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Show Page A6 '(Hfe ffltmeg-ffinfrepenhe- Thursday, September 9, 2004 nt Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas by Ollie Harris Many Trails by Adrien F. Taylor THE BEST TIME OF LIFE Ive been wondering when is the best time of life. I cannot know for sure because I havent lived all of life yet. But, I have lived most of it. So far, I think that the best time of life is when The Red Rocks Special Olympians are working hard to fund upcoming State Special Olympics events in Salt Lake City. A successful bake and candy sale at City Market kicked off their efforts last week, and Red Rocks team members are now busy selling tickets for a number of items that have been donated for a drawing to be held Oct. 1 . You have to actually see it to appreciate the beauty of Lola water color painting, which she donated to the drawing. The photo here doesn't do it justice. The other piece of artwork is a print that Tom Till has donated from his galKrum-menacher- k, 's This original watercolor painting has been donated by Lola Krummenacher as part of the fundraising driving by the Red Rock Special Olympians. It can be viewed at The from now until the drawing on Oct. 1 . lery. Also to be drawn for are the follow- Times-Independe- ing: A vacuum cleaner from Southeastern Appliance; a small tool kit from Car Quest; an oil change from Big O Tires; letterhead and envelopes from us here at The Times-- a 40 quart cooler from Clark's Parts Plus; two dinners for two from the Sunset Grill; two pizzas from Pizza Hut; two gift certificates from Main Street Music and Video; two certificates from Arches Book Company; a lamp from Knowles Home Furnishings; dinner for two from La Hacienda Restaurant; and two tickets from Slickrock Cinema. Tickets are available from Red Rocks Special Olympians, and are also here at The Times office. As usual: $1 each or six for $5. Some other very thoughtful donations have been made, and we will publish them as photos can be taken. nt tening preference. Since many of the concerts are not at the downtown venues, I'd like to emphasize that bus service is available, included with the price of the ticket. Why drive when you can be chauffeured? , -a- you are a young husband and the father to young children. Look at it this way: when a young father takes four children out to play, what you really have is five kids. Its just that one of them is bigger. A young husband and father is still just a big kid himself. He is perfectly happy to play in the mud, swim in a stock eat pond, climb a tree, play addiIn in dirt. wrestle or the stuff, disgusting tion, he knows more, gets to be the boss, and always gets to drive. Best of all, he is the only one that gets to sleep with mom. Of course, being a young husband and father has its drawbacks. It comes at an economically perilous time. I recall that during those years I had as many as three jobs at once. In the early morning I cleaned some offices. During the day I worked at my regular job and in the evening I worked at program development for a state agency. Those days also coincide with a time when you cannot always afford reliable transportation, or other essentials. Im not sure Barbara would agree that bea ing young wife and the mother to young children was the best time of life for her. It is such a demanding time. Little children require so much care. Barbara says that she enjoyed them more as teenagers. For me, though, once they became teenagers, I began to lose ground. I was less willing to play in the mud or to eat disgusting stuff; I wasnt as much a kid anymore. I didnt necessarily know more than they, at least not in their eyes. I ceased to be the only one who could drive. I certainly wasnt the boss anymore. And, just when my boys became big enough to really be of help when hauling wood, they suddenly became very busy with their own lives. I began to -- aft- have made no secret of my questions about the wisdom of medians on Main Street, so am pleased to congratulate the three members of the Moab City Council who voted against the measure. While the added parking in the interior of the block between Main Street and First West will be a boon to downtown workers and visitors alike, the pinching down of Center Street on that block may pose its own problems. That is yet to be seen, along with whatever thoughts the planners may have in mind for East Center Street. I ft- Moab Music Festival's 12th season is in full swing, offering something for just about any lis The way Sam Remembers it . . . from the back pocket of bib overalls. During rest breaks, they would, as a matter of habit, pull the files out and sharpen up their precious tools while the rest of us rested. The shovels were shaped and sharpened to cut through the toughest sod. wished many times to own one, but Im afraid wouldnt have kept it as sharp as the fast-movi- shape for the irrigation season. My memories of that day are sharp. Most of us temporary ditch cleaners were not accustomed to ditch digging, but worked alongside seasoned farmers who spent their lives with shovels over p shov their shoulders. admired their in razor-shar- tmeslnht'pcnhent 8 ISSN (UPS) Entered as Second class Matter at the Post Office at Moab, Utah under the Act of March 3, 1897. Second class postage paid at Moab, Utah 84532. 