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Show Viewpoints. THE PARK RECORD WEDTHURSFRI, JUNE 5-7, 2002 EDITORIAL Yes to Olympic reminders; no to the tower Apparently the Park City Council is contemplating con-templating spending about $20,000 to install a slightly used Olympic tower from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and then spending another $20,000 to maintain it at the Olympic Welcome Plaza. The what? To refresh your memory - the Olympic Welcome Plaza is located just north of the intersection of S.R. 224 and Kearns Boulevard on the southwest corner of the Snow Creek shopping center parking lot. Still doesn't ring a bell? It's not surprising. The unobtrusive space has been used about three times since it was built - once to host a 'one-year-out' celebration prior to the Games, once to announce the U.S. Ski Team's Gold Cup series and once as a place for the community to mourn on Sept. 11, 2001. Otherwise, the handsomely hand-somely decorated but seldom occupied plaza has largely gone unnoticed. Adding a metal tower probably won't add to its popularity. As much as Parkites wish to keep the memory memo-ry of last winter's Olympics alive, this is one souvenir that would be best left on the shelf. The price tag alone is enough to raise taxpayers' taxpay-ers' hackles, and the added architectural element ele-ment would only be a distraction from the orig inal plaza design. As far as Olympic trappings go, we've got a freeway interchange adorned with athletic imprints, we have spectacular ski jumps along the entryway that proclaim Park City's status among the Olympic elite and we have a sophisticated sophis-ticated downtown transit hub and SLOC logos at every entry portal. Unfortunately, the rigors of complying with Historic District architectural and signage guidelines have toned down much of the festive decorations that adorned Main Street during the Games. That needs to be separately addressed. Perhaps the replacing of some of the colorful banners would be a good starting point. What the Olympic Welcome Plaza needs is people not a pillar. How about a small stage and some music, or an outdoor video board? The plaza has potential as a community gathering gath-ering place as we learned so poignantly last September. The existing curved stanchions and walkways are gracefully understated. The proposed pro-posed tower would stand out like the proverbial square peg in an otherwise round environment. The city's $40,000 would be better spent welcoming wel-coming people to the plaza rather than installing a lifeless monument. TH0U6HT BfE A&REEDTHATMICHAEt JWARTIN AAURPHYAND tup minmmwmmtmmHmmiwi t Ml IMPOVERISHED HIPPY BfKER COMPETITION ! V VV..1 ' ft- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR On the lamb, then on the lam JOHN Kit BOUHHIPARK RECORD Editor: I was confused on seeing a cartoon in the June 1 edition of The Park Record. At first I supposed that dogs had been killing livestock. Now I'm not so sure. If my dog killed a lamb, and stood astride it as he ate it, he might be said to be "on the lamb." If he drew attention to himself him-self while he was on the lamb, the dog-catcher dog-catcher andor police might see fit to pursue pur-sue him. If he attempted to evade them, he would be off the lamb and on the lam. Now, would you please pass the mint jelly? Thanks. Lam: Function: noun, Date: 1897 -- sudden sud-den or hurried flight especially from the law on the lam (MerriamWebster's Collegiate Dictionary). Jokingly yours, Peter Roberts About those dam beaver Editor: Interesting that there was a story about beaver in The Park Record the day after a story ran in the Wall Street Journal regarding regard-ing (in part) the same issues in the Northeast U.S. Someone will probably recommend trapping the local beaver --see --see in the WSJ article how useless that will prove to be. Nature is not much better at keeping a good balance. There used to be gazillions of the buggers bug-gers before 1800. People wonder where all the meadows in the Western U.S. came from (Park Meadows?) and all they have to do is go to the Snyclerville Basin to see in real time. I know! we should introduce wolves (or mountain lions?) to the area and let them fight it out for stream rights. Hmmm, maybe those school bus stops wouldn't work anymore. Well, before some funster recommends aerial gunnery from helicopters or dynamite, dyna-mite, I hope The Record will report how useless most of the removal plans have proven to be in other areas. No sense in wasting money on failed programs. Sincerely, Mark Kirk Thank you, Summit Park and friends Editor: . This past weekend I was visiting friends who live in Summit Park, along with my dog Hank. He scared himself and ran away Saturday night. Luckily, this story has a happy ending because Hank made his way back to the house on Sunday night. But in the 20 hours he was missing, I realized what good neighbors Cole and Amy Hobbs have in Summit Park. Thank you to 83 Crest view and 215 Parkview who gave me hope that he was still