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Show Page A6 (Tlitjrtnifs-31nbfprnbfnthujsda- October 12, 2000 y, ourtown Community Comments 5 r. t tJ by Sara Taylor yj As stated last week, included in this week's ediis the official Utah tion of The Voter Information Pamphlet. It's 88 pages long Not only does it contain information which will be on the November ballot concerncoming propositions and initiatives, it contains the Utah the bills of text the Legislature by plete passed authorizing this vote It has created some logistical T-problems tor us here at The l We have this huge insert (for which we will get paid) stacked to the ceilings this, on top of our special 24 Hours of Moab" special section and two other inserts, is straining the crew. They will arms and patience of our back-sho- p off to two recover or a probably need day Don't count on getting the information you need to cast an informed vote in the booth on Election Day The information on the ballot is only a brief outline about what you're voting on. Proposition One, for instance, contains only about 1 4 lines in its official ballot title In the guide in this week's paper, though, there are two pages of analyses. Those analyses are followed by four full pages of small type text the full I Times-lndepende- proposition. Is this particular issue important? You bet it is. It amends provisions pertaining to the formation and operation of state and local governments, including special service districts quickly read the complete thing early this morning. I'm going to have to read it again maybe more than once before fully understand it. Having spent some time in the legislature, where reading bills often kept me up until the late hours. I've had a little experience in reading bills. Today, though, had my problems Maybe I'm a little defensive. come from a county which pretty much decided on its own how it wanted to conduct its county government. want to protect what we earned the hard way and successfully de I I I I I fended against critics both locally and statewide. don't want Proposition One to take away any of the rights that were provided us under the existing statutes. And won't be satisfied by legislative arguments that we re really ust streamlining things. Don't throw away this insert, readers. Keep it around for the next few weeks and read it carefully If you don't understand something m it, ask some questions. Quite often what you vote on during an election is a lot more than candidates. This may well be one of those years. I I sjt I spent four days out of town last week: one , in meetings and seminars, one on an intensive tour of northern Kentucky, and two days traveling back and forth. I'm not sure have the physical stamina to be a tourist. Maybe if did it the traditional way I'd get in shape for it. Historically, though, vacations in our household have been "long weekend affairs. When any distance is involved, that means flying. Thankfully, with Delta Air Lines maintaining a hub in Sait Lake City, you can get almost anywhere in the world from there, if you dont mind changing planes at least once. Im reminded of a story once heard: When die, it wont matter whether or not go to heaven or hell. I'll have to go through Cincinnati or Atlanta to get there." must admit, though that it was a most enjoyable trip even the air travel was a pleasure. really liked what saw of Kentucky, especially the miles and miles of biuegrass. told a fellow publisher who lives in that area that I hadn't seen any sign of sprinklers or garden hoses on our tour. Oh, Ive got a hose," he replied. It's hanging in the garage and have to use it once in a while." Not this year though. So far, that part of the country has gotten over 40 inches of rainfall. No wonder its so green. I I I I I I I I Many Trails by Adrien F. Taylor ally fantastic action show depicting the derby down through the years, including several famous races and winners. The Philip Morris Companies sponsored this event, as they have for several years. All attendees received red Philip Morris gift bags in which we found chocolate, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Jello, and a roll of Lifesavers. for, those who might want to protest the tobacco industry, as supposedly reflected in the name Philip Morris . . . well just look at all the comfort foods they're into now. And dont think for a moment that the choice of things to go into the gift bags wasn't carefully thought through! Other than the bus rides to the evening events, didnt get much of a gander at downtown Louisville, which is too bad. Its one of the oldest communities in the area, steeped in early American folklore and history. On Saturday, however, the Fort Knox and Patton Museum tour having been cancelled, we opted for an y tour including Bardstown, the Jim Beam plant, Old My Kentucky Home State Park, and Shakedown at Pleasant Hill, which is a National Historic Village all-da- digital camera were answered. Questions regarding dealing with the increasing numbers of news stories and ads we receive via the Internet were answered. Landmark. forgot bourbon. that and more. Kentucky is horse country, and baseball country. The opening reception was held at the Louisville Slugger Museum, where the exhibits pay tribute to baseball's greatest hits and hitters. Watching a craftsman creating a bat in the plant was fascinating, but the guy explained to us that they dont do it that way anymore, except for historic exhibitions or for special occasions. Behind him, and not in operation during the evening, was automated equipment to turn out precision bats by the thousands daily. Baseball players and fans will know about this, but had never heard about the sweet spot" on a bat before. And so it goes. The Thursday night extravaganza, as it was billed, was held at Churchill Downs, in the Kentucky Derby Museum. This includes three floors of exhibits, with lots of memorabilia and interesting