Deseret Digest October 2024

THE DIGEST

Deseret Magazine

General Conference

Political Section

The lion’s tale: Bringing African literature to American readers

A glimpse into the evolution of general conference

Gubernatorial candidates debate ‘the golden age of Utah’

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OCTOBER 2024 VOL. 2 / NO. 10

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How athletes use caffeine: Boosting performance or risking health?

Every athlete’s body reacts differently to the world’s most popular psychoactive drug

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DESERET MAGAZINE

The lion’s tale Bringing African literature to American readers

Spenser Heaps

Kenechi Uzor, editor-in-chief and publisher of Iskanchi Press, poses for photos at his home in Lehi on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.

By Natalia Galicza Deseret Magazine

Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter. Kenechi Uzor understood that African proverb long before he first saw a lion in the flesh, 7,200 miles from his Nigerian homeland. A handful of these majestic animals roamed their territory at Utah’s Hogle Zoo: a few grassy acres dotted with human-made grottos and sunlit perches backed by the Wasatch Mountains. Uzor gawked at the animals, aware that many of those around him may assume he’d be used to seeing them.

Uzor moved here from Lagos, a metropolis of 21 million residents on the Gulf of Guinea, the most populous urban area in Africa. Growing up, he moved among high-rise apartment buildings, grand theaters and churches, modern bridges and expressways. There were bookstores and libraries where he learned about American culture from authors like Mark Twain. But there were no lions. “As far as (Americans) are concerned, we in Nigeria live next door to all of these wild animals,” he says. “Instead of blaming them for ignorance, I understand it’s just because they don’t have enough to be well informed about Africa.”

When he came to the United States in 2016, Uzor was dismayed at the lack of African titles on bookshelves. He enrolled in a master’s program for creative writing at the University of Utah and found that all his assigned readings were written by Western authors. Even students driven by curiosity had trou-

ble finding books by African writers. Now, as a professor at that school, he thinks about what his students miss by seldom reading African perspectives. And he worries that his daughters are growing up with limited access to stories that could help them explore and embrace their own heritage.

The lions at the zoo are powerless to shape their narrative, but Uzor knew he was not. So two years ago, he launched an independent publishing house based in Salt Lake City. He named it Iskanchi Press, inspired by the Hausa word for nonconformity.

The Hausa are an ethnic group native to West Africa, and Hausa is their language. But his purpose is larger: to make sure Americans can read the literature and hear the voices of his home.

The proverb that acts as Uzor’s guiding principle is famously articulated by Chinua Achebe, known as the father of modern African literature. In a 1994 interview with the Paris Review, the late Nigerian author spoke of stories he read as a young man that depicted Africans as savages. He found that positive representations of his culture were seldom seen in the broader literary world; instead, depictions were monolithic, stereotypical and negligent. “That was the way I was introduced to the danger of not having your own stories,” he said. “I had to be that historian.

It’s not one man’s job. It’s not one person’s job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail — the bravery, even, of the lions.”

Achebe’s seminal 1958 novel, “Things Fall Apart,” recounts the arrival of European colonial forces to a fictitious Nigerian village in the late 19th century through the eyes of a local leader and warrior who is eventually demoralized by his people’s utter

surrender. That point of view was revolutionary. Now a classic, the book has been translated into nearly 60 languages, with more than 20 million copies sold worldwide and is frequently taught in American schools. Western audiences tend to credit him with creating African literature, but that is not quite accurate.

Northern Africa played key roles in the development of Western culture. Egypt helped pioneer written language with hieroglyphics. St. Augustine of Hippo wrote “The City of God” and “Confessions” (probably the first memoir) in Latin, from his home on the coast of modern Algeria. Jewish philosopher Maimonides wrote “Mishneh Torah” in Hebrew and “The Guide for the Perplexed” in Arabic, both seminal texts, while living in Egypt. And the University of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in Morocco in 859, became a magnet for literature and learning while Europe struggled through its dark ages.

Go a little deeper, and most African literature simply wasn’t accessible to Western audiences. Somalia is known as a “nation of poets,” but many compose and recite their works on the spot. Sub-Saharan cultures have relied on oral storytelling since time immemorial. This egalitarian and intimate practice is still used to impart traditions and social norms. They can be told by specialized storytellers, like griots in West Africa, or shared from parent to child. Many stories are still told this way, exploring themes like identity and existence, war and migration, life and death. Some are “trickster tales,” in which anthropomorphized and mischievous animal characters play out human moral quandaries. Others are epics, following the trials and victories of fabled heroes. These are the foundations that modern writers like Achebe built upon.

It was only in the 20th century that these stories could finally be printed in European languages. Since that time, African authors have unlocked new viewpoints, lessons and imaginings for a wider audience. Contemporary authors like Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Abdulrazak Gurnah have graced bestseller lists and garnered National Book Awards and Nobel Prizes. And Afrofuturism, which mingles science fiction with Black culture, has gifted us the first mainstream African superhero through Marvel’s “Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda” comic book series.

Still, those examples are recent and relatively few. Uzor wants to remedy that. “What we do that is different is that we are all Africans,” Uzor says, with a few minor exceptions.

“We are trying to portray African perspectives as clearly and as originally as possible.” In its first two years, Iskanchi Press has published 10 books spanning genres from Afrofuturism to mystery and coming of age. An eponymous magazine publishes shorter, more experimental pieces by African writers. Uzor also plans to publish children’s and young adult books, adding to the 14 percent of titles published in the United States that are by Black or African authors. “I think every perspective should be included. Every voice should be heard as much as possible,” he says.

In “The Emperor’s Son,” by Liberian author Vamba Sherif, a boy and his father traverse the savannah. Zaiwulo, who is almost 13, carries a sapling he considers precious for the fire-colored blooms it will soon produce. But he hears hooves thundering toward him across the grasslands. In a flash, a horse races by, close enough to snatch the sapling in its teeth. The boy screams and the horse’s mysterious rider pulls back on the reins. “What does the tree mean to you, child?” he asks. Before Zaiwulo can answer, in all his pride and bravery, his father rushes over to apologize. It’s only then that Zaiwulo realizes

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 the rider is a fearsome warrior — just as the warrior sees something in Zaiwulo, something that makes him more remarkable than either he or his father know.

Sherif’s book is a work of historical fiction that follows a 19th century African leader dubbed the “Black Napoleon” for his resistance to English and French colonizers, who is celebrated for being as much of a scholar as he is a warrior. Sherif grew up hearing legends of the character’s inspiration, Samori Touré, but never encountered Touré’s legacy in writing. “I wanted not only to tell the story of the African resistance to colonialism, I wanted to paint a picture of a society that was very advanced and that was very civilized, a society that appreciated scholarship,” Sherif says. “Because that’s my story.”

His novel was first published in Dutch, but Sherif struggled for years to have it translated into English for an American audience. But his agent got a different response when he pitched it to Iskanchi Press. “It felt like homecoming,” he says.

Industry consolidation and mergers have narrowed opportunities for writers to get published. About 80 percent of the trade book market is now controlled by just five publishing houses, each a for-profit business that rarely bets on outliers or underdogs. That is even more daunting for international authors. Just 3 percent of books published in the U.S. are translated into English from another language, almost half from French, Spanish or German. About 60 percent of all translated books come from presses that are affiliated with universities or simply independent — a category Uzor is proud to be a part of.

“Independent presses serve a vital role in this whole ecosystem in terms of bringing voices to light that could be passed over by mainstream publishing,” says Jill Smith, director of the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute. “And they are frequently in a position to publish books that would not be acquired by the big five.”

While Iskanchi Press may never get an office on Madison Avenue, it has the freedom to focus on authenticity, provocative

retellings of history and stories that can only be told by those who experienced their impact.

Consider “Angola Is Wherever I Plant My Field,” a collection of postmodern short stories infused with humor by Angolan author João Melo. “Contemporary history is full of examples that confirm the profound and multiple irresponsibilities of Angolans,” he writes. “Firstly, when millions were taken to the Americas as slaves, not only did they resist being completely destroyed by brutal exploitation and unknown diseases such as influenza and syphilis, but they taught their very oppressors how to forge iron, extract diamonds and gold from the ground and how to plant (and harvest) sugar cane and coffee.”

More than revisiting this piece of shared history from a perspective that is probably new to most American readers, Melo is offering them something grander: empathy. This is a significant benefit of literature that has only recently come to scientific light. It also makes projects like Iskanchi Press feel that much more essential.

Marybeth Timmermann has never been to Mauritania. The Islamic country in northwest Africa lies more than an ocean away from her home in Greenville, Illinois. She never had a reason to feel anything for a land so distant or its people — until she translated “Barzakh: The Land In-Between” by Mauritanian author Moussa Ould Ebnou from French into English. The novel recounts an odyssey through time, history and philosophy as the protagonist Gara traverses the Saharan desert in a state like limbo, somewhere between living and dead, known as “Barzakh” in Arabic.

“It broadened my horizons and made me understand there’s so many different, interesting ways of looking at the world,” Timmerman says. She has translated plenty of material, from works of fiction to the scholarly writings of French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, but none expanded her world like this one. She fought for the book, pitching it to literary agents and small presses before it eventually landed at Iskanchi Press,

because she believed it can break down stereotypes and help Americans to learn about a place few have even heard of.

Reading fiction can shape perceptions and alter the brain, allowing us to vicariously experience the places and events we read about. Research in neuropsychology shows that when we read, activity lights up our temporal lobe (which processes language), motor cortex (which processes movement) and olfactory bulb (which processes smell). By psychologically mimicking the experience, we not only learn from the choices of others but get to see through their eyes, boosting our empathy and emotional intelligence.

“Reading about other cultures, reading stories from other perspectives helps us develop an understanding of people who are different but also helps us find commonalities with other cultures,” Smith says. “It helps with our cultural and global awareness to read outside of ourselves and our own experience.”

When he reflects on the power of literature, Uzor thinks back to the awe he felt at the lions he saw at the zoo. But he also remembers his first winter in Utah, his first snowfall.

He scooped up a handful of the white powder and inspected it. “OK, so that’s how it feels,” he thought to himself. Not as strange as he’d anticipated. Kind of like the inside of a refrigerator. Unfamiliar but easy to understand.

What had prepared him for that moment, and all the other changes that came with a new life in a new place, were the stories he’d read back home. Books like Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” taught him about snow — how it falls, crunches underfoot and captures tracks. But they also helped him to understand a culture and lived experience that was far removed from his own. “When I moved to America, it seemed like I already knew what America was about,” he says. “It wasn’t so much of a shock to me because I’ve been reading.”

This story appears in the September 2024 issue of Deseret Magazine. Learn more about how to subscribe.

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DESERET NEWS

How athletes use caffeine: Boosting performance or risking health?

Every athlete’s body reacts differently to the world’s most popular psychoactive drug

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Enoch Watters with the Cedar Valley cycling team drinks water after practicing for an upcoming race at Butterfield Canyon in Herriman on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.

By Dennis Romboy Deseret News

It’s 5:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning.

Alex Gilson pulls a green TriUtah swim cap over his head, adjusts his dark goggles and dives into the Provo Recreation Center swimming pool. He covers the 25-yard-long lane with a few powerful strokes, makes a flip turn and torpedoes through the water. The 25-year-old triathlete goes back and forth 37 times over the next 40 minutes — a distance of just over a mile — occasionally using a kickboard and stopping to rest.

Gilson then heads upstairs for strength training — lateral band walks, pull ups, planks. He’ll do one of several weekly training runs later in the day as well as ride his bike during the week. It’s a lot to squeeze in amid his senior year at BYU, working and, along with his wife, expecting his first child.

Many endurance athletes start their workouts with a jolt of caffeine in a cup of coffee or energy drink. Not Gilson. He had some water and a honey Stinger energy waffle before heading to the pool. He only takes caffeine, usually in a gel, in the closing miles of a long training ride on the bike or late in the run during a race to “take the edge off.”

Triathlons consist of swimming, biking and running in that order. Races are various distances. An Olympic triathlon has a 1.5K swim, 40K bike ride and 10K run. A full Ironman has 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run.

Caffeine, Gilson said, doesn’t give him an energy boost.

“It’s not like a magic injection or a magic pill that all of a

sudden makes you perform and gives you all this immense amount of energy so you can win a race or anything,” he said.

What the drug does for him is block the signals to his brain telling him that his muscles are tired so he can push through to the finish line.

Performance enhancing

Caffeine is often called the world’s most popular psychoactive drug, consumed daily by 80% of the world’s population.

