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Show MdDw AIbifflit Ett? o What have you liked best and least about your visit to Park City? ncBWiTDdDnnnu; Pete Atkinson Huntington Beach, Calif. I have found nothing I dislike about Park City. I have been here three times this year, and would like to move here. The people are great! -o j Page A2 Thursday, March 5, 1981 IEdlfitDniiall t 4 Better late than never for energy-saving steps So you think you're paying a lot for heat these days. How would you like a heat bill of around $13,000? That's about what it costs to heat Park City High School over a year's time, and gas prices are likely to go through the roof as the full impact of deregulation is felt. With the construction of a new middle school, the Park City School District has an opportunity to do its constituents a big favor for the 50-odd years that the building will be in use. The favor? Cut energy costs to an absolute minimum. Until a month or so ago, we could have rambled on about how the district wasn't paying enough attention to energy conservation in the new building, and felt pretty righteous about it. Superintendent Richard Goodworth freely admits that energy was not the prime consideration when architect Keith Stepan was hired last summer to design the new building. And the preliminary drawings seemed to suggest the same thing. But that was back in January. Since then, Stepan has been accosted by Park City's own solar energy czar, Jim Doilney, and by equally-persuasive Board President Nancy McComb. And the results are beginning to show. Stepan said Wednesday that his discussions with Doilney mm, CHARcesXACuv what po vou know about this girl 1 (Knnesn dDpfiimiapim Environmental issues galore; picking just one is tough Guest Opinion was created to provide readers of The Newspaper with a forum for discussing their ideas, insights and points of view. If you have an opinion that you wish to share on any topic, please mail it to The Newspaper, Box 738, Park City, Utah 84060. We welcome your contributions, but reserve the right to edit material for length and to reject that which is considered libelous or vulgar. By Frank Erickson It ought to be easy in this day and age to come up with a real barnstormer of an evnironmental column, something to really carry on a tirade about. Both locally and nationally the issues are there, and I've mulled over several the past few days. The problem is focusing in on just one. Take James Watt, the new Secretary of the Interior. The Department of Interior In-terior is in charge of the National Parks Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, the Division of Water and Power Resources (formerly (for-merly the Bureau of Reclamation), and several other agencies whose activities affect the environment. One might expect ex-pect that the chief administrator of such a department might be akin to St. Francis of Assisi. James Watt is a Christian, but the similarity seems to end there. "The earth was put here by the Lord for his people to subdue and to use for profitable purposes on their way to the hereafter," wrote Ron Wolf in the March April issue of Rocky Mountain magazine. "Jim Watt is steeped in this tradition." Wolf is a Denver journalist who has followed Watt's career for years. His picture of Watt is sobering, perhaps even frightening, to environmentalists. Far be it for me to rehash Wolf's words, since they are well worth reading first hand. No. I won't write about Watt. Maybe MX. The notion of turning the Great Basin, perhaps the finest piece of desolation left in the continental U.S., into a target area for Soviet nuclear weapons has been discussed at length by the media, and a mere bibliography on the subject would take more space than I have here. No, I'll not get into the MX debate except to say that motorcycles, motor-cycles, mining companies, and scuba divers have done enough damage to such Great Basin places as Salt Springs, the Deep Creek mountains and Doc Wilson's Health Springs. It's hard to imagine, but I reckon A bombs would be even worse. I can't mention the Great Basin without bringing up the Sagebrush Rebellion. Revolutions have been fought around the world to take the land from the lords and redistribute it to the peasants. (In fact, isn't that what is going on in El Salvador right now?) In the West, we enjoy the ultimate in land reform : We have millions of acres that belong to us all national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and the great expanses expan-ses administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The catch is, because they belong to all of use, they don't belong to any one of us. It certainly would be nice to have a cabin in the heart of the High Uintas. But if the price of having a cabin meant the whole Uintas were carved into quarter-acre quarter-acre mountain lots so that everyone could have a cabin, I'd just as soon not have the cabin. The root of the Sagebrush Rebellion is that certain special interest