 and includes educational and nutritional counseling. This is a new program which began on Dec. 10. The Nursing Division of the Davis County Health Department now has a refiotron cholesterol screening device which can count the cholesterol level from a small blood sample. Vi Enrico A. Leopardi, M.D., director of the Health Department says, This screen procedure does not replace a physician's care or a laboratory test, but it does indicate to us who should receive further testing in the form of an HDL-LDratio and other lipid profiles. L The Health Department initiated the new service by testing the cholesterol levels of the three county commissioners, who gallantly went through the test to promote the public good. For the test, a small measured amount of blood is drawn, placed on a special strip and placed in the machine which calculates the level. The test takes less than five minutes. The same machine will be able to do ten other kinds of blood testing functions when the Health Department has the funds to buy the other programs. The same testing has recently been completed at Hill Air Force Base with good results. Of the 1556 base employees tested only eight percent fell in the high risk group while another 7.6 percent fell in the moderate risk group. It is believed that nationwide ab50 percent of Americans may have blood cholesterol levels high enough to be at risk for heart disease. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. More than 500,000 Americans die from heart disease each year. Many people are con- out fused about the relationship between cholesterol and heart disease and about the proper treat Getting their cholesterol checked are County Commissioners Glen Saunders, waiting in the wings, and Bill Peters. Its part of a new weekly screening offered by the Davis County Health Department. ment of high blood cholesterol levels. The National Institute of Health has released a consensus statement on cholesterol with the conclusion that beyind a reasonable doubt, lowering elevated blood cholesterol levels will reduce the risk of heart attacks. The panel suggested that people have their blood cholesterol levels checked to better understand their own health. Beef, whole milk and milk products, lunch meats, hot dogs and pork and pork products are all high in cholesterol. On the other hand, fruit, vegetables, turkey, chicken and fish can help lower the blood Blood cholesterol levels under 200 are considered a safe level. Levels above that can be reduced by avoiding foods that are heavy in cholesterol. Cholesterol in the blood is essential to good health and, in fact, the body is capable of producing all the cholesterol it cholesterol level. More information on the cholesterol screening program is available through the Nursing Division of the Davis County Health De- needs. Many popular modern foods and some favorite traditional ones, however, have high cholesterol levels and should be avoided. partment at 451-331- 5. Increasing stray cat problem may create new law By TOM HARALDSEN It used to FRUIT HEIGHTS be that dogs were classified as Mans Best Friend. That may still be true, but according to the Davis County Animal Shelter, cats are becoming almost as popular. And thats created a problem, because of the nearly 8,000 animals the shelter has housed in the last 10 months, nearly half have been cats. Such staggering statistics have led to current efforts to amend the countys animal ordinance, placing greater restriction on the number of cats that can be maintained at each residence, combined with the proposal that all domestic cats be currently registered and vaccinated. The proposal, as outlined in Decembers newsletter from the shelter, would provide that each cat owner could maintain in his possession up to five cats without being required to purchase a Cattery license. Further, any cat would not be allowed to run at large, whether licensed or not, unless it had been altered. This would prevent breeding and reproduction at will in cats. The amendments have run afoul somewhat with current cat owners who raise cats and have more than five. A Granddaddy clause would likely have to be im- plemented which would protect such owners from compliance with the law. Such owners would be covered only if they registered their pets within six months of the new ordinances implementation. Incredibly, shelter statistics reveal that a female cat, left unaltered and allowed to reproduce at will, can be directly responsible for an average of 4,372 descendants in just four years. As part of the shelters monthly report for November, a total of 438 stray animals were received. Of those, 325 were relinquished, and 47 animals were placed or adopted. Sadly, 616 dogs and cats were euthanized last month. There were 40 reports of animal bites, including two pit bulls, 10 cats and 20 large animals. Shelter personnel also responded to Gardner doesnt stop for bad weather If American mail carriers can borrow from Herodotus: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds, then so too could Plant Operations Supervisor Sharon Gardner and his staff of 180 fulltime employees. Now in his 20th year of service to the Davis School District, Gardner has seen every extreme of nature: the floods of 1983, massive wind damage including district-wid- e power outages, blizzards which left roofs sagging under 30 inches of snow. He has also dealt with equipment failure, burst water pipes, near catastrophies in boiler rooms and damage wrought by vandalism, now happily, almost eliminated through the District monitoring system. Overall, Gardner and the maintenance staff are responsible for the smooth operation of 100 district buildings. The youngest of a dozen children, Gardner grew up in Huntington, where he also attended public school. He spent 17 years in the construction business, interrupted by a stint in the Army, before coming to Davis District in 1969 as a carpenter. He moved up through the ranks as a foreman, then coordinator, supervisor and since 1982, has been plant operations manager. A resident of Kaysville, he has two sons, the elder of whom has thrice made him a grandfather; the younger is a junior at Davis High. Lest anyone think Supervisor Gardner is all work and no play, be advised that he is an avid barbershop quartet member in his spare time. He sings bass, but in a pinch, can double as baritone. In addition to being honored by the School Board Dec. 8, Sharon was recently awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award from the State Office of Risk Management in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in property and liability loss control. 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