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Show A2-T- he Thursday, December 29, 1994 Times-lndepende- Opinions and thoughts Community Comments from our readers A Letter of Thanks By Sam Taylor Grand Countys Congressman, Bill Orton, has unveiled d Wilderness Bill, and after local officials and his others have had a chance to review it and make comments, he intends to introduce it for consideration in this session of long-studie- Congress. Ortons bill will undoubtedly please very few. Environmentalists wont like it because he proposes only 1.2 million acres of Utah public land as pure wilderness. of the acreage they have been That is less than one-thir- d n of Wayne Owens bill promoting as backers will have a tough but around still which is Congress kicking time even getting a hearing before Jim Hansens Public Lands and National Parks subcommittee, which he now chairs. Other members of Utahs delegation probably wont like it either, because of Ortons inclusion of a new designation. National Conservation Areas (NCAs), on an additional 1.8 million acres of land (still well under environmentalists wish list total). Besides, some other members of the Utah delegation have their own pet bills ready for introduction. Local officials probably wont like it either. Many axe still holding out for a option, which is as dead acre million as the 5.7 proposal espoused by environmentalists. Orton didnt simply throw darts at a map to come up Rep. with his proposed land designations. He actually spent a good deal of time in southern Utah, which is most impacted, looking at the lands in question and talking to local people about the issue. In addition, though he entered Congress as a practicing tax attorney, Orton holds a college degree in archaeology and anthropology a very important academic background for one interested in protecting Utahs cultural heritage. His new NCA designation is intriguing. It is designed to conserve nationally significant natural and cultural resources while allowing compatible uses to continue. Thats a tough goal to shoot for, but one which is achievable. And the areas he would place in that category make a lot of sense: The Escalante River Canyon area has been virtually to everything but aesthetic enjoyment for years. Much of it is already in untouchable Wilderness Study Areas. Many of the grazing permits there have already been acquired by the federal government. There is little question that the Escalante ought to be preserved and protected. Cedar Mesa, in San Juan County might well make good dry-farland as some have proposed, but it contains untold archaeological treasures that cry for protection. One can hardly hike a mile there without finding vivid signs of prehistoric residents of the area. The San Rafael area in central Emery County would be a national park in any other state. The reason for its recent popularity probably stems from the fact that before the construction of Interstate 70, most of the world didnt know it Mr. almost-forgotte- off-limi- ts m existed. Rep. Orton is Utahs lone Democrat in this new Congress. The veteran in the delegation is Rep. Jim Hansen, who is now chairing a major subcommittee with life and death power over public lands issues. Sen. Bob Bennett is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Orrin Hatch is phairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. All have more : than a fleeting knowledge of Utahs public lands issues and hold strong opinions on the matter. ' Ortons bill, though, demands a careful look. In pleasing none of the vested interests in the debate, theres a good chance it might be the best compromise for all the people in the long . . run. Utahs Republican solons might be well advised to letting their Democrat colleague take the lead on this one. A united Utah delegation might really pull it off, finally, 'ending what has become an endless debate which has provided "employment for many and ulcers for many others. ; consider The Times-lndepende- nt (UPS Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at Moab, Utah under the act of March 3, 1 897. Second class postage paid at Moab, Utah 84532. 6309-200- 0) Official City and County Newspaper Published Each Thursday at 35 East Center Street, Moab Grand County, Utah 84532. Postmaster: Send change of address to: The P.O. Box 129, Moab, Utah 84532 1 5 or FAX (801) (801) Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor Publishers and Editors Backshop The nt $16.50 Green River, Grand & San Juan $24 per year outside area issues 1 P.O. Bqx 129, Moab UT 84532 their time and devotion in arranging for the funeral itself, plus those who spoke and sang. It was the most comforting funeral we have ever attended. The lovely dinner was deeply appreciated, as were all the cards, visits, phone calls, food, monetary donations and all the prayers offered in our behalf. We thank you all again for your love, and we pray that we will be there for you, as you were for us in our time of need. May this same love continue to bless us all in the days to come. The Bill Adair Family The Jack Stewart Family The Ed Welling Family I had a dream Dear Editor, I work for UDOT and inspected some pipe for a road improvement widening job at Aneth. As I drove through the Indian Reservation, I was appalled at the low housing conditions of the American Natives. I had a dream this morning and I would like my dream printed in your paper, even though I live in Salt Lake City. I dreamed that big White Chief Leavitt and the chiefs of the Navajo and Ute tribes met together and loaned $7 million from the federal, state and oil companies to redevelop their own land by doing a seven year program. 