Gracie in the News

This is a clip from Fox 13 News where Gracie was interviewed



Students ask city to remove erroneous 
Peter Skene Ogden monument

NORTH OGDEN -- Students in Justin Urry's seventh-grade Utah History Class at North Ogden Junior High will be taking a closer look at historical monuments from now on -- and checking their validity.
Students in the class discovered some big mistakes in a monument on Peter Skene Ogden at the city's Oaklawn Park. The monument has been up in the park since the 1950s - but students discovered two pretty obvious mistakes as they studied about Ogden. First, his name is spelled wrong on the monument - Skene is spelled "Skeen" and the mention of his time in the area is also off by a year. The other mistake was a little harder to discover, but as students studied history of the explorer's whereabouts, they figured out he never even made it down to the site where the monument rests; and furthermore, he never made it out of the Huntsville area into the Ogden area.
Now the students are petitioning the city to do something about it - they would like to see the monument removed from the park and put in the city's historical museum with the notice that the information is wrong.
Urry had all the students in his class write the city a letter explaining the inaccuracies with the monument and asking for its removal. Several students along with Urry also attended a recent city council meeting and asked the city to remove the monument.
Urry said he had learned in college of the historical error of Ogden never actually having been in the Ogden or North Ogden area. But the discovery of the mistakes on the marker are fairly new.
Urry knew he could just tell his students of the discrepancies in a lecture, but decided last year he wanted his students to figure it out on their own by physically doing the research like a regular historian would. Last year his students did the work and realized that on the Pleasant View City website the information about Ogden was incorrect. Students asked the city to remove the content and officials complied. The city also asked the class to write a new commentary about the history of the area that is now on the website, Urry said.
"They were very supportive and my students learned a lot," Urry said.
Students this year were a little disappointed with how North Ogden responded to their monument removal request.
"They just didn't really seem like they cared that much," said seventh-grader Gracie Ballard.
The council suggested they contact the Daughters of the American Revolution, who donated the monument, and see what they wanted to do with it.
"The thing is, they donated it to the city so it is the city's property," Ballard said. "We were hoping they would help us and remove it."
Ballard said she and her classmates still feel positive about a change, though. They will keep trying with the city, but also think that the class next year can keep petitioning the city if they can't get it done now.
Lorilee Beazer, the regent with the Golden Spike Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, said it is ironic that the students have made this request because her chapter has been working on this very issue.
The monument was erected in 1924 and the chapter is trying to locate the records of why exactly it was put where it is and the evidence used to justify the monument. Her understanding is that the DAR had a letter from Ogden's family members, but they have not been able to locate the letter. Much of the information was lost during World War II because the DAR didn't meet during that time.
"Our chapter has been talking about whether to move the marker," Beazer said. There is also a question of who the marker belongs to. Beazer contacted the city's attorney and he told her the city was not in a rush to make a decision - but Beazer thinks it will take two or three years to uncover all the information to be able to move or change the marker.
"It's not in the record books so to find the records is quite a process," Beazer said.
Her chapter is impressed with the research the students have done and would like to talk with them about it at some point.
"We think they have done excellent work," she said. The DAR wants to get to the bottom of the mystery as well.
The students also admit they have enjoyed learning about a piece of history they never thought much of before and also learning about how city government works. "It was pretty cool to go the city council and see how they do things," seventh-grader Alana Nelson said.
Students were also surprised that the monument has stood for so long with obvious mistakes.
"It makes you wonder how many other monuments are done wrong," said student Kaitlin Marietti.
Beazer hopes to be able to figure that out as well.
They all agreed they enjoyed the process and mapping Ogden's journeys.
Urry also loves watching history come to life for his students. Adding the extra step of working with the city has been a bonus.
"They see these things come to life and have seen how the process works," Urry said.
He is glad the students will have the chance to continue to work with the city and intends to have his other classes keep up with the process until the monument is removed.
At any rate, students in the class will be paying more attention the history around them.
"I think I've seen more monuments and paid more attention than before because of this," Alicia Littlefield said.