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Show 2 Vento! 6frfett Wedneidoy, March 28, 1964 1 1 QQuSvt'fai By Jack Wallis aw.- Wilderness bill Probably more hours have been spent studying and debating the Utah forest wilderness proposals than any other federal issue ever to come before the public. After many years of hassle, has-sle, a proposed bill is being presented to the U.S. House Public Lands Interior In-terior Subcommittee and still the debate continues. Governor Scott M. Matheson and Utah's five congressional representatives represen-tatives are presenting a wilderness bill before the House that strikes a balance between the extremes of the environmentalists en-vironmentalists on one side and the natural resource industries and ranchers ran-chers on the other side. 706,736 acres of forest land has been designated as the wilderness proposal in the Utah bill. Congressional leaders from Utah say this bill is a compromise that is fair to everyone and no major changes should be made. Environmentalists want more lands included in the bill. House representatives represen-tatives from other states say the public lands are owned by all the people in the U.S. and that wilderness areas should be preserved. Utah's Farm Bureau Federation , representatives say they can live within the proposed wilderness bill if livestock grazing is allowed to continue con-tinue within the wilderness areas. Utah Cattlemen's Association also wants specific language assuring grazing graz-ing rights. Presently a debate over how often wilderness reviews should be allowed is being conducted. The difference between bet-ween "soft" and "hard" release of proposed wilderness areas and the uses of study areas during the study period which may range from 15 to 30 years, is also a main topic. Uintah County's commissioner Neal Domgaard has been attending the PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to the Uintoh Basin. While there are no restrictions as to contents or reasonable length, letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express oni) bear the writer's full name, signature, phone number and address. Names must be printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reasons if requested on others. All letters ore subject to condensation. Community planning Dear Editor: Just a few final comments on mobile homes and other development issues that have had public discussion recently. 1) The issue of restricting the placement place-ment of single-wide mobile homes has been thoroughly aired. Both the radio station and newspaper have provided extensive coverage on this issue. A survey was conducted, alternatives examined, public meetings and public hearings held, and a decision has been made to make no change. Those of us . who must routinely answer public questions on this issue are glad that a decision has been made and the issue settled, at least for a few years. 2) Contrary to what some may think, the Planning Commission proposal on mobile homes was not a devilish attempt at-tempt to take away property rights, but rather to reconcile the rights of both the property owner and his neighbor. If the Planning Commission Vernal Express (USPS 6580-8000) Published every Wednesday and Friday for $14.00 per year in area and $20.00 per year ouf of area by the Vernal Express Publishing Company, 54 North Vernal Avenue, Vernal, Utah 84078. Second class postage paid at Vernal, Ver-nal, Utah 84078. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VERNAL VER-NAL EXPRESS, P.O. Box 1010, Vernal, Utah 84078. JackR. Wallis ...Publisher Steven R. Wallis.. .Editor Traci Menke News Writer Aldon Rachele Sports Editor Janeen Cook Women's News Joyce Williams Advertising Phone 789-3511 Member of Utah Press Association and National Newspaper Association Area correspondents: Jensen Vera Snow, 789-0628 Manila Clara Robinson, 784-3463 Naples Ada Openshaw, 789-3145 Tridell Lorna McKee, 247-2350 Lapoint Paula Huber, 247-2425 Maeser Eloise Allen Parker, 789-2178 Ballard Tracy Phillips, 722-4925 Whiterocks . . .Virginia Ferguson, 353-4584 Glines Norma Damon, 789-1302 Ouray, Leota, Rartc9ett...Sheila Bloxham, 545-2327 Deadlines Wednesday Edition News Monday 5:00 p.m. Advertising Tuesday 11:00 a.m. Friday Edition News Thursday 10:00 a.m. Advertising Thursday 2:00 p.m. Washington wilderness hearings with the concern that wilderness designation designa-tion not include portions of the east Uinta Mountains that would affect reservoirs, lakes and access to areas that now provide recreation opportunities oppor-tunities to the general public. Also, livestock interests have concern that additional High Uinta wilderness will hurt them. Most Utahns are agreeable to the 706,736 acres proposed for the present wilderness bill. This is a compromise to try and get something going. If delaying tactics continue, debate could continue indefinitely. Sen. Jake Garn said in Monday's hearing, "That support should indicate to the subcommittee that the bill represents the wishes of the majority of Utahns and should be respected by Congress in the absence of overriding national interests." One