1. No liquor or cigarettes ed 6. New churches build and a Boy Scout program established where American Address. Phone. enclose $16.50 or $24 for one year or $32 and $47 for two years Check cemetery personnel. We give special thanks to the LDS leaders, Disch Funeral Home and San Juan Mortuary for a given to the offender, who would pay back the money from a job within 7 years. No paper work involved, forgive and forget the robbery. Name. Q Cash coverage, the police, and 5. All other thieves, place in foot bracelet or detector box Subscribe Now! nt, We the appreciate scholarship fund that has been set up and all those who donate to it, the newspaper and TV days. in your mail once a week local news TV guide special features Mots of ads Times-lndepende- service and revival attempts. We also appreciate the High School students and student body leaders for honoring our children and for their desire to support their grieving friends. 4. No jails. A gallows set up and murderers executed in 30 $5 discount for persons 62 and older upon request The doctors, and the hospital personnel for their valiant pre-stress- your home town in Hwail to: sympathy that were given upon the deaths of our children. The way everyone has freely given of their love and support has truly warmed our hearts and helped us to bear the grief that we have had to bear. We want to thank the rescue team, the ambulance crews, the built like giant warehouses concrete with panel dividers placed on floors and teachers from professional private companies, welders, farmers, carpenters, electricians, brought in from Salt Lake City to teach the American Natives for two years or until they could teach themselves. Read All About for 52 and soil brought in dump trucks so a garden spot could be planted behind each home. 3. New community colleges -l news-fille- d and service sites, lots of pine trees planted around each home, good top Circulation TMaps Sales, Production Times-lndepende- love 2. Log houses with big windows facing east and west built by each family on 25 or 50 acre 259-774- Dorothy Anderson Tom & Kris Taylor Ron Drake Paul Barks, Jed Taylor of sold within the American Native land. Times-lndepende- 259-752- Our families feel so blessed and thankful for the expressions .J. Natives could meet twice a week. 7. Build a big reservoir or lake on the south end of the La Sal Mountains. Have a dam built for electric power, have elk, buffalo and antelope and deer for half of the mountains for the American natives to hunt and fish twice a year from big campgrounds for family outings. After 7 years, let the white Many . . . Trails man look up to their American Natives, shopping malls in Blanding and their beautiful homes and enjoy the grand happy pow-wo- in w By Adrien Taylor The year 1994 has seen a lot of activity here in the Grandest county anywhere, and Sams recap beginning on page A-- 1 provides a quick tour through the weeks. To end the year on a very positive note, I would like to focus on what is now happening over at the County Courthouse grounds. It isclear that just because the remodelingbuilding project there overran the monies available is not a valid reason to leave the grounds bare. Nor, I think, is it absolutely necessary to go to the grant trough to find landscaping funds: A number of people have donated the the special Grand County Courthouse Landscape Fund account at First Western National Bank, and many more have indicated that they wish to participate in a memorial rose garden, or by other memorial projects on the grounds. each September month. Derhak Vic Salt Lake City Support dramatics Dear Adrien and Sam, First, wed like to thank you for all the support you've shown the various local theatre groups in the past. The articles about upcoming productions, auditions, rehearsals and sometimes even reviews, that you allow us to write, submit and print are one of the opportunities we have for drumming up community support New sidewalks are currently being finished around the courthouse grounds, both interior and exterior, and final plans for plantings around them will be made in these dreary winter months. A special Christmas present comes to all of us from JaVeme Turf in the way of sod for the grounds when the time is right this coming spring. So while the Moab Information Center may continue to be a desert in our oasis, it looks like the courthouse grounds may turn itself back into more cool green in our oasis. Thanks go to many who have been involved to date, and to the many more who will undoubtedly become involved as we finish this project as a community a few months hence. Congratulations to all! for these events. Due to an inadvertent typo in last week's article about Moab Community Theatre coming to the assistance of the GCHS Drama Club, some readers may have gotten the impression that the students are in good financial shape. Dan O' Laurie exhibit features Mayan Shaman paintings known However, nothing could be further from the truth. The cost of mounting a full scale play production is usually about two artist. Internationally scholar, musician, and Shaman, Martin Prechtel is the most im- thousand dollars, not two hundred. So even with the $500.00 grant from M.C.T., the Drama Club is still far short of what they'll need. At a time when most people agree there is a dire need for more productive activities for Grand County teenagers, a group of high school students have taken it upon themselves to try and revive the Drama Club at GCHS. Tragically, because of budget constraints, there seems to be no money available to assist them in their endeavor. M.C.T. has agreed to help these fledgling actors both financially and with technical assistance and training. We have come up with a "Cooperative Program Campaign", whereby any business or or1 individual who buys in from M.C.T., patronage addition to getting two tickets to the M.C.T. production of Sneaky Fitch, will also get their listing in the GCHS Drama Club. We at MCT hope the community will see the value of this program and will get behind us with the checkbooks and cash when we come calling. Thank you, portant link anthropology has to the present day Maya Indians and their ancestors. n His bold paintings are for the colorful, multilayered palette and for Prechtel's treatment of Mayan best-know- vision, people, implemented. I