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Show tEfre Page A7 ' Thursday, December 30, 2004 tllt:mgg-,3lnfrgpmh- mt f P-- ' - Castle Valley Comments Letters from the People S, rV i Hs , , by Ron Drake . Respect & thanks to performers, police officers and teachers I just want to take this opportunity to thank the good people ofthis community. A big thank f you to Virginia Allen, Tina Cannon and all the talented performers for bringing back the production ofthe Messiah. I know it was a big sacrifice, especially at this busy time of year. Thank you for a fantastic performance. Our police officers were recently criticized in a letter to the editor and accused of not being as hard working as the officers in Blanding and Monticello. Dont feel bad.-- 1 lived in Monticello t for nine years and a year and a half in Blanding and the officers in those communities were always under attack for the same things. Those of us who dont put our lives on the line everyday could not possibly understand what you and your families go through to protect our community on a daily basis. It is a thankless job of long hours and lots of shift work. My great grandfather was shot and killed right here in this community while working his Response from "the lousy cop" ... and that of life shift his fellow worker was spared because they chose to park one car and ride together. The other officer had just gotten out of the hospital from being shot while on duty, when a man pulled a gun on them. Thankfully they were together at that time. Im always grateful when I see officers together keeping each other safe, and informed, and especially awake, and alert. Thanks for the great job you do. Those who choose to speed through town will do so even if you give them a ticket, just as those who drink and drive will do so even if you take away their alone. My father- - in-la- license. The last of our children will graduate this year and I just want to say a big thank you to all the hard working teachers who have taught them. It too is a thankless job and we appreciate your hard work. -- Julie Green, Moab . Dear Mr. Citizen: It seems you have figured me out. I seem to fit neatly into the category where you placed me. Im stereotyped, standardized, characterized, classified, grouped, and always typical. Im the lousy cop. Unfortunately, the reverse is true. I can never figure you out. From birth you teach your children that I am a person to be aware of, and then you are shocked when they identify me with my traditional enemy. . .the criminal. You accuse me of coddling juveniles, until I catch your kid doing something. You may take an hour for lunch and several coffee breaks each day, but point me out as a loafer if you see me having just one cup. Who care's if it is Walkers? You pride yourself on your polished manners, but think nothing of interrupting my meals at noon with your troubles. You raise hell with the person who cuts you off in traffic, but let me catch you doing the same thing and Im picking on you. You know all the traffic laws. . . but you never got one single ticket you deserved. You shout FOUL! if you observe me driving fast, en route to an emergency call, but literally raise hell if I take more than ten seconds responding to your call. You call it part of my duty if someone strikes me. But its police brutality if I strike -- always giving me pointers on law enforcement. You talk to me in a manner and use language that would assure a bloody nose from anyone else, but you expect me to stand there and take it without batting an eye. You say, something has to be done about all the crime, but you cant be bothered with getting involved. Youve got no use for me at all, but of course, its OK if I change a tire for your wife, or deliver a baby on the back seat of my squad car on the way to the hospital, or save your sons life with resuscitation, or work many hours of overtime to find your lost daughter. So, Dear Citizen, you stand there on your soap box and rant and rave about the way I do my job, calling me every name in the book, but never stop to think that your property, your family, or maybe your life might depend on one thing. . . me or one of my brothers or sisters. Yes, Mr. Citizen, its me. . . The Grand County Deputy or Moab City Lousy Cop! (Author unknown) mouth-to-mou- , th . I am a Police Officers wife here in Moab and very proud to be so. I would like to say to the citizens of Moab be thankful for what men and women we have protecting us, because there is not one that would not put his life on the line to save yours. To the Grand County back. Sheriffs Deputies and the Moab City Police ' You wouldnt think of tellingyour dentist, i. Offices, Thank you for all that you do. -- Mandy Lopez how to pull a badly decayed tooth, or a doctor how to take out your appendix, but you are Proud Moab City