Deseret Digest October 2023

THE DIGEST

OCTOBER 2023 VOL. 1 / NO. 2

Deseret News:

Church News:

Deseret Magazine:

Utah's volunteers 'always answer the call for help'

More than 512,000 tour Utah Area's Tabernacle Experience

The silence of the land: Facing our fear of the dark

8

12

18

How NIL is transforming college sports CONTINUES ON PG. 4

Bring back the magic of Christmas at This Is The Place Heritage Park

Candlelight Christmas Monday – Saturday | December 7th – 23rd | 5PM – 9PM

DISCOUNTED SPECIAL! This Is The Place Heritage Park

2601 E. Sunnyside Ave. SLC, UT 84108 · 801-582-1847 · www.thisistheplace.org

2 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

For 173 years the Deseret News has been here for Utahns

Award-winning website

Our website, Deseret.com, is designed to be user-friendly and available on any device. Whether you’re at home on your computer or on the go with your mobile phone, you can access our website for the latest news, analysis and commentary.

Mobile apps

Our apps for iOS and Android devices offer a seamless and convenient way to access the latest news, wherever you are.

Choose what you want to read, save articles for later and receive push notifications for the breaking news you need to know.

Newsletters

By Burke Olsen

Delivered straight to your inbox, our free email newsletters provide a curated selection of the most important stories of the day, as well as deeper dives into topics that matter to you.

Choose from a variety of subjects and frequencies to tailor your news consumption to your needs.

Given the frenetic pace of our modern lives, it’s more important than ever to stay informed about the changes and happenings that affect us today. News isn’t just about keeping up with the latest headlines, it’s also about understanding the world around us, making informed decisions for our families and being active participants in our communities.

At the Deseret News, we understand that your time is precious, and we are committed to making it as easy as possible for you to stay informed, no matter how busy you are.

The digest you’re holding is a small “best of” compilation of our journalism and opinion content to give you a taste of our fuller offerings in print and online. There are more ways than ever before for the Deseret News to help you stay informed about the world around you.

From our print beginnings in 1850 to our award-winning website — Deseret.com — to our mobile apps, social media accounts and email newsletters, we’ve got your back.

Weekly print newspaper

For those who appreciate the tactile experience of a traditional newspaper, our twice-weekly print edition offers a comprehensive roundup of the week’s most important stories and opinions.

Deseret Magazine

In 2020, we undertook an ambitious endeavor by launching a new magazine with in-depth journalism, unique voices and principled points of view. The reception to the magazine has far exceeded our expectations. You can read more from the magazine online at Deseret.com/magazine or subscribe to have it delivered to your home or office.

Earn up to

BERNINA 790 PRO!

SPECIAL EVENT MACHINES AVAILABLE!

HUGE SAVINGS! WHILE THEY LAST!

FREE GIFTS! A $2400 VALUE!

www.davesbernina.com

ER

D

DS

801-374-5520

ILY HERALD DA

REA

2017 N. 550 W. • Provo

S CH

AR

Visit us at one of our two locations!

435-656-1498

We believe that access to reliable, high-quality journalism is essential for a healthy democracy, and we are committed to providing you with the news and information you need to make decisions with confidence for you and your family.

In an age where misinformation is rampant, we take our responsibility as a news organization seriously. Our award-winning team of reporters and editors work tirelessly to provide accurate, timely and insightful coverage of the events and issues that matter most.

Thank you for considering the Deseret News as part of your balanced media diet. Together, we can stay informed and make a positive impact in our communities and beyond.

SUBSCRIBE

ONLINE: DESERET.COM/SUBSCRIBE

BY PHONE: 801-204-6100

% APY*

Visit a branch | (877) 609-8533 | chartway.com

PLUS THESE

691 E. St. George Blvd. • St. George

Helping you make informed decisions

5.30

ALL NEW

AVAILABLE ON BERNINA 790 PRO ONLY!

The Church News remains one of our most popular offerings for those who want to know the latest news from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s available online at TheChurchNews.com and via iOS and Android apps. A print version is included in the Friday edition of the Deseret News.

13-, 23-, & 50-month Share Certificates!

INTO

48 MONTHS NO INTEREST

Church News

OICE

AW

*Membership eligibility subject to qualification. Federally insured by the NCUA. The 23-month, 13-month, and 50-month Promotional Certificate Annual Percentage Yield (APY) Promotional Certificates are available for new and existing members of Chartway Credit Union. To qualify for the offer, certificates must be funded completely with new deposits. New Deposits are defined as funds not currently on deposit with Chartway Credit Union. 23-month and 13-month certificates’ effective date July 18, 2023; 50-month certificate effective date September 18, 2023. Chartway Credit Union reserves the right to end or modify offer at any time. Penalty for early withdrawal. Rate subject to change. Each certificate has a minimum $500 balance ($100 if under 18 years old) to open. The 23-month certificate term will renew at the current 24-month certificate rate. The 13-month certificate term will renew at the current 12-month certificate rate.

The 50-month certificate term will renew at the current 48-month certificate rate.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

If you’re tired of having knee pain and want to talk to a doctor that may be able to possibly help give you your life back... You need to call Dr. Chris Moore, as we are excited to offer this new knee pain reduction therapy.

“Chronic, Painful, Knee Pain Reduced in Less Than 8 Minutes?”

Pleasant Grove, UT - If you have knee pain, can’t walk because of an old injury, or you just think it’s part of getting old, you might want to read this article.

Knee pain is something that disables a lot of people every single year, but most people don’t know what to do about it.

ly improved where I am experiencing little to no knee pain. My good knee feels like a GOOD KNEE again! I would strongly encourage anyone having knee pain to consider this program instead of looking at surgeries or those “wonderful drugs”, because this has been a permanent fix for me without drugs or surgery. I am very happy I found this program!

What Are Your Choices?

Some people immediately opt in for surgery, then some people watch TV and end up buying something they wrap their knee with-hoping it will help, and others just follow orders and take medications which simply block the pain signals while the underlying condition often progresses.

What if there was a “real solution” that worked from DAY ONE? Hi, I’m Dr. Chris Moore and I’m here to tell you about a new device called the K.P.R. I stumbled onto this one-of-a-kind machine at a recent medical conference. Here are some RESULTS my patients have experienced with this one-of-a-kind machine.

David K. - I was experiencing some knee problems in my “good knee” that was affecting my ability to go up and down stairs, to officiate sports which I have done for a majority of my life and something I truly enjoy.

I found Dr. Moore’s program and saw immediate improvement DAY ONE, and it’s consistent-

Will This Work for YOU? Great questions and here’s the answer: We have a reputation for getting great results, but if you’re like most of our patients you know that the knee problem isn’t going to just go away on its own. We’re also known for our personalized care. We don’t promise the world, but we will do everything in our power to help your condition.

“I’ve NEVER done this before!” I’m going to offer you a consultation, knee examination, X-Rays, and TRIAL VISIT for only

$47

What Works Best?

All I’m saying is this. There are a lot of ways to TREAT your knee pain, but which one will really work?

If you’ve done your research, you know that there are not a lot of things that really work when it comes to actually helping align the knee, taking nerve pressure off the knee, and reducing the pain and swelling.

needing. You’ll find the K.P.R. is an amazing machine when teamed up with our other in-office treatments.

We’ll know almost IMMEDIATELY if we can help and most importantly, YOU WILL TOO.

Take Action TODAY Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not guaranteeing a miracle if you haven’t walked in many years.... But this may offer you relief and/or just be the answer you’ve been looking for. Let me be very clear; I’m here to possibly help you: • Decrease/reduce your knee pain • Increase your mobility • Walk & Move better • Decrease stiffness • Get up & down better • Get out of chairs easier • Get you back to the things you enjoy most in life

“What if my knee(s) are BONE ON BONE?” Here’s all I can tell you. If you’re bone on bone, this may be the exact treatment you’ve been

As you know, it’s human nature to procrastinate; this is not the time to do that... WHY? My Trial Offer goes away at the end of this month. It’s available as a hard deadline because I have a limited number of trial spots and we are already an extremely busy office.

Pick up the phone and call the office now.

This one call could change the way you walk, feel, and move. CALL TODAY!

Dr. Chris Moore 470 West 220 South, Suite #201 Pleasant Grove, UT (801) 785-7874

Please DO NOT call unless you are 100% serious about possibly resolving your knee pain.

3

4 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

COVER STORY

How NIL is transforming college sports NIL has become an integral pillar but also a looming threat to the sport formally known as amateur college athletics

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Utah Utes wide receiver Britain Covey (18) kisses the trophy after the Utes beat the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 championship game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.

By Dennis Romboy Deseret News

In a new Mountain America Credit Union commercial, Utah quarterback Cam Rising and BYU receiver Kody Epps banter over which credit card offering is best. Epps suggests fans get a blue Visa Rewards card, while Rising touts a red Visa Cash Back card.

Just over two years ago, featuring college athletes like Rising and Epps in a television ad for a product would never have happened. Not because they come from rival schools (the late BYU coach LaVell Edwards and former Utah coach Ron McBride broke that barrier years ago) but because it would have violated all sorts of NCAA rules.

