Wasatch County residents got the memo about Gov. Spencer Cox’s July 2-5 statewide ban on fireworks use, which he enacted on June 25 to prevent potential wildfires, which have spread especially rapidly this year thanks to dry vegetation and drought.

Wasatch Fire District Assistant Chief Clint Neerings said that the Fire District staffed up more than usual during the Fourth of July weekend in preparation for the holiday. Battalion Chiefs reported one bonfire, which was extinguished upon request, and no fireworks incidents. 

“There are very few years that we do not have any fireworks incidents over the July 4 holiday, this year being one of the few exceptions, thankfully,” Neerings said. “The community was very respectful and compliant with the restrictions that were in place.”

Local law enforcement was responsible to enforce the ban, violation of which was punishable by an infraction and a fine of up to $1,000. 

Both the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office and the Heber City Police Department reported only a handful of calls regarding fireworks.

“While the Sheriff’s Office did receive some fireworks calls and some open flame calls, the individuals were educated and cooperative, and no fires were reported or observed,” said Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Leo Lucey.

Police Chief Parker Sever said the Police Department had only had one call about fireworks but that the individuals in question were using a non-flammable type of bang snaps. 

Sever had been skeptical that Heber City residents would follow the ban after observing so much non-compliance to fireworks bans at his previous jurisdiction in Hanford, California.

“(I thought) it was going to look like World War III out there, and this was the exact opposite of that,” he said. “I’ve never seen this before on the Fourth of July.”

Before the holiday, the Heber City briefly considered allowing some personal fireworks use at specified locations and times, which would have been allowed per Cox’s executive order. Mayor Heidi Franco ultimately decided against doing so.

Midway City also canceled its annual professional fireworks display on Memorial Hill. Memorial Hill is a local landmark that includes a memorial listing the names of local veterans. 

“I’ve got more grief on this than anything I have in the years I’ve been involved with Midway City government, except for the beer garden at Swiss Days,” said Mayor Craig Simons during a County Council meeting last Wednesday.

County Councilor Michael Murphy, who is a Marine Corps veteran, chimed in that he disagreed with the decision.

“I think it’s a bit of an overreaction. I know you’re under a lot of pressure to do something, but I think this is a case of doing something and not being willing to push back. … I think we could have mitigated that enough by having fire crews standing by,” he said.

He added that the risk would have been worth it to commemorate the founding of the nation.

“Knowing that history, it literally brings tears to my eyes because it reminds me of the sacrifices of those who gave everything,” he said.

Simons rebutted that the first two phone calls he received about Cox’s fireworks ban were from veterans who said, “Do not burn my hill down.” 

County Councilor Colleen Bonner added that Memorial Hill had caught fire during the fireworks show every single year she’s lived in Midway — over four decades — and that a lot of neighborhoods in the city are surrounded by open fields that are especially flammable.  

County Councilor Erik Rowland also put in his two cents.

“I do think that this is one of those areas of our society where we begin to lose, as in most cases, our freedoms under the guise of safety and security. I fear that once we cross the line to ban them, it’s going to be significantly more difficult to allow them,” he said. “I think what (fireworks) represent is the freedom of what our country represents.”

Discharging fireworks is illegal in Utah except for on special occasions. Fireworks are usually permitted July 22-25 in celebration of Pioneer Day. Cox has not yet made an announcement about whether fireworks will also be banned at that time.

The post No fireworks incidents in Wasatch County over Fourth of July, but ban remains controversial appeared first on Park Record.

Heber City theater company Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s production of the Tony award-winning musical “1776,” which depicts the months of debates leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, is full of famous faces. But actor Don Doud is playing a somewhat obscure Founding Father.

Doud had never heard of Delawarean Continental Congressman Caesar Rodney until he was cast as him.

In a fictionalized scene set in early June 1776, Rodney breaks up a fight between fellow delegates John Adams and John Dickinson, who are on opposing sides of whether the colonies should secede from Britain. When Rodney finally gets Adams and Dickinson to stop trying to whack each other with their canes, he collapses due to his health issues from skin cancer.

