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Show (QDVfDflVfljfQ(IB Ldit Review -- Wednesday, July 29, 1987 -- Page 2 Fine line required in handling sex abuse trial And how about the limits of media Newspapers cannot be kept out of the courtmCVera these cases the rules are, for the imposed. But what should and what shoiS?1, I printed about testimony in such cases? nl W 1 In the past, it has been standard to do mw would identify the victims of such abuse But i 8 this case some newspapers have identified ' as readily as if they had named the ' girl who took the stand. boyj. Cases like these must be handled ' straight ' by the courts and the press, if society is goin?? i with the problem of child sexual abuse. But we must remember that a charge I viction and that innocence, not guilt, is the prLl of our judicial system unless it is proved n?P!,: ' beyond a reasonable doubt. ij Everyone involved in the fine Hne that win protect the rightfofS , well as the children who will be making the accusalJ P Over the next few months, and possibly years, the north Utah County area is going to be the focus of in-tense and sensational media attention. The subject is child sexual abuse -- - and the focus of attention will be a series of trials aimed at resolving accusations that for three or four years a group of 20 to 40 adults sexually abused a group of 20 neighborhood children in Lehi. That kind of accusation in a courtroom, where it can be quoted and reported without fear of legal ramifications, would get attention anywhere. Place the alleged crime in a small Utah community like Lehi, and interest increases dramatically. There is no good way to handle accusations of this type in public, and our judicial system is a public one. That's one of the reasons child sexual abuse has remained one of the few unmentionable crimes in our society. But the current trend is to mention the un-mentionable, with the hope that bringing this type of crime and anti-soci- al behavior into public view will help to bring an end to such practices. And that means the current trial of Alan Hadfield, and possible subsequent trials related to it, will be the subject of intense interest -- - both by law enforcement personnel and the general public. There are so many questions about the case. Certainly, the numbers mentioned in the Lehi case are unimaginable. One psychiatrist testified Monday that he believes 20 to 40 adults were involved in sexually abusing up to 20 children in a neighborhood. Is that possible? And what about the children? Should children who have already been abused beyond all reason be ex-pected to take the stand and be subjected to another kind of abuse? In the preliminary hearing the two youngsters who testified were not required to undergo the type of cross-examinati-that might occur in an actual trial, but it still seemed extraordinarily brutal to force them to answer some of the questions that would ordinarily be standard in a normal trial. Baseball to summer as Christmas to wintrf By MARCELLA WALKER p.g. blab I see where Pleasant Grove will be hosting the state Little League Tournament this year. The men's fast pitch league tournament has just finished, and the girl's teams are nearing the end of their season. Why does baseball end so soon? There is still a lot of summer left and baseball is to summer what Christmas is to winter. I love to go watch the men's fastpitch league. The games are always so exciting and those players are very good. Several members of our family enjoy going to these games. The games for the men start early in May. When you go to the games you about freeze to death, especially after dark. By the time it gets warm enough to go spend the evening and watch two or three games, the season is half over. Then with all the other things there is to do you don't get to as many games as you would like and the next thing you know they are into the tournament. Now it is over. What will we do for entertainment on long August evenings when there is nothing ,o do? I'll be wishing there were games to goto. I am sure the wives of the ball they did! She said they hadn't had a sit-do-dinner all summer. She dished out tuna sandwiches between games and she had never seen so much pop devoured in her whole life. Of course, there will be some games in Aug. Some of the local teams will qualify for state and regional games but they may not be played close enough for us to attend. The past two summers we were able to attend at least one Los Angeles Dodgers game. They are my all time favorites. We won't get to this year and I will miss it. It is kind of neat going to a professional baseball game and seeing all those guys you hear about all the time. Yes, they really do sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch. I remember the summer when I was 18 and the bishop asked me to be the girl's Softball coach in our ward. I decided to take this job seriously and I notified each girl that prac-tices were going to begin at the park on Monday at 9 a.m. I drafted a friend to help me and she hesitatingly accepted. We met at , the park and waited for the girls to come. We waited and waited and no one came. I tried again the following week. Not one girl ever showed up. (I gave up easy on hartTs J "' those days.) I wonder if J released from that calling' It is hard to get .J ; participation sports in on,; (Except for dances. dances.) A few girls who real ', sports are involved in city :V but the most only think o(sr " an excuse to go look at boys ' Boys look good in their My girls love to look at guys- t football pants. They think tbi A look good as they walk away j Of course, my heart a!; , 1 done little s when si man in uniform. A uniform jt p ' something for men. looks nice in his t Military men especially k . and I think that is one reas: Col. Oliver North ci everyone's fancy so muck sy was testifying at the (. . hearings. This column was to baseball, so I don't tat) Utah ended up with Col. North, Lear to see the ball season endJ-i-it is over can football behind? Football means la.V am not at all ready tothinkif: M up summer yet. I'll giveitc t for Christmas but not bete players are grateful the season is about over by the end of July. I watch some of those devoted wives attend the games with babes in arms and a surplus of other children running around which have to be kept track of, and I'm sure they are glad it is over. The ball games take at least two nights a week. Some guys play on more than one team in more than one league and ball games can soon stretch to every night. One woman told me the other day that she had done nothing but go to ball games all summer. Her little boy was in Little League, her daughter was playing on the girl's team and her husband played in