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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, September 14-17, 2019 A-5 The Park Record Why did Utah officials turn a blind eye to tainted water? KIM RAFF/HIGH COUNTRY NEWS The Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints casts a reflection in a pool of water in Salt Lake City’s Temple Square on Aug. 15, 2019. State trusted LDS Church would fix kids’ camp issues High Country News This story was originally published at High Country News (hcn.org) on Sept. 2, 2019. It was supported by a grant from the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Fund for Environmental Journalism. On an early June morning in the early 2000s, I piled into a van with a group of neighborhood girls and headed up to Aspencrest summer camp, operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My pillow, stuffed with provisions for the week ahead — pajamas, an extra jacket, scripture — was propped against the window. We drove up a steep, sparsely wooded mountainside dotted with small farms. The van, supervised by church volunteers from my neighborhood congregation, pulled up to a dusty pavilion in by the campers. We giggled, ate candy and haggled over extra shower time while we waited in line to fill our water bottles at the tap beside the camp pavilion. None of us ever dreamed that the water might be unsafe. But according to state records obtained by High Country News from a former engineer with the Utah Division of Drinking Water, Aspencrest’s water has long been contaminated with bacteria — and it remains tainted to this day. While Aspencrest is the setting for some of my fondest childhood memories, I wasn’t surprised when this investigation revealed that regulators overlooked potential health risks at church-owned facilities, not once but twice in recent years. The LDS Church, which is omnipresent in Utah, has been widely suspected of dictating public policy and granting leniency to prominent church members who break the law. Why would the regulatory agencies responsible for our health and safety be any different? For years, state regulators turned a blind eye to potential THE SMART NEW WAY TO BUILD YOUR LUXURY HOME ©2017 Gardner Group, Inc. EMMA PENROD the Uinta Mountains above Salt Lake City. Aspencrest Camp was barren, except for a sparse grove of its lacey namesake trees. The other girls and I sleepily unpacked our tents. This was not the wooded wonderland that I — a resolute 12-year-old tomboy — envisioned when older girls described their mystical experiences at our church’s annual all-girls camp. But I was determined to make the best of it. For most members of the LDS Church, camping was a religious rite — a mark of emerging adulthood. I intended to return home a woman of faith, ready to tackle the temptations of junior high. The camp’s amenities included self-service mess halls, flush toilets and showers, even one of those challenge courses, where we participated in exercises such as the “trust” fall, where our religious leaders taught us that God would always look after us. We prepared traditional meals on the camp grills or provisional gas stoves and bonded by cooking “friendship stew,” a surprisingly palatable dish made with random canned goods supplied BETTER EXPERIENCE. BETTER RESULT. BETTER VALUE. Felicity Gardner, Interior Designer Murray Gardner, Project Leader Park City UT | 435-640-5184 | gardnergroupparkcity.com Visit our web site gardnergroupparkcity.com and download our free e-book “Top 7 Things to Know Before Building Your Park City Dream Home” Please see Tainted, A-6 BRAIN FITNESS THE PROGRAM INCLUDES: • 7 weekly 90-minute sessions presented by doctors, dietitians, exercise physiologists, and licensed mental health providers. • Personalized action plan to maintain optimal brain health through healthy lifestyle behaviors • Small group interactive sessions • One year subscription to AARP’s Staying Sharp online brain health program TOPICS INCLUDE The LiVe Well Center offers a program to educate you about evidencebased healthy lifestyle behaviors that support brain health. Every Thursday from October 8 – November 19, 3:00 - 4:30 pm. 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The program is not intended for individuals already experiencing symptoms of cognitive impairment, nor is it for caregivers of individuals with cognitive impairment who are seeking resources to aide in their caregiving responsibilities. The program fee is $175. Brain Fitness is available to adults of any age, who are in generally good cognitive health and are interested in learning how they can maintain their cognitive health. Download a program application and register for the program at intermountainhealthcare.org/brainfitnesspc |