Diamond

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Residents Defend Fire Crew Skills In Pleasant View

PLEASANT VIEW – Rumors that this city’s volunteer fire department was inefficient at a recent house fire were refuted Thursday night by officials and residents.

To the contrary, testified Fire Chief Terry Call, volunteer firemen did an “outstanding job” at the scene of the blaze.

The fire gutted the home of Harold Ross at 975 W. 3800 N., Friday night. It also destroyed a boat before being brought under control. The family was gone at the time.

BACKS MEN

Chief Call was backed by a group of residents appearing before the City Council on other matters.

Two residents, Don Amidan and George Sant questioned actions of the volunteers and requested information about their training and skills.

They also questioned purchase and installation of a pool table in the fire station saying they did not feel firemen “have time to play pool during training sessions.”

Chief Call said the department has the finest equipment in the county and that he would match his volunteers with any in the state.

He said the pool table is not used during training sessions and pointed out that its purpose is to encourage volunteer firemen to spend time at the station during off-duty hours.

PLAYING POOL

“There have been a number of occasions when two, three or four volunteers have been at the station playing pool when an alarm has come in,” he said.

“As a result, it has been only a matter of seconds before the equipment is rolling and firemen are on their way to the fire,” he added.

Chief Call, supported by several residents, said firemen and equipment were on the scene in almost record time.

He said records showed the alarm was called in at 10:18 p.m. and fire crews were at the scene and in operation nine minutes later at 10:27 p.m.

THAT FAST

“I doubt if any other department in the country could respond as fast, even those manned 24-hours a day,” Chief Call declared.

Reports that firemen arriving at the scene did not even have a wrench to open the fire hydrant were denied by Chief Call and residents.

It was explained that a resident at the scene did put his own wrench on the hydrant as firemen arrived, but crews had one on the truck available for use.

Residents who flocked to the scene on foot and in vehicles were blasted by officials who said their actions impeded fire fighting activities.

As a result, Mayor Richard Diamond said a plan has been worked out by police departments in Pleasant View, North Ogden and Harrisville to hold back crowds at fires or other disasters and all officers will be empowered to make arrests.

DRIVE TRUCK

Chief Call said the department has 20 out of 25 volunteer firemen who can drive and operate the fire truck.

He said the five who do not are recruits who have expressed their desires not to operate the equipment until they are more qualified.

Mayor Diamond said the city is purchasing additional fire hose as funds will permit. It also was pointed out there is a need for more fire hydrants in some areas.

Chief Call, said Mayor Diamond, will be asked to make a list of such areas by priority. Fire hydrants also will be color coded according to the water pressure available in each.

ALL HYDRANTS

A program is presently under way to check the operational condition of all hydrants in the city.

Mayor Diamond was asked to have Chief Call coordinate the program with the public works department which has been conducting the checks.

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Can’t Loan Equipment for Cleanup

Another article clipped by my Grandmother, Gladys Donaldson Ross. This references a fire of a home that belonged to Harold and Jennie Ross. Jennie is a Van Leeuwen cousin of my Grandma, Harold is the brother to my Grandpa. Jennie told me at one point, she may have thought the fire was intentionally set to get back at her by Harold. She lost some of her prized Charlie Russell paintings in the fire.

“Pleasant View – Although they would have liked to, city officials here voted against loaning city equipment to help clean up after a recent house fire.

“City councilman and Mayor Richard Diamond said they feared such an act would set a precedent that may be difficult to live with as the years come and go.

“In addition, a group of citizens appearing before them on other matters felt the same way.

“Voiced Sympathy

“Mayor Diamond asked the group how they felt about granting such a request involving the home of Harold Ross at 975 W. 3800 N., that was gutted by fire.

“Several of the people responded. They also expressed sympathy for the cause, but said it would not be wise for the city to loan the front-end loader.

“A couple cited other examples in which such requests could have been made and said there would be no place to “draw the line.”

“Debris left over by the fire was being cleared by volunteers, mostly neighbors and friends.

“The front-end loader, it was explained, would have come in handy to scoop up the debris and load it into waiting trucks.

“In further illustrating the problem such an act would create, Councilman Leonard Cevering mentioned an experience at his own home.

