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Show ifiil LIUO i V 5'ci-- -- Vc('iH'sla,. November 12, 1986 -- Page 2 Surgeon GsnerEFs call for sex ed presents dilemma Sex education creates problems either way yon ,..k at it. And in view of new recommendations i'r..:n I he Surgeon General, those problems will sonn iav? t be addressed by society. For many parents, sex education in public schools is unacceptable because it teaches mechanics without morality - or at least without the level of morality parents feel is appropriate. The required separation of church and sbde also removes religious considerations from the teaching of sex in public schools. Such an approach removes sex from what may be, to those parents, an all important context. Individuals who view sex as pro creation have a hard time approaching the subject without talking about Diety as well. The public school teacher can't do that either. So parents who feel the public school is not the place to teach children about sex have a point when they say sex education should be left in the home. However, often as not, sex education in the home is negligible, or even non-existe- . Many parents feel uncomfortable about the topic, and so it gets placed on the back burner only to be brought out when it is too late for much education to take place. A lot of information about sex, a lot of it wrong, is often learned on the street before parents feel inclined to approach the subject in the home. This approach also eliminates the concept of morality as a parent might be inclined to teach it. The problem is this: Because this state is strongly committed to the sanc-tity of the home, sex education is not taught to any major extent in Utah schools. Unfortunately, it's not taught to any major extent in many Utah homes, either. Now the Surgeon General has released a major report on AIDS which calls for prevention through education. The Surgeon General is also quick to note that the only sure prevention against contracting the AIDS virus through sexual transmission is to maintain a monogamous relationship -- - in other words, to practice good, old fashioned morality. However, if the prevention of AIDS through education is to be turned over to the public schools, it's a safe bet that mechanics will again take precedence ove r morality. p That's an approach that won't be acceptable to most ' Utahns -- - and one that is not likely to be implemented i i the state. As a result, the ignorance will probably continue -- - now with the added ingredient of an in curable and always fatal disease. What's needed is a combined effort by schools and parents to teach children about sex - both th mechanics and the moral considerations. e 1 Perhaps materials and possible lesson outlines cotilri be made available through public schools to The structure could remove some parent of the awkwardn with which parents traditionally approach the subiert without eliminating the opportunity for parents to aS their ideas about morality, religion or whatever the! i:fCf feel appropriate. y ifjs There are other approaches that might be tried. What must be avoided is the tendency to teach 0 nothing. We've been doing that for years, and it still I ' doesn't work. 4s Girls' choice gets dance started s act The Young Men and Young Women in our ward recently sponsored a dance for the young people of the community. There was a good turnout and the Halloween theme was carried out . There was yummy brownies, doughnuts and Y Sparkle for refreshments and the hungry kids ate a lot of those. There was music and it wasn't bad. I mean, it wasn't too loud nor too screechy. (We adults could talk to each otiier without yelling.) As we sat and watched the young people. I made a few observations. One. Kids don't dance at the beginning of the dance. They stand around and chat in groups with girls here and boys there but few of them together. Eventually they gravitate to seats as they get tired from standing for such a long time. When they sit down they arrange their chairs in a circle. They sit and talk as fast as they can and sometimes there are both boys "and 'girls' in the circle, but Sometimes not. Those with their backs to the dance tloor also have their backs to anyone who might want to come and ask them to dance (in case anyone ever starts dancing.) A continual stream of youngsters are going in and out the doors to the cultural hall. The girls go to the restroom every six minutes to check their makeup and hair or to watch their friend check her makeup and hair. The boys just go in and out the p.g. hlah N v . By MARCELLA W WALKER doors as if they expect to find a better crowd when they come back in or perhaps there is a dolly somewhere down the hall. When the refreshments are brought out, there is a surge to the table and girls take just punch and boys take at least one of everything and soon are back for more. About