JayBeacham.com-A Voice as an Instrument

Now it’s September 2023

My Space went the way of the world.

And singsnap wants you to sign up to listen.

The link now is “Hear Me Sing On You Tube” at
leobennachoben or Jay Beacham

Now in 2023, there are song recordings on Sound Cloud and Voices.com that link from the blogroll.

Or there are some SingSnap recordings links on the home page: JayBeacham.com-A Voice as an Instrument

Look at the playlists of other songs at: JayBeacham.com-A Voice as an Instrument » Products Page cd Playlists

Thank you for listening.

Testimonials:

Marvin Gubler said:
Jay “danke sehr fur das lied. Du hat immer eine gute stimme gehabt.
Alles gute Marv und Deanne”

You were born for the stage, Jay. I love the combo of Jay and Broadway!!!!

Wonderful!!!! ~ Gregory

This is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have the most voice capabilities of any one I know!– Bee A.

This is amazing … You are sounding like this song was written just for you….One perfect performance……You are such an exceptional singer”-Karen

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From November 1955 to April 1975, there was a war in Vietnam, Loas and Cambodia known as the Vietnam War.

American military personnel were there from 1959 to the end in 1975, when they withdrew from Vietnam.

During that time tons of chemicals were dumped on the country.

Defoliants of various kinds, DDT and other pesticides, and other chemicals.

A friend of mine was a helicopter crew chief and according to him, his helicopter got in on some of that spraying. Every two weeks DDt to rid the area of mosquitos. The props would pull some of the spray mist up and cover the helicopter and crew. Upon landing, water would be hosed on the machine and them to clean the mist away. It surely didn’t remove all of the pesticide.

Over the years since then he has noticed things in him and other veterans of the conflict.

He says, “We’re all crazy.”

A neighbor near my farm was in the Delta fighting there. He is very erratic in his behavior, at times violent, especially towards the bamboo that grows on my farm. Believing somehow that the bamboo is his enemy. Attacking it with poisons, and physically assaulting it in all weathers.

Strange? Crazy? perhaps.

Two of my cousins and other friends have died younger than normal or lingered with all sorts of ailments until death overtook them. Others have lost all their teeth at an early age. The common factor? They all served in Vietnam during the war.

Was all that chemical spraying worth it?

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Today was the 14th of July 2023.
I was at the Brigham Young Winter Home portraying Brother Brigham for Historic St. George Live Tours.

Before the bus tour came, several groups, members of a Family reunion, were on the grounds and in the house. 85 in the family were divided into smaller groups to see and do things like get photos.
When I arrived and came in by the west walk, the man in the group getting photos welcomed me as “Brigham”.
I got into costume and then I stayed outside on the west side of the house and yard.. The almond trees, fig tree, pecan tree, grapevines and cotton plants and some green grass lawn are situated on that side of the house.
A group with “Brems” bill caps and some shirts that said “Brems” on them, came.
We spoke. The woman was a Brem before marrying, the man, Mister Layton. Three pretty girls of various ages and a tall son. A brother-in-law with a little girl took the photo of them with Brother Brigham (me) while we stood on the west porch steps.
I inquired where they were from.
“Mesa, Arizona”, was the man’s reply. “The temperature here is about the same but it’s prettier here with the green lawns, trees and red cliffs.”
They loved the green grass lawn and when told of the local drive to replace grass with rock, the man sarcastically said, “That will make it cooler.”
Later, the brother law and his family and the parents of the whole tribe came to the west porch. They live in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Grandpa John and grandma Ilene, father Zack, mother Rebecca and daughters Alison, Olivia, and baby and son Dallon.
They got their photo with Brother Brigham too.
They expressed their pleasure in the green lawns. “So green here.”

What should water be used for?
The modern thought is St. George area is that spring and well water is bad and should be run down the sewer but that ditch water from the rivers and reservoirs is healthy to drink if chlorine is added to it.

On july 12, 2023 the Washington County Newsletter came in my email.
This is part of what it said:
“The Washington County Water Conservancy District is paying property owners up to $2 per square foot to replace thirsty grass with water-efficient landscaping. Every square foot of grass converted to water-efficient landscaping saves approximately 45 gallons of water a year. That’s a lot of water!”

45 gallons per square foot per year.
Is that a lot of water saved?
That’s rediculous!
Replace cool grass with hot rock.

Let’s consider how much one person on average uses per day flushing the toilet in the house.
18.5 gallons
And according to the EPA, here are how many gallons the average American uses in other ways per day:
Toilet – 18.5 gallons per person, per day
Washing Machine – 15 gallons per person, per day
Shower – 11.6 gallons per person, per day
Faucet – 10.9 gallons per person, per day
Dishwasher – 1 gallon per person, per day
Average Water Usage in the United States | Aquasana
www.aquasana.com/info/average-water-usage-in-the-united-states-pd.html

