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Show Page A6 Dje Cinirs-3nbrpcnbc- Thursday, December 7, 2000 nt OUR. TOWN TEACHERS op TH STATE STAGED TD PRCTTCVT UND ERPUh ANOfbdR WORKING CDNbmoNS. A FEW COMMUNITIES .such REFUSED TO Community Comments TtTOA-- A by Sam Taylor THC ONE DAY WALk-OU- T I i rural participate-..- -- Ij TEAGjElOjtfVMfcf ,1 9 1 Teachers from 26 of Utah's 40 schoof d'Stricts may or may not have enhanced their position with Utahs legislators Tuesday when they stayed home from work They did get a lot of publicity They did make the point that no plan had emerged this year to enhance educational funding over the next ten years But some legislators disagree question the timing of the long-ran- ge I The new Utah Legislature won't go into session for another month, and about a third of at least the House of Representatives will be newcomers A job action when legislators were actually in ses- walk-o- ut sion might have been more appropriate Importantly, at least to us locally, Grand County teachThey ers chose not to take part in Tuesday's walk-ou- t. also felt that the action was ill timed, so school proceeded here on Tuesday in a normal fashion. Grand County parents have every reason to appreciate our dedicated s educators. Their de(and a lot of Grand week saved this cision to stay on the job some heartburn County parents under-appreciate- sj- t- don't believe any community newspaper in the West has as much reader participation as this one This week. Letters to the Editor are spread over much of four pages in this section of The Although many are in connection with the proposed "Cloudrock" development. they also cover a lot of other subjects. love it, and am sure that they will be by our subscribers. Ive even gotten to the point where dont lose sleep over letters that don't agree with my opinions, or that are critical of editorial positions we take, or me personally. There was a time, in my late twenties and early thirties, when as a successful candidate for political office on a couple of occasions, had a difficult time dealing with some people out there who just didn't like me or my opinions. couldnt figure out why anyone couldn't like a nice guy like me. realized, over time, however that if there were some people just couldnt abide, would have to give others the same right with respect to me. Even the name of the hallowed Ed Abbey was invoked this week in a letter from Jim Stiles. Jim repeated a quote made in an interview with Ed 29 years ago. Thats a long time ago. People and positions change I T--l. well-rea- d I I I I I I I I over time Back in the early 970s, didn't think wilderness of any kind was appropriate. I feel differently about that issue now You can call that mellowing, wishy-wash- y or maturation. It may be a little of all. I do, however, warmly remember my tour decade-lon- g relationship with the late Mr. Abbey We always enjoyed disagreeing with each other. I first met him m the late summer of 1 956, shortly after I began my sojourn here at The Times, and he was a seasonal ranger at the Windows section of Arches National Monument. We spent the better part of one afternoon under a juniper tree near Balanced Rock discussing the planned construction of a paved entrance road into Arches. We agreed on one thing- A new, paved entrance road into Arches would attract a lot more visitors. At that time. Arches was hosting well less than 20,000 visitors a year. Ed viewed the new road as bad. I didn't agree. We were able, though, to argue in a friendly and respectful manner. We continued to do that over the years, and I think we both always enjoyed our encounters. Shortly after his masterpiece, Desert Solitaire, was published in the early 1 960s, we discussed it. I told Ed that I thought the work was beautifully written and might have become a classic if he had used a good editor to work it over. In answer to his question about specifics, I told him that I would have left out the part about kicking over red anthills, and the section about burning the tumbleweeds in a side canyon to the Colorado River. We laughed about that. 1 Rbk!s?2k t U - Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas by Ollie Harris Football In the late 1980s, I received an autographed copy of one of his last pieces of writing, The Fool's Progress. To Sam Taylor, my good friend (I hope) and fellow year in high school that suited up in any sort of football gear. Sure, we had played some rough and tumble games on the dirt playgrounds of rural Colorado. I even made a difficult catch on a pass thrown by La Veil. La Veil was a big kid who had been away to college and knew everything there was to know about football. Of course, he got to play quarterback. Before the beginning of my sophomore year we moved to Washington State. We found a place to live far out in a timbered valley and rode the bus to school in Boistfort. It was a very small high school. There were 35 kids in all, including freshmen. Fifteen of us were boys. We played football. A map of southwestern Washington shows Boistfort, Ie Ell, Ryderwood, Vader, Curtis and other small communities. Some of these had similarly small high schools football league. that comprised a Six man football is played on a smaller, scaled-dow' rsion of a regulation, 11 man field. With only six players to the side and a shortened field it made for a wide-ope- n game. Football scores rivaled those of basketball, with points running into the sixties and seventies for each team. After all, a ball carrier or receiver only had to beat one or two defenders, depending on the play, and off he went for another touchdown. The most memorable feature of football in rural Washington was the incessant rain. Every game was played in a quagmire. We rivaled mud wrestling for gete drill was ting muddy. The first mud!" in the Anyone coming in from