Story by Allexis Gonzalez
Keeping Utah highways safe from speeders and drunk and distracted drivers alike has long been the responsibility of the Utah Highway Patrol task force. But according to Officer Steve Martin, a Utah Highway Patrolman of 20 years, the number of applicants and sworn full-time officers has been consistently dropping for the last few years.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ most recent report, Utah’s number of full-time sworn personnel is down 11.7 percent — the largest reported decrease in the nation. Officer Peppers, a relatively new trooper, says that joining and remaining at UHP hasn’t been easy.

What’s keeping sworn troopers from staying and potential applicants from ever swearing in? According to Martin, being a cop has never been easy, that much hasn’t changed. Martin states that one of the issues that face UHP officers is that, “There just aren’t too many jobs that a cop can take when they decide to retire.” Mix in the negative publicity police officers have been facing lately and all the policy changes in retirement benefits the UHP has gone through in the past nine years and the job is harder than ever before.

One of the big changes in benefits policy that UHP has undergone is the length of service and percentage officers can takeaway at retirement. Back in the late 90s, when Martin first entered the UHP police force, there was a standard 20-year service to retirement and 55 percent take-home of earned benefits. Nowadays, according to Martin, there’s a 25 years of service minimum before retirement and only a 33 percent take-home of earned benefits.

These aren’t the only changes UHP has undergone, however. The department has also undergone major policy changes in sick leave and health care benefits.

“Back in the day, you used to be able to stay in the force longer. Prior to 2006, every 8 hours of sick leave was a month worth of health coverage paid for when you retired. Officers used to never take sick days so they could build up enough medical insurance post retirement to carry them over into Medicaid,” Martin said. However, in 2006, sick leave policy changed and those extra racked-up sick days were put toward a 401(k). But, according to Martin, just last year, this too was taken away and, “Now sick leave doesn’t mean anything, so officers will just take the day off even for just a mild cold, which means less troopers and manpower on the road.”

Gone are the days when officers had incentive to stay in the force and retire because they were good and ready to enter retirement. These days, many officers, like Martin, leave the force disenchanted and not because they’re ready to enter the restful days of retirement but to find work elsewhere. When Martin first entered the UHP, in 1995, there were about a 1,000 applicants interviewing for the job, whereas now they’re lucky to get even 70 applicants.

With the job of UHP officers more challenging than in days past, low morale due to loss of benefits, and less public approval, the future for Utah Highway Patrol and the safety of our highways, from Martin’s perspective, isn’t looking as great as it once had. “UHP is now even offering troopers a $500 bonus to bring in a friend or family member who gets hired on, but I wouldn’t even recommend it to anybody,” Martin said. “It’s kind of dangerous and the police are more hated than ever before.”

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Officer Sean Bennett spent most of his quiet Tuesday evening shift patrolling the streets of the Rose Park and Glendale neighborhoods of Salt Lake City, Utah. From hang up 9-1-1 phone calls to house visits, it was an average night for Bennett. However, that wasn’t the case after 8 p.m. when two important 911 phone calls came through, and his evening went from quiet to exciting.

The two stops involve a hang up 911 phone call and a motel owner who wanted a schizophrenic resident to be removed from his property.

“This is a pretty normal night,” Bennett said.

Bennett said he is a newly appointed officer or Pioneer precinct of the Salt Lake City Police Department with only a year as an official as of September 2014.

“You have to go through the academy, which is 6 months long and then 13 weeks of FTO [Field Training Officer],” he said of the training required to be an officer.

He said he though the training was well done for the most part. However, the one thing he would change about the training would be the scenarios the officers in training were put in.

“Just have the type of scenarios that smell like cat piss, have homeless and drunk people, then we would be all set and ready to go,” he said.

Continuing to drive through the streets of the Rose Park and Glendale neighborhoods, Bennett responded to a hang up 911 phone call at a grocery store’s parking lot.

“Most of the hang up 911 calls are on accident, but when we call back and no one answers, that’s when we get suspicious and have to respond.”

At the stoplight just across the street from the parking lot, Bennett notices a male and female crossing the street with a rather infuriated female following them close behind on the telephone. The male and female are holding hands, and then the male gave Bennett a threatening look.

