Happy New Year

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

As 2011 comes to a close, I’ll be among those celebrating and rejoicing its departure and welcoming in 2012. While 2011 had much to offer, it also brought challenges I hope aren’t repeated in 2012. Despite my personal challenges, however, I am grateful. It’s a privilege and a blessing to live in the United States of America, in my community and in my neighborhood.

Hope, that’s the operative word here. I have hope. I hope we as a human race make better choices than we did in 2011. I hope we are more Christ-like and more humane. I hope we select better leaders for our country and that leaders choose paths to freedom and strength.

Let’t make 2012 much better than 2011! Happy New Year!

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Required community service is forced labor

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

First posted March 10, 2009, on my blog before the Camera’s system changed and still worth sharing for whenever this idea raises its ugly head:

Next year, Rona Wilensky, the principal at New Vista, will require students at the school to complete community service to graduate. She dictates community service for all students much like a judge or jury would require it of criminals.

I agree with Helayne Jones, BVSD School Board president when she said, “I think that having compulsory community service gets away from the spirit of what community service is.” The school board should stick with Jones’ thought for the rest of the BVSD students. Required community service is simply forced labor.

Back in the early 1990s the school board wanted to change graduation requirements to include a slightly more rigorous academic preparation like a little more English or American history. The result was such an uproar you’d think students were being forced to march 50 miles through a blizzard in below 0 temperatures. The biggest complainers were parents and teachers.

This year one parent appealed to the school board to require community service for all BVSD students. One parent! She should do her homework before approaching the board. What is good for her children isn’t necessarily good for all. I’d love it if everyone was required to take a religion class, an ethics class and three years of a foreign language. In their off hours, I’d like everyone to take piano lessons and sing in a choir, too.

Any move by the school board to require community service for graduation is all about social engineering. And just because Obama approves of community service doesn’t mean our local school board members have to act like his minions.

Volunteerism is a matter of heart. If forced to complete it, students or criminals can be given an opportunity for their hearts to absorb some good there. However, it is just as likely or even more so that the good will escape them because it is forced. They will simply fulfill their required hours.

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BVSD must protect against excessive heat

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

The Boulder Valley School Board wisely rejected a proposal on Tuesday night that would have delayed school starting by only four days next fall. Parental concerns about unbearable classroom heat in August were valid. Teachers unwilling to move their professional days to before school starts may be less so. However, four days simply is not enough of a change.

In the 1980s and 1990s, school started after Labor Day most of the time. September’s first days were often warm for fall clothes, so students dressed accordingly. To think students did any differently this year is ridiculous when school began Aug. 15 and temperatures outside reached 98 degrees.

The purported reason for increasingly early starts and their intrusion into time with family is to allow students to take semester finals before Christmas break. Thus, students wouldn’t have tests hanging over their heads during the break. However, when school started after Labor Day, students had plenty of time to get back into their studies before finals. A big plus, too, was schools weren’t too hot.

Instead of adjusting the calendar only four days, the school board should do the smart thing for learning and for the health of children. It should direct future calendar committees to have school start no earlier than the last Monday in August. The preference would be after Labor Day.

If the board is unwilling to do that, it should call “snow days” or “inclement weather days” when temperatures outside climb to make classrooms stifling without air-conditioning. Heat stressed children don’t learn well, and they risk heat exhaustion and heat stroke as well.

The school board protects students against freezing temperatures, snow and ice. It must do the same for students against excessive heat.

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Obama should have told the children

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

President Obama’s back-to-school speech on Sept. 28 to the nation’s children covered what many educators and parents say themselves. Obama said students should “discover new passions,” study hard, do their homework, get to bed early so they can wake up on time, and acquire the skills to pursue their passions.

Despite the fact that Obama’s little chat for the third year in a row took kids away from their studies in school to hear him, I cannot argue with the messages he gave. However, with his smiling face time before U.S. children, he failed to tell them some hard facts.

A college education does not guarantee you a job nor does it prevent you from losing one. Students do graduate from college with thousands of dollars of debt and yet do not find jobs. Our nation’s current unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. To make matters worse, many U.S. companies outsource jobs overseas. The result is that no matter how smart Americans are, no matter how much they pursue their newly discovered passions, many of the jobs don’t exist here at home or they cannot get them.

In addition to jobs, the president should have told the children the impact his policies make on the national debt of over $14 trillion. Then, Obama should have talked about the U.S. debt held by foreign countries, particularly China and the trade deficit. The children deserve to know how much they are already in debt and the likelihood of them passing on debt to their children.

