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Show A-19 Wed/Thurs/Fri, February 12-14, 2013 EDITORIAL Women ski jumpers have earned their place in history L LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We need more diversity on the slopes Editor: While substitute teaching grades K-12 in a Metro-Denver public school district with only 13 percent white students, often I ask, "How many of you snowboard or ski?" Hardly any hands are lifted. Sochi reflects this "accepted" U.S. socioeconomic discrimination. We should convert some of our federally owned mountains to public parks offering affordable snow recreation for all families? Or maybe I should stop asking students this almost embarrassing question? Mike Sawyer, Master of Divinity Denver, Colo. Bode Miller deserves credit for strong effort Editor: Yesterday's headlines reported Bode Miller's results as a "disappointing 8th place finish". Admittedly, it bothered me that he was unable to medal, mostly because I always root for the old guy in any competition. However, when I watched the video replay of the race last night, the actual results got my attention. The Sochi Downhill course is the longest in Olympic history at 2.2 miles, with over 3500 feet vertical descent, and roughly two minutes and 15 seconds duration. Here's the rub: the top eight finishers, which obviously included Miller, were only separated by .52 seconds. An eye blink is one tenth of a second. Only five blinks of an eye encompassed the eight favorites. Car racing is rarely that close for the top two finishers and their ambient conditions are relatively static. Surface conditions on a snowy mountain will vary greatly over the several hours it takes to run a downhill competition. Even the sun going behind or coming out from a cloud for one competitor to another will affect their individual runs. That is, the snow softens or hardens or the light gets flat or highlights contrasting terrain. Sunlight doesn't begin to address the other factors like temperature change, wind, relative humidity, and the other great unknown that viewers never witness, grooming. In between each run, volunteers get out on the course and sidestep (pat down) the course, especially in the turns. Any one of these variables can affect the outcome of a race when the difference between the winner and eighth place is half a second. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make an excuse for Bode Miller. However, considering the venue and how little difference there is between winner and loser, I feel the media needs to reexamine its choice of words when describing any Olympian. Paul "PJ" Falten Park City GUEST EDITORIAL State legislators get blitzed by special interest factions By KRAIG POWELL Utah Representative (R) - Heber A vote in the House Education Committee of the Utah Legislature last week starkly illustrated the concept of factions discussed by James Madison. At issue is House Bill 96, a proposal to spend $5 million to fund grants to public and private preschools geared toward at-risk students from low-income households who are substantially below their peers in cognitive abilities. The idea of the program is to attract investors to fund the pre-K programs and then pay back their investments with a five to ten percent rate of return if, and only if, the enrolled students test at grade level within two to three years. The rationale for the proposal is that taxpayers will save money over the long run if the early intervention eliminates the need for years of expensive remedial classes in later grades for the students. In the 24 hours from the time the committee agenda was publicly posted on Wednesday to the beginning of the Thursday morning committee hearing on the bill, the 15 members of the House Education Committee (including me) received over 500 e-mails from Utah citizens regarding the bill. Approximately 100 of the e-mails supported the bill, while the other 400 e-mails opposed it. The 100 e-mails in favor of the bill were organized by the United Way, which is helping to promote the "high-quality preschool" model. The 400 e-mails against the bill were orchestrated by the Utah Eagle Forum, which has historically opposed any government involvement in preschool. The members of the Eagle Forum are vigorously fighting the bill because they believe that children should be educated at home by their parents, that early childhood instruction produces negligible benefits, and that the program will grow to become a universal and costly preschool system for all students. What fascinated me was the timing of the e-mail campaigns. The United Way was obviously watching carefully to see if the bill would be added to the Thursday Education Committee agenda. Once the bill was placed on the agenda on Wednesday morning, the e-mails from United Way supporters began arriving within minutes. But then, later in the afternoon, an even heavier blitz of opposing e-mails largely from Eagle Forum members started to arrive. These negative e-mails continued consistently throughout the night and even into the early morning hours, right up through the convening of the committee meeting. Madison's lesson in Federalist 10 is that factions, or what we today call interest groups, often combine in very effective ways to commandeer a system of popular government against the larger public interest. Madison argues that the most