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Show ByJockWallis ITJK I There seems to be an underlying current of dissention in our community that is opposed to almost anything that presents itself. It seems there are always those who enjoy "cat and dog" encounters. Maybe this is a healthy check and balance method to settle important problems. However, a newcomer to our community was startled by the diverse ideas presented in such emotional and accusings ways at a public meeting recently. It looked like a good family fight. Hopefully it was not as vindictive as it appeared to the newcomer. Sometimes the frustration and disappointments vented at a public meeting muddle the issues involved. We sometimes become caught up in the emotion and forget the purpose of a hearing, which is to gather input on a specific situation that will usually affect the future growth and welfare of the community. A prime example was the sale of the Uintah County Hospital to Hospital Corporation of America. A handful of individuals were determined to stop the sale at seemingly any cost. This issue was fought feverishly for several years, but the sale has turned out to be a very acceptable way to provide medical sen-ices to the community. Maybe this opposition is the safeguard to protect the community from falling prey to plans that would not be in its best interest. Sometimes it is hard to sort out the self-interest reasons from the real issues. Having community input in deciding community problems is essential. Public meetings should be conducted with the objective of hearing and airing all sides of an issue in a constructive open-minded way. They should be a listening and understanding process, not an asserting and fighting process. They should be a fact finding process and not a fault-finding campaign. They should be detailed information gathering meetings, and not demonstrations demon-strations against professions or personalities. per-sonalities. At the present time Uintah County and surrounding areas face major decisions on how to solve the problem of impact in our schools. Should we have a year-round school program, double sessions, or will building new facilities solve the problem? AVe are facing water problems as more growth comes to the valley. We are. undergoing expensive changes in providing a sewer system for the valley. There are problems involved in expanding the city limits into non-city areas of the valley. There are road problems. Another major issue is the proposed incorporation of small rural areas surrounding Vernal city. Should the Maeser, Naples and Ashley areas incorporate in-corporate into three separate cities? Will this solve their problems or create new: ones? Another issue up for debate is where to put a truck route to handle heavy truck traffic across Ashley Valley. We have listened to those who don't like any of the proposed solutions to any of these issues. And also we often hear the cry, "Let's solve our water and sewer problems once and for all and stop fighting." That would be nice. Perhaps the problem for most of us is in accepting change. No one likes to have someone else dictate drastic change in our status quo. The purpose of public input meetings is to give every individual an opportunity op-portunity to express himself and become a part of the change making process. These meetings are fact and idea missions. They should be presented in such a manner that respect is given to every personal idea and truth and error are distinguishable. These meetings should not turn into oratorical debates or name-calling struggles. The issues involved are too important. Many of these issues will take hours and hours of study, research, debate, and input before a solution is reached. Fighting and name-calling isn't going to decide what is the best solution. This simply creates tunnel vision and nothing can be accomplished because of too many stand-off situations. How rewarding it would be if we could all sit down and study the problems facing our community together with the assurance that no decision would be made until every angle had been considered, then maybe solutions could be reached that would he the best for the community. .As our community grows we are all going to have to adjust to a new life style and added expenses involved in acquiring needed services and improvements. im-provements. Let's take the attitude that our growth problems can be solved for the best of the entire community. Iecause everyone will share in these solutions. |