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Show 2 The Magna TimesWest Valley News, Thursday, March 9, 2000 EditorialGovemment An Incomplete ReportCard Democratic members of the Legislature held a press conference to give the 2000 Session a Raport Card and the main grade was Incomplete. Magnas Senator Millie Peterson Is part of the Democratic Leadership. Ilie 2KX) legislative session 'nay go down in history as one of he most cowardly sessions in Utah I istory. Lawmaker did not pass .my major weapons legislation that .would protect the public from the (danger of gun violence in our (schools or even our houses of wor- jsltip. One of die major lobbyist on the hill who left a successful career in the nouse as a Republican, said that he felt there was a lack of management and focus in this years session. II is assertion can be backed up by the fact that the President of the Senate Lane (Beattie could not even pursued his ' olleagues into supporting two of his mild gun related issue bills, hie gun related bill that did pass was one that prevented the state from suing gun manufacturers, jlxgislators must have thought it (was important to limit the states labilities and the publics right to sue these poor picked on manufac-tmerMany in the state believe that guns are riot bad in themselves and many people use them properly and their right to do that should not be diminished but many guns aie in the hands of people without the mental competence or proper training to use them and something should have been done about that. I he Legislature also did not address the educational crisis in hah again for another year. They M he commended for the large Band-Aithat they used this year j s. I d i'o temporarily patch educations deeding but the patient is still in danger. Money or the lack of money was the reason that some cave for the actions taken during the session regarding education but ibis is just an avoidance of wanting to bond to solve the states educational crisis. Representative Brent ( ioodfellow, who is a Vice MAGNA TIMES 0 USPS Second class postage paid at Magna, Utah 84044 8980 West 2700 South Magna, Utah 84044 325-58- J. HOWARD 8TAHLE President of Salt Lake Community Coliege and over the South Campus, looked at the situation pragmatically saying, We got the best deal we could for public education a 7.4 increase in public education funding and a 5.5 increase in the WPU (weighted pupil unit) considering the fact that the legislature did not want to bond or Have a tax increase. Goodfellow added that Higher Education and Public Employees only received a 4.0 increase in funding this year. Representative Karen Morgan who is also a supporter of education felt that there had been significant movement by the Republicans toward what the Democrats outlined in their educational budget She feels that it was the best the legislature could do with the financial resources now available. Education did get a 7.4 percent increase and teachers received a salary hike but communication between educators and the legislature seemed to be lacking. Many teachers wanted the legislature to solve the long-tereducation problems in Utah other than low salaries such as overcrowded classrooms and diminished teaching resources. Karen Morgan said, There is a general feeling among legislators that they dont bond. But they take a big chuck of the budget out and put it toward the Centennial Highway Projects bond. This year $134 million came out of general fund. We need to postpone some highway projects and put money into our schools. Morgan believes that this could be done without any major harm to the states highways. Democratic Senate Leader Scott Howell feels that this attitude of crisis management by the legislature rather than using long-terplanning is going to put us into a worse crisis than was faced when m m money was finally budgeted by the Legislature for the project He says, Our Higher Education infrastructure is facing a situation with about $400 million critically needed upgrades and renovations being or the most part put off. During a news conference he praised Senate President Lane Beattie for helping to get some of the important legislation through this year but he still gave the overall performance of the Legislature a needs improvement on the public report card. House minority leader Dave Jones encouraged the public to look at the voting record of their legislators and see if they voted on issues such as weapons legislation and education legislation the way that their constituents wanted them to. He noted that the public could vote to change things this fall. Senator Millie Peterson says, This is one of most partisan sessions that I have ever seen in my time at the Legislature. Her complaint comes from the fact that Democratic Bills for the most part have been left in the wings while Republican bills seem to be the main focus. Some dangerous bills always seem to arise during every session. One bill HB 41 1 sponsored by Bill Wright representing Juab and Sanpete, mandates that only: abstinence from sexual activity before marriage and fidelity after marriage; can be taught in sex education classes in schools. This head in the sand bill passed and will equal the regressive thinking in the trial against the theory of evolution. Another bill would make it much harder for people to put initiatives on the ballot Thanks to Representative Melvin Brown the bill would require signatures from a significant number of people in every county in Utah. At this time it BONNIE STAHLE Advertising Manager Office Manager DANNY JOHNSON Lead Computer Technician KEITH LOBDELL tay-o- t Editor GARY R. BLODGETT Editor ALAN BLAIN Staff Writer KENT GOBLE Sports Writer H. RACHELLE GRAHAM ASST. Editor DALE SIMONS Sports Columnist S. DEAN LEDBETTER Staff Writer Copyright, Magna TtmeaWeat Valley New O. All rights reserved. Reproduction, reuse, or transmittal of all matter herein I prohibited without prior written permission by the publisher or editor. j The Magna Times and West Valley Newt ere published each Thursday Subscription $18 per year $21 per year out of state Postmaster: Send change of address to: Magna Times 8980 W. 2700 So. Magna, UT 84044 (801) 250-805- 8 or FAX (801) 250-588- The Magna Tlmee It a bonified newepeptr Member of the Utah Pres Ataodation m Vote Friday March 10 The March 10 Great Western Primary is going to be an important election. It is on a Friday so many may not be thinking politics but rather skiing. Take some minute and vote before you head out of town. If you are a Non affiliated voters you can choose to vote in any one primary without declaring a party affiliation. Most voters fit in this , oategory since it has' only been an option on the voter registration form since 1994 and even then you were not required to declare a party affiliation. If you wish to become unaffiliated or are not sure what your status is call the Elections office at This year every vote may count in the primaries. Magna Voters may remember Senator Ron Allen won his seat by vote margin. It is your only and right duty to vote and if you want to complain about the government first try to change it with your vote. 468-342- 7. 