The scene is a reminder that debates over independence were a lot more contentious and chaotic than what might be presented in a history class. It’s also a microcosm of what director Kristen Hughes wanted to accomplish with the play: encouraging civil disagreement in a politically polarized time.

In tone, “1776” has more in common with “12 Angry Men” than “Schoolhouse Rock.” Most of the lyrics of the opening song, “Sit Down, John,” are about the sweltering heat and flies buzzing around Independence Hall in Philadelphia. 

Hughes called Adams, the song’s subject and protagonist of the play, a “pushy little man” whom other delegates disliked because of his insistence on independence.

The play depicts each of the Founding Fathers not as infallible heroes, but human beings with their own quirks. 

Thomas Jefferson is introverted and cerebral, while Benjamin Franklin is a manipulative jester of a politician, constantly “schmoozing” and “partying” with his fellow delegates. They’re far more than faces on currency, as Hughes put it. Each delegate had their own grievances, or lack of them, depending on their colony’s interactions with the crown. As such, each man had a different idea of what independence should look like.

That’s explored when Jefferson writes a draft of the Declaration of Independence that impassionately condemns slavery as a “cruel war against human nature itself,” despite being a slave owner himself.

That passage was later removed. The exact reason why is unknown, though Jefferson, in his autobiography, said it was a concession made to delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. 

“That’s the one concession they made, which later just kicked the can down the road to the Civil War and caused lots of bloodshed. It’s very sobering,” Hughes said. “(The song ‘Molasses to Rum’) talks about how the North is complicit because they provide the ships that bring the slaves. They use the sugar. They drink the rum. They consume the products created by the slaves. So, they’re making money off it, too, even if they don’t own them.”

In the play, it’s delegate Edward Rutledge of South Carolina who performs the number; “1776” often combines several delegates into one character.

Dickinson, the delegate from Pennsylvania and the play’s antagonist, embodies the argument against independence, hoping for reconciliation with Britain. In the play’s climax, he does not sign the Declaration of Independence. Even as he makes that decision, his greatest opponent, Adams, applauds his character.

Hughes hopes the pair’s respect for each other despite their differing opinions inspires audience members to engage in political discussions with people they disagree with.

“We’re all working towards the same problems. We have different ideas about how to solve those problems, but maybe that’s how we’ll come to the best solutions,” she said.

Hughes sees “threats of authoritarianism” under the current presidential administration as the greatest threat to the country today.

“My personal (point of view) is that things are being dismantled, institutions and things that have kept safeguards in place for a long, long time. … The power structure is being altered,” she said. 

She hopes that reflection on the signing of the Declaration of Independence during its 250th anniversary prompts Americans to become passionate about defending its founding principles of democracy and unalienable rights.

“(The Founding Fathers were) willing to put their lives and their property and their families on the line,” Hughes said. “It was a huge sacrifice on their part, and it is something that we could maybe hold more reverently or dearly than we do.”

Even if “1776” doesn’t engender those feelings in all audience members, Hughes is content with the fact that she was able to hold the attention of a few “Hamilton”-obsessed teenage audience members who attended a performance last week.

“They said, ‘We were in here for three hours, and it didn’t feel like three hours,’” she said. “If a teenager says that, I feel like there’s my little gold star on the forehead that we did our job.”

Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s production of “1776” will be staged Wednesday and Friday, with a special matinee performance on Saturday as part of Heber City’s Red, White & Blue Festival. The play’s 29 actors will also be marching in the city’s morning parade and would love to share their characters’ real stories. Learn more and buy tickets at timpvalleytheatre.com.

The post Founding Fathers come to life in Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s ‘1776’ appeared first on Park Record.

Park City’s Fourth of July celebration is an ongoing tradition that goes big but retains a small-town feel. This year, it will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“We have a full day of activations and celebrates, and to add to that, we worked with the local America250 Utah celebration committee,” said Chris Phinney, Park City Municipal’s special events manager. “Everything else is such a big traditional celebration that we sprinkled in some America250 nods throughout. We’re putting up some streetlight banners that will have America250 logo, and we’ll add some America250 images to our drone shows at the end.”