this time the kids are starting to tell the people in charge of the music what they want them to play. And, about three couples are "' dancing. The next thing I noticed was that had to have a lot of girls choice dances in order to get things rolling. It is just like Adam and Eve. We would still be in the Garden of Eden if we had waited for Adam to eat the apple. After a while the girls rebelled and insisted on some boys choice dances for a change. A few boys actually asked some girls to dance. One of the leaders had tried some "snowball" type dances to get things moving but he had little success. In fact, he was nearly hissed out of the hall. The third thing I noticed was that no one (except maybe three ex-troverts and a couple of leaders who had brought their partners) danced to the fast music. There would be a fairly good crowd on the floor (we're talking when the dance was about three-fourt-the way over), when they played slow music but as soon as the fast music came on there was a mass exit from the dance floor. I suggested to the music people that maybe, since the young people only danced to slow music, they ought to play more of it so they could actually dance at the dance. I was not too successful. The fourth thing I noticed was that as soon as they had the closing prayer and announced there would only be two more dances, the floor became full of couples, dancing the bearhug. Boys who had procrastinated all night, finally decided that if they were going to . dance , at all, this . was their last chance. Number five. When the dance was over and everyone was excused, they dawdled around and reverted back to the way they were at first, standing around in groups and talking, as if they were reluctant to go home. The social interaction among the teens around here is strange. At first, at the dance, it was boys together and girls together. Then it was half and half and finally it was jyu mostly a mixture of boys and girls Xo together. jjllt Back in the olden days when I was ' a teenager it was the same way m Things haven't changed much r' Except, back in those days we all danced the fast dances, too. It was called the jitterbug and everyone !fars (almost) did it. ail The last dance then, like now, was a slow dance and you always danced Pre it cheek to cheek. That was the only! way to end up a dance. Things are 1 not much different. 11 The one difference that I can see, we did a few waltzes and foxtrots)1 too. You never see those at the local 1A dances for teens, anymore. Oh, well. 11V They still do the bunny hop. That isj something. It is fun to watch all these goings', on when the kids do not know you are; n(?n watching them. It is fun to see Our boys trying to get enough courage to"' ask a girl to dance. Sometimes they5!101 make several starts before they?3" actually make it. Some suffer thef isa pain of never making it. j It is fun to watch the girls stand if1 groups, watching out the corner oF' their eye for that special boy to comi' by, hoping all the time that he wilpi18; stop and ask for a dance. a joi It is a wonderful time of life. It is a5 revif time for memories and fun times. Ai dance was, and always will be, one5 also of the truly remarkable events in? At life. There is always hope that the next dance will be the one. W a And, then, the refreshments aiW) always good even if the dancing 'J pr isn't. :3lnittl .3,000. it und IPL Grove Cloy voices supmmre JAM UPzlLi CSliuSS Pleasant Grove City Council approved a resolution at the recent City Council meeting which gives the city's support to a Utah Power and Light lawsuit against the federal government. The council gave consent to the resolution after listening to arguments by Scott Rasmussen of Utah Power and Light. The city had given its support to UP&L a few years ago when the power company petitioned the government to allow it to purchase hydroelectric power. The govern-ment declined the petition. The company is now bringing a lawsuit against the government, contending that its customers are taxpayers who contributed to the construction of the dams and hydroelectric units and therefore should benefit from this inexpensive power. At present the hydroelectric power is being sold to municipal power companies. Utah Power and Light is filing the suit in behalf of the cities which want to use the cheaper power. This participation by Pleasant Grove City will not cost anything. It is just the verbal support of the city that the power company needs. Seventy-fiv- e per cent of Utah is served by UP&L. More than 120 cities have signed the resolution to support the lawsuit The compelling reasons for the city to join the lawsuit is to force new allocation of power and to nossibiy lower the rates Pleasant Grove customers pay for electric power. If UP&L should be successful in its suit and was allowed to purchase the cheaper power, it could reduce the power rates the