OCR Text |
Show v Review -- Thursday, July 25, 1985 -- Page 2 (zmmmomt ) ' " Rain, but not on my parade By M.AKC'KLI.A WALKKK Did you get caught in the down-pour last Thursday evening? I guess it was worse in Orem, but if it was it must have been something. It was terrible in Pleasant Grove. The water flowed into the low spots, washed over curbs and ran across lawns. Cars on State Road 89 looked like Miss Budweiser at full speed as the plumes sprayed up on each side. I didn't ask Frank if they had any problems with the drainage in other places in the city, but they probably did. A lot of rain fell in just a short span of time. In the past week we have had a lot of rain storms and lots of lightning. I am not good in lightning. It isn't bad to watch from the front porch when it is out over the Oquirrh mountains but when it is flashing around in your back yard, or nearly, it does not seem so good. There are two good things about the storms. One is that they cool things down a little, at least until the sun comes out and things get real muggy. The other is that you do not have to water the lawn for a day or two. The bad things about them are p.g. hUih numerous. They rain out ballgames, they rain out picnics, lightning strikes people and trees and does damage, they get your seats wet if you leave the car windows down and your bed wet if you leave the bedroom windows open. I hope it does not rain today. It is the Hyrum Wright family reunion and it-i- s planned as an outdoor ac-tivity. We want people to visit the old homestead, to visit the cemetery, and to visit with each other. Rain would not help a lot. There will probably be a lot of family reunions today. Remembering our pioneer heritage, if we have one, is of prime importance on Pioneer Day, July 24. I have no Utah pioneer ancestors. I cannot join the DUP or stand in church and talk about my grand-mother who walked across the plains. I could tell of my great-grandfather filling a wagon with family and belongings and traveling from Green County, Indiana to Maryville, Missouri where my ancestors settled. I don't even know how the Youngs, my mother's side, got to Missouri. Probably the same way. As you know, the Walkers' and the Wrights were among the early settlers in the Pleasant Grove-Lindo- n area. It has been kind of fun getting involved with a family that has pioneer ancestors and hearing all the stories that go with it. It is fun to read in Henson Walker's memoirs about the Indian battle at the top of Battlecreek and learn all about the old fort, the ex-periences with the Indians, and the early schools and stores. Grandfather Wright planted manv of the trees at the old Third Ward and it is neat to stand under them and try to picture him planting them all those years ago. The Wrights came from England and so there is more to their tab than just coming across the plains They crossed the ocean, too. I have a great-grandfath- who crossed the ocean. He was stowaway on a ship coming froni England to America. He served in the Civil War and was not even an American citizen. I have always tried to imagine him leaving his Yorkshire home, slipping unnoticed onto a ship leaving porf and never returning to see his family again. He did have a brother who came to America to lecture and happened to be in Chicago at the time that Mrs O'Leary's cow tipped over the lantern and burned up the place. He was never heard from again. All of this is a far cry from the weather that I started to talk about at the beginning of this epistle. Let's all wish for good weather for today shall we, and it will still turn out the way Mother Nature wants it. (letters to J Carnival is safe, contributing enterprise Editor: I read the letter in your paper from Marion Allen, concerning the Sizzler. He didn't mention how old he is. I'm 58, a grandfather and already I see many things hazar-dous to my health that I didn't when I was younger - going down a water slide for one, touch football for another. I could go on and on. Out of 260 Sizzlers operating in the U.S.A. this is the first time I've heard of this kind of injury. The Sizzler we have owned since 1972 and before that a similar ride, the Merry Mixer. We play Springville, Pleasant Grove, Provo, Nephi, American Fork, Spanish Fork and Heber in this area. We play a total of 44 places in all during the year. We occasionally have accidents, thank goodness nothing serious so far. People are always yelling to stop the ride - all for different reasons. Some wet their pants from ex-citement, some empty their stomachs from the whirling, and some yell just to be yelling - they yell to go faster or yell to say hello to a friend they see. One thing about it, we try our best to do what's right. If something goes wrong we do try to correct it and hope everyone is fine. One other thought, Mr. Allen, "that carnival" as you called it is locally owned. We pay property tax to the Alpine School District on 60 vehicles, 17 acres of property on 1st South and 1st West, which includes our warehouse and three houses, plus my home at 532 East 1100 North. Our rent to Strawberry Days . which helps considerably