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Show inniuyi" Mr i ta X1 t " 2A The Summit County Bee Coalville, UT 84017 Friday, (anuaiy 29, 1988 As I See It Letters to the Editor Top of the News THE The Summit County Bee" (UPS 66820) ii puMdied weekly for $12.00 per year in Sum- Readers Views mit County and $1840 per year by Wave hibfehing, he, 67S West 100 South, Heber City, UT 84032. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Summit County Bee, CoahrMe. Utah B4017. Dedicated to Serving Summit County Letters RICHARD M. AND SUSAN F. BUYS Publishers Phelps, Editor Coalville Office Manager Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday Sharia Banz, North Summit Area Reporter, 336-201- 3 Bessie Russell, Kamas Office Manager Monday, Tuesday and Friday 9-- 4 Edie Mills, South Summit 9 Reporter, Shirley B. Ub-.SjO- l, 9-- 4 783-438- given to shbrt, typewritten (double spaced) letters, permitting use of writer's name. Al letters subject to condensation. MaB to: EDITOIt, Bos 7, CoahriBe, UTAH B4017. 783-240- POSTAL IDENTIFICATION NO. 525640 Dear Editor, Concerning the things we can be proud of, Bee, Jan. 15, 1988 edition, "As I See It", 1 have something that I am proud of. At the South Summit High School there is a mascot of a Wildcat in for foyer on display all year. The mascot is I As See It by Shirley Some people have the remarkable personality of always being there when they are needed. They arc the kind of friend that would do most anything for anybody. Hut there arc some things that we can each do that will take the burilcn from our children at a very emotional and trying time. For in- stance, if you would like to encourage your children to stay close and in touch with each other after you are gone, it's better that you decide who should have what of the family belongings that you have now. Making a will is probably the surest way to have not only your finances but also any belongings divided among your heirs. Attach a separate sheet to your will and list everything that may be in your home and you decide who gets what. Deciding on a mortuary and casket, (would you have wanted the expensive candy apple red lacquer?) Choosing a cemetery plot and even jierhaps planning your funeral service may be previously taken care of. Your children may not be associated with where you are living and not know your choices for speakers or music or cemetery. You can help out at a very emotional time by making these decisions for them. As morbid as it may sound, you could also write your own obituary. Many limes bits of information are turned over to the mortuary and they will treat your "memory" the same as every other 500 they have taken care of. If you've got your mind made up to take care of some of the Letters to the Editor, is a column for the puMc to voice their opinion. Letters to the Editor must be submitted prior to Tuesday noon, and must bear the signature, ful name and address. Names must be printed on letters but may be withheld for security reasons. Writers are Smiled one letter in two weeks. Please no endorsement letters. Preference wBI be unpleasant things yourself, instead of leaving them for your hurt, stressed out survivors, you might as well help them with the obituary too. How much do you think your family should spend to tell the world you are gone? The costs in the city papers can be varied from an average of $60 to $100 or more. The Summit County Bee's charge for running an obituary is $15 with a picture and $10 without, with the copy a reasonable length. What can you put in your obituary? Almost anything within the paper's bounds of good taste. If you put your name as author, you can even write it in the first person: "I was John Doe. I was bom Jan. 9, I helped 1919. 1 lived a great-lifeout my family by writing this instead of leaving it to them. That's how I was. I took care of unpleasant tasks myself." Most obits are written in the third person and have the same basics, (but remember almost none of this is required): birth date and place, church or other group that was important to you, marriages, family members, employment, place of funeral, mortuary, requests for donations to charity instead of flowers. Your family will still have to fill in when you died and the times for a viewing andor funeral. Why don't you clip this out and attach it to a sheet of paper. Write everything down and tell your family where you've put it. Feel good that a little unpleasant effort on your part has saved your family trouble at a terribly difficult time. . very cleverly dressed to suit the changing seasons and the holidays. At the present time it is decorated for the Valentine season. It takes a lot of time, energy and materials to make such an attractive entrance to the high school. I believe that the credit goes to the student body officers who I was told do the work. I am very proud of their endeavors in the behalf of all Wildcats, past and present, who enjoy the foyer. Bessie B. Russell Kamas, Utah To the editor I have had ample opportunity to discuss the tension and to hear the concerns of our community. My objective is to express my opinion and voice those of others living here Most believed that violence p would erupt regarding the situation. We weren't prepared for the resulting tension of uncertainty. There