Cottonwood Heights Journal | September 2023

COUNCILMEMBERS TO SELECT RESIDENTS FOR COMMITTEE TO

Lastyear, the city of Cottonwood Heights began the process of pur chasing the strip mall area known as Hillside Plaza at approximately 2378 Fort Union Blvd. with the in tended vision of developing a town center. As the full acquisition of the property is nearly complete, a con sultant to design has been selected with the eventual development to follow. The consultant will work with a Steering Committee comprised of Cottonwood Heights residents to ensure the town center is fit for the public it’s designed to serve.

“The community played a big part in where we are today,” said Mayor Mike Weichers. “We want to make sure to continue to involve them.”

The Cottonwood Heights City Council came to the agreement that the Steering Committee should be made up of 12 members. Each of the five councilmembers will select two residents from each district to be a part of the Steering Committee. The City Manager will also be selecting one resident to serve as an at-large representative. The final member will be selected as a representative from the Planning Commission.

Many residents have already been reaching out to their city official(s) to voice their interest. Once each of the 12 members of the Steering Committee is selected, they will be educated on the scope of the project and the desired outcomes. They will then set a regular meeting schedule and establish clear committee roles.

Wasatch Front Regional Council envisions a future of safe roadways for all modes of transportation

The Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) presented their plans for drafting the upcoming Comprehensive Safety Action Plan to the Cottonwood Heights City Council on Aug. 1 during the work session meeting at 4 p.m.

The igniting factor for the creation of this comprehensive plan was the federal Safe Streets for All (SS4A) program. The intent of the SS4A program is to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries by addressing safety challenges. All modes of transportation utilizing roadways are discussed under the umbrella of this program including transit, bicycles and scooters, and pedestrians.

“Safety in transportation is absolutely critical; perhaps that’s an obvious thing to say. We have seen regional and statewide casualties grow in the past few years,” said WFRC Executive Director Andrew Gruber.

The SS4A discretionary program was established under a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law where $5 billion was appropriated to be funded over five years from 2022-26. This federal funding is only available to municipalities and city governments; it’s not available to be collected by the state.

In order for municipalities to be eligible to receive one of the two types of grants offered by the SS4A program (planning and demonstration, and implementation), there has to be a safety action plan in place. Several local municipalities asked WFRC to take the lead in creating the required Safety Action Plan for the region, which would allow all regional municipalities included in the plan eligible to apply for the SS4A grants in 2024.

Eleven different geographic areas will be focused on within the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan. The East Salt Lake Valley area will be focusing on the cities of Alta, Brighton, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Millcreek and Sandy; along with the townships of White City and Emigration.

“The purpose is to develop a holistic strategy to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries in the Wasatch Front region on locally-owned cities, towns, counties, roadways,” said Director of Short-Range Planning Wayne Bennion.

The WFRC is now tackling the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan in three main components. They are currently analyzing safety needs throughout the region through var-

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ious data collection. After which, they will identify highrisk locations and other factors currently contributing to serious injuries. Lasty, strategies to address those high-risk locations and factors that contribute to crashes will be prioritized. The Comprehensive Safety Action Plan’s goal is to draft a plan for transportation safety throughout the greater Wasatch Front region.

“But you don’t do transportation in isolation,” Gruber said. “You have to think about how housing, job creation, and parks and public spaces all interact together.”

WFRC will host Planning Team meetings with stakeholders from the regional study area including Salt Lake County, Davis County, Weber County, Morgan County, Tooele County, and the Box Elder metropolitan planning area.

“We can’t meet the travel demands just by driving. People have to feel comfortable getting out of their cars for walking and biking. If there’s not a safe system to use, they aren’t going to do it. So much of that gets at the design of the transportation system and leads to the safety outcomes,” Bennion said.

WFRC is hoping to have as much engagement as possible with an online survey and website opening up late this summer. By later winter/early spring, they hope to have identified the recommend project types so each community can start thinking about the projects they will want to submit to the federal SS4A program. They plan to wrap up the entire Comprehensive Safety Action Plan by next June.

According to Gruber, the WFRC plans holistically beyond any one city or county boundary in order to match the unparalleled resident life that can be preserved and enhanced for generations to come.

The WFRC is working to help various local cities, municipalities, counties, and UTA develop plans to roll into the Utah Unified Transportation Plan.

“Our role is to help give voice to the local communities in the larger transportation process,” Gruber said.

The WFRC also helps municipalities by providing funding for transportation projects, technical assistance with trail planning and other project planning.

“We love the opportunity to help you accomplish your

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goals within a broader regional context,” Bennion said. The WFRC board is made up of government officials from various local entities. “We would never presume to try to tell you what to try to do within your community. Your job is to know your community better than anyone else does,” Gruber told the council. “We want to help you be successful in making safety improvements within your community.” l

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The East Salt Lake Valley geographical region for the WFRC Comprehensive Safety Action Plan will include Alta, Brighton, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Millcreek, Sandy, White City Township and Emigration Township. (Photo courtesy of the Wasatch Front Regional Council)

Canyon’s District math teacher contender for top state teacher honors

WhenMidvale Middle math teacher Max Eddington went to the University of Utah as an undergraduate, he was planning to study piano performance—then, later, Russian.

“I had no plans of being a teacher,” he said. “All while growing up, I was very serious about piano. I’m a classically trained pianist, and I paid for most of college as a pianist.”

Eddington’s love of Russian came about in eighth grade when a girl who spoke Russian moved to the United States from Yugoslavia and sat next to him in math class.

“She had no idea what was going on. My brother-in-law speaks Russian so he would teach me things to say to her and then she would say things back. I tried to remember them so my brother-in-law could tell me what they meant. It was fun to know words in another language and I became kind of obsessed with Russian,” he said.

With his mind set in those disciplines, Eddington chose his classes.

“When my dad, who really is a gifted mathematician, asked to see my freshman schedule, and I didn’t have any math classes on my schedule since my AP (advanced placement) calculus had fulfilled the requirement, he said, ‘You need to take a math class even if you don’t need it.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to spend money on credits that I don’t need.’ His exact quote was, ‘You never know when you’re going to want to be a math teacher.’ I just rolled my eyes and I didn’t take one. So when I got my first job as a math teacher, I called my dad. He knew me better than I knew myself at that point,” Eddington said.

Now, that math teacher is a candidate for the state teacher of the year, after being heralded Canyons School District teacher of the year this past spring. It was the first time in Canyons’ history where the top three finalists were all from Midvale.

“I knew that I was the middle school choice, but I was totally surprised, no idea that that this honor was coming,” he said. “When it was announced the winning teacher is from a Midvale school, I hadn’t even put it together that all three of us (finalists Hillcrest High’s Tasha Jensen and East Midvale Elementary’s Rachel Teasley) taught in Midvale.”

Eddington was awarded a $1,000 cash prize from the Canyons Education Foundation and an inscribed crystal award from Canyons Board of Education as well as a gift basket. He was selected from a record number 3,000 nominations.

On hand was Midvale Mayor Marcus Stevenson, who was joined by Canyons School District Superintendent Rick Robins, to honor the teachers. The finalists also were honored at the Midvale City Council meeting with a proclamation.

“My family came up from Arizona, my girlfriend, friends and so many came. I had a great crew there to support me,” he said.

Eddington is in his ninth year teaching.

“I taught my first four years at four different schools and each year, I could tell the school was not a total perfect fit for me so I went to a different school. Midvale is just the perfect combination of students, staff, faculty, the building—everything about it just fit and I feel so supported. I love it and have no plans of leaving,” he said.

When Eddington first started, he taught an honors section of math along with general education courses, but he prefers teaching the non-honors classes.

“My skills are better geared toward helping students who are not feeling motivated to learn, who are struggling or behind. I’m skilled at reaching and connecting with and filling gaps in their educational past and helping them make big strides in their learning,” he said.

While Eddington earned his Bachelor’s in Russian, after serving a church mission in Russia, his Master’s in Education from Arizona State University is a dual certification program that included teaching kindergarten through eighth grade as

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

well as special education kindergarten through 12th-grade students with mild to moderate disabilities.

At Midvale Middle, he teaches students who have Individualized Education Programs.

“Having that education has been important for me to know how to educate kids with disabilities because it’s something that I studied to know how to approach those students in my general classes who have individualized learning plans,” Eddington said, adding that he has used his Russian as well to help students who speak that as their native language.

His approach for all students starts with personal relationships.

“I try to communicate with every single student in every class every day. I try to know things about them outside of academics and to find ways for them to know that I am not just a teacher, but I’m a person who cares about them,” he said. “At the same time, I have very high expectations for every student, and they try hard to reach those goals. I spend a lot of energy, trying to get my students to understand why learning these things are important. One of the most common questions that I get as math teacher is ‘When are we ever going to have to know that?’ I help them imagine their futures and the fact that they’re going to need to earn money. They’re going to need jobs and the best way to be secure is to be educated. My main answer to the question is that ‘You’re going to have a higher earning potential, be more secure and graduate from high school.’”

Eddington also challenges his students to find something in their lives not connected to math.

“I try to help them feel confident because a lot of these kids have convinced themselves at some point, that they’re not able to do math. But when they realize they will have to use basic math skills throughout their lives, it helps them kind of break down the walls of math trauma. Being afraid of it is no way to live. So we just really work on trying to become comfortable with it and not afraid of it—confident that we’re all able to do it,” he said.

Eddington also tries to have them envision their future, mounting his framed degrees on the wall and place the award

he received as teacher of the year nearby.

“We talk a lot about higher education in my class and it’s a good visual for them to have in the classroom to help them see what can be ahead for them,” he said.

When Eddington made the decision to teach, he wanted to be in a middle school.

“It was a time in my life that was difficult, and I didn’t really have mentors and teachers who really cared about me. I like being there at this formative time in their lives and being an adult who cares and treats them with respect,” he said.

More than 20 of his students respond to Eddington so well that they were prompted to write nominations, praising the fifthyear Midvale Middle teacher, for this award.

“When you walk into Max’s classroom you are overwhelmed with the sense of community and belonging,” said Midvale Middle Principal Mindy Robinson, who as a former math teacher, also appreciates his problem-solving skills on the school’s building leadership team. “Students are respectful. They are willing to take risks and are encouraged to care for one another, while being engaged in every part of the lesson.”

When Eddington decided to teach, he gave up another job he loved.

“I was the wilderness driver guide in Alaska and drove tours across the state and in the Yukon Territory. I’ve been on a highway called the Top of the World Highway to a one-lane, dirt highway in northern Alaska. I saw migrating caribou and hundreds and hundreds of moose during those two years. It was a cool experience, but it’s a five-month contract that (conflicts) with the teaching schedule,” he said, now having to limit his outdoor adventures to some backroads in his time off from school or when he’s not on stage as he was two summers ago when he played Willard in “Footloose” at Sundance Summer Theatre.

“The reason why I continue teaching is because it’s making a difference in their lives,” Eddington said, then adds mathematically: “Even if it’s a slight angle, it goes on a more positive trajectory. That means a lot to me and that’s why I teach."

