JayBeacham.com-A Voice as an Instrument

Can we make the new year bring what we want?
It’s a new calendar year and the statements of making our own destiny abound.
Let’s take a look back with my 20/20 hindsight at the 2019 calendar year.
I hadn’t planned any of these things.
On January 3,  a contractor cut down bamboo on my property and stole it.
In March, he cut down a 34 year old tree and stole it and cut it a second time
along with many seedling trees.
The police would do nothing about it.
In May,  I suffered a heart attack.
In June, my pickup broke down and stayed that way most of the rest of the year.
I never planned any of those happenings.
A friend of mine just died in the last week of the year.  His family was surprised
as he was happy and healthy.  I’m sure that wasn’t in his plan.
On the last day of the year,  my oldest son’s pickup died on the road and had to
be towed. Certainly not in his plan.
In all our desires and dreams for the coming year of our lives, we cannot control
the actions of others, mechanical breakdowns (a local judge once said that
people should know where their cars will break down or run out of gas.
How rediculous.), our health, or the end of life.
Making plans is a good thing but if life happens to change all of our goals
and plans, it doesn’t mean we are less of a person because those goals
weren’t attained as some of the statements of  “We can be what we decide”.
promote.

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In the early 1970s, I lived in Provo, Utah.
Needing a job, a man at church said go to the Missionary Training Center Building
project where he worked.
I did only to learn that it was a union job and if not already a union member, I
couldn’t get hired.
Later I was employed by a construction company, Distinctive Structures.
We build pole buildings in northern Utah and southern Wyoming.
One job we had was for a dairy in West Mountain, Utah, on the south west side of
Utah Lake, just north of Santaquin. we were constructing a milking shed.
Treated forms were installed for the base between the poles, then metal siding
and roofing over the trusses. The cement floor would be poured later inside those
forms.
One day two new men showed up for work. Both from the carpenter’s union.
They were older that me and had been carpenters with the union for many years.
So they took over as the boss was not there that day.
They started to build it wrong at the base which would cause problems when
we reached the rafters. I informed them of their error to no avail.
They were union men and knew it all.
When the sides reached the roof area, the error was very apparent and needed
to be remedied.
The two know it all union men came cap in hand to me begging that I help
solve their problem, saying, “Afterall, you’ve built these things before.”
I solved their problem so that we could continue building.
The owner had made some kind of contract with the union that only their
members could work for him and former employees, who were non-union,
couldn’t join. So I was fired,
Why?
Utah is a right to work state and a person doesn’t have to join a union to work.

An attorney said that since the job was such a low paying one that fighting the
issuse woluldn’t be worth while.
Maybe so, but the principle was the point.
Had I know about the National Right to Work Committee then, I may have
pressed the issue. I dIdn’t, so I dropped the matter.

My take on that, unionism promotes arrogance, poor workmanship, poor
quailfications, and a host of other ills.

Later while living in Cottage Grove, Oregon, I worked at a manufacturing plant.
I held several positions. One was cleanup. I went from doing one man’s job to
doing 5 men’s jobs and still had time to clean windows on the south side of the
plant, not cleaned in anyone’s memory. And this all on a daily basis.
Did I get paid more for more work? No. Pay only increased per union schedule.
I didn’t have to join the union, and was glad I didn’t.
“Some hot shot young man shouldn’t get paid more than the old guy who’s been
here a long time.” Was the union attitude.
The shop foreman of the International Machinist’s union asked me why I
didn’t join. Later he complained that they paid dues monthly, but the international
union did nothing for them.
Why should I join? So I didn’t.
The retirement pay was good at 1cent per hour worked. But the owners most
likely would have paid that or more anyway.
A year or so later, the local union went on strike. The company hired scabs
because this was their tax write-off comapany, so it didn’t matter to them.
And even though the 2 men at the pickett line sat there for over a year, the inter-
national union never did anything for them.

