Municipal Elections in Woods Cross

This year in Woods Cross, the mayor and two council seats are up for re-election. The filing period ended yesterday. The Deseret News is reporting (see here) that Mayor Parry was the only person to file for the mayor's seat. The News is also reporting that the following people have filed for the council positions:
John Hadlow - incumbent
Tamara Daley - incumbent
Leo Beecher
Ryan Westergard
Al DeBarros
Andy Marsden Leger

Anonymity online

I have written in the past (see here) about posting anonymously to blogs and forums. Well, now a judge in Texas has ruled that the First Amendment doesn't offer the right to libel someone, anonymously or otherwise. Tarrant County District Court Judge Dana Womack served a subpoena to Topix.com to turn over any potentially identifying information it has on 178 people. The people had anonymously posted allegedly defamatory comments on the site about two individuals involved in a sexual assault case. See Computerworld's article about the case here.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

My Grandpa Van Ry would have turned 98 today. He came to America from Holland when he was 12 years old. He didn't speak English at the time, but, learned to speak it fluently before he was 20 years old. I learned many things from grandpa including the value of hard work. He worked hard his whole life to provide for his wife and 4 children. He didn't expect a handout from anyone. He was proud of his Dutch heritage, but, considered the USA his country. He died March 20, 2001. I love and miss you, grandpa! Happy Birthday!

Here's an idea, let the parents decide!

Rep. Laura Black (D) of Sandy is sponsoring a bill (HB 242) that would change the date of the cutoff for Kindergarten from September to be in July. In a Salt Lake Tribune article (see here) about the bill, Rep. Black is quoted as saying, "It doesn't sound like very much when you're an adult, but two months in the life of a child can be huge in terms of what their development is."

I've got a better idea, let the parents of the child decide if their child is ready for Kindergarten. My wife and I have done this for everyone of our children. Our oldest child, whose birthday is in June, could have started Kindergarten the year he turned five. My wife and I decided he was not ready for Kindergarten that year and waited a year before enrolling him in Kindergarten. Do parents really need the government to tell them that their child is or isn't ready for Kindergarten?

Dan Liljenquist didn't resign

On September 19th, in comments to this site, (see here) George said that he would treat me to lunch at my favorite place if Dan Liljenquist were elected and didn't resign. Well, George, Dan Liljenquist was elected and is currently participating in the 2009 Utah Legislative session. Time to pay up?