OCR Text |
Show A-12 The Park Record Meeting and agendas Wed/Thurs/Fri, January 10-12, 2018 Red CaRd RobeRts By Amy Roberts TO PUBLISH YOUR PUBLIC NOTICES AND AGENDAS, PLEASE EMAIL CLASSIFIEDS@PARKRECORD.COM A world-class conversation AGENDA SUMMIT COUNTY COUNCIL Wednesday, January 10, 2018 NOTICE is hereby given that the Summit County Council will meet in session Wednesday, January 10, 2018, at the Sheldon Richins Building, 1885 West Ute Blvd, Park City, UT 84098 (All times listed are general in nature, and are subject to change by the Council Chair) 12:35 PM Closed Session – Litigation (15 min); Personnel (1 hour 40 min) Dismiss as the Governing Board of the Park City Fire Service District 2:30 PM - Move into auditorium (10 min) 5:10 PM Convene as the Governing Board of the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District 1) Discussion and possible adoption of amendments to the District’s Policies and Procedures, Personnel Policies and Operational Policies; Brian Hanton, Megan Suhadolc and Melissa O’Brien (20 min) Dismiss as the Governing Board of the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District 2:40 PM Work Session 1) Pledge of Allegiance 2) 2:45 PM - Discussion regarding committee assignments (20 min) 3) 3:05 PM - Update on Sundance Transportation Operations; Caroline Rodriguez (10 min) 4) 3:15 PM - Presentation of Strategic Implementation Plan to Advance Transportation Mitigation; Caroline Rodriguez (30 min) 5) 3:45 PM - Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Presentation; Kyle Monez (30 min) 4:15 PM Convene as the Board of Equalization 1) Consideration and possible approval of request by Jennifer Patton, for abatement of property taxes; Steve Martin and Travis Lewis (20 min) Dismiss as the Board of Equalization 4:35 PM Convene as the Governing Board of the Park City Fire Service District 1) Discussion and possible adoption of amendments to Sections 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12 of the Personnel Policies; Paul Hewitt, Patti Berry (20 min) 2) 4:55 PM - Discussion and possible approval of Ordinance No. 857-A, an Ordinance Amending Title 2, Chapter 24, Section 4 of the Summit County Code Regarding the Terms of Appointed Member of the Administrative Control Board for the Park City Fire District (15 min) 5:30 PM Consideration of Approval 1) Council Comments 2) Manager Comments 3) Council Minutes dated November 15, 2017, and December 13, 2017 6:00 PM Public Input One or more members of the County Council may attend by electronic means, including telephonically or by Skype. Such members may fully participate in the proceedings as if physically present. The anchor location for purposes of the electronic meeting is the Sheldon Richins Building auditorium, 1885 W. Ute Blvd., Park City, Utah Individuals with questions, comments, or needing special accommodations pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding this meeting may contact Annette Singleton at (435) 336-3025, (435) 615-3025 or (435) 783-4351 ext. 3025 Posted: January 5, 2018 Heard around the West BETSY MARSTON High Country News CALIFORNIA If you visit the Mineral King area of Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park, be prepared to see cars at the trailhead “wrapped up like big Christmas presents,” says Justin Housman in Adventure Journal. That’s because such parking lots are cafeterias for marmots, chubby rodents that devour the “delicious rubber and plastic bits” of vehicles. But marmots aren’t the only car-eaters. Housman failed to protect his car’s bottom while camping near California’s Los Padres National Forest, so rodents — probably mice — accompanied him home, stowing away in the engine and leaving telltale pellets on the garage floor. His car’s unhappy fate: 19 hours in a garage and a bill of — ouch — $4,500. ARIZONA We all get forgetful, and most of us try to be tolerant of ourselves as well as others when the keys disappear or we leave trekking poles on the trail. Some things, though, should never be left behind, because they might be picked up by the wrong person. Prescott Valley, Arizona, Police Chief Bryan Jarrell was changing clothes after a town council meeting, reports KTVR News, “when he inadvertently left his department-issued firearm in the restroom stall and left.” Four days later, Jarrell realized that his Glock 19 handgun was missing and reported it. The chief would love to have his gun back; call 928-772-9261 if you can help. COLORADO The High Country Shopper in rural Delta County, Colorado, once ran a somewhat startling ad: “FREE kittens — big enough to eat.” Astute readers figured out that this merely meant that the felines in question had been weaned, but a more recent ad might have left folks wondering about a pos- sible hidden meaning: “FREE HUNTING RIFLE with an engagement ring costing $1,500 or more.” Now there’s an idea for a novel. MONTANA Twenty drivers in Billings, Montana, got pulled over by cops just before Thanksgiving, but instead of tickets for minor violations of the law, police officers handed them free frozen turkeys, compliments of a local businessman, according to the Billings Gazette. Not to be outdone, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote a letter to the police department offering a meatless alternative — free Tofurky roasts. “Thanksgiving is about appreciation and kindness,” said PETA staffer Tracy Reiman, urging the police to “gobble up our offer.” The police did just that, surprising another 20 or so motorists, this time with a cholesterol-free vegan roast. WASHINGTON Vanity, thy name is Facebook! A “culture of selfie sticks and social media” inspired hunters to record how they used hunting dogs to poach bear and wildcats in Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The