Utah’s Health City...Growing, Caring, Sharing
www.smithfieldcity.org
Vol. 44 No. 7
MESSAGE FROM
MAYOR DOWNS
Concerning Smithfield City Cemetery and
the 2008 –2009 budget
In anticipation of the upcoming Memorial
Day activities I visited the City Cemetery
this morning and reviewed our preparations
for this special day. The Cemetery was
beautiful and well groomed. I believe we
have a most beautiful Cemetery in a superb
location. Our City history book describes the
Cemetery as “a place of tranquility, beauty,
and solace”. I agree. Chad Kendrick is our
sexton and Cody Law assists him as needed.
Chad is also in charge of the beautiful parks
within Smithfield. Connie Gittins maintains
the records, sells burial sites, and arranges for
burials. Ranie
Yeates
is
responsible
for
the
maintenance
and mowing
of
the
C e m e t e r y.
These City
employees
take
great
pride in the
C e m e t e r y,
and
they
work diligently to make sure the Cemetery’s
appearance is outstanding and the records
are accurate. These individuals deserve our
sincere appreciation for their commitment to
this responsibility.
After my visit to the Cemetery I asked
Chad Kendrick and Connie Gittins to
provide me with some information regarding
the Cemetery. I believe you will find the
following information interesting and
enlightening:
Smithfield City Cemetery on Memorial Day morning
• Our City records indicate that there have
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been 4781 burials in the Smithfield Cemetery.
The first burial in the Cemetery was for
Ira Merrill. He was born on the 24th of
April in 1835. He died on July 23rd in
1860, and he was 25 years old at the time
of his death. Ira’s gravesite is pictured as
an inset in this newsletter.
The Cemetery receives requests for approximately 60 burials each year.
In plat B, the old Cemetery, there are
many early burials of which we have no
accurate records.
There are 1.75 miles of access roads
within the Cemetery.
There were over 500 hours of employee
labor utilized on burials within the past
year.
Within the Cemetery there are 17 acres of
grass that require maintenance.
Ranie Yeates spends approximately fifteen hours per week, during the growing
months, operating a weed eater while
trimming around the headstones.
During an average week Ranie will spend
about 20 hours on the lawn-mowing machine.
It takes Ranie about 5 hours per week to
clean up old flowers, spray for weeds,
and tending to the trees.
The Cemetery was originally called the
“burial grounds”, and it did not become
the official Cemetery until 1897 when by
ordinance it was declared the Smithfield
Cemetery.
The current look and design of the Cemetery is the results of a 1925 beautification
committee’s aggressive improvement of
the Cemetery grounds.
June 2008
The Cemetery employees are dedicated
to their job and are due a gesture of thanks
from the City Council, administrators, and
the public. Providing this basic service is
one of the reasons local governments exist,
and these employees have worked hard and
long to provide the City with a beautiful
Cemetery.
Due to the anticipated slowdown in the
economy many of the revenue sources most
likely will be reduced that the City depends
upon to provide funding for basic services.
This has required the City to adjust the FY
2009 budget accordingly. Much of the
revenue shortfall is the result of a reduction
in the housing industry and sales tax. By
holding the line on expenditures the certified
tax rate is expected to once again be reduced
resulting in a steady if not a reduced property
tax assessment, attributed to Smithfield, to
individual property owners. There will no
doubt be projects that were planned for this
coming FY that will have to be postponed
due to the shortfall in revenues.
The Robert and Eloise Toolson family
contributed the featured Heritage Bench
of the month. It is located in Mack Park.
Identity Theft/Senior Medicare Patrol Tip for June 2008
Bear River Agency on Aging • 170 No. Main St., Logan Ut 84321 • 1-877-772-7242 or 435-752-7242
CAREFUL INVESTING
Investment scams can take many shapes and
look very tempting. Listen closely for phrases
used to get you hooked. Those listed below
should raise a red flag or warning:
* “You’re profit is guaranteed.”
