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Show Viewpoints The A-21 Park Record. Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, March 3-6, 2018 editorial There’s still time to add final brushstrokes to Project ABC R letters to the editor Runners must also obey road laws Editor: I recently had the unpleasant experience of being yelled at in Smith’s parking lot by a runner who felt I should’ve yielded to him as I exited the roundabout on Ute Blvd heading towards Smith’s. The runner in question, without breaking his stride to consider traffic, began crossing Uinta Way from the Vessel Kitchen side of the road towards the backside of Smith’s. The runner was still inside of long median crosswalk that divides the northbound and southbound lanes of Uinta Way as I entered the intersection. Since the runner was in a safe position out of the roadway and not in my lane of travel, I made the decision to continue through the intersection, much to his disapproval. Utah Code 41-6a-1002 “Pedestrian’s right-of-way — Duty of pedestrian” clearly states that pedestrians only have the right-of-way in a crosswalk if they are already in the lane of travel of oncoming traffic, or if the vehicle’s path will be a danger to the pedestrian. Neither of these conditions was met in the incident above. The law is written this way since it is often unsafe for vehicles to come to a sudden stop to allow someone to cross the street that hasn’t verified that the intersection is clear of traffic. I would argue that the exit of a busy roundabout at a high traffic time is a perfect example of this. As an avid runner myself, I do a great job of yielding to pedestrians crossing streets. In this instance I decided to not risk being rear-ended by yielding to a runner that irresponsibly ran into a busy intersection without making sure traffic was clear. I urge runners to know and obey the rules of the road to do their part in keeping our roads safe. Seth Dromgoole Park City Thanks to generous Parkites Editor: Each month breast cancer survivors from Utah and all over the country relax and enjoy each other’s company in the lovely confines of Park City homes. Park City residents graciously donate their homes to Image Reborn Foundation so that women who have battled the ravages of breast cancer can be pampered for a free weekend in beautiful Park City. Image Reborn Foundation provides nocost renewal retreats for any woman who has ever been diagnosed with breast cancer. Survivors are treated to a weekend of The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Angelique McNaughton Ben Ramsey Carolyn Webber Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy Editor ............................ James Hoyt Engagement Editor.........Kira Hoffelmeyer Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Office Manager ..................... Tiffany Piper Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Accounting Manager ......... Jennifer Snow ADVERTISING Classifieds/Legals ............. Jennifer Lynch Advertising Director ........... Valerie Spung Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Erin Donnelly Olivia Bergmann Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production .......................... Patrick Schulz Linda Sites relaxation, massages, facials, yoga, gourmet meals and the opportunity to enjoy the company of other women who appreciate their unique cancer journey. Retreats accommodate 8-10 women. Image Reborn Foundation’s success in serving over 3,000 breast cancer survivors since its inception in 1998 is due to the kindness of Park City residents, and we want to thank all those who have graciously donated their homes. If you are interested in donating your home, please contact Image Reborn Foundation at (801) 679-3065. Faye Keller Image Reborn Foundation The push to save farm continues Editor: Thanks to a whole lot of community support, the Summit Land Conservancy and the Osguthorpe family leapt a huge hurdle this week. The Conservancy is able to make its $2.5 million down payment, and we now have a year to raise the final dollars needed to save the farm. In fact, so many donations came in this week, that we’re happy to announce that we “only” need $2.9 million more. That’s still a big job. But now it’s time to take a moment to pause and celebrate. Let’s cheer for 7-year old Tenneson Klein who donated all of his money then offered to eat broccoli every day in March to encourage others to donate. Let’s applaud the neighborhood groups who worked tirelessly to circulate information and encourage donations. Let’s say happy birthday to 10-year old Ashley Tettelbach who organized her birthday party into a hot-cocoa sale to raise money for the farm. Let’s thank over 400 individuals who donated so that we could make the down payment this week. For 20 years this community has recognized that if we want to save the open spaces that we cherish, we must band together and buy them. These shared landscapes, from Round Valley to Bonanza Flat and the many paths and trails that connect them, connect us to this place and to each other. This story isn’t really about money. It’s about who we are. We know who we are because we are connected here, grounded. We are the people who will save this farm. Cheryl Fox Summit Land Conservancy executive director Idea to develop golf course is laughable Editor: Hahahahahahahaha... in reading the front page article in Wednesday’s paper about eliminating 9 holes of the golf course in lieu of development, I truly thought I was looking at the April fools edition, then I realized I was a month early. Aye Karumba. Teri Whitney Park City Letters Policy 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 