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Show Viewpoints The A-11 Park Record. Wed/Thurs/Fri, August 8-10, 2018 editorial Interstate 80 backups did not inconvenience the animals I letters to the editor Walls that divide Editor: Building walls that divide people have a long history. The most famous wall is the “Great Wall of China.” It was mostly built from 770BC to 206BC by several Chinese dynasties to keep the Mongols out of China. Think Genghis Khan. Great tourist attraction. Hadrians Wall was built by the Romans to keep the “Scots” out of England. Parts of this wall are still visible. “Scots” are still a problem. The Berlin Wall separated the communist east from the western part of Berlin from 1961 till 1989. Great souvenirs of the wall can be had. In 1969 in North Ireland walls were built in Dublin and Belfast to keep the catholics and protestants from killing each other. Been there lately? They are good climbing walls and a good source of building materials. Famous walls were also built in Turkey, Spain, Croatia and Jerusalem to name a few. History can tell us a lot about the practice of building walls. They don’t work and you can go over, under, through or around them. President Trump and the US Congress are asking for 25 billion dollars to build the “great big beautiful wall” to separate the US from Mexico. That is a lot of money that could be used for Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and other social issues. John Tansley Park City summer resident Did U.S. voters elect Putin’s puppet? Editor: Did U.S. voters vote for a President who has, among other things: 1. targeted parents seeking asylum to prosecute, deport, kidnap and imprison their children; 2. conducted a tariff war and anti-immigration policies that hurt farmers and manufacturers and raise prices for food, building materials, and goods; 3. enacted a budget that a. the Congressional Budget Office predicts adds one trillion dollars per year to the national debt; and b. increases the income gap between the wealthy and average citizens; 4. eliminated environmental protections that sustain health and economic well-being; 5. reneged on U.S. treaties and supported foreign policies favored by Putin; 6. threatened to shut down government unless Congress funds an anti-human, anti-wildlife wall between us and Mexico; 7. called U.S. press “the enemy of the people”; 8. showed little understanding of how The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Angelique McNaughton Ben Ramsey Carolyn Webber Alder Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy Editor ............................ James Hoyt 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 Lindsay Lane Sharon Bush Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production .......................... Patrick Schulz government works or for the CIA, FBI, and Department of Justice; and 9. fabricated thousands of false stories? The answer is “No” – U.S. voters IMO probably did not elect Trump. Statistical analyses of the 2016 U.S. presidential election vote versus exit poll results reveals sufficient significant discrepancies in Pennsylvania and North Carolina for vote miscount to have altered the outcome, even after adjusting for systematic partisan exit poll response bias (Republicans may agree to respond less often than Democrats) and false discovery rate (to adjust for multiple tests). See this work on http://ssrn.com . The press could reduce interviews of political scientists whose opinion polls assume without evidence that votes are reported accurately and increase interviews of computer scientists who report how current election systems provide no evidence when tampered with. A lack of evidence is not evidence of a lack of tampering. Anyone asserting that U.S. votes are accurately reported as cast ignores computer scientists who have repeatedly shown U.S. election systems are open to undetectable manipulation. Kathy Dopp Park City Consider charging teen as an adult Editor: Summit County prosecutors need to consider strongly charging the teen arrested for ordering for distribution illegal substances from China. According to the Park Record, the 17 year old girl was arrested and charged for the same offenses in 2016, offenses that ultimately resulted in the death of two Park City 13 year old teens. Now, 2 years later she is apparently at it again. Clearly she did not learn or does not care about the consequences of her actions. And she continues to be willing to put the community at risk. For the first offenses, despite the deaths, the disposition may have been appropriate. And I will always seek to err on the side of forgiveness and even leniency for first offenders. Now, with hindsight, tragic history caused prior and continued contempt for the law and society, it may be necessary for this person to be prosecuted as an adult and for the consequences to be real. Jim Arnold Park City t was awful. The traffic was backed up on Interstate 80. Drivers were looking for an alternative as the delays mounted, some even heading toward the high-altitude road over Guardsman Pass. The frustration levels behind the steering wheels increased quickly. That was the scenario last week as the Utah Department of Transportation installed a wildlife crossing spanning the highway close to Parleys Summit. But a similar