It’s a stimulant found naturally in foods like coffee, tea and chocolate. It is also synthetically produced and added to sports gels, chews, energy drinks, sports drinks, chewing gum and dietary supplements. It stimulates the central nervous system by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain, reducing perceived effort, delaying fatigue, reducing pain, and improving mental focus, attention and motivation. The body absorbs synthetic caffeine faster and it takes effect faster than natural caffeine.

It’s the ergogenic effects that make it a widely used supplement across many individual and team sports, from weekend warriors to pros. Research suggests 75% to 90% of athletes consume caffeine before or during competitive events, according to the National Institutes of Health. Some NBA, NFL and MLB players are known to drink massive amounts of coffee on game day.

“It’s considered one of the most commonly used performance-enhancing drugs both for sports and for just work and life, because it reduces fatigue and improves alertness. When it comes to sports, that improved alertness is

a benefit. It can improve concentration and it also helps in endurance activities and power activities, like any sort of strength-based exercise or sport; you’ll have improved performance with those activities with use of caffeine,” said Dr. Brett Toresdahl, an associate professor and director of research for the Division of Sports Medicine in the Department of Orthopedics at University of Utah Health.

There’s a line between helpful and unhelpful, he added, and it’s different for everyone based on their tolerance for the substance. Overuse can have harmful side effects. Health and nutrition experts say the best way to determine your effective dose is through repeated and careful experimentation during workouts and competition-intensity training.

Andrew Stasinos, an endurance coach and triathlete who has completed six Ironman races, gives his clients, including top Paralympic athletes, simple advice about the drug: If you consume caffeine and your body is used to it, continue.

If not, don’t use it or be very careful if you do. And if you haven’t used it training, don’t use it in competition because it will probably hinder more than help your performance.

“My biggest caution for any athlete who asks me about caffeine is if you’re not used to it, don’t use it, don’t rely on it, don’t worry about it. If you’re used to it, then you can strategically use it,” he said.

With sports, one concern is caffeine contributing to dehydration, especially when exercising in heat, as well as jitteriness and anxiousness, “which is not always a good thing when it comes to sports, especially if there’s any sort of precise component to that sport,” Toresdahl said.

And it can disrupt sleep, especially if used late in the day.

Gilson experienced that when he took 400 milligrams — the oft-cited maximum amount a person should consume in a day — during a short race. That’s roughly the amount of caffeine in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two energy drinks.

“For me, I have noticed the more caffeine I take, the longer it takes me to get a good night’s rest after the race. I’m very restless that first night, can’t sleep at all. By the second day after being super exhausted, I finally get to the point where I can sleep,” he said.

Toresdahl estimated caffeine gives an athlete a 1% or 2% endurance boost.

“So for the most part, the folks who would benefit from it would be the competitive athletes who are looking for every percentage of competitive advantage. For everyone else, it may not necessarily be worth the benefit if it’s affecting sleep, if it’s affecting their heart rate or blood pressure, things like that,” he said.

Banned, not banned

Caffeine hasn’t always been an acceptable substance in sports.

The World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, banned high concentrations of caffeine from all Olympic events for 20 years. But in 2004, the organization determined that the drug no longer met at least two of its three criteria for inclusion on the prohibited list: has the potential to enhance sport performance; represents a health risk to the athletes;

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 and violates the spirit of sport. Caffeine is currently on the WADA monitoring list, which means it is not banned but that the organization is watching it in case it becomes an anti-doping issue in the future.

“A large proportion of athletes in Paris will use caffeine in some form,” Wendy Martinson, the lead nutritionist for Great Britain’s Olympic team, told The Times ahead of the 2024 Summer Games. British athletes even brought their own barista to Paris to satisfy their coffee fix.

The story notes that caffeine gum is increasingly popular, with research by pharmacologists showing it is absorbed quickly for faster results. “In February, exercise scientists from Sheffield Hallam University found that recreational runners who chewed gum supplying 300 mg of caffeine 30 minutes before a Saturday morning Parkrun ran an average 17.28 seconds faster than those who were given a placebo,”

according to The Times.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association restricts the amount of caffeine in an athlete’s system by limiting acceptable urine concentrations to 15 milliliters, which equates to 500 milligrams of caffeine or six to eight cups of coffee two to three hours before an event. While the NCAA agrees that there are benefits to caffeine, its fact sheet on the subject stresses that it’s addictive and has adverse health effects if not consumed in moderation and while hydrated.

“The NCAA is interesting. It is listed as a stimulant, and stimulants are a class of medications or drugs that are banned by the NCAA,” Toresdahl said, noting how much an athlete would have to ingest before reaching a detectable level in urine. “So that’s going to be hard for most athletes to reach that level that would trigger an issue.”

7

Caffeine free

At least one sports group, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, bans caffeine in any amount. Its affiliate in Utah, the Utah High School Cycling League, adopted the rule for the mountain bike races it puts on for more than 7,400 students across the state.

The rule states: “Caffeine is an addictive substance that enhances performance. The League deems caffeinated products as inappropriate for young student-athletes. Caffeinated sport products such as bars, gels and sport drinks are banned before or during League races, practices and other activities. The consumption of soda and coffee products containing caffeine by student-athletes before or during CONTINUES ON PG. 8

Utah Always Anwsers The Call For Help

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Alex Gilson swims at the Provo Recreation Center in Provo on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, as he trains for an upcoming triathlon.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend caffeine for children under age 12 and advises against energy drinks for all children and teens. Johns Hopkins Medicine says children ages 12 to 18 should not consume more than 100 milligrams of caffeine a day.

“Why would you go against the best judgment out there?

For us to ignore that kind of implicitly says it’s OK,” said Chris Best, Utah High School Cycling League director. ”We’re not in the athlete development business. We’re in the youth development business. We’re tasked with mentoring kids to make good choices. We just use mountain bike riding and racing as a mechanism for that.”

Best said kids will get more miles out of healthy nutrition than they ever will from caffeine. Though they live in a culture that “promotes shortcuts,” he said, relying on energy drinks isn’t the best way forward.

“It’s everywhere. It’s hard to get away from it. Our goal is to get kids into the mindset of what they’re putting into their body. Is it healthy? Is it necessary? Is it legal or appropriate?” he said.

There’s no drug testing in high school mountain biking.

Best said the kids mostly police themselves.

How the pros do it

Caffeine use among professional athletes varies greatly.

Take the Los Angeles Dodgers. Earlier this season, a popular duo calling themselves Bat Boys on TikTok and Instagram asked Dodger players about their daily caffeine habits.

“Zero. I don’t drink caffeine at all,” All-Star outfielder Mookie Betts said. “I will say out of 365 days, 363 of them are no caffeine.”

Pitcher Landon Knack is on the other end of the spectrum. He told Bat Boys he consumes about 400 milligrams a

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Alex Gilson works out at the Provo Recreation Center in Provo on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, as he trains for an upcoming triathlon.

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

High school mountain bikers practice for an upcoming race at Butterfield Canyon in Herriman on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.

day but bumps that to 600 milligrams on the days he pitches. “I’m an addict at this point,” he said.

Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said he drinks a little coffee in the morning. “I’m not a big caffeine guy. Every time I drink a lot that has caffeine in it, I start shaking,” he said.

A few years back, the Portland Trailblazers’ sports performance specialist brewed coffee for players precisely 35 minutes before tipoff as a pre-game pick-me-up. Former NBA player Boris Diaw had an espresso machine in his locker when he was with the San Antonio Spurs. After being traded to the Utah Jazz, he formed a coffee group with several players, coaches and executives who sipped espresso before practices and home games.

Know before you go

While science has shown caffeine enhances performance, determining what it will do and when in individual athletes can be tricky. Each person metabolizes caffeine at their own rate, with some fully metabolizing caffeine in two hours and others taking 16 to 24 hours. Also, while coffee contains natural caffeine, the body might react differently to the synthesized caffeine in energy drinks.

Stasinos said anyone, whether an elite athlete who might face drug testing or a recreational runner or cyclist in it for fun, should beware of what’s in sports drinks, noting some were found to have trace amounts of meth or other stimulants not listed on the label. It’s a health concern regardless of your ability level.

“When I use any kind of pre-workout drink, I will make sure that it is certified safe for sports because I don’t want to do things that are technically illegal. I also don’t want to put things in my body that are not really safe,” he said. “I would say knowing what’s in the product, especially with supple-

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Lucy Sorenson, a registered dietitian nutritionist with Intermountain Health, said that not all caffeine-containing products, including energy drinks, specify everything in them on the label. Athletes just looking for a caffeine boost may get more than they bargained for. “So athletes can sometimes test positive for different drug tests because of what’s in there that they don’t know is in there,” she said.

Collin Swensen, has competed in more than 100 triathlons of various lengths, including four Ironman races, over the past 21 years. He doesn’t drink coffee but said a lot of triathletes swear by coffee and espresso.

“I do think caffeine is a useful tool,” he said.

A typical week for Swensen consists of three to four bike rides, including one long one, and two to three runs, including a couple right off the bike, which is known as a “brick.”

He also swims 30 to 45 minutes three times a week. It’s a demanding schedule and he tries to be consistent. He usually starts a training session with a water enhancer that contains 60 milligrams of caffeine.

“For me, caffeine is largely a placebo,” said Swensen, who runs a website called UtahTriBuzz.com. “I have some caffeine in my system. I’m ready to go.”

During races, he consumes gels and high-calorie drinks that contain caffeine, especially in an Ironman. He often grabs a Coke or Red Bull in the latter stages of a race. But he’s careful not to overdo it.

“It definitely plays a role in race day nutrition for me with the gels and with the drinks,” he said. “It can be a perk when you’re running, especially if you’re hurting.”

Contributing: Lois M. Collins

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DESERET NEWS

‘He was a collector of people; he loved people so much’ Gary Neeleman remembered as a man who never stood still, especially when it came to caring for his family

By Lee Benson Deseret News

If the Earth is spinning slower, if the pace of mankind seems to have dropped off a notch, there’s a very good reason. Gary Neeleman has left the planet.

After packing more into a single lifetime than was thought possible for a mere human, Gary passed away last month at the age of 90. Starting out as a cub reporter for United Press International in Brazil in 1958, he was in charge of all of Latin America and the Caribbean by the time he left the wire service in 1985 to spend another 17 years with the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. After that, at an age when most people retire, he launched his own consulting firm that he ran for another 20 years. You’d be hard pressed to find a newspaper or broadcast company anywhere in North or South America that didn’t know and respect Gary Neeleman.

On top of that, he found the time to write 17 books, most of them as co-author with Rose, his wife and ever-present companion; to participate in various volunteer service organizations, including the Partners of the Americas and as a Latter-day Saint bishop; and to act as honorary Brazilian consul for the state of Utah from 2002 until the time of his passing.

But for all he did and accomplished, it was Gary’s love affair with people that is his legacy. As his son David says, “He was a collector of people; he loved people so much.”

I found this out in 1998 when Gary and Rose moved into the office next door to mine in the Deseret News building on First South — and he collected me.

No matter how busy he was, no matter how many papers he was juggling, he would always, and I mean always, make it a point to say hello and stop and talk as he was rushing past my door.

Thus began a friendship that, thanks to Gary and Rose, lasted the next quarter-century.

Gary was the kind of person who would say, “let’s do lunch” and mean it.

His interest in people was insatiable. Ask any of the “inkstained wretches” he mentored in the newspaper business, or the multitude of Brazilian expats and visa workers he helped (for no pay) during his two-plus decades as Brazilian consul.

But it was for his family that Gary Neeleman reserved his most undivided attention. Pretty much without exception, any conversation with Gary included stories about Gary and Rose’s seven children and their 86 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

As much as Gary had going on, and it was always a lot, he never forgot his family, never left them behind. I remember him and Rose telling me that when their kids were schoolage they would spend summer vacation traveling the country in a van as Gary did his job visiting newspaper offices and TV stations. The idea was to keep the family intact and expose the children to as much of the world as humanly possible. During the school year, or when Gary’s trips took him out of the country, he would call home every night and talk to each child individually “in case they had something they needed to run by him,” remembered Rose.

Neeleman family

Newspaperman extraordinaire Gary Neeleman, who died last month at the age of 90, is pictured here with Rose, his wife of 67 years, at his side.

That kind of upbringing resulted in adventurous, curious kids who felt confident and secure enough to go off in a variety of directions.

Gary talked about them constantly: the lawyer (John), the airline mogul (David), the resort manager (Julie), the doctor (Stephen), the supermom of quadruplets (Pam), the convenience store entrepreneur (Lisa), the Brazilian businessman (Mark).

When the grandkids started coming, it was the same story, new generation. Gary took them on his business trips, he and Rose attended their games, their recitals, their graduations, giving them the same kind of attention they’d given their parents. Gary talked about them constantly, too.

