Ogden Valley News | 2013-07-01 | Page 2

Page 2 The Ogden Valley news Volume XXI Issue VI July 1, 2013 The Ogden Valley news Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Cell: 801-791-4387 E-Mail: [e-mail] Jeannie Wendell Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] [e-mail] Opinions expressed by advertisers, columnists or letters to the editor are not necessarily the opinions of the owners and staff of The Ogden Valley news. guidelines for Letters to the Editor Letters should be 300 words or less. Letters must be signed and the address of the writer submitted. The Ogden Valley news reserves the right to edit or decline printing of any submissions. Announcements Sought As a community service, The Ogden V alley n ews will print local birth, wedding, obituary, anniversary and missionary farewell & homecoming and Eagle Scout announcements free of charge. We invite residents to send their announcements to: The Ogden Valley news PO BOX 130 EDEN UT 84310 If you would like your submitted items returned, please send a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. The Ogden Valley news , while respecting all property received, will take no responsibility for lost or misplaced items. Please remember to keep a copy for yourself. Invitation for Articles The staff of The Ogden Valley news welcomes the submission of articles by our readership. We invite you to submit local historical accounts or biographies, articles pertaining to contemporary issues, and/or other material that may be of interest to our readers. We also invite you to submit to the paper, or notify the staff of local events. Awards that have been earned by the reader, family members, neighbors or friends are also sought. While the staff of The Ogden Valley news invites the submittal of information and articles, we reserve the right to select which material will be considered for publication. All material, to be considered, must be submitted with the full name, address and telephone number of the person submitting the material. The OgdenValley news’liability on account of errors in, or omissions of, advertising shall in no event exceed the amount of charges for the advertising omitted or the space occupied by the error. The Ogden Valley news does not endorse, promote or encourage the purchase or sale of any product or service advertised in this newspaper. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. The Ogden Valley news hereby disclaims all liability for any damage suffered as the result of any advertisement in this newspaper. The Ogden Valley news is not responsible for any claims or representations made in advertisements in this newspaper. The Ogden Valley news has the sole authority to edit and locate any classified advertisement as deemed appropriate. It also reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Note: The contents of The Ogden Valley News are copyrighted. To protect this publication and its contributors from unlawful copying, written permission is required before any individual or company engages in the reproduction or distribution of its contents, by any means, without first obtaining written permission from the owners of this publication. The deadline for the OVN July 15 issue is July 3. Letters to the Editor “Miss Stoker Saved My Life . . .” “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” ~ Carl Jung This year my son was privileged to have Carol Stoker as his third-grade teacher at Valley Elementary. The realities of Type I Diabetes can be scary for a 3rd grader. “Who will notice when my blood sugar drops or rises? What will I eat when the other kids get treats? What if I forget my diabetes supplies and my mom is downtown? Who will put their arm around me when I don’t feel well?” These and others are just a few of the concerns and/or situations Miss Stoker took care of while Alex was in her school class. On several occasions Alex would say to me, “Miss Stoker saved my life today!” While writing this letter, I asked him if he missed his teacher. As he fought back the tears he said, “Yes, but she told me I could check my blood in her class next year.” Carol you did much more than save “Alex’s life” on a regular basis, you taught him what it means to love, care for, and serve another person. All the little things you did on a regular basis meant so much to us. A big thanks goes out to you and all of the other wonderful teachers and staff at Valley Elementary! Amy Crookston, Eden Government Will Know Everything About Us If you’re worried about the government knowing you have a gun, ha! It knows everything! So now, we learn that the government listens and sees everything we say and do on the Internet and over the phone. It reads, sees, and hears everything! There are no exceptions! If we talk to or email, a cousin about the assault weapon we just bought, the government knows about it. And we vowed to fight to the death that the government would never have that information. All it has to do is tell those big massive new computers at the NSA’s site at Camp Williams, Utah to key or highlight any written or spoken word such as gun, weapon, magazines, drum, gauge, etc. Ironic, isn’t it that one of the states with the strongest stances on protecting personal privacy is going to be home to the NSA’s newest facility built for the very purpose of gathering information on American citizens? Gun rights advocates, where is your outrage at this unprecedented intrusion and attack on personal privacy and constitutional freedom? Those who support this matter-of-fact trashing of Constitution rights in the name of safety don’t complain when some government agency uses such information—political leanings, religious beliefs, guns owned, spending habits, what we read, and friends we have—against you. It’s all in the name of keeping us safe! Ask yourself this question, “Why didn’t having all this personal information stop the recent Marathon Boston bombing?” I think back to 9/11 when, despite of having spent trillions of dollars on national defense, 16 men armed with nothing more than box cutters nearly brought our nation to its knees and changed, forever, the way that we live. What is our safety worth? Can our safety ever be truly guaranteed? Is it worth losing our constitutional rights and our personal privacy? Sadly, the government knows everything. Howard A. Olsen, Huntsville WayPoint Academy Approval Sets Harmful Precedent for Ogden Valley Note: This letter is in response to a Letter to the Editor submitted by Patsy Dickens of Huntsville, which appeared in the June 15 issue of The Ogden Valley news. Again, someone claims that opponents of WayPoint Academy, AKA Green Valley Academy, are driven by fear and misinformation. As one who literally became the face of the opposition on the pages of the StandardExaminer, I take issue with this insult. I and my