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Show (EQDVMWlKBWllt Review -- Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1987-Pag- e2 - --- Editors love those letters: Hints on writing them the editor's column ;'; rl &) B ,MARC If J I I HADDOCK Editors love letters. We love happy letters and angry letters, letters about items of national importance and letters about the weather, letters about the school board, the city council or the county commission - commending a job well done or condemning an unfair action. I get a lot of mail, most of it junk. My favorite kind of mail is a letter to the editor. One letter, no matter how caustic, is cause for a smile. When an entire class sends in a bunch of letters to the editor, it's almost better than skiing in fresh Utah powder - almost - or maybe even seeing BYU win an important game, for a change. We have an old saying in the newspaper business: "Freedom of the press belongs to the person who owns one." That's a cynical view of our First Amendment freedoms, although it is no more cynical than most things newspaper people say about their business. But it is accurate to the extent that often an individual's right to disseminate an idea or viewpoint is limited by his or her forum - and the person who owns the press controls the forum. In most newspapers, this power is offset by the publisher's and editor's willingness to provide a public forum for ideas - a space for letters to the editor -- - where ordinary folks Although we tend to be cynical, we editors are also still idealistic enough to feel good when we provide that kind of a service to our readers. Of course, most people never write a letter to the editor. Most have neither the need or the inclination. Large daily papers have enough readers to generate enough letters to keep most of the rest of the readers stirred up, but weekly newspapers just don't have the numbers to do that. Also, many of us small town folks seem less inclined to spread our opinion all over town in the newspaper, when we can do it over the backyard fence more easily. So a bunch of letters are a cause for rejoicing - and this week has been a good week. One of the local high school classes tackled the task of writing letters to the editor and I now have enough letters, at least for our American Fork paper, to keep things stirred up for a long time. For the most part, the letters are good. They are short, concise and well written. They deal with local and state issues that matter. Others prompt me to give some advice that might help prospective letter writers produce letters that will be printed, and then be read and understood by other readers. Here are a few rules to help write letters to the editor: -- Keep it short. Long letters either don't get printed or get edited before they are printed so they fit. Also, a short letter is usually a sign that the writer spent some time getting an idea in presentable form. Going beyond that, follow the rules that Ernest Hemingway identified as the best rules for writing he ever encountered: "Keep your words short. Keep you sentences short. Keep your paragraphs short." -- Stick to the point. Don't be led astray by stray ideas. If a sentence doesn't help you make your case, take it out. You're letter will be better. -- Get your facts straight, especially if you are writing about controversial issues. Inaccuracies that could easily have been checked out destroy the credibility of the author and his opinion. And don't expect an editor to risk a libel suit on the basis of your claims if they can't be substantiated. Editors as a rule are not afraid of the truth, but they don't like to go to court on the basis of unsubstantiated claims in a letter to the editor. --Be specific. One of the letters that came from the high school students carries a blanket charge of our publication carrying "untrue facts." Then the reader pulls back: "I would not exactly call them Mies,' but the facts are not the whole truth." I can live with that, if I know which untrue facts a reader is concerned about. In this case, that's as specific as the charge gets, and it invalidates the charge. We go through a lot of information in a week. If a reader can't pinpoint what he feels is untrue, it doesn't help me find it. --Address the issue rather than a personality. It is much easier in making an argument to attack a person making a charge rather than attacking a charge, but it does little to illuminate an issue. --Don't be malicious. Name-callin- g does little to make a case, although it is a good way to make people angry. Try to make a well-reason-argument without resorting to cheep shots. --Avoid sarcasm, unless you know what you are doing. Humor is great for making a point, but sarcasm requires a delicate touch and often a writer will end up endorsing an idea he is trying to ridicule. Or else he will hopelessly confuse his reader. -- Sign your name, even if you don't want it printed. If you fear recriminations, explain that to the editor with a note at the bottom of the letter. Editors respect your wish for anonymity, as long as they can see a good reason for it. Usually letters that are signed have more impact and more credibility than unsigned letters, and a name is the most powerful