OCR Text |
Show Viewpoints. 1 1 in m i i in in ! ii- i 9 in muu mmrm agWMHe mum th hhi nmn i A-15 EDITORIAL" Zen and the art of road maintenance THE PARK RECORD SATURDAY, APRIL IS, 2000 Beginning Monday April 17, Park City will begin rerouting traffic on the Belt Route to accommodate construction of a roundabout and transit center. The project, which surely will disrupt dis-rupt everyone's schedules for much of the summer, sum-mer, is just one of several major road reconfigurations reconfigu-rations that will ring the city for the coming year or longer. With that in mind, it is time to brush up on our highway Ps and Qs. The situation is a lot like marching into the dentist's office for a root canal - youknow it's going to hurt. The only dignified thing to do is to try not to bite anyone or say anything that vou will regret later. And that pretty" much sums up our recommendation for handling the inevitable traffic snarls that will be taking place this summer on S R. 248. at Kimball Junction, Silver Creek Junction and on the Belt Route. Buy a few new CDs. rent Books on Tape, pack a Spanish phrase book to study while waiting for the flag, invent some driver's seat isometrics, practice meditation - whatever it takes to keep your heart rate down while creeping through a maze of bulldozers, graders and impatient commuters. com-muters. Otherwise it's going to be a looooonnnng summer. . We'd also like to suggest exercising special courtesy to the flagmen and women whose job it is to make sure we don't do anything rash while navigating through the mess. Last year flagmen reported being verbally abused and even physically physi-cally threatened by passing motorists. One claimed that a driver intentionally ran over her foot. Overall, the flag crews assigned to projects around Park City last year said they felt like targets tar-gets for a lot of free-floating anger and frustration. frustra-tion. Call it "growth angst" or a terminal case of nostalgia for "the good old days." Either way its not fair to take it out on those folks whose job it is to stand out in the elements for 10 hours a day so we don't careen over an embankment. The traffic nightmare that Park City is about to experience is of our own making. As much as some people are loathe to admit it, the aggressive timetable is being driven by the Olympics. And to be honest, it is probably better to swallow the whole pill at once rathei than drag it out for five to 10 years. The roads, and even the roundabout, will be safer and mora convenient than the current configurations. con-figurations. We just hope that we will still be speaking to each other when they are done. GEEZ! WHAT'S NEXT? PAID PARKING ON MAIN STREET DURING SPRING SHOULDER SEASON? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Decision applauded JO. KK.BOURN PA SeCtW To the Snyderville Basin Planning Commissioners: On Tuesday night at the Burns Fire Station ihe Basin Planning Commission displayed dis-played tough adherence to the county's planning guidelines and unanimously rejected the Pivotal Group's gargantuan plan for the 6.500 acres spanning I- SO, U.S. 40 and Brown's Canyon. We applaud the hard work and focused planning that the commissioners exhibited at that meeting The commission listened to public comment, adhered to the county commission's guidelines for the project and had Ihe fortitude to say No! We'll see if Pivotal ignores this message as well. The process is run oxer but we appreciate all the commissioners' efforts. Thank You! Dana Williams and the C.A.R.G. Board c' Directors Responsible planning 'To the "Snydeniilc"" Basin " Planning Commissioners: Thank you for your hard work on the first phases of review of the monumental Promontory project. It is encouraging to see that the developer's shot-gun "give me everything and more approach or else" approach can be intelligently rejected in favor of a plan the represents the interests of ihe community at large. It appears that you have the tools to plan this project in a responsible fashion and that you are using them! As we will live with this for project for a long time. I appreciate all your efforts to process this plan in a responsible fashion, despite the developer's insistence otherwise. other-wise. Megan Ryan A response to UUHN's Dr. Jensen Editor I feel compelled to respond to your April 12 guest editorial by Dr. Donald Jensen. In his piece. Dr. Jensen begins by asserting UL'HN worked diligently with us doctors here for over four months. I would agree that they were very diligent in sending the physicians certified letters reminding us that we have no jobs come July 1. And they certainly did invite us for interviews to compete com-pete for the six job openings they will have remaining in July. Of course, he did fail to mention that applicants calling the UUHN recruiter in early February were told that all of the current doctors here would be replaced. This was before we were scheduled sched-uled to interview. The asking price of the clinic in their "offer to buy" w as one million dollars more than their outside consultant valued the clinic. And they have publicly stated that the clinic loses one million dollars a year. A local business consultant has valusd the clinic at a negative value. Given the difference differ-ence in the two estimates and realizing that the university had inflated the price, we still made a very legitimate offer that was equal to the value of the equipment and hard assets. We have now come to realize that the offer to sell to us was nothing more than a sham offer on UUHN's part. Regarding the interview process, I cannot can-not fault my partners for not interviewing for positions they have held in some cases for more than 20 years. In my interview. 