"The Leader"...Reminding Me Of What Once Was

 There's so much of Tremonton that reminds me of where we used to live, where we moved from, only...from a town from twenty or so years ago.

It's quite amazing, and even a little bit spooky.

Last week we had to pick up some mail so we ventured out to visit the local post office. The resemblance was uncanny--I swear, it even smelled like Farmington's. But, what really hit home was when I picked up a copy of Tremonton's local paper, The Leader. It was like going back in time.

Farmington didn't have a local paper, per se, but we did have the Davis County Clipper. I even wrote for the paper on several occasions. When I read the headlines of The Leader, it was small-town. It had news about local people, local sports, and even obituaries of those living in this small town. The Davis County Clipper was like that, too. And, I'll bet, both papers have undergone a metamorphosis over the past decade or so. I'm sure The Leader used to be bigger, used to be one of the only places that had classifieds, or that you could get details of the latest city council meeting (if you weren't lucky enough to be there in person...). 

Point is, I've seen the Davis County Clipper go from a somewhat decent-sized publication to what it is today...only a few pages in length. When I saw The Leader, unfortunately, I saw the same thing...something that used to be bigger.

We're planning on subscribing to The Leader. It costs like $60 a year. That's something from the past, too. Even though we could probably get the same news after a few internet searches, there's something that connects a reader to a newspaper. It's tangible, real. I have the advantage (or disadvantage...) of seeing Farmington change, grow, evolve. If we stick around Tremonton long enough, I'm sure I'm going to see the same thing happen here. It's not necessarily a bad thing...it just is.

And The Leader reminded me of how things used to be.

A Trip/Surf Down Memory Lane...Happy Birthday Daren!

Tonight, I was looking for a postcard I received once...if I find it I'll try and post it tomorrow. And if I don't find it, I won't (if I find it, you'll understand why...).

But, in searching for this item from over thirty years ago, I came across something else, something timely. You see, it's my friend Daren's birthday today. He and I met in the fall of 1985 in the town of Odense, Denmark, birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. We were both LDS missionaries together in that amazing country.

Daren has always been a colorful character, at least, as long as I've known him. Today's Daren's birthday. Happy birthday, brother! Before I met Daren, he had gone to the local newspaper in Odense to see if they wanted to run a story on him. Turns out, they did.

The story basically explains how a young man from California could--if he chose--be a professional surfer at home in the United States. But, he was at that time not pursuing a career as a professional surfer, but was instead giving his life to God.

Great headline!

Mostly, because it's true.

Thanks to Google Translate, if you want you can see what's said about Daren--it's a good story. If you don't want to do that, it basically explains what the missionaries were doing and why. Daren was one cool dude thirty-five years ago, and he's only improved with age. Tilykke med dagen, du! Ha' det rigtig godt!

When The News Crews Show Up To Your Work...

I pulled into the work parking lot yesterday at 6:20am. 

A news truck was already there.

I stopped watching local news years ago. I suppose it's good to be informed, but how many stories of suicides, bank robberies, domestic disputes turned ugly, hit and runs, embezzlement cases can one take? The answer--less than the number of stories out there. It just got to the point that when I watched local news, I lost all faith in humanity. Granted, they're supposed to report on "news," which, by definition, should be events out of the ordinary. Hopefully all those awful things are out of the ordinary.

Since I don't follow local stories, I had no idea why the news truck was there. I forgot about it when I got to my cubicle and began working. It wasn't until a co-worker came in and told me about a shooting that took place the night before did I take interest. By that time, a few other trucks had arrived. A UTA bus had a couple of windows shot out the night before. Thankfully, no one was hurt. You can read up about the incident from one of the local news stories: HERE.

Guns have been in the news a lot lately. This is not a post to condemn or excuse them. I can say had I been walking to the train station at the moment when whoever did this pulled out a gun and shot at the bus, I would have been scared to death.

I don't know if this event will make me follow local news more--it's possible. Still, I'd rather believe that people--in general--don't kill each other, don't steal cars, don't rip off older members of their church congregation, don't do inappropriate things to each other. Maybe ignorance is bliss after all.