Or consider just a toilet: 6,752.5gallons per person per year.
That’s a lot of water.
How much water can a toilet waste per day?
A running toilet can waste 4.5 gallons per minute, (that’s nearly 300 gallons per hour, or 6,480 gallons per day). That could increase your water bill nearly $60 per day. A leaking flapper can waste up to 200 gallons of water per day. Running Toilet vs. Leaking Flapper | LeakAlertor
leakalertor.com/running-toilet-vs-leaking-flapper/
That’s a lot of water.
What percentage of water does a toilet use at home?
Americans use large quantities of water inside their homes. A family of four can use 400 gallons of water every day, and, on average, approximately 70 percent of that water is used indoors. The bathroom is the largest consumer of indoor water. The toilet alone can use 27 percent of household water.
Water & Households — The Conscious Challenge
www.theconsciouschallenge.org/ecologicalfootprintbible…
How many gallons of water does a toilet use per flush?
The amount of water it takes to flush a toilet varies by model. Older toilets may use 7 gallons per flush, while newer toilets may use just 1.6 gallons. Toilet Water Usage Calculators
How Many Gallons of Water Does It Take to Flush a Toilet?
homeguides.sfgate.com/many-gallons-water-flush-toilet-8…
www.sunrisespecialty.com/how-much-water-to-flush-toilet

So let’s keep the lawns and the coolness and cut back on say, toilet water consumption.
Planting trees and watering greenery can make a desert blossom as a rose.
Make it cooler. Make it pleasant and pretty.
Water used that evaporates comes back in rain and snow to fill our mountains, rivers, reservoirs with water. It’s a necessary cycle.
Let’s use all the water available to us and make a paradise and not a desert wasteland.

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The Wisdom of Man is Foolishness.

What do I mean by that?

I grew up in the small southern Utah town of Santa Clara.

Around 300 people lived there, farming and fruit sales to travelers on Highway 91, the main route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Las Vegas, Nevada, very the main occupations of the school teachers, construction workers, etc.

We children were kept busy with school and work but found time to explore the hills and canyons, swim down by the river in the large irrigation ditches and visit Laub’s pond.

Laub’s pond was at the east of town beyond the houses at the east end of the red hill ( clay and shale covered with fine red sand and vegetation. the wash above it was usually dry but the pond had lots of water in it and ducks and other water fowl loved to visit it too.

Some of the town’s children swam there. Up the wash on the southwest side of the lava flow that came from Snow Canyon and terminated at the Santa Clara River. (Many call it a creek, but if seen in flood stage, you’ll believe it is a river.)

My father was the town plumber and the majority of our drinking water came from springs under the red cliffs on the east of the lava flow. He was always exploring new water sources and found one in the wash under the lava and above the clays below it. It was never developed. Cat tail and tamarisk bushes lined the wash. The tamarisk had been imported in earlier times to stabilize the water ways and grew where there was ground water.

The pond had been made in pioneer times to control the floods that would come down the wash. To the south of the dike the deep wash had been filled in with red sand from the red hill and the fields were then called the “red land.”

When sewer lines were installed in that ground going down 14 feet, the red sand went that deep and maybe even deeper, verifying that the old wash had been large..

Fast forward to the first of the 2000s. The environmental craze had hit and those wanting control of things determined that tamarisk bushes were invasive and used up water. Though no drinking or irrigation water came from where the tamarisks grew in the wash above Laub’s pond or other areas. These experts imported some kind of beetle to kill the plants and went along washes and streams and cut the intruder out.

By 2012 the tall grove like tamarisks in Laub’s wash had been killed and or cut out, the pond drained to stop mosquitos and to make ball parks etc in the place where the pond had been. The dike had been left to nature and gophers and other burrowing creatures had made the northside of the dike home.

Though the southwest part of Utah is normally a very dry, arid place, when rains and snows come, flooding occurs as evidenced by the deep washes and rugged rock formation erosion.

The wash leading to the dike of Laub’s pond drains a huge area from west of the lava flow, the entire Santa Clara Ivins bench.

On September 11, 2012, a heavy rain storm hit the area.

The Tamarisks were gone, so nothing held the wash’s banks in place or stopped the water runoff. The pond filled quickly and the gopher damaged dike gave way to the sudden large amount of water. The filled in wash had been covered with houses and business buildings and so the raging waters of the breached dike spread out over a large area and caused much damage.

The wisdom of man had been proven faulty again.

I was asked to relate what damage can result from gopher digging in a hillside and so I wrote the following letter.

Gopher Caused Flood

-News reports of that day
-Then a photo of some of the gopher diggings on top the broken dike that had been there all my life 1950 to 2012 and longer.
-Then a photo of the flood path and some of the damaged area.
All caused by the gophers not overflowing.

https://archives.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2012/09/11/dike-break-in-santa-clara-evacuations-called-

-A video link of a news story 10 years after the break:

10 years later: Santa Clara dam break prepared community for future floods

Santa Clara, Utah dike flood 9/11/12

Santa Clara, Utah dike flood 9/11/12

Santa Clara, Utah dike flood 9/11/12 – 3

Santa Clara, Utah dike flood 9/11/12 – 3

Dike breaks, damaging homes and businesses in Santa Clara – Deseret News
with photosDike break in Santa Clara, flooding damages businesses, home, call for volunteers – St George News (stgeorgeutah.com)

Santa Clara Flooding Fight – Bing video
“rodent caused” the video says. this was the cause.graphic evidence of what gophers can do.

Gopher diggings north side of dike.

