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Committing an act of journalism in a small town: It's amazingly easy
By Kathryn Summers
Last year when I took a beginning reporting class I decided, finally, what I want to be when I grow up. A journalist. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that in a journalism class I would be expected to write, but little did I realize how much writing I would end up doing. I chose Hyrum, a city of about 6,000 residents, located 8 miles south of Logan for my first reporting beat. The first time I went was on a warm fall day. I guessed the Hyrum Civic Center had to be located around the heart of town on Center and Main. I was correct, but still I missed it and had to ask for directions at a gas station a few blocks away. I walked in to the cool air-conditioned civic center, located at 83 West Main, and looked for someone official. I found the city recorder, Stephanie Fricke, and asked her for a list of the names of all the members on the city council including the mayor. While she found the list for me, I spotted a sign that read: "The citizens of Hyrum are never interruptions to our work. They are our work." I hoped they would include me in their motto. Then she handed me the list. First assignment complete. Then I had to do the three "enterprise stories." The assignment was to write about three interesting things in the city. I found them all within a few feet of the city offices. Downstairs was the city library. Bingo! My first story. The friendly head librarian, Ginny Tremayne, agreed to tell me about the library. She said 11 years ago Hyrum built on to the Civic Center and a new room in the basement became the home to 4,000 books Hyrum's library. Today the collection has grown to 40,000 books, and they are all still in the same room. Residents of Hyrum, Wellsville, Nibley, and Millville can use the library free of charge. People who live in nearby unincorporated areas can use the library if they pay $30 per year for a family library card. Hundreds of families choose to buy the card. The library checks out about 1,000 books every day, Tremayne said. After telling me about the library I asked if she knew of something else in Hyrum that would make a good story. She said the woman who worked in the small museum next to the library was receiving an award from the governor next week and to come back and talk to her about that. Second story idea. The next week I interviewed Valoie Albrecht. She was named Utah's 1999 Community Volunteer of the Year at a banquet in Salt Lake City and she received a $500 check. She showed me around her museum and pointed out her favorite displays, one being an old machine, used to give women a permanent wave in their hair by using electricity and a smelly solution. With her halo of short white curly hair, Albrecht was the perfect picture of a grandmother. Several children came in and talked to her. One promised to watch the museum while she talked to me. She smiled at everyone and told her stories. Anytime the electronic beeper at the door signaled the entrance of anyone, she scurried over to invite the people in. Albrecht earned her award by being kind to everyone and by building up the museum. She and her husband started it, she told me. My next excursion to Hyrum was on the first Thursday of October for a city council meeting. I really didn't know what to expect, but I got there ten minutes early and tried to be inconspicuous. It didn't work. Some of the council members came over and shook my hand and introduced themselves. I guess in a city the size of Hyrum they notice new people. Plus there were only six other people at the meeting besides the council. The meeting lasted at least two and a half hours. They talked about zoning issues, the Fourth of July Rodeo, and the city plan. I didn't understand a lot of it, but it was still interesting. Tomas LaBau, the zoning administrator, explained some of the issues to me. After the meeting, Mayor Gordon Olson shook my hand. I introduced myself as a reporter from Utah State University for the semester. He laughed and said he had something for me. The mayor handed me a small round metal gold-colored pin with the Hyrum City seal on it. If you are the city reporter, you will have to have one of these, he told me. I left smiling, thinking that being a reporter wasn't so hard after all. Covering the three other required city council meetings wasn't bad. I just had to go to the meeting and take notes. I didn't understand some of the jokes and issues, but that's because I was an outsider, trying my best to get into the city at least enough to write my stories. My last enterprise story was about Elite Hall, the dance floor on springs. It is across the street from the civic center. I talked to Luane Larsen, who has been the custodian of Elite Hall for the last 10 years, since he retired from Hill Air Force Base. He showed me where he had replaced paneling, painted, and moved a large mirror. He let me up on the balcony where people usually aren't allowed. I like how the words, "I'm a reporter" can get me into places where people usually don't go. Larsen was very willing to talk about Elite Hall. He remembered going to club meetings with his mother when he was young, and how hot the upstairs rooms got in the summer. He said the bricks hold the heat in so it's like an oven. "They've had everything you can think of in here," he said. He talked about wrestling and boxing matches, basketball, volleyball, dancing, and parties. At night the neon blue cursive letters that say "Elite Hall" shine bravely into an unknown future. Like many old buildings, there is some discussion over whether to leave it there or tear it down and build something bigger and better. I hope they leave it there. It's a landmark in Hyrum, one of the few things I was aware of in the city before I started covering the city for a journalism class. Going to all the city council meetings got me interested in city government. For my final story of the class I decided to interview the mayor and Dixie Clawson, a council member. As I drove down main street to get to the Civil Center for my 6:30 appointment with the mayor, I looked at the houses. Some were all lit up, and very festive with Christmas lights strung around the yards. Others were dark, and quiet looking, making me wonder if the residents had fled the cold winter of Cache Valley in search of warm sun somewhere south. All down main street lights were strung across the street from light post to light post in a zig-zag pattern. Because the street goes down a hill, at the top I could look over all the lights. It looked like a great carpet of rainbow confetti spread out down into the heart of the city. The mayor said the public works committee was in charge of the lights. The mayor shared some of his personal philosophy when he said public service in a small community should be a labor of love. There is so much to know, so much to learn, so much to be involved in and that's what makes public service great to him. His duties as mayor are to enforce laws, prepare the city budget, preside over council meetings and control the agenda, and to oversee all the employees of Hyrum city government. He has been mayor for a year and a half, and he said the biggest problem with Hyrum is that it is too big for a part-time mayor and not big enough for a full-time mayor. "We spend the majority of our time dealing with growth and planning and zoning problems," Olson said. "If we didn't have that, we probably wouldn't have anything to do." Council member Dixie Clawson met with me after my appointment with the mayor. She talked about the youth committee she is in charge of. The students on the committee do service projects once a month for the community, raise money for charities and donations to city organizations, and learn about city government and participation. She said on the city council all the members get along, which allows them to get a lot accomplished. "You don't need to agree all the time," but when it's decided, work together. Olson agrees there should be different ideas. "I encourage that," but he also stresses the need to "disagree without being disagreeable." The willingness of all these people to be interviewed amazes me. Reporters in general have a bad name, but on a one-to-one basis, people seem to be a little awed by reporters, and very willing to help students. I was very glad that all the people I spoke with were so willing to talk to me and help me. Please and thank you can get a lot, I learned.
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Archived Months:
September
1998 |
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