Murray Journal | October 2022

MURRAY

While highly sought-after walkable communities with many bicycle options are often left to a municipality to figure out, Murray City joined six other communities to ex pand those options beyond its borders. At the Aug. 23 Murray City Council meeting, the council approved a resolution com mitting itself to the Mid-Valley Active Transportation Plan (Mid-Valley ATP).

The Mid-Valley ATP connects and develops an active transportation Backbone Network (bike lanes and walkways) across six cities: Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Midvale, Millcreek, Murray and Taylorsville. The plan was created by the six cities as well as the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), Salt Lake County, and the Utah Transit Authority (UTA).

Hoping to establish better options for residents and visi tors to get around the communities safely, the plan aspires to provide regional connections between communities for walk ing, biking, scooters and public transportation. The Mid-Val ley ATP will connect along shared city boundaries and address needs specific to each community.

“It’s a commitment from Murray City and our neighbors to work together to create a backbone network of active trans portation, i.e., bicyclists and pedestrian pathways, to connect our cities,” Murray City Engineer Chris Zawislak told the

By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com

Bike lanes are a key component of the Mid-Valley Active Transporta tion Plan. (Photo courtesy Mid-Valley ATP Network)

Young learners invited to harvest math at Wheeler Farm

By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com

While toddlers love petting the horses and sheep at Wheeler Farm, they can also practice their math skills with creative activities designed to make it fun. The Utah STEM Action Center and Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation launched the “MILO & Friends” campaign Sept. 10 at Wheeler Farm, using the bucolic setting to encourage youngsters to not only pet the cows but count them too.

Families who visit Wheeler Farm will see signs encouraging them to do simple math activities with their 2- to 4-year-olds, such as comparing the sizes of chickens and turkeys and identifying triangles and circles in nearby objects. The goal is to help parents become more aware of teach ing early math skills to their young chil dren.

Utah STEM Action Center Communi cations Manager Shelby Averett said, “The MILO & Friends signs have fun charac ters on them that kids will be drawn to. They are designed for parents to read the signs and do a simple math activity with their children. For example, the sign by the horses has a drawing of a horse with dark brown and light brown spots on it and says, ‘Can you find a horse like this one?’ This is a matching skill. Another sign asks, ‘How many fruit trees do you see?’ Other signs ask if children can find nearby cir cles, triangles or rectangle shapes. Kids might not know it, but they learn simple math lessons while exploring the farm.”

According to several studies, most parents lack knowledge of the specific skills their children need to know before kindergarten. MILO stands for Math Intro duction and Learning Opportunities.

“If we can help parents become more aware of important early math concepts, such as shapes, patterns, matching, and

other skills beyond counting, their children will be set up for success when they head to kindergarten,” Utah STEM Action Cen ter Research and Implementation Manager Clarence Ames said. “We hope the signs at Wheeler Farm will show parents and care givers that math is everywhere, and math is fun.”

As part of the Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement, the Utah STEM Action Center is tasked with advancing STEM education best practices in Utah.

“When we first came up with the idea of MILO & Friends, we wanted to reach parents with young children, and we thought parks would be the perfect place to integrate play and learning early math skills. We approached Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation and explained our idea. We had Wheeler Farm in mind as a potential starting location, and they agreed this would be a good place to begin the MILO & Friends campaign,” Averett said.

Research shows that math scores for kindergarten children are the stron gest predictor of later academic and ca reer achievement. In addition, these math scores were stronger predictors than any other variable, including early reading scores, attention skills, socioemotional behaviors (including rates of problem be haviors, social skills, etc.), socioeconomic status, and gender.

“As we surveyed community mem bers and dug into the research to identify gaps and potential solutions, we learned that the very best time to start intention ally doing math with kids is long before they get to preschool or kindergarten and that caregivers in Utah communities lack the knowledge and resources they need to

effectively engage in early math play with kids,” Averett said.

Since 2013, the Utah STEM Ac tion Center has been working to provide high-quality math learning tools to schools throughout Utah. During that time, math scores in Utah have slowly and steadily in creased. Utah is in the top 10 in the nation for math performance; however, only 36% of eighth-grade students reach grade-level math proficiency.

Parents and visitors to the farm are invited to take a survey about their expe rience with the MILO & Friends signs. Those wanting to learn more about how to improve their toddler’s math skills can visit the Utah STEM Action Center online at stem.utah.gov/milo. l

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A young boy matches (an early math skill) the horse on the sign to the real-life horse. (Photo courtesy of the Utah STEM Action Center)

A MILO sign encourages a toddler to count the fruit trees. (Photo courtesy of the Utah STEM Action Center)

Solar arrives on Murray Power grid at a higher cost

By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com

Murray City will soon have more renewable energy powering its homes and businesses as the long-await ed Red Mesa Tapaha Solar Project comes online. At the Aug. 23 city coun cil meeting, the city authorized a 25year agreement at a set price agreement with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) to start receiving power trans missions in June 2023.

However, the city will pay $37 per megawatt-hour (MWh) instead of the previously agreed $23.15/MWh. In 2019, the council adopted a resolution authorizing the city to enter into a longterm agreement with the NTUA. Every thing was in order and set for an initial commercial operation date of midyear 2022, but supply-chain issues delayed the project.

The Red Mesa Tapaha Solar Proj ect is located in the Navajo Nation near Bluff, Utah. Murray City has a 5,000 kW interest (7.5758%) in the 66 mW project.

Murray Power General Manager Blaine Haacke said at the city council’s Committee of the Whole meeting, “They (NTUA) were having trouble getting the precious metals for the photovoltaic panels. They’re having trouble getting poles, wire infrastructure, transformers, any number of items, and so actually between 2020 and 2021, very little con struction was done on site.”

Haacke says the project is about 50% complete with no further expected delays.

“Another key issue was the labor down on the (Navajo) reservation. They were very tight on who they let in be cause of the COVID issue. Skilled and non-skilled labor were not allowed into the reservation, so the project went to a halt. Hopefully, in June 2023, this will be in our portfolio, and we’ll be able to use it. So, during the middle of COVID, the NTUA realized that $23.15 wasn’t going to cut it.”

As part of the original agreement, drafted by the Utah Association of Mu nicipal Power Systems (UAMPS), a 2% annual increase was built into the 25year period. The average cost of power over the 25-year agreement would be around $29-$30/MWh.

Due to increased costs related to the pandemic (labor, transportation, supply chain, and photovoltaic issues), NTUA began questioning the project’s feasibil ity. As a result, NTUA approached UA MPS about the possibility of renegotiat ing the agreement.

At first, UAMPS balked at the re

quest. Then, NTUA decided to exercise a force majeure clause because they claimed that labor and supply chain is sues were beyond their control. Finally, after months of back-and-forth inquiry, UAMPS realized that the best alterna tive would be to reopen and renegotiate the NTUA 2019 agreement.

“They wanted to escalate the $37 at 2% (annual increase) and so would have been like a $50 resource by the end, and we held our own and said no, $37 set for 25 years,” Haacke said.

As part of the new agreement, NTUA will provide development securi ty to protect UAMPS from delays in the project coming online or the failure of the project to ultimately become opera tional.

“We will receive 15 million kilo watt hours from this resource. Our re source mix is 400 million for the city, so if you divide 15 million into 400 million or vice versa, you get about three or four percent of our energy needs from this re source. About 30% of our energy comes from Hunter, the coal-fired plant, and about 20% of our energy comes from the federal hydro,” Haacke said.

With the long-term drought im pacting water levels at the Glen Canyon Dam, flipping on the switch at the solar plant couldn’t be timelier. Lake Pow ell’s water level is just 20 feet above the dam’s gates, so federal regulators have reduced Murray’s portfolio from 25% to 20%.

Other significant power generators include Murray’s hydro plant in Big Cottonwood Canyon, gas turbines locat ed at 4800 South in Murray, and landfill methane gas. For remaining needs, Mur ray Power goes on the power market to fill gaps.

“We want power from around five in the afternoon to about eight in the evening. That’s when we need it the most. Solar by itself peaks around one or two in the afternoon. You would think that solar would peak when it’s the hot test part of the day. The heat causes less electricity to be generated, but still, it’s a good resource, but we would like it at five in the afternoon,” Haacke said.

While the original cost of the solar project would have been the most af fordable in Murray’s portfolio, the new $37/MWh rate makes it comparable to the coal-fired plant’s $40/MWh rate. The most expensive portion of Murray’s portfolio is landfill methane at $50/ MWh. l

Workers install photovoltaic cells for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. (Photo courtesy of NTUA)

A Navajo Tribal Utility Authority solar array. (Photo courtesy of NTUA)

This fall, Murray High School performing arts students were ready to jump right into rehears als of their fall show, “Shrek the Musical.”

The show will be at 7 p.m., Nov. 10-12 and again, Nov. 14 in the high school auditorium, 5440 S. State St. Tickets are available at www.showtix4u.com/events/ mhsshrek two weeks before the show or at the door.

After casting parts last spring, students were excited to begin this fall, said theatre director Will Sax ton.

“We had auditions back in the spring so the kids can register for the class,” he said. “When we came back, we were ready to jump right in and hit the ground running.”

Saxton said that former Murray High dance teacher Leesa Lloyd, who died unexpectedly at the end of the school year, helped pick out this musical.

“She was excited for the dance numbers; she loved the big dance spectacle and was looking forward to seeing her dancers in that,” he said.

A former dancer of Lloyd’s and a Murray High graduate, Savannah Angle, was hired as the new dancer teacher and will be choreographing the musical. Murray High choir director Alan Scott is over music direction and Jordan Beckstrand di rects instrumentalists.

Saxton said that “Shrek” was selected for its message.

