OCR Text |
Show Sunday, January 13, 1980. THE HERALD. Provo, Utah—Page 45 pintons: What the Herald thinks, what the columnists say and what our readers think LetterstoThe Herald Editorial Briefs Beware, Tess, She Says Editor, Herald In my 1943 scrapbook I havethe article from The Daily Herald when Richard R_ Lyman whowas one of the 12 Apostles for the LDS Church was excommunicated Next to it I have a story from a Sunday School magazine about a leaning pine tree in Provo Canyon. It was a tall powerful influential noble tree that Sheltered many small young trees After it fell, they found it was in. fested inside with disease. When it fell it crushed and bent many young trees that had idolized it and depended on it for strength and protection. Dec. 13 1 was shocked and saddenedtoreadtheletterto the editor from Adrienne (Tess) Morris about the excommunication of Sonia Johnson. Mrs. Morris is an Orem High School English teacher. About two years ago she wrote some very strongopinions disagreeing with the “Citizens for Decency’’ who were trying to get Provo to adopt a stronger movie code and ban ‘‘Look- ing for Mr. Goodbar’’ which was playing at a Provotheater at that time. 1 have known Mrs. Morris since she moved here from Idahoto go to the BYU. A year or so after she married her high school sweetheart hestarted to workfor us atour State Licensed Raw Milk Dairy in Orem Later they bought our “Interchange Dairy.’ Because I have known them for so many years I am concerned for Mrs. Morris and her family 1 wonder how long it has been since she put her hand upte sustain the church authorities and how long since she attended a temple session I sincerely hope she remembers the things she valued a few years ago beforeit is too late. Yes, I am very concerned for Mrs Morris and her familybut I am even more concerned for the students she influences each day.It is discouraging and disillusioning to a young person to see their ideal crash at their feet. Adrienne (Tess) I am saying this to you as friend. You are treading on dangerous ground! Beware! Mrs. Ruth B. Blair 4 S. 560 E. Orem Bateman Strains Point Editor, Herald Dr. Bateman’sletterto the editor of Jan. 1, is untrue. ridiculous, and will not stand up undercritical examination. He admits he “finds it difficult to write with objective restraint.’ He certainly did, and thereis too much nonsense and bombast to answerin oneletter. However, when he claims, ‘‘The General Authorities the most Godlike, able and strongest in- dividuals to live on earth,’ he does not adhere to the truth and facts. Whosedefinition of ‘*Godlike”’ is he using? The Mormons’ or the dictionary’s? Joseph Smith gave four conflicting accounts of his First Vision; obviously three of them, or all of them, are not true. He described the inhabitants of the moon in detail. Either he, or Moroni lied to us when he told of the calamities to take place immediately preceding the Millennium to take place in Joseph Smith's own generation.” (P. of G.P. Jos. Sm 2:45) Bateman says, ‘They (the Mormon General Authorities) are among God's hardest working spiritual giants in the earth who are amply qualified to walk and converse with the Holy Trinity.” Prophet and President Spencer W. Kimball admits to a completely different version. In the beginning of Mormonism, Joseph Smith allegedly appealed to God for wisdom in response to the offer in James 1:5, which says: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all menliberal- ly, and upbraideth not; andit shall be given him.”” But 160 years later when President Spencer W. Kimball, using that samescripture, asked of God for wisdom — contrary to Dr. Bateman’scontention, Kimball got no answer. God did not speak to Kimball; He did not even send an angel with a message. Kimball says he prayed to God, in the temple, “day after day - for many months.” All he ended up with was‘‘a deep unassailable impression.'’ This is Kimball's own confession found in the church’s pamphlet, Reader's Digest, July 1979, page 7. Is this what‘‘revelation’ amounts to today in the Mormon Church - completely negative? It appears so. Andall the perfection, virtues and holiness Bateman ascribes to the Mormon General Authorities, if true, will Dr. Bateman please explain to us the Mormonscriptures that says: “‘It shall come to pass that the inhabitants of Zion shall judge all things pertaining to Zion. And liars and hypocrites shall be proved by them. And they who are not apostles and prophets (right among the General Authorities) shall be known.” (D/C 64:38-39) Dr. Bateman charges, apostates and people who differ with the MormonChurch,‘‘cannotbe trusted to tell the truth since they seem to be prompted by Satan."’ The angel Moroni was not an apostate, nor prompted bythe Devil, - or was he? Heallegedly looking forward in vision to our day, and this is what he said he saw about the Mormon Church. ‘Ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches (Compare their costly, elaborate new Ward houses today with their care of their Senior Citizens) more than ye love the Poor, and the needy, and the sick andtheafflicted. O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers who sell yourselves for that which will canker, Why have ye polluted the holy church of God?’’ (Mormon 8:37-38) Dr. Bateman, we await your answer for us, and for Moroni. Sincerely for truth G. T. harrison 836 W. 6th S. Orem Production Called ‘Super’ Editor, Herald: Because I read an extended review in Sunday's Herald on the" Nutcracker.” I must write to tell you of a super production I saw (twice) over the holidays. It was The Nutcracker put on by Utah State Training School in American Fork and was absolutely terrific! David Brockbank, writer and director, andhis staff did a tremendous job. The costumesand scenery were so beautiful, a testimony to the dedication and hard workof the people up there. After the Nutcracker camethe Nativity which was equally ‘Beautifully told and portrayed.” The approximately 350 participants were absolutely wonderful. Myfriends andI left with such a glow of the ChristmasSpirit that I highly recommendit to anyone. If you ever have the opportunity to see the Training School's Christmas or Spring Production, don't missit! Here is a positive side of what your tax dollars are going for. This school is ene of best in the country and the performances of these special children proveit. Sincerely, Vera M. Harding Rt. 1, Box 49 Pleasant Grove Catch Bees with Honey Editor, Herald: Jimmy Carter President of the United States White House, Washington, D.C Dear Mr. President: Thinking on the theory that honey will catch morebees than vinegar, I have wondered if you might profit by changing your attitude toward Iran. Would it beinconsistentto of- fer the Ayatollah Khomeim: 5,000 medium-sized tractors with twoway plows attached and 5,000 pickup trucks in exchange for our hostages? I have neverfelt that we have a quarrel with the Iranian people. If the Ayatollah is in the least interested in the welfareof his people, he might be moved by suchanoffer. Since twisting the screws has only hardened their attitude, a changein our approach might be effective. Of course the terrorists who are occupying our embassy will cry ‘‘Foul — Bribery!"’ But the ancient kings and noblescalled it ransom, which, in the days of Richard II, was considered a legitimate operatun. So far in your negotiations we admire your couragea..d patience, but now it looks as if some other approach mightbe useful. Afghanistan is cu strategic to Russia, then the Unitec States President has full license to secure it's borders for strategic Provo City to Miss Leader ProvoCity lost one ofits greatest leaders this past week with the death of “Provo City Mother’’ Stella Harris Oaks. Not only did she overcome adversity to make a tremendous personal contribution to the betterment of her community, but she also perpetuated and expanded that contribution through the values and attitudes she passedon to her three children. Her personal contribution would have been considerable for any two people. After the death of her husband in 1940, she went back to school to get a master’s degree at Columbia University. She taught and was dean of women at Uintah High School in Vernal for six years before moving to Provo to become director of adult education and public relations for Provo City Schools. In that time she garnered such honors as Utah Mother of the Year, the Joseph F. Smith Family Living Award, Outstanding Womanof the Yearby the Utah Chapter of the American Association of University Women, the Sertoma Service to Mankind Award and an honorary life membership in the Darestveacher AsSociation. In her civic work, she was vice president and education chairmanof the Provo Senior Citizens, state director of the PTA, memberof the State Board of Health Advisory Board, twice elected to the BYU Alumni Association Board of Directors and serving as vice president and wasone of the foundersof the BYU Family Life Conference. She filled two terms on the Provo City Council and served as assistant mayor and acting mayor during that time. In her church work she served on the MIA General Board, eight years as Relief Society president in the BYU FourthStake, and for six years prior to her death was organizer and chairman of the Neighbor to Neighbor pilot