Show Zbtei I t:aktZtibunt 1r'74 117 11- LE4' Jid Lifestyles Desk: 237-207- SUNDAY June 21 1992 5 MY 03 CENTS F7 Looking back on the accident Dana knew they were going too fast She knew the danger but it was too late Now she is - The latest fad for politicians is the education voucher Simply put this proposal would give every family a government check for each child of public school age Parents would be free to choose whether they send their child (along with the voucher) to their neighborhood public school or use the mon Olit': lif or! to a clear I 1'- t 16 "'4-"- I By Judy B Rollins - 1 ( THE SALT LAKE -- 1 w A 4 1 '' IIE "Bud' - '' - tat - Scrurros tt ' i 44 o e 2 I ' -2-- 1 ' and educate their kids at home As a credentialed conservative devoted to the belief that individuals and society are almost always better off when private citizens are allowed to allocate resources in a free market this voucher proposal is appealing The proponents paint a utopian picture of informed involved parents carefully shopping for the best school for their children They claim the resultant competition would force public (ie government) schools to quickly reform themselves in order to match the test scores class size and discipline which are the hallmarks of private (ie "If you've got the money we've got the desk") schools The main weakness of the education voucher approach is it doesn't go far enough Education vouchers only would infuse this quick fix into three quarters of the year What about the other three months when the kids are out of school? In order to be taken seriously vouchers must cover summer vacation Every year the government spends millions on public parks campgrounds and recreation areas many Utahns prefer not to use So why not have the government give every family in Utah a vacation voucher? The competition would be good for the parks If too many Utahns used the vouchers to send their kids to resorts with water slides and amusement rides then the government parks would continue to see their revenues decline unless they added the same attractions Where would they get the money to make such improvements? I have no idea but neither do the education-vouche- r proponents Just as a vacation-vouche- r program would undermine our public parks the education voucher is a thinly veneered attack on public schools Some of the more strident proponents admit that the end result of vouchers would be the long overdue abandonment of public schools Government they argue had no business getting into education in the first place They say we need to trust the market and if some families can't afford private schools then we should handle it through a welfare program — education stamps The honesty of those who wish to abolish neighborhood public schools is as refreshing as their proposals are alarming It is harder to respect those who propose to divert thousands of students and drain millions of dollars from the public school system while pretending no one will be disadvantaged posing all the time as friends of public schools Too many voucher advocates resemble the politicians who want to balance the federal budget without tax increases or budget cuts to be felt by their constituents People who opt to send their children to private schools deserve our qualified re: spect for placing such value on education : They do not deserve a government subsidy : : any more than those who choose to pay for : private tutors music lessons or vacations : This popularized attack on public schools is alarming because it demonstrates an in : creasing alienation from neighborhood and : community The desire to walk away from : the neighborhood school is in part a mani festation of the desire to walk away from : the other families in the neighborhood : Public schools are equalizers Children : from families committed to learning and other healthy values sit next to children : whose parents do not care but they share the same teachers textbooks playgrounds : and lunch tables It is in this sharing that - our "best" and "worst" students learn to understand and on the best of days to help one another This is where our chil: : dren learn community values and the value : of community The current decline in values has its : 'roots in the weakened : family We look to : our public schools to provide for children : much of what they ought to learn at home : This is a lot to ask but what are the alter: natives? For many children the neighborhood school is their only chance to learn : the values they will need to live meaningfully and happily Our children are essential to that leaning