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Show JANUARY 2005 The West View Page 3 This opinion section is an open forum for community issues. Editorial columns and opinion articles are strictly the opinion of the author. Letters of an indecent or demeaning nature will not be published. Letters will be edited for style and space. Understanding the Legislative Process Discussion From the Editor Due to a lack of planning and possibly even post-Christmas let down, I never quite know what to expect on New Year’s Eve. My relatives are diehard University of Utah fans, and so this year, while they were in Tempe partying it up with the throng of other wild Ute fans, I was at home with my two youngest children, ages two and four. My husband, a SLC firefighter and EMT, was working a bicycle shift downtown at the First Night celebration. Feeling abandoned and missing my eldest son terribly (he was spending his holiday vacation with his grandparents in Navajo country near Window Rock), I grudgingly accepted the reality that this New Year’s Eve wouldn’t be much different than most other New Year’s Eves I’d experienced before — a real downer. The only party prospect that I had was to attend a dinner at the LDS church up the street. I imagined rub- You and your neighbors are invited to meet at 7:00 p.m. on Jan. 24 at the Day Riverside Library to discuss how we can come together to increase citizen participation in the 2005 General Legislative Session that begins Jan. 17. Like many, I am concerned about how little most of us know about the political process locally and nationally. Without that knowledge and some degree of participation, our “government by the people, for the people” cannot work effectively to do the most good for the greatest number of people. We will discuss your concerns and: the importance of knowing the specific contents of proposed bills, increasing public input during policy-making, how a representative’s voting record can be skewed, sharing information learned at legislative committee hearings, how little public input is actually required to initiate action by a representative, internet tracking of the legislature, and legislative committees of interest to you. Please join your neighbors and get involved. One person can make a difference. As a community, we can do more. - Lisa Yoder Rose Park 209-8757 “They Take Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot” Every year, I participate in the Salt Lake City Christmas bird count. This count of birds has been going on since the 1930s when Charles Lockerbie, who side of the Jordan River from 1700 South to 2100 South, which appears to be privately owned land. However, this grew up in our neighborhood, began buffer along our section of the river. counting winter birds in Salt Lake City. The area I cover, with the leadership of Bob Walters of the Utah Division of Wildlife, is the section of Jordan River from I-80 to 2100 South and from I-15 to 5600 West. Each year we see increased destruction of habitat in our area. Now all of the vegetation is being leveled by bulldozers right up to the river’s edge. New fencing is now blocking access to this land, which I thought to be sovereign. How can we preserve a wonderful oxbow there that is now completely fenced off? Is this with the sanction of Salt Lake City government? Who should we hold accountable? Is This year, I saw with great distress, the bulldozing of habitat along the east area used to be the widest and wildest it the City’s or the. County’s jurisdiction? Is it our responsibility as citizens? And does anybody care enough to act? I believe that we should all care that the Jordan River trail be connected from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake and that we preserve whatever wild river corridor we can. I say so because I love birds in all their wildness, but there are other reasons too. We owe it to our children to protect these rare green Spaces in our urban areas. - Edie Trimmer Poplar Grove State’s or. the bery casseroles, lime jell-o and people engaging in phony-polite, dull conver- - Human Rights Video Project sation. Not my idea of a good time. When it came down to it, I didn’t | “have anywhere else to go, and having been enticed with the promise of dancing, I walked over with my two kids. Well, my negative, preconceived “Calling fries Gieects A Story About Rape, War and Women, the first in a series notions about the party were entirely inaccurate. The first thing I saw when we walked in was the huge spread of food of 12 films, will be shown on Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. Calling the Ghosts exam- on the buffet table. I was delighted to discover a beautiful tossed salad with pears and apples topped with a poppy - of the war in Bosnia on women through the stories of Jadranka Cigelj and Nasreta Sival, both professional seed vinaigrette. We were quickly loaded up with enormous baked potatoes, rolls, “kumara,” a Polynesian . type of sweet potato, and barbecued meats. One of our Filipino neighbors, seeing that I had my hands full with my two kids, graciously brought sil- ines the