Nothing slowed Gary’s intense interest and connection to his posterity, not the loss of most of his eyesight due to a jogging accident and botched surgery when he was 70, not the stroke he suffered at 80, not the car accident that sent him and Rose to the hospital in early 2022, not the fall while taking out the garbage later that year that broke his hip and hastened his demise.

He was at a rehab center near his house in Sandy the day before he died, regaling the nurses about his famous quarterback grandsons (Zach Wilson in the NFL and Zach’s brother Isaac at the University of Utah). “He was always so nice to the nurses, and they were just enamored of him,” says David.

The following day, however, things went downhill fast and it became clear that the patriarch was nearing the end.

No sooner had the family grapevine delivered the news than the rehab center’s parking lot started to fill up. When Mark called David to tell him Dad was faltering, he cut short

a meeting and raced to the scene, one of the first to arrive.

He describes an afternoon of “a steady stream of visitors, just nonstop.”

The kids, grandkids and great grandkids within driving distance arrived in person; those out of state tuned in via FaceTime. Hooked up with oxygen and morphine, Gary talked to them all, these people he knew like his own name. “He told them he loved them, and they told him they loved him,” says David. “When Julie showed up (after driving the length of the state from Orderville), he said, ‘so how are things at the ranch?’ He was alert and sharp until the last minute.”

“At one point, about 6 o’clock,” says David, “he looked over at me and said, ‘it’s been a helluva ride, son.’”

Stephen’s family was in Mexico. They sang “Peace in Christ” over the phone. Then everyone sang “Amazing Grace,” one of Gary’s favorites, and delivered a spirited rendition of the Latter-day Saint standard “Army of Helaman.”

Only their version is “Army of Neeleman.”

As the day turned to night, Gary had been able to say goodbye to virtually everyone in his family.

The last to arrive was David’s son Daniel, who raced down from Summit County. “I gotta come and see Grandpa,” he said. He was holding his grandpa’s hand and Rose was holding the other when Gary passed.

“My dad had the ability to make everyone in the family feel special, kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, even those that married into the family,” says David — a sentiment that was eloquently summed up by Gary’s grandson Josh, the former BYU linebacker, who observed at his granddad’s passing, “What a bummer, we have all lost the only person on earth who thought we were perfect.”

10 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

11

GENERAL CONFERENCE

A glimpse into the evolution of general conference ‘The Church has always been trying to be on the cutting edge of technology so it can get the message out to everybody’

By Rachel Sterzer Gibson Church News

The first general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took place on a small farm in the forests of western New York. About 30 Church members — along with some friends and other interested people — crowded into the log home of Peter and Mary Whitmer on Wednesday, June 9, 1830, in the township of Fayette in Seneca County, New York.

At that time, the entire Church had fewer than a dozen priesthood holders. The minutes for that meeting reveal that Joseph Smith read the “articles and covenants” — or what would become Doctrine and Covenants section 20 — which were received by unanimous voice of the entire congregation.

Oliver Cowdery ordained Samuel Smith an elder; then Joseph Smith Sr. and Hyrum Smith were ordained priests.

That day began the heritage of the general conference of the Church.

Today, more than 17 million Latter-day Saints — in addition to friends and associates of all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds — are invited twice a year, during the first weekends of April and October, to hear messages from Church leaders focused on Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Each two-day event consists of five sessions, generally two hours, and can be watched live in close to 70 languages, or consumed later after it’s translated into more than 100 languages.

The process of accommodating a handful of people in 1830 to now — where it is watched by millions around the world — has been remarkable, said Christine Marin, an audiovisual specialist in the Church History Department. “It’s so interesting how it’s evolved.”

That evolution has included many milestones and technological innovations. This year marks the 100th anniversary of broadcasting the Church’s general conference on radio, the 75th anniversary of general conference broadcast via television and the 25th anniversary of live broadcast via the internet.

Utah State Historical Society

George Albert Smith, President of the LDS Church addressing a radio audience and crowd gathered on a Salt Lake City street, May 10, 1937. He was speaking on the nearly completed Golden Gate Bridge in California.

ason Olson, Deseret News

President Gorndon B. Hinckley speaks during the Sunday morning session of the 171st General Conference Sunday, October 7, 2001.

Marin noted, “The Church has always been trying to be on the cutting edge of technology so that it can get the message out to everybody.”

The evolution of general conference

At first, conferences were convened at the request of the First Presidency. “In 1830, they had two conferences. The next year, they had 40, because conferences were called as needed” at different times and locations, Marin said.

The April 6, 1833, general conference, for example, was held at the ferry on the Big Blue River in Jackson County, Missouri. It was not until Church headquarters moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, that the pattern was set of holding conferences in April and October.

Until 1977, conference was always held on the 6th of April — the anniversary of the organization of the Church — no matter the day of the week, and general conference lasted three or more days.

After the Saints’ arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the membership soon outgrew a single venue. The Church’s first foray in trying to share the messages of conference beyond the walls of the Salt Lake Tabernacle involved a man learning shorthand and taking meticulous notes. “[At that time] quite often the Brethren did not write their talks. They spoke from the pulpit extemporaneously,” Marin said.

Beginning in 1850, the man’s notes were transposed and printed in the Deseret News. “In 1897 they started doing conference reports, and they’d print up all the talks, and you could buy the little pamphlet for 10 cents,” Marin said.

“Then they would distribute it to various stakes in the West, which included California, Washington state, Idaho and, of

course, all up and down Utah.”

General conference was first broadcast on the radio in 1924, although some accounts claim it was 1923. For example, on April 8, 1923, Church President Heber J. Grant noted during conference that all the seats in the Tabernacle were occupied, as well as the aisles, and that 4,000 people standing on the grounds would be listening to the sermons “conveyed by radio.”

However, “they used the term ‘radio’ because nobody understood an acoustical system,” Marin explained. While they were able to amplify the sound to other audio speakers on Temple Square, “it was a closed system.”

It wasn’t until the next year, during the 95th Semiannual General Conference, on Oct. 3, 1924, that the local radio station KFPT — which would become KSL in 1925 — broadcast conference in its entirety.

At that time, President Grant stated: “The exercises of today and throughout the conference are to be broadcasted; and it is estimated that in the neighborhood of a million people will be able to hear all that is said, provided they are listening in during the conference sessions. The radio is one of the most marvelous inventions man knows anything about. To have the voice carried for thousands of miles seems almost beyond comprehension.”

Marin explained that as KSL slowly gained more wattage, the base of people who could listen to the broadcast expanded from the Salt Lake Valley “outward and upward.”

At one point, KSL began rebroadcasting conference at CONTINUES ON PG. 12

12 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

Provided by Ron Fox

The Salt Lake Tabernacle under construction in the mid-1860s.

night because when the sun went down, the sound could travel a farther distance.

“There are accounts of people saying they could hear general conference while aboard a ship to Hawaii in the evenings,” Marin recounted.

Eventually the Church began to record conference on transcription discs and send them to New York City, where an affiliate radio station would broadcast it across the Atlantic Ocean to England and Spain.

It was also during this time that the Church began to get more strategic about how long a speaker could take or when to have a musical number. “They had to make sure the local radio station could give their identification out over the airwaves,” Marin said.

Television, satellite and the internet

Twenty-five years after the first radio broadcast, confer-

ence was broadcast over television for the first time on Friday, Sept. 30, 1949, on KSL-TV. In the opening talk of the 120th Semiannual General Conference, Church President George Albert Smith noted that the proceedings were being shared through television. “We live in a wonderful age,” he commented.

In that conference, President Joseph Fielding Smith, who was then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, quoted the Book of Mormon prophet Alma, who expresses his desire to have “a voice of thunder” to reach the ends of the earth with the news of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Alma 29:1-2).

“If Alma were here today,” President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “I know he would be very grateful for the facilities and the opportunities that we have to reach the peoples, not only who are assembled but also scattered abroad.”

Marin noted that in the early days of film, mainly members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve were filmed as individual speakers. There are gaps in video coverage until the 1970s.

The first audio-only satellite broadcast of general conference occurred Sunday, April 9, 1967, via the Lani Bird satellite orbiting 22,000 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Speakers at the conference included Elders N. Eldon Tanner, Alvin R. Dyer, Mark E. Petersen and Howard W. Hunter. The Tabernacle Choir, under the direction of Richard P. Condie and with Alexander Schreiner at the organ, provided the music.

The first satellite audio and video broadcast occurred Friday, Oct. 3, 1975. Speakers included President Spencer W. Kimball and Elders Vaughn J. Featherstone, Hartman Rector Jr., Robert L. Simpson and Bruce R. McConkie. The Tabernacle Choir, under the direction of Jerold Ottley and with Schreiner at the organ, provided the music.

On Oct. 2, 1999, live video of conference was made available on the internet. Although little was said during that conference, just two years later, during the October 2001 general

conference, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, with emotion in his voice, shared that he could “scarcely restrain my emotions as I think of what the Lord has done for us.”

Said President Hinckley: “I wish all of us could be assembled under one roof. But that is not possible. I am so deeply thankful that we have the wonders of television, radio, cable, satellite transmission and the Internet. We have become a great worldwide Church, and it is now possible for the vast majority of our members to participate in these meetings as one great family, speaking many languages, found in many lands, but all of one faith and one doctrine and one baptism.”

During her 30-year career at the Church History Department, Marin said, she has “read every talk there is. I’ve seen all the footage. I’ve listened to all the audio and video.”

One of her takeaways from studying the 194-year history of conference is that while the transmission may change, the substance of general conference does not. The leadership of the Church is teaching truth, Marin said. “They’re teaching us the gospel. And we’re just trying to share it with the world.”

Peter Whitmer farm in Fayette, New York.

Tom Smart, Deseret News

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GENERAL CONFERENCE

A look at Mexico’s long, rich heritage of temple faithfulness 4 eras: 4 decades of traveling to Mesa, 25 years of 1 temple in Mexico City, 11 temples dedicated in 3 years, and 12 new houses of the Lord announced over past 31 months

By Scott Taylor Church News

MEXICO CITY — With the May 19 dedication of the Puebla Mexico Temple by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, another key moment was added to Mexico’s long and rich heritage of temple building and temple faithfulness.

That heritage can be broken into four eras — the first covering some four decades beginning in the mid-1940s, as faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico made great sacrifices in finances and time to travel for days to attend the Mesa Arizona Temple, where they made covenants and participated in sacred ordinances.

The second era followed with the 1983 dedication of a new house of the Lord in Mexico City, serving the Latter-day Saints as the country’s sole temple for a quarter-century.

Next, at the close of the 20th century, Mexico played a prominent role in a period of global expansion of temples, with 11 dedicated houses of the Lord in the country coming in a three-year stretch from 1999 to 2002.

And the fourth era — still ongoing — includes the past six years, as President Russell M. Nelson has announced a dozen new temple locations across the country, including six alone in and around the Mexico City metro area.

A temple ‘lifts us and draws us to God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ’

Church leaders have cautioned against Latter-day Saints getting caught up in temple sizes, numbers and designs, encouraging a focus on the temple work and worship and the covenants made and ordinances performed inside.

“A temple is a beacon of light in a community,” said Elder Gong to the Church News, “and it lifts us and draws us to God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.”

Temples bless the lives of more than longtime pioneer members or the young adults, youth and children. Temples also bless returning members, new members and part-member families.

Elder Gong noted Mexico has the 10th largest population and the 11th largest economy and is an important country in the Church and the world.

“Mexico is blessed with multiple generations of covenant-keepers,” he said. “There is so much goodness and faith among the people of Mexico.

“It is wonderful that a Prophet is bringing temples across the country.”

Of the Church’s 25 total houses of the Lord in Mexico, 14 are dedicated and operating, three more are currently under construction, and eight are in various stages of planning and design. (A full list of the 25 temples and each’s current status is provided below).

Elder Hugo Montoya, a General Authority Seventy who is president of the Church’s Mexico Area, is mindful of the increase in temples over the four decades since the dedication of Mexico’s first house of the Lord in the capital city.

“Now we have temples closer to more people than we had 40 years ago, and because of that, many families are blessed

with temple covenants,” he said outside the Puebla Mexico Temple the day before its dedication.

He referenced the parable of the pearl and the box given

by President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which tells of getting caught up admiring the exterior of a box at the expense of appreciating the treasured pearl inside. “Temple covenants are the real payoff with this ‘box,’” Elder Montoya said, pointing at the Puebla temple.