Police Officers Wife ! Bush fiddles while Rome burns ... Bush fiddles while tRome bums. It reminds us of Neros solution in Rome. Bush has failed the United States of America and the rest of the world. Bush has turned proud Americans into hated war mongers with wrong headed policies and lack of vision. To image this nation taking a position in making war on trumped up charges (lies) seems impossible to me and others but the controlled press not only supports this dangerous thinking but states openly that so does everyone else. After the tragedy we apparently have learned nothing. Bushs propaganda blatantly ignores the truth and continues to spread his poison that will end up destroying America from within. Killing the civilian population of Iraq tp pound them into accepting occupiers of their sovereign nation cannot bring anything but contempt and ridicule on America from not only the people in the Middle East but from caring people throughout the world. Bush has set America back 40 years with his folly and frantic actions and if he sent his children, grandchildren and friends and ily to Iraq to operate the oil fields and fund the Bush dynasty it would be a business decision to his benefit, but by sending America's youth to do his dirty work and using the actions to contracts to Halliburton, provide non-bi- d Bechtol and hundreds of other special interest taxgroups and providing billions of dollars of without payer money to pay them off, many even providing the services and facilities they contracted to complete, shows the world watchers how completely corrupt the whole political system has become. And we havent seen anything yet. With his mandate to pursue his personal programs (not those that reflect the national interests) the world situation can only get pre-empti- Vietnam-propaganda-l- ed ve Imagine how much less terror and how much more quality life could have been provided to the world generally and the Middle East in particular if Bush had addressed the real problems in the Middle East, provided the Palestinean people with their promised homeland and used the $230 billion he has spent to date to effectively build the opportunities for the people in the area. Instead he has squandered that resource and unfortunately placed the nation in a position where what we have squandered to date is just the beginning of the waste of the nations resources. Bushs response to the matter is to advise the American people that because of his tax refund to the wealthy and failure to safeguard the deficit spending fiasco, we have a crisis in Social Security and the only way out is to develop a program that assures trillions to the financial firms and stock broker analysts and states openly that his programs have been correct. How tragic for America. Afghanistan is now recognized as the one man election and that one man cannot estabcabinet that lish a constitutionally-acceptabl- e is supposed to provide defense, services and security to the population. Strange that our wonderful communicators dont explain or even identify these matters. America is headed down a sewer drain that has no cleanout valve. As I said in the beginning, while Bush is fiddling, the world is burning. Stop and think what progress could have been made if he had understood the opportunity he had but has squandered. All America will pay the price of that wooden-heade- d folly. We will have a folly, golly Christmas in America. -- Max W. ' Young Salt Lake City Letters to the editor policy not necessarily endorse the opinions punished in letters to the editor Tte exl guest editorials. The T--l welcomes opinions from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to Southcsstom Utah. Letters should be to the point and must inducJa the writer's name, address and not be ussd to repiaee advertisements, or to list and thank sponsors telephone number. Letters may Lettors to the editor wiil be not be accepted from any candidato event. or participants to a particular from or office anyone writing In support of a filed candidate. Anything Khohcsfilsd for political n. or of Kbetous nature, containing defamatory statements will not be considered for a pub-fcuiio- letters must be typed or legibly written, and be 400 words or less. Letters are subject to P.O. Bax 123, Moab, Utah, 84532. Deadline is Monday, 5 p.m. edTJng Mail to Tetter to the Editor, to editorCmocbtimes.com. The may not be sent via Letters may four weeks. more once than writa every Changes to iscept lettare from persons who wi3 be frequently in the most extreme circumstances. acccptad only letters to toe editor after submission AH ao its inhabitants. The year was barely twelve hours old when Grand Countys first baby was bom in Castle Valley to Brad and Amy Minett. Elizabeth Sue Minett weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long. Rebecca Dalton