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Show EDITORIAL | Page 2-Wasatch Canyon Reporter, 8 - 21 March 1995 No other topic has so galvanized the Wasatch populace as the Olympic Games have. It would seem to me that a place that so culturally resembles Cleveland would be desperate for an influx of world class sport and art. It is true that the World Bowling Congress has made a second home out of Salt Lake; and this publisher is not arguing that those ladies are hell on a bowling pin. I saw Maybelle Hitchner dispatch a 7-10 split with nary a hint of trepidation. On that day, at Fairmont Bowl, she walked a little taller than the rest of us mortals. I merely believe that there is more in the realm of ~ sport in which Salt Lake can participate. Canyons Shi Late and often wrong; please use the information below mostly for phone numbers. We are in Mecca, and we do not want to share, and I understand this. We live Doel UY WAL in an area where the economy is robust, the children plentiful, the mountains and forests beyond compare, and the beer...thin. But culturally and historically we are | jax t bl Alta Shi Lifts 501-742-3333 Alta Snow Ki Epo 501-572-3939 spread a little lean. Sure Karl and John rule, but look at Boston. Celtics, Bo’ Sox, _ Patriots, Museum of Science, Quincy Market, Historical Naval Yard, Fenway Park, Number of lifes | operating 5S of S Base Depth 182 < Charles River, and Harvard. The place is lousy with history... and stuff. Everyone in the World has heard of Lake Placid... but I have been there. Except for having the Olympics, their only claim to fame is a Champion sweatshirt outlet. Lake Placid is a nondescript village, and all of the vertical feet at Whiteface Ski Area (“Iceface,” to those who’ ve been there) do not equate to a board foot of Wasatch timber. Yet by hosting the Olympics, Lake Placid has become known around the world. I want my children (assuming the benevolent nature of womynkind allows me to procreate) to live in a city that has hosted one of the most spectacular events that we humans render. One of the formative experiences in my life was the 1976 Olympics, watching Franz Klammer overcome phenomenal odds to win the downhill. I will never forget the sound of the Austrians frantically ringing cow bells and exhorting their young hero to go beyond the realm of physical possibility. Mr. Klammer extended far beyond himself that day. He touched a ten year old boy in Vermont, and millions around the world with his efforts. I remember my first downhill race, when I hit seventy four miles per hour, and promptly blew out of the course. As the snow settled around me I felt a strange kinship with Mr. Klammer, and appreciated the magnitude of his accomplishments. ; | , Okay, to some of your complaints: 1) The tax burden. Let us be honest here, when was the last time that the government spent money on something of which you truly approved? I don’t like to think of the number of bullets that I have paid for that _ have been shot at people I would have gladly befriended. How about the millions the Utah government burns every year on foolish anti-abortion vs. pro-choice legal battles. I don’t want my taxes wasted there, but they so rarely ask me. I am fully confident that the Olympics will reach Denver International levels of over spending, but that is irrelevant. “1.4 million...budgeted for VIP and executive snacks.” This is just one of the “facts” that has come burning off my fax machine of late, from radical groups opposing the Olympics. How does one estimate the appetites and costs of executives and snacks in the year 2002? Clearly this was a part of “Statistics 101” that I snoozed right through. What happens when the Olympic oversight committee gets a bad jones for pizza with Maine lobster topping? Suddenly that measly “1.4” balloons to a cool two million. All of that is part of the cost of dealing with bureaucracy. 2) The crowding. _ This will be a problem, but one that is inevitable with the growth rate that we currently enjoy. With prescient planning we can avoid many of the problems that loom. Hopefully we can use some of the Olympic money and planning to create an effective public transit infrastructure. 3) Utah’s treatment of gays and same sex marriage. — Why is it that every time some controversial topic comes along, small, albeit important, groups feel the need to attach their agenda like some congressional rider. Just because your sexual, religious, ethnic, or socio-economic class is mistreated in Utah does not seem a good reason to be against something as fantastic as the Olympic Cost of an all area adult lift Ticket $25 . Come of a half-day adult lift Ticket S 19 Games. LA NN Eports: rae | | mid mountain Half. Day: 9:15 to 7:00 ot 7/00 to g:30 ae Br eS CF Rh’ RI Brighton’s Snow Report Number 801Number of lifts operating 6 of 7 Base Depth mid mountain 122” Cost of an all area adult lift Ticket $28 Half Day Ticket $25 Half day starts at 12:30 Night Skiing Available Mon-Sat ! wy snowbird Snowbird’s General Information Number 801-742-2222 Number of lifts operating | 9 of 9 Base Depth mid mountain 129” Cost of an all area adult lift Ticket 1/2 Day Ticket $40 $33 Half day starts at 9:00 to 1:30 or 12:30 to dose Solitude Solitude’s General Information I dream of the day when the finest two man luge teams, bi-athletes, and short track speed skaters (the spiritual descendants of pro roller derby) can rub elbows in the Salt Lake Olympic Village. I get giddy when I think we may have world class Curling in Salt Lake, and others would just fritter away the opportunity. I think the Olympics in Salt Lake will be positive in almost every way. The only part I dread is the opening ceremony, which will no doubt resemble some nightmarish choreographed western skit with Michael Jackson in spandex and rhinestones, and horses humiliated beyond excuse. Personally, I believe we ought to open up with the winner from the Cowboy Poetry Contest (in Elko, Nevada) and let him (or her) read some poignant piece about 801-534-1400 Number of lifts operating Base Depth mid mountain Cost of an all area adult lift Ticket Cost of a Half day Ticket guilt, trucking, and dead dogs. We are sure to run into some hassles, but if the crowds Back Country Avalanche and \Veather Info: really get bad, we can always send them to down to Sundance to catch a matinee with Bob. : | | The EXACT time (a nuclear navy clock!) 1.900.410.TIME Number 7 of 7 Eee $29 $23 Half Day Starts at 12:30 364-1581 |