The Church currently has 350 total dedicated, under-construction or announced temples. Outside of the United States, Mexico has the most temples and total Church membership of any country, with its 25 temples slightly more than the 23 total in Brazil. Membership numbers are similar, with nearly 1.526 million Latter-day Saints comprising 230 stakes and 1,866 congregations in Mexico, compared to Brazil’s 1.495 million members in 285 stakes and 2,172 congregations.

on behalf of their ancestors.”

He added that Mexico’s 25 temples serve as a testament to the growth and strength of the Church in the country as well as the profound spiritual experiences that members have while participating in temple work. “The Mexican Latter-day Saints’ commitment to researching their family history and submitting names to the temple demonstrates their understanding of the eternal nature of families and their desire to extend the blessings of the gospel to their ancestors.”

The collective effort to build and attend temples in Mexico not only strengthens the bonds within families but also contributes to the spiritual growth and unity of the entire community, Elder Ochoa said. “As more temples are built and the Saints continue to prepare and attend these sacred houses of the Lord, the impact of their faith and devotion will undoubtedly be felt for generations to come.”

‘A sacred space’ for connections

From traveling to Mesa to a temple in Mexico City

Elder Adrián Ochoa, a General Authority Seventy who served in the Mexico Area presidency earlier this year before being given emeritus status last month, said the faith and devotion of the country’s Latter-day Saints reflect a deep love for their families and ancestors as well as a commitment to temple work. “The Mexican culture’s emphasis on family values and unity makes the temple experience particularly meaningful, as it provides a sacred space for them to connect with their heritage and perform sacred ordinances

For nearly four decades, Latter-day Saints in Mexico traveled to the Mesa Arizona Temple once Spanish-language temple instruction and ordinances were introduced there in 1945. It required great sacrifices of time and money to travel the long distance.

CONTINUES ON PG. 18

Brian Nicholson, for the Deseret News

The Mexico City Mexico Temple shines in the early evening light in Mexico City, Mexico, on Friday, May 17, 2024.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

17

18 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 For example, the direct distance from Mexico City to Mesa is some 1,230 miles (1,980 kilometers), which even today — with modern cars traveling over paved highways — requires 26 hours of nonstop driving.

Mexico received its first house of the Lord with the Dec. 2, 1983, dedication of the Mexico City Mexico Temple by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor in the First Presidency.

That house of the Lord is the largest temple outside the United States — at 116,642 square feet in total floor area, it is the Church’s fourth-largest temple, behind only the Salt Lake, Los Angeles California and Washington D.C. temples.

Also, the Mexico City temple was the Church’s first to operate in North and Central America outside of the United States and Canada.

It remained Mexico’s sole house of the Lord until late in the 1990s, when President Hinckley — then as President of the Church — jumpstarted a surge in global temple building with two announcements.

First, he announced an inspired plan to build smaller temples closer to members of the Church worldwide. Second, he called for the Church to have 100 dedicated temples by the end of the 20th century.

Bringing more temples closer to the members Church News archives

President Gordon B. Hinckley and his wife, Sister Marjorie Hinckley, stand in front of the Mexico City Mexico Temple during its two-day dedication in December 1983.

Temples dotting Asia

The inspiration to construct smaller temples close to the members of the Church came to President Hinckley in northern Mexico during a 3½-hour automobile ride to the El Paso, Texas, airport in June 1997 after having attended the

Sapporo Japan

Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Seoul Korea Shanghai People’s Republic of China

Busan Korea

Tokyo Japan Osaka Japan Fukuoka Japan

Okinawa Japan Taipei Taiwan Kaohsiung Taiwan Tuguergarao CIty Philippines Laoag Santiago Philippines Yigo Bangkok Philippines Guam Alabang Philippines Thailand Urdaneta Naga Philippines Philippines Tacloban City Philippines Manila Philippines Cebu City Philippines Iloilo Philippines Cagayan de Oro Philippines Phnom Penh Davao Philippines Bacolod Cambodia Philippines Port Moresby Papua New Guinea

centennial observance of Juarez Academy in Colonia Juarez.

“As we were riding to El Paso, I reflected on what we could do to help these people in the Church colonies in Mexico,” President Hinckley said in a July 1998 Church News interview.

“They’ve been so very faithful over the years. They’ve kept the faith. They’ve gone on missions in large numbers. These stakes have produced very many mission presidents who served faithfully and well. They’ve been the very epitome of faithfulness.

“And yet,” he added, “they’ve had to travel all the way to Mesa, Arizona, to go to a temple. ... I thought of these things and what could be done. The concept of these smaller temples came into my mind.

“I concluded we didn’t need the laundry [room in the temple]. We didn’t need to rent temple clothing. We didn’t need eating facilities. These have been added for the convenience of the people but are not necessary [for the temple ordinances].”

President Hinckley explained that all the necessary features of a temple could be incorporated into a smaller structure, that could be constructed in a relatively short period of time. “The concept is beautiful,” he said. “It’s a very workable concept.”

CONTINUES ON PG. 20

Temples dotting the Pacific

Hong Kong

Dubai United Arab Emirates

Bengaluru India

Singapore

Laie Hawaii

Honolulu Hawaii Kona Hawaii

Tarawa Kiribati

Jakarta Indonesia Suva Fiji

Temples announced Under construction or scheduled for groundbreaking Operating or scheduled for dedication/rededication Under renovation or scheduled for renovation

Adelaide Australia

Melbourne Australia

Savai'i Apia Samoa Samoa

Uturoa French Polynesia Pago Pago American Samoa

Neiafu Tonga Nuku’alofa Tonga

Port Vila Brisbane Vanuatu Australia Brisbane Australia South

Perth Australia

Kahului Hawaii

Sydney Australia Hamilton New Zealand

Auckland New Zealand Wellington New Zealand

Papeete Tahiti

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

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20 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 President Hinckley introduced the smaller-temple concept to Church members in the October 1997 general conference and announced the first three such temples, to be built in Monticello, Utah; the Latter-day Saint colonies in northern Mexico; and Anchorage, Alaska.

In speaking of the temples at general conference, President Hinckley said: “There are many areas of the Church that are remote, where the membership is small and not likely to grow very much in the near future. Are those who

live in these places to be denied forever the blessings of the temple ordinances? While visiting such an area a few months ago, we prayerfully pondered this question. The answer, we believe, came bright and clear.”

11 temples in Mexico in 3 years

The Colonia Juárez Chihuahua Temple was announced at that October 1997 general conference, with groundbreaking following five months later on March 7, 1998, and the ded-

Calgary Alberta

Moses Lake Spokane Washington Washington

Seattle Washington Tacoma Washington Vancouver Washington Portland Oregon

Regina Saskatchewan

Lethbridge Alberta Cardston Alberta Missoula Montana Helena Montana

CONTINUES ON PG. 22

Temples dotting the United States and Canada

Edmonton Alberta

Victoria British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia

ication by President Hinckley a day less than a year after that, on March 6, 1999. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the Colonia Juárez temple.

It was the Church’s 55th dedicated house of the Lord worldwide on the push to hit the end-of-2000 benchmark of 100 temples. And it was the first of 11 new temples spread

Winnipeg Manitoba Bismarck North Dakota

Billings Montana Columbia River Washington

Willamette Valley Oregon

Teton River Idaho

Rexburg Idaho

St. Paul Minnesota

Cody Wyoming

Montreal Quebec

Halifax Nova Scotia

Toronto Idaho Falls Meridian Idaho Ontario Idaho Grand Rapids Boise Idaho Michigan Medford Oregon Star Valley Twin Falls Idaho Des Moines Wyoming Casper Palmyra New Detroit Burley Idaho Pocatello Montpelier Iowa Wyoming York Michigan Idaho Boston Massachusetts Idaho Nauvoo Winter Quarters Nebraska Chicago Reno Hartford Connecticut Illinois Cleveland Ohio Fort Collins Illinois Indianapolis Nevada Colorado Indiana Columbus Ohio Pittsburgh Elko Feather River California Manhattan New York Denver Pennsylvania Nevada Kansas City Colorado Sacramento California Philadelphia Pennsylvania Cincinnati Missouri Modesto California Oakland California Ohio Harrisburg Pennsylvania Grand Junction Colorado Springs San Jose California Lone Mountain Washington D.C. Colorado Winchester Wichita Kansas St. Louis Colorado Nevada Fresno California Richmond Virginia Missouri Louisville Kentucky Virginia Springfield Missouri Bakersfield California Phoenix Snowflake Farmington New Mexico Knoxville Tennessee Tulsa Oklahoma Roanoke Virginia Redlands California Arizona Arizona Bentonville Yorba Linda California Mesa Raleigh North Carolina Las Vegas Oklahoma City Nashville Tennessee Arkansas Lubbock Arizona Los Angeles California Nevada Charlotte North Carolina Albuquerque New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Yuma Memphis Memphis Newport Beach California The Gila Valley Arizona Tennessee Tennessee San Diego California McKinney Texas Dallas Arizona Gilbert Texas Birmingham Atlanta Columbia South Carolina Arizona Tucson Fort Worth Alabama Georgia Smithfield Utah Arizona Texas Logan Utah Houston Brigham City Utah Texas Austin Texas Ogden Utah San Antonio Jacksonville Florida UTAH Syracuse Utah Layton Utah Texas Tallahassee Bountiful Utah Baton Rouge Florida Houston Texas McAllen Louisiana Orlando Florida Taylorsville Utah Salt Lake South Texas Tampa Florida Vernal West Jordan Utah Utah Draper Utah Jordan River Utah Heber Valley Utah Deseret Peak Utah Fort Lauderdale Florida Mount Timpanogos Utah Oquirrh Mountain Utah Lehi Utah Saratoga Springs Utah Orem Utah

Payson Utah

Lindon Utah Provo ProvoUtah UtahRock Canyon Provo CityCity Center Provo Center

Ephraim Utah Manti Utah

ALASKA Fairbanks Vernal Utah Alaska

Cedar City Utah

St. George Utah Red Cliffs Utah

Monticello Utah

Anchorage Alaska

HAWAII See Pacific map for 4 temples

Temples announced Under construction or scheduled for groundbreaking Operating or scheduled for dedication/rededication Under renovation or scheduled for renovation

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22 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 across Mexico to be dedicated in a three-year period.

The next houses of the Lord finished in 2000 seemed to come in pairs — temples in Ciudad Juárez and Hermosillo dedicated on Feb. 26 and 27, respectively; temples in Oaxaca and Tuxtla Gutiérrez dedicated on March 11 and 12; temples in Tampico and Villahermosa dedicated on May 20 and 21; and temples in Mérida and Veracruz dedicated on July 8 and 9.

Two more temples came in as many years — a house of the Lord dedicated in Guadalajara in April 2001 and another in Monterrey dedicated in April 2002. That completed the 11 temples in three years, resulting in 11 of the 55 total temples dedicated in that span — or 20 percent — being located in the country of Mexico.

The Tijuana Mexico Temple became the country’s 13th operating house of the Lord, with its June 2015 dedication coming the same year as the second renovation of the Mexico City temple.

A time of blessings for Mexico

Church leaders in Mexico feel this is a time of blessings for their country, said Elder Sean Douglas, a General Authority Seventy and a counselor in the Mexico Area presidency.

“Leaders in Mexico see this as a clarion call to action and feel a deep sense of responsibility and urgency to do more, and to ‘awaken and put on their strength,’ he said. “It is not lost on them that ‘where much is given, much is required.’

The leadership of Mexico is deeply grateful for the blessing of more temples closer to the membership and for living prophets and apostles who are guiding us in these blessed latter days, especially in Mexico.”

Temples across Mexico

In the Sunday afternoon session of the October 2022 general conference, President Nelson first announced 14 locations for new temples spread over five U.S. states and seven other countries.

But he didn’t end there.

“We are also planning to build multiple temples in selected large metropolitan areas where travel time to an existing temple is a major challenge,” he continued in his concluding remarks. “Therefore, I am pleased to announce four additional locations near Mexico City where new temples will be built.”

The four new temple locations — for Cuernavaca, Pachuca, Toluca and Tula — all are within a direct-distance radius of some 50 miles (78 kilometers) of the Mexico City Mexico Temple. And they join the Mexico City Benemérito Mexico Temple — announced six months earlier and planned for

Tijuana Mexico

Chihuahua Mexico Torreón Mexico

Mexico’s 25 temples

Mexico City Mexico Temple — The Church’s 26th dedicated and operating temple; dedicated Dec. 2, 1983; renovated twice and rededicated in 2008 and 2015.

Colonia Juárez Chihuahua Mexico Temple — No. 55, dedicated March 6, 1999.

Ciudad Juárez Mexico Temple — No. 71, dedicated Feb. 26, 2000.

