OCR Text |
Show 1 A6 Wednesday, December 5, 2007 Vernal Express a VEPffAL Public Forum - Letters to the Editor What is your opinion? The Vernal Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions on contents, if in good taste and not libelous or vindictive. Letters may be edited for length. All letters must be submitted exclusively to the Vernal Express and bear the full name, signature, phone number and address of the writer or writers. Letters for the sole purpose of expressing thanks to individuals or groups will not be printed in this forum. Submissions may be mailed to 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078; faxed to 435-789-8690 or sent by e-mail to editorvernal.com The name or names of the persons submitting letters must appear on all published letters. Letters express the opinion of the writer or writers and are not necessarily the opinion of the Vernal Express. OPINION1 LIMITS OF FREE SPEECH uoiiriion By Mary Bernard Express Writer I am a big proponent of the first amendment so, J v ? j it's no surprise that I work for a newspaper. What " I mean is, I enjoy exercising my freedom as well as J listening to the expression of others. It's the open i exchange of ideas that makes this country great. I like hearing both sides of an issue, talking to different people and learning what they think. My interest in the thoughts of others serves me well as I spend a lot of time in meetings. I have found that many complex issues regardless of where they arise in meetings are generally met with thoughtful discussion. In the Basin, if there's 20 people in a room, then there will be 20 different dif-ferent positions on an issue. Each waiting to be heard. That's the beauty of free speech, each speaker's voice carries the same weight. Anyone can dialog. It's the give-and-take that makes my work interesting. I'm proud of my community, because there are so many expressive people. Lately though, under what may be the pretense of wit, there has been a trend toward thoughtless expression. On one occasion, a speaker offered to shoot stray animals with automatic weaponry as a quick fix to the problems of pet overpopulation. In another, a speaker bemoaned the fact that specific ethnic groups could no longer be exploited for low wages. Both speakers are elected officials and perhaps, in the midst of the discussion, their comments were meant to be funny. Neither is. Instead, they reflect poorly on the speakers and all of us who fail to react to their comments. One of the speakers said frankly, they knew their comment was out of line. We've all said things we shouldn't have. Usually, we regret saying them before the words have left our lips. Still, neither official has offered to amend their comments for the record. Look, I'm not some Pollyanna who hasn't heard or used tough language. Nor do I pretend to be a moral authority over our elected officials. But, intemperate speech especially, the kind that borders on prejudice has no place in a public forum. The demands on local leadership are magnified with the recent pace of growth in our community They are under pressures that they never dreamed would be arrive. However, no matter what the intent; to be witty or thought-provoking, the comments of our leaders should elevate - not lower - public discourse. "How many million can you give me? I'm leaving the Senate now so I can lobby my former colleagues in one year Instead of two!" TURN UP THE THERMOSTAT By Its Bowem Express Associate Editor 'I'. v- Bundle up everyone. It's cold outside. I've lived in Utah most of my life. I was in seventh grade when we had the first snow day in Granite - District in more than 30 years and I've seen it snow . , ' on the Fourth of July. -J So I'm no stranger to cold or snow. But I'm questioning now global warning is as big of a problem as they say. For the first time in my life, I'm actually worrying about pipes freezing. And I haven't felt my toes in three days. But I'm told this it the way winters are in the Uintah Basin. Someone reminded me that last year the Basin didn't break zero for some three weeks. Wow! That's cold. wtss 'ssT""fs -vvy7 -VFw rvW7 f 1i V i 11 wl w ' k an nx Ale -1 WJ hQSi i ... II HIP I I'm k -9. ' v K - w mr i lit ft fl T t i A l fS M 1M ijvTj vmmi wo Yuuiuvbt.wt DIDNTHAVf TO WEAR TIESE5UIT5 AND THE FSH WERE AUVE'.BOY THOSE WERE THE PAYS? Property tax woes Dear editor, I disagree with a recent article ar-ticle in the Vernal Express by Preston McConkie regarding property tax rates. In particular particu-lar with his opening paragraph, para-graph, I quote: "Duchesne and Uintah counties haven't raised property taxes during the booming business and real estate frenzy, meaning tax rates have had to drop to keep pace with skyrocketing assessed property values." I am sure anyone who has received a tax bill from Uintah County can readily determine that their taxes have indeed been raised over the past three years and they have been raised substantially. sub-stantially. The property tax paid on the average Uintah County home by county residents has increased over 50 percent since 2004. This means that the average homeowner ho-meowner in Uintah County is paving over $300 more this year than they were payingin 2004. By comparison overthe same period the Consumer Price Index has increased just over 9 percent and the COLA adjustment, received by our residents depending on Social So-cial Security, has increased by just over 10 percent over the same period. Those tax hikes really hurt residents who own their homes outright, particularly those who are in their senior years living on limited incomes in-comes where there is a steady erosion of their income. Property taxes paid by households in Uintah County increased the taxing districts revenues by just over 59 percent since 2004. The new household growth in Uintah County, since 2004, accounts for the additional 