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Show Viewpoints The Park Record. A-23 Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, August 25-28, 2018 editorial As classes begin, district earns ‘A’ for commitment to safety C letters to the editor We need protection from the EPA Editor: The New York Times reports that relaxed EPA pollution rules could result in 1,400 premature U.S. deaths per year. This is 3 times the number of troop casualties America has experienced per year in Iraq and Afghanistan combined during the last 16 years. Some easy multiplication reveals that Trump’s efforts to undo coal plant emission standards will result in 22,400 unnecessary deaths in the next 16 years compared to approximately 7,000 in our current wars during an equivalent time period. It seems we need some urgent protection from our own protection agencies. Nick Wright Park City The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Angelique McNaughton Ben Ramsey Carolyn Webber Alder Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy Editor ............................ James Hoyt Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Office Manager ..................... Tiffany Piper Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Accounting Manager ......... Jennifer Snow ADVERTISING Classifieds/Legals ............. Jennifer Lynch Advertising Director ........... Valerie Spung Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Erin Donnelly Lindsay Lane Sharon Bush Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production .......................... Patrick Schulz Wheaton’s leadership will be missed Editor: On behalf of the 30-plus employees at Park City Rental Properties, we would like to express our gratitude and heartfelt thanks to Bob Wheaton for his 30-plus years of dedicated service, direction, and leadership at Deer Valley Resort and within the ski industry as a whole. Deer Valley and Park City have prospered and become what they are today in large part because of Bob Wheaton, and we say “Thank You” for all you have done over the years. Deer Valley’s eight-time recognition as the Best Ski Resort in the world says it all. There is a great team behind the man who has been at the helm; yet, the leadership he has provided is second-to-none. We wish you and your successor all the best in your new endeavors. Bob Wheaton, you will be missed. Jim and Debbie Bizily, Brian Selleck, Jim Anderson, Gabe Weinem, Ally Murphy, Jessie Sharp and Rich Ford Park City Rental Properties Letters Policy The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor on any subject. We ask that the letters adhere to the following guidelines. They must include the home (street) address and telephone number of the author. No letter will be published under an assumed name. Letters must not contain libelous material. Letters should be no longer than about 300 words (about 600 words for guest editorials) and should, if possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long or if they contain statements that are unnecessarily offensive or obscene. Writers are limited to one letter every seven days. Letters thanking event sponsors can list no more than 6 individuals and/or businesses. Send your letter to: editor@parkrecord.com For the record lassrooms in Park City on Thursday were vibrant with the sights and sounds of students learning. After a long summer, school was back in session. For many parents of younger children, it was the first opportunity to check out two major safety measures the Park City School District implemented at elementary schools over the break. Visitors will notice that fences to keep out unauthorized people and wildlife now surround the district’s four elementary schools. Inside, the entrance of each school was remodeled to prevent anyone from accessing the main building without being buzzed in by the front office staff. Despite the stated aim of both improvements, not all the community were initially sold on the idea. The fences, in particular, have been a source of controversy. Some who live near the schools complained that the fences would be an eyesore and could decrease property values. Others questioned whether they would actually make the schools safer. School officials delayed the project, working with the neighbors to modify the plans, but fortunately didn’t let the criticisms stop them from ultimately moving forward. The plan to install the fences was based on collaboration with local law enforcement and an expert hired to evaluate the safety of the district and came after the Utah Division of Homeland Security made a similar recommendation following the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2013. Taking action on the advice of the experts, regardless of how some feel about the aesthetic of the fences, was the right move. So, too, was the decision to remodel the entrances and require visitors to present identification before they’re allowed to proceed. The project was not cheap — the remodeling, along with the fencing, came with a price tag of roughy $1.5 million — but it’s money well spent. Knowing that a person with bad intentions can no longer simply walk into the schools and go wherever they like will certainly give parents more peace of mind when they drop off their children in the morning. The district has allocated funding to construct similar entryways at the secondary schools in the near future, and has also expressed interest in installing shatterproof glass in the main windows of all the schools. We urge the district to move forward with those projects sooner rather than later. The simple fact is that, in today’s world, we need our schools