A cousin in Las Vegas couldn’t work for a year or two because of union strikes.
Are unions any good?
I’d say no.
Unions are run by men who don’t work but get paid well by those who do, dues
paying workers. They don’t have to help workers because they are now set.
The value unions once affored workers no longer exists.

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11/17/2019

Seldom do people read what I write or listen to what I say,
but I feel I must write and talk about this.

A few years ago, I thought I should inverst in gold and silver.
Not having much in the way of funds, I choose to buy on options.
I infested in a company that seemed reputable.
Things went well and I started getting checks every month or so on earnings.
Then my broker was no longer with the company.
The new guy seemed very concerned that I not lose money, telling me when to sell
before the market dropped.
The company motto being “Buy, Sell, or Trade at any time.”
One Monday he called, “May need to sell”.
The next day, he called, “Don’t need to sell. Check on Friday.”
On Friday I called. He was at lunch not to return that day.
On Monday the market fell and I lost all unless I put in more money.
I did. Shortly after that, the owner of the firm was caught with his car trunk full
of gold bullion leaving the firm. He had priviosly withdrawn large sums from the
local Wachovia Bank on a daily basis over several months time. During that time,
he kept informing his reps to sell more.
It was learned he had stolen $29 million from the firm and investors.
He was caught, tried, sentenced to 12 years in a gentleman’s prison, replete
with a furlough system, and ordered to pay back $19 million to investors.
A law firm for the victims started the process of liquidating all holdings of the
company, obtaining judgement against every principle broker and advisor of the
company and any other means possible to raise the $19 million plus their fee.
What had this guy done with all the money?
Wachovia Bank was bought out by Wells Fargo, so they even went after Wells
Fargo for $3 million for allowing the improper withdrawing of monies by the owner
of the investment firm.
After liquidating every property, even the office furniture, the Wells Fargo money
was needed for investors to get paid back.
I was only out $21,400, but spoke to an Atlanta investor who was out $140,000.
One man even had lost $538,000.
Wells Fargo lost and made a payout of $1.3 million, with their attorneys and
the victims’ attorneys getting paid their time on the case out of that settlement.
After the victims attorneys had collected $650,000 wages(only by the hour the
judge said. $350 to $500 or more per hour. Wouldn’t that be a nice hourly wage?),
they determined there was no more for them to get from this case and made a
settlement among the victiims of a penny on the dollar.
My $21,400 became $214.00.
“Accept or get nothing.”
The guy with the $538,000 loss had died, his heirs got about $5,380.00,
not even enough to pay for his funeral.
Why bring this up?
Who were the crooks in this case? The owner of the investment firm?
Or the Judge and the attorneys?
You decide for yourself, but I tend to believe that the legal people were the real
criminals here.

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9/9/2019

A Girl’s First Job

Introduction:
Recently I was asked to accompany a woman I know on her visit to see her father
and other family in Trofaiach, Austria. I’d lived near there as a 19 year old LDS
missionary 50 years ago. Many things have really changed there but some things
have not. The hospitality of the people is much the same as it was then.
This woman and I had time to talk at the meal tables and on walks and outside
on the stairs or on the patio. The following is some of what she told me about
her first job in Sankt Gallen, Austria. A distance of 57.6 klicks from Trofaiach.
About an hour by car. The road goes through Eisenerz. Back then there was
a passenger service by train between Sankt Gallen and Trofaiach.
This is some of what she told me happened to her during the two years on her
first job. 8/11/2019
Jay Beacham

Meet Ilse Kubik, a pretty 17 year old girl from Trofaiach, Austria.