personally believe Carey and those four young people would have survived their accidents, had their vehicles been prevented from leaving the. road way and going into the river. I would also like to see the top of Saltwash Hill (High Point) widened or realigned and barriers or guardrails installed. It could be especially terrifying and deadly to go off the road there. The small stretch of road just below the White Rapids (between mile post 13 and 14) would also be a good candidate for a length of guardrail. Once again, there's a steep, rocky embankment leading into a swift, deep river, should a motorist deviate off the roadway in that area. , My last area of concern is the stretch of road just West of Mayberry's Orchard. This is k cliff where the large the East virtually overhangs bound lane. Some of it is already fractured and looks like it could break away with disastrous results. I'd sure like to see some of the worst areas taken down before they fall on a car Joseph Lekarczyk Make river road safer Dear Sam, In the wake of the tragic accident December 18 on Highway 128, that took the lives of four fine teenagers. I've got some thoughts I'd like to share with your readers. I feel some positive steps need to be taken to help prevent anymore tragedies like this one red-roc- from occurring. There needs to be more vigilance on the part of the UDOT road maintenance crew to keep load of people. realize that Highway 128 is designated a Scenic Byway and perhaps many people would like to leave it the way it is. However, I feel that the improvements would cause a minimum compromise of the environment or aesthetics. I the road properly sanded. Especially in the shady areas that frost up during the winter months. Additionally, those of us who commute on the road daily should be more aware of its conditions and alert UDOT when we feel it's unsafe. ' I also feel it's time that some improvements be made on the highway to make it safer overall. There are four areas in particular, between Highway 191 and the Castle Valley turn-of- f that need improvement. This stretch of 128 receives the most commuter traffic, including a school bus, and thus should receive the most attention. The first and foremost improvement needs to take place in the vicinity of mile post 9, where the four teenagers slid of the road. We might also recall that Carey Zufelt, a loving wife and mother of three, lost her life at the same place in January 1984. The road conditions were virtually the same. Carey was aware of the slick road and was driving slow, yet still lost control of her vehicle and slid off the road and into the river. above-mention- ed We must remember that there's a busload of children that travels that road close to 360 times a year, not to mention those of us from the Castle Valley area that commute on it daily. And of course there are the many tourists, river rafters, etc. that also use the road throughout the year. I believe there has already been too many lives lost on this road unnecessarily. But if we can leam from this and strive to make the road safer for those who travel it, perhaps those lost lives will not have been in vain. I encourage anyone who is concerned about safety on Highway 128 to contact the UDOT Road Commission, Sate Engineer, or our local state Representative. Sincerely, Randy Bowden Castleton, Utah t iTfm iTnri1Tri If in "Ttmiiiiii ITU, Alim and I feel that the roadway needs to be widened in that area, and guardrails or concrete barriers be and the Moab Community Theatre l) life, mythology. Prechtel's paintings will be shown throughout January on the first floor, in the traveling exhibit section of the Dan ad-spa- ce IHmurr r t $ i Jr f Tfrn ftrwifm jCm r O'Laurie Museum. Raised on the Santo Domingo in central New Reservation Mexico, Prechtel first began to paint on boards with clay and earth pigments. By the age of seventeen, he had been featured in group exhibitions along with R.C. Gorman, T.C. Cannon, and Fritz Scholder. In the late 1960's, Prechtel was compelled to travel south, eventually to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, where his arrival had been anticipated and he began his new life as Shaman to the Tzutujil Mayan people. As a healer. Shaman, artist, and village leader, Prechtel became known throughout Central America, Europe, and the Middle East. He has lectured about Mayan at culture Harvard, the Colorado School of Medicine, the Denver Natural History Museum, the Maxwell Museum, and many other forums. Prechtel's paintings can be l, found in embassies, and private collections around the world. Prechtel has also been featured in DC, Santa Fe, Taos, Switzerland, and many other international locations. The paintings shown at the Dan O'Laurie Museum during January are part of one of the world's largest collections of Prechtel's paintings. museum-institutiona- Radon: second leading cause cancer ofRadon lung is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. Each year in the United States exposure to indoor radon gas causes thou- sands of preventable cancer deaths. lung You cannot see, taste or smell radon, but at elevated levels indoors, it can pose a significant health risk. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can be emitted from surrounding soil into the home. Any soil anywhere can contain radon. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Surgeon General have recommended that all residences (except those above the second floor) be tested far radon. How does radon induce cancer? If inhaled, radon decay products become deeply lodged or trapped in the lungs; here they can radiate and penetrate the cells of mucous membranes, bronchi and other pulmonary tissues. The ionizing radiation energy effecting the bronchial epithelial cells is believed to initiate the process of carcinogenesis. Radon is easy to detect and reduce in a home. You can purchase a radon test kit from the Utah Safety Council at a special price of $7.00, by calling (801) 262-540- 0. i IHmA'Iii Aim |