6309-200- 0) 1538-183- Official City and County Newspaper. Published each Thursday at: 35 East Center Street, Moab, Grand County, Utah 84532 address: editormoabtimes.com ail Postmaster: Send changes of address to: The 435-259-75- Member IKNIlWLfffi V P.O. Box 129, Moab, UT Times-lndepende- or FAX Zane Taylor Carrie Switzer Lisa Church Jeff Richards Marjorie Miller Lisa Taylor ' by John Krist Smokey Bear celebrated his 60th birthday this summer, and the ageless advertising icon wandered out of the woods for an elaborate birthday bash. He was feted by a crowd that included Dale Bosworth, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and children of firefighters who sang happy birthday to him. Smokey, who never speaks, was also presented with what a press release described as a personalized shovel., Too bad it wasnt a retirement party. Smokey is not your average bear; the stocky bear in the big hat is an advertising-ag- e bear, the purveyor of a slogan that is both appealing and misleading. Smokey Bear has probably done more to distort the publics understanding of and attitude toward wildfire than any other figure in American history. As a result, the public has for decades tolerated a similarly distorted government wildfire policy. Press materials distributed after the Aug. 9 celebration in Universal City, Calif., hailed Only you can prevent wildSmokeys slogan fires as critical and enduring. They crede ad camited the bear, and the paign built around him, with helping reduce the acreage consumed by wildfires by more than 62 percent since 1944. And they emphasized the timeliness of his message, noting that 90 percent of all wildfires are caused by humans and that the number of wildfires started by campfires has been increasing over the past five years. Reality is more complex than a press release. Its impossible to say how many fires have not been set thanks to Smokeys message; things that have not happened are by nature uncountable. The drop in annual wildfire acreage since 1944 is more plausibly explained by development of the modem firefighting industry, a vast and often effective force that relies on aircraft unavailable before World War II. While it is true that the majority of wildland fires in the United States each year is set intentionally or accidentally by humans, most of these fires are small and occur near urban areas. They can be fought quickly, effectively and given the threat to life and property appropriately. 84532 public-servic- According to the National Interagency Fire Center, however, half the acreage burned each year is the result of fires caused mainly by light- ping. These typically begin in remote areas during the dry storms of summer and often sweep across tens of thousands of acres before winter rain or snow extinguish them. There is nothing you can do to prevent any of the thousands of fires set by lightning each year. By failing to distinguish between ig- nition sources, Smokeys simplistic sloganeering suggests that all fires can be prevented. The unspoken corollary to that is the notion that all fires are therefore unnatural and bad, and should be extinguished as fast as possible. Smokey doesnt come right out and say that, but the ad campaigns emotion-lade- n imagery of dead, injured or terrified animals, charred stumps where green groves one stood, and omiskies makes the case pownous, smoke-fille- d erfully. The problem is that the argument is contradicted by everything ecologists have learned about forests, grasslands and chaparral in the 60 years since Smokey began his mission. In most of the West, fire is not only a natural element of these ecosystems, it is essential. Periodic fires reduce the fuel load before it builds to catastrophic levels, limit outg breaks of pests, clear the soil so can seedlings sprout and encourage trees and shrubs to drop seeds or send up new shoots. By attempting to quash every fire as soon as it breaks out, which until recently was the official goal of federal policy, the firefighting industry has made the situation worse. Over the past 60 years, in other words, Smokey has provided propagandistic cover for a costly campaign that is largely and paradoxically responsible for the combustible condition of the nations forests. Smokeys misleading message could be excused by ignorance 60 years ago. Thats no longer the case. Its time for the bear to either change his message or hang up his shovel. John Krist is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He is a senior reporter and columnist for the Ventura County Star in California. stop-all-fir- es tree-killin- heat-adapt- nt -l Jeannine Wait Conributing Writer Michelle Wiley Contributing Writer Mail Room Supervisor Dorothy Anderson Jed Taylor, Jose Santana, Jorge Santana.. Backshop Ron Drake Castle Valley Columnist Ron Georg Columnist Oliver Harris Columnist A.J. Long Distribution The does not necessarily endorse the opinions published in letters to the editor and guest editorials. The T- welcomes opinions from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to Southeastern Utah. Letters should be to the point and must include the writers name, address and telephone number. Letters may not be used to replace advertisements, or to list and thank sponsors or participants to a particular event. Letters to the editor will be not be accepted from any candidate who has filed for political office or from anyone writing in support of a filed candidate. Anything unsigned, of a libelous nature, or containing defamatory statements will not be considered for publication. All letters must be typed or legibly written, and be 400 words or less. Letters are subject to editing. Mail to Letter to the Editor, RO. Box 1 29, Moab, Utah, 84532. Deadline is Monday, 5 p.m. Letters may to editormoabtimes.com. The also be sent via may not accept letters from persons who write rqore frequently than once every four weeks. Changes to letters to