While coaches could pitch goods and services, like Edwards and McBride did in those Bank One “buddy” spots years ago, players were strictly prohibited from making money off their status on the field or the court.

That all changed in August 2021 after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling paved the way for college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, simply known as NIL. Rising could have turned pro after last season. But he decided to return to Utah even before suffering a knee injury in the Rose

Bowl that has kept him on the sidelines so far this year. He acknowledged the ability to earn money through NIL factored into his decision.

“I mean, a little part, but nothing (really significant). Yeah, it was a part of it,” Rising told the Deseret News at Pac-12 media day in July.

NIL, Rising said, has improved his life.

“I have met people and been a part of different situations that I really didn’t have exposure to and because of that I have more connections and stuff like that. I think it has been just beneficial and made my life that much easier,” he said.

And on top of that, Rising and the other 84 Utah scholarship football players could be driving a 2024 Dodge Ram truck courtesy of a new team NIL deal announced last week.

In a very short time, NIL has cemented itself not only as an integral pillar but a looming threat to the rapidly changing world of college athletics. Some schools embrace it, while some do not.

Some states have laws governing it, some do not, making for murky waters. The transfer portal only compounds the situation, especially when lucrative NIL deals are dangled in front of players.

And a pending court case on whether college athletes are university employees could completely turn college sports on its ear.

Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham described NIL as “still chaos” and a “free-for-all” as it navigates its third year.

Whittingham said while he likes players being able to make money off their abilities, the way the system works now is unsustainable. He said college football is gravitating toward a minor league for the NFL that governs itself without NCAA involvement.

“If the NCAA tried to regulate it, they’d be sued so fast their head will spin. You can’t tell someone how much they can make unless they’re an employee. They’re not an employee unless it’s a minor league of sorts,” he said on ESPN 700 in the summer.

NIL is tricky for players, coaches, athletic administrators and government officials to navigate. It brings a raft of political, tax and trade issues, attracting the attention of Congress, state legislatures, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Trade Commission.

It has sparked discussions about fairness and athlete empowerment. It has created new opportunities for athletes to leverage their personal brands, but also brought challenges related CONTINUES ON PG. 6

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

ENLARGED PROSTATES AFFECT BOTH MEN & WOMEN AND GOLF If you are living with BPH, it may be time to consider PAE, the treatment men prefer. Call today to find out how this non-urethra, office based, minimally invasive procedure may be able to help you—without the need for prostate surgery or the side effects that go along with it. Call today to learn if our PAE treatment is right for you.

YES NO

Do you get up frequently to go to the bathroom at night?

Do you have a weak stream or does it start/stop?

Do you ever feel an urgent need to urinate?

If you checked “yes” to any of the questions above, our doctors can help tell you want those answers mean. Call to make an appointment.

Dr. Ryan O’Hara 5343 S. Woodrow St, #200 Murray, Utah 84107 visit us at utahcic.com

(801) 810-2999

Stephen J. Buhler Attorney at Law

Photo: Don Polo Photography

• Adoption • Estate Planning • Guardianship • Inheritance • Name Change • Probate • Trusts • Wills • Family Law

"Over 25 Years Helping People Like You."

Call Attorney Steve Buhler at (801) 964-6901, or visit us at www.4utahlaw.com Many Cases Flat Fee First Visit Free Located in the Harmon Building - 3540 S. 4000 W. West Valley City

Now Open to Serve You! IN WEST VALLEY CITY

FREE X-RAY & CONSULT FOR NEW DENTURE PATIENTS** AMMON JONES, DDS • MANAGING DENTIST OLAJUMOKE ADEDOYIN, DDS, MICOI, MAAIP • GENERAL DENTIST

(877) 898-8109 | AFFORDABLEDENTURES.COM *Bring in a treatment plan from any competitor and we will beat the total treatment plan for comparable services. Treatment plan must come from a licensed dentist within the past six months for comparable services and is subject to verification. Some plans are excluded. Full details of the Best Price Guarantee are available from our web site or at this practice. [Valid until December 31, 2024] **Free X-ray & consult

5

6 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023 might contract with a business to profit off their name. Say a company wants to make a deal with a social media influencer in the economics department or a wiz in gaming design, those students have no obligation to seek university approval.

“It’s very much an overreach, in my opinion,” says Russ White, president of Utah-based Oncoor Marketing, which manages the Royal Blue Collective at BYU and Sun Angel Collective at Arizona State. It also has worked with collectives at Utah, Wake Forest and TCU. Athletes shouldn’t have to disclose to universities what they’re earning on their NIL deals, and schools shouldn’t be looking for dollar amounts in contracts, he said.

The University of Utah held up an NIL contract submitted by star receiver and kick returner Britain Covey, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, because a compliance officer wanted him to prove its fair market value. White said he pointed out that there were no comparables because NIL was still new and fair market value would be whatever someone is willing to pay. They were eventually able to work it out so Covey could get paid what White described as a “good amount of compensation” but it was frustrating.

“Why is it that the NCAA or the schools think that they have that right?” White said.

Are NIL contracts public records?

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Utah quarterback Cam Rising attends a Crimson Collective truck giveaway to scholarship players at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.

to balancing academics, team commitments, compliance with regulations and maintaining the integrity of college sports.

Who’s getting what and how they’re getting it also raises questions about transparency and accountability, or the lack thereof, in college sports.

The Deseret News is attempting to shed light on NIL in Utah. We’ve sought NIL contracts, including the names of athletes, businesses and dollar amounts, from five Division I schools in the state under Utah’s open records law but each one denied the request, citing a broad federal privacy law. The Deseret News won a case before the State Records Committee to determine whether the agreements should be public.

Name, image, likeness: A new industry

NIL has become an industry in itself, especially with the rise of “collectives,” which are organizations typically founded by alumni and supporters of a school that connect athletes to money-making opportunities as well as negotiate their compensation packages. Collectives allow donors, boosters and fans to contribute money directly to athletes, who typically must provide a small service to get paid.

The result of that brings unique deals, like the one just accomplished at the University of Utah. It’s understandable that the young faces of the program should benefit from their likeness.

But who knows who the 83rd or 84th scholarship player is, let alone 50 through 80? Do they deserve new truck leases? Is it simply a way to fight the transfer portal?

The NIL marketplace is estimated at $750 million to $1 billion and is expected to balloon to $3 billion to $5 billion in the next five years, according to On3.com. Football dominates the NIL space, followed by men’s basketball.

Scant NCAA guidelines and a hodgepodge of university policies and state laws govern NIL. Proposed federal legislation to bring some uniformity has languished. Some have described it as the Wild West. And a big part of NIL remains shrouded in

secrecy when it comes to athletes’ contracts and how much they’re making.

“I think a lot of it originates from the lack of guidance at the outset of NIL,” said Chase Peterson, a Salt Lake City attorney who has helped facilitate deals for college athletes.

Earlier this summer, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors directed the Division I Council to develop new NIL policy. Proposals include a registration process for NIL service providers — such as agents and financial advisers — a standardized contract or standard contract terms and disclosure requirements for athletes intended to provide transparency about NIL activities.

ESPN reported that the NCAA subcommittee in charge of examining NIL rules will meet this week to discuss several proposed changes that would allow universities to get significantly more involved in helping athletes make money from endorsement deals. The possible changes would give schools the clearance to find deals for athletes, review contracts, help them with preparing taxes, and provide resources such as cameras or graphic designers for athletes to complete their end of a marketing deal.

Most universities have policies and some states have laws requiring athletes to submit their NIL contracts to a compliance office for review even though the school is not a party to the agreement. But few, if any, make them public.

California, Connecticut, Georgia, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Carolina and Tennessee expressly require college athletes to disclose their NIL contracts to the university. And four of those states — Connecticut, Kentucky, Nebraska and Louisiana — forbid universities from making the records public.

The state of Utah doesn’t have an NIL law, leaving it to the discretion of the school.

At the University of Utah and other schools, administrators must review an NIL deal before an athlete signs it. There’s no such requirement for non-collegiate athletes on campus who

The universities themselves could provide some transparency regarding NIL but so far have widely refused, including the five Division I public schools in Utah.

The Deseret News requested NIL contracts and written agreements athletes submitted to Utah, Utah State, Weber State, Utah Valley and Southern Utah for at least the past year under the state Government Records Access and Management Act or GRAMA. All five denied the request.

BYU was not included because as a private institution, it is not subject to the open records law. Asked about obtaining NIL records, BYU associate athletics director for communications and media strategy Jon McBride said in an email, “These are definitely things that BYU Athletics tracks, but these are not records that we have made public.”

Though each of the public universities had a slightly different take on how the state open records law did or didn’t apply to NIL contracts, all five say the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, prohibits them from disclosing “education records,” a broad term covering “records directly related to a student” and “maintained by an education agency.” The universities also argued release of the contracts would reveal private financial information and be an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

The Deseret News appealed those decisions to the schools, modifying its request to allow the universities to redact the athletes’ names or identifying information. Those appeals were also denied. The Deseret News has now taken the case to the State Records Committee, a seven-member public body that hears appeals for records access denials under Utah’s GRAMA law. A hearing is scheduled in October.