Midvale teachers, East Midvale Elementary’s Rachel Teasley, Midvale Middle math teacher Max Eddington and Hillcrest High’s Tasha Jensen, were the finalists in this year’s teacher of the year. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Chalk Art, Drone Show, carnival part of Butlerville Days 2023

Photos by Cassie Goff

This year, All-Day Wristband Vouchers for the Carnival Rides at Butlerville Days were available for pre-sale through the Cottonwood Heights City Offices. (Cassie Goff/ City Journals)

Stage Entertainment for Butlerville Days 2023 including “The Rocky Mountain Rangers”, “The Current”, “Johnny Utah Band”, “The Wayne Hoskins Band”, and “Shuffle”. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

Butlerville Days is continually made possible by the Cottonwood Heights Butlerville Days Committee which includes Chuck Koehn, Jessica Despain, Jamie Jackson, Brittany Davis, Craig Taft, Jim Monty, Kris Monty, Brian Allen, Andy Davis, Whitney Dodge, Bonnie Harris, Ben Hill, Aabri Kimball, and Ashely McClelland. (Cassie Goff/ City Journals)

For the Chalk Art Contests, artists could enter their artwork in various categories included Kids, Teens, Adults, and Team/ Family. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

Spectators “oo”-ed and “ah”-ed as lighted drones colored the night sky on Friday, July 28, at 10pm. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

The Antique & Classic Car Show was parked on Friday, July 28, from 6pm until 8:30pm near the Guthrie Skate Park (2495 E. Bengal Blvd.). (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

Classic, custom, and antique cars were displayed during this year ’s Butlerville Days! (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

This entry for the Chalk Art Contest reminds viewers that the fight to end Alzheimer’s is still being waged. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

New to the Butlerville Days festivities this year was a Drone Light Show sponsored by Rocky Mountain Power and Granite Construction. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

Artists from the Harrington Center and Utah’s Foster Care drew many eye-catching entries for the Chalk Art contest. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

“The Current” performed on the main stage of Butlerville Days from 8:30pm until 10pm on Friday, July 28. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

Inflatables were available to run through for free during the Butlerville Days festivities. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)

New Canyons District administrative changes aimed to enhance student education

Canyons School District recently made some historic decisions, including naming McKay Robinson as assistant superintendent and Tom Sherwood as the District high school director amongst other administrative appointments.

Both are familiar faces in the District.

Robinson, who has been the elementary schools’ performance director the past four years, will now lead the implementation of Canyons’ new strategic plan with the intention to improve and enhance student education, provide professional development and supervise directors in several areas. He also will be part of the decision-making in the superintendent’s cabinet meetings amongst others.

He already has had influence in the district as he helped to lead and support elementary school principals through the COVID-19 pandemic. He also was part of the team who helped to build safety protocols in Canyons schools. For his contribution, he earned 2022 Apex Award as the Administrator of the Year.

It’s not the first time he’s been honored.

Robinson earned the 2012 Utah Association of Elementary School Principals’ Rookie of the Year Award and the 2013 Utah PTA Outstanding Administrator of the Year, where he served as Lone Peak Elementary’s principal for six years. He then was principal at Sandy Elementary for four years and was awarded the 2016 Innovator of the Year Award from the Canyons Association of Elementary School Principals. During his time in the District office, he also was lauded with Utah State University’s 2000 Teacher of Tomorrow Award.

The 23-year educator was inspired at an early age to enter the profession.

“It was my third-grade teacher, Mr. Miner, who stepped up in my life and became more than just a teacher,” Robinson said. “He became my advocate, my biggest fan, and my hero, inspiration. It was at that time as an 8 year old that I decided I wanted to be just like him. Ever since that time I have known what I wanted to become and do with my life, and I have never looked back.”

Robinson, who earned his Bachelor’s in Elementary Education with a Minor in Korean from Utah State University, began teaching at Sprucewood Elementary. While teaching there, he earned his Master’s in Teaching at Grand Canyon University. He was awarded his Master’s in Education in Administrative Licensure, leadership preparation program at Brigham Young University shortly after teaching fourth grade at Butterfield Canyon Elementary in Jordan School District and being an intern assistant principal at Southland Elementary (Jordan District), and at Union Middle (then Jordan, now Canyons District) and Lone Peak High (Alpine School District). He earned his Doctorate in K-12 Leadership and Policy in 2020.

While known as a baseball aficionado, he also is an outdoors enthusiast, camping with friends and family and racing his road bike in cycling events including the 200-plusmile LoToJa (Logan to Jackson, Wyoming) Classic, which is one of the longest USA cycling-sanctioned bike races in the country.

Sherwood, the recipient of Canyons’ School Administrator of the Year APEX Award in 2021, steps into the director of high schools after serving the past 15 years as principal at Brighton and Jordan high schools. This is his 26th year in education.

“I’ve developed a good understanding of instruction, high school athletics and activities, and have a vision and carried out that vision for the schools; I have made strong efforts to be transparent and friendly and welcoming to our

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

school communities,” he said.

That helped Sherwood transition to his current position where he will use his visionary leadership to guide and support principals at the District’s five comprehensive high schools as well as at Canyons Technical Education Center, Diamond Ridge and Entrada alternative schools as they prepare students to be college and career ready.

“I want to help principals be more effective in what they do. The job of the high school principal has become so big that it’s more than one person can do and it’s a high-demanding, time-consuming job. The average high school principal probably averages between 60 to 70 hours per week of labor and that includes extra work supervising athletic activities, dealing with personnel issues or working with the community about concerns. In this new position, I want to problem-solve to make it more manageable so principals can focus more on the most important work, which is student learning,” Sherwood said. “I’ll serve on the superintendent’s cabinet to help make informed decisions that impact high schools and make sure that we’re trying to move forward in a positive way with policies, procedures and resources.”

Another part of his position is to help coordinate and be the liaison with athletics and activities.

“Athletics and activities are a big part of what we offer in high schools. My involvement with the USHAA Board of Trustees and executive committee the past 12 years has really helped me learn a lot about best practices,” Sherwood said. “I’ll be helping with making sure that all coaches follow the state requirements, making sure that our district’s coaches get more training on appropriate coaching techniques and positive coaching behaviors. Ultimately, I want to make sure that we’re doing the best job we can and providing the best product we can for students.”

During his tenure at Brighton, where he also previously taught biology and chemistry, Sherwood oversaw the building and transition from the old school to the current and ensured education continued throughout that and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Those were challenging years, especially with COVID

on top of it and keeping everything safe. We were holding instruction in that manner while building a school and making sure that the new school had all the necessary elements. When we started, I have no idea how big of a challenge and how time consuming that would all be and then it was compounded. I’m proud of the finished product as well as what we’re able to accomplish during those years,” he said.

Known as a multitasker (Sherwood has a sign in his office from his assistant principal that reads “don’t interrupt me while I’m texting” as he admits to texting, calling and doing everything at the same time), he will stop to listen to a student or take a break to boogie down on the dance floor with them (while admitting he doesn’t dance).

“I’m going to miss the students, giving them a high-five, cheering them, watching them perform, seeing their presentations, their banter back and forth in the hallways, just developing good relationships with the students in my building,” Sherwood said. “They’re why I got into education—to make a difference in the lives of students. There is something about teenagers; their energy and positivity is contagious and they’re just a fun group of people to be around.”

Other recent Canyons’ appointments include Butler Middle School’s principal Paul Logan as the District’s federal and state programs director, replacing Wendy Dau, who was appointed Provo City School District’s superintendent; East Sandy Principal Bryan Rudes will replace Logan at Butler Middle and Scott Dwyer will join him as assistant principal after working as an adaptive physical education teacher in the District’s special education department. Midvalley Elementary’s Assistant Principal Dan Ashbridge will become East Sandy’s new principal.

Corner Canyon High Assistant Principal Marielle Rawle will replace Sherwood as Brighton High’s principal, and joining her as an assistant principal will be April Sagala, a Jordan High counselor.

At Corner Canyon, Dina Kohler, formerly Hillcrest High assistant principal, will take the helm as its principal as Darrell Jensen left to be Provo City School District’s assistant superintendent. Jordan Denos, from Davis School Dis-

New Canyons School District Assistant Superintendent McKay Robinson takes a spin on a tricycle during a Sandy Elementary event in 2019. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

trict, will serve as an assistant principal for the Chargers, as well as science department chair Taylor Anderson, filling the vacancy of Steve Bailey, who retired. OJ Gulley, an Oregon middle school principal, will take Kohler’s place as Hillcrest High assistant principal.

Alta High Assistant Principal Shelly Karren will succeed Indian Hills Principal Doug Graham, who will be an administrator on special assignment; and Joseph Olson, currently a middle school principal in Moab, will be Indian Hills Middle School’s assistant principal. Brandon Jacobson, Alta’s career and technical education coordinator, and Justin Matagi, an assistant principal at Albion Middle, will serve as Alta’s assistant principals.

Bella Vista Elementary Principal Eric Gardner will serve as Albion Middle principal, replacing Molly Hart, who left to become Summit Academy’s executive director. Glacier Hills Assistant Principal Angi Holden will become Bella Vista Elementary’s principal. Butler Middle Assistant Principal Halley Nelson will become a Glacier Hills assistant principal.

Union Middle Assistant Principal John Hellwig will take the same position at Albion Middle; Indian Hills Middle Assistant Principal Roger Moody will become assistant principal at Union Middle; and Draper Park Middle Assistant Principal Kristana Price will transfer to become Midvale Middle assistant principal. Mary Simao, Brighton High’s assistant principal, will serve as Draper Park Middle’s assistant principal.

Midvale Elementary principal Lori Reynolds will be the District’s human resources administrator in charge of recruiting elementary teachers replacing Sally Sansom, who was appointed school performance director of elementary schools. Midvale’s assistant principal Carolee Mackay will become the school’s principal.

Silver Mesa Elementary Principal Julie Fielding will be Altara Elementary’s principal replacing Nicole Svee Magann who will be Willow Canyon Elementary’s principal. Michelle Snarr, who was Willow Canyon’s principal, will serve as Copperview Elementary’s assistant principal. Noelle Jones, Alta View Elementary’s achievement coach will serve as Silver Mesa’s principal.

Midvale Middle Assistant Principal Divya Nagpal replaces Peruvian Park Elementary Principal Leslie Jewkes, who retired. Sandy Elementary Assistant Principal Anne Hansen will be principal at Willow Springs Elementary replacing Marianne Watts who retired. Canyon View Elementary teacher Karla Antivilo will become the assistant principal at Sandy Elementary.

Other new assistant principals include Aimee Wagner at Midvale Elementary; Raschelle Davis at Copperview Elementary; and Barbra Winder at Midvalley Elementary.l

USA Rugby to host International Friendly in Utah

Rugby is a popular sport in Utah and teams and players here have helped build up the sport in the United States. One player who has thrived in this environment is Paul Mullen.

“I’m from Ireland,” Mullen said. “It’s on a small island off the coast. When I went to high school on the mainland, the only sport they played was rugby. It was sink or swim. Fortunately, I was able to excel.”