“He said he came home at 10:30 one evening to find his basement half full of water.

“”I would have been great if I could have called the city and had them bring over a piece of equipment to dig down and drain the water out,” he said.

“As it was, he added, the task involved considerable time and expense on his part. He said there could be a number of such problems in the future.

“City officials, however, did not rule out the use of city equipment during emergency situations when lives or property might be threatened.

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Oh the nothingness

Here I write once again.  Sometimes life seems so full of everything, and other times as if this broad expanse of nothingness.  The variety of individuals I have the privilege of being with is amazing.  Their view, their outlook, the goals, their aspirations, their weaknesses all seem to vary so much.  The variety and style prompts me to proclaim how wonderful and amazing they are.  The intelligence that is so encompassing held by just a dozen people is staggering.  Yet, sometimes I wonder if they know one iota of anything concerning themselves and eternity.  People seem to be so good, wonderful, and helpful and in the same breath so greedy, selfish, and conceited.  What an education far beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
Sometimes I wonder about the words of C.S. Lewis about when one recognizes themselves, that becomes the basis of pride.  Yet, one star is greater than another, one is always greater than another.  Perhaps we can recognize our own individuality but should be highly cautious about setting ourselves up over other people.  That is what the world is teaching.  You are special, it doesn’t matter what anyone is or does, you are better than they are.  That is false.  We are special, we are individuals, but we are a part of the fabric and an essential player.  We cannot be independent of all others.  No man is an island.  To think we are to be our own man, independent of the God who created us, and the fellow citizens of the earth only creates a bunch of insufferable show offs.  It breeds relativism and more conflict in the world.
While I have no doubt of the place of America in the role of the world, I find it scary that we subscribe to the belief I just mentioned.  I remember in England when an American could not understand one with the local dialect, they met it characteristically with talking a little louder and asking a question a little slower.  It wasn’t them who had the problem, it ws the individual speaking!  We expect the world to revolve around us and pay us all the respect we believe is our due.  We claim the rest of the world has pride and arrogance, even ignorance; when I must admit I think we are the one guilty of the charge.  Is it any wonder the French have problems with us?  In their history individuals given power rather than a government has produced “The Terror”.  Why wouldn’t we expect them to react the way they did when we gave more over arching powers to the executive?  When the power of waging war and of going into battle was given in their country, it led to a man seeking to rule Europe.  Add that to their condition of their neighbors who have taken them over because of what they deemed as right.  Of course France is not supportive of our going into another country to further ideals of democracy.  We can see why they don’t like capital punishment, the guillotine is a national symbol still to them.  That is something they will forever buck at.  What is more, we hover and watch them and give them the cold shoulder.  Not as a brother in the world should do, but as a lesser creature.  Someone who is to not be associated with on the playground.  We act the bully, and then when they bristle or don’t fall in line, we scorn and mock them.  Try and turn our friends against them to persuade them to be with us.  Looking back, that bully did hold their power for time.  What ever happened to the bully.  I hope we became more mature, that we all become equal, but it isn’t true.  I know of three who bullied me in elementary and junior school, and sadly they find themselves on the lower of the totem pole in life today.  I do not know if this would be true generally or across the board, but it is in my life.  Sadly, I expect the same thing will happen eventually to us as a nation.
Then I look at other nations who are different.  Others with different goals and perspectives.  We eye them with caution and expect they must have questionable motives.  The uncertainty always creates fear doesn’t it?  “I have often thought to myself, what is to be done?”  Education is our only hope.  Just like Thomas Jefferson I find myself thinking that our only hope would be education and the constant expansion of our understanding.  It must be understood, retained, and constantly built upon.  Just like Joseph Smith taught of the need for increasing light and knowledge, Thomas Jefferson admonished, and Allan Bloom admonishes we must find and constantly be analyzing.  We find our beliefs, seek out further light, compare it to what we have, and throw away what doesn’t work.  Leave it behind, keeping a faithful record of where we have been.  Sadly, such a case does not seem to be on the books today.  Like I mentioned the case of relativism seems to be taking hold with all its disastrous underpinnings.  James Madison made it clear that without the moral compasses and moorings that come from religious principles, the looking out one for another, democracy would drift and fall.  Without morality democracy will pass as all the others have before our time.