to help ; pay for the celebration expenses is $5500. We pay all our own costs. When we park at the rodeo grounds we donate $200 for the time we are here in the summer, to use the lot and rest rooms, even though we do have them at our warehouse. We also give out 4000 free tickets to the kid's parade. We also price our entire carnival rides at 50 cents each. The Flying Bobs and such rides at most shows are $1.50 to $2 a ride and the rest are at 75 cents to $1.50. We have been holding our price down to 50 cents, but with the constant rise in costs, I'm sure that will soon be a day of the past, but we're still trying. Every year at least one float is stored free of cost in our warehouse, all summer, to keep it clean and dry so when the time comes, you, Mr. Allen, can see that beautiful parade. On Saturday we work all day operating until midnight and then we dismantle the entire show so you can have the streets for parking and the park to use. We hand-pic- k the garbage from the park and either broom sweep the street or have a sweeper clean it. At any rate by 8 a.m. Sunday you have a clean area and we're gone. I know we have a good organization, one of the best, and I know for sure we have good hard workers, most of them from Utah County, we are proud of them, i-ncluding Grant Ellis. I no longer own the carnival, my son Brad does, and he does a better job than I ever could. However, I still like to think I'm part of it, but when he says it's too hazardous for me to keep working out here I'll quit. ", Melendez Road becoming new death strip The three-mil- e stretch of State Road 89 between Pleasant Grove and American Fork is becoming another Utah "death strip" - and it will continue to claim lives until changes are made. Evidence that the road is unsafe mounts daily. Former Pleasant Grove resident Dora Rees was recently killed on the dangerous stretch of road. And earlier this spring, a young Pleasant Grove man, Bruce Draney, lost his life in a flaming accident in the same area. At one time, that small length of highway must have provided fast and safe driving between the two cities. But as more and more businesses have built along the road, the nature of the highway traffic has changed as well. SR-8- 9 is no longer used to simply get from here to there. The road is now filled with consumers traveling to one of the many businesses along the four-lan- e highway -- - all of which are located on the south side of the roadway. That means many drivers are faced with making left turns across two lanes of traffic traveling at 55 miles an hour. Even more difficult is pulling out from one of those business and making a left turn across two lanes of oncoming traffic and then trying to merge with cars moving the same direction at high speeds. As traffic grows, the median lane that now provides a little safety for the motorist is threatening to become a death trap. The same problem faces motorists going to or coming from the American Fork Hospital - and if something isn't done, many of them may be making a return visit to the hospital before they get home. Understandably, there is some reluctance to change the flow of traffic. People like to get where they are going as fast as theycan -- - and wide open stretches invite a heavy foot on the gas pedal. A good example is the stretch of the same highway between Pleasant Grove and Orem, where traffic never slows to the posted 40 mph speed limit. However, the constant 55 and 60 mph speeds ex-perienced along the road between Pleasant Grove and American Fork multiply the danger and deadliness of auto accidents in the area. There is ample evidence in this with all of the "near-misses- " that happen daily. It is time for the Utah Department of Transportation, which has charge of state roads, to make some changes on SR-8- 9 between Pleasant Grove and American Fork that would save lives. Traffic signals at approprate locations would help. UDOT is reluctant to place new signals, andrequire certain traffic patterns, but it would seem that the dangers of this particular stretch would justify traffic control under any circumstances. It would also make sense to reduce the speed limit for the three mile stretch. As it is now, the road allows the maximum 55 mph speed limit for such a short distance that it could be dropped to 40 mph with a minimum of inconvenience. But whatever is done, it should be done soon. Traffic increases along SR-8- 9 daily. It should not take another death to convince state officials to make that brief stretch of state highway more safe. City reviews land development code turing. Many of those at the hearing felt that the five acre requirement in RR5 was too much. George Field said that there were two schools of thought in the Manila area of Pleasant Grove. He explained that there were those who want to subdivide their property to give their children a building lot, and those who want to stay rural and not have close neighbors. It was suggested that this zone be changed to less acreage requirements but maintain the full animal rights. Mayor David Holdaway noted that they would need the input from people