groups- have resulted in some design changes to make better use of the sun and conserve the available heat. Extra insulation has been added. The location of windows has been changed. The orientation of the building has been planned to give the roof the maximum southern exposure in case solar collectors collec-tors are installed. A mechanical engineer with a strong background in solar systems has been hired. As much as we'd like to, we can't give Doilney and McComb Mc-Comb all the credit. The architect himself has shown, remarkable flexibility, especially in light of the recent ( discussions about changing the athletic facilities. And later this week, Stepan will be in Washington County to tour the Santa Clara Elementary School, considered one of the most energy-efficient public buildings in the state. We are encouraged both by the enlightened attitude of the new school board and the willingness of the architect to listen to suggestions. Our only .concern is that energy conservation con-servation was hot given a high enough priority when "the plans first were discussed, and that this is reflected in an after-the-fact approach to the problem. Then again, we could have said something last summer. -DH mining, logging, grazing and oil explorationwant ex-plorationwant control of the public lands. The poet P.F. Murray refers to these people as "rich, perfumed hogs." No, I'll not write about the rebellion, I get too emotional. But from where I sit in downtown Park City, some of that hog perfume seems to be wafting in the window. One group of developers wants to replace the forests on the steep hillsides above town with condos. Meanwhile, down the valley, raw sewage is dumped into Silver Creek because a developer refuses to upgrade an inadequate sewage pumping facility. I enjoy the self-rightousness of pointing poin-ting a finger at the big developers and blaming them for the destruction of our mountain environment. But I'm afraid few of us are free of the scent of the odiferous swine. Half the people I know work in construction or sell real estate. The other half work in industries supported sup-ported by tourists: the resorts, shops and restaurants. If by a wave of a wand Park City returned to being the near ghost town it was in the 1950s, almost everyone would have to leave. It could get lonesome around here. One wonders, though, how much growth Park City can sustain before the values we early arrivers sought a small town with clean air, uncrowded ski slopes, and clear fishing streams-are streams-are overwhelmed by others seeking the same thing. These values already have been compromised. But that perfumed development hog is a sacred cow that no one seems willing to grind into hamburgers, including me. Maybe I'll forget the environmental tirade and go skiing, and give the space back to Stanely Karow. Bill Strader Mill Valley, Calif. I've liked everything about Park City. We're in a great condo rl""l so, ) . , ., and in Dorothy Norton Miami, Florida Everything has been really nice. No lift lines and nice, new snow. The city's much more than I thought it would be. The thing I like least ; Weekly Reagan should look closely .. G?, . ....h'ait,-. Ujt ma. r.i i .oilier" :v.m Jiijjrt 'JlbJc. ill iw !.. h;,....i- i at rentagon : Washington President Reagan has sworn to cut waste : in the federal government, but some of his budget officials have the impression he means only waste in the social services. They scrutinize every detail of a $50,000 anti-poverty project and approve a $50 million Pentagon proposal with few .questions asked. It's true the president has called for more defense spending. But White House sources say he wants to guard carefully against waste in the military budget. Here is a word of advice: Some of the most prodigal spendthrifts in the federal government can be found in the Pentagon. The fact that they wrap themselves in the flag doesn't make their extravagance any less disgraceful. disgrace-ful. The brass hats have spent staggering amounts on armaments that should never have been ordered. They have lavished the taxpayers' money on pet weapons that have turned out to be impractical. They have rushed ahead with new weapons before they have been proven. They have a weakness for loading down military equipment with sophisticated sophisti-cated gadgetry that not only is enormously expensive but reduces its combat efficiency. The weapons become be-come so complex that they won't function under combat conditions. The military's misspending amounts to untold millions. Here are two small examples: ' The Defense Department gave a contractor $132,000 to prepare a projection of artillery requirements for our NATO forces. Shortly after the study was completed, it was junked. It seems the Army's field artillery school didn't like it. Another private consultant was Newspaper Subscription Kates, $6 a year in Summit County, $12 a year outside Summit County YJ- Published by Ink, Inc. 1 L'sps :i7H-7:lo Publisher ...ianWilking Kdlto1' Bettina Moench Advertising Sales Jail wilkiiig. Bill Dickson General Manager Terry Hoga Business Manager Rick Lanmail Graphics Becky Widenhouse. Lh Heinios Reporters )avij Hampshire. Rick Brough Photo Kdilor : Pnvlis RubenStein Typesetting Katnv i)eakin, Dixie Bishop Subscription 4 Classifieds A1e BenneU Distribution Bob Grjeve Kntereil as second-class matter May 25, 1!I77, at the post office in Park City. Utah K4(l(i((, under the Act or March 3, 1X117. Published every Thursday at Park City, Utah. Second-class postage paid at Park City. I'tah. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs are welcome and will be considered for publication, however, The Newspaper will assume no responsibility for the return of such material. All news, advertising and photos must be received prior to the Tuesday noon deadline at our office 41!) Main Street in Park City, by mail P.O. Box 7:w, Park City. L'l. HIMi. or by calling our office (Sill ) 1!MMIU. Publication material must be received by Tuesday noon for Thursday publication. ' ' and we re just Missy Wilson St. Paul, Minnesota I think the marking of the trails is terrible at both the Parkwest and Park City Resorts. I have skied all over the world and this is the worst. What I like best are the friendly people on the mountain the shops. Terry Mayle Newport Beach, Calif. The biggest problem I have encountered in Park City has been the bus service. I most enjoyed looking around old sections of town. i Pam Fox Mound, Minnesota is the hill being so far from the downtown area. Overall, everything has been great. gpecnsail s overspenaing retained to analyze equal employment opportunity training in the Defense Department. In less than a year, the contract price jumped from $90,000 to $137,000. Meanwhile, the information the contractor was paid to dig up was already on hand in the Pentagon. South American Sojourns: Members of the idle rich usually spend their winters in the Sunshine Belt. It is their money and they can do what they wish with it. But there is another class of Americans who can escape the snow and ice at the taxpayers' expense. We are referring to members of Congress. If they play their committee assignments assign-ments right, they can pack up their wives and assistants and head for the sunny climes of Latin America. During the months of January and February, by our count, at least five congressional delegations over 100 people in total took junkets to such summery spots as Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama and Peru. For some reason, the need to check out the conditions in these countries always seems to arise when the weather is at its worst in Washington. Imagine, for a moment, that your are the American Ambassador in Peru. In the five-week period between Jan. 8 and Feb. 12, you would have had to interrupt your work to greet and entertain these congressional delegations: delega-tions: Rep. Clement Zablocki, D-Wis., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and 15 additional House members, wives and assistants. They traveled to Peru to "review political developments." Rep. Jim Santini, D. Nev., chairman chair-man of a House subcommittee on mining, and a retinue of 18 colleagues laid back. - r- s--A ... r j Anderson .oiom and aides. They were there to "look into the energy and mineral resources of Latin America." Rep. Frank Annunzio, D-Ill., chairman chair-man of a House banking subcommittee and 30 other people. They were interest ed in Peruvian banking. Rep. Neal Smith, D-Iowa,, and a party of 18. They simply wanted to see what the State Department was up to. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.,'and a delegation of 20. They were in such a hurry to see the sights that they skipped some of the appointments that they flew all the way to Peru to obtain. They seemed primarily interested in buying local products at bargain prices. In short, when members of Cbngress talk about going to the ends" of the earth to serve their constituents they are being all too literal. ;i Headlines and Footnotes: The federal government now has moretJhan 130 million troy ounces of silvej-l;vaulted away about $2 billion worttii-jt's part of the strategic stockpile... -vA secret Justice Department report says the International Longshoremen's Association Associa-tion has a "long history of organized crime influence" and is, in fact, dominated by the mob. ...President Reagan's choice for the human rights seat at the State Department is a member of the all-male Cosmos Club in downtown Washington.... Out of $519 billion collected by the Internal Revenue Service last year, 84 percent came from individuals. Only 14 percent of the taxes were paid by corporations.. Quote from a top-secret Pentagon report: "Soviet advisers or military personnel can be found in some 30 countries adhering formally to the neutral and nonaligned movement. In addition, Cuban military forces and advisers now number in the thousands and are found in over 20 countries." |