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Show VIEWPOINTS A-15 THE PARK RECORD WED/THURS/FRI, JULY 9-11, 2008 www.parkrecord.com EDITORIAL The perfect swarm: fastpitch athletes, their families; and us ou don't need to buy tickets months in advance, or pay greedy scalpers, in order to see these all stars. For the next three weeks Park City is hosting the Premier Resorts Triple Crown Girls' Fastpitch World Series and just about every diamond from Quinn's Junction to City Park will be humming with action. Pull up a seat in the bleachers or find a patch of grass on the hillside and enjoy America's favorite pastime against a beautiful Wasatch Mountain backdrop. Summer just doesn't get any better. Over the last six years of hosting the Triple Crown World Series, Parkites have become fastpitch aficionados. Whereas that eye-catching windmill pitch used to be a novelty, these days local residents show off their expertise with detailed critiques of different pitchers' windups and deliveries. And with about 400 Y mm PARKING IT, M WTT1NG IT teams from 20 states attending this year's tournament, fans will be busy marking their scorecards and handicapping future champs. In fact, the tournament has gained such popularity that, for the first time, Summit County will be represented by a team - the Summit County Silver Strikers comprised of players from North and South Summit and Park City. The tournament is divided into graduated age groups - ages 10-12 compete July 7-12, ages 14 and under play July 14-19, and the 16- and 18-and under girls cap the tournament with competition July 21-26. By that time we should all be expert fans. The next three weeks will be a little bit hectic, very emotional and extremely entertaining. We hope the players enjoy being here as much as we enjoy having them. Let's play ball. EXHIBIT! LETTERS TO THE EDITOR just in more $5 million dollar homes. Talisker has a chance to prove public opinion wrong. Let's hope their focus is first on fixing and managing a world-class ski area - management this majestic Editor: mountain deserves - rather than simply on Perhaps the management of Talisker more development. As I have written in Corp can give The Canyons what this The Record several times, the Park City wonderful mountain deserves. In my opin- area needs a plan for its development. For ion, the terrain at The Canyons is first rate its future. Talisker, we hope you first fix - one of the best, most varied and chal- The Canyons operation and facility while lenging mountains in North America. Its working with the community on developfacilities are at best second rate and, ment that can serve everyone adequately unfortunately, its management has been in the future. If the focus simply becomes among the worst the past few years. From funneling virtually all skiers onto an on more development, we all lose, and already overcrowded gondola, one which The Canyons will not live up to its incredoften opens late simply because manage- ible potential. ment is lost, to far too few places to stop, rest, perhaps use a restroom, The Canyons Jim Arnold has simply suffered from neglect. The Park City mountain needs some investment, and not A new day for The Canyons? July 4th: Let's do it again next year The Park City Ambassadors would like to thank the many volunteers who helped make the July 4th 2008 Parade and City Park activities a success. We could not have had a safe and enjoyable event without your tireless help. A special thanks goes out to Park City Municipal and the hardworking staff of the SustainabilitySpecial Events and Facilities Department. We'd also like to thank Park Silly Sunday Market - they were instrumental in providing assistance to the Park City Ambassadors in securing vendors for City Park. Park City Concert Foundation and Toby Martin were a great help in providing parade entertainment as well as the musical acts in City Park: Two Buck Tux, The Motherlode Canyon Band and Jagertown. To all the parade entrants, we thank you for your hard work and dedication. Last but not least we'd like to express our gratitude to all who attended the parade and City Park activities and for your support in celebrating Independence Day! We look forward to another enjoyable and safe July 4th celebration in 2009! : LETTERS P O U C V ?•;;; The Park Record welcomes letters to die editor on any \ subject. We ask that the letters adhere to die following :. guidellnes:They must indude the address and telephone ;• number of the author. No letter will be published under .'• an assumed name. Letters must not contain libdoui '< material. Letters should be no longer than 300 words k (550 words for guest editorials) and should, If possible, .• be typed. We reserve the right to edit letter* If they are too long of If they contain statements that are unnecessarily offensive or obscene. Writers are limited to one ; letter every 28 days. Letters thanking event sponsors • can list no more than six individuals and/or businesses. \ Sendyour letter to: edltor@parkrecord.com Joel Fine Richard Kurzban - Park City Ambassadors co-chairs, July 4th 2008 parade and City Park activities ' , • • • •':J; . .