Per tradition, the town’s July 4 festivities start at 8 a.m. on Saturday with a 5K fun run in support of Park City Ski & Snowboard, Phinney said.

“That takes place over at Park City Mountain, and it starts over at First Time/Silver King parking lots,” Phinney said. “You check in, and it’s a mile-and-a-half out and a mile-and-a-half back.”

The day pauses at 9 a.m. for the Rodney Schreurs Fallen Officer Memorial, which honors Schreurs, who was killed by an intoxicated driver on July 4, 1984, while directing traffic following a fireworks display. 

The ceremony, which takes place at the Rodney W. Schreurs Centennial Park, 600 Main St., will include a program by the Fraternal Order of Police and the Park City Police Department.

“This is a huge opportunity for us to celebrate the fallen officer with public-safety staff officers who will sing the National Anthem and other songs,” he said.

One of the day’s highlights is the Fourth of July Parade that starts at 11 a.m., following a 10:45 a.m. flyover.

“The parade route runs from the Brew Pub lot on top of Main Street all the way down past Town Lift on 9th Street and then right onto Park Avenue until the intersection at Deer Valley Drive by Jans and Cole Sport,” Phinney said. “We’ll have somewhere between 60 to 70 floats when it’s all said and done.”

Park City Municipal recruits parade participants through an application, according to Phinney.

“We try to maintain that small-town feel by making sure those who are accepted are local, either local businesses or local residents,” he said. “But we do a pretty good job vetting the entries, and all of them are from Summit County and the Wasatch Back.”

One of the bigger challenges is to allow parade participants to distribute candy and other items in a safe manner, Phinney said. 

The Park Record will participate and give out copies of a special commemorative newspaper, The Paradian, to those sitting along the route. A few copies will have golden tickets with family fun prizes. 

“There are so many people, floats and (other vehicles) in the parade, and that does make it difficult to keep track of anyone who is walking or running in between the floats,” Phinney said.

Park City will close Main Street at 6 a.m. to prepare for the parade and Swede Alley will close at 7 a.m. to all traffic, except for those who will participate in the parade, Phinney said.

“We’ll also open the bus lane on Deer Valley Drive at 7 a.m.,” he said. “Park City Municipal really values our free transit system, and we want to make that the first and foremost choice for people to get to the parade.”

The public can park at Park City High School, Richardson Flat or any of the ski resorts and take free buses and shuttles to the transit center, located at the bottom of Swede Alley, and people can also walk or ride their bicycles in and park at various bike valet stations. 

“If you end up driving, there will be a $30 flat rate to park at the China Bridge garage from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” Phinney said. “Then it will be free from 1 p.m. to midnight.”

Once the parade wraps, the public is invited to walk over to City Par around 12:30 p.m., where an array of family-friendly games and food trucks start their shifts. A traditional activity is Park City’s rugby tournament, which will return even though City Park has been under renovation.

“The activities in the park run until 5 p.m.,” he said. “After that, it’s a good time for a nap or to get something to eat before the drone show at 10 p.m.”

The drone show, which Park City adopted years ago due to wildfire concerns, is made possible through a contract the city has with a company called Skyworx, according to Phinney.

“The show will take off around 10 p.m. from the base of Park City Mountain resort by First Time chair lift, and it’s about a 10 minute show,” he said. “We’ll have somewhere around 20 to 25 images that we go through, including ones that are popular with Park City, the skiers, golfers and mountain bikers. And then we have some patriotic ones and some America250 images as well.”

The Fourth of July celebration, especially this year’s, is a great opportunity for Park City to celebrate the United States, Phinney said.

“If you look into America250 websites, they encourage different things,” he explained. “You can volunteer. You can connect and have block parties and barbecues with your neighbors. So, it’s about getting people together to talk and tell stories.”

Stories of the past are important to Park City because the town has morphed throughout the decades.

“Storytelling is there where you can talk about what Park City is to you and take some pride in things you remember,” he said. “Park City is known as a town that is known for being friendly, touristy and having a lot of activities. So, even if you’re not an official volunteer, one way to volunteer is to be hospitable to those who are coming in for the event.”

