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Show Page Two - The Pyramid - November 15, 1995 piftrrt 1MI IMI A PBAATTS E M T A KY ,YOVll JVOMTB V Merrill Ogden & Calvin Hobbes Computer head games While not all Sanpeters are as trusting and friendly as the gem of a guy who is the hero of our story, I believe Sanpeters are a cut above. Id like to think that if Readers Digest "lost" 10 wallets in our county, all of them would be returned to the rightful owner, cash intact. Recently, Seattle won the highest ranking of such a test with nine of 10 wallets returned. The collective integrity of the people here is an asset which .is difficult to measure. I dont know what our crime rate is here. I know there is some theft which happens. We had a bicycle turn up missing from the elementary school a few years ago. The new Sanpete resident referred to earlier told me that if a car wasnt locked in their Salt Lake neighborhood you could simply expect that stereos, tapes, or whatever would be stolen from it. How sad! Sanpete is a cut above I had a conversation the other day with a fellow who has just moved to Sanpete. He moved here from the Salt Lake Valley. He admits that its going to take some time to adapt to Sanpete ways. A week or so ago he ran out of gas in Mt. Pleasant, his new home town. He had a gas can and with that in hand, he headed off toward a gas station. As he passed by a local yokel working in his yard, he heard, "Did you run out of gas?" "Yes, I did," he replied. "The keys are in my outfit right there. Why dont you take it and drive to the station for gas?" At this point our Sanpete newcomer was astonished and wondered if he heard right. "Yes, I mean for you to borrow my wheels and get yourself back on the road. " With a dumbfounded look and a "what planet am I on" feeling, our new Sanpete taxpayer borrowed the vehicle and completed his task in short order. He couldnt believe that a total stranger would be so trusting, helpful and friendly. I told him, "Welcome to Sanpete, the land of unlocked doors and keys left in the ignitions of cars. Im sure that the law enforcers of Sanpete would encourage us to take precautions against crime. They probably dont recommend lending cars to strangers. Shakespeare said, "Hes mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf..." I would hope that we in Sanpete for a little while longer will be able to regard people as fellow humans worthy of trust and not as Merrill. wolves Letters Dear Editor: the Alcohol Tobacco and Fire- arms (AT&F) tries to get into the act every chance it can. Even with all these crime pre vention organizations, its a criminals field day. The reason for this? The state doesnt care, The courts have carefully tied the hands of the police, loaded their decisions in favor of criminals and put victims on trial rather than the perpetrators, My suggestion is in order to alleviate this situation the state should be made responsible for criminal actions much the same as parents who are held responsi- b,e for their children When a person is mugged and robbed, the state should burse the victim for medical and Now that the elections are over and we have a sprinkling of new officials mixed in with tried and true incumbents, I think it is time to pass out a few suggestions about some of the insurmountable problems that face them. For example, take the problem of crime. The first thing to re- member is that considerable tax dollars go for many layers of crime prevention; city police, county sheriffs, highway patrol, FBI, CIA. and nowadays even Sanpete's Leading Newspaper tup liiL nunpmin i 31x111 IIU 1 reim-(USP- S 0) Published Weekly a. Mt. Z SuKceWe Pleasant damages as well as for whatever 49 Wpst Main Strpet was stolen If a persons car is stolen or 462-213- vandalized, then the Even in murder cases, the survivors should be paid. Businesses should also be included in the protection. A schedule for payments would need to be worked out by a com- mittee appointed for this purpose This way all victims or heirs of criminal acts would be reim- bursed for any and all losses. state T,he result win b.e tha will soon recognize that about half of the gross national product is bein sPent for victim remu-- . neration and will wipe the streets clean of the criminal element. bleeding heart would judges put offenders away for good; Parole boards would keep murderers in jail for keeps; atheistic ACLU would be told to keep its mouth shut, and misguid- ed ,social W0Iers uwould sPend their money elsewhere than on rehabilitating thieves. i know this sounds a little harsh, but if we are to pay for protection and not receive it, then dbe Paid- And who should pay? The state! James G Spicer property 4 state 11 FAX: 462-245- 9 Craig Conover Publisher Penny Hamilton Managing Editor Associate Editor Shirley Christensen Cheryl Brewer Staff Writer Deanna Pate Staff Writer SUBSCRIPTION RATES (In Advance) $18 per . 521 year-5- 0t ., per copy . per year outside Sanpete County LUKKtjrUNUtNlj 835-382- MantiEphraim Angela Rasmussen .. .1- l SchoolEphraim anfl 4 835-519- 1 283-474- 7 436-857- 0 Moroni, Barbara Gordon 436-876- 0 Foirview, Deanna Pate 427-379- 5 Ftn. Green, Jessie Oldroyd 445-342- 2 Jill Cragun I Wales, Chester Math el Anderson : ; Snow College .'