the bench with jump into a clean uniform was doomed to be the mud. I remember being flagged for some infraction or other. The referee looked at my front but couldnt see my number for the mud. He turned me around but the back was no better. When my hands and sleeves became It wasn't until journalist. I found the book terribly depressing. I didnt even finish it, though it still sits on the bookshelf in our living room. During the lengthy debate over the creation of Canyonlands National Park, we had occasion to argue a lot. I think we both learned from those arguments. Our relationship proved that people with diverse opinions could enjoy and respect each other. Thank you, readers, for your Letters to the Editor. Keep them coming. Just remember, keep them brief (under 400 words), keep them free of liable and slander, and dont write more than one a month or we'll have to charge vou for the space. my sophomore I six-ma- n n Many Trails -- by Adrien F. Taylor Pitas and others who have been involved in accompaniment, coaching and otherwise smoothing the way for this great community event. The Messiah is something that's been part of my life since childhood, and Im sure thats true for many of us who are involved. It was in college when first sang with the chorus, then as an alto. In the interim between then and five years ago, it was a Messiah Singalong from time to time, whenever happened to be someplace where one was going on. And then when we started here, we were short of tenors, so sang (and still sing) with the tenor section, despite the fact that many of the notes are higher than the alto notes. This year there will be at least three women tenors, and a fine complement of men in both the tenor and baritone sections. And so, speaking on behalf of everyone involved, invite the community to come and listen at 7 p.m. Dec. 16 in the high school auditorium. It's a mutual treat. There is a lot of talk about learning something new, and so well just keep the community posted about how that talk proceeds. defining event in the Christmas season for many people is Handels The Messiah. We here in Moab will have the opportunity to either participate or listen to the fifth annual local production on Saturday, Dec. 1 6. This will be the first of the five years when Moab musicians have done it without substantial support from San Juan County musicians. There, Pete Henderson started the tradition, some 30 years ago, I believe. Kathryn Jackson talked to him about getting it started here in Moab, and then a bunch of other folks jumped in too, and he said he would. In all truth, we would not have been able to do the production those first several years without Pete and the generous support given by his singers and instrumentalists. And then, in the words of some sage: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Carl Dastrup came to Moab to teach music. He is a gifted teacher A I I I one-ma- n Townsend, Nancy Davis, Lou Alcorn, Gail Roy, Andy Brick Bats and Bouquets Accolades and Admonishment with regard to issues in our community Bouquets to Grand County educators who stayed on the job Tuesday while others around the state went on strike. We support your mission to increase funding to a point on a level with the national average. Bouquets to the Moab City crews, who really did all the work decorating the community Christmas Tree on the courthouse lawn. Marvin Day reported that he may do a lot of things around here and there in connection with his county duties, but the tree was not one of them. (Eimcs-Iniirpcnbc- nt (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. Official City and County Newspaper. Published each Thursday at: 35 East Center Street, Moab, Grand County. Utah 84532 6309-200- address: editormoabtimes.com Postmaster: Send changes of address to: The P.O. Box 129, Moab, Times-lndepende- or FAX Member UT 84532 435-259-77- NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION and PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Sena T. Flanders, Editor UTAH Tom Taylor. Zane Taylor. Ron Flanders Franklin Seal Lisa Church Mary Wright Sadie Warne- rDorothy Anderson V Circulation Manager, T--l Maps Press, Production Manager Systems Manager News Writer News Writer Advertising Representative Real Estate Weekly, Design Mail Room Supervisor Jose Churampi, Stan Zook... Kelly Ericson, Bobbie Domenick, Jed Taylor. Backshop Ken Davey, Carrie Mossien News Writers Layne Miller. Regional Correspondent Green River Correspondent Betty Bailey. Ron Drake Castle Valley columnist Ron George Columnist Oliver Harris..... Columnist Distribution e, pre-gam- gang-squashe- d too sloppy to wipe the mud from my face the only recourse was to raise my face to the sky and let the rain wash it off. football was a wonderful introducPlaying tion to the sjxirt. Our coach, Mr. Gust, had plenty of time He took the time to teach us to work with us six-ma- n one-to-on- e. good fundamentals. 1 finished high school and my football career. It is interesting to contrast the modern game and players to those of my era. I shudder to imagine what would happen to my old GCHS team were we to somehow be matched up with one of the local teams of today. The most obvious difference is that todays kids are so much bigger and better conditioned. The biggest player we had weighed and played end. I played offensive and defensive guard weighing less than 155 pounds. Tim Martin was our center and weighed considerably less than 1. 