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Show THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 2 Volume VI, Issue III May 15, 2002 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 745-2688 Fax: 745-0062 Cell: 791-4387 E-Mail: shannafrancis@att.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 745-2879 Fax: 745-2879 E-Mail: 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 VALLEY NEWS 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 OGDEN VALLEY 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. Letters to the Editor Hello, and Goodbye to Everyone! I can’t believe the end of the school year is here. I just want to thank everyone for all that you did to help the Snowcrest PTA function so smoothly this past year. I’ve had a great time getting to know everyone, and working on the board. Now for the much deserved recognition . . . A huge thank you to Nancy Otto for the amazing newsletters. The whole school appreciated them! Thank you to Treasurer Linda Knowles, who kept track of everything and got all the forms in to the right people! Thank you to our Secretary Kathy Welling, who called everyone for all the meetings, and kept me organized (a real feat at that) and on my toes. Thank you to Lisa Pack and Shauna Froerer for all the meetings and help, and for taking over next year as President and President Elect. You’ll be great! Thank you to Rob Stillwell our Principal and Administrative V.P. for supporting us in what we asked for . . . and for Jeanne Atkinson, his right arm, and liaison with the students. They were wonderful to work with, and love Snowcrest and the community. Thank you to Donna Linford for the terrific job on the book fairs, and fundraising for the Library. Thank you to Mavis Stevenson and Chris Brown for Family Ed., and the Health and Safety work you did. Thank you to Nancy King and Barbara Allport and all their committee for a terrific and successful Halloween Carnival. A huge job that keeps us in the black. Thank you to Rhonda Wadman and Shannon Anderson for your Hospitality meals and awareness for the teachers. They’ve done this for years, and no one can do it better. Thank you to Jamie Hawkes, Nancy Otto and Kay Kilgore, our School-to-School liaisons. Thank you to Laurie Allen and Pam Johnson for the Olympic Blanket help and Leslie Stitt and Linda Burton for running our Reflections program. They were great activities. Thank you to Teresa Shaum for organizing and compiling our membership of families. Another big job. Thank you also to Roylene Hunter who single-handedly ran the Family Photo Fundraiser and, with Ruth Jenkins, called all our volunteers. Without volunteers, the PTA wouldn’t function. Inspirational Thought “As citizens of this republic, we can not do our duty, and be idle spectators.” — Ezra Taft Benson The deadline for material for the June 1st issue is May 23rd, 2001. Last but not least, thank you to Will, Colton and Chad McKay and the rest of my little family for helping me at home and at the school on numerous activities. I couldn’t have done this job without their support. I have been grateful for this opportunity to serve, and hope that many more of you will have this experience! Have a great summer! Love Wendy McKay, Snowcrest PTSA President Would the Powder Mountain Proposed Expansion Be a Benefit or a Detriment to Our Community? I have been pondering this question for a long time. In order to understand the issue, I thought back over my 48 years of life. I was raised in a small town in Southern Idaho. I have also owned and operated one of the larger Real Estate Companies in the Valley, so I have seen both sides of the growth issue. Over these past 48 years I have lived and watched three resort areas develop and go through the similar cycle our Valley is currently experiencing. Our Valley is not unique in this experience. I have observed Sun Valley, Idaho; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Park City, Utah as they have gone through, what seems to be coming our way. I would like to offer the following thoughts for your consideration. Powder Mountain will offer hundreds of building sites with the very wealthy in mind. These multi-million dollar homes will be inhabited by, largely, second or third home buyers. This development will generate a lot of money through taxes. The money generated will have an enormous positive impact on our school system. By and large, second and third home buyers are older, wealthier people whose children are already grown up so, most likely, they will not be a burden on our schools. However, despite the promise of millions of dollars flowing into our community through this mammoth project, I have some concerns. My chief concern is the hyper appreciation in home values and higher taxes the Powder Mountain project may cause. As multimillion dollar homes are built, and the very wealthy move in, our property values will rise rapidly—to the point that within a few years, many Valley residents will be forced to sell out, and move because they can not pay their taxes. The promised millions for our school system will educate someone else’s children, because many of our citizens will no longer live here. The new people moving in are, by and large, much different then the people who live here now. They have different life experiences, and different values. So along with losing many of our long time residents, we will also lose much of the bedrock character, values, and morals of our community. In the end, our Valley will become just another playground for the wealthy. The Sun Valley I grew up with, is much different then the Sun Valley of today. We can have commercial growth that effects the community in a positive way. That growth is when the Valley Market or the Dental Office expands. This creates jobs for our citizens, but does not cause runaway appreciation on home values in our community. It is slower growth, but it is steady, and is a benefit to the entire community. This is much different than a billion-dollar housing/recreational project that builds out to its full size in ten to fifteen years. When all is said and done, I believe we will lose much more then we gain by this project. There is one solution that may make it possible to keep this project, and others like it, from taxing us out of our homes. I would offer for your consideration Proposition 13 type legislation. The basic tenants of Proposition 13 are that your home value can not be reassessed until it sells. If you do not sell your home, your property tax increases are limited to 2% above inflation. This prevents the 500% tax increases, or more, that some of our citizens already received last year. It limits government’s ability to tax you out of your home. However, it also allows the government to raise taxes 2% above the annual inflation rate so services, like the Fire Department, etc., can still be funded. The Developer has stated in a public meeting that he is willing to meet with Governor Leavitt concerning this issue. One thing I have learned from selling Real Estate for the past 17 years is that you can not stop growth. You can, however, try to limit its impact, and guide its direction. I believe the Powder Mountain expansion will happen. The developers already has vested property rights that allow a huge project to proceed. Maybe the best thing we can do is join together and explore solutions before we come face to face with the problems created by this proposal. If you are interested, please contact me. Paul L Judd, Liberty Calling all Scouts, Calling all Scouts Now registering for summer/fall. This is a community sponsored scout troop open to all boys 1st - 5th grade. For more information, please contact Julie Aldrich 745-3037 or Becky Daugaard 745-5600. |
