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Show 4 Page A6 X Sfre 9Ihngg-(3)ttfrgPgtftg- November 4, 2004 ttt Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas by Ollie Harris Today bodes hot but it is comfortable nght n breeze from the now with a slight A MELLOW DAY down-canyo- It is a rainy, indoors day. There is a peaceful, quiet feeling in my home. Mellow, is the word that comes to mind. Its the pause before the storm as we are expecting an onslaught of grandkids this afternoon. They are coming from Kayesville, Utah, far to the north of here. They are the kids that used to call me grandpa sticks when they were little. It was because of all that firewood I used to cut and stack at our old place. My is bringing his quad-ca- b work truck just in case there is an opportunity to go cut a little wood to take back with son-in-la- Many Trials on Voter Trail Oby Adrien F. Taylor watcher challenged Tl reporter Carrie Switzers vote on Tuesday. Luckily, Switzers job here allows ample time and even glitches. encouragement for election-da- y told the county clerk that if didnt get to vote on a regular ballot today, was going to challenge this challenge in a very big way, Switzer said. A legitimate challenge by a volunteer poll watcher requires the voter to cast a provisional ballot, which in this case, would not be counted until November 1 6. The poll watcher in Precinct 2 had a piece of campaign mail in her hand addressed to Switzer at her street address. It was A Republican poll I I I - marked undeliverable moved, no forwarding address. she said. Switzer refused to cast a provisional ballot. Deputy County Clerk Wendy Mayberry walked into the polling place at the Moab Golf Club as a rather heated discussion was taking place in the snack bar. asked Wendy to follow me home it was on her way. Bless her heart she did, saw my mail, and we even found a piece of mail delivered to the same street address Jim Salmons campaign flyer was sent to only his was returned. County Clerk Fran Townsend sealed an affidavit attesting to the legitimacy of Switzers physical address. do not know why the Post Office marked her mail undeliverable. According to law, Carrie has the right to vote regular ballot today," Townsend wrote. Moab Postmaster Ken Whitlock made copies of both the returned and delivered pieces of mail, along with the letter from the County Clerk. He said the campaign mail, postmarked October 21 , should have been held for 1 0 days at the Post Office before being returned, and then only if the addressee requested it or the mailbox was overflowing, which Switzer concedes is a distinct possibility. There was no notation made anywhere at the post office, however, of that or any other mail to that address being returned. J, got my vote cast, and assured all the election people involved, including the poll watcher, that my protest was nothing personal, Switzer said. reminded them that votes were being challenged and thrown out all over the country, and that four years ago a half a million votes were disqualified in Florida. We have since learned that 95 percent of those votes thrown out were legitimate. didnt want mine to be one of those, she said. of fixes in residency - I - I Switzer, who hadnt moved, took issue. She took it to the Postmaster, Ken Whitlock, who after researching the error found that Carrie had in fact, prior to the election, been receiving mail at the wrong physical address. You'll have to tell your bill collectors to change the address, he told her. Apparently mine was one of 30 pieces of mail returned to the Republican Party with mailing discrepancies, Switzer said. get most of my mail at my post office box, so the Jim Salmon campaign got my street address off my voter registration. didnt think to ask the poll watcher how many of the challenges she planned to make were either Republican or Democratic Party sensitive. A deputy clerk in the County Clerks office said she had never seen a vote challenged in Grand County before, though there are commonly poll watchers during important elections. She said provisional ballots get a bad rap, but that they are actually very useful to the elections department, if not immediately to the voter. This year 100 provisional votes were cast, which would not sway the election results one way or another. Provisional ballots actually help us make a lot I I I I Community Comments by Sam Taylor - As write this, its Tuesday Election Day. There are lots of close races this year, from the top of the ballot to the bottom. If there ever was a year when every vote counts, this is the year. plan to stay up late tonight, awaiting the returns. A few of the races, including the one for President, will probably not be decided until long after have gone to bed. We should know by morning. Let us hope that legal maneuvering and voting irregularities won't keep us waiting for days or weeks or months. The election of 2000 was bad enough and we as a nation dont need to make it a habit. Do care about the final outcome? You bet do. feel very strongly about many candidates and issues. Some people really want to win are running in this years election. There are even some on the ballot hope will be defeated. The morals and antics of some of the candidates have been disgusting, and hope the voters can see through them. Ive seen more