hunters, not interested in the meat or hides, showed off their gory — and illegal — kills on cellphones or video cameras, now evidence in an investigation of an alleged poaching network in southwest Washington. “Fish and Wildlife investigators say they’ve never seen a case this big, or this disturbing,” reports the Seattle Times. The Skamania County prosecutor has charged eight people with 191 criminal counts, including 33 felony charges. Investigators took nine months to build their case, knitting together text messages, videos, photographs and social media posts. A motion-sensitive camera helped, and 20 kill sites were located in the forest, thanks to GPS coordinates attached to photos and videos on the suspects’ phones. The case began in Oregon when state troopers caught two men, Erik C. Mar- tin and William J. Haynes, both 23-year-old Washington residents, using a spotlight to locate and illegally shoot deer in the dark. Twenty-seven deer heads were found at Martin’s house, but more importantly, phones there yielded four new suspects and over 50 illegal hunts. Washington wildlife officials say they’d never gotten a single tip about this poaching network, leading Sgt. Brad Rhoden, who managed the investigation, to wonder: “If I miss this, what else have I missed?” Poachers kill wildlife for a number of reasons, said Steve Eliason, sociology professor at Montana State University, including for trophies, thrills and money — even as an anti-government protest. Reporter Evan Bush suggests that in this case, though, “grisly photos and videos may have been the ultimate prize.” COLORADO Flight for Life helicopters usually transport accident victims or ferry sick patients from one hospital to another. These days, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette, they’re also out rescuing adventure-seeking daredevils. Last summer, a woman’s 83-foot jump off Guffey Gorge in Florissant “ended in a painful belly flop,” with a video showing her “flailing in the air before smacking the water.” The disoriented, bloody-nosed diver was airlifted to a Colorado Springs hospital. She wasn’t the first: “I think the record is transporting two or three patients in the same day from people jumping off Guffey Gorge,” said nurse Megan Hawbaker, who is stationed at St. Francis Medical Center. The state sees 80 million visitors every year, and sometimes, she said, “they try to take on more of Colorado than they’re physically able to handle.” Betsy Marston is the editor of Writers on the Range the opinion service of High Country News (hcn.org). Photos and tips of Western oddities are appreciated and often shared, betsym@hcn.org. Read any brochure put out by the Chamber or local resort, or listen to any advertisement promoting this town, and you’re bound to be drawn to phrases like, “limitless recreation” and “unparalleled beauty” and “five-star amenities.” But my personal favorite is how everything around here quickly gets labeled “world class.” From lodging to snow making, views, hiking trails, shopping, dining, and even our bus system, we’ve designated ourselves in a class by ourselves. For the most part, the term “world class” is used so often, I think it has lost a bit of credibility. Look, I love our bus system as much as the next local, but I’m hesitant to agree there’s not another town in the entire world that can map a few routes as well as we can. So I tend to hear world class as code for, “We think it’s great, we’re out of cool adjectives, and our marketing team wouldn’t let us say, ‘It beats the hell out of anything you’ll find in Cleveland,’ so we call it world class.” Suffice it to say, it’s not a phrase I give much consideration to. Except when it comes to the shows booked at the Eccles Center. For the last 20 years, the Park City Institute has truly brought world-class entertainment, conversation and culture to the Eccles Center stage, and last weekend was no exception. On Saturday night, Monica Lewinsky gave a powerful and emotional speech, designed to make us think, and hopefully behave, differently. Especially online. She spoke about her experience as “patient zero” in the world of online shaming. In many ways, hers was the first story to ever go viral, and at the time, in her early twenties, she wasn’t prepared or equipped to handle the vitriol suddenly lashed at her from around the globe. No one was — it hadn’t been experienced before. Empathy and compassion were words she used often as she described her work to make the internet a safer and kinder place. She spoke tearfully and frankly about contemplating suicide, the humiliation and guilt she’s lived Yet two decades later, people still demand it should cost her even more. To them, her self-worth is the only acceptable currency.“ with, and all that she’s been denied because of her mistake — a career, marriage, new friendships and other normal life events of your twenties and thirties. It was a thought-provoking evening. Given her topic, I was more than a little disheartened when I read the online comments about her speech the next morning. It was not lost on me that a spokesperson for an anti-cyberbullying movement, was the target of just that. Again. I scrolled through several insis- tences that she deserved the animosity and disgrace she continues to live with today. I read posts declaring she wasn’t a victim, and these were the consequences she must suffer for her actions. A number of people agreed that at 22, she was a grown woman, and should have known better than to get involved with a powerful man. Thank God when I was that age I was just sleeping with fraternity brothers and bartenders. One person even stated she was to blame for the war in Iraq, because she’s the reason Al Gore lost to George Bush. A