| Show Standard-ExamineSERVING Stitt fVN'V Standard Examiner Opinion Aivii 20 2001 6A Fixtiv r THE TOP OF UTAH SINCE 1883 OoPot Ron ik Thornburg Manning E&tw 4 Time to spring dean Ogden River Parkway The route is a disgrace right now littered with all sorts of trash The Ogdon River Litter Central Most of it may be the flotsam and jetsam of spring -the refuse that was hidden by winter snow or blown in recently via canyon winds Whatever its source the parkway that has properly been billed as the Top of Utah’s shining example of urban trails development looks like well heck is Take a stroll or ride a hike or walk a stroller along the pathway and you’ll encounter shopping carts tires various types of bottles - both broken and intact - items of clothing a barrel in the middle of the Ogden River graffiti plastic hags picnic refuse fishing ' line dangling from the trees food wrappers and playground balls If that’s not bad enough every eddy is full of swirling bobbing heaps of floating trash likewise in many areas where shoreline brush meets the water crews The simply haven’t gotten around to the parkway yet Doubtless that is the case The many volunteers who toil to keep the urban trail clean and tidy have not yet accomplished their tasks spring-cleanin- g there aren’t nearly enough trash But it’s also true that cans lining the route from the mouth of Ogden Canyon to Washington Boulevard More refuse cans would not solve all the trash problems on the parkway but it would help The Ogden River Parkway is one of Ogden’s certified gems - not only a community asset but a drawing card for people throughout the Top of Utah The city then should step up enforcement of its litter laws and take better care ? ANOTHER H J 2008 Games in Beijing Good reasons abound to deny the Olympics to China’s repressive regime the Chinese dictatorship indicate a clear will not only change (the nation's) economic system but also give people political freedom the candidacy could be considered But as long us the baseball bat is the best expression of the regime's stance toward the opposition it’s not enough to give away hats The Olympics in Beijing 2008 could be u new Berlin 1936 in other words a well propaganda show to demonstrate the strength of a rising aggressive power It is a different show than that staged in connection with the crippled American reconnaissance If stage-manage- d plane but the purpose is the same If China just wanted to play a more important economic role there would be no reason to object But the communist leaders have in recent years threatened neighboring coun- tries not leastly Taiwan Another concern is that China’s military spending is increasing The defense budget has increased by 17 percent this year (and that accounts only for the public port of the military budget) It is the wrong signal from the outside world to give Beijing the Games - Svcnska Dagbladet (Stockholm Sweden) The Russian media Russia’s beginning to behave like the Stalinist state of decades past progress toward during the has been uneven But one crucial factor driving it toward a freer society has been the rise of truly independent newspapers magazines and television stations Now one by one these voices are being stilled last weekend new management with economic tics to the government took over the country's only autonomous national television network NTV This week the Moscow daily newspaper Sevodnya was shut down and the staff of the political weekly Itogi a joint venture with Newsweek was dismissed Russia's As Mr Putin steadily tight ens his grip on power it is important that Russia’s citizens be able to hold him accountable through unfiltered sources of information For the past few days former journalists have been trying to get their newscast out through a smaller cable station and have sought financial backers to help them reach a larger audience But the government is now pressuring the cable station’s owners with charges of tax evasion Mr Putin needs to demonstrate that independent television stations newspapers and magazines can still operate freely in Russia without government HNTV’s arassment The New York Times At Monticello family ties don’t bind Cl IARLOTTESVIILF Va - A light rain is falling on the dirt and grass lane called Mulberry Row We have come down from the brick mansion where Thomas Jefferson is remembered by his desk and his clocks his words and his architecture Mulberry Row is where the others lived The tour guide stops in front of the stones marking the outlines of a small log cabin that once sttxxl here Pointing to an anvil site says this is where enslaved children from age 10 to 16 worked 14 hours a day muking nails She turns to our small cache of white tourists and asks: Why do we think tlie man who wrote tho Declaration of Independence only freed two slaves in his lifetime five more upon his death? The question falls softly into the humid air and the responses from the visitors range from the gentle - "maybe lie needed them" - to the hostile - "maybe he wtis just a hypo- crite" Not that long ago in Monticello tho portrait of the third president of the United States was as stalic as his profile on the nickel as marble as his Memorial Now his home is restored as a plantation Now the man who wrote of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is also described as the master of some 600 slaves in his lifetime Now a founding father of our country is also discussed us the fattier of six children born to a woman lie owned It's the Sally Ilemings chapter of life story that lixnns large again On the 258th anniversary of his birth Americans are still arguing over Ills - and our - legacy Not just the legacy of equality and racism but of DNA and family Jefferson's In 1998 u DNA study combined with other evidence proved to most historians' satisfaction that Jefferson had fathered children with Ilemings Only 2 percent of the visitors to Monticello this year are African-AmericaIs Sally any harder to accept than Jefferson’s Farm Btxik in which he cataloged people as if they were sheep or cows? n Ellen Goodman Boston Globe r the of his late wife A new complex family was extended across time and secrets and shades Just the day before this birthday these were invited to the White House for more than a party One culled it a "homecoming" half-siste- tut on the same day the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society