alive and still in the area. Before your GUEST EDITORIAL Wildfire Season 2002 is her by KATHLEEN CLARKE and LARRY HAMILTON Picture a map of the United States. Then imagine a huge brown swath running run-ning from the southern California coast to the Texas border, turning north and sweeping in a track three-states-wide to the Canadian border. Add another slice of brown along most of the Gulf Coast, then follow it northward all the way into New England. Get the picture? All of that brown tells us where drought - ranging in severity from moderate to extreme is drying out our country. In some areas, it represents the second, third or even fourth consecutive dry year. Walk in the forest and you'll likely hear the snap of parched twigs and crunch of dry pine or fir needles under your feet. Rangeland conditions in much of the Southwest and Great Basin today look more typical of what is seen in late June or early July. The combination of high temperatures and low moisture has baked dry much of what firefighters call "fuel" -- the trees, grasses and shrubs - that can burn almost like paper when conditions peak and ignition occurs. This fire season has the potential to be long, difficult and volatile. Too many areas have been too dry for too long a time. Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, southern California, and parts of the Southeast have already experienced major wildfires. This doesn't mean we're helpless and totally subject to the whims of nature. Far from it. The Bureau of Land Management and its partner federal agencies, working closely with local communities and states, are better prepared pre-pared than ever for a taxing fire season. Thanks to generous Congressional funding, fund-ing, we're not waiting for fires to start, but are taking action beforehand to protect pro-tect communities and resources through education and mitigation measures. And when we need to, we can respond to fires with more equipment, more firefighters, more aircraft and better facilities to help fight unwanted wildland fire. All of those resources most probably will be put to good use this summer. Even though the conditions point toward an active season, it still takes a spark to start a fire. We can't do much when a weather cell moves through an area, pitching lightning bolts in its wake. But we can all take steps to ensure that human-caused fires are kept to a minimum. Blazes started by people still account for more than two-thirds of all wildland fires nationwide. Firefighters need your help, so remember the basics: Make sure your campfire is dead out. Be careful with cigarettes. cig-arettes. Use fireworks responsibly. Don't drive off-road, where super-heated catalytic converters and tall, dry grasses are a flammable mix. Memorial Day marked the beginning of what is traditionally the most active part of fire season, when people flock to public lands. Smokey's message deserves repeating. We all can help prevent pre-vent wildfire. We all have a role in keeping keep-ing our communities and resources safe, and minimizing the risk to our firefighters firefight-ers and the public. If you live in area that is prone to wildfire, wild-fire, take a few precautions to improve your chances of not becoming a victim. Clear away combustible brush and limbs at least 30 feet from buildings. Move the stack of firewood from the side of your house. Rake up and dispose of fallen tree needles. If you're building a home, use flame-resistant materials. Wildfire doesn't distinguish between fuels. The greatest concentration of fuels in the path of a wildfire can be a home with a shake roof, wood deck and a cord of firewood next to it. You can learn more about how to defend your home and property on the Internet at www.firewise.org. Look up the site. It may save your home, your possessions -and even your life. There's always the chance that nature will smile upon the United States this year, and the lightning won't come and rain will fall in the right places at the right times. In the fire community, we hope that turns out to be the case. But it would be shortsighted to bet on nature's good graces. As the saying goes, we're prepared for the worst. And hoping for the best. The drought that plagues much of the nation has already converted too much of what should be green to brown. Let's all do our parts to help ensure that wildfire wild-fire doesn't add its own legacy of black to the picture. Kathleen Clarke is the national director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Larry Hamilton is the director of BLM's fire and aviation program. calls and information, I was pretty sure he was headed toward the highway. Thank you to all the people who asked their friends if they had seen him and who were so kind to me and my friends when we stopped you on the street and asked about him. You have a great community and a kind spirit. It is such a renewal of faith in the human condition to see firsthand all of the people who care and help. 1 also want to say thank you to my great friends, JaLana, Amy, Cole, Jason and Angela. