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Show (DdDvm'mcBmtt Review - Wednesday, May 13, 1987 - Page 2 Early retirement will mean loss of years' experience The Alpine School District will lose as valuable resource this month as 11 administrators and 39 teachers, so far, retire from the classroom and the principal's office. The reason for this "Brain Drain," as some are calling it, is a program enacted by the state legislature to save money for Utah's underfunded schools. To cut operating costs, the state is offering teachers, administrators and classified personnel who qualify an early retirement deal designed to eliminate the number of people making the higher salaries that come with years of service. This opportunity is billed as a one-tim- e chance to reap retirement benefits that would not equalled if the teacher chose to remain in the classroom until the standard retirement age. In place of the long-tim- e teachers and principals will be new teachers and newly-appointe- d administrators who are on the lower end of education's seniority-oriente- d pay scale. The change will save the state millions of dollars. But it will cost our schools hundreds of years of experience in the classroom as some of our finest teachers accept an offer too good to refuse. While education as a career has been maligned by some in recent years, many of these retiring educators represent the best of American's fine public education system. Some of those retiring have spent 30, 40 or even more years in the classroom, working with countless youngsters who will remember their teacher's name and feel their influence all their lives. Some would be happy to spend several more yea molding young minds, and shaping young lives they simply feel they cannot afford to pass up the portunity offered by the state. P-The money will be welcome. There is no question th education in Utah is underfunded and any savings V help solve the money crunch affecting all schools inth e state. And there will be fine teachers coming into 0 schools to replace those who are moving out. ca But Alpine District schools, as well as schon) throughout the state, will miss those who will lifetime of educational service when the school dot)3 close the end of this month. How to make public meetings more nice My friend Grump looked disgustingly satisfied with himself as he dipped his french fry in the large puddle of ketchup he'd poured on his plate and stuffed the com-bination in his mouth. "Well, you guys in the 'media' finally gotyours. didn't you?" What do you mean, finally? I asked. We're getting ours every day. Some graduate student in jour-nalism figured out for his master thesis that somebody says something bad about the press in this country every 30 seconds. "You can't blame them, can you'.'" Grump responded, shoving in another french fry before he gulped down a large swallow of Cherry Coke. "You guys ask for it. "After all, look at this Gary Hart thing. Who else but a newspaper reporter would slake out a guy's home to see who the poor slob is spending his free time with? Especially when nobody else really cares." Sure, that was a stupid thing to do, although it wasn't as stupid as what Hart was doing, right? (I was on firm ground, here.) And besides, why do you lump me in with those sensationalistic daily guys? 1 should know better than to give Grump an opening, since he likes to give me a hard time. But sometimes I just can't help myself.) "Oh sure." Grump said with an inordinate amount of self satisfaction. "I know you don't work for a real newspaper, like those guys. But sometimes you act like vou think you do." Huh? "Well, look at this thing with the the editor's column By MARC HADDOCK Manila Elementary. First of all, you guys assassinate the character of this principal, then you take on the school board for trying to hold an orderly meeting." Wait a minute, I said. I was get-ting angry. In the first place, I ex-plained, we just reported what went on in an open meeting -- - one to which the public is invited, and one during which the public's business is supposed to be conducted in an open forum. And nobody's character was assassinated. "Save that first ammendment crap for your editorial page," Grump said with a grin that bordered on the malicious. "You guys just picked up on a personality conflict and escalated it to a war because it made a good story." Not true, I countered. It was and still is a good story -- - and I would handle it the same way again. "Well, you newspaper folks always have a hard time saying you're sorry, but I don't think you will have a chance to make this mistake again." That scared me. What do you mean? I asked. "Well, haven't you heard about the new policy?"What new policy. "The one I've written to help make School Board meetings more productive and less destructive. One that makes it possible for people to feel good about the way the school district does it's business. Here, I have a copy of my draft right here." He pulled out a sheet of white paper with a few paragraphs written on it. It looked innocent enough until I read the proposed policy. It went like this: 1.0 INCREASING N1CENESS IN BOARD MEETINGS 1.1 Students in the Alpine School District are best educated in an atmosphere that is positive in nature, with few distractions and as little controversy as possible. 1 .2 Meetings of the Alpine Board of Education are designed to conduct business matters and develop policies to benefit the youth of the district with as little interference from outside sources (ie., the press) as possible, while still making the media feel like they are just as welcome as anyone else at the board meetings. 1.3 Business of any sort is best carried out in a calm, deliberate fashion, with little controversy and no disagreement displayed before members of the public. 1.4 To increase niceness and set a proper tone in the Alpine Board meetings, each meeting will W with a rendition "Let Us on r Kind Words" by a school group selected at the w2 meeting. 1.5 No member of the bw employee of the district or scb district patron will be allowed mention any other individual k name in a School Board mw unless they are going t0 2 recognition for a positive act approved by the board. (All L announcements must be appiw prior to the board meeting.) 