In the early 1970s she was out of school and wanted to become a nurse.
Because it would take 3 years study, followed by 3 years nursing service in
an underdeveloped country, her mother suggested another kind of a job in the
mean time so she could earn money right away instead of spending so many
years spending money before she could start earning.
She looked in the want ads for jobs, saw one she liked, applied for it and within
a day or two was hired.
She would be the personal secretary to a court judge in Sankt Gallen, a town
about an hour north of Trofaiach. She’d go on Monday, stay in an apartment for
the week, then return home on the weekends.
What an adventure this would be without straying to far from home.
She got on the train the first day and rode to Sankt Gallen. From the train station
it required a walk of some distance to get to where she would work.
She acquired housing on the second story of a store. It was the whole floor with
glass windows all around it.
Her boss was a judge from Klagenfurt. He’d drive her home on Fridays on the
way to his home. On Mondays she’d take the train or a young man friend of hers,
Jurgen Reisner, would drive her to work.
One day she missed her train. The only train going that would get her to
work on time was a locomotive  freight train. She talked to the engineer, who
allowed her to ride along on the engine. The coal man always filling the boiler
made it hot and the soot made her face, hands, and clothes black. But she got
there early enough to make the long walk and be at work on time.
Her job consisted of accompanying the judge as he went to investigate traffic
accidents. She’d record everything in shorthand and then upon returning to the
office, type it all for the records.
The first accident they went to was a two truck wreck. One driver was yelling in
pain. They got him out but he lost both of his legs. She later saw him in the
court house legless, in a wheelchair.
It wasn’t always so dramatic.
Nights her peace would be interrupted by boys pitching pebbles at the windows.
One night a window was broken by the rock tossers.
Her Uncle Max was informed of the situation and came up with a plan to put an
end to the trouble.
Max was her mother’s brother. He was an interesting character. As a boy he
had gotten polio which left him in a wheel chair with little control of his upper body.
But Max was a good natured kind of a guy, making do with his limited mobility,
became a fine artist dealing in oils, ink, watercolor. He excelled at it. I really like
his ink drawings, though I don’t care much for his modernistic stuff.
He became so proficient at chess, that the city of Leoben chess club expelled
him because no one could ever beat him at the game.
I was a missionary there in Leoben and lived up the street on the downhill side of
Barbaraweg (Barbaraway) street. He and his mother lived in a one level apartment
house on the same side of the street. My missionary companion and I would often
stop and get him and wheel him to church meetings in town or just to visit.
Max knew many missionaries before and after me. He became good friends with
them all.
To solve Ilse’s night pebble problem, Max recruited 8 missionaries, Jurgen Reisner
and some other young men to go to Ilse’s place. That night when the pebbles stared,
a young man would open and lean out the window being hit and yell. After several
windows were tried, the throwing stopped and never occurred again as long as she
lived there. Max’s plan worked.
Once after that a pebble did strike one of her windows one afternoon.
When she looked out it was the owner of a neighboring gasthaus (guesthouse)
who’d thrown the stone.
He’d come to ask her to work as a waitress for him nights after her regular job.
She took the side job. The gasthaus was very busy at that time of year with guests
from all over coming nightly for meals, beer, entertainment and socializing.
She became an instant favorite of the patrons.
One of her admirers sent flowers, candies, and the like over a period of time.
Finally by letter her secret admirer arranged to meet her in the afternoon between
her jobs and take her for a ride in his car so they could talk.
She waited for the appointed time. The admirer sent a young man in a sports car
to pick her up. She went with him not knowing that the admirer was following in the
car behind them. Later he revealed himself and Ilse learned he was married.
She promptly informed him that she didn’t go out with married men. That ended the
affair.
Once, her friend Renatta, who worked for a dentist, received an invitation for she and
Ilse to go to a party at a ski resort with two young men on a Friday night. They went.
And after the party on the way down the mountain the girls expressed concern about
the speed the car was traveling. At that the young men asked them to get out and
walk home.
They got out and were soon left in a very dark forest. So dark in fact that they had to
feel their way from tree to tree. After a while they came upon a ski hut, entered and
spent the night there.
The morning dawned sunny and bright. Their arms were covered in sores.

Later they learned that parasites that had been in the blankets had attacked them.

