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Show PAGE 30 THE ZEPHYR AUGUST 1992 feedback the readers respond Zephyr, The other day I waa walking across the street to get to the library. As my feet were sinking into the tar I couldn't help but think of Jimmy Walker. Apparently Jimmy's dream since boyhood has been to build a road across die Book Cliffs. This is an admirable dream for a young boy, and it is good to have ambition at a young age. Jimmy never forgot his dream, even when he was ousted as county commissioner. Indeed, he even created a job for himself (at taxpayer expense) for the sole purpose of building this highway. Now this Book Cliff road is supposed to cost a lot of money, maybe as much as $50 million. But the price really won't be a problem because the road will bring great numbers of tourists to Moab. I didn't do very well in Tourism 101 so I probably don't understand these things, but how many tourists do we really need here? And somehow, it's hard for me to imagine the Jones family in Santa Monica, CaUfv peering at a map of Utah and saying, "Oh, look, there's a road over the Bode Cliffs. Let's go to Moab this year. Of course, there is also the if you build the road, oil will come" angle. This implies oil companies don't have the cash to build their own roads. y So, as I was sinking Into the street on my way to the library I was thinking of Jimmy. Wouldn't it have been a much greater dream just to try and fix the roads here in town? I suppose it's not as glamorous as having your own "Jimmy Walker, Book Cliff, Memorial Highway." Perhaps some dreams are best left in the minds of children. Dear Jim, open with a quote from Jack Campbell's artide in the July Zephyr. "Do we want people in office who are trying to be popular and liked by their friends, or do we want people who are willing to make the hard and unpleasant decisions we need? And will 'we the people' give our respect to someone who is willing to make sound but unpopular decisions, who is willing to say 'no' to us when it is necessary. This is a time to say "no to the initiative petition even if it's unpopular. There are at least thirteen different changes to the system of county government proposed by the initiative petition. The local Democratic party does not support the petition primarily treatise of the change to a nonpartisan system. There would be 12 other changes if it is passed, not the least of which would be making the change effective within 100 days. Do you agree with Ken Davey who feels all political parties are irrelevent in Grand County? If the petition passes, you do away with the benefits of the partisan system, but none of the problems. The Democratic party is known as the party for change; not to maintain the status quo, but to change for the betterment of all. In your editorial you wrote, "one democrat (me, I presume) suggested I (Stiles) was a gambler, wilting to take risks with the future of Grand County." You never went on to say how this petition will change county government for the better. Are you so angry andor disillusioned with the present system that you cannot envision anything worse? You say every great change was the result of a gamble: the American Revolution, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Soviet coup, yet all these examples were changes which resulted from partisan politics. Do you think that Jefferson, Lincoln and Yeltsin just showed up one day? They were all products of partisan politics. You ask where were all the Democrats 3 months ago? I went to the meetings; missing 2 due to hospital board meetings. I was a member of the research committee. Before it was finalized I spoke with several other members of Citizens for Better Government and said then that I could not support the petition if it was nonpartisan. You quote a whopping 60 of public opinion polled supports nonpartisan. Jack Campbell wrote in his last paragraph of the July Zephyr that public opinion polls are now used to evaluate whether an action is right or wrong and you've given us a fine example by your above quote. You may recall our mascot for the Democratic party is a Jackass, the hardworking beast that built a nation before the internal combustion age but is stubborn when walking too dose to the cliff edge. Is the petition a plan with one goal of maybe, just maybe, changing the present commissioners at all costs within 100 days? Is it a plan to "fix" county government created mostly by individuals who admittedly haven't been involved in government? Do you feel hat all the apathy of the '90s you wrote about 6 months ago is now gone, never to return? Would we be debating his petition if we had 2 commissioner seats open his year instead of one? Again, if your anger andor despair is so great that all the other issues don't matter; the dump, the road. Atlas, he pipeline, tourists, no vocational opportunities, few educational opportunities, inadequate housing, et al.; then please go down to the courthouse, pay your $32, for the special and sign an intent to run as county council person for your distric or election. We have a right to know how his petition will make county government better and who will those dunces for county coundlperson be before the petition is approved in November. 1 - Sincerely, Stan Ferris Moab Dear Jim: I appreciate and enjoy your newspaper and I look forward to it Thanks, however, I can no longer restrain my opinion. With each edition your paper becomes more bland, imbalanced, and boring. Your writers seem to be massaging each other egos and basking in the glory of environmental victories. Your contributors are articulate intelligent people who seem caught in a web of banality. Reality as I perceive it in this instance parallels the French Revolution. Beheading people for mere allegations marked that event. Within a few decades that movement went from bad to worse and ended at Waterloo. The environmentalist revolution seems to be following the same agenda at about the same speed. The beheading by environmentalists is not near as physical or graphic as the French revolution but the results are just as traumatic This country has been and is being savaged by allegations of the Ecos. A rush to judgement is rampant Whenever someone shows independence from the movement (Grand County Commissioners) then ridicule, scorn, and grotesque allegations are made against them. This t. causes them to Everyone involved becomes destabilized and negative One must ask oneself. Who started this and keeps it going and how much more misery are they going to at-lar- ge . Sincerely, Peter Haney ' Dear Jim, ... , On a recent food sortie at City Market I paused on the way out to check the bulletin board for (A good feeding place for us culturally undernourished types). After the usual yard sale and lost dog posters I found a smaller typgd letter asking for "attention." On it was listed the names (now edited out) of two dtizens erf our community publicaDy and without style of cultivating and Belling marijuana to preprobable cause being accused witch-huschoolers by the unsigned "concerned parent" Whether or not this is true is irrelevant This type of legally unsubstantiated character assassination (that would be illegal if signed) may be indicative of a much stronger underlying current. Are the "People" growing unhappy to the point of excessive extreme escapism? Chaos in LA caused by an all to often overzealous police action? This country is a time bomb looking for a place to happen. The small scarlet letter may be the seed of our discontent that has infected 1 who-knows-w- over-reac- inflict? nt Joe Stocks Joe Stocks I It's been a long time and it's great to hear from you. I see you still haven't lost your sense of totheT-Ii- n humor. Coincidentally, Mike Sakmacha,myold days, recently sent Sam Taylor a letter. I think it's time far a reunion. the good old our small isolatai community. hysteria caused by the likes of Nancy Reagan and the "hew world order is mare r Nazi German Jews. The erosion of our to than similar the persecution experienced by Anti-dru- g J.S. ' - . . pre-wa- Whatever it might have been you hoped we would do for you this summer quarter...but you didn't ask...the time is now past. Ask us now about fall quarter. You might feel (and look) pushy, but, we promise not to let on. We'll just assume you're "interested." So are we-- in helping you accomplish SOMETHING. It'll be business as usual at SUCCE through August and September, so stop by or call with your requests. You CAN find us right between City Market and the Golden Stake. if attempting to turn left (or at all) off Main St. is more You can also call us at than you want to tackle these days. 259-74- 32 Utah State University in Moab C . . - v - . v - i ; t s r f j it t - 1. 1 i j t. .. t. 4', |