1.6 Any negative references m be dealt with in closed me which will be held to discia "Personnel" matters. (After everyone is some kind of personnel This will help keep board meek in tone with the rest of the Valley community. ' I read the policy again andagaii Your not serious, I said. Youdu mean this. This would make almost impossible for the board do anything in an open meetir; except nice things. "That's right. And I've set up; special closed session just to fa this policy," But that's not covered in b state's closed meeting act. "That's okay. I told them bin: gripe about my kid's teacher u they set up a closed meeting upjj for me. I'll gripe for a minutta then introduce the new policy, te it's implemented, we can keep p guys where you belong - in dark." Somehow, I don't think Grump: my friend any more. People, Politics & Policy Politicians prepare for next election By E. MARK BEZZANT Things are really popping in county politics and statewide. Last night local Republicans met to choose new people for area leadership. Last Saturday county Republicants met to select their leadership. The previous Monday the governor and Lt. Governor met with about 15 of us for some straight talk. In addition to that, a meeting with several of Orrin Hatch's researchers was most interesting. The meeting with the governor was very enlightning. Governor Bangeter is not your typical politician, and he has received a lot of bad press because of it. The lake pumping project is a good example of that. The tax hike is another good example. Education provides even another example. In every one of these areas the governor has taken affirmative action and yet is being criticized on many fronts for the action he took. The governor's position is not to blame his predecessor. He simply says that we have a problem and we are going to solve that problem. The governor knew it would take 500 million to do what he wanted to do. He knew the people would not support that and so he asked for just over $200 million in tax increases. He got just a tad more than $100 million. He knew that that tax in-crease would be the last serious one for five or six years. The governor has made it very plain that government is going to have to get along on less. The money just is not there to spend. The governor said that if the legislature had not raised taxes that for education the message would have been very negative to new companies who might locate in Utah. He knew a tax increase would not be popular but given the choice he sided with education. So both educators and taxpayers were unhappy. The problem comes in the fact that the Governor isn't explaining his position very well and so people are beating up on him pretty bad. The governor knows that. He is keeping his powder dry. Last Saturday over 200 Republicans voted to k eep a moderate at the helm of the county party. The incumbant chairman faced stiff opposition from con-servative Mason Sherwood. Chairman Steve Shallenberger went on to win the election by about 30 votes. The other office seekers were unopposed and from the moderate wing of the party. Senator Hatch and Jake Gam did not attend the gathering Saturday. Their representatives did and both were smiling. I asked Hatch's representative if his opponent would be the former governor of Utah. The representative just smiled. They don't want to make the same mistake Jim Hansen made when he challenged Gunn McKay. He nearly lost the race and it cost him a bundle of trouble. I should not forget the county commissioners. Beck and Morris have been working hard since they were elected. They fended off a tax increase and have restored a lot of confidence to the commission office. What they quietly, but intentionally forgot to do, is cut the fat salaries that their predecessors voted in. I think that- - they are hoping that people will forget all about it. When I met with the governor I asked if any administrators in the schools offered to take a cut in pay when he wanted 10 percent cut from administration. He said that n ot one administrator offered to take a pay cut. Not one. We have some of the finest public employees in the nation right here in Utah. What they need to learn is that there is not a goose that lays the golden egg. The public needs to learn there are no free services. It is a shame that in the last 52 years the federal government has spent more than it has taken in during 50 of those years. It's time we demand that the government live within its means! The local and state officials have had to. At least the weekend will be memorable p.g. blab the dishwasher and a bucket were able to empty the water k the dishwasher. The water had not been atl; drain down the sink so il ; backing up into the built-i-washer and out onto the floor. The auger could not read clog. At 12:30 a.m. we finally : bed, leaving the clog for mon On Monday, the rooter F came out and unclogged tie -- mess and now everything fine. Mopping dirty dishwater frr floor is not the way I Mother's Day nor tb citing weekend, but that is Ik goes sometimes. All in all it was a very thday and an enjoyable ;j Day. It is like I told my & "We need a little adventure!' have t then or we would memories at all." By MARCELLA WALKER This past weekend was a memorable one because of the events and disasters that took place. It all started Friday with my 29th birthday. My dear husband did not want me to spend the evening of my birthday all alone, as everyone had somewhere they had to be, so he took me with him to the Fathers and Sons outing for our ward where he was to be a speaker. He said we would stop along the way for a bite to eat. There are not a lot of places to stop and eat since we were headed for the west desert out on the other side of Cedar Fort. I ordered a pastrami sandwich at a nice place but it was the hottest pastrami I had ever tasted in all my life. It was not possible for me to eat it. Even my husband, who loves hot stuff, could not tolerate it. He had a pastrama sandwich, too, but his was alright. I think mine was cut from the outside