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Show II 'I 1 T TTTT 1 T i THE PARK RECORD Viewpoints. A-15 SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1998 EDITORIAL P.C. takes lead in gun-free schools It is not easy to assign accountability when the perpetrators of a crime are 1 1 and 13 years old. But that is exactly what the parents of the children killed during the Jonesboro Middle School shooting in Arkansas are asking for and deserve. They donl want to hear, "It was a random act of violence, there was really nothing anyone could have done to prevent it." They, along with many parents all over the country, coun-try, want to know what went so horribly wrong and what can be done (o ensure it will never happen again. Anywhere. Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt didn't have to make a big leap in order to connect the tragedy to the Utah State Legislature's most recent lapse of judgement judge-ment the decision not to impose a ban on guns in schools. According to Leavitt, while a gun ban would not have protected the students at Jonesboro, it could prevent a similar tragedy. The state's vocal gun lobby, anticipating bad press following reports about the kinds of armaments available avail-able to the two juvenile suspects, shot back its usual defense that this is just the kind of situation which points out the need for regular folks to defend themselves them-selves with guns. That kind of Wild West logic, however, became obsolete decades ago. Still, Utah legislators are among the first to jump on the National Rifle Association Associ-ation bandwagon anytime a law is proposed which seeks to gain more control of min use. They have fought efforts to improve methods of gun registration and, this year, killed proposed bills which would have made any and all guns illegal in the schools and on college campuses. If gun enthusiasts are so sure that bearing arms is a sacred right, they should take full responsibility for the consequences when their guns are used illegally. When a child is involved in a gun accident, the gun owner should be held liable. And, in this case, the owners of the guns used in the Jonesboro shooting and the man or men who taught the children how to use them should stand trial as accessories to the crime. Closer to home, the Park City School District has set an example that the rest of the schools in the state should follow even if the state legislature isn't ready to see the light. According to the district's Safe Schools Policy: No weapons of any sort may be carried car-ried onto school grounds by anyone except a peace-officer. peace-officer. It will be a long time before the families of Jonesboro, Jones-boro, Arkansas, are able to send their children off to school with any sense of security. And the community communi-ty will have some painful decisions to make in deciding decid-ing exactly who was responsible for the killings there. The tragedy, though, should be a lesson for the Utah Legislature that has continually thwarted efforts to reduce illegal gun use in our communities and in our schools. I'm suppose4 to teach Ve Vice President boi I dovrt seeViivr I JOHN KILBOURN PARK RECORD GUEST EDITORIAL Last stand for public grazing LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Volunteers recognized by KARL HESS, JR. Three years ago Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.),' tried,' and failed, to push through Congress a grazing bill for western west-ern public land ranchers. That bill raised the ire of environmentalists and went down in flames. In a few weeks. Senate Republicans will try again as they hold hearings and then vote on the House-passed House-passed "Forage Improvement Act of I W." Though mild, compared to the partisan par-tisan Domenici bill, the House hill, if passed, will raise more than the ire of greens. It will likely rally a united environmental environ-mental front to abolish public land grazing altogether. On the surface, the bill seems a poor catalyst to spark grazing abolition. But like the Died Scott decision that gave federal fed-eral approval to southern slavery and raised the hackles of America's first abolitionists, aboli-tionists, it does what is unacceptable to the nation's greenest abolitionists: it gives fed-" eral blessing to the public lands statiis quo.' The House bill keeps grazing fees low by setting them in the relative concrete of federal law (as opposed to the shifting political tides of agency rule-making and executive order). This is not radical; it just gives back to ranchers the economic certainty cer-tainty of cheap grazing that was lost at the expiration of the 1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act lee formula. . It preserves monitoring as a political tool by w hich the worst of ranchers can defend the worst of grazing practices. Again, nothing new. Yet. by adding layers of redundancy to a monitoring program already unable to detect and stop overgrazing, over-grazing, the bill gives credence to the absurd notion that land which looks overgrazed, over-grazed, smells overgrazed, and has the sandpapered feel of overgrazed isn't overgrazed over-grazed at all. It continues the tradition of cutting the public out of the public land picture. It nixes any public role in monitoring and grants cowboys greater discretion over public lands if they meet "performance