The sores continued for some time until doctors solved it for them. Ilse only had one
outbreak of it after that, which she solved by using Vicks vapor rub. Her cat didn’t
like the smell and she surmised that the parasites wouldn’t either. She was right.
Her doctor thanked her and wrote that down so as to use for his patients in the future.
They started to walk down the very, very steep road, grateful that they hadn’t been in
that car the night before.
One man who visited the gasthaus was from Amsterdam. He was so impressed
by Ilse that he offered her a job at his company in Amsterdam at the end of summer.
She declined the offer as she had already made up her mind to move to America
and get married.
She did get married in America and still lives in the United States.
She’d spent a wonderful two years working in Sankt Gallen, Austria with many
exciting experiences.
So ends her story of her first job, well first two jobs.

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Why are people fascinated with parades?

One went past my house today.  Heritage Days?  Nothing about heritage in it at all.

Many spectators stood and sat under the shade of the trees in front of my house as they always do.

There was a scout color guard bearing the flag while a speaker in a jeep blasted a girl singing the national Anthem in anything but a traditional style.

A school marching band,  cars, trucks, flat beds carrying people waving flags, arms, and throwing candies at the onlookers.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    A flat bed with a game cage on it where a man and woman threw darts or something.

One with some cub scouts.  One with some little children.

There was the current Tuacahn Broadway show float advertising “The Littlest Mermaid”.

Of course the incumbent politicians in golf carts, throwing candy to win support and show they care for the citizens, though that is all they  do for the citizens.

A radio station truck blaring their music.

And of course, there were the Princesses’ cars and float.

We fought to found a new country with no royalty but deep inside people still long to worship royalty of some kind.

Explain that.

Over the years I have watched many parades for all kind of occasions, even rode on floats and walked in some.

The best views, besides maybe the ones on Television, were from roof tops in St. George, Utah while I was repairing roofs  along Tabernacle Street and St. George Blvd on 100 north.

The parades use to end with the National Guard driving a tank or truck of some gun down the street, sort of like the military parades that some countries still have.

But now it ends with a firetruck, ambulance, rescue vehicle, etc. making a noise with the siren.  There were all three today.

Then the parade was over.

Why do we have these things anyhow?

To show how great we are? Advertise? Waste time and money?

Who knows.  Certainly I don’t.

Note: The photos are from a Heritage day parade in 2009

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5/10/2019

I had a dream that I did lose the appeal in an actual court room and when outside
of the court room a lady asked me why I was fighting it.
My attorney even said I was technically guilty.
My response started just to her and then to another lady and then to a whole  crowd with nothing but positive response.

My response:
It’s the principle of the matter.
They have been harassing me, singling me out.
Another lady remarked about the developer.
Yes, he and his buddies at the zoning department, each time he barks, they jump.
At first using drone obtained photos, which is illegal.
So then they used county tax assessor aerial photos that can be zoomed in to see
a mole on your face.
If drone photos taken under 450 feet are illegal, then aerial photos that can zoom in are illegal.   The crowd agreed.

Then what is the purpose of fences?
There is none.
The only way the zoning guys saw and complained is that they basically looked
through knot holes and used the aerial photos.
And my acreage is not residential but agricultural of 3.63 acres.
Can’t park RVs unless a primary residence is there.
But prior to the 2008 ordinance, RVs*, unless registered with DMV, were illegal to
be parked at a residence.

(Under penalty of fines of $25 daily, I was forced to move my motor home to my acreage 2 months prior to the ordinance.)
For 9 years and 11 months none of this was an issue until
the developer barked.
(I had a construction trailer, a green house, several storage trailers, and several
trailers being demolished on my acreage.)
Why did the judge rule against you? was asked me.
That’s what they do; they never intend to support the defendant, guilty is all they
ever want to say.
Then the court recess was over.

This is not a dream In Ivins.

Yesterday,  a Judge Ryan Harris of the Utah Appeals Court,  ruled that nothing
illegal was done by the AL* court or District Court or the ALJ* or District Judge.

I am guilty.

Reminds me of a play I directed in  the early 1970s.

part of a song from the play went like this:

“Guilty, Guilty,  that’s all we ever say

Guilty, Guilty,  that’s how we get our pay

All it takes is a cap and a gown”
(Remember that it was legal in Germany to report and turn in Jews and legal for the government to imprison and kill Jews.)