Utah’s Major League Rugby team, the Utah Warriors, is hosting an attempt at the Guinness World Record for the largest rugby scrum, and proceeds from the event will benefit 5 for the Fight and Make-A-Wish Utah. With fan and player participation, the challenge will take place immediately following the upcoming international rugby spectacle featuring the USA Eagles and France’s Stade Toulousain on Sept. 16.

“We have a partnership with Stade Toulousain,” Utah Warriors CEO Kimball Kjar said. “They are arguably the Real Madrid of rugby. They won the most recent French championship. They are the most successful rugby club in the world. One goal of the partnership is to grow the sport of rugby but specifically within North America to help their brand grow. We also want the Utah Warriors brand to grow internationally and throughout Europe. We want to create events that showcase the sport of rugby.”

The thrilling matchup will be held at America First Field in Sandy with gates opening at 3 p.m. and game kickoff at 4 p.m. The pursuit for the world record begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets to participate in the scrum, along with a commemorative T-shirt, cost $10 and can be purchased as an add-on at checkout when purchasing match tickets here.

“American football fans like big hits,” Mullen said. “Rugby is the same but doesn’t go on for four hours. It’s only 80 minutes.”

While Mullen didn’t grow up in the United States, he still is happy to be a part of the national rugby team.

“My grandfather grew up in the U.S.,” he said. “For me to represent America is a great honor.”

This momentous endeavor in rugby history serves to engage the community and rugby fans from around the world and raise funds for the Utah Warriors’ local nonprofit partners. Fans who have upgraded their match ticket at the cost of $10 are invited to come down onto America First Field after the game, where over 3,000 people will lock arms to break the record of 2,586 participants set in 2018 in Aichi, Japan.

“This will be the biggest scrum in the world,” Mullen said. “It should be a friendly scrum. It is like a huge huddle. That would be cool if it was broken.”

“The long-term goal is to make Utah the epicenter of rugby for North America,” Kjar said. “We also want to be growing on a global scale. Utah has a love affair with the sport of rugby. Rugby playing countries led to the University of Utah playing rugby on their campus and eventually American football. Rugby was

By Daniel Olsen | d.olsen@mycityjournals.com

being played in the mid-20th century. BYU has won five national championships. Utah won a national championship too, in about 2010. Highland High School was successful and won over 20 national championships. We have one of the largest Polynesian communities outside of Polynesia. The guys that are in the NFL out of Utah all played rugby. Rugby is a part of Utah’s DNA. We are trying with the Warriors to help people understand the energy that is played in this sport. We can help re-awaken the energy of the sport.”

This event should be an educational opportunity for those involved.

“Anyone who hasn’t come to a game of rugby should come. It’s a perfect opportunity to watch the best players in our backyard. We make it very easy for people to come out and enjoy the sport and game. Educational things. Gives people a view of what the sport looks like. People love it carries the day,” Kjar said.

“The Rugby World Cup is the biggest

event,” Mullen said. “But we are playing against incredible world class athletes. They are one of the best clubs in the world.”

While this event will take place during the middle of the Rugby World Cup, there will still be plenty of talented athletes who will line up against each other. The Rugby World Cup will take place from Sept. 8-Oct. 28.

The tickets are much cheaper than basketball, football, and soccer,” Mullen said. “It will be hard hitting with lots of scores and tackles. It should be an exciting time.”

While not every player from these teams will be in attendance, it will still be a world class matchup.

“We will have six to seven Utah Warriors playing as well as many of the best players from Toulouse,” Kjar said. “These are some of the best players in the world.”l

Eagles USA Rugby player Christian Dyer. (Kayla McFarland of Utah Warriors)

Eagles USA Rugby team. (Kayla McFarland of Utah Warriors)

Local speed puzzler set to compete in Utah contest

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

Putting together a 500-piece puzzle may be a relaxing family activity that takes part over a weekend.

But for one Cottonwood Heights woman, the challenge of interlocking loops and sockets as fast as possible is what’s comforting and fun.

Mindy Whiting, the mother of two Ridgecrest Elementary students, is a speed puzzler.

Whiting is ranked 16th nationally and will be one of the speed puzzlers competing Sept. 9 at the CR Hamilton Sports Complex, 3700 W. 13800 South in Riverton.

“I want to get faster,” said the speed puzzler. “I’m competitive with myself not against other people.”

The competition is expected to attract up to 40 individual competitors, 40 pair puzzlers and 20 four-member teams.

Whiting plans to compete as an individual as well as in the pair competition with Bountiful’s Kyle Kossin, who is ranked 23rd nationally.

“I’ve actually never puzzled with him, but I feel like we’re neck and neck in a lot of competitions,” she said.

Whiting also will compete on Team Whiting along with her husband, Ryan, sister-in-law Megan and mother-in-law, Lori.

“My husband likes puzzles, but he doesn’t necessarily do it for the speed. It’s more to spend time with each another,” she said.

Official worldwide speed puzzling competitions began in 2019 and nationally, the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association was formed in 2020 when a boom in puzzling came about during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many families who wanted to put together a puzzle while at home were hard pressed to find one as puzzles were backordered, while those who were new to the sport of racing the clock turned to compete online against each other.

Whiting grew up doing puzzles at the family cabin in Weber Canyon.

“We’d go there in the summers and put together puzzles. I remember as a kid that I wanted to make money doing it, but I knew no one pays to have someone put together a puzzle as a career. As a teenager, I liked doing this cartoony-looking puzzle and I kept doing it. I would pick up a piece and know exactly where it went. Each time I did it, I’d time myself and I’d get faster. Then, as I grew up, I stopped doing puzzles. I had the mindset, ‘I’ve got to be productive; I can’t waste my time doing something for fun,’” she said. “When COVID came, I still had puzzles with lots of extra time and being stuck at home, so I pulled out a few puzzles.”

She learned her parents still had the cartoon golf puzzle she liked growing up and “15 to 20 years later, I was still able to do it in 40-something minutes, faster than before. So, I decided to look to see if there was a community that does speed puzzling.”

After learning about USA Jigsaw Puzzle

Association and its upcoming competition, she signed up as a beginner—and came in first place.

“They told me since I was under a certain amount of time, I was considered a pro,” Whiting said.

Whiting also came to know Jonathan Clark in Texas who created Speed Puzzling. He, along with others, gave her tips.

“I used to do my puzzles where I wouldn’t dump them out on the table. I would just open a tab and I’d pick up pieces that stood out to me. But Jonathan said it’s usually faster when you dump and sort them. I thought that’s too chaotic. I like my puzzle area to be ordered, not cluttered with pieces, so it took me a while to try that strategy. He was right,” she said. “I’ve learned a few things along the way. When I first look at the puzzle, I ask myself, ‘What stands out to me? Are there any vertical lines? What pieces pop out?’ and I grab those to do early. I don’t always do border first; sometimes doing the border first will slow me down. Every puzzle, I look at the puzzle and come up with a strategy as to what I’m going to do. Generally, I dump, pull the edges pieces out and any others to make any piles as I’m flipping them. I’m either going to do those right away or I’m getting them out of the way.”

Now as a Speed Puzzling member, Whiting receives puzzles every month to compete individually.

“When they arrive, we can’t see the puzzle. We all get online at the same time, and Jonathan tells us when we can open our package and when to start the timer, then we start—and it’s fun,” she said, adding that she stands when she puts together the puzzle “because it gives me a bird’s eye view and I can see everything more clearly.”

For every month the past two years, Whiting has competed in the 300-, 500- and 1,000-piece speed puzzling contests. Her preference is 500 pieces.

“I feel 300s, it’s 20 to 30 minutes and then, I’m done. It’s a rush, way too fast. Five hundred is 45 minutes to an hour and it doesn’t feel so fast that it’s over before you can start and it’s not too long like the 1,000s. My fastest 1,000 is barely under two hours, but I average two and a half hours. I don’t mind doing that, but I have to make sure I have a good chunk of time,” she said.

Last month, Whiting added her husband and her fifth-grade son, Andrew, to compete as a team.

“Usually, teams are four people, but he wanted to join us, so I said OK, let him do it. My son normally doesn’t want to do puzzles at all, preferring to be more active. This time he wanted to join, but then he’d take breaks and get a snack, which was OK. My first-grade daughter (Claire) likes puzzles, and she’s good at them, but that day she wanted to play with friends, which is totally fine. I don’t want to force my kids to do this, but to have fun when they do,” she said.

In person, Whiting took part in the national competition October 2022 in San Diego. She partnered with Grey Rogers from Louisiana to finish second in pairs, and her four-member team placed fourth. Individually, she was 14th.

Her puzzle-shaped trophies from both in-person and online contests are tucked away as she focuses more on the people she competes with as well as improving her time.

Whiting also has attended camps where she teamed up with puzzlers from Louisiana, Minnesota, Florida and New York and other states.

“It’s fun; you meet new people from all over and everyone is completely different,” she said.

It was with a group of four top puzzlers from different states that Whiting teamed up for the world competition in Spain in 2021. However, it was canceled because of the pandemic. By 2022, rules had changed so they couldn’t take more than the four puzzlers, and since there were still some COVID restrictions, she opted out, hoping to compete another year.

For the past year, Whiting carves out time from being a mother and from her part-time job to practice her speed puzzling, usually on the kitchen table as it has the best lighting in the house.

“My kids are my priority, but I for sure do one puzzle a week, usually over the weekends. If I only have an hour then I would just do a 500, but if I’m going to have lots of downtime, I’ll put out a 1,000 or 1,500,” she said, adding that she has a “whole closet of 300-400 puzzles. I like grid puzzles because they go fast. I did one last month with all the different Harry Potter book covers, so it was nine different puzzles in one. I also like ones that are more cartoony with drawn images or ones that have lots of different colors and textures. I don’t enjoy scenery or landscapes; I feel the trees and all the foliage are harder.”

While there are numerous puzzle manufacturers, Ravensburger has replaced Springbok as her favorite.

“I used to like only the Springboks and their random shapes, but the pieces are too hard to put together. Ravensburger really grew on me. Their pieces fit well and I like all their Disney villain puzzles,” she said.

Jigsaw puzzles are her forte although she has done Sudokus, crosswords—even meeting Will Shortz, the “New York Times” crossword editor and National Public Radio puzzle master, and has helped her son with his Rubik’s Cube.

“I like the feeling of being able to complete something and have it come together fast. I try to beat my own goal. There are these people who are just always 10 minutes ahead of me. I don’t think I’ll ever get there even if I practice,” she said.

Whiting compares it to when she ran marathons, beating her time at each race and eventually qualifying and competing in Boston in 2007 and 2008.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be the fastest runner, but my goal was to get better and faster. The same with puzzles; I’m wanting to beat my own records. I keep a spreadsheet of 200 puzzles that I’ve done and the time that it took me to do and then I’ll record also if I’ve done it a second or third time with those times,” she said. “I know it doesn’t sound relaxing, but for me, it is. I’m able to clear my mind, decompress, and get lost with the pieces of the image I’m creating.”l

Cottonwood Heights resident Mindy Whiting, left, took part in the national competition in October 2022 where her four-member team from different states placed fourth. (Photo courtesy of Mindy Whiting)

Continued from front page

In the meantime, city staff members and elected officials have been interviewing interested consultants. After a grueling selection process, Cottonwood Heights selected MGB+A to be the main consultant working on the design and eventual development of the new town center.