scenario could unfold if there was ever an especially bad accident on the highway involving a driver and an animal like a moose, elk or deer. That is why the high level of frustration with the installation should be forgotten quickly as a high level of delight sets in with the completion of an important safety upgrade. The wildlife crossing installed by UDOT is a carefully considered project that is meant to save, most importantly, people from death or bad injury in addition to the lives of the animals. Interstate 80 winds through vast expanses of open space in the mountains of Utah, prime habitat for a variety of species that pose a danger to drivers. The heavily traveled stretch of the interstate through the Snyderville Basin and into the easternmost points of Salt Lake County crosses through miles of wildlife habitat, creating a hazard that drivers have for years understood but one that could not be easily addressed. The wildlife crossing is the most ambitious attempt yet to address the dangers of high-speed collisions with animals. Fences on either side of the highway are designed to funnel the animals to the crossing itself. They can then move to the other side above the vehicles rather than through the traffic. The crossing will not eliminate the possibility of animals wandering onto the highway in Summit County, or even in the vicinity of Parleys Canyon. The location, though, was selected after extensive research showed it had the possibility of influencing the most animals to use a crossing. Yes, everyone knows the animals would not read signs directing them to the crossing, but we anticipate their natural instincts will lead them to the span above the interstate. The awful delays recently, we expect, will result in reduced chances for awful – and tragic – delays later on I-80. It was well worth the inconvenience. We suspect the moose, elk and deer would agree. guest editorial E-Bikes are piling up the record miles… and the near misses JOSEPH ASSENHEIM Newpark As a resident of Newpark, I -- and many of my fellow residents -- take issue with your July 28 “E-Bikes Take Charge” article; specifically with its focus on the increase in rental mileage, while giving short shrift to the safety problems that their users inflict on our neighborhood. I strongly encourage your reporter and Transportation Planner Collins to visit our neighborhood and see for themselves the dangers described below. The primary menace is the many near-crashes in the Kimball Junction/Newpark/Swaner Preserve area caused by inexperienced or irresponsible adult visitors and under-aged or aggressive riders for whom these rentals were never intended. The Swaner Preserve path and surrounding area is an extremely popular and congested residential area where children, walkers, joggers, pet owners, strollers and nature-lovers take daily advantage of its recreational facilities. We all coexist and share this neighborhood with our courteous and safety-aware bike riding brethren, and a lot of us are both riders and pedestrians. We know the vast majority of Park City’s road and mountain-bikers understand and exercise basic cycling safety and courtesy. The same, however, cannot be said for large numbers of E-Bike renters -- most of them visitors – who have little or no understanding of the increased safety requirements for these heavy and powerful motorized vehicles. These E-Bikes require a learning curve to be safely driven, as their turning radius, stopping distance, powered acceleration and sheer weight dramatically change normal bike-handling characteristics. Unfortunately, the densely populated Newpark area is not a safe place to acquire this kind of hands-on learning. New users frequently find themselves out of control shortly after mounting a rental E-Bike with dangerous consequences for pedestrians, other riders, and themselves. Compounding the learning curve issue is that new E-Bike riders are frequently either speeding and/or under-aged, and/or dare-deviling (e.g. handle-bar riders, wheelies, children in baskets) or are ignorant of basic path-sharing etiquette and safety (e.g. not alerting pedestrians of their imminent presence). Your article listed several proposed steps to enhance safety through education and public events. However, all the education in the world won’t help if visitors can’t or won’t attend the safety events nor read the small-print warnings. Here are a few inexpensive low-tech fixes that will extend the bike-tracking technology that is currently used to identify vandalism, toward eliminating E-Bike safety abuses, while also making it easier to hold renters accountable for irresponsible actions. For example: 1. Place a greater focus on enforcing the over-18 rule. Make the over-18 signage at rental stations and on the web site much more prominent than the puny printed caution that is currently in use. 2. Add a caution statement at the kiosk and on the web to the effect of: “This is a motorized vehicle that requires more skill and safety measures than a standard road bike. Operation by persons under 18 is strictly prohibited and can result in revocation of rental privileges and/or fines. By renting this vehicle you are agreeing that no one under the age of 18 will operate this vehicle.” 3. Institute a fine for careless or reckless driving or underage operation. 