*ALJ means Administrative Law Judge.
*.Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper trailers), fifth-wheel trailers, popup campers and truck campers.
Typical amenities of an RV include a kitchen, a bathroom, and one or more sleeping facilities. RVs can range from the utilitarian — containing only sleeping quarters and basic cooking facilities — to the luxurious, with features like air conditioning (AC), water heaters, televisions and satellite receptors, and quartz countertops, for example.

RVs can either be trailers (which are towed behind motor vehicles) or self-motorized. Most RVs are single-deck; however, double-deck RVs also exist. To allow a more compact size while in transit, larger RVs often have expandable sides or canopies.

Quick Tips, Guides & DMV BasicsWhat Qualifies as an RV or Motorhome?
What Qualifies as an RV or Motorhome?
By: Kathy Teel July 21, 2012
The term “motor home” is often used interchangeably with “RV.” “Motor home,” however, is an informal phrase, used to describe a variety of recreational vehicles, while “recreational vehicle” (or RV) is a technical and legal term. Understanding which kind of RV or motorhome you have will help you with RV registration.

In asking which vehicles qualify as RVs or motor homes during the registration process, it’s easiest to remember that the U.S. Department of Transportation categorizes RVs by class.

Class A Recreational Vehicles

Class A recreational vehicles are motor homes, regardless of the type of chassis beneath them and whether or not the vehicle contains “slide-outs” (additional living spaces that slide out when the vehicle is stopped for camping). Class A also includes commercial passenger and school buses that are converted into RVs (these are often the largest mobile homes available).

Class A RVs are generally luxurious mobile homes with a solid body, a panoramic front window, berths that convert from living room or dinette areas, and bathroom facilities.

Class B Recreational Vehicles

Class B recreational vehicles are campervans. Campervans are conventional vans with raised roofs (either “pop up” or “fixed”). They often have small kitchens with refrigerators and gas grills.

Larger models may have a water heater, heat and air conditioning, a portable toilet, or an internal shower. (Smaller models usually have a portable toilet and an external shower, which can be used with an awning to ensure privacy.)

Class C Recreational Vehicles

Unlike a Class A mobile home, which is built on a single chassis, a Class C vehicle is attached to a truck and hauled behind. Class C RVs are characterized by a distinctive alcove which fits over the truck cab, providing either a double berth for sleeping or, sometimes, an “entertainment” section, with a TV and video games.

Other Recreational Vehicle Types

In addition to the three classes of RVs, there are also other types of recreational vehicles or motorhomes:

Truck Campers: Similar to the C-class vehicles described above, these are smaller RVs, carried in the beds of pickup truck.
Pop-up Campers: Collapsible campers with pull-out berths and tent walls, towed in a compact unit behind a vehicle.
Travel Trailers (sometimes called “caravans”): Non-collapsible, light-weight trailers with simple amenities, towed behind a vehicle.

None of the trailers on my acreage had “… amenities of an RV include a kitchen, a bathroom, and one or more sleeping facilities. “

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Today I got a notice from a casting agency:

“2.) We are looking for  male voice over actors –  Language: English (US). Voice age : 18-24(2 positions) and 30-45(3 positions) “

Voice age?

What in the world does that mean?

When I was about 14 my voice changed from a fine boy soprano to a deep bass.

At 16, I started work at a radio station.

Now at 68 my voice sounds just the same as it did at 16 unless I try to sound like a toothless old timer.

Now can any one expect a voice to sound a certain age?

This is a totally dumb request, so I won’t be applying.

My looks have changed but not my voice.

Me at 16 

Me now at 68

Me recording voice work

Hear voice samples at: http://jaybeacham.com/about/

scroll down to the Sound Cloud section Latest Tracks.

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You can’t do that but it’s okay for others to do that.