“Did you see that look? It was most likely them who called. We can’t do much about it now except double check the parking lot,” he concluded, proceeding to the grocery store’s parking lot only to find nothing suspicious.

The next call Bennett decided to respond to was a phone call from the Salt Lake City Inn Motel in Salt Lake City. The owner was complaining about a schizophrenic woman that he wanted out of his motel immediately. Within five minutes, Bennett arrived at the scene with Officer Billy. Billy informed Bennett with what has been happening. Billy said that this schizophrenic woman was claiming that her son had been dragged into her bathroom, been electrocuted in the bathtub, had been thrown in to the back of a police car which drove to Magna, Utah to where he is now being crushed in a dump.

“We’ve been dealing with her all night,” said Officer Billy.

A man came up the metal stairs and said, “Please just get her out of my motel. She has been causing too much disturbance.”

Bennett and Billy step aside to have a conversation. They return and conclude that since she has been misleading and inaccurate with her stories all evening and considering her medical history, they are going to Pink Sheet her and send her to the University Neuropsychiatric Institute. According to the Salt Lake City Police Department website, the definition of Pink Sheet is, “An Emergency Application for Involuntary Commitment Without Certification from completed peace officer or Mental Health Officer requesting temporary commitment of a person.” After Officer Bennett and Officer Billy made a few phone calls, an ambulance arrived soon after to take the suspect to UNI.

By the end of the night, Bennett was disappointed nothing exciting happened. He concluded the night saying, “Maybe tomorrow something exciting will happen.”

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By Sarah Mecham

There are only 52 more shopping days until Christmas.

These days represent the biggest consumer retail spending of the year. The National Retail Federation expects November and December sales to rise 3.7% to $630.5 billion dollars. The average consumer is expected to spend more than $800 dollars on holiday shopping this season.

Consumers have many choices when spending their shopping dollars: shopping online, national chains or at local shops. According to American Independent Business Alliance shopping at locally owned and operated businesses, local communities benefit in three ways: economically, socially, and environmentally.

Local First Utah released a report from Civic Economics of a statewide study in 2014 which showed locally owned retailers in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Wayne County return 55.3 percent of their revenue back to the local economy. In comparison, national chain retailers only return 13.6 percent back to local economies. That means every dollar spent at a local business returns more than four times more to the local economy than a dollar spent at a national chain retailer.

Sonnie Swindle, local business owner of Bloomingsales, said the number one benefit to buying and shopping locally is keeping tax dollars in the local community. The more thriving small businesses created in our community, the larger the tax base it has to use for public services.

“I hire local people to support my business. I pay local contractors, printers, marketing and technology professionals, accountants, and caterers,” Swindle said. “This helps contribute to the livelihood of many careers in the community.”

This “local multiplier effect,” according to the American Independent Business Alliance, recirculates money into the local economy and is a key tool to creating more local jobs.

Cait Boyer, a Salt Lake Resident, shops local for her food. She loves the Downtown Alliance Farmer’s Market held Saturdays during the summer months at Pioneer Park and purchases her produce from local farms. Her passion for supporting local agriculture is motivated economically.

“Government subsidizes large corporate farms, and the little ma and pop farms are completely on their own,” Boyer said. “These farmers work so hard to run their business with little to no help and they rely 100% on local consumers to support them.”

Boyer also recognizes the social impact of shopping local.

“I particularly love shopping at the farmer’s markets where I get the chance to meet the farmers or growers,” She said. “I love to hear their stories and what their job entails. It makes the process of buying and cooking food more meaningful, when I know where my money is going and who directly will be benefited.”

Melissa Reed, while shopping at Katie Waltman Jewelry, said she only shops local.

“I love walking into a store where they know my name and talk to me about my purchases,” Reed Said. “There is a real community feeling that I cannot get at the mall.”

Many small businesses make their shopping experiences social. For example many local boutiques are hosting holiday open houses offering entertainment, refreshments, and a party-like atmosphere that brings people together to shop.