the editor after submission will be accepted only in the most extreme circumstances. Times-lndepende- ail J ed on Letters to the editor policy NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Circulation Manager, T--l Maps Press, Production Manager Staff Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer happiness as, When the last kid leaves home and the dog dies. I suppose there is some truth in that. By the time the kids are grown it becomes clear that they need to be on their way. Some will say that being a grandparent is the best time of life. But, its mostly grandmothers that say it. Merlin Grover once confided to me that he sometimes feels like a cranky old range bull that prefers the other side of the mountain and a broad, secluded canyon. He just wants to be left alone. Thats what it comes to when the grandkids are at full volume and ricocheting off the walls. It is then that their daddies gather them up in the jeep and go looking for a place where theres water and mud. They always invite the granddad to go but he often declines. It isnt much fun to be the only adult in the crowd. 435-259-77- and UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Adrien F. Taylor, Editor Sadie Warner, Assistant Editor Tom Taylor enjoyed. I believe it was Erma Bombeck who defined The bear has been misleading people for 60 years gift-wrapp- The Big Ditch followed the north fringe of the community, and at times coursed through some yards. It was big. It was full of rushing water. Now almost fully contained in buried culverts, it claimed more than its share of community toddlers in the years before it went underground. It created a great place to play for youngsters who would let water push them downstream. It the wasnt, however, without hazards. Adrien found that out when visiting an aunt, uncle and cousin a number of years before her family moved to Moab where she finished high school. She still bears a scar on her back from a piece of broken glass in the Big Ditch. Not much remains of the big farms that once filled lower Moab Valley. Most of the valley is kept green with city water or from wells. Agriculture has moved mainly to Spanish Valley, where much of the green color comes from water from Kens Lake or from wells. The Big Ditch, however, is still there, buried in culverts underground. The coming of culverts did bring about changes, though. The stately cottonwood trees which marked its course west of Highway 1 91 and nortfi of church row died from lack of water. The swamp along 100 West dried up, and was replaced by a large city park. It was a big part of my early years, though, and memories linger. And it played and is still playing a large part in keeping Moab looking like an oasis. I Ijc I did. I I I old-time- rs I Seven- teen was better than sixteen because I had more freedom. It was better than eighteen because I had less responsibility. Seventeen was good. My years just out of high school were good. But, Ive observed that anything I enjoy is better when shared with someone I love. Sure, Ive always enjoyed solitude. I enjoy being alone. But, nothing beats being with someone I love. Those first years out of high school were filled with richness. I had a few good friends. I loved the mountains and the desert. I went off to South America. But, there was always a certain loneliness. There was no one that I loved,' no one with whom to share the things that I Writers on the Range els. They had been sharpened so much that instead of being pointed, they had a concave shape created by the file that was always seen hanging I that I didnt have much responsibility. High Country News by Sam Taylor Moab Valley is a green oasis in the middle of an arid, red rock desert. My sisters called it a Little Green Valley, and all their lives sang the song with the same name, remembering the town in which they grew up. All the green, however, didnt come without effort. Not much in this corner of the earth can grow without water. That was recognized by the earliest settlers, who built irrigation systems almost even before they built homes. Even the Elk Mountain Mission settlers, who only lasted a short time before being driven off by Indians, built an irrigation system fed by Mill Creek. It later eroded to a huge channel called The Arroyo by permanent residents many years later. Moab City proper was and still is kept green by a diversion from Mill Creek above where Mill Creek Drive crosses the stream near Hecla Subdivision. That diversion was called The Big Ditch. It was divided not far downstream into two channels, one serving the south part of town north of Mill Creek itself. The main part of the community was served by the other channel. grew up not far from The Big Ditch serving the northern portion of the community, and it played a big part of my early life. had to jump across it to get to the red hills where spent many growing up days. We took out water from The Big Ditch not far from our large landscaped home and garden. Further downstream, we used Big Ditch water for our small farm, via a long lateral which ran along 400 North Street, As a teenager signed up religiously for ditch cleaning day, sponsored by Moab Irrigation Company. Each temporary spring volunteers and nominally-pai- d workers spent an entire day getting the Big Ditch feel more and more peripheral, more isolated. When my daughters began to marry I quickly realized that my job was to keep fuel in the car, pay the bills, and keep my mouth shut. I have always been introspective. When I turned seventeen I recognized that I had suddenly achieved a new degree of freedom and Times-lndepende- nt |