“Using FERPA is a pretty weak argument,” said Dave Cuillier, director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida. “This is a huge battle right now.”

Asked whether FERPA applies to NIL contracts, a U.S. Department of Education spokesman pointed the Deseret News to an online FERPA guide for a definition of an education record, and when those records can and can’t be shared. Though written long before NIL was conceived, the law nonetheless makes no mention of third-party contracts students might enter into.

Keeping things private: A big mistake?

Universities across the country, with few exceptions, have declined to release any information about the NIL deals their athletes submitted for approval, despite some high-profile football coaches, including Alabama’s Nick Saban, calling for transparency.

NCAA President Charlie Baker said the NCAA made a “big mistake” when it failed to set up a framework around NIL when it had the opportunity. He became NCAA president in March.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023 “And I think there were too many people in college sports who thought no rules would work really well for them. And what everybody’s discovered is no rules, no transparency, no accountability, no framework, doesn’t work well for anybody,” he said at the Future of College Athletics Summit in June.

Schools argue that they need to review NIL contracts for a number of reasons, including wanting to weed out bad actors who might be circling the program and ensure it doesn’t jeopardize players’ eligibility.

“From an administrator’s perspective, it’s the most high-profile area of a college campus. There is certainly a PR perspective to that. They’re just not going to be as concerned about the geometry student who has an NIL deal,” said Patrick Stubblefield, a Seattle-based attorney and former compliance officer at the University of Oklahoma.

Last year, ESPN asked 23 universities, including 20 from Power Five conferences, to release NIL-related information or data. It chose schools that reflect various regions, conferences, and state NIL and open records laws. The universities provided few to no records, Paula Lavigne and Dan Murphy reported last October.

As in Utah, most schools cited FERPA. ESPN sent a follow-up email to several schools explaining how federal student privacy laws allow them to release records if students’ identifying information was removed or redacted, but to no avail.

An article in the Temple Law Review by University of Florida legal scholar Frank LoMonte concluded that concealing NIL records does a disservice to the interests of the public, the athletes and college sports in making sure that competition is fair, honest and passes the test of legitimacy, and that athletes have equitable earning opportunities befitting their level of accomplishment.

“It seems difficult to argue that fans have a legitimate interest in knowing whether Joe Quarterback has the stomach flu but not in whether Joe Quarterback is making $1 million to play for a state college,” LoMonte, who now works as legal counsel for CNN, wrote.

In 2021, the Athens Banner-Herald sued the University of Georgia Athletic Association after it declined to release copies of the NIL disclosure forms that athletes are required to fill out, citing state and federal data privacy laws, including FERPA. The court ruled in September 2022 that the NIL agreements do meet the threshold definition of “education records” because they pertain to particular students and are maintained by the institution, but allowed the case to move forward on the question of whether the records could be adequately redacted.

For complete article visit deseret.com

7

8 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

UTAH GIVES

Utah volunteers ‘always answer the call for help’ Pandemic restrictions decimated volunteer work nationwide. Here’s how — and why — Utah is bouncing back

By Art Raymond Deseret News

PainReliefInternational.org

PainReliefInternational.org

Restrictions wrought amid the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the volunteer corps that many nonprofit and community outreach groups rely on, bringing some organizations to a monthslong standstill. And for others, the lack of volunteer access shuttered operations for good.

In fall of 2022, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that a 2020 study by Fidelity Charitable found that two-thirds of volunteers decreased their activity or stopped volunteering entirely after the pandemic began. And, as many as 30% of managers of volunteers got reassigned or laid off in the six months after COVID-19 struck, according to a 2021 report by VolunteerPro. Locally, the depth and breadth of those impacts were captured in a report issued in 2021 by the Utah Nonprofits Association.

The assessment detailed a perfect storm of challenges including steep declines in charitable giving, critical staffing challenges and a decrease in volunteer hours alongside soaring demand for the services and support provided by Utah nonprofits.

“This perfect storm of increased demand, reduced funding, and staff cuts as a result of COVID-19 and its accompanying economic crisis left nonprofits scrambling to provide critical services to society’s most vulnerable populations,” the Utah Nonprofits Association report reads. “Cutting both staff and services in a time of increased demand creates ongoing and far-reaching consequences.”

But Utah’s status as the No. 1 state in the nation when it comes to volunteerism appears to have bolstered the groundwork for a much-needed recovery when it comes to giving the gift of time. Utah organizations are reporting they learned a lot as pandemic conditions forced them into

finding creative solutions for volunteer recruitment and retention, but have emerged with new tools and approaches and are seeing the volume of volunteer hours finally approaching pre-pandemic levels.

Crossroads Urban Center Executive Director Glenn Bailey said his organization, which operates emergency food pantries and thrift stores alongside community advocacy work, has relied on the work of 400 or so volunteers each year to deliver its services. Bailey said the demographic of Crossroads volunteers changed significantly throughout the public health crisis but new processes have led to a more diverse volunteer group.

“What we’ve tried to do coming out of the pandemic is open up our volunteer group a little more,” Bailey said. “We have new online tools, offer virtual options for things like orientation and it’s allowed more people to participate.”

Every senior deserves to see, smile, and hear.

Helping low-income Utah seniors through mobile clinics!

seniorcharitycare.org

Visit treeutah.org to find opportunities for your family to volunteer and plant trees throughout Utah.

“Today was his last day working with RiteCare, and tonight, I found him reading with a nightlight without being asked.”

Dependable and friendly oneon-one care. The highest quality in-home care at a price you can afford for seniors and people with disabilities in Northern Utah.

OUR SERVICE Homemaking Dr. Appointments Errands Companionship Meals Walks and More!

801-540-2077 CONTACT US WWW.SUZYSENIORSERVICES.ORG

Wasatch Forensic Nurses is a non-profit organization providing forensic examinations for victims of sexual and interpersonal violence in Salt Lake, Utah, Summit, and Wasatch Counties.

(801) 461−5888 www.wasatchfn.org

@RiteCareUtah www.RiteCareUtah.org

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

9

Bailey said the time donated by those who volunteer is absolutely critical in allowing Crossroads to help as many community members as possible.

Salt Lake Valley Habitat for Humanity, likewise, depends on volunteers to help construct the homes it donates to local families in need and saw its efforts grind to a halt in the midst of the pandemic.

Salt Lake Valley Habitat’s senior director of operations Carin Crowe said her organization currently has five projects under construction and has almost has many volunteers stepping up now as it did before COVID-19 struck.

But Crowe said operations were completely shut down in March 2020 and stayed that way for months, and when the organization finally got back to work, was only able to accommodate smaller volunteer groups. That was the status until this summer, when Habitat’s work crews were finally back to their full complement.

“Volunteers are a tremendous resource for our programs,” Crowe said. “And, when we’ve been able to return to full capacity because of their presence.”

While still striving to get back to the volunteer volumes that it saw before the pandemic, Utah Food Bank President/ CEO Ginette Bott said her organization is making its way to that goal and, in the meantime, is finding new ways to solve its challenges.

“For us, we don’t want to ever be in a position where people don’t get help from the Food Bank because we don’t have volunteers,” Bott said. “We’ve been making it work and will continue to make it work.”

Ben B. Braun, Deseret News

CONTINUES ON PG. 10

Alex Puccio, left, volunteers with his father, Rick Puccio, at the Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake City on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022.

WE CAN SHINE A LIGHT ON THE DARKNESS OF DEMENTIA

REFUGEE FOSTER PARENTS NEEDED Catholic Community Services' Refugee Foster Care program places unaccompanied refugee minors in loving and licensed foster homes.

If you are interested in opening your heart and home to a refugee youth, email rfcrecruiter@ccsutah.org or visit our website.

CCSUTAH.ORG

|

801-977-9119

|

3500 S MAIN STREET, SOUTH SALT LAKE, UT

WHAT WE CAN DO

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• 24/7 Helpline 800.272.3900

• Volunteer

• Support Groups

• Raise Funds & Awareness

• Education • Caregiver Resources

o Walk to End Alzheimer’s o The Longest Day • Advocate

For more information on services available, contact 800.272.3900

For more information, contact the Utah Chapter at 801.265.1944

Alz.org/Utah • 801.265.1944

10 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

Ben B. Braun, Deseret News

Tylar Hiss, left, and Melanie Jones volunteer at the Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake City on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022.

OUR MISSION

We are excited to introduce you to the Kings Music Studios (KMS) Foundation a non-profit organization dedicated to a better integration of immigrant children into their new society through music and dance.

Granite Education Foundation’s mission is to reduce barriers to learning and increase access to opportunities for students and teachers in the Granite School District.

We support our mission through our

4 PILLAR APPROACH: Access to Opportunities

Educator Recognition & Support

Food Assistance

Student Aid

Bott said the food bank relies on volunteer help from a wide range of sources including individuals and families as well as big groups that are typically organized by companies, churches or other community groups. In order to accommodate more opportunities for large group volunteer projects, the food bank has just added 26,000 square feet of new space near its South Salt Lake facility and is now able to host much bigger group volunteer gatherings.