Phinney grew up in Boston, which always has a big Fourth of July celebration.

“I have fond memories of going and watching the fireworks, but since I’ve been in Park City, the Fourth of July has definitely become my favorite day of the year,” he said. “You get to see a lot of friends and locals, and everyone’s usually in a good mood. The weather is usually nice and I like a parade.”

Park City’s 2026 Fourth of July Schedule

• 8 a.m. — 5k Fun Run in support of Park City Ski & Snowboard
• 9 a.m. — Rodney Schreurs Fallen Officer Memorial, 660 Main St.
• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Annual Park City Friends of the Library Book Sale
• 10:45 a.m. — Flyover on Main Street
• 11 a.m. — Park City Fourth of July Parade, Main St.
• 12:30 p.m. — Food trucks, rugby, live music, and kids and family games, City Park
• 10 p.m — Drone Show at Park City Mountain

The post Park City celebrates America’s 250th with traditional Fourth of July fun appeared first on Park Record.

Longtime Heber City residents Ann and Michael Moulton have been practicing their regal waves in preparation to be parade marshals at this year’s Red, White & Blue Festival on July 4.

The couple, both approaching 80, has lived in Heber City for about 45 years and been community servants that entire time. But they were still shocked when festival organizer Rachel Kahler showed up on their doorstep on Mother’s Day and asked them to lead the procession from the comfort of a carriage. 

For Kahler, the choice was obvious. The Moultons have been dressing up in Revolutionary era regalia for the festival since its inception in 2022.

Ann and Michael might dress as Abigail and John Adams this year, so long as that doesn’t upstage the cast of Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s “1776: The Musical,” who will also walk in the parade. 

John Adams was not initially smitten with his future wife when he met her, writing in his diary that she and her sisters were “not fond, not frank, not candid.”

Michael sang a different tune when he recalled meeting Ann when they were studying at Brigham Young University. 

Michael’s Latter-day Saint seminary teacher would often sing with family members around Provo. Michael remembered wishing from the audience that he could date a beautiful singer. Then he met his seminary teacher’s sister, Ann. 

“We didn’t have television. My father had a great singing voice, and my mother played the piano. I came from a family of nine children. So in the evenings, we would often gather around the piano and sing,” Ann said about her upbringing in Star Valley, Wyoming. 

Upon meeting, Ann and Michael quickly fell in love. They married in 1969.

Ann never finished her music education bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University, but Michael joked that she’s earned several honorary doctorates from her vast experience: teaching vocal lessons, singing in the Utah Symphony, leading the Heber Children’s Chorus and founding Heber City’s holiday “Messiah Sing-In” tradition two decades ago.

Music, Michael said, was the couple’s gateway to community involvement when they moved to his hometown of Heber City around 1980, and soon enough, they were thrust into the world of the performing arts.

Ann was one of four co-founders of Timpanogos Valley Theatre, which began staging productions in the Midway Town Hall in 2004. 

She’s no longer involved in the theater company, but a handful of her eight kids, children-in-law and over 30 grandchildren are choreographers, actors and members of the board of directors.

“We think that community theater is probably the best community builder that there is,” Michael said. “I would sit there in these early rehearsals, and I’d think, ‘Man, I do not want to be here. These are not my kind of people.’ Pretty soon, though, as we started to perform together and visit together, it made all the difference in the world. They became dear, dear friends.”

Ann sees theater as a great equalizer.

“You don’t look at anybody with prejudice. You all have the same goal in making a good show. You get to know each other at your best and at your worst and work together,” she said. 

While Ann’s greatest passion is the arts, Michael’s is historic preservation. He started the nonprofit Heber Valley Heritage Foundation in 2022 and previously served as chair of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.

The Heber Valley Heritage Foundation focuses on preservation through a variety of initiatives.

For example, the foundation created the Dr. R. Raymond Green Community Digitizing Center in the Heber City FamilySearch Center. The center allows residents to create digital versions of family history artifacts and documents, especially those that are difficult to digitize, like 35mm film slides.

The foundation’s most ambitious projects involve preserving historic sites and opening them to the public. 