Dike breaks, damaging homes and businesses in Santa Clara – Deseret News
with photos
Dike break in Santa Clara, flooding damages businesses, home, call for volunteers – St George News (stgeorgeutah.com)

Santa Clara Flooding Fight – Bing video
“rodent caused” the video says. this was the cause.

graphic evidence of what gophers can do.

the following are some TV news reports of the day:

fox 13 flood coverage 9 11 12

Heavy rains led to flooding in southern Utah, especially the city of Santa Clara where city leaders have issued a disaster declaration after rainwater swelled and broke a dike, which destroyed residences and several business Tuesday afternoon.
Evacuations are in place for 30 homes in the Vineyard area due to flooding. St. George police say one home was surrounded by flood waters and others are threatened.
As of 5 p.m., homeowners were allowed to go back and assess the damage as much of the water has since receded.
PHOTOS: Santa Clara flooding
The broken dike is located along Tuacahn Wash, between Santa Clara baseball fields and directly west of Snow Canyon Middle School in St. George.
Santa Clara Boulevard / Sunset Boulevard is closed between Santa Clara Parkway and Tuweap Drive. Pioneer Parkway is shut down from Lava Cove Drive to Red Mountain.
The National Weather Service has issued another flash flood warning for Washington County that expired at 4:45 p.m. A flood watch remain in effect until 10 p.m.
A flash flood warning was issued for Wayne County and Capitol Reef National Park that expired at 4:15. Roads in and out of the park are closed.
The National Weather Service reports 3.25″ of rain has fallen Tuesday. That water is the cause of the flooding. The NWS also reports widespread flooding in Washinton County and says a flood warning will remain in effect until 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Zion National Park reports widespread flooding there. High water levels are reported along the Beaver Dam and the Santa Clara River.
Experts say drivers should not attempt to drive into areas where water is covering the road.
(Anyone with video of the flood can upload the footage to YouTube and email FOX 13 the link at news@fox13now.com)
Schools affected by flooding (via washk12.org):
9/11/2012 – 3:45pm – END
Flood Update–At this time students that normally ride the bus are being transported home in the affected areas–although a few buses may be running late. Arrangements have been made with the parents of students that normally walk home to ensure they get home safely in those areas. Thank you to parents and community members for helping us work through this situation.
9/11/2012 – 2:38pm – UPDATE
Students at Arrowhead elementary will be dismissed at the regular time. Any students living in the flooded area will be held at the school until a parent comes to pickup or authorities deem it safe to transport by bus. Parents are welcome to pickup their students at the school at the regular time.
9/11/2012 – 2:18pm – UPDATE
Schools Announcement – Santa Clara Elementary, Snow Canyon High, Snow Canyon Middle will be dismissed at regular time today. Be aware busses may be running late and parents may pickup children at schools if they desire at the regular time.
9/11/2012 – 2:00pm – START
Students that live in the Santa Clara valley will be held at school until authorities have deemed it safe to transport students into the area of Santa Clara valley or Gunlock. Students that live on the Santa Clara Heights, Ivins, Dixie Downs areas will be dismissed and transported home at the regular time today – (As of 2:00pm – 9/11/2012)

KUTV on 9 11 12 Laub dike flood.
9/11/12 reporters Andy Stack and Ladd Egan.
Dozens Of Homes Damaged In Santa Clara After Dike Breaks
(KUTV) High water from heavy rains caused flooding in Southern Utah and evacuations in Santa Clara .
The Laub dike broke, which holds back a retention pond, causing water to wash the middle of the dike away.
“We had no idea that we’d ever have a problem with that,” Larry Larson says. Larson’s home was damaged in the flood.
It’s a dike that people in Santa Clara hardly even knew was there. “It’s always function well. We never knew there was an issue or problem with it,” Sheriff Cory Pulsipher of Washington County says.
On Tuesday, a police officer spotted water coming through the dike. He ran door to door telling people to evacuate.
Within moments, flood waters tore a huge gash through the middle of the dike. It sent a wave of muddy water right into the town.
Between 25 and 30 homes suffered major damages from the flooding.
“We have several homes where they essentially had a five or six foot tall wall of water go through their main floor,” Matt Ence, a Santa Clara City Council member says.
Businesses were damaged too. One gas station was directly in the water’s path.
“You just think ‘oh, it will flood just a little,’ and then it got higher and higher,” Liisa Frei, owner of Dutchman’s Gas Station says. She watched as the water punched open the doors on the back of the building.
“The chairs in the restaurant floated out,” Frei says.
Spencer Holland, manager at DixiLand Tires says it’s a miracle he got out before the wall of water hit his tire store.
“It picked up equipment that weighed way more than a person and threw it like it was nothing, so a person would have been taken apart,” Holland says.
The city is now looking into what caused the catastrophic failure of the dike, but the focus right now is on recovery.
“Our hearts go out to these folks. They are our friends and neighbors. It’s been a tough day,” Matt Ence says.
State Representative Larry Snow says there will be some help at the state level.
(Copyright 2012 Sinclair Broadcasting Group)

(It is now codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act, which provides that fair use of a work “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use, scholarship, or research)” is not an infringement of copyright.)