Then, if the president was still smiling, which he shouldn’t have been, Obama should have brought up with the children the nation’s liabilities of social security, Medicare, prescription drugs and Obamacare. The rest of us would have liked to have heard that speech as well.

Posted in Political speech, President Obama | 1 Comment

From humanitarian dentist to dental missionary

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

YouTube Preview Image
Dr. Richard L. Call of Westminster, Colo., explains the purpose of the Hirsche Smiles Foundation dental trips to Guatemala. In this beautiful video of the people, the area and the service, Call explains that group members are doing as Peter and John did as recorded in See Acts 3:7: “We are stretching forth our hands, and we are lifting the people up.”

A 5-year-old Guatemalan girl told Dr. Richard L. Call, a dentist from Westminster, Colo., in a temporary dental clinic in Guatemala,” I just want to eat my food and not have it hurt. Can you help me?” Call said, “When I looked inside her mouth, I found 12 abscessed teeth. The rest all had cavities. Broke my heart.”

This little girl would have suffered throughout her life without help. Her nutrition and over-all health would have been affected. I’m glad to say humanitarian dentists and the Hirsche Smiles Foundation came to her aid.

Many thanks to Call and his wife, LeeAnn Call, Dr. Garry Brown and his wife, Ann Brown (from Utah), Dr. Lee Olson and his wife, Peggy Olson, (formerly from Broomfield, but now from Utah). Many thanks, too, to Dr. Wayne Tomkinson and his wife, Suzanne Tomkinson (from Arizona), and Dr. Paul Fillmore and JoAnne Fillmore, (currently full-time dental missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Peggy Olson took pictures that are available in an album here.

In the area around San Andreas in the Districto de Solola, they provided 347 clinical services to 194 residents in May. No doubt addressing pain and infection was the first priority. Important, too, was preventive care and education to prevent disease and restorative care to prevent tooth loss.

Call said, “The good that we can achieve by getting involved is immeasurable.” He added, “Let me give an example of ‘immeasurable.’”

Call shared the story of Kimberly, a slender 13-year-old Guatemalan girl with shiny, black hair and clear, brown eyes. She smiled tentatively with a protective hand raised to her mouth. She needed extensive work done, which would have been beyond the scope of the temporary clinic. However, Tomkinson had brought his endodontic supplies on the 10-day trip, Computech in Colorado had donated an imaging program and sensor, and the Hirsche Smiles Foundation had provided a Nomad portable radiographic equipment.

The dentists worked on Kimberly for two days. The first day, Call extracted nonrepairable teeth in the back of her mouth and fixed others. The second day, Tomkinson performed three root canals, and Olson restored six front teeth with composite.

Kimberly’s mother cried tears of joy at the results. Kimberly began to raise her hand to cover her mouth after being given a mirror. Then, her eyes widened at seeing her near-perfect smile. The dentists watched as she lowered her hand. They thought of changes her improved appearance could mean for her and felt deeply and emotionally rewarded.

In a few days, the Calls will leave on a mission for 18 months for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Area Dental Advisors to Central America based in Guatemala City. Among their responsibilities will be to provide clinical dental care for a couple of orphanages in that city. They will also provide dental education and care for young men and women preparing to go on missions for the church from Central America and care for missionaries serving in the Central America Area.

And though their role will be different, the Calls will have their hands in humanitarian dentistry. They will be in the country and can assist the Hirsche Smiles Foundations trips but also coordinate volunteer dentists coming to the clinic through the Academy of LDS Dentists. He will also serve as a visiting professor at a local dental school.

I wish them great success in all their endeavors.

Dr. Richard Call and LeeAnn Call doing dental work in the Tio Juan Clinic

                                                                                                            Photo courtesy of Peggy Olson
Dr. Richard L. Call and LeeAnn Call from Westminster, Colo., perform a procedure during the Hirsche Smiles Foundation trip in May in the Tio Juan Clinic, a full-service dental clinic in Guatemala City. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints partially funds the clinic.

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Sung-bong inspires on “Korea’s Got Talent”

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

YouTube Preview Image                        Sung-bong Choi performs on “Korea’s Got Talent.”

Sung-bong Choi, a 22-years-old laborer, inspired me today. Like thousands on several postings, I watched his “Korea’s Got Talent” performance on YouTube. He walked on stage dressed in a plaid shirt, jeans and white sports shoes. Two of the three judges asked him several questions about his life before he sang.