process and this means extra work for functional families as we : correct some of the lessons our kids bring home from errant classmates We have a moral obligation to improve : the public schools not abandon them What we cannot afford in increased funding must be compensated for by increased involvement by parents and friends of parents answer to the biblical The modern-dais "Who my neighbor?" is best question found in the classrooms of your local - ? - ' 1 k - oil-ric- ' ' 1 42 i ' 1 '' '' k t ' it:: ' Ii - i i '7 t t N :' 1 ' i 4 k k '' : t i fi N 4 4 e t ' ' - ' 're 7' "'- ' landed 'k e 4 - 7r v"' ' t 4'1 ' I ' ti 1 i t A 7'77- - ‘ ' I ii ": v '4' 4 k 1 k tk1 l It i t " it —- i ( it or 4 t -- t 4 ket i !:i "' :' '" : 74-- 14 ''' ' l' r4t I) 4:4 lk ! 1 4 4 1 t V' it (it 1 pit: A c - )1 te 441 1 i liA V" t 1! i 4 ' ' - ' f 10 ' 1 - It -- U117i kpliF ' '' e ' 2 '-' :- 4 ' ' :-- 7 1 2 -- '-- : I - l- (20 f - ' '& t - e- r ' :I - a st I V AL AA ' 41 pe ' t L'114 4 th 4 tt -' : - i- at O f - 4 ' ' : 4 l' 4 I 4 'i ' 4 'c !417 1f 4kt ifs - : i 1 4o' - Ne- ' 1 tV''' i ''' 4 "t N I 'f'- - - 4 "'V phone - ''' I " 7 ' public-servic- j ' ie 1! e d ' '2 - Looking back Dana knew the driver knew they were going too fast knew the danger and even threw t the strap over her lap never making the connection The buckle part was there someplace under the seat "It was too late We were in the air There wasn't time" Dana recalled The message tells a sad story Dana from her wheelchair plays opposite the Dana of old a happy healthy active cheerleader captured on video as Daisy Mae in "Li'l Abner" an Altamont High stage production videos Rolayne Fairclough Of the six Salt Lake City education chair for the foundation t and advocate said Dana's story has a dramatic effect on teens and women People have told her that seeing Dana saved a life Others buckle up because of Dana anchor now vice Shelley Thomas former KSL-TFood and Drug Smiths of for affairs public president Centers interviewed Dana for the campaign She knows why Dana's message is so powerful a cheerleader a "Dana is typical — a beautiful popular girl She looks like a lot of Utah teens with so many hopes and dreams And like so many teens seemingly she is immune from danger 'Dana in person or on film looks you right in the this could happen' eye and tells you 'I never thought Her life is in that wheelchairSharon A Goodrich acting director of development Primary Children's Medical Center Foundation with Ms Fairclough witnessed the power of Dana's words in Delta and Fillmore at high school assemblies "Dana sat in the center of the gym and without a note talked for 45 minutes She recounted her life beginning a week prior to the accident up to the present" Ms Goodrich said "There were tears and a standing ovation" Ms Goodrich said a group of foundation board members — Ms Huntsman Debbi Fields Barbara Burnett Martha Stockharn Ms Fairclough Ms Thomas Terri Landa June Morris and Dr Tom Metcalf — looking to make a difference and save Utah t lives decided a campaign would help "stop the children on our streets" is not reaching adults with fixed seat-bel- "' 7 0 :i r'" N -- c 4 '11 64 i ' ' t - - ' ': e '71 is--- 4Vti iia7 - ' : ' Ittl A-0- ( il — ' teet 1 e I ! 2 74 't '‘ -' k : ! i I 1 Nit ' ' ' ft h ' ii 44 'i' tl " 1 ‘ 'll P-- ii t r 0 f' ': c - N ai r ! r- To' r - - ily If she had her mother would still worry about where she is doing what She knows where Dana is now Dana is in her wheelchair or in her dad Scott's recliner in the front room by the window flipping stations looking for scary TV shows playing with her talk pets reading TV Guide listening to late-nigshows And if you call Dana usually answers the ! 1 - 2 VI It y::: : e - i:: i 42-- :i7''' :' l ts 1 101 av ' ceel if:------ ' i I' t ' It 4- i g4 ''' J -- - ' - cif I ri i i t 4 h ?: 1 ( i- :s41- itIT:v N kit If she had there would be no need for the portable aluminum ramp a wheelchair-widtpath down from the back door If she had littlest sister Lindsey 4 wouldn't ask why Dana doesn't get up run and play with her the way she once did If she had her parents would worry about her future no more than the other four children in the fam- '' e-- - 1- t riplegic Vr4 1r - T4 1 v 0 - 't e ' k fte---i-' ' k 4 '1'' 4 ' - 1 Ai - To 1 4 - -24 - - r -- free-mark- : I t ? - ey to pay part of their child's private school tuition Those who possess the requisite mix of courage quirks and individualism would be allowed to keep the money t t ' ThIBI-S- ALTAMONT — The public-servic- e video voice tells viewers — "Life has changed for Dana Mathews: The video shows