Lynn Miller's new book

Welcome to the 632nd meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise.
(Story under construction)

Heart Disease

Welcome to the 631st meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise!


After our enlightening/frightening meeting with Colby Petersen, P.A., I propose a Biggest Loser competition for the club. As seen by the photo of Steve's waist/belly/gut, the sooner the better! That is a joke Steve, you look great. For those of you who missed the meeting, Colby was gracious enough to speak to us regarding heart disease. One interesting statistic of note, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The three leading causes of heart disease is genetics, diet and lifestyle (if I remember correctly). Also important, recent studies in the field of cardiology suggests that your waistline may be indicative of your risk of suffering heart disease. The larger the waistline, the greater the risk. This is called Syndrome X. Therefore, it is critical that we all do better to live healthier lifestyles so as to minimize our risks and our waistlines! Shayne, maybe we should discuss the breakfast menu! Again, thank you to Colby for your knowledge, insight and wonderful sense of humor. No wonder he couldn't remember having ever met John! Hope to see you all next week!

The Gift of Sight--a teaser...

The date? TBA. Join us each week and watch for our mission debriefing at at an upcoming meeting. It was high adventure in Mexico's wild west...full of spectacular car chases, beautiful beaches, and heartwarming stories of vision restored. Making Mexico safer for us to drive, one patient at a time!

Estate Planning

Welcome to the 630th meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise!

For all of you not able to attend the meeting today, we were delighted to hear from local attorney Chad J. Utley of the law firm of Farris & Utley, PC. Mr. Utley talked to us about some simple ideas that we may use to protect our assets or to plan for our financial futures by implementing simple estate planning techniques. Just a few suggestions by Mr. Utley:

As Mr. Utley is a part-time Small Claims Judge, he advises to be prepared if you are planning on representing yourself or your business in Small Claims Court. Evidence of the claim or allegation will likely carry the day. Also, never ignore or procrastinate a summons, ticket or court order!! It may come back to bite you!

To avoid collection of debt, if avoidance is necessary, there are certain items of personal property that are exempt from execution: IRA’s, 401(k)s and like ERISA qualified plans are safe havens during difficult times. Contributions are usually safe unless contributed within one year of filing Bankruptcy (and may still be safe if pattern of contribution is shown), 12 months of provisions (food storage) for individual or family, most household appliances and furnishings, tools of the trade and the Utah Homestead exemptions ($40,000.00 jointly and $20,000.00 individually).

Also, to protect from possible debt or personal judgments, it may be wise to max out your bodily injury, underinsured and uninsured policies. The increased premium usually is not that much more. Minimum coverage requirements in Utah is $25,000.00 and only $15,000.00 for California. In the event you are in an accident with one who has only minimum coverage, you may find yourself in a bind if you do not have proper bodily injury, underinsured and uninsured policies. Health insurance or life insurance policies may be other tools for asset protection.

Utah is a separate property State. Therefore, use this separate property status to your benefit. Avoid naming your spouse on business loans and/or guarantees. Titling key properties in spouses name alone may be a good idea.

For estate planning purposes, there are three primary ways to transfer property on death. These include, but are not limited to, (1) intestacy - state law decides how the estate passes, (2) joint tenancy - joint ownership in the whole; and (3) will - which requires probate. To allow creativity and to provide the interest holder the control to distribute property how she or he sees fit, a trust may be created (and probate is avoided!!!). Trusts are immediate (if funded), convenient, private and tailored to the individuals wants and needs. Be careful, revocable trusts do not protect from creditors!!

Thank you Mr. Utley for the insight and advice!! Send the bill to Steve!! :) Hope to see all of you next week!

Dixie State College growing up

Welcome to the 629th meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise.

Bill Ronnow of Jenkins, Ronnow, Jensen & Bayles gave us some nuanced and deep insight into the growing pains currently facing our prized Dixie State College. As a member of the Board of Directors of DSC since 2003, he has seen many of the changes and growth pressures our college has faced. To understand where we are today, with a potential affiliation with the University of Utah, it helps to understand a little of the history challenges unique to Dixie State.

In 2000, Dixie State became a state college, taking the step up from community college. Interestingly, unlike some of the other state schools that transitioned up in the recent past, Dixie State received no new money from the state legislature, Ronnow reported.

With such a rapidly growing community, our higher education demands are not being met. Ronnow also reported that 25,000 of our residents have had course work towards a Bachelors degree, but are unable to finish their degrees in St George. To be a credible State College, we need 20-25 degrees available--several more than we currently have. Just to fulfill the baccalaureate mission they are charged with, they need 8.5 million in new money by 2012 according to Ronnow--an even bigger challenge with today's economic woes.

Within the past year, nearly all the players and stakeholders in the system have realized that Dixie State College is headed for University Status, one way or the other. Growth and the force of history will cause it to be so. Getting there is the unknown road and the school needs to grow to the point of offering graduate programs.

Having rapidly completed the NCAA probationary process, the Dixie Rebel mascot has become a politically hot issue. The NCAA considers the combination of Dixie/Rebel to be "a hostile mascot" and according to their rules, teams with hostile mascots will not play for broad casted games or post season games. Many local residents see it as enforced political correctness, while some of the stakeholders see it as a stumbling block to growing the school to its full potential.

Affiliation with the U of U is currently on the slow track, but the exploratory committees looked at some state flagship schools that had affiliated with distant community colleges and they discovered that the model is enormously successful. They found that the combination solved some problems that neither school could solve alone, and they found that autonomous governance survived in the smaller institutions--which benefited both the larger and the smaller institution, according to Ronnow.