4. Add a large-print, easily noticed, unique, identifier to each e-bike (the outside of the head tube, outside of basket, bike frame) so that a pedestrian can identify and report an offending bike rider. 5. Provide a published phone number for reporting above violations. 6. Add a signaling device to each e-bike so that riders can warn pedestrians of their presence. It can be as simple as a bell or an electronic beeper. These bikes are mostly silent and a simple warning would be a great help. 7. I’m sure other readers have helpful ideas that can mitigate these hazards and provide for a safer and even more successful E-Bike program. Again, I encourage the Park Record and Ms. Collins to come to our neighborhood and see first-hand how prevalent these safety hazards are and why it should take priority over the push to increase ridership miles. You can bring your bikes! It is clear that just one serious incident could stop this worthwhile program in its tracks, and nobody wants that. The more miles we pile up, the greater the likelihood of this happening. guest editorial We joined forces to protect our forest BY ROBYN S. MARTIN High Country News Something remarkable happened in my hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona, this summer: We agreed on something. Despite today’s polarized political climate, this community of over 70,000 people applauded a governmental decision with no accusations, no blame, no name-calling. For over six weeks, the Forest Service closed large portions of the Coconino National Forest in northern Arizona because of extreme drought and wildfire threat. Yet even here in Flagstaff, located at the foot of those peaks, not one resident opposed the closure. Environmentalists didn’t complain that recreation was being stifled, and businesses didn’t vilify the federal government for overreaching. That’s because we all know exactly where we live. Flagstaff lies in the middle of the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world. Visitors from all over the country, including elsewhere in Arizona, vacation in our backyard, and more come every year. In the winter and spring, winter sports are popular. In the summer and fall, it’s camping, hiking, biking and many other activities. We find solace in the mountains year-round and enjoy star-filled skies and quiet. And yet we agreed that shutting ourselves out of the forest we love made sense. The evidence had mounted: According to a 2018 article in the Arizona Republic, Arizona has been in a drought for two decades, and this past winter was the driest on record. Flagstaff averages at least 100 inches of snow a year, yet by May 19 we had received just 38 inches. Businesses that rely on snow-loving visitors — skiers, snowboarders and the like — were hit hard by drought this winter, and they had hoped to make up for lost profits this summer. By May 22, however, six large areas of the Coconino National Forest were completely closed to the public. Locals understand the risky relationship we have with this forest. Thousands of residents live along what’s called the urban-forest interface. We understand that wildfire can attack neighborhoods, quickly leapfrogging from structure to structure with devastating outcomes. We all also understand that we’re in a serious drought. Flagstaff, lacking perennial rivers or streams, relies on reservoirs and wells for water. Snowmelt fills both. We were frustrated this winter when we watched sparse, weak storms roll in, drop a few inches of snow and then leave. By early spring, it was obvious. Logic told us one spark from a campfire, a cigarette or target practice with a weapon could be our undoing. Flagstaff residents called the Forest Service, asking — even demanding — that the government close our forest. Many of us wrote letters to the local paper, voicing our concern. I think we all felt threatened. We wanted protection for the landscape we love, and we were willing to sacrifice our summer activities for that protection. Many residents who lived next to Forest Service lands acted as scouts, watching for illegal entry into the forest and politely reminding people of the closure. Sometimes they alerted the Forest Service. Our local Arizona Daily Sun noted that by July 1, residents had observed that closures were working well. Sat Best, who lives near a trailhead, “reported attempts to access closed areas had gone way down in volume over the past weeks.” There’s a Hawaiian proverb that says in order to go forward, one must look back. The catastrophic 2010 Schultz Fire on the San Francisco Peaks burned over 15,000 acres, denuding vegetation and making us vulnerable to flooding and debris flows for years to come. Eight years later, we remember it well, and we know that we must work together if we want a future that includes our forests. As of this writing, we’ve had no major forest fires near Flagstaff. None threatened the city. Fortunately, our monsoons have returned. The forest is open once again. Meanwhile, I’m looking at my neighbors a little differently these days, and I think it’s with pride. We knew the right thing to do, and we did it. Robyn S. Martin is a contributor to Writers on the Range, the opinion service of High Country News (hcn.org). She is a senior lecturer in the Honors College at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. |