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Show (The Page A7 (Ttmfg-3lncPcllc- Thursday, July 17, 2003, nt Castle Valley Comments Letters to the Editor Two letters share a common thread . . . Dear Sam and Adrien, Two seeming dissimilar letters to the tor in the July 10th edition of the share a common thread. Yet we have edi- Times-Inde-pende- Richard Schwartzs brave, accurate and heartbreakingly honest letter regarding the state of politics points out the problems inherent when the best interests of all are ignored, so that the best interests of a few can be served. What we eventually end up with are several large corporations exerting their control upon us all. This kills off diversity, the creative process, and ultimately, our health. The effects of this type of thinking can be seen in clear microcosm right here in our little town. Sadly, this attitude runs rampant among humankind and can be seen, in varying degrees, all around the world. Mr. by Ron Drake Frandsens letter regarding the state of the forests is deeply disturbing for a couple of reasons. He promotes the best interests of humans, not nature, which is exactly the opposite of what should be. Although we may have forgotten, we are linked together. Our good health relies on the good health of the planet. spent decade upon decade causing destruction to the very things we need in order to live. We poison our air, our water, the oceans. We cut down the trees that, among a myriad of other functions, keep our water cycles healthy. And then, when we start to reap what we have sown, in the shape of disasters, we pile more destructive behaviors on top of what we have already done I freely admit that I do not know the best answer to what will help our damaged ecosystems. But when a letter promoting logging and casting aspersions on extreme environmentalists appears in the paper, I get suspicious and want to learn more. As far as I can see, these extremists just want what is ultimately good for everybody man included. I have a hard time faulting anyone for holding those views. During hundreds of hours of stream, trail, road and highway recyclingcleanups, I have seen that once you remove the detritus of man, natural areas shine through. We just need to permit that to happen. -- Sara Thanks for the home town news on the internet Sincerely, Melnicoff . . . Dear Times Staff: My thanks to you are long overdue. As a resident of Moab, and having been out of the country for the past year, I have developed a unique thirst for home news. The editorials and articles have been instrumental in exemplifying Americana into cultures that previously had only television and movies to judge us by. Thanks again for this service. You and your the reporting efforts and style are appreciated more 23-ye- ar has Times-Independe- provided quencher. Each week, via the Internet, I am able to catch up a little on local news, and always feel a smile starting when seeing in print a familiar name or location. Your than you know. Cost analysis for city pool cover Letter to the Editor: At a combined cost of $1,000,000 over 10 years for a cover on the city pool; are you saying that a 20 ft. walk from a heated room to 90 degree water in brisk air is justification to Reading The Times on the -- Mike . Wynn Moab . . There are large homes here; all hidden behind eight to ten foot high block walls. On top of the walls are jagged pieces of metal or shards of glass embedded in the concrete, some have razor wire curling around the whole perimeter. The British built most of these type compounds over thirty years ago before Nigeria became a republic. Their new little home is inside a similar setting, a compound leased by Marlum Nigeria, Ltd., the general contractor for the temple complex. What we couldn't realize beforehand would be the sense of confinement behind the walls Continue upgrading the accounting on the States program. 5. Create an Audit Corhmittee - comprised of district administration, a professional auditor and a member of the public at large to periodically review the Districts current financial status. 6. Provide for a review of internal control system by an outside auditing firm to determine that all parts of the system and its process are meeting the districts financial accountability to the public and school district as a 4. staffs skills whole. Finally, the members of the Grand County School Board and the Superintendent regret the concern that the late audit caused members of the public and school staff. All parties of the Board and District Administration apologize and commit themselves to regaining the staff and publics confidence. Sincerely, -- Eric York, Grand County School Board President -- David Olsen, Grand County School Board Vice President -- Ron Ferguson, Superintendent of Schools . . . spend that amount of money? Do you know what INVIGORATE means? How about WAKE UP? Give. ..Me. ..A.. .Break!!? --Jerry Jaran Moab lean-to- s. On Two Wheels A Perhaps you could print a picture and give us some history on it including progress, however I am not sure I like the idea of a by pass of Moab. I think I would prefer a separate route for trucks. My last visit was in May of this year and yes, I did drink from the Spring. I wanted to guarantee my return! My father used to say, as we drove down the canyon, "Moab is the most beautiful valley in the world". Of course his Vs were W's and his W's were V's; never the less I share his sentiment. Yours most sincerely, -- Dora L. Rynio nt Times-Independe- nt The Grand Junction architect hired by the town to design the new community building is now in the process of redesigning the structure. Councilperson Karen Nelson, who has been overseeing the project, said the new version will be a stripped-dowplan to be sure the bids will come under the money available. The last bids that were submitted for the structure came back w ay over the architects estimate and there seemed to be little interest among contractors as only six bids were received and only one lon cally. Karen said if the bids come in lower than the available funds, they will then add items to the building as the money permits. She thinks the project will go out to bid in the next several weeks and is hoping to