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Show THE ZEPHYR APRIL 1993 PAGE 5 youngsters to head out into the world armed with the best education available, but also a commitment to their own profession and the pride that true professionals insist upon in removing from their ranks those who disgrace and embarrass the whole. To make it work, taxpayers will have to be convinced the school board means it when they say the education of our young people is the most important goal. And teachers will have to be convinced that die school board and the superintendent's office is capable and committed to making their hiring and firing decisions on actual performance, and not on which teachers can curry individual favor with administrators and school board members. Up until now, the school board has demonstrated its worthiness in stepping forward and meeting the challenges of the future. This is their chance, and our chance, to up the stakes, and see if all the talk about excellence in education is real or rhetoric FACT Congressman Bill Orton's office announced that the Utah congressional delegation of Orton, Karen Shepard, Jim Hansen, and senators Orrin Hatch and Bill Bennett has succeeded in convincing Secretary of the Interim: Bruce Babbitt to sign emergency regulations that will allow film projects on public land to continue without having to comply with current rules that require waiting periods of up to 45 days for permits. The Congressman, whose district encompasses Southeast Utah, said the economic importance of file film industry required giving local Bureau of Land Management offices more "flexibility" in determining if specific projects need study or public comment. OPINION This is the BLM, folks. This is the group that argued before the Interior Board of Land Appeals that public comment should be the exception, not the rule. This is the group that was ready to build a boat ramp near one of the few nesting areas of bald eagles in Utah, and would have, if that pesky public input didn't kill the plan. Maybe "flexibility" should take a back scat to accountability. In fairness, the BLM has also made a number of good decisions, and launched some positive programs, but the last thing they or any other government body needs is less public involvement and oversight. Films are nice in Moab. Because most production companies are interested in the most striking scenes, they tend to showcase some of the grandeur of the area in their theater releases machine of the '90s and commercials, and we all get a kick out of watching a them local hires the Road. residents and The River down well, something pays tooling industry out of town motel owners haven't quite come around to accepting. Most of us think it's kind of neat to have Kris Kristofferson or Gena Davis or, my favorite George Kennedy, hanging around for a month or two. But let's come back to reality. In the overall picture, film production isn't the greatest thing since cordless phones. Yes, it provides jobs, high paying but sporadic. And local government should do what it can to encourage the industry. Most film projects are short-terthey come Film Moab The in, they hire people, they go away, and they clean up after themselves. Commission (one of the most effective government entities with the hardest working staffs) states that the industry brings in $5 million to the local economy each year. Taken at face value, that means the entire year's film activity is worth, in terms of the local economy, about two weeks of visitation at Arches National Park during the height of the tourist season. A significant sum certainly, but not a make or break number. And a doser look at those numbers shows they are in fact exaggerated. The $5 million film and other expenses as industry figure indudes the total of motels, restaurant, reported by the film companies. But what it doesn't take into account is that many of the film projects come into town at the same time we are overrun with tourists, the spring, summer and fall. So many of the companies are arriving in town at the very time when motel rooms would of already be filled, granted not with glamorous third assistant public relations independent film production units, but filled nonetheless. And keep in mind that many of the film personnel who come into town, go out an (he set at dawn, and return after dark. They are fed by catering companies, sometimes from Moab, but often from These visitors don't go to local restaurants, they don't stop in souvenir carbo-load at convenience stores. But the Winnebago and station wagon set, shops, they don't Fabulous Canyonlands Region for their legion of grandchildren, to the from hoping buy gifts nieces and nephews and sample the cuisine at the local pizza, burger and fine food outlets, find the motels packed to the rafters, and pass on down the road to destinations on the road to the Grand Canyon. So a segment of the local economy could (and are beginning to) state that film companies coming to town actually hurt local businesses. Is the film industry bad? Should we discourage it? Not at all. It's part of what people here do for a living, it should be helped to the degree it makes life better for all of us. But motion pictures and commercials are far from a mystical answer to our problems, and their importance should be kept in perspective. The Moab Him Commission is a public, government body, despite screams to the contrary from commission members. Board positions are filled by a vote of the county council. The film commission office is in a public building. The film commission paid staffers are in reality county employees, with the taxpayers, not the film industry, picking up the tab. Despite the boom, many of Moab's service employees are pitiably paid, seldom with benefits 0 and even less eften given any sense of longterm security. If the county is going to spend Moab set the a year, it might be a better longterm investment to Maids, Maintenance, up and Sales Clerks Commission, to improve the lives of a group that has trouble catching the ear road-huggi- rent-a-vehi- ng in by AM... by 5 PM. 1 1 ready in by 5 PM... ready by 1 0 AM. C41 PROCESS ONLY (color prints) Of course, I'm de a satisfied customer. vice-presiden- ts ...1AM out-of-tow- n. $40-50,00- smiling. 64 South Main (Between Subway & B. Osborn Books) of Congressional delegation. m (JJeaudeans "dream cafe'" Bagel Bakery & Espresso 690 S. Main 259-BAK- E (in the Miller Shopping Center) There 'aint no sugar on them donuts, but dang... this coffee's tasty. m |