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Show Iayc 1 Jtlj.Vv Lakeside Ketiew, January IS, 19J11 Here Are ifo Free Pre ss First Place By JANET T. HARVEY . The free American press helps protect my freedom in two crucial areas: First, it stimulates awareness among concerned citizens by providing us with uncensored news and opinions and local events and of world-wid- e . political trends; second, the free American press provides a vital forum for the voice of the people. Through this media, perhaps more than any other way, private citizens can potentially affect changes concerning everyday issues and annoyances that alter the quality of our lives, homes, and physical environment. The following story illustrates the determination of .one angry housewife who enlisted her neighbors and directed their combined concerns to the press for several .months. Eventually a state senator took personal interest in the case, and through his legislative efforts, a giant corporation was at last persuaded to remove a public hazard. I was the housewife. This is my story: As usual I felt the familiar pulse of I apprehension I always had whenever I crossing on approached the three-trac- k town. That parto from or my way ticular night it was so dark it was even difficult to make out the dim outline of the boxcars parked on the center section. As the front wheels of my car were creeping onto the rough ties and rails, I muttered in anger at my inability to see up and down the track ; opposite the parked train, and at the i condition of poor repair of the crossing ' bed. An ominous light loomed to my ; left, piercing a segment of the darkness and rapidly growing larger yet still blending with other distant moving ! lights on the freeway that parallels then abruptly angles away from the tracks ; about a mile distant. My brain wailed It cant be a train! There is no ; panic: j signal! Automatic reflexes ignored my feeble grasp for logic and took in-- 1 stant command of my body. Miraculously I somehow jammed the car into reverse instead of park before the paralyzing surge of too much adrenalin. Sparce inches separated us from the pulverizing force of the huge steel monster that commanded the scene with sudden terrible speed and Thunder. Four diesel units roared Through the place where we had been jwhen.the errant crossbars at last began to drop and the red warning lights winked nonchalantly., I ; J A strange surrealism pervaded everything while the train rumbled by. I was oddly aware that the three silent children in the back seat were no longer chattering about their holiday movie. An unfamiliar pressure was swelling inside of my mind. There had been no whistle! I realized that if we had approached the rails from the blind side of the parked box cars I would have seen mo light at all! There would never have ;been the split second that saved us. The surrealism pervaded even moments later at home. I frantically dialed unsuccessfully every Union Pacific listing in Ogden and Salt Lake, after alerting the sheriff, to warn them lof the malfunctioning signal. It was tafter 11 p.m. and the July 24th state holiday. I tried a number I had tried before. At last a bored distant voice Whats yer answered and droned mame lady? After exclaiming that a mother and three small children had just escaped being crushed because JANET T. HARVEY there had been no signal (till too late) at the blind crossing, his reply triggered a metamorphosis in my mild character. After all lady, he drawled, you arent dead are you? And there would have been no witnesses to testify in our behalf, I murmured through clenched teeth. A neighbor, who had lost her only three children in a tragic accident on that same crossing thirty years before, listened patiently the next day to my angry account of our near tragedy, and she sadly replied, You cant fight the railroad! I was only more determined. Immediately I called a local TV action news reporter and he set events in motion that brought some startling results within the week. Before he aired his film story, however, he contacted a railroad public relations official who Our told him emphatically, . sophisticated crossing equipment NEVER malfunctions! The following day at noon and 6 p.m. there were short TV news vignettes about the crossing. The TV publicity struck a corporate d at nerve like an arrow Gulliver. The parked freight cars were removed and workmen installed new ties in the crossing bed and new strobe lights in the signal. The naive new fighting version of myself really believed that one shot of negative publicity had accomplished in five days what years of effort by others in the community had not. I congratulated myself prematurely. Soon another long string of freight cars again occupied the center rail, so close to the intersection that two vehicles could barely pass simultaneously. The public was forced to return to the dangerous game of Convinced it was only a matter of time before someone would be killed at that crossing, a group of well-aime- through documentation that this particular signal chronically did so. Just a few days prior to the November general election at a community Meet Your Candidate night, many of the contenders for state and local office pledged their support to resolve this problem if they were elected. Mr, Scott Mattheson, campaigning for governor, (on leave of absence for Union Pacific as their attorney general), declared before the voters that whether or not he was elected the following Tuesday, he would personally be in a position to see that the situation would be remedied at once. Again our congratulations were premature. In a meeting with railroad officials that followed the election a few days later, Governor Matthesons promise was apparently annulled. They argued money. We argued lives. Finally, one official who had remained aloof and omnipotent, lost his composure. That crossing is one of the safest in the state," he choked. No one has been killed there for thirty years. You people obviously dont realize what great cost is involved in operating a railroad. We cannot afford to abandon two thousand feet of storage area. The signal is safe. There is nothing more to say! A few days later I sat in the office of Utah State Senator Haven J. Barlow. I was armed with the bulging file of newsclippings, TV transcripts, and