In 2010, American Express created a social campaign to encourage their cardholders to shop at small businesses on Thanksgiving weekend. For the past five years, “Shop Small Saturday,” held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving has grown to more than 88 million participants in 2014. Last year consumers spent more than $14.3 billion at local business. This social movement gets consumers involved in shopping local.

Shopping local is good for the environment too. It reduces the carbon footprint on our planet by diminishing the distance of transporting goods into our community.

“Most food at the grocery store has traveled over 2,000 miles,” said Adrienne Tuerpe, Director of Utah’s Eat Local Week.

It takes a significantly less amount of gas to bring apples from a Payson farm to a grocery store than importing apples from Mexico.

From a community standpoint shopping local makes sense. But is it economically beneficial to the consumer? In other words, will the consumer get the best prices by shopping local or by shopping chain stores? According to Stacy Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, big retailers are known as “category killers.” These businesses do not need to compete with other business because they tend to be the only store in town.

“Typically, a chain store will enter a new market sporting deep discounts. Many chains employ loss leaders to attract customers. Wal-Mart has been known to sell gallons of milk for 25 cents or to price entire departments below its own acquisition costs. This sets up a battle that local merchants cannot win. If they don’t match the chain’s prices, they risk losing customers. If they do match the chain’s prices, they will lose money on every sale. While a chain can afford to operate a new outlet at a loss indefinitely, it’s only a matter of time before the local business will be forced to close,” said Mitchell in her speech.

With local competition eliminated the chain stores then raise their prices. In Elizabeth Humstone and Thomas Muller’s study, “Impact of Wal-Mart on Northwestern Vermont” Wal-Mart prices varied 25 percent. The study showed that prices rise in markets where national retailers face little competition. Local businesses keep prices at competitive levels for both national chains and local shops.

Boyer added, “Shopping seasonally when it comes to produce is often times more affordable because you aren’t paying a middle man or for the expense of shipping foods half way across the world.”

In the same report from Civic Economics released by Local First Utah, shifting just 10 percent of purchases from national chains to locally owned shops and restaurants would keep $1.3 billion in the Utah economy.

Consumers who want to shop local can look for produce with “Utah’s Own” labels or participate in Shop Small Saturday on Nov. 28, 2015. For a list of local retailers, restaurants, services visit http://localfirst.org/buy-local/find-a-business.

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Story by Allexis Gonzalez

With the 2016 Presidential Election in its beginning stages, beneficiaries of DACA question whether the standing of the policy is dependent on the victory of a candidate partial to their plight.

According to the American Immigration Council, since its injunction in 2012, the number of applicants for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has been growing and the scope of its influence has broadened. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that of these growing numbers about 17,000 DACA beneficiaries are located here in Utah.

For DACA recipients, sometimes referred to as Dreamers, the outcome of the election could potentially mean an expansion of the current policy to include a pathway to citizenship or mean the policy being repealed all together.

With so much hanging in the balance for these Dreamers, many are finally finding their voices and coming forward with personal stories of where their lives were before DACA and how the policy has so positively and deeply impacted their lives. Three such of these Dreamers, here in Utah, shared their stories.

Mari Gomez, a 25-year-old DACA beneficiary, opens up about where her life was prior to receiving DACA and where she is now.

“For the longest time, I actually didn’t know what my legal standing was. I knew it wasn’t totally right, but my parents had never given me details about what that meant,” Gomez said. “It wasn’t till my senior year in high school, when I wanted to start applying for academic scholarships for college and federal financial aid that I found out where I really stood legally.”

After having worked for four years toward scholarships she was banking on to get her through college, Gomez realized that not only had her work been for naught, she might not even be able to apply to any colleges because of her lack of a Social Security number.

Gomez says she didn’t get the “fun” senior year most 17-year-olds look forward to because she was weighed down with the sobering reality that her future and goals as she had pictured them might never happen. As the deadlines for college applications approached, Gomez made a last-minute decision to send her applications in without providing a Social Security number.

“It was a scary decision but I knew I had to at least try,” Gomez recalled.

The risk paid off. She was accepted into Utah State University but she was now faced with the reality that she had no way to get a job to pay for school, much less make the move from Salt Lake City to Logan and begin living on her own.