is much speculation, confusion and questions as to why this confrontation has been allowed to continue this Singcr-Swap- long. It is a generally held belief that but for past events involving John Singer's death, this matter would have been more assertively resolved. Perhaps the law enforcement agencies are just now beginning to realize the strength of conviction the accused feel and their tenacity for holding out the siege. The violent result of these people's belief has been escalating for years. However, belief is not the issue. When one group chooses to place a community in jeopardy by either action or threat, then belief is no excuse, it becomes a manipulation, an issue of exploitation to hide behind. This confrontation should not be confused with past events. It is about responsibility, it concerns the necessity of bringing people to face the lawful consequence of their actions. We do not condone terrorist like displays and threats outside our country and cannot allow it here and now. This is not a game being played here and the description of this situation as a stalemate does not account for, and is unacceptable to the citizens of this community. A peaceful resolution having been turned down, a confrontation now seems inevitable, following established procedures and contingent upon the minimal risk to Top of the News Baptist Community Church Hie Baptist Community Church, in their Wednesdayjnight Bible study, will be viewing two videos. Silent Scream and Massacre of Innocence, both endorsed by the Right to Life Utah committee. Anyone who would like to come to view these movies who might be concerned with this modem day problem, are welcome to come. For more information, please contact Pastor Ozzie Fullmer or his wife, Cindy Fullmer, at The children of the Baptist Community Church are having a drive to raise money for missionaries in other lands. They are taking pledges to learn 13 verses from the Bible. 783-210- 1. Coalville Public Notice Coalville will hold its regular City Council Meeting on Monday, Feb. on the 1, 1988, at 7 p.m. On the agenda will be a Public Hearing 1988-8- 9 Mountainland Grant Application. Toll Free Tax Number Effective Jan. 11, 1988, the 900 telephone service that provides recorded information for taxpayers about filing for social security numbers for their dependents became toll free. Previously the caller was charged 85 cents for number will be each call. The new toll-fre- e By calling this number taxpayers can find out how to apply for social security numbers, what documents are needed, etc. Park City Clinic it The Park City Community Ginic is a lives. Most responsible residents would not advocate the inhalation p of the family and it si important to remember that the Singer-Swap- arrest warrants were filed and ordered for the two adults, any other complicity yet to be proven. We are not a people to condemn the future of unaccountable children based on their upbringing. Neither are we willing to use their presence as an excuse to forestal the enforcement Utah Foundation Reports: State Expenditures Exceed Revenues of the law, indefinitely. Our responsibility now lies with ourselves, with our own will being. While we certainly have right to feelings of fear, frustration and anger we can ill afford to let than rule us. We can choose to weather this storm as others, with support for each other and with the use of common sense, not uncommon to our community, to guide us. Jeri Taylor P.O.Box 31 Kamas, UT 84036 UEA Gives Statistics on Utah Education by $56.5 Million in 1987 Despite the fact that Utah concluded the 1986-8- 7 fiscal yea with a general fund "surplus" of $49.3 million, total state expenditures exceeded state revenues by nearly $56.5 million during the year. These were some of the facts pointed out by Utah Foundation, the private tax research organization, in its latest analysis of state percent of total revalue receipts. Last year, the state sales tax yielded $559 million. An additional $142 million in local sales taxes were collected for cities, counties, and local transit districts. The 1987 Legislature raised the state sales tax rate by 12 of 1 percent This is expected to produce an added 58 million in state sales tax revenue. finances in Utah. Utah's percentage of men teachers is shrinking; teacher salaries are dropping in the national rankings; and students' school attendance rale is in the highest third of (lie states. Those are some of the statistics in the Utah Education Association research bulletin, "How Utah Ranks." This compilation of education research data ranks Utah in relation to other slates and the national Among the bulletin's statistical information are these items: Utah students' attendance rate was 94.68 percent last year 15th highest in the nation. Last year, only 35.4 percent of Utah's public school teachers were men, a drop from 44.2 percent a decade ago. UEA estimates that this year's percentage of male teachers dropped to 32 percent. Utah had the highest estimated percentage of school-ag- e children 25.53 among the states in 1985 percent. Last year, Utah once again averaged more pupils per teacher than any other state. Private school enrolled a rela- tively small segment of Utah's school-ag-e population in 1985. On the public schools' roll books