city residents are now paying, according to UP&L officials. - The ci't'v may withdraw I'roin'lliTs lawsuit atany lime it wa.fts. The city attorney had told the council that if the city decided at some later date to establish its own municipal pow er system, it would be counter-benefici- for the city to support the UP&L suit. On the other hand, the city might well benefit from the results if the UP&L suit is successful, he slated. The city does not have any plans at this time to establish its own power system, Mayor David Hoklaway said. sments Children learn art of selective hearing a grassroots t "" i Copyright i f r-- I i,i986 V v" f ' I Becky 1 v I Grass J j Jnson WYs by BECKI GRASS JOHNSON Not only is the audio process "of children baffling, it can down right drive a person crazy. I call it "selective hearing." Children don't hear parents say things like, "Pick up your toys and go to bed." They can't hear you say, "Don't do that one more time!" They won't hear you when you say, "Turn off the t.v., supper is ready." Go, ahead. Say it 50 times. They won't hear you. So why is it then that when the radio is turned up full blast, the dishwasher is chugging away, and the vacuum is roaring, every child in the house can still detect the merry chimes of the ice cream truck three blocks away? I sometimes wonder if the kids don't listen because I nag them too much. I question whether they've heard a single word I've said. I worry that perhaps they really are hearing impaired. But then, when the little angels are tucked in at night and you think they are asleep, you should see them fly out of bed the minute I rustle the potato chip sack. There are several things that cause children to come running from will hear you and let you in. What children can and cannot hear never ceases to amaze me. The minute the telephone rings and I make one move in its direction, I am trampled by bodies in a "flurried free for all" over who is going to answer it. I have sustained head injuries and pulled muscles while wrestling the telephone from the three year-old- '. As we tussle with the extension cord, she tells the caller that her mother was a gorilla for Halloween and that the cat had kittens in the closet. By the time I have pried the receiver from her fingers, who ever it was has hung up. On the other hand, if I am in the shower and the telephone rings, it is another story all together. The phone can ring 47 times and no one seems to hear it. I yell things from the bathroom like, "Get the phone somebody!" The phone continues to ring. "Hey, you guys! It's probably the Easter Bunny calling!" That doesn't work either. I have screamed things like "If this family wants to eat supper tonight, some one had better answer that phone!" The phone continues to ring, I finally trudge from the shower, tracking puddles and shampoo through the house just as the phone. rings for the 47th and last time, I have often wondered if "selec-- - Jett( tive hearing" is a learned behavior-- in children. One evening, attest ir exasperating day, I turned to as we were watching T.V. ''D)ig6oo$ think that when the children .jPfJehrbo what I say, they are exhibiting! learned behavior?" Hubby changed channels and saia, "Huh?" I asked again. "Do you think W the kids' ability to tune me out, conditioned response?" J Hubby mumbled something w missing an instant replay changed channels again. I "Selective hearing" n learned behavior, I concluded." hereditary disorder! , I don't worry abou emg a car accident. I doubt 1 11 succ from heart attack. a My family won't taw to barrassed by the last words J lips. No one will know what were. They didn't hear them. die of old age I will probably bathroo' am yelling from the another roll of paper. every imaginable place in the house. Children can hear, in their sleep, the whooshing sound made by a can of pop being opened. They are adept at zeroing in on sounds made by candy wrappers, burger cartons and cookie sacks. They can hear the chewing of gum two houses away. Just don't ever make the mistake of stepping outside in your bathrobe to fetch the Sunday paper. The baby might lock you out and you could spend the rest of your life pounding on the front door hoping one of them New health Mok Continued from front page cover information about how people can change their lifestyle and do their best to prevent some of the deadly diseases of our time." The book's 11 chapters begin with several self-test- s the reader can take to assess lifestyle and life expectancy based on current habits. Subsequent chapters deal with stress, cancer, caffeine, birth defects, aging, osteoporosis, cholesterol and heart disease, and exercise, diet and weight control. There is much to absorb in the book, and readers could be over-whelmed by the life changes they might find themselves compelled to make. But Booth, while cautioning against over simflication, says