That summer, Gomez found a job as a nanny in Logan that would allow her to support herself and partially pay for tuition.

“I got lucky finding a job that technically pays under the table without being suspicious or looked-down on. But I still wasn’t making enough to pay for a year’s worth of schooling,” Gomez said. “I’d go Fall Semester and take Spring Semester off so I could pay for [the next] Fall Semester.”

Gomez says that it was discouraging not being able to keep up with her peers and embarrassing having to think up excuses to explain away her absence from Spring Semester, but she was determined to make it to graduation — even if with a degree she still didn’t have the means to work legally.

After four years of on-and-off schooling, and watching her classmates reach that graduation podium while she slowly chugged along, Gomez celebrated along with others like her at the passing of DACA.

“I can’t even describe how I felt that day, but overjoyed comes to mind. I felt light as a feather. Like my whole future had suddenly opened up for me,” Gomez said.

Now, three years later, Gomez obtained a degree in Special Education and is currently working as a special education teacher at a local school in Sandy.

Amalia Rodriguez, another local Dreamer, tells of her experience of losing her mother, who was still in Nicaragua, before DACA passed.

“She was my everything,” Rodriguez said. “When she passed away in 2008, my heart was broken, but what made it worse was that I hadn’t been able to be there to say goodbye, and I couldn’t be there to pay my final respects. It was like a hole had been ripped in my heart, and I had no way to ease the pain. No one should have to miss the passing of their mom.”

Rodriguez believes that had DACA made it through just a couple of years earlier, she might have been able to get special permission to see her mother one last time, but she’s grateful the policy finally became a reality regardless. Currently, Rodriguez is pursuing a degree in business at Brigham Young University.
“She always wanted me to be a successful business woman in this country, and I’m honoring her memory by going after that dream with dedication and passion,” Rodriguez said.

Romina Pastorini, a 26-year-old Uruguay native, says that DACA has completely changed her life. Prior to its passing, Pastorini spent her teen years working under the table at any of the jobs she could get. She applied and was accepted to LDS Business College without providing a Social Security number but was struggling to make ends meet and eventually had to put school on hold.

Pastorini relates that the most difficult part of her situation was not being able to control her own destiny, or have the same opportunities as the peers she had grown up with.

“I always felt different. I knew my worth didn’t come from my legal standing, but it was still something that weighed on my shoulders,” Pastorini said. “I couldn’t relate to or truly fit in with my peers because of my constant worry that I wouldn’t be able to move forward in my education or employment. My biggest fear was that I would become stagnant because of my legal situation.”

When DACA passed, Pastorini was in shock. She had gotten used to her situation and learned to be atpeace with the cards life had dealt her, but when the policy passed, old dreams suddenly seemed plausible again.

“Right when I got DACA, I applied for a legitimate job and started back at school. Without government assistance, school is expensive. I couldn’t have done it without having a solid job, and I couldn’t have a solid job without legal standing,” she said.

Currently, Pastorini is pursuing a degree in psychology at Utah Valley University with the hopes of entering the social work field upon graduation.

Not everyone sees DACA as an all-encompassing positive policy, however.
Margaret West of Provo says that while she thinks Dreamers are “good kids” she still thinks there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things, “even if you didn’t make the choice yourself.” According to Margaret, there’s no need to expand DACA to include a pathway to citizenship and if whoever takes the presidential seat at the end of the elections, decides to repeal the policy it wouldn’t be unfair or problematic.

With the future of DACA hanging in the balance Gomez, Rodriguez, and Pastorini all shared the common hope that the public, and the future presidential candidates, will see the good the policy has brought about.

“DACA has made opportunity an option,” says Pastorini. “I know I might not get everything I hope for, but the chance to have the opportunity to try is everything. That’s what DACA is for me — opportunity. And isn’t this the land of opportunity?”

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Elizabeth Nielson

He shoots, he scores; the crowd goes wild after the University of Utah Men’s soccer team takes first place in the Aztec Cup in San Diego, California.

