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Show ~ EDITORIALS DAILY HERALD DailySHerald Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor Nancy Hale, Public adviser Carole Newkirk, Public adviser Jason Bellows, Public adviser . IN OUR VIEW Explore Utah this summer — ith gas prices continuing to go up by leaps and ; more than afew . Utahns arewondering whereto go this summer. A trip out of state could be unaffordableif gasoline goes higher than $3-$4 a gallon. Evenairline tickets will be more expensive as aviation fuelprices increase. So, whatto do? Just sitting around the back yardis not exactlythe ideal vacation. The ideaof a vacationis to get away from home, see something different. tion in Fairfield for riders carrying mail between Sacramento,Calif., and St. Joseph, Mo. There are a few honky-tonk things along the roadless trav__eled in Utah, such as the Hole ‘n’ The Rock House, a home carved _out of a redrock mountain, and Four Corners, where even Callista Flockhart can have herposterior in parts of four states simultaneously. While going to those attractions gives people license to say they've been there, donethat, those who do get to see some great sceneryalong the way How many of us have truly How aboutspending your vacation right here in Utah? While the state spends a lot of time and energy and get exposureto an- other culture while driv- ing through the Ute and Navajo reservations, ~ Chow about stopping at Arches, Monument Valley, Zion, Bryce Canyon or Canyonlands and explored all the wonders idents to come here, how see surreal landscapes manyofus havetruly our ee has and the forces of nature ? at work? While Archesis explored all the wonders mone? best knownforits wellour state has to offer? established landmarks Too often, people on the Wasatch Front tend to like Delicate Arch and the view the rest of the state as terra Windows,onecanalso see other ignognita,just a thing that gets in arches in the formativestages. the way whenone drives from ProJust touring one of these places vo to Wendover, Yellowstone or can give one an understanding why Las Vegas.But those blank spots on photographer Ansel Adams spent the road maparefilled with some his career capturing the landscape interesting things. of the American Westonfilm. Tothe north,there is Golden Plus, at night thestellar displays Spike National HistoricSite at are absolutely breathtaking. The Promontory Summit. It was Milky Way andindividual stars there on May 10, 1869, that the standoutclearly when oneis far engineering marvel known as the from thecity lights. Transcontinental Railroad was Places like Hovenweepand Dicompleted with the hammering nosaur national monumentsoffer in ofthe golden spike. While the ° a taste of Utah's pre- and early original golden spikeis at Stanford history. How often does one get a University, the Utah historicsite chanceto pitch a tent within sight offers re-creations of the event and of-Anasaziruins or down the road a visitor's center explaining the from FremontIndian pictographs? history ofthe railroad, including Also at Dinosaur, one can see the someoriginal rails from the line. wonders that greeted explorer For those with four-wheel-drive John Wesley Powell as he ran the vehicles, thereis a driving tour Green Riverto the Colorado. alongthe original transcontinental Thenicething is mostof these rail route. attractions are no more than a attracting out-of-state res- Locally, we have Camp Floyd outin Fairfield. Just before the Civ- il War. Camp Floyd was the home ofthe largest U.S. Army force then assembled in peacetime,sent out to deal with an imaginary Mormon rebellion. The state park highlights this piece of Utah history as well as the Pony Express, which had a sta- | Busdrivers deserve | Fespect, not scorn I had to wonder what paper was delivered to my doorstep Feb. 16, when I saw the extra large headline, “Kids left on school bus — again.” | This must be breaking news,I | thought. But I knew that the incident | happened one full week before it was reported. | | | | | | | | | tank of gas or two away. It saves money, plus it also helps Utah's economy. Many of the towns near these sites depend upontourists, andit would help them to spend your money there than outside the state. i As gas prices goup, think about exploring Utah this summer. | , MEDIA VOICES | al. The greater problemis placing | | | so much emphasis ona test thatis ackin the 1930s, when col- legesfirst started using the SAT,its purpose was egalitarian:to identify bright but poor young students for scholarships and makean elite university education available to those beyond the moneyed class. vulnerable to being coached and sayslittle about a student’sability to succeedin college. SATprepclasses and tutoring, whichcan cost thousandsofdollars, can help studentsraise their scores by crucial couple hundred points on a 2,400-point exam. But studies have found that the SAT, onits own,is no better, and quite possibly weaker,at indicating future academic success than system it was intended to break. a student's grades,class rank, Instead of helping colleges and uni-* courseworkorother information versities discover newtalent, it has that colleges commonlytake into becomejust another credential for account. privileged kids to fight over. It is time to consider whether the Andfight they do. Earlier this test has outlived its usefulness. month, a student in New York Several elite schools have semifiled a lawsuit, now class acabandoned the SAT. At Mount tion, against the College Board, Holyokein Massachusetts, one of which owns the SAT,saying he the prestigious Seven Sisters colgot a lower score than he deserved leges, applicants havethe option of becausehis test was incorrectly not submitting their SAT scores. graded. Almost half a million stuObviously, students who submit dents took the test last October, their scores did well onthe test. andthe boardsays about 5,000 Yet follow-up studies there and at