break ground before the end of September. It was announced several weeks ago that the $640,000 needed to purchase the 221 acres of the Castle Rock public access land was raised and Utah Open Lands completed the purchase from the LTtah State Trust Lands Administration (SITLA). Local members of the Castle Rock Collaboration, including Dave Erley and Laura Kamala played a major roll in the acquisition. In addition, SITLA, at their board meeting in late June, approved the sale of 530 acres of their land to the Division of Wildlife Recourses. The contract was signed and was official three weeks ago, the same week that the purchase of the Castle Rock land was negotiated and an- nounced. The Legislature appropriated $658,000 to the DWR for the purchase as a critical habitat preservation easement that will be held by the DWR. Utah Open Lands and the Castle Rock Collaboration agreed to raise a matching portion of the purchase price of $954,000 and are currently just over $40,000 short of completing the sale. The Grand Canyon Trust contributed $50,000 and the Eccles Foundation added another $200,000. Laura Kamala who has been working on this project for the past two years said she was totally thrilled by the outcome and added the purchase helped the schools and the community and is a good deal all around. Basically, the land is located adjacent to Round Mountain area and is bordered by BLM land. The land also borders the upper 80s on three sides. pedaling periodical of bicycle-relate- d news and views by Ron Georg Take my job. . .please When I became Trail Coordinator for Trail Mix, I felt incredibly lucky. To get paid as a bicycle agitator. .1 mean, advocate. .meant I was being invited inside the glass house, even after years of standing outside throwing stones. Friends finally understood why googling me results in hundreds of impassioned emails to newsgroups on things like trail advocacy and bicycle commuting. Even my resume started to make sense who better than a former reporter turned bicycle mechanic, after a stint as a stone mason, to promote and work on our rocky trails? Months later, when I learned that Im going to be a father, at my grandfatherly age, it seemed hard to believe that trail work had seemed like such a high calling. As luck goes, getting that job was a compared to the day when the test wand turned blue. Ashley Korenblat pops in and out of Trail Mix as one of the groups leading boosters. Among her many rallying refrains is that Moab needs people who wake up thinking about trails. And that doesnt mean just which trail theyll ride which day. Anyone who uses our trail system, from the Millcreek to the desert to the La Sals, knows Parkway that we have trail issues. Im not waking up thinking about those issues like I used to, and, starting sometime around August 27, I wont be thinking about much but whether there are enough diapers in the house. So Im focusing my energy and emotion on my good fortune, which means someone else will have to wake up thinking about trails. If you think you might be that someone, call Trail Mix President Kim Schappert, 2213, to learn how to apply for this part-tim- e position. Feel free to contact me if youd like to know more about this position. Help out or shut up One of the main duties of the Trail Coordinator is arranging volunteer trail days. So Ive been polishing my diplomacy for the past year, encouraging rather than badgering people to help maintain and improve our trail system. Now that someone else will have to bring the snacks and make sure everyone is happy, let me offer the other side of my pitch. Actually, I just did, in the heading of this section. Over the past year Ive been the de facto . . non-motoriz- . . . of our home. Meant to provide security, they also inhibit your ability to move about freely i The District School Board and Administration have identified six steps that will be initiated in order to guard against any future late audits. The Business Administrator will: 1. Hold a monthly review of financial issues and current status with the Superintendent and Board President. 2. Report on the current financial status at the monthly regular board meeting. 3. Provide an opportunity to report or receive questions at the quarterly open forum meeting. does not necessarily endorse the opinions published in letters to the editor T--l welcomes opinions from its readers editorials. The and guest concerning any subject pertinent to to must should include the and be the writers name, address and Utah. Letters Southeastern point not to be used Letters may replace advertisements, or to list and thank sponsors telephone number. to event. editor will be not be accepted from any candidate Letters the to or participants a particular from or office for who has filed anyone writing in support of a filed candidate. Anything political or libelous nature, containing defamatory statements will not be considered for pubunsigned, of a All must be typed or legibly written, and be 400 words or less. Letters are subject to letters lication. Mail to Letter io the Editor," P.O. Box 129, Moab, Utah, 84532. Deadline is Monday, 5 p.m. editing. to editormoabtimes.com. The via sent Letters may also be may not four more who write once than weeks. from every frequently persons Changes to accept letters in will be most extreme submission the circumstances. letters to the editor after accepted only Times-Independe- i three-side- d Letters to the editor policy The i. District $6,000 per year in software cost. Internet Dear Adrien, We have never met, but I have known Sam since his birth. I too was born in Moab. I wanted to thank you for an enjoyable afternoon reading The Times on the internet. I found it accidently while surfing the net for my family name. It seems that The Times had printed a picture of the miners of Charlie Steen's uranium mine and my brother Robert 'Bob' Rynio was one of those miners; ergo it would seem that your Web Page is custom made for my pleasure. I find Sam's editorials as interesting as was his father's in years past. I will keep posted on the 'Colorado Bridge' project. I remember the old narrow bridge prior to the present one. two-da- y two-hou- Coming home soon, Initiating steps to guard against