neighbors spent countless hours researching the issue, and attending a fair number of meetings before the county approved this apparent multimillion-dollar commercial business inside, primarily, a residential zone. This is the issue—not if the center is well administered, nor the social or mental health of the youth residing there. From the beginning, before many neighbors knew what was being proposed, officials of WayPoint Academy called us fearful and misin- formed. We chose not to direct our opposition at teenaged patients. Instead, we opposed the way the WayPoint Academy founders manipulated the county government, first seeking a zoning exception for a “Residential Treatment Facility” at one property and then, a few months later, demanding approval at another. The same business plan had now become a “school,” contradicting their own carefullyworded description from before. We saw their attorney command the Ogden Valley Township Planning Commission to do what he said, and heard one member of that commission admit that she was constrained by fear of a personal lawsuit. Cynical observers of county government warned us that officials always bend over backwards to accommodate anyone who promises to build a large business. Current zoning laws would permit only two normal homes on the WayPoint Academy property, yet now it’s intended to house 36 full-time residents and paid staff members. We were disappointed that county officials were so willing to proceed on approving this business based on arguably contradicting interpretations of zoning requirements. In addition, public comment was strictly limited, avoiding a more thorough and healthy discussion of relevant zoning issues. The county’s planning process in this case proved the cynics correct, and will only continue to discourage citizens from participation in the public process on future issues. Opponents of how this commercial venture was approved in a residential area still feel that the WayPoint Academy approval process, administered through Weber County, set a harmful precedent for Ogden Valley and all communities under the county’s jurisdiction. Greg Anderson, Huntsville Speak Up for Ogden Valley’s Future - Residents’ Input Needed Dear Ogden Valley Residents, I am writing to express my concerns about the process by which some real estate developments in Ogden Valley are reviewed and approved, and to request that concerned citizens of the Valley contact the members of the Ogden Valley Township Planning Commission and the Weber County Commission to request reconsideration of a previous decision. I own the farm on the south side of Pineview Reservoir which has the big white barn and farmhouse surrounded by fields just west of the old Snow Basin Road. The farm was homesteaded by my grandfather in 1892. My grandparents, Simon and Mary Jensen, and my uncle, Theodore Jensen, lived on the farm most of their lives and raised cattle, alfalfa, and wheat. My mother, Viola Jensen Fowers, also lived on the farm most of her life and I grew up on the farm. When my mother was in her nineties, she expressed the wish that the farm would remain as a farm and never be subdivided and developed. Consequently, after her death, I placed the farm in a conservation easement with the Ogden Valley Land Trust, which ensures that the farm will remain an open space, agricultural area. Throughout the years, the properties around the farm have gradually been subdivided and developed. Beginning in about 2002, the developer of the property immediately east of the farm (Edgewater Beach Resort) presented numerous development plans for the property. In a number of meetings of both the Ogden Valley Township Planning Commission (OVTPC) and the Weber County Commission (WCC), the Commissioners expressed concerns about the site plans for the development. In 2004, both the OVTPC and the WCC reviewed the guidelines in the Ogden Valley General Plan and zoning requirements and determined that, because of the proximity of the development to the farm, that there should be a reduced density in the development. In addition, both the OVTPC and the WCC approved site plans which indicated that there was to be a transition between the farm and the development, which included only two buildings on the west side of the property which were to be set back 50 feet from the property line to provide a buffer zone between the properties. These site plans came up for review several times and the Commissioners affirmed the decision to maintain low density and a 50 foot setback on the west side of the property. I received notification of these meetings and either wrote letters or appeared at the meetings, and my concerns were addressed in the meetings. However, in March 2012, Celtic Bank presented a new site plan to the OVTPC. I did not receive timely notice of the meeting, so I did not have a chance to express my concerns or input, and the concerns that I had raised in previous meetings were not discussed. The OVTPC approved the plan and sent it to the WCC, where it was also approved. I did not receive any notice that it was being presented to the WCC, and although it was apparently a public hearing, there was no discussion of possible concerns about the development. The developer has now returned to the OVTPC and the WCC with some revisions of the site plans. With appropriate notice, I have presented my concerns, but have been told that the time for appeal of the previous decisions has passed. I am currently appealing the decisions from 2012 to the WCC and hope that I will be afforded a fair hearing in which to express my concerns. The Ogden Valley General Plan indicates goals of protecting open space and maintaining the Valley’s rural atmosphere. It indicates that development should be discouraged within entry corridors and areas with scenic/aesthetic values. Both Pineview Reservoir and Highway 39 are designated as view and scenic entry corridors. Zoning ordinances indicate that developments should be compatible with the general surrounding natural environment. From 2004 until March, 2012, the OVTPC and WCC members referred to these guidelines in making their decisions regarding the importance of a transition between my farm and the development to the east. However, in the meetings in 2012 when I had no opportunity to present my concerns, the plans were changed to allow more buildings on the west side of the property and to decrease the setback from 50 to 35 feet. I have received many positive comments from people about the beauty of the farm and how it enhances the scenic entrance to the Valley. I would appreciate the opportunity to present my case to the WCC. Please let the members of both the OVTPC and the Weber County Commission know if you feel that the decisions from 2012 should be reviewed and reconsidered. Marian Fowers Martin, Formerly of Huntsville