the men's league. She said it took a lot of juggling to get to everyone's games because sometimes they overlapped. I'll bet People, Politics & Policy Little League a modern miracle By E. MARK BEZZANT This week will draw to a close the 1987 baseball season for little league, as Pleasant Grove hosts the state tournament. Hundreds of boys and their families will swarm into Pleasant Grove for this tournament, which is being held on the diamonds just west of the high school football field. Paul Schoonover and his crew have worked hard all season to keep the grounds and diamonds in good playing condition for the hundreds of local boys who have played little league this past summer. Thanks to paul's extra concern for the boys, the diamonds have improved considerably. Because of the improvements made for the last state tournament, the task was less demanding, but still difficult. Thanks to a good many volunteers everything was ready when the ump called for the first batter to step up to the plate. Every year at this time, the turn in their uniform for the last time as they leave the little league program. For most it will be just good old fashioned people helping people. It is boys and dads working out deals so that kids can pay their baseball fees. More than Chevy cars and trucks, this is the heartbeat of America. It is good to see that heartbeat going strong. If you want the other heartbeat, go see Bob Shoell at Gene Harvey's. The other side of the miracle is that there is such an abundance of opportunity. Who would dare total the hours that the scouts have been putting in, as they discover the beauty of this country. It makes one grateful that someone had the vision to set aside and develop these areas which serve us so well. It would be difficult to imagine Pleasant Grove without these parks and other facilities. However, the job is not complete. The people over in the 100 North area have been very patient as they have waited for improvements to be made to the Anderson Park. Based on the information I have seen, I believe the Anderson family would be disappointed that the park site has not been better managed and the last time they play ball for an organized team. By the time these boys reach high school age the hundreds who played ball this summer will have been cut to a handful of very competitive and skilled ball players. Those who leave the high school ranks to play college ball will be only a small fraction of those who played high school ball. Hopefully, some day we will correct that sitution at the high school level. Little league still remains one of the modern miracles of our day. It is something of a miracle to see a youn boy who could hardly hit or throw a ball turn into a homerun slugger or a confident fielder. It is something of a miracle to see men volunteer such tremendous amounts of time to help boys. It is something of a miracle to see people leave the comfort of their homes to sit in the hot sun and watch the kids play. It is not anything less than a miracle to see young boys get up really early in the summer, even if it is to play ball. It is a miracle to see a school district cooperating with a city, who in turn cooperates with scores of volunteers. It is a miracle to see' a mom learn to score a baseball game the right way. It is miracle to keep the ice cream bars frozen in the cooler when the temperature is 95 in the shade. It is something of a miracle to see a highly athletic dad learn to accept and even applaud his son who really is trying. It is a miracle that this not only happens one year, but year after year. The beauty of it all is that most of it is volunteer. There are no big government bucks and regulations, developed. Such negligence only serves to deter generous people from con-tributing. It is only fair to say that the parks department has been ready with basic plans for some time. The price tag was not all that exhorbitant. However, the city cannot and should not do everything for everyone. You can't build a new library, senior citizen center, fix the roads and develop parks during an economic downturn and still keep the mill levy the same. The development of the Anderson Park is a classic opportunity for cooperation. A comprehensive plan should be finalized and approved. Then the Boy Scouts of America in our area should muster the resources and manpower to get the job done with the cooperation and help of the city. The ball players did it. Scouters are no less capable. As the old saying goes, "Be Prepared." I nominate Richard Huish as the landscape architect to develop a plan that would make the Anderson Park a model. The Huish name is synonymous with great scouting. Hey, and best wishes to the P.G. teams playing in the state tour-nament and the who are hanging up their mitts. Who knows some generous ball fan might donate a dozen good shade trees for the area, even though he or she might not enjoy the shade, but their grandkids might. Isn't that what it is all about? Making things better for the next generation. Next summer scouts, the work could begin in earnest to develop a really great park that thousands of scouts will use. Please, no medium rares. ODH TOWH . by CO SAwJCl .. .:.&r dust pmum ; C0U6H MNOR WUIA?C0UGh jyf City mulls landfill study Pleasant Grove's City Council was presented with a proposed landfill study by County Commissioner Malcolm Beck. The proposed study would determine where a new- landfill should be located, and what needs that the county has in the immediate and distant future that will meet EPA standards. Beck said that Provo had the opportunity a number of years ago to do a study to find out what they needed, and they turned that proposal down. He said that now they are in trouble. Beck added that there are numerous solutions, including hauling the garbage to the west side of the lake and burning it. He said, however, that he found in a recent trip to the Davis County burn plant that it has been running into financial problems as there is no market for the energy produced by the plant. Beck said that several different issues would be looked at in the study. First, he said that they would study where would be the best place to put a landfill. Next, they would try to determine how to the water that seeps out from underneath the landfill, and how to keep it from leaching into Utah Lake. He said that in order to participate in the study. Pleasant Grove would have to contribute SHlO. Mayor Holdaway asked the council to think about it. and to get back with him and let him know if they think it will be a necessary expenditure of the city's money to contribute to the study. He added that he would appreciate their input in the next couple of weeks. Hurry ! 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