The KSL news info:
KSL report on flood 9/11/12
SANTA CLARA, Washington County — A breach in a retention basin caused a surge of water to flow into a Santa Clara neighborhood Tuesday, resulting in flood damage to at least 25 homes and a dozen businesses, forcing residents to evacuate.
The break
The dike, categorized as a high-risk dam once homes and businesses were built below it, was scheduled to be rebuilt, said Ron Whitehead, Washington County public works director. The basin originally was built to protect the nearby highway, but expansion gradually surrounded it with structures.
“It’s just been there for years,” Whitehead said. “We never had a problem with it. It never filled up as fast as it did like this. Today we had some big thunderstorms that put a lot of water over the drainage area and just filled it up fast, and it wouldn’t hold.”
A dike break near Snow Canyon Middle School caused flooding in southern Utah Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2011. (Photo: Lacie Tinker)
Whitehead, who witnessed the dike break Tuesday, said water began seeping through the top of the dam and as the earthen face eroded and pressure built up behind it. The breach sliced slowly downward to the rock base, widening as it went, he said.
Whitehead couldn’t estimate how much water spilled through the breach, but he said the flow turned a Santa Clara park into a pond.
“If it were to rain again like it did this morning and there’s big drainage that would fill it up like that, it would cause some more severe damage,” he said.
The damage
“There is tons of damage between my yard and my neighbor’s yard and the yard down from me,” said Ivins resident Andrew Hawk. “I mean, we’re going to have to completely rebuild our front yards. We both have bridges that we access our houses from. They’re completely ripped out.”
Hawk said the flow of water was “absolutely unreal.” He estimated a bed in front of his home collected 10 feet to 12 feet of water in about a half an hour Tuesday.
They wouldn’t let us on our street to drive, so my husband and I walked through our backyard. The water was running through like a river on four or five homes.
–Wendy Basso, Santa Clara resident
Skyler Ray faces similar damage to his home, something he feared as he heard and then saw the flood approaching.
“I saw the first wave of water just crushing by this street and realized, ‘Holy cow, I don’t have flood insurance,'” he said.
Ray managed to save important documents in his home and then proceeded to help clear a foot of water from his in-laws’ house.
As word of the breach spread, Wendy Basso and her husband headed for their home, which has seen previous flooding.
“We began to worry,” Basso said, “and as we headed home, we heard the mandatory evacuation. They wouldn’t let us on our street to drive, so my husband and I walked through our backyard. The water was running through like a river on four or five homes.”
The Bassos grabbed what possessions, photos and documents they could from the basement, just as the water began to pour in. They won’t know the extent of the damage until cleanup begins.
It was only a matter of time before the dike gave way, Basso said.
“It was an earthen dam, and sooner or later everyone said, ‘It’s going to have to go,’ and it went today,” she said.
Residents in Santa Clara work to clean up after flood waters broke the dike Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
Rep. Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, the former speaker of the Utah House, has lived near the earthen dike, not far from Snow Canyon Middle School, for 25 years. Clark said he can’t remember a time when it was so full, so fast.
“I’m just astonished. I’ve seen it full only a half-dozen times,” he said, adding that his home on high ground was spared.
But in the past week, including Tuesday morning before the break, Clark said he had seen the retention basin full twice. When full, Clark estimated the dike held an area of water that was about 30 feet deep and 100 feet wide at its widest part.
Clark said he recently noticed small signs of leaking, but nothing that would have raised alarm.
But by Tuesday afternoon, Clark said the city’s engineers had predicted it would collapse. The breach in the dike was 60 feet to 80 feet wide at the base, he said.
The weather
KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank said the Santa Clara area experienced significant rainfall in a relatively short time Tuesday morning. Almost 1 inch of rain fell in St. George, while between 1½ inches and 2 inches of rain fell onto the nearby mountains that feed into the Santa Clara and other rivers.
Those red rocks are beautiful, but they don’t absorb much.
–Rep. Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara
“Those red rocks are beautiful, but they don’t absorb much,” Clark said. The torrents threatened an area that he called “probably the nicest neighborhood in Santa Clara.”
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of Washington and Wayne counties at 1:45 p.m. A flash food watch was in effect for much of southern Utah through 11 p.m.
County officials also closed several roads due to washed out portions and potential damages that could not be fully assessed until Wednesday.
Eubank said additional rainstorms are heading northeast from Las Vegas toward the St. George area and are expected to move up the I-15 corridor.
The Red Cross provided support Tuesday for a temporary evacuation center in the Santa Clara City Building, 2603 Santa Clara Drive.
Emergency officials said the flooding is being caused by a different problem from what was experienced in 2005. In that massive round of flooding, 34 homes were washed into the Santa Clara River or otherwise damaged after a wave of storms that caused an estimated $180 million in damage in the Green Valley area of St. George.
Contributing: Wendy Leonard and McKenzie Romero
Pat Reavy, Crime Reporter
Pat is a police and crime reporter. He interned at KSL Radio in 1989. He was hired by KSL Radio for a part-time position in 1991 and later a full-time position a couple of months later. Pat was hired by the Deseret News in 2000. Full Bio »
Alex Cabrero, Reporter
Alex Cabrero has been reporting for KSL TV-5 since 2004. During his time in Salt Lake City, he has covered several high-profile stories, including the St. George floods, the Crandall Canyon mine collapse, and the Trolley Square shootings.

