Downtown Logan

By Mickie Douglas Social Security Public Affairs Specialist in Salt Lake City As the nation’s most successful domestic program, Social Security is something worth learning more about. That’s why the representatives at Social Security are available to share news and information about the programs and how they work. Whether you are representing a club or an employer’s human resources department, an advocacy organization or a community association — if you have a large meeting or event coming up and you’d like to have a representative speak, please submit your request to us online at www.socialsecurity.gov/organizations. We can speak on an array of topics, such as • retirement, and how to prepare; • pre-retirement, and how to get an estimate of future retirement benefits; • disability, how it can help, who is eligible, and how to apply; • wage reporting for small businesses and employers; • work incentives for people with disabilities who want to work; • how Social Security can provide extra help with Medicare prescription drug costs; and • what Social Security means to every American. At www.socialsecurity.gov/organizations, you’ll find an easy-to-complete form that you can submit online. It will ask you about the type of talk you would like, and more information about the event. So whether you would like a speaker to talk to your employees about preparing for retirement or teach your students what Social Security has to do with them, we can help. There is no fee for this service. To learn more about Social Security without the aid of a speaker, visit our vast wealth of information at www.socialsecurity.gov.

Last week I'm was presently surprised to see the beautiful windows of the Bluebird Restaurant had been changed. The windows before were such a nice change to Logan downtown. Giving a feel of how historic the Bluebird Restaurant is. The new windows however were even better. With old time pictures of local places. You could stop and stare at the windows and see dozens of different things each time. It was a joy to walk past The Bluebird to see just the window display. Imagine my surprise when I walked by just the other day and found it all gone. The beautiful windows that were a showcase to Logan's history vanished over night. I'm horribly saddened to see such a feature of Logan vanish without even a word. What had happened? The windows were something I looked forward to seeing day in and day out and now there is nothing but empty windows. (Though a few items remain, but they seem to mock what the windows where now). Why couldn't the Bluebird keep the grandness of the windows? Allow for the patrons to continue to enjoy the beauty it brought to down town and those that came to the restaurant. I must say, Downtown Logan has lost something special with the disappearance of the windows and the reminders of things that were treasured. The Bluebird has lost something that was a great complement to the historic building.

Project Amigo brought eight students from Colima, Mexico, to Logan. The students were sponsored by the Logan Rotary club and will be in Utah for a month. The eight students have never traveled outside their town in Mexico. They earned the right to come to the USA because of their good grades in school and their completion of service projects in their community in Mexico.
As they spoke to the Logan Rotary club most of them could manage a few words in English but relied on an translator to get the message across that they were grateful to Rotary for sponsoring their stay in Utah.
Colima is the third smallest of Mexico's 32 states. Nestled between Jalisco to the north, Michoacán to the east, and hugged on its western boundary by the Pacific Ocean, it covers an area of 2,106 square miles (5,455 kilometers), with a coastline extending 97.5 miles (157 kilometers) and territorial waters claiming 823.5 square miles (2,133 square kilometers).From atop their thrones of fire and ice high above the Valley of Colima, legends say, the gods look down upon their ancient domain.

July is the beginning of a new Rotary Club year and Dennis Parry was installed at the Logan Rotary Club president. He will serve until July 2009. Dennis works for for Coldwell Banker Gold Key Real Estate.
Dennis attended his third International Convention in Los Angeles where the new Rotary International President Dong Kurn Lee, the first Korean president, announced this year's theme Make Dreams Real. Dennis summarized briefly D. K. Lee's opening letter to Rotarians (The Rotarian, July 2008) in which he asks all members to consider the millions of children who never have a chance to dream. ". . .More than 26,000 children under the age of five die from preventable causes. . . . What would happen if 1.2 million Rotarians focused on keeping one more children alive?" Dennis says this is our charge, and "we have a great opportunity to participate in this effort as Rotarians."

Like his predecessors, Dennis was very impressed by the House of Friendship noting the many, many strong international projects that are underway. "This is something that we have in common with everyone," he noted. Dennis also recounted how he and wife/partner Debbie befriended a Rotarian from India and waited with the man until he was seated on the correct bus. Lost and confused, the man was able to identify the Parrys as Rotarians when he saw them on the street. Trustworthy and reliable are distinguishing qualities of Rotarians around the world.

As Dennis accepted the leadership of the club he recognized two Rotarians who have influenced him. They are retired Rotarian Arthur Cahoon, who could recite the Four-Way Test without missing a question, and his mentor Ron Monson. President Parry extended his appreciation to every club member; he is looking forward to the year that follows. With this, he adjourned his first club meeting.
Dennis replaced Jeff Larson who served as Rotary president this past year.

I would like to let everyone know that American horses are being slaughtered today for human consumption. Although a law passed in 2006 shut down the last slaughter houses in America, horses are now transported in cattle trucks to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered there and their meat is sold to Belgium, Japan and France as a delicacy.

We are being told that horse slaughter is needed to dispose of old, crippled or injured horses. The truth is 92% of horses slaughtered are healthy, sound, usable and young. Those slaughtered include pregnant mares and young foals. The truth is the end is a horrific death.

You can see a video on the Humane Society of the United States website and see what really happens in a slaughter house at http://www.hsus.org/horses_equines/.

You can stop the killing of horses by passing S.311/H.R. 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act that will stop the transport of American horses to slaughter for human consumption. You can call the Capital phone numbers below to contact our senators and representatives and ask them to co-sponsor and vote YES on these bills. 1-800-614-2803, 1-800-459-1887, 1-800-828-0498