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Show Letters from Our Readers . . . Dear bam: I would appreciate your printing this letter of appreciation appreci-ation to my many friends in Grand County. One of the most pleasurable experiences I have ever encountered was the delivering of a congratulatory telegram to me with attached signatures of my many old time friends. I have accepted the responsibility of a very important position in that of superintendent of the Utah Highway Patrol. I have prepared pre-pared myself both physically and mentally to accept this responsibility, and I will endeavor to maintain the high professionalism experienced by this department. As to your comments, Sam, about receiving your first ticket for running a stop sign at Fern's Cafe in 1949 (I being the issuing officer) I want to say I ran that stop sign myself many times when 1 was your age as I didn't fully understand under-stand the consequences that might have resulted. Since 1949 I have experienced investigating many tragedies resulting from nothing more than running a stop sign, and I am sure that the issuing of a simple stop sign ticket to you started you on the road to understanding defensive driving. driv-ing. I wish to thank my many friends in Moab for taking the time to send that telegram. Sincerely, Colonel Robert J. Reid Superintendent Utah Highway Patrol Dear Sam: The recent ad run by the LaSal Store in your newspaper promoting the Big Coyote contest leaves much to be desired, particularly knowledge knowl-edge of wildlife. We all want a "healthy deer population," some for one reason---some for another. That's not the question. More importantly, has anyone taken the time to evaluate the apparent problem we have with predation? To my knowledgeno. knowl-edgeno. We have a halfhearted half-hearted and half-baked program pro-gram which was initiated by our glorious State Predator Board in our own area, which will eradicate in one section and leave unattended another. (Will citations be issued against uncooperative coyotes who cross over the dividing lines?) Spending several thousand thou-sand dollars to carry out this program, it evidently never occurred to these novices that the proposed research has already been conducted and the results could be acquired through a simple request. The re-introduction of poison pois-on is not the answer, it would serve only to help eliminate additional non-target species which the coyote could prey upon. The statement in the ad regarding the possibility of hunters being able to do more to improve the herds is certainly true, but surely not by simply "killing a coyote." Have we ever fully considered the effect of the "slob hunter" has on this problem? How many times have we observed individuals kill a more natural prey of the coyote, just for kicks, i.e., rabbits, gophers, squirrels, etc.? Maybe the ad would have been more appropriately appro-priately directed towards educating edu-cating the "slob." This is not the total answer, but the wanton destruction of natural prey plays an important part in the balance. Most distressing is the apparent intent of a business to influence individuals to violate Utah State Criminal Statutes regarding cruelty to animals. The proposed forms of acceptable death listed in the ad not only set a poor example of maturity and demonstrate abominable taste and sick humor, but reflect the same lack of professionalism currently being shown by the Utah Big Game Board. I'm used to, and in fact bored with, the cries from sportsmen stating we're "bleeding hearts," "little old ladies in tennis shoes" and even "Commie pinkos," but keep in mind one thing: when a humanitarian accomplishes something in the way of benefitting wildlife, others also benefit, including the namecallers. For instance, who was it that responded initially to the sportsmen's request, condemning the elk transplant from Joe's Valley where animals were trapped, transported and released a short distance from a private hunting area? We need to work together and I would hope it would include the elimination of advertising in such a vulgar manner on the part of businesses, and a little more discrimination on the part of your newspaper regarding good taste in advertising. Sincerely, Barbara A. Ozment President, Intermountain Humane Society Dear Sam: Now that we have had time to think about the elections and to decide that the American People have spoken, let's try to break away from bitterness and hate experienc-; experienc-; ed in the last few years caused by fanatical ideas that ripped us apart with fear. The kind of fear used as a weapon to disrupt the smooth flow of our democratic processes. Fear caused Nixon to pick men for his cabinet who became overzealous in an attempt to get rid of certain politcal factions in society. We all felt the impact of that fear individually and collectively. Nixon thought he had a mandate from us to wipe out any group or organization opposed to his administration. It's this kind of fear that backfires. Our duty now that an era of hate and fear has ended, is to spot extremists who try to frighten us by predicting the downfall of our democratic system. We, as a free people, have exposed our own vulnerability vulner-ability to extreme ideas. We have gone through the test and have found that our system works. It's healthy. Many problems both domestic domes-tic and universal exist. They need to be solved by men chosen for their honesty and openness. These problems have always been with us but now they are more complex. Fear should have no part in seducing a free people. A fanatic may succeed in planting plant-ing a seed of fear in a small group. In turn this group may let that seed grow, blossom then send out bad roots to other groups. As the fanatical idea spreads an explosive moment arrives. At that moment a president is shot, or democracy is overthrown. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt Roose-velt expressed it, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Dwain C. Barker |