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Show tElie Page A7 Many '(IItmgg-3ngPeng- Thursday, April 29, 2004 nt Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas Trails by Ollie Harris by Adrien F. Taylor ACCURATE MEMORIES The Journalists Creed precepts are timeless. In view of sentiments pressed recently by several local public officials about news coverage, it seems appropriate to say some things about the responsibility of the press in todays society. The primary responsibility of the journalist is to report, as fairly and as fully as possible, the actions of the government. History teaches us, and our own experiences confirm, that government does not particularly like to be reported on, which makes it all the more important that the public has a watchdog looking out for its good. This is not to say that elected officials and others in positions of power set out to hide things from the public. Quite the opposite in most cases. But elected officials and others in positions of power are also human, so they want to put the ex- byWalter Williams Dean, School of journalism, University of Missouri. 1908-193- 5 believe in the profession of journalism. believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, and accuracy, fairness, are fundamental to good journalism. I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true. I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible. believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by ones own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading anothers instructions or anothers dividends. believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service. believe that the journalism which succeeds best-an- d best deserves success fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance, and, as far as law and honest wage nd recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance, is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and ceis a journalism of menting humanity, of and for todays world. I I most positive spin on their actions. Those actions don't always have a 100 percent positive spin, and the public deserves to know the ramifications of the actions of government. The notion that an entity as large and diverse as, for example, Grand County, can be fully and fairly explained and interpreted by a designated employee of the county doesnt work because conflict of interest and other factors get in the way. Is that to say that the journalist knows more about the actions of government than the members of that government? No. Obviously not. Journalists are also human, with all the shortcomings of being human, but conflict of interest does not get in their way. There are many other roles that the newspaper plays in the community. Were the town crier for events positive and negative. We like the role of booster better than the role of finger pointer. But both are necessary. Probably the most rewarding part of being a journalist is reporting on the successes of I I I d, people and events. When one person or event succeeds, we all can feel pride, and when the community is proud of itself, it is a better place all around. There is more to say here, but I will leave other thoughts for another time. And, incidentally, have learned that the CDs Utah Open Government Guide and Utah Media Law Handbook are complete if you open them using a PC. Theyre incomplete only if opened using a Mac. So Im giving them out. The above essay was handed out to participants at the recent Utah Press Association convention. The language is somewhat dated, but the by Sam Taylor and space needed by trout and other aquatic organisms. Zealand mudsnails are females and reproduce asexually, which means that only one small snail is required to establish a new colony, says Don Archer, special aquatic projects coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. They are capable of producing several broods of young each year and are very effective at colonizing new waters. In some locations, mudsnails compose more than 95 percent of the biomass. They dominate these areas and because they pass through the digestive system of trout unharmed, they provide little or no food resources to fish, says Archer. They can be moved inadvertently from water to water on anglers boots, boats or other gear. Archer says anglers can avoid carrying mudsnails from water to water by thoroughly cleaning, drying or exposing their gear to freezing temperatures or hot water. Research has shown that the snails are very vulnerable to freezing and high temperatures at low humidity. How many fishermen are going to do that after returning exhausted and sweaty from an enjoyable weekend of fishing? Not many, I suspect, and if the sportsman is fastidious about his or her cleaning chores, what about the next guy who doesnt give a darn. Theres not a lot can do personally about invasive species, except to remain frustrated. can remember, though. can remember when Frank Shafers big tamarisk tree on 1 00 North Street was about the only one in town. can remember when the riverbanks were covered with willows, and not jungles of tamarisk. I can remember when a local civic club planted the new Chinese elms all over town g to provide shade. And remember well when a Utah college and local federal agency introduced Russian olives here to control floodAll New I well-meani- the spread of the species. wish them luck. Weve tried a lot of tactics with little