The Daily Spectrum from Saint George, Utah • 1

2270 .323137 342591 2 1st Corp 1127 3. Salt Laxe City BT 34119 THE DAILY Sunday, October 7, 1SS0 Southere Edition Bush vetoes U.S. budget PageM SUSC beats Sacramento Page B1 Propositions Briefs Dit delight ties. IDS ecauH iliiiiiii Mini mu. i.i I mum" "u- ijlip 11 jwii i 11.11 11 i -V it SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Mormon Church members were cautioned Saturday not to take delight in the "calamities of the last days" because they fulfill prophecy, but to offer aid to victims of man-made and natural disasters.

"We must all become players in the winding-up scene, not spectators," and reach out "beyond the walls of our own church, Bishop Glenn L. Pace told the opening session of the faith's 160th Semiannual General Conference. Pace suggested that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints need to overcome a paralyzing fatalism about apocalyptic events they believe will precede a return of a resurrected Jesus Christ. "We know the final outcome. We know the world collectively will not repent.

We know the last days will be filled with much pain and suffering. Therefore, we could throw up our hands and do nothing but pray for the end to come so the millennial reign could begin," Pace said. However, to do so, he said, "would forfeit our right to participate in the grand event we are all awaiting." President Ezra Taft Benson, the 91-year-old "prophet, seer and re-velator" of the 7.5 million-member church, was said to be watching sessions of the two-day conference at the Tabernacle on Temple Square from his hospital bed. Benson continued to be listed in serious but stable condition recovering in intensive care from two surgeries to remove blood clots on his Drain and for unrelated internal bleeding. The first surgery was Sept.

18. His first counselor in the governing First Presidency, Gordon B. Hinckley, delivered a brief message from Benson, saying the church leader "asked me to express his gratitude to the members of the church worldwide for their faith and prayers in his behalf." Pace, a member of the Presiding Bishopric which organizes and dispenses humanitarian aid, sug-. gested an "attitude adjustment" for those who adopt a I-told-you-so view as "the natural consequences of sin unfold" in the form of earthquakes, wars, famine, disease and poverty. "Whether the pain has come to someone who is completely innocent or is something of their own making is irrelevant.

When a person has been hit by a truck, we don't withhold our help even when it is obvious he didn't stay in the pedestrian lane," he said. Members shouldn't wait for their church to suggest ways to help or relief agencies to support, Pace said, but exercise charity wherever it is needed. "In humanitarian work, as in other areas of the gospel, we cannot become the salt of the earth if we stay in one lump in the cultural hall of our beautiful meetinghouses," he said. In remarks prepared for the evening session for the church's all-male priesthood, Hinckley spoke of the responsibilities he's faced as de facto leader of the church when Benson and his Predecessor Spencer W. Kimball uring the early 1980s were incapacitated by age.

"When a person toeen hit by a truck, Won't withhold our help' teven when it is obv didn't stay in edestrian lane." h- Gisnn PS bishop "In matters where there was a well-established policy, we moved forward," he said. But in cases when important decisions had to be made, Hinckley said he took along a secretary to make sure there was a detailed record of the conversation when he presented matters to Kimball for approval. "I can assure you that I never knowingly moved ahead of my file leader, that I never had any desire to move out ahead of him in church policy or instruction." Now, with Thomas S. Monson as Benson's second counselor in the First Presidency, Hinckley said the two are "very careful not to get ahead of the president, nor to undertake any departure of any kind from long-established policy without his knowledge and full approval." In another address for the priesthood session, Elder Russell Ballard of the Council of the Twelve Apostles cautioned young church members against sexual immorality, saying some apparently believed they could indulge themselves as teens and then repent before serving church missions or being married in a temple. "Young men, please believe me when I tell you that this scenario is a gross deception by Satan; it is a fairy tale," Ballard said.

"Sin will always, always, result in suffering." ST. GEORGE Unless a little time and effort is spent checking out possible financial deals or "winning prizes," a detailed scam or an action of fraud by clever individuals can result in the loss of an unlimited amount of money. (Spectrum Nancy Rhodes) Scams take away financial dreams Park Sevce coses operations SALT LAKE CITY (AP) National Park Service officials in Utah and elsewhere in the nation have begun closing oper ations after Congress and President Bush have failed to come to terms on a federal budget. Karen Whitney at Glen Ca nyon National Recreation Area said that all non-essential ser vices were closed Saturday morning at the site on Lake Powell. Earlier, Harvy Wick Ware, superintendent of the Park Service's Southeast Group, said no back country rangers would be on duty in Canyonlands, Arches or Natural Bridges.