future late audits Dear Grand County School Patrons, This past month has been a challenging time for the Grand School Board and District Administration. The issues that have risen from the late audit have caused these parties to stop and review current procedures and restructure the process so that a similar situation will be avoided in the future. The Board and District Administration met in a previously scheduled work meeting following its June Board meeting, and one of the items addressed was the issue of financial accountability and ways to avoid any recurrence of such an event. As part of this discussion, Superintendent Ron Ferguson indicated that although this was not an act of being intentionally negligent, the events that happened led to the same end. Because of his overall supervisory role, he took the ultimate responsibility and therefore felt that it was fair that he reimburse the School District for any interest funding that was lost because of the Districts inability to access these funds. Since that meeting, the audit has been completed. Issues that caused the delay, including the incompatibility of the State and District software, and the problems that resulted from that incompatibility, have been found and corrected. The audit has been filed with the State auditor and the Utah State Office of Educations Finance Director. The District will receive those withheld funds in the next regular fund transfer from the State. The District also has a commitment of technological support from the Utah State Office of Education, including a monthly visit to review the financial software package in order to determine that the system is operating correctly. This support is important because the original decision to use the States program was made in order to save the School Through the modern convenience of have been able to keep up with the adventures of Dennis and Phyllis Godwin who have been assigned to construct the Aba, Nigeria LI)S Temple in Western Africa. Their first stop alter departing Atlanta was Paris where they ' i'ited many of the popular tourist sites during their layover. They toured the Lou-'ra museum the size of a small town," Pin lhs said, and saw Leonardo di Vinci's famous Mona Lisa. They took the metro to visit Notre Dame, took a boat cruise up the Seine and saw the Eiffel Tower and many of the other pri at landmarks of the area. Now comes the hard part, said Phyllis. "I'o a do you find the right words to adequately m s(.nbe in Nigeria comparison? Truthfully, tl re's absolutely no comparison. Looking back, u m iy have been a mistake for us to visit Paris t.r-t Transitioning from such an enjoyable of witnessing great marvels of culture a, civilization, to a world so totally different. Ve .sent from beauty and grandeur to the likes ot something I have never seen firsthand in my lit' at least not to this degree." Phyllis went on to describe the initial assault upon all your senses with the heat and humidity, being a white stranger and the constant stares, the deafening noise level and the extreme poverty. Their first stop in Nigeria was Lagos and even the Lagos Hilton (probably not n luted to the American hotel chain) was seedy looking by American standards. She was thankful they packed their own set of sheets. After landing in Port Harcourt the followr drive to Aba. ing morning, it was a Mile after mile along our route, we saw poorly built structures in need of repair, others uncompleted and abandoned. Most dwelling or businesses are not much better than shacks or hard-to-defin- e liaison between trail users mountain bikers, obviously) and land (mostly Thats mostly meant complaint demanagers. partment, especially to people who havent lifted a finger to help. To borrow another of Ashleys refrains, this one more cynical (and non-motoriz- t I probably lifted from Tip ONeill or some other populist wag), government is run by people who show up. In other words, if you want attention focused on a particular trail, show up at the meetings. If you want a trail to look a certain way on the ground, show up for trail days with a shovel. This week, youll get you chance for some activism as the Forest Service will be working on the Burro Pass trail from July 16 to 23. Their truck will be parked on Geyser side of the pass, and the work will be on the other side. According to Forest Service trail specialist Paul Buck, volunteers can grab a tool from the back of the truck to join the trail work; if there are no tools in the truck, theyre all on the trail. Satans Hand-puppDuring my entire tenure as Trail Coordinator, I refrained from pointing out that the Utah Department of Transportation is guided by dark forces. After all, UDOT planners have added a bike path to their planned expansion of Highway 191 past Arches, so we wouldnt want to question their motives and make them start speaking in tongues while their eyes glow red. However, that bike path isnt a gift from UDOT its part of their job. Highway plans are supposed to consider transportation alternatives to address traffic flow problems. For instance, if you encourage people to bike to Arches from Moab, you would reduce the peak flows that created the need for highway expansion in the first place. A dollar spent on alternative transportation is more effective than a dollar spent on highway construction in alleviating traffic problems. I cant cite a reference for that statistic because I stole it from a UDOT official. There are some progressive thinkers within the agency, and they are speaking up. That particular bit of wisdom came from a UDOT board meeting. However, at a meeting with city and county officials last month, UDOT planners once again s revealed the true strings. We heard from one official that the increasing truck traffic through Moab is just the free market at work. Transportation, like any part of the free market, is just trying to gain a competitive edge. If transporters can drop a few gas tax dollars in Utah on the way, UDOT officials keep their jobs. That means you are not the driving force behind UDOTs decisions, unless youre driving enough to finance hundreds of millions of dollars worth of highway projects. More likely, Continued on page 8 site-specif- puppet-master- |