sucourselves down on the cess. Its a futile effort. Last weekend I went out and took a look at my garden spot which had previously been prepared for the first bedding plants. It was carpeted with miniature elm trees. Another trol I m tilling and raking will cure that problem, and it must be cured. Left for a year or two, elm trees can grow to enormous sizes that cant be cured with battle tilling. We are fighting an almost-losin- g elk Our deer and herds against encroachment. are in danger of being decimated by chronic wasting disease, another invasive malady, and no cure from spread is at hand. A few years ago, whirling disease made an entrance into Utah waterways, and is spreading t. The disease here quite rapidly from the kills trout, and has even invaded the east side of the La Sal Mountains from Colorado. There is no easy quick fix. Spread of the disease can only be stemmed by thoroughly cleaning all fishing gear and outer-wea- r by sportsmen. That doesnt kill the critter that causes the disease. It only slows mid-wes- I I I I the spread. Now a new threat to Utah trout fisheries has made an appearance. The New Zealand mudsnail has invaded the Green River below Flaming low-growi- well-intend- Gorge dam from Wyoming and Montana. It is only d ania matter of time until the little mal spreads to other Utah waters. of an inch long, it can deOnly more of than 300,000 mudsnails velop colonies colonies compete for food per square yard.These I quick-growin- shell-covere- ing. three-sixteen- th wont stop the Memories and Roundup of to luck Lots those who try. vasion, though. in- Wcz (UPS) 6309-200- ISSN 0) 1538-183- 8 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. Official City and County Newspaper. Published each Thursday at: 35 East Center Street, Moab, Grand County, Utah 84532 address: editormoabtimes.com Postmaster: Send changes of address to: The 435-259-75- Member tal assistant and office manager. P.O. Box 129, Moab, UT 84532 Times-lndepende- or FAX Wolves may be the V al a woman. After a long pause, Niemeyer says, Well, it works a lot better if you do hit the wolf. Most people on the front lawn of Chico Hot Springs Resort in Montana's Paradise Valley laugh. In this gathering of wildlife biologists, wolf advocates, government staffers and a few ranchers, humor that aims at the West's most controversial wildlife subject bringing back wolves is well received. The audience reserves its greatest laughk statement: ter for Ed Bang's Politics don't interfere with the Fish and Wildlife Service; we're strictly scientists. Although this is a scientific ponference, there is widespread agreement about the primacy of politics when it comes to wolves. Does any other animal generate such visceral response in people? Ranchers in attendance shake their heads and grumble at the data that show only .6 percent of Idaho's cattle losses are due to wolves. They also dispute biologist Joe Fontaine's statement that ungulate herds are not threatened by wolves in Montana. Meanwhile, wolf advocates cringe at the photos from Alberta, Canada, showing wolves hunted and trapped; biologists quibble over methodology. Wolves and wolf management have nothing to do with reality, says Bangs. It's not about the animal; it has to do with people and the strong symbolism that wolves represent. Ethicist Bill Lynn points out that, Wolves are the root and fruit of our moral responsibilities. They are the root because if we can learn to live with large carnivores, we will have gone a long ways to a sustainable existence. And they are the fruit, or the beneficiary, of our taking a serious moral responsibility toward wildlife. With 760 wolves in the Northern Rockies, Ed Bangs tells the group that wolf recovery is a success: Wolves are back and here to stay. But he adds, We've had all the easy wolves were going to have. The wolf population of Idaho, tongue-in-chee- t Wyoming and Montana is not going to exceed 1,000 wolves; the West just isn't that wild anymore. Bangs says he's ready to turn wolf man-- , agement over to the states, which means wolves will be hunted. There's no reason wolf harvest shouldn't be a part of a state management pro- gram, he says. Others disagree. Jim Pissot of Defenders ofWildlife Canada fears that state management might look a lot like wolf conservation in Alberta, where there are no restrictions on trapping, no bag limit, no license required and no limit on hunting from September through June. This has resulted in an 80 percent decline in wolves in southwest Alberta, he says, now, less than 30 animals remain. At the day's end, Kent Weber, director of the captive-wol- f facility, Mission Wolf, invites some of us over to his bus. When you go in, he cautions, kneel down and let the wolf come to you. Look them in the eyes. They'll want to lick your teeth. Suddenly a bolt a fear shoots through me. As we enter the bus and walk into the cage, intense yellow eyes survey us. The wolves approach cautiously and lick our faces. Satisfied with greeting us in the wolf manner, they crawl back into their bunk and close their eyes. With a large group, Weber tells us, the wolves are brought out of the bus and trotted around the circle of people. They ignore everyone for the most part, but will usually pick out one person and focus on them, he says. When I ask about the person they pick out, he says its usually someone who's fighting some illness or under emotional stress. Once (a female wolf called) Rami