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Show e r h . d t n h t t e e s s d e s . s y s Viewpoints The A-19 Park Record. Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, November 24-27, 2018 editorial Residents showed up to vote, and must now remain engaged S letters to the editor Enjoy an express ride into town Editor: I liked reading some of Angelique McNaughton’s recent article for the good information it contained about the new Ecker Hill park-and-ride lot. I was disappointed she reported only the views of some who question its location so close to the middle school; who doubt whether it is convenient enough for drivers to use since it has no direct access to Interstate 80 — which is cost prohibitive — and who fear Kilby Road will not be able to handle the increased traffic the lot will create, even though it has been redesigned by people who design roads for a living. I wish she’d interviewed me. I say “Wonderful!” Finally!” “Thank you!” to our transportation and community leaders for all their efforts to get this park-and-ride built at such a highly visible, (relatively) convenient location for those traveling from the Salt Lake Valley, and locally, from Summit Park, Pinebrook and Jeremy Ranch. I know folks who live in these areas who are “ecstatic” that they can park their cars there and ride a bus into town. I would hope residents can think positively about the lot and “work with it.” Even if it isn’t a perfect solution to everyone, we have been clamoring for park-andride lots; we want less traffic on our major roads and know park-and-rides serve that purpose. Think back several years to when the county announced the parking lot at 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 Engagement Editor..Christopher Samuels 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 the Kimball Junction transit center would have about 35 spaces and we (including myself) clamored for more. Kimball Junction transit is my stop and over time, I have observed the lot there to be largely underutilized. Our tax dollars were used to make those parking spaces available using the only land that was available to the county. We can do better — park at the Kimball Junction transit center or the Ecker Hill park-and-ride lot and enjoy an express ride into town. Beverly Harrison Park City A turkey for every table Editor: Every year the Park City Board of Realtors Philanthropic Foundation undertakes a HUGE Turkey Drive that allows us at the Christian Center of Park City to give away 850 turkeys through our food pantries in Park City and Heber. In addition to the 850 that they give to us locally, this year they collected another 1,650 turkeys total that will be distributed all across the state. This has become the single largest individual turkey drive in the state! Thank you, Deb Hartley and Park City Board of Realtors, for organizing the Turkey Drive yet again! Additionally, this year, Park City Community Church will support this massive effort by supplying additional Thanksgiving meal ingredients. Thanks PCCC! On behalf of all those we serve, thank you for making sure every table has a turkey this Thanksgiving! Rob Harter Christian Center of Park City executive director Not an obsession Editor: I enjoy reading Red Card Roberts by Amy Roberts because her articles are interesting and well written. In her column (“American symptoms,” The Park Record, Nov. 14-16) she states “We are obsessed with guns because we refuse to address the root cause of why we think we need them.” I own guns. Hand guns, shotguns and rifles. I am not obsessed with them and know the root cause of why I need them. They are simply tools that I use to target practice with rifles at the public open range in East Canyon, or with hand guns at the public indoor range in Park City. And yes, I also use shotguns to hunt pheasants and rifles to hunt deer and elk. These tools provide many hours of healthy outdoor enjoyment with friends, and fresh healthy organic meat for the table. David Ludema Park City For the record ummit County residents should be proud. The election results in the county were finalized Tuesday, after the inclusion of one final batch of outstanding ballots, making official what we’ve known since the first returns on Election Day: Residents made their voices heard like never before in a midterm election. In total, a stunning 80.53 percent of registered voters in Summit County cast ballots. That dwarfs participation levels in the 2014 and 2010 midterms, which saw turnout hover below 50 percent. It nearly matches the record turnout of 87.55 percent in the 2016 presidential election. And it comes despite a lack of contested County Courthouse races, which are typically some of the most closely watched contests during midterms. One can chalk up the record participation to a number of reasons. Though Donald Trump’s name wasn’t on the ballot, his presidency motivated folks, both supporters and opponents, to show up to the polls. Likewise, residents were eager to have their say on the Treasure ballot measure and three statewide propositions — particularly Prop 2, which addressed medical marijuana. The vote-by-mail system certainly helped, too. Regardless of what was behind the increased turnout, everyone in Summit County who mailed in or dropped off a ballot, or stood in line on Election Day, deserves a round of applause. The important thing now will be maintaining that momentum, both locally and throughout the state, where other counties also saw an unusually high number of voters. Too often in the past, people in Utah have been content to sit on the sidelines during elections. Hopefully this election, which saw Utah voters approve things like the legalization of medical marijuana, an independent redistricting commission and Medicaid expansion, proved that actively participating in the political process can make a difference. But just because the election is over doesn’t mean we’ve completely fulfilled our civic duty. Casting a ballot is only part of the equation, and it’s incumbent upon everyone who voted to remain engaged in politics. Over the next two years, we must hold the people we’ve elected to represent us in state and federal government to a high standard — and