1 w as not asked for a resume, nor given an application to fill out, not told what hours I would be expected to work, or even what the clinic operation hours would be. I was asked if 1 would prefer continuity care or urgent care. Since I personally prefer a mix of both, I advised them of that. UL'HN came to the conclusion that I am not interested inter-ested in their continuity care model. At no point in this entire process have I or any of my partners been offered a contract con-tract with UUHN. Specifically, we were told this would NOT be a negotiating meeting. meet-ing. If negotiations and resolution of this situation were truly the intent of UUHN. none of this would have occurred. All their leadership had to do was sit down and talk to us and let us work together to solve the problems. Unfortunately, it seems to be too late Tor that.' " ' ""' " As I indicated in that meeting of Feb. 29 with UUHN, we are in a kse-kise-lose situation. situ-ation. I do not know what the solution is. However. I do know that my partners and I are committed to finding one that serves this community's best interests, Sincerelv. Elizabeth A. Martin, M.D. Unselfish caregivers Editor The w ay we put doctors on pedestals, it's no surprise that some of them get a little full of themselv es. "I'd appreciate it if you would show me a little respect and call me Doctor Doe." -But I'm your wife!" "In that case, I can live with LkKtor John.' Maybe that's been the most refreshing thing about the Park City Clinic. It wasn't Dr. Schwenk; it was Tom. It wasn't Dr. Evers; it was Bob. It wasn't Dr. Hanrahan; it was John. It wasn't Dr. Winn; it was Winnie. Winnie? What self-important family physician calls himself Winnie? It's not that these guys don't deserve the respect It's that they're secure enough that they dont demand it. The other thing that has always astonished aston-ished me is the amount of time they are willing to spend answering questions during office visits. I've never felt the meter ticking, tick-ing, as if the doc had to rush off to treat somebody else. More than once I've felt like saying, "Excuse me, but aren't we keeping somebody waiting?" It's been more than 20 years since our family started bringing our various ailments to the clinic Thirteen years ago this month Bob Evers delivered our daughter. (Incidentally, she was his last delivery. Skyrocketing insurance costs for obstetricians obstetri-cians put him out of the baby business.) As a kid with her share of ailments, including asthma and allergies. Elizabeth has been a regular at the clinic. She know which nurses give the best shots, where the "stickers" are kept, and what's on the second sec-ond floor. When she was struggling with a science project on altitude sickness. Bob Evers and Dave Greenberg helped her out. She still misses her friend Doug, who no longer works at the clinic. When there was a -Rally Round the Docs" at the Jim Santy Auditorium a while back. Elizabeth stood up in front of scleral hundred people to tell the ckvs what they meant to her. At that meeting, several people talked about the amount of time the docs had quietly qui-etly donated to caring for high-school athletes. ath-letes. It was a revelation to most of us. Few people also know about the time and energy ener-gy th.it Boh Evers has invested during numerous high schtxM graduation nights helping to host drug- and alcohol-free parties, par-ties, or the work that Herb Lepley has done for the Puik City Ski 1 cam. This kind of relationship doesn't develop overnight, and it desn't develop in the kind of impersonal. take-a-numNrr. mass-product mass-product ion atmosphere that the HMOs are ' trying to jam down ouTthroats. These people peo-ple are family doctors in the true sense of the word. W e keep going back to the clinic because these people are our advisors, our friends, our community. Most of us don't pretend to understand all the legal skirmishing that's going on between the docs and UUHN. But we do understand this: W e were getting great personalized per-sonalized health care from the docs for 20 years before UUHN came along. W e have seen the docs, time and again, put the interests inter-ests of the community first. To suggest, as UUHN has done, that they are driven by self-interest and greed is laughable. Do the bureaucrats at UUHN really believe that we're going to shrug off a 25-year 25-year relationship with these people and meekly submit to sortie strangers fresh out of med school . Get serious. David Hampshire More support for the docs Editor I wholeheartedly support letter-writer Dan Paulson's comments about the unconscionable uncon-scionable behavior of UUHN toward our fine doctors. Although I am only a seasonal, part-time resident and homeow ner in Park City since 1993, my heart is full-time here. This cruel and bizarre case, it seems to me, could become a tragedy of almost epic proportions propor-tions for doctors and patients