* “It’s an amazingly high rate of return.”
* “There’s no risk”.
* “You would be a fool to pass this by.”
* “This offer is only available today.”
* “I’ll get you the paperwork later.”
* “Just make your check out to me.”
Scammers use these lines and promises everyday to convince unsuspecting investors to
part with their money. If you hear any of these
lines or feel pressured, STOP! Take your time
and check it out. A real deal will still be there.
Remember the old saying that if it sounds too
good to be true it probably is.
CHECK BEFORE YOU INVEST
No matter how great the opportunity is or
who offers it to you, there are steps that should
be taken BEFORE you invest your money.
Whether the offer comes to you from a financial
professional, a pop-up ad, your brother-in-law,
a friend or nice young man on the phone or at
church, the steps are the same.
* Check out the product. Most investments
are securities and must be registered with your
state securities regulator or with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC). If the potential investment is not registered, DON’T INVEST! Also, is this the right kind of investment
for you in terms of the level of risk, access to
your funds, and length of time before you will
see a return?
* Check out the person. Is the person selling you this investment licensed in your state or
with the SEC? If not, BEWARE!
Once you check with your state securities regulator or the SEC, you can decide if the investment (if it really is an investment) is the right
one for you.
ALSO: If you are contacted by someone trying
to scam you out of money, report the experience
to your local police department and to the local
Senior Medicare Patrol Team office at BRAG
752-7242 ext. 469. Then, the community can
be alerted to watch out for similar problems.
Identity Theft Presentations for your business or civic group available upon request.
2nd Annual Charity Golf Tournament
On Tuesday, May 6th, the Greater Smithfield
Chamber of Commerce hosted their 2nd Annual
Charity Golf Tournament at Birch Creek Golf
Course in conjunction with the Smithfield
City Health Days Celebration. Proceeds in
the amount of $5300.00 were raised from the
Tournament and donated to Sunrise Elementary
School for their new computer lab. The event
started at 7am with team registration and a
continental breakfast donated by Lee’s Market
Place. Twenty-two local businesses sponsored
the twenty teams that participated in the event.
Several local businesses and community
members donated money, prizes, food, and
hole sponsorships. Lunch was provided by
Culinary Concepts, Firehouse Pizza, Subway of
Smithfield, and Pepsi. The Chamber would like
to thank all of the Golf Tournament participants
and sponsors that helped to make this event a
huge success:
ABC Seamless, Alpine Cleaning &
Restoration, America First Credit Union, Angie’s
Restaurant, April Godderidge, Birch Creek Golf
Course, Bruce Jones Farm Bureau Financial,
Cache Title, Cantwell Brothers Lumber,
Casper’s Ice Cream, Culinary Concepts, Dr.
Belnap, Dr. Godderidge, Enterprise Rent A
Car, Eric Kleven, Firehouse Pizzeria, Gossner
Foods, Hickman Land Title, Heritage Glass,
iTransact, Keller Williams Realty-Nan King,
Kevin’s Cleaning, Lee’s Market Place, Metal
Vision, Mortimer Pallets, Pepperidge Farm,
Pepsi Cola, Peterson Allred Jackson CPA,
Poulson Auto Image, PPG Auto Glass, Preston
Watts Collision & Glass, Rex Johnson Drywall,
Roundy Farms, Rigo Chaparro State Farm Ins.,
Scott Weeks, Smithfield Subway, Square One
Printing, Staker & Parson Company, Steve
Robb Painting, Stitches, Sunrise Engineering,
Thinker Creative, Thom’s Lawn Care, Tom
Gibbon’s CPA, Tom Pitcher Construction, USU
Charter Credit Union, Wendy’s, and Zion’s
Bank Smithfield.
Thanks for making Smithfield a great place
to live.