1 figured that the reason we were smaller than other teams was because Brigham Young sent all the big pioneers to Millard County. None of us ever saw a weight room nor did we do any strength training beyond calisthenics. Then there was the gear. The only player to have even the skimpiest face mask was the center who had a single bar across his face. The shoes were heavy, stiff, black leather monstrosities. Mine were so that I developed a blister on my heel which soon became ulcerated and very painful. I just packed it full ofpineguiO over it and continued to irritate it salve, put a band-aiWe a make-dwere after day. day generation. I had a really bad experience when I was on the bottom of a big pile with my face mashed into a chalk line. I desperately needed to breathe but could not inhale the lime. A face mask would at least have provided breathing room. We moved to Moab where il f d o 1 High Country News Writers on the Range I musician and will conduct the Moab chorus and orchestra this year. But it's not a show by any means. Public acknowledgement and thanks need to go to Fran 435-259-75- I f I six-ma- n Ijc t f Ugly initiatives reveal the beauty of democracy by Daniel Kraker If there is one political axiom that has defined this election season, it isnt that democracy rules. A thank you goes to the electoral college system for that rude reminder. Nor is it the corollary, blabbed by many pundits, that every vote counts. Just ask Democrats in Wyoming if their presidential vote has counted in recent years. The only clichd that still applies is that democracy is ugly." And nowhere was it uglier on Nov. 7 than in the host of western states where voters waded through teleballots stuffed with dozens of initiaphone book-size- d tives. Consider Arizona, where Phoenix is growing at the relentless pace of a quarter-mil- e per year in every direction. Voters there had tne opportunity to pass the Citizens Growth Management Initiative, which would have required most cities and counties to adopt growth management plans and urban growth boundaries. Early polls showed it leading by a wide margin. Developers, real estate and construction interests responded with a $4.5 million advertising blitz; supporters collected a mere $850,000. The proposition was crushed by a margin. In Colorado, another western state struggling with sprawling cities and ski towns spreading up surrounding mountainsides, citizens voted on a nearly identical proposal dubbed the Responsible Growth Initiative. Again it led in early polls. Development groups there amassed a $5.7 million war chest, outspending growth management supporters by nearly six to one. The initiative lost by the same margin as Arizonas. Back in Arizona, California millionaire Ron Unz personally bankrolled an initiative to replace bilingual 70-3- 0 education with mandatory English immersion programs. It cruised to victory. Aimed at Latino children, the measure could have the unintended effect of eliminating bilingual programs on Indian reservations meant to preserve threatened Native languages. William Jennings Bryan and other Progressive advocates of the initiative process must be spinning in their graves. This isnt what they envisioned when South Dakota enacted the first ballot initiative law in 1898. Initiatives were designed as a way for citizens to circumvent special interest-dominate- d state legislatures, not to allow those same wealthy interests to circumvent the popularly elected legislature and pass their own laws. These results will surely provide further fodder for Washington Post columnist David Broder and others who oppose the initiative process. Citizens, they say, cannot be expected to make informed judgments on everything from growth to education to taxes to the environment. Our founding fathers, after all, designed a representative democracy to ensure that the rights of minorities (like Hispanics and Native Americans in Arizona) would be protected from the tyranny of the majority. But representative democracy frankly doesnt interest Americans anymore. In the closest election ever, half the electorate didnt even bother to show up. By contrast, in Oregon, which had more initiatives on the ballot than any other state, voter turnout was a whopping 80 percent. In 1998, voters in the 16 states with an initiative on the ballot went to the polls at a 3 percent greater rate than voters who only had a choice between politicians. Direct democracy engages people in the political process. Initiatives give voters a sense that they aie playing a vital role in making the decisions that affect their daily lives. When representatives lack the political courage to enact legislation that people want but special interests dont, initiatives allow the peoples collective voice to be heard. Initiatives surely dont remove the influence of money from the political process, as in Colorado and Arizona will attest. But its influence might not be as pervasive as these results suggest. In The Populist Paradox, Elisabeth Gerber of the University of California at San Diego reveals research showing that while economic groups have been moderately successful at defeating initiatives, proposals sponsored by citizen groups have actually passed at a much greater rate. Moneys influence in the initiative process could be easily limited. For starters, states could pass laws fordonors from contributing to initiabidding tive campaigns. If Arizona had such a law, Ron Unz could never have gotten his English-onl- y campaign off the ground. States could also prohibit groups from paying signature gatherers. This would ensure that only initiatives with genuine public backing, strong enough to enlist large numbers of volunteers, would qualify for the sprawl-battle- rs out-of-sta- te ballot. Initiative? bring out the best and worst of American democracy. Money can influence their outcomes. Special interests can sneak pet proposals around state legislatures. But they also give citizens a direct say in the political decisions that affect our lives. It might get ugly at times, but therein lies the beautiful. Daniel Kraker is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (www.hcn.org). He lives in Kearns Canyon, Aril., on the Hopi Indian Reservation. poor |