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Show WASATCH COUNTY COURIER MARCH 21, 2001 Protecting the Public Interest Development Contract for construction at Heber City fine line Airport points between get the the out the hangar THE OLYMPIC MOTTO: HIGHER, FASTER, ensuring that the citizens — best return possible when their assets are being bartered ver- assets live. That is the problem with the bid at Meas in the valley with etc. Fa%, local businesses. ‘The Courier has a long history of encouraging residents of the valley to keep their business here. We still ll JUL overwhelming concern we want to keep local dollars here in the valley, we can’t help but think that this deal smacks of cronyism. And we thought that only happened in Boun ys) government. Silly us. sae entities, however, have a higher threshold to observe. Governments Se The expressed was that the recommended developer was a local and that his partner, the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) deserved a chance to make some money since being an FBO wasn’t. the most profitable job in town. Coupled with the fact that the FBO apparently was recruited at the last minute as the local developer’s partner gives the impression, valid or not, that “the fix.was in.” As much as strongly believe that with your private money, all things being equal (or even close to equal,) give the nod to the local business. Governmental nee Pn record, financial incentives to the city, infrastructure commitments, sus the natural inclination to keep business A of the TOR a awarding hi fiiate bea the the airport. In the meeting ce the decision was made, about whom to award the contract there was no discussion about which proposal was the better bid, i.e. which proposal gave the highest return to the city, which bidders had the best track Sek about best deal possible, regardless of where the bidders for the public RENAE have a fiduciary responsibility to the citizens to ensure that when government assets are transferred to private interests that the public gets the erek Jensen’s story this week AK inne = eae Sirsa eee eee ss Sehares Sa phenanthrene Sia Seca Ses Lue oe State Judge Tena of Utah was denied it’s motion to dismiss the Timpanogos Tribe’s request for an Injunction Utah stopping the “Department of ; State of Wildlife Resources and the Ute Indian Tribe from denying the Timpanogos the right to hunt, fish and gather on the Uintah Reservation. Though seemingly a small thing, this is a huge victory for a tribe that the State of Utah — insisted didn’ t even exist. and all of the Great Basin to beyond the eastern border of California. Brigham called the area “Deseret.” After the U.S. “purchased” the territory from Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. In 1850 Congress, which wasn’t overly fond of the Mormons and Brigham Young, renamed the territory from “Deseret” to “Utah”, because the Indian tribe closest to Washington, on the eastern border of the territory, was the Utes. However that portion of the Territory of Utah (the ex-State of Deseret) was now Colorado was separated from Utah Territory in 1860. In 1879 after the “Meeker Colorado, Massacre” in which in Meeker, Nathan Meeker and ten other whites were killed by the Utes, the whites of Colorado insisted that the federal government remove the Utes from Colorado. In 1881 the Ute Tribe was forcibly moved to the Uintah Reservation in Utah. At the time the federal government made promises to the Utes about establishing a permanent reservation for the Utes in Colorado, but never made good on that promise. Since that time the Utes have, primarily by force of numbers, laid claim to the Uintah Reservation in Utah. The... problem. -is that ~ the Reservation was established in 1861, “for the Indians of Utah.” The term “ Indians of Utah” could not have meant the Ute Indians, since at that time they were living in Colorado, not Utah. The - For those of you unfamiliar with the later to become the western portion “Fimpanogos, they are the originals Indians that inhabited this area. Judge of the State of Colorado. The huge expanse of Utah Territory was later Timpanogos carved before the Utes were even in Utah. So up into parts of Colorado, Campbell ruled that the Timpanogos could go ahead with their suit, over- Arizona, ruling all four points brought by the and Wyoming. So the important thing State. If the Timpanogos are successful in the subsequent trial (and I believe they will be) there is the potential for some tremendous upheaval in Nevada, California, Idaho to remember is that while the State of Utah was named after the Utes, there were few, if any, Utes living in the relatively tiny area of Utah Territory that Uintah were Reservation moved to in 1867, the long in the opinion of many, the Ute claim of ownership of the Reservation is bogus. Worse yet, over the years the Utes have been zealous about selling the resources of the reservation, such as land, water, oil, gas and even elk herds to nen-Indiatis. Kind of like someone moving into your house uninvited and then selling off parts of the surrounding land over the years without your permission. Is procession ownership? If the Timpanogos are successful in Federal Court in retaining their hunting and fishing rights on the Uintah Reservation, the question of which - tribe really owns the reservation starts to come into clearer focus. The next logical step would be for the Timpanogos to reassert their ownership of the reservation. Imagine the confusion that would lead to in the Uintah Basin. What happens to the agreements made between the Utes and-th ites? What about the fate of the Central h Project water? The mineral lease royalties the state has been collecting for decades? The land whites have brought from the Utes over the decades? Are all these deals in jeopardy? No wonder the State of Utah and the white citizens of the Basin are nervous. I'd hate to own a title insurance company in the Uintah Basin. The Timpanogos have been shunted aside by history and the government for well over a century. The State of Utah, the Utes and the white citizens of the Uintah Basin need to understand that they disregard the rights of the Ti impanogos at a own a 3 Be our Guest Commentator The Gone Wasatch County is| looking for guest commentators. If there’s somcumne: that fires you up, send it to us and weoe Speak out. Let Wasatch County know how your feel. Couri LCL 210 East Main street, oe print it. UT 84049, (435) 654- 2531 fax or email: adorn Quiasaishcountreouries com _ ial the by is Sa et Campbeil, District week of what ye Federal last portion ama decision The western Is 5 sie a ‘later became the State of Utah. RES SIE SRI n ae Uintah Basin. To understand the relationship of the Timpanogos and the Utes you first have to shed some historical baggage all Utahns carry. The name Utah did come from the Ute tribe. HOWEVER, you must remember when Brigham and company came to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 they claimed all the land from the crest of the Rockies (in present day Colorado) the Colorado Plateau, the Mojave Desert ae hes BY DAN STEPHENS |