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Show 2 Vernal Express Wednesday, November 27, 1991 THIS IS WWAT YOU'RE supposed To look like by Jack R. Wallis Thanksgiving Thanksgiving eve is a week later this, year than last year which means one week less to look forward to Christmas. Thanksgiving has traditionally been the starting point of the holiday season. But now it seems like Halloween is the starting point to get ready for Christmas. This time of the year can either be the best time or it can turn out to be a problem time of over-indulgence and over-spending and a time of stress and depression. Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for the bounties boun-ties of life and to get together as families for a good time. It is a time for expressing love, kindness and concern for others. The week of Thanksgiving has been proclaimed by the President of the United States and Congress as both National Family Week and National Adoption Week. Families are the basic unit of our .society and Thanksgiving is the ideal time to stress the need of good family values where love and respect are taught and exemplified. But still, we live in a land of extremes. There are those who do not have enough to eat and there are those who have too much and there are those who abuse themselves by their excesses. - The holiday season in a vulnerable time because of all the activities and expectations we build in preparation prepara-tion for parties, gift giving and in feeling good towards to-wards others. According to medical specialists, the holiday season is a time when some people are threatened with the "Holiday Horrors." It is during this period that we see an increase in depression, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse. The Utah Safety Council estimates that at least four persons will die in traffic accidents over the Thanksgiving weekend. As a warning the Safety Council is asking motorist to drive safely and prepare for winter driving. Thanksgiving is a time to share the many blessings we enjoy by living in a land of freedom, prosperity and opportunity. For it is for the cause of freedom that this nation has sacrificed so much and lead the world in peaceful activities. So, this Thanksgiving should again be a special time for being thankful for the many comforts we enjoy and a time to be generous to others who may be less fortunate. PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning con-cerning any subject pertinent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions as to contents, if not libelous or vindictive and of reasonable length. Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express and bear the writer's full name, signature, phone number and address. The name or name of those submitting letters must appear on all published letters. All letters are subject sub-ject to condensation. Letters express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of the Express Editor. Highway proposal To the editor, So there is "sometimes misinformed information" about the proposed Seep Ridge Highway? Yes, I'd agree with that. And the above malapropism and the associated articles featured in last week's Vernal Express reminded me of just how misinformed the public can be. It is instructive to note just how culpable the media can be in spreading misinformation. Hardly a week goes by thaTwe are not subjected to another article in the local newspapers or another interview on the radio about the "progress" of the Seep Ridge Highway. Such articles and interviews, taken cumulatively and casually, encourage, through their tone and perspective, the notion that the Seep Ridge Highway will be constructed. To the uncritical (apathetic?) public, repeated insurances that the highway is coming right along gives the project an air of legitimacy and inevitability that it simply does not possess. Indeed, the local , newspaper articles encourage the belief that the road is an unqualified benefit Despite the assurances and support of some of our community leaders, this project has undergone little or no public scrutiny. Newspaper articles and radio spots ' describing the inexorable progress of the road do not constitute scrutiny scruti-ny , especially when they take on a "booster" tone. With few exceptions, no one has publicly questioned whether this is a wise allocation of limited public funds. (Perhaps we come to think of public funds as being "unlimited." Perhaps we've forgotten where public funds come from. Few have questioned, and not loudly, whether we could use this money for other, Vernal Express (ISSN 0892-1091) Published every Wednesday for $17.50 per year in shopping area and $28 per year out of shopping area within state and $31 per year out of state within USA by the Vernal Express Publishing Company, 54 North Vernal Avenue, Vernal, Utah 64078. Second class postage paid at Vernal, Utah 84078. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VERNAL EXPRESS, P.O. Box 1000, Vernal Utah 84078. Jack R. Wallis Publisher Steven R. Wallis Editor Melanie Morrison Staff Writer Eric F. Pye Sports Writer Becca Donaldson Assignment Writer Janet D. Wallis Advertising Marcia Henry. Advertising Judy McCarley Circulation 4 Classified Ads Phone 789-3511 FAX 789-8690 Member of Utah Press Association and National Newspaper Association Area cerratpondenta Naples .Ada Openshaw, 789-3145 Trldell Loma McKee, 247-2350 Lapoint Marlene McClure, 247-2552 Whiterocks Virginia Ferguson, 353-4584 Ballard..; Marly Rasmusssen, 722-4772 . Deadlines New News Monday 5 p.m. Display Advertising Tuesday 11 a.m. Classified Advertising Tuesday 11 a.m. . T far more worthwhile projects. We're not talking about pocket change here. By the time the highway has a high grade macadam surface through the rough, unroaded Book Cliffs, the entire project may have consumed as much as $80-100 million, a