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Show Viewpoints. A-15 SATSUNMONTUES, MARCH 2-5, 2002 THE PARK RECORD EDITORIAL" Utahns should rally round Romney Recent reports that Salt Lake Organizing Committee boss Mitt Romney is eyeing a run for governor of Massachusetts are casting a pall over our post-Olympic afterglow. It's not that Romney wouldn't make a good governor gov-ernor in Massachusetts. It's that we don't want him to leave Utah. According to several lead stories in The Boston Globe. Romney is being courted by Republicans there who think SLOC"s leader has a better chance of winning next November's election than acting Gov. Jane Swift, "also a Republican. Well, we just wanted to make sure that Romney gets an equal amount of wooing on this side of the Rockies. He would be our first choice on any ballot he wants. Tops on our list of needed turnaround assignments: Utah's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives currently held by Jim Hansen. If there is any group more in need of a Romney-style makeover than Utah's Congressional delegation, del-egation, we are not aware of it. Just look at who represents Utah in Washington - no wonder the rest of the counuy tliinks Utah is screwy. Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett are relics of a bygone era, whose most memorable moments have been their self righteous testimony at the Clarence Thomas confirmation con-firmation hearings and Clinton impeachment debate. Rep. Hansen was a petrified fossil long before the word envi-ronmentalism envi-ronmentalism was coined. The various short-timers who've done stints in DC. haven't done much to improve Utah's image either. There was the Enid Greene crying jag when LETTERS TO THE EDITOR her campaign managerhusband was discovered inisreport-ing inisreport-ing and embezzling her campaign funds. And then there was Rep. Merrill Cook's stunning performance. Not only was he incapable of leading any reform measures in Congress, he was unable to hold onto his own staff. Suffice it to say. Utah's reputation in political circles is about as pxr as Salt Lake's was when the bid scandal erupted. Moving Utah from the back of the bus to the driver's dri-ver's seat in the federal government seems like just the kind of challenge Romney thrives on. But after a morning's worth of snooping, it kxks like Utah is missing a chance to lasso a great leader. Romney has so far been mum about his plans but, according to Summit County officials, he is not listed on Summit County's voter roll, even though he claims a primary residence resi-dence tax exemption on his Deer Valley home. However, according to voting records in Belmont, Mass., while Romney was completely immersed in rescuing Salt Lake's Olympic effort in 2000. he made a point of casting his ballot bal-lot in Massachusetts. If Romney has not yet been issued a draft notice by Utah's Republican Party, they are missing the boat - by a mile. Maybe Romney's ties to the East are set in stone, but it is worth our best effort to convince him to stay. Reeling in Romney would be as good for Utah as landing the Games. Perhaps we are biased, but we think it would be good for him, too. 1 i K I S1 i,i liSi W . mfr ' I jtt L. JOHN WIBOURHPARK RECORD Successful team effort Editor: In the wink of an eye, the Games are over! It's hard to believe we've had seven-plus years of anticipation and planning, of development devel-opment and preparation, of meetings and discussions. The Olympics were superb! Excellent! Fantastic! And the reason the "party" was such an overwhelming success is because of the many hours of deliberation, forethought and effort by "Team Park City." Toby and Myles, Frank. Bob and Tom. Denise. Sharon, Lloyd, Pat. Eric. Rick and so many city staffers gave tirelessly, hour after hour, day after day for the last seven years to pull off these outstanding and exceptional games. As the Resident of the IOC. Dr. Jacques Rogge, put it. "the most superb" Games. We would like to thank each and every one of you! We recognize the effort and the selfless dedication from each one of you. Without your hard work and total dedication, our "party" would not have been the overwhelming over-whelming success it was. From our hearts, a deep and profound "Thank You." Susan and Bob Richer Suggestion for new Olympic event Dear President Rogge. I am an 1 1 -year-old skier from Park City, Utah, w ho has always admired what snow-hoarders snow-hoarders can do in the halfpipe. When I heard that skiers ski in the halfpipe and when I tried it here at Park City. I hoped that someday some-day it could be included as an Olympic event. The halfpipe event is not just for snow-boarders snow-boarders anymore. Skiers like me rip it up every day. But what bugs me is halfpipe skiing ski-ing is not an Olympic event. I know the IOC is sometimes fearful of change. It was the same with snowboarding. But if you go to a skiing halfpipe event, you w ill see some crazy stuff. The skiers are doing inverted 9s (a.k.a. corked 9s. which means an off-axis .ViO into an off-axis back flip in the halfpiX'), McTwists. which is an off-axis front flip 180 (a.k.a. Misty). Alley-Oop Flatspin 5s with Toxic Grab (which means a back flip in the pipe, and you can't see the landing until you land), and Sw itch Rodeo 7s. It is hard to explain - but it is crazy. You have to see it to believe it. I'm sure that Tanner