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Show 27 jTHE UTAH ENTERPRISE OCTOBER 24, 1977 PRAGMATIC DOGMATICS Swenson and show business by Kent Shearer Democratic State Chairman Ronald J. Swenson, in his freshman elective term, has been initiated into the perils that attend his position. He has my understanding, for I've been there myself, albeit on the Republican When I held the GOPchairmanship, I took some solace in the old story don't stop me, because I know youve heard it about the young man who became a circus attendant. His chore was to clean up after the Big Shows elephant herd. Day after day, he followed the behemoths about, shoveling their leavings. It was a dirty, smelly job, but when asked why he did not quit, the attendant replied: What, and give up show business? Now it may be that the stewardship of donkeys is less arduous than that of elephant but I doubt it. Swensons tribulations with this wtf. the face-to-fac- Swenson naturally wants to help him. In early August, that help came in the I form of a letter to Democratic legislators. believe it would be prudent. Swenson wrote, side. afcavesr official taking sides for one Democrat against two others. A motion to censure Swenson was lodged with that partys central committee. e More unnerving, Swenson received abuse from party loyalists. But. alls well, and in this case Swenson's choice. Greener, became the only primary winner who is a Democrat. Whether due to Swenson or not, Hiatt and Peyton dropped by the wayside. Faced with this Fait Accompli, year's Salt Lake City commission elections, in fact, suggest that the ass just as the pachyderm on occasion will mess even on its keeper. Here's how Swenson got in trouble. Two city commisssion seats are up this year. One incumbent is a Democrat and former Ralph McClure aide, Glen Greener, and the October central committee meeting gave Swenson a vote of confidence, and tabeled the censure motion. That having been said, the incident no doubt afforded Swenson his baptism of fire. Far more serious tests and traumas await hint. In India, deposed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi seeks the chairmanship of her minority Congress party to protect her from criminal Here, a party chairmanship prosecution. For the Democratic party to reelect Commissioner Greener." Trouble is at the time there were two other identifiable Democrats who. along with nine not so identifiable, vied with Greener in the October 1 primary which narrowed the field to four. The two were Jack B. Hiatt a former Wayne Ow ens worker, and Steven Lee Peyton, once with Paul Van Dam. So. complained the Hiatt and Peyton adherents, here we have a Democratic party 1 mxis- tfgHOOSflATiaOS. IM doesnt even do that. Someone like Swenson must stick with the post if. but only if. he doesn't want to give up show business. m umEc? m HE SIX MOUTHS - 15 OAlU MOW seu-- s IT AU- - he IMSM3MJCE. vfl OvO omr 10-- 2 OCR mseer & THE swoeur. geme-msfe-- owmt CCMP6X6- TREATS - A-- ? his GVRL-- S if mm- - meno$: PlMS wmoHLV HOE HE mRKS poobr. IT to m COT-- nnl an i: Salt Flats artistry by Parker M. Nielson , Si'-- - To most Utahns, or for that matter most Californians and is forced to cross the anybody else who from time to time western Utah desert, the Salt Flats are a God forsaken expanse, useless to man or beast other than as a means of holding endless miles together Utah and Nevada. They are seemingly where nothing grows, or apparently lives. There is the Bonneville Raceway near Wendover, an occasional salt or mineral extraction plant, and the Dugway military installation with its bombing ranges and poison gas testing and storage facilities but little that would qualify as cither attractive or of value by most peoples standards. But now, along comes one who wrould turn this blight of nature into a thing of beauty. A man named Arthur Paul St. could be James, an artist, has a notion that the salt desert utilized as an enormous natural drawing board, if you will, to create paintings and art objects of gigantic scale to be admired by overflying aircraft. St. James is not your ordinary artist. His fancy runs to the He drew national exotic, and frequently on large scale. attention in 1967-6- 8 when he decided that there was no reason for neckties to be of their conventional shape, so he designed of clothing with lumps, geometric ties and other articles In 1968-6- 9 he assisted in bulges and other expressive features. a nine story high creating the worlds largest floating sculpture, called the Madona. design by Chris Roberts in Sausalito But getting back to the Salt Flats. The project St. James has in mind was inspired by his observations of the mysterious land sculptures of the prehistoric South American Indians in Columbia and during a four year period in which he studied Ecuador. St. James is himself one half Cherokee, so his affinity for Indian culture and art is perhaps natural. His idea is that Indian religious symbols, such as symbols of fertility or good fortune, could be painted on the desert floor, much as with a sand painting but on a much larger scale. Bulldozers could dig enormous trenches, perhaps miles in length, which would cast shadows to be incorporated in the painting. The barren salt could be excavated, according to a design, mixed with a dye and replaced to create enormous designs. St. James is in the process of studying the feasibility of his dreams. The willingness of the landowners, whether they be and private or governmental, must be determined. Ecological is the other objections must also be assessed. Then there chemistry of the soil to consider and whether the elements would erode away his trenches and other massive sculptures. If St. James were to accomplish his dream it could bring or notariety to the Salt Flats. Such an enormous painting like sculpture could become the signature of a community the state of Wendover, or Tooele County, or perhaps even Utah. It could also bring international recognition to some of the commercial developments on the flats, if they were to adopt it. St James points out that several major air routes across the salt desert. He feels such an art object could serve as a navigational aid, and while 1 have some reservations about its value for that purpose, it surely would become a landmark and to the pilots would undoubtedly call such a unique feature attention of many thousands of air line passengers. |