far cry from the few million we've been told to expect Reliable sources indicate that the five mile stretch of work on the existing road south of Ouray, which was only widened, graded, and graveled, cost over $1 million! I leave it to your, imagination how-much how-much it may cost for the blasting, numerous road cuts, and other sophisticated engineering work for the rugged southern escarpments of the Book Cliffs, the geology of which resembles nothing so much as the crumbling roadbed of infamous Douglas Pass in neighboring Rio Blanco County, Colo. Assurances to the contrary, this will not be a cheap road, in fiscal or environmental terms. It would traverse critical and crucial deer and elk range, and change the character of the Book Cliffs forever. Easier access, more impacts and another first class hunting area is sacrificed to progress. What could this community do with a fraction of the money it will take to pave this White Elephant across the unpaved Book Cliffs? ' For a fraction of $80 million, could we have a fully-staffed and accredited four-year college in our town? Sure we could. Could we have a permanent endowment fund for the library? A perpetual scholarship fund for deserving high school seniors? You bet we could. How about a winter sports facility to help the economy during those long, slow winter months? Could we keep the pool open all year long and expand the pool facilities? Absolutely. And, of course, for a tiny faction of what this boondoggle will cost we could resurface every road, fix every bridge and culvert in Uintah County, and still have enough money left over for a restoration and flood control project on Ashley Creek. I urge the reader to use his imagination: When we squander public funds on the Seep Ridge Highway, what needful projects do you know that are going unfunded? Proponents say that the highway will funnel tourists and their money to Uintah County. They must have heard the same voice as the protagonist in the movie Field of Dreams: "If you built it, they will come!" We have absolutely no assurance that this road will increase tourism to our area, nor is there any way to prove that assertion in advance. Another fond assumption is that this highway will be some kind of boon to the oil and gas industry, yet every oil industry person that I've talked to is quick to deny that a highway will provide any significant aid to companies in Uintah County. Hunters and other recrcationists fond of the wild, rugged land and profusion of wildlife in the Book Cliffs see the paved road as the last in a long line of insults and impacts, and the one that will change the quality of the Book Cliffs experience forever. It's probably true that a paved highway will be heavily used at some times of the yean during the fall hunt, for instance. It will easily transport casual hunters from the south and all other points of the compass. I leave it to the imagination of every hunter in Uintah County what that will do to the quality of the hunt in the Book Cliffs. It's time for lovers of the Book Cliffs to speak out! Let the public debate begin. The handful of individuals who are pushing this road owe us an explanation, and must be held accountable for their actions. Folks out here are fond of saying that if we don't use the money for this highway (or any of their other pet projects) then someone else will get it That attitude is precisely what afflicts a nation that goes ever deeper in debt, and still can seem to afford decent s education for our children or keep repaired the crumbling transportation infrastructure we have now. I call on all Uintah County citizens to begin asking questions; to speak out against this foolish public expenditure. We have everything to gain by questioning the cost projections and assumptions behind this project, and everything to lose If we sit idly by. It is not enough to say that this highway would be "nice to have" or that it would cut an hour off my travel time. There must be a public consensus that this road is absolutely necessary. The half-truths and propaganda that have been spread about the benefits and progress of this road must be answered. Far, far from completion, it represents a project that continues only by force of inertia and with the tacit consent of a misinformed and apathetic public. DR. WILL DURRANT Editor's Note: In clarification of the Vernal Express coverage of the Seep Ridge road, it is our duty to let readers know what is going on in regards to the road. We will continue to do so in a responsible manner, covering both sides of the issue, without an obstructionist attitude. In no vay is this newspaper purposely publicizing misinformation. We publicize facts and opinion as we know them and try to keep the opinions on the Public Forum page. Shale... Continued from page 1 The purpose of the unit is to determine de-termine the best method of converting convert-ing the oil shale to oil. The unit will eventually operate on the gas given off in the process. Wednesday about 30 pounds of oil shale were refined to produce about a gallon of product. "We need to determine the opti-mum opti-mum temperature, feed and other variables, Taylor said. Later in the week tests were done with Australian coal, Northlake president and chief executive officer offi-cer H. Ted Shepherd said. Northlake is proposing to develop a commercial oil shale operation at the White River Oil Shale facility in southeastern Uintah County. The company has a use permit for the facility fa-cility and has put up $125,000 to extend the availability of the White River site until next June. dik.lv ; w I I I 111 lA.