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Show some help on the way Word this week that Stanley Womer, Federal Co-Chairman of the Four Corners Regional Commission, Com-mission, believes his agency should actively get into the air route business, comes as good news to persons from smaller communities in his region, who have been trying to "go it alone" to retain (let along improve) existing commercial airline service. Mr. Womer's belief that airlines may have actually been trying to prove "disutility" in some small communities is a belief that many local people peo-ple have held for some time. By proving through statistical information that communities were not using existing service, airlines have tried to convince con-vince the Civil Aeronautics Board that service was not warranted at all. The statistical reports are not hard to come by. All it takes is poor schedules, missed flights and overflown stops. All these things are difficult to prove, but most people in the know agree that they happen. Mr. Womer is recommending that a surveillance program be set up in the Four Corners to analyze CAB filings and their effects on the region. This would provide the basis of an "immediate plan of defensive action." The wholehearted involvement of the Four Corners Regional Commission in the transportation problems of communities within that region is commendable and makes good sense. It is difficult to visualize an improved economic base in a region while the region's transportation base is continually eroding. Mr. Womer's recommendations to the full commission, com-mission, we are sure, will get the wholehearted endorsement cOthe people of Southeastern Utah. |