“We recently acquired the warehouse to our west and have expanded our storage space,” Bott said. “This gives us space to accommodate larger groups of volunteers and should help accommodate local companies and groups that want to do bigger volunteer gatherings and team building events.”

The Utah Food Bank is a 117-year-old organization that last year distributed 58.5 million meals via a statewide network of

We are a nonprofit that makes cars for kids and service opportunities for all.

Come join us!

granitekids.org

KINGSMUSICSTUDIOS.COM

tinytimsfoundationforkids@gmail.com www.tinytimstoys.org | (801) 520-0921

Help us Preserve, Protect, and Promote Park City history and heritage!

Help us in protecting the Great Salt Lake.

Open Every Day, 10am–5pm 528 Main Street Park City, UT parkcityhistory.org

www.healutah.org/donate/

We are here for you.

We believe you.

Peace House Programs and Services 24/7 Helpline Clinical Therapy Case Management Prevention Education Transitional Housing

Emergency Shelter Legal Advocacy Sexual Assault Services Volunteering Internships

(800) 647-9161

peacehouse.org

REFUGEE FOSTER PARENTS NEEDED Catholic Community Services' Refugee Foster Care program places unaccompanied refugee minors in loving and licensed foster homes.

If you are interested in opening your heart and home to a refugee youth, email rfcrecruiter@ccsutah.org or visit our website.

CCSUTAH.ORG

|

801-977-9119

|

3500 S MAIN STREET, SOUTH SALT LAKE, UT

Support Local Nurses

Scan to learn more nightingalefoundation.com

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023 216 partner agencies located in all 29 counties with distribution centers in South Salt Lake, St. George and Springville.

Bott said Utah’s reputation as a top state for volunteering is well deserved and she hears regularly from colleagues in other regions who are envious of the giving environment that makes the Beehive State a “great place for nonprofits to accomplish their goals.”

“I will tell you that when we put out the call for help, Utah rallies,” Bott said. “They will always answer the call for help.”

Numerous assessments have identified Utah as the top state for volunteering, including a report released earlier this year by 24/7 Wall Street, based on data gathered by Americorps. The ranking effort found more than half of Utah residents volunteered in the last year for a total of almost 140 million hours.

Other Utah data points from the Americorps “Volunteering in America” report include: • Volunteer service worth an estimated $3.2 billion • 97.8% of residents regularly talk or spend time with friends and family • 70.4% of residents do favors for neighbors • 39.6% of residents do something positive for the neighborhood • 42% of residents participate in local groups or organizations • 66.9% of residents donate $25 or more to charity Find out more about volunteer opportunities: Crossroads Urban Center: crossroadsurbancenter.org Salt Lake Valley Habitat for Humanity: habitatsaltlake.com Utah Food Bank: utahfoodbank.org/give-time UServe Utah: userve.utah.gov/volunteer

The Road Home Providing emergency shelter, supportive services, and housing support to families with children, men and women for 100 years!

Donate Now

TO ADVERTISE IN THE DESERET NEWS DIGEST please contact Sally Steed at: 801-631-6148

A little charity with big results We appreciate donations that will be used to support programs such as: Free diapers for low Income families Compensation to formerly homeless Individuals for their time and expertise In solving this Issue Helping people sign up for my539 accounts, broadband assistance, rent assistance, etc.

Donate at AbilityFound.org

Serving Utah families for over 50 years

MOAB MUSEUM: Committed to preserving the region’s history through conservation and enriching programs.

We provide afterschool and summer programs, healthy meals and snacks, housing assistance, handson learning, caring adult mentorship, mental health support, and lots of fun!

Moab Museum has been around for decades, and the stories we preserve and share... even longer.

Visit: moabmuseum.org

bgcutah.org

Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 118 East Center Street

Together we can Save Them All

Healthy People.

Strong Communities.

Get Healthy Utah is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to improve healthy eating, active living, and mental wellbeing in Utah.

gethealthyutah.org

11

ADOPT VOLUNTEER DONATE bestfriends.org

®

12 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

CHURCH NEWS

Over 512,000 tour Utah Area’s ‘Tabernacle Experience’ Visitors to the Utah Area’s Tabernacle Experience project, which concludes next week, included dignitaries from Ethiopia and Iraq

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

A replica of the ancient tabernacle of Moses, which has toured Utah since early 2022, will conclude its last tours Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.

Photo taken in Syracuse, Utah, on Saturday, May 7, 2022.

By Joel Randall Church News

HIGHLAND, Utah — In a replica of the Holy of Holies in the ancient tabernacle of Moses, Mariwan Naqshbandi paused to say: “I feel a great happiness here.”

“That happiness that you felt in there,” later explained service missionary Elder Matthew Maddox, “that’s the love of God.” On Oct. 5, Naqshbandi — who has worked as a senior director in the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq for 28 years — toured a full-size replica of the tabernacle that has been traveling around the Utah Area for the past year and a half. The project will conclude in Utah on Thursday, Oct. 12.

Naqshbandi may have been with a translator, but the Spirit testified in the same language to all present.

Elder Maddox and his wife, Sister Julie Maddox, have been the site leaders for the exhibit’s most recent journey to Highland, Utah. The two have been preparing for their area’s reception of the project for six months.

While recently working with a division to promote religious tolerance among youth, Naqshbandi was especially impressed by the youth volunteers who served as tour guides and bore testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ. “I hope my whole country learns what you are teaching,” he told a pair of volunteers.

Visitors of non-Latter-day Saint faiths have not been uncommon. On Sept. 29, the site welcomed two Ethiopian dignitaries — Ambassador Mussie Hailu, representative to the United Religions Initiative on Religious Affairs (Ethiopian Orthodox); and Haji Messau Adem Shifa, deputy director of the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia (Muslim).

While in Utah for the week, these two leaders went to the Church’s Humanitarian Center, BYU’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies and even October 2023 general conference. Yet at the end of the week, Shifa said the visit that stood out to him the most was the tabernacle exhibit. In a comment card he wrote after his tour, he said he was most impacted by “hearing the young kids, knowing that they knew the history, and hearing them bear their testimony.”

About the Tabernacle Experience

“I think we kind of had an idea what it might look like, but I think it’s exceeded all of our expectations,” said Elder Patrick Russell, a service missionary and president of the Utah Tabernacle Service Mission. He and his wife, Sister Kim Russell, have worked with the project since September 2021.

The idea for this event all started with the Meridian North Idaho Stake, which built a full-size replica of the ancient tabernacle in 2015 for a Young Men camp to learn about the Aaronic Priesthood. In 2016, Huntington Beach California Stake leaders set up a tabernacle exhibit in the boundaries of the Murrieta Cal-

ifornia Stake — which bought 20 acres of land for the site — for a stakewide youth conference.

This California tabernacle was eventually loaned to Utah for usage, and leaders took the tabernacle through Davis County from April to mid-June 2022. Afterward, Elder Kevin W. Pearson — General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Utah Area — formed the Utah Tabernacle Service Mission and asked that the missionaries take the exhibit to other parts of the state.

They made two replicas of the borrowed tabernacle and sent it back to California. Then the new replicas started being used in the first week of August 2022, in Tremonton, Utah. Since then, the seven-days-a-week project has been welcomed to Utah cities like St. George, Provo and Salt Lake City.

The mission’s two replicas of the tabernacle of Moses have been to a combined 32 sites and have seen over 512,000 visitors.

About 220 service missionaries from across Utah have helped lead these efforts, and more than 35,000 youth have been trained to run the project.

The Tabernacle Experience’s season in the Utah Area will come to a close next week, when the exhibit in Highland, Utah (located at 5335 W. 11200 North) will conclude its last tours Thursday, Oct. 12.

With such an iconic display, some faiths have held their Sunday service in the courtyard of the tabernacle model. And Latter-day Saints even celebrated the start of 25-hour-long Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the one day a year that the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies. At sundown on Sunday, Sept. 24, a young man blew into a ram’s horn, or shofar, a symbolic act done in biblical times to gather the Israelites.

Said Elder Maddox about the exhibit, “You can’t go through this without feeling something.”

Objectives of the Tabernacle Experience

While bringing Old Testament scripture to life, the project has brought to pass several outcomes: Bring others closer to the Savior. Visitors to the tabernacle replica progress through stages of the exhibit, starting with entering the gate on the east side. They travel through the outer courtyard, through the Holy Place and into the Holy of Holies, symbolic of a progression of fallen beings toward God. “The temple shows that same thing,” said Sister Maddox, “that God invites us to draw near to Him, to draw into His presence, to seek to become clean, to seek to draw closer to Him. And it’s just been a powerful witness, this whole experience, that there is a God who lives and loves us, that He speaks to His prophets on earth.”

Connect the ancient and the modern temples. Elder Russell said that through the exhibit, “people are making the connection between the ordinances of the ancient tabernacle and our modern temples.”