“We were really impressed with this consultant. We are really really excited to engage them,” Weichers said.

Public Involvement Lead Lindsey Ferrari (from Wilkinson Ferrari & Co.) agreed that the Steering Committee, whom she will be working closely with in the future, should be made up of about 12 residents. She also reminded the council that the committee members will need to select a chair.

“My job is to bring public input to this team in a way that’s useable and manageable,” Ferrari said.

In addition, Ferrari emphasized the importance of bringing in the public for feedback and input and during three crucial points throughout the planning process.

“I’m really interested in place-making,” said Project Manager and Landscape Architect Greg Boudrero. “We are excited to bring some real-work perspective. Sometimes, I think plans can go amazingly crazy and we have to have a gut check on what actually works.”

As a team, the MGB+A Consultants hold over 25 years of experience and collab-

oration with licenses and brokers. Additional members of the MGB+A Consultant team working on the town center include Principal Landscape Architect Jay Bollwinkel, Architect Christopher Lund (from NWL), Client Relations Manager Tanner Steenblik (from NWL), Director of Planning CJ Lindberg (from NWL), Economic Consultant Susan Becker (from ZPF), Civil Engineer Koby Morgan (from Ensign), Housing Developer Jeff Beck (from Beck + Partners), and Public Involvement Specialist Hilary Robertson (from Wilkinson, Ferrari & Co.).

“We are not just developers worried about how to get our toe in the work here,” assured Retail Developer Allen Clemons (from Sequel Development). “You have a unique opportunity where you can create a space where many people can visit the backdrop at the base of the Greatest Snow on Earth.”

MGB+A and the Steering Committee will work within the internal policies and priorities set by the Cottonwood Heights City Council and Wasatch Regional Council. The priorities set for the future town center established by city staff members and council include development with mixeduse housing, active transportation and public transit opportunities.

Meanwhile, Hillside Plaza remains idle. Some of the buildings have been vacant for years while others have the remains of previous ownership, like grocery store equipment

collecting dust in the old Reams building.

Cottonwood Heights Community and Economic Development Director Mike Johnson noted that he’s received calls of interest to lease out the buildings until the design for the town hall is completed and development is ready to go. However, interest from places like Halloween-themed stores, paintball arenas, and industrial furniture warehouses would be interested in leasing

out space that is move-in ready, which many of the buildings within the Hillside Plaza are not.

Johnson relayed to the council that if they were to look at leasing those buildings on a year-by-year basis with investment requirements, they would need to do further research on the tax implications. The council was generally opposed. l

Development consultants have already begun to imagine the future of the town center taking the place of Hillside Plaza but will be eliciting feedback and input from residents in the future to narrow down on specifics within the imagined design. (Photo courtesy of MGB+A Consultants)

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Preseason training prepares Brighton Football for new region play

BrightonFootball braved the heat of the summer to be ready to defend their string of three region championships. The step forward appears to reverse the early state playoff exits which over the last four years have been on the home Freestone Field.

The team started offseason training last February by lifting weights at 6 a.m. “The players, led by Captain Andrew Wood have been working really hard to improve themselves physically and it has showed in the first two games,” said head coach Casey Sutera.

The mid-August opening game was a proper test in the heat of St. George versus the No. 1 team in 4A, Desert Hills. The team preparation proved prescient as the Bengals, coming in from the relative cool of the north, dominated. Donovan Wismer had a breakout game against Desert Hills with two touchdowns. Jack Johnson, senior quarterback, showed his experience by throwing four touchdowns. “The one-two punch of Mason Haertel and Beau LaFleur at running back and the continued growth of our offensive line I think will be huge for our team as the season continues,” Sutera said.

The next game was even hotter against the No. 4 team in the state—6A powerhouse Syracuse. Sutera likes a tough non-conference schedule. “Yeah, we want to play good teams, especially early so we have adversity and can learn and grow,” he said.

The Bengals frustrated the Syracuse Titans until early in the fourth quarter when the Titans eked out a late win. Senior linebacker and captain Miles Morgan took command of the defense and already has three interceptions on the year. Senior defensive linemen Easton Adamson and Kimball Shill

By Jerry S. Christensen | j.christensen@mycityjournals.com

have combined for five sacks and 12 tackles for loss in the first two games. The Bengal defensive secondary Siale Ofa, Dylan Thomas, Kai Fuertes, and converted QB Kaden Morzelewski showed promise. TE Myles Peters with three touchdowns in the first two games has been a game changer for offense. And the team is benefiting from solid play of two-year returning starter QB Jack Johnson who, over the summer, was recruited to play for the Georgetown University Hoyas.

In addition to the hard work on the field, the team banded together to help the community during the spring flood preparations. The team filled 2,000 sandbags in disciplined production line precision.

“Coach Sutera genuinely cares about every player, teaching not just football skills, but also invaluable life lessons that will undoubtedly shape their success in college and beyond,” said Amber Shill, Canyons District board member and mother of Brighton senior DB Kimball Shill. “Kimball has been playing since he was 9 years old and he loves being on this team with the positive culture that second-year coach Sutera has cultivated.”

The Shills know a good team chemistry from Kimball’s uncle who played for the U of U and the Miami Dolphins. His grandfather and great grandfather paved the way playing for the U of U.

Good chemistry notwithstanding, can the Bengals win an unprecedented fourth straight Region 6 championship? “The newly reconfigured Region 6 is markedly more competitive with the addition of the Alta Hawks and the West Panthers,” Sutera said. The East Leopards and the Olympus Titans are also well equipped to land the coveted region championship

and make their marks at state. West, a new entrant to Region 6 competition, is just coming down from 6A competition where the Panthers advanced to the 6A quarterfinals.

The Deseret News, that had both Olympus and East picked ahead of Brighton last year at this time, has named the Brighton Bengals in preseason polling as the odds-on favorite team to win the new Region 6 championship. l

Community service is an important part of team dynamics with Brighton Football. (Photo Brighton High School)

Hopes are high for strong senior-led cross country teams at Brighton

The 2023 Brighton cross country team is positioning to make a move this year under the leadership of coaches Angie Welder and David Edmunds.

"A third of our team are seniors who have developed well over their four years here and have worked hard to make an impact this year. The depth of our senior-led boys and girls teams has been unmatched in the eight years since I've been here," Welder said.

Welder and Edmunds are co-head coaches that share responsibilities with both girls and boys teams. In cross country the top seven boys and girls race in varsity races and the top five boys and top five girls score with the lowest score winning. The girls squad placed second last week at the Premier Invite.

"We have three senior girls in Mesia Evans, Avery Parry and Hope Edmunds who have worked really hard through adversity and injury and should be grouped near the top of our region. We got the surprise of adding Daisy Dastrup from Maryland over the summer who is really fast and will help our girls compete really well at region and state. If we can keep everyone healthy this season this could be the best Brighton cross country team we have seen," Edmunds said.

By Jerry S. Christensen | j.christensen@mycityjournals.com

"Vance Langston, Carter Summers, Talmage Howe, Austin Langston and Cruz Hazen are all great runners and highly competitive, and I am excited to see how they help each other to compete for a region championship on the boys side," Welder said. "I am really proud of our whole team of 70 runners. Everyone gets an opportunity to compete and a place to belong. Our student-athletes really get along well and are supportive of each other through the JV ranks and are good about including our freshmen as well."

"We have preaching 'Better Together' to our teams this summer," Edmunds said. "In a sport like cross country, each individual is running as fast as they can. And more importantly, each individual performance contributes to the team's success. A rising tide lifts all ships and we see that start in practice and continue to race day, and coach Welder and I are excited to see how that plays out this year.”

Brighton cross country will race several meets this fall with the region championships on Sept. 29 at Sugar House Park and state on Oct. 24 at the Rose Park Athletic Facility. l

Brighton coach David Edmunds with boys varsity cross country team members Ethan Bryan, Talmage Howe, Cruz Hazen, Jonathan Fowles, Austin Langston, Ty Lubbers and Jonathan Dastrup. (Photo David Edmunds)

Brighton girls varsity cross country team members Harper Phillips, Hope Edmunds, Avery Parry, Daisy Dastrup, Erica Gatrell, Lia Timoney and Mesia Evans. (Photo David Edmunds)

Marina Nelson, owner/proprietor of Big Mountain Alchemy, has been selling handmade jewelry, one-of-a-kind art and stones for more than 25 years. She learned about crystal healing from her mother, who was a jewelry designer, specializing in the metaphysical aspects of stones to benefit her customers. Marina developed a love for the mineral kingdom’s abilities to be used as a universal healing tool and learned all she could about the spiritual aspects of Mother Earth’s gifts.

She has used the creative, artistic side of life as a form of therapy and has shared this with her customers through various aspects of that journey, whether it was through teaching alternative arts and crafting or by featuring a new art form. Tell us more about you, Marina.

I would say I am a jack of all trades in terms of New Age talents, artistic endeavors and how this has applied to my trade over the years. I believe my customers appreciate my honesty and vulnerability as much as they appreciate my knowledge and expertise. This is what I offer and what I share with those who come to Big Mountain Alchemy. I don’t think my shop is a predictable place to visit. Sure, we have incense and crystals, Tarot and jewelry, but there is so much more in terms of the unexpected little things that can change from day-to-day that contribute to an original experience in my store.

How long have you been in business?

Big Mountain Alchemy has been open in Trolley Square since December 2022. I have been doing festivals, markets, boutiques and private classes for 25+ years.

What products and services do you offer?

I offer a unique shopping experience for those seeking items for a

more intuitive and spiritual lifestyle. Crystals, jewelry, books, tarot, apothecary/bath items, local products, featured art, hand-picked new, second-hand and vintage clothing, and much more. Many of our items are from local artisans featured on consignment. What sets your company apart from competitors?

Big Mountain Alchemy provides an ever-changing collection of merchandise. I select stones and products from eco-friendly and ethical sources, offer sustainable options for clothing and accessories and provide products and artwork from local and regional artists. This is a large store with lots of amazing products to explore.

Big Mountain Alchemy provides personal attention to customers’ needs, not often seen in retail these days, primarily in customizing your experience and making suggestions from an intuitive, knowledgeable source.

Does your business solve a problem for customers?

We provide an original shopping experience for those seeking to support multiple local and small businesses. Locals, visitors, young to old; all demographics will find something that they love.

How do clients choose between you or a competitor?

It comes down to personal preference and a conscious decision to patronize a small business that is dedicated to spiritual living and sustainable lifestyles. I’ve been told the overall energy and experience is worth coming back for again and again.

What is your best advice for someone who is considering doing business with you?

Plan on spending a bit of time in the shop. It is a big, 1800 squarefoot space with lots to explore. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! When exploring new spiritual ideas, let your instincts be your guide and don’t overthink. Come with minimal expectations and be receptive.

Are you currently running any special or hosting any upcoming events?