a group formed to dispute this connection released a rebuttal insisting that the "allegation is by no means proven" 1 The new report by historians they assembled has weight - 550 pages of it Hut Joseph Ellis the author of "Founding Brothers" the lively and insightful Ixxik that just won the Pulitzer says without mincing words "The scholarly consensus (of Jefferson's fatherluxxl) in the wake of DNA evidence is beyond a reasonable doubt" Paternity still seems us certain us can he short of digging Jefferson himself out of the grave Yet the dispute goes on Indeed one symbol ut stake is the graveyard at Monticello Some descendents muy well use this new report to decide who is allowed in - or kept out - of the family cemetery it lie Standing on this beautiful and bittersweet piece of American terrain I wonder why the story of Thomas Jefferson's relationship with one slave generates so much more pnssion than his relationship to 599 others Is it really so much more incredible so much more shameful to have had a slave in bed than slaves on Mulberry Row? At the same time Jefferson’s vast contradictions - including his opposition to "the amalgamation of the races" und his amalgamating - cannot be so shocking to our modern ears We have grown up with flawed heroes from Jack Kennedy to Martin a Luther King Wild in the era doesn't smile at the new report’s earnest defense of Jefferson’s innocence because in part they say he would never have "entrusted his reputation to the discretion of a 15- - or child"? post-Monic- Ellis once said wryly "Jefferson is almost always sincere even when he contradicts himself" This man of talents of liberated and limited visions was perhaps less a hypocrite than a master of denial Nevertheless we have another document of denial "Why do we go on and on about this?” usks Annette Gordon-Reea law professor who has written about Ilemings and Jefferson "It's Jefferson und it's race But I think it's about who gets to say what's true und what’s not And it's a battle about who is accepted as family" d So it is Truth and Family The American family Just a few days ago an unmarked slave graveyard was discovered at Monticello near wliut is now the parking lot On the other side of the grounds is the handsome cemetery of Jefferson and his descendents his white descendents At Monticello history does not rest in peace Pulitzer columnist Ellen Goodman is associate editor of The Poston Globe Her address is etlengoodmuntiPglobecom Her column runs on Tuesdays and Fridays Prize-winnin- g Bush’s dress code a real ’50s throwback President Bush has instituted a dress axle at the White House - jackets and ties for the men und skirts or pants suits for the women McFeatters That's not the hardship it might seem Most of his top appointees hxik like they were born in blue suits Vice I ’resident Cheney in cargo shorts and u Dixie Chicks is not an lmuge that invites contemplation While Bush muy be a political throwback to the Reagan administration sartorially he’s a throwback to the Eisenhower yeurs - serious people in serious suits So uniform was the hxik a contemporary novel fretting about the dangers of mindless conformity was titled "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" In the Bush White House gray flannel might be considered a tad raffish hut it's probably OK for weekend wear nude of the by a chain haberdashery called Robert I lull's ("this season will show you the reuson") As a youth his first Introduction to the suit was likely to be a sturdy blue serge model capable of standing on Its own that wus variously colled (ie first communion or bur mitzvuh suit The suit wns gixtd for job Interviews funerals bank loans church and other dress up occasions for a lifetime or less likely until the suit could be made to wear out The budget-minde- d '50s was likely to be dressed Wearing a suit to work once had a certain cachet It suid "I have a job that doesn't require me to get dirty" when bock then most Jobs did Both work in a suit and tie was a sure indication the wearer was ducking out for a job interview that duy Did the publication counsel rectitude and honesty? No It advised the interviewee to stash his business suit ut his health club and change there J&L Scrlpps Howard tlie economy und fushion changed but ulns Robert Hall did not It wus replaced by nimbler retail-etlike the Men's Wearhouse the s voice mails of whose president George Zimmer suggest that I ’resident Bush t(x is bucking the tide Zimmer's phone lights up with culls from grateful customers who huve been bailed out of one fashion catastrophe or another by his sules staff Typical is the pcxr gtxiber heuded for u compuny meeting who packed resort casual when the dress code wus business casual F'ewer und fewer businesses require men to wear suits In many a suit has become a symbol of -minded traditionalism and a three-piecsuit is grounds for dismissal Being able to tie a necktie might one duy he an obsolete skill like working u slide rule or using a stick shift narrow- Washington DC and its male politicians may be the last holdouts for the business suit The blue suit white shirt and red tie are standard-issu- e and a politician departs from the uniform ut his peril A crowd of voters s dressed in tank tops s and those hats that hold beer wins would be deeply offended by an office seeker showing up in a polo shirt and Dockers During the campaign A1 Gore stirred comment mostly unfavorable when he appeared in a brown suit cut-off- flip-flop- Bush is probubly fighting a lonely and losing battle to get the mules outside the Beltway buck into coats und ties but if he’s serious there is one way to accomplish that task though it would cost him the election faster even than wearing bib overalls to address Congress e That's not to say there aren't unspoken dress axles Some places it's khakis but not jeans collared shirts moccasins but not but not sneukers socks but not white ones A recent advice column in a business publication noted that coming to The economy has been so strong and unemployment so low that most employers are gruteful to huve workers no mutter what they wear But if President Bush takes the economy over a cliff those few workers who still huve Jobs will begin dressing like they’re glad to have them Dale McFcatters Is a columnist and editorial writer for Scrlpps ard News Service How- |
