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Show 2 THE GREEN SHEET Thursday, April 14, 1988 Community Is The Key To Breaking Child Abuse Chain OUR READERS WRITE Keep Kids rr ii iu uie April is Child Abuse Prevention Month in Utah. Graphic television footage of an abuse situation uncovered in Orem recently helped to focus the attention of everyone on this most heinous of criminal activity that is taking place virtually before our eyes. A concerned neighbor alerted authorities to the situation and the involved children have been placed in protective custody for 30 days. It is not the first offense for the alleged perpetrator. Last year Utah child welfare agencies investigated over 11,000 alleged cases of child abuse, the overwhelming majority being neglect. They found about 5,000 actual victims. Under existing laws, only seven percent of those were considered serious enough to warrant removal from the situation. Most social service experts agree that the number of cases actually investigated is only the tip of the iceberg. Many believe the laws permitting removal are too soft. Certainly in- tense counseling at the very least should be required for any person who abuses a child. Although the agencies believe abuse is on the upswing, the number of reports last year EDITORIAL actually declined. Many citizens hesitate to get involved, lest they be guilty of turning in a false report. However, a concerned neighbor might be the lone chance of "breaking the chain." Although an attempt was made to pass a law that would punish people who turned in false child abuse reports, a wise legislature did not pass that law. Children have too few rights in our society. Many are defenseless victims of some of the most awful treatment imaginable. Most of those who abuse were victims themselves. It is only through a concerned community that this chain is going to be broken. If it means reporting our suspicions to appropriate authorities, we must do it. As the events of Aprils observance focuses attention upon this problem, the Green Sheet urges those who might suspect abuse to take courage in hand and involve themselves. You might save the life of a child or at least have a positive impact on the next generation. Student Sticky Issue For Boards Travel Is A j.1 - In School . euiirOr, In reference to the "Says She" column (Mar. 24) concerning problem student, the kids that Michele Bartmess was talking about will only become a larger problem if they are kicked out of school. Uneducated adults have a harder time finding jobs. Will these people just go away by ignoring them? Without a source of income, tney will get welfare (paid by taxes) to support themselves, or perhaps go into crime. Either way the community will pay. Eventually, someone living on welfare will cost taxpayers more money than sending a problem kid to school. Crime, of course hurts everyone: stores raise prices after burglaries to cover losses, parents are affected by criminals selling drugs to their children, and the children using drugs are hurt, many turning into the problem that Ms. Bartmess was referring to. Educating and preparing kids for the future is the job of the school system. If public schools are to reap the benefits of educating people, they must try their best to educate everyone. The undereducated make less money and, therefore, pay less taxes. Thats lost money for schools, which only compounds the how to balance a checkbook and relate to other business people to bring jobs to Utah. Its refreshing to see someone other than an attorney and career politician seek office. Sincerely, E.R. Benson Bowling Alley Needed To the Editor: I have lived in Sandy for many years and havent seen a bowling alley here. It is a fun sport and lots of people in Sandy would enjoy having such a place built in Sandy. There have been a lot of requests for permits to build one but the developers have lost interest in it. We travel quite a distance to bowl in Midvale or Salt Lake. Maybe lots of others would like to have a place to take the family or friends to bowl or enjoy a league. Sandy is growing and we need this extra time out to enjoy the game of bowling. If we need approval for this lets get behind Sandy officials. Bill Walton Sandy Laundromat Wanted problem. problem students are only Many of the kids looking for attention. Some, though, are crying out for help. Maybe a student has been abused, either physically or emotionally. He wants people to notice and like him because he has such a low What happens when the school calls him a nuisance and kicks him out? Will he get himself the help that he so badly needs? The school can give him this help, but they will have to learn to recognize these kids. If not, the student will stay 'embittered toward society and life. They may not get jobs, adding to the heavy burden on the state. If the school does help the child, he may go on to succeed in life, paying back the school system with his taxes. Dear Editor: . Dont you think that us poor people in Kearns deserve a laundromat. There was one tiny one and now it is gone. Someone please put one in. It could be a gold mine. There are plenty of new buildings that are unused that could make a nice new place. self-imag- e. C. Daniel Kearns The Green Sheet welcomes contributions readers for either Letters to the Editor or As See It. Letters should be confined to a length of about 250 words and not contain libelous comments. They must be signed and must be received in our office no later than 10 a.m. Tuesday for publication that week. Longer correspondence may be used as As See It commentaries on a space available basis. Primary consideration will be given to those submitted by people with expertise in the topic about which they write. A brief description of that expertise may ac- from I Tammy Ishimatsu West Valley From time to time, you see the subject "student travel" appear on a school board agenda. Supports Snelgrove Its a subject some people tend to get emotional about. No doubt, unless I tread right down the middle of the road, were going to get some letters and phone calls. Some will