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Show c BATIlf Cbeek i nijiiiiwjfjijm Y AT'-:' t il As I recall, it was during the later days of August 1919. My wife, infant daughter and I were waking the trip from Pleasant Grove, Utah to Pan-aca, Pan-aca, Nevada in a brand new Model. T Ford.. . I remember, that the Arrowhead Ar-rowhead Trail," later Highway 91, was paved as far south as Payson. From there on to Pan-aca Pan-aca it was gravel, ruts and dust. We left Arrowhead at Cedar City and started out west across ac-ross the desert toward Mo-dena Mo-dena ,the only inhabitated spot between Cedar and our Nevada destination. I had traveled from Pleasant Grove to Panaca several times before, but always by railroad. The desert road was new to both of us. About half - way between Cedar and Modena, we came to a narrow fork in the road. A crude sign beside the right fork read, "This Way." The left hand road was unmarked. We stopped and talked things over "Could be" said my wife, "that the 'This Way' road leads only to a prospector's claim or a cattle camp. Let's take the left turn." Which we did. I have often thought about the trouble that might have resulted had we guessed wrong. We could have become lost if the trail had petered out and night could have come on before be-fore we got straightened out. Anyway, we reached our destination desti-nation safely before sundown. For the past couple of weeks the papers have been filled with exciting stories of the exploits of three young American Ameri-can astronauts. Obviously they have performed a feat that has long been regarded as impossible. im-possible. - What they did was possible thpv and the hundreds A of scientists who helped them, took the right turns, literally hundreds of times. Otherwise, their trip would have ended in disaster, disappointment and tragedy. Just a few nights ago, a young, brilliant U.S. Senator took the wrong turn. His mistake mis-take took the life of a young American woman. As sometimes happens, he spurned the well marked, paved pav-ed road and took the unmarked unmark-ed dirt road, which led to a place where he reportedly did not plan to go. At this writing, no one has told everything that happened prior to the death of Miss Kopechne. Also, the picture was not ciear as to what transpired trans-pired within a few hours after she was drowned. Just how the tragic incident will affect the political life of Edward M. Kennedy remains to be evaluated. His friends say "not at all." His enemies said he is a "dead duck politically." politic-ally." Only time will tell for sure. Perhaps we would all agree that success or failure, happiness hap-piness or sorrow, depend to a large measure upon taking the right turn or making the right decisions, so to speak. Some people call it good fortune,, for-tune,, other list it as common sense and still others refer to it as high intelligence. Somehow, the frailities of human nature remind me of the young Arkansas unwed mother, who had three fine young children, spaced about a year apart. When asked by the census taker to explain the situation, she replied: "Well sir, the first one was ig-noranc, ig-noranc, the second was carless-ness carless-ness and the third was just Hillbilly luck." So long til Thursday. |