“It's perfect for our students. It's a show about being yourself and being OK with who you are — and knowing that who you are is OK. That’s important for teenagers to know that it's OK to be yourself and to be proud of who you are — and

Murray High theatre season to open with ‘Shrek’

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

to not let what other people think about you determine your selfworth. There's a song (‘Freak Flag’) in the show with the line, ‘Let your freak flag fly.’ It's all about just ex pressing yourself for who you are. I really love that message,” he said. “Plus, there are a lot of opportunities with lines and solos for students, so I was able to give every person who is in the show some lines.”

About 90 students are expect ed to be involved in the musical both on stage and backstage.

“This show is going to be fun and family friendly. It’s just hilari ous,” Saxton said. “I’m very excited about it.”

Many of his students also were rehearsing for the 46th annual high school Shakespearean competition that was Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 in Cedar City. They planned to per form an ensemble piece as well as take part in individual competitions.

Following “Shrek” will be a Broadway revue at 7 p.m., Jan. 4-6, 2023 in the school’s Little Theatre. Admission is $5.

“We’re going to make it as a ‘Cafe Broadway’ so people can buy pastries and beverages,” he said.

About 35 students will select their own songs to perform.

“It's going to be all acoustic as well with live instruments accom panying the vocalists,” Saxton said.

In the spring, the Spartans will perform “Into the Woods” at 7 p.m., April 6-8, 2023 and again on April 10 in the Little Theatre.

“I've done this a couple of times, but not often,” said Saxton about his favorite musical. “I think it's the greatest musical that exists. I've wanted to do it at Murray High for years. I decided this was the year. Since we're going do a fairy

tale show in the fall, I thought we will do another fairytale show in the spring and have our theme for our year be ‘Happily Ever After.’”

Saxton said that “Into the Woods” is about human experience, with all of its struggles, told through fairytale characters.

“It’s about how happily ever after is kind of a myth and how the human experience is richer than the goal of living happily ever af ter. And that the things we struggle with, the challenges we have in life and the way we overcome them are all part of our experience,” he said.

“‘Into the Woods’ is about every thing. There's every experience we have as human beings is relatable to the themes and the experiences of the characters in that show.”

At the same time, the thespians will compete at region with a oneact play as well as individual events in March. State competition is in April.

In May, the student actors will perform a vignette of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” along with the stu dent-directed one-act plays.

The abridged version along

with the plays will be presented at 7 p.m., May 18-20, 2023 in the Lit tle Theatre. A short intermission is planned for set changes.

Murray theater also has a 20-member improv team that will put on about six or seven shows during the school year and a drama club, of about 40 students, which will provide service to younger stu dents through theatre workshops, hold social gatherings and attend professional theater shows together.

Sarah

Murray High drama club presidency will lead its club members in providing service through theatre workshops, in social gath erings and attend professional theater shows together. (Photo courtesy Will Saxton/Murray High)

Cottonwood theatre season to open with Broadway revue, melodrama this fall

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

This month, Cottonwood High students will step on their stage not to perform a fall musical, but rather to open their theatre season with a Broadway revue and melodrama.

The production, which will be at 7 p.m., Oct. 3-7, will begin with an old-fashioned melodrama that will be performed in the school’s black box theatre as Act I, fol lowed by the Broadway revue for Act II in the auditorium, 5715 S. 1300 East. Tickets, which are $8 and include both shows, are available at cwoodtheatre.com.

The melodrama, “You Can’t Stamp Out Love,” was selected for its concept.

“The oldest type of theater harkens back to those vaudeville days of classic heroes and classic villains, and love and mischief,” theatre director Adam Wilkins said. “What’s great about it is it just pushes up the level so our villains are extra villainous, our heroes are extra heroic. The love, it takes place in a hotel where there are so much fun quirky characters roaming around, and the set is going to be fun. It’s full of love and joy, and it’s just a good way to start the year.”

While he expects about 20 students to perform the melodrama, the Broadway revue will attract more stu dents.

“We’ll be able to cast a lot of our kids in these two shows, which is wonderful, as it will give more students opportunities to perform,” Wilkins said.

The melodrama will be directed by the improv team captains and seniors Trinity Medina and Conrad Carter.

“They really know what it takes to make comedy great comedy,” Wilkins said. “They’re able to work with people and are really good at getting the cast to become better. So, we’re really excited.”

The Broadway revue is called, “How to Make a Musi cal” and the storyline is about a group of friends deciding to write their own musical. It was created by drama coach Madison Howell.

“She incorporates a variety of singers that perform different songs from different genres that are threaded by a simple story. The songs just stand out in this show; there are some classical songs all the way up to modern musi cals,” Wilkins said.

Show pieces come from “Sound of Music,” “Some thing Rotten,” “Once,” West Side Story,” “A Chorus Line,” “Cats” and other musicals.

Following these shows, students will create a spooky experience for Halloween-goers with their annual Haunt ed Hallway from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Oct. 21. Scary or

not-so-scary tours will be $5 or food donations for the school’s pantry.

In January, students will attend workshops at the Utah Theater Association’s conference at Utah Valley University.

At the same time, at least 65 student-actors plus the pit orchestra and tech crew will be in rehearsals for “The Little Mermaid,” which they will perform at 7 p.m., Feb. 1-4, 2023 in their auditorium. There also will be a noon matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $10.

“I’m loving getting shows based on literature. It's a lot deeper than people give it credit for. I’m always about stories being the heart of what I do. I love the story of the little mermaid, of somebody who doesn't belong, of some body who feels like she’s an outsider, who doesn't quite know where they belong, and then, that she’s willing to trade everything just to be a part of that world. I think that this is a telling story, which I love,” he said, admitting that he and Howell also are Disney fans. “And let's be honest, the music is amazing. The music itself is beautiful, fun, lively, diverse, has a wide range of different music styles. Yeah, it was an easy sell for me because I just love it so much.”

Wilkins expects the set to be memorable.

“I’m hoping to create is the two different worlds for the Little Mermaid, the sea and the land through the setting, lighting and perspective. I want to make them so different because I want to show she is searching for something different and that’s got to be important. My ul timate goal is to truly create an immersive under-the-sea environment and use all the space,” he said.

Amber Tuckness, who directs the pit orchestra, is ex cited for the musical to be performed in February.

“We are getting a new sound system at our school and it should be working by then, so it will really help our performances,” she said.

Following the musical, the Colts will put on William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” in March. Those dates are yet to be announced.

At the same time, they will be readying to perform their one-act play called “The Trench” at region and state competitions. The play, which was inspired by a true sto ry, is about a miner who became entombed in a tunnel during World War I.

“It’s about a man’s story coming from despair to re demption, not only through acting, but through puppetry, lights and music. It’s incredible,” Wilkins said, adding that they will have a community performance in the spring

of their competition pieces as well.

The year will conclude with “The Drowsy Chaper one” in May.

“‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ is a perfect message for theater-goers, for the many people who love musical the ater, knowing the story, and understanding, it truly is what keeps him going. Our main character’s love of theater and art is his salvation. Art, theatre, music — it’s powerful knowing what art can do,” Wilkins said.

Intermixed in the shows will be performances from the 16-member improv team. The next show will be Nov. 18 and tickets for the black box theater performances will be $5. l

Cottonwood High senior Quenton Schroader practices for the school’s upcoming Broadway revue. (Amber Tuckness/Cottonwood High)

Love of swimming pushes Murray Park Center seniors to win gold medals

Dedicated lap swimmers are not likely to strike you as Michael Phelps material. Instead, they intend to live forever by faith fully repeating the same constant rhythm and speed in their aquatic lane. That all changed when Murray Park Center Aquatics Manager Sena Vick took three of the Park Center’s se nior swimmers to compete in the Idaho Senior Games.

Vick, who started as a lifeguard at the Park Center, has gotten to know the pool’s longtime regulars, especially Julie Wallentine, Paul Nicholls and Bud Sadler. When Nichol ls suggested in 2020 that the three go beyond their regular fitness routine and try competing in the Southeast Idaho Senior Games in Po catello, Idaho, the idea intrigued them, espe cially Wallentine.

“I remember Sena being right there when I said, ‘I wish I would’ve gone.’ She respond ed, ‘Well, next year you’re going, and I’ll go as your coach.’ That did it; this past year, whenev er I got in the water, Sena would work with me on my strokes, and I would practice on a daily basis. Because I was practicing every day, my strokes got better, and I couldn’t have been happier spending time with Sena in the pool,” Wallentine said.

“I was interested in taking Julie because I knew she trusted me and felt comfortable with me taking her up there. Plus, it’s always nice to have support from the pool you swim at. It took me back to my days as a swim coach and watching my swimmer progress in their best events, and I was able to do that again when I was asked to take Julie up to Idaho,” Vick said.

Vick started to coach Nicholls in the 25and 50-yard breaststroke and freestyle; Sadler in the 25-yard backstroke, breaststroke, but terfly, freestyle, 50-yard breaststroke and free style, and 100-yard breaststroke and freestyle. Wallentine competed in the 100-yard breast stroke and 500-yard freestyle.

Wallentine nearly gave up swimming in 2020. As with all things pandemic, the pool was shut down, but she also suffered a devast ing injury. After falling, she had three occult fractures and could not walk to the bus stop to

By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com

get to the Park Center.

“The first time I had paratransit (UTA’s specialized transport service), I went straight back to the gym. At that time, I considered paratransit my ticket to freedom. But after the falls and the struggles with mobility, my ortho pedic doctor said that the pool was medically necessary,” Wallentine said.

At the SE Idaho Senior Games, the swim ming competition is a three-day event. It is open to swimmers from all 50 states to com pete in different age brackets.

“The excitement came out as the competi tion got closer and the eagerness to participate, especially for Julie,” Vick said.

“I discovered this is the first time I’ve gone anywhere with friends,” Wallentine said. “It was a new facility, a new area, a new pool, a new hotel, new people. Everything was brand new, and I’ve never branched out enough to have had such a successful experience in feel ing comfortable enough to go again.”

