Editor:

Tragedy struck our church family — Mountain Vineyard — Sunday night. Driving home from Salt Lake City, Annette Paget was hit head-on by a vehicle that lost control on black ice and went over the median. Tim and Annette Paget’s little three-year-old daughter Alexis was killed in the car accident in Parley’s Canyon. Annette, who was driving, is in critical condition. She has lost her left arm, from the elbow down, and they are trying to stop internal bleeding. She also has severe facial injuries, as well as liver damage and other various injuries. Tim was not in the truck with them.

This is the same family who lost their 17-day-old little baby, Shawn, just last month. Please pray for Tim and Annette and their family to stand strong in their faith, for Annette to pull through her surgery and recovery, and for God’s loving arms to embrace and comfort her as she has now learned of her daughter’s passing.

Pastor Lenny Perata and Jim Bogart spent most of Sunday night with Tim at the hospital, and it has come to our attention that Tim and Annette do not have any medical insurance and are still trying to pay for their baby Shawn’s funeral from last month. We have set up an account with Wells Fargo for donations to help with funeral and medical costs. Go to any Wells Fargo Bank and ask to donate to "Paget Family Donation Fund."

Should you have any questions, please call the Mountain Vineyard office at 649-8301. Thank you.

The Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship Family

Gay Mass at St. Mary’s

Editor:

This letter is in response to Beano Solomon regarding "GLBT/Sundance Mass at St. Mary’s." Its purpose is not to instigate a battle among the community, but to give a few words of explanation amidst a great deal of confusion.

The Catholic Church maintains that persons with a homosexual inclination must be respected and treated with sensitivity and compassion, which does not leave room for discrimination. Homosexuals have an innate human dignity as do all people, created in the image and likeness of God.

Having said this however, it must be clarified that, based on the Old and New Testament tradition, as well as the natural order of creation, homosexual acts are always disordered and are never approved by the Catholic Church.

In the Catholic Church’s moral theology, all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, are called to a pure life, and the sexual acts are reserved to the context of marital union between one man and one woman, being open to the gift of life.

The Catholic Church does not reject persons with same-sex attractions, but offers love, help and support through a very powerful and highly effective ministry called Courage. Both those who minister and those who seek help are called to holiness and close relationship with God, which leads them to self-mastery and inner freedom. The organization’s Web site, http://www.couragerc.net, offers a great deal of useful information, providing many powerful testimonies of people who were helped by this ministry.

Let us finish by quoting a Courage participant’s statement: "Despite my long journey, it’s all been worth it — the growth, the learning and the struggles of the last several years of chaste living in Christ." He calls them "Truly the best years so far."

Respectfully,

Tom and Lee Gallagher

Joe and Emily Ozog

Chris and Elizabeth Sikorski

Dan and Deirdre Teodosio

Park City

Community support

Dear Park City:

As many of you know, our friend and co-worker, Karrin Swenson, lost her daughter, Forrest, very unexpectedly on Jan. 1, 2007. The outpouring of love has been beautiful and touching.

We live in such a caring community, with opportunities to reach out to one another with quick and heartfelt communication. The Park Record is to be commended for their community support by helping us let all of you know about Karrin’s loss.

A memorial account has been established at Frontier Bank for anyone who would like to make a donation to assist Karrin during this difficult time.

With sincere gratitude,

Marc Raymond

Marc Raymond Salons and Spas

Park City

Film festival assessment

Editor:

The citizens of your community can surely take pride in the "artistic" event that Mr. Redford has created. It’s not every day one can celebrate with kudos and accolades both child rape and horse humpin’ at the same time. How proud your town must be.

Sincerely,

William McKay

Prince George, Va.

Sundance’s ‘Hounddog’

Editor:

When, in our society, did the opinion of a 12 year old mean that something was acceptable?

Simply because this young actress without the life experience to know that a film she made is offensive and harmful to other people (especially children), that film should not be deemed to be acceptable.

This young girl is a child, and her opinion is not valid in this matter. Would anyone say that she is mature enough to get married, vote, or even get her ears pierced without the permission of her parents? No. So why then is her opinion of any consequence in assessing the value of this "beautiful story" including a "carefully choreographed" rape scene?

This is one definite area where the opinions of children are not the ones to be heeded!

Sincerely,

Pam Algea

San Diego, Calif.

Ineffective signals on 224

Editor:

It seems to me that Summit County has an unusually large number of automobile accidents on the short stretch of S.R. 224 between Kimball Junction and Park City. I would venture to guess that many of these are caused by someone attempting to make a left turn at one of the lights at Ranch Place, Silver Springs, Old Ranch Road or The Canyons.

Since the relocation of the light at The Canyons, I have taken considerable notice of these lights and not one of them has a regular left turn arrow to assist drivers making a safe left turn.

It seems to me that it should be a rather simple procedure to adjust those lights to give us the safety we need and deserve. Each and every time that north/south traffic is stopped, there should be a green arrow. Likewise, for east/west traffic.

I have called UDOT repeatedly and made such a request but they refuse to do anything about it. Perhaps if we could all work together and put pressure on them, they would honor our requests. The traffic is very heavy from 7:30-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. How about we pick one day a week and flood their office with calls requesting these changes? If you would like to join me in this cause, let’s say next Wednesday, Jan. 31 and the Wednesday following, Feb. 7? The number for UDOT is (801) 975-4900. Let’s make it happen!

Iris Loiselle

Park City