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Show I A-13 WED/THU/FRI, APRIL 29-MAY 1, 2009 www.parkrecord.com We must share the road U tah's cycling season is off to a rocky start - and not just because of the weather. One cyclist has already died after being hit by a pickup truck. That accident in Salt Lake City last week was a grim reminder of the dangers that local riders face on Summit County's side streets and highways. Not long ago, a young woman who was riding with her fiancee in Kamas was killed by a careless driver. In another incident, a man was seriously injured by a woman who was talking on her cell phone as she plowed through the intersection at Quinn's Junction. But we would not presume to say the motorist is always at fault - riders make mistakes too. In fact, tempers are still simmering over a confrontation between a truck driver and a group of cyclists last summer. During a cycling event on the Mirror Lake ;Highway, a local driver swerved toward a group of riders. He claims he wanted to warn them not to block the road. They saw it as an assault, especially when the truck clipped one of the bikes, sending the rider to the pavement. The incident deteriorated, resulting in criminal charges, and this week the driver was sentenced to 30 days in jail along with some hefty fines. Some say 30 days is not enough for someone who TORTURED... used his vehicle as a potentially deadly weapon. Others say the sentence is too punitive. We say let's just make sure it doesn't happen again. The conflict between motorized and non-motorized modes of travel is long-standing. Ever since the first automobiles ran horse-drawn carriages off the road, it seems, drivers and riders have clashed. As sure as Summit County's snowbanks begin receding in March, cyclists take their place on the gravelly shoulders. Two weeks ago, when the temperatures were unseasonably warm, riders were out in force - some obviously a little wobbly after a long winter. We hope that this summer both riders and drivers will abide by the rules of the road, with a little extra courtesy thrown in for good measure. That means that riders should thin out to single file, especially on the county's narrow back roads where there is little margin for error: that drivers should obey the threefeet rule giving riders enough room to dodge glass and other obstacles: and that both should stay off their cell phones and keep both hands on their respective steering mechanisms. Both Park City and Summit County are working to establish better, more interconnected biking and hiking trails. But until there is a bike lane on every highway, everyone must share the road. * 1 ORDERED T i t REU&A5£CPT0P SECRET O k UNLESS CONGRESS DECIDES TO WESTKM... BUT U0 w&imam. WUIOA IT S K E W T BE... SHOULD IT?" GENERAL... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bond rating comes at customers' expense Editor: After having read the article on Mountain Regional receiving an upgrade on their water bond, I have to quote John Stossel and say, "Give me a break!" I am a Mountain •Regional customer and, along with countless others, we all know how they "impose" their supposed "fiscally conservative practices." They gouge their customers with overpriced rates. Their "strong cash reserves" came not from tightening their belt but from whipping their customers with it. Shame on ' you, Mountain Regional! You shouldn't be proud of your new bond rating, you should instead be embarrassed by the manner in which it was acquired. Trudy Cohen Park City ^Justice Court judge was chosen unfairly Editor: In my opinion, the county's new Justice Court judge was chosen unfairly. Let me explain. A nominating commission consisting of five county residents nominated three people from among 45 applicants. The County Manager appointed the new judge from that list. This method, as applied, was unfair for two reasons. First, the commission's list of three nominees included two residents of Salt Lake County. As one might expect, the County Manager chose the Summit County resident. Although a state statute allows a county to consider applicants from "an adjacent county," that law's intent is to ensure that small counties find qualified judges. For example, Daggett County, with less than 1,000 residents, must have the option to reach beyond its borders when no county resident is qualified or willing to serve. However, Summit County, with a population of 36,000, needs no such option; it is large enough to fill a judgeship from its own residents without considering applicants from adjacent counties. By unnecessarily including two non-residents on its list, the commission appears to have forced the County Manager to appoint the county resident; that is, it placed him in a position where he must choose the county resident or risk criticism for appointing a non-resident as the County's judge. Second, the nominating commission failed to interview all qualified applicants, and thereby failed to properly vet applicants for the job's most important qualification. Unlike other judges, Justice Court judges need not be lawyers; a high school diploma is all the law requires. The job's most important qualification is "judicial temperament," which the application papers defined as "patience, open-mindedness, courtesy, tact, firmness, understanding, compassion and humility." Such qualities can only be determined by interviewing applicants. I know several qualified people who applied for the position and whom the nominating commission failed to even contact. For these reasons, I believe the nominating commission has done the county a disservice. Roger Jameson Park City Stock photo used to protect privacy Editor; Thanks so much to Park Record Newspaper city editor Jay Hamburger for the story entitled "Professionals priced out; worker housing advocates show how tough it is" and accompanying sidebar "Who is Nancy the nurse?" in the April 25 issue. Running these stories helps our community to better understand affordable housing, much like how our Park City Board of Realtors Affordable Housing Committee's Community Service Campaign, "She Can Save Your Life, But She Can't Live Next Door" educates the community on the need and benefit of affordable housing in our community. In reference to the Record's "Who is Nancy the nurse?" sidebar, please see additional information below: The sidebar focused on the fact that the photo used in the community-service campaign is a stock photo and therefore Nancy is not a real resident of Park City. After contacting several actual Park City affordable homeowners about participating in the campaign, we chose to use a fictitious "Nancy" out of respect for the privacy of our constituents and to avoid exploiting them. However, "Nancy" and her situation is representative of the community that our affordable housing serves. Using stock photos is