Since I do not know Korean, I do not know the name of his song nor did I understand the words between the judges and him. I had to rely on the on-screen translation. I found the lyrics in a YouTube viewer’s post below the video after I watched it.

Nevertheless, I saw the effects of both Sung-bong’s answers to the judges’ questions about his life and his song on the judges and the audience. In their individual ways, the judges showed surprise, then compassion, even tears. The audience cheered and clapped and cried.

What caught me by surprise was the full, cultured voice that came out of this young man who had been left at an orphanage at 3, ran away from it at 5 after being beaten there, and lived on the streets selling gum and energy drinks for 10 years. No one has taken care of him since he was 5. He slept in stairways and public restrooms. At one point, he was sold “to somewhere.” He received his inspiration from a singer on stage in a bar while as he sold gum there and had only a random “master class” for his musical training. He practiced on his own.

Let me share with you what he sang with a sober face: “In my fantasy, I see a just world where everyone lives in peace and honesty. I dream of a place to live that is always free like a cloud that floats full of humanity in the depths of the soul. In my fantasy, I see a bright world where each night there is less darkness. I dream of souls that are always free like the cloud that floats. In my fantasy exists a warm wind that breathes into the city like a friend. I dream of souls that are always free like the cloud that floats.”

Sung-bong set an example. He could have turned in lots of bad directions in his circumstances. Yet he chose something good. Whether our tough times are economic, physical, emotional, or whatever, we should run toward the good, focus on that, and make our dreams come true. Today, I feel like singing more, much more! And, I feel like crying a little, too, for Sung-bong. I hope he does well in the competition and in the rest of his life.

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Happy Mother’s Day, Mom

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

Flowers on My Mother's Casket

Flowers on my mother's casket

I must admit I’ve been a little jealous of those who will spend time with their mothers today or will call them. And, in some ways I’d love to have the times back where I sent my mom flowers or some gift in a package. I don’t have regrets. I just wish I could move back time’s march and relive the past now she’s gone. I miss her.

Once I left home for college, I never did really live at home unless you count those few months I was home before heading out to a job and then to marriage. So, a visit, a call or a gift was the way to go for Mother’s Day.

Today started out with my watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s “Music and the Spoken Word” on byu.tv. She would have loved the video and pictures as the choir sang, “All Things Bright and Beautiful” by Cecil Francis Alexander. I saw flowers and birds, and families of deer and lions. I saw streams and waterfalls, horses drinking in one stream and little birds splashing in the water. I saw a butterfly spreading its wings, a snowstorm, and ducks swimming near the water’s edge. And, I saw that marvelous choir singing, “The Lord, God, made them all.”

My mother has been a profound influence for good in my life. I think about what she’d say when she saw something beautiful. She liked poetry and funny stories. She focused her difficult life on the positive as much as possible. From my perspective, she could do anything. I am sure that is why I felt like I could do anything as a 12-year-old. My younger sister and I went door to door asking for a job to earn money so I could go to my church’s girls camp. When asked what we could do, we answered, “We can do anything.”

Thank you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day. I know it’s taking more time than you’d like, but yes, I’m still working on your book.

Posted in Inspirations, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Mothers | Leave a comment

Birthplace issue done, more to follow?

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

The issue of whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States of America has haunted Obama for much of his presidency and even before. So, why did it take Donald Trump bringing up the issue for Obama to share the long form of his birth certificate with the public? The White House posted it online on Wednesday showing the president was born in Hawaii, USA.

Despite Obama’s efforts to say we have no time for this “silliness,” Obama came off looking like he was putting out fires rather than moving forward on any of his agenda. On the other hand, Trump turned the outcome to his advantage.

Trump told reporters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, “Today I am very proud of myself because I have accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish.”

You know Trump is right. None of the lawsuits claiming places abroad as Obama’s birthplace could achieve this. Neither could calls, organized or otherwise, for the public to see his long-form birth certificate. It took only one person. With re-election on Obama’s mind, polls mattered, too. A recent New York Times/CBS poll found that 25 percent of Americans think Obama was born outside of the United States.

Trump played “a big role in hopefully – hopefully – getting rid of this issue,” as Trump also noted to the same reporters. Now, we’ll see whether Trump or anyone challenging Obama can get positive movement on issues where I have concerns like Obamacare, border security, the war in Libya, immigration reform and, jobs, jobs, jobs.

