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Show 1 A2 The Times-lndependen- Thursday, Mar. 1 5, 1 984 t, Letters and opinions from our readers (fatutuuutef, . . . service, Alpine Aviation, drew some criticism at a meeting in Moab last week, and from where I sit Alpine got handed a bum rap. Comments made by a chamber of commerce official attending the regular meeting of the Grand County Economic Development Council showed a clear lack of understanding of the subject he was addressing. Those criticisms and my response to them follow: First, he said that the subsidy from the Civil Aeronautics Board will expire on June 1, and efforts should be made to have it extended, but when extended, the funds should be used for increasing passenger travel. In answer, not only will the CAB subsidy expire on June 1, the CAB itself will expire unless Congress takes action to extend its life for a period of time. The Airline Deregulation Act passed a few years ago by Congress called for the elimination of the agency by the end of 1984. Clearly, if there is no agency, then there is no subsidy availability. If Congress does extend the agencys life, it would be nice to get an extension of the subsidy for a short period of time. It would be more worthwhile, though as a community effort, to attempt to increase the use of the excellent air commuter service to and from Salt Lake City on a local level. The operation has been operating very close to its subsidy, and it wouldnt take much more ridership to make it service. a profitable, A subsidy is a heck of a way to run any operation. Economic viability is the only adequate ultimate goal. He stated that the airline is not computerized, hence its schedules are not carried on major national airline charts. Travelers wanting to fly to Moab from remote points are told there is no air service here because Alpine is not on the computer net. That is true. The problem, though, is not altogether Alpine's. The national airline computer networks are not government-owne- d or controlled. They are operated by the airlines themselves, and they add commuter service at their own one-ye- Moab development agency would be to knock off the criticism and begin putting pressure on the big guys. Every little bit of persuasion would help. It was stated in the meeting that Alpine had no specified gate at the Salt Lake Airport. If thats the case, Ive been going to the wrong place to catch my Alpine flights all year. Alpine has its schedule listed on the board right alongside Sky West Airlines in the commuter section of Salt Lake City International Airport, and Sky West ar ticket agents handle boarding matters for Alpine. The flights all the same gate board at Gate 2 where all the commuter airlines serving Salt Lake City board. And the folks at the boarding gates can give passengers Alpine flight information just like they do for Sky West and Horizon, and other nt discretion. Alpine has tried all year unsuccessfully to get their schedules on the major airline computer networks. They have been assisted in that effort by State of Utah and by the Civil Aeronautics Board itself, but to no avaiL Maybe a more proper approach for the . Times-lndepende- nt paper whitewashes By Sam Taylor Moaba small commuter air To the Editor Comparison of the coverage of the council meeting last Tuesday by The and by Cable TV has shown just how much the commuters. Alpine isnt perfect. A lot of improvements need to be made. But they have been trying. My wife and I have used the service at least thirty times during the past year, partly because we wanted to do all we could to make it viable, and partly because it was a darned good alternative to a long drive. In almost all cases, the flights were on time. And they almost never cancelled, despite the five months of fog that have kept Salt Lake International on the verge of closing much of the time. The real issue before us is not crying for more help from the federal government or calling on Alpine for things it cannot possibly provide due to the limited size of the company. The real issue before us as a community is to do all we can to make the service profitable, if we want to keep it. And we hant just depend on the summer recreational travel to do the job. If the service survives, it will be because Moab residents want it to survive and use it as often as they can. Im afraid that hasnt been the case. Many Moab area residents have come to enjoy and depend on the twice-dail- y flights to the states capitol city. But Ill bet many of those who would be quick to criticize the service havent set foot in Alpines dependable Piper Seneca. We should stop crying Wolf, and begin a positive program of making airline service to Moab viable. And we shouldnt criticize unless we know full well what we are talking about. what really happened. The paper ignored how heated the meeting became, headlining the long agenda as the reason for the lengthy meeting. The