element in a letter to ik a sign that the let t behind his ideas rite. I refuse to letter where I am Zl t the writer J But I willSS?' the writer's confiden t reason. I usually do L calling the letter person-to-perst1:- -- Don't write, hpi print this." I,'s manipulative and is r "!? for an editor to t B V editors don't mind it comes with lc: but the "I dare VoU.da letter writing is jiicat:? to not print a letter. --After you write the letter out loud. If it sounds r. t probably reaokayasj5' I'm not advocating ,M, you-tal- k philosophy. We very coherently. Re7 transcript and you'll J,? mean. But if what you read comfortable, ,t is probab, ; fortable to read as well say when you read doesa'i r sense, the reader won't under it either. "i -- Finally, write, write, wrin opinion is worth something. And editors just lovelelters can have access to the newspaper's general circulation. Most editors love ideas, and enjoy seeing those ideas tossed about in a search for truth or justice, or just in an attempt to make people think. And providing a forum for public comment is one of the services that a newspaper can supply as no one else can. r It may be that our faults are related to their faults ! believe? Evidently, announcer number one and announcer number two were not getting together with announcer number three. I could have understood the whole thing if it would have been on dif-ferent channels that we were getting conflicting reports, but, no, these were right on the same channel. It just so happened that while L.A. was rocking or rolling to and fro, a bunch of earthquake "experts" were meeting in Salt Lake City. At least this gave them something of interest to talk about. The next day all the schools in the area had an earthquake drill to be sure the kids knew how to jump under their desks if an earthquake really happened. One would think that L.A. has had a lot of these drills because they are so earthquake prone down there. Yet, contrary to all advice, most people ran from their buildings into the streets where they could be crushed by falling debris. Sounds like the drills have done them a lot of good! Of course, if you are in a 30 story building and things begin to shake really bad, I'd probably head for the ground, too. I saw the movie "Earthquake" several times and I'm pretty sure that George Ken-nedy would not be around to save me so I'd head for the lower floors and the streets, advice or no advice. The people in the high rises were told to leave their buildings, though, so I heard. I'll bet most of them were not told twice. This summer when we were in Washington we went to look at Mt. St. Helens. As I looked at films and pictures and displays of the devastation and how the people were forewarned to stay off the mountain, I wondered how some folks, Ifr I D Harry Truman guy, could Vi ci stayed there and taken r chances. j' re If the people in theknowtold;- bi stay off the mountain, I'd t bi stayed off the mountain. In lie probably been the first one : to After all, I am a chicken-hem- w allissaidanddone.IamalME La So, if the earthquake 'ty. in say there is no relation betee: Ja; L.A. quake and the onesiwr:- pai Utah, I will have to believe k the guess. But are they really si.-- T are not related? had ' bed By MARCELLA WALKER They say that the people in Southern California are getting rather nervous and almost paranoid since this rash of earthquakes have occurred. I don't blame them. Sounds like Mother Nature is in the throes of a nice game of "Rock-a-by- e Baby" and I'd just as soon be here. All those little "shockers" hap-pening out in the deseret west of Brigham City are a bit scary. I enjoy listening to all the ear-thquake "experts" say that the quakes in California are not related in any way to the little tremors they have been feeling in Box Elder County. How do they know for sure? I mean it would seem to me that the earth only has one crust and it is related in that it is one big ball. -- Where the oceans are there are just big dents full of water in that same crust. I know there are all these different plates and slipping and sliding takes place and high places can fall and become low. But, in spite of all that. The crust is still the crust and it is all related. Maybe we can't feel an ear-thquake here that occurs halfway around the world but sensitive seismographs can. The Wasatch Fault and the San Andreas Fault are quite far apart, but if the San Andreas slipped really bad, maybe the Wasatch Fault would slip a little, too. They keep saying that California is one day going to drop into the ocean. There are the California optimists who say that every thing east of the San Andreas Fault is going to one day drop into the Atlantic Ocean. The earthquake "experts" said, shortly after last week's powerful quake in the Los Angeles area, that this was still not "the big one." They could say that because they were still able to do their news broadcast while standing on good old terra firma. If it would have been "the big one" they would not have been able to do their newscast, unless it was from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. I was listening to television when they broke in with a special bulletin and reported on. the L.A,.quake. They said that they were not sure of the amount of damage or injuries at that point as there had been power outages and downed telephone lines. Later, on the same channel, they came back and said that the Bur-ban- k airport had been damaged and there was reports of injuries and possible deaths. They had television cameras out and had taken pictures of the damage at the airport which they showed on TV. Shortly later, still on the same channel, another announcer came on and said that there had been a rolling type earthquake in the L.A. area but that there were no reports of damage or deaths. Now, I ask you, what are you to Guest editorial nJ Former solon opposes proposals k Hy WARREN E. I'UC.II As a Utah Legislator for 22 years (I retired in 1 !)