Reed and Tom and Nancy Hunt also announced the birth of their children during the year. Bob Lippman and Jerry Bidinger received the oath of office from Town Clerk Dorothy Harding and took their places on the Castle Valley Town Council. February marked the 25th year this columnist has been writing Castle Valley Comments but others preceded me, including JoAnna Dalton and Nancy Hotz going back to August 1976. Castle Valley Notes first appeared in the Grand Valley Times 100 .years ago. Catherine Howells was selected to be the towns water agent replacing John Groo who moved from the valley. In March, the new Castle Valley First Responder Team successfully completed 40 hours of instruction and was ready for action. They included Floyd Stoughton, Jim Smouse, Pat Drake, Janina Schmidt, Ron Drake, Vicki Tbdd, Jennifer Mengel, Steve Heinrich, Rusty Salmon, Sherrie Day, Ron Mengel, Leta Vaughn and Tory Hill. During the year they responded to several vehicle, motorcycle and bicycle accidents. They also took possession of a used ambulance that was used by the Thompson First Responders. Many from the valley Also volunteered their services for the annual half marathon. In April, the annual spring clean up resulted in ten large container loads being hauled away. Jim Salmon and the boy scouts collected 150 pounds of canned goods during their annual drive. During the early morning hours, 474 Utah Power customers were without electricity for nearly eight hours. High winds were responsible. Several Castle Valley students excelled scholastically including Thomas Chase, Sarah Stock, and Hillary Rees. Several residents reported spotting cougars in the valley. When Terry Dicken moved to the valley and set up his new ultralight flying business, he generated a lot of mostly negative discussion among residents. The town council cited local, county, state and federal ordinances to ground the business venture. In May, bat biologist Donna Hensley presented a slide show and presentation about bats to the valley. First Sergeant Randy Bowden finally arrived home from Iraq after over a year of active duty. Dennis and Phyllis Godwin achieved their first year in Nigeria in May working on an LDS Temple. Although they are home now for the holidays, they must return for their second anniversary there. Mike Peck Times-lnctopenda- nt e-m-ail Year-en- d Continued from pageA5 de-bri- ef 17 Murder suspect withdraws guilty plea . . . A Clifton, Colo, man who pleaded guilty e murder eight days after his arrest has hired a new attorney and withdrew his guilty plea on Tuesday. Graham Austin, 46, who had pleaded guilty May 18 to the May 9 fatal stabbing of retired Navy Cmdr. Walter Pratt, asked to replace Grand County public defender Andrew Fitzgerald with Kristine M. to - . first-degre- Rogers. Austin has admitted stabbing Pratt, but says he does not remember most of the incident. In return for Austins guilty plea, Morgan agreed not to seek the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Rogers told 7th District Judge Lyle Anderson that she believes her client was denied due process, because he was not given access to information including police reports, witness lists, evidence and an autopsy report that makes up the states case against him. Grand County Attorney Happy Morgan said Austin was aware of his rights, and the evidence before he accepted the plea agreement. Limited contract agreed to . . . In a 0 vote, the Grand County Council Tuesday approved a limited contract with R&R Partners, the Salt Lake City ad agency chosen by the Moab Area Travel Council Advisory Board to work on the areas tourism identity. Joette Langaniese and Jerry McNeely were 5-- , state-of-the-a- state-of-the-a- ' -- rt absent. Although R&Rs estimate was originally', 2004-200to show the flow of work, the contract and $90,096 budget approved by the council relate only to 2004. The original budget estimate for this year was $144,000, but. the MATC renegotiated, rejecting the agencys retainer, and eliminating a planned survey. June 24 Medical supply facility plans still on . . . Plans for a Moab medical-suppl- y facility ' were slowed down last week when Med Spring Group Inc. had a decision on its state loan re-- , quest postponed until August 20. But things havent slowed down very much. The company, owned by long-tim- e resident Dick Baggett, and . with a board including several area businesspeople, already exists, and is moving its offices here from the Salt Lake area. Sales for the first first six months of 2004 total $1.6 million, and Baggett wants to bring some of that revenue to Grand County, intending to set up a plant, warehouse and sales and administrative offices that could employ 20 to 25 people by the end of the first year, and as ' many as 100 people by the fourth year of op- seteration. While the loan could jump-sta- rt million-do- ll a start and order will ar hiring, up things rolling here in the next month or so, pro- viding capital to build or buy property and hire the first few people, said Jeanette Baggett, speaking on husband Dicks behalf while he was in China this week. for 5, $7,500-per-mon- th r . 