HISTORICAL HAPPENINGS
For sometime now I have thought about
writing a bit about the impact of horses on
our Smithfield Community. I remember
personally when my father and his brother
made the transition from work horses to a
1947 model 8N Ford tractor. They continued
to rake the hay with a horse drawn dump
rake. They also used a single horse, Ole Burr,
to pull the derrick cable which lifted the hay
into the barn. As a five or six year old, my
assignment was to ride Ole Burr back and
forth as he pulled the hay up, then turned
and allowed slack in the cable to drop the
empty large hay fork back to the wagon for
another load. I remember listening carefully
for Uncle Don to call out that the fork was
ready to be raised. I would then kick Ole Burr
and away we would go. Little did I know
that Ole Burr would have obeyed uncle Dons
command regardless of someone sitting on
his back or not.
Our community recently lost one of the
pioneers of horsemanship with the loss
of 93 year old, Glen Downs. Few can
fully appreciate the history, heritage and
knowledge that went with him to the grave.
As his Home Teacher for the recent past few
years, we often talked about the way it was
in the past. Glen owned a horse all of his
life. The evening after his funeral, I observed
his son Chad leaning over the pasture gate
behind Glen’s home, with both elbows up on
the top rail, looking at Glen’s horse. One can
only imagine what Chad was thinking. Glen
was the first of his family to graduate from
college. In his work, he was a consummate
professional, yet he never moved more than a
block away from his boyhood home. He was
still a cowboy at heart.
The Historical Society owns a large
panoramic photo of the “sugar beet dump”
located at the 400 W and 100 N railroad
station. In the photo are several teams of
horses pulling up the ramp waiting to unload
their preweighed load of sugar beets. With a
typical Downs smile on his face, he told of
the old grey horse near the top of the ramp.
He said the sugar company purchased that
horse many times over. He wouldn’t tell me
who owned the horse, but the owner had the
horse trained to cross the weighing scale,
then as the driver would get off the load to
get his weight ticket, the horse would back
up a step so that the horse’s weight would
be on the scales. Of course the horse would
only do this going in. Thus several hundred
pounds would be added to the net weight of
the sugar beets. Another Smithfield legend
is the story of Glen’s older brother riding
his horse into McCracken’s pool hall. As
the story goes, he was issued a ticket by the
police for driving his horse while “under the
influence”. I’m confident the story isn’t true
but it makes for a memorable old time story.
By the way, I knew and loved that “older
Brother”. I actually went as far as having his
old hat bronzed and gave it to his son when
he passed away many years ago. Anyone
who saw that hat could tell you who should
be under it.
People of my generation like Bruce Pitcher,
Bob Hill, Jim Forrester, Ron Roskelly. Terry
Cronquist, and Lyle Ransenberger only
thought we were cowboys. The real Smithfield
Summit Saddlers were the older generation
(remember Summit was Smithfield’s first
name) like Bowers Forrester, Dale Weeks,
Ferry Watts, Glen Downs, Parley Downs, Les
Traveler, George Tarbet, Glen Hillyard and
Ole Cronquist. A few of the “real” Summit
Saddlers” still live in Smithfield. If you know
any of them, and want to hear some stories,
go visit Demar Fonnesbeck, Wess Tarbet,
Bud Pitcher, Lewis Pitcher, or Al Hatch.
There were many more, not only around my
age but many just a bit older who participated
in the equestrian activities in Smithfield on a
weekly basis. If you can’t get them started
talking, just mention the keynote annual
activity of the “Tony Grove Ride”, and
they will have lots of stories to tell.
Back in those days, for Smithfield’s
Health Days, we had a full fledged horse
race and rodeo meet, complete with dust,
runaway horses, and significant money
amounts as prizes. People came from
all around northern Utah and Southern
Idaho to watch and participate.
GLEN JAY THORNLEY
BIOGRAPHY 2008
Born in 1944, in Logan Utah to Glen
and Ruby Thornley of Smithfield. Have
lived in Smithfield except for about one
year while father was in Air Force at
end of WWII.