modern-day Helen of Troy by his logic. It all made me shake my head. They’d missed the point. Ms. Lewinsky owns her mistake. She’s paid for it dearly — at a far greater price than called for. Yet two decades later, people still demand it should cost her even more. To them, her self-worth is the only acceptable currency. She was patient zero in what is today an epidemic. And that’s why she took the stage Saturday night. To remind her audience that empathy is cruelty’s antidote. She was authentic, strong and brave. But what impressed me the most is her resilience. There’s simply no better way to describe her. Except in Park City. Here, she can be described as world-class resilient. Amy Roberts is a freelance writer, longtime Park City resident and the proud owner of two rescued Dalmatians, Stanley and Willis. Follow her on Twitter @ amycroberts. WRiteRs on the Range By Richard Linnett Hemp replaces uranium in Colorado When locals in western Colorado’s old uranium mining towns of Naturita and Nucla get word that a journalist is coming to town, they reach for their guns. Not to shoot the “fake news” media. No, they dust off their firearms as props for photo ops. Ever since Nucla passed a law in 2013 requiring every household to own a gun, the story has drawn the press like flies on fresh roadkill. This area was once a uranium mining and milling hub for the Atomic Energy Commission’s Manhattan Project, and later for nuclear power. As cheaper sources of the ore emerged, the industry tanked. There was a brief jolt of optimism in 2007, when Energy Fuels announced plans to build a new uranium mill in Paradox Valley, just down the road from Nucla and Naturita. Depressed uranium prices and opposition soon scuttled that project. To outsiders, what’s called the West End of Montrose County has long been a poster child for white poverty and ignorance, a hotbed of hardcore, uranium-clinging yahoos. It was the subject of a patronizing documentary, Uranium DriveIn, and recently was featured in a bleak article in The Guardian, with photos that look like full-color versions of Walker Evans’ famous casualties of the Great Depression. “Same old story,” says my neighbor, Dianna Reams, a local business and community booster whose family goes back generations. When she was interviewed by the Guardian, the reporter asked to bring out her gun for a photo op. “It’s predictable,” she said. “They think we’re a bunch of hillbillies living in a kill zone, and they’re smarter than we are.” Fortunately, a new story has come to town. It’s still badass, in keeping with our popular image. And that’s weed — cannabis, or more precisely, hemp. Thanks to new legislation and good growing conditions (lots of sun and water and dirt), the region has become a magnet for hemp farming. More recently processing has also begun, in a startup based in Nucla’s old elementary schoolhouse. The facility is run by Paradox Ventures, owned by Republican state Sen. Don Coram. Historically a conservative mining region, the West End has enthusiastically embraced a trade usually associated with illegal grows and “hippies.” Yet everyone here, from miners to cattle ranchers, seems to be trying to get a piece of the action, much the way Coram is. His partners, Reams Construction and its subsidiary Tomcat Mining, all sponsor the nonprofit West End Economic Development Corporation, which works to promote the hemp economy. This summer, Paradox Ventures planted a hemp field on some of Reams property next door to my house. A small team of farmers sprayed the crop by hand with natural pesticide, walking the crop rows wearing wide-brimmed hats in the sun. They looked like Vietnamese rice farmers. Now, you can feel a growing sense of optimism in the area, despite some continuing challenges. This time, in contrast to the uranium boom, the hope is not based on a single industry. Telemarketing and recreation projects are also in the works, along with hemp farming. “It’s the first thing that’s attracting our young people,” said Deanna Sheriff, the economic recovery coordinator for the West End Economic Development Corporation. “For whatever reason, we can hold onto our young people who have been leaving, and get them into agriculture — get them to grow hemp. There’s been nothing else here to attract their attention.” Uranium still may return, but it will never dominate the region the way it once did. There’s far too much of it available in other places around the world. Vanadium, which also occurs in the region within uranium deposits, holds promise as an alternative to lithium batteries for large-scale energy storage. But at the moment, the story here is hemp, and it’s spreading across the West, especially where mining has died and fertile fields remain. In fact, the development corporation is collaborating with a consortium of hemp growers in other counties outside Montrose, such as neighboring Delta and Mesa, to smooth the path for people to enter into the industry and help them distribute their products. “The hemp deal is the wild, wild West,” said Sheriff. “Everybody’s looking at it as a great new way to make some money, and that’s not the case. It’s still a very fragile industry. But it’s the first thing that’s come along that’s really positive in a long time. So, I’m looking at it cautiously, with optimism, and also realizing that it’s got about five more years of development.” So now when the press comes to town, as the Denver Post did recently, filing a positive story for once, we no longer draw our pistols. Instead, we reach for our hemp oils and cannabis dog treats. Richard Linnett is a contributor to Writers on the Range, the opinion service of High Country News (hcn.org). He is a writer who lives in Naturita and commutes to work in California. |