problem in the continual delay over wilderness designation is that future planning uses have been halted until final designations have been made. If wilderness studies continue for 15 to 30 years, the study areas have in essence been tied up already and multiple-use opportunities have been squeezed out or eliminated. Restricted multiple-use of forest lands should continue even within wilderness areas. If environmentalists and users of natural resources could develop a trust for each other so that land uses could be worked out for the benefit of both sides, we think continual con-tinual debating could cease and workable restrictions could be made to use our federal forest lands for the most efficient use of everyone. But until some kind of unity and flexibility flex-ibility develop among special interest groups, we expect the wilderness debate to continue for another generation. proposal had been adopted, it would not have imposed any restrictions on anyone, but rather would have established some criteria whereby property owners and neighborhoods could in the future get together and petition the County Commission for restrictions on their neighborhood, if they so desired, without having to go the route of restrictive covenants and private individual enforcement of such convenants. , 3) There has never been any attempt to change the ordinance regarding existing ex-isting mobile homes; the temporary placement of mobile homes; or anything affecting double-wide mobile homes. It is also recognized that manufactured housing will play a much greater role in the future in meeting people's housing needs. 4) Attractive communities with a high quality of life are not the product of chance or uncontrolled land use. Attractive At-tractive communities come about from forethought and the setting of appropriate ap-propriate development standards. Most people have visited communities where the lack of development standards stan-dards was obvious. The founding fathers of this country recognized this and early colonial towns had certain development restrictions. Washington, D.C. is the result of an extensive planning plan-ning effort by the founding fathers. 5) Whether the issue was the scenic values of Dry Fork Canyon and how to mitigate the impact of oil drilling, or neighborhood concerns with mobile homes, the County Planning Commission Commis-sion and staff has been put on the defensive whenever they raised aesthetic concerns. Since the Planning Commission and staff are only advisory ad-visory positions, their recommendations recommenda-tions only carry weight when supported sup-ported by the public. If you are concerned con-cerned about community appearance, you have the right to voice your opinion opi-nion whether you have lived here seventy years or one week. Sincerely, BOB NICHOLSON Uintah County-Vernal City Planner Vague editorial Dear Editor: I've read some vague and ambigious editorials, but never one more so than your editorial of .the 21st. Which county official? What small company? Who was the principal of that company? How long had they been looking at this area? Were they capable of putting a facility in this area if they had decided to? I'm enough of a businessman to know that if there is a strong motivation motiva-tion for profit and the prospects look excellent, the fact that there' are mobile homes in an area wouldn't OUTLOOK FOR DEFENSE CONTRACTORS BRIGHT From all indications, most major defense programs are expected to remain re-main intact for the balance of fiscal 1984 (ending September 30), and it is anticipated that only minor reductions are probable for fiscal 1985. In total outlays, the Administration's Administra-tion's military spending plans for the new period starting on Oct. 1, 1984 will represent the largest increase to be proposed since World War II. The program pro-gram is part of a five-year plan (1982-1987) for nearly doubling our defense spending. Investors do not have to be reminded remind-ed of the continuing aggressive and in-transient in-transient stance of the USSR, the confrontation con-frontation still seething in Central American, and the incessant fighting in the Middle East. Consequently, the staff of Babson's Reports does not foresee any lessening of the need for U.S. preparedness over the next several years. Therefore, further marked growth in revenues seems assured for the leading military contractors. Both strategic weapons and military space-based space-based systems appear to be the two principal areas to be emphasized through the rest of the decade. In our opinion, the prospects for the prime aerospace firms are especially bright in view of the key programs critical to our defense against nuclear attack. The downturn in the overall stock market and the attendant decline in the prices of several of these companies has again opened up attractive at-tractive buying opportunities. MISSILES AND MILITARY AIRCRAFT HIGHLIGHTED Among strategic weapons, funds for missiles, military aircraft, and nuclear submarines should increase sharply along with bombers and balistic missile defense systems. In addition, work on