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Show WASATCH Continued from page 10 knows that Moab’s popularity has put and, as such, oldis an tf Sees Wandering the pressure on the place and its residents. shops In the town, you'll find people r f o m Michigan, Wisconsin, California, New York, just about everywhere, that have recently re-settled in Moab. S tikes keeps tabs on his changing town, its resi- But Not Everyone Groff, like motels up. The past and year or so, fast-food sewer Is Happy everyone else, seven new restaurants went system, among other things, is now overloaded and the townsfolk have seen their rates jump dramatically to pay for upgrading the sewage plant. Groff put it succinctly: “Of course with growth, you have problems. It’s tough to deal with them. Some people are not happy.” ne of the people who isn’t happy is Jim Stiles, editor of the Canyon Country Zephyr magazine. Like Abbey, Stiles has adopted Moab and writes about it and has, to some degree, become the town’s conscience. In _ rambling, humorous and biting editorials, Stiles pillories tourist expansion inability of the town, and the its residents and leaders to put meaningful controls on the influx of franchises, or even institute modest zoning regulations. “This is Buchanan country, individual property rights, by god, it’s my dents MOUNTAIN from being a community of people concerned about the in town cater and businesses, one-by-one, as he seeks out articles and advertisers for the Zephyr. The snow-capped La Salle Mouniains are a dramatic He sums up backdrop to Stiles explains. “They're just here,” here to make money. They don’t care anything about the community.” In the past, Moab has coalesced as a community to fight such things as a hazardous-waste incinerator and the Book Cliffs highway, says Stiles. But it's much more “insidious,” he says to the challenge of a tourist economy this way: When most of the town’s businesses exist to serve people who don’t live there, it ceases to be a community and becomes, simply, a population center. are to being a population center with businesses that land and I can do anything I want with it,” Stiles says in mocking drama. Stiles, a bluegrass Kentuckian by birth, moved to Moab 20 years ago TIMES fight one fast-food franchise or motel The Town Just Flipped “So many of the businesses here owned by people who don’t live after another, day in and day out. “This town just flipped. It went tO peo- ple who don't live here.” When it comes to the debate over growth, Stiles is a lightning rod. Moab developer Tom Shellenberger was quoted in one _ recent Moab red rock country magazine article as saying he wouldn’t patronize any business that advertised in Stiles’ magazine. Shellenberger is no stranger to boomtowns — a transplant from Park on the Park City, he served City Council before relocating to Moab in the mid-’80s. Although Shellenberger could not be reached for this story, one of his Park City contemporaries, Continued on page 12 only ONSITE «ic restaurant Pf) 686 AND GREAT FOGD PAGE 11 Resto iey Aho S. MAIN (NEXT TO McDONALDS) MOAB °« 259-6333 ASE |