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Holiday Schedule Utah Policy Daily will take Monday off, publish the rest of next week as usual, and take Jan. 2 off. Accommodating PDAs To ensure access by all subscribers, UPD is being delivered in three ways: A text only-version is attached to the e-mail Notification delivered each morning, a text-only version is published on the Web site with a link in the Notification, and an HTML version is published at www.utahpolicy.com, as usual. |
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News Highlights HHS Sec. Mike Leavitt is pleased with early results of Medicare drug program (Salt Lake Tribune). Political columnist Bob Bernick says Utah House and Senate leaders are playing some games with each other (Deseret Morning News). Sen. Chris Buttars is confident his evolution bill will pass (Morning News). Mayor Rocky Anderson's Christmas tree is decked out in energy-saving LED light technology (Morning News). |
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Quote of the Day "How
many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier
to keep Holidays than Commandments." —Benjamin Franklin
(Source: The
Federalist Patriot) |
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| Friday Buzz Written by LaVarr Webb & Associates |
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A Christmas Story The 28-Cent Christmas Tree (This is a true story written by my father, the late LaVarr B. Webb. It has been a family favorite that helps us appreciate the bounteous blessings we enjoy today in contrast to times past.) It was a cold day. A gray day, gray with the threat of snow, and gray with the threat of tears. There were children, three of them, ages one, twelve, and fourteen. There were two children missing on that cold, gray day. They had died one Easter season some four years before. Scarlet Fever had wracked their bodies and blotched their skin. But now the memory of that sad season was replaced by what could be a happier one. It was Christmas Eve 1935. A Depression year in Salt Lake City. A father without a job, trying to get on WPA (Works Progress Administration). I don’t know where he was that night, just that he wasn’t home, but I remember a mother trying to create Christmas joy with nothing to work with. I was fourteen. My sister was twelve. I don’t remember that we were concerned about Christmas presents, at least I wasn’t. My sister probably wanted a doll. She always wanted a doll, a baby doll, a doll like my baby sister had been, with fat, pink cheeks, and chubby hands and arms. I don’t remember much about that Christmas of 1935 other than I wanted a Christmas tree. I told my mother, “Christmas will not be Christmas if we don’t have a Christmas tree.” My sister and I begged for a tree. My mother shook her head sadly. “We have no money to buy a Christmas tree.” My sister and I would not be deterred. We took colored paper from catalogs, cut it into strips, curled the strips into circles, and using flour and water paste, pasted one link into another until we had long lengths of highly colored paper chains. We looked for tin foil from discarded chewing gum wrappers and cigarette packs. Some of the foil we cut into thin strips for icicles. Our neighbor had an English Walnut tree. We took halves of walnut shells, wrapped them with foil, and had beautiful ornaments that would rival anything found in a store. We popped pop corn and made chains. We found discarded cranberries and made cranberry chains, but we had no Christmas tree for our lovely ornaments. Finally, as day was fading, and the dark was creeping across the valley, I asked my mother, “See how much money you have. Maybe someone will sell me a tree.” She went to her purse, and handed me 28 cents. She was crying when she said, “That is all I have.” I jumped on my bike, and rode up to 21st South Street where all the Christmas tree lots were located. I went from lot to lot, but no one would sell me a tree for 28 cents. About nine o’clock, up on 21st South and State Street, I found a man turning off his lights and shutting down for the day, shutting down for the season. I asked him, “Do you have a tree you will sell for 28 cents?” His exact words were, “What the heck! I can’t sell anymore anyway. Take your pick.” I found one just a little taller than I was, gave him my 28 cents, put the tree across my handle bars, and headed home. As I peddled out of the lot, I heard him shout, “Merry Christmas,” and it was. What’s a College Degree Worth? The Utah Foundation has released a report entitled “What is a Utah College Degree Worth?” (see press release.) The report compares the current employment and educational status of 2004 graduates from all major colleges and universities in Utah, along with information about salaries they are earning after one year in the workforce. To read the report, click here. Washington Watch Mitt's Got What It Takes Sen. Orrin Hatch is frustrated over Patriot Act reauthorization reversal (Associated Press); Hatch says Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney has "everything it takes" to lead the nation should he choose to run for president (Sentinel & Enterprise). Mormons on Stem Cells Nevada gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibson, a Mormon, shares the views of Mormon Sens. Harry Reid and Hatch on stem cell research (Associated Press). Cannon to Present Award Rep. Chris Cannon to present Riverton High School student Jorrien Peterson with the Congressional Award Bronze Medal "for his work towards community betterment and his own personal growth" (see press release). DOD Funds for HAFB Senate passes legislation providing funding for the Department of Defense over the next fiscal year, including millions of dollars for several key programs at Hill Air Force Base (see press release). Podcast Watch Jennifer Napier-Pearce’s InsideUtah.com podcast this week features bookseller Catherine Weller (:37) giving her picks for holiday gift giving; plus a look back on the past 25 podcasts including excerpts from Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (5:07); Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson (7:49); peace activist Tom King (10:44); Senator Orrin Hatch (13:12); State Senator Al Mansell (16:14); defense attorney Ron Yengich (18:05); attorney Sean Reyes (19:57); artist Nathan Florence (22:38); advocate Claire Geddes and Salt Lake Chamber president Lane Beattie (25:01);and Leonardo curator Kent Miles (26:38). Blog Watch Rep. Steve Urquhart says the U.S. should start an urban homesteading program (see also here)... The Warren has a post on stupid Park City dog owners... Wilf Sommerkorn has a post on the Bluffdale rezoning controversy... Eric Hamilton says Rocky Anderson "is absolutely my favorite mayor ever"... New West identifies the who's who of Western population growth... Evolution in Utah endorses Trib editorial on Intelligent Design (see also here). Local Watch UAC Legislative Committee Meetings Broadcasts The Utah Association of Counties will be broadcasting its Legislative Committee meetings throughout the state. This year a new location has been added in Moab. For the other broadcast locations, click here. |
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Friday
December 23, 2005
Exoro Group is a major sponsor of UPD
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| Political Calendar |
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Please submit calendar items to Daily@UtahPolicy.com -
Dec 23, 24, 30, 31: Wasatch County Democratic Party
Phone Network. To help contact Lisa Teifke at 435-785-7850 or lisa_f_teifke@fanniemae.com. -
Jan 11: Washington County Economic Summitt, 7 am
to 2 pm. For more information visit www.whatsupdownsouth.com. |
| - See the entire calendar |
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Utah Policy Daily is a service Publisher: LaVarr
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