Triumphantly, their practice paid off. All three came away with gold medals, with Wal lentine sweeping her two events and Nicholls and Sadler also coming away with personal bests in their events.

“I’m so proud of myself because I never dreamed I would ever do something like this and to come home with two gold medals was amazing,” Wallentine said.

According to Vick, all three are planning to return to the games next year.

“The most rewarding thing for me was seeing Julie have more confidence in her self—that she can compete against others and that she has the strength and perseverance to compete and do well in her events. The other rewarding thing was being able to cheer on the other swimmers from the surrounding states and seeing that even though you age, it’s just a number; it doesn’t define who you are as a person,” Vick said. “Seeing a 100-year-old lady compete and take gold showed me and reminded me that things are possible as long as you put your mind to it.” l

Bud Sadler and Paul Nicholls kiss Julie Wallentine, holding their gold medals at the Southeast Idaho Senior Games. (Photo courtesy of Sena Vick)

Bud Sadler, Sena Vick, and Paul Nicholls hoist Julie Wallentine after they all medaled at the Southeast Idaho Senior Games. (Photo courtesy of Sena Vick)

council.

In 2021, the collaborating governments surveyed residents to determine needs that would encourage active transportation.

“The backbone network was narrowed down from the input of those comments and the input of each of the member cities,” Za wislak said.

One of the Mid-Valley ATP’s primary aims is to create a regional Backbone Net work of active transportation facilities con necting the cities. The plan approaches the study area as a collective region and looks at each municipality individually. This allows each city to take a detailed look at bicycle and pedestrian facilities within its city limits and at the larger scale of regional connec tions surrounding its borders. This highly collaborative planning process identifies needs, gaps, opportunities and constraints to produce a list of 244 total projects. Of these projects, 31 were selected to create the Back bone Network for the Mid-Valley ATP.

“One of the benefits of Mid-Valley ATP is that it helps not only just communicating between our neighboring cities but also helps with getting state, federal and county funds. For active transportation, we don’t necessar ily have to follow the plans or the guidelines set there, but they do provide that lane for which we will decide how it goes,” Zawislak said.

Of the 31 projects, Murray’s highest pri ority is creating a bike lane on 900 East. This project starts in Millcreek at Elgin Avenue (3000 South) and extends southward to Hill crest High School (7300 South) in Midvale.

The project’s estimated costs for the three cities comes out to $140,000, of which Mur ray’s responsibility would equal $53,000.

Project No. 5 is located along 4800 South and extends four miles from 900 East in Murray to Redwood Road in Taylorsville. Buffered bike lanes are the primary facility type for this conceptual design and run along both sides of the road until about 1,000 feet before 4800 South meets 700 East. Safety is a heightened concern at that location due to traffic on and heading toward 700 East. Here, the buffered bike lanes become a single, pro tected cycle track along the south side of the road. This cycle track offers added protection around 700 East as the project turns to join 900 East. Where the cycle track begins along 4800 South, curbs are extended out into the road. These curb extensions cause vehicles to slow down due to the reduced width of drivable pavement and provides a safe cross ing for pedestrians using the sidewalk on the north side of the road. In addition, this design calls for removed parking in specific loca tions along 4800 South. The total price tag for this project tallies in at $3.6 million, with Murray fronting $2.1 million of that.

“Obviously, if there is an onus amongst the community to have something more than what’s proposed, I think that’s something that Murray City and public works are more than happy to evaluate. The key importance is making sure for us that we provide a safe place for cyclists and pedestrians,” Zawislak said.

More information about the Mid-Valley ATP can be found online at midvalleyatp. com. l

Continued from front page

The Mid-Valley Active Transportation Plan hopes to provide more bike-friendly routes. (Photo courtesy Mid-Valley ATP Network)

Murray’s Germania Park is getting shadier—thanks to volunteers planting trees

By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com

Rotarians from as far away as Mexico de scended upon Murray’s Germania Park to help plant dozens of trees along the Jordan River Parkway. The Murray Rotary Club, TreeUtah, and the JKS Foundation collaborat ed in providing trees and muscle power to plant them in Murray City’s Germania Park (5243 Murray Parkway Ave.) on Sept. 10.

Murray Mayor Brett Hales said, “Murray is proud to be a ‘Tree City USA.’ Trees add so much value and beauty for many years. We are so grateful for the efforts of Murray Rotary Club and TreeUtah and the Sorenson Family for help ing us with this effort.”

One of Rotary International’s areas of fo cus is the environment. Rotary District Gov ernor Jose Velasco encouraged the 45 Rotary Clubs in Utah to plant trees this year. Murray Rotarian Jerry Summerhays applied to the Joe and Kathleen Sorenson (JKS) Legacy Founda tion for funds to plant trees and was awarded $100,000 for 24 Utah Rotarian Clubs. Along with the $10,000 from the JKS Legacy Founda tion, Murray Rotary contributed $5,000 to Mur ray’s specific project. Murray Parks Superinten dent Bruce Holyoak chose to plant trees along the Jordan River Trail as Murray’s contribution to the Get to the River Festival.

The JKS Legacy Foundation is a nonprofit corporation established by Joseph Sorenson and his wife Kathleen to promote charitable, artis tic, religious, educational, literary and scientific endeavors. The foundation aims to help individ uals and organizations lift themselves and pro vide sustainable growth.

This event attracted help all the way from Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. In Rotary, they do Friendship Exchanges. Last winter, 15 Utah Rotarians spent a week in Sonora, Mexico, par ticipating in several service projects. It just hap pened to be the week Velasco hosted 11 Puerto Peñasco Rotarians who participated in Murray’s project.

“The volunteers split up into groups ac cording to their families and friends,” Sum merhays said. “They all were having fun. The ground where each tree was placed varied tre mendously. One group of Murray Rotarians had to use a pick to dig the entire hole. But they got it done and placed the tree bag, which Murray City will regularly fill to be sure it flourishes.”

TreeUtah provided the trees and the exper tise on how to plant them. In addition, TreeUtah works with students, municipalities, local busi nesses, community groups and volunteers to plant trees in public spaces throughout the state.

“TreeUtah is grateful to work with partners Murray Rotary Club and Murray City to plant trees with volunteers that will provide cooling shade and other health benefits to the commu nity for generations to come,” said TreeUtah Executive Director Amy May.

May’s organization plants large trees in public spaces throughout Utah, including city parks and school playgrounds. This program works to build public awareness of the value of urban forests and of the need for maintained, healthy urban forests.

Community groups or businesses can get involved by sponsoring a group tree planting. For areas outside of the urbanized Wasatch Front, TreeUtah has a Tree Planting Grant Pro gram. This grant allows rural communities to beautify the environment around them.

“At a later date, there will be plantings of 10 trees at Murray High, 10 trees at Cottonwood High, and five fruit trees at the Murray Park Church of Christ Food Pantry. Remarkably, due to the generosity of the Joe and Kathleen So renson Legacy Foundation, there will be simi lar tree plantings organized by Rotary Clubs in parks, schoolyards, and community orchards in 22 other cities from Logan to St. George. Again, the expertise of TreeUtah helps us achieve high

success rates,” Summerhays said.

Murray Rotary’s motto is “Fun with a Purpose.” More information about the Murray Rotary Club can be found online at Murray RotaryUtah.org. TreeUtah can be contacted at TreeUtah.org. Joe and Kathleen Sorenson Leg acy Foundation information can be found at jk slegacyfoundation.org. l

Murray Rotary club members and TreeUtah volunteers plant a tree in Murray’s Germania Park. (Photo courtesy of Jerry Summerhays)

Former Miss Murray/Rockette Lindsay Smith takes over Miss Murray Scholarship Competition

By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com

No matter who stepped in to take the place of late Miss Murray Organization Director Leesa Lloyd, they would undoubt edly have had big shoes to fill. Fortunately, the new pageant director, Lindsay Smith, has made a living doing intricate footwork. Smith, a former Miss Murray and Radio City Rockette, has now taken over for Lloyd, who died unexpectedly earlier this year.

For nearly 27 years, Lloyd led the Miss Murray Pageant Scholarship Competition. She also taught dance and sociology for 36 years at Murray High School, mentor ing thousands of students, including Smith. Lloyd’s influence on Smith was profound enough that Smith went on to become Miss Murray and a choreographer.

“Nobody can replace Leesa Lloyd,” Smith said. “Her impact on this community continues to astound and can never be mea sured. She challenged and lifted the people around her and encouraged them to become the best versions of themselves. The Miss Murray Organization is part of that legacy, and the goal is to keep it alive in her honor.”

Smith, Miss Murray 2006, spent five seasons as a Radio City Rockette and over a decade working for Walt Disney World as a choreographer, dancer and teacher. She re cently returned to Utah and is the resident dance and movement specialist for Hale Centre Theatre and an adjunct faculty mem ber in the Musical Theater Program at the University of Utah.

“This is the director we held out for. So excited we have her. Leesa would love it,” said Cal Jones, a committee member for the Miss Murray competition.

During Lloyd’s last pageant, all for mer Miss Murrays were invited to return in honor of the Miss America competition’s centennial anniversary. Morgan Workman was crowned Miss Murray and was ready to compete, with Lloyd’s help, in the Miss Utah event. Unfortunately, Lloyd passed away just days before the occasion, but other previous Miss Murrays volunteered to help Workman.

“I didn’t realize the journey that I had ahead of me or how much I was going to develop as a woman when I was crowned. However, as I look back on my year, I am like, ‘Wow!’ What a beautiful journey. Thank you, Miss Lloyd, for making me the woman I am today and for believing in all of my ideas,” Workman said.

Like Workman, Smith was part of the dance team at Murray High School. Smith, the team captain, graduated top of her class. She graduated cum laude with a degree in modern dance from the University of Utah.

With a degree in hand, Smith performed in “42nd Street” at Pioneer Memorial The ater. Then, at Disney World, she performed

in musicals such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid” before audition ing to be part of the Rockettes.

