Show s f By Jack After Alter sitting silting for one and one and half hours through hearings Saturday and Monday I t have come to the conclusion one must have a pretty deaf ear and a good seat endurance or else come away with your mind filled with misunderstandings and utter confusion It is nice to ha have ve an open mind but who can have that anymore The hearings I attended seemed to be contests on who could wear the other down with the repetition of situations that exist or would exist if the proposed actions were taken Both Doth hearings were required by the federal government and everyone seems to be extra of anything to do with the government A government official is now fair game for anyone who wants to question his motives and so- so called narrow reasoning for forthe forthe forthe the task he has at hand At the Park Service wilderness hearing Saturday the nature lovers and conservationists dominated the plea for increasing the wilderness up lock-up beyond that of the proposed plan of the Park Service to preserve the area for future generations of visitors On the other hand the grazing people pleaded not to lock up the area in a freeze deep-freeze but let grazing rights continue The Park Service took the stand that the present situation would not be changed much at Dinosaur National Monument since the hunting mining and timber harvesting were already closed and that grazing would not be terminated any sooner under the wilderness classification than it would be under the present existing legislation Water development projects could be permitted only through Congressional action either way they stated Well anyway the conservationists groups think we have a tremendously fragile situation at Dinosaur that needs the protection of a wilderness designation not just the proposed acres but acres At the airport hearing Monday I was amazed to hear that so many people seemed to know so much more than the engineers and technicians that have been working with wilh the airport all these years Why they haven't called a hearing sooner and straightened up the so-called so mess is a mystery to me Again just jast t as in the Park Service hearing the officials charged with the responsibility of the problem were doing it the wrong way and now is the time for a drastic change The movement to move the airport was the theme of the opponents at the airport hearing even though they were informed that this was not the issue at hand at atthe atthe atthe the hearing I I have often heard people say they just couldn't get around to writing letters I think maybe I have found a solution to this problem from the looks of statements sent in Call a hearing on a matter and watch the letters pile in Just be prepared for the fact fael that they all say about the same thing There is only so much to be said and then it goes goeson on like a broken record from there Dont Don't get me wrong hearings are good but they dont don't solve any problems In fact they seem to create more problems than they intend to bring up The responsibility is still with those given the charge of managing our natural resources and facilities to the best Lest good of their potential and the good of the people The reason we have governmental agencies such as the Park Service and Aviation Commission is to help manage our resources They are in a aspot aspot aspot spot between the in groups and the out grou groups and no matter what they finally decide they will be criticized They are going to nel need the wisdom of Solomon to come up with the right answers We hope they dont don't grow weary going over all alt the statements as we did at the hearings There were two to three times more written statements than oral statements submitted After Aller all is said and done its it's a good thing more is said than done I dont don't envy those saddled with the responsibility of making future decisions concerning concerning con con- our recreation areas ht also ilso our water waler sewer hospital swimming pool library zoning and other growing pain problems that are on the horizon Im I'm pretty sure a the problems of today will look insignificant to the problems we face in the near future The object is to recognize our problems go after them in a constructive way and solve them one at al a time We have competent leadership in our city and county governments and if there then was ever a time they needed our help and support it jt is now Itow Now is the time lime to insure the future growth and Md stability of our community that it may continue to he be the wonderful place to settle down dowel and make our permanent homos homes and m rear families m nl a it desirable environment |