4 Holladay maybe a pattern for Magnas quest to be a City Magna is looking at incorporating to become a city. If this community wants to keep its identity it will be the only choice. It is good to look at how some other new cities around the county are starting up a good example for the right way to do it is Holladay City. Holladay is a new city with a new mayor. Liane Stillman was a concerned citizen in Holladay that got in involved in the Holladay Community Council and became more involved on Holladay s incorporation. Now she is even more involved with Holladay as its new mayor. Mayor Stillman says, Holladay City came to us As-I- s and our firsts order of business is to take an inventory of what we have and find out from our citizens just what they would like to do with it She has already had some hands-o- n public meetings where citizens have asked to work in groups to establish the needs of the community. The last meeting in the Holladay Library brought together an energetic group of residents that had a variety of perspectives on what was good for the community and what was needed in their neighborhoods. Some wanted to put in sidewalks in front of all houses in their neighborhoods while others preferred that sidewalks were optional and that they would mar some neighborhoods. Mayor Stillman prefers having a good public debate over issues because she feels it makes for a stronger public process. Mayor Stillman is making all the right moves in getting the best people she can to help the new city out. She grabbed two seasoned professionals from Salt Lake County; Nelson Williams from the Salt Lake County Auditors office and Bill Marsh from County Planning. Williams has been one of the main reasons that Salt Lake County has been able to maintain a good workable budget and a AAA credit rating. He will be Holladays new part-tim- e budget director. Marsh was a driving force in many of the major planning issues in Salt Lake County and he brings a good knowledge of all the planning issues in the Holladay City because they were under his department at Salt Lake County. Mayor Stillman seems to be doing ail the right things in Holladays startup finding good help is a real key to a new citys success. Salt Lake Community College To Host 19th Annual Job Expo Salt Lake Community College will host its 19th annual Job Expo, called job.careers.life at 8 a.m., April 7 in the Lifetime Activities Centers Arena on SLCCs Redwood Campus, 4600 S. Redwood Rd. At the Job Expo, students and community members will have an opportunity to meet with managers, sales people and perspective employers from about 100 Salt Lake area companies, in fields such as computer and programming industry, ; health care organizations, construction companies, staffing services as well as many area hotels and restaurants. About 8,000 people attend the event.-Thannual Job Expo, coordinated by SLCC marketing stue dents, helps participants learn more about job opportunities available to them after they graduate from the College. The students learn valuable practical experience while earning credit for their Marketing 1910 course. Area businesses intees.yi participating are welcome more information about the Job Expo, please call (801) 957- 4900, ext. 1314. Salt Lake Community College To Host 19th Annual Job Expo. Please send us your opir)-- . ions on the issues that impact our ....... community. Signed letters to the editor that i focus on these issues are. u welcome. . Utah State Senate Honors SLCC President with Official Citation for his work Publisher News and only requires signatures from people in 20 counties. This is another Bill that will make so that people may have even less of a voice in the Utah Political Scene. A number of bills have also passed die House which would reduce the Adoption Pool and seemed to indicate that Division of Family Services wants to get out of the adoption area of its work. The agency has had a troubled history of doing a number of things the wrong way such as the recently revealed practice of substantiated claims against people without any notification to the accused. The session had some success but it is overshadowed by its avoidance of the major issues. Unfortunately Democrats and moderate Republicans can not get around the radical right wing in the Utah House of Representatives to propass any meaningful long-tergressive legislation on a major basis. Magna and West Valley Legislators Millie Peterson, Ron Allen, Brent Goodfellow and Carl Duckworth all met with some success in passing needed legislation but it was hard work this year to get any worthwhile bill passed. Sait Lake Community College President Frank Judd receive official citation from Utah Senate Salt Lake Community Colleges president officially was recognized for his outstanding contribution to education in Utah. During the state Legislature, the Utah State Senate presented SLCC President Frank W. Budd with an official citation in front of senators, educators and other public officials. Several senators spoke of high regard for the retiring college president and the citation was presented by Senate President Lane Beattie and Senator A1 Mansell. The citation, presented Feb. 18, cites Budd for sharing his vision of what a community college can be. He has outstanding vision and is best known for his integrity . It continues to state Budd has led SLCC to become one of the finest learning centers, strengthened college programs through establishing partnerships with industry and developed several leadership programs at the College. Budd also was cited for his commitment to working with diversity, resulting in SLCC leading all Utah higher education institutions in number of minorities, women and people with disabilities working for the College as well as students enrolled in classes, It was very gracious and nice of them to do this, Budd said afterward. He learned of the honor within hours of it being presented. Budd, who plans to retire June 30 to resume teaching in his field of criminal justice, also was thanked for his commitment to the community participating and holding positions on several boards: Utah Governors Strategic Planning Task Force for Higher Education, Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, Wasatch Front South Regional Consortium, Utah Applied Technology Education Task Force, Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council, Economic Development Corporation of Utah, Utah Information Technology Association, Utah Partners in Education, amongst others. Budds wife, Judy, and family was on hand to see the recognition bestowed upon him. Budd is the fifth president of Salt Lake Community College. He was named to this position in October 1990 and assumed the post Jan. 1, 1991. He earned his Ph.D. in educa- - t t tional administration fromtfie University of Califomia-Riversid- e in 1982. He received his master of science degree in sociology from Brigham Young University in 1969 and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Redlands in 1964. Currently, a nationwide search is underway for a new SLCC president. The search committee, conducted by the Utah State Board of Regents, is expected to name a new president by late spring. |