The mission president shared with touring dignitaries about having been diagnosed with cancer. Testifying about ancient and modern-day temples throughout this project, Elder Russell has CONTINUES ON PG. 14

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

PRESENTED BY Join us at Utah Business Forward, the premier conference designed exclusively for executives seeking practical insights and actionable strategies to propel their businesses forward. Experts from Utah’s business community will present in five distinct tracks covering: • Entrepreneurship • International Business • Marketing • People & Culture • Strategy These highly practical sessions include guides and checklists you can execute as soon as you return to the office!

FEATURING:

• Brandon Fugal, Colliers International • Gail Miller, The Larry H. Miller Company • Michelda George, Versatile Image • Nate Randle, Gabb Wireless • Shawn Nelson, Lovesac • Sara Jones, InclusionPro • and many more!

November 16, 2023 at the Grand America FULL-DAY TICKETS FROM $349

13

14 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023 developed a richer, more dynamic faith in the sealing ordinance, a sure knowledge that he will be with his wife through eternity.

“While I probably had an intellectual testimony of that,” he said, “as we’ve participated in this, it’s only strengthened my spiritual testimony of that. And then to be able to bear testimony to them that we believe this and we know this to be true, ... I think the Spirit bore witness to them of the truthfulness of that principle.”

Strengthen the rising generation. Out of the thousands of comment cards written by visitors after following a tour, the most frequent comment has been to applaud the over-35,000 youth for the power of their testimonies in the gospel. “That impresses them more than anything else that they’ve gone through,” said Elder Russell.

The Ethiopian Orthodox dignitary who toured last week, recounted Elder Maddox, “said, ‘I can see we have a great deal of hope for the future with these young people. They learn the scriptures, they have built the faith and they know from inside of themselves. So that gives me a great deal of hope.’”

Sister Russell shared how a high councilor was originally not that excited for the tabernacle exhibit. Then, when he went through it, the leader realized the larger objectives. “He said, ‘This isn’t about the Old Testament tabernacle; It’s all about the youth.’”

According to Elder Russell, Elder Pearson “has said that in his opinion, the Old Testament Tabernacle Experience for our youth is a transformational experience just as important as FSY or trek, and that it’s that transformational with our youth.”

Build interfaith relations. As the books of Moses are canon for many religions, the tabernacle exhibit has seen visitors from several faiths. Around 20 interfaith firesides held in conjunction with the project have given people of these faiths an opportunity to join together and learn from one another.

Elder Matthew Maddox

Haji Messau Adem Shifa and Ambassador Mussie Hailu — Ethiopian dignitaries — listen to Elder Patrick Russell, president of the Utah Tabernacle Service Mission, explain that the restored sealing power can unite families for eternity, in Highland, Utah, on Sept. 29, 2023.

RESEARCH STUDY OPPORTUNITIES

Grandpa's Family Dental Our Business is Dentistry, our Legacy is You

PARTICIPANTS NEEDED FOR OUTPATIENT RESEARCH CALL TODAY FOR CONFIDENTIAL STUDY SCREENING

New Patient exam

SCIATICA LEG PAIN Herniated Lumbar Disc L3-SI

We are conducting the SERENITY CM Clinical Study - a new research study for people who struggle with sciatica. The study is for an investigational new treatment designed to provide long-term relief of sciatica leg pain. It involves a single injection that does not contain steroids or opioids. (double blind study)

Includes Necessary xrays

FREE

We accept

• • •

If you’re in need of tooth replacement, it’s important to understand all of your options.

•

limited availability ex 10/31/23

All-on-four

SNAP DENTURE Includes Implants and

Dental Implants Includes extractions & Full Mouth Restoration w/ Zirconia Bridge

18,999 per arch

limited availability ex 11/30/23

801-262-2040

new denture As low as

4,700

$

$

per arch

limited availability ex 11/30/23

Old Farm 292 East 3900 South # 21 Murray, UT 84107

For complete article visit newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org

All Porcelain Crown

IMPLANT Complete

599

limited availability ex 11/30/23

BEST QUALITY

$

limited availability ex 11/30/23

801-576-1444

90th South 3961 W 9000 South, #1 West Jordan, UT 84088

SELECTED ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Age 18 - 70 Have had radiating leg pain (sciatica) for at least the past 8 weeks Have not had any steroid injections or nerve blocks for your pain in the past 4 weeks Able to visit your local study center regularly over a 12-month period (7 follow-up visits after your treatment) Receive up to $1,275.00 if all study visits are attended.

Angela M. Krull, MD, Principle Investigator, Advanced Spine and Pain Clinic

FREE Abutment & Zirconia Crown

1,599

801-374-5200

University Pkwy 1256 S State Street #103 Orem, UT 84043

Study drug, placebo if applicable, study exams, imaging and laboratory analyses provided by study. Contact our office for a confidential qualification call. Other qualifications apply for all research studies.

PHYSICIANS’ RESEARCH OPTIONS, LLC 801-352-9228 WWW.PROSLC.COM or email: inquiry@proslc.com

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

To the People of Utah: We understand that dealing with the health care system can be complex and, at times, frustrating.

That’s why – at Humana – we actively listen to our members to ensure we offer Medicare Advantage options that provide the value, affordability and stability they want and need.

After all, health care coverage should be a source of comfort, not concern.

As we begin the Medicare Advantage Annual Election Period – the time of year from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 when Medicare-eligible individuals can choose a Medicare Advantage or Prescription Drug Plan for the upcoming year – we understand choosing coverage is an important decision, as it impacts both your health care and your wallet.

But, it’s not just about coverage. You deserve a company that will stand with you in the moments that matter – from helping you stay in good health after a check-up to helping you navigate a new diagnosis, and so many moments in between.

At Humana, we have a name for this approach: Human Care.

It guides us every day in our pursuit of serving our members, partners and communities.

If you’re interested in learning more about our Medicare Advantage plans, which all include dental, vision and hearing benefits, visit HumanaMedicare.com.

Here are other ways we stand out: Offering Excellent Customer Support1 For the third year in a row, we have been ranked No. 1 among health insurers for customer experience quality in Forrester’s proprietary 2023 U.S. Customer Experience Benchmark survey. And of all national health plans, we have had the highest percentage of members in plans rated 4 stars or higher by CMS for the last five years.

Removing Barriers to Health We help our members, especially our vulnerable populations, by connecting them to resources and benefits that can address their individual needs.

Addressing Social and Emotional Health

Our Humana Neighborhood Centers offer daily classes in-person and online to help people improve their mental, emotional, social and physical health.

Thank you, Utah, for considering us as your health care partner.

Your Humana Team

1 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rating system measures the excellence of Medicare plans nationally each year. A plan may receive a rating between one and five stars, with five stars representing the highest rating. Humana received the highest CX Index™ score among health insurers in Forrester’s proprietary 2023 Customer Experience Benchmark Survey.

Disclaimers Humana is a Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal. The Humana USAA Honor plans are available to anyone eligible for Medicare and veterans should consider all their health plan options. Humana Insurance Company pays royalty fees to USAA for the use of its intellectual property. USAA means United Services Automobile Association and its affiliates. Use of the term “USAA member” or “USAA membership” refers to membership in USAA Membership Services and does not convey any legal or ownership rights in USAA. Restrictions apply and are subject to change. USAA and the USAA Logo are registered trademarks of the United Services Automobile Association. All rights reserved. No Department of Defense or government agency endorsement. Every year, Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-star rating system. Other providers are available in the Humana network.

Y0040_GCHM53FEN_M

Supporting Our Veterans

We’re proud that USAA® recommends our Medicare Advantage plans, including the co-branded Humana USAA Honor® plans designed with veterans in mind.

Providing In-Person, Whole-Person Care

We have expanded our health care service capabilities through CenterWell Senior Primary Care, CenterWell Home Health and CenterWell Pharmacy.

15

16 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

DESERET MAGAZINE

The silence of the land Facing our fear of the dark

Nate Sweitzer, Deseret News

By Ethan Bauer Deseret Magazine

Bending over a fresh fire pit, I tuck dryer lint beneath a stack of sagebrush and juniper logs I’ve gathered from the surrounding land. Sometimes I prefer more primitive means: char cloth, steel and a strip of magnesium. But today I’m playing it safe to calm my nerves.

I press a brûlée torch up against the kindling and flick the starter. Click. Nothing. Click. Could it be out of fuel? Click.

Sweat trickles down my neck. Click. Whoosh. Finally the lint bursts into a fireball. The sagebrush crackles, the logs blacken.

Now I can wait for night to come, with a little comfort.

This trip is an experiment. I chose this spot to confront a fear I only recently discovered: I’m a 27-year-old man who’s afraid

of the dark. Few places get less ambient light than an isolated valley in Utah’s west desert. I’m camped about 10 miles from the Dugway Proving Ground, where the Army has stored and tested chemical and biological weapons since 1943. A test went sideways in 1968, killing about 6,000 sheep in nearby Skull Valley.

Their remains were buried in an unmarked plot that, as far as I can tell, lies directly below my tent. The only visible cue is the absence of flora, besides the quackgrass that sways in the wind like a metronome.