Married Paula Moser, from Lewiston
Utah in 1960. Attended USU on an
FFA/Sears Scholorship. Have three
daughters, all who are married and live
in Smithfield. Employed for 13 years
at Smithfield Implement Company
while finishing school. Employed at
the Utah State University Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry for
30 years as Manager of Chemistry
Stores and Assistant to the Department
Head / Business Manager. Retired in
2004. Received Robbins Award as
Outstanding Professional Employee in
1990. In addition to USU employment
and several committees such as the
University Safety Committee, served as
an officer in the National Association of
Scientific Materials Managers, serving
four years and National Secretary and
Two years and National Vice President.
Served eight years
as National Meeting
Planner/Site Selection
Chairman. Received
National “Manager
of the Year” award in
1992. Have served
in several Church
callings
including
Bishopric and four
different High Council
assignments including in Smithfield and
at USU Student Stakes. Currently serving
as Stake Auditor and auditor for Northern
Region Facilities Maintenance Group. Also
teach in the Ward High Priests Group, as
well as Ward Emergency Preparedness and
Employment Specialist. In the community
have served as President of the Historical
Society since 1999 and on the City Parks
and Trails Committee since 2006. In Cache
County serve on the County Attorney’s Road
Committee. Recieved the Mayors Award
from the Utah Humanities Council in 2006.
Have been a member of the Smithfield Lions
Club since 2006 and this year was named
Smithfield Citizen of the Year.
LIBRARY HAPPENINGS
LIBRARY HOURS
Monday – Thursday
Friday
Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
2:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Contact the library at: 563-3555
Or visit us on the web at:
www.smithfieldcity.org/library.main.html
Summer reading clubs at the
Library
Catch the Reading Bug! is the theme
for the 2008 kids summer reading program.
Children, ages 2 to 12, will get to explore
the wide world of bugs while reading and
earning rewards through the summer months.
Registration begins June 9th at the library
and will be ongoing.
Teens will explore the changes reading
can make in their lives in their reading club
theme “Metamorphosis”. Registration for
the teen 4 week program begins June 9th and
teen readers can earn a book and entries into
a library drawing for gifts and prizes
summer blanket storytimes
The library will be holding a blanket
storytime program which everyone, young
and old, are invited to attend. Blanket
Storytimes will be held on the following
dates:
June 5th
June 19th
July 3rd
July 17th
July 31st
August 14th
Blanket storytimes take place at 10 a.m. in
the city park just north of the library. Bring
your blankets and enjoy storytime with us!
and the status of materials you have placed
on hold. To create your home access account
number and password please visit the
library.
now available: home library
account access
The library is please to announce that
home internet access to your library account
is now available. Now you can check to see
what items you have checked out, when your
items are due to be returned and the status
of materials you have placed on hold. To
create your home access account number and
password please visit the library.
REMINDER
As summer approaches we ask our patrons
to remember to return their audio and video
selections to the library circulation desk and
not the outdoor drop box. Extreme summer
temperatures are very hard on these materials,
especially when placed in the metal book
depository.
WHAT’S NEW
The library has added an exciting new
source of audio books to their collection,
Playaway Digital Audiobooks!
Playaway is the newest format of audio,
combining a wide variety of content with an
easy-to-use player all in one small unit. When
you check out a Playaway, all you have to
do is press play to start listening immediately
– there is no need for a separate player.
Playaway is the most simple and immediate
way to enjoy music and audiobooks. Its
portability allows users to enjoy their favorite
authors and titles on-the-go, whenever and
wherever. Visit the library to explore the Playaway
titles available. Each device is designed
with a universal headphone jack to work
with almost any type of headphone, speaker,
or car adapter. However, if you do not own
your own headphones, the library will sell
you a new set of earbuds for $1.00.stardom
in America.
DAUGHTERS OF UTAH
PIONEERS
Cache Far North -Summer Jubilee
June 19th- at Noon
Smithfield Senior Citizen Center
[375 Canyon Road, Smithfield]
All DUP members and guests are invited