surveillance devices, laser weapons, and anti-satellite anti-satellite weaponry should be the beneficiaries of added funding for research and development, and testing. Such vital programs include the already-deployed cruise missile, the Pershing II medium-range surface-to-surface missile, and the Patriot and improved Hawk missiles, plus the newly funded MX intercontinental ballistic missile. Also, the Trident nuclear submarine and the submarine-launched missile, plus the new D-5 missile, are critical to increasing our nuclear defense posture. Military fighter aircraft such as the F-15, F-16 and F-18 and the B-l bomber and Stealth bomber (now being be-ing developed) are to be part of our Strategic Triad of land-air-sea capability. SUPREMACY IN SPACE PROGRAM STEPPED UP President Reagan has called for a major effort to develope lasers and other anti-satellite weaponry (such as particle beams) to close the "window of vulnerability" forecast for the latter lat-ter part of the 1980s. This program, fully ful-ly funded, could eventually total $26 billion through fiscal 1989. Such a system would include a complex com-plex of satellites, lasers, electronic beam weapons, and missiles. When finally developed and deployed, it would radically change our whole national na-tional defense strategy and, ostensibly, osten-sibly, shelter the U.S. from a nuclear attack. The military holds that such space-based systems will mesh well with our current strategic weapons Triad. BABSON'S DEFENSE "BUYS" Our top-rated recommendations are: (1) General Dynamics (the nation's na-tion's largest supplier of military equipment) ; (2) Martin Marietta (a leading aerospace firm with several prime contracts); and (3) Raytheon Company (a major diversified international inter-national and technology-based firm with substantial, profitable commercial commer-cial business). General Dynamics (GD) is selling near 44, Martin Marietta Mariet-ta near 33, and Raytheon near 38. Their stocks are all traded on the New York Stock Exchange. make a bit of difference. The company in question may have decided not to put a facility here, (but I'm sure it wasn't because of the mobile homes in this valley. If it was, just think of how that pompous snob would have felt if he had to send his children to school with kids raised in mobile homes, or how his wife would have reacted with having to shop in the same stores with trailer trash. Maybe that could be the next step. After you get the mobile home owners alj ghettoed, you could set up separate schools, shopping areas and churches for upper crust folks who don't want to associate with trailer trash. It sounds to me like this proposed zoning change is going to benfit a very few at the cost of very many and I don't think that's the American way. ' Sincerely, LES INABNIT Gasoline: why the price? Dear Editor: In a weekly gasoline price survey reported by the Oil & Gas Journal, Vernal's retail pumn prices rated 49th highest out of 50 in a national survey. Comparing our pump price of $1.19gal. to the average of $1.12 for the week of 3-16-84, Vernal's prices were 2nd highest following Detroit, Michigan's $1.20. When a refinery is located so close geographically why are we still inflicted in-flicted with such high prices? Why, for instance, was Portland, Ore. at $1.02 and why are Salt Lake City pump prices between $1.03-1.09? If gas stations in Salt Lake can operate at the above prices then why must Vernal residents pay 10-16 more cents more per gallon? Is it the cost of shipping? In some cases it may be: a retailer who trucks in 7200 gallons of gasoline from the Wasatch Front through a winter storm taking 20 hours or more round trip will need to add this cost onto his gasoline which you, the customer, in turn will pay. This may range from an additional 8-9 centsgallon. But what about the station that purchases pur-chases petroleum through a more local market like Roosevelt. A 5 or 6 hour round trip will not dictate the same cost demands as does the transportation from Salt Lake, yet how many gasoline retailers in Vernal charge less than the seemingly status quo of $1.19. One other point emerges through conversations and this factor outbalances out-balances refiner, trucker or retailer. I called and spoke with a manager of a retail gasoline chain outlet and posed the question, "How come everyone in Vernal charges the same pump price and why is it so high?" Her reply was that they, their chain, were competitive and that if a retailer across the street lowered their price she would then make a telephone call to her main office, report it and from that conversation would or would not receive permission to lower her pump prices. She had no say in the matter. So is it, then, economics which dictate dic-tate gasoline prices or is it as Edwin Rothschild of the Citizen Labor Energy Coalition, a Washington-based consumer interest group, explains in a March 8th Wall Street Journal article: arti-cle: "... The price of oil isn't set by a competitive market. It is a political price." KIM BARTEL Vernal Schools... r continued from page 1 spent less per student while the tiny districts with small class sizes spent more. Districts highest in per capita spending for maintenance and operations opera-tions were Daggett at $4,448 for each of its 182 students, and Tintic at $3,479 for each of its 249 students. 