Playing for the University of Utah men’s soccer team, Andoni Shortsleeve said, “Out of the three years I’ve played college for the University of Utah, the Aztec Cup held in San Diego, California was by far the best win I have ever been a part of.”

Through the entire tournament, the University of Utah men’s soccer team played three games, winning two out of three. The Aztec Cup tournament was held on Sept. 25-27, 2014 and cost about $485 with a minimum of three games lasting 80 minutes each game. Out of 40 teams and four divisions, the University of Utah men’s soccer team took first place in their division in the West Region.

“It is hard to mentally prepare yourself against teams that aren’t from Utah. Local Utah teams, I feel l know them enough now to know how competitive of a team they are,” Alex Jensen said.
Every men’s soccer season at the University of Utah begins in June and ends in October. Through sacrifices and practice, the University of Utah men’s soccer athletes enjoy the competiveness and joy that soccer brings.

“It’s hard not having Anthony home at night until late because of practice, but it’s all worth it. Soccer makes him happy and that makes me happy,” said his wife, Gabby Gonzalez, also a student at the U.
The University of Utah men’s soccer team shares a passion for soccer and makes lifetime memories while doing it.

“I learned how to manage time and made friends that I never would have if I wasn’t a soccer athlete at the University of Utah,” Jensen said. From tournaments, on- and off-season games, to team dinners, the University of Utah men’s soccer team enjoys its soccer community. The University of Utah men’s soccer team is filled with people from all over the country.
The University of Utah men’s soccer 2015 spring tryouts are held Tuesday, March 31 from 6:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the McCarthey track and field and also on Thursday, April 2 at 6:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the McCarthey track and field. For more information check out their University of Utah men’s soccer page on Facebook.

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Rosemary Roller

“Love” is a tennis term that refers to a score of zero, but for Allie Mackay, it’s so much more than that.

Mackay has spent the last two years on her high school’s tennis team, and her love of the game has done nothing but grow over the last five years.

Mackay, a junior at Alta High School in Sandy, didn’t have a life-long passion for the sport. Rather, her passion for tennis culminated over a few years, and really picked up in the past two or three.

“I wasn’t very serious and didn’t even like it that much,” said Mackay, continuing to explain how she didn’t anticipate being a high school athlete. “My friend was the one who convinced me to take lessons and then later try out.”

Although it took a push, Mackay hasn’t regretted her decision, and loves the friends she has made through the sport and how it’s helped her self esteem.

Mackay spent her sophomore year on Alta’s X team, a group of alternates, and moved on to play second doubles on the junior varsity team this past year.

The summer before her sophomore year, Mackay took group lessons four times a week and credits that “very generous” coach for her ability to make the team.

“[He] did it for free as long as I had good grades,” explained Mackay.

Though those grades appear to come easy to Mackay, finding the balance between school, the tennis team and a social life is no easy feat.

Mackay’s sister Lindsay Mackay is proud of her sister’s dedication and has seen Mackay’s ability to balance school and tennis firsthand, stating “she’s a straight A student. Always has been.”

Mackay maintained a 4.0 GPA while taking advanced courses, but expressed that she was always scrambling to get things finished and found it difficult to achieve the perfect balance.

“My social life was limited to school and tennis. I would talk to my friends at school and then talk to my tennis friends. I rarely had time to make plans with friends.”

Alta’s coach Camille Baird reflected this struggle, stating that balancing everything is one of the hardest parts about being a student athlete. However, in her opinion, Mackay is “pretty balanced.”

The balancing act has certainly paid off. Mackay has noted multiple instances when she was able to come back in a tough game.

Baird’s statistics show that Mackay and her partner played 6 qualifying games and were 3-3 overall. Despite the scores, Baird noted that Mackay’s biggest athletic hurdle lies in strategy and having a good mental game when playing those difficult teams.

Overall, Mackay’s passion has grown, and Baird has also seen her confidence grow over the course of her career on the tennis team.

Even though Mackay has had to deal with what her sister refers to as “politics that come with the team,” she has still shown that the love of the sport and a tenacity for success can take you far.

“I am working very hard this winter to do my very best next season. I intend to play varsity and have a good season.”

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