The fire sizzles and time moves slowly. I keep reaching for an empty pocket, but I’ve left my phone in the console of my Subaru Forester to soften this exact temptation. I don’t want to distract myself or numb my feelings tonight. There’s something resonant, within our deepest human impulses, about facing what makes us afraid. So I survey the land and wait. When the

sun falls below the horizon, I pull a pimento cheese sandwich and something to drink out of the cooler. At just the right angle, the wind whistles across the bottle’s open mouth, producing a delicate, sustained hum.

How many classic horror movies start with a camping trip?

From “Friday the 13th” to “The Evil Dead,” unsuspecting characters leave the safety of civilization seeking solitude and freedom, only to find themselves living a nightmare with nobody around to help. Pop culture frightens us for fun, stimulating our adrenal glands with psychopaths, monsters, aliens, dolls, even a drug-addled bear. We seek out similar feelings at haunted houses and corn mazes, or on dark hikes through the mountains, just as we love to tell ghost stories around campfires. But why?

Aristotle believed in catharsis, the idea that we can purge negative emotions if we experience them by proxy, mainly through

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

characters portrayed in the arts. Centuries later, the German enlightenment thinker Gotthold Lessing expanded on that line of thinking: “In real life, men are sometimes too much addicted to pity or fear, sometimes too little; tragedy brings them back to a virtuous and happy mean.” So rather than purging those feelings, we learn to regulate them. But neither had much to say about confronting these emotions in real life. So instead, I turned to my wife.

Much of her clinical work as a doctoral student of psychology at Brigham Young University involves unrest and helping clients to overcome their fears. Her treatments are rooted in a name I remember from high school: Ivan Pavlov, who discovered classical conditioning. In a familiar experiment, he rang a bell every time he fed his dogs. After a while, the dogs would hear the bell and begin salivating, even if there was no food present. They had learned to associate one stimulus with another.

A few decades later, researchers at Johns Hopkins University sought to prove that conditioning affected humans in the same way. Their “Little Albert experiment” involved a 9-month-old infant. First, they exposed him to a variety of stimuli, including a white rat; he was unafraid. Then they exposed him to the white rat again — but now, whenever Albert touched the rat, the researchers smacked a hammer against a steel bar to produce a loud, sharp sound. Albert began to cry. After a while, Albert began to cry at the sight of almost anything white and fluffy, including a Santa Claus beard.

Mary Cover Jones, eventually known as the mother of behavior therapy, reverse-engineered that experiment, with a twist.

Rather than using classical conditioning to pair two stimuli, she used “direct conditioning” to deprogram fear. Her findings led to the development of exposure therapy. Consider, my wife tells me, a child who is pathologically afraid of spiders. In this form of treatment, the child would be exposed to spiders gradually — first through pictures, then videos, seeing a live one, eventually touching a spider and so on.

The undergirding theory of behaviorism is that all fear is learned; that even seemingly innate fears — of loud noises, for example — only take shape after hearing loud noises for the first time. Exposure therapy is meant to help people to “unpair” that fear from the corresponding stimulus by successfully facing it.

That makes sense to me, though I do spot one pitfall. “What if you’re exposed to a rattlesnake and it bites you?” I ask. “Exposure works,” she tells me, “only as long as the person is safe.” If not, it has the potential to make the problem worse.

While there’s still enough light to see, I take a little walk. I’ve spotted what looks like a small cave on the side of a rocky hill, and my mind conjures up images of mountain lions. In the spirit of my mission, I stomp that way over tangles of nasty, prickly weeds. The cave, it turns out, is just a dark indentation about the size of a window. All I find there is a rusted can specked with

We Have Financing Options! Call For Details!

bullet holes. As I trudge back down the hill and stumble toward my campfire, I hear the wind whistle through an open bottle.

The sound is haunting.

I can’t point to a moment when I learned to associate darkness with fear, but I have feared bedtime since my earliest memories. This is common in children, whose minds run wild with the decline in visibility and the accompanying silence. In evolutionary terms, we’re certainly more vulnerable at night.

But behaviorists would argue that the fear only sets in after a child sees something scary or overhears a news story about a murder or kidnapping. Soon they’re imagining scary creatures hiding under their bed or in the closet, like the protagonists of “Monsters, Inc.” The threat I always feared was from other humans — lurking in the shadows, breaking into our home. My parents recall that I used to invade their room at night because every creak and pop echoing through the house made me panic. For a while, I slept with a baseball bat. I fixated on the burglar alarm. My dad didn’t want me to know that he owned firearms, so he tried to reassure me by saying he kept a bow and arrow under his bed.

I started learning to cope around the third grade, when my parents let me have a TV in my bedroom. At first it was off limits after bedtime except for the Golf Channel — a kind of white noise to drown out night sounds. It worked, and I still fall asleep watching television to this day. On a recent night at a Super 8 motel without TV, I used the Hulu app on my phone, then woke up in the middle of the night to turn it off. The fact that hotel remotes offer sleep mode tells me that I’m not alone in this practice. This system works well enough — except when I go camping.

Out here, the cracks and hums are amplified in the dreamlike haze of a poor night’s sleep. On the floor of a tent that’s always too hot or too cold, my imagination spirals. That slithering sound must be a rattlesnake, coming to sneak in and kill me.

Those thumping sounds must be footsteps that can only mean a person is snooping around. Eventually, I pass out, but with the inevitable rustling of nylon the process starts over again. By morning, I’m cursing the sun for not rising faster. That’s why my phone is in my car. “Never turn your back on fear,” wrote the journalist Hunter S. Thompson. “It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed.”

My fire is dying down, but I’m in no hurry to climb into my sleeping bag. My dad used to say his favorite part of a campfire was the end, when all that remains are glowing embers. It’s the best setting for ghost stories, dark enough to startle kids with a flashlight beneath a man’s chin, when orange waves of heat seem to flow through the smoldering cinders in coordination with the words. This phenomenon is as ancient as human civilization.

Legends have been passed down orally, from the Navajo tales of skin-walkers to Latin American stories about the ch-

$

15 OFF

Any Work Over $100

50 OFF

Any Work Over $250

www.HandymanHub.com

*Certified Safe Pros - All Craftsmen Background Checked

801-662-0073

Call Today to Schedule Your FREE ESTIMATE!

Services • Home Repairs • Bath Remodels • Faucets • Drywall Repairs • Ceramic Tile • Painting • Lighting • Much More!

Now Recruiting Craftsmen!

$

25 Years of Experience

A COMPANY YOU CAN TRUST

All our work is Insured & Guaranteed IN WRITING!

• Bath Remodels • Faucets • Drywall Repairs • Ceramic Tile • Lighting • Painting • Home Repairs • Much More!

100 OFF

Any Work Over $750

Offers expire 11-30-2023. Please call for details.

Not valid with any other offer or discount.

Any Work Over $750

100 Off

Any Work Over $250

$ 50 Off

CALL TODAY TO SCHEDULE

Any Work Over $100

15 Off

801-662-0073

100%

ALL OUR WORK IS INSURED & GUARANTEED IN WRITING!

$

NOW GIVE US A CALL TO FIND OUT HOW AFFORDABLE IT CAN BE! Picture Your Bathroom Nicely Remodeled...

We Are Salt Lake City’s Home Updating Specialists A Company You Can Trust

All Craftsmen Background Checked

$

*CERTIFIED SAFE PROS

$

Offers expire 11 0 . Please call for details.

Not valid with any other offer or discount.

SERVICES

100%

WE ARE SALT LAKE CITY’S HOME UPDATING SPECIALISTS

25 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Your FREE ESTIMATE! OWNER OCCUPIED ONLY

WWW.HANDYMANHUB.COM

17

upacabra. Greek mythology abounds with specters and hauntings, divided into subcategories in an attempt to explain them.

Roman Emperor Hadrian believed he was haunted by his dead lover, and his accounts inspired artists to depict the experience. Much later, terror joined our modern literary canon in novels and short stories like Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” A French filmmaker named Georges Méliès made the first horror movie in 1896, called “The Haunted Castle.”

Aristotle would probably relate.

The beauty of horror shows and haunted houses is that no matter how frightening they seem, we still experience them with some degree of separation. The movie is fictional, and so is the guy with the chainsaw. You can feel the terror — but you can also swallow it. Even in real life, much of what we fear is imaginary, including most of what I fear about the dark. And even existential terrors — of disease and war and hardship — require surrender. I can’t control those things. If they ever come my way, I’ll fight. But for now, all I can do is let the fear wash over me — and do nothing.

I’m about to extinguish my coals when I notice a light on the northern horizon. Then a second light. One is orange and twinkles like a star — a fire. The other, perfectly parallel, is white and unflinching like Venus — perhaps a lamp. They stare back like mismatched eyes, disappearing and reappearing every few minutes. I’m not as alone as I thought, and if I can see them, they can probably see me. I toss the rest of the lint on the coals and watch it flare against the night sky. Then I dump what’s left of my drink on the campfire and bury the coals.

Lying on a sleeping pad inside my tent, I stare out through the mesh roof. The clouds have cleared, and the Milky Way shimmers. What a beautiful night. But a rustling sound interrupts my reverie, triggering the instinct that brought me here. Are those footsteps over dry grass? Something is crawling. Something is trying to get inside. Someone is watching. But for some reason, this time, the feeling passes. It’s just the wind flicking the nylon tent, I tell myself. Sitting up, I take one last look at those twin lights. They’re no bother anymore, either.

