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Show Page 2 THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume IX Issue VI January 1, 2004 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 745-2688 Fax: 745-0062 Cell: 791-4387 E-Mail: slfrancis@att.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 745-2879 Fax: 745-2879 E-Mail: crwendell@att.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 O GDEN 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 O GDEN VALLEY NEWS reserves the right to edit or decline printing of any submissions. Announcements Sought As a community service, The O GDEN 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 O GDEN VALLEY N EWS 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 O GDEN VALLEY N EWS 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 N EWS 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. FEASIBILITY cont. from page 1 Eden property owner Jon Bingham stated, “If petitioners could only get 88 residents out of 600 to sign a petition to do a feasibility study, what makes them think residents will vote to support incorporation. We will loose $50,000 for the cost of the study, and thousands more by holding an election, and placing the question whether to incorporate or not on the ballot. They [proponents for the study] would do everyone a favor by withdrawing their petition.” Sponsors of the petition are Stephen Clarke, Paul DeLong, Jim Halay, Dick Manley, and Jim Ormsbee. FIRST NIGHT cont. from page 1 bring in the New Year. Admission is $7 for adults; children under 12 are free. This year’s event is sponsored by Interfaith Works, Smith’s Food & Drug Stores, Red Robin, Ken Garff, America First, Kiss Copies, 101.5 KJQ, 1280 Sports Zone, Standard-Examiner, and STREET Magazine. The event is a Cornerstone Marketing Production. There will be three stages to enjoy. MAIN STAGE Grand Ballroom: Logan, Jami & Tanill and Joe McQueen. TEEN STAGE: DJ’s, hip hop and KRISDAGONG. Then a third stage will provide Latin/Hispanic bands. Something for everybody in the community of Ogden. Come out and CELEBRATE! Note: Information courtesy of “STREET Magazine,” Ogden’s Historic 25th Street Gazette. PLANNING cont. from page 1 Initially, between 1999 and 2000, Bramson submitted to Weber County and Huntsville Town plans to build a 90,000 sq. ft. commercial center on the site, but withdrew the request after numerous delays and requests by both planning bodies. Several area residents attended the public hearing on the current proposal, speaking against the request for approval to build storage units. Wolf Creek Resort and Powder Mountain have both received a notice by the county to remove an illegal off premise commercial sign that was recently constructed on the corner south of the Valley Market in Eden. The sign was constructed to advertise both of the area resorts. Resort owners have been asked to remove the sign that was constructed without a permit, and in violation of Ogden Valley’s current sign ordinance. Inspirational Thought Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end pre-exists in the means, the fruit in the seed. House of Representatives Interim Summary Highlights-November 2003 Business & Labor In its last meeting of the 2003 Interim, the Business and Labor Interim Committee began its business with a report from the Financial Institutions Task Force. This spring, just as the interim session was starting, a number of Utah’s credit unions moved from state to federal charters. As a result, the State of Utah no longer had regulatory authority over these financial institutions. Because the task force was charged with studying the relationship between banks and larger credit unions, field of membership issues, and policies governing taxation of non-exempt credit unions, the task force’s work was stalled when these charter changes occurred. The task force, which only met twice this interim, is now waiting to see what develops on the federal front with respect to the governance of credit unions and banking institutions as it prepares to pick-up its work next interim session. Moving on, the committee then considered several draft pieces of legislation. Of the ten bills before them, committee members endorsed seven for the 2004 General Session. First, they recommended Captive Insurance Companies Act Amendments which makes modifications ranging from provisions related to paying expenses or claims of a protected cell to providing for minimum capitalization or reserve requirements for a captive reinsurance company. Next, they passed Life Insurance law Amendments. This addressed eligible insured groups for group or blanket life insurance policies. The committee also passed Licensing—Insurance Law Amendments, which affects licensing requirements, such as requiring producers to have experience with property and casualty lines of authority to be eligible to add surplus lines of authority. Fourth, the committee advanced a bill that changes the preliminary notice requirements in certain bond actions. Next was Lien Amendments—a bill that amends the timing requirement for filing a notice of claim for a lien and requires that the lien amount be included in such a notice. The last two bills recommended by the committee