. d, - Dean O'Driscoll Reporter, Ray Truitt 462-3- 1 , Photographer, Hollee Anderson 445-33- POSTMASTER: soud pay. Lily-livere- Manti, Bruce Jennings - pba Utah, 84647 Telephone: 31 Send change of address to The Bjeki you. The computer needs to have more than its share of bells and whistles. It should have at least 300 meg of memory; an operating system compatible with both parties; and a compliment of software that husband and wife agree they "just couldnt live Cy Spencer of Mt. Pleasant Elementary School is reminding residents to donate to the "Shoes for Bare Feet" program which is sponsored by the Mt. Pleasant Elementary School. Donations will be used to provide new shoes for area chil- dren. MHS Counselors by Natasha Madsen MANT- I- A reminder: conferences will be held on Thursday, Nov. 16. Parents can talk with teachers from 3 to 7 p.m. in the high school gymnasium. It is important for parents to take time for students for two reasons. First, students seeing parents taking time to visit with teachers learn hisher education is .valued. Second, parents are mord aware bf how students are progressing. Research shows that when parents become involved in education, students achieve greater academic success. More information on classes available through EDNET has been received at the counselling office. Students and parents need to review the schedule offered in January. A reminder that the Coast to Coast scholarship deadline is Nov. 22. Parents, grandparents or students should stop by the nearest store to pick up applications. Applications must go through the counselors office. DeVry University will send a representative to Manti High School on Dec. 13. This school offers several programs including electronics engineering, computer information systems management, business operations and accounting. Art scholarships include the International Competition for Student Artists. The deadline is Feb.l and categories range from architecture to video. The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and Rampage Clothing offer scholarships to be used at several California institutions. Air Force ROTC has a deadline of Dec. 1. Please call Lt. Paul Porter at (801)581-623- 6 for more information. The American Sheep Industry Womens Auxiliary is sponsoring a letter writing contest for high school students in grades The subject is "Why private property rights are important to your state". The Ayn Rand Essay Contest information is now available. They offer $20,000 in prize money. Have you noticed, success occurs when opportunity meets preparation? er 5 Crime costs taxpayers 365-58- Couples who are discovering it is more and more difficult to find something on which to disagree might benefit from the purchase of a computer. Not just any computer, mind Spring City , Spring City Seniors SPRING CIT- Y- The seniors citizens will hold their monthly Nov. ,5 at 6:30 dinner tod at Center. The Senior the P.m. herd and helpers. : 2. Ephraim wants new stop light EPHRAIM A special meeting with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28, on the Snow College West Campus for those interested in getting a traffic light at Main Street and College Avenue. Chamber of Commerce members and public are both welcome to attend. without. " Now this arrangement wont work if one of the parties is not computer literate, unless the other one just happens to be a hacker or enjoys his computer so much that theres not much time left for hisher sweetie. Come to think about it, being left out of the electronic experience might be as bad as competing with Monday night football. But back to shared cyberspace. Both partners need to have "equal" access to the keyboard or this little experiment wont work. This isnt just about competition, either. For example. The other morning I sat down to make up a daily schedule on our calendar planner. When I got ready to print, nothing happened. I gave the computer a second command only to receive an impersonal message that translated into, "You idiot, you know I cant do that." Why cant you do that?" I asked. "Ive been doing this every morning since I got you and youve never refused before." The next step in my quest for a daily printed schedule is searching through a dozen different set up menus to find out why my computer is so arbitrary. "Aha, someone has changed your printing default. Youre set up to print multiple pages on two sides. You sneaky little devil." I adjusted the setting and continued. A few days earlier, my schedule planner (which automatically tells me what day of the week it is as well as the case I day of the month-i- n came forget) up suddenly without its usual, "Good morning, its Thursday." "What happened to my computer (the emphasis here is on my)?" I immediately blamed "Dont you know Hubby. youre not supposed to mess with these things? Again the Scotland Yard search through the menus, but not until I was firmly told by Hubby that computer programs were made to be messed with-s- o the owner could have it just the way he wanted it. "It was just the way I wanted it," I argued. The victory came when it was me, not Hubby, who finally figured out how to restore the computers memory bank. See how much fun computer couples can have? subdirectory or on another drive, or simply tell the computer "no" when it asks you if you want the document saved. (This works real well if your partner has been up all night composing and hasnt even printed out a hard copy). Doesnt this sound like more the. fun than trying to k ribbon on your old Smith Corona? Really creative couples can come up with some other ideas but these should get you started. Speaking of computers, my latest Utah Press Association newsletter came up with some of the latest computer viruses: "The Right to Life Virus: Wont let you delete a file no matter how old it is. If you attempt to erase a file, it requires you to first see a counselor about possible alternatives; "Ross Perot Virus": Activates every component in your system, just before the whole thing quits; "Oprah Winfrey Virus": hard drive Your suddenly shrinks to then slowly expands and back to then shrinks again to Im learning that changing things is only part of the experience. Other opportunities exist when exiting a partners document. There are several options. You can name the document in Japanese (or some undecipherable code), hide the document in an ay . re-in- . te "AT&T Virus": Every three