adhering to two basic principles will catch m est of the other problems, assuming a person does not smoke or di ink. "One is to get regular exercise and the other is to modify the kinds of food you eat - less fat, salt and sugar, and more complex car-bohydrates," says Booth, professor of zoology. "If you do that, you're going to impact on the dietary causes of cancer, you'll be taking care of stress, you'll reduce cholesterol and probably prevent heart disease, and you'll overlap into osteoporosis if your exercise is weight-bearin- g (puts pressure on the long bones in arms and legs)." The authors admit that changing lifestyle is harder for some than others. A few people can make radical change quickly, but most should take a gradual, moderate eppraoch. "It's not a matter of throwing off one diet and taking on another," says Zimmerman, associate professor of chemistry. "It's more of a mix. Instead of putting a bunch cf si'gr on breakfast cereal, I'll put slices of banana or raisins. When I pi) cut to eat, I almost never eat steak. I order chicken or fish. But I don't feel guilty about having a donut or fruit pie occasionaly,. and when I go to a church social I eat what everyone else eats." The book includes many facts that some people might find surprising. Seegmiller says, for example, that few people know alcohol can retard brain growth in a developing fetus. And Zimmerman says most don't realize that overweight people, on average, eat no more than people of normal weight. The overweight have just dieted more, usually without exercise, and end up losing lean muscle tissue instead of fat. "That loss signals the body to conserve, and it resists letting go of fat stores, making it alt the harder to k eep weight off and even more difficult to lose on the next diet," he says. Aside from preventing disease and prlonging life, the authors say being fit also increases the quality of whatever years a person has. "It's a subjective result, not a quantifiable one," says Booth, "but I find being more fit has improved my outlook on things. I feel better about the way my family's going. It's given me a margin of tolerance that I didn't have before. I see changes in my life fhi.t I never considered. You just can't pin down all the areas of your life that benefit." The key to changing making the charges last, soy '-' four colleagues, is sticking to a long enough to see the benefits - at least a year. When the benefits are obvious, they become motivation in themselves. In the meantime, they suggest, recruiting friends for support and picking enjoyable activities so that exercise b ecomes a rfgulcT of the day that is anticipated, not dreoded. "People envision jv"r'" g ud at 5 p m. a;i! get!15;; it over with so they e;vi :;ri. on ft other tilings rather (Ship thh-'dng- 'This is something tttai is pisrt of We and it's really l' yy but,' " says Zirn- - Uii- i. Police report accidents, thefts A IB year-ol- d Lindon girl received minor injuries early Sunday mor-ning when the car she was driving went out of control on Nathaniel Drive near 1150 East. Veronica Gurney was treated at the scene and at American Fork Hospital lor bruises and abrasions to the leg as a result of the accident. Officer Lonnie Wilson said that apparently Veronica's car went out of control after it crossed over the Murdock Canal Bridge, hit a curb where a tire blew out, traveled back across the road where it hit a tree nearly head on, knocked down a fence, demolished a telephone junction bo ., and ended up in a front vard. The officer listed $5,000 damage to the car, $100 damage to the tree, $150 damage to the telephone junction box, $100 damage to the fence, and $100 damage to the tree and lawn of Keith Hansen. In another accident at 100 W. Center last Thursday, cars driven by Suzette Blackhurst, Pleasant Grove, and Neil J. Phillips, Lehi, collided in the intersection. There were no injuries. Damage to the Phillips car was $2,500 and there was $100 damage to the Blackhurst auto. Officer Lonnie Wilson investigated this accident. Alameda Gale, Pleasant Grove, and Mathew Field, Pleasant Grove, were involved in an accident on 200 South near 600 East. Officer Jim Taufer said there weas $1,000 damage to the Gale auto and there was $300 damage to the Field car. Jeremy L. Bullock's car was totalled when it slid on ice on Loader Drive near 500 South and hit a telephone pole. Officer John Lloyd investigated. Autos driven by Douglas D. Nicholes, Orem, and Vaughn C. Barnett, Pleasant Grove, collided at the intersection of 300 E. 100 North. There was $2,000 damage to the Nicholes car and there was $1,500 to the Barnett vehicle. -- y , Pleasant (groue ; ISSN No. U.S.P.S. No. Published weekly except 8 y for Than sffv and Christmas by NewtaU 11 South Main Pleasant Grove. Utah W06-- V Telephone Numbers t Advertisings Circulation.? 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