Related Stories 9/12/12 KSL flood report 9 12 12
Dozens of structures damaged in Santa Clara flood
SANTA CLARA — If there’s any point of solace in the lost pictures and ruined Christmas decorations that resulted from Tuesday’s massive flooding disaster, one Santa Clara family may have found it.
A breach in a retention basin caused a surge of water to flow into a Santa Clara neighborhood Tuesday, resulting in flood damage to at least 25 homes and a dozen businesses, forcing residents to evacuate.
The family, in possession of some treasured pioneer artifacts including a shawl that came across the plains with one of their ancestors, managed to preserve their treasured heirlooms. Just a few weeks ago they took them out of the basement and into a storage facility for safer keeping.
Just a few weeks ago this Santa Clara family took precious heirlooms out of the basement and into a storage facility for safer keeping.
“This is a picture of my husband’s grandma. It would have been ruined if we left it down there,” a member of the family said. “It’s kind of a neat story.”
They’re still trying to salvage decade’s worth of pictures, painstakingly prying them apart and wiping off red clay. They do it so a sudden surge of water can’t wash away the lives and lessons of the family that came before. It’s a bittersweet recovery, but a minor victory for the family nonetheless.
SANTA CLARA — All roads are open, but with limited access, as cleanup continues in Santa Clara. A fast-moving flood caused a breach in a retention basin, flooding homes and businesses around noon Tuesday.
Volunteers and city crews started the cleanup early Wednesday morning. At least 600 volunteers spent the day trying to make life better for their neighbors.
“I want to cry. I mean, I couldn’t imagine coming out in the morning and seeing all of it and going, I have to clean this up?” volunteer Melissa Ericksen said.
The water and mud were merciless, even pushing a hot tub — which was full of water at the time — off of its foundation.
I want to cry. I mean, I couldn’t imagine coming out in the morning and seeing all of it and going, I have to clean this up?
–Melissa Ericksen, volunteer
Juliann Wiest couldn’t believe how bad the damage was. “I can’t even tell you,” she said, “There’s 3 feet of mud in my yard. The house is OK — it was a miracle, my house only got 2 to 3 inches of mud in it.”
*My note: ( Her father-in-law told her late husband Rick not to build there as it would flood.)
Just down the street, the damage was truly unbelievable. High water mark was about 4 feet high. One homeowner, who didn’t want to go on camera, told KSL News her kitchen table floated clear out to the front door.
At a Wednesday morning news conference, Santa Clara Mayor Rick Rosenberg said 31 homes were affected. Some have structural damage and several may need to be condemned, he said. Others have mud, debris and water damage. All of the affected homes’ basements were damaged to some extent.
The mayor pointed out that most of the homeowners did not have flood insurance, and it would not have covered basements anyway.
Rosenberg also praised the relief effort, including the hundreds of volunteers who showed up to help. Chris Michel was one of them, and he came from 6 miles away to lend a hand.
Related:
Dozens of structures damaged in Santa Clara flood
A breach in a retention basin caused a surge of water to flow into a Santa Clara neighborhood Tuesday, resulting in flood damage to at least 25 homes and a dozen businesses, forcing residents to evacuate.
“I’ve been through some of this stuff before, myself,” he said, “and to know what it’s like is pretty rough.”
If they’re not doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, volunteers donning hole-riddled jeans caked with mud are certainly the backbone here.
Rosenberg said electricity had been restored to almost all of the affected homes. Power was expected to be completely restored early Wednesday afternoon. Infrastructure like sewer and water lines were not damaged.
Because there only 31 homes affected, city leaders said they’re fighting an uphill battle trying to get homeowners federal relief. The standard threshold to receive aid is 100 homes or more.
The retention pond that overflowed Tuesday was built in 1919 and was scheduled for an upgrade. County officials earlier said they’ve never had a problem with it previously. The mayor said it likely will be rebuilt.
Contributing: Nadine Wimmer, Mike Headrick, Alex Cabrero and Jennifer Stagg

So, there you have it. All that damage that could have been metigated had the modern wisdom of man not been foolish.

They could have left the tamarisk bushes, kept the pond and the dike in use and good repair and left a course for the old wash and it’s waters to flow in. Because you can’t fool Mother Nature.

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In February 2012, I made a blog post called:

Is there a best Social Network?“

Social Networks.

I have been on My Space the longest.

Then Facebook, Stumbleupon, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.

When I didn’t record more on My Space K-solo Karaoke site, a fellow singer invited me to SingSnap.

I’ve been on Karaoke Play, Karaoke for Cash, Karaoke Channel. K-solo, and Sing Snap.

I like Twitter and my connections with people on a number of other sites.

And for the time my daughter has lived in the South Pacific, I’ve found Facebook invaluable in keeping in touch with her. She messaged me from Figi today. Weather is sunny and no rain so the plane may leave as scheduled.

I’ve run into many problems at some of these sites.

but the most frustrating ones seem to be at Facebook.

Let me explain some of those with my post, the responses and my take on things as follows: – link-   go to this link and subscribe.”

The link is no longer any good.

There have been many changes since then.

Stumbledupon is no longer. My Space was sold and that blog feature doesn’t exist now. I was blocked from Facebook but a hacker from Texas was allowed into my personal and two business pages. I need two phase verification but the hacker didn’t. One of my former email providers doesn’t provide email service now, so I can’t get a verification from them and can’t change email addresses without logging in, which I can’t do. So why even go there? If I create a new account, I still won’t be able to get to the former three pages. This could be solved if a real person could be contacted which Facebook doesn’t allow.

So for me none of those former sites are not an option.

Also that year in January, I wrote and asked others on Facebook about our experiences:

“

1/28/2012
Question of all friends:
How do you respond to this?
“We received feedback that you sent friend requests to people you don’t know, so you won’t be able to send friend requests for 30 days. Learn more.””If you think you’re seeing this by mistake, please let us know.”

If I try to request a friend of someone I know I get this message.
How does one “let us know”?
Can’t even send a message to my own brother because I can’t possibly know him.
I know a girl, her grandfather sings with me in the Master Singers, I knew his parents, know his brothers and sister, but fb claims I can’t know them because we have no mutual friends. But I get hundreds of “why not add as friends suggestions from fb for people I’ve never heard of just because we have mutual friends.
Do these actions by fb make any sense to anyone?