As a choreographer, she worked at the Garden Theater and the Orlando Repertory Theater. She is presently credited as asso ciate choreographer for Hale Centre The atre’s production of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”

As far as pageant experience, Smith also won Utah’s Junior Miss 2003, going on to compete for the title of America’s Junior Miss.

“Every young woman that participates in the Miss Murray program walks away with skills and experiences that they will uti lize throughout their lives. This unique pro gram is a year-round opportunity for women to earn scholarships, grow their networks, learn valuable life and career skills, and make a difference in their community. The Miss Murray Organization has a long history of empowering advocates and leaders of to morrow,” Smith said.

After being postponed while the com mittee searched for a new director, the Miss Murray Pageant will be held at Hillcrest Ju nior High School on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. The occasion will also feature a spotlight on Lloyd and her legacy.

Eligibility to compete in Miss Murray is based on connection to the community. The contestant must live in zip codes 84107, 84123, or 84121, work in Murray, or be a graduate of Cottonwood or Murray High School. Questions about how to participate in Lloyd’s tribute can be emailed to Miss MurrayDirector@gmail.com. l

Current Miss Murray Director Lindsay Smith (l) and the late director, Leesa Lloyd. (Photo courtesy of Lindsay Smith)

Every young woman that participates in the Miss Murray program walks away with skills and ex periences that they will utilize throughout their lives. This unique pro gram is a year-round op portunity for women to earn scholarships, grow their networks, learn valuable life and career skills, and make a differ ence in their community.

Lindsay Smith

Comcast and the USDB Foundation partner to help unique students

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com

Serving more than 5,000 students statewide, the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind and USDB’s Educational Support Services pro vide education and accessibility technology that make a real difference in a child’s life.

Comcast, the largest home internet ser vice provider in the country, has provided grant funding to the USDB Education Foundation so these unique students can have the technologi cal needs vital for their education and growth.

Assistive devices and digital learning pro vide sight and sound that connect children to the world and improve their overall communi cation. Use of these assistive devices gives stu dents a higher chance of success as a confident and independent adult.

“Comcast has been a really great com munity partner this year,” said Amy Zaharis, USDB Education Foundation executive direc tor. “They gave us funds that support the stu dents with assisted technology. There’s a lot of awesome technology our students can use that helps them, and they need a lot of different things, and those things are expensive.”

While the state provides funding to cover the basics for the campuses and programs at USDB, sometimes families need help procur ing hearing aids, glasses, white canes, magni fication devices, unique technology and other assistive devices. With Comcast’s donation to the program, several deaf and hard of hearing

students, and children who are blind and visu ally impaired can get the resources they need.

It is imperative that students have technol ogy and assistive devices to help bridge the gap caused by their hearing or vision loss.

“If you can believe it or not, hearing aids are not covered by insurance,” Zaharis said. “We do assist families with children who are hard of hearing.. Hearing aids are really expen sive and we help some kids with purchasing those.”

The national grant from Comcast supports digital literacy training to help students with the technology. Students who are blind can learn how to access apps and software, plus have ac cess to smart glasses equipped with an HD cam era to magnify a computer screen or classroom.

The USDB provides overhead and ad ministrative resources for the foundation which allows 100% of donations to go directly to stu dents.

There are campuses in Salt Lake City, Ogden and Springville, and a classroom in St. George. In addition to the campuses, education for the majority of these unique Utah students is offered by USDB teachers who travel to schools across the state through outreach programs.

“Everyone deserves to have the same ad vantages and many of the children the founda tion supports might not be able to,” said Ioana Platon, Comcast community impact specialist.

“They might not be as likely to pursue educa tional or career pursuits they don’t think they can do. With our grant, we help provide tech and assistive devices used to bridge the gap.”

Comcast is focused on accessibility and providing the highest possible experiences for all of its customers. This grant will help students learn how to use the different technologies and help them live better lives.

For more information about the USDB Foundation, visit www.usdbfoundation.org.

“We love to have community partners and Comcast has been such a great community part ner for us this year,” Zaharis said. “It’s great to have community support, just to help our kids with the extra needs they have. We welcome Utah businesses and individuals alike to make donations to the foundation.”l

I am running for the State School Board in District 5. I want to improve the academic focus of our schools, simplify teacher workloads, and enhance transparency for parents. I am mother of four children who have all attended Murray Schools. I’ve been involved in their education for over 20 years and volunteered in many capacities.

I would love your vote!

Fetzer

Paid for by Committee to elect Laurel Fetzer

Students at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind receive assistive devices and training through a Comcast community grant. (Courtesy of Todd Keith.)

Nature’s Virus Killer

Copper can stop a virus before it starts

By Priscilla Schnarr www.copperzap.com

Scientists have discovered a natural way to kill germs fast.

Now thousands of people are using it against viruses and bacteria that cause illness.

Colds and many other illnesses start when viruses get in your nose and multiply. If you don’t stop them early, they spread and cause misery.

Hundreds of studies confirm copper kills viruses and bacteria almost instantly just by touch.

That’s why ancient Greeks and Egyptians used copper to purify water and heal wounds. They didn’t know about viruses and bacteria, but now we do.

“The antimicrobial activity of copper is well established.”

National Institutes of Health.

Scientists say copper’s high conductance disrupts the electrical balance in a microbe cell and destroys it in seconds.

CopperZap® and put it on the market.

Soon hundreds of people had tried it. 99% said copper worked if they used it right away at the first sign of bad germs, like a tickle in the nose or a scratchy throat.

Users Say:

“It works! I love it!”

“I can’t believe how good my nose feels.”

“Is it supposed to work that fast?”

“One of the best presents ever.”

“Sixteen airline flights, not a sniffle!”

“Cold sores gone!”

“It saved me last holidays.

The kids all got sick, but not me.”

The EPA recommended hospitals use copper for touch surfaces like faucets and doorknobs. This cut the spread of MRSA and other illnesses by over half, and saved lives.

“I am shocked! My sinus cleared, no more headache, no more congestion.”

“Best sleep I’ve had in years!”

The strong scientific evidence gave inventor Doug Cornell an idea. He made a smooth copper probe with a tip to fit in the bottom of the nostril, where viruses collect.

When he felt a tickle in his nose like a cold about to start, he rubbed the copper gently in his nose for 60 seconds.

“It worked!” he exclaimed. “The cold never happened. I used to get 2-3 bad colds every year. Now I use my device whenever I feel a sign I am about to get sick.”

He hasn’t had a cold in 10 years.

After his first success with it, he asked relatives and friends to try it. They all said it worked, so he patented

As thousands more tried it, some found other things they could use it against, including: Colds, flu, new viruses and variants, sinus trouble, cold sores, canker sores, strep throat, nighttime stuffiness, morning congestion, nasal drip, skin infections, thrush, warts, styes, and ringworm.

The handle is curved and textured to increase contact.

Copper can kill germs picked up on fingers and hands after you touch things other people have touched.

Scientists placed millions of viruses on copper. “They started to die literally as soon as they touched it,” said Dr. Bill Keevil.

Tarnish does not reduce how well copper works, EPA tests showed.

CopperZap is made in America with pure copper. 90-day full money back guarantee. Price $79.95.

Get $10 off each CopperZap with code UTCJ19

See www.CopperZap.com or call tollfree 1-888-411-6114.

Buy once, use forever.

Statements are not intended as product health claims and have not been evaluated by the FDA. Not claimed to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

advertorial

AMES again ranked amongst Utah’s best public high schools

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

With the release of the annual U.S. News & World Report of best high schools, which reviews nearly 24,000 U.S. public high schools, AMES tops the list in Utah.

Since 2016, AMES has achieved high marks, placing it in the top 10. This year, the public charter school ranked fourth of the 163 Utah schools that made their rat ings. AMES stands for Academy for Math, Engineering and Science and is located on the Cottonwood High School campus.

AMES Principal Brett Wilson said the school’s mission is supported by students, parents, teachers and staff and the school’s Board of Trustees.

“We try to build a culture where stu dents can be successful at and above the level that they come to us with,” he said.

The scorecard included evaluating AMES graduation rate, at 92%; mathe matics and reading proficiency; as well as the number of students taking at least one Advanced Placement exam and passing at least one AP exam.

AMES also ranked in the state’s top

10 in college readiness index rank as well as state assessment proficiency and perfor mance ranks.

The school has received other out standing recognition, such as in 2020, AMES was named as a National Elemen tary and Secondary Education Act Distin guished School for its outstanding aca demic achievement.

“We don’t handpick our students. We take kids in a blind lottery across the valley and almost all graduate and take some kind of concurrent class while in high school. That’s the rigor we offer and expect of our students,” Wilson said.

Forty-seven percent of AMES stu dents are identified as minority with Asian and Hispanic comprising of the majority. The male to female ratio is 52 to 48.

Other area schools that were ranked in the Utah top 10 include Beehive Sci ence and Technology Academy in Sandy at first; Itineris Early College High School in West Jordan at fifth; Corner Canyon High in Draper at seventh; and Skyline High in Salt Lake City at eighth. l

New research: Copper kills viruses in seconds.

