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Show Cyan Magenta Yellow Black A4 Sanpete Messenger - Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition IN OUR OPINION ... TO Thanks, Fairview, for resisting visual clutter On April 2, 2005, BBC News reported that English Heritage, a preservation organization, had told retailers that they should tone down their signs to prevent their brands from dominating the streetscape. Four months earlier, Fairview City officials demonstrated their British and Scandinavian heritage by cutting through the billboard forest issue. The city council unanimously passed an ordinance banning “offpremise signs.” The preamble states that “excessive and inadequately controlled off-premise signs endanger the uniqueness and scenic beauty of Fairview City.” We commend Fairview’s leaders for their foresight and thank the landowner who turned down a largesum offer to erect a billboard on his property. Those actions support a Sanpete landscape architecture study conducted by Dr. Michael Timmons, professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning at Utah State University. He stated that for over 100 years, the integrity of Sanpete’s landscape has been maintained, and its continuity should be protected. Fairview City’s sharp shooters hit the landscape bull’s eye in recognizing that the Heritage Highway 89 tourism experience would be degraded by the billboard proliferation found on I-15. Sen. Robert Bennett addressed the Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area experience during a meeting in Sanpete County in 2001. He said that when he was a young man traveling throughout the state with his father, Sen. Wallace Bennett, they would travel south on U.S. 89 and return north on U.S. 91, or vice versa. He noted that U.S. 91 is now I-15, and U.S. 89 is now the route one must travel to catch the true flavor of Utah. We agree. We also appreciate the efforts being made by communities in the county. They, like Fairview, are preserving streetscapes and landscapes with ordinances that protect our outstanding scenic resources. At the same time, we know that businesses must “get their message out.” We encourage them to use small signs in the mode of the old Burma Shave sales pitches fondly remembered by seasoned Sanpete residents. We believe that UDOT could be persuaded to accept that type of signage along Highway 89. After all, who could resist this messages of yore: Listen birds These signs cost money So sit a spell But don’t get funny Burma Shave! Or, this classic that shows traffic constants over the past 50 years: Is he lonesome Or just blind That guy who drives So close behind Burma Shave (Note: For other Burma Shave classics visit seniors-site.com/funstuff/ burma.html.) Wednesday, April 6, 2005 THE EDITOR... Jobs, employment, and our children It would be very conservative to say that Manti has 40 children in any given age group. This means that Manti makes about 20 new families in the world each year. In order for Manti to provide for it’s own we need at least 20 new jobs in the area and 20 new homes each year. There are many who would say, “Oh do we have to? Can’t we just continue to expect other communities to take them on and provide jobs and space for homes because we don’t want to use any of our farmland?” However, the new industrial park south of Manti is an important need, yet is it being blocked? We favor farming to a serious fault. Well, the use of farmland or urban sprawl is a problem for every community across America. Water is every bit as much a problem for them as us. Wanting no growth is not compatible with a Christian life. The scriptures teach multiply and replenish the earth. We have been taught to not interfere with the fountains of life. Christians know that it is pleasing to the Lord to have a large family. Do you realize that wanting no change, no growth and development is what causes third world countries? It causes almost all war around the world. People kill for control of the space. They have forced large segments of people into the wasteland to starve because they wanted the space all to themselves. They have killed whole villages. It causes much contention. How would the Lord view it? Is it selfish? Business competition, growth and development are what make America so great, powerful and wealthy. Farming can be moved out far enough to provide space for our posterity to build homes and have jobs other than being a farmer. When we refuse to recognize this, we fail to provide for our own. Look at the vast spaces of Central Utah. Is all this unused land really no good? Or is it unused because we are too selfish to share the space and water? We have been forcing the vast majority of our growth on other communities for generations. They must go where the jobs are. We do not provide them. Our towns become full of retirees and indigents on welfare; money provided by other communities that have let growth and development in. Without money and space for jobs and homes for our own, we would be building a third world country. Businesses such as Barclay’s Mechanical that provide jobs in Manti are to be supported and applauded; not caused expensive problems. Is there no one who will share the space for jobs? Alice Leatham Manti Agriculture base alone won’t provide jobs we need The comments of Kent Appleberry in regard to Mont Bona’s influence in shaping economic development policy in the county reveals Mr. Appleberry’s strong but ill-conceived bias in favor of