Whitney said campgrounds at Lake Powell would remain open inrougn tne noiiaay weeKena, but park personnel would not be on duty. They (campers) can still be there, but we don't have any campground personnel," she said. Utah contributed to shuttle launch OGDEN (AP) Utah pro- aucis ana people maae a major contribution to Saturday suc cessful launch of the space shuttle Discovery and deploy ment of a robotic craft on a five-year mission to explore the sun, Thiokol Corp. officials say. Thiokol spokesman Steve Lawson said in a prepared state ment shortly after the shuttle rocketed into orbit Saturday that twin booster rockets from the aerospace company pro vided more than 70 percent of the thrust during the first two minutes ot tugnt.

"The light from the two boos ters provided sufficient illumination to read by for a distance tt firm miloc ff mnra ho caiH The company also had a hand in deployment ot uiysses, a space probe which will become the first to explore the sun's polar regions. Task force sets abortion meets SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Unable to agree on facets of anti-abortion legislation, lawmakers on the state Abortion Task Force will present propos als to the public at a series of statewide neanngs. After meetings late last week, the task force decided to let Utahns look at two bills under consideration, including one drafted by Brigham Younjg University professor Richard Wilkins. The bill drafted by Wilkins, who has served as an adviser on abortion legislation to governors in both Utah and Idaho, wasn't received by task force members until Thursday. The task force, lacking a Quorum, was unaDie to discuss the Wilkins bill in detail before having to adjourn.

It was the last meeting scheduled before the public hearings. Today's verse "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: tor it is written, Cursed is every one that haneeth on a tree." Galatiansl 3:13 mm Abbv Business D1 A11 D5-11 Local, Region A2-3 Obituaries A8 Opinion A5 Sports B1-8 Today's People C2 Weather See page A2 SHOP UTAH'S DIXIE face Utahns by The Associated Press The initiative to remove the sales tax on food may be the star electoral attraction, but Utah vot ers next month also will confront a record number of ballot issues ranging from wilderness to tax- subsidized county fairs. Along witn tnree statewide prop osals, the Nov. 6 election boasts at least 23 propositions, bond issues, school leeways and information-gathering questions in 17 of Utah's 29 counties. And the list could grow.

Spring City added a bond issue on Thursday, while officials in Tooele County, Tooele City and Grantsville are racing the clock as they work to get a bus-service proposal placed on ballots there. Normally, we have lust nothing but constitutional amendments or state issues. Once in a while, maybe one or two bond issues parallel the general election, but nothing like what we ve got this year, said state election consultant Vernon Carr. On top of the heap is Initiative with a high profile that has made ballot wallflowers out of its less flamorous partners, Propositions and 2. Spearheaded by the Independent Party of Utah, Initiative A would remove the state and local sales tax from food, except that prepared for immediate consumption or sold through vending machines.

Groups have lined up on both sides of the debate and argued the potential impacts of repeal for weeks. The propositions, lacking opposi tion, face a better chance of passage. Prop l. called the special dis tricts amendment, asks whether the Utah Constitution should be amended to allow counties, cities and towns to establish special dis tricts to provide health care services. Prop 2, an "emergency powers amendment, asks whether the constitution should be changed to let the Legislature adopt measures "to insure the continuity of govern ment operations when those opera tions are seriously disrupted as a result of natural or man-made disaster." Hardly the stuff of which heated arguments are made, says Carr.

"In the past, constitutional amendments normally have argu ments for and against so it usually a controversial issue. But in the voter information pamphlet that the lieutenant governor is required to publish, there is no argument against Prop 1 or 2. so chances are it'll fly this time," he said. Predicting the outcome of issues pending in counties, cities and school districts is chancier. In Millard County, wilderness supporters and multiple-use advocates will square off over 265,600 acres of county land proposed as wilderness by the Bureau of Land Management.

