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Show SIROCCO TIMES - JUNE 1994 - 5 Town Council Says Yes to Underground Power Both the Planning Commission and the Town Council voted unanimously to deny an exception to the ordinance requiring electric lines to be buried. Owners of a lot way up the Porcupine Rim side of Holyoak Lane had requested an exemption so that they could install overhead lines. Other lot owners in the area did not want overhead power lines. CV’s Underground Power ordinance allows exemptions only if Jets'R Us we asked them to share their naviga- When we first moved to Castle Valley, I envisioned pristine skies. tional secrets. “Hey Brudda, we just follow dem jet trails.” Jet trails can be useful in other Instead, we were greeted by a nonstop parade of thundering jets zooming down I—84, one of the main air transportation routes in the country. Congratulations, Charlie. We moved 2,000 miles only to find ourselves living underground installation would pose an under a freeway overpass. As far as I was concerned, jet unacceptable safety risk or would contrails ranked right up there with compromise the reliability of the CV electrical system. UP&L evaluated the overhead power lines and billboards as project and stated that there were no substantial safety or reliability risks. Both overhead and underground power have problems. In general, in-law exclaimed how lucky we were to have these beautiful jets streaking over one of life’s minor irritants, so I was all the more astounded when my mother- upper level weather indicators. These contrails form when heated hydrogen (a by-product of burned jet fuel) mixes with atmospheric oxygen to make water. If the temperature is cold enough, the water immediately freezes into ice crystals. The brighter and longer the contrail, the colder it is up in the jet stream. If you keep your eye on the contrail’s drift, you’ll also get an idea of which way the jet stream is blowing. Not only do contrails illustrate our heads. overhead power is less reliable (damage from lightning. winds, ice, power pole damage), but underground power ways. For example, they make great “Say what?” “The jets, they’re so beautiful.” she weather conditions, they also have a sense of fiscal responsibility. While the is harder to repair once something goes said, clasping her hands in delight. “Yagottabekid’nme,” I said, wrong. All power problems in CV the past few years have come from slapping my forehead with a loud smack (my standard reaction to cirrus and the cumulus float on by without a care in the world, jet contrails are Clouds that Pay Taxes. In fact, last reliability problems with overhead selected mother-in-law comments). year Grand County received $97,000 power. While the cost of underground had been grating on my nerves. Instead power is high, it’s even worse to have The constant jet traffic overhead of seeing blue skies and fluffy clouds, I from the airlines just for the privilege of passing overhead. Lately, I’ve been watching them to pay eventually to convert from imagined stressed-out flight attendants through binoculars, much like overhead. Some CV residents are now ramming food carts down narrow undertaking this expensive task. aisles, and insurance salesmen with cramped knees staring down at me through Plexiglass windows. The long birdwatching. In fact it’s easier for me to identify the different jets than it is to tell a king bird from a flycatcher. You can tell them by the pattern of their contrails tagged the sky like chalked graffiti. Beautiful? Hardly. contrails: the pinched stream of a DC9, the triple wake of a 727, the parallel The cost of power line extensions is a reasonable concern for lot owners at the ends of roads, because of UP&L policy: the lot owner requesting the extension must pay the full cost of the extension, even though the line runs past several vacant lots. Only after another owner connects is the original owner reimbursed for that part of the line used by the new connection. —Jack Campbell I do admit jet contrails can be quite useful. I once knew two Hawaiians who regularly delivered sailboats from California to Waikiki. They’d show up at the docks without a sextant or even navigational charts. We all thought they relied on Ancient Polynesian Star Knowledge. One night at the harbor, JANIE TUFT - SALES AGENT/OWNER ski track of the 737, and the grand fourfurrowed sweep of a 747. So I have slowly adapted to the jets’ presence, a constant reminder of the outside world. Whenever I find myself afflicted with Valley Vision, a peculiar shortsightedness in which the world is not only flat but four miles long, I just look up and watch the jets streaking by at 28,000 feet. It brings me to my senses. And while I still have a hard time agreeing with my motherinlaw about the aesthetics of I-84 jet traffic, I do keep an eye out for airplanes, especially at sunset when the sun bounces off the aluminum skin and the ice crystals trail behind like the 29mm 2545 Eddie 47 E. CENTER STREET ' MOAB, UT 84532 disappearing wake of a ship at sea. I 801-259-2650 - FAX 801-259-2699 watch, and the world grows larger. ———Charlie Kulander P.O.Box 1121 - Moab UT 84532 Res. 801-259-8360 - Leave Message M.L.S. REALTOR |