9 percent in revenues (from the 50 paid paid on the average Uintah County home) for the county's taxing districts and is usually used to fund district services that new growth requires. New commercial com-mercial growth (which is not included in this analysis) will add additional revenues as well. The large property tax increases we have been experiencing ex-periencing the last few years flies in the face of Uintah County's tradition of fiscal responsibility. Something else that is somewhat surprising sur-prising to me is one critical missing component: Open and engaged public dialogue regarding the large funding increases our residents are paying for. Some of out tax districts are autonomous agencies, not under the direction or control of the state, county or cities they serve. The district's dis-trict's officials are appointed - not elected. They can tax us, but we cannot vote them out of office. Also, from what I read, we are not alone with this problem. Residents in other areas of our state have complained about county officials inaction in addressing address-ing this problem and some residents have started circulating cir-culating petitions to try and force limits on our system of property taxation. Because of this I am sure property tax will become an important issue for the upcoming State Legislature. Sincerely yours, Fred Riding, Vernal McCoy Flat Truck Route Dear editor, If you have become frustrated frus-trated by the congestion of heavy truck traffic while driving driv-ing on Main Street in Vernal you are not alone. This is a problem we all see daily and know a solution is necessary. However, some believe a possible pos-sible way to preserve historic down to wn Vernal and relieve the traffic congestion is to condemn hundreds of homes and properties in the Glines and Davis areas consisting of 2500 South and farther south. Afive-laneheavy truck highway is proposed to take over one of the 13 residential roads or areas with no current cur-rent road. One steering board and the Uintah County Commissioners Commis-sioners will make the decision between an entire street of homes left to stand or be bulldozed down. After being asked if the decision would come down to cost alone, the UTSSD (Uintah Transportation Transporta-tion Special Service District) executive director voiced that if two hundred people wanted to preserve the "cheapest" route, that route would be the one the steering board would propose to the county commissioners. com-missioners. According to a very prehminary and incomplete incom-plete cost analysis this leads many to believe 2500 South is the "cheapest" because it is an existing residential road. However, this cost analysis only includes the cost of the five-lane highway itself, not the condemnation costs for homes and properties and the emotional destruction that would follow. Growth and development in Vernal does have benefits; including, new people and quality homes, new jobs and opportunity for higher education. But, it isn't right to sacrifice those on 2500 South and beyond for industrial indus-trial advancement. There is heavy growth of nice homes, attracting quality individuals and families on the south end of the valley. These are people who support and work to keep our community in functioning at every level. A truck route through or near their homes and properties is no way to promote the growth and development of Vernal, Utah. We are fortunate to live in a town with the "small town feel" and yet be afforded the many convenient opportunities opportuni-ties and choices that are here or will be here. We need to preserve our quality of life by preserving a truck route onlyontheMcCoyFlat(6500 South8500 South) which is state and federal land. Please contact your Uintah County Commissioners and the UTSSD Board (www. utssd.utah.gov.) Ask them to preserve our homes, properties proper-ties and roads by only allowing allow-ing the truck route on the McCoy Flat. Please also show your support for the McCoy Flat Truck Route only, on surveys and petitions. Thank you, Stephanie Anderson Trooper justified Dear editor, I have seen many times in the last few days the video of Mr. Massey and the state patrolman involved in the incident on Highway 40 near Vernal. Also the explanation of Mr. Massey and a patrol spokesman. The patrolman and the office of-fice of the state patrol should not have to defend their actions ac-tions in this incident. If Mr. Massey was as concerned for his pregnant wife and child as he says, he would be obeying the law. Speed limits are set to protect us. he had no respect for the law of the person whose job it is to enforce the law. After he was told he was under arrest, he blatantly and belligerently defied the law and the officer of the law. The law officer was completely com-pletely within his rights as far as I am concerned and this young man should consider himself lucky and should also be punished according to his actions and lack of respect. Furthermore, he should be sued for defamation for posting post-ing this video bragging about his disrespect, encouraging this type of behavior. If the ticket was unwarranted, unwar-ranted, the courts would determine that fact, he now wants a court to uphold his disrespect of the law and the enforcers? our laws have begun to show more consideration consid-eration for criminals. L.R. Evans "c . Trees for Charity a success Dear editor, As chairperson for the Trees for Charity committee, commit-tee, I would like to thank everyone involved in this year's event. The committee commit-tee is comprised of several volunteers that put in numerous nu-merous hours in planning and making sure the entire weekend and auction run smoothly. Local businesses donate products and services - whether it is for the event itself or for anything else that is needed. Also, many people take time and money to decorate a tree or specialty item