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Show y 8A Emery County Progress Castle Dale, Utah Tuesday April 30, 2002 Commentary German Columbine Fuels Battle tor Gun Control By DOUG PATTON Expecting a carjackcr or rapist or drill' pusher to care that his possession or use of a fun is unlawful is like expecting a terrorist to eure that his ear bomb is taking up two parking spaces." Joseph T. ' Chew Here we fo atfain. The spirit of Columbine has once more reared its uglv head. This time it is the Hermans who ha e leen rocked by the revelation that as long us there are e il or deranged people in the world, they w ill find a way to get hold of a gun. ( )f course, that is not how the savage, senseless murder of 13 teachers, two students and a policewith a shotgun man by a v ear-ol- d und a ( iloek Itmm handgun will tie interpreted by those intent on disarming private1 citizens everywhere. No, the spin from those folks will be quite different. It always is, and logic rarely plays a part in their reasoni9-- semi-automat- ic law-abidi- ng. It is noteworthy to watch the media go out of their way to tell us that the assailant was a gun enthusiast" and an "expert marksman," as if that was important. It has turn quite a few years since I qualified us an rifle expert marksman with a and a .118 caliber revolver on an Air Force Security Police firing range, but as recall, shooting someone in tin1 head at range requires very little skill. 6 I point-blan- k Apparently, the two weapons used slaughter were legally obtained and possessed, even under (iermanys absurdly strict gun control statutes. Hut then, how could gun control laws even enter into the thinkingof a man who has made up his mind to w alk into a school und start shooting innocent people before killing himself. Such a person has bigger problems than an illegal weapons possession charge, and it is probably fair to assume that having to obtain a gun on the burgeoning European illegal firearms market would not have deterred him from his bloody mission. None of that will matter when the drumbeat for more gun laws is heard in legislatures around the world. The ( iermans have their own liberals, of course, misguided officials not at all unlike our own Chuck Sehumer, Hilary Clinton in this gun-banni- and Diane Feinstein. Their agenda has been shared by autocrats the world over since the first primitive firearms forever changed the relationship of people to their governments. Whether they are despicable tyrants truly bent on dominating their people, or crusaders genuinely convinced that gun bans will make us all safer, the goal is the same: to disarm the law-abidi- populace. Toward that end, every spectacular, gun crime anywhere in the w orld becomes an excuse for more restrictions. As the world becomes a smaller place, and the idea of a "global community becomes more palatable to people everywhere, such incidents do not happen in a vacuum. In France, a disturbed man wielding two (Hocks and a .357 Magnum shot dead eight city officials in the Haris suburb of Nanterre - even though his license for the weapons under strict French gun laws had expired - thus prompting French officials to call for further restrictions. In Switzerland, a man killed 14 people and himself, apparently over a grudge against a local official. The Swiss government said it planned to tighten gun laws. Britain, which already had some of the strictest firearms laws in Europe, high-profi- le banned handguns altogether after Thomas Hamilton walked into the Dunblane, Scotland, village primary school in 199(5 and shot to death 16 kindergarteners and their teacher with four licensed handguns. When that ban took effect in 1997, (50,000 citizens throughout the British Isles voluntarily surrendered their handguns to police. Can anyone possibly imagine that there was a single criminal among them? In fact, a recent report by the Center for Defense Studies at Kings College in London found that criminals are now doingwhat they have always done: using illegal handguns to commit crimes. Imagine that. Criminals are breaking the law. German gun banners were already hard at work on additional restrictions even before last weeks tragedy. In the United States, those who 1 would violate our Second Amendment rights have tried to use every tragedy from Paducah to Oklahoma City, from Columbine to September 1 1th to justify their attempts at LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Safety is the Key would like to respond to the article. Speeding through Ferron. Which was in the paper on April 9. We can point fingers at one another all day long. But what it all boils down to is a safety issue. I would like to see the speed reduced through Ferron City Limits and have a noise ordinance installed and the double yellow lines, which have been previously put down. It is a proven fact from statistics that speed kills, slowing down the speed limits saves lives. Anybody that doesnt want the speed limits lowered is not for safety. Do we have to wait for a serious or fatal accident to gel the speed limit lowered from 55 mph to 35 mph through the city limits. I am not pointing fingers at the coal truck drivers, it is everybody that drives through town. I feel