effective safeguard against this danger is to design a system by which elected representatives answer to a large number of citizens, thereby refining and enlarging the "factious tempers" held by a few. Only a small fraction of the 500 emails regarding the preschool bill were from my constituents. I listened carefully to the testimony at the committee hearing for and against the bill. At the conclusion of the debate, I joined the majority of the committee in voting 13 to 3 to pass the bill favorably, because I was persuaded of the benefits of the proposal and saw few drawbacks. I believe the committee members successfully modeled Madison's constitutional principle of representing the public interest in the face of a vigorous, organized "factious combination." The vote of the committee members is even more remarkable when one considers that Utah's party nomination process for legislative seats rests in the hands of a very few delegates, whose selection is always vulnerable to control by highlymotivated and well-organized interest groups such as the Utah Eagle Forum. indsey Van, Sarah Hendrickson and Jessica Jerome may not have earned medals of their own in Sochi, but their decade-long crusade to establish women's ski jumping as an Olympic sport has played a big role in making it possible for others to stand on that podium. While it would have been wonderful to see one or all of them in the winner's circle, the athletes and those who supported them deserve recognition for having won a much larger battle - establishing a level playing field regardless of gender. Tuesday's historic competition has special meaning for Park City residents who have watched a young squad of daring flyers grow up at the Utah Olympic Park. One of the earliest jumpers to set her sights on the Olympics was Park City resident Lindsey Van, whose parents watched among friends at a Kimball Junction restaurant as their daughter's long-held dream come true. Van raised the bar for women ski jumpers all over the world, but her quest to become an Olympian was repeatedly thwarted by an Olympic hierarchy that claimed the sport was too dangerous for women. In 2010, at the height of her career, Van was forced to sit on the sidelines during the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, even though she had set a hill record there. But she didn't quit. Instead, in addition to training and competing, Van and a growing list of supporters continued to lobby the IOC for inclusion. They succeeded just in time to compete in Sochi. Yes, it would have been sweet to see an American woman earn a medal at the sport's Olympic debut, but to see them fly over the rings and then to congratulate their German, Austrian, French and Japanese colleagues, was also an important moment. In the long run, their perseverance and dedication transcends ski jumping and sets an example for women and for everyone who may be excluded from pursuing their dreams. The athletes of Women's Ski Jumping USA may not have a medal to wear, but they will be remembered for taking the Olympics to new heights in Sochi. GUEST EDITORIAL Don't miss Park City's chance to help shape Wasatch plan By DAVID DUBOIS Sun Peak Despite ample press coverage, many are unaware that there is a concrete plan underway that will shape the future of the Wasatch Range. I would like to encourage every citizen of Park City and the Wasatch Back to take a few moments to go online and make your comments heard regarding the implementation of The Mountain Accord. For over 40 years there's been ample talk and study after study after study conducted in order to form opinions regarding the future of the Wasatch Range in general, and connecting the ski areas specifically. But once the studies have concluded, all that's left is a stack of papers with statistics on them. Interestingly, the Wasatch Back and Park City have always been left OUT of these studies. Even though we live ON the range in question, all of the studies have been Salt-Lake centric. But this time is different. With Canyons' proposal of the Skilink project, it was apparent that there was no Master Plan for linking the Wasatch resorts, and that the Wasatch Back would be a serious player in making an interconnect happen. As a result of this, there is a very serious plan underway that will map out the future of Wasatch development, preservation, connection, etc. It is known as the Mountain Accord. The Mountain Accord is made up of Federal, State, and County Governments, Ski Areas, Environmental Groups, the Utah Transit Authority, etc. It's purpose is to plan for the future of the Wasatch by suggesting actual, IMPLEMENTABLE courses of action. The suggestions aren't going to end up as a footnote in some survey. They WILL happen. So where does that leave us? For the first time ever, the opinion of the Wasatch Back counts. Do we want an interconnect? Do we not want an interconnect? As residents of the greatest ski town in the world, I think that an interconnect proposal would be interesting and catch your attention! There are nearly 100 ski lifts in the Wasatch. In order to connect all of the major resorts together, four to five additional lifts would need to be built creating one of the largest ski areas in the world, with the greatest snow on earth. We could ski from Canyons, PCMR, and Deer Valley to Brighton, Solitude, Snowbird and Alta without ever getting in our