FINANCIAL SMARTS
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MUSEUM CONCERT
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Trail system plan in works for south county By Christi C. Babbitt With the help of southern Utah County’s cities, a local governmental organization is evaluating the area’s walking and bicycling opportunities and drafting a plan to improve them. Representatives of the Mountainland Association of Governments held a public meeting in Spanish Fork on Oct. 22 to collect public input on an Active Transportation Plan being developed for south county communities stretching from Springville to Santaquin. The plan will address future development of walking and biking trails in the southern Utah County area. Jim Price, an active transportation planner for MAG, said the Spanish Fork meeting was part of MAG’s efforts to learn where the public would like to see trails developed. “There are a lot of people down here that know where they like to go or where they want to go, and we want them to tell us,” he said. MAG, an organization providing community development and regional planning services to residents in Utah, Summit and Wasatch counties, has worked with individual cities in northern Utah County during the past several years to improve the walking and biking opportunities in that area. When MAG approached the cities in southern Utah County, the cities wanted to join together and create a plan as a group. There are currently more trails available to residents in northern Utah County, but the area has a larger population as well. “As south county continues to grow, the opportunity to put in some of these trails is going to disappear if we don’t jump on it now,” Price said. The
plan would include new trails as well as ways to network the trails together. Funding for new trails already exists through a variety of sources including the federal gas tax, county sales tax and state funds. Often trails are created as UDOT rebuilds roads, Price said, adding that it is much more cost effective to install a trail when construction is already happening. “What we find is that in order to take advantage of opportunities that do arise, we have to plan for them. Without a plan, those opportunities never take shape. They come and they go,” Price said. MAG uses technology to count how many people use existing county trails. Price pointed out that these are established, paved trails, not neighborhood or wilderness trails. In 2014, MAG counted 2.2 million trips on the trails countywide. “We think that we get a pretty good percentage of the county using these at least periodically,” Price said. The trails are important because they add to quality of life as well as provide an alternative means of transportation. People surveyed while using county trails have said they like using them for exercise and to spend time with their families. Price said the next step will be to work with the cities and the county to flesh out the plan and see what makes the most sense, especially when considering the next 10 years. Work on the plan started in July and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2016. An online map where residents could make recommendations for the plan closed to input at the end of October, but residents can still submit their comments at the MAG website, www.mountainland.org.
Senior proves there’s no such thing as too old for sports
At 85 years old, Lyle Timmons pitches softball in the Spanish Fork City League with 20- and 30-year-old players. His team won the city championship three years in a row. He just competed in the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George. Timmons came away with a bronze medal in 4-on-4 full-court basketball. He also brought hom a silver in the hot shot, which is a one-minute drill shooting from six spots on the floor and rebounding your own shot. He won a gold in 3-on-3 half-court basketball with his own organized 80- to 85-year-old team. He won another gold medal by hitting 24 out of 25 free throws and three of six three-point shots. Timmons was a star high school player at Andover, Kansas, and went on to play on the Wichita State College team in 1952 with Ralph Miller as coach. This is his ninth year as a Huntsman participant, and he looks forward to next year. His goal is to make all 25 free throws and all six three-point shots. Thanks to Lucas for your help rebounding the ball during many weeks of practice.
Lyle Timmons proudly displays the gold and bronze medals he earned recently at the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George.
Residents look at informational displays during the Mountainland Association of Governments public meeting held in Spanish Fork on Oct. 22. The meeting was part of efforts to collect public input on improving biking and walking opportunities in southern Utah County.
SF Junior orchestra teacher makes national magazine By Lana Hiskey Spanish Fork Junior High School’s orchestra teacher Angela Harman was recognized by Teaching Music magazine in its October 2015 issue. Chad Criswell writes, “Almost every music education classroom can be enhanced in some way through the use of technology.” He goes on to spotlight Harman’s innovation with technology from iPads and apps to GarageBand software. “I hook the iPad up to GarageBand and use it to keep a beat or play an accompaniment that makes ‘Twinkle’ a lot more fun,” Harman said. One of Harman’s favorite apps is Nin-
GENIUS for the iPad. NinGenius turns note identification and fingering drills into a fun, martial arts-themed game with varying degrees of difficulty. Results are saved in a way that allows the teacher to view the play history and stats for individual students. One thing to mention is, “the technology teachers use is never the primary source of instruction. Instead, it is brought in to enhance or reinforce specific problem areas with which their students need assistance.” Who knew technology with music could be so much fun? That is just what the students say about Harman’s class: “She makes it fun!”
On Oct. 7, Westside Elementary School in Springville was given an incredible gift by Nestle. For the last few years, the school has offered after-school 4-H programs that the students love. Unfortunately, funding was not available this year, and it looked as though the programs would not be able to continue. Thankfully, Nestle made a generous donation of more than $2,000, which allows our students to stay for over an hour after school to enjoy a snack and participate in arts, crafts and sports and receive extra help with homework.