for the truck drivers that have to bust butt all day long, driving as hard as they can to make a living because they get paid by the load, not by the hour. There are a lot of different issues that we could talk about. Noise, vibration, rough and narrow roads. School busses that have to stop on the main road w ith no place to pull off w'hile picking up and dropping off the kids in the 55 mph zone. What it all boils down to is speed and safety for everyone. I -- Roy Edged Ferron Wrong Priorities In observation of the latest Utah legislative session, it appears that our governor and legislature have put a higher priority on chasing nonexistent roads and paths on federal lands than on edueatingour children. Two million dollars have been appropriated to defend the existence of ghost roads in rural counties in southern Utah. At the same time, the money allocated for education in San Juan, Kane, Garfield, Wayne, Emery and Grand counties has been cut by 2.5 million dollars. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Emery C.ounty alone stands to lose 10 teachers, and the average class size will go from 20 to 25 students. We must ask ourselves why the governor and legislature think old tracks are more important than edueatingour children. It seems to me that our governor and legislature have their priorities backwards. The needs of these rural counties would be much better served by providing education funding instead of pursing this fruitless and expensive road hunt. Tim D. Peterson Jr. Salt Lake City Shop Local a new Super and yes I have been to it, I also Yes, we have Wal-mar- t, Wal-mar- prices. So lets keep our business, and JOBS here, these are the businesses, that support our county, and are here when we want a donation for some of the things that happen in our towns, schools and county. Lets remember who helps us, lets keep our dollars, and taxes here where they w ill do US the most good. -- Kay Jeffs Castle Dale - ' Letters to the editor should focus on public issues rather than private personalities or entities. All submissions must be verified prior to publication. The Emery County Progress reserves the right to edit letters not only to satisfy space constraints, ' ' but potential liability concerns. -. - - . -- Battling the Video Club Cult By JAMES L DAVIS There is a vast horde of people suffering and in need of help. They could be your neighbors, your friends, perhaps even members of your own family. You may be completely unaware of their painful struggle to break awray from a vast and all pow erful cult which slowly sucks away their will to go to the local Post Office. I am of course talking about those helpless victims who have fallen prey to the Cult of the Video and CD Music Clubs. I know first hand of the pain they endure because, though it shames me to admit it, I am a member of this evil cult. Those who have enlisted in the army of the Video and CD Music Club Cult do so unwittingly, of course. They fall victim to the cult most often during a visit to the Post Office, which is how my family was first recruited. It all started harmlessly enough 1 thought, but that was until 1 realized the devilishly brilliant design the cult has to draw recruits. My daughter loves to get mail, but because she is too young to start enjoying the thrill of receiving bills, she does not get mail everyday. So I let her be in charge of going through the junk mail to see if there is anything of interest in there before we throw it away. One night she came to me and with the gleeful gleam in her eye reserved for Christmas and birthdays, she showed me a flyer which proclaimed that we could.get 1 1 videos for only one penny (plus shipping and handling)! I should have known better, I know, but I let my children go through and pick out some videos and we sent the information back and then another flyer came, this one offering 11 CDs for a penny (plus shipping and handling) and my son pointed out that w e had several CD players in the house but only a few CDs, so we joined that club as well and when the CDs arrived there was more dancing and laughing. It was all so easy All I had to do was watch the mail and the clubs would send me a little card asking me if I wanted that months featured selection. If I didnt, all I had to do was send it back! What could be easier than that? Well, the problem was, I always forgot to send back those little cards, so the videos and CDs just kept coming and I discovered that those monthly selections were, well they were dang expensive if you ask me. But the joy I remember seeing on my childrens faces when they unwrapped the videos they havent watched yet was enough to keep me from realizing the web being spun around me. But it wasnt enough to just be a member of a CD club and a video club. It wasnt enough because we bought a DVD player for Christmas. And somehow, somehow the Video and CD Music Club Cult knew this, because they sent me another Dyer, this time offering 11 DVDs for only a penny (plus shippingand handling), so we joined that one as well. Now on any given day I can expect to receive from one to three videos, CDs or DVDs in the mail. After draining my checking account paying for CDs, DVDs and videos I didnt really want