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Show Page 2 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume II, Issue I October 1999 Letters to the Editor THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 745-2688 Fax: 745-0062 E-Mail: shannafrancis@worldnet.att.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 745-2879 Fax: 745-2879 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 VALLEY NEWS will print local birth, wedding, obituary, anniversary and missionary farewell and homecoming announcements free of charge. We invite residents to send their announcements to: THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS P O BOX 130 EDEN UT 84310 If you would like your submitted items returned, please send a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. T HE O GDEN V ALLEY N EWS , while respecting all property recieved, will take no responsibility for lost or misplaced items. Please remember to keep a copy for yourself. Invitation for Articles The staff of T HE O GDEN 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, births, weddings, anniversaries, mission homecomings and farewells, and death announcements. Eagle Scout and other 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. Ogden Canyon Traffic Will Only Get Worse Why was Trapper’s Loop constructed? On July 26, Ogden Canyon was closed because someone from the Utah Department of Transportation decided it would be easier to move two large portable schoolrooms up the canyon instead of over Trappers Loop, despite all the traffic. All of those who were inconvenienced, call UDOT (399-5921), Tom Vigil and the attorney general to complain. We were told it was too much trouble due to I-84 construction and way out of the way for the company on 12th Street where the portable rooms were made for them to use Trappers Loop. The traffic will continue to get worse if we don’t enforce the existing law now. Sandra Drake Eden Valley Sewage Disposal May Become Problem This fall we received news that our property tax had gone up 300 percent. Recently I found that this was just a beginning. It may be necessary to install a sewage line form Eden to Huntsville, up over Trappers Loop, down Weber Canyon to Unitah, then to Slaterville north and west of Ogden. The line itself will cost tens of millions of dollars, and the pumping stations and maintenance on the line will probably cost millions of dollars more each year. The cost of the project is to be borne by Weber County, and probably the brunt of the costs will be borne by Eden and the surrounding communities. The problem arose when it was found that a proposed sewage disposal plant in the area now called Nature Trails violated the law because it was very close to Primary Recharge Wells No. 253 and No. 9, and the effluent from the plant would dump into Pineview Reservoir. The Environmental Health Agency and others have passed a law that would have prevented the necessity of a sewage disposal plant when they proposed that there be no more than one house on three acres in Ogden Valley. Now there is proposed 42 or 43 houses, each with its septic tank, on the 45 acres called Eden Acres. I have letters and statements from people living next to the proposed building sites that state large areas of this development area flood each year. Flood waters washing through and over septic tanks will cause a sanitary problem, since any virus in a septic tank may live up to 250 days, and septic tank residues washing into basements and wells in the surrounding area will result in the requirement of a sewage disposal project. If we adhere to the recommendations of the Environmental Health Agency and the Valley Planning Committee we may avoid this tremendous tax burden for Weber County. Hugh W. Huggins Ogden Valley Resident Says Thank You This letter is in response to the Editor’s View by Shanna Francis in the September issue. I was appalled at the insensitivity of the Weber County Commissioners in regard to Haynes Fuller’s years of dedicated service. No matter how large or small one’s time given to serving others, and no matter in what capacity, a word of thanks is just common courtesy. Whether our opinions differ from those who are serving the community, a thank you, handshake, or pat on the back for a job well done, makes that person’s departure fulfilling. This serves as a reminder to all of us that showing appreciation, and acknowledging an individual’s effort, goes a very long way. So to Haynes Fuller, I say, “Thank you.” Lyn J. Ruths Eden Parent Gives Encouragement In a recent editorial there were comments on how a family was judged as not being a good family. The fact is Mr. Blumel, you have no idea who these families are. The fact is there are thousands of good families out there that the same thing has happened to in one form or another. It would be nice, as a parent, to be able to say that their children are perfect angles, and wouldn’t do anything wrong, but that’s not always the case. My wife and I are doing the best we can to raise our four boys, and the parents that you ridiculed, I know for a fact, are trying to do their best also. I’m closing my comments by saying good luck to all those parents out there that are trying to raise their kids proper, and don’t let comments like the ones Mr. Blumel wrote bring you down. Mack DeVries Huntsville Ignorance of Author Shines Through In