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Show a Community Comments Relations between Grand and San Juan Counties have improved considerably over the past few years and it's great. There was a time when residents of the two counties fought over just about everything, for lack of something better to do. But we've matured a great deal. We've gotten to the point where we can rejoice over each other's prosperity; sympathize with each other's defeats and overlook each other's shortcomings. But action this week on the part of the two county commissions, who agreed in principal that portions of San Juan County which are physically and culturally tied to Grand County should be transferred to Grand County legally, has to top the list of cooperative efforts and attempts at understanding mutual problems. The fact that the upper portion of Spanish Valley lies, not in Grand like Moab, but in San Juan some fifty miles from the County seat has caused many problems over the years. San Juan County reimburses Grand County for educating the school students who live in upper San Juan County after a complicated bit of bookkeeping on the part of both school districts. San Juan County road crews hard pressed already in trying to repair and maintain roads as far away as Oljato, finds it even tougher to get on their County roads on the west flanks of the LaSal Mountains. Residents of Upper Spanish Valley and Pack Creek, whose kids go to school in Moab, who go to church and social activities in Moab and who do most of their shopping in Moab, have every right in feeling cheated when they aren't allowed to take part in elections for officials of Grand County agencies who have a greater impact on their lives than the officials of our Southern neighbor. The agreement doesn't mean that the boundaries will be changed overnight. It has been nearly half a century since any major county line adjustments have been'. made in Utah, except where litigation between certain counties changed boundaries by court action. . ' ' - Before anything final can come about, majorities of the electorate voting in a general election from both counties involved must approve the change. And then that approval has to be ratified by the Utah State Legislature, and that body hasn't had much experience in such matters. But commissioners from Grand and San Juan County are to be highly commended for taking the bull by the horns, realizing that this is a major problem that will take major surgery for correction. In setting their course, they've sure got full support from this corner. sjt It's almost like a conspiracy, and I wish I had fifty hours in each day instead of a mere 24. Not only have we been hit by the need to respond to a draft management study for Canyonlands National Park (which must be read fully for a valued response), we've got a similar, only bulkier, document to respond to from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. And then there's the one from Capitol Reef don't forget the one for Cedar Breaks and this week the one on the future status of boating on the Green River below Flaming Gorge. Then the Forest Service is bouncing around its latest RARE II study on roadless areas and seeking comments; and the BLM is seeking input on a variety of issues of great importance to the people of Southern Utah. As a friend of mine from Denver wrote this week, "As I read your paper each week, the one thing it has brought home to me is the tremendous expansion of involvement in our lives of the Federal Bureaucracy maybe that should be bureau-crazy. It seems that half the issues discussed in The Times involve multiple government agencies at what expense?" I'm preparing responses as fast as I can in an attempt to meet deadlines set by the various public agencies for comment. But darn it, I've also got to make a living, and that seems to take longer each passing month (I spent five hours Monday filling out various government quarterly report forms hours I wish I could have spent in production). I envy some of my friends who are able to get by on seasonal employmentworking diligently at various seasonal jobs during the summer, but spending their winter months whiling the time away at a typewriter or attending hearings and workshops. |