program to serve the elderly. Her legacy of selfless service to others now lives on in her three children, BYU Pres. Dallin Oaks; Dr. Merrill C. Oaks, Provo ophthalmologist, and Mrs. Ross Hammond of Salt Lake City As wereflect on this life which has touched and improved so many other lives, we should wonder at the tremendous amount of Recognizing Obvious Fact A U.S. District Court judge finally has madeformala fact any first-year law student could recognize. The 1917 state law requiring newspapers to file an ownership statementwith the Secretary of State three months before any election is unconStitutional. The law, which holds Newspapers who don’t file such a statementcriminally liable if they publish any news coverage, editorial comment or advertising dealing with politics was a blatantly unconstitutional attempt to impose prior restraint on a free press. The furor arose out of an attempt by Washington County Attorney Paul Graf to notify publishers of three Washington County newspapersthat they were in violation of the obscure statute. Nowthat Judge Bruce S. Jenkins has recognized the obvious and declared the Statute unconstitutional, perhaps the voters of Washington County will prove equally capable of recognizing the obvious and retire Graf to another line of work if he should submit himself to them again as a candidate to be the county’s chief legal authority. About Letters: The Daily Herald welcomes letters to the editor on any subject of broad reader interest. Letters preferably should be type-written, double-spaced and not exceed 400 words (about two typed, doublespaced pages). Without exception, every letter must be signed in ink with the writter’s full name, home address and phone number (Phone numbers won't be published.) Names can be withheld for good reason but only after personal consultation with the editor. The editor reserves the right to edit any letter to removepotentially libelous material, material in poor taste and to makeletters conform to the length requirements. Length requirements can be waived in unusual cases where excess material provides exceptionally pertinentinformation orinsights on a matter of broad community interest. As nearly as possible,all letters ‘ which meet the above requirements will be published in the order they are received, although handwritten letters may be delayed for typing, and letters containing questionable Statements may be held back to be verified. good which could be done if each of us invested a tenth the moral, spiritual and ethical capital in our community that Stella Harris Oaks did in her all - too short 73 yearsin our midst. Are You These? America is that wonderful place where the people get to make the decisions, right? Wrong. America rapidly is becoming the place where the people can participate in the decisions but seldom Recently in Salt Lake City, the State Budget Office called a public hearing to receive comments on the expenditure of $14.1 million in federal revenue sharing funds. Onestate budget analyst and one reporter showed p. Fewpeople in their right minds would hand over even a $20 bill for someone else to spend in their interests without some instructions or direction, yet we seem perfectly willing to turn over $14 million to bureaucrats to spend in a vacuum. Last week, the Provo City Commission approved a 15 percent across-theboard in@bease in city electricity rates. All of five citizens showed up at the meeting to comment. It all comes back to a point madein this column before and one which the Herald will continue to drub into the public consciousness. If we don’t take the time to work for the kind of government we want, we end up with the kind of government we deserve. Julian Bond Black Demos Should Eye Bush COLUMBIA,S.C. (NEA) — Black Democrats afraid to embrace Sen. Edward Kennedy and reluctant to give incumbent Jimmy Carter a premature endorsement ought to take a cue from Republican candidate George Bush. The former CIA director has announced he may oppose GOPfrontrunner Ronald Reagan and his ag- grease foe, John Connally,in South ‘arolina's March 8 Republican primary. But unlike Reagan, whoexpects to garneratleast three-quarters of the delegates here (he won 27 of 36 in the 1976 contest), and Connally, whose refusal to accept federal matchingfundswill allow him to exceed the $434,000 spending limit on those who do take them, Bush plans to mount a campaign in no more than twoof South Carolina's six congressionaldistricts. While Reagan and Connallyslugit out, the lower-keyed Bush will concentrate his limited resources and perhaps accomplisha plurality victory over his better knownrivals. Bush's plan to run