history of horse screens racing. The main room is oval with all around and above. Upon that was presented a re In addition to baseball and racof famous for bourbon. We is, course, ing, Kentucky were led through the process of bourbon making, including the information that the making of moonshine for personal use is still common, and legal to a limit, in Kentucky. No overview of that state is complete with a remark on the traditional white rail, and the newer black rail (creosote-treated- ) fences on the vast horse holdings. There are no corneis, to prevent the spirited runners from ruining themselves in the same, and the graceful curves of all fences are a defining characteristic of the area. All I hand-turne- d I Shakedown Village is very well interpreted and offers guest accommodations as well as the tounst experience. Sam attended a church service there while shopped. And a great bonus was the farmer who offered us seed from the antique corn they grow, which we brought home and carefully put away for next years garden. I ia HL ) (UPS) Entered as Second class Matter at the Post Office at Moab, Utah under the Act 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 f 6309-2000- address: editor9moabtimes.com Postmaster: Send changes of address to: The P.O. Times-lndependen- or 435-259-75- Member FAX t, of March 3, 1897. 64532 435-259-77- T. Flanders. NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Ron Flanders Mary Wright Sadie Warner.. Dorothy Anderson. Zane Taylor. L Associate Editor News Writer ...Circulation Mgr., T--l Maps Systems Manager ..Advertising Representative News Writer, Sales Mail Room Supervisor ...Production Manager fast-forwa- eral grandchildren. Some of our children have found that there is no way for then to even come close to paying the costs of birthing our grandchildren. Their choices are to have exorbitantly expensive insurance or a government medical card. One of my daughters, for reasons other than financial, has her babies at home. It disappoints me that our society has come to this. In fact, it seems that there is something funda- mentally and seriously awry in a society when the majority of young couples cannot afford the basic process of reproduction. My kids will never know the pride from paying their that comes from being of intervention the third way without parties in the and of insurance government guise Who do we have to thank for this state of affairs? I think that there is plenty of blame to go around. We could blame the medical profession for seeking ever higher payment for their services. We could blame insurance companies for siphoning billions of dollars from the people who might otherwise do just fine without them. We could blame the lawyers for saddling health care with the abscess of malpractice litigation. We could blame government for stealing our pride by promising to fulfill all our needs in exchange for our obeisance. Most of all we have ourselves to blame for trying to get something for nothing. And we keep doing it The current political candidates trumpet what they wall do for us because they know that it is what we want to hear. This quota from Benjamin Franklin is applicable to " many situations. It works in this context, too. "He who would give up essential freedom for a little security, or so he supposes, deserves neither freedom nor security." As for me, I intend to vote for whoever I think will leave me alone. I can take care of myself, thank you. self-relian- t, Kelly Ericson, Bobbie Domenick Jed Taylor, Ken Davey. Betty Bailey. Ron Drake Ron George Oiiver Hams..... Jose Churampi High Country News Writers on the Range in the West Truth-tellin- g ing hulk in the Tfeton River, there was nothing else by Ed Marston Brothers is a store and a highway rest stop 43 miles east of the New West boom town of Bend in central Oregon. It is also home to some of the most shocking roadside markers we saw in 3,600 miles of Western travel this summer. After days of reading highway signs that painted the surrounding area as a land of milk and honey founded by heroes, we had come on signs that told the truth. Heres what one of them says: It usually took about five years for a man to arrive, build a house, fence some land, plow it, put in a crop, wait in vain to harvest, lose his money, get tired of jackrabbit stew and leave. Not content to turn the usual heroic story of settlement on its head, another Deschutes County Historical Society marker brings the visitor into a not very bright present: "From societys standpoint a serious consequence of homesteading was that it was hard on the land in that most of the acreage should never have been plowed. Hie markers say that homesteading began with the arrival of the railroad in Bend in 1911 and was mostly over by 1918. In those few years, the homesteaders wiped out the wildlife, damaged the native vegetation and left a hard pan of compacted earth that still prevents water from percolating into aquifers. How do roadside markers usually read? Like the highway between Stanley signs along the and Lowman, Idaho, proclaiming it a Ponderosa Pine Scenic Highway. From the scenic highway, at least, most of the trees looked more like lodge pole pine than Ponderosa, and what Ponderosa we saw were packed in like thin, sickly sardines. A healthy ponderosa pine forest is easy to spot, even at 65 miles per hour: twenty or so large, straight pines per acre with a park-lik- e understory. The trees in such stands are so n wagwidely spaced early travelers drove I them. don't think a person on foot could ons through walk through the "scenic forest we saw. If the Westerners who put up the Brothers historic markers had been in charge of Idaho Highway 21, they might have called parts of it the "Ponderosa Pine Memorial Highway, and described it as an example of careless logging followed by Smoky Bear fire suppression. Visitor would then have better understood this summers fires. That is not