alike. I am baffled that such a totalitarian group can dictate these terms, that seasoned doc-ton doc-ton cannot practice medicine in this county and patients cannot see then ow n doctors. Count me among those "who feel the urge in a big way" to do something. Lynn C. Davles Ambulance service in flux Dear Summit County Commissioners: As citizens very concerned with the crisis we face if the doctors of the Family Health Clinic are forced from practicing in this area, we appreciate your decision to open the county's ambulance service to full bid. While the ambulance tssue is. in one sense, separate from the tssue of the doctors, doc-tors, it also is very much the same. There is a deep sense of outrage by a significant number of Summit County residents at the University; tiiere a complete lack of trust in the word of the University, there is deep skepticism about the University's claim that they have the best interests of the residents of Summit County at heart. We believe that the issue of confidence trust should be a part of the bid criteria. And to the tssue of the ambulance service. ser-vice. Please tell us why the availability of 24-hour care through the clinsc was presented present-ed as such a v hal addition to the health care of the residents of Summit County when the University initially bid for the ambulance ambu-lance contract; vet now they claim that the best interests of the patient is served by bypassing the local clinic and being transported trans-ported directly to Sail Lake" And do they understand that North and South Summit do not have paramedic services ser-vices and that the clinic can stabilize a patient before further transport? And do they recognize that emergencies show up at the clinic directly, that the ambulance is not alw ays called? And do they understand that many of the patients are visitors without transportation who must use the ambulance to obtain care and that once the ambulance leaves for Salt Lake, it is not available for the next emergency, perhaps a more Ufe-threatening Ufe-threatening one? And what about the cost to the patient of the trip to Salt Lake and the cost of being treated by an ER doc instead of the kval clinic? And who are the docs who will staff the UUHN faciutv in Park Citv after Julv !. 2000? Do they live near the clinic? What is "on call?" Do they have experience in rural health care, in "resort" health care? Are they willing to donate their time to cover the needs of the communities of Summit Countv and the patients as "our docs" have been?" All else beinc equal, we urge vou to choose ANYONE BUT the University for Summit County's vital ambulance service. Thank you fo" your consideration. Rally Around The Docs, JcahCakter Gene Moser Paul Slncock Extend the season Editor I am a member of the Park City Ski Team, and I would like to see Park City Mountain Resort stay open kngcr I need to train fix my races after the ski area is supposed to close on April 16. There are Asked at McPolin Elementary School For the record How do you feel about the school uniform issue? f J ... .-'4 s . Z( also a kit of schools in state and out-of-state that have their spring break after the PCMR will cJose. A lot of the pass holders would benefit from staving open kiciger. There w ill be no problems with the snow because this is the biggest base we have had all year. Lots of my friends also want the ski area to sta open for a week or two more. Sincerelv. Blaine Baker Park Citv Ski Team Member PCHS. h grade (Read mort letter from nk grader in "Fresh Pnnts " on pje A-ll i The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER Editor Stiff wntKi Contributing writer Uum't assistant Oftict accountant Classified aaWtistna, Circafstxn magf Advtrbstm tfwvctiH Atfvwrtisint uta Ef'Mhal rvcucbM ProcuctiM tfirvctor ProductiM DtstnfcitrM Cm win Andy Eiemhard Nan Cnaat-Noakef Bruce Lew Jay Hamburger Dere Jensen Aaron Kreret Ten VNesa?y Tom Cyde R. B'Oug-Ten B'Oug-Ten Or Gary WeSS Jay Meehan Josn Cfwn 0nst'arMi Komma Pattt Chnstensen Connie Snutti Catty Vanoeweghe Vaene Denmg Betsy Six Smith Me4Band Gay Seaman Sharon Eksh Infcarrva Tromas Swa Anoerson Anne Cumrmngs Ehssa Schwartz Kat James Rogef Glazier Meii&a Hyde Amy Hobbs Yvonne Ruth Scott Aste Man Gordon Owa Lewfinsohn KnsS Masters Nancy Bristol Chns CMsavw Karen Verier John Kiiboum ftnumu of ike Tht IV Rtxtirxd ant tiynns? O H ChvrrMtd WorfW Viviv AM ntn fwnW c fkvthw; wv &r rrmnjiwioi m rm atrfctwt urmen t 9it unwint nl 7V V RW aJS t!V irv J?..M B puNi-jvcJ rmiot ih tn tWrvhoJ SutarhMi V-ffvrK IM H.irvri Di... Pri Citv. Hah rVmteah Potfjwe raid at Pari Cv ttah POSTMASTER SenJ aJdrr chanpn u V V RmnL Bo V,s. Park .'. I (h va,) Entered as wvxmj cta irtarttt. V4 N"" at tht piJ ivtvc oi Par CUV I'lah Ml HI. undcf the Acl ot March J. iw" SuNnmpwon rao are $C tmide SsmiM Count. ourwde Summtt Count, llah SurACnro-x. are transterraNe t cam-rOance fw Ptaue 1 4 15 "A'i !a '5 NW-J-m:. PuNiJ eer WeUnela and k rt-ttMt i Hfv-Jr ' PHOTOS BY ROGER GLAZIER Sfcaai Bitoa "I would just love uniforms for teachers.' CTaJoc Joamfryer "I can see both sides of the issue. It will work if supported by aO 100 percent." Hilireta Fattfa "There are a lot ol heated opinions. It's causing more problems than a! first" fWkkl " "1 donl feel they are needed." JoMa AttriM "It will come down to the parental majority vote." |