The foundation is eyeing London Springs, the first Latter-day Saint settlement in Heber City, near the corner of Fitzgerald Road and U.S. 40. Michael imagines a recreation of the settlement, log cabins and all. His wife’s not sure he can pull it off.

“It’s way too much. He put it all on a whiteboard, planned it all out, and I just looked at it, and I shook my head and rolled my eyes,” she joked.

Because his family has lived in Heber City for generations, Michael is especially passionate about historic preservation.

“We don’t want to turn things back the way they were. We just want to be able to remember and to celebrate our heritage,” he said.

That’s not to say Michael and Ann don’t miss certain things about Heber City that have changed since they moved there.

“We used to be able to go out the front door and get our cross-country skis and ski up through the fields. That was really sweet, but we haven’t been able to do that for years. So I miss the open spaces,” Ann said.

What was once horse and cattle pastures on all sides of the Moultons’ neighborhood is now developed. 

That’s part of the reason Michael closed his father’s 54-year-old business, Moulton Farm Machinery Company, in 2001, after about 15 years as CEO.

Even amid the growth, the couple has preserved some of their peace and quiet. When they bought their home and an adjacent lot for $75,000, they also decided to purchase a small strip of land that split their road into two cul-de-sacs. A developer wanted to turn that land into a through road, but the Moultons and some neighbors conspired to stop that plan, at no small cost.

“(Those neighbors) all died, and I’m not sure who owns it now. I guess us,” Michael said.

“We pay the taxes on it,” Ann chimed in.

In some ways, the couple has embraced Heber City’s growth.

“I can remember driving through town years and years ago, when things were slow, and nobody had discovered us yet, and thinking that the economy was in pretty sad shape. We didn’t have any flourishing businesses on Main Street,” Ann said. “When people started moving into the valley, I thought, actually, it was a great thing that they stimulated so much growth.”

Michael’s favorite thing about his hometown is the “good neighbors,” though he doesn’t know as many of them as he used to.

“Sometimes I say I know more people when I walk through the cemetery than I know when I go down to Smith’s,” he joked.

Michael spends a lot of time at the cemetery. When he’s there, he often thinks about his ancestors, Thomas and Sarah Moulton, who traveled from Iowa City, Iowa, to Utah in a Latter-day Saint handcart company before moving to Heber City in 1860.

“My thoughts turn to them walking through ankle- or waist- (or) knee-deep snow with eight kids, two handcarts, freezing to death,” Michael said. “My thought often turns to, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’”

The Moultons are also carrying lessons from the past into the present as they reflect on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. They have been most moved by learning more about the brutality and sacrifice of the Revolutionary War.

“I think that we’re at the same point in time where we’re really going to have to make some sacrifices to keep this, in this day and age, when things are kind of conspiring against democracy and freedoms,” Michael said.

The Moultons believe sacrifice starts with community service.

Ann, for example, set a goal in March to do 250 acts of service by the end of the year, as simple as picking up litter during a walk. She’s already done over 200. 

“That’s the way we make friends. That’s the way we have community unity,” Michael said. “By serving together.”

The Heber Valley Heritage Foundation will conduct guided tours of the Heber City Cemetery on July 3, 9 a.m. to noon, and July 4, 10 a.m. to noon, as part of the Red, White & Blue Festival.

The post Longtime Heber City community servants to lead Fourth of July parade  appeared first on Park Record.

Mere hours after Gov. Spencer Cox banned fireworks across the state until after the Fourth of July, one city in the Wasatch Back considered designating specific areas for the public to safely discharge fireworks, which would have been allowed under the emergency declaration.

The Heber City Council held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the possibility of allowing the use of fireworks at six public parks from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4.

Wasatch Fire District Chief Eric Hales said at the meeting he would have preferred three or four locations. That’s because Independence Day is typically busy for the Wasatch Fire District, which would not have the bandwidth to send firefighters to monitor the six parks for that entire 12-hour period. 

Instead, the Fire District would have provided 5-gallon water buckets at each park for residents to dispose of fireworks responsibly and put out any small fires if needed. 