all the accumulated letters and affidavits. His interest, I soon learned, was not superficial. As an infant he had surcollision that vived a tragic train-ca- r had claimed the lives of his mother, his brother, an aunt and a young cousin. With our evidence, Senator Barlow began immediate legislative action. Within three more months, his efforts moved the parked boxcars seven hundred feet in both directions from the a compromise the intersection community could reasonably accept. The free press was our most effective tool that helped us collect the evidence that made possible the termination of long years of corporate intimidation thus preventing certain tragedy. Second Place . By CLARE L. GOLDSBERRY Basic to all freedoms is freedom of the press. In this freedom rests the preservation of our right to know, and knowledge is what makes us responsible, able to make sound decisions and judgements, and better able to govern our lives. The printed word is a powerful tool. Through the printed word men have been enslaved and freed, nations have fallen and new nations brought forth. The printed word has declared war and proclaimed peace, denounced tyranny and pledged allegiance to democracy. From the printed word men have learned of the doctrines of God, of the ideologies of man. We have glimpsed hope for the future as well as gleaned lessons from the past. In print we can read of the evil designs of tyrants or we can touch minds with those who would lay tyranny to rest' and restore freedom. There are those in this country who would seek to put an end to the right of a free press for some. Under the banner of righteousness they crusade to put an end to any of the printed word they feel does not measure up to their standards. They cry for the right to decide who can print and who cannot print, seeking to be judge and jury in the name of protecting us from evil influences that would infiltrate our minds. Little do they realize that the vilest of all influences are those which would perpetrate upon us limits to our free press in the form of censorship. Can any one group or any one person be entrusted with so great a responsibility as censoring the printed word? The right to a free press is the safeguard for a free nation. Those nations of the world who have suffered as teen-ager- s I think that the press should be able to iprint what they feel. They also should Jbe allowed in every court room there is. When you watch TV, you dont really receive all the facts when you see pictures someone has drawn. I have felt jtrongly about fighting the laws and allowing cameras and TVs in the court grooms, ,Xhe main reason I really have . . Don t involve me in your petty bickering that we Third Place (Tie ) By CHRISTOPHER PAGE The ability to pick up a newspaper and read news which is true and free from restrictions is one of the greatest gifts that we, as citizens of a free nation, enjoy. This gift is very important to the upkeep of our democratic form of government, and is one of the many things which safeguards our freedom. This is true because, if we are to be responsible citizens, we must be on top of the issues so that we know what our government is doing, how are elected representatives making decisions, and how our country stands in world affairs. If our government was to control the press, we would find out only what they wanted us to know, and the level of truth in these reports would be tightly controlled by the government, much as what happens today in most Communist countries. Our Constitution gives the press the right to print what they want through the first amend1 ment. Because of this our countrys newspapers are the best, cheapest and easiest way to obtain the vital inBRENDA NAPPLES formation we need in order to remain responsible and free citizens of the been grateful for the press is that it United States of America. Our freedom is protected by the press gives an opportunity, when I feel I need to express feelings to foster parents, its because they let us know what is really allowed. Sometimes I wonder what it happening and whom is responsible for would be like if government controlled it, good or bad. This allows us to be free it. We wouldnt be able to have such because it insures that elected officials letters in the newspaper. There will be kept on their toes and do their probably wouldnt be news of any in- best to make sure the legislation passes terest. Sometimes, we as people, need will be in our best interests, because articles. We wouldnt they realize that if they dont the press good have special sections in the paper such will let us know about it. as sports, womens section, etc. So as I Freedom of the press also insures my A FREE PRESS freedom because it lets me know if said before SAFEGUARDS MY FREEDOM. something is coming up that I should certain issue that I am interested in. not have been based on fact, but Im For example, one of the biggest issues almost certain that it hurt chances for facing Utahns today is the decision the release of the American hostages, whether or not to base the MX missile because of Iranian fear of U.S. military system in the Great Basin area of Utah reprisals. If the editorials had been and Nevada. If I were to read a paper based on a true story, it would have sent whose editors oppose basing the MX U.S. fnilitary strategists back to the here, I would find out that most of the drawing boards in search of a new plan. reports and editorials would center on Another example of abuse of the free the negative aspects: the en press is the use of obscenity and child vironmental impact, the surge in pornography. The use. of nudity in population, land rights, etc. While if I magazines may be all right if judged were to read a paper whose editors not to be obscene, but the exploitation of favored basing the MX here, I would an individual or the use of children is a Third Place (Tie) ;wouldnt learn as much. Alot of people fsay TV and magazines are trash, but I think that is how we learn. . neighbors and myself began an Clifford G. Oshel I also feel that we If the freedom to worship is to be kept alive, the press must be free to keep alive the scriptures and doctrines of or do now suffer under the weight of religion. If the right to assemble is to be' tyranny can testify that a major the press must be mainmaintained, prelude