Posted in National politics | 1 Comment

Preserving religious freedom

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

YouTube Preview Image
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave a speech, “Preserving Religious Freedom,” at Chapman University School of Law on Feb. 4, 2011.

Religious freedom is diminishing. People with religious faith increasingly are told to keep their beliefs out of public discussions. I’m sure you’ve seen it, maybe even more than I have online and elsewhere. Yet, religious freedom is one of those guaranteed by the Constitution even before freedom of speech.

Too many times I have seen locally people calling to have churches taxed and to have religious people keep their beliefs to themselves. They show a particular intolerance for Christians and all churches that teach of a god that decides what is right or wrong. However, the problem is much bigger than a local one and has far-reaching implications.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints describes the contributions religions provide that make them worthy of their protected status. In his speech at Chapman University School of Law on Feb. 4, 2011, Elder Oaks opened my understanding as to the need for religious people to unite in preserving our religious freedom.

Elder Oaks is well-qualified to address these issues from two perspectives. First, he sees the issues as a religious leader. Second, before being called and sustained in his current Church position in 1984, Elder Oaks was a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School (1958 – 1971), president of Brigham Young University (1972 – 1980), and a justice of the Utah Supreme Court (1980 – 1984).

Elder Oaks said in his speech, “We must never see the day when the public square is not open to religious ideas and religious persons. The religious community must unite to be sure we are not coerced or deterred into silence by the kinds of intimidation or threatening rhetoric that are being experienced.”

I’m keeping this thought, speaking out, sharing Elder Oaks’ speech and urging other religious people to do the same.

Posted in Political speech, Religious freedom | 2 Comments

‘Miracle Michele’ is coming home

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Shirley Scoville

Miracle Michele blog banner

                                                                                                                               Used by permission
The banner on the “Miracle Michele” blog sums up the family’s faith in Michele O’Donnell’s recovery. It says, “Learning to Live Life Day by Day for with God nothing is impossible,” and has these words separately, “God, Family, Friends, Faith and Love.”

Michele O’Donnell, is coming home tomorrow at 1 p.m.! The Superior resident and mother of four will be greeted by family, friends and supporters in a “grand celebration” complete with balloons and fireworks at her Alma Lane home. What a joyous time!

“Miracle Michele,” 42, so named on a blog about her recovery, takes this major step back to normal life. Michele has suffered so much since she left home a year ago. She’s undergone multiple surgeries, overcome numerous infections, been in and out of drug-induced comas, and engaged in intense physical therapy sessions.

Michele sustained a serious brain injury, an acute subdural hematoma, in Cancun, Mexico, on Jan. 27, 2010, when she fell in the bathroom on vacation. She was rushed into emergency surgery and spent the next month in intensive care in Mexico. The next leg of her trip home took her to Miami where she endured another hematoma, several surgeries and infections. After she was stable enough to make the trip to Colorado, she underwent yet another surgery that replaced part of her skull that was removed and discarded in Miami. Two weeks in intensive care was followed by 5 months in an acute care hospital and 2 months in a skilled nursing facility. Now, she’s heading home after completing over 50 days of intense physical, occupational and speech therapy at a center that specializes in rehabilitation for patients with brain injuries.

I am quite impressed with this family for their faith in God, and their love and support for Michele. Though I’ve not met them yet, I feel their strength. I feel Michele’s strength, her fighting spirit, her will to overcome this obstacle, to live her best life possible.

I also feel the O’Donnell family’s need. A family doesn’t go through such a challenge without a financial toll. In fact the family’s home was foreclosed on in December. They are still living in it, and even renovating it to meet their new needs, but they could use lots of helping hands as well as continued prayers.

If you’d like to help, you have several options. Donations to the O’Donnell Family Fund can be delivered or brought in to: 1stBank, 500 S. McCaslin Blvd., Louisville, CO 80027, to Account No. 868-290-1625. Donations can also be made via PayPal on the blog, miraclemichele.blogspot.com. Cards, letters and gifts can be sent to Miracle Michele, 1856 Alma Lane, Superior, CO 80027. Prayers, of course, can be offered anywhere.

Town of Superior welcomes Michele O'Donnell

Town of Superior uses its sign to welcome home Michele O'Donnell.

Read more:
Daily Camera story about “Miracle Michele”
“Miracle Michele” blog

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