papers account did not mention Bill Mays promise to the protesters of McDougalds illegal fence and parked trucks in a 2 (sic) zone that he would go after residents who had violations. Nor did the paper mention that Bill May, when asked how long the fence would remain, originally said up to a year. He later said only 6 months would be necessary, only after the citizens vigorously protested his first reply. Nor did the paper point out that the mayor admitted only after the citizens brought up the subject, to miscommunication and errors which had occurred prior to McDougald Company receiving permission to putting its trucks and fence up in that area. Nor did the paper mentiodthat the citizens had asked why the issue went before the planning board when it was only a question of enforcing an ordinance. The citizens had wondered whether theyi had been given a runaround. The newspaper for the town seems to be the newspaper fotf the status quo no matter what wrongs are committed. The citizens dare being the real heros in this case and this was not better shown than through the television coverage, as the citizens repeatedly asked the council members and mayor for some advice in solving their problem. The council members and mayor were clearly at a loss. . C-- 3-- - Sincerely, Linda Lee Moab Editors Note: Due to time and space limitations, it is virtually impossible for a newspaper to reproduce every statement made in a meeting, especially one which continued for six hours, as last weeks council meeting did. Of necessity, the main points raised on an issue must be summarized, otherwise the paper could run only one or two major stories per week. To imply that The Times would participate in a whitewash is absurd. The paper has completely and accurately covered jfeapy controversial issues. It is not the function of a news story to take sides, or make mountains out of molehills. Dear Sam, We eat our lunch at the City Park almost every day, and lately with the nice weather weve been using the picnic tables and sitting on the grass more often, and so have alot of other rwr - cleaning up and opening the restrooms? We certainly hope the proposed budget cuts dont affect the upkeep of the park. It has looked the best ever these last few seasons and a change now could only mean a change for the worse. We think its a shame for the tourists who are beginning to arrive in town, to see our city park looking so shabby. 7 collective debt total is 81.4 trillion. Yearly interest on the debt will soon cost about the same as the yearly deficit amounts too. Two years ago those generous (with YOUR money) folks who do superior thinking up in D.C. cried loudly about the terrible budget cuts they were being asked to vote for. Now, all of a sudden, EVEN THEY have begun to talk about getting the deficit down. They have made the astute deduction that two things have to be done; (1) cut expenditures and (2) RAISE TAXES. You are now being bombarded by all media, government, economists, etc., with this fact. What do you think we are realty going to get out of this? Lower deficit? Lower spending? Fewer blasts off into space? Less money thrown around over the globe? I think what we will get is MORE TAXES and MORE DEFICIT. Period. Looking further into the picture, paying out money to people who sent it up there in the first place is just NOT their idea of the way to dispose of large hunks of money. and a You cant be both a So Social Insecurity may realty be a prospect down the road. people. This probably accounts for the increased trash around. So since spring is here and summer is on the way, isnt it about time to start ' Thank you, Kevin and Barb McGann Dear Sam and Moab Citizens, These words express the before, during, and after the building of a repository near Canyonland National Park, if it is chosen as a site, as many of us forsee the activity. Many problems evolve around the results. This is my word picture. Entering into Canyonlands National Park A picture of springs quiet haunts the view As it blends into the beauties of stone art That none but eons of time could unfold. The delicate hues and textures of rocklayers, Layer upon layer as only time can build And form into shapesA miraculous scene Blending into the distant sky., Then comes the recognition This era of peace may be over, As trucks and equipments noises Break into the golden silence that was. The noise, the pollution, the dust, Preparation for testing, The unknown process-- - Leading to the unknown. Measuring into the future mysterious unknown. So how does one grasp For these wonders that Time alone has created? How does one communThese icate with this world, creations of nature? When man seeks to hide his past deeds Devised in this generation And dares compare his creations And the existence of his making In such a side by sidse habitat Natures and mans. editor, but I certainty am now. Tuesday night I understood Mayor Stocks to propose contracting