Some responses:

Accalia Hancey Hinton: Strange… I don’t know, maybe close your account and start a new one??
January 29 at 1:56am

Relle Hansen: I’ve made a few requests that were not friends of friends when I found them by facebook search, but maybe they’ve changed their policy, though they still offer “search friends”. Could you make requests via Email address? That’s how I got my first friends – imported from my Email contacts list….
January 29 at 2:11am ·
Jay Beacham I’ll try that Relle.
January 29 at 2:14am ·

Steve Brunton: Isn’t this called a social networK? I have made a lot of friends that I wouldn’t of known had I not sent out friend invites to friends of friends but apparently if someone complains, which I don’t understand why they would, all they have to do is decline, big brother facebook steps in and cuts you off from sending out anymore. Apparantly, if someone doesn’t respond in a timely manner it is considered you sending someone a request you don’t know. I have had this happen as well Jay. The other thing is, they do this and there is no way to fight it, it is like guilty before innocent. Maybe it’s time to start a petition like they did to get the banks to back down from adding fees. I am glad you brought this up, it has bothered me as well.
January 29 at 7:58am ·

Relle Hansen: Another tactic might be, when you do know the prospective fb friend, to call them or ask them in person, giving them your E address to “friend” YOU! Or you can Email them the request if you have their E address…
January 29 at 2:09pm ·

Sandy Davison: Wow, that’s crazy. A request for a friend is just that. They can always deny it! They don’t know what they are missing, Jay!
January 29 at 2:40pm ·
Jay Beacham: ofttimes I don’t know the e-mail address. That is what linkedin demands. Like I ask people for their email address and not their phone number.
January 30 at 1:12am ·
Jay Beacham: Almost as if a person doesn’t exist unless they have an email address and everyone knows what it is, as if there were directories published like phone books telling us everyone’s email address. Let’s start one of those and put it out in hard copy. Steve, I like your idea of a petition. Where do we start to petition FB?
January 30 at 1:16am ·
Jay Beacham: Do you folks mind if I use your ideas in my weekly video blog?
January 30 at 1:17am ·
Steve Swapp: No, they don’t. It’s nonsense. If someone doesn’t want to be my friend on Facebook, it’s easy for them to deny my request. February 2 at 3:05pm
One of them said go ahead.
FB won’t let me contact my younger brother or the guy who stands or sits next to me in the men’s chorus we’re in because I don’t know them.
But 90% of the friend requests I get on facebook are from people I don’t know but have mutual friend with.
Does FB believe that mutual friends is the only way to know people?
And the tech help?
No one to email or call at FB. How do I “let us know” as the message said?
I have no way.
At My Space, Tom, the boss, emails all the newbies and welcomes them to MYSpace.
At Sing Snap Trevor, the boss, video messages everyone on a regular basis telling of contests, events, or other happenings at SingSnap.
If I have a tech problem, I get a response from a real person within 24 hours to help me solve my problem
We all have the common interest in the love of singing.
If I record a song and people come to comment on it, I listen to a recording or more of theirs and comment and visa versa.
There is messaging, which is as good as online chat.
If someone is ill, prayers, songs, and messages of support go out to that person.
Links are shared and people follow them whether to a SS spot or
to somewhere else on the net.
And people are helpful. If they find something good, they share and no one is offended.
People become real friends even off line who didn’t know each other before Sing Snap.
A world of difference between Sing Snap and FB.
Of the two, Sing Snap wins as the best social network.
There are others that are okay and there are those who really don’t care about the people in the network.
The other day I was in a $Tree store and a lady at the check out stand in front of me asked the clerk if the store
carried balloons that sang Happy Birthday.
No was the reply,
“I’ve got to have one for my husbands birthday.”
The lady just in front of me said her husband had bought her one several years back at Albertsons for $6.
“Oh thank you”, came the reply and she left.
Then the clerk at the next register asked if my clerk had told the lady about the Party Store as that is where she had found that item.
No, she hadn’t thought of it.
To this I said to my clerk, as I got to the register, that this was true word of mouth advertising and no one was offended
but grateful for the information.
“Yes”, she said, unlike the internet where people are offended if anyone shares such useful information with them.
Sing Snap is like that experience within the store.
People at Sing Snap like people and enjoy helping each other and are grateful for the help.

It is March 21. 2023 today.

As of today, SingSnap is the best I’ve ever found.

Last year I had a question about my fee to be a gold member for this year. I was able to speak to someone on the phone and get my answer.

(You can sign up for free to listen and comment and record the songs from the free list, so you don’t have to pay, unless you want access to all the songs available to record.)

My primary email provider, Yahoo.com, even had a phone number I could call to resolve a problem.

Sing Snap still is the best site that I have found.

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Today is a rainy day in Ivins, Utah. It’s March 21, 2023

On 9/19/12 I wrote the following.
Today I was working for a couple who live just across the street to my east.
They had just got back from their summer home in Washington state, having missed all the rain and flooding here. The rain has caused a rapid growth in weeds not only in their yard but everywhere the ground is bare.
Fred hired me to help with the overgrowth.
When almost done, he and Carol were out side, resting for a bit.
They said “Go Jay! We’re your cheering section.”
You know its good to be encouraged in what ever we are doing.
Its a shame that for foot races (marathon etc. ) and other sporting events people will cheer the participants on but in the day to day struggles that we all face no one gives a hoot.
Maybe there is something wrong with our priorities.
What do you think?