to a takeover by a dictator is tained as an instrument of information enslavement of the press followed ' assemblies. concerning of the destruction traditional closely by to If the right to petition is exist there literature. Great literature is destroyed must also exist the freedom of the press smut so the in the done and alongside to to make known, those publish, name of protecting the people. The ; petitions. of the word from altering printed broad-basemulti-side- d The day that the nations presses go points of view to a narrow, closed-poin- t aspect is silent, the light of freedom shall cease gradual. Unfortunately, by the time the to shine in the hearts and minds of all people realize what has happened, their Americans. For freedom to endure a freedom is lost. free press must endure. To safeguard these freedoms now and for future Never must the mistake be made in generations, the press must be free of America of thinking that a trickle of the bonds of censorship in any form. censorship is necessary, or we shall Keeping a free press is everyones find ourselves drowning in the torrents , responsibility. Indeed, it becomes our of a literary massacre. The thing to duty to see that no one person, or group fear is not what comes off the presses in of persons, ever puts the ax of cenAmerica, but what will cease to be sorship into the presses of America. CLARE L. GOLDSBERRY unrelenting effort through the press. We became a kind of knot of burrs in the railroads fur for the next three months, asking the company to move the parked freight cars back one thousand feet in both directions. The company remained silent. However, public response increased with our publicity and our file began to bulge with notarized affidavits of similar near-missat the crossing. Incredibly, all except one had occurred since July 24. Railroad officials continued to deny there could be a signal malfunction while it became more and more obvious do have our freedom of speech. By BRENDA NAPPLES Let me begin by telling you who I am and how I feel about a free press. I am seventeen and a senior at Davis High School. I have been in twelve different homes (foster), and have just recently learned how to really love someone and be able to accept their love in return. iAnd the reason is the press. Its hard for line to express the thoughts and thanks I have for people. So I came up with the idea, I was going to write to an editor of a nearby newspaper. I wanted to express my feelings to my foster parents hnd also my social worker. I felt at that jtime, that would be the only way to express my feelings. I Now to get on with the subject. I feel Jhat without the opportunity of doing nhis, things would have gotten worse. I Iwas so grateful that the newspaper was !able to publish it. iki ' train-roulett- e. A free press proves 1 L :. printed if censorship is allowed. The right to a free press must be preserved, not in part for some, but in its entirety for all. Taking some small measure of this freedom away from a few, puts freedom of the press in jeopardy for all. One of the most effective ways to control a nation is to control the press. A people fed on morsels of knowledge and tid bits of information, have little chance of ever governing themselves. Tyrants easily govern the ignorant. If the freedom to speak is to be preserved, the press must be free to print that which has been said. Where the freedom to write and print has been limited, the freedom to speak will not , be tolerated either. CJv . probably find most of the reporting leaning toward the positive aspects: it is vital to our national defense, it is desperately needed to update our Minuteman ICBM force. present-da- y Because we have papers which feel one way or the other on most major issues, we should read both papers so that we can base our opinions on all aspects of an issue. This way we can become . CHRISTOPHER PAGE responsible citizens and let our representatives know . how we feel based on decisions which are not hasty and have been given careful consideration. If the press was controlled by the government we would find out only what they wanted us to know. We would have almost no backing for our arguments against what the government wanted, and consequently, we would lose much of our freedom. There is also a dark side to a free press. For example, the press can sometimes publish a report which can be damaging to our nations defense. This happens when the report leaks a military secret, much like what Jack Anderson did when he wrote a series of editorials outlining a U.S. plan to invade Iran. These editorials may or may . know about. For instance, if the city planned to hpve a meeting to decide whether or not to zone the area around my neighborhood commercial and allow developers to build a shopping mall across the street, I could attend the meeting with a group of neighbors to voice our opinion and make certain that our best interests are put into consideration. The third example of how a free press protects my interests is the way newspapers can give me all sides or views of an issue. Since some newspapers are run by liberals, some by moderates and some by conservatives, I can read different newspapers to get all of the views on a . flagrant abuse of the freedom of the press and only hurts the credibility of everyone else involved with the press. People who abuse the press in such a manner should be spoken out against by other publications or boycotted by people who would like to keep the press a credible organization and able to continue on in the freedom they enjoy. If publications are brought to court, such as the man who wanted to print an article on how to build a hydrogen bomb, then some restrictions could be imposed and some of the presss : freedoms lost. The last example is the opportunity to speak out through the papers editorial page. This enables me to let others know how I feel about a certain issue and it gives me the opportunity to know how others feel through their letters. This surely protects your freedom because it lets us discuss our views without fear of Big Brother finding out and censoring our reports because we have our freedom of the press. Our free press and everything else about our great nation may not be perfect, but as far as Im concerned, its the best system. this world has. |
