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Show Opinion and Commentary 2 Vernal Express Wednesday, August 7, 1996 JACK-STRAWS by JackWallis Wilderness study war After over 10 years of studies costing taxpayers over $10 million and 2,700 employee work months expanded by the Bureau of Land Management Utah Wilderness Study a new study has been ordered. U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced plans to do a second, quick six-month Utah BLM wilderness study by a select group of outside experts, has environmentalists dancing with glee and state land users mad as hornets. Bill Howell of the Southeastern Utah Association of Governments said a second inventory is illegal and almost certainly will be done without the input of local elected officials. "Congress empowered the Department of Interior to do an inventory and make a recommendation to Congress. That has been done. There is no provision in the law for Interior to do it again," Howell exclaimed. The first inventory identified 3.2 million acres of BLM lands in Utah that have "wilderness characteristics." characteris-tics." To qualify, a parcel needed to be larger than 5,000 acres and be free of roads and other human-made human-made developments. The BLM's final recommendation recommenda-tion to Congress was about 1.8 million acres of wilderness. Despite the BLM recommendation, federal law requires the BLM to manage all 3.2 million acres as de facto wilderness until Congress decides the final amount of wilderness. The wilderness bill prepared by members of the Utah Wilderness Coalition includes 5.7 million acres. Utah congressional delegation backed a 2.2 million acre proposal that relied heavily on the BLM's recommendation. recom-mendation. Congress failed in an attempt to pass the 2.2 million acre proposal. To resolve this question, Babbitt said he has assem bled "a small team of career professionals, who have substantial expertise in addressing wilderness issues in Utah and elsewhere, to take a careful look at the lands identified in the 5.7 million-acre bill that have not been identified by the BLM as wilderness-study areas, and report their findings." Wilderness advocates believe there is a lot more wilderness than the BLM was willing to recognize and that the second study will identify it. "Wilderness," as defined by the 1964 Wilderness Act, is often in the eye of the beholder. Where Utah leaders may see a disqualifying road, a Babbitt appointee might perceive a natural deer path. The result is that Utah conservatives would not regard a Babbitt project as fair or factual. C. Booth Wallentine, Utah Farm Bureau executive vice president, said that by bringing in a group of outside out-side BLM employees whose training focuses only on recreation, Babbitt ignores Utah's economic dependence depen-dence on multiple-use of public lands. Nearly 70 percent per-cent of Utah is under federal ownership, he added. "By telling his new team of outsiders they should start with 5.7 million acres, the secretary has already biased the team so they would not dare come close to the much lower recommendation of the BLM's multi-disciplinary multi-disciplinary team, which spent over 10 years intensely studying the land for its best use. That's a gross misuse mis-use of his powers," Wallentine said. Further studies on Utah wilderness by outsiders, adding costs and time frame of resolution, without public input, seems to be the wrong way to solve this controversy. If the debate over Utah's federal wilderness designation desig-nation is ever to be solved it must be done through compromise on both sides with local input and not mandates or misuse of federal powers. PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters let-ters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent perti-nent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions as to contents, if not libelous or vindictive and of reasonable length (two typewritten double spaced pages). Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express and bear the writer's full name, signature, phone number and address. Letters may be mailed, faxed at 789-8690 or through e-mail at editoreas-ilink.com. editoreas-ilink.com. The name or names of those submitting letters must appear on all published letters. All letters let-ters are subject to condensation. Letters express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of the Express Editor. before the County Fair Parade, I received a phone call informing me that my group of children with their go-cart go-cart and motorcycles, along with my old 1930 Model A, were to be in the first 10 participants of the parade. I was pleased at their concern and thanked her wholeheartedly. whole-heartedly. Isn't it funny the difference that two parades can make. This is the same town for all five parades, yet the thought process is so different. I applaud the Uintah County Fair Parade Committee and all their ancillary staff for their genuine concern. DENNIS LONG Vernal Clips Reflections Dear Editor, The 30-year class reunion of Uintah High was held last week. It was a great success thanks to the work of John and Connie Shumway, Carole Nicholson and all of those classmates who