goals.' Given the anemic state of monitoring monitor-ing and the protection given to stockmen by Congress, such goals ring hollow. Most of all, the bill fails to address the needs of the land and the regulatory changes needed to improve grazing management. man-agement. Many ranchers on public lands are good stewards and could offer even belter stewardship if encouraged. Many non-ranchers, if allowed by federal law to hold grazing leases, could add much to the health of the land. But the House bill allows for neither. These defects seem harmless on the surface. But this is where Congress and public land ranchers miss the boat. After decades of fighting the same legislative battles, with few results to show other than more bureaucracy, groups like the Sierra Club, the Oregon Natural Resources Council, and New Mexico's Forest Guardians are ready to call it quits on range reform and go all out for grazing abolition. Passage of the House bill by the Senate will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Members of Congress who support the bill will give ranchers short-term relief, but will alienate greens and give momentum to those who wish to make the federal range cow-free by 2003. Prudent rethinking rethink-ing of the bill could help ranchers survive into the 21sl Century and help greens sidestep side-step abolition in good conscience. It can be done and it starts with Congress getting serious about incentives, markets, and the potential of credible performance goals. I . .. 'A'. 'sounder-' grazing policy would" let ;i' ranchers;whO db a good job reap the hen-' hen-' efits of their stewardship through more grass for cows, longer permit tenure or more management flexibility. Ranchers who graze livestock poorly must pay the price. This means no subsidies to keep marginal ranchers above water and no more shifting of legitimate land management manage-ment costs from ranchers to the general tax-paying public. To win green kudos, it must also open the door for non-ranchers who wish to buy grazing permits from willing ranchers and do something novel with them like set aside grass for elk or clean up streams. Fair play dictates opening the public range to the market. Lastly, if Congress wants to lend credibility credi-bility to performance goals, it must make them the product of an open and honest public process. Outcome-based management manage-ment could work miracles for the federal range, but only if monitoring of performance perfor-mance standards are vigorous and only if Congress gives ranchers and non-ranchers alike the economic incentive and regulatory regulato-ry relief to enable them to do the public's bidding. Grazing abolition is an act of last resort. Let's hope Congress has the wisdom to avoid such a drastic step by pursuing a new policy direction that allows ranchers and greens to get on peacefully with the business busi-ness of healing the West. Karl Hess is a writer living in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is a regular contributor con-tributor to Writers on the Range, a project of High Country News, based in Paonia, Colorado. Send your letter to the editor via e-mail to: ncnoakermedianewsgroup.com Editor: The Board of County Commissioners would like to recognize several individuals in the Snyderville Basin for their significant contribution of volunteer time and energy in serving on the Snyderville Basin Recreation Recre-ation District's Master Plan Committee. The Recreation and Trails Master Plan was a two-year project which culminated in December of 1W. when the plan was adopted. It now serves as the Recreation Element of the Snyderville Basin General Plan. Though the Master Plan document is complete, these volunteer committee members mem-bers continue to provide a sounding board, as the Recreation District moves forward in providing community parks and trails in the Basin. We are grateful to committee chair Amanda Peterson and committee members Melissa Call, Doug Dotson, Pace Erickson, Wendy Fisher, Jeff Graham. Gail Meakins and Rick Perry. i We would liketo take tlK.onPOrlOuJtV.to. i express our gratitude and publiclyjcognize their volunteer work for the benefit of all Snyderville Basin residents. Eric Schifferli Summit County Commissioner Oscar night party Editor: I would like to give out written awards to all who attended the Park City Arts Council's Coun-cil's Membership DriveOscar Party, and to those who made the party possible. A special award of praise and appreciation apprecia-tion to our Executive Producer and Director Direc-tor Diane Mellen for chairing the event and for working so steadfastly over the last three months to make the Oscar party a S.R.O. hit. Thanks also to an excellent committee: Leslie Miller, Margaret Baeg, Frank Normile, Annette Baker and especially Patti Volla, who masterminded the special effects concept for the party aka the table-top table-top celebrity decorations. We wouldn't have been able to sponsor the Oscar Party without the support of our producers: Diane and Neil Mellen, Robert Larsen, Rick and Carmen Rogers, Neal and Gail Breton, Lisa Wishnick, David Belz and Robert Boles. An appreciative thanks should be given to our set designers Katherine Henney, Hayden Williams. Debra Corrigan, Peg Bodell. Karen Oliver and Gloria Freed-man Freed-man for helping turn Park Meadows Country Club into