were 96.03 percent on the state population aged and Utah ranked sixth nation "y with that statistic. Utah's per capita income in 7, family planning and non-prof- reproductive health program. Services include physical exams, PAP tests, venereal disease tests, pregnancy testing, counseling and education aid contraceptive supplies. Examinations are performed by a Nurse Practitioner. Costs are reasonable. No one will be denied use of the clinic; all services are confidential. For more information or an appointment call 649-598- 9. New hours: Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. creased 117.47 percent from 1975 to 1985, ranking the state 43rd in that category . Utah average teacher salaries increased 89.31 percent from 1976-7-7 44th from the top to 1986-8- 7 docs not include (This nationally. career ladder income, which began in 1984 at about half the current level.) Average salaries of Utah teachers fell from 30th in the rank$3,416 ings to 36th nationally lower than the national average. (Utah teachers earn an estimated average of $1,800 from career ladders in additional to their salaries. Some other states have similar programs.) In 1985 Utah ranked eighth nationally in the amount of current public sc hod expenditures for each $1,000 of personal income, $47.08 in 1984-8Last year, Utah spent the nation's lowest amount for each student's education, $2,455. "Those last two items reflect Utah's explosive growth rate during recent years," said UEA President Jim Campbell. "Our state had the nation's largest student population growth in that period, while most other states had an enrollment decline." Campbell said he agrees with predictions of further declines in the 5. rate of Utah's school enrollment growth. "After Utah's current enrollment bulge moves through the schools, Utah's large student population will be in the job market, he said. "That should increase the number of taxpayers to bear the expense of educating Utah's children in a period of small enrollment increases, if we have any increases at all" UEA publishes the research bulletin "How Utah Ranks" every year. Otha important state tax sources Foundation analysts point out that the "deficit" in the consolidated fund totals came about mainly because of increased spending for capital projects which were funded by new bonded debt The general obligation debt of the state climbed from $218 million at the end of the 1986 fiscal year to $225 million at the close of fiscal 1987. A major factor in the surplus in the general fund, on the otha hand, was the ova withholding of state income taxes last year. Much of this will have to be refunded when taxpayers file their state income tax returns in April. In addition, slightly more than $20 million of the $49.3 million general fund balance was placed in a special budget reserve account to meet future state in Utah include the individual income tax, $553 million, 21.8 t; motor fuel taxes, $132 million, 5.4 percent; unemployment taxes, $90 million, 3.7 percent; and corporate income taxes, $69 million, 2.8 percent More than 80 percent of all state spending in Utah is for education, social services, and transportation. Education, of course, continues to be the numba one area of state expenditures. State expenditures for education in Utah during the 1987 fiscal year amounted to $995 million, or about 40 percent of total state spending for all purposes. Not included in this total are educational expenditures from locally-raise- d taxes, expenditures for mqjor capital projects at the educational institutions, and spending from fees and otha restricted funds at the Utah colleges and universities that are not reported on the books of the Division of Finance. Social services (welfare, corrections, mental health, family health, unemployment benefits, etc.) is anotha sending area that has been growing very rapidly in recent years. During the 1987 fiscal yew, expenditures for there items totaled $725 million, or about 29 percent of all state pa-cen- financial problems. The Foundation's analysis of consolidated state finances for 1986-8- 7 shows that general revenue in Utah totaled $2,443,772,000 and state expenditures amounted to $2,500,260,000. State revenues in Utah increased by sa-vke- s, only $12,941,000 or 0.5 percent, while state expenditures went up by $74,187,000, or 3.1 percent. These were the smallest percentage increases in recent histor. '. State taxes amounted to in Utah are highways and oth transportation. $300 million, 1 percent; general government, $15 million, 6 percent; capital project total revenue receipts. Federal aid received by the state accounted for $722.3 million, or 29.6 percent of all revenue, with the remaining receipts coming from a variety of Revenue sources. Federal aid to the state actually declined by more than $30 million during the yew. Although the general sales tax was relatively flat in 1987, it still is the lwgest single revenue produca for Utah, accounting for 36 percent of all state taxes and 23 $125 million, 5 percent community and economic develoj ment, $59 million, 23 percent natural resources, $55 million, 2. percent; public safety, $44 millin L8 percent; interest on the genen debt, $26 million, 1 percent; an business, labor, and agricultun $22 million, 3 percent. : ' . 'I ' i li : |