- VfT X I V ' V '.' ' J ' " - ' Stl. - '1 ' H - . - trd :yjif!v S ' " ' x if,' r "f -,'Mmh-' A-fr ft -aZ , . .... ,-4.1 CHRISTENSENS gets into the spirit of The display was done by the father-son combina-Christmas combina-Christmas with store-front window display of vil- tion of Doug and David Christensen lage complete with gondola, trains and streetlight. Predators.. Continued from page 1 but the cost to the livestock industry indus-try would be greater because they would be forced to hire private hunters and trappers to protect their livestock. The UWA appeal does not want to stop private hunters from killing predators as long as they follow state law, Little said. No federal control would increase the possibility of safety risks to the public from illegal use of chemical toxicants and shooting activities. The animal damage control program pro-gram is currently funded on a cost-sharing cost-sharing basis involving federal and state funds, an industry head tax on grazing animals, local grazing advisory advi-sory board funds, local wool grow ers associations and the sale of furs from animals. Overall, about half of the funds come from federal sources and about 23 percent come from the state general fund and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. The coyote is the primary target species for animal damage control operations. Records show that an average of 255 coyotes are killed on public lands in the Vernal District by federal employees with another 325 killed by sportsmen and fur hunters. , Most federal control takes place during the fall, winter and spring on ranges grazed by sheep. Bear and mountain lion are also occasionally taken if they are confirmed to be killing livestock. Mr. Nickas said ranchers have had a "free-for-all" on public lands for more than a century killing anything that even remotely threatened their animals. They refuse now to strike a balance between protecting both their flocks arid the natural predators, preda-tors, he said. .. . Santa's visit correction Santa Claus will see children from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30 in the kiosk located on the corner of Main Street and 100 East in Vernal. In the event of inclement weather, Santa will be in the State and County building in the hall at the south entrance near the District courtroom. T Christmas Kick-off Events Friday, Nov. 29 4:30 pjn.hristmas parade, will travel east on Main Street to the Field House museum. Immediately following the end of the parade, Rita Wetenkamp will "Flip the Switch" with the annual lighting ceremony of the Dinosaur pardens. Entertainment will be by Denise Allen will be presented in the Gardens during the evening. The Gardens will remain lit every night from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. through first part of January. Saturday, Nov, 30 11 a.m. -The Chamber of Commerce's annual turkey drawing will be held - at the Zion's Bank parking lot on the corner of Main Street and Vernal Avenue. 11:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m.-Santa will see children in the Kiosk on the corner of Main Street and 100 East. (In the event of bad weather, Santa will move into the south side of the court house.) THE VOICE OF BUSINESS WHATPBACBDTVyPENP? by Dr. Richard L.Lesher, President US. Chamber of Commerce WASHlMJIDN-PresideiU Bush had no sooner announced an-nounced his dramatic plan to scale back our nuclear forces than Congress erupted in a chorus of demands for access to the "peace dividend." divi-dend." Now for those of you who have been in Outer Mongolia for the past few years and are unfamiliar with the phrase, the "peace dividend" is supposed to be the payoff we get for the end of the Cold War. Since the Soviet Union is disintegrating, disinte-grating, and our country is no longer engaged in an arms race, we can presumably pre-sumably divert billions of dollars from the defense budget to pressing domestic needs such as education, health care, crime control, drug abuse programs, infrastructure repair and the like. Would that it were so. Unfortunately, Unfortu-nately, as President Bush was quick to point out, there is no peace dividend to be spent Indeed, cutting back our military mili-tary initially will require temporary increases in the defense budget as we shift resources around, discharge personnel, per-sonnel, shut down redundant facilities and put an array of complex armaments into mothballs. But even after that phase is completed, com-pleted, and defense expenditures are finally consuming a diminished chunk of the federal budget, there will still be no "peace dividend" left over for other things. The members of Congress who are now clamoring for access to the peace dividend need a wakeup call. In case they have forgotten, the federal budget is already deep in the red and getting deeper. Next year's deficit is projected to exceed $360 billion, and these deficits have a way of exceeding projections by a significant margin. Reducing our nuclear capacity and disbanding dis-banding a few infantry divisions will not erase that shortfall, not by a longshot. Everyone knows this, and yet our politicians still speak wistfully of a peace dividend, and announce earnest plans to spend it Despite our fiscal distress, there are many in Congress chomping at the bit to launch new spending programs and increase existing ones. Their fever to raise spending is so intense that they don't need a real peace dividend to get started; a mere rumor of one is sufficient suffi-cient The general detachment from reality is bizarre, and more than a little scary. One can only wonder how deep our red ink will have to get and how desperate desper-ate our fiscal crisis become, before pur elected representatives in Congress will confront their addiction to excessive spending. All of (he nonsense about a nonexistent peace dividend is but a symptom of this deeply ingrained affliction afflic-tion that is driving our country to ruin. Only the voters have the power to shake Congress from its lethargy and force it . to confront fiscal reality. The shaking had better begin soon. J |