to do everything within reason to ensure our children are safe. Residents should be grateful our school officials understand that and are committed to acting accordingly. guest editorial Legacy of public lands, passed through the generations, is being reversed under Trump JAMES LYONS Writers on the Range Our national legacy of a million square miles of publicly owned lands is what makes America unique, but under President Donald Trump that legacy is being sacrificed. America’s public lands exist today as a gift to us and to future generations largely owing to the foresight and determination of conservation leaders over the past century. During Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, from 1901-1909, he took the lead, establishing approximately 230 million acres of national forests and parks, wildlife reserves and 18 national monuments. Succeeding presidents have added to his accomplishment, yet under the Trump administration we are literally losing ground. In just 18 months, in collaboration with congressional Republicans, Trump has launched a coordinated and calculated attack on the fundamental laws and policies that guide the sustainable, multiple-use management of these national assets. The cumulative effect of this could set back public-lands management for decades. The onslaught began soon after the 2016 elections, when Republicans used the Congressional Review Act to rescind sensible Obama-era planning rules for public-land management. They included actions aimed at curbing the methane emissions that contribute to climate change, as well as efforts to protect waterways impacted by coal mining. The Trump administration even sought to permit the sale of public lands. While this effort was rebuffed, the Republican Congress and the White House continued their assault by advancing measures to authorize oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, shrink the Grand Staircase-Escalante and the Bears Ears national monuments and reopen their formerly protected lands for development, and authorize construction of a road across the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The administration has reversed decisions to prevent construction of the Pebble Mine in Alaska and to curb mining that threatens the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota. What’s more, the Republican members of the Montana and Oregon congressional delegation are advancing legislation to eliminate wilderness study areas in their states. And in Alaska, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is working with the Forest Service to eliminate roadless areas on the Tongass National Forest. The insults keep mounting: Under Trump’s policy of “energy dominance,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has directed the Bureau of Land Management to expand and accelerate oil and gas leasing on public lands in spite of historically low demand. As a result, many leases are being sold at the minimum bid of $2 per acre, or else not being bid on at all. Despite local opposition, oil and gas development has resumed near national parks and monuments. Interior Secretary Zinke has also proposed changing the rules that protect threatened and endangered species, even as a Senate bill and nearly a dozen House bills would significantly undermine the recovery of those imperiled species. What is especially destructive in the West is Zinke’s decision to reconsider what had proven to be a successful strategy to protect sage grouse from inappropriate development. Despite bipartisan support for this cooperative effort, including from nearly all the Western governors, 76 percent of new and proposed oil and gas leases are targeted for high-priority sage grouse habitat. What’s incomprehensible is why these areas should be targeted in the first place, when taken together they amount to only one-fifth of the oil and gas potential on BLM lands. More bad policy emerged when the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reversed existing mitigation policies. Now, land users who damage the public’s lands in developing mineral or energy resources will no longer be required to repair the damage they cause. One glimmer of hope under Secretary Zinke was his order to protect migratory routes for wildlife like mule deer, elk, and antelope. But with one exception, the Interior Department continues to lease oil and gas in the same wildlife corridors it has committed to protect. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land, but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us. ... Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation.” I also believe that there is a “right and duty” to use our natural resources to meet current needs. But the destructive policies of the Trump administration — and, more specifically, the Interior Department — are more likely to rob present and future Americans of their right to enjoy their public-lands legacy. Photos by James Hoyt Asked on Main Street As summer wraps up, what’s left on your warm-weather bucket list? Helen Feltovich Park City “Mountain biking the Crest trail. … That’s my annual, before-fallhits, before-the-snow-flies bucket list.” Holly Owens Los Angeles “Italy was on my bucket list and we are going in two weeks. … We are starting in Rome then going to one of the islands and then to Tuscany.” Koko Pelli Brooklyn, New York “This is my summer bucket list. I just drove here, I’m going to keep driving west (to Burning Man) and then I’m going to go drive back. And by the time I get back home it’s going to be fall.” See these photos and more by following The Park Record on Facebook.com/parkrecord and Instagram.com/parkrecord |