We have a special running in the City Journal Value Pages and always have in-store weekly specials and Instagram specials. We will host in-person monthly readings from talented local psychics, offering specialties like tarot and crystal readings. Other events will include color, art and sound healing, art and (witchy) craft nights and more. Customers can follow us on Instagram for updates.

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Intense competition awaits Brighton in new Region 6

Oldrivalries re-emerge as the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) announced region realignments last December for Utah high school competitions. The first sports to be affected by the change begin season play as the new school year begins.

The newly announced region realignment brings the Alta Hawks back into direct competition with Brighton. The region becomes even deeper with the addition of the West Panthers—a school that was competitive in the 6A ranks until the realignment. Leaving the region are the Park City Miners and the Murray Spartans. These two schools join the movement in the 4A ranks that will push that classification to nearly double over the next few years. “The new Region 6 is more competitive top to bottom especially in football,” Brighton football coach Casey Sutera said.

“We’re excited to have new schools in our region. We have a long-standing rivalry with Alta and look forward to competing with West, a school that brings a wealth of history and tradition,” Brighton Principal Marielle Rawle said. Alta has been a Brighton rival since 1978 when Alta was a new school splitting off from Brighton. Principal Rawle, in her first year, is the first principal

By Jerry S. Christensen | j.christensen@mycityjournals.com

at Brighton who is an alumna of Brighton. She remembers the early ’80s as a student when Brighton athletics were unmatched in the state. These were years when Brighton would win seven state championships in a single year.

The realignment allows for another piece of flexibility. The UHSAA board of trustees also approved a motion that would allow for any school to apply to a higher classification in a specific sport or activity.

"The Association appreciates the tireless effort that our board of trustees performs during the realignment process," the UHSAA said in a statement. "Their hours of research, conversation and outreach during the realignment are crucial to creating a feasible alignment for Utah students."

Tom Sherwood, director of high schools in Canyons School District, said, “It has allowed more schools than ever to opt up and down in specific sports to help level the playing field in terms of individual sports versus whole school classification.” An example of this newly expanded rule is Orem High School which has moved to a 4A classification yet retains its 5A status only for its football program.

Once a school petitions and is placed in a higher classification, that school must

remain in the new classification for that specific sport for the duration of the established two-year realignment cycle.

The Lehi Pioneers, formerly a powerhouse in 5A athletics, moves up to the 6A classification while many Salt Lake County schools move down to the 5A classifi-

cation—Cyprus,

Granger, Hunter, Kearns, Taylorsville, Kearns, West and West Jordan. While realignment and classification changes swirl, Brighton can now focus on its Region 6 competition: Alta, East, Highland, Olympus, Skyline and West. l

Brighton will play its old rival Alta in the new Region 6. (File photo City Journals)

Utah Water Savers incentivizes homeowners to create waterwise landscapes

By Genevieve Vahl | g.vahl@mycityjournals.com

We’veall seen the waste of water. A sprinkler gushes water onto the concrete. The delicate rays of water to be dispersed evenly across the grass jumbled into a mass of unfettered drench reaching nothing but the hot concrete to evaporate into thin air. In arid Utah, that’s a problem.

“Approximately two-thirds of drinking water in Utah is used to water lawns and landscapes,” according to Utah State University’s extension Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping. “Much of this water is being applied inefficiently, either due to sprinkler system design flaws or because sprinklers are running too long.”

A unified approach to saving water

In May of this year, a program called Utah Water Savers, the nation’s first statewide landscape incentive program, rolled out, working to eliminate wasteful moments exactly like this. The Division of Water Resources has partnered with Central Utah, Jordan Valley, Washington County and Weber Basin Water Conservancy Districts to develop the program that gives rebates to qualified homeowners in municipalities that have adopted water efficiency standards, of up to $3 per square foot when they replace their grass with water efficient, or waterwise, landscaping.

The most recent legislative session allocated a one-time $5 million and an ongoing $3 million to the program, on top of the $5 million one-time allocation in 2022. “This means that the amount of money available to help homeowners reduce (they don’t have to entirely eliminate all lawn) have increased threefold,” said Cynthia Bee, the public information officer for the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District and one of the creators of the localscapes method.

These state funds are available to those living in municipalities that have adopted water efficiency standards for new construction—52 cities have already done so—and will be matched in areas served by Central Utah, Jordan Valley, Washington County and Weber Basin water conservancy districts. Cities will be added as landscape ordinances are updated to meet state requirements. “New construction will operate within some limits on how much lawn area they can have and how water is applied,” Bee said. “The incentives are intended to help those with existing landscapes who choose to convert them to the new standards, to do so more affordably.”

“I think having our new growth come in as waterwise as possible is going to make a significant difference because the water and the landscape decisions we make today impact our water use decisions for decades to come,” said Candace Hasenyager, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources.

“Every planning decision, every land use decision, is a water use decision,” Bee said.

The team concocting the program in-

volved experts from across the spectrum of industries, including horticulturists, maintenance staff, landscape construction, water experts, collaborating to create tangible, efficient solutions to the ongoing reckoning with drought, water shortages and rising populations in the West. “The last couple of years of drought has shown us that we need to do better and that we’re willing to do better,” Hasenyager said.

“Rather than trying to go through each funding source and municipality separately and make it really awkward, we built all of that calculating into the Utah Water Savers site,” Bee said. “Instead of each individual agency doing their own thing in their own program, we’ve all banned together in one unified approach.”

The localscapes method

Current homeowners can “flip their strip” or convert their yard entirely using the Utah Water Savers Program localscapes method, created specifically for Utah.

“Localscapes is an approach to landscaping that shows how to get landscapes that fit, rather than fight, our climate,” Bee said. They include waterwise plants, trees and shrubs local to Utah with different creative landscaping solutions to fill yards with purpose-

ful activities and zones, ultimately looking to remove nonfunctional grass. “There are parts of your landscape where the only time you’re there is when you’re pushing the lawn mower,” Bee said. Localscaping promotes looking at those nonfunctional turf areas and reevaluating what it could be used for.

“In places where there’s an active purpose for it, we want to be able to keep it, which means you can keep up to 35% lawn,” Bee said.

But where there is no active recreation point—the kids outgrew the playset, the park strip is not walked on—and with a minimum of 200 square feet, localscapes can “integrate water and land use planning,” to better serve the climate and the homeowner. “Changing out these different specialty zones becomes really easy over time and it makes the yard far simpler to manage,” Bee said.

“We want water efficient plants, but water efficient plants are only a plant with potential if you don't change how you're delivering water to that plant,” Bee said. Also no water is saved if the sprinkler system is inefficient. “In a localscape, we control that water, only providing water to the plants that we’re intentionally planting. We’re disadvantaging the weeds and you’re seeing fewer of them,” Bee

said.

To realistically get homeowners to convert their lawns into thriving localscapes, Utah Water Savers requires free classes, both in person or online, to teach how to apply localscapes correctly, within the water efficiency standards, giving tools on how to do it yourself. Hired out landscapers can also be used, depending on the homeowners’ budget. “We’re trying to provide a full slate of tools to help them accomplish the outcome,” Bee said.

To apply, go to utahwatersavers.com, enter your water provider or register for an account and you can see what type of rebates you qualify for in your municipality. For example, the process of submitting a landscape plan to be approved, completing the project within one year and maintaining the new landscape for a minimum of three years are common parameters.

“The key is you need to apply before you start,” Bee said. “We do not rebate retroactively, so don’t tear out anything until you’re approved in the program.”

Homeowners’ experiences

In the months since its launch, some homeowners talked about what is working and not working.

Draper homeowner Nancy Bromfield and her husband flipped their strip, side yards and front and backyards, removing 7,500 square feet of grass across the whole property. Because of their flagstone walkway in the back, they did not qualify for the rebate back there. “But we didn’t care. We still did it because we knew we wanted to save water and we knew it was the right thing to do,” she said.

Now between the front and back, their property has 2,500 square feet of grass. “We overseeded our water hogging grass with white Dutch clover,” a localscapes plant type, Bromfield said. They also added 40 tons of rock around their property amongst the waterwise plants. “Having these beautiful pollinator friendly, waterwise plants have brought us different varieties of bumble bees and hummingbirds and moths. It’s just amazing.”

When they bought their home in July 2013, the previous owners were using 115,000 gallons of water a month, making a bill of $147, with a winter consumption of 60,000 gallons. After implementing their localscape via Utah Water Savers in July of 2023 they have gotten their water consumption down to 13,000 gallons, over a 100,000 gallon difference. In addition to the water cuts, their lawn care efforts have been cut drastically too. “It used to take us 46 minutes to cut the grass, now it takes seven minutes, front and back,” Bromfield said.

They were once quoted $20,000 to $30,000 to redo their yard because of its sheer size. But with the localscape approach, their project cost about $4,000 with a rebate check

Waterwise plants dispersed within Nancy Bromfield’s front rock beds. (Nancy Bromfield)

of just over $1,000. “The rebate was about 25% of what we spent, but only 40% of what we did was rebate eligible,” Bromfield said.

To help find the right waterwise plants for her full-sun-all-day property, Bromfield attended localscape university classes, the required classes in person—which she found especially helpful—visited ConservationGardenPark.org/plants, as well as used the localscapes YouTube channel.

For others like Elizabeth Sweat and her husband, who are a part of a homeowners association in Draper, the online classes proved trivial, but they found visiting the Jordan Valley Water’s Conservation Garden Park much more helpful in their project vision. “They had all different stations and you could learn and look at examples and I grabbed brochures. That was more educational than anything,” Sweat said. Although the couple did the work themselves, they found the process more expensive than expected. “Once manufacturers and rock companies saw that the state was paying, they jacked up their prices,” Sweat said.

They also had to make several runs to the county dump to dispose of their 90 square feet of sod they removed per project requirements, tacking on unexpected expenses. Bromfield left her ripped up sod out for free for the taking, and about three quarters of it was gone by the end of the day. The rest they had to take to the dump. “Unfortunately,” she said.

Both homeowners did most of the work themselves and both found it difficult to get an initial inspection because of increased demand. But once someone did finally make it to their properties, it was a five to 10 minute review.

Ultimately, both homeowners would recommend the program to others. “I would rec-

A recycling refresher: What, where and how

By Ella Joy Olsen | e.olsen@mycityjournals.com

ommend it if you want to flip your strip, but if you’re trying to make some money on it, it won’t,” Sweat said.

“I would definitely recommend it. It’s really weird how I didn’t like gardening and now I have my plants and I really enjoy taking care of them,” Bromfield said. “It’s really cool the world that it opened up for me that I had no idea of.”

Time for a change

“Doing a small project is a great place to start. You don’t have to commit your whole landscape. Commit your park strip, your side yard,” Bee said. “Test everything out that we’re teaching and verify for yourself before you obligate yourself to do more.”

Since the launch, there have been over 2,500 applications across the state and another 460 flip your strip applications. “That’s almost 3,000 applications, which is pretty amazing,” Hasenyager said. In Washington County alone, just over 600,000 square feet of grass has already been removed, according to Hasenyager.

