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Show a a 4A Tuesday Sun Advocate January 14, 2002 Stall editorial Balancing beauty and commerce By KEN LARSON Sun Advocate publisher is a balancing act and I have more questions today than answers. And one of those questions is How does a community support and It at the same time create a downtown that attracts and provides a vibrant and beautiful area for that business? This question comes as a result of two sepaassist business owners to thrive and rate Price City Council meetings in the past couple of months where business owners, who recently purchased new properties to relocate their bus- inesses, felt that existing trees in front of the properties are a detriment to the success of their endeavors. In both cases the owners wanted to have the trees chopped down. As a businessman and a supporter of downtown commerce understand how tough it is out I there. That is especially in the light of the large unattractive box stores that seem to have popped up on the edge of every small city in America, that promote cheap prices and little else. The answer in my eyes is not to get rid of the n situations. We need trees, but to create win-wi- of our area think about Price they think about this brand, both to improve negative connotations and to establish positive images takes time and a lot of work. Price City has done a lot of work and has gone to how inviting it is. Developing to continue developing plans that will rehabilitate downtown Price's historical buildings. We need to continue to plan, design, and install a lot of effort the improvements that include trees and we need to continue building our downtown so it is vibrant, prosperous and beautiful. Price has wonderful new streets for most of the downtown area and can think of at least seum. The list can go on and on, but we continuously need to be on top of branding our community, if for no other reason than that other cities streetscape I three businesses that have or are remodeling their buildings. Many people over the years have worked hard at developing, planting and preserving the beauty of downtown and it is important to continue creating an inviting and interesting area. Several months ago wrote an editorial on branding a community. That is the process I where a community develops an image or an experience. We need to continually create fresh past few years to create the Peace Gardens, fix the streets, plant trees, improve the city's entrances and upgrade the mu- around us are doing it all the time too. We need to position ourselves for whatever is on the next HuA.9E horizon. But at the same time we need to develop ways to assist our small businesses downtown to be able to grow and thrive and market their services and products. Grants are available and volunteers are willing. Over the years have seen some incredible small towns and cities pull themselves up by the I (Continued on page ideas and concepts so when people from outside 10) Stall editorial Are there reasons for going to war? By RICHARD SHAW is why we need to know history to understand what is happening right now and may happen in the future. Staff reporter After wars are over, the victors, and sometimes the vanquished, forget how they began. The victors paint their winning ways in terms of confidence, that from the beginning of the fighting they thought they would always win the war. The vanquished just try to paint the facts of why they lost out of the picture. And if they were the ones to start the conflict they try to avoid sponsibility for that too. But let's not be abstract. re- Let's talk about the way the American people think about their past wars and their future ones. It seems obvious to me that there will be future ones, some we can now see on the horizon and others that we cannot suspect will happen. But in fact that does us little In 1915 the Turkish government took it on themselves to exterminate thousands of Armenians who lived in their land. Armenia as a country has existed off and on as a country in western its ethnic population is spread between homeland, Turkey, Iran and present day Asia and its Azerbaijan. The genocide that took place at that time mostly concerned adults; a whole generation was wiped out because they refused to become Muslim. The children who were not old enough cling onto their parents heritage were allowed to live as long as they were raised as Muslim Turks. Turkey was then part of the "central powers" that consisted of they, Germany and Austria-At the time those powers were fight- Hungary good, because in many ways the only thing we can judge the future by, is what has happened in ing France, Great Britain and Russia in the beginnings of World War 1. The United States had not the past. That is why history is so important; that entered the war yet; that didn't happen until 1917. Americans heard about it, but did nothing. They soon forgot too. After all we were clear across the ocean, and neutral. We didn't want to get involved in Europe's or Asia's problems. 1931 some Japanese officers decided their government was acting too slowly for their liking In so they took their troops and invaded the city of Shenyang in China, based on the pretext that a railroad owned by a Japanese company had been sabotaged by the Chinese. They took the city, set up a puppet government and declared it a separate state from China. Six years later they began their March on Nanking, and perpetrated what is now called the "Rape of Nanking." The rising sun's slaughtered at least 50,000 civilians and raped 20,000 women during the invasion. Many of those killed were used for target and live bayonet practice. Army Americans heard about it, but did nothing. They soon forgot too. After all we were clear (Continued on page 10) Guest editorial Dont change the overtime laws Minute Man Media ern workplace. But workers and unions should be wary of business-backed proposals on overtime law reform. With a new U.S. Congress sponsored by corporate America soon to be in power, the labor Republican proposals to change the nation's overtime law are more likely to benefit businesses movement can expect some tough battles ahead on a range of labor issues. than workers. One wish high on the list of business groups, such as the National Association of Manufactur- lions of dollars lobbying for legislation that is supposed to help their employees rather than prof- ers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is rolling backing the nation's overtime law to make it its. The reality is that companies would prefer to have workers putting in longer hours without easier having to pay overtime. One of the largest retailers in America is facing lawsuits around the country charging that the company cheated workers out of overtime pay by forcing them to work extra hours off the By GREG TARPINIAN for employers to exempt workers and fer time off instead of extra pay. of- Supporters of these "reforms" to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which sets the miniworkmum wage and establishes the week, claim that they are simply seeking to update an old law to reflect the realities of the mod 40-ho- It is illogical that employers would spend mil- clock. The lawsuits also charge that the giant system of stores supervisors altered employee time cards to avoid paying overtime. And with workers beginning to win more law- suits on the issue of unpaid overtime, it is not hard to understand the real motive behind industry proposals to change the law. Allowing employees to accrue time off as an alternative to paid overtime may sound appealing to some workers. And under certain circumstances, that policy might work. But for millions of workers, especially lower-wag- e workers, paid overtime is a key to their survival. As with any tion touted as labor legislad reform, the devil is in the details of business-backe- Letters to the editor should focus on public issues rather than private personalities or entities. All submissions must be verified prior to publication. The paper reserves the right to edit letters not only to satisfy space constraints, but potential liability concerns. any such proposals. Unions and workers must fight to ensure that big business does not weaken the nation's overtime law to subject more workers to longer hours and less pay, thereby lowering the standard of living for all but the rich. Iiii fliiieclo The voice of Carbon County since 1892 ADMINISTRATION Publisher Ken Larson ADVERTISING Ads erasing Director Shirley Stubbs Sales Jenni Fasselin Holley Holden Patti O'Neil Holly Holden Classifieds, Legals Lynda Barnett ED1TOIUAL Editor Lynnda Johnson Reporter Riehard Shaw Reporter Karen Basso 845 East Main, Priee, Utah Telephone: (435) Address: 637-073- 2 Fax : (435) 637-271- Postmaster: Send change of address to 845 East Main Street, Priee, Utah 84501. Classifieds deadline: Monday at 10 a.m. for Tuesday's publication and Wednesday at 10 a.m. for Thursday's publication. Subscription rates: 50 cents per copy, $37 per year in Carbon and Emery counties, $40 in Utah and $54 outside of Utah per year by mail. Publication No, (USPS 174-96issued twice a week at Price, Utah. Periodical postage paid at Price. Utah, and at additional mailing office PO Box 589, Castle Dale, Utah 84513. OFFICE OJJke Manager Linda Thayn Internet: http:www.sunad.com editor( sunad.com, ads( sunad.com Receptionist Lynda Barnett Circulation Darla Lee IIOLRS Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entire contents copyright 2002 Sun Advocate Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced in any form with out the express consent of the Sun Advocates managing editor or publisher. v 4 ' i |