Hall. Evan Rapps and C.R. Johnson (top pros) would love a chance at a Gold Medal. Hie New School Movement is obviously something we have not heard of before, but please, give it a chance. I tliink it will go far. One of the reasons it will go far, is it has stadium sta-dium spectator appeal. It will bring a whole new crowd to the Olympics. It is also an outstanding out-standing athletic event, unlike curling which has been an Olympic event for many years. Anyway, it's not like you are starting a whole new event like snowboarding. It's just letting skiers in on a good thing. It gives skiers an opportunity to compete on an international inter-national level and it would give more people a chance to watch this exciting new challenge in skiing. I hope that you will consider my suggestions sugges-tions and give it serious thought. I would greatly enjoy it if I saw my favorite halfpipe skiers on their way to Torino, Italy, to introduce intro-duce halfpipe skiinc as a demonstration sport in the year 2006. Sincerely. Tosh Peters publisliing articles like the one in the Feb. 27 issue that inform the public about the beneficial benefi-cial activities of ethical hunters and fishermen. fisher-men. These men and women deserve far more recognition and praise than they customarily cus-tomarily receive for all their hard work on behalf of animals and habitat preservation. Wendy Mair GUEST EDITORIAL Thanks, PC locals Editor: We at Mountain Coach Limousine. Taxi -a.k.a.(435) 655-TAXI (8294) - would like to thank the Park City locals who used our services ser-vices and were patient during the busy times during the Olympics. We really appreciate your support. As for SLOC thanks for NOT supporting and NOT using the Park City taxi companies and for NOT letting legal taxis like ours - operate. We should send you a statement for the income we lost! Thanks again to the Park City locals. M. Troy Putman Stephanie Almeida A negative Memory School debate reaches high court Editor: I was one of the many jvople who tried to take advantage of Snowbasin's heavily promoted pro-moted offer to day ski during the Men's Olympic Downhill. I pre-paid for six lift tickets tick-ets and was sent a parking pass for a lot designated des-ignated for day skiers only. We left Park City 15 minutes earlier than recommended but found we could not exit the freeway at Mountain Green due to massive traffic congestion con-gestion and were directed to a park and ride lot in Ogden. There we were told the buses were for Olympic spectators only and we could not board the bus with our ski equipment. equip-ment. With no possible way to reach Snowbasin. we returned to Park City. Snowbasin has refused to refund the money I pre-paid for lift tickets even though there was no possible way we could use them. I was told the decision not to refund money was a corporate one and my only recourse was to dispute the charges with my credit card company. Shame on you Earl Holding and Snowbasin Resort. The Olympics will stand out in my mind as w ildly ild-ly successful. My experience with Snowbasin will be remembered as the one sour note. Way to go. guys. Sandy Hatch Concern for wildlife Editor: I would like to personally express a warm thank you to each and every one of the individual indi-vidual "sportsmen" who have volunteered their time, energy and finances to the winter deer-feeding projects and other DWS-spon-sored projects throughout the year. These sportsmen are members of organizations such as Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife. Mule Deer Foundation. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Cache Archers Association. These concerned, conscientious and ethical ethi-cal hunters and fishermen regularly get in the trenches, roll up their sleeves and quietly do whatever needs to be done under the direction direc-tion of various government organizations, like the Division of Wildlife Resources, to promote the well-being of wildlife and wildlife habitat. I also want to thank The Park Record for by FRANK SHEPHERD The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday. Feb. 20. on the most important civil rights case to come before it in nearly 50 years. The future of thousands of needy students trapped in poor performing public schools lies in the balance. bal-ance. Although separated by time, the case has its historical roots in the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision. Brown v. Board of Education. In that year, a unanimous Supreme Court struck down racial segregation segrega-tion in public education. A segregated public pub-lic school system was "inherently unequal," said the nine justices. The Court emphasized that education "is the very foundation of good citizenship... In these days, it is doubtful doubt-ful that any child may reasonably be expected expect-ed to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity to an education." But the promise of equal educational opportunities for all. and a full partnership in the American experiment is still elusive in the nation's public schools. In the case argued Wednesday, the justices will decide the validity of the Cleveland, Ohio public school voucher program, adopted in 1995 to rescue low-income students trapped in that city's failing public school system. Seventy percent of the students who attend Cleveland's public schools receive federal aid. Only one child in 14 