AMES ranked No. 4 this year in the U.S. News & World Report of Utah best high schools, continuing be amongst the top 10 since 2016. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Attorney 801-264-2640

Business Licensing .................. 801-270-2432

Cemetery 801-264-2637

City Council ............................. 801-264-2603

Finance Department 801-264-2513

FIRE DEPARTMENT

Administrative O ce .......... 801-264-2781

Non-Emergency Calls 801-840-4000

General Information ................ 801-264-2525

Senior Recreation Center 801-264-2635

Human Resources.................... 801-264-2656

Library 801-264-2580

Mayor’s O ce .......................... 801-264-2600

Municipal Court 801-284-4280

Museum .................................. 801-264-2589

Murray Park Outdoor Pool 801-266-9321

Murray Parkway Golf Course.... 801-262-4653

PARKS AND RECREATION

Administrative O ce 801-264-2614

Rain-out Information ......... 801-264-2525

Park Center (indoor pool) 801-284-4200

Passports................................. 801-264-2660

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Administrative O ce 801-264-2673

Animal Control/SL County .. 385-468-7387

Code Enforcement 801-264-2673

Non-Emergency Calls

801-840-4000

POWER DEPARTMENT

Administrative O ce 801-264-2730

After Hours Emergency

PUBLIC SERVICES

801-264-9669

Administrative O ce 801-270-2440

Building Inspection

801-270-2431

Green Waste Trailers 801-270-2440

Planning and Zoning

801-270-2420

Solid Waste 801-270-2440

Water, Sewer, Streets

801-270-2440

Zoning Enforcement 801-270-2426

UTILITIES

After Hours Emergency 801-264-9669

801-264-2626

Mayor’s Message

Murray Power’s Planning Pays O

Remember this past summer when we were all sweltering in the record-breaking heat? Aren’t we all happy that the weather is nally cooling down?

Through all the hot days, Murray City Power kept your air conditioner running and the lights on in your homes and o ces. Prior planning by your municipally owned utility took steps to make sure you were comfortable without ‘breaking the bank.’

When temperatures were more than 100 degrees for so many days in a row, the entire western electrical grid ‘scrambled’ for energy to keep infrastructure functional and e cient. Murray City is connected to the outside electrical world with myriad transmission lines stretching throughout Utah to bring power into the city. When temps soar, the pricing for energy skyrockets. But Murray Power planned months ahead to try to curb the costs with other resource options.

Murray City Power sta projected last fall that this summer might be more volatile than other summers. Sta purchased natural gas reserves for the months of June, July, August, and September at a reasonable price. It’s always a gamble to project ahead 5-8 months, but during this summer of 2022, the deals ended up saving lots of money for the City. Murray saw market priced energy soar to more than $1,000/mwh; about seven times the usual cost of peak energy during August. Fortunately, because of the pre-purchased natural gas, the Power Department was able to avoid these costs by generating power with our own natural gas turbines located right here in downtown Murray. The plant, located at 153 West 4800 South, was able to negate much of the impact of the marketplace by generating hundreds of thousands of kWh during that time period.

The exibility of the turbines and the planning of a variety of resource options saved the citizen owners hundreds of thousands of dollars this summer. The turbines were installed in 2001 and have been used for summer peak coverage since then. Murray City Power’s energy game plan has been to draw from a variety of fuels, resources and options providing energy around the clock, 365 days a year. Our turbines ‘saved the day’ this summer. In short, when the marketplace for power goes high, like we saw this past summer, we start the turbines up to avoid the exorbitant pricing. Natural gas costs were also extremely high this past summer. Using the turbines to avoid market prices helped avoid the City’s dependence on the grid market. Murray City Power reached a peak system load of 100 mW

Brett A. Hales -Mayor mayor@murray.utah.gov

801-264-2600

5025 S. State Street Murray, Utah 84107

this summer. The turbines provided about 33 mW of generation to cover that peak load. Other resources that were used to cover Murray’s load include: federal hydro, land ll methane captured energy, three di erent coal plants- Hunter, IPA and San Juan, and purchases from the wholesale marketplace.

Murray Power is proud to be a public power entity. The City o ers better reliability, lower rates and faster restoration than investor-owned utilities. Local control and nancial support for local government are a few more important reasons to love public power.

MAYOR’S OFFICE

Message from the Council

Introductions Are In Order...

It is surreal to think that it has been nearly eight months since I was appointed to nish out the term of Council Member for Brett Hales, who is now Mayor. From the very start I knew I had big shoes to ll, and I am very humbled that the Council selected me to represent the incredible residents of District 5.

As a Utah native, I usually introduce myself by my last name rst. Believe it or not, this is the Ellis Island version – Hrechkosy is pronounced her-wreck-uh-see. My father Dave, who passed away 10 years ago played in the NHL and my mother Terri was a dedicated employee of the State of Utah, a daughter of the Utah Pioneers and today enjoys retirement residing in my childhood home in Sandy, Utah. My interest in politics began early in the 7th grade when Jennifer Jacobson mentored me, then I learned the importance of doing good and that positive changes can be made on a large scale.

At the University of Utah I was elected Senator for the College of Business and President of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, graduating with honors and Magna Cum Laude in Accounting. This was followed by a nine-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, Texas as a Certi ed Public Accountant. Currently I oversee the entire accounting department for MX Technologies in Lehi. Jill and I chose Murray as the place to lay roots for our daughters Grace and Ella because of premier parks and recreation, exceptional arts and second

to none re and police heroes. We love the central location, shopping, excellent food places and visiting Wheeler Farm.

As a new Councilmember, I wasted no time getting to work for citizens by tackling hard issues like housing a ordability, density, zoning challenges, our nite resource water, and the scarcity of undeveloped land. By creating clear and understandable code we can empower homeowners and developers to make needed changes. I encouraged Mayor Hales to take a second look at City Hall landscaping to increase water conservation and with my suggestion, more waterwise landscaping has been introduced. I support the old historic feel of Murray, will continue the push to see blighted areas redeveloped and new areas properly zoned to encourage the right mix of residential and commercial development. I was successful in getting the initial 20% property tax increase reduced by 5% and ensured that wages of City employees were adjusted. Murray City employees deserved a strong increase to keep up with in ation, but I felt less impact on residents was important as raises are not happening this year for all Murray residents.

I look forward to working just as hard for the remainder of this year and the remainder of my term. I am excited and con dent in the Murray that we are apart of and I invite you all to join me in continuing Murray’s legacy of being the heart of Utah. Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns at ghrechkosy@murray.utah.gov.

CITY COUNCIL

Council District 1

Kat Martinez 385-743-8766 kat.martinez@murray.utah.gov

Council District 2

Pam Cotter 801-541-8364 pcotter@murray.utah.gov

Council District 3

Rosalba Dominguez 801-330-6232 rosalba.dominguez@murray.utah.gov

Council District 4

Diane Turner 801-635-6382 diane.turner@murray.utah.gov

Council District 5

Gerry Hrechkosy 385-800-1796 ghrechkosy@murray.utah.gov

Executive Director

Jennifer Kennedy

Office: 801-264-2622 jkennedy@murray.utah.gov

Telephone Agenda Information 801-264-2525

Date:

Time:

Garry Hrechkosy, District 5

Garry Hrechkosy District 5

OCTOBER

SENIOR CENTER CONTINUED

SPECIAL EVENTS

FAMILY CONCERT SERIES

Date: Monday, Oct. 10 – Buzzard Whiskey (acoustic pop/folk music)

Time: 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Cost: Free; no appointment needed open to all ages and doors open at 6:00 p.m.

VENDORS NEEDED FOR HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR

Date: Friday, Dec. 2

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Cost: Cost for Table is $30; application and samples must be submitted by Friday, Oct. 14. Homemade food items are not allowed.

VETERANS BRUNCH

Date: Monday, Nov. 7

Time: 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Cost: $1 for Veterans, $8 for everyone else; register beginning Monday, Oct. 10

THANKSGIVING MEAL

Date: Wednesday, Nov. 16

Time: 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Cost: Cost is $10; Register now

CLASSES

CERAMICS

Date: Tuesday and Thursday

Time: 9:00 a.m. – noon

Cost: $1.50 each class plus cost of supplies

GRIEF SUPPORT

Date: Friday, Oct. 14

Friday, Oct. 28

Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Cost: Free; Register now

AARP SMART DRIVING CLASS

Date: Tuesday, Oct. 25

Time: 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Cost: $20 AARP Members otherwise $25 (payable day of class); register now

Space is limited to 12 participants.

VITAL AGING: COPING WITH TRAUMA

Date: Tuesday, Oct. 18

Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Cost: Free; register now

DANCE

LINE DANCE: BEGINNING

Date: Tuesdays

Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Cost: $10 for the month; register now

LESSONS TO HELP YOU Get Up & Running Dancing

Date: Thursdays

Time: 6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Cost: Free; prior registration not required

Murray Arts Beat

FAMILY NIGHT CONCERT

Buzzard Whiskey Concert Oct 10, 2022

Murray City Senior Recreation Center (10 E 6150 S) 7:00 PM | FREE

JURIED ART SHOW

Announcing the Annual Murray City Juried Art Show for artists 18 and older. This year, the art show will be held at the Murray City Library, October 26 - November 15. Entries are due at the Library, October 25th between 3 pm – 5:30 pm.

Artists can enter up to two 2D entries and two 3D entries. Submissions must have been created within the last 2 years and have not been entered in past Murray City Juried Art Shows. You can nd more information and the entry form online at www.murray.utah.gov or at the Murray Parks & Rec O ce.

For additional information, please contact Lori Edmunds at 801-264-2620

RESIDENT ON DISPLAY

Carl Christensen’s (pictured) artwork and photography was on display August - September in Murray City Hall, main hallway display case.

Stephanie Swift is our current Resident on Display, featuring her work October – November. You can check out Stephanie’s artwork during City Hall operating hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

SENIOR CENTER CONTINUED

EXERCISE

Daily Exercise Classes – check our

PROGRAMS

THURSDAY EVENING SOCIAL DANCE

Live Music provided by Tony Summerhays

Date: Thursdays

Time: 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Cost: $5

HAND AND FOOT CARD GAME

Date: Mondays

Time: 12:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: Free

BRIDGE LESSONS

Date: Mondays

Time: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Cost: Free

MEXICAN TRAIN DOMINOS GAME

Date: Thursdays

Time: 12:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Cost: Free

HEALTH SERVICES

UVU HEALTH SCREENING

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 12 Wednesday, Nov. 2

Time: 10:30 a.m. – noon

Cost: Free; no appointment necessary

BLOOD PRESSURE CLINIC by Harmony Home Health

Date: Thursday, Oct. 13

Time: 10:30 a.m. – noon

Cost: Free; no appointment necessary

HAIRCUTS

Date: Wednesdays

Time: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Cost: $10; advance appointment required

MASSAGE THERAPY

Date: Thursdays

Time: 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: $20 for half-hour or $40 for hour; advance appointment required

TRIPS

Wendover

Date: Thursday, Nov. 10

Time: 8:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Cost: $22; register now

THE PARK CENTER HOURS

Monday

Saturday

Sunday

Friday

Sundays until Nov

Looking into Utah’s judicial courtrooms: A former court watcher’s observation

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

In this November’s general election, Utah voters will take to the polls to determine if judges should be retained. Currently, there are 63 judges who are eligible to stand for retention.