showed up. I just want everyone every-one to know how nice it was to see them again. Reunions are a time for reflection. It is a time for renewing friendships from the past. It gives us a reality check to see that those we went to school with have changed... while we remain the same? Thanks Vernal for the memories. The Powerhouse Theater is a wonderful facility to have functions and the Remember the Maine Park is as beautiful as ever. Thirty years happened in just the blink of an eyc.hope to see more local classmates at the 35-year reunion in 2001. PHYLLIS HARWARD Provo Parade praise Dear Ediior, A couple of weeks ago I wrote an editorial concerning concern-ing old can and parades. I mentioned the fact that if old cars are to continue to run in parades, they must be put up closer to the front. I had specifically written this editorial edi-torial to the Rodeo Parade Committee. I waited for some type of response, but not surprisingly received nothing. I did. however, receive wonderful response from the Uintah County Fair Parade Committee spokesperson named Bonnie. She recognized my plight and vowed to do everything in her power to make my experience much better with their parade. Two days Dear Editor, I find it entertaining to see the weekly Uintah County Sheriffs Office newspaper clips. I remember about a year ago they announced they would be doing weekly articles requesting that citizens assistance on various crimes. That lasted almost one month. I guess they don't need any help. Since then we've seen photographs of the old Uintah County sheriffs badge, the "new" centennial sheriffs office badge, four new "Big O" Tires on a sheriffs office vehicle and last week it was the "new centennial belt buckle." I'm afraid to see what will be in next week's paper, centennial shoes, underwear, maybe centennial cen-tennial ball caps, or the new SWAT team uniforms. Either they have solved all county crimes, there are no county crimes or they're bored. I wish they would concentrate more on their jobs instead of worrying about the weekly photo shoot. EVERETT PHILLIPS Gusher School times Continued from page 1 Starting time - 9:00 a.m. Dismissal - 3:20 p.m. Todd Elementary (grades K-5) - Loyal Summers, principal Starting time - 8 a.m. Dismissal -2:15 p.m. Vernal Middle School (grades 6,7) - Bill Caldwell, principal Starting time - 7:35 a.m. Dismissal - 2:20 p.m. IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG- HOT SUMMER THAT THIS OL' CHICKEN HAS TOOK TO , LAYING HARD BOILED EGGS Will your child be able to ride the information highway to success? by Reed E. Hundt Chairman, Federal Communications Commission By the beginning of the next century in less than 4 years 60 percent of new jobs will require computer com-puter skills possessed by only 22 percent of Americans entering the labor market. Already, most high-wage jobs require the use of networked computers. On average, jobs that require computer use pay about 15 percent more than those that do not. Yet only 10 percent of the classrooms in America are prepared to train our young people to be technologically techno-logically literate. Are the schools in your community prepared? Do they have 21st century classrooms. If we do not act today, we will live tomorrow in a society of information haves and have-nots. This is an issue that matters to all Americans, whether or not your children use computers, whether or not you are a small business person in need of trained employees, and whether or not you are yourself your-self a long-time employee of a company, not trained in information technology and concerned for your own future. We should all want our children to begin the future with the best chance of success. We know that wise use of information technology is an effective tool for improving education. Schools with technology have enjoyed higher test scores and better qualitative results. We all want children to come to school ready to learn and to find a school ready to teach them. The business community cares about the quality of education and training; they don't want to have to train every new hire to use a computer. And in every community, there are countless adults who would welcome the opportunity to use a school or library computer training center to learn new skills they may need for a new career. A new law, The Telecommunications Act of 1996 opens the school-house school-house door to new technology. This new law directs the Federal Communications Commission and state utility commissioners to ensure that classrooms and libraries have access to telecommunications telecom-munications services like the Internet and e-mail at affordable rates. This new law can provide us with 100,000 hubs of advanced communications spread across every community of our nation. Today, the FCC is hard at work with our state partner part-ner answering questions like what services do schools need and how much is affordable. We have to start answering these questions by Nov. 8, 1996. As a parent, student, a businessperson, or an interested member of a local community, now is the time for you to get involved in this process an help us answer these questions. You can do this by learning about the new law and the