a common, much-accepted best practice throughout the ad industry. "Nancy" is as real as the mom and her daughter, "Sally," in The Park Record's current Mother's Day promo ad or the couple dining in one of your paper's restaurant ads. Thank you to The Park Record for sponsoring our community-service campaign, the Records production staff for helping to layout the ad/poster, and again to city editor Jay Hamburger for the story and sidebar. Julie Bernhard Member, Park City Board of Realtors Affordable Housing Committee LETTERS POLICY The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor on any subject. We ask that the letters adhere to the following guidelines: They must include the home (street) address and telephone number of the author. No letter will be published under an assumed name. Letters must not contain libelous material. Letters should be no longer than about 300 words (about 600 words for guest editorials) and should, if possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long of if they contain statements that are unnecessarily offensive or obscene. Writers are limited to one letter every seven days. Letters thanking event sponsors can list no more than 10 individuals and/or businesses. GUEST EDITORIAL SEND YOUR LETTER TO: . Interrogations: For the good of the nation, we must move on By Kenny Levine, Park City out the acts - the "enhanced interrogations," or simply torture, dependI offer a hypothetical: Your eight- ing on your point of view. year-old child, who happens to have The world changed on September juvenile diabetes, is kidnapped. He 11th, and it certainly changed for the needs insulin daily due to his condi- Bush administration. To say that he tion, which is manageable with the and his minions were unprepared for proper treatment. this new reality is an understatement. The group responsible for the kid- That the president continued to read napping is made up of four members, "The Pet Goat" to the children of the loosely affiliated, and desperate for Emma E. Booker Elementary School money. The ransom, while you can in Sarasota, Florida, after he was told possibly raise the money, is no guar- by Andy Card that the country was antee that your son will be returned under attack, showed how unpresafely. pared he was. The police are investigating, with That bad decisions were made in FBI assistance due to the ransom, and the wake of these attacks is disputed the locals manage to locate and arrest only by his most rabid supporters, the one of the kidnappers. This individual fact that many of them reside in Utah knows where your son is being held, notwithstanding. The administration but is not cooperating. How far would went on to counterattack the wrong you have the police go to find out people, in the wrong places, for the where your son is being held? How wrong reasons. far would you go? I don't believe that we can dispute For some the answer to this ques- their zeal for protecting this nation. tion will be visceral, for others it will That they were "shooting from the remain hypothetical, and abstract. hip" seems all too obvious. I dont Currently, there is a national debate believe we can dispute their patriotover what to do with the government ism or their "good intentions." It's employees who made those types of their methods, and the efficacy of decisions. About what should be their methods, that we are disputing, done with those who actually carried from both a moral and legal standpoint. The news media has marched out any number of experts claiming that torture does not work - that the recipient will say whatever he must to stop the torture. But many Americans cling to a Jack Bauer reality where torture is the only sure way to save the American people. It always works for Jack. I believe that to say that it can never work is not completely accurate. When Jack Bauer does it, the information he obtains is "immediately verifiable." Not an abstract about some future event. In that case it can work. If you can know in a brief period of time if you are getting the truth or a fabrication, you can proceed accordingly. This in no way addresses the legal arguments, but it possibly addresses the moral ones. Does the end justify the means if it can prevent an immanent attack on our soil? As for the personnel that actually carried out the interrogations, I cannot fault them if they were told how to proceed directly from the commander-in-chief's office. In war time you follow orders. If there is fault to be found, it can only be found at the very top - where the "buck stops," as it were - with the president himself. He is ultimately and solely responsible. But we punish him or his underlings to what end. It was an unprecedented problem, handed to people ill prepared to solve it. Our new president has said that we, as Americans, will not cross these boundaries again. For any justification. That we've learned from our past mistakes. So I bring you back to our hypothetical situation, and I wonder how many of you would stand firmly upon your moral ground when placed in such a situation. How far would you go? This is why I suggest that we put this thing behind us, and work at solving the untold problems that lie ahead of us. I must confess that I do feel somewhat ill-at-ease knowing that I am siding with the Utah majority and not the Park City minority on this. Nonetheless, for the good of the nation as a whole, I believe we must move on; because after all, it wasnt really hypothetical, was it? The Park Record Online Poll Flu Factor • They got us all freaked out about SARS and nothing happened right? Just ignore it and it will go away. How worried are you about the swine flu outbreak? • I'm still doing my thing but washing ray hands more frequently. Cast your vote at www.parkrecord.com • First the economy, now this! I'm headed into the bunker and I'm not coming out. • Just to be safe I'm not traveling or hanging out in any mosh pits. EDIT0R@PARKREC0RD.COM "T-q The Park Record Staff .; ^ PUBLISHER £$(1 Editor %£<:. Staff writers %;U".•":"-.. .".•,-; -'••'Y'.'^1'"'"^.. . H ! i t Andy Bemhard Nan Chalat-Noaker Jay Hamburger Pat ParKinson Joe Lair / < : - • •,., ; ' : •' AdiaWaJdburger ' ' ,' V,. " / Greg Marshall "'.: • • : ' / . :,' Andrew Kirk .?V:'••'' i f % v ' " Alisha Sell Contributing writers Tom Clyde Ten Orr ,; Jay Meehan : '"'- .>. :{'.M Joan Jacobson fe v'^-K: ffffeffi fvX LarTy Warren Sleve Ph"l"P3 Copy editor David Hampshire ADVERTISING Classffiad advertising Cristin Hicks Office manager Circulation managar Accounting manager Advertising director Advertising sales - ; ... '['-.:' • • ,-• •;.-'••; r :' Kandilee Snyder Lacy Brundy Kate Fischer Valerie Darning Lori Gull Jennifer Muslal Erin Donnelly Blair Gordon Pamela Graves Photographers David Ryder Production director Matt Gordon Production Scott Schlenker Sarah Ely ^ Pat Hamaker t f t |