devastating impact Muslim women But the best part of the night was the dancing that followed dinner, and I must say that the 25th Ward really knows how to throw a good party! Bishop Angilau’s son was the DJ, and he played a great mix of retro dance music like “That’s the Way, unh huh, unh huh, I Like It,’ “Brick House” and “Funky Town”. People of all ages and colors danced like there was no tomorrow; my kids danced until = literally dropped. We then went home and brought in the New Year, playing board games were living in the Bosnian town of Priejdor when Serbs seized power in 1992. They were taken to the Omarska The Human Rights Video Project is dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness of human rights issues through the medium of documentary films. The pro- January 22 ¢ 1:00-3:00 p.m. Kids are invited to two special workshops presented by the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Both workshops are free and take place at the Main Library, 210 East 400 South. Call 524$200 for more information. The UMFA’s Megan Hallett leads you on a visual journey of this extensive collection of paintings, sculptures and photographs from the Anti-war activists are organizing Inauguration Day Jan. 20.and 22. On Thurs. Jan. 20, we will meet at the Federal Building We watched our children play togeth- administration policies and to tion parody/skit, music, and the er, and at midnight, watched fireworks demonstrate that the American following speakers: Kathy. people want U.S. military Dopp, fair elections activist, intervention in Iraq ended. founder of Utah Count Votes; Wasatch Peace Coalition, Reverend Dan Webster of the along with other activist Episcopal Peace Fellowship; groups, is organizing protests © ~ Tyler Bugden, East high school here in Utah to take place on student/activist; Nikko Schoch my childhood friend, and her husband dear Robert. and shared some bubbly - a perfect ending to a New Year’s celebration that exceeded this tions. | cynic’s expecta- - Charlotte Fife-Jepperson interested in using independent video to affect social change in their communities. The project was created by National Video Resources (www.nvr.org) in partnership with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The series is cosponsored by the SLC Film Center and Amnesty rie For more information see the project's Web site, www.humanrightsproject.org. All of the films in the series will be shown on — the last Tues. of each month, Jan.25_ through WNov.29. Contact the City Library at 524-8200 for location. Films in this series may contain adult material that could be considered provocative, sexually explicit, and/or graphically violent. Chinese New Year Celebration Celebrate the Year of the Rooster on Sat., Feb. 5, with dancers, cultural displays, music, Chinese storytelling and more. The fun takes place from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Main Library, 210 East 400 South. Local Activist Groups to Hold Anti-war Protests an. evening inauguration day anti-war protest from 5 to 6:30 p.m. We will have an inaugura- with makers, librarians, activists, teachers and other citizens Smithsonian Arts Museum. You’ll also construct your own collages using brightly colored papers and fabrics. The exhibit African-American Masters continues at the UMFA through February 28. The exhibition features sixty-one paintings, sculptures, and photographs. that reveal both universal concerns and a special awareness of “being black” in the 20th century. and related protests in Washington, D.C. and around the U.S. to mobilize those demoralized by the re-election of George W. Bush, to build continued opposition to Bush Annamarie gram ag aims to build a broad community of film- African-American Masters verware, drinks, and cake to our table. Even though we are not members of their church, everyone welcomed us with open arms, and that gave me a good feeling that will last for a long time. who Detention Camp. They describe the systematic rape that was used as a means of humiliation and annihilation. The film won 1998 EMMY Awards for Best Investigative Special and Best Directing, and the 1998 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Plaza, 125 South State Street in downtown Salt Lake City, for Borgenicht of Physicians for veteran; Westminster College Social Responsibility; Kylene political science professor Stemmons of Military Families — Chuck Tripp on Bush adminSpeak Out (parent of a Marine stration violations of internain [raq); Amanda Madden, East tional law and Eileen Olsen of high school student/activist; CodePINK. Gina Cornia of Utahns Against On Sat. Jan. 22, we will Hunger; Lorna Vogt of Utah march and rally with people Progressive Network; Aaron gathering at the Federal _ Davis, Veterans for Peace; Building at 12 noon for a Anwar Arafat, Muslim Student parade over to the City-County Association, U of U.. Building where we’]l join with _ These will be peaceful, non-marchers for a rally at 1:00 legal protests and are open to p.m. Confirmed speakers for all interested people. the Saturday rally are: Louis of Veterans for Peace, vietnam |