Temples dotting Europe

Temples dotting Latin America

Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Ciudad Juárez Mexico Colonia Juárez Chihuahua Mexico

Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Temple — No. 72, dedicated Feb. 27, 2000.

Oaxaca Mexico Temple — No. 74, dedicated March 11, 2000.

Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple — No. 75, dedicated March 12, 2000.

Tampico Mexico Temple — No. 83, dedicated May 20, 2000.

Villahermosa Mexico Temple — No. 85, dedicated May 21, 2000.

Mérida Mexico Temple — No. 92, dedicated July 8, 2000.

Veracruz Mexico Temple — No. 93, dedicated July 9, 2000.

Guadalajara Mexico Temple — No. 105, dedicated April 29, 2001.

Monterrey Mexico Temple — No. 110, dedicated April 28, 2002.

Tijuana Mexico Temple — No. 149, dedicated June 21, 2015.

Puebla Mexico Temple — No. 191, dedicated May 19, 2024.

Torreón Mexico Temple — under construction since its Dec. 10, 2022, groundbreaking.

Querétaro Mexico Temple — under construction since its Jan. 7, 2023, groundbreaking.

San Luis Potosí Mexico Temple — under construction since its March 9, 2024, groundbreaking.

Culiacán Mexico Temple — announced Oct. 3, 2021.

Mexico City Benemérito Mexico Temple — announced April 3, 2022; site released Oct. 31, 2022.

Toluca Mexico Temple — announced Oct. 2, 2022, with site released Nov. 20, 2023.

Cuernavaca Mexico Temple — announced Oct. 2, 2022, with site released Jan. 16, 2024.

Pachuca Mexico Temple — announced Oct. 2, 2022.

Tula Mexico Temple — announced Oct. 2, 2022.

Cancún Mexico Temple – announced Oct. 1, 2023.

Chihuahua Mexico Temple – announced April 7, 2024.

the grounds of the expansive Mexico Missionary Training Center — in making for six new temples total in extended Mexico City metro area, with the temple in Puebla just 61 miles (100 kilometers) southeast from the country’s first house of the Lord.

In his six-year tenure as President of the Church, President Nelson has announced 153 new temples across the world. In Mexico, that also include temples in Querétaro and Torreón, in Culiacán and Cancún, and in San Luis Potosí and Chihuahua. That last temple location — announced in April 2024 general conference — makes the state of Chihuahua the first Mexico state to be home to three temples.

Monterrey Mexico San Luis Potosi Mexico Tampico Mexico

Oslo Norway

Culiacán Mexico Guadalajara Mexico Querétaro Mexico Tula Mexico Toluca Mexico Cuernavaca Mexico Mexico City Mexico Tegucigalpa Puebla Mexico Honduras Oaxaca Mexico Managua Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Nicaragua Retalhuleu Guatemala Quetzaltenango Guatemala Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Guatemala City Guatemala San Salvador El Salvador San José Costa Rica Panama City Panama

Stockholm Sweden

Edinburgh Scotland

Copenhagen Denmark

The Hague Netherlands

Preston England

Birmingham England London England

Pachuca Mexico Mexico City Benemérito Mexico Veracruz Mexico Cancún Mexico Villahermosa Mérida Mexico Mexico Huehuetenango Guatemala Cobán Guatemala San Pedro Sula Honduras

Madrid Spain Lisbon Portugal

Maracaibo Venezuela Caracas Venezuela

Belém Brazil Manaus Brazil Iquitos Peru

Teresina Brazil

Chiclayo Peru Trujillo Peru

Natal Brazil João Pessoa Brazil Recife Brazil

Lima Peru Los Olivos Huancayo Peru Cusco Peru Arequipa Peru La Paz Bolivia

Brasília Brazil

Cochabamba Bolivia

Belo Horizonte Brazil

Santa Cruz Bolivia

Ribeirão Preto Brazil Asunción Paraguay

Antofagasta Chile Salta Argentina

Córdoba Argentina Rosario Argentina

Concepción Chile

Temples announced Under construction or scheduled for groundbreaking Operating or scheduled for dedication/rededication Under renovation or scheduled for renovation

Mendoza Argentina

Buenos Aires Argentina

Bahía Blanca Argentina

Campinas Brazil

Monrovia Liberia

Benin City Nigeria Calabar Nigeria

Lagos Nigeria

Abidjan Ivory Coast

Cape Coast Ghana Accra Ghana

Kananga Democratic Republic of the Congo

Aba Nigeria Eket Nigeria

Nairobi Kenya

Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo

Brazzaville Republic of the Congo Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo

Goiânia Brazil

Londrina Brazil

Viña del Mar Chile Santiago West Chile Santiago Chile

Salvador Brazil

Kumasi Ghana

Freetown Sierra Leone

Rome Italy

Temples dotting Africa

Praia Cape Verde

Fortaleza Brazil

Maceió Brazil

Lima Peru

Copenhagen Budapest Hungary Denmark

Barcelona Spain

Bogotá Colombia Cali Colombia

Piura Peru

Vienna Austria

Paris France Bern Switzerland

Barranquilla Colombia

Quito Ecuador

Freiberg Germany Kyiv Ukraine

Brussels Belgium

Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo Haiti Dominican Republic

Vitória Brazil

Rio de Janeiro Brazil Santos Brazil São Paulo East Brazil São Paulo Brazil Curitiba Brazil Florianópolis Brazil Porto Alegre Brazil

Luanda Angola

Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo

Harare Zimbabwe Montevideo Uruguay Buenos Aires City Center Argentina

Russia (City yet to be announced)

Hamburg Germany

Frankfurt Germany

San Juan Puerto Rico

Guayaquil Ecuador

Helsinki Finland

Temples announced Under construction or scheduled for groundbreaking Operating or scheduled for dedication/rededication Under renovation or scheduled for renovation

Johannesburg South Africa Durban South Africa

Cape Town South Africa

Beira Mozambique

Antananarivo Madagascar

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

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GENERAL CONFERENCE

What some Latter-day Saint athletes have accomplished since last October Here’s a look back at some of the notable accomplishments by Latter-day Saint athletes in college, professional and Olympic competitions

Thomas Padilla, Associated Press

Brian Bell, left, Steve Serio and Paul Schulte of the U.S. pose with their gold medals after winning the wheelchair basketball men's gold-medal match at the 2024 Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Paris, France.

By Trent Toone Church News

Waving flags and signs, members of the BYU track and field team and fans gathered at the Salt Lake International Airport to celebrate and welcome home Kenneth Rooks on Aug. 26.

Rooks, who won the silver medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was pleasantly surprised.

“Yeah, I was not expecting it,” he told KSL-TV, “but it was an awesome surprise to come home and have the welcome home with the men’s and women’s team and everyone else.”

The smiling Rooks walked through the airport door with his arm in a sling. After the Olympics, Rooks competed in a Diamond League meet in Silesia, Poland. During the race, he tripped and fell over a barrier, landing hard on his right shoulder. He finished in 16th place, holding his arm, and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.

“I fell with three laps to go,” Rooks told the Deseret News.

“I somehow lost focus and hit my lead leg and fell with all my weight on my right shoulder. It was a solid hit, and it took me a bit to get up. I was a bit disoriented for a moment because of how it hurt. I still got up and finished, but didn’t swing my right arm because it hurt the rest of the time.”

Rooks’ recovery is expected to take six to eight weeks. In

the meantime, he planned to return to BYU for the last year of his civil engineering degree.

Rooks is one of several athletic members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have made headlines in the last year. Here is a look back at some of those notable accomplishments.

A host of Latter-day Saints are playing or coaching National Football League or college football this fall. and so to be able to do what I love at the highest level from a career standpoint and blend that with my faith and being able to be with my wife and my little ones, that’s why we came here,” he said at his introductory press conference.

Basketball

Football

In NBA basketball, Sam Merrill played in 61 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2023-24 NBA regular season, where he averaged 8.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game while shooting 40.4% from the 3-point line.

Merrill, who served in the Nicaragua Managua South Mission, also played in 10 postseason games with the Cavs, who lost in the second round of the playoffs to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics.

The former Utah State University star shined in his return to Utah in April. He scored 18 points in 32 minutes of action as the Cavaliers defeated the Utah Jazz, 129-113.

Also last April, Brigham Young University introduced Kevin Young as its new head basketball coach.

Since then, the former NBA assistant coach has assembled a mostly new team and staff in preparation for the upcoming season, Deseret News reported.

A host of Latter-day Saints are playing or coaching National Football League and college football this fall.

The following players made NFL rosters to begin the 2024 season: • Zayne Anderson, Green Bay Packers, safety, BYU. • Garett Bolles, Denver Broncos, OL, University of Utah, served as a missionary in Colorado. Bolles was nominated for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2023.

• Brady Christensen, Carolina Panthers, OL, BYU, served in Hamilton, New Zealand.

• Britain Covey, Philadelphia Eagles, WR/RS, Utah, served in Rancagua, Chile.

CONTINUES ON PG. 26

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26 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 • Breiden Fehoko, Pittsburgh Steelers, DL, Louisiana State University.

• Simi Fehoko, Los Angeles Chargers, WR, Stanford, served in South Korea.

• Matt Gay, Indianapolis Colts, K, Utah, served in Houston, Texas.

• Alohi Gilman, Los Angeles Chargers, S, Notre Dame.

• Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints, QB/TE, BYU, served in Sydney, Australia.

• Dallin Holker, New Orleans Saints, TE, Colorado State, served in Vina del Mar, Chile.

• Tanner McKee, Philadelphia Eagles, QB, Stanford, served in the Brazil Curitiba South Mission.

• Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams, WR, BYU. • Ryan Rehkow, Cincinnati Bengals, P, BYU, served in London, England.

• Noah Sewell, Chicago Bears, LB, Oregon.

• Penei Sewell, Detroit Lions, OT, Oregon.

• Kingsley Suamataia, Kansas City Chiefs, OL, BYU. • Khyiris Tonga, Arizona Cardinals, DL, BYU, served in Wichita, Kansas.

• Sione Vaki, Detroit Lions, RB, Utah, served in the Tonga Nuku’alofa Mission and the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission.

• Kyle Van Noy, Baltimore Ravens, LB, BYU. • Devaughn Vele, Denver Broncos, WR, Utah, served in Samoa.

• Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers, LB, BYU. • Zach Wilson, Denver Broncos, QB, BYU. Signed to the practice squad: • Jaren Hall, Seattle Seahawks, QB, BYU, served in Roseville, California.

• Cole Fotheringham, Houston Texans, TE, Utah, served in Nicaragua.

• Max Tooley, Houston Texans, LB, BYU, served in London, England.

Mark J. Terrill, Associated Press

Edmonton Oilers center Derek Ryan celebrates after scoring the game-winner in a shootout of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. The Oilers won 3-2.

Former BYU and University of Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall also assumed a role, as new head coach at University of New Mexico.

Off the field, Gatlin Bair, a five-star recruit — the highest-rated in Idaho history — before serving in the Texas Dallas West Mission committed to play for the University of Oregon.

Hockey

In June, Latter-day Saint center/wing Derek Ryan and the Edmonton Oilers trailed the Florida Panthers 3-0 in the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals best-of-seven series before roaring back with three straight wins to force a Game 7.

The Oilers then fell short in the decisive game to the Panthers, 2-1.

Through the Oilers’ 25-game playoff run, the 37-year-old Ryan played in 19 games, averaged eight minutes and 33 seconds of ice time per game, had one point on one assist, and had 11 shots on net. The 2023-24 season was his ninth NHL season.

2024 Paris Olympics

Reed Hoffmann, Associated Press

Detroit Lions running back Sione Vaki returns a punt during warmups before an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.

Philadelphia teammates Covey and McKee took part in the NFL’s first-ever game in South America, between the Eagles and the Green Bay Packers in São Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 6.

The Eagles won, 34-29.

After leading Kansas City to a third Super Bowl victory last season, Andy Reid is heading into his 12th season as head coach of the Chiefs.

Another Latter-day Saint, Kellen Moore is the new offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.

In college football, Ken Niumatalolo, a former stake president and the U.S. Naval Academy’s winningest head coach, made his debut as head coach at San Jose State University.

In addition to Rooks’ silver medal in the steeplechase, three other Latter-day Saints earned medals. Here’s how more than a dozen athletes connected to the Church performed in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ponipate “Poni” Loganimasi, a 26-year-old returned missionary, was part of Fiji’s rugby sevens team that won the silver medal.

Stephanie “Steph” Rovetti, 32, was part of USA’s historic bronze-medal-winning rugby sevens team. Rovetti played in every match and was a starter against Brazil, France and New Zealand. The former BYU women’s basketball player was born in Reno, Nevada, and lives in San Diego, California.