only where he believes he has strength sets an obvious example for black Democrats. Democratic and Republican primaries in Georgia, Alabama and Florida take place on March 11, three days after the South Carolina election. Black presidential candidates in each state could adopt the Bush's South Carolina strategy and capture uncommitted black delegates — whocould thenyield unusual influence at their party's nominating convention. Here's how the scenario would work: A well-knownfigure in each state — Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson in Georgia, Miami Commissioner Father Theodore Gibson or State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Hatchett in Florida, newly elected Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington or Pritchard Mayor A.J. Cooperin Alabama — could run for presidentin their states. They could win a sizable minority of each state's delegates. Georgia's Fifth Congressional District — largely Atlanta — is 44 percentblack. Its Second Districtis 37 percent black, Alabama's First District — including Cooper's small suburb, Pritchard — is 33 percent black. The Birmingham District, the Sixth, is 30 percent black. A sober note, however. Maynard Jacksonhasalready endorsed President Carter for re-election. Like other black mayors, Cooper and Arrington are likely to do the same. Hatchettis notlikely to abandon his newly woncourtseat for a chance to effect his party's nomination process. Reverend Gibson's age might makesuch a racedifficult for him. But if blacks adopted the Bush lan they could put both Edward ennedy and Jimmy Carter on notice that black Democrats expect more than airy promises in 1980. The candidate who wins uncommitted black delegate votes at the New York convention will have to make public Pledges he'll be forced to eep. In Puerto Rico on March16,in Illinois on March 18, in April Pemeries in New York, Virgina and ennsylvania, and through the California, New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia primaries in June, black Democrats have a remarkable chanceto win a significant number of the delegates who will choose between Carter. Kennedy and Brown. Paul Harvey Tourism Could Erase Deficit Sincerely yours, ilford D. Lee 874 N. 580 E. Provo Let’s Make Trade on Cuba Editor, Herald he recent occupation of Afghanistan by Russian troops: leads meto believe thal the United States should seriously consider the immediate occupation of Cuba. It the rationale for A EK purposes, namely Cuba. T would hopethat the Presidentof the United States and Congress would have the courage to support a policy which is absolutely noncapitulating to the designs of the USSR. Respectfully, Richard E. Drake 322 S. 350 E. Orem For Americansto travel overseas used to make sense. The American dollar was worth more — would buy more — in mostother countries. And those countries needed our dollars. Thatsituation is reversed now. Tourist money buys moregoodsin the United States and nowit is we who need international income. Yet our country is doing almost nothing to encourage foreign tourists to spend time and money here. International travel is a $155 billion business and the United States is getting less than 5 percentofit. If we could double the numberof foreign visitors to our country we would create 270,000 home-front jobs and we would erase $3 billion worth of red ink from our nation’s foreign wade deficit, and we could “knock some cents" back into the Yankee dollar. Yet little Belgium spends more moneyattracting tourists than we di 10. Canada spends twice as much as we do. The tourism business tends to employ more women and minorities; especially in the cities this could help solve a major un- employmentproblem. Louis Gerstner of American Express says the travelindustry in the United States is grossly underappreciated. It employs six times more people than the Post Office. It employs 50 times more people than our banking and insurance industries combined. And, says Gerstner, whereit costs $239,000 to create one new job in the auto industry, and $105,000 to create one new job in the steel industry, every $29,000 spent by tourists creates a new home-front job. And tourism is a solid, stable, reliable industry. It continued to grow even through each of our past three recessions, now accounts for 7 percent of our nation’s total employment Double that — and our nation is back in the black! How do we promote inbound tourism? Mr.Gerstner says since both our country and the travel industry would get a quick payback from increased tourism, both should contribute to promoting it with a National Tourism Corp. Congress has promised to think about it |