In This Issue

Very often, the course of events creates a situation that calls for someone to step forward and do something, for good or for ill. In 1846 the well-born Thomas L. Kane set out with "dazzling hopes" to forge a notable public career. But those ambitions ebbed when he visited the Mormon refugees from Illinois at their camp near Council Bluffs. As he grew to know the Saints personally and as he saw their suffering, he later said, his "higher humanity" overrode his desires for fame. By nature and upbringing Kane had already become interested in working in behalf of underdogs, and here he found a cause that ignited him From this point, he would spend much of his energy and political currency in helping the Saints as he spoke, wrote, lobbied, strategized, and maneuvered in their behalf. His work in helping the Mormons gain political ascendancy in the Utah Territory is the focus of the first article

A century later, Wanda Robertson made up her mind to serve an oppressed group. As a gifted educator training new teachers at the University of Utah's Stewart School, Robertson received an invitation to supervise the elementary schools at the Topaz internment camp near Delta. The dean of the College of Education frowned on her "going out to help those people" of Japanese descent, and her family also criticized her decision. Nevertheless, she readily left her comfortable university career. She saw the internees not as "enemy aliens" but as refugees unjustly driven from their homes, and she wanted to use her training and experience to help the incarcerated children. Our second article tells that story.

The third article in this issue deals not with an individual but with a community of individuals—citizens, leaders, developers—working to negotiate the future of North Logan As growth pressured the town, volunteer planners and elected officials tried to make good decisions But since they had little experience, they had to feel their way along Often, they created ordinances, zoning maps, and master plans only after mistakes had made the need for better planning tools painfully obvious Also, their goals of good planning and good neighborliness collided at times Thus the town changed gradually, subdivision by subdivision In examining North Logan, the article eloquently portrays pressures and pitfalls that have been experienced by many Utah towns

Yet another article, the last in this issue, tells the story of a person "called" to step into a larger arena of service Summoned to the Washington County courthouse in 1936, assistant county extension agent Antone Prince got a shock when the commissioners told him, "Congratulations....We appointed you sheriff today. "Unaware of how competent he would actually be at the job, Prince accepted hesitantly Resourceful, fearless, and somewhat naive, this untrained sheriff solved his cases in unusual ways His career covered more than arrests, though Like Kane and Robertson, he was kind to a despised minority: the criminals whom he arrested Not that he circumvented justice (except in a "crime" involving Dixie College football), but he did treat his prisoners with unusual respect, and he often trusted them in ways that are inconceivable today

The community members of North Logan responded to needs created by the changing times. Likewise, the three individuals described in our other articles responded to circumstances that called for their particular talents. Fortunately, those who stepped forward to address the situations explored in this issue of the Quarterly were people of integrity and good intentions.

OPPOSITE: Students at Topaz pledging allegiance to the flag.