negativism in this election than have for twenty years. Am going to lose sleep over the outcome? The answer is no. In many past years, have felt so strongly about election outcomes that thought for sure the nation, state or local government bodies would go down the tube if my favored candidates didnt get elected. guess Ive learned to have a lot of faith in the system over the years. Most politicians, when elected, do pretty admirable jobs. After all, it is a system we in the U. S. invented, and its a pretty darned good one. I got some valuable advice once that Ive tried to remember over the years. I was serving as a freshman legislator in the Utah Senate. A colleague in the row in front of mine became a lifelong friend. He was Doctor Stanley Rees, who was representing Sanpete and Sevier Counties from his home in Salina. Doc was a wise man. He told me, Get as worked up as you want to over issues, he said. Debate actively. Let your emotions show. But if your side doesnt prevail, dont bleed over it. Doc Rees was a unique legislator. He was I I I - - I I I I I I I I I I I smart as a whip, and became my close professional counselor on legislation pertaining to health care. He left an active profession as a physician and surgeon back in Salina. He had brought half the population of those two counties into the world during his years of practice. He advised his obstetrics patients that while the legislature was in session, that they should schedule their deliveries for weekends. And they did. Doc would make laws all week long, then go home on weekends and deliver babies. told you he was smart. Well, Doc Rees taught me not to bleed over issues, even though over the years there have been many contentious issues felt really strongly about. There are times when thought the sky would fall if certain candidates werent elected. And there have been times when have been proven wrong. worried all night when John F. Kennedy was elected. Two years later cried when he was assassinated. thought the state would go to hell when Scott Matheson was elected the first time. Over an eight year span develpped so much respect for him as a governor and as a man that wept again when he died at an early age from cancer he probably contracted as a downwinder in Southwestern Utah when the atomic testing program was going full swing. Adrien and flew to Salt Lake City to personally pay our last respects when he died. Our system is pretty good, and the voters are pretty wise. have seen people change when actually elected to office. Things look a lot different when youre on the inside looking out. Our nation, state and county have done pretty darned good over the years led by all kinds of people. So tonight, Im planning on watching and listening to the returns, after gorging myself on the outstanding Election Day Dinner sponsored by St. Pius X Church. I plan on winning a few and losing a few when the outcomes are finalized. Thats the way it goes. And it goes on, and on and on. I I I I I I I I w them. This rain may preclude getting out for wood this weekend, and I dare not hope it doesnt rain. I dont want to be like a fellow I helped with some work long ago. We were in the midst of another serious drought back then. It began to sprinkle and the man I was helping said, I sure hope it doesnt rain too much. It sure will mess me up. I didnt say anything to him but my thoughts were critical that anyone in southeastern Utah would ever hope that it didnt rain. I am going to stay neutral this time. If it rains I will love it. If not, we will go get a nice load of wood. Either way is fine with me. Well, to tell the truth, I lean toward the rain. Well just have to see how it goes. was thumbing through my little black notebook awhile ago. I came across the following entry dated 17 July 2004. It says, An hour after sunrise. Im sitting part way down over the western side of Fry Canyon, across from and just above the ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings and just above the first and broader slot. I have walked to this spot, zigzagging along the rim. My first interest was to photograph the upper slot from above, which I did. The mornings first gnat just crawled across my thumb. The sun is in my face. It rained very nicely last night. I south. The birds have been awake for some time. Some are still calling. The canyon wren whistle several has piped her descending-note- s times. Shes the bird grandson Kip once asked about, saying, Granddad, do you remember that bird that sounded like it was falling? It grows quickly hot. I am back at the truck. I put a chair in the shade, got out my breakfast sandwich, a yogurt, some water, and ate. It is so cool, quiet and nice here. The only sounds are the constantly chattering birds, an occasional, distant jet, or the rare passing of a car up on the highway. Im quite sleepy and tempted to find a rock in the shade, stretch out on it and nap. Which is what I did. I walked around lookfor a flat enough rock to lie on. The ground ing was still too wet from the previous nights rain. I stretched out on a rock that was still cool from the night, in the shade of a pinyon. I put my hat over my face to reduce the glare of the sky and to discourage the occasional fly that was sure to investigate, and fell deeply to sleep. Im sure that before I drifted off the following