Bradley Nkoana, 19, of South Africa, won silver as part of the men’s 4-by-100-meter relay team.

Team USA’s men’s rugby sevens team included 32-year-old Make Unufe of Provo, Utah. The team was eighth overall.

In the marathon, USA’s Conner Mantz and Clayton Young were eighth and ninth in the 26.2-mile race that took them through Paris to Versailles and back. Mantz and Young are former BYU runners and training partners living in Provo, Utah. Mantz, of Logan, Utah, served in the Ghana Accra West Mission. Young, a California native, served Spanish-speaking in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission.

USA’s Courtney Wayment, a former BYU star from Kaysville, Utah, was 12th in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final with a time of 9 minutes, 13.60 seconds.

USA’s Whittni Morgan was overall 14th of the 16 runners in the 5,000-meter final after recovering from knee surgery less than a year earlier. The former BYU runner had a personal best time of 14 minutes, 53.57 seconds.

In the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, USA’s James Corrigan was 10th in his preliminary heat, with a time of 8:36.67.

The 22-year-old BYU sophomore from Los Angeles, California, served a mission in Tempe, Arizona.

In the men’s 800-meter race, Australia’s Peter Bol finished 18th in the field of 32 runners across all five heats.

The U.S. men’s soccer team, including forward Taylor Booth, 23, of Eden, Utah, finished eighth overall of the 16 teams. Booth played in each of the games.

Jimmer Fredette, 35, was a member of USA’s 3x3 basketball team, which finished seventh overall. The former BYU basketball star was injured during the team’s second pool game against Poland and wasn’t able to play in the team’s remaining five games.

CONTINUES ON PG. 28

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

BYU's head men's basketball coach Kevin Young speaks to reporters after practice at BYU in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, June 6, 2024.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

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Paralympics

Four Latter-day Saints claimed medals in the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.

Paul Schulte, 45, who serves as bishopric second counselor in the University Park Ward of the Sarasota Florida Stake, was part of Team USA’s wheelchair basketball team that defeated Great Britain to win the gold medal.

USA’s wheelchair rugby team, including 44-year-old Josh Wheeler, won silver in the final against Japan.

USA’s David Blair won bronze medal in the men’s discus T64 (for lower limb impairments) with a throw of 57.76 meters.

New Zealand’s Peter Cowan won bronze in the competitive men’s va’a single 200-meter VL3 race, with a time of 48.28 seconds, less than a second behind the gold-medal winner.

Rodeo

In December, Latter-day Saint Kade Madsen, of Honeyville, Utah, stepped away from professional bull riding to serve a mission in Nashville, Tennessee.

His brother, Briggs Madsen, who served a mission in South Carolina, rides bulls for the Missouri Thunder of the Professional Bull Riders League.

Soccer

The BYU women’s soccer team had a memorable season in 2023. The Cougars reached the semifinals of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament, defeated a No. 1-ranked opponent, became No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches rankings, and captured headlines with a stunning, come-from-behind 4-3 victory over North Carolina in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals, among other accomplishments. The roster featured 10 returned missionaries, and following the season, five BYU women’s soccer players were selected in the National Women’s Soccer League draft, the most BYU soccer players drafted in a single season.

Professionally, 18-year-old Latter-day Saint Olivia Moultrie continues to distinguish herself by playing for the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League. She has also been playing for the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Moultrie was named the 2023 U.S. Soccer’s Young Female Player of the Year.

Softball

Gary McCullough, Associated Press

University of Florida catcher Jocelyn Erickson (8) warms up before an NCAA softball game against Jacksonville, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Latter-day Saint Jocelyn Erickson, star catcher and the 2024 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, helped her Florida Gators to a third-place finish at the Women’s College World Series, the highest finish for the program since the team was national runner-up in 2017. Erickson, of Phoenix, Arizona, won an NCAA title as a freshman outfielder with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023.

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Track and Field

Meghan Hunter, a BYU middle-distance runner who came back from a broken neck to become a two-time All-American, was named a Big 12 Conference nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award and a finalist for the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards’ Honda Inspiration Award.

Daniel Simmons, a two-time national Gatorade Cross-Country Athlete of the Year from American Fork, Utah, who has already garnered a number of awards and accolades, chose to serve a mission in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Gubernatorial candidates debate ‘the golden age of Utah’ Utah Gov. Spencer Cox defended his first-term record while facing off against Brian King and Rob Latham

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Democratic state Rep. Brian King and Libertarian attorney Robert Latham take the stage to debate at the Salt Lake City Community College South campus in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024.

By Brigham Tomco Deseret News

Gov. Spencer Cox declared this the “golden age of Utah” during a televised debate on Sept. 11. His general election opponents agreed.

But while Cox credits the Beehive State’s booming economy and 2034 Olympics to the legislative accomplishments of his first term, Democratic state Rep. Brian King and Libertarian attorney Robert Latham argued the governor’s approach risked cutting Utah’s golden age short.

King rehashed Cox’s flip-flop on former President Donald Trump and attempted to align Cox with the most “extreme” elements within the Republican Party. Latham criticized Cox for what he saw as a pattern of government “cronyism” that picks winners and losers to the benefit of lawmakers and corporations.

Cox pointed forward to his administration’s ambitious housing goals and touted historic tax cuts, teacher raises and tough stances on social media companies. The governor focused his message on Utah’s recent ranking as the No. 1 overall state for the second year running.

“You have a choice to keep Utah values, the things that

have made us the best state in the nation,” Cox said in his concluding remarks. “I believe again that the conservative values that we hold dear are exactly what every state in this nation needs and the entire country needs to make our country a better place.”

Cox far ahead in the polls

The candidates appeared onstage before a live audience in the Salt Lake Community College Grand Theatre for 50 minutes of questions moderated by Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics.

Cox and King took turns criticizing each others’ voting record, offering occasionally heated rebuttals, while Latham took advantage of the broader audience to increase awareness of his candidacy.

“I’m running for governor not to tell you how to live your life, I’m going to be your liberator,” said Latham, who also made the debate stage during his 2020 bid for the 2nd Congressional District. “If you trust in your ability to make decisions, rather than have a king or a bureaucrat make them for you, please join us.”

A recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found Cox leading his competition by 40 percentage points,

with 56% of voter support compared to King’s 17% and Latham’s 4%. Nearly 20% of voters were unsure.

Divided on amendment to repeal all citizen initiatives

The debate featured multiple student questions. One asked Cox, King and Latham their stance on a constitutional amendment approved by the Legislature that would empower lawmakers to freely change or repeal all laws that originated as citizen initiatives.

Cox said he recognized the importance of initiatives but supported the amendment because the peoples’ representatives need to be able to craft the best legislation for the state. Ballot initiatives are rare in the best-run states across the nation, Cox claimed, but are very common in states like California.

In a postdebate press availability, Cox said he will vote “yes” to pass the amendment but said “he understands why people are opposed to it.” If it were up to him, the language on the ballot would be different, Cox said. Critics have called the ballot language for Amendment D, which was CONTINUES ON PG. 32

32 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 crafted by state Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz, “slanted” and unclear.

King called the move by legislative leadership “nothing but a power grab” in reaction to a Utah Supreme Court ruling they disagreed with. “This is deceptive and deceitful and it is something that every Utahn should come out to the polls and vote against.” Latham said he would also vote “no,” echoing King’s concerns and calling the legislature’s alleged disregard for citizen initiatives to reform the government “offensive.”

builders, who make up a disproportionate number of Utah’s part-time legislature.

Subsidies for first-time homebuyers and construction companies constitute nothing less than a boost for developers’ “bottom line,” Latham said. Instead of “crony capitalism,” Latham proposed the “free to build” model from the libertarian Utah-based Libertas Institute that encourages smaller lot sizes, and compact community design over classic single-family homes.

When it comes to rising energy prices, King blamed the

Legislature — led by Cox — for clinging to coal while refusing to keep up with renewable energy like wind, solar and hydro.

Cox rejected King’s claim, calling for an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy production and saying “there is no common sense on the left when it comes to energy production.”

Cox blamed Democratic policies on the federal level for stifling projects that would increase the amount of sustainable energy sources while decreasing the price.

The general election is Nov. 5. Registered voters will receive their mail-in ballots beginning the middle of October.

Economy, energy and housing affordability

King said Cox’s emphasis on Utah’s best-in-the-nation status does not reflect the struggles many middle- and working-class Utahns are facing. King promised more bipartisan bills reflecting a more balanced approach to public education funding, abortion access and economic inequality.

“If we’re the best economy in the country, why is it so many people have such difficulty getting into a home?” King asked. “There’s so much more we need to do.”

Cox called housing supply his “top priority,” saying in the most recent legislative session his administration had taken unprecedented steps to address Utah’s shortage of affordable housing, which is one of the worst in the nation.

Working with developers, local leaders and financial institutions, the Utah Legislature passed an innovative package of bills in 2024 making it easier for developers to get loans for starter home projects and streamlining the permitting process for cities, Cox said.

The governor reiterated his goal of incentivizing the construction of 35,000 starter homes over the next five years.

“We have to build. It is the only answer,” Cox said.

Latham expressed concern that the governor’s efforts, short of more deregulation, would do little to overcome market forces and instead would line the pockets of home-

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Libertarian attorney Robert Latham speaks to the media after a debate with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Democratic state Rep. Brian King onstage at the Salt Lake City Community College South campus in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024.

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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox talks with media after a debate with Democratic state Rep. Brian King and Libertarian attorney Robert Latham at the Salt Lake City Community College South campus in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024.

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Young women’s shift to left might not be just about politics Historical trends and recent polling data offer insight into when and why this shift occurred

By Hanna Seariac Deseret News

Are young women the voting bloc to watch? Recent polling shows what could be a seismic shift in the electorate — young women are not only identifying as liberal at higher rates, but their policy positions have shifted to the left. This is happening as young men trend more moderate, or even conservative in some cases.

But this shift might not just be about politics.

“This is a much larger cultural gap, an experience gap between young men and young women,” said Daniel Cox, senior fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute. Young women have a “more abiding suspicion of these institutions” like marriage and religion.

And that might be connected to the demographic shift seen in political affiliation and beliefs.

Polling from Gallup shows from 2017 to 2024, an average of 40% of young women have identified themselves as liberal. The same size for that cohort was 5,895 women between the ages of 18 and 29. It is significantly higher than the averages from 2008 to 2016 (32%) and 2001 to 2007 (28%).

Young men in the same age group over the same three yearspans have more or less stayed the same with 25% of them saying they are liberal.

As for why this gap is widening, Elaine Kamarck, the founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institute, said “Abortion is probably the biggest answer.”

Putting the data into further context, Gallup researchers said it is not just a shift in self-identification. It is also about policy preferences — “Their particularly strong adoption of more liberal positions on the environment and abortion, and their heightened concern about race and gun policy, could indicate these issues have had an outsized influence on their broader political influence.”

Cox said these views are closely aligned.

“If you are pro-choice and in favor of gun control, those policy views predict support for other things like affirmative action,” said Cox. Because young people are also likely to make decisions about who to date and befriend based on politics, then he said this contributes to their political views developing in clusters.

“From 1999 to 2016, women aged 18 to 29 were most likely to identify as politically moderate, even as the percentage identifying as liberal was gradually rising,” Lydia Saad wrote for Gallup. “Between 2017 and 2019, the groups were represented nearly equally among young women, after which the liberal share became the plurality.”

On the other hand, Saad said, the percentage of young women identifying as conservative has been in decline since 2012 and reached an all-time low of 16% of 2020. Both young women’s shift leftward and the gender gap on politics has come up in other polls as well.

The Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School has polled young men and women on political affiliation for the last years. Even over the last four years, there have been statistically significant shifts — for young men, not

Eliza Anderson, Deseret News

so much for young women. Forty-two percent of men said they were Democrat and 20% said they were Republican in 2020. Now in 2024, 32% said they are Democrats and 29% said they are Republican.

Women hardly shifted from 2020 to 2024 in terms of identifying as Democrats: 43% and 44% respectively. Other data, not on identification, but on voting patterns from Pew Research Center and Tufts University also shows a gap between young women and men. Albeit, depending on the exit poll, the gap is less pronounced than general survey data.

Voting in the 2024 election has not happened yet, but there is some data that gets the pulse of young men and young women’s views in this current moment. One poll of registered voters between 18 and 29 in battleground states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin found a divergence between men and women in favorability numbers on Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fifty-nine percent of women said they had a favorable view of Harris and only 38% of men said they did.

As for why young men are not moving to the left in the same way young women are, Cox said it is complicated.