home (street) address and telephone number of the author. No letter will be published under an assumed name. Letters must not contain libelous material. Letters should be no longer than about 300 words (about 600 words for guest editorials) and should, if possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long or if they contain statements that are unnecessarily offensive or obscene. Writers are limited to one letter every seven days. Letters thanking event sponsors can list no more than 6 individuals and/or businesses. Send your letter to: editor@parkrecord.com esidents who want to help create the future of arts and culture in Summit County have two more chances to bring their palette to the table. Project ABC, the initiative that is crafting a wide-ranging arts and culture master plan for the county, is set to hold a pair of open houses over the next week to unveil its work to residents. The meetings represent the last chance for the public to provide feedback before stakeholders explore ways to implement their ideas. Residents who believe they have something to contribute — or who simply want a look at what the project has dreamed up — should attend. Doubtless, it’ll be worth their time. The arts are a major part of our community’s identity, but we’ve lacked a well-defined blueprint of how to preserve and expand that tradition. That’s set to change thanks to the hard work of the dozens of people who’ve lent their time and expertise to Project ABC over the last several months, a group that spans the public, private and nonprofit sectors. The result of the effort will arm decision makers with specific guidance about topics ranging from fostering local artists to ensuring equitable access to cultural offerings for the underserved population to connecting the arts sector with other parts of the community like local businesses. Though Project ABC’s work isn’t over — the next step is turning the master plan into action — it’s important to take the final opportunity to be engaged in this phase of the process. Everyone who lives in the Park City area benefits in one way or another from Summit County’s arts and culture offerings, meaning there should be no shortage of people at the open houses eager to see what the project has been working toward and ready to provide valuable feedback that could help shape the final result. Given the tireless efforts of those leading the project, and the help of hundreds of residents who have already participated, we’re betting the finished product will be a masterpiece. While the paint is still wet, however, take this chance to add one last brushstroke of your own. The two Project ABC open houses are scheduled for Tuesday, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Kamas City Hall, 170 N. Main St., and Thursday, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Park City Library. More information is available at the group’s website, projectabcsc.com. guest editorial By seeking to circumvent ballot initiatives, lawmakers are silencing Utahns’ voices DORIS SCHMIDT Kamas “If you want something done right, do it yourself” seems to sum up the attitude of Utah’s voters this year, as citizens are working to bring half a dozen new ballot initiatives to the polls in November. The initiatives, which cover topics including school funding, primary elections and medical cannabis, all have something in common: They seek to solve problems that Utah’s lawmakers have failed to adequately address. “You have these initiatives crop up because people get so frustrated that the Legislature is not responding to their desires,” House Minority Leader Brian S. King told the Salt Lake Tribune. “That’s important for us to take to heart at the Legislature.” But instead of taking it to heart, some legislators are trying to thwart the citizens’ efforts. Their strategy is to undercut the ballot initiatives with legislation that goes part of the way — but not as far as needed — in addressing the issues. Their hope seems to be that after years of ignoring voters’ demands for action, they will be able to quiet those demands with watered-down legislation while retaining the status quo: legislators make the laws, and citizens make do with the laws that have been made for them. Case in point: the Our Schools Now initiative, which proposes to raise about $700 million annually in education funds through a 0.45 percent increase in sales and income tax. State Rep. Mike Schultz has responded with HB 299, a bill that would go into effect if voters approve the initiative to hike their own taxes. Schultz’s bill would immediately lower those taxes, and instead use “huge increased revenue projections” from sales and use taxes for education funding. Will HB 299 be able to match Our Schools Now’s $700 million in funds? It depends on who you ask ... but Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox said he believes it can come close. And if voters insist on choosing the tax hike as a sure funding source, HB 299 guarantees that their votes won’t matter; the citizens will be overruled by the officials who were elected to represent them. Citizens’ efforts may end up being overruled on the issue of health-care coverage, as well. Two-thirds of Utahns support full Medicaid expansion, according to polls, and that’s what the Utah Decides Healthcare initiative offers; it would close the coverage gap for about 120,000 Utah residents with incomes too high for Medicaid but too low for the federal health-care exchange. It was brought forward to allow voters to decide for themselves on the issue since, as Senate President Wayne Niederhauser said, the Legislature probably won’t approve full Medicaid