words of a poem slipped through my mind, Nothin rests better or sleeps more profound than a tired old cowboy stretched out on the ground. I do not know who wrote them but I appreciate the sentiment. My earlier mention of grandson Kip reminds me of an experience that caused me to change my ways. For many, many years, I thought it clever to say that the best way to kill a bug or worm was to bite its head off. I said it about a worm once and my mother asked me which end was the head. With feigned exasperation I told her that it was opposite the tail. Anyway, one day little Kip came walking in with spider parts on his lips and fingers, and said, Bite its head off. I thought it was pretty funny but quickly learned that it wasnt. I dont say it anymore. High Country News Writers on the Range If dogs could talk, what would we learn ? by Penelope Grenoble O'Malley It was all over the papers recently that a border collie named Rico recognized 200 human words. That prompted owners of other breeds to write letters to the editor in defense of their breeds. One trainer said motivation is critical. Another observed that border collies are acutely sensitive to motion. I think they all got it wrong. If you ers need training. a The trainer called sheepdog-trialin- g I Who went and the that's it. cared at sport, way what the dogs did moving sheep around on a huge open range in Meeker, Colo., my job was to get them through an obstacle course in an arena. The second or third time I tried it, it was six o'clock on a cold fall evening, in a dark arena, the darkness dotted here and with halos from spotlights. I sent the dog after the sheep and immediately lost her in the dark. I couldn't see to help, but she didn't need it. She brought the stock back to me evenly out of the darkness, and I struggled to remember what came next. Back up, give the dog space to move the sheep through the first gate, give her a command to slow down. She came to the conclusion about cutting her speed about the same time I did, and we sailed through the first gate like a tightly trimmed skiff under full sail. When we got to the second gate, I felt her rhythm and stepped back to watch her drive them through. We were a team: My part was knowing enough to let the dog do what she knew how to do, hers not to unsettle the sheep and cause me to fly off the handle. When we reached the pen, I almost ruined it when I got so excited I forgot to open the gate; the sheep scattered. But the dog turned and sprinted in a wide arc around the arena and brought them back again. I used to tell people that what happened in the dark arena was my first experience with the highfalutin notion we humans call crossspecies communication. It felt like the dog and I were tied together with a string running between us. It was my first experience with animalness: The dog drew me into her world, and I cheerfully waved mine good-byWhat does it boil down to? I like what my veterinarian told me: You gotta let a dog be a pole-mount- read closely, everybody was pointing out that humans are the benchmark. Even the researcher who made Rico famous concluded that the dog acquired words the way we do, through a process he called fast mapping, implying, I suppose, that we should think more of Rico and his canine buddies because they learn like our children. But dogs aren't human, and what dogs have to teach us is dogness, and, in the larger context, what animalness is all about. It's different, for one thing. Dogs smell better than we do, they hear better than we do, they act on their instincts a whole lot better than we do. They have no sense of time, and they adapt cheerfully to their current lot in life without angst. Why not compare us to them? Find the one or two humans who can sniff out a bowl of dry kibble and voila! we have a human with some of the important attributes of dog. Like humans, when it comes to this or that special characteristic, this or that breed of dog has it over others. Golden retrievers, which were originally bred to retrieve waterfowl, will bring you anything from a soggy pinecone to your neighbors tennis ball. Border collies will neatnick up any messy situation. My knows that should not wanmy granddaughter So too from me. far der the dog selects a certain distance that both ofthem feel comfortable with, then shortens it when he decides the child is traveling too far. Another thing thats different about border collies and here I am in danger ofjoining the old-tim- er crowd is that their instinct lies so close to the surface. A trainer once advised me that border collies come out of the womb herding, convinced their own- - e. dog. Penelope Grenoble O'Malley is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High in southern Country News (hcn.org). She lives " California; her new book is " Malibu Diary: Notes from an Urban Refugee, published by the University of Nevada Press I Letters to the editor policy I I - The does not necessarily endorse the opinions published in letters to the editor and guest editorials. The T--l 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 129, to Moab, Utah, 84532. Deadline is Monday, 5 p.m. Letters may also be sent via from not letters who editor moabtimes.com. The write may accept persons more 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- nt Times-lndepende- I, nt |