dealt with document recording requirements—the first relating to real estate documents and the second relating to trust deeds. The committee also discussed two ideas for legislation likely to be introduced during the regular session. The first focused on minimizing the difference between commercial and residential liens by creating a central, electronic repository of information. The second idea discussed involved eliminating the practice of predatory lending. While specifics are still being worked out, legislation to address this significant problem may likely include limits on the fees lenders may charge and may require that lenders to do a better job of assessing a borrower’s ability to repay the loan. Education After discussing the role of character and values in education for a number of months, the Education Interim Committee finally endorsed legislation in their last meeting that would require “Civic and Character Education” to be included in K-12 social studies curriculum, and to be universally taught in connection with regular schoolwork. Proponents have argued that these educational elements are fundamental to the mission and responsibility of our schools and should be a required element of any educational experience. The other pieces of legislation supported by the committee this month would eliminate a pilot program for the acquisition and refurbishing of donated computers to be used in public schools, and drop requirements of the State School Board of Education to have a textbook plan and to —Ralph Waldo Emerson Deadline for material for the January 15 OVN issue is January 7. make rules governing school building utilization. Rounding out the November meeting was a report from the Public Education Legislative Task Force. The task force met six times over the interim and spent a great deal of time studying how the federal “No Child Left Behind Legislation” (NCLB) affects Utah, and how to achieve competency-based education, as required by SB 154. While the task force did not have recommendations for the committee, its chairs told committee members to expect revisions to last year’s education reform legislation as a result of the task force’s work. Government Operations Recommending two pieces of legislation to join five other measures endorsed earlier as committee bills for the 2004 General Session, the Government Operations Interim Committee had a busy and productive final meeting. The bills recommended include Amendments to Local Referendum Process and Local Referendum Amendments. In addition to favorably recommending these pieces of legislation, the committee also heard a report on the progress of the group charged with analyzing the law on Governmental Immunity. While not yet complete, group members told the committee that their work will likely lead to substantial revisions to the governmental immunity act. Finally, the committee reviewed various boards and commissions for possible elimination. Members voted to send letters to the Drinking Water Board, the Privatization Policy Board, Agriculture and Wildlife Damage Prevention, and the Utah Communications Agency Network Board requesting information as to what essential service they each provide to the state. Health & Human Services In addition to recommending 10-year reauthorizations for the Medical Assistance, Veterinary Practice, and Massage Therapy Practice Acts, the Health and Human Services Interim Committee also recommended removing the repealer statue on a provision requiring health insurers to cover diabetes. The justification for keeping the legislation on the books stems from the report presented to committee members which shows that the legislative requirement has been beneficial to Utah’s diabetic population, while having very little impact on the comprehensive claim costs in the commercial health insurance market. Finally, the committee endorsed a piece of legislation that will extend an insurance code exemption allowing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to provide a number of benefits to their growing number of volunteers. Judiciary Officially supporting two pieces of child visitation-relation legislation, the Judiciary Interim Committee finished business for the year. Specifically, the committee supported Parent-time Schedule Amendments and Transportation of Children for Parent-time. Child visitation and parent-time issues have long been a focus of the legislature, with bills introduced each session on the matter and many interim hours dedicated to its discussion. In fact, last month, this same interim committee discussed the Pilot Program for Expedited Parent-time Enforcement. Parent-time Schedule Amendment and Transportation of Children for Parent-time now join Marriage Preparation Education, legislation that reduces the marriage license fee for couples who undergo pre-marital education, which was endorsed earlier this interim as committee bills for the 2004 General Session. Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice The Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee began their final HIGHLIGHTS cont. on page 10 BARBARA BEALBA INTERIORS Custom Draperies Blinds, Shutters & Shades Reupholstery Design Consultation 745-2269 E-mail: barbarab@konnections.net |