OCR Text |
Show Men0 tt ttDn DMStar lid The Park Record Section A Thursday, February 25, 1993D Page A17 Heroes in a storm Editor: A million thanks and appreciation to the employees on the mountain at the Park City Ski Area last Saturday. I am a long time resident of Park City, and sometimes I forget who makes up this great community I live in.. ..the people who work here. Even though I am a fair weather skier, I felt compelled to ski with my Arizona house guests on Saturday. We took the town lift up and skied to the Crescent Chair to begin our afternoon adventures on the hill. As we got on the lift, the friendly operator warned us to be careful unloading as it was getting windy. By the time we got to the top of the lift, the chair quit running, and the winds were ranging approximately 60 miles an hour. It was cold, windy and the snow was blowing so hard, you could not sec.zero visibility. There were about 120 of us huddled at the top of the ridge unable to see or move, and freezing. Several of our group had begun crying and my house guest was in total shock. Shortly thereafter, Wally from the Ski Patrol appeared and ushered us into the lift operator's hut. He explained that the mountain was closing, and that this unexpected wind storm was causing problems all over the hill. He had an incredibly calming presence. After deliberating as to what we should do and determining that getting a snowmobile to help us get out was unlikely in the short run, we settled down to quiet hysteria. Some member of our group started discussing the movie Alive, It was at that moment I personally felt I might lose my cool. Eventually, we all made it down the mountain with a lot of incredible help and guidance from the employees of the Park City Ski Area. The most outstanding qualities were displayed by our saviors. The quality that stands out the most in my mind was "good- natured humor." Each and every one that helped escort us down the hill, whether we were on snowmobiles, skiing, or walking, was so friendly and conscious of the fact that we were their guests. In times of extreme stress and fear, it is not only reassuring to know your life is in the hands of, true professionals, but wonderfully calming to be with a staff like those of the Park City Ski Area who display the patience and warmth mixed with the humor that is needed. It is no wonder we claim the Greatest Snow on Earth; we should also claim the Greatest People on Earth. Thank again. What an adventure! Sharon Liese A starry night Editor: Park City Handicapped Sports Association's premiere fund-raising fund-raising event, "Starry Night: attracted more than 400 guests to the Yarrow Hotel on Friday Beyond the laws of nature Guest Editorial by Jim Schefter It doesn't take a genius to make observations and ask questions. In too many years as a reporter, magazine writer and author, I've had plenty of time for both. Along the way, I've drawn conclusions and turned a few of them into laws. Schefter's First Law: All apocalyptic predictions by scientists are wrong. Schefter's Second Law: The greatest force in America today is uninformed public opinion. Schefter's Third Law: Any lie told long enough and strong enough will be believed. You can test these laws by asking pointed questions. Here are a few suggestions, in no particular order. I encourage you to think of more on your own. If the high cost of medical care is the majors economic problem in the country, ? , why does the trial balloon say that Hillary's program going to increase those costs by another $90 billion? Are you personally unhappy with the quality or availability of your medical care? Who says that a slow and steady recovery from a recession is worse than the boom and bust economic cycles of the past hundred years? If the richest 10 percent paid 49 percent of all income taxes in 1981 and 55 percent in 1991, what number does it take to be their "fair share?" Why is it bad for gasoline to cost less, in constant dollars, in 1993 than it did in 1963? So does bread, your new cofor tv, panty hose, and almost every other product you can name. Prices fall when productivity and economic efficiency rise. This is bad? Under Reaganomics, income taxes on the middle class dropped sharply in the Eighties and became all but non-existent on the poor. Through the "earned income credit," some poor people pay zero tax and still get a refund. Only the Social Security tax went up sharply, more than enough to offset the drop in income taxes, thanks to legislation passed under Jimmy Carter. Why do the Reagan years get such a bad rap? In 1992, inflation was just 2.8 percent. Social Security recipients got a three percent cost of living raise, thus making a net profit for the year. Why did all the headlines bemoan "the smallest increase for the elderly in years?" Ethnic and religious wars have raged in the Balkans for a thousand years. Who says it's our job to fix the problem? Technology and its jobs were rallying cries of the Clinton campaign. Why are the two gemstones and biggest job providers of national science, the super qollider and the space station, being chopped? If global warming is such a threat, why do forty-five years of ocean and air data fail to find an increase in average temperatures? If computer simulations (another phrase for "educated guess") say global warming is real and actual data measurements don't prove it, who is right? If dioxin is the most toxic substance known to science, why is there not a single human death attributable to the stuff? I take that back. There is one. After a dioxin spill at a plant in Italy in the Seventies, a local resident was so upset by news reports that he shot and killed the plant manager. The ozone hole over the South Pole was not discovered until a NASA satellite spotted it around 1973. Who says that it hasn't been there forever? (Answer: another computer simulation.) , , If the economy has been improving, modestly but steadily, since March, 1991, why does it need a shot in the arm in 1993? . How will the deficit be reduced under an economic plan that calls for two dollars in spending increases for every dollar in tax hikes? The 1990 tax increase and budget deal with Congress the one that made us snicker over the "read my Jips" line called for two dollars in deficit reduction for every one dollar in new taxes. So why did the deficit go up another hundred billion or