“We’re in a change window, we have to change, that’s non-negotiable,” Bee said. “What we’re figuring out is how do we do it in a way that is the most orderly and accomplishable for people.”

“Not only is there more water in our reservoirs and groundwater, less is evaporated that completely leaves the system. There’s more that goes into our lakes and streams including the Great Salt Lake,” Hasenyager said. “I think there’s a really good incentive for people to do it. Not only for those that are here today and making our current water supply more resilient, but also those that might be here tomorrow.”l

Thepizza box is empty, but gooey cheese bits stick to the corners. Susan Reese, a Murray resident, heads for her blue recycle bin because, as she claims, “Cardboard is recyclable.”

But is it?

“We usually recommend people rip off the top of the pizza box to recycle, and put the greasy bottom in the trash,” McKenna Tupa’i, the sustainability coordinator for Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling, said on the City Cast podcast. “Because paper items soaked in food waste can’t be recycled.”

But what if you don’t? Does one cheesy pizza box ruin a whole blue bin’s worth of recycling?

It does not. “This is a common myth,” continued Tupa’i. “Only the items that have directly touched the food waste, and typically only paper products that absorb, would have to be trashed.”

Plastic and glass containers with a little food left in them, as long as it’s not drippy, will be rinsed and recycled. And don’t bother soaking off those labels, they’re fine.

So what can you recycle?

Plastic: things like detergent tubs, soda bottles, plastic Starbucks cups, and those plastic berry/greens containers. Basically, plastic types 1 through 7. No plastic bags or liners of any sort because they gum up the machine.

Household metals: soda cans, empty aerosol and tin cans.

Paper: cardboard, junk mail, newspaper, cereal and other boxes. No shredded paper because it gums up the machine. Unfortunately, no paper with waxy coating (like almond milk containers) or paper envelopes lined with plastic.

Hard to recycle items: some things are harder to recycle than others. Some items, like batteries and remote controls, contain hazardous materials that require special handling. But there are options. Here’s an example or two:

mattresses at Spring Back Utah; electronics at Best Buy; plastic bags and packaging at WinCo, Walmart and Smith’s.

You can find a handy and comprehensive list at wasatchfrontwaste.org/about/faqs or slco.org/recycle/hard-to-recycle-items/.

Glass: glass isn’t lumped in with blue bin recycling items for the safety of the handlers, however it’s infinitely recyclable, so you should try to recycle it. Most Salt Lake Valley residents can sign up for a glass recycling container (start-up cost of $45 and additional $8/month fee), or take glass bottles to one of many locations valley wide. For a map, see utah.momentumrecycling.com/recycling-services-homes/#dropoff.

What happens to the materials in the blue bin once they leave your home?

The specific recycler who processes your household items depends on your address, but your local MRF (Material Recovery Facility), collects, sorts and bales like-recyclable items. Bales of aluminum or plastic or paper are sold and transferred to one of many processing sites across North America. From there the materials are turned into pellets and resold to be remolded into fresh aluminum, glass, steel, paper or plastic consumer items.

Sometimes it seems like we only recycle to make ourselves feel better about our consumption, so are there actual benefits to recycling?

Of course employing reusable items, like ceramic plates from your cupboard or cloth napkins is the best, but recycling reduces the landfill and it also creates jobs. Most importantly it saves energy and natural resources, as the virgin materials do not have to be mined for manufacturing in the first place. “If you recycle just one glass bottle it saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours, power a computer for 30 minutes, or a television for 20 minutes,” Tupa’i said. “So it’s worth it.” l

Waterwise plants finally taking space in the Bromfield’s front localscape. (Nancy Bromfield)

Bins lined curbside on garbage day. Brown is yard waste, blue is recycling, green is headed for the landfill. (Ella Joy Olsen/City Journals)

•

•

Please

Understanding Grief: Caring

for Yourself, Caring for Others

Thursday, September 14, 2023

6:45–8pm

Larkin Sunset Gardens Mortuary 1950 East Dimple Dell Road, Sandy, Utah

SPEAKER

William G. (Bill) Hoy, PH.D., FT

Author • Educator • Grief Counselor • Chaplain

Bereavement is not about “recovery,” but rather, about finding renewed life. The basic task for a bereaved person is to learn to live in a radically–changed world that no longer includes the physical relationship with our loved one. In this practical, community workshop, Dr. Bill Hoy will help bereaved people and those who care for them understand the practical steps to take charge of their grief and live again, even in the aftermath of incredible sorrow. For those in attendance who are curious about how to help, there will be ample ideas for the practical things to say and do (as well as to not say and do!).

During the workshop, we’ll find answers together to questions like:

• What simple actions can I take now to get my life back on track?

• Is what I’m feeling and seeing normal?

• How do I deal with well–meaning friends and their unwanted advice?

• The holidays are coming; what in the world are we going to do without them?

This event is complimentary of Larkin Mortuary and registration is not required.

For more information, call (801) 571-2771

Wasatch Wanderers presented with the Governor’s Spirit of Service Award

AdisonSmith thought she was being scammed when she got the email from the governor’s office. But when they reached out a second time, Smith realized the email was legit and her nonprofit was being honored with the Governor’s Spirit of Service Award.

Smith is the president of Wasatch Wanderers, an animal rescue organization that has saved nearly 1,000 abandoned or injured domestic waterfowl and exotic animals since it was founded in September 2021. The award recognizes the group’s efforts to rescue animals and educate the public.

“The Spirit of Service winners are amazing examples of why Utah leads the nation in volunteerism and service,” said Gov. Spencer Cox. “I am honored to pay them tribute and recognize the good they are doing in our great state.”

Wasatch Wanderers was selected from hundreds of nominations submitted to the governor’s office this year. Smith and co-founder Kade Tyler attended the ceremony at the Utah State Capitol in July. She hopes the recognition will bring more attention to their cause.

“We’re asking the public to share this important message that not only is it illegal to abandon animals, but it’s also extremely cruel,” Smith said.

The group’s focus is on saving waterfowl and animals that aren’t considered typical pets including ducks, geese, pigs, turtles, goats, hamsters and guinea pigs. Wasatch Wanderers make it their goal to show just how valuable these animals really are.

During the last two years, Smith said she’s seen a change of mindset as people learn the dangers of abandoning domestic wildlife. Parents have told her they stopped releasing

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com

ducks, geese, turtles and fish into public lakes and streams after hearing the Wasatch Wanderers message.

Cities have also reached out to the organization to help rescue animals in their waterways. Smith would like to get more cities on board with the idea of rescue instead of euthanization.

“The choice of euthanizing all of those animals over and over and over again every single year isn't making a difference,” Smith said. “They continue to have the same amount of people buying the animals and abandoning them. And if they don't understand that, they're not getting the point.”

As Wasatch Wanderers grows in visibility, it needs more foster homes, people willing to adopt animals and more donations to keep the effort going. The goal is to one day purchase property to have a rescue facility where people can drop-off or adopt animals. For more information, or to see a list of animals available for adoption, visit WasatchWanderers.org and follow its social media pages.

Smith is optimistic that change is possible and is pleased with the progress they’ve made in the last two years. She’s had parents tell her they had no idea it was illegal to abandon geese or ducks in the wild. They didn’t know it was a danger to the animals and the environment.

“In the animal community, change takes forever, so seeing this change means everything,” Smith said. “One of my favorite things to do, when we teach an educational group, is to watch the parents’ faces of the children we’re teaching. They're just totally floored. So it’s neat to watch and it’s big. Hopefully, with the parents hearing it too, we could possibly change traditions or choices for generations to come.”l

Dazzling the skies: Drone light shows take flight

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com

During the Cottonwood Heights Butlerville Days celebration, a merging of lights and technology took center stage in the night sky. Residents gathered to watch a mesmerizing drone show, where art and innovation collide.

Cottonwood Heights Culture Manager Ann Eatchel added the drone show to this year’s celebration after meeting with Open Sky, a drone light show company. She wanted to bring a new element to the annual celebration and offer an alternative to fireworks.

Not quite breaking with tradition, Eatchel scheduled the drone show for Friday night and the regular fireworks show for Saturday. There was mixed reaction from residents for both shows.

“Some people left the drone show saying that was the coolest thing ever…It didn’t have the loud noises that can scare pets and it doesn’t leave the smoke and pollution a fireworks show does,” Eatchel said. “And then I had people say no, I’m a fireworks person. I gotta have the booms, gotta have the sparkles. So it totally went both ways.”

Cities across Salt Lake County are choosing drone shows over fireworks for celebrations. Salt Lake City held a drone show for its Fourth of July event and the city of South Jordan teamed with LiveDAYBREAK to bring a drone show to city residents.

Nate Mortensen, Open Sky CEO, said demand for drone shows has increased significantly. Last year, the company did about 30 shows, but now they’re doing that many each month. He says comparing drone shows to fireworks is an apples to oranges situation. While drones can’t replicate the pop and sizzle of fireworks, the show provides cities with the ability to person-

alize the production and tell a story.

“We customize and change the show to match the theme of each event that we fly and use this as a storytelling opportunity as opposed to just entertainment,” Mortensen said. “If you can imagine staring at the sky and seeing shooting stars or meteors crossing the sky, it happens so quick, but you really remember that experience. A drone show is 10 to 13 minutes of choreographed shooting stars that you're watching in the sky.”

A customized drone show’s cost can be equivalent to a fireworks show, usually starting around $15,000, based on the

number of drones used. Most city shows average 150 drones but Open Sky has created shows using hundreds of drones at a six-figure cost.

Proponents of drone shows say drones are better for the environment and safer for residents than traditional fireworks. But while a fireworks show can last up to 30 minutes, a drone show lasts about half that time.

Each drone costs thousands of dollars and battery life lasts about 14 minutes. Mortensen has found that’s a great length of time to keep the audience engaged without losing their attention.

The Cottonwood Heights event featured 150 drones with music and was customized to include the city’s logo and the logo of two event sponsors. If she has her way, Eatchel would love to offer both a drone and fireworks show at next year’s Butlerville Days.

“I have a whole plan if the council wants to move forward,” she said. “But I’m here to do what the council wants, what the Butlerville Days committee wants and what the public wants.”

As drone technology evolves, Mortensen expects the Open Sky shows to bring more creativity, choreography and customization to his clients. He’s excited to see what comes next and he challenges everyone to get out to see a drone show in person.

“Watching [a drone show] online is a great way to see it. But it’s much different in person when you see the size and the scale of these formations that are hundreds of feet wide and hundreds of feet tall. It’s really something to behold,” he said. “The most common takeaway we hear from people after a show is they didn't know what to expect….It just exceeds their expectations when they finally see one in person.” l

Adison Smith (right) president of Wasatch Wanderers, and cofounder Kade Tyler, received the Governor’s Spirit of Service Award for their work in rescuing abandoned or injured domestic waterfowl and exotic pets. (Photo courtesy of Adison Smith)

Cottonwood Heights residents enjoyed the city’s first drone show during Butlerville Days, as more cities explore drone show options. (Photo courtesy of Cottonwood Heights)

Pet therapy: A scratch behind the ears for humans

By Ella Joy Olsen | e.olsen@mycityjournals.com

Sometimes it feels like a dog’s life

If you’re lonely or stressed there’s nothing like having someone to lean on, who will listen without judgement to what’s been getting you down, someone who doesn’t give unsolicited or unhelpful advice, someone who doesn’t care if you are sick, or old or anxious.