expansion. Instead, lawmakers may counter the initiative with a bill of their own — a watered-down version that Rep. Robert Spendlove has promised would come complete with work requirements and spending caps, and that would cover only those with incomes up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level. And no issue illustrates the gap between voters and their elected officials more strongly than medical cannabis. While polls show that 76 percent of Utahns favor the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, legislators are reportedly hatching a cynical plan to bury it. This would involve passing a law identical to the initiative, but with one addition: It would only take effect if Congress changes the drug classification of cannabis from Schedule I (the same as heroin) to Schedule IV (the same as Ambien). Thus, even if the initiative passes, it would not be implemented. With a record 1,341 bill files to address in a 45-day session, Utah lawmakers have enough on their plates without adding legislation for the sole purpose of silencing the voice of the people. guest editorial It’s past time for Congress to ban AR-15s JAIME O’NEILL Writers on the Range We’ve all had abundant time to think about gun laws, gun violence, dead children on schoolroom floors, and the Second Amendment. Who can even keep track of the number of times we’ve been asked to send our prayers out to the victims and survivors of the ongoing carnage? No American mass shooting would be complete without reminders from the National Rifle Association that the problem in this country isn’t guns; it’s mental illness. Mental illness exists everywhere in the world, of course, but mass shootings do not. In this country, however, they have become so commonplace that our response to more death is almost ritualistic. After every mass killing, we keep hearing this blather that amounts to “Nothing can be done” from Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio and other elected representatives. We hear it almost before the echoes of the gunfire have faded. We heard it after Columbine, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, and now after the Parkland day of death in Florida. The difference this time is that classmates of the dead teenagers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are saying loudly and clearly that gun violence must be stopped. Doesn’t it seem clear that anyone who feels the need for an AR-15 is already displaying abundant evidence of disordered thinking? If you are paranoid enough to think you need so much firepower for home protection, that’s more paranoia than sanity can contain. If you say you need an AR-15 to go deer hunting, that’s preposterous. And if you think that you and your patriotic buddies, armed with a small arsenal of semi-automatic rifles converted to full-auto with bump stocks, can resist an American government supported by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, then that’s clear evidence of lunacy. I grew up playing with toy guns, shooting other kids “dead” with caps or sound effects, dramatically acting out my own death countless times whenever they “got me” first. I graduated to a single shot .22 rifle when I was 12, and then to a .410 shotgun when I was 13. As a grownup, I bought my first pistol when I was in my mid-20s. As the years advanced, I acquired a .12 gauge pump action shotgun, a .50 caliber breech-loading Sharps carbine, a .45 cal- iber Hawken, and several handguns, mostly single-action Rugers or Colts. As a boy, I hunted with my dad, though I never hunted as an adult because I didn’t need or want the meat. Several guns I once owned have been stolen. That’s a thing that happens with guns. One high-priority item on the Republican “to do” list has been to expand open-carry laws state by state, normalizing dangerous tendencies throughout the nation. I recently saw a testimonial to that madness in the parking lot at a Lowe’s. “Live to Carry, Carry to Live” was emblazoned on the back window of an oversized truck. “Live to carry?” Really? That sounds like a fragile reason for getting up in the morning. As for carrying to live, everyone should know by now that the chances of dying go up dramatically when you’re packing heat, or when you’ve got a gun in your house for “self-protection.” My congressional representative here in Northern California is Doug LaMalfa, a rice farmer and major recipient of government subsidies. All cowboy hat, boots and no cattle, he’s a devotee of the NRA, a Trump loyalist on every issue, and he resists any and all sensible restrictions on guns. He does not agree with me that a nation that includes heavily armed men who “live to carry” offers little prospect of safety for anyone. The history of the West includes images of guns, mostly those muzzle-loading rifles carried by trappers or explorers like Jim Bridger, Kit Carson or Jim Beckwourth. A powder horn and a Hawken rifle are part of the romance of that storied past. But those simple guns fired one round at a time before requiring reloading. And the reloading process took even a proficient shooter several seconds to complete before he was able to shoot again. There is no record of any of those mountain men engaging in a school shooting. Anyone who sincerely believes he needs a semi-automatic weapon has already revealed enough muddled thinking to be denied possession of one. Killing many people quickly is the true purpose of these guns, and that has nothing to do with the Second Amendment’s “well-regulated militia.” It is long past time for Congress to once again ban the sale of these weapons that are so frequently the guns of choice for murderers of children. |