in the rural areas before making any decisions. Mr. Christensen explained that a two story structure in a residential zone could have a portion of the required footage on the top floor apply to the total. For example, in the Rl-1- 2 zone the house must have 1,200 square feet on the main floor, but if it was two story it could have 800 on the main floor and 400 on the top floor. The council also discussed allowing a rental unit in an owner occupied home by conditional use only. This would avoid duplex situations in an area which does not allow it. In reference to abandoning a no-nconforming use, such as a residential dwelling in a commercial zone, it was suggested that a reference to intent be allowed before abandoning the use. It was pointed out that if a couple were called on' a mission and left their use home unoccupied for a year, it would lose its status. If the intent when the home is left uno-ccupied could be addressed it would make things easierfor those i-nvolved, i Chapter 16 of the new code was discussed. This is a sensitive area ; zone which can be placed over any of the zones where geologic conditions would suggest more stringent requirements. ' The council and Planning Com- - mission were asked to study the ne : code and further input from the ij citizens was encouraged before any decisions regarding the code are $ made. I By MARCELLA WALKER A public hearing to review a proposed new Land Development Code for Pleasant Grove City was held Tuesday under the direction of the Planning Commission and City Council. The new code would provide for use of a zoning map, zone name changes and new zones. Mayor David Holdaway in-troduced the subject by noting that the size of the community has doubled in the last 10 years. He said that it had been some time since the zoning ordinances had been reviewed. He said the Planning Commission had been asked to take a look at the city's zoning code and update where it was necessary. He explained that many new types of zones are now possible and are often desired. With conditional uses many more options are available, he stated. Fred Christensen, Community Development Director, reviewed the proposed Land Development Code and said that it was suggested that streets requiring curb, gutter and sidewalk be designated by the city council. This way, he added, there would be no questions when people pur-chased a building permit as to whether they would need to plan on installing these improvements. There was considerable objection from the city council members and the citizens in attendance regarding a proposal to only allow one 20 foot driveway per property. Council members said it was their goal to get the recreationvehicles and cars off the city streets and ofttimes another wide driveway was required to do this. The new code would provide for a RR5 zone which is an agriculture zone requiring five acres per lot, an RR1 zone which would require one-ha- lf acre lots with limited animal rights, an Rl-1- 2 zone which is the same as the present Rl-S- and requires 12,000 feet per building lot. Another was the Rl-- 8 zone which is the same as the present Rl and allows 8,000 feet per building lot, Rl-- 6 would require 6,000 feet per lot. Two new residential zones would be RM-- 7 and RM-1- 5 which are higher density housing. For commercial zones, there would be CM, a commercial neighborhood zone; CS, a shopping commercial zone; CH, a highway commercial zone; CG, general commercial district which would include industrial parks; MD, manufacturing and distributing zone; and MG, heavy manufac- - Beck new treasurer r n t Donna Beck has been appointed as city treasurer by the Pleasant Grove City Council to replace Robert Williams who was named as City Recorder recently. Donna has been a clerk in the city offices for five years. Her new duties will include supervising the receipt of all money received by all departments in the city and to verify the deposits in a safe facility. She will be working closely with the city recorder and the budget and finance director. She will continue her respon-sibilities as clerk which includes billing of all utilities in the city. Donna enjoys reading, swimming and trying to keep up with a son. She is the mother of two daughters, Deanne Fryer and Sandy Bussio, and a son, Kevin. She has two granddaughters, Amberly and Jody Fryer. Donna Beck is new city treasurer. 1- -4. cSUi The new Arby's will soon be open in American Fork at 450 East State. ! Watch for our grand opening-- ! " STATE FARM ' Family EesnffgEce It's the simple way to answer any f-- . questions about your family insurance At protection. And it's free. Call me. Datv 1 L ...ftl&pjf n ) Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. s,a,e Fa Insurance Companies . . J Home O'ces: Bkxunington. Illinois STATE FARM p" -- - COUPON IIHISM ! m TOMATO CAGE j pj FENCE (fous I i 48"x30" 1 0Btlft' ! I "YOUR ONE STOP FENCE STORE" j J Makes 5 cages 21" Round x 48" Tall I jj-- ,q ACME FEWCE CO. S "oMLtCf I JLJ " I iMtiJJXh 1 ft July 313.1 I I LICENSED CONTRACTOR 140 WEST CENTER, OREM ! Fi'.'.traiisKaraHiBiHiiBl COiiSfl a iraas Kara J p - |