how we generally do it. In southeastern Idaho, where the Tfeton Dam collapsed on June 5, 1976, there is a roadside marker commemorating the loss of Lfe and property. But the marker, coyly, does not tell how to find the dam site. When, by hit and miss, we drove up the road leading to the dams breached, erod horse-draw- PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Editors and Publishers Franklin Seal Tom Taylor. Ronald Reagan came up with a masterful question in his campaign for President against incumbent Jimmy Carter. He asked: Are you better off now than four years ago?" It is likely that the consideration of this question helped him greatly in winning the presidency. I would like to ask a similar question. Are we better off now than, say, thirty or forty years ago, back when I was beginning a family, going to college, landing that first teaching contract? Coincidentally, those were also the years of Lyndon Johnson and the birth of The Great Society. For starters, let me reminisce a bit about having babies and paying the bills. From the early 1960s through 1970, Barbara ani I had several children. During those same years I worked in the uranium mines, on various construction jobs, began and finished college and embarked upon my professional career. Three of our children were born while I was a student in college. The most amazing thing is that we had no insurance and very little money. Still, we were able to pay all of the bills associated with the births of our children. A few years later, with three young children enrolled in school in Colorado, their principal came to my home for a visit. He and I were of distinctly different political persuasions. He spent about an hour trying to convince me that because of the size of my family and the paucity of my salary as a rural school teacher, (and thanks to Lyndon Johnson) my children qualified for and should accept free lunch at his school. I argued that they were my children and that it was my responsibility to feed them, not the government's. He was surprised and seemed disappointed at my intransigence. to today. Barbara and I have sev Now, red-barke- d, Box 129, Moab, UT UTAH Sena Politics I ... multi-med- by Ollie Harris I I We were in Louisville, KY, last week for the fall meetings of the National Newspaper Association. Pronunciation of the name of that historic city varies, with the prevalent local version something like Looahvull." Move the sounds into the back of your throat. Named after King Looah of France. And I guess it's okay to joke about it, since the folks fack there do, and there and such displaying the variaare posters, to how on tions say the name. Jokes aside, it was our first visit to the Biuegrass Region. Cincinnati airport doesn't count, even if it is several miles into Kentucky and out of Ohio. The bulk of my time was taken up in committee work and seminars, the latter of which will have the most impact on what we do here in Moab. It seems that, no matter how one tries to keep up with technolI ogy, it's always way out ahead. And . . . argh foresee that in addition to a learning curve on new software for doing what we do, we will also face a learning curve on new software for billing our customers for what we do. The questions as to what direction to look for a new Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas ...Backstop Contributing Writer Green River Correspondent Castle Valley columnist .Columnist Columnist Distribution h at the site but an unmarked cracking asphalt parking lot probably intended to serve visitors to the functioning dam. In the West, we generally bury our mistakes without benefit of grave markers. Tbo bad, because historic markers here could recount how a few underfunded opponents went to court to stop the dam, but were beaten by the local communities and the UJ5. Bureau of Reclamation. Visitors could decide if anti-damovement helps the West todays strong make better decisions about proposed dams. Its a natural urge, this hiding of mistakes and disasters. Were a young region, and in our hearts we know how hard it is to build communities and economies. So we boast and bluster, and then put those boasts and blusters on highway signs and promotional literature. But there are signs a few of them even along roadsides that the region is maturing. Our last stop pro-rive- r, this summer was in the two mile-hig- h town of Silverton, Colo., which is in transition from hardrock mining to a different economy. The Silverton Mountain Journal had two historic essays in its Aug. 4, 2000, issue. One was titled "Chinese driven out by force: Ethnic group victimized by racial hatred in 1902. The other described how a mine executive in 1939 used red baiting, violence, and the eviction of his opponents from town to destroy the miners union. Thats the work of one editor. More significantly, we saw the same drive to tell the truth on a community scale in Butte, Mont., at a memorial to the 168 miners who died at the Granite Mountain Speculator underground fire in 1917. This is no tourist site. You have to know the memorial is there to find its remembrances of the men trapped underground, spending their last hours writing love letters' to wives and families as the oxygen vanished. Why rake this muck? Because the West is old enough to stop telling fairy tales. The homesteaders and other first comers were a lot like us: people who left behind know-hoand wealth and a colorful history, but who also left busted economies, rivers that run red with acid mine waste, devastated forests, and a legacy of social oppression. We should find it encouraging that we are not walking in the footprints of giants. We can do as well. If we can bring ourselves to look at and learn from the experiences of those who came before us, we can do better. Ed Marston is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (www.hcn.org). He is the publisher of High Country News and lives in Paonia, Colo. w |