so? Can you believe anything Washington says today? If you took California, with its 9.8 unemployment, huge welfare deficit and fleeing businesses, out of the national numbers, what would the rest of the economy look like? (Think boom.) Inexpensive energy is a major difference between the improving economy of a vast, ethnically and geographically diverse country like the U.S. and the recessions of any country in Europe. Does an energy tax, a tax that will increase the cost of every single thing we buy, make any economic sense? Would it make more sense for them to cut their exorbitant energy taxes? It's about as far from Park City to St. George as it is from Paris to Brussels. The Los Angeles metro area is larger than London and is crisscrossed by mountains and earthquake faults. Farmers and small towners in most U.S. states liVe farther away from a large city than most Germans live from Frankfurt or most Japanese live from Tokyo. It's 30 miles from Main Street to the Delta Center. Who says the automobile is so bad? If dependence on foreign oil is bad, why have governments at all levels shut down most oil exploration and drilling in the U.S.? The 1985 devaluation of the dollar against the yen opened the doors for massive Japanese purchase of American real estate corporations. Its goal was to help equalize the balance of trade with Japan, but instead the balance got worse. The new U.S. government is pushing another devaluation. Will you stop buying Japanese cars, tv's, and VCR's just because they go up in price another 15 percent? Could you buy an American VCR if you wanted to? And what will the Japanese with their new trillion dollar windfall of found money? How does it help the economy to save $10 million by firing little old ladies who answer White House mail, then use the $10 million to buy new computers and telephones for the rest of the White House staff? Do we really need a Congress with more than 40,000 unelected employees? Figure it out. The lower middle class pays 15 ' percent federal income tax, 7.625 percent Social Security tax, and a few more percent in state income tax. It pays sales tax in Utah on everything including food, plus federal and state tax on gasoline, natural gas and fuel oil. There's an annual tax and license fee on cars and trucks, a real estate tax on homes (for renters, it's factored in), and probably a few more taxes I've forgotten. All told, it comes to more than one-third one-third of income of the lower-middle class and more for the middle-middle and upper-middle classes. When is enough enough? Should government tell private industry how much to pay its executives, even if some of them are grossly overpaid? Is a congressman worth $150,000-plus a year in salary and perks? How will a higher tax on corporate profits increase jobs? Bill Clinton has never owned a house or held a real grown-up job. For most of his adult life, he has had government cars and chauffeurs. The state, and now you and me, pay for the roof over his head and for his staff of servants. Is this man's experience, training, and judgement similar to yours and mine? Is it really the economy? Or is it something else? night to enjoy entertainers Kim Carnes, Dan Fouts, Kevin Meaney, and Stephen Stills all of whom donated their time and talents for the benefit of PCHSA. Held on the eve of the sixth annual JansSalomon Handicap Challenge, the two events combined to make this our most successful fund-raiser everl I would like to thank everyone involved in both events, from committee members and volunteers to event sponsors and participants. Please see the thank you ads in this edition for a list of everyone who generously donated their time, energy, or sponsorship dollars to help PCHSA continue its programs for disabled persons. I would especially like to thank "Starry Night" sponsor Jerry Gilomen and Diversified Restaurant Corporation. Special thanks also goes to committee members Dena Fleming, Cindy Guenther, Pamela Hainsworth, Beth Hoffmeister, Elizabeth Lockette, and Joan Peets who helped make this first year a wonderful success. Of course all who attended, and everyone who purchased auction items, deserve our warmest thanks for their generous donations, as well as those who donated the auction items. Thanks also to the Yarrow for hosting "Starry Night" and Park City 2nd Ward of the LDS church for their time and creativity in decorating the ballroom. Special thanks also to Deer Valley Lodging for providing lodging for our entertainers. Many of those who attended "Starry Night" also raced in Saturday's JansSalomon Handicap Challenge which was a great success despite the snowy weather. Special thanks to Jan Peterson and the Jans staff for their hard work and support. Thank you to QuestarMountain Fuel for bringing up nearly 50 volunteers to help make this event come off smoothly and to the Park City Ski Area for generously hosting this event. I would like to extend a special thanks to Kim Francom, Tara McCullough and Tina Quayle for staging the race and to Jim and Liza Totora of Nacho Mama's for catering the fantastic fajita lunch! Nearly a dozen local restaurants also provided food, at the apres ski and awards party thank you all so much for your generosity. For those who attended the event, the benefits of PCHSA's programs were readily apparent on the faces of our disabled participants and their families. Certainly, we had a fun ad successful fund-raiser, from which benefits will reach far beyond last weekend and into the lives of many disabled people, helping them to reach their fullest potential. This could not happen without your support thank you, everyone, so very much. Sincerely, Meeche White Executive Director Inhumane restraint Editor: The Wildlife Management personnel do not always necessarily preserve wildlife. On January 28, 1993, on highway 224 near Silver Springs, a yearling bull moose was strangled to death by wildlife officials from the state of Utah. In an attempt to save this yearling, two male state employees in a brown state pickup truck roped the bull moose around the neck and the hind legs. The two men tried to restrain the moose from entering the flow of traffic on the highway. The moose was tied by the neck to the truck and stretched out on the ground by a rope tied to the rear leg, resulting in strangulation. These people are employed by the State of Utah, believe it or not. We