4 Community bike project rolling ... In the last month Moab has seen an in- crease in bicycle commuting thanks to the Moab Community Bike Project started by Moab Acad-em- y teacher, Scott Anderson. Since the winter , over 100 bicycles have been donated to the; project, more thanl50 volunteer hours logged and 31 kids have participated in fixing up the old bikes. v A Essentially, the bike projects vision is to get folks out and about around town via bicycles to cut back on vehicle pollution and congestion, and for people to get some exercise when run-ning errands downtown, lb achieve this goal, -- the project has involved several organizations and individuals in the community to reach as many people as possible who are interested inN bicycle commuting. Review of the second half of 2004 to be continued next week. " . i t f ' and a Smokey the Bear sign was installed to ' ' warn of fire danger. Governor Olene Walker also signed a proc-- 4 lamation honoring Castle Valley as Utahs newest Firewise community in September. The community also gathered in June to honor Fire Chief Floyd Stoughton for his 15 years of sern vice to the community. A crew from the State Division of Forestry completed the clearing of a section of the greenbelt land. In July Rick Fullam choreographed one of the best ever fireworks displays in Moab for the July 4th celebration. He and Bill Riggs also team up to put together a great fireworks show New Years Eve in Castle Valley. He promises an extra surprise this year. Dorothy Harding submitted her resignation as town clerk and the town council replaced her with Jennifer Mengel. In August, Charleen Radley participated in the huge 64th annual Sturgis Harley Davidson Motor Cycle Rally. rt Tom Henry installed two bat houses that he hopes will become home to 1,600 bats. The official opening of the Round Mountain Vineyards tasting room makes it the comitys third operating winery. In September Nathan Whitney and Sarah Stock' received the annual $2,000 scholarship awarded to graduating high school seniors: In October a successful annual gourd festival was held on the community lot and the second annual tractor parade was a lot of fun. The prop- - ' erty owners association also elected new board members during their annual meeting. Residents complained of a dangerous hunting situation on state land above Castle Valley during the town council meeting in November. After years of work trying to get a town hall and community center, that event came to a realization in December when an official ribbon cutting ceremony and open house welcomed visitors. A large crowd was on hand to view the new facility as well as the new branch library that is also located in the building. Shirlene Williams and Nichole Wagstaff announced their weddings during the year and Mr. and Mrs. Ken Johnson and Mr. and Mrs.. Otis Willoughby celebrated 50 years of mar- riage this year. The fire department responded to several fires during the year and also received a $13,000 grant from the BLM for pro- tective clothing, communication equipment and other tools. The department received a Hum- mer brush truck from the state forest service and announced the receipt of a $230,000 CIB fire truck. grant for a review . by Sheriff Jim Nyland, was partly in response to complaints about abuse during Jeep Safari, on different inciand ranged from a dents law enforcement officers see to a plan for brochure that would lay out a combined-sourc- e appropriate trails and rules for different user groups. The county council had only three members, Judy Carmichael, Rex Tanner and Jerry McNeely, which meant the session was not required to be open to the public. The move bothered Franklin Seal, local representative for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, who said later, Ive been told by someone who was at the meeting that the agenda read that the purpose of this group was to develop a recreation plan for Grand County, and I suspect that means the backcountry. To do this behind closed doors and expect to have the public buy into it without public comment seems a bit strange. June was appointed to the planning commission.1- ' Under the guidance of Ron Mengel, the Firewise program picked up the pace as the fire , season heated up in June. He said many of the street sign were obscured and the lack of addresses at homes would cause response delays ' . ten-ma- worse. self-appoint- ed unsigned, As the year 2004 winds down, a look back over the past year reveals some major accomplishments for the town, surrounding area and I |