response to Herman Blumel’s letter printed in the September issue of the Ogden Valley news, I wish to question his sources for making such strong comments against the families involved in the vandalism of the Ogden Valley Branch Library. I would also wonder how he can generalize this situation and say that all people who have ever made wrong decisions are bad people who come from bad families. I’ve made bad decisions in my life and you have too, I’m sure, but that doesn’t make me a bad person or my family a bad family. I know these families, and I know the circumstances involved in the situation. I know these families to be significant members of our community, members that are a great asset in making this community a great place to live. You obviously don’t know these people. If you did, your remarks wouldn’t have come out the way they did. Maybe you should step back and look at yourself. Don’t look at the youth of today and say they have failed you. Maybe it’s you that are failing the youth by giving up on them the way you have. One big problem of ours as a nation is that responsibility lies always on someone else, and no one wants to take that responsibility. When was the last time, Mr. Blumel, that you went to an elementary school and sat down with a child and read them a story, or even talked to a teenager about life. I work with youth everyday, and I know that if you show confidence in them and support them, nine times out of ten your eyes will be opened to the greatness of this generation of youth. One or two might make wrong decisions, but as soon as you give up on them, they’ll give up on themselves. Like I say, I know these people, and I know that the quality of these families is hard to find in our nation. I only wish you would educate yourself before you make strong claims against good people. Ignorance, in all aspects of life, is not a good way to base your opinions. Parker J. Spendlove Huntsville Guest Commentary Reader Against Fluoridation of Water in Weber and Morgan Counties The Weber-Morgan Board of Health is currently gathering information and viewpoints for the purpose of “deciding” whether Fluoride will be added to the county’s public water supply. Most people are surprised to hear that there is controversy on the topic, since mainstream media tends to promote only “pro-fluoride” information. To remedy this imbalance in information, Rachael Sweeten of Bright Day Health Foods in Ogden recently presented ten pages of documentation to the Weber-Morgan Board of Health, showing significant reasons not to Fluoridate public water. The information included graphs, charts, articles by medical doctors and Ph.D. researchers, press releases covering EPA scientists’ stands against water fluoridation, FDA’s refusal to call fluoride “safe or effective,” cities’ and counties’ costly lawsuits, a trend toward removal of fluoridation from existing cities water supply, reports of deadly fluoride water-injection equipment malfunctions, and the banning of fluoride in Europe and Scandinavia, etc. The most powerful reason not to fluoridate public water systems is that it is unprecedented to “medicate” public water! Even for those who believe fluoride is useful, mass medication of public water systems is an extreme measure that hasn’t been scrutinized nearly enough for a balanced approach, and it raises serious questions about using a potentially deadly substance to ostensibly remedy a non-lethal though annoying problem, namely tooth decay. Since individuals have a legal right to choose medical care, forcing exposure to any substance is in direct defiance of that right. Scientific wisdom would demand that any medicine be administered on a person by person basis, for safety’s sake. For those who choose to use fluoride, it is still necessary to control the amounts of exposure. Water system fluoridation does not take into account age, weight, varying water consumption, existing health problems (like kidney dialysis reactions), conflicting,medications,overmedication, legal implications, etc. This alone is 100% enough of a reason not to mass fluoridate public water, and this is true even for those who believe fluoride is beneficial. Repercussions to soil quality and animal life are serious. The research that exists points to serious, possibly irreversible, damage to soil quality, and plant and animal life which is dependent upon this chain. Consider saturating your garden several times a week with fluoridated water. Fluoride is considered more toxic than lead, and only slightly less toxic than arsenic, and it is no ones habit to sprinkle lead on their garden to be absorbed by plants they’re going to eat! Add to this the significant research showing that fluoride is ineffective, cumulatively dangerous, and suspect for cancers, tumors, increases in hipfractures, brain/neurological impairment, immune system malfunction, and many more suspected dangers. Since dental cavities are steadily declining in nonfluoridated cities at virtually the same rate as fluoridated cities, there is significant scientific debate about whether or not fluoride even has an effect on tooth decay. It is entirely possible that aluminum and pesticide manufacturing companies have opportunistically used an interest in minerals to “sell” sodium fluoride, rather than disposing (expensively) of it as a “toxic waste” COMMENTARY cont. on Page 3 |
