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Show Statehood Day enjoyed in Moab Statehood Day, Jan. 4, not- tng the state's 82nd birthday, ' was carried off in Moab in grand style, and with a large number of out-of-town dignitaries digni-taries and guests, including Lieutenant Governor David Monson. A busload of special guests from Salt Lake City arrived early in the afternoon, and those wishing to then took part in a tour of Arches National Park and the Steen Mining Museum. Others participated par-ticipated in a self-guided walking walk-ing tour of historic buildings I in downtown Moab, Facts , i included on the map and flier used for the tour were gather-. gather-. ed by historian John Hoffman, ' a member of the Statehood Day Committee. The official activities started start-ed with a banquet at the SunDowner at 6 p.m. Highlight High-light of this event was the honoring of Charles Steen and Bates Wilson for their contribution contri-bution to the area. Details on this are included in a separate story. Star Hall Program At 8 p.m. a near-capacity crowd gathered at Star Hall for a 1 Vi hour program including includ-ing speeches, music and fun. First presentation was the "Moab Alphabet Song" sung by Andrew Somerville and recorded many years ago. The song includes many historic names and quips out of Moab's past. Chamber President Ron Auger gave the welcome and introduced Dr. Milton C. Ab-rams, Ab-rams, president of the Board of State History, who conducted conduct-ed the program. A barbershop quartet including in-cluding Mike Arohart, Bob Wilkerson, Bruce Negley and Don Davis sang two traditional tradition-al numbers, followed by Margie Mar-gie Snyder, who sang a tear jerker. Behind her on stage Arehart and Negley mopped their eyes and wrang their handkerchiefs, which gave forth a stream of "tears." Michael D. Gallivan, executive execu-tive director of the Utah Department of Development Services, addressed the group during one of the several strictly serious presentations of the evening. Silent WcNtcrn Moab Community Theatre's "Silent Western" followed, including in-cluding live silent acting, a slide presentation which indicated in-dicated to the audience where the actions were supposed to be taking place, accompanied by Don Davis, Mary Rogers and Lavar Hibl in a string trio. During the action, a gorilla shoots a cowboy with a banana bana-na and kills him, a chase ensues around Star Hall and the gorilla is finally laid out also. Some of the actors included Chris and Cheryl Kierst, Sally Crossland, Beth Heggeness and Bob Wilkerson. Wilker-son. Following this Dr. John D. Hunt, professor of Forestry 5 1 I V, i , . 1 , f : y. : W - .. ' "". r"' x ' V ' ' - " -: j . . - - l r - f -- . ' , " i The confrontation between Bull Dozer Ron Dickerson 1 and Sahara Clubber Retsik Nod was only the first of a series of rib-tickling similar situations as stereotypes 1 met head-on in Moab Community Theater's u presentation of "Best of the West," written by author Edward Abbey especially for the Statehood Day program Jan. 4. The play, a 20-minute presentation may be filmed by KUTV in Arches National Park for airing over Channel 2. lMJJ)UJ .JvwwmW'W(WlJlW, Wiii. 'JUIJWHU .j.,j'wra-w"i: .auvwwwwi" Mi c i., f - J v . ' I V,-' ' - . ' . . ..- .j" :,;.'" .. ; ": -r . , :i " .....v,,.; r 't. s . - .. ' I r , - f if r-' ' - - i ! !' Ranger Julie Walton of the "National Park Circus," $ calls for reinforcements when she finds that the Sahara Clubbers did not have a hiking permit, and, on the (right, Lonesome Cowboy Al McLeod did not have a permit to look for his cow, lost 40 years, and Mr. and Mrs. J. Parnell Turkey of Sioux City, Iowa, did not have ;1 a Winnebago permit. Indian Michael Ashcraft did not have a permit, nor did Bull Dozer Ron Dickerson, and the Statehood Day play "Best of the West," ended in chaos with Bernie Bush Bill Higham philosophizing about the state of affairs. (Photos by Annette Kearl) and Recreation at Utah Stale University gave the Statehood State-hood Day address entitled "Recreation and Tourism in Southeastern Utah: Playground Play-ground or Battlefield?" Lydia Skewes, who is Moab's Mo-ab's oldest native at. age 93 was presented with a bouquet of red roses by Gen Pope, president of the Literary Club which is Moab's oldest organization. organi-zation. The official proclamation of statehood was read by Lt. Gov. David S. Monson, after which Dr. Abrams quipped that the governor or lieutenant lieuten-ant governor traditionally performs this task because ordinary people can't manage the intricate language of the document. "Happy Birthday" Group singing of "Happy Birthday, Utah" was led by little Molly Stevens, accompanied accomp-anied by Dorecn Crossland. The presentation by Moab Community Theatre of the Ed Abbey play, "Best of the West" was the final major event of the evening, and drew hearty laughter from the audience as actors portrayed por-trayed the stereotypes depicted depict-ed by the author. A final song by Margie Snyder rounded out the evening. On Friday morning the bus took visitors to the historic Warner home now owned by Emma Walker and on a tour to the Dewey Bridge on the Colorado River before returning return-ing to Salt Lake City. Displays of work by local students were featured in the courthouse, and the DUP Pioneer Relic Hall and Moab Museum were open for visitors visi-tors during the Statehood Day celebration. |