steps being taken to implement it. You can contact the FCC at the address below or your state regulatory commission. Or you can ask your local school board what steps they are taking to get plugged into the information highway. The new telecommunications law has been celebrated celebrat-ed for the many new opportunities it will offer phone companies and other businesses, but the best opportunity opportu-nity of all may be the one we have to well prepare all young Americans for a bright and promising future. You can reach me by e-mail at rhundtfcc.gov, by postal mail at 1919 M Street NW. Washington. D.C., 20554, by phone at 202-418-0260, or through the FCC World Wide Web at http:www.fcc.gov West Middle School (grades 6-8) - Ed Johnson, principal prin-cipal Starting time 8 a.m. Dismissal -2:15 p.m. Vernal Jr. High School (grades 8,9) Robert Vincent, principal Starting time 7:55 a.m. Dismissal 2:30 p.m. Uintah High School (grades 10-12) - Kent Bundcrson. principal Starting time - 7:55 a.m. Dismissal - 2:40 p.m. Ashley Valley High School - Ralph Riggs. lead teacher Starting time 7:30 a.m. Closing time 10 p.m. Exp (ISSN 0092-1091) Pubhfed Cvvy Wrtnpwtoy tor ! 00 pw f W fK0g 'M "d M0 ff T fncvt a"" UJ pt ymt out Ot t wPMt USA try Vl Etpett Pub"? Company. M POSTMASTER 84 aHl CKet M Vt AHAl tXPtttSS. 0 tk 1000. Ve Ula MO?i v tm f PlfQ ....v.....l-;..-,....i,..,-- 0S Wf J D Wi ....?..;...i t Ny AtfvVfe'ng frfff 35 H - PM fW9 mm Mi UM MfXn Uwl lo" Mc H7 1X0 r1l Voice of Business We can do it like Chile bv Dr. Richard L. Leshrr. President U.S. Chamber of Commerce WASHINGTON -By now, it is clear to everyone who hasn't spent the last 10 years in Outer Mongolia that our basic national retirement programs Social Security. Medicare and the pension plans for federal employees and military personnel are careening toward fiscal meltdown. The reason Is simple and easy to understand. When Social Security was first enacted, the average life expectancy for men was 61. Thus, millions of workers who paid into the system never drew a penny out of it. The resulting surplus made it possible to fund a sys-tern sys-tern which paid most recipients many times the amount they paid into the fund during their working years. Today, the average man lives to 74, and the growing population of working women lives even longer. To compound our dilemma, the huge baby boom genera' tirm bom in the years after Wotld War II will begin to retire in 2010. Without serious reform now the system will not be able to withstand the demands that will be thrust upon it a few years down the road. The govern' ment will be forced to thoose between draconiart cutbacks cut-backs that leave many pensioners in dire poverty, of huge tax increases that will put an intolerable burden on our economy. Everyone in government knows this, but nothing is being done because the issue has once again been caught up in partisan bickering. It is not for nothing that Social Security is called "the third fail" of politics. In theory, at least, any politician daring enough to take on Social Security will get burned. We know from experience that nothing as important as Social Security can be dealt with along partisan lines. Before we can even begin, we must get both parties on board with a commitment to forge a workable com promise that all can live with. The temptation to demagogue dem-agogue this issue must be resisted, Time is running out. The fundamental flaw in the present system is its reliance on current account funding in which money paid into the system is used immediately to support pensioners, tl is true that currently Social Security supposedly enjoys a huge "surplus" that Is invested in U.S. Treasury notes, but that Is just an accounting gimmkk. That alleged "surplus" is nothing more than a stack of lOUs whkh the taxpayers owe to themselves. them-selves. When the holes come due. they can only be honored w ith more tax dollars. What we need is retirement system that enables workers to put their retirement dollars into productive investments where they can grow. This is precisely what the government of Chile enacted several years ago and it has proven incredibly successful. Under the Chilean program, 10 percent of worker wages are paid Into private retirement accounts (and workers can contribute con-tribute an additional 10 percent voluntarily). More than 90 percent of Chilean workers choe to join the voluntary system within 18 months of its inception. The result? Wotkcrs are paying about 40 percent less into the new system than they did into the old government system, but are expected to receive at least 50 percent more In retirement benefits than under the old system. Another salutary result of the new Chilean system is that the savings rate in Chile today is 25 percent, creating a huge pool of capital for more productive investment. If we had a public pension system based on private investment, and if all of that phony "surplus" in the Social Security Trust Fund had been invested in the stock market years ago, we would not today be faced with this dilemma. But there is still time to embrace a sensible investment program and abandon the present Ponzi scheme before it leads us to economic catastrophe. |