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Show Community Comments . . . I President Jimmy Carter's promised veto of the $10.2 billion public works bill this week, because "it's wasteful, and it spends the taxpayers' money in a very inefficient and inappropriate way," may make the nation's leader look like a knight on a white charger to some, but to others, including me, it only proves that his priorities are way out of whack. It's about time the President began being concerned about inflation. And it's about time he realized that government spending is the leading cause of that national cancer. But I submit there are a lot of ways the President could go about curbing that spending without curbing development of water projectsprincipally in the West which may seem wasteful to a resident of Manhattan, but which could spell the difference between a future or no future for residents of the arid West. President Carter, I'm sure, is looking at cost-benefit ratios developed to support various water projects to be funded in the public works bill. Anyone who has followed water development in the West can tell you that it is impossible to put a dollar value on water particularly water to be used for culinary purposes. Residents of Moab, faced with extremely limited use of water this summer, would be willing, I'm sure, to pay considerably more for water in future years, if they could be assured of having enough for all their needs. And as the cost of culinary and industrial water goes up, cost-benefit ratios change. I must agree with Utah Congressman Gunn McKay who said this week that President Carter just doesn't understand the importance of water, or the problems of the West. As for government spending or saving, if that is what Mr. Carter is really looking for, he should be demanding across-the-board cuts in employment by all federal agencies; he should be actively trying to stop the corruption in federal employment (in just the General Services Administration alone last year, $100 million was stolen by crooked staffers, and who knows how long that has been going on or will be allowed to go on?) . How many other federal agencies have skeletons like the ones that are beginning to tumble out of the GSA closet? The President's planned veto has all the markings of a move to improve his popularity at the polls, without sufficient knowledge about the impact in the Western States, which he visits only for the purpose of getting away from it all for a little fun and frolic. sjt Whether residents of Moab and Grand County realize it or not, one of the largest landlords in this county particularly in Moab and Spanish Valley is not just the federal agencies which are so visible here, but the State of Utah. The State owns huge blocks of land in Southern Utah, and that land is administered by the State Land Board, which will be meeting in Moab in a session Wednesday morning at St. Francis Episcopal Church, which is open to the public. The Land Board is currently faced with a number of important decisions relative to it administration of the lands, revenues from which are dedicated to the support of the Utah school system. Currently, it is the basic policy of that agency that lands not be disposed of, but kept in public ownership and offered for use on long-term lease. That policy, it seems to me, is highly questionable in a state which is starved for revenues from private property taxes, and in a state which is dominated by federally-administered lands which are becoming increasingly difficult to use for almost any purpose other than eyeballing. The decision to keep state lands forever in state ownership, except for a few exceptions, appears to be a case of "monkey see, monkey do," following patterns set by federal landlords, backed by legislation passed by a Congress loaded with legislators from states which have no public lands at all. Utah's State Land Board has an opportunity to be a little innovative in its management policies. That, as I see it, should be the chief concern of that agency. Simply following down the path blazed by the feds just won't get it. Grand County residents who have concerns they would like to communicate to the Board will have their opportunity next Wednesday. I hope they take advantage of it. |