the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Interniounlain West. Thanks also to Park Meadows Country Club, Olympia Park Hotel, Park City Cellars Cel-lars and to the generous Highland Cashmere's, Cash-mere's, Jambalaya Restaurant, Thea's Restaurant and Cafe Terigo Restaurant for their gill certificates for our Oscar ballot winners. Our Oscar party 1WS would not have succeeded without the publicity and technical support from Park City Media Group's Rick Shapiro. Kathy Eckel. Jillene Cahill. Randy Barton and Ken Chambers. Thanks also to The Park Record's Melissa O'Brien and Scott Sine for their significant media coverage. And last, but not least, thanks to Juliette Wilkins, Peter Gatch and Bob Murphy. Finally, congratulations to all the winners: win-ners: Best performance adapted from The lull Monty Ann Belkov, Christie Bam-berv. Bam-berv. Fiances Umlauf and Lynn Stith: Best costume design adapted from a current event Barbara Alexander, aka Monica Lewinsky: Best costume design adapted for Titanic Teri Orr, Jennie Poulson and Dav id Belz. Our prescient Oscar ballot winners win-ners were: Wendy Hanson. Karen Oliver, Megan Williams and Barbara Rockwell. Joanna Charnes, Park City Arts Council A loss for the sport Editor: IW8, what a year for baseball take me out to the ball game! Of all the beautiful stadiums new and old, I definitely think Wrigley is the place to be on opening day. Baltimore has Ripkins' streak. Seattle has Griffey's homers and San Diego has Gvvynn's bat. But. ..can you imagine imag-ine anything as emotional as the Cubs' game, the 7th-inning stretch and no Harry? Randy Barton Has the lesson been learned? Editor: Oh, boy! Yet another letter concerning our pathetic parking problem. ..and yes, I've tried to keep an open mind, as tough as it's been. 1 was issued a parking citation for being in a parking space minutes longer than I was supposed to be, after 1 was told only warnings warn-ings were being issued. So, I paid my $25 line, a month to the day. I've been a local for 16 years. Yes, you have succeeded in getting my money hard-earned money that I receive for keeping keep-ing tourists happy, and encouraging them to spend their money at various Park City businesses. Now, not only have you taken my money, it seems you now need my time. A month after I paid my fine, I receive a delinquent notice. Let's see, I now need to find the canceled can-celed check and deliver it again. Wait a minute... can I charge P.C. Municipal Corp. for my time? Gee, I'd say $25 would about cover it. What is happening up there on "City Hill?" I've spoken with Main Street merchants mer-chants who claim Park City might as well be a ghost town, with their losses in business. You've managed to alienate the very people who are responsible lor servicing the tourists and, on a personal note, in volunteering volun-teering my time for Park City as a deejay. I am now required to pay a fee lor parking lor the hours that I volunteer! Haven't you heard enough? What exactly exact-ly will it take for you to react to this new problem ol yours? You certainly need to do something. How about the fact that your newly acquired income seems to be going back out. sending delinquent notices to people peo-ple who have already paid. Hello? Is anyone home? Ellen Jane "E.J." Poppe The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER Editor Staff writers Contributing writers Office manager Classifieds manager Classifieds Subscriptions manager Advertising director Advertising sales Editorial production Photographer Production director Production Circulation CartoonistIllustrator Andy Bernhard Nan Chalat-Noaker Kirsta H. Bleyle Bruce,Levws,i,iituat. Dave' Fields Melissa O'Brien Jay Hamburger Stephanie Howell Tom Clyde Rick Brough Jack Fuell Teri Orr Rachelle Eickhof! Elaine Lindsey Patti Christensen Jed Crittenden Tracy Harden Donna Berger Mary Hall Carrie Davis Anna Hamlen Tami Searing Kat James Scott Sine Melisa Hyde jason osburn Amy Lucas Scott Aste Yvonne Ruth Trisha Hipskind Matt Sullivan Will Walsh Erin Paddock Karen Yetter John Kilbourn Tim Peterson I Ik I'uvk Km ml (ISPS J7K-73 1) (ISSN! I745-M.H3 ) is published twice weekly by Divcisilicd Suburban Newspapers. 167(1 Bonana Dr.. Park City, t'lah. PeriixJieals Poslauc paid al Park ( 'ilv. I 'lah. POSTMASTER:' Send address chamicslo llw IWk limmt. Box 3N. Park City. I 'lah S4(Kill. fimei ed as second elass mailer. Mav 25. ll)77 al I he posl oll'icc in Park ('ilv. Ulah ,S40N). under die Ael ol March V INs7. Subscription rales are inside Summit County. $n outside Summit County, t'lah. Subscriptions arc liansferrable: $5 cancellation Ice. Phone (Sill) W1)-9(114. W1)-9(114. Published cverv Wednesday and Saturday. For the record Asked around Park City What question would you ask Al Gore if you found yourself on a chairlift with him? 1 - 3 MMkMt " 1 ' f v -.. , y" f, ' ' 'I 2s; ssrm iK tv r . ' - - -j 7 Brian Hartmann Park City .t would ask him if he's proud of Tipper and her rating of CDs and TV shows." Michael Carlin Park City "What are your thoughts on solar cars? " Tobbie Sanchez Park City "I'd just leave him alone and let him ski." Peg Bodell Park City "I want to know if he knows anything about Park Cityits history and art-and why is this his first time in Park City." Tippy Behreus Park City "Is Tommy Lee Jones a nice guy or a real hard ass? And. has he Mr. Gore inhaled?" |