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Show THE by ZEPHYRJANUARY-FEBRUAR- to change Cherie Gilmore When 1991 endec, I marked the occasion by hiking to my favorite arch and trying to think profound thoughts about the previous year. I failed miserably. This year, there is not an arch in sight (unless you count die seagull monument, located somewhere to the rear of the Brigham Young statue in downtown Salt Lake. It does form an arch and as far as 1 know I would be the first person to actually hike to it However, even if I made it without being run down by a car, a bus or a carriage drawn by a horse drunk on exhaust fumes, it's doubtful that I would be allowed to sit beneath it and think thoughts profound or Eve New Year's 1992 looks like with as So another it ends, Barry Manilow and otherwise). But what is it they think. not to his white piano. Watching all those people trying so hard don't want to think about? 1992 wasn't such a bad year. Was it? It started out with our president half a world away, which from where I sat looked pretty good. Safer at least. I'm pretty sure the president has to be in the country to activate troops overtures. So I felt safe with George in Japan. Then came the or make otherwise war-lik- e fateful dinner which subsequent political analysts have labelled "the beginning of the end" for George Bush. It was just a simple case of undercooked fish or something. It seemed kind of petty to make it into a global issue. But there it was, on every news program, in every newspaper. In disgusting detail. The theory seemed to be, "Hey, if the guy can't even handle international cuisine, how can he bring us back into the international market?" See the logic there? Well, I didn't either but I was nonetheless forced to watch the tape ad nauseum. It stands out in my mind as the main event of January. February saw Elvis getting his own postage stamp. This had many people in an uproar (probably the same people who saw an upset stomach as the turning point in a presidential career). The argument seemed to center on the concern that impressionable young children would be adversely affected by seeing Elvis' likeness on their letters to Santa. As one woman put it, "This guy did drugs. What kind of role model is that?" Hmmm. Well, you can see her point. Since those flamingo stamps came out, entire neighborhoods have become infested with the plastic yard variety. Obviously stamps have a much larger impact than previously suspected. Who knew? In March, Sgt. Stacey Koon and three officers, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno went on trial. The four white policemen were being charged in the vicious beating of Rodney King, a black man. There were no blacks on the jury, and four were members of the National Rifle Association, a traditionally somewhat conservative group. the whole horrible incident, their conviction was a done deal. Still, with a video In April, twelve bald eagles and a golden were killed, ingesting poison meant for coyotes. No dead sheep were found. But the year isn't over yet. In May Rodney King was brought back into the limelight. When the officers were not convicted, it was used as an excuse for looting and burning huge portions of Los Angeles. No jurors' homes were burned, nor their businesses looted. But an innocent white man on a I motorcycle was shot in the bade of the head and killed. And in the most sickening inddent his cab and from was have ever witnessed, Reginald Denny, a white truck driver, pulled beaten almost to death. He was saved when two people who had been watching the news raced across town to his aid. They were black. In June, George Bush travelled to Rio, to join the largest gathering ever of world leaders. They called it an Earth Summit and what happened there could change everything, could begin to reverse all the a trod ties committed against our planet. Said U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghal"Never will so much depend on what you do or do not do for yourselves, for others, for your children and grandchildren, for the planet and for life." Our president's reply? (A biodiversity treaty) "would hurt U.S. industry and stunt - PAGE 1993 Y recovery of the American economy in an election year." July: A headline reads, "Starving Wildlife Feeds African Drought Victims". The wildlife referred to consisted mainly of elephants. The town referred to is Con which means Place of the Elephants. In Alaska, another grizzly is shot for bothering people in their trailer. Did the grizzly realize he was trespassing? Did the elephants? August was too hot and there was not a huge amount of hope when Utah's bears went to court again in an effort to obtain reprieve. The hunters were more loud, more offensive, more illogical, as people are when they know their argument is indefensible. In a moment of unprecedented insight, the board agreed to cancel the Spring bear hunt The weather improved too. September was looking good for a while. A wolf had reintroduced himself to Yellowstone. I lopes were high. Then at the end of the month the wolf was killed. Slot by a man who "thought it was a coyote". A large coyote, possibly still covered by the ashes of the Yellowstone fires? Which raises again the question, "Should IQ tests be administered at the time a gun is purchased?" October came and went with not one coyote in the headlines. "Authorities" were still trying to decide whether or not to prosecute the wolf killer for taking out an endangered animal. They were thinking they probably wouldn't. After all, he didn't know what he was shooting at. Which raises another question: If 1 shoot my husband some night, mistaking him for an escaped convict, it's OK. Right? Relax, Patrick. We don't own an axe. Which brings us to November, when the entire future of our country was altered by the election finally of a president with a brain. But even more importantly...Superman was killed off. People who hadn't voted because the lines were too long waited in nine-hou-r lines to buy the comic book wherein the dirty deed occurred. The American Way. December, at the time of artide completion is still just a distant hope, or vague dread, depending on your point of view. Anything could happen; some truly miraculous things have already occurred. Just getting one hundred Moabites out to speak up on any subject is d the stuff of which formerly only dreams were made. To see them actually an is idea environmentally friendly supporting beyond the power of words to describe. I can someone there to was only hope capture it all on film. With that in mind, I have almost ridiculously high hopes for December and the coming year. Of course the bad things will continue and will continue to be the headlines. But the good things, the small moments of unconditional kindness and unexpected light, will be there to balance things out. They always have been. axe-wieldi- - - fever-induce- Pete & Co. 471 S. Main Desert Plaza 259-773- 5 From all of us at Pete & Company, we'd like to wish everyone a wonderful New Year, and say thanks for making 992 a wonderful 1 year for us. i, BOOKSTORE P.O. BOX 387, 83 N. MAIN MOAB, UTAH 8453Z (801)259-515- 4 1 1 IN CELEBRATION OF THE LAME ISSUE, OUR BOSS MS. KARILYN BRODELL WENT OUT AND BROKE HER LEG. THAT'S WHAT WE CALL REALLY GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT OF THINGS. |