graduates from high school on time and at grade proficiency. The chance to attend an alternative school represents the only possibility they have for breaking out of the cycle of poverty. The voucher program offers participants up to $2,500 to pay all or part of the tuition at a public, private or religious school of their choice. Even working with that modest sum -- Cleveland public schools spent $7,833 per student in 1999-2000 trying to do the same job - the private schools are producing better bet-ter educational results, and the parents of voucher students are uniformly more satisfied satis-fied with the education that their children are receiving. Unlike the days of Brown, however, when politicians stood in the school house door, tliis time it is the education edu-cation establislunent and teachers' unions who seek to block these disadvantaged students stu-dents from educational opportunity. It is not in their interest to allow any cracks in their public school monopoly. They argue that public school vouchers for students in failing schools violate the First Amendment's separation sepa-ration of church and state because the alter native private schools are largely religiously affiliated. They miss the point. The current generation of school voucher vouch-er programs is not about promoting religion, but rather about improving education. Most of the programs offer three alternatives for children in a failing school: transferring to a better public school, attending a non-religious private school, or attending a private religious school. The voucher conies into play only if a school fails, and then only when a parent makes an independent choice to send the student to a private school. It is like a money back guarantee. The only reason rea-son that religious schools are among the alternatives at this time is that the education monopoly has crowded out most non-public - education alternatives except for religious schools. If the Supreme Court gives the green light to public school vouchers, the non-religious schools will come. Will vouchers destroy public schools by draining money away? This common argument argu-ment shows too little faith in the potential of troubled public schools to improve when faced with competition. A Feb. 16, 2001 New York Times story offered a more optimistic opti-mistic perspective. Reporting on Florida's experiment with a targeted school choice program, the story noted, "a new study of Florida's efforts to turn around failing schools has found that the threat that children chil-dren would receive vouchers to attend private pri-vate schools spurred the worst performing schools to make significant academic strides." The study, sponsored by the state of Florida, was conducted by Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. The outcome of the case now before the Supreme Court is of pivotal importance to the future of education policy. At least one justice sees the dynamics of the issue clearly. Responding to an argument of the familiar refrain by voucher opponents that the problem prob-lem with the public schools is lack of funds. Justice Antonin Scalia referenced the superior supe-rior results coming from Cleveland's private schools. "It's not a money problem, it's a monopoly problem," he replied. Let's hope all nine justices got the point, and will again rise to the occasion. Frank A. Shepherd is managing attorney in the Florida office of Pacific Legal Foundation, a public-interest law firm that litigates lit-igates for school reform Teachers for Better Education, a Florida-based group of public school teachers who support Florida s voucher vouch-er plan. PLF's web address is www.pacificle-gal.org. 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Hall Tricia Hintze Daniel Paduano Inkarna Thomas Kat James Stephen Zusy Scott Sine Matt Gordon Kristi Ruppert Rory Lewis Michael Ascani Sarah Walker Scott Schlenker Sydney Thiede Karen Yetter John Kilboum Contents of the The Park Record are copyright O 21X12, Diversified Suburban Newspapers. All rights reserved. So portion may be reproduced in any form without written consent of lite nuuutging editor edi-tor or ptdilisher. The Park Record (USPS 378-730) (ISSN 0745-9483) 0745-9483) is published twice weekly by Diversified Suburban Newspapers. 1W0 bonanza Dr.. Park City. Utah. Periodicals Postage paid at Park ( ily. Utah. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 77ir Park Record, box 3NK8, Park City. I'lah 84060. Entered as second class matter. May 25. 1977 at the post office in Park City. Utah 840M). under the Act of March 3. 1897. Subscription rates are $32 inside Summit County. $W) outside Summit County. Utah. Subscriptions are transferrable: $5 cancellation fee. Phone (435) M9-90I4 or fax (435) 649-4942. Published every Wednesday and Saturday. PHOTOS BY JACKIE ELLIS Asked on Main Street in Park City For the record What will you miss most now that the Olympics are over? If v IT .. -a- M-iV ) I -.) f. 1 tv v o o E Ii W I rmm r Melissa Rodgers Pleasant Grove, Utah "Pin trading. I probably have 15 Coke pins!" Kengo Sliirata Sandy, Utah "Watching it on TV, I guess." Red Hawk Williamsburg, Va. "I will miss the energy and enthusiasm from people all over. No one's sad." James Stitli Park City "All the women from Europe." Angic Hammond Salt Lake City "All the people from different countries, cultures and states." COPY |