"Itis an information-gathering question," said County Clerk Mar-lene Whicker. "The county commissioners wanted to give the people an opportunity to voice their preference." The vote could go either way in a county where farming and ranching are critical livelihoods, but where residents last year voted 4-1 against allowing any hazardous waste disposal faculties within their borders. "Our county is a very environmentally conscious county," said Commissioner Michael Styler, a multiple-use proponent who fostered the idea of holding informa-1 tional votes on both the wilderness and waste issues. Another opinion question is on tap in tiny Wayne County, where voters are being asked whether they favor the proposed Fremont River Dam and Power Project near Torrey. In Utah County, officials want to know how residents feel about using tax revenues to pay for the county fair.

"I can tell you what answer you'll probably get there," Carr said. "I think the answer would be they don't want to spend the tax." Indeed money matters, which make up the bulk of the ballot issues, may not fare well with an electorate described this year as uptight about budgets and taxation. "In these tunes of monies, I think most of these issues with money attached to them are looked at more seriously than they used to be." Carr said. A new feature this year is the school leeway, approved by the Legislature last winter as a mechanism to reduce class sizes. The law enabled most of the state's 40 school boards to impose a leeway- are on the up and up.

"I'm the first to admit it (fraud) happens and it gives the rest of us a bad name," said Dyer. "(Utah) has a very good consumer protection agency really grilled us, but I realize it's part of their job." Fraud's most common connection with "the deceived" is over the telephone or through the mail. The Better Business Bureau of Utah encourages people to call (801) 478-4656 if they feel they have been had. But sometimes it is a little too late. The BBB has given some helpful hints for those who may believe that what they're interested in may actually be too good to be true: On vacation certificates: Contact the BBB for a reliability report on the company when offers are made which require a purchase of a product, a check or credit card number.

Attend a sales pre- I MR it iif a i I iJ V8" A 1 by Kevin Nlendorf Staff Writer ST. GEORGE It was 1981 when "Linda's" financial dreams, as little as they may have seemed to be, were destroyed following what turned out to be a scam. A dry food packing business, set up to help people accumulate food storage, failed to send her the $1,200 worth of food she and her husband had bought. When they tried to get their money back, all they received was a bounced check along with notice of the company's bankruptcy. "We didn't have the money for it (the check) to bounce like that," said Linda.

"It bounced just after Christmas and we had already spent half of it. We hired a lawyer but we could never get a hold of him (the owner). I doubt we'll ever get our money back." The owner, according to Linda, Auto insurance Auto insurance fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. today, says Consumer Alert, a publication of the Western Insurance Information Service. Over 30 percent of all auto accident claims are estimated to be dishonest and that number was the president of a food storage company named Noah's Ark, Inc.

Linda and her husband first became interested in investing their savings upon hearing of a friend who had already purchased some dry food. "We were going to put it in savings, but once we heard about this, we thought we might as well invest it and let it grow," she said. "Little did we know we would never see the money again." The story of Linda, unfortunately, happens more often than some may realize. And Utahns, in the past, have been heavily targeted by these groups. Scams, frauds and schemes are all after one thing: money.

Those who run them (a.k.a. con artists) will use deceit, lies and misconceptions to promote their cause. Even as the laws are made tighter to regulate deception, it is getting increasingly difficult to discern the legitimate business from the bad ones. Dwayne Dyer, president of his own dry packing food business (The Food Connection based in Provo) which is new to southern Utah, realizes not all businesses fraud increasing is increasing. Nationally, 15 percent of all premium dollars go toward falsified claims.

Staged auto accidents and fake medical bills are the most common scams used today by criminals to defraud the insurance industry. sentation only if interested in what's for sale, not the prize alone. Going out of business sales: Don't assume there are big savings on everything in the store. Comparison shop, look for length of the sale, examine what you buy, ask about warranties and watch for bait and switch tactics. Sometimes sales people will steer you away from advertised items for more expensive items.

Telemarketing: Be careful of supplying your credit card number over the phone, be cautious if the caller says a decision must be made immediately, be wary of free merchandise or prizes and, remember, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Work at home schemes: These usually require money for instructions on merchandise before telling you how the plan operates. If you have to buy anything to get work to be done at home, be on your guard. It may only be a plan to sell you something. Incidents like Linda's may be avoided with a little time and effort to determine if the offer is valid.

Still, sometimes even that isn't enough. A 'if -C-' Marathon madness ST. GEORGE A group ot runners express the spirit of the 14th annual St. George Marathon Saturday, competing in the grueling 26-mile race under cloudy skies and in cooler-than-usual temperatures for Utah's Dixie. For complete marathon results see Pages B1-8.

(Spectrum Nancy Rhodes).