went right to this guy, Weber recalls. I asked him if he'd ever seen her before. He said five years ago she picked him out, and it totally changed his life. Weber says another time a wolf went up to a woman who was undergoing treatment for breast cancer; the wolf nudged the woman in the chest, gently. Then there's an encounter of a different sort. Weber says,We brought Rami into a meeting, and she went right up to the most adamant wolf-hatand peed on his leg. This all makes me think that wolves know more about us than we do about them. Greg Gordon is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He lives and writes in Gardiner, er Get the scoop from a reliable source Times-lndepende- nt, your community newspaper published weekly since 1896 ) stay-at-ho- education of us later, a rubber bullet bounces off a cardboard target. Niemeyer, Idaho's coordinator for wolf means of recovery, is demonstrating stopping wolves from preying on livestock. His audience is 200 Westerners at a meeting of the North American Interagency Wolf Conference. Does it work if you don't hit the wolf? asks The UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Adrien F. Taylor, Editor Sadie Warner, Assistant Editor questions about the education or behavior of one of our grandkids. I am tempted to pontificate about this theory or that, but they would do better to go talk to their mother. She would have better advice for them. I am kept humble (barely) by the fact that we took only one class together in college. I received an A but she got an A. I know a young doctor who has a lovely wife. I was greatly impressed when I heard her speak one day and said to myself, Now I know who has the brains in that family. Her husband, the good doctor, shouldnt feel too badly because of my conclusion. It takes nothing away from him. He is undeniably smart. He had to be to get to where he is in the professional world. At least he had the good sense or maybe the good luck to marry someone smarter than he is. As for the accuracy of the memories I recreate, all I can say is that it is a good thing that I became a consistent journal keeper many years ago. Not only do my journals contain fairly accurate versions ofwhat happened, they contain detailed descriptions of events that I have absolutely no recollection of at this late date. I had an outstanding college teacher, Oscar Hulet, who counseled: Write things down so you wont forget. The good Lord gave you your mind for figuring things out, not for remembering. It was good advice. Barbaras yearbook was published exactly fifty years ago this spring. I suppose that at one time I knew all of the children whose photographs are in the book. Several of them I do not remember today. I also have many, many memories of those times. But, Im a bit shaky now about how accurate or inaccurate they may be. Writers on the Range 435-259-77- NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION While I was studying child psychology as a student, Barbara was practicing it as a mother. There is no question as to who became the expert. Sometimes our kids approach me with High Country News non-leth- Invasive species, as Ive discussed before, have forever changed the environment of Southeastern Utah and the West. Tamarisk, from the Middle East, Russian olive and Chinese elm, guess from the countries that provide the names, have crowded in on us like a plague, despite efforts of a lot of people and a few government agencies to con- ail stay-at-hom- by Greg Gordon Carter Niemeyer raises a shotgun to his shoulder and squeezes the trigger. An instant Community Comments Entered Of course, that is possible for only half of the spouses. Often it is the female half. It is easy to become smug about ones education and ones status in the professional community. In our case I was the one who garnered the university e credentials while Barbara was a mother to our little family. Subsequently, I had a successful professional career. After our kids were mostly grown, Barbara worked as a den- I world-comradeshi- p; mini-far- Barbara and I had a difference of memory the other day. I related to her my version of certain events that had occurred when we were in eighth grade. Her version was different from mine. Now, I acknowledge that all memory is a more or less accurate recreation, but, like most people, I believe that my memories are the ones that are more accurate and that others are less accurate. On the other hand, I know better than to discount Barbaras version of things. In this case she produced evidence including an original document. Her evidence includes her 1954 yearbook and her personal book of remembrance. The yearbook shows a photograph of the class ahead of us and identifies the girl in question as having died. Inside Barbaras book of remembrance is an original copy of the funeral program listing the name of the deceased, those participating in the service and the names of the pall bearers. It lists the date and location of the funeral. Next to the funeral program is Barbaras handwritten note explaining the cause of death. In the face of such overwhelming evidence, I am almost ready to concede that she is right. I say almost because there is the outside possibility that I am still right and that there was another, similar set of circumstances at about the same time. But, even I can see that that is lame. Somewhere there is counsel that people should marry someone smarter than they are. |