- . - • ','" ••' ••'['•"'' (* '-,';'••''':'S' ,,.< , . . ' ' -•••'•'-"•". '-• '*'•'.;'. . i , \ •,-• i , . : , .; • ' • - • , ; •;•" The Park Record Online Poll Cast your vote at www.parkrecord.com GUEST EDITORIAL Is the Tour de France history? Utahns: It's time to camp responsibly Submitted by ' Dr. Kevin Bunnell, live in Utah. Anytime you camp in a forested area in the state, there's a good mammals program coordinator, Division chance a black bear isn't far away. of Wildlife Resources Smells and odors - especially from If you enjoy camping in Utah, the food and items such as deodorants and following scene probably sickens you as perfumes - are what attract bears to much as it does me: people. Once a bear begins to associate You pull into your favorite camping a campsite as a place to go for a free and spot, ready to enjoy a day or two in easy meal, the outcome usually isn't Utah's backcountry. But what you find good for the bear. And sometimes it is anything but enjoyable. isn't good for those who camp in the Pop and beer cans are strewn around the campsite. Uneaten food and plastic food containers are scattered Anything that has a strpng smell, everywhere. For many of us, the effects including deodorant perfume and cerof irresponsible camping in tain soaps, could draw a bear to your Utah are simply an eyesore \ and a jolt to what we were campsite." hoping to find. After our initial disgust, we start cleaning up the area. Once it's clean, ^^^^m we settle back and begin to enjoy the beauty and solitude we came area. to Utah's backcountry to find. One of the biggest challenges we face But what many of us don't realize is as campers and cabin owners is complathat the effects of irresponsible camping cency. Most years, plenty of natural can be much worse than an eyesore and food is available, and bears don't need the 30 minutes it takes to get rid of it - to look for food around people. In those it can cost a life, either your life or the years, even a dirty campsite may not life of a bear. attract a bear. But when a poor food Between 2,000 and 4,000 black bears year hits-like it did last summer-this complacency can quickly turn into a dangerous situation for both people and bears. Every year, the Division of Wildlife Resources has to euthanize bears to protect the public. In some of the worst years, we've euthanized as many as 20 bears. It's not something our biologists and officers like to do. One of the most frustrating things I've dealt with is the knowledge that the trouble the euthanized bear got into probably wasn't its fault. The past or current actions of someone camping in the area are usually part of the reason the bear ended up in the situation it did. You can avoid putting a bear in that situation - and protect yourself and others who will camp in your spot after you - by following the simple rules found at www.wildlife.utah.gov/bearsafety. The following are among the tips you'll find at the Web site: Don't leave food out. Don't scatter food scraps and other litter around your campsite or cabin area. Don't keep food in the area where you're sleeping. Don't bring items with you that have a At least in the United States, Interest in the Tour de France seems to be waning this year. Do you think the Tour can rebound from the recent doping scandals? 1 You bet. Other sports have survived doping scandals. Why should cycling be any different? Nope. The Tour is toast. • The cheaters have won. May the man with the best drugs win. • Americans want an American winner. Until the next Lance Armstrong comes along, we'll go back to watching golf and wrestling on TV. strong odor. Bears have extremely sensitive noses. Anything that has a strong smell, including deodorant, perfume and certain soaps, could draw a bear to your campsite. Never feed a bear. As another camping season gets underway in Utah, I encourage each of us to clean up after ourselves and to be responsible campers. The safety of Utah's black bears - and our safety - depend on it. GUEST EDITORIAL The case of the Naked Lady raises a good question by Jeff Golden Writers on the Range We just finished the Fourth of July in Ashland, Ore. It's a big deal here, with a long parade past thousands of people, acres of waving flags, a fullblown fireworks extravaganza and a noisy day of music and cotton candy in the city park. You find the cotton candy among booths selling third-eye crystals and DVDs of alien crop circles, with Citkens for Peace and Justice gathering petition signatures just across the way. It's an eccentric mix that's become routine. This year the Naked Lady made it less routine. The Naked Lady just moved to town. In applying to march in the Fourth of July parade, she made it clear that she wouldn't