Heber City resident Barb Clark supported a citywide fireworks ban.

“I live in the north end, and we have a lot of people that just love their aerials. Cops have been called several times over the years that I’ve lived there. My house gets bombarded with shrapnel the next day, and all this detritus all over the place,” she said. 

Clark said she appreciated the logic of giving people who might set off fireworks anyway a safe place to do so, but that she was skeptical that everyone would follow the rules or even be aware of them in the first place.

The final decision ultimately came down to Mayor Heidi Franco, per Cox’s executive order. 

Franco expressed concern that Heber City would see an influx of visitors wanting to set off fireworks if they were allowed in some locations because fireworks were banned everywhere else in the Wasatch Back. She announced a citywide ban the following morning.

“This beautiful valley and mountains protect us, and now we need to protect them. Plus, your safety is most important,” she said. 

She referred to the city’s encouragement of voluntary water conservation to combat the current drought, saying, “The recent rain is not enough. … Let’s not make our city’s situation worse.”

Despite the ban, several public officials, including city councilors, Hales and Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever predicted fireworks use would likely happen over the holiday anyway.

Sever hails from Hanford, California, where he said fireworks are never allowed. Despite that, he said it was “difficult to enforce” and would likely be even more difficult in Heber City, where public fireworks use is typically allowed over the holiday.

“People aren’t putting on a big show, so by the time we triangulate where these things are going on from the sky, usually, their show’s done. And then, neighbors don’t want to tell on their neighbors,” he said.

Cox’s ban lasts July 2-6. Discharging fireworks in Utah is already illegal all other times, except July 22-25 for Pioneer Day, on Dec. 31 and for Chinese New Year. Cox has not announced the state’s approach to Pioneer Day fireworks. 

Oakley Mayor Steve Wilmoth said Friday the city plans on keeping the fireworks display at the Oakley Rodeo. 

More than 75% of Utah’s wildfires have been human-caused since the beginning of the fire season, according to the governor. 

Wasatch Fire Marshal Clint Neerings said most fires started by fireworks come down to “negligence and/or ignorance,” including people who set them off near vegetation, dispose of them in dumpsters without soaking them in water or discharge an aerial firework that inadvertently launches horizontally instead of vertically.

State forester Jamie Barnes described the quick spread of wildfires due to dry vegetation and the current drought as “unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory.”

Hales agreed with that assessment.

“Coming out of the winter we came out of, and then the fire behavior and all the fires that we’re having in the state, it’s just getting drier and hotter,” he said. “We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve only had a handful of starts within Wasatch County, and they’ve been very small.”

He said wildfire risk is poised to get worse and worse going into July, and that what little moisture the county may receive is “not enough to make a difference.”

Violating Cox’s fireworks ban is punishable by an infraction and a fine of up to $1,000.

More severe punishments apply to areas under Stage 2 Fire Restrictions. Both Wasatch and Summit counties entered into Stage 2 Fire Restrictions on Friday. These restrictions apply to unincorporated state and private lands in both counties. Whether or not to implement Stage 2 Fire Restrictions in individual cities comes down to the decision of the local government. In 2025, Stage 2 Fire Restrictions weren’t implemented statewide until July 31.

The following actions are banned, will be enforced by county law enforcement and are punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine up to $1,000:

• Building, maintaining, attending or using a campfire or stove fire.
• Smoking, except with an enclosed vehicle, trailer, building, developed recreation site or while stopped in an area that is paved or free from dry vegetation.
• Discharging or using any fireworks, tracer ammunition or other pyrotechnic devices, including exploding targets.
• Cutting, welding or grinding metal in areas of dry vegetation.
• Operating a motorcycle, chainsaw, ATV or other small internal combustion engine without an approved and working spark arrestor.

The post Wasatch Back responds to Gov. Cox’s fireworks ban appeared first on Park Record.

While the Founding Fathers began the United States Constitution with a preamble that established its foremost goal of forming a more perfect Union, Raul Balderas began a Constitution of his own with a more sardonic tone.