()) and a Utah businessman for 45 years, I am deeply disturbed by the rhetoric I hear from the Tax Coalition of Utah. Their opposition to tax increases passed by the legislature in the 1987 General Session shows some serious misun-derstandings of essential facts. I am par-ticularly troubled by some of the initiatives being proposed to supposedly solve state problems. The proponents of these ideas seem oblivious to two major facts impacting the Utah economy and Utah residents. I would like to discuss these two facts. Fact Number 1: The growth of the Utah economy has slowed considerably in the 1980's. During the 1970's, Utah economy had an annual average employment increase of 4.4 percent. In the 1980's. the Utah economy has grown by only 2.3 percent annually. Though this growth rate is hall of the 1980's, Utah's employment growth rate is still well ahead of the national average annual rate for the 1980's of 1.7 percent. Wages in Utah have also shown slower growth than in the past. This is a result of Utah companies having to compete in a very tough international market. Kennecott is one example of a Utah company having to meet international market prices. I am pleased to see Kennecott back to work. However, it took a $400 million moder-nization project, a major workforce reduction, and employee wage concessions for Kennecott to be competitive with foreign producers. Such economic adjustments have caused a slowdown in the Utah economy. It has also affected state government revenues. State revenues, when adjusted for' inflation and excluding the 4 percent surcharge tax, fell by over million from fiscal year 1985 to 1987. Utah is not alone in this adjustment to the international market. State governments across the nation are struggling with declining revenues. Twenty-thre- e states cut their 1987 fiscal year budgets in order to balance at year end. and :il states raised taxes. ! I'act Number 2: Though we are not alone in the problem of slowing state revenue growth, Utah is unique in our population make-up- . It is this issue that makes Utah's situation so different from any other state. Two major groups in our population play the biggest role 'in shaping our stale budget. They are our school-ag- e children, which demands school funding, and our working age population, which has to pay the taxes. Let's comapre these two population groups with the other 50 states. Utah ranks first in the nation in the percent of our population 5-- years of age, or our school-ag- e population. Providing education for this group takes half of our state revenues. The reverse side of the coin is equally significant. We rank last in the nation in the percent of our population of working age, or ages 18-6- Put very simply, these demographic numbers mean this: For every two school age children the adult population of the nation must support, Utah's adult population must support three. Already Utah is in the paradoxical situation of spending more money on education as a percent of the state budget and as a percent of personal income than almost any other state. At the same time, we spend fewer dollars per pupil than almost any other state. What the leaders of the tax protest movement also fail to realize is how incredulous it is to think that repeal of the tax increases can be done without any real harm to essential ser-vices. I have been told that all that needs to be done is "to cut the fat out." I am supportive of creating any efficiencies we can find. But, as the Senate Chairman of the Appropriations Committee for 10 years, I can tell you that the kind of cuts necessary to balance the budget without the tax increase would have been ex-treme indeed. Let me explain. The General Fund and Uniform School Fund Budget for fiscal year 1987 is $1.3 billion. The tax increase for this fund was $121 million or an increase of about 9.2 percent. To cut the budgets by this amount one could take two alternatives: (a) require all three major sectors of state government (state agencies, higher education, public education) to take across the board cuts; or (b) say tha certain agencies are more im-portant and should be protected, thus requiring the unprotected agencies to take the entire brunt of the cuts. Let's look at both alternatives. Across the Board Cuts - Public education ab-sorbs about half the budget so it would have to eliminate $62 million. How would they do that? One scenario is the following: eliminate new textbooks - $9 million; educational supplies, library books, periodicals and