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving up your Sunday to drive around and ask and search for my dog. And thank you. Mom and Dad, for keeping keep-ing me sane even from afar. Melissa Hyde and Hank Handguns in the cockpit Editor: The Bush Administration has decided to not allow airline pilots to use handguns to protect themselves, the lives of their crews, the lives of hundreds of passengers, plus possibly pos-sibly thousands of lives on the ground. Congress must realize now that WHEN GUEST EDITORIAL Pirnte AtA irnii rpiliryp ? by JULIE BERNHARD You may not realize it, but your kids are already at a disadvantage for college preparatory Advanced Placement (AP) and SAT testing. Here's why... Students entering seventh grade next year and their parents - were recently asked to register for next year based on a series of required and elective classes. Registration determines class scheduling and is built around the student's class level placement, interests and academic direction. Parents, ask yourselves this question about the seventh grade registration process. . . Did you realize that the social sciences elective class was provided for the following follow-ing reasons? To compensate for the inadequacies of the new seventh grade curriculum. To prepare and benefit students who plan to take a college preparatory curriculum. cur-riculum. If you answered "No," you're not alone. This information slipped in under the radar for many parents. Few parents realized real-ized the importance of this social sciences elective. Therefore, parents did not register regis-ter their children for this class because it was not considered valuable or time-sensitive. The registration forms that were distributed dis-tributed included a social sciences course description and rationale. The course description: "This course will provide an introduction to social science. The course will study topics in anthropology, economics, eco-nomics, political science, sociology, and psychology and extended study in geography." geogra-phy." The rationale: "This course will compensate for the new changes to the seventh grade schedule. It will provide time to examine social studies issues outside out-side of the focus of Utah. It will allow for integration and teaming with science and English. It will provide background for ninth grade honors geography placement tests and SA T tests. " The key words here are "compensate" for the schedule, provide background "outside the focus of Utah," and background back-ground for critical college "placement tests." The Park City School District deserves credit for recognizing the shortfall in the curriculum and providing this elective alternative. It is also acknowledged that administrators at the school level have little lit-tle or no control over curriculum. The issue, however, is that there was less-than-adequate communication of the importance impor-tance of this class, its critical path to success suc-cess on standardized tests and its significance signifi-cance for college-bound students. (This letter is not an attempt to sway the curriculum cur-riculum in favor of top performing or college-bound students. To the contrary, it is a plea for better communication and choices for long-term education planning for all students.) Ultimately, as a result of poor communication, commu-nication, the class did not meet the mini mum student enrollment requirements and has been cancelled! So what, you ask? As a result, the only social studies, social sciences or history class that'bur seventh grade students will have next year is one-half year of Utah history. Most districts, dis-tricts, outside of our state, require a full year of social studies, with their home state studied as a unit. Without the seventh sev-enth grade social sciences class, students will have limited preparation in the areas of anthropology, economics, political science, sci-ence, sociology and psychology, as well as geography and social studies outside of the state of Utah. Adequate preparation in these areas is required for successful completion of Advanced Placement (AP) and SAT testing. Both are important milestones in your child's college preparatory prepara-tory process. To obtain access to this material before ninth grade testing, students will be required to take one and one-half years of social sciences in eighth grade (one year is a core required social studies class and the other half is the social sciences elective). That is, here again, if the class meets the minimum student enrollment requirement require-ment for the elective! Now, what should we do in the future? We need a greater level of involvement of parents, students and educators in the development, communication and implementation imple-mentation of the school curriculum. Parents had these thoughts: Initiate orientation for students rising to the seventh grade level to help determine deter-mine and examine class choices for upcoming years. Require counselor sessions for new seventh graders for