voice our opinions on the important issues of the day. Then, in 2020, we’ll head back to the polls and render verdicts on the jobs our elected officials have done and whatever other matters are on the ballot. And we’ll, hopefully, build on the enthusiasm from this election and do it once again in record numbers. guest editorial Economies rely on ‘foreign-born’ workers JERRY BRADY Writers on the Range It’s August in southern Idaho, and all is calm for the region’s dairy workers. But after four workers were picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, in July, Latino families have mostly stayed inside, missing church and otherwise lying low. In dairy country, the anxiety is constant. Twenty years ago, a block of dairy operators around Chino, California, sold out and moved to Idaho, rapidly transforming it into the nation’s third-largest milk-producing state. Land was affordable, water plentiful, regulation light, and there were plenty of workers ready to milk cows, haul manure and operate machinery in a steadily automating industry. The Idaho Dairymen’s Association’s website is clear about who those workers are today: “Of the 8,100 ondairy jobs, 85-90 percent are filled by foreign-born labor.” They are also foundationally important: “Without those jobs, none of the 31,300 supporting jobs would exist.” According to a recent study, 40,000 workers in the milk, cheese, yogurt and related products industry have built a $10 billion yearly value in a state economy of $72 billion. Yet because “foreign-born” is too often a euphemism for “illegal,” many of these workers are vulnerable. Consequently, so is an industry that is far more important to Idaho than its famous potatoes. The undocumented dairy workers have come almost entirely from Mexico. However, in the last decade, a rising Mexican economy, declining Mexican birth rate and increased hostility up north has largely kept Mexicans at home. Dairymen’s Association Chief Executive Officer Rick Naerebout says tomorrow’s workers will most likely come from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, yet it is families from precisely those countries that are being turned away by the president’s zero-tolerance immigration policy. (ICE flies more Guatemalans home than any other group of deportees — 317 full flights in 2016.) So where will Idaho’s dairies find workers in the future? Four arrests are not all that many, and ICE, which allows some autonomy to its regions, has mostly picked up people who have allegedly violated the law. This used to be the agency’s prime mission at the end of the Obama administration, and it was the practice for decades before that, when the United States largely allowed those who came to this country illegally to settle, establish families and enter the economy. Under the Trump administration’s hard reversal, however, much of American agriculture is threatened. Arrests of undocumented workers increased 42 percent during Trump’s first eight months. The growing number of arrests means ICE must find more holding cells. The agency (under the Department of Homeland Security) has contracted with private prisons and local jails, including an offer to lease 50 beds in the Jerome County, Idaho, jail for a sum that struck county commissioners as a heavenly gift — $1.3 million a year. It had plenty of beds to fill. Commissioners seemed unaware that this prospect sent fear through their Latino constituents, who make up 35 percent of the county’s adult population and half of the county’s students. What followed was unprecedented. Aroused by a popular Spanish-language radio host, Benjamin Reed, known on-air as “El Chupacabras,” and organized by a former dairy owner, Jane Miller, with help from the ACLU’s Betsaida Chavez Garcia, Hispanics and Anglos came together. To fight the jail proposal, dairy workers and dairy owners, both small and large Latino-owned businesses, and folks from local churches organized. The day of a July 10 country commissioners’ meeting, more than 600 people marched through town to the courthouse. They filled every available seat, spilled down the steps and out onto the sidewalks. County Commission Chairman Charles Howell says he felt “intimidated.” The Idaho Dairymen’s Association sent a blistering protest to the commissioners, arguing against “working with ICE to increase the assets available for their enforcement action.” Workers were “highly agitated … already leaving dairies … in search of more welcoming communities,” the dairymen wrote. “We cannot be successful without the Hispanic Community you were elected to represent.” Con Paulos, the local Chevy dealer and a grandson of Greek immigrants, made the case that “agriculture is all we’ve got in Jerome.” Without Latino workers, he added, there would be no economy. The commission finally decided to fill its jail with prisoners from nearby Twin Falls County, saying the ICE contract proved less lucrative than presumed. Did the jail experience leave the county better off? Former dairy owner Miller thinks too little has changed. But El Chupacabras, the radio host sparkplug, believes a “tipping point” is coming in five or 10 years. Look at the local schools, he says, because without Latino students, Jerome County would be losing population. “Hispanics learned to check their pride at the border but that’s going to change,” he says. “People are fed up.” If so, the shift might have begun with the Jerome jail demonstration of 2018. Photos by Christopher Samuels Asked at Park City Mountain What are you most looking forward to this ski season? y s s e r Cat Silerstein Park City “Some great snow and some fresh turns and improving my skiing tenfold.” Chris Ritrievi Old Town “I’d love to ski more than last year.” Hadley Cunningham Park City “The Park City race league, because they didn’t have it last year. Hopefully we have enough snow...” Ryan Boessman Trailside “The snow dump that’s coming this weekend. ... Last year I didn’t get as much of the deep stuff as I like.” Jeff (left) and Sean Kopish Park City Jeff: “Hopefully more snow this year.” Sean: “I’m just hoping to get good ski time this year.” See these photos and more by following The Park Record on Facebook.com/parkrecord and Instagram.com/parkrecord |