The Top 5 Things NOT To Talk About at Thanksgiving Dinner

Photo Credits to Dumb Little Man

Worrying about the dos and don'ts of Thanksgiving this year? Thanksgiving conversations can always be awkward when you're at the dinner table with your family you haven't seen since last Thanksgiving. Here are some topics you should probably avoid this year:

The 9th Grade Voice

Should 9th grade students be included at high school events? This has been a largely debated question recently, not only in Park City, but around the country. Many seem to believe that by putting 9th graders in a separate building and not including them in activities will help their "transition" into high school.

The Dog That Started Blind Dog

“Every once in a while a dog enters your life and changes everything”-Anonymous

  In 1998, Penny and Derrick Kinsey opened Blind Dog, a local steak and sushi restaurant. Their inspiration was their dog Rigger, a six-year-old blind black lab. Rigger was hit by a car when he was one and broke his leg, ribcage, and had major swelling to the head which caused him to become blind in both eyes. He lived through it though and as he recovered he found his way around by learning signals such as port, starboard, forward, and reverse.

Penny, Derrick and Rigger didn't always live in the snowy weather. They started on the East coast surrounded by sandy beaches and huge waves. 

Moving to Park City was a little different for the family of three, but they loved the experience. Penny followed her dream and opened a popular restaurant.

Local school teacher, Julie Hooker, notes, “I love the Blind Dog because it is consistently delicious.  I’ve never had a bad meal there.”

The Blind Dog is truly a family business. Ten-year-old Ketch rolls sushi while his thirteen-year-old sister, Khaki, seats people and takes reservations.  “I love working for my family restaurant because I meet a lot of great people,” says Ketch.

In addition to excellent cuisine, the Blind Dog features merchandise for both humans and canines.  “No matter where we go in Park City, we always stop at the Blind Dog to pick up a treat for our dog, Hulu,” explains Tara Kisow.

Hooker continues, “During the summer, I only dine in restaurants that are dog friendly.  There’s no more friendly restaurant than the Blind Dog.”

Again, because the food is consistent, it is a local favorite.  But, tourists, including the rich and famous, come into dine on a regular basis.

Blind Dog’s address, phone number and website:

1251 Kearns Boulevard

435-655-0800 

blinddogpc.com

  

E.A.T.S.

Eat Awesome Things at School (E.A.T.S.) is a wonderful program that provides kids with amazing opportunities to try healthy eating options at school. The program’s goal is to incorporate healthy eating lifestyles in the everyday lives of children whether it’s at school or at home throughout Summit County. “Our goal is to improve the school lunch program through a collaborative partnership as well as offering educational programs that promote healthy habits.” says Laurel Bartmess, Vice President of EATS. “We are working in Summit County, specifically Park City,” says Lisa Allison, a member of the EATS leadership team,”we have recently had inquiries from other areas in the county and will be discussing future plans for possible expansion of programs in upcoming years.”


    Now that the EATS program has come to Treasure Mountain, students everywhere are excited about the new lunches. “I believe it is a great idea,” says Anna Deimling, a 9th grader at TMJHS, “Our school needed a change when it came to what we were eating. I am glad we are now offered healthier and tastier food choices.” EATS recently installed a human vending machine that informed students about healthy eating choices and what they are putting into their systems.

    All in all, the installment of the EATS program in TMJH is a great idea. The issue is starting to resolve itself and we are starting to see students choose healthier food options in the lunch rooms.

The One Yard Drop

The One Yard Drop

 On November 8th at the Rice-Eccles stadium, the Utah Utes played the Oregon Ducks. It started out as a great game for the Utes, within five minutes of the game, the Utes already had seven points. But the next five minutes were not so great. Quarterback Travis Wilson #7 made the perfect pass to Kaelin Clay #8 which seemed to be the perfect 78-yard touchdown. 

 He ran into the end zone, an Oregon player right on his tail, and the fans celebrated. Everyone was too busy celebrating to notice that Oregon had picked up the ball and ran to the opposite end zone. Three Utes players struggled to reach and tackle the player with the ball, but Oregon stopped them. Everyone in the stadium was confused. They reviewed the play, and Clay had dropped the ball just before he reached the end zone. Oregon had seen them drop it, so Oregon snatched the ball and made a touchdown.

 After the game, Kaelin Clay tweeted, “I TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS GAME BY MY SELFISH ACTIONS…I’ll take this one”. Many fans were booing, screaming and even throwing food and brownies at Clay as he walked off the field. 

 Treasure Mountain Students who saw the game say, "It was a stupid mistake, but he should have been more aware he wasn't across the line." Another student said, "More people should be aware that it was a little mistake."
  They called it a Desean Jackson moment, because the NFL player did the same thing twice. He called Clay’s father, and talked to him after seeing the play, almost identical to his. One odd fact is that Clay and Jackson both went to Long Beach Poly at one point in their life time. 

 Clay is being comforted by letters from young kids, and kind phone calls. He says he now needs more support, because the play has gone world wide.

Utah's 150 year old telegraph office

Utah is home to many beautiful national parks. If you’re planning to go to southern Utah this year, don’t check into a hotel that advertises itself as authentic and historical. If you really want to be at the mouth of zion canyon, stay in a little old house located in the town of Rockville.

Rockville is a small town located outside of Springdale, which is at the mouth of Zion canyon. The park entrance is a short drive from the house, which should only take around five minutes. The house itself is on the National Historic Registry, and was built in 1864. A year after the Gettysburg address was given by Abraham Lincoln.