received incorrect scores. (About other colleges have found that both 600 of them got higher marks than sets of students do equally well in they should have. Naturally, none college. of them are suing.) , It’s encouraging that some Troubling as these mistakes are colleges and universities have — andit's likely that many othreached the conclusionthatthe test ers are never discovered because isn’t so importantafterall. If only the College Board charges $50 to high schoolstudents, andtheir pardouble-check a test — errorsin the ents, could convince themselves of admissions process are not unusu- that too. | | Howtimes change. Instead of being the great equalizer, the SAThas becomea linchpin of the DOONESBURY- Garry Trudeau 50 YOUGOTA CHILL UN- Tit YOU MAKE CONTACT. » Gaylin W.Rollins, Orem Tam concerned about extending day- performance predictor — From the Los Angeles Times, = The next day the Daily Herald has the audacity to editorialize this incident with slanderous views. “Criminal charges for idiots.” “Leaving a child on a bus ought tobea felony. Any bus driver who acts with careless disregard for the children in his care oughtto face the prospect of prison.” Alpine SchoolDistrict transports at least 30,000 students every school‘day. The drivers are nearly all parttime workers who perform this duty for minimal pay. Driving a bus loadof 40-plus studentsis nopicnic. Could webe little more Christian to someone who makes an honest mistake? Why sensationalizeit, thereby making morepeople question whether they ever want to drive a schoolbus? Year-round daylight-saving timerisk too great for kids SATfailing test as college April 24, 2006 LEHI'S BRANCHES Of GOVERNMENT | | | | light-saving iimeto year-round. Whileliving in South Dakota in the 1970s, the year-round daylight-saving timewas tried. The experiment was abandoned quickly dueto one big problem children wererequired to go to schoolin near darkness. The danger to children was deemed too great a risk to take. In the Provo-Orem area,the early morning darkness would be a danger to children on their way to school. On Jan.1, according to the Daily Herald's weather page, the sunrise occurred at about 7:45 a.m.If we were observing daylight-saving time, sunrise would not be until 8:45 a.m.It would once again be necessary for children to make their way to school in near darkness. _ Inconvenience is a very small price to pay forthe life of even one child who. could be hit by a vehicle or fall prey to a predator ontheir way to schoolin the ‘k. I think the current system, while | sometimes a nuisance, is better than ex- | tending it year-round. | » Carolyn Schlosser, Orem | Civilization hangs on population that can read | | |, | I often wonder what scares me the most about the slow downfall that we see in generations of children to come. Overthe course of growing up and going to school a sadreality set in on me:This nation does not read. All through high school and even at work I have been asked why I read so much. It seems that when someone reads, they should always havea reason other than just wanting to read. In school, the reminder of this was English class when reading out loud and a studenthadto sound out the word, “because.” This was not sixth grade,it was 12th grade. Have we become afraid of knowledgeor learning from anything besides the TV? Whatwill happen whenourfuture generations bring an Orwellian nightmareto life and no longerreadatall? That will be the day in which even George Orwell himself will be unknown. That worries me. » Jared Sorensen, Springville Fundamentalists do disservice to religion, human knowledge The current worldwidestrife suggests it’s time for mainstream religions to disassociate themselves from their fundamentalist factions. All religious fundamentalismis like a cancer onsociety. It is mired in bigotry, opposed to democracy and breeds vio-. lence. Christian fundamentalist sects are no ion. White male inati spawned andcontinues to foster racism, sexism and homophobic bigotry.It also moralistically tries to restrict scientific thinking and research, plus equality and a of choice in our secular democ- Violence also manifests itself in our culture,althoughless frequently in re- of fumarase deficiency among thechildren of polygamist families in Southern Utah and Northern Arizonaandthat this is caused by inbreeding among close relatives. You state that he has found “another wayto overstate the painfully obvious.” I didn’t know that there was this problem so it wasn't “obvious to me.” If it was so obvious, why did you bother to printit? Dr. Tarby was merely stating his findings about this groupof children. He found that there was an abnormally highincidenceofthis disease among thesechildren andthat it was caused by inbreeding. Was he supposed to keep silent about his findings? It was petty toridicule him for stating the facts about this medical problem.If he had merely stated the problem without giving the cause, the Herald would havecriticized him for that. Dr. Tarby has beentreating these children who livein these closed communities and has foundthatthere is a medical problem andhas stated the cause. Please give credit wherecredit is due. A ¥ Steve Casazza, CedarHills How to comment | E-mail letters to dhletters@heraldextra.com Mail to P.O. Box 717, Provo, UT 84603. centhistory. As fundamentalism becomes increasingly irrelevant, no doubt our society » Letters must include the author'sfull name, address and daytime phone number. peaceful. ‘ 100 and 200 words.Letters maybe edited for length. » Because of the volume ofletters, will become more mature, loving and : » LeonardS.Ridley, Seaige Doctor deserves 2 : . Beehive for ‘3 noting disease-inbreeding link On Feb.11, the Daily Herald “award- ed” a buffalo chip to Dr. Theodore Tarby » Weprefershorterletters, be isarcane unpublished letters. Letters become the property of the Daily Herald. for announcing thatthere is an outbreak MALLARDFILLMORE- Bruce Tinsley |