to be auctioned for the charity of their choice. The auction itself brings members mem-bers of the community that not only open their hearts, but also their wallets. Close to $150,000 was raised for various charities this year. We should all be proud that we live in an area that gives so much. Vernal truly is a great place! Robin L. O'Driscoll Trooper out of line Dear editor, As I watched the Utah Highway Patrol video of Jared Massey being shot in the back by one of "Utah's Finest" my blood ran cold! I then participated in an online poll and realized that I was BERTHA BUTTERBEAN Why I don't shop early By Daiw Coiovich Guest Writer I know that rationality ratio-nality isn't necessarily a strong point of mine, but I usually feel compelled to figure out why I do what I do when everyone else says I ought to be doing something else - especially if those someone elses are "experts" of some kind, like my sister or my kids. If I am going to be out of step, I at least ought to know why, right? Well, I have thought it through, and I know why I don't do my Christmas shopping shop-ping early. Just in case you want to adopt some of my reasons for procrastinating, I'll share them with you. Hey, these are good reasons. Not even close to those no-account reasons like I'm too tired or too poor or too busy to shop early. Okay, here goes. If you buy a Christmas gift early, at least one of six things will happen: 1. You will later find that same particular item for half of what you paid for it. 2. You will later learn that the person you bought the item for hates the size, shape, color or thought of what you bought. 3. You will later find what you were looking for in the first place (not what you actually bought) at half the cost of what you did buy. 4. You will find the perfect gift for that person after you have already spent your money. 5 . What you bought will be hopelessly out of fashion by the time Christmas comes. 6. You will either take the gift home and forget that you bought it, or you will store it somewhere that you will never remember. Now if those aren't good reasons for holding off. . .well, you might want to clip this column and go through the Points for Procrastination next time you are tempted to buy a gift before Dec. 10. Yes, Dec. 10. You can make sure that you rule out the possibility of any negative consequences of early shopping by ticking off each Point before you buy. You wouldn't want any gifts of those kinds coming to roost under your Christmas tree, or anyone else's either. That is if they come to roost anywhere other than forgotten forgot-ten in the hall closet. This procedure eliminates not alone in my feelings of rage. Approximately 50 to 1 of those American citizens voting in the poll indicated that the officer was wrong. Over the last 50 years I have watched as many of the "peace officers" of the United States of America have degenerated to the brutal and arrogant state demonstrated in the UHP video. I fear the officers of the law much more than I do the criminal element. I can at least defend my self and my family against the criminal element. That evening as I lead the Pledge of Allegiance at our Naples city planning and zoning meeting, I nearly stumbled on my words as I pledged Allegiance to the Republic for which it stands. A republic whose police officers of-ficers consider "diplomacy" a weakness, and a court system that thrives on huge fines, huge forfeitures and excessive bails. This secret combination, to get gain, this well organized crime system was what Jared Massey and his dear wife encountered on U.S. Highway 40 just outside of Vernal, Utah, USA. I quote the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States: We the people of the United States, in order to for a more perfect union, establish estab-lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure se-cure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United State of America. I think of the swat team that, brutally arrested Mark Foley at his Service Insurance Insur-ance Office, and now the government do not even have . enough evidence to put him on Trial. I think of the several well armed officers and German shepard police dogs that raided raid-ed john Gardner's Dinaland Aviation office and aircraft hangers last summer without a court ordered search warrant. war-rant. Finally I watched the video as the Utah Highway Patrol Officer recounted the events and from my perspective perspec-tive lied to the Uintah County Sheriffs Deputy about Jared Massey and his wife. It was all "business as usual." In a few weeks this will all be forgotten, Jared Massey will be fined, convicted and probably jailed. It will still require three city police cars and several officers to give one little high school girl a ticket for a license plate light being out. We will all go on until it is our turn. Jared Massey and his wife have had their turn. I grieve with them. I challenge the readers of this letter who feel the way I do to help him "establish justice" by helping with his legal defense bills at the law office of Dennis Judd. In America today, you can have all the justice you can afford, and no more! Sadly, James Richards all of that pre-Christmas stress caused by shopping, the reason being that if you haven't bought it by Dec. 10, you're desperate anyway and desperation is as good a reason as any to go ahead and buy a fuschia-colored ceramic crocodile for Aunt Alice even at full price. At least you won't wish you hadn't bought the turquoise one in October. There is one more reason for postponing. Who wants to be mentally going through Christmas shopping lists for a whole year? Whoever said that we should keep the Christmas spirit all year long had something else in mind. I have a friend who starts buying Christmas gifts at the January sales. What can I say? I'm glad that I am on her card list instead of her gift list. |