1 Uintah School, District spent the least of the three districts in the Uintah Uin-tah Basin for student support services based on average daily attendance in 1982-83. Uintah district spent $24.24, Daggett district spent $64.40 and Duchesne district spent $49.55. Pupil-teacher ratio in the Uintah district last year was 24, slightly higher than the state average of 22.9 students per teacher. The UTA also reported that the average school district staff is comprised com-prised of 58 percent teachers. The remaining re-maining 42 percent of employees include in-clude administrators, principals, counselors, janitors, bus drivers and others. THE VOICE OF BUSINESS American -s ill a box office smash By Richard L. Lesher, President Chamber of Commerce of the United States Five years ago, President Carter delivered his "Malaise" speech. We were told that America's best days were behind her. We had entered an age of limits limits to economic growth and limits to our hopes and dreams. America was no longer that shining city on a hill. Politicians counseled despair and hopelessness. America no longer had anything the rest of the world would want or, indeed, that our children would want. The federal government was not, mind you, responsiblflior our problems, but would help us manage our steady and inevitable decline. In response, I wrote a column rejecting rejec-ting this gloomy thesis. I quoted Ted Morgan, a man born in France to an aristocratic family. He had moved to the United States seeking expanded opportunity and wrote a book entitled "On Becoming American." He was interviewed in-terviewed on "60 Minutes" by Mike Wallace, who noted, "Ted, you write, 'this country is a success in the same way a Broadway show is a success.'" "That's right," Morgan replied, "because everybody is standing in line waiting to get in. It's a box office smash." Ted Morgan was right. Immigrants from every nation on the face of the earth are coming to America. Others are on waiting lists. In some nations, immigrants must wait as long as a decade to come to America. Still, they come. These prospective Americans are voting with their feet, registering their faith in America, her present and Vernal City WHTTKIE; Program U1 1 20 Days Left 1 know computers M M V.W :v::::;; JWVitfWS! a? n "I'm trained to know computers, not taxes. So I go to H&R Block for tax preparation. Block keeps up with the tax changes, and their preparers pre-parers have done hundreds of tax returns. They're trained to spot every deduction and credit I'm entitled to. They must be good; three out of every four Block clients get a refund." People who know Vernal 390 W. Main 789-3335 H&R BLOCK Mon,-Sat. 9-5. Appointments future opportunities and freedom. No other nation in the world receives this vote of confidence. It should be a source of pride for all Americans, and it must remind us of how truly blessed bless-ed we are to live in a nation where individual in-dividual liberty is respected, and initiative in-itiative and hard work are rewarded, not discouraged. The immigrants continue to arrive at our shores. Some through legal immigration; im-migration; others slip past our border guards, risking imprisonment. (And let us remember that some nations employ border guards to keep their people in.) Each year an estimated one million immigrants come to America. They carry the same dreams and hopes that sustained immigrants who traveled by boat from Europe at the turn of the century. If we are sometimes blinded to the strength and vitality of our nation, we can see in the eyes of these immigrants im-migrants that they know and trust in America's greatness and opportunity. They have risked everything, often leaving families and friends behind, to join in the Great American Future. Today, we have further proof of how the world views America and its future. For those individuals who cannot can-not come to America are now sending their money to invest in what they believe to be the greatest engine of wealth creation the world has ever known the free American economy. In 1981 foreigners invested more than $80 billion in America. In 1982 foreign investment swelled to more than $87 billion. That is confidence in our future. While some American politicians and cynics may deride our accomplishments ac-complishments and belittle our future as a free and prosperous people, millions of individuals from around the world are putting their money on America. Such investment creates jobs here and fuels our economic growth. Some may still preach decline and despair, but with millions of people risking everything to come to our shores and millions of others investing their life's earnings in our economy and our future, I will certainly not be one to bet against America and her future. insiae ana out likeBlock knows taxes their business go to Roosevelt 171 E Lagoon 722 3047 Q available but not necessary. |