of a new section of pastrami. Wow! So, still feeling a little hungry, we went on to the outing. We drove up to the site where many men and boys were at work setting up tents, fixing dinner, or just having fun. I got out of the car and no one even said, "What is a woman doing here?" or anything. They just accepted me as if I was one of the guys. I really appreciated that. I had been worried that they would have a fit when I arrived but they didn't. They acted as if it happened every day and I enjoyed the program as well as the hotdog they offered. party on Saturday night and we tended the children. Sunday went along really well and we all went to church before we came home and had the yummy dinner. Then, later in the afternoon, I went into the kitchen to try and organize some of the clutter, and the little girls were playing. I didn't pay too close attention until there was a series of quick bumping sounds on the steps. The had taken the short route to the bottom of the stairs, rolling all the way. I didn't even know she had gone up the stairs. I about had a heart attack and everyone came running, but, although she hollered for a minute or two, she was alright (thank goodness for carpeted stairs! ) and nothing was broken. It took an hour for rny heart to settle down to normal. Little children can about do you in. My great-nephe- fell down the same stairs last August. He was about the same age as my granddaughter. He didn't get hurt, either. Later, all was going quite well. My daughter finally got around to getting the dishes in the dishwasher at about 10 p.m. A short time later I went into the kitchen for a drink of water and saw a big dark spot on the floor. As I got closer I could see that it was standing water and the spot was getting larger. I called for help and soon we females were mopping up water while Dad tried to find where the problem was. He quickly found that the drain pipe from the kitchen sink was plugged. By using the pump on To make up for not having cake and ice cream on my birthday, my mother had us over on Saturday. I really enjoyed that. Sunday was Mother's Day. The family fixed a lovely dinner and I just sat back and enjoyed all of it. I have always made a big deal out of having my birthday so close to Mother's Day because it is like having your birthday close to Christmas, gift-wis- I don't really mind that much but it is fun to make a big deal out of it. We had had our two grand-daughters and their mom over all night. We always enjoy tending the babies and their mom had to go to a Annexation request Continued from front page zone. Water lines are in the area, the Building Official said. A septic tank will probably required as sewer lines are not in the vicinity. In other matters, Councilman Keith Christeson asked for and received permission from the City Council to remove signs which are unlawfully attached to utility poles. He said that sometimes there are four or more signs on one pole ad-vertising garage sales, yard sales or tilling. He was given authorization to have the police enforce the or-dinances and remove the signs and he said he will assist them in their efforts. Residents in the neighborhood of 700 South Geneva Road met with the city council to register complaints about the top soil business in the area. They said that inspite of promises from the owner to keep the dirt from blowing around it is still doing so. Monica Hansen told the council that the efforts to stop the blowing have not been satisfactory. Fred Christensen, Building Of-ficial, told the council that he had visited the site on several occasions and had not seen the dirt flying, even when the wind was blowing. He said there was a small amount of dirt flying when the machinery was moving the dirt about. Mrs. Hansen said you have to live in the area to see it. She said the dirt flies when they are loading it and when the wind blows. She also stated that one day the engine on a loader was left running for a considerable length of time when no one was at the property. She felt this could be a real hazard to children. She presented a petition signed by 76 people who felt that the dirt is hampering their health when it is blowing through the air. Mrs. Hansen argued that children with health problems, such as her child who had had pneumonia recently, and older persons were suffering because of the dust in the air. She added that they would not have bought a house there, in a residential area, if they had known that a big dirt mound was going to be sitting there. She noted that she is afraid someone is going to be really hurt before it ends. Another neighbor said that her house was in the direct line of the pile and when the top soil owners are working there the dust is so bad that her house is a mess. She explained that she cannot hang clothes out to dry anymore. The women stated that the dirt problem is not there all the time but it is pretty steady. They said they felt it was not their responsibility to call the property owners and tell them that they have a dust problem at the moment. The owners should have that respon-sibility themselves, they said. The council discussed the legal rights of the city in an executive session which was held at the con-clusion of the council meeting. Mayor Holdaway said .that they were still proceeding with plans to landscape the railroad underpass area on the State Road. He said that the state had allocated $30,000 to help pay for the landscaping. The city will provide the labor. The Department of Tran-sportation had recently stated that the money will not be released until July 1. The city had hoped to have the landscaping completed in time for Strawberry Days. Mayor Holdaway said he would contact the DOT and tell them why the work should be done now rather than waiting. Peasant W: ISSN N0.87K-9- U.S.P.S. No.4357 Published weekly erf for Thanks and Christmas by Ne1 11 South Main Pleasant Grove, Utah Telephone Numbe" Advertising & Circulation-- News ' $ Edi,ors Ma Subscription pn"6" Second class posWg,. al Pleasant Grove OUR 7t)WN (f) H I) .master: Box 7. America" Send addr. mr we is on y ZSi lzm moy.... sjllt Jjyll3 ftTjT THANK HEAvEV FOR LEASH LAWS, " |