I want to live in Saint Woods Cross

On the front page of the WX website (at the time of this writing) it says:
City Beatification
It then talks about a gardening class on April 4th. What does beatification have to do with gardening? The definition of beatification (from http://www.dict.org) is "The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp., in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization." So look for Saint Woods Cross in the near future.
What should have been there is beautification. This means the act of making something more beautiful.
Since somebody from City Hall reads my blog regularly, I'm sure it will be changed soon after I post this, so I'm including a screenshot since the mistake actually brought a smile to my face.

It's a conspiracy!

An article in today's Deseret Morning News talks about the Emery County clerk causing problems by having election machines tested by an independent election security firm. My burning question is, What is Diebold afraid of? The majority of reports about these election machines is that there have been problems with them in other states. So now a county clerk has some questions and has an "independent" firm test them and it voids the warranty? What?
Apparently, it voids the warranty because he allowed "the machines to be tested by somebody unaffiliated with the state elections office or Diebold Elections Systems."
Well guess what, I'm unaffiliated with the state elections office. I'm also not affiliated with Diebold Elections Systems. If all goes as currently planned, I'll be testing at least one of these machines on election day. Does that mean that the warranty will be voided on that machine? I sure hope not! If Diebold Elections Systems expects every voter to do exactly what the software expects them to, I have serious concerns about their software programming ability. Every GOOD software programmer knows that the best way to test software is to have somebody not familiar with the software or programming test it.
Watch out Davis County, the warranty on your election machines may be voided on election day by all those people "testing them" who are not affiliated with the state elections office or Diebold Elections Systems.

It's not just Utah

Apparently local government types are the same all over the country. This link shows an e-mail exchange between a CentOS developer and the City Manager of Tuttle, Oklahoma. In my experience, city managers hear what they want to hear. Funny thing is, my kids do the same thing.

Who ya gonna call?

An article in Tuesday's Davis County Clipper talks about the Woods Cross High School swimming team coach, Susie Earnshaw, being upset about an extended closure of the Recreation Center. This closure was discussed many times while I was still on the council. Susie's husband Rick even questioned why the closure had to take place during the swim team season.
There is an easy solution for all the Woods Cross High School swim team members and their parents. Call the South Davis Recreation District Board Member who represents Woods Cross City. At this time it is Jerry Larrabee. His home phone number according to DexOnline is 801-292-3968. If that doesn't get you anywhere, call each member of the Woods Cross City Council. After all, that's what it means to have a representative government. They are there to represent the people of their city. For your convenience, currently the members of the city council are (home phone numbers from DexOnline):
Don Moore - 801-295-2713
Jon Hadlow - 801-292-6024
Rick Earnshaw - 801-292-0737
Jennifer Decker - 801-294-0930
Tamra Dayley - 801-295-6704

Switch to a Democrat?

So I was invited by a comment made to my blog to attend the Democratic Precinct caucus. I felt I should address why I'm not a member of the Democratic Party. I will do this by referencing the Democratic State Party Platform.
Let me begin by saying that I really do believe that those in the Democratic Party who are not on the far left, have ideals and beliefs that are not that far from mine.
The Democratic State Party Platform states, "Utah Democrats believe all children have the right to a quality public education and that providing that education is one of the primary responsibilities of state government." I believe providing education for children should be one of the primary responsibilities of their parents. I believe this is where a big failure in our society exists. It further says, "We support rational education reform based on quality research which must be developed and implemented by educators in concert with parents, along with business, community, and higher education leaders." I think that is backwards. Why not have it developed and implemented by parents, in concert with educators? If I and my spouse have not been the primary influence in my child's education, is the sin upon the head of my government?
The platform concludes with the following, "The Utah Democratic Party is a party of inclusion and diversity, encouraging the participation of people with differing opinions and backgrounds. We embrace diversity as a source of strength in our community rather than a reason for division. As such, we respect the individual conscience of each Utahn on the issues presented in this platform and welcome the participation of all Utahns within the Democratic Party." Great! We're all just one big happy family. So why are you not a Republican? What things do you disagree with in the Republican Party Platform?