out the City Park groundskeeper jobs,: and I am appalled. For the past two years, myself and many friends and visitors to Moab have seen how . clean and beautiful the City Parka, have been. I have seen the two. women hired for this job at work. both early and late, and even on weekends. Their dedication and pride in making our parks beautiful'' has been a valuable asset to Moab and has made me feel very proud to' live here. For these reasons I cannot believe that these persons have not " been rehired. ! The unfortunate recent economic blows to this community have certainly warranted Mayor Stocks: concern over saving money. However the tourist season is very nearly upon us; a Marathon race scheduled to occur in two weeks, the over Easter weekend, and the , City Park is the place where these V visitors to our community congre-- , gate in mass. Surely, now that we so desperately need the dollars that.,, tourism brings to this community,.'' Mayor Stocks could allow these ladies to begin their spring regime ' and once again make our parks. ' beautiful and attractive to our out of town visitors, and to the residents of Moab. Here's hoping that I soon will see them at work again. Barbara Warner ' , Jeep-.-Safa- -, tax-pay- er tax-eate- r. that have shown already Surveys younger people doubt they will ever collect Social Security even though they and their employers (who have to raise prices to cover it) pay amounts into it. Two measures really havent helped, and some experts say that by 1990, Social Security will ever-increasi- late-da- band-ai- d y Dear Sam, Now that a local T.V. repairman has accused us of writing a downgrading letter about Moab be broke. Why do you suppose those who have it are getting the privilege of putting more and more into IRA savings? Try this on for size (I read businesses and their practices, we will have to go on record and agree with that person living in Grand View As he has refused to replace or repair the needed parts on our T.V., (for the 3rd time), we can get back in his good graces by apologizing (for an article we didnt write), and paying $18, plus $9 for a house call about this prognostication several years ago): You are entitled to $800 per month Social Security, BUT your IRA fund stands at a total of $200,000 - therefore, you will get $200 Social Security, and $1600 IRA distributions monthly. This wont buy half what it now does, and besides - income tax on the IRA will Sincerely, Frances Rowe plus costs of parts.. bitany wonder a good number of residents go out of Moab to buy necessary items except food. Somehow Sam that just doesnt seem right. Earl and Winifred McKinney Security received. A couple of years ago President H.B. Jack Bickers Reagan was said to be cutting funds Moab, Utah for this and that. It ended up we Dear Sam, couldnt really see where the cuts It is very rare that I find myself so were - except for persons who moved as to write a letter to the seemed to be most in need of what had been they getting. Subsidies for not growing stuff seemed to proliferate. Arms production and rambling off into other '1 nations business and use of those armaments seemed to proliferate. Other countries seemed to need our money more than we did. .. The main thing that proliferated $ was deficit spending - no doubt about it. When they talk of After the city s marathon Dollar deficits, they are last wek (deluding a only talking about THIS year. They OUr pre"eftmg meting), the dont dwell on the fact that the county commission meeting Mon- c bearug Tuesday, the oiivaP!L f- - by Adrien Taylor The capitol dome. . . Yupl The congressman got even with us. During his first year of office, we Moabites had conspired to practically drown him in the Colorado River, and to freeze him during the depths of winter on the La Sal Mountains, but he has gotten even, at least with the two of us. In all innocence he had extended an invitation for a personal tour of the capital building, if at any time we might find ourselves in Washington, D.C. Since we did last week, for the annual National Newspaper Association governmental affairs conference, we called to see if the offered tour could be arranged. It could. Malice aforethought, surely. All spiffied up for a later engagement, I remarked to Sam that I felt a little like Aunt Helen M. Knight in my fancy dress and granny shoes, which I felt Id better were if we were going to be hiking around the capital building. It was a good think I wore them anyway. We had been instructed to meet Congressman Nielson in SB16 (Senate Basement room 16, as opposed to House Basement there is an invisible line dividing the building between house and senate, and one can tend to wonder if employees on either side speak to me another, since the senate folks who issued our security passes had to look up our congressman). SBi6 turned out to be the capitol architects office, and in it was a young engineer who would accompany us on the