be wearing anything from the waist up. In response, the Chamber of Commerce made it clear she wouldn't be marching at all. The community argument that followed was about what you'd expect. I happen to come down with those who still haven't figured out what's shameful or wrong about the human body - even within eye- to see the world. I can forget sight of young children. But a that when I get as stirred up as I letter to the editor of the local am about the barely-challenged paper slowed me down: "... the threat to civil liberties these 'Naked Lady,'" it said, "is the days. At the same time, I'd like uber-American. She is obnox- my town to be a place where the iously all about her personal sensitivities of people I don't rights unleavened by any sense agree with carry weight, too. of responsibility towards the While there's no basic right not commonweal. All her, all the to be offended in the public time ... The thought (that peo- square - a good thing, since ple like her) might actually be almost everything is offensive to an invas i v e species destrucThe letter reminded me of the old tive to the n a t u r a l folk principle that your freedom ends surround- where my nose begins. But that doesn't ings never e n t e r s help much when we can't agree over t h e i r the location of the nose." minds." T h e letter ^^^^^^^^^_ reminded me of the old folk principle that somebody - I'm not fired up your freedom ends where my enough to say to a neighbor nose begins. But that doesn't who's offended by public nudity, help much when we can't agree "Sorry, pal, this is your problem, over the location of the nose. I not mine." don't see that a topless woman I think that's what the letterin the parade hurts anyone, but writer meant by a "sense of I have slowly figured out that responsibility towards the comthere are ways other than mine monweal." He introduces a shade of gray into the picture. After letting it settle in, there's something I want to ask him and anyone else who wants to make sure that clothing's not optional in the public square. Do you support anyone's right to buy a Hummer or mega-SUV and drive it anyplace and anytime at all? Probably so. But in a time of dwindling access to oil, a war to keep our IV plugged into remaining reserves and the onset of climate chaos, could it be that these drivers, in the words of the Naked Lady letter, are "all about their personal rights unleavened by any sense of responsibility towards the commonweal?" In recent land-use battles around the West, have you sided with those who think rural landowners should be able to divide and develop property pretty much however they want? If so, how are you looking out for the community's need to stretch road-building dollars, to conserve fuel and maintain shrinking groundwater supplies? Is there the least bit of responsibility towards neighbors who thought they were settling into quiet rural surroundings? What about CEOs who earn more before lunch each day than their front-line employees earn in a year? Few would question that companies have a right to set their own pay schedules. But if a healthy stable society depends on its hard-working members having a stake in the future - and some minimally fair linkage between effort expended and reward received - how well are we looking out for the commonweal here? The Naked Lady didn't invent being "obnoxiously all about her personal rights." But maybe she points the way to a new possibility. If people who disagree about public nudity decided to push tenaciously for "responsibility towards the commonweal" across the board, just think what we might be able to get done together. Jeff Golden is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He lives in Ashland, Ore.,, and is the author of "As If We Were Grownups"and "ForestBlood." The Park Record Staff PUBUSHER Andy Bernhard Editor Nan Chalat-Noaker Staff writers Jay Hamburger Pat Parkinson Joe Lair Adia Waldburger Greg Marshall Jason Strykowski Contributing writers Tom Clyde Teri Orr Jay Meehan Joan Jacobson Larry Warren Steve Phillips Editor's assistant Kristina Eastham Copy editor David Hampshire Special sections editor Amanda Stofko ADVERTISING Classified advertising Bridget Morgan Cristin Hicks Office manager Kandilee Snyder Circulation manager Lacy Brundy Accounting manager Kristi Ruppert Advertising director Valerie Deming Advertising sales Wendy Halliday Kimberly Gallagher Lori Gull Steve Aldous Jennifer Musial Arwa Jundi Erin Donnelly Advertising Assistant Nikki Norton Editorial production Photographers Scott Sine Production director Matt Gordon Production Scott Schlenker Ann Marie Kloogh Anastasia Varlakova Sara Ely Pat Hamaker Amy Barrus PRESS ROOM General Manager Head Pressman Pressman Pre-press Controller Office Staff Bill Olsen Don Ferney Jimmy Elkins Mike Hall Valerie Waite Sandy Trost Ethel Bradford Mail Room Marilyn Case Ray Scoggins Distribution Matt Conrad • • * ..''";>,;"-7'\T.?'.i *: |