“We, the people, are pissed,” he joked, to the amusement of the dozen residents who had gathered in the Wasatch County Library last Wednesday. 

The group had come for the latest in a series of lectures about local history held this year in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

This lecture, given by former and current Wasatch High School history teachers Dawain M. Wheatley and Easton Powell, explored the founding principles of the United States and their relevance to Americans today.

In an attempt to hammer home the latter point, Wheatley and Powell asked attendees to gather in small groups and discuss how these documents could be applied to their daily lives.

The members of Balderas’ group were inspired by the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that the purpose of government is to secure the people’s unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The document says that it is the right of the people to “alter or abolish” any form of government that is destructive of these ends.

Wheatley provided a local example of this alteration of government to better serve the needs of the people in Wasatch County’s change from a three-member county commission to a seven-member county council in 2003. County commissioners could live anywhere in the county — even, hypothetically, all in the same neighborhood — while now, there are five regional and two at-large seats.

Balderas’ group had its own ideas about how to alter the government to better fit the needs of the people. Their thesis was that the federal government should spend more money on support for American citizens, especially in a time when inflation is rising. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced last Wednesday that consumer prices had risen 4.2% since May last year, a 0.4% increase since last month’s assessment and the highest rate of inflation since 2023.

Balderas, a dual-immersion kindergarten teacher at Heber Valley Elementary, said inflation and Wasatch County’s cost of living are creating financial stress for him. 

Meanwhile, Romanie Murdock expressed her desire for the federal government to better support disabled people and caregivers. She has been her husband’s caregiver since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease four years ago.

“There’s little support for disabled people,” Murdock said. “And caregivers aren’t supported. Society expects that a loved one is the caregiver.”

Murdock said local organizations, particularly the county senior center and the Mountainland Association of Governments, which provides resources and education on aging, Alzheimer’s disease and caregiving in Wasatch, Summit and Utah counties, have been valuable resources for her. She isn’t sure exactly how the federal government can better support Americans who are disabled.

But whatever that support may look like, it could be beneficial for all Americans, suggested group member Ammon Teare. The phenomenon is called the curb cut effect, named for sidewalk ramps, which were installed for people in wheelchairs but are used by others, like people pushing strollers or shopping carts.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, which required nationwide accommodations like curb cuts, was signed into law only 36 years ago, thanks to the efforts of disability civil rights activists and government officials alike.

“It took a lot of people a lot of time to fight for those changes,” Teare said. 

Teare said such progress is often prompted by Americans reflecting on their country’s founding principles and questioning whether current policy is contradictory to those principles. 

He was particularly inspired by Wheatley and Powell’s discussion of how civil rights movements throughout American history have repeatedly led to the reversal of discriminatory government policies.

“Whether it be current immigration policy or the attitudes toward people in this country who are from different parts of the world, the way they’re perceived has changed over time, and at least some part of the impetus for that change was from people looking back at the Constitution, the Declaration (of Independence), and saying, ‘Well, when they say, “we, the people,” or they say, “all people,” they didn’t just mean a handful of people,’” he said.

Teare hopes that America’s 250th anniversary prompts all Americans to reflect on the country’s founding principles and become advocates for them, whether it be through grassroots efforts, voting, running for office or voicing opinions in a public forum.

“There’s never been a time in the country where talking about our rights, talking about the foundations of our democracy, hasn’t been valuable,” he said. “We should be looking (at) how we can use these to improve the rights and lives of all Americans.”

The post On eve of America 250, Wasatch County residents reflect on country’s founding principles appeared first on Park Record.

Park City hosted their annual 4th of July Parade on Main Street Tuesday. The festivities added to multiple activities that continued throughout the day around town. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Park-Citys-4th-of-July-Parade/

The post PHOTOS: Park City’s 4th of July Parade appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City Ski & Snowboard Club’s annual Fourth of July 5K Fun Run fundraiser welcomed more than 900 participants Tuesday morning on Empire Ave. Participants dressed in festive red, white and blue to celebrate America’s birthday. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Fourth-of-July-5K-Fun-Run/

The post PHOTOS: Fourth of July 5K Fun Run appeared first on Park Record.