say Im way off base and others will say it isnt tough enough. When school boards or administrators try to deal with the issue, they get the same mixed from the signals I too see at least can community. two sides of the issue. Im glad I dont have to set policy on the Dear Editor: In todays mail I received a letter, as I am sure many others did, from Richard Snelgrove who stated his intention to run for congress. I feel he is just what Utah needs at this time. His experience as a businessman, opening new stores, creating jobs paying taxes, fighting with the "events" On the one side you have the school patrons who feel that student travel is an exciting, broadening experience. Which it is. On the other, you have parents feel who intense financial pressure related to making certain that their offspring are able to participate in travel trips. Somewhere in the middle you have the faculty. Those who are involved in the programs that foster the travel are supportive. They can usually count on a "free" trip. Which they definitely "earn." Those teachers who are trying to operate programs that require student participation ongoing become frustrated. One Green Sheet area drama director was forced to recast the schools one-aplay when a choir trip and state drama competition to Some clash. happened dedicated teachers have expressed concern about performance in advanced placement classes. Often parents are led to believe that the activity is a huge honor for the group. Sometimes that is true, but the overwhelming majority of the "festivals" ana are contrived to help agencies market their That includes most athletic trips, music events (not the Rose Parade, but many others), cheerleading and drill team competitions, and other "opportunities students have to product. Money was raised through a host of community-wid- e efforts. The other was open to anyone but aimed at students interested in a certain field. There is no performance involved, so it is experience. totally an enrichment activity. Right from the top everyone shine. One festival, billed as a top knows travel is a it level "competition" is staged every activity. It is two weeks throughout the school wonderfully and organized seen year. Weve exciting enough that Ive gone athletes who failed to make their twice. Its very educational, in school varsity team the following fact, university credit can be year. arranged. I guess what Im trying to say is It is difficult for a parent to that the travel certainly has say no to such opportunities, benefits for ' the students no but many of them are coming matter what the "excuse" for to school boards and asking taking the trips. for some controls. What the school boards must determine, is whether it is Which creates interesting beneficial enough to warrant time debate and some potential out of other classes or if such trips dilemmas. It is not easy to tell should be reserved for vacation which events are legitimate and time. which are indeed designed by the They must also deal with the travel industry. issue of affordability. If it is a Ive had the opportunity to take performance is trip, there a couple of these trips myself. considerable pressure for all of Both were staged during the the "performers to go. summer months, which makes Its clear from the rumblings we them a bit more palatable to me. keep hearing from professional One was clearly a "contrived" educators and from frustrated event, but the instructor and the parents, someone is going to have travel agent made a tremendous to make some sort of ruling. And effort to make the trip an and educational worthwhile stick with it. agency-sponsore- "all-sta- A lot of attention has been given to privatization lately at various levels of government, but not much has been said regarding school services, even though education has been Utahs chief area of finance problems. The Reason Foundation reports that several examples of school services privatization exist across the country, representing millions of dollars in savings. One of the most recent examples is with Lubbock Independent School District in Texas. Several years ago the district contracted out bus transportation and officials estimate an annual savings of $500,000 from this move. In 1987 this school district sought proposals on private sector contracting of food services and custodial services. ARA Nutritional Services was selected to do the food services. ARAs bid was accepted because it had extensive experience in the business, serving 180 other districts, and was able to guarantee a savings d r" - Viewing The Legislature sen. Bill Barton of $2.25 million over the three year contract. On top of this all existing district food personnel was retained. The last four months of 1987 showed an increase in school lunch usage of 4.4 percent, Custodial services were contracted out to Marriot Corp. After receiving many national bids. Included in Marriots bid was retention of all current district janitorial employees at current salaries and benefits, Marriot also donated $75,000 toward scholarships and gave a credit of $25,000 toward hotel accommodations for the district, Total savings to Lubbock Independent School District is reported to be $5.45 million and the school board can spend more time focusing on improving education. Most of the savings will go to teachers in the form of $1,340 in merit raises and $500 base salary raises per teacher, Perhaps this would be prudent for some of Utah s district to consider. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down THUMBS UP : To the West Valley City Council for scheduling a public hearing on the plan to initiate a trash collection fee, although n a hearing is not required. The council is sure to take some heat, but citizens should be allowed to air their opinions on such matters. full-blow- company the submission. All submissions are subject to editing for space and clarity. They may be addressed to: The Green Sheet, P.O. Box 7187, Murray, Ut. 84107. bureaucracy etc. are excellent qualifications. He is successful. The family business (Snelgrove Ice Cream) has grown with new stores recently. We need people like Richard Snelgrove who know matter. school-sponsor- I Teen Involvement In Devil Worship Is Less Than Article Seems To Indicate I would like to comment on the article written by Steve Warren that was on the front page of the April 7 Green Sheet and the picture that accompanied that article. To start with, the photograph didnt depict any "Devilish Designs as the caption tends to infer. I dont claim to be an expert in the field of witchcraft or devil worship, but I do know that in the worship of the devil, the cross is always inverted, not right side up. The "A" with a circle around it stands for anarchy, the protest of a very suppressive form of government. The generation that I grew up with had file same idea that peaceful anarchy was the perfect form of government. As we grew up, we realized that it was an impossible dream. But in the idealistic thinking of youth, they think that is the best way because they dont think that the democratic government of our nation is working on their behalf. They will realize otherwise as they grow older. As far as the other symbol that was in the picture, my old son has informed me that it is a logo of a skateboard wheel by the name of "Venture." Im personally not into skateboarding, but I do know that there are some very unusual logs and symbols that jp along with that particular sport. But that doesnt mean that its connected in any way with AS I SEE IT trouble with a capital "T". You dont have to agree with something to be informed about a subject. You can read it objectively and with your own prejudices. But to keep it from being in the library altogether is a crime of ignorance and prejudice. I think that if the libraries dont want to replace these books because of theft and the financial burden that it puts on their budget, then thats their choice. But to not those books because of their own prejudices, then that is the true crime of this . whole-situation- 15-ye- ar devil worship or witchcraft. The writer made it sound like witchcraft is a new and undiscovered subject that has only recently . Let other bookstores take the example of the WaldenBooks at the South Town Center and put those particular books in a high visibility area. That s why a lot of other kinds of stores put things that are easily shoplifted close to the cash registers. I dont claim to be an expert in the field of shoplifting either but whether they have a problem with theft of books on witchcraft or cookbooks, then they ought to consider moving that section to another location in the store. I dont really see what the major problem is with that. To finish this up, I would like to comment that very frew teenagers are truly involved in these things surrounding witchcraft and devil worship. You have managed to lump all teenagers in this category, like most articles of this together kind. My teenager likes to wear black because he happens to look good in it. He wears his hair differently, but then when I was 15, 1 did, too. Didnt we all protest in our own way against our parents and their generation. I don t think that you really played fair with those teens who are just going through that phase of "rebellion." Their hair-do- s and clothes dont infringe on my rights at all, do they really infringe on yours? I really think that 98 percent of todays voung adults are good people that have a lot more knowledge about things than previous generations did. And these articles always tend to put a dark shadow on those 98 percent. Its the two percent or so that make the others look bad in the public eye. Not all teenagers are into witchcraft, devil worship, (frugs, and alcohol, but the two percent sure make uie world look at them all through different eyes. Even thought they dont exactly follow the rules of hair-do- s and dress codes that we have, most just want to look different and make their own little statements of individuality. And they arent really doing it any differently than we did in our own way when we were all teenagers. Most of these kids are just good kids who want to look different from the rest of the world. I agree that some are a lot different than some others, but then arent we all different in our own little ways? So get off their backs, and don t lump them all together as being devil worshippers or involved in witchcraft. They aren t all bad kids, believe me. plagued this new generation of young adults. But its not, by a long shot! Even back during the witch hunts of our early history there was a lot of interest in all of the rituals, hexes, spells, etc. that surrounded witchcraft. The interest in these things have not diminished or increased that much in these past 200 years or so. And long before that, even before the time of Christ there has been a fascination connected in learning about that subject. So dont pawn all of this devil worship and the intrigue of witchcraft onto the teens of only today. Its Sways been there! It just seems to be more prevalent with the media coverage we have now. Fra not dismissing the fact that there are such groups, or cults, around this area, but I think I can honestly say that there arent any more now than there were years ago. I dont agree with some of the things that these people do, but I believe in our from of government that we have now that should give these people the right to worship as they please as long as it doesnt infringe on my rights as a human being either. No matter what the religion is! They dont run my life, and they dont interfere with my rights either. But, I feel that, as a democratic government, we have a duty to uphold these peoples rights in their beliefs as long as they dont take away the rights of others int the process. I am also of the contention that the libraries are the fountains of information and knowledge, and that to suppress these books from even being on the shelves is a crime unto itself. Thats the ultimate censorship on the road to ignorance, if we are not given this information in one form or another, no Claudia Wolfe matter what the subject materials, we are asking for West Valley 50-5,0- 4 V . |