Young men have a feeling of displacement as the culture has shifted rapidly, said Cox. “They don’t know what to do, they don’t know how to act and how to be, and maybe even how to advocate for themselves.”

The when

Why this is happening is, in some ways, linked to when this has happened.

Young women are more likely to go to college now than young men are, said Cox. They are also more likely to be single than previous generations. These experiences correlate

with political views. Then, also, different views on religion and sexuality compared to previous generations also contribute, he said.

“The gender gap opened up in 1980 with Ronald Reagan,” said Kamarck. She said she worked for Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale at the time, and think the gap opened up because women are more economically insecure and it made them more sensitive to welfare and health care programs.

The majority of women have supported the Democratic candidate in every U.S. presidential election since 1996, according to a data analysis from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers. And since 1980, a greater proportion of women than men supported the Democratic candidate, even if the majority of women did not necessarily vote for the Democrat.

More women supported President Bill Clinton in the 1992 election than President George H.W. Bush, but it was not a majority. In 1984, the Rutgers analysis shows 56% of women supported the Republican candidate President Ronald Reagan — that number was lower in 1980, but at 47% it was still a plurality.

Barbara Burrell marks 1980 as something of a turning point for women’s voting behavior in her book “Women and Politics.” She references an article that year from the National Organization for Women with the headline “Women Vote Differently Than Men: Feminist Bloc Emerges in 1980 Elections.”

But then there was also abortion and the ERA, said Kamarck. The 1970s were a shift for women.

“It was the first time that lots of women were graduating CONTINUES ON PG. 36

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

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“We found for young women, there was no issue that was more important to them personally than abortion.” from college and lots of women were going into the workforce,” said Kamarck, adding that young women also were having children at a later age.

Around this time period, between 1976 and 1980, the Republican Party made changes to its platform. The 1976 platform mentions that members of the party have differing views on abortion and says the party favors continuing the conversation on a constitutional amendment to restore protection for the right to life. The 1980 platform affirmed direct support for such an amendment and supported Congress restricting the use of taxpayer dollars for abortion.

In the 1976 platform, it says the Republican Party supports the “swift ratification” of the Equal Rights Amendment, while in the 1980 platform, the platform says the Party supports equal rights. But it no longer explicitly endorsed the ERA. Taking a look at the 1980 Democratic Party platform, the party expressed support for the ERA and opposed efforts to rescind ratification of the ERA in some states. The platform said the party “supports the 1973 Supreme Court decision on abortion rights as the law of the land and opposes any constitutional amendment to restrict or overturn that decision.”

A 1982 article from The New York Times said “the political habits of women appear to be undergoing deep changes that worry the Republicans and raise the long-range hopes of

the Democrats.” The writer Adam Clymer said public experts connected the change to Reagan’s hawkishness, but the article concluded with Clymer pointing toward opinion analysts who say women care more than men about abortion and the ERA. Of course, Reagan then performed better with women in 1984 than in 1980, but the trend continued to the present day where women still vote consistently Democratic — and among young women, support for abortion has increased.

The ’70s and ’80s created “a big sea change” where the repercussions can be seen today, said Kamarck. Women having fewer children and entering the workforce was “the biggest change in human history.”

What about now?

As for the point when young women became more liberal in the last couple decades, experts point to a couple key years: 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022.

Cox pointed toward the #MeToo movement and the election of former President Donald Trump as important cultural events that can help explain the demographic shift, but he said other demographic shifts that have occurred in the last decade or couple decades are worth noting.

2020 was a high point for young women identifying as liberal in Gallup polling data — 44%. Pew Research Center put out

a study of validated voters in the 2020 election that showed Trump’s support among women improved from the 2016 election. But younger voters 18 to 29 showed support for Biden.

But when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that reversed Roe v. Wade, things changed for young women. “In the wake of the Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, young women generally believe that their lives are connected to other women in American society, while older women are less inclined to agree,” said a report from the Survey Center on American Life. In 2022, women were also less likely to say men and women are treated equally, compared to 2020.

But also young women emerged as the group with the strongest support for abortion.

“Nearly half (48%) of young women believe abortion should be legal under any circumstance. In contrast, only about onethird of young men (34%) and an identical number of senior women (34%) say abortion should be legal without restrictions,” said the report. Though women’s support for abortion overall has increased in recent years, per Gallup polling data, young women’s support has outpaced older women’s support. Young women were also the group most likely to say abortion was of more critical concern than any other issue.

Dobbs changed voters’ political calculuses, said Kamarck.

“The reasons why you might blame a presidential candidate for a good or bad economy are fairly abstract.” But with abortion, she said, it is less abstract.

In the 2022 midterms, Cox said, “we found for young women, there was no issue that was more important to them personally than abortion.” Compared to when millennial women were the same age, he said Gen Z women “were far more liberal” on abortion.

What is most misunderstand, Kamarck said, is the intensity of this issue for young women. “Which means that they will turn out and they will vote.”

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

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DESERET NEWS

Panel discusses Utah’s Amendment D and what’s next As the Utah Supreme Court is expected to rule on Amendment D in the future, panelists discussed all things initiative process.

Direct democracy or representative government?

Bell said direct democracy is necessary for a handful of different reasons. He said since primary candidates are chosen via delegates rather than a popular vote, representatives are less answerable to the people at large. He also said legislative power is consolidated through the drawing of legislative districts, and lawmakers need to follow leadership to get their bills through. Then, he said, money influences politicians.

“And one good fix is to place a check on that legislature through direct democracy,” said Bell, adding the Utah Supreme Court did not prevent the Legislature from amending all initiatives.

Monson said the Utah Supreme Court decision seemed to create some limits, but it was not clear where those limits were — he said those who seek to pass initiatives will now try to couch them in terms of reforming the government.

Only lawyers would look at two initiatives, like one on decriminalizing marijuana or one that is anti-gerrymandering, and not be able to see the difference between them, said Johnston. She thought there were some edge cases, but there were lines between initiatives that alter and reform the government, and initiatives that do not.

What’s next for Utah?

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Matthew Brogdon listens as Ryan Bell talks as they and Savannah Eccles Johnston and Derek Monson take part in a panel discussion about Ballot Initiatives in Utah, in Orem at UVU on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.

By Hanna Seariac Deseret News

It was fitting that a discussion about a state constitutional amendment on Sept.17 at Utah Valley University would be held in Utah on the same day 237 years ago that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia.

Amendment D would change the Utah Constitution to explicitly say the Legislature has the power to amend laws that started as citizen initiatives. It would also prohibit foreign influence (out-of-country) on the initiative process. But at this point, it is unclear if voters will have their votes counted on the amendment.

A district judge in Salt Lake City ruled the proposed amendment was void because she said the ballot language was inaccurate and the Utah Legislature did not publish the amendment language in newspapers in every county 60 days before the election.

The decision to try to amend the state constitution came after Better Boundaries passed an anti-gerrymandering initiative in 2018 and Utah lawmakers were sued after making amendments to that law. Instead of using the maps from the independent redistricting committee as the initiative aimed to accomplish, lawmakers changed the law and adopted their own maps.

Matthew Brogdon, director of Utah Valley University’s

Center for Constitutional Studies, moderated Tuesday’s discussion between Ryan Bell, a Better Boundaries board member, Savannah Eccles Johnston, a Salt Lake Community College political science professor and Derek Monson, chief growth officer at the Sutherland Institute.

Recalling the Constitutional Convention back in 1787, Brogdon raised a question: what if there was a representative process for drafting an initiative?

Or in other words, should Utah have an Initiative Convention?

“There’s a real upside to that,” said Bell. He explained the current process for drafting initiatives — after an initiative is drafted, it is sent to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, who can reject the initiative if it is unconstitutional or covers more than one subject. Then, there are public hearings, he said, and the initiative can be changed at that point.

Johnston said it was “a great idea, but only if you buy into the idea that, in fact, direct democratic methods are bad for the country.” She said it was fine if people believe that, but she did not think it reflected the context the Utah Constitution was written in.

The biggest concern Monson said he has about initiatives was the lack of deliberation that goes into what ultimately ends up on the ballot. When lawmakers draft a bill, legislative attorneys are involved in the process. Monson said he thinks a more representative process could potentially help resolve the discrepancy between initiatives and bills lawmakers advance.

The judge voided the amendment and ordered the Lieutenant Governor’s Office to ensure the votes on the amendment are not counted, said Bell. But the Utah Legislature appealed the judge’s decision and a ruling could come within the next month.

“And so should the Supreme Court decide to overturn or reverse this district court decision, we’re all going to go vote on the Amendment,” said Bell. He added he thinks there is a “strong chance” the Utah Supreme Court would uphold the district court’s decision to void the amendment.

Brogdon asked if Utah voters ended up voting on the amendment and approving it, would the amendment return Utah to a previous status quo or would it give the Utah Legislature authority it did not have before?

On that point, Johnston and Bell disagreed with Monson.

“It increases the legislators’ authority by significantly decreasing the independence of the initiative process,” said Johnston. She added the Utah Constitution allots power to both the people and the Legislature. The change would result in “heavily” favoring the Utah Legislature as “the final arbiter of all law in the State of Utah.” Bell cited the Utah Supreme Court decision and said at the time, it was understood “that when the people spoke through an initiative, they would have the final say on the matter at issue, due to the people’s inherent sovereign authority.”

But Monson said it would bring Utah back to the way it was before. He said the normal process was the Utah Legislature would work with people who passed initiatives to make amendments to them. He said he thinks the Utah Legislature tried to signal that it would continue that process through passing a law requiring them to keep the general intent of initiatives intact when making decisions.

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KEEPING UTAH STRONG As we think about the future, we’re more optimistic than ever. There are better days ahead for our families and the generations that follow if we continue to push forward common-sense, conservative policies.

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DESERET NEWS

The playbook for Trump and Harris to win the West Housing affordability may emerge as a tiebreaker for Utah’s swing-state neighbors country’s seven “toss-up” states, a total of 24 times.

But Noble and top political consultants in Arizona and Nevada told the Deseret News that the presidential candidates, hailing respectively from the East and West coasts — as well as their Midwestern running mates — can do more to resonate with voters in Utah’s corner of the United States.

“In the political discourse, people still don’t understand fully what makes people in the Southwest tick,” Noble said.

Inflation

Ross D. Franklin, Associated Press

A voter walks to a voting precinct prior to casting his ballot in the state's primary election, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in El Mirage, Ariz.

By Brigham Tomco Deseret News

The issues voters are most worried about this election cycle are felt especially deep in Utah’s swing-state neighbors, Nevada and Arizona. But one issue unique to the Southwest appears to be getting swept under the rug.

Nevada has been impacted by inflation more than anywhere. Arizona has been at the frontlines of the border crisis. But the two states, like Utah, are also among those with the most severe shortages of affordable homes in the nation.

And while former President Donald Trump is more trusted by voters to tackle economic and immigration issues, he may be missing an opportunity to address a “huge pain point” for eight out of 10 voters in the election’s pivotal desert battlegrounds, according to the region’s premier political pollster, Mike Noble, founder and CEO of Noble Predictive Insights.

“Trump definitely holds the high ground on these economic issues. What’s interesting though, Trump doesn’t have a big breakout gain on housing affordability,” Noble said. “So there’s an opportunity there between the Trump camp and the Harris camp to gain on that issue because it is a big priority.”

In what Noble called “a smart move,” Vice President Ka-

mala Harris recently introduced housing proposals to increase supply across the country by 3 million units through a program of cutting regulatory red tape, subsidizing first-time homebuyers and implementing rent controls. Regardless of the economic merits of these plans, Noble said Trump also needs to place the issue of housing affordability front and center to increase his odds of winning in Arizona and Nevada.

Worries about being able to afford a home have skyrocketed in the West in the last few years, especially among independent and Hispanic voters, Noble said, making it one of the most important issues for Trump or Harris to address in order to win undecided voters. It consistently ranks in the top three issues along with inflation and immigration, Noble Predictive Insights polling found.

The issue is influential for voters in the West because many residents made the choice to live in Arizona and Nevada “because they know it’s a lower cost of living compared to the East Coast, West Coast, and there’s more opportunities,” Noble said — and voters are eager for the Southwest to return to their reason for braving the heat.

At this point, residents of the Silver and Copper states have become accustomed to the Trump-Vance and Harris-Walz motorcades passing through town — by the end of the week, the 2024 presidential nominees from both major parties will have visited Arizona and Nevada, two of the

Arizona and Nevada are especially sensitive to the issues that have dominated political conversations this election cycle.

A national New York Times/Siena College poll conducted in early September found that most voters said the economy was the most important issue in deciding their vote. If inflation is included, then 28% of voters consider this their top issue, the poll found.