In Ivins, Utah certain people are prevented by ordinance and threat of fines of $25 per day from using their property as they see fit, while others can do anything they like, especially if they are developers.

On June 20th 2018 town attorney and planning commission  member Bryan Pack stood in a hearing of the Administrative court and said that box-shipping box storage units were not allowed in Ivins,  ie. on my farm.

And the Judge, Darin Barney said that anything after a May 2008 ordinance was not allowed.

Just the other day I  was driving past the Red Mountain Spa and this is what I saw over the fence:A shipping box with it’s top protruding over the fence.

On June  20, 2018, Dale Colum the city manager said of storage trailers at my farm that “someone could take the stuff out and put a bed in them and then they would be livable”.

So what about the  shipping storage box at Red Mountain Spa?

Farmer David Hafen is “grandfathered in” and doesn’t have to abide by the 2008 ordinance.

This was told to me by former zoning department head Kevin Rudd.

The storage trailers at my farm were screened with vegetation and fencing but this is what I saw this week at the Hafen farm through a wire fence:

A blue and a yellow shipping box beside each other, not screened at all.

How is it okay for this?  Both places have put these on their property since the 2008 ordinance.

“The stuff could be taken out and beds put in and then people can live in them.”

So it’s okay for them but not for me?

And trailers according to the 2008 ordinance can not be parked on property unless there is a primary residence on said property.

There is screening and fences at my farm.

What about these:And I have other photos through out Ivins of similar illegally  parked on vacant lots.

And why has this road been moved just by my farm with no public notice, or notice to me?

It all boils down to what former councilman Steve Roberts said:

“A property owner has a right to do what he wants with his property.” 

But not the long time resident who must do what the city says he can or can’t do with his property?

Property rights only exist for the few, the developer, the business, the big farmer.

Everyone else has no rights.

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When I was one or two, my father bought 11 acres west of Ivins, Utah.

Today I own the west part of what is left of that acreage.

My father farmed the ground and so do I.

Along the road on the west side is a row of trees.

They provide beauty, a wind break, and a bird sanctuary.

One old tree was always the roosting place for eagles, hawks,  crows and even vultures.

I’ve seen a bald eagle and an American eagle in the same tree at the same time. They are spooked easily so I only was able to get a photo of  the bald eagle flying away.

The town of Ivins  annexed the  land west of it in the 1980s including my farm.

The road became 600 west.

It has been a dirt road, graveled in places, since it was opened. 

It is a natural drainage  and muddy in wet weather.

Now the city has decided to give 600 west to a developer and move his new road with it’s 

new name to the east,  giving the developer the west side of the old road.

This would cut out all the trees on the west of my farm, even peach trees.

There is no need to move the road.

And why the design to remove trees?

Why have trees?

“Trees produces oxygen that is life line of all living beings. In the hot summer we usually plan trips in the hilly areas. But if the rate of cutting Trees remains the same then we don’t have enough Trees to plan a trip, seasonal raining and amount of fresh oxygen will no longer be available. Trees helps to clean the air, soil and water,  making the earth a beautiful livable place. Living close to trees makes us healthier and happier. Its time to SAVE Trees, protect forests and spread awareness. If you want to save trees, you can help by protecting those that grow around your home, and planting more Trees. Reduce the use of  paper products, too. According to our little understanding we have found few ways to protect Trees, you can also follow them ,motivate your friends and family members to join hands together to save our beautiful earth or you can join an organization working to save Tress around your home town.” – http://savetreessaveearth.com/save-trees/

Other organizations that seek to preserve trees are:  https://standfortrees.org/en/

                                                                                                           https://treefoundation.org/

We must save trees for the benefit of mankind.

So, who is for saving my trees? 

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I was out on the range and saw some sights one normally doesn’t  see

in Cattle and horse country.

The goats grazing  is not common  but believable.

But the wild trees being corralled is something I’ve not see before.

I wonder if it’s because someone  doesn’t think they belong  amongst the sagebrush so

someone fenced them in so that they wouldn’t get out of hand and spread.

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