Within minutes, I’m fast asleep.

The sun is out and it’s past 7 a.m. by the time I wake up. For the first time, I’ve slept through the night while camping. As I pack up, a herd of mule deer clomps through the grass where the sheep are buried. I wonder if they know. I wonder if they realize how easily they could wander onto Dugway and encounter some new form of death juice. I wonder if they worry about mountain lions stalking them from the caves. They turn and stare at me with black eyes, but quickly turn their attention back to the morning forage.

This story appears in the October issue of Deseret Magazine.

Learn more about how to subscribe.

Red-Hot Furnace SALE! “Make us your last estimate...you’ll be glad you did!”

A/C AND FURNACE COMBO

$

4985

*Includes standard installation and 10 year warranty. 80% furnace, 2-ton 13 seer AC

_________________

$

6299

FURNACE TUNE UPS

80% Efficient Furnaces

$ 1990

FROM ______________________ 96% Efficient Furnaces

$ 2518

$59

Includes minor repairs and adjustments

FROM

*Includes standard installation and INCLUDES STANDARD INSTALLATION. LIMITED TIME OFFER. PRICE AFTER INCENTIVES. 10 year warranty. 96% furnace, 2-ton SOME RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY. 16 seer AC Call for more details.

Financing available 12 Months Same as Cash O.A.C. FREE 2nd Opinion! getcomfortnow.com

801-542-7100

Now Recruiting Craftsmen!

18 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

Don’t Waste It! Steven was hungry. He made a huge sandwich. After a few bites, he was full! Wasting food wastes money. Use the code to discover a shocking fact about food waste.

18 10 14 6 11 16 18 9 5 2 18 5 4 14

18 17 8 3 4

13 8 6 4 1

7 14 6 16 14 9 4

8 13

4 12 14

13 8 8 15

7 6 8 15 3 16 14 15 14

14 6 1

1 14 18 6

18 = A 17 = B 16 = C 15 = D 14 = E 13 = F 12 = H 11 = I 10 = M

9= N 8= O 7= P 6= R 5= S 4= T 3= U 2=W 1= Y

The noun impulse means a sudden urge to do something.

This week’s word:

IMPULSE

I had the impulse to take the biggest cookie, but I took a smaller one instead.

Try to use the word impulse in a sentence today when talking with your friends and family members.

ADDS BILLS BUY CART HELP HOME IMPULSE LESS MONEY NEED SPENDING STORE TEMPTING THINKING WRONG

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

A W B I M P U L S E

T L N U L W O N L T

H C E B Y R D Y L E

I E A S C O A R I M

N M L R S N D C B P

K O V P T G D E Y T I H W D O H S B E I

N Z A Q R C T R S N G W S P E N D I N G

F J O L V Y E N O M

Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognize identical words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns.

Stumped? Answers at www.kidscoop.com If you enjoyed the feature above, there’s even more Kid Scoop interactive learning fun at www.kidscoop.com! Download our copier-friendly seven-page Kids to the Rescue package today.

It’s perfect for busy teachers and parents.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

19

GENERATIONAL LANGUAGE

Can you talk the latest talk? How slang divides and connects generations Report says boomers and Gen Z don’t always understand each other; millennials learn slang to fit in at work standing, they consult TikTok, which might be a natural evolution from millennials, who most often turn to YouTube.

Additionally, millennials report they not only learn the younger generation’s favorite phrases, but they use them at work to fit in.

“While young adults are hip enough to know new slang before older generations, rarely do people know how or when the words came to be and often enough those words become just part of the regular vernacular,” Johnson said. “Then younger individuals use slang around older family members or friends, leading the older generation to naturally become familiar with and adopt some of these terms with somewhat mixed results.”

Johnson joked that “attempting to ‘slay’ with new terms can produce raised eyebrows from the younger generation.”

Some phrases become part of the common lexicon. If someone says “ghosted,” there’s no explanation needed across generations. Same with “FOMO” — maybe because every generation had a fear of missing out.

The keepers

In its exploration of slang terms, Preply discovered that each generation had a favorite bit of slang. For boomers, it is “bummer.” They also like “mellow” and “wannabe.” And there’s some overlap.

Gen X likes “chill,” “lame” and “bummer.” Millennials are big on “OMG,” “chill” and “lame,” while Gen Z likes “selfie” (Boy, do they!), “OMG” and “ghosted.”

Each generation wishes it could bring a bit of slang back. For boomers, the top choice is “far out,” to which Gen X replies, “right on.” Some millennials — though not a huge number at just 17% — wish there were more “cool cats,” while more than 1 in 5 members of Gen Z would most like YOLO to boomerang back into popularity.

Zoë Petersen, Deseret News

By Lois M. Collins Deseret News

Because of her FOMO, the teen ghosted her slammin’ gramp to chill with her lit bff. Later, her disappointed parents not only found her explanation sus; they couldn’t see her POV. Say what?

Slang has likely existed as long as language itself. But it comes with a generation gap, as the company Preply found when it decided to sniff out the most and least popular vintage and new slang terms, based on locations and generations.

“Slang stickiness is unpredictable. Some take off and some have a very short shelf life,” Sylvia Johnson, head of methodology at Preply, told the Deseret News. She likened trends in slang to trends in fashion, “falling out of style for one generation and then being used again years after.”

Preply is an online language learning marketplace that connects tutors with students who want to learn one of 50 languages in more than 180 countries. That love of language helps explain why it studied generational slang. The company says it checked

out 100 slang terms on Google Trends to see how they did in the past 12 months, 70 of them vintage and 30 modern slang. They also looked at the search volume of the words in each state and in the 50 biggest U.S. cities, before asking 1,043 Americans how they use slang.

Of those questioned, 12% were baby boomers, 25% Gen X, 52% millennials, and 11% Gen Z. If the generational monikers confuse you, boomers were born between 1946-1964. Those born between 1965-1980 are Gen X, while millennials were born 1981-1996. Gen Z includes those born in 1997-2012. The group that came after that is tentatively called Generation Alpha, but like slang, the generational designations don’t always stick. And there’s a little squishiness around exactly when each generation begins or ends.

Preply found that different generations are taking steps to bridge the language gap. For instance, while more than half of baby boomers say they’re not always sure what their grandchildren are saying, they’re willing to learn in order to strengthen the bond. Both boomers and Gen X ask younger relatives to explain popular new slang. When Gen Z is having trouble under-

Language barrier?

The report also notes that among the generations, Gen X has the hardest time understanding their colleagues, with 30% saying that. But Gen Z’s not far behind; 1 in 4 say they “often struggle” to understand older co-workers.

There are words the different generations don’t like, too. No one’s surprised to hear that the big one for boomers is “woke,” with 68% saying that. The other generational dislikes are far less adamant: “thirsty” for Gen X at 23%, “slay” a non-fan favorite for 26% of millennials. And 15% of Gen Zers don’t like “savage,” per Preply.

Based on the number of searches in the past 12 months, the Preply report includes a list of popular slang terms, with “FOMO” at the top, then “chill,” “totes,” “dope” and “swinging” rounding out the top 5.

They also came up with popular slang by state. For example, “all that and a bag of chips” is popular in Wyoming, while Utahns prefer “ghosted.” “Swag” is a California keeper, while Idahoans like “bogus.” In parts of the Midwest, “totally tubular” is popular. And “Daddy-O” is popular in too many states to name here.

I’d do it, but I have FOMO. Hawaii is the most interested in modern slang, while Washington most cherishes vintage slang.

20 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

DO IT FOR UTAH

The divisiveness kept him awake ... until he found a cause Bothered by the exclusiveness of closed primary elections, ordinary citizen Bruce Cummings became president of People4Utah to head a campaign trying to open the primaries and level the playing field

By Lee Benson Deseret News

Bruce Cummings was having a hard time sleeping, when just the opposite should have been the case.

He’s 64 — the new 44. In December he retired, after selling the family hardware business — the one he spent his life building up — for a nice profit. I’ve known Bruce for a long time; he skis, bicycles, fly-fishes, plays golf, has season tickets to the nationally ranked Utes, loves to travel. His and Michelle’s kids are grown and squared away. Their last one, Audrey, enrolled at the U. this year and moved into the dorms, eager to be independent.

So what’s the problem?

It’s his country.

He thinks the divisiveness, the polarization, the discord, the partisanship, the extremism, the anger and demonization of those who don’t have similar views, the direction our democracy is headed — all of that — is worse than he’s ever seen it.

When he finally didn’t have to worry about the business, the kids, paying the mortgage, the Utes, his head would hit the pillow — and that’s what kept him awake.

One morning he called his cousin Jan and her husband Bryson Garbett. They’re political people. He could vent to them. They’d listen, and at the very least they would commiserate.

Ever heard the one about being careful what you wish for?

Not only did the Garbetts listen to what Bruce had to say, they had an antidote for his concerns. He needed a cause, and they knew a cause that needed him.