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a video on You Tube. In response to it, I commented:

I was born in North America. That makes me a Native American. Indigenous inhabitants aren’t anymore native than you and I. But, I have indigenous American ancestry too. Next, I can trace my other ancestry to Europe, Northern Africa and Asia. And I bet most people in North America can too. And yes, we all descend from Noah and his three sons and their wives no matter what our skin tone is.

People haven’t been on the earth for 40,000 years. Don’t you understand the word native? “My native land” “The land of my nativity” Have you researched my DNA? My Iroquois and Powhatan ancestors won’t agree with you.

A reply to me:

“I can easily disprove this ” People haven’t been on the earth for 40,000 years”.

Why does it bother you that you aren’t the first and true American? That instead your European American just like black people here are “African American”? Your native to Europe because that is where your ancestors evolved which is why your skin is white and hair/eye color evolved to be lighter than say an African who evolved in Africa. You are Native to Europe because that’s where you evolved to be European.”

I responded:

So how do you get that American Indians are European? And the peoples of Europe came from all over the globe.

And I thought to myself: How does this person know my skin tone, eye color, hair color? They have never seen me. And how can they prove people have been on earth for 40,000 years? Another commenter rightly pointed out that no one was there then and still here now to tell us so.

Then I replied;

And that is so cool that you were there eons ago and know what you say to be true. How old are you?

Haven’t got a rebuttal on that one.

This my last response to that party:

Indigenous Americans, here when Columbus came, arrived about 600 BC. Many nations had peoples who came to the Americas before Columbus.

Where was the garden of Eden? What was Pangea? When did the continents form?

How many people survived the flood at Noah’s time?

Where did the peoples from the tower of Babel go?

Europe isn’t one people. They came from Asia and Africa and everywhere in between.

Some of my ancestors were here when Columbus came,

Some of my ancestors also came from Europe, Africa, and Asia. (Examples: the Hun, Goths, Visigoths, Persians, Ethiopians, Egyptians.

I didn’t evolve to be European,

Europe, like the Americas, is a melting pot.

We are all related.

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11/17/2022
Yesterday I drove west on Old Dixie Highway 91 from 400 West in Ivins. No waiting was needed to turn right onto the 2 lane highway.
Later in the day, I drove back from the west the same way, turning in on 400 West to go back to Center street. I didn’t have to wait to make the left hand turn.
Last week I drove from my house on Center street in Ivins to 400 West and then across Old Dixie Highwy 91 to Red Mountain Tire and Service. No waiting was required to cross the highway. I crosed the road just fine and returned the same way. A straight drive not hindered by traffic or a roundabout.

Old Highway 91 street sign in Ivins, Utah, Jan. 20, 2022 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

I’ve learned from some of the farmers and ranchers on the north side of the highway betwwen 400 West and 600 West, that the government of Ivins wants to construct a 5 lane highway there with a roundabout at each intersection.
This is a very bad idea.
Why?
I’ll tell you why:
It’s not needed now or in the future.
It is a waste of money.
This would destroy the character of the old highway that the Washington County Commission has designated as Old Dicie Highway 91.
It would cause traffic obstruction on the old highway, two lanes to the east going to 5 at 400 west and back to 2 at 600 west.
This part of southwestern Utah is the habitat of several endangered species including the Desert Tortoise and the Gila Monster both of which live just east of 400 west Ivins south of highway 91 and west of 600 west Ivins both sides of the highway. and south on Petroglyph Hill-Land Hill.
The Gila Monster is the Utah state reptile. Already endangered,

This species doesn’t need to be subjected to a massive unneeded highway, the distance of which is absurdly short.
It would sure be nice if the town government would use some common sense and not waste tax payer’s monies on such an irrational project.
Sincerely,
Jay Beacham
a citizen of Ivins Utah

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November 8, 2022
Well, today is election day.
The polls are open in most places across the US of A or soon will be.
I have some thoughts about voting.
Here goes.
At age 22, I voted by absentee ballot, as I was away from my voting district at school.
This election, I voted by early mail-in ballot.
These ways of voting are allowed and for many such as those in the military or abroad for other reasons, truck drivers and others who are away from their voting district for some valid reason. The only way they can vote.
When the polls close in Maine, they are still open on the west coast and in Hawaii.
Exit poll reporting is wrong and shouldn’t be done.
Absentee ballots have not all been received by the end of open polls, as some mail in ballots, that only need to have been postmarked by the previous day, the mail not always being as fast as we would like it to be.
I believe that no candidate should ever concede the election.
When all eligible votes have been counted and verified, then and only then, should a winner be declared.
In the early days of our Republic, some national elections took two weeks to decide as it took that long to get all the results tabulated and reported.
Now with electronic means, results can be known faster than then.
But voting machine malfunctions, eligible voter identification, etc. can often go beyond the voting day and into the night and beyond.
There should be no victory celebrations on election night or ever. It is a waste of time and resources.
A friend of mine came from a foreign country. The last election he witnessed there showed how things shouldn’t be at the election polls. Men with machine guns were stationed at the doors at the polling places.
Here we shouldn’t have sham elections. We shouldn’t use the base alloy of hypocricy, as in places “where they make pretense of liberty”, but have none, such as A. Lincoln referred to Russia, or today, any of a number of dictatorships around the world. We should accurately learn the people’s will and follow it when it is in accordance with the constitutional law of the land, for we are a Republic not a true democracy; a true democracy being mob rule with no regard to law.
If you haven’t voted yet, do so today.
Then go to bed and learn of the results tomorrow, if they are available.
Then once results are known, don’t think that is the end of your responsibility.
It is our duty to watch that government that has been elected.
You must then watch those elected to make sure they follow the law and your will.
A good discourse on the duty of citizens is to be found in the 1943 film “A Stranger in Town”. Starting at 1:01:57 and going to 1:05:59
Quoting some, “… as citizens , we carry a burning responsibility. When we elect men to public office, we cannot do it as lightly as we flip a coin. It means that after we have elected them, we can’t sit back and say our job is done, what they do now doesn’t concern us. That philosophy of indifference is what the enemies of decent government want. If we allow them to have their way to become strong and vicious, then the heoric struggle that welded thousands of lovely towns like this into a great nation means nothing. Then we are not citizens, we’re traitors. The great liberties by which we live have been bought with blood. The kind of government we want is the kind of government we get. Government of the people, by the the people and for the people can mean any kind of government. It’s our duty to make it mean only one kind, uncorrupted, free, united.”
Now let’s vote.