Utahns determine whether judges should remain on the bench on even-num bered years through a simple yes or no vote. If the majority say yes, the judge is retained. Utah is one of a handful of states that use elections to determine this process.

However, not all voters are aware that through the Judicial Performance Evalua tion Commission, Utah residents, who are unidentified to judges, have evaluated those judges who are currently eligible to stand for retention.

These volunteer observers or court watchers provide voters with information about each judge’s performance, which also is shared with the judges to improve the quality of their judiciary. The commission’s report is designed to provide accountability of the judge while ensuring he or she acts as an independent branch of government.

While House Bill 40 proposes to change the language in the report to indicate whether a judge “passes minimum perfor mance standards” versus “recommends” re tention, the material that has been gathered each year provides information to allow voters to determine judicial retention, said former Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission member Becky Overacker.

Overacker was a courtroom observer for four years, filing her last of about 120 reports on judges six years ago. She is one of the 293 volunteer observers who served or is serving since the commission was es tablished.

She stepped into the position after hearing on the radio about a need for civ ically minded people who wanted to learn about the courts and attending a meeting. The Judicial Performance Evaluation Com mission, established in 2008, after piloting the observation program, asked for volun teers in 2010.

“It piqued my interest; they said this is a new thing and we’re just getting started,” Overacker said, despite having worked in the chemistry field before retirement. “It’s a benefit (that she didn’t work in the civ ics field); because they want lay persons. If you’re going to be taken to court, it can be a scary thing; it can be the worst day of your life. So having a lay person in their eyes, saying ‘this is a safe place,’ is a valuable thing.”

While serving the commission, Over acker entered courtrooms from Logan to St. George, Vernal to Tooele and she has observed judges rule on traffic offenses to criminal cases to family situations. She wit nessed courtrooms where judges ruled on stealing hot dogs to child abuse.

During her first two years as a court room watcher, Overacker said she learned two critical things early on.

“I learned two very important things within that first year I was doing this: One, if someone is ever in trouble, I would get a lawyer because they know the system and know what they’re doing. The second thing I learned is the judges in Utah are really good,” she said.

Overacker said that Utah has a system of appointing judges different from most states, which hold elections for judges so it can be partisan. In Utah, the governor ap points a commission to review applications to be judges and they’re chosen by merit, including education and service, she said.

“They’re already at the top of their field by the time they get to be judges,” she said, adding that it’s then up to voters to de termine their retention on the bench.

Overacker said the Utah Legislature recognized that initially very few voters have the time to observe court proceedings, so they didn’t know how to enter their re tention vote. Thus, a commission was es tablished with court observers who usual ly enter an assigned judge in a courtroom across the state to quietly take notes for a two- to three-page report they would file afterwards.

“I tried to be very discreet. I don’t want anybody to know who I am. I just wrote what’s going on the whole time, who did what and I tried to get direct quotes from the judge, the dissent and everyone to put in the report that I later wrote,” she said, adding that she did carry a letter from the commission explaining who she was if she was ever questioned.

As a court observer, Overacker dis creetly watched for basically three points: “Voice — does the judge allow everybody to speak equally?; neutrality in not taking sides; and respect — just being respectful to every party that’s there and having eye contact.”

She said that most judges met those criteria.

“Every judge I saw, would usually al ways say, ‘Do you have anything else to add? Is there anything I need to know?’ Most judges are really good. There are judg es that will look at their monitor the whole time people are talking and sometimes I know they’re busy and could be looking for history on the case or at precedents, but it’s really important to look up and face people when they’re talking to and not interrupt,” Overacker said.

She once did observe a judge that was “concerning to me. I wrote in my report

that he was so favorable to the prosecution, everything they asked for, they got, and I thought if I was a defendant in that court, I would be really nervous. I was asked to ob serve that same judge a couple years later, and I was hesitant, but he had changed. He was much more open.”

However, most of the times, the judges were fair. Overacker remembers observing an Ogden judge who realized a defendant on his third public defender wasn’t getting a fair shake when that lawyer asked for a con tinuance. The judge listened to the defen dant as he grumbled saying he already had served the maximum time in jail for that offense and the judge shortened the amount of time before the trial.

After sitting in courtrooms and having time to reflect, she wants people to know about the commission and information it provides so they can make informed deci sions when it’s time to vote on judicial re tention.

“Our system really does work and there are really good, honest people who are trying their best to make things fair to people,” Overacker said. “Our judges are good. Attorneys are invaluable. I learned this by watching how people listened, how people reacted and how people were taken care of. Utah has a good system.” l

Cottonwood football wins first game of season thanks to big plays over rival Murray

By Brian Shaw | b.shaw@mycityjournals.com

The Cottonwood Colts were all business from the opening kick—that they were supposed to have kicked to Murray in their game on Sept. 16.

“Their kids on film turn and run before the ball is kicked,” said Cottonwood head coach Casey Miller, who told his soc cer-style kicker to squib the football across the turf and past the onrushing Murray player on Homecoming Night.

“We thought we could get it and we did,” Miller said.

That ball squirted past one Murray player, went the oblig atory 10 yards it had to go, and then a Colt fell onto the onside kick for the first big play of many in a 41-28 win for Cotton wood.

Cottonwood (1-5) wrapped up this first win on the season when senior Nick Bean intercepted a Murray pass at the Mur ray 20, one he ran back for a touchdown with 1:47 to play in the third quarter.

The Colts clomped ahead for good in that third quarter, getting three consecutive long gainers on the ground that all led to first downs.

The dominance Cottonwood displayed on the ground led to junior Jaxon Martinez third rushing touchdown of three on the evening, extending the lead to 35-22 after a missed PAT. Murray had answered back cutting the Colts lead to 29-22 with 5:29 in the third.

In addition to Martinez’ huge evening (nine carries for 36 yards rushing, three TD), there were several other players who stepped up big time for Cottonwood, including senior quarter back Brock Simpson.

In the first quarter of a 0-0 ballgame, Simpson started showing that poise under pressure that he has been developing under the tutelage of coach Miller, who was himself a quarter back in high school and in college.

Simpson has had a solid season stat-wise (1,078 yards

passing, 7 TD, 6 INT). Over the past three games he’s shown marked improvement in each, going from a seesaw 21 for 35 completion night on 245 yards but only one TD pass in one game on Aug. 26 (a 7-16 loss to Providence Hall) to two TD passes and 194 yards passing in a 45-17 Sept. 2 loss to Northridge—to three TD passes and 278 yards in a close loss (39-36, OT) against Stansbury on Sept. 9.

On this warm September night on the Colts first drive of the game, Simpson stood in the pocket scanning the Murray defense for a moment. He then fired a bullet into the hands of junior Kaelen Gray across the middle for a Cottonwood first down early in the first quarter. A false start on Murray pushed the Colts ahead five more yards.

From the Murray 14 Simpson called his own number on a designed read option for four more yards [he had 3 carries for 30 yards rushing].

Then Jaxon Martinez blasted through the Murray defense for a 10-yard touchdown run. It was all set up in Miller’s view, however, by Simpson’s ability to make the right play call.

Case in point: Earlier in the season Simpson struggled making the right play calls in several games, but the Colts weren’t done with just six here. They lined up for a 2-point conversion instead of a PAT, and Martinez’ big No. 20 frame at a stout 190 pounds rumbled over Murray tacklers and through to daylight.

With seven minutes left in the first quarter of this big ri valry game, the Colts had taken an 8-0 lead and, it was the first time all season that they had led by as many as eight points. Murray answered back tying the game at 8-8 with 5:26 to play in the first—then tried a squib kick that the Colts failed to pounce on.

After the Colts stood up Murray on three consecutive run plays they got burned on a 41-yard TD pass on a fourth down

and what seemed like was forever to go, with 2:41 left in the first.

Down 15-8 after a point-after try was converted by Mur ray senior Lauren Fetzer, one of only a handful of females currently participating in Utah high school football. The Colts needed something big to go their way.

They got it when another sustained scoring drive led to Martinez bursting through the Murray defense with 11:22 to go in the first half, tying the game at 15-15 with the PAT after the 8-yard TD scamper. Then the Colts went up 22-15 when Simpson hurled a pass up into the unseasonably humid air to ward junior Roman Caywood in the right corner of the Murray end zone for an 11-yard score.

But rivalry games tend to be frenetic, hard-hitting slug fests with lots of tricks and this one wasn’t any different.

Murray tried an onside kick to start the second half, but was whistled for being offside. Then it squibbed a kick hop ing for a Colts fumble but instead had multiple players whis tled for infractions. That gave the Colts the ball at the Murray 44. From there they softened the Murray defense with three straight runs from Martinez and a first-down from the Murray 34. Then Simpson reeled back three steps and threw the ball so high you couldn’t see it from the camera.

When it landed, Caywood had outleapt two Murray de fenders in the end zone and snagged the ball out of midair for a 34-yard touchdown reception for Cottonwood.

That’s how magical this night went for the Colts, who hoisted the senior Simpson upon their shoulders in celebra tion, well after the homecoming king and queen had been crowned for 2022-23.