In it’s historic days, the house was a telegraph office. The front room is the actual telegraph office, and contains vintage telegraph equipment. After people stopped using telegraphs to communicate, the building fell into disuse.

Later, around the early 1970’s, Roy Simmons and Tibby Simmons purchased the property and began to restore the worn house. They continued to restore, completing it in 1975. A few years later, the house burned down, and was again rebuilt by Roy and his wife. In 2013, Joshua Watkins purchased the property from his family as a place to stay when he visited southern Utah.

There are a variety of canyon hikes around the house, from short, leisurely hikes to technical slot canyons for climbing and repelling. Behind the house is a river, which is fun to play in on hot summer days. Grafton, a popular ghost town, is also close to the location. 

Sources:

Informational Plaque

National Historic Registry

The Watkins Family

Park City Swimming Dives into the Boise Competition

Park City Swimming (PCS) is taking the trip to Boise, Idaho to attend the Boise Y Thanksgiving Invitational over November 21-23. The team has been going for a couple of years now, and it has become a tradition to go.

While there, PCS hosts team dinners at the main attractions in Boise. This is an amazing meet for team bonding and great swimming. 

Swimmers from all PCS groups are allowed to enter in up to eight events, swimming at most two events on Friday, the 21st, and three events on Saturday and Sunday, the 22nd and 23rd. 

Warm-up on Friday begins at 4:00 in the afternoon, for all age groups, but the actual meet starts at 5:00. On the other two days, warm-up for children twelve and under starts at 7:30 in the morning, while the actually meet begins at 8:30. After the twelve and under meet finishes, warm-up for the thirteen and over starts, and the actual meet kicks off an hour later.

All swimmer’s with “No Times" (NT’s) are allowed to enter in all events except for the 1000 freestyle. All eleven and over swimmers are allowed to enter in 200 yard events of butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke, but they will be swimming them during the afternoon session.

The meet begins next week, so wish your swimmer friends good luck and keep looking out for updates soon.

Team Logo. Digital image. Park City Swimming. Mike Werner, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Fighting Hunger, One Movie Screening at a Time.

Leadership II is screening the film The Starfish Throwers along with FiRe Films on Tuesday, December 16th from 11:00 am to 12:30.

The screening will be at the Park City High School Lecture Hall, which seats 211 people. Leadership II students, LEAP (Learning Experiences Activities and Programs) students, along with a mix of classes from Treasure Mountain will attend.

People planning to attend are being asked to bring canned food and/or an unwrapped gift for The Christian Center’s Operation Hope project.

Introducing the screening will be Sharon Anderson Morris, the Executive Director of FiRe Films.

The Starfish Throwers follows a five-star chef fighting against the Indian caste system, a twelve-year-old girl with a non-profit organization aimed at ridding the world of hunger, and a retired middle school teacher who battles with personal health issues as he hands out a thousand plus sandwiches each night to the hungry. Throughout the film, although they recognize that hunger is an issue too big for one person to conquer, they continue to reach for their goal of witnessing a ripple effect of their actions that will carry the impact even further. 

Learn more about the film at http://www.thestarfishthrowers.com. 

Starfish Throwers. N.d. Thestarfishthrowers.com. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. <http://images.cdn.bigcartel.com/bigcartel/product_images/145832053/max_w-900/Starfish_Special_Small.jpeg>.

Five Seconds of Wreck

Did you know that when you look down or text on phone, it is a minimum of five seconds not looking at the road? Did you know that 1 in 5 drivers admit to surfing the web, or checking social media while driving? In this generation where 82% of 16-17 year olds have cell phones, we should be cautious. #X may not be enough to save the lives of our loved ones. 

It’s not just teenagers we should be worried about, adults have a high percentage for deaths and accidents caused by texting and driving also. There is no safe version of texting/calling while driving. #X means that you are getting ready to drive and can’t text anymore. It is trying to be campaigned more to cause less accidents.

Most states have banned use of cell phone while driving, but some states have not banned it at all. Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, North and South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, and Florida have no law or ban on cell phone use while driving.

The laws in Utah against being on your cell phone are “Ban against texting for all drivers.” “Utah’s law defines careless driving as committing a moving violation while distracted.” and, “Ban on cell phones (handheld and hands-free) for novice drivers.”

Many admit they have been in a car with a driver who is calling, texting, or checking Facebook or other social media types. In an interview with 20 Treasure Mountain students 17/20 said they had been in a car with the driver talking on their cell phone, 13/20 said they had been in a car with the driver texting on their cell phone, and 6/20 said they had been in a car with a driver using social media. Text messaging while the car is moving risks a crash by 23x.  

Talent at Treasure Mountain

Auditions for the annual Treasure Mountain Junior High School talent show will be held from 2:00 -3:00 pm in the cafeteria/auditorium.  Students must sign up for an audition time on the signup sheet located on Ms. Hooker's door, room #16.

Teacher, Emily Gaudet, said "It is a great place for students to showcase their talents and interests.  In addition, it enhances the school community."

"Last year was really fun.  I got to bond with other students by dancing," noted Anna Deimling.

Melissa Maxwell is looking forward to participating and watching the talent show.  "When I was here before, it was my favorite assembly."

Former Assistant Principal, Kevin McIntosh, "We rocked the talent show."

The talent show draws a large audience.  Many members from from the Park City community, along with parents, look forward to the program each year.  This year, the talent show will be held in the afternoon on Friday, December 19th.