advice in scheduling. Educate parents on important curriculum curricu-lum decisions based on your child's educational edu-cational goals, e.g., striving for AP classes to build a strong college foundation. What can you do now? If you weren't aware of the value or benefits of the social sciences elective class, call your Park City Board of Education Representative (ask your friends and neighbors to call, too) and request a review of the seventh- and eighth-grade social studiessocial sciences curriculum. Board Members: District 1: David Chaplin, 649-9613 District 2: Carol Murphy, 649-3385 District 3: Jim Santy, 649-9285 District 4: Colleen Bailey, 649-1346 District 5: Kathryn Adair, 645-0819 Superintendent Nancy DeFord, 645-5600 ext. 125 It is important that district-level administrators admin-istrators understand that you now realize the impact of the change and how it could affect your student in the long run. While we all appreciate the limitation of resources in our school district, we should not allow ourselves to succumb to these obstacles. We need to identify the shortcomings short-comings in our system and work together to ensure that processes do not inhibit the quality of education for our children. The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor on any subject. We ask that the letters adhere to the following guidelines:They must include the 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 letter every 28 days. Letters must not be longer than 350 words (guest editorials, 550 words) and should it possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long or if they contain statements we consider unnecessarily offensive or obscene. E-mail your letter to: Editorparkrecord.com more U.S. airliners are hijacked and used as missiles against Americans then we shall begetting be-getting only what we did not prevent! The administration and Congress arc losing los-ing voters' trust by not taking all appropriate steps immediately to see that the tragedy of 9-11 is not repeated. Apparently Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta would rather let an F-16 shoot down a hijacked airplane full of passengers pas-sengers than to allow pilots to carry guns in the cockpit. Passengers already trust these highly skilled professionals with their lives the moment they step on board. Allowing pilots to carry weapons or keep them in the cockpit seems most reasonable as a last-stop capability. Already air marshals are flying armed with pistols that have special ammunition that does not penetrate the aircraft fuselage. The marshals, however, are flying on only about one percent of domestic flights. Besides, an air marshal probably can't fly the aircraft but a pilot can stop a hijacker when required and then continue to fly the aircraft to safety. How many more unarmed airline pilots .must die by having their throats sliced open before the necessity of arming them and making them the last stop in thwarting a devastating dev-astating hijack is understood? After all, members of Congress and their families and their staff and families all are frequent fliers. How would they like to be notified that their spouse was on an airliner shot down by an F-16? Do they think it could not happen? T. D. Ponder Airline transport pilot The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER Editor Staff writers Contributing writers Editor's assistant Classified advertising Office manager Circulation manager Accounting manager Advertising director Advertising sales Editorial production Photographers Production director Production Distribution Cartoonist Andy Bernhard Nan Chalat-Noaker Jay Hamburger Patrick Connors Shane McCammon Jana McQuay Pat Parkinson Tom Clyde Rick Brough Teri Orr Gary Weiss Jay Meehan Joan Jacobson Silvia Leavitt Monika Guendner Courtney Herzinger Inkarna Thomas Wendy Mair Patti Christensen Michael Duffy Stephanie Borders Valerie Doming Gayle Seaman Anne Cummings Wendy Halliday Ian McNeil Shanelle Russell Wade N. Hall Tricia Hintze Cathy Vandeweghe Kat James Scott Sine Peter Chudleigh Matt Gordon Kristi Ruppert Michael Ascani Sarah Walker Scott Schlenker Melissa Hyde Sydney Thiede Karen Yetter John Kilboum ( 'i intents (if the The I'urk Ken ml are copyright rights reserved. Nn purl ion may he reprmliaetl in 2X)2, Diversified Stihnrhnn Newspapers. All any jorm wittunil written cimsrnt of the miuuininn editur or publisher. The I'ark Heeurd (USPS 37K730) (ISSN (I74S-V4X3) (I74S-V4X3) is published twice weekly by Diversified Suburban Newspapers, 1670 Itonana Dr.. Park City. Utah. Periodicals PoMaiic paid al Park Citv. Ulah. POSI MASI i R: Send address thanks to The I'ark Retard. Box 36KX, Park City. Utah HUm. Entered as second class mailer. May 25, 1977 at the post office in Park City. Utah MOW), under the Act of March 3. 1X97. Subscription rales are $32 inside Summit County. $ttl outside Summit County, Utah. Subscriptions are Iranslerrable: $5 cancellation fee. Phone (4.15) ft4V-SKtl4 or fax (435) 649-4942. Published every Wednesday and Saturday. |