Abortion, at 14%; immigration, at 12%; and the state of democracy at 7% came next on the list, with candidate character and dislike of the opposing candidate tied at 6%.

Economic concerns are especially poignant in Nevada, where 30% of voters selected the economy or inflation as their top issue in an earlier New York Times poll.

Nevada’s unique economy has made the state especially susceptible to the impacts of inflation, said Zachary Moyle, the head pollster at Reformation Strategies. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate of any state and one of the highest cumulative inflation rates in the country, with the same goods and services costing $1,200 more a month than they did in 2021.

“We’re a great barometer for the economy because we’re built on tourism, number one, and then number two, that blue collar atmosphere around it, the casino folks, restaurant folks,” Moyle said. “Their jobs are very dependent upon the economy itself and how it’s moving.”

CONTINUES ON PG. 44

Matt York, Associated Press

Opponents gather inside the Arizona State Capitol, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Phoenix after the Arizona Legislature gave final approval to a the proposal that will ask voters to make it a state crime for noncitizens to enter the state through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry.

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44 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024 ductive freedoms,” could make real inroads with voters in Arizona and Nevada, where 80% of voters say they support the 24-week limit on abortion, even if the Democratic ticket isn’t seen as the most likely to solve inflation or immigration, Moyle said.

“The big effective argument here is Democrats continually saying that Republicans are going to take your rights away.

Democrats never use the term ‘abortion,’” Moyle said. “And so because of that, you have voters that go, ‘You know what?

I’ll pay more for milk, because I think my rights are at stake.’”

Arizona and Nevada at a glance

Ross D. Franklin, Associated Press

Arizona abortion rights supporters gather for a news conference prior to delivering more than 800,000 petition signatures to the state Capitol to get abortion rights on the November general election ballot, July 3, 2024, in Phoenix.

Immigration

Like the rest of the nation, Arizona has also been impacted by rising prices. But it is immigration that has long made Arizona stand out, according to Chuck Coughlin, CEO and President of the polling firm HighGround, Inc. “Arizona is, I say, the most mature voting universe of immigration-related voters in the country,” Coughlin said. “It was abundantly evident this was a huge problem when nobody else was talking about it.”

A Noble Predictive Insights poll conducted of 1,000 Arizonans in August found that immigration was the No. 1 issue voters considered a top concern, with almost one quarter (24%) of Arizona voters placing it first. Slightly fewer (23%) picked inflation, 13% picked abortion and 10% picked affordable housing.

Voters consistently trust Republicans more on questions of the economy and immigration, that’s why Stan Barnes, the founder of Copper State consulting group, believes Trump “will carry Arizona.”

There was a sense of “relative border security” and economic stability under the former president, Barnes said.

“And so Trump’s desire to address that issue is winning big points with people.”

and a half months, of pregnancy.

Arizona currently has a 15-week ban on abortions with exceptions for “medical emergencies.” Nevada law already allows abortions up until 24 weeks of pregnancy, but supporters of the ballot initiative say a constitutional amendment would make abortion access much more difficult to restrict in the future.

Opponents say the amendments could be interpreted to permit elective abortions through all nine months of pregnancy because of language that makes exceptions for late-term abortions based on the “mental health of the pregnant individual.”

Harris’ campaign, which has focused heavily on “repro-

As Arizona has teetered on the edge of becoming a fullblown purple state during the Trump era, Nevada appears on the verge of leaving its bellwether background behind to become more Republican friendly.

Following three presidential election cycles where the GOP candidate won by 10 percentage points, Arizona elected Trump by four points in 2016 and then flipped for President Joe Biden in 2020 by just 10,000 votes.

Trump currently polls ahead of Harris in Arizona by 1.5 percentage points on average — within the margin of error, but far ahead of his Senate candidate counterpart, Kari Lake, who trails Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego by seven points.

Over the last 20 years, Nevada has been the quintessential bellwether state, predicting the outcome of the presidential election nearly 90% of the time. The streak was broken in 2016 when Hillary Clinton won the state by two-and-a-half percentage points, but it was regained in 2020 when Biden won the state by the same margin.

This year, the Democratic nominee holds a lead of less than one percentage point over her GOP opponent in an average of Nevada polls. The two candidates alternate first place depending on the pollster, with The New York Times/ Siena College poll putting Trump ahead by more than one point last month. As in Arizona, Trump far outperforms the GOP Senate pick, with Sam Brown trailing Democratic Sen. Jackie Rosen by 10 percentage points.

Trump and Harris are practically tied in the Real Clear Politics polling average of the top seven battleground states, with Harris ahead by 0.1 percentage points as of Sept. 13. On average, Harris is leading in national polls by 1.5 points, but both candidates are favored to win by different election models.

A battle over abortion access

But Trump appears to be losing points on abortion, where his position remains ambiguous and he stands 17 percentage points underwater.

In Arizona and Nevada, the battle for the presidency has boiled down to a balancing game between voters’ concerns about the economy and whether they believe Democratic talking points about Republicans attempting to take away their access to abortion, said Adam Jones, senior political strategist at Redrock Strategies.

Abortion is typically the top issue for less than 10% of voters, Jones said, but “it is an issue that is driving folks to the polls, and it’s an emotional issue that is working for the Democrats.”

Ballots in Arizona and Nevada will carry an amendment to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right until the point of fetal viability outside of the womb, around 24 weeks, or five

Jae C. Hong, Associated Press

Border patrol agent Pete Bidegain looks from a hilltop on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

REPUBLICAN

JOHN CURTIS GETS THINGS DONE FOR UTAH

John Curtis Has Stood Tall for Utah Fighting against Biden’s failed border policies Protecting Utah’s land from federal takeover Standing up to China’s aggression Leading on America’s energy independence and dominance

As mayor of Provo, John cut the city’s budget by more than 8%, running a leaner government. He left office with a 94% approval rating – and a top-rated city.

VOTE JOHN CURTIS FOR U.S. SENATE J O HN C URTI S.ORG

Return Your Ballot in Person Or Vote in Person On

ELECTION DAY:

NOVEMBER 5th Postmark Your Mail Ballot by November 4th

Go to vote.utah.gov/securing-your-mail-ballot or scan the QR code for more information Paid for by John Curtis for Utah

45

46 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

© 2024

40, No. 43

that start with the letter S?

How many things on this page S

Chipped cks in plastic Holes or cra or edges rs Sharp corne icking out s st lt o Nails or b nks ks or chain li o o Open S-h

Standards Link: Follow simple written directions.

E L T J F

G

Dress Safely on Playgrounds

END E

Mateo and Riley are not dressed for playground safety. Use the code to find out what they should not be wearing.

L

A =15 C =14 D =13 E =12 G =11

15

5 7

15 13

2 7

4

3

12

14

5

7

11

4

8

15

14

12

9

Playground Safety Words

Find three important words along the correct path through this maze that START are the keys to a great playground.

R

I =10 R = 5 K= 9 S = 4 L= 8 T = 3 N= 7 W= 2 O= 6 Y = 1

10

R

T

M A

W C T

P

F

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The First Seat Belt

F

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Work with a family member to replace the missing words in the below article.

Circle every third letter to reveal the answer!

Standards Link: Identify initial graphemes and phonemes.

the u find on azard yo round. h h c a e Circle n Playg aint Hometow or peeling p

ground Trash on the uld trip over co Things you s rt a p Broken s rt a p g Missin ood w d re Splinte

What’s something you should wear every time you play outside?

Accident Watch

Look through the newspaper for pictures or articles about accidents.

Discuss whether these accidents could have been prevented and how.

Standards Link: Recognize safe and unsafe behaviors and practices.

Find the words by looking up, BOLTS down, backwards, forwards, CHAIN sideways and diagonally.

DRESS W O O D N I A H C E HAZARD D N U O R G Y A L P INSPECT P A T H O K T Z H D KIDS PAINT F E J C S I E A S R PARTS P S Z V E H F R T E PATH I A T K W P A D R S PLAYGROUND R Q I L Z E S R A S SAFETY SHARP T D V N O L A N P Y TRIP S Z E W T B K R I Z WEAR Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognize identical WOOD words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns.

Safety Poem

Look through the newspaper for words or pictures that represent or describe a person who helps keep you safe. Use these words to write a safety poem.

Standards Link: Linking health and safe behavior to genre; poetry.

The first lap belt that resembles the modern seat belt was a _____________ strap used on a U.S. Army airplane in 1910. For the next 25 ________, seat belts were used mostly in airplanes.

In the 1940s, studies showed that injuries in _______ accidents were less when a seat belt was worn. Even so, many people did not choose to _____________ up.

The government started passing ________ requiring automakers to put seat belts in all _______ cars. By the 1970s, seat belts were used commonly.

A car accident happens almost every minute.

Do you think it is a good idea to buckle up?

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

EVENTS Cornbelly's 2024 Pumpkin Fest in Spanish Fork

Oct. 10 - 2 Time: 4pm-9pm Location: Spanish Fork 3687 W 5600 S - Spanish Fork Price: $11.99 https://www.nowplayingutah.com/event/cornbellys-2024pumpkin-fest-in-spanish-fork/

Funny Girl (Touring)

Oct. 10 - 13 Time: 7pm Location: 131 Main St - SLC

2024 Little Haunts at This Is The Place Oct. 11 - 26 Time: 10am-5pm Location: 2106 Sunnyside Avenue - SLC Price: $18.95 https://www.nowplayingutah.com/event/2024-littlehaunts-at-this-is-the-place/

Imagine Dragons: LOOM WORLD TOUR

Oct. 11 Time: 7pm Location: 235 North 500 West - SLC https://www.bandsintown.com/e/105445525?app_id= pkvts0on0m&came_from=287&utm_medium=api&utm_ source=partner_api&utm_campaign=event

Tales At Treehouse Book Festival

Oct. 11 - 12 Time: 10am-5:30pm Location: 347 22nd Street - Ogden https://www.nowplayingutah.com/event/tales-attreehouse-book-festival/

The Dinner Detective Comedy Mystery Dinner Show - Salt Lake City, UT Oct. 12 - 26 Time: 6pm-8:30pm Location: 255 South West Temple - SLC https://eventvesta.com/events/79181/t/tickets

Lehi Arts in the Park 2024

Oct. 13 - 3 Time: 7pm-9pm Location: 500 North Center Street - Lehi https://www.lehi-ut.gov/event/51332/2024-10-13/

Board Game Night

Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors Oct. 25 Time: 7:30pm Location: 301 W South Temple - SLC

Salt Lake City Water Lantern Festival

Oct. 16 - 6 Time: 5pm-9pm Location: 2011 1100 E, - SLC https://sugarhousecoffee.com

Oct. 26 Time: 4pm-7pm Location: 2100 S 1400 E - SLC Price: $34.99 - $55.99 https://www.waterlanternfestival.com/saltlakecity.php

Orem's Sunset Farmers Market 2024

Halloween Spooktacular

Oct. 16 - 30 Time: 5pm Location: 300 E Center Street - Orem https://www.nowplayingutah.com/event/orems-sunsetfarmers-market-2024

BYU Cougars Football vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys Football

Oct. 29 - 30 Time: 7pm Location: 123 W South Temple - SLC https://utahsymphony.org/event/id/33791

PC Institute: An Evening with Bill Nye

Time: 8:15pm Oct. 18 Location: 1700 North Canyon Road - Provo

Oct. 30 Time: 7pm-9:30pm Location: 1255 Park Ave - Park City Price: $29.00 - $160.00 https://tockify.com/pcscart/detail/1419/1730336400000

1st Annual Salt Lake Thrillers Ball

Ogden's First Friday Art Stroll

BYU Cougars Womens Soccer vs. Houston Cougars Womens Soccer

Sabrina Carpenter: Short N' Sweet Tour

Oct. 19 Time: 7:30pm-11:55pm Location: 155 North 1000 West - SLC https://www.nowplayingutah.com/event/1st-annual-saltlake-thrillers-ball/

Oct. 21 Time: 7pm Location: 1 N. University Ave - Provo

Halloween Concert

Oct. 21 Time: 7pm-8pm Location: 550 N University Ave. - Provo https://provolibrary.org/events

Nov. 1 Time: 6pm-9pm Location: 25th Street between Wall Avenue and Washington Boulevard - Ogden http://www.ogdencityarts.org/ Nov. 2 Time: 7pm Location: 301 W South Temple - SLC https://seatgeek.com/sabrina-carpenter-tickets/ salt-lake-city-utah-delta-center-1-2024-11-02-7-pm/ concert/16970398?aid=605

*Events and details are subject to change. Please visit the event websites for the most up to date and correct information.

47

48 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2024

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