are appalled by the poor judgment and ignorance of these employees. We would like to see a change in the style of "saving" wildlife, all wildlife. The moose is a precious resource and animal. It certainly deserves more humane treatment that this incident depicted. Signed, P.C.H.S. students & faculty Second homes Editor: Homeowner exemptions on property tax were designed to make home ownership easier for people. This discount should not be expanded to include second homes. Why should someone rich enough to own two houses get the benefit of a second homeowner exemption? Because all but eight of our state legislators have vacation homes. If Senate bill 168 passes, your property taxes will go up to cover the decrease in revenue from vacation houses, making, home ownership more difficult. Call and write your representative and senator now to stop this unfair law. Raymond C. Johnson The Park Record welcomes letter to the editor on any subject We ask that the tetters adhere to the following guidelines: They should be submitted to the Park Record offices at 1670 x Bonanza Drive or received in the mall (P.O. box 3688, Park City, UT 84060) no later than 5 p.m. on Monday before publication. They must be signed and include : address and telephone number of author. No letter will be published under an assumed name. They must not contain libelous material. Writers are limited to one fetter every 28 days. m : Letters must not be longer than 350 words and should, If possible, be typed. We reserve the right to : edit letters if they are too long for the space available or if they contain statements we consider unnecessarily offensive or obscene. "Takings" and Reality by Gary Weiss, Chairman Summit County Planning Commission As an addicted KPCW listener and High Country News reader, I have been hearing a lot lately about "takings. This is interesting to me our grandmothers can live over the garage, and on and on. We can have horses but not chickens, lights, but not too bright. We can own a car that will go 150 miles per hour, but can't drive it over 65. Are all of these regulations "takings?" should because, as a Planning Commissioner, I hear each or us be compensated every time a this word regularly from professional planners, regulation limits the use of our property? Even land developers, and local government officials, more thought provoking, is what has been taken, it a developer buys a hay field, and is told it must remain a hay field, what has been taken from her? Or a Or a floodplain. If speed" Now it seems this issue is moving into the public realm, and I thought some discussion might be appropriate. Oiliest Editorial wetland. Or a ridge The fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution limits are valid regulations for public safety, . states: "...Nor shall private property be taken for why isn't protection of watersheds? public use without just compensation." This The real question is where does valid clause, the "takings clause," made applicable to regulation end and taking for public use begin? the States by the fourteenth amendment, is the Clearly, the Reagan-Bush Supreme Court has source of all the controversy. been moving, albeit slowly, towards narrowing Until 1922, "takings" pretty much meant an government power over land use. But even they actual, physical, taking of, or intrusion onto, offer no clear guidelines. And although private land, without the benefit of Supreme Court decisions shape the application condemnation. But in a famous case, Oliver of law, they are not cast in stone. It is important Wendall Holmes advanced the doctrine that to put their actions in some context. In the past, government regulations can go so far as to they have struck down laws guaranteeing effect a virtual taking of an individual's minimum wages for women and upholding property. When landowners whose property exclusionary voter registration tactics, contains wetlands, endangered species, streams Obviously, later events rectified these actions, or even required open space, cry "Takings!" this In the same case that established regulatory is usually what they are talking about. There is a takings, the Court also said: "Government could perception among some that regulation of such hardly go on if to some extent values incident to areas flies in the face of American values. "No property could not be diminished without one is going to tell me what I can do with my paying for every such change in the general own land I" has become a rallying cry and law." dividing line. However, this is an interesting "Takings" is no less difficult than issues like assertion that bears some examination. abortion, grazing, equal pay for women or free Consider the following: you buy one acre of speech; all legally "fluid." It is complicated by ground in a single family residential our expanding knowledge of biodiversity and neighborhood to build a home, 208 feet x 208 how natural process interference can affect our feet (43,560 sq. ft.). The local code demands daily lives. Simple slogans just won't handle it. that you cannot build with 10 feet of the side or Like with those other issues, the impetus to rear property lines, or within 30 feet of the front define the general welfare must come from property line. local communities; for the Judiciary With these quite usual requirements, you have notwithstanding, all power does derive from the agreed to be deprived of the unfettered use of people. 12,480 sq. ft., or 29 percent of your property. It is appropriate for government to use the People expect this, and rarely consider that this strictest scrutiny when contemplating regulated land has been "taken." Yet tell a limitations on private property. However, developer that this same 29 percent of his political communities, through government, investment ground must be kept as open space, exist to protect certain basic rights that citizens and a more focused response may be cannot secure by acting alone. Part of that is the forthcoming. guarantee of a healthful, aesthetic, and People are told every day what they can and functioning environment. Government must cannot do with their property. We are told how serve as trustees and arbiters of the public big our houses can be, how high our fences, welfare, and bear accountability to both private where the fast food restaurants may go, whether citizens and the public at large. |