minutes it tells you what a great service youre getting; "MCI Virus": Every three minutes it reminds you that youre paying too much for the AT&T Virus; "Dan Quayle Virus: Their is sumthing rong with your computers; ewe just can outwatt... fig-yo- ur Still mad about voted leeway issues Teach them Dear Editor: The voters in the North Sanpete School District have spoken. HOORAY! I understand that I have been given some of the credit? or blame? for the defeat of this ongoing tax. When I read the ad from the School District on Oct. 11, I was surprised at the notice of the "Special Voted Leeway Election." Taken from their public notice which reads in its entirety: "Shall the North Sanpete School District be authorized to levy annually for the purpose of maintaining a voted leeway program a special tax at the rate of .0006 per dollar of taxable value of the taxable property within the school district in ADDITION to all other taxes levied or imposed on such property within the District"? I have been told that my Letters to the Editor were full of lies. From reading them again, from Oct. 18 and 25 I read questions: How long? What would the money be used for? Why is the tax really needed? Why wasnt this advertised with meetings held? Would the money be used for debt, books, paper, pencils, among others? After my first letter, Deanna Pate wrote front page articles. There was NO front page article until after my first letter. Quoting from the front page of the Oct. 18 edition of the Pyramid, Jerald Mikesell, State' Office of Education Financial Offi- cer, stated that the district should hold a "Truth in Taxation Hear-ing" before the election. Was a hearing held? Not to my knowlstate-support- ed edge. First of all, few people will sign a petition. Many fear retaliation for signing their names on a document, which they feel may be used against them. On our property tax this year, North Sanpete School District received from us $384.31, plus the State school levy of $197.38 for a total of $581.69 for the support of schools. Should we stand back and let our taxes be raised time and time again and say and do nothing? I dont think so. It was stated last week that this voted leeway is like the Wool subsidy. The wool subsidy was import duty on meat, wool and live lambs, not supported by tax dollars as some believe. This import duty was set up by Ezra Taft Benson and Alden K. Barton when Benson was Secretary of Agriculture during the term of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Barton was the father of Lee R. Barton of Manti. I have been told that many teachers are upset that the "free money" was lost. When is tax money "free"? Does anyone remember the Stamp Act? What about the Boston Tea Party? I wonder if King George would not love the voted leeway tax. Recently, I received a card telling me that I had won a PRIZE. All I had to do was send them $35.99 and they would tell me what I had won. If I have won something.. SEND IT. Remember the old saying, "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is." If I had a lot to do with the defeat of this old scheme for a tax increase. Great! I feel a little like Paul Revere must have felt. The taxpayers should not have to roll over and play dead for anyone who wants to walk all of the Utah TaxAssociation stated, "The payers district would not need to hold the hearing providing the district "over us. decreased other local school board levies the same amount as First and foremost. We are the proposed raise in the voted AMERICANS. We live in the " land of the FREE and the home leeway. Mikesell and Fredde both said of the BRAVE, as the words of in the same article that the leeour national anthem states. way would run indefinitely, If I were a member of the unless the proposition was written Board of Education of the North to give a specific time frame, Sanpete School District I would "Sunset Clause" or until voters like to see our children taught the and back leeway come repeal referendum a phonics first. Teach them to read petition through and write and know that they can of number the required signed by a on in understand the strange markings general voters and voted on election. paper. Greg Fredde the basics of type and office work, etc. When they get into the work world they can pick up the other things they need to complete the requirements for employment. Each company has their own program on computers. By the time our elementary age students get into the work force, so many tilings will have changed that they will have to learn other programs. If they have the basics, can read and understand, the rest will not be so hard for them. We are graduating more from school, but how many of them are reading illiterates? School should be the place to learn to read and write and not just a place for games, and self esteem reinforcement. If we do less than that I feel we are failing them. Only then would I feel a tax increase for the schools was really justified. Kristy Jensen Fairview Heat assistance offered in MP City Those PLEASAN- TMT. wishing to qualify for H.E.A.T. assistance can do so between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at the senior center. To apply, bring Social Security cards for family members over 18, current utility bills, proof of; household income and medical bills paid in the previous month. Income should be less than $778 for one person; $1,045 for two people; $1,311 for three people; $1,578 for four people; $1,845 for five people; and $2,111 for six people. Ground-breakin- g for CUCF chapel GUNNISO- N- The Utah Department of Corrections was to break ground for a new inmate chapel at the Central Utah Correctional Facility, at noon on Monday, Nov. 13. The chapel is being constructed with donated funds, no public money will be used. The LDS Church donated nearly $700,000 for the |