tour. Cong. Nielson appeared shortly, and we were on our vray, through a series of low, locked doors and to a minute elevator, which we were told was installed in an air shaft at the time elevators were invented. We were given some history on the capitols dome: after the .two Wednesday, 8f.810 meeting Satimlay and a We tbat even haVe bee 8eized by kP ere,. The of terf8tf mU8t S W0Uld pla? 0n m8JOr d Elecbon Day oid total Jour8e- - , des citizens, officudB Land ! Stives would to take shifts, would open up more positions ".nd 80e M would make J8-more interesting, and would bring a whole , . - Times-lndepende- nt ) (usps Mattrat the Post Office at 9lass Jcnd 6309-2000- E A H Moab, under the Act of March 3, 1897 Second Class Postage Paid at Moab, Utah 84532 Official City and County Newspaper Published Each Thursday at 3&East Center Street Moab, Grand County, Utah 84532 POSTMASTER: Send Change of Address to: The Times- Independent, P.O.Box 129, Moab, Utah 84532 ' Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor Publishers and Editors seemed to anti-terroris- m JV !? Sorry, Ive got to go to The Meeting. Or if you were late to an appointment, I got tied up at The Meeting -H- thing8 hJ ?f a ready excuse anytime you didnt want to do something - Its really quite a way across.Can you hear me? he asked, speaking in a conversational tone. Perfectly, I said. It seems the curve of the dome flows sound over the top and down the other side. In fact, the sound of the voices from the other come from somewhere behind, or around me. The fresca, up close is really lovely, depicting events and people of the nations history. Im sorry I did not have faster film in my camera, but hope the accompanying photos will give our readers some idea of this unique experience; the dome of the nations capitol. While in Washington we visited the White House, congressional office buildings, the Israeli Embassy, several of the Smithsonian museums, including the Air and Space Museum. We found security to be very tight, and measures eyerywhere. I found the massive federal presence to be oppressive, and W provide did. side " dI80ethm with appropriate capital letters. Instead of this hodgepodge of city and county gatherigsVwith atten- dent schedule shuffling, just run one massive meeting 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Such an arrangement would Looking up from the floor of the capitals rotunda in Washington, D.C., one sees the above view' stories overhead. The florets in the circular design are all cast iron, we were told, which makes the structure extremely heavy. One can pick out a bit of the railing around the walkway in the dome. . fund-raisin- How about a permanent meeting wings of the building were added, the original dome was just too small, proportionately, for the building, so the new dome was built over the old. Getting off the elevator, we were shown the vestiges of the old dome, within the new. From there we took to a series of iron staircases, narrow, steep, and some of them spiral. The congressman and engineer set a stiff pace. Do you do this every day for I inquired, exercise Howard? What goes up must come adding, down. as I puffed. Our distination was the dome of the capitol rotunda, and the experience and view were both worth the climb. There is a walkway around up there, and the people on the floor many stories below looked tiny. One of you walk around to the other side, said Howard, so I . Meeting would provide a quick cure, anytime of the day or night. It would also provide a great opportunity for g activities - just take who on sits through the pledges most consecutive hours, days, or weeks in a row. The winner would b entitled to a choice of a new car, a vacation in Hawaii, or three weeks of intensive psychotherapy. C . , by Bill Davis fson 8pirat,on: . Rope six-ho- ur wnmA . Sub-divisio- 200-Billi- Many Trails . . - Another Grand View n Resident 0, ', Enough ... : : Sub-divisio- n. take about double the Social Dear Sam, ' William P. Davis Hazel Brarilev v i Dorothy AndereonV.V.V.V.V.V.V.f.S Ron Drake steep steps above, standing at the railing Just below the dome, the view is thus, and people may talk to any across the way in conversational tones. No one below can hear it. In good weather, one might proceed from the dome up to the very cupola of the building outside, it was gusty and drippy the day we were there, so we were prevented that treat. make an unfounded assumption that history that a trip to Washington, D.C. affords, is refreshing, exciting, the state and local governments, and exhilarating. And the tour of the capitol dome was especially so. Thanks, Howard. - 3 tatt0-3niiepeni)- I V Rni I Name I r Address. Stfessittnilfch-- 8" ; News Editor the Publishers clreui rCUiation Mana0er Foreman, Sales Subscribe Now to Many especially of Virginia and Maryland! must feel the same. But, on the other hand, the step back into : : : State. v i .Zip. Cm&srt ,12V i I- -. |