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Show Page 2 The Ogden Valley news Volume XIX Issue XX Novmeber 15, 2011 The Ogden Valley news Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 801-745-2688 Fax: 801-745-0062 Cell: 801-791-4387 E-Mail: slfrancis@digis.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 801-745-2879 Fax: 801-745-2879 E-Mail: crwendell@digis.net crwendell@msn.com 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 December 1 issue is November 15. Letters to the Editor A Final Gift My mother passed away this month. She was 80 years young. She gave the gift of life to four girls. She gave the gift of good advice, set an example of kindness and service to others, and the gift of unconditional love. When she died, she left one more gift but this gift was tangible—she was prepared. When we were going through her office, we found a binder with every legal document we would ever need to settle her estate—the deed to the house, account numbers for her mortgage, bank account numbers, life insurance, title to her car. The list goes on. In one fell swoop we had our questions answered and didn’t have to spend days and weeks going through files. Can we say we are as prepared? Have we left this gift to our own children? I know if I lost my husband tomorrow, I’d be in a bit of trouble. I pay the bills; he does the taxes and big stuff. Do I know where the deed to the house, the car titles, water stock certificates, life insurance paperwork, or bank account information is kept? The answer is no, but I intend to find out. I want my girls to have things settled simply when the time comes. It’s possibly one of the most important gifts I can give them. Cynthia Beck, Eden Valley Dance and Fitness Honors Paul Douglas When we first started our yoga classes early 2011, Paul was one of our first customers. He started taking yoga with Stephanie, and has been our most faithful customer ever. We have loved getting to know Paul; he is truly a sweet spirit. When he first started with yoga, he had had four surgeries the previous year and was looking to get back into shape—both mentally and physically. He looks like a totally different person! He has lost some weight, he looks healthy, he is so much more active, and he says he feels better mentally as well. We have been so impressed with his progress. Paul, age 63 (wow!), loves mountain bik- Paul Douglas ing, hiking, and skiing; and this last summer, he even started rock climbing. He says that his life mantra is “Breath in DESIRE, Breath out – SIMPLICITY.” He says, “Not only do I do this in yoga class, but I try to live my life this way as well.” We think that he is a great example of how to live a great life. If you have been lucky enough to know Paul, then your life has been blessed. All of us at Valley Dance and Fitness want to wish him continued success with his health and fitness and look forward to seeing him at yoga and any of our other classes he decides to brave. Thanks Paul! Elene Hess Valley Dance and Fitness, Eden Socialism Removes Drive for Individual Self-Improvement Mr. Barack Obama’s spread-the-wealth, socialistic agenda is a doomed attempt to eliminate the self-improvement instincts of most Americans. Our country should and does offer equal opportunity, not equal outcome. A society where everyone shares all the wealth equally just won’t work, not because of political philosophy, but because of human nature. As an exercise in speculation, let’s examine two areas of possible socialistic “reform” that are always in the news. Concerning school and children, what if we had schools that embrace this socialistic approach? In those schools, top-rated students must share their “A” grades with lower-performing students to balance the scales of opportunity so everyone will come out with a “C” average. It does not matter who did most of the work and studying, it only matters under school rules that all are rewarded with equal grades. When these students go on to universities or colleges and then on to the workforce, they would all be considered equally qualified due to the socialistic measurements, because they all are “C” average performers. Also, to be fair in a socialistic society, everyone is paid the same in the job market no matter how hard they work or how much they contribute or accomplish. Your compensation would be based on length of time on the job. In the sports and entertainment world in this progressive society, any player on a sports team would get playing time based on seniority, not the skill level they possessed. There could be no stars identified or paid more (if professional) to ensure that no one received more recognition for their achievement. Liberals in the acting community will be happy to hear that plum roles and compensation in Hollywood would not be based on the box office sales and star titles, it would be based on seniority of the actors, not accomplishments or drawing power of stars. Under a socialistic system, all of the rich Hollywood stars would get to share their wealth with their peers on an equal basis. I think people get the drift. Larry Zini, Huntsville We Ignore Social Problems at Our Own Peril I may have been mistaken when I said Dr. Crockett was wearing his powdered wig too tight. Indeed, it appears much more likely that he has torn his wig into two equal parts and used it to stuff his ears so he can close his eyes and scream “La, La, La,” at anyone who may have the audacity to express an opposing view. Dr. Crockett boasts his understanding of the Constitution but I would submit that reading everything Cleon Skousen or Glen Beck ever wrote does not make you a Constitutional scholar. This new view of the Constitution as a dead in stone document so fancied by Dr. Crockett and his friends in the Tea Party is as self serving as it is troubling. It places these folks in the enviable position of being able to abdicate their social responsibility while laying superior claim to patriotism. “I can walk by that stranger who lies broken and bleeding on the side of the road because the Constitution places no burden on me to do otherwise,” says Dr. Crockett. I guess I must begrudgingly acknowledge that is true. Dr. Crockett has every right to squat down in his Gollum hole chomping on his dirt clods and straw (we know he doesn’t like hummus) and the supreme law of the land will leave him at it. What Dr. Crockett seems to miss is that this discussion should really involve a two-part inquiry. The question whether a particular matter falls within the four squares of the Constitution may be interesting for “scholars” like the good doctor, but the second and more important inquiry to the rest of us should always be, does it serve society? Does the Social Security Act, which Dr. Crockett decries as unconstitutional, but protects the sick and the elderly serve the greater good? Every Supreme Court ruling on the Act since its passage, including right leaning courts stacked by the Republicans, have said it does. Sometimes it is easy for us, Dr. Crockett and myself included, who have the tremendous good fortune of living in Ogden Valley to believe the mountains to our west buffer us from the problems of the world. Sadly, those problems are there whether we choose to see them or not. We ignore them at our peril. I, for one, would rather offer a person a hand up rather than face his hand raised against me when gross economic inequality has driven him to revolution. Gary Anderson, Huntsville |