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Taxes in America
Colonial times:
Due to parliament’s taxations on tea, such as the stamp act and the 25% importation tax, the British East India Company was unable to make their tea sales impervious to competition. The colonists could purchase tea from the Dutch for 2 shillings 2 pence a pound and then smuggle it into the colonies for only 3 shillings per pound of tea.
What taxes did the Tea Act impose on the colonists?
The passing of the Tea Act imposed no new taxes on the American colonies. The tax on tea had existed since the passing of the 1767 Townshend Revenue Act. Along with tea, the Townshend Revenue Act also taxed glass, lead, oil, paint, and paper.
Colonial legislatures gave locally produced crops (cereals, corn, tobacco, rice) official value for payment of taxes. Other lawful commodities included beaver skins, cattle, and wampum (black shells were valued at double the rate of white). Milk pails were accepted as tax payments in the town of Hingham.
The Colonial Roots of American Taxation, 1607-1700. For administrative simplicity, the tax was often combined with the country rate. Although the modern income tax dates from the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, an income-like tax, known as a “faculty” tax, appeared very early in the New England colonies.
The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773, granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies. This was what ultimately compelled a group of Sons of Liberty members on the night of December 16, 1773 to disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians, board three ships moored in Boston Harbor, and destroy over 92,000 pounds of tea. The Tea Act was the final straw in a series of unpopular policies and taxes imposed by Britain on her American colonies. The policy ignited a “powder keg” of opposition and resentment among American colonists and was the catalyst of the Boston Tea Party. The passing of the Tea Act imposed no new taxes on the American colonies. The tax on tea had existed since the passing of the 1767 Townshend Revenue Act. Along with tea, the Townshend Revenue Act also taxed glass, lead, oil, paint, and paper. Due to boycotts and protests, the Townshend Revenue Act’s taxes were repealed on all commodities except tea in 1770. The tea tax was kept in order to maintain Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. The Tea Act was not intended to anger American colonists, instead it was meant to be a bailout policy to get the British East India Company out of debt. The British East India Company was suffering from massive amounts of debts incurred primarily from annual contractual payments due to the British government totaling £400,000 per year. Additionally, the British East India Company was suffering financially as a result of unstable political and economic issues in India, and European markets were weak due to debts from the French and Indian War among other things. Besides the tax on tea which had been in place since 1767, what fundamentally angered the American colonists about the Tea Act was the British East India Company’s government sanctioned monopoly on tea. (Or just passing the tax along to the consumer.)

How many taxes are there in the United States in 2022?
There are seven federal income tax rates in 2022: 10 percent, 12 percent, 22 percent, 24 percent, 32 percent, 35 percent, and 37 percent. The top marginal income tax rate of 37 percent will hit taxpayers with taxable income above $539,900 for single filers and above $647,850 for married couples filing jointly.
Property tax on real estate, motor vehicles, boats, etc. (Not payable by commodities but money.)
The United States federal excise tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. The federal tax was last raised October 1, 1993 and is not indexed to inflation, plus in some places added state and city fuel taxes.
Sales Tax: Paid by consumer
( In Utah: The state sales tax rate in Utah is 4.850%. With local taxes, the total sales tax rate is between 6.100% and 9.050%. Utah has recent rate changes (Thu Jul 01 2021).
3 % on food.
Taxable services performed in Utah are subject to Utah sales and use tax even if the service is performed on goods later shipped to another state. business purposes, for the time period need to transport it to the borders.
On phone, gas, electric usage.
Vehicle registration tax
Road tax, weight tax for trucks
Inventory tax
Business license tax, corporate tax,
Shipping and handling taxes
Permit taxes for building, hunting, fishing, water usage by homeowners, irrigation companies, licenses for weddings, passports, etc.
County and municipal taxes on property, services, permits.
Fee taxes to visit a national or state park.
Gift tax for both parties.
Employee taxes.
FICA tax.
Special taxes to pay for special items of government: ie. garbage collection, sewer usage, future road and storm drain construction, water conservancy districts, library boards, school boards, mosquito abatement, weed control, etc.
Death tax, inheritance tax,
Licenses to own a dog or in some places a cat.
Luxury tax.
Extra tax on commodities like alcohol, tobacco, firearms,
All paid by consumers or producers.
Would those people from 1776 rebel today?

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