I realized that we had be caught in a trap, a trap that must be fought. So I started sendingthe DVDs, CDs and videos back. But leaving a cult is never that easy. Because after doing this for a number of months I received a letter from the clubs which told me more or less that they were not happy with me sendingthe CDs, DVDs and videos back and that if I didnt wrant the selections, I should return the cards they mail to me and tell them so. So I started doing just that, but it didnt help. The CDs, DVDs and videos just kept coming until I became afraid to go to the Post Office. I was afraid that they might realize I no longer wanted to be a member and they w'ould be waiting for me there, waitingwith more offers I couldnt refuse. It is an endless, spiraling cycle that those who have fallen prey to the cults must fight with all their strength. I wasnt sure where to turn or what to do, but I think I may have finally found the answer. Just the other day I received a flyer which stated I could obtain a self-hel- p book on how to break away from cults plus four other selections of my choosing for only a penny (plus shipping and handling). Im saved. . JP J. .1 Ji Transforming Negative Energy Did you see the comic strip of a few months ago where the adult stops two boys from fighting. He tells them to act your age. They reply, But were only eight. The adult says, I mean, stop acting like adults. We could list the myriad of things that cause violence among us from things we are directly taught as children, to those we indirectly take in from the world around us at every age. Relationship experiences, or the lack of them, also may bring us to feel like acting violently and think it the right thing to do. We want to remember that violence is not always physically hurting someone. It often is hurting someone emotionally or psychologically Violence is a release of strong inner feelings that need to get out. But there are many other ways to release those feelings, ways that may be helpful to another or at least neutral, not hurtful. Children can gradually begin to learn these helpful outlets from little on, if their parents practice and teach them. There is nothingwrong with the feelings that lead to violence. So it is essential, as we noted a few weeks ago, that the person be able to admit non-viole- ' waited. When the videos arrived it was a day of great joy in our house. We danced, we laughed, we could not believe the great bounty that hat arrived through the mail to our home. We unwrapped our videos and put them on the shelves with the other hundred or so videos we never watch and life was good. But HOMEMADE By PAULA WELLNITZ t, spent money in it. But I will not buy any more groceries there, we have great grocery stores in our own I towns, after I had been to came home and compared some of the prices there, and at Stewarts, guess what? Stewarts were within a few cents, and in some cases cheaper, I found several things t, than better priced here in our county, Ferron, Orangeville and Huntington, also have good stores, with great Wal-mar- It's outrageous! Iraq and Venezuela are creating another oil shortage! that a feeling exists, even aloud to another, as a beginning of releasing the energy From there she can use one or more appropriate means to engage the energy available from that feeling. Lets look at some of the positive things you can demonstrate to your child after recognizing the existence of a strong feeling like; anger, hurt, frustration, being belittled, etc. Sometimes a first thing is to get away from the person or place where that feeling is aroused, if possible. This gives you time to calm down, be able to think, in order to decide how ' best to deal with the person or situation. At the same time. Or if you cannot get away, begin to let your breath come in very slowly and deeply into your body This will relax you and enable you to think more clearly. We will choose the things we can do to keep ourselves from acting violently by chosing according to our situation at the time, e.g. being at work or in school or at home, etc., and how long the feeling lasts. Some we might decide on are like the following: We can write down our feelings and why we feel that way, especially if we have no one to talk to. Because the feeling is a rising of energy, we can use it to do exercise, e.g. do aerobics, take a walk, shoot baskets. We can get some physical work done, We can transform the energy so that, rather than using it against another person(s), we act positively to help others in need. That could be things like helping with Habitat for Humanity or helping someone who had difficulty learning or ?. If there is a particular thing we like to do or if we have a hobby we can use this also to positively direct our energy That is where things like drawing, coloring, playing a musical instrument come in. If one listens to music, it is well to be aware whether any words in the songs may encourage violence. Such songs are not helpful even when we do not have negative feelings. See how these ideas work for you. If you have any others, lets talk about them. There are more. Our will make striving to be for happy families in a more peaceful world. non-viole- nt (poor copv |