We All Have a Voice But Not Always Heard . . . We All Have Ears But Not All Listen

          I dragged my family to the high school last night.  I understood the meeting to start at 5:30, but it must have started at 5:00 as we walked into a mass production that had already obviously started.  It seems that the focus was mainly on just one school, though the elementary next to it had been mentioned.  There were parents there for both group.  I saw several youth but not a huge number.  The meeting was at the high school library and it was filled and overflowing.

          Three separate events had taken place.  The first was a threat made by a person that was being bullied.  The threat made was toward the bullies and not the entire school.  On October 23 a "prank" phonecall had been made to 911 about a shooting.  Two youth were arrested.  Last week there a note had been left in one of the bathrooms leaving the impression of a bomb threat.  The school was placed on lock down and the adjoining elementary was put on a soft lock - dismissed from elementary - and I have learned they keep all of the doors locked anyway.

          Of course there were and are concerns about each time the police have been called in.  While searching the lockers, police did find evidence of other misdemeanors NOT related to  the bomb threat.  It was announced last night that 17 youth have been arrested for various reasons - though the only I remember mentioned was possession of drugs which were discovered when the police were combing the area for evidence of weapons and just happened upon other criminal activities during their search.

          Sadly, there are some youth whose parents just don't care.  I was pleased by the turnout of so many who do.  Unfortunately, many of them are so caught up in speculation and fear of what might be that they aren't seeing that the school and police really are taking measures for the safety of the students.  Not enough tax payers were willing to pay for a new school when it was proposed on the election of 2016.  Our school buildings are OLD - they start in the early 1900's - I think Canyonville (the main building anyway) may be even older than that. The most current building was probably built in the 1950's.  Architects didn't make plans for extra securities as it was a foreign concept at that time. 

          Some of the parents want the police to patrol the schools and add securities - which of course, require money.  But I am not fond of having the school appear have the a prison feel to it.  I think about 1989 film "Lean on Me" in which Morgan Freeman portrays a principal determined to change and not live in fear.  I don't want our schools to become how they were before he stepped up and made changes - many against the parents' wishes. 

          I've learned that it does not matter which direction you take, someone is not going to like it.  Someone is going to be offended.  Others are going to react - but not all the reactions are going to be positive.  Some are going to create more problems if they feel ignored or if they misinterpret or (here's a big one) they panic.  Don't panic!  Don't make worse.

          I think some valid points were made last night, but for some nothing was resolved.  Some will be (or already have) removing their children from the school.  Home schooling for some.  Transfers perhaps for others.  Jenna and I share the same attitude - don't stress over what you can't control.  Changing schools doesn't guarantee that your child will be any safer.  Stop the bullying.  Chances are really good that they are connected.

Picnics in the Freeway and Swimming Downtown

            After we had moved my mom into assisted living, we gutted out her house and set aside things for ourselves and the rest for a massive yard sale.  Corey had returned from Las Vegas to claime what was his and took a lot of what had once been hers.  He said he wanted all the photos.  There were many that I wanted to scan so that I could have digital copies, but I really didn't have the room for all of the hard photographs.  Corey and Joh had more room than any of my mother's other children.

            It was in September of this year that Corey and Joh came to Oregon for a brief visit.  Unfortunately, when they returned home to their house in Las Vegas, they learned that several parts of the house had received water damage due to a flood caused by a broken pipe.  They have since undergone renovation and have been forced to make decisions about weeding out certain belongings.  Through this trial, Corey has decided that he too will scan all of the photographs as hanging onto the physical photographs is no longer a priority.

            As he has been scanning, he has also been sharing various photos.  I don't know seeing them has stirred up a lot of memories for me, or if it's the subject of my classes introducing land development and building costs and so forth, or if it's a combination of both.  I certainly have done a huge amount of time traveling remembering how things were before evolution took over . . . 

            Someone had given my Uncle George the book "Salt Lake City, Then and Now"  

by Kirk Huffaker, David Watts (Photographer), Catherine Fegan-Kim (Photographer)

I want that book.  There are several pages that compare yesterdays landscape to today's

instagram.com/slctotheworld   04-18-2014

  salt lake traveler

some depict the same familiarity in both photos

Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune A view of Main and South 

Temple, looking north, is seen on May 27, 2014, and again in 1950.

while others locations show different buildings

Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Looking north east on

Main Street, just south of 100 South, in Salt Lake City, Tuesday

June 3, 2014 and the same view seen sometime in the 1860s.

I made these two pages for Jenna

before we moved to Oregon.  Of course, I do not remember all the landscape that existed before the evolution

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865610856/The-ghosts-under-our

-feet-88-modernhistorical-photos-show-Salt-Lake-then-and-now.html

but I do have my own memories of certain things that perhaps others may share as well . . . or maybe not.

When I was younger, my mom had signed me up for swim lessons.  My brother, Patrick and I would carpool with the boys across the street.  I don't know how often our lessons were, but the drive was far.  Really far.  It boggles my mind to think how far the Deseret Gym was located from our house.

            The Deseret Gym is no longer there nor are any of the buildings on that entire block (see here) for all buildings were demolished and land preserved until it became the conference center

https://www.hydrotechusa.com/projects/lds-conference-center

notice the building takes up the entire block

    

            It would not be totally accurate for me to say that I used to take swim lessons at the conference center, but I did take swim lessons where the conference center is located.

            Yesterday's lunch triggered another memory about exploring and picnicking in a field that was dug up years later and has become a part of what is known as I215

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_80_in_Utah

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/project_profiles/ut_i15_corridor.apxs

            Patrick and I had gone with his friend to see the "tree house" he said was there.  We had all packed a lunch and took our little jaunt into the fields just outside of the neighborhood.  The tree house was no more than a single board nailed to one, maybe two branches of a tree.  We all climbed up and sat on the board and ate our lunch.

            Our friend had brought a tuna fish sandwich that had been plastered in mustard.  Gross!  I don't know why I even remember that.

            We used to hold block parties at the dead-end section of mom's old neighborhood.  The entire neighborhood would gather together for food, games,  and of course, one another's company.  I don't know how often or if they still hold them.  The last neighborhood party I remember being in said location was the year that Roland and I were married.

            Well, that's it for this post.  Have to get back to class.  Take an assessment.  Turn in an assignment.  I'm not procrastinating really.  I'm taking a break after having spent so much time trying to figure the text myself.  The lecture is on Wednesdays with a disorganized but nice instructor that I've had before.  Fortunately, I have only one class this mod.