agricultural development. This type of outdated agricultural bias has significantly hindered Sanpete County economic development. One only need stand beside any of the highways leading north at six in the morning on any weekday and watch the streams of traffic headed north to the Wasatch Front, (and the decent-paying jobs those people can’t find here), to understand the negative impact an “agricultural development first” philosophy has had on this county. Throwing money at agricultural development as a means of solving Sanpete County’s economic problems is, at best, wishful thinking. More realistically, it is an exercise in foolish and wasteful naiveté. I, Mr. Appleberry, and most other Sanpeter’s love agriculture. But we must recognize the cold, hard fact that our county will never achieve the kind of economic stability and growth required to keep our children and grandchildren here if Sanpete continues to rely principally on the type and number of jobs offered by local agriculture. Here are a few facts those who promote an “agriculture first” economic development philosophy simply can’t get around: • Significant expansion of agriculture in Sanpete County is impossible because of the stranglehold Millard County holds over Sevier River drainage water development. Without the Gooseberry Narrows dam being completed, we simply do not have the water resources necessary to develop significant new agricultural acreage in Sanpete County. • The number of jobs provided by agricultural development are few by comparison to the same dollar investment made by other types of commercial and industrial development entities. • The quality of agricultural jobs is generally very low. Wages paid by agricultural jobs are usually at the bottom of the wage spectrum. Few agricultural workers have job benefits such as health insurance, 401k retirement pro- grams, vacation pay or sick pay. Farm workers in Sanpete typically can’t afford to build new homes or send their kids to college or put away savings for retirement. The proof of the pudding here is the fact that most of our Sanpete farmers themselves have to find work off the farm in order to support their families adequately and have good job benefits. It is not my intention to demean agriculture. I grew up, in large part, on a farm. Agriculture is an important part of Sanpete’s heritage and remains a significant factor in our local economy. But unless Sanpete finds ways to promote itself as a good place for manufacturers and businesses to locate as an alternative to the Wasatch Front, as well as support programs that will make Sanpete County a high-priority tourist destination, as Mr. Bona wishes, we will continue to suffer economic deprivation and continue having our best and brightest children be our principal, most valuable, and sadly irretrievable county export. Steven J. Clark Chester Build indoor arena in Manti This letter is in regards to an article published in the March 30 Messenger about the need to install an indoor arena for Sanpete County. I support this facility. It is clear that many Sanpete residents feel the same. What is in contention is the location where it ought to be built. The suggestion to place it on the old county landfill is not a so- lution and should be abolished. It needs to be near infrastructure and centrally located. Why not locate it in the county seat? Why not locate it in and around the existing fair grounds? There is ample land north and west of the fairgrounds to grow. This project is not for one city alone to accomplish and should be a county project. I’m also aware that a lot of man hours and negotiations on this project were had with our last county elected officials; however, we stand to lose funds if additional work is not completed through our current elected county officials. Overall, I’m pleased to see interest of citizens in Sanpete working in this direction. I just hope that common sense prevails. Ken Kelsch Likes Sanpete County just the way it is A short time ago my husband and I took a trip to a land where every house looked alike - they were all painted the same color and texture. The lawns were all the same size and shape. There were trees, and they were all the same too. Every house had flowers but they were all the same color. There was not an animal to be seen or heard. No barking dogs or stray cats. No smells of familiar farm animals. Everything seemed to be in its place. I asked someone about the place. I asked them, did they cut their own grass and work in their own yards? Not on your life. Everything was taken care of; they couldn’t plant flowers if they wanted to because it was not in the ordinance. They couldn’t plant a tree they liked because it was not in the ordinance. Cats or dogs could not be seen or heard—this was against the ordinance. There was nothing out of place—or was there? As we drove back into Sanpete County we were welcomed by familiar sights and smells. Every house is different— some kept up a little more than others. You could see old farm implements in yards and an old car or truck here and there that didn’t even have a license on it. Was I happy? You bet I was! I love Sanpete just the way it is. And for the few of you who don’t like how Sanpete looks I can tell you were to go. And by the way, the place were we traveled to wasn’t in another county or state, it was just down the road a piece, near St. George. Teri Morris Ephraim Learn How To Sell on eBay The Right Way! 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