Odd isn’t it.  We are so smart, yet we never counsel with history.  Is it any wonder we are so seriously admonished to remember.  Rather than condemning, let us seek.  Rather than finding our lines and demanding nobody to cross over, why don’t we step over them ourselves and act as more faithful pilgrims and wanderers?  The glory of God is intelligence isn’t it?  When slapped, turn your cheek and move on.  Service to your enemies and comfort to those who are weak.  Revenge is never the order of the day.
It all starts with the individual.  From there the example is powerful.  There is great hope in the world.  There is great possibility of potential.  Why are we focused on fear?  Why not look to the future?  Fear only cripples.
Inside the world, in my own personal life, there is much to look forward to.  I find in myself a growth and a bright outlook.  It all comes in the name of Amanda Hemsley for me.  Burton K Wheeler and Jared Diamond have been my meat recently.  Not to mention the studies of Iranian business deals and American history that have been my research.  There has been a constant barrage of information which have helped to temper me and my zeal.  Somehow though, the introduction of another who is to be considered as yourself changes things drastically.  My vision has expanded not only of the world from her eyes but the view from my own.  It tempers the excitement of youth even more, but gives more drive for the future.  Somehow the clutch of individualism is disengaged and one finds themselves propelled faster and further along the road of life.  I am not even married yet!  The walk continues, but it is taking on new vistas.  I leave the Rocky Mountains with dizzying height and glamor to the more humble and open expanse of the plains.  It is not that there is less to see, nor is there less to experience.  It is just different.  The ecosystem is just as open, but a new road.  The anticipation is great.  Where will it take us?  How far will it take us?  Shall we circle the earth or walk slowly to Blair, Nebraska?  Either one, I am content.
She is most beautiful, captivating, and sublime.  I have not potential to describe the connection in those eyes and how far the warmth of her body seems to penetrate.  This world is definitely beyond the physical.  We don’t even know all the aspects of the physical, but already many doors are open for emotional and spiritual travel.
I found one of her hairs today.  It glistened and somehow represented something so far away.  It was only a memento that was obviously manifesting of her presence.  Yet she is so far away.  This part is not even living, but yet it speaks of her.  How many hairs in the world do I see, yet lose their true significance.  I have eyes but do not see.
Life is more than just me.  I focus on myself so much, everything revolves around my life, because that is me.  It is unavoidable.  But the greatest joys come in the life of others.  Burton K Wheeler’s experiences are now a part of my own.  His personality has become a part of mine.  While the stories and the times may melt, I have been changed and can clearly link it to him.  The same with Cecil D Andrus’ life.  On and on and on.  Oh if I could implore more people to record their lives and write their stories!  What I would not give to read the same of my ancestors.  My grandmother’s journal was a portal into another’s life.  However, that life is an extension of me.  While Brother Wheeler is far more removed, he is still a part of the country I now life, and that is part of me as well.  I was so sure to go out and define the world and change it according to my view.  I am coming to find out that the world has created much of what I am.  It has changed me.  It used to be such a negative view.  I always knew what needed to change and what I was to do.  Now it is the opposite.  What can I learn from it to apply in life.  I seek more and more.  Dismissing those which are of lesser quality and holding to those which are more true.
Is it any wonder we are exhorted to seek out knowledge.  It is the only thing that will save us.  Especially that knowledge which is most important.
Amanda came to visit over last weekend.  All my time with her is something to be cherished.  We learn so much from each other.  I learn so much from her.  She amazes me.  She is so pure and wonderful.  She makes me wish I was better, glad I receive her love, and yet honoured.  I love her and hope we will forever build upon that.  We are both just humble enough to learn from each other and to walk the path together.  As we grow, how much more sweeter can it possibly become?
Oh the nothingness of man.  God rules the nations and the earth inasmuch as we let him.  He oversees all and knows all things.  May we learn of him rather than to pontificate to the world what they should know.  There is so much to learn.  May I always be learning and seeking?  Rather than the one giving instruction.  Reminds me of Socrates always asking the questions rather than giving the answers.  Good night.