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Show Letters from Our Readers Dear Sam: As a former resident of Moab and an avid reader of your newspaper I would like to comment on Mr. Alger's letter to you. I have been employed as an independent contractor at the Huntington Canyon job site of Utah Power and Light ever since its inception and would like to recommend to anyone who has any doubts about pollution from our power plant to take the same course of action as Ray did and go see for yourself before making judgement. Utah Power and Light has spent several million dollars on this one operating unit alone to make sure we have no pollution and I am getting a little sick of all of the complaints from brased individuals indi-viduals and the EPA. As our good friend and commissioner from San Juan Co. said in a letter to the Salt Lake Tribune recently, "Do they think we can eat the rocks?" I don't believe the Good Lord would have placed all these sources of energy on this earth if he hadn't wanted us to use them. Utah Power & light has gone "all out" to build one of the most attractive installations installa-tions I have ever seen and I think that anything that provides employment and future comfort such as this, is downright beautiful. I commend Mr. Alger on his action of taking time to see for himself. Sincerely, Lee Campbell Dear Sam: The article from Harper's you quoted in last week's T-I had a familiar ring, and on checking I found it was familiar, indeed. Most of Marking's piece is an almost word-for-word quote from Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, Soli-taire, pages 226 and 227. I doubt very much if Marling ever stood on the top of Tukuhnikivats, which is where Abbey was when he noted the geographic features with the picturesque names. Marling's piece is either a coincidence that strains the credibility or an act of low-grade, crummy plagiarism. Take, your choice. Enclosed is ten bucks for another year of the T-I. Happy New Year to you and your staff. Salud, Virgil Hays P.S. Hey,. Saml Ask the circulation people to give me back the rest of my name. For the past year they've cut me in half, so to speak. The name is HAYS, not HA. I get the papti-anyway papti-anyway because the gal who runs the post office here knows me. Hell, everybody here knows me. Aint I the mayor of this village (pop. 200)? To the people of Moab: To the people of Moab who helped my wife and I on the night of December 23, 1975, we wish to express our sincere appreciation for the aid given us in the time of need. To a man named HEAD who called the ambulance for my wife after I waved my arms in shock and called for help. To the man who helped lift my wife off the cold pavement and held a compress to her face until the ambulance arrive. To the two of them who also placed me in the ambulance and then drove my car to the hospital. To the ambulance crew and the nurse at the Allen Memorial Hospital who gave first aid until the Doctors arrived. To all these my sincere appreciation goes out. To the Literary Club, The Community Baptist Church and others who helped with consolation when it was needed. The many visitors who asked and offered sympathy. sym-pathy. To the hospital staff at the hospital who cared for her and incidently me. To Dee and Helen Tranter who not only gave me comfort but also sang Christmas Carols on the eve of Christmas. To the Latter Day Saints who gave comfort-all these and many others including includ-ing members of the Seventh Day Adventists. To the individual indivi-dual families and our friends who not only offered but gave physical help we express our thanks. In other words we are thankful. W. D. & Merna McArthur Dear Sam, An article in the December 30 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune noted that due to the pipeline construction there, Alaska is suffering from "just about every conceivable manifestation mani-festation of organized crime." A Justice Department official stated that Alaska, as a result of the pipeline construction, "is experiencing rapid growth in a wide variety of organized criminal activities," including theft, labor racketeering, prostitution, pro-stitution, fraud, gambling, political corruption and an influx of petty hoodlums from the "lower 48" states. To counter, this invasion of lawlessness, Alaska is requesting re-questing large sums of money from the Federal Law Enforcement Enforce-ment Assistance Administration. Administra-tion. The money will be used to reinforce the state's law enforcement agencies. All of which brings to mind the fact that Colony Development Develop-ment (Atlantic Richfield, et al) is now in the final stages of planning for the construction of an oil- pipeline that will go from western Colorado, north of Arches National Park, through Moab-Spanish Valley then on south to connect with an existing pipeline in Lisbon Valley. Colony officials have stated that for the Utah part of the pipeline's construction their base will be Moab. Of course Moab's pipeline will be smaller than Alaska's but as illustrated by what is happening in Alaska, where-ever where-ever big money goes, crime and corruption soon follow. Because of this, perhaps it would be well if Moab law enforcement and housing officials offi-cials would start coordinating certain of their activities with Colony's construction schedule. sche-dule. Our city and county law enforcement officials should start preparing the paperwork needed to get financial aid from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and our housing officials should start working toward new housing, not only for the pipeline construction workers but also for the unsavory camp followers who are sure to arrive just behind them. No doubt there are federal funds available for this too After all, forewarned is forearmed! Let's show Alaska jftt- how prepared a really progress-minded Utah community com-munity can be. Oh, I realize that many of our good citizens in southeastern southeast-ern Utah object to applying for federal aid, because it leads to federal "interference" with local autonomy, but in the case of sudden economic booms, such as that being enjoyed by Alaska, it becomes a matter of choice between "interference" "interfer-ence" from the federal bureaucracy bur-eaucracy of from organized , crime and corruption. The federal bureaucracy would seem to be preferable, and such a small price to pay for progress, economic development develop-ment and the containment of Moab's own organized crime chapter. Fran Barnes |