cars. Even though Solitude and Brighton are less than two miles from the Park City ridge line, it's an 80-mile round-trip to drive over and experience those great places. Another proposal that's been discussed is building a railway though the mountain (via tunnel) that would connect Park City with Big and Little Cottonwood. They are in a straight-line, a train trip to Snowbird could take as little a 10 minutes! A rail system would allow us quick access in the summer as well. Just a few minutes away would be access to hiking high alpine meadows, peaks, and waterfalls. Do any of these ideas that have been tossed around for 40 years appeal to you? Then PLEASE, go to Mountainaccord.com / get involved and comment that this should happen. Even if an interconnect doesn't appeal to you, please get involved and let your voice be heard. What would you like the future of the Wasatch to look like? Let's make sure that proposals are put on the table and meaningfully discussed. Of course, we would want any projects to go through a rigorous environmental vetting process. Phase two of the Mountain Accord's agenda calls for all serious ideas / proposals to undergo a full federal environmental impact study. Through a cooperative effort of getting the word out and encouraging people to vote, Park City was successful in being named Outside Magazine's Best Ski Town this last summer. I believe participation in The Mountain Accord's online comment form is worthy of the same attention and buzz. Let the Wasatch Back be heard! GUEST EDITORIAL To the gentleman who ‘traded' his longboard for my Jeep: By JESSIE LEVESQUE Park City Let me start off by saying I understand. I understand. Life isn't fair. While I was nestled warm in bed in the wee hours of the morning, you were forced to roam the streets on your skateboard searching for meaning in this callous, heartless world. It's not your fault; in a world of Socs vs. Greasers sometimes it is just hard to know where you belong. I understand that the only thing you can do is spend your nights listening to Simple Plan while kicking and pushing your way across the cruel city searching for anything, wondering why nothing you do is ever good enough for your father (why can't he just get you?), and then, suddenly, through tear-blurred vision, you found it. I understand that there are few things as majestic as a slightly rusting 2004 Grand Cherokee; the salt and dirt covered glow of the white "special edition" Jeep beaming like a beacon of hope in the night. Because the streets of Provo, Ut. are hard and aren't we all just looking for a little bit of hope? I get it. It had to be yours. You want a new beginning. You're tired of trying to keep your skinny jeans up, as much as they can be "up" since they are too skinny to actually fit over your butt. The struggle is real. You want to be a man, not a boy, and what the man you have become! You're already making practical choices, picking out the most humble car on a street lined with other options. Perhaps not your best choice, but practical for sure. Your motives were clearly not driven by pride, and that, sir, I can respect. Heck, it's already loaded with enough crap that you have a variety of identities to pick from. It's a "choose your own adventure!" Throw on my hiking boots and take this 4-wheeling good time down some dirty roads, set up my tent, and stay warm with my sleeping bag! Not into the outdoors? That's understandable. A guy who is willing to steal someone else's hardearned stuff most likely doesn't know how to actually survive anywhere. That and the father that hates you obviously never taught you how to set up a tent or how to even get to the woods for that matter. Make sure to take advantage of that sick Canon PowerShot you received as a bonus for choosing my Jeep to sponsor your joy ride; you will want to capture your new transformation because we both know that your life is only going to continue to go down hill from here. #memories. I know you're thinking, "this chick is really understanding." And you're right, I am. The thug life is tough. But before we wrap up, there is something I want you to understand. Understand that you will always be a useless member of our society. I don't mean that to be harsh; I just feel that since you know so much about me, having no doubt rifled through the belongs in my car, we can be honest with each other. You'll never be anything more than a pathetic failure that took advantage of a twenty-something teacher. That's right. I'm a nation builder. You're essentially taking away from the future of our country. That is kind of a dick move. Thanks for the skateboard. The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER Andy Bernhard Editor Nan Chalat Noaker Staff writers Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Adam Spencer Aaron Osowski Alexandria González Contributing writers Tom Clyde Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Steve Phillips Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy editor Alan Maguire ADVERTISING Classified advertising Jennifer Lynch Office manager Tiffany Rivera Circulation manager Lacy Brundy Accounting manager Jennifer Snow Advertising director Valerie Spung Advertising sales Lori Gull Rachael Young-Tilton Jodi Hecker Erin Donnelly Cristina Kramer Photographer Christopher Reeves Production director Lisa Powell Production Luke Nielson Ben Olson |