Now what if this someone was also cute and soft and they met you in the place where you needed them the most, say at school just before a big exam or in the hospital when you’re not feeling so great?

An Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI), or more familiarly pet therapy, can provide that special someone for humans who could use a “scratch behind the ears.” Utah Pet Partners is a local nonprofit provider of pet therapy and is dedicated to improving human health and well-being, in partnership with therapy animals.

“These sweet dogs help release anxiety during exam week,” said Heather Panek, the dean of nursing at Arizona College of Nursing in Murray, where therapy pets visit on a monthly basis to ease the stress of test taking. “There’s nothing more beneficial for our students than a laugh, a snuggle, and a moment or two with no worries.”

Where to get some puppy love

Utah Pet Partners collaborates with about 100 volunteer teams (pet and owner). Teams are often deployed to Primary Children’s Hospital and other hospitals around the state, local veterans homes, and memory care and assisted living facilities. At times they are summoned for crisis response and suicide prevention at mental health facilities.

There is empirical evidence that therapy animals reduce anxiety, improve healing time, and increase motivation for accomplishing difficult tasks (among many other positive outcomes). “Dekker knows just when people need to feel supported and when they need to be leaned into,” said Whitney Stewart, Pet Partners human volunteer, and owner of Dekker, a black standard poodle. “He doesn’t shy away.”

Therapy animals are frequent visitors to elementary schools, where their presence has proven benefits on emergent readers. When a child has someone to read out loud to, someone who will endlessly listen and not judge as they sound out words, they are willing to try harder and read

longer, improving comprehension, test scores, and most importantly the love of reading.

One local volunteer team, Rum -

ble (and his human companion Megan Stewart), have weekly visits at Brookhaven Elementary, where the fourth-grade class has named them -

Dekker and his human companion Whitney Stewart visit the Arizona College of Nursing campus in Murray during exam week. (Ella Joy Olsen/City Journals)

Volunteer teams frolic at the volunteer appreciation picnic at Wheeler Farm. (Photo Utah Pet Partners)

selves Rumble’s Readers and eagerly look forward to his attention.

Teams typically visit for about an hour to 90 minutes. There is no charge for a visit, as the organization is donation and volunteer based. However, for-profit companies will be asked for a donation. The visits are not intended for entertainment or novelty, they are therapeutic.

Purrrrfect Partner - Qualifications of a Volunteer team

About 90% of therapy animals are dogs, but many animals are eligible to volunteer in a pet team varying from cats to birds to llamas (no wild or exotic animals like iguanas).

“There is a handler course and an in-person evaluation each team must pass,” said Melany Hillstead, executive director of Utah Pet Partners. “We need to know how the pet will respond if they are hugged, or petted by people with limited mobility, and how they will respond in a stressful situation or in a crowd.”

The national Pet Partners organization provides the teams with professional handler training, support and mentoring, careful team assessment, and they have a commitment to animal welfare. Once the team passes the tests and a health examination, and becomes a registered Pet Partner team, they will be available for visits. Insurance is provided and the location of the visit is vetted for safety of the volun -

teers.

Treats for good behavior

The best reward for volunteering with Utah Pet Partners is the pleasure of helping others and in sharing the love of a good animal. But the organization also provides an annual volunteer appreciation picnic. This year it was held at Wheeler Farm and included dinner, a prize drawing, and games and treats for the pets. A doggone good time was had by all.

Canyons School District welcomes its new teachers in style

To inquire about a Pet Partner visit or to volunteer, visit utahpetpartners.org l After walking the red carpet to the sounds of a high school drumline, cheering of student body officers and swishing of cheerleader pom poms, more than 200 new

teachers could check out local business and community organization booths and enjoy a hot dog barbecue welcoming them to Canyons School District and the school year.

These puppy eyes make everything less stressful. Moses is a Utah Pet Partners volunteer. (Photo Utah Pet Partners)

Photo by Julie Slama

Local skaters’ revolutionary skateboard brake changes the game

Theworld of skateboarding is about to change – big time. Thanks to some innovative engineering and smart marketing, VibeRide has introduced the world’s first braking system for skateboards.

The brake adds an element of control and safety to the skateboard, never before seen in the sport. Founded by young, local skaters, VibeRide is taking the industry by storm.

Charlie Cannon (23), Carson Macdonald (22) and Chris Goodhue (27), were students at the University of Utah who came up with the idea to create a longboard brake and spent several years doing research and development before acquiring the design and patent of Brakeboard, an earlier braking system.

Once the patent was acquired, the team began the process of changing, updating and perfecting the design and VibeRide recently launched the finished product.

“It’s like a mini disc brake system. In fact, the only place we could get the ceramic discs was an actual car factory,” Cannon said. “You put pressure down [on the brake] and the pressure

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com

gets equally distributed across these two disc brakes. The disc brakes close and then wears down that actual ceramic disc rather than wearing down your wheel.”

Before brakes, Cannon said he was always wearing the soles off his shoes, trying to stop his board on the steep hills near the university. But the skate brake is a life-changing (and shoe saving) device that can be installed on any board, or skaters can buy a board with the system already included.

Cannon, a former Sandy resident, is no stranger to success. During COVID, he founded EXO Drones, making millions of dollars before selling the company. Using the proceeds from the sale, he co-founded VibeRide with Macdonald, Goodhue and Australian partner Alex Beveridge, and they’re all riding a mega ramp of success.

The braking system was a hit at this year’s Outdoor Retail Expo and the company made more than $50,000 in sales in the first couple of months.

On the VibeRide TikTok channel @viberide.co, videos demonstrate the efficiency and ease of the brake,

Did you know that every 10-foot square in the world is assigned a three-word code for navigation purposes and that those three words could potentially be life-saving in an emergency?

Draper and Sandy Fire Departments held a joint news conference in July to announce their use of the What3words app and to encourage hikers and recreationists to make use of it as well. To that end, the cities shared the cost and purchased signs to be posted at local trailheads with a QR code for the app.

“Look it up on the app store or just scan the QR code at the trailhead…it’s self-explanatory,” said Sandy’s Deputy Chief Ryan McConaghie.

Draper Fire Chief Clint Smith explained that the two fire departments often work cooperatively. “Sandy and Draper share a border and rely on each other heavily on a day-to-day basis. If Sandy is responding as mutual aid, they can use it, and vice-versa,” Smith said.

Sandy Fire and Emergency personnel had already used it three times prior to the press conference and Draper’s department also had a success story to share. “We’re very fortunate to have a vast trail system with nearly 4,000 acres of open space in Draper and a 100-mile trail system. The challenge

and the brand is quickly gaining fans. Cannon was recently invited to make a YouTube video with Braille Skateboarding, a platform with nearly 6 million followers.

“We all love making videos and we make pretty fun videos,” Cannon said. “We have these crazy video ideas. We can put the brakes on anything. We’re gonna turn some wild objects into skateboards, like an old flat screen television, and two-by-fours.”

They consider this product a great fit for Utah, with all the hills and canyon roads. Cannon believes the skateboard brake is perfect for the unique landscape in the state and will give skaters access to new rides and adventures. For more information, visit VibeRide.com.

“For us here, it truly changes the way we get to skateboard and longboard and go down these hills and streets and sidewalks and campuses that we never could before,” Cannon said. “It’s so fun. We’re gonna make a whole video series in places like Little Cottonwood and Emigration Canyon just to show people how game-changing this really is.” l

App could literally save your life

By Mimi Darley Dutton | m.dutton@mycityjournals.com

we have is when people are in need of help… finding them can be difficult. Every minute costs to be able to render aid,” Smith said. He shared the story of three women who’d gone hiking in Draper, one of whom fell and hurt her ankle. “Using the app, we were able to extricate them within about 15 minutes,” he said.

Officials from both cities explained that because of the vast trails in each city, recreationists can easily lose track of where they are, or start out on one trail and unknowingly end up on another because of trails that intersect. In an emergency, that makes it difficult to find them quickly, but that’s where the app comes into play. “It’s hard to give landmarks, but a 10-square-foot mark…increases your chance of survival,” Sandy Fire Chief Jeff Bassett said.

The three-words assigned to each 10-square-foot area are random, combinations such as “potato, answer, spins” or “fears, point, field”, but they could save critical time when even seconds count.

“Before you venture out, use that QR code to download the app,” Bassett said.

“We think this is a critical resource.” l

Draper and Sandy’s fire departments often work cooperatively in emergencies. Both cities invested in signs for local trailheads to encourage recreationists to use the What3words app so emergency personnel can more quickly find people in need of help. “Every minute costs to be able to render aid,” said Draper Fire Chief Clint Smith. (Courtesy Draper City)

VibeRide’s new skateboard braking system allows skaters to ride hills with more control and safety. The device was created by three University of Utah students. (Photos courtesy of VibeRide)

Carmelite Fair returns with events for the entire family

TheCarmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary monastery in Holladay prepares to welcome a crowd of thousands to its annual Carmelite Fair.

Twelve cloistered nuns live, work and pray at the monastery. The nuns are independent of the diocese and live solely on alms. Donations received from the Carmelite Fair provide 80% of the monastery’s yearly income.

There are more than 150 volunteers serving on fair committees to support the daylong event. Engineers, attorneys, business owners and many others donate time to chair committees. Chris Bertram, chairperson for the fair, was the former Chief of Police in Holladay until he retired in 2015. After retiring, he began to take more of an active role as chairperson for the Carmelite Fair.

“I became involved in the fair with my dad,” Bertram said. “My dad, a retired FBI agent, was the chairperson for the fair for over 25 years. Fair preparation begins soon after the fair ends. We meet as a committee and talk about what went well and what needed to be improved. Starting in January our volunteer committees begin to meet monthly. Everything provided at the fair is donated from individuals or businesses. Most businesses have been donating for decades. The nuns pray for peace in the community. They pray for peace in the world. That is their vocation. They live a life of prayer every day. Our job as volunteers is to help provide funds so they can continue.”

Silent auction chairperson, Mary Solak, has a committee of five volunteers who work up to six hours a day four days a week beginning in February to prepare gift baskets for the silent auction. After gift basket donations are received, the committee creates over 250 gift baskets to be auctioned off at the fair.

“The silent auction committee has a certain quality level for the gift baskets,” Solak said. “Each year we want to be sure to retain a high bar for everything auctioned. We have support and donations for the baskets coming in from all over Utah as well as other states in the United States.”

According to Bertram, it takes a lot of effort to prepare the monastery for the day-

By Collette Hayes | c.hayes@mycityjournals.com

long event. Juan Diego High School students will arrive early the morning before the fair to prepare the monastery grounds. The Judge Memorial High school football team will gather at the monastery after the event to take down event booths and provide general cleanup of the monastery.