Dana (pronounced Dan-a- ) 18 paralyzed in a wheelchair What the video doesn't show is how life has changed too for her mother Donna Daniels Mathews 36 Dana's accident was on a cold Friday night Nov 30 1990 A carload of teens headed from Altamont in the h Uintah Basin east of Salt Lake City to Roosevelt about 20 miles on Bluebell Road the one they always traveled The driver lost control: the car hit an embankment and landed upside down in a ditch Dana and a friend were trapped in the back -I ducked put my hands over my head We flew in the air My head hit hard on the car roof I felt excruciating pain That's when I broke my neck When we my neck didn't hurt I tried to get out I could not move" Dana is featured in one of the "hold On to Dear Life" safety-bel- t TV spots sponsored by Primary Children's Medical Center Foundation Utah industrialist Jon and Karen I luntsman Salt Lake City donated money to produce six TV spots last year and four for this fall The message: Eecause Dana Mathews had not been wearing a seat belt life changed If she had she might not be in a wheelchair a quad- 3 'i'' ' ' ' - :!' - t : 't '' fil! ' ' ? ::" seat-bel- v (Photos by Jeff AllredThe Salt Lake Tribune) Car accident changed life of Dana Mathews mother Donna Altamont Dana 18 is featured in "Hold on to Dear Life" seat-bevideo campaign Therapy builds her strength lt teen-age- r 2e-- '2' 'i t - 'The accident A took everything away I count my life in terms of before and now rr---5 r — Dana Mathews — t ?: c- 7 ''' i7 :'" ' : it At' - ' 4' “Ire don't gire up fre hare I know what Dana can and can ' J! 4 1 9 work with what we '10' I — -- ! - 4 - ' 744101 -- I 4 te t' ' - 2 ' Ix - - 12 21 '' ' li t i : - Seel k'1 Li t 1 i Nt 44 --- - -1 ' L '' k - 1 ' ''' - do” ' — Dana's mother Donna Danieh "l ' ' Atuoi e-- Mathews '' A 'cimat r ‘' ' e epr '''' seat-bel- 1 11 ‘' " - Li 4 t I —4 ' change I - SI See F-- I I Column I - - - : y school ME "Bud" Scruggs is former chief of staff to Gov Norm Bangerter and a visiting assistant professor of political science at Brigham Young University s ( What are fathers made of? Reader kept cherished poem in wallet for 44 years Dear Ann Landers: The "Gem of the Day" which appeared in your column in the Los Angeles Times last February was an excerpt from a heartwarming tribute to fathers I have carried in my wallet for 44 years Your readers might enjoy seeing the entire piece It was written by Paul Harvey My wonderful father died during heart surgery when I was 18 I found this essay and have cherished it all these years It helped alleviate my grief and it may help others Please print it — SCS Orange Calif Dear SCS: Thank you for letting me know where that Gem came from It is my pleasure to give the author credit lieres a shortened version of the piece for Father's Day with permission from my good friend Paul What Are Fathers Made Of? A father is a thing that is reed to ff for those of his own who will follow him Ann - Landers i endure childbirth without an anesthetic A father is a thing that growls when it feels good — and laughs loud when its scared half to death A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks never quite the man his son believes him to be — and this worries him sometimes So he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places n the road A father is a thing that gets angry when the first school grades aren't as good as he thinks they should be He scolds his son though he knows its the teacher's fault Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who'll live the longest Though they know the odds they keep right on betting And one day they lose I don't know where fathers go when they die But Ire an idea that after a good rest wherever it is he won't be happy unless there's work to do He won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore ) He'll be busy there too repairing the stairs oiling the gates improving the streets smoothing the way Dear Ann Landers: We have an 18- month-olson whom my husband "Jim" adores and loves to take places to show off Jim wants to take "Junior' to a formal church wedding next month 1 say a formal wedding is no place for an child Also Jim is planto a baseball game to Junior take ning d in a few weeks Again I say no Junior is not old enough to sit in one place for three hours Unfortunately 1 work weekends and won't be home to prevent Jim from taking Junior along I am hoping you will print my letter and that Jim will change his mind — A Mom in San Jose Dear Mom: agree that an 18- month-olchild does not belong at a formal church 111rt dding or a pfne 1 d |