It was something they’ll all remember for a lifetime. l

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In the 11 years Utah Cycling League has offered high school athletes a chance to compete, more Cottonwood-AMESIntermountain Christian-Hillcrest mountain bikers have joined the composite team, ded icating themselves to year-round training for a four-race season in addition to state.

“We’re bigger every year,” said Cotton Crest coach Anthony Stowe. “We have 41 on the team this year and they're having tons of fun.”

This year, the majority, 26 riders, come from Hillcrest. Nine of the student-athletes are seniors.

“We know that the best advertising to get team members is word of mouth, but I’ve been able to snag a couple of girls at fresh man orientation night like Josie Paul, who is a team captain and a Hillcrest senior this year. She’s told me several times she’d never even thought about racing on mountain bikes until then,” Stowe said.

Joining Paul as captain is Hillcrest se nior Kenna Stowe, who is the first female racing varsity in five years.

“She’s been working really hard be cause racing varsity is a big deal,” he said.

In her first race, she placed 12th for the team.

The third captain is Hillcrest senior Kolby Butler, who had a goal to improve from JV-A to varsity this year.

“He’s right on the edge to riding varsity. There are four boys that want to move into varsity, but they all have to petition up. They did well last year, but not well enough to au tomatically qualify. It’s hard because it’s a pretty deep category. Those varsity boys are pulling the same lap times that a profession al athlete would, just incredibly fast. On any race day, you can see a plume of dust before you see them. It’s insane,” Stowe said.

In addition to his returners, he’s expect ing promise from first-year rider, Intermoun tain Christian junior Micah Autry.

“He is a rocket ship, but since this is his first year, he was starting somewhere in the middle of the pack in the lowest category, but with his race resume, we were able to pe tition him up to JV-A. Now he has to prove that he can get into varsity,” Stowe said.

The season began with races in Price and at Snowbasin, which Stowe said the latter is “a climbers’ course; it’s really steep right from the starting line.”

At Price, CottonCrest’s Alex Fisher won the freshman-B race, with Seth Fill more placing fourth and Graham Carlson, taking fifth.

At Snowbasin, CottonCrest podium fin ishers in their divisions were Carlson, first; Josie Paul, first; Fisher, second; and Sabrina Miner, fourth place.

In both races, the team finished sixth overall in their division.

CottonCrest was expected to race Sept.

CottonCrest mountain bikers off to fast start

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

Anthony Stowe

24 in Moab, on a “wide open fast course that has some technical sections on the slick rock,” followed by Oct. 8 race in Vernal, which Stowe described as a “fast-pedaler course.”

“The wonderful thing for Kolby, Porter Bach and Braxton Little is that they're all Hillcrest seniors, and they want to go out having raced in the hardest category. They know they’re not going to win first place, but they want to do hard things. In this day and age, it’s cool to see these kids have that desire, which will help them in life as they move on into the workplace. That's really what I try and instill with these kids. We climb mountains, which is super hard, right? We look at it and ask, how do you make it harder? So, our kids practice on difficult trails in hot weather, and we prepare them for the worst days. We do everything from intervals to hard courses on hot days where there are a couple of trails that are fully ex posed to the sun and they have an 800- or 900-foot climb in full sun, so they have to learn how to hydrate and eat properly before

practice. Because we train in these condi tions, we have a decent balance of aerobic output for Price and Vernal, and we have good climbers, technical riders and technical defenders for Snowbird and Moab.”

Preparing them for the races also means anything from mental toughness to bike re pair.

“When I send my athletes out, they’re gone, sometimes as much as four miles away. When they’re out there, they're out there, and that can be intimidating for a lot of kids. That’s what this sport is all about teaching them how to work hard, teach ing them sustainability, teaching them how to take care of themselves,” Stowe said.

State is Oct. 21-22 in St. George.

“The St. George course is a balance of all of the courses,” said Stowe who antici pates taking about 40% of his team to the championships. “You have half of the course that is wide open, smooth, easy trail, where you can put down the power and sustain it, and you’ll fly. The first half though is really difficult because you start out fast and you get right into this really rough terrain, so you need good technical skill. It’s the perfect bal ance of speed and technical prowess on the bike to test and challenge our riders.”l

Cottonwood freshman Sophia Arlen rides in a JV-B race. (Anthony Stowe/CottonCrest)

Cottonwood junior Ethan Luker races for Cotton Crest. (Anthony Stowe/CottonCrest)

We’re bigger every year. We have 41 on the team this year and they’re having tons of fun.

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Cottonwood music students tour southern Utah, use experience as motivation for this music season

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

It wasn’t a music tour jammed packed with performances and competitions.

Last spring, Cottonwood High’s choir and instrumentalists packed their bags for Southern Utah, leaving their instruments behind.

“We did clinics with professors at three colleges which was a very unusual tour for us,” instrumental teacher Amber Tuckness said. “We did not perform anywhere. We just were doing clinics because it was in May, at the end of the school year.”

The four-day tour, partially financed by GearUp, allowed students to learn about performing arts departments at Utah colleges. In addition to attending a jazz, instrumental and choral workshops, the 90 students got to see “Mary Poppins” at Tu acahn Center for the Arts in Ivins as well as explore the red rocks of Southern Utah in several state and national parks.

“We had decided not to go to Cali fornia for tour because of COVID; they hadn’t really decided the protocol,” Tuck ness said. “These workshops were really good. Every director was so different, and they learned about working together as an ensemble, listening and knowing your part and role in the ensemble and creating mu sic together. There were broad topics be cause, we weren't going to be playing that music again, but it will definitely move over to this year.”

Choir director Cecil Sullivan said that one of the directors focused on articula tion; another focused on vocal technique and another on the emotion.

“It was all very different from each di rector,” he said. “It was fascinating.”

Sullivan said that the directors all lis tened to them and focused on what they thought the groups needed.

Students also had a sound lesson at Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks where Tuckness played an alpenhorn.

Sullivan said it was “fascinating be cause it echoed really well in Zion because it’s a harder sandstone and it didn't echo at all in Bryce because it’s a softer, younger sandstone.

They even learned from seeing per forming art professionals at the dress re hearsal of “Mary Poppins.”

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“It was a performance with profes sionals and a live orchestra, and they had actually canceled the night before because of some technical issues,” Tuckness said. “So, the night we went they stopped the show and fixed some things because it is a very technical show. It was really good for the kids to see that even professionals have problems and struggles and need to fix things.”

She said the concepts they learned

“The lessons that were learned are re ally important and our students who were on the tour are being good leaders and showing good musicianship through what they learned. Quite a few of them carried what they learned from the clinics into this summer with Granite Youth Symphony performances,” Tuckness said.

The directors hope it will help with school performances. The choir’s fall con cert is set for Oct. 25 while the band will perform their annual Halloween concert with the theme of “Villains” on Oct. 27. Tickets are available online.

Weeks later, the concert choir will

combine with other school choirs in Gran ite School District to perform a free Veter ans’ Day concert Nov. 11 at the Salt Lake Tabernacle. December concerts also are planned.

In February, after the school musical “The Little Mermaid” that many students will participate in, the music students will go on a tour that will combine both a work shop at a southern Utah college as well as participate in a recording clinic in Disne yland before ending the school year with their spring concerts. l

Cottonwood High instrumental teacher Amber Tuckness played an alpenhorn at both Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks so students could measure the difference in sound. (Photo courtesy of Cottonwood High music department)

Murray’s Haunted Woods is back with theme nights and a longer trail

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com

For more than 40 years, Murray City’s Haunted Woods has provided thrills and chills to thousands of visitors. This year, the event will be held Oct. 24-26 at Murray City Park (296 E. Murray Park Ave.) on the south side of the outdoor swimming pool in pavil ion No. 5.

The Haunted Woods is hosted by the Exchange Club of Murray and the Murray youth government, and is Utah’s first fami ly-friendly haunted attraction. Visitors can choose the Silly Trail for younger guests from 5:30-7 p.m. or the Scary Trail from 7-9 p.m. for the more adventurous. Pro ceeds benefit organizations fighting child abuse and domestic violence in Utah.

“We have people calling from all over and we’ve already sold 1,000 tickets,” said Sheri Van Bibber, Murray youth advisor and head witch. “We sell out but we always take everybody that walks up.”

This year, the Haunted Woods has theme nights. Monday, Oct. 24 is Super hero Night; Tuesday, Oct. 25 is Disney Night; and Wednesday, Oct. 26 is Star Wars Night. Comic Con cosplayers, Miss Murray and the Ghostbusters club will also be in attendance, with a three-story marsh

mallow man and the Ectomobile.

Tickets are $5, with kids 3 and un der free. Each ticket includes a cup of hot chocolate and a doughnut at the end of the trail. Visit HauntedWoodsMurray.com for tickets and more information.

“It’s really super-fun and it’s so much more ramped up this year,” Van Bibber said. “Spread the word and bring friends. People tend to go through it many times. We’ve done it for years and it’s just grown every year. We also have treats afterwards, but only if they survive.” l

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The Ghostbusters club brings the Ectomobile and a three-story marshmallow man to the Haunted Woods in Murray Park. (Courtesy of Sheri Van Bibber)

Clubs from nearby high schools help set up and perform during the Haunted Woods event at Murray Park, Oct. 24-26. (Courtesy of Sheri Van Bibber)

League of Women Voters dedicated to educating, registering voters

Many voters have paged through a book let of candidates and chances are, it came from the League of Women Voters. Perhaps a great number of voters also signed up to vote with the help of one of the League’s volunteers.

“The League of Women Voters has been around for more than 100 years; we came into being around women's suffrage when the founders of the League of Women Voters fought hard to get women the right to vote,” said Shauna Bona, Salt Lake County’s chap ter president. “We take the rights and the need of all people to vote very seriously. Our biggest issue is access to the vote. We want to educate voters, register voters and moti vate voters. Our mission is really about em powering voters and defending democracy.”