Within two weeks Bruce Cummings was appointed president of a nonprofit organization called People4Utah.

Its goal is the same as his: cut out the extremism and the divisiveness in politics.

People4Utah thinks a major way to help do that is by having primary elections that are open to all the people.

Closed primaries — where only registered party members are allowed to vote in their party’s primary — widens the divide by putting the power in the hands of the few rather than the many; and keeps it there. As a result, the general population feels marginalized, ignored, alienated, unimportant. And there goes democracy as we know it.

Utah is one of 16 states in the union that hold closed primaries. What that translates to in the Beehive State is that the

Need the perfect gift?

Get 10% off with code: DESERET10 We do CUSTOM signs as well!

dominant party determines the vast majority of office holders.

Also, research shows that 81% of elections in Utah are decided by less than 17% of the voters, and in some races less than 1%.

This leads to abysmal voter turnout and election results that are not aligned with voters in general.

Trace that back to the caucus system that determines who gets on the ballot in the first place, and then follow the system through a closed primary where only Republicans (or Democrats) can vote, and it’s easy to see why.

When Bruce studied People4Utah’s statistics and research, he knew he wanted to get involved.

It had nothing to do with his personal views, or with any kind of bias against one party or the other. He’s voted Republican plenty in his life, and every now and then for Democrats.

He supported Mitt Romney for president. He’s an American capitalist. He considers himself a moderate. He’s got nothing against Republicans or Democrats, either one. It’s the system that’s the problem.

For complete article visit deseret.com

BE A MEDICAL HERO! JOIN A STUDY TODAY.

801-542-8198

VELOCITYPATIENTS.COM

www.TheHandmadeSignCo.com

RAKE IN THE

AVAILABLE STUDIES

BENEFITS WITH OUR

AUTUMN

20 visits • 7 phone calls Must be 18+ years old

OBESITY

HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA

FURNACE & AC COMBO

This study is for adults who have type 2 diabetes, are obese, are overweight, and are at a high risk of heart or blood vessel disease. You must have a BMI greater than 25kg. This study can last one year or two years, it just depends on what group you get selected for.

There are 20 clinic visits and 7 phone calls. To see if you qualify call 801-542-8190.

This study is for adults who have hypercholesterolemia. You must have a history of major ASCVD (Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease) which is a build-up of cholesterol plaque in the arteries. If no history of a major ASCVD but is intermediate to high risk for the development of a first major event.

Compensation may be provided if you qualify.

SPECIALS COMFORTCHAMPIONS.COM CALL 385-217-8846

$

49

FURNACE or AC TUNEUP ~With coupon~

OR AC FREE FURNACE SERVICE CALL with any Heating, A/C or Plumbing Repair ~With coupon~

95%

EFFICIENT

$

FROM

3,495

~ With coupon ~

HIGH EFFICIENCY FURNACE & A/C 96.7% $ EFFICIENT 16 SEER

FROM

6,995

80%

EFFICIENT 13 SEER

5,495

$

~ With coupon ~

~ With coupon ~ After rebates. 2 Ton models only.

Some restrictions apply.

2 Ton models only. Some restrictions apply.

Expires 11/30/23. Purchase & installation. Expires 11/30/23. Purchase & installation.

Not valid with other offers or discounts. Not valid with other offers or discounts. Not valid with other offers or discounts. Not valid with other offers or discounts. Not valid with other offers or discounts.

Expires 11/30/23.

Must present coupon at time of estimate. MM 10/23

Expires 11/30/23.

After rebates. Replacement only.

2 ton models only. Some restrictions apply.

Expires 11/30/23.Purchase & installation.

Must present coupon at time of estimate. MM 10/23

Must present coupon at time of estimate. MM 10/23

Must present coupon at time of estimate. MM 10/23

Must present coupon at time of estimate. MM 10/23

60 weeks long • 8 visits Must be 18+ years old

UNCON

45 week week for

You mu lowing c to have serum u one of t months: recurren

NONAL

85 week be 18-80

You mu ther by ago or i scan to may be

CELIAC

9 month Must be

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

Intimacy Health and Wellness Frustration in the bedroom? Get things back to how it used to be; by using advanced holistic and natural technologies to treat: • Erectile dysfunction • Vascular flow limitations • Hormone deficiency • Pelvic floor strengthening/repair Get the happy back in your relationship.

For a discrete consultation for you and your partner-please call…TODAY!

NEW CLINIC IN MURRAY NOW OPEN 310 E 4500 S, Suite 102, Murray, UT 84107

Schedule your FREE consultation today! (435)-265-4663 • happyvalleyclinic.com

21

22 DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

FRIEND OR FOE

An ode to masked strangers A trick, a treat and a growing sense of community

Cinderella) and cousin (as root beer) from one midcentury home to the next. My aunt follows, reminding us to look both ways before crossing streets, but hangs back as we approach each door.

There’s one house in particular that frightens me, a Tudor home with pointed gables, creepy trees and a man I know only as the phantom. The walk to the porch takes forever. I reassure the other kids, saying there’s nothing to fear. Bracing myself, I ring the bell.

Every year, we’d trick-or-treat in my aunt’s neighborhood, where nice strangers in big houses would hand out king-sized candies and ask about our costumes. These were rare interactions with adults we didn’t know but knew to be safe, because they were part of our community. My aunt didn’t feel the need to check our hauls at the end of the night for razor blades and compromised wrappers.

Steven Van Hasten, Deseret News But this house was different, the man a mystery, appearing just once a year. When I read “To Kill a

By Alexandra Rain Mockingbird” the next year I understood why Scout was terriDeseret Magazine fied of her own enigmatic neighbor. Still, I kept going back.

Watching the door with bated breath, I try to inhabit Alice’s Night falls and children in costume scurry along tree-lined fearlessness along with the blonde wig, sky-blue dress and my streets on Salt Lake City’s east bench. I’m 10 years old, dressed favorite pink trench coat — an adaptation for the cold. Someas Alice in Wonderland, walking with my younger sister (as where, other children have it easy, mobs of Buzz Lightyears and

ENJOYING THE DIGEST? You'll love the full newspaper!

With the Utah Bundle, you'll receive the best that the Deseret News has to offer including our weekly and midweek edition newspapers, 10 issues of Deseret Magazine, the Church News and digital replica access.

Visit DESERET.COM/SUBSCRIBE to Subscribe to the Utah Bundle Today!

Iron Mans, Belles and Beasts in the parking lot of a school or a church, taking candy from grown-ups they know. And soon, kids will skip the whole charade, instead snatching favorites from a bowl left outside with a handwritten sign: Take one. But getting a treat from this house requires an act of bravery.

The door swings open. Out leaps a grotesque figure with leathered skin, a furry face, bloody fangs and glowing wicked eyes, growling and gesticulating and roaring like a beast.

A werewolf! We scream. We can’t shut our eyes fast enough, can’t hold each other tight enough. We can’t run, either, paralyzed with fear and obligated to endure. Just as suddenly, the act is over. The phantom removes his mask to reveal an ordinary man: fair skin, graying hair, kind eyes. He teases us a little and offers a bowl. I choose sour straws: chewy, bitter and coated in sugar.

In my memory, he apologizes sweetly for causing some tears, but I see it differently now. He joined us in a child’s game, a committed actor who made our experience a little more profound. It wasn’t easy for us, but it’s important to try hard things — and meet our neighbors. These days, we seem to have forgotten that, fearing even simple exchanges with benign strangers. I was fortunate to have the phantom in my life, my own Boo Radley. Like the shadowy figure in Scout’s story, he turned out to be on my side.

This story appears in the October issue of Deseret Magazine.

Learn more about how to subscribe.

DESERET NEWS | OCTOBER 2023

Earn a High School Diploma at Home Both teens and adults can earn a high school diploma from BYU! • Semester and Flex options for ages 13–18 years • Adult option for ages 19+ years • 250+ available courses

Info sessions are offered every Friday.

Join us!

Learn more at highschool.byu.edu

23

*******************ECRWSSEDDM***** Residential Customer

Health of of Utah HealthBenefits Benefits Utah Looking for Health Insurance?

Using an agent NOTHING! Using an agent willwill costcost youyou NOTHING!

Confused about about your your options? options?

Confused Quotes Quotes •• Coverage Coverage •• Tax Tax Credits?

Credits?

Lionel Longson

CALL 801-523-1100 TEXT 801-523-9100 CALL 801 523 1100 We’ll help

healthbenefitsut@gmail.com TEXT 801 523 9100

Open Enrollment healthbenefitsut@gmail.com November 1 – December 15

you apply

Individual & & Medicare Medicare Plans Plans

Fall Investment Rates

INVESTMENT CERTIFICATE SAVING RATES OPTIONS

1 year • 6.00 6.00% % 3 years • 6.25 6.25% % 5 years • 6.7 6.755 %

Interest paid quarterly

Call Ashley or visit us online today!

(By appointment only) For Utah residents only.

$10,000 minimum

$800,000 maximum

801-566-5559 • WasatchCredit.com 7324 Union Park Ave., Suite #100, Midvale 84047 Mon-Thur 9:30-3:00

We'll help you apply