LDS Scene

The site for Atlanta’s temple, slated to begin construction at the first of the year, has been selected. It is a thirteen-acre parcel of wooded land on Barfield Road in Sandy Springs, twelve miles from downtown Atlanta.

BYU—Hawaii has purchased a twenty-one-acre prawn farm to be used for its tropical agriculture program. The prawns will also provide part-time employment for many students. T. Aaron Lim, program director, anticipates that the operation will be self-sustaining. The prawns will be sold to restaurants, fish markets, and Laie residents.

The ponds produce about 45,000 pounds of prawns a year. The company that originally developed the property seven years ago made it the first aquaculture operation of its kind on Oahu.

The presidencies of the temples in Ogden and Salt Lake City have recently been reorganized. In Ogden, the president is Keith W. Wilcox, with Paul W. Bott and Milton J. Hess, Jr., as counselors. They succeed Leslie T. Norton, president, and John J. Zundel and George T. Frost.

In Salt Lake City, A. Ray Curtis remains as temple president with two new counselors, Clarence E. Wonnacott and Marvin L. Pugh, to succeed Edward H. Sorensen and Selvoy J. Boyer.

Oliver Cowdery, co-recipient with Joseph Smith of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods and the first person baptized by the Prophet, has been honored by markers at his birthplace in Wells, Vermont. The Wells Historical Society contacted the Church with an invitation to participate in creating the markers. Elder G. Homer Durham of the First Quorum of the Seventy and managing director of the Church Historical Department spoke at the dedication on 12 July.

Oliver Cowdery lived in Wells and nearby Poultney until about 1825 when he joined his older married brothers in western New York, where he became acquainted with the Joseph Smith family.

The Church participated whole heartedly in Canada’s National Family Unity Month. One conference, open to both members and nonmembers, attracted a crowd of more than 600 to hear Margaret Birch, secretary for social development in the province. Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy and former mission president in the Toronto area was keynote speaker. Others on the program included George Tucker Walsh, a family court judge, and Mayor Gus Harris of Scarborough, Ontario.

Mrs. Birch asserted that mothers made a “valuable contribution” to society and should be honored for it. They should feel free “to stay at home.” Elder Ballard encouraged parents to raise children “to be great in the sight of God.” Mayor Harris called for economic conditions that would allow families to live on one income. Judge Walsh said that many circumstances enter into divorce, but that all divorces occur when husband and wife “stop trying.”