“Our volunteers have become so dear to us,” Mother Therese said. “They come from all different parts of the Salt Lake Valley, all for the love of the nuns. We are here to serve the Lord by praying for the community as well as the entire world. The Lord takes care, and the Lord will provide.”

This year, an original oil on canvas painting donated by renowned Canadian contemporary visual artist Peter Winnett will be auctioned. Handmade goods, including embroidered items made by the nuns, a food court, dancers from around the world, giveaways such as a 2023 Kia and many prizes and games including a new duck derby in the children’s area will all be part of this year’s fair.

The lineup for Carmelite events:

Sunday, Sept. 17: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Carmelite Fair, Carmelite Monastery (5714 Holladay Blvd.). There will be limited parking near the monastery. Shuttle service will be available in the community at four different locations. For shuttle information visit: www.carmelslc.org/carmelite-fair/.

Saturday, Sept 9: 8 a.m. 12th annual Golf for the Nuns Tournament, Old Mill Golf Course, shotgun scramble format. For tournament information contact dvgarcia8@ gmail.com.

Sunday, Sept. 17: 8-9 a.m. 12th annual 5K “Run for the Nuns” walk/run. The start and finish lines will be at the Carmelite Monastery. $25 registration fee. The race is open to all age levels and fitness abilities. For race information contact runforthenuns@gmail. com.

For more information about the Carmelite Fair visit: www.carmelslc.org/carmelite-fair.

For questions about how to become a volunteer or make a donation to the Carmelite Monastery of Salt Lake visit their website at: carmelslc.org. l

Handmade goods, including embroidered items made by the nuns, a food court, dancers from around the world, a 2023 Kia giveaway and many prizes and games, including a new duck derby in the children’s area, will all be part of this year’s Carmelite Fair.

After gift basket donations are received, the silent auction committee creates over 250 gift baskets to be auctioned off at the Carmelite Fair. (Photo credit Erika Solak)

On Sunday, Sept. 17, the 12th annual 5K “Run for the Nuns” walk/run will be held. Start and finish lines will be at the Carmelite Monastery in Holladay. The race is open to all age levels and fitness abilities.

(Photo credit Erika Solak)

(Photo credit Erika Solak)

Why do we continue to see labor shortages, even with big wage increases?

The labor market continues to be a puzzle. The unemployment rate is back to where it was before the pandemic and the number of jobs created is much higher than analysts expected. However, we still struggle to bring people off the sidelines and back into the labor force. Shouldn’t a strong economy entice more people to work?

This is one of the challenges the Federal Reserve faces as it tries to bring the economy back to normal. The Fed is targeting “below-trend” growth in the economy to cool things back down after several years of overheating. But in doing so, the Fed runs the risk of pushing it into a recession.

Inflation is down significantly compared to last year, but price increases remain too high. While supply chains are largely back to normal, some sectors are seeing “sticky” price increases that are struggling to come down. This includes the service sector, where price hikes are primarily driven by wage increases rather than input prices. So, when the Fed says they want below-trend growth, what they mean is they need the labor market to slow.

One of the main measures of labor market strength is the labor force participation rate, which measures the pool of poten-

By Robert Spendlove, Zions Bank Senior Economist

tial workers available in the economy.

The U.S. labor force participation rate peaked in 2000 at 67.3%. Since then, it has been gradually trending lower, dropping to 63.3% in early 2020 as baby boomers reached retirement age and left the labor force. This “silver tsunami” of retiring boomers wasn’t a surprise, but the COVID pandemic caused the wave to crash.

In two months, from February to April 2020, the participation rate dropped to 60.1%, as 22 million people lost their jobs during the outbreak of COVID. Since the pandemic, the participation rate has been slowly increasing as groups of people return to the workforce. But the rate currently only stands at around 62.6%, and it hasn’t increased in four months. This gap in labor participation represents millions of people who haven’t come back off the sidelines to return to the workforce.

Different groups have had unique reactions to the pandemic economic shocks. The labor force participation of “prime age” workers who are between 25 and 54 years old dropped initially in 2020 but has since fully recovered and is now higher than before the start of the pandemic. However, the labor participation rate of workers

55 years and older is still far below levels from 2020. The participation rate for this age group has been trending lower for the past 18 months.

This imbalance in the labor market is one of the main targets of Federal Reserve policy actions. Since it is very difficult to increase the supply of labor and get people to come out of retirement and return to the labor force, the Fed instead is focused on reducing the demand for labor. Rising interest rates increase the cost of business borrowing, which should slow demand for

workers.

However, many businesses are reluctant to let workers go and job vacancy rates remain high. It’s still too early to tell whether a soft landing is possible or whether the overheated economy will cool too quickly over the next few months. If the current labor market conditions continue, this could represent a new normal and we won’t return to pre-pandemic labor force participation. Dynamic economies like we have in the United States can adjust, but the road ahead remains foggy. l

GREGORY S. ANDERSON, DPM

Foot & Ankle

Dr. Anderson joins Granger Medical Clinic from Steward Medical Group. He is a native of Salt Lake City and has been involved in the training of residents and fellows for over 25 years. He has devoted time and resources to ‘Amanaki Fo’ou by teaching limb salvage, foot/ankle surgery, and wound care. Dr.

“ Robert and Mark were great! We had pipes burst at night and they were right there to help us get the water shut off and to help us get all the water out and dried. They were both professional, communication was great and they were thorough.I would recommend them to anyone! ”

—Anna D

Anderson found this to be incredibly rewarding and was able to mentor young Tongan surgical residents in complicated foot surgeries due to diabetic-related foot infections.

Dr. Anderson’s philosophy is to use conservative treatment plans to help avoid surgery when possible. He performs complicated foot and ankle and revision surgeries. He enjoys teaching, training, and mentoring residents/fellows through the IMC Podiatric Residency Program. He is a fellowship director for the ACFAS and is board certified.

In a recent national study, a concerning trend has come to light within our police departments. Law Enforcement agencies across the country are facing challenges in recruiting new officers, and what's more, a growing number of officers are opting to leave their positions or retire earlier than expected (Source: Police Executive Research Forum).

We know that when a police force is stretched thin, struggling to respond promptly to emergencies and investigate crimes, it impacts our community’s safety. The heart of effective policing lies in the experience and expertise of our officers. If we find ourselves with a shortage of seasoned officers, it could affect the quality of training, decision-making, and overall effectiveness of law enforcement agencies.

The life of a police officer is anything but easy. They face a multitude of demands, carrying the weight of public expectations on their shoulders. Every day, they confront challenging, and sometimes heart-wrenching, situations. It's important to recognize that amidst the stress, many officers are driven by a genuine desire to make a positive impact in their communities. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that prolonged exposure to stressors can take a toll on their mental well-being, leading to burnout and other health issues. We must stand together to support their journey toward mental wellness.

As a society, it is our responsibility to treat our police officers with empathy and respect. While constructive feedback is valuable, it's equally important to remember that the weight of their responsibilities can impact their mental health. Demonstrating appreciation and understanding will go a long way in boosting their morale and overall well-being.

Police officers are not just symbols in uniform – they are individuals with families, emotions, and aspirations. The pressures they face on the job can ripple into their personal lives, affecting their relationships and overall happiness. Recognizing their humanity and the toll their profession takes on their mental health enables us to build a community that truly values those who safeguard us.

Challenges police officers endure are immense, often exposing them to traumatic events and high-stress situations. Research indicates that police officers are more suscepti-

ble to mental health struggles compared to the general population.

As a united community, we can make a difference by offering support for the emotional well-being of our police officers. Express your gratitude for their dedication and support programs focusing on mental health training for both officers and the public. Educate yourself and those around you about recognizing

signs of mental health issues and providing a compassionate hand.

By standing together, we can ignite a positive transformation. Let's prioritize the mental well-being of our law enforcement officers, ensuring they have the necessary support and resources to thrive personally and professionally. In doing so, we fortify our police force, cultivating safer and stronger communities for all.

Last month, I watched the neighborhood kids trudge back to school. Hunched under the weight of heavy backpacks, the little Quasimodos marched into the school year carrying a 300-page summer homework packet, an associate’s degree they earned at math camp, 750 colored pencils, scissors, an emotional support stuffed animal, cleaning products, a mass spectrometer, a non-BPA bento box and some allergen-free crackers.

When I attended elementary school in the 1900s, we didn’t use backpacks. They hadn’t been invented. It was too cumbersome to drag our handcart to school, so we carried our math, history, language, science, reading and social studies books home in our arms every night.

Most kids didn’t fail because they didn’t understand the homework, they failed because they were too weak to carry 50 pounds of textbooks.

Parents and educators set the bar for us at “extremely low” and we were lucky to hit that. One of my biggest challenges came in fourth grade when I started the school year wearing homemade avocado-green culottes. And it got worse. My Bionic Woman lunchbox had an unreliable latch, so I spent lunchtime worrying my PB&J would fall onto the floor and

Getting Schooled

Peri Kinder

everyone would laugh.

Not sure if I learned anything that year.

The motto at the elementary school near my home is “Academically smart, character strong.” I don’t think my school had a motto, unless it was “Sit down and shut up.” It wasn’t that our teachers didn’t care, they just thought “quiet reading time” or “rest your heads on your desks” was the best way to spend the majority of our day.

But that first day of school was always exciting. New school supplies had to be arranged carefully in my desk, including a brand new cardboard pencil box with a built-in pencil sharpener that was never sharp enough to create a point. It just mangled the top of my pencils, leaving a broken lead I kept pushing back into place.

And, of course, there had to be space

for my colorful hoppy taw, for hopscotch, and a bag of cat’s-eyes so I could shoot marbles at recess. Not real cat’s eyes. I’m not that old.

My grandson is in sixth grade, taking classes like flight science, robotics and computer engineering. When I was in sixth grade, we wrapped eggs in styrofoam and threw them off the school roof.

#Science

Luckily for today’s hard-working students, they get vacation days all the time. They’re off for Burning Man and Mardi Gras and Oktoberfest and (ironically) International Literacy Day. In the 1970s, we had Christmas Day off and a half-day for Thanksgiving. We didn’t even miss school for being sick. We just took our pneumonia-filled lungs to class and hoped we didn’t die during recess.

I’m not saying elementary school was better in the 20th century. It wasn’t. Not at all. If we could eat with a spoon in kindergarten, we would be at the top of the class. Kids who knew the difference between a letter and a number were named class president. Our role models were Bugs Bunny and the Muppets, so we were trained early in sarcasm.

Kids are so much smarter now than we ever were. I’m amazed at what my grandkids learn. I have a 7-year-old granddaughter learning Spanish and a 6-year-old granddaughter building LEGO robots. When I was their age, my biggest challenge was learning cat’s cradle. I guess the content in those heavy backpacks is paying off.

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“Dozens of doctors told me that there was nothing more that they could do to expect to be in a wheel chair. I went from the top 1% in the army Special Forces to being in so much pain that I could not tie my shoe or hold my new daughter. I did physical therapy and pain killers for years, but nothing worked. Finally, I went to Dr. Smith and I improved exactly as he told me I would. I couldn’t believe it! My wife cried, “I have my husband back.”

—Steve M., Army Special Forces

CSCS Chiropractic Physician