While those early suffragists paved the way for women today to vote, Bona said that their mission isn’t over.

“We look at issues and study them, and it can be a local study or a state study or a national study. Then we lay the information out for our members, and we discuss it in small groups until we reach consensus on the issues, if this is a good issue for us to support. We do have positions around hav ing a clean, healthy environment to live in and to raise children and definitely we think women should be in the Constitution with the Equal Rights Amendment. When we do take a stance, we really work hard to help ed ucate the public and our lawmakers in hopes of really doing things that are right by the people,” Bona said.

She also pointed out that while their main message is to empower voters to make a better democracy, the League isn’t restrict ed to women members.

“We’ve had men in the League for de cades. In fact, we were going to change our name to not be the League of Women Vot ers, but the problem was that if we would have let go of the name of League of Women Voters, that we would have lost our history,” Bona said. “We have members of every sex ual orientation, of every background. What’s important is that we have this history to our nonpartisan commitment of voting rights.”

Among the issues the local chapter has reviewed are voting by mail, health care, census and immigration.

“Our members hold an annual meeting, and they say, for example, ‘Hey, we think that we should study abortion.’ So, we did a study recently about abortion laws and it wasn't taking a stand particularly, but it was a study just to understand the abortion laws in Utah. Sometimes those studies are to educate our members and then, they come up with their own personal opinions on it. Sometimes the study is a consensus study, when we're really trying to come up with a position. We're cautious and we're careful. We really want to make sure that we're not

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

making rash positions, but have our posi tions based on study,” she said.

While more than 300 local members gather annually, smaller groups study the issues monthly. “We also have our commit tees, such as the voting committee, and those committees might meet weekly because we have so much work we do. We work to reg ister voters; they go out to educate voters.

In the past, we have taught high schoolers about the importance of voters and register them; we have gone to naturalization cere monies and helped them register as new citi zens,” Bona said.

Currently, they’re updating Vote411 (vote411.org), a personalized voting web site, which after entering a residential ad dress, voters can explore their candidates’ information, learn about upcoming elections and how to register and find out polling loca tions. The site covers local, state and nation al election information.

For example, currently the website states that voters need to be registered by Oct. 28 for the next general election on Nov. 8.

“We have groups of people, men and women, all over the country, including here in Salt Lake, formulating questions for our candidates for every race and every elec tion,” she said. “It’s one of the only places that candidates can answer these questions. We do not edit what they write. It’s com pletely nonpartisan. There's no ‘gotcha’ questions. Every candidate has the opportu nity in their own words to answer questions. You can pick a question and put the candi dates’ views side by side to compare their answers. They can put in YouTube videos so it’s educating voters and it’s completely fair to the candidates. It’s really just to inform the voters.”

The League of Women Voters also sponsors debates or candidate forums “so that voters can hear from the candidates,” Bona added.

As part of the League, some members called Observer Corps attend local city meetings.

“Our goal is that we have a League of Women Voters observer at every city coun cil meeting, at the racial equity and policing commission meeting and at the planning meetings just to hear what's going on and to take notes and report back to our members what is happening because local govern ment is incredibly important,” she said. “Of tentimes, people are busy in their lives and things get overlooked so our Observer Corps is doing that work for us. We’ve done a lot of great things like finding out ranked choice voting and about the gravel pit in the canyon and letting people know when the council was going to be discussing issues and en couraging people to contact their council members. Our Observer Corps believes in

transparency and accessible government, so we go and find out what they’re doing and report back so our members can follow their own conscience and reach out to their lead ers and let them know what they think.”

Many issues are shared on their website and in their weekly email briefings.

Education is an issue “what our mem bers are passionate about,” Bona said. “We cover every single school board race and make sure that we’ve researched it and have good questions to ask the candidate. We cov er the school board races and make sure all citizens are educated about the issues, par

ticularly in K-12 education in Utah. There are serious issues related to inclusion, issues related to all kinds of things in education. We’re focusing on educating to make sure people know who the different candidates are on the local school boards, what’s moti vating them, why they’re running and what their intentions are. That is incredibly im portant right now. We’re not saying, vote for this candidate or that candidate. We believe in empowering voters. We ask questions. We have candidates answer those questions, and the voters read those and how they decide who is the best to represent them and their options. It doesn’t matter to us how they

Salt Lake League of Women Voter Services Director Helen Moser registers a new citizen at a naturaliza tion ceremony Aug. 25 at Bryce Canyon National Park. (Photo courtesy of Peter Densmore/National Park Service)

Norma Wills, the natural resources director for the League of Women Voters of Utah, volunteered at the recent Salt Lake festival at 9th and 9th to register voters. (Shauna Bona/League of Women Voters)

Margie McCloy, a Salt Lake League of Women Vot ers member and volunteer, talks to the community about the League and the importance of voting. (Shauna Bona/League of Women Voters)

vote. It’s not our business. We just want them to be educated and to vote.”

She said voting is critical.

“Our entire system is predicated on an educated populace exercising the right to vote. We pick our leaders, our leaders don’t pick the voters, and the better educated and inspired and energized our voting and voting populace is, the better a country our demo cratic republic will be,” she said.

Lori Jones, a former longtime educator, said educated voting is critical to elections, including the local school board.

“Voters need to review candidates’ platforms, then they can make educated de cisions about who wants to support schools and make them better,” she said.

While her longtime passion has been education, Jones, who recently joined the League of Women Voters, said she has con cerns about redistricting and environmental issues, both of which Bona said are hot top ics right now.

“I joined the League because I read that they filed a lawsuit against the legislature about gerrymandering of the congressional districts, which I was furious about, and I’m also really interested in trying to do things to make sure that the Great Salt Lake doesn’t die because that would be a huge disaster for our children. I'm an advocate for children and a lot of people blow off the Great Salt Lake because they don’t realize everything that it does. I just thought, ‘OK, I don't have

a right to complain unless I volunteer’ so I’m taking a look to learn more about these is sues,” she said.

After attending a couple meetings, Jones plans to get more involved.

“I like how the League gets people in volved in nonpartisan politics and how they also take an active role in what’s going on in the state. The great thing about it is you don’t have to run for office to have to see if you can have an impact on something and you can get involved in as little or as much as you want. They’ve got a climate group that’s looking at problems with water in Utah. They have a legislative group that goes to the legislative sessions to find out what they’re doing, and they have an observer group who are trained to be an observer at city meetings and report back what's going on,” she said.

Bona’s involvement with the League started after the 2016 election.

“I wanted to get involved with educating voters and helping voters understand the im portance of going to the ballot in an informed way,” she said. “I saw what the League was doing and that they were empowering vot ers and registering people to vote, not asking them how they were going to vote, but just making sure that they were informed citizens who did vote. To me, that felt like a way of making the world a better place.” l

Murray soccer prepares for playoffs

Photo by Travis Barton

Murray High girls soccer team was 8-7 heading into the final game of the season. The Spartans have battled through the typically tough Region 6. Junior Kaylee Smith has played all over the field.

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T here are lots of people in this world who scare me, like toddlers, Christian nationalists and the barista who always compliments my shirt, even when I’m wearing a blood-stained hoodie.

But dentists! Dentists are a higher level of fear. I'm sure they get tired of being compared to the sadistic den tist in “Little Shop of Horrors” but if the tooth fits…

My dentophobia is rooted in an experience when I was 5 where many of the details are still slumbering in my subconscious, waiting to burst when I’m least expecting it. The only thing I remember was the dentist was not my friend.

Peri Kinder Life and Laughter

I start ed dreading my annual checkup.

Mom would write our dentist’s name on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick, so she’d remember to schedule the appointment. But every time she wrote it, I’d take a wet washcloth and wipe it off. I’m sure she never noticed the smeared lipstick or the dripping-wet mirror.

Now that I’m older, I should be braver, right? I should be grateful I don’t have a medieval dentist who also works as the village butcher, barber and blacksmith. I’m lucky I’m not Tom Hanks in “Castaway” when he uses an ice skate to knock out his abscessed molar. Modern dentistry

It’s like pulling teeth

is a privilege.

My rational mind knows all those things, but I’ve never left a dentist’s office thinking, “Hmmm. That wasn’t too bad.”

I recently had my first root canal, which didn’t ease my fears. At all. I was upfront with the endodontist and told him I didn’t like him very much.

“I understand,” he said.

“No, really. I loathe you,” I said.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

We went from there. He offered me nitrous oxide be cause if I’m going to be root-canaled, I’d rather be float ing somewhere near Venus. After I was nice and drifty, he told me I’d feel a little pinch as he numbed my mouth. Then he proceeded to nail my face to the chair while the nurse handed him a Black & Decker drill. He laughed ma niacally, donned a hockey mask ala Jason Voorhees and started excavating my back teeth.

At least, that’s how I remember it.

After the root canal, I had to make an appointment with my dentist to put a crown on my tooth. I called the receptionist who said I could schedule time on Sept. 12 at 2:30 a.m. or wait until June 2023. Typical.

I don’t know why I’m still terrified of all things den tal. The smell of a dentist’s office makes my stomach roll. The sound of a drill makes my jaw clench, which makes it really hard to work on my teeth. When it was time for my crown appointment, I sat in my car for a good 15 minutes, giving myself a pep talk.

“You’ve got this,” I said. “You’re a big girl.”

“Nope. I’m going to Starbucks,” I responded. “No, you’re not. You’re going to act like an adult

and walk in that office.”

I stuck my tongue out at myself and went to get my crown. Not a cool crown like a Dutch sapphire tiara but a porcelain crown that I’m afraid to chew with. I’m pretty sure my dentist has a hook for a hand and he proceeded to stab my gums repeatedly, probably just for the fun of it. And then it was over. For now.

I’d rather face a zillion zombies, a multitude of mum mies, a van full of vampires or a ton of toddlers before seeing the dentist again. He’s the scariest monster I know.

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