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Show We're all from somewhere, just not here (the editor's A column J By MARC HADDOCK Pioneer Days is as good a time as any to reflect on the pioneer heritage of our community, and ourselves. We certainly talk about it a lot -and those with a little more local heritage seem to talk about it more than others. And they should. That experience of coming across the plains in ox carts and handcart companies . had a . definite strengthening affect on the early Mormon settlers who decided where the homes would be and what the ' cities would be called. They, and their children, determined deter-mined many of the paths these communities would take. And their - jdescendants still are. Therels a-negatiye aspect to all this down-home feeling fob, for those of . us who are considered newcomers. I know, I've been a newcomer several times, every time I've moved. When we were living in larger , cities, like Salt Lake and Kearns, it didn't really matter, since so many newcomers have muddled the roots of those cities ' But when I lived in Castle Dale, just southwest of Price, it made all of the difference in the world . It was still clear, as we went through the paces of every day living, that I was a newcomer there, and not eligible for the honors due a a! lived in Pleasant Grove fov time). x It's true my grandmother mothers side, Eva Hof!,,'. L Pleasant Grove - although I there seems to remember L (, anymore. And although she only living grandparent when h born, I have never learned hum- i came to be born there, or y,- when she moved, or even hS'. met Grandpa Dunn. Just the a. it's one local tie. And my wife is the great p; daughter of a former Lehi mite f Wilhelmina Benson. We don't to , 1 much more about her lhanw; I about Grandma Dunn. But the ties are tenuous, ij. names no longer commonplatt r the area, and we are content to k in the just slightly off-center pes,: , i our newcomer status affords is- American Fork society. Because it all becomes pal)!;' when I go back (o Bear Lake!?, f visit and bask in the warmihofe "home," where I can trace myrv ik blood back on three lines to the Lv settlers to take root in that k? A valley blessed with a beautiful ii: & and cursed with an unfnesi; climate. It's there I can appreti;-whatever appreti;-whatever status we attribute ourselves because of our ance r accomplishments. And 1 mild V, change it for anything in the wwl-j native, one of those born with the alkali of that desert terrain in their blood. ' A quick trip to the cemetery would tell you which names were eligible for such honors, although you already knew just by looking through the telephone book. At the time, lots of newcomers were moving in, as UP&L was building its massive power plants. And there were more than a few scrapes between the new and the old, especially when one of the -"chosen" few labeled the newcomersas trailer trash." in an impudent letter-to-the-editor which i was kind enough to publish for him in my newspaper. , He had just purchased one of the old stores in town (there were two), and soon had a line of pickets protesting his establishment, claiming that as newcomers, these individuals did not receive fair treatment from all of the established businessmen. Needless to say, the old timers learned a few tricks in customer relations beforethat was all over. , Our move to Spanish Fork ran into somewhat the same type of situation, although not to the same degree. We lived with a lot of other new families. But we soon found that the sure inroad to Spanish Fork society was an Icelandic surname --which --which we didn't have. And north Utah County, while a little more progressive, still has subtle ways of letting you know you haven't been here all that long, i Now, I'm not complaining. But those with old-time names are just accorded more prestige than us newcomers. How else would Jess -Green be tolerated by other residents? Oh, people have tried to tie me into some older residents, but with little success. Usually, they connect me to Mark Hadlock, a fine American Fork resident who suffered the misfortune of receiving a some of my mail and a few nasty telephone calls until my name and number were finally listed in the telephone book this year. But the Haddock name is a new one, thank you, to American Fork (although I did have a cousin who |