audio visual materials - $17 million; kindergarten - $29 million; substitute teachers - $6 million; health services - $1 million. Total $62 million. Higher education is about 20 percent of the ' budget so they would have to cut $2 One scenario would be to close Souther:. J State College - $9 million; Snow Me? million; Dixie College - $5 million; it . College of Eastern Utah - $5 million. a scenario could be to eliminate both coe-- V colleges in Salt Lake and Provo. Either rf -- adds to the $24 million. Finally, an add J $34 million would have to be eliminatec J Con( state agencies' budgets. I M Prioritized Cuts - Let's say educate-services, health, corrections and development are areas too important; cuts. If these were all held harmless million cut would have to come from; A fi state government. The problem isttie-- mj state government's budget totals oi million. In other words, it would bene survey eliminate virtually the rest of state F al to balance the budget. That means e ; mk the legislature, elected officials, so - jlen and the following state department ministrative services, tax getting business, labor, agriculture, as mm funding of the departments of na ; minule ces, public safety and transit ; options are simply not reasonabM;; ,mb . coalition discusses the budget nj. nsen: of the issue, their tax repeal pro SatUrc carry little weight with Utahns. J intro As a Utah resident and busing taxes too. One must i( taxes are payments f"' The single bigge . public sector. state government funds is educaj ., JJ there are so many childre pressure for adequate undmg Those are the simple facts we yA In u They are our children. world, it s e And ever competitive to give them a quality311 dellci( Finally, it must be remem r 30n age children ultimate y hu and lW , U Between 1990 tthie $ 10 perce' ' ' "u Ltion'swill grow by less ft nig, Utan u tremendous advantage other states if it JJ . 0ar Onl growing, nation. The d tax increase wasj J5 a vi s , the future made by I courageous Utah businessman who isF Parents learn of disaster plan By KALYN SECRETAN If an emergency occurred during school hours, do you know the district policy? Dr. Harold Jacklin discussed the disaster plan with the PTA Council at the Grovecrest School on October 1. As the meeting began, news carried bulletins concerning the California Earthquake. In event of a major disaster all students will remain in school until parents or . buses come to take them home. Parents need to know that students will not be turned to the streets. Schools are required by law to keep the students until the day is over or instructions are released from the Sheriff's Department. If the building is involved, students could be taken to the nearest school or arrangements have been made with the LDS Church to take them to the nearest building. Principals recently held a meeting with the Red Cross where instructions were given on how to operate a facility in a disaster. If a disaster occurred mobile units would instantly be connected with the county Sheriff's Department. In other Council business, Principal Maag reported the Pleasant Grove writing cluster has received money from the budget to develop a writing program. All teachers will meet on November 11, a minimum school day, where students will be released early. Inservice teachers will give instruction on how to increase writing fluency. A follow-u- p session in January will be held where teachers will report on the success of the program. On October 13 the Board will receive the floor plan for the Pleasant Grove Jr. High addition and hope to receive the go ahead on a seven room addition. It is the intent to have the building ready in the fall of 1988. The addition would bring the building up to the District Standard accommodating 1,200 students. The plans include a new type room, computer room, two science rooms and four regular classrooms. Restrooms and locker space will also be added. The addition will be attached east of the music room. If additional classrooms are needed they can be added on the north. Dr. Jacklin commented on calls that have been received by the District inquiring why cement is used in driveways rather than asphalt? The District has taken a good look into lifetime costs in a school over a 50 year period. The cost comparing blacktop versus cement found cement less expensive. The life expectancy of blacktop is 12 -- 15 years. Every year seal is added and new rock. Buses tear up the blacktop quickly. The concrete life is about 25 years. The bid received on the concrete was only 14 cents per square foot more than using blacktop. The District is constructing a number of driveways, including the new one installed at Pleasant Grove High! - Dr. Lloyd reported on his meeting with the Legislature and Dr. Jacklin felt the biggest concern in the District was the moratorium on additions or new buildings. Per-mission was given for the Jr. High addition because of the large growth in population in the area. It was reported Cedar Fort Elementary is trying to put a media center together and would welcome the donation of books. If you have books you would like to donate they can be taken to the District office or given to the Council Fresident Carolyn Smith. foe wi WM! Ms & f |