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Show tlhe PageA8 (Timrs--3lubfprniU'- Thursday, May 31, 2001 nt OURTOWN Community Comments by Sam Taylor Planner Richard Grice, based in Colorado but spending a whole lot ot time working for Grand County, is to be commended, along with a small group he has been working with Grice and his advisors have managed to put together what appears to be a fine plan for Moab's north corridor. That is the area along U. S Highway 191 from the Arches National Park entrance road to the Moab city limits. The plan, if and when fully implemented, will allow for development, but at the same time would provide an attractive approach to the community The plan was approved by the Grand County Council last Monday evening But it is still just a plan. Full implementation will take time. The County Planning Commission will have to recommend creation of two new land use categories. That action will have to be followed by public hearings and final adoption by the County Council property rights that need to be recognized. A high priority now is to establish a Gateway Task Force" comprised of city and county officials, citizens and land owners, which would take a lead role and serve as a catalyst tor implementing the plan, included in that group should be representatives from the National Park Service, Utah Department of Transportation, and whoever is involved in remediation work at the Atlas tailings site. The task is going to take time and a lot of dialogue An important first step, though, was the corrdidor plan. We do have the time, and we need to use it wisely When it comes to the issue of community growth, it's pretty certain that at least along the north corridor, we are well anead of the curve. Now the same CountyCity planners need to get started on a south corridor plan. That may be a little stickier. The County will have to do some hard negotiating with the Utah Department of Transportation. The highway, after all, is what it is all about. It needs to be reconstructed into a divided facility. The narrow bridge across the Coloiado River will have to be replaced or joined by a twin to provide four lanes for vehicle traffic. And provision will have to be made for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The current bridge is totally inadequate. It is almost impossible now for two oncoming vehicles to pass when a bicycle is traveling along the side. That's to say nothing about trucks, which we seem to have plenty of. We now have a potential for dfour-lan- sjt The situation that has developed in Washington since the defection of Senator James Jeffords of Vermont to the Democratic party may well create a gridlock between the administration and the congress Jeffords' party switch broke the tie between Reto 49-5publicans and Democrats from 50-5Even though Republicans hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives, the Senate could well block any administration proposal, be it good or bad. I'm afraid am becoming more and more disillusioned with partisan politics. Maybe weve got it right in Grand County. Perhaps we should carry politics to a higher level even to the Congress of the United States. e, 0 I isaster. Land owners along the corridor must play a big part in implementation. They have private non-partisa- n Many Trails by Adrien F. Taylor The letters to the editor section of the editoin the pages is one of the most entire paper. Some people take advantage of this public forum as often as well let them, which should be no more than about once a month, and others never or rarely write in. For those who do, a review of the letters guidelines seems appropriate from time to time. So, although they are printed on the page, Ill take this space today to go over the guidelines. First, letters should concern subjects pertinent to Southeastern Utah. Taken from the standpoint that the whole world is of interest to those living in Southeastern Utah, that pretty much opens the door for any subject, and we'll be the judge of pertinence. Letters should be to the point and must include the writer's name, address and telephone number Underline all of the above. Unsigned letters will not be printed Letters may not be used to replace advertisements, or to list and thank sponsors or participants of a particular event. The letters section is a place where people may express their opinions and provide personal comment on a note variety of subjects. It is not a thank-yo- u doesnt matter that the subject may have forum. this week, the deadline may be backed up to the previous Friday. Now. Phew! Ill say again on behalf of the ownership and management of The that we welcome opinions from our readers. We are pleased to have such an active letters to the editor section in the paper. Keep em coming. rial well-rea- nothing to do with the candidate's platform. It is simple fairness that dictates that we do not print letters from candidates running for office during the campaign season. Anything of a libelous, slanderous or defamatory nature will not be considered for publication. Weve had some letters just on the edge here lately, which has caused us to refine guidelines for what is not acceptable. This will include allegations of poor service in the visitor industry, problems with products, clerks or business owners, etc., and et cetera. These types of allegations are, in fact, potentially libelous, and they are matters best taken up with a Better Business Bureau, the business owner, or the police, if it appears a law may have been bro- d ken. All of the most important things having been said, the rest is detail. Letters must be typed or written legibly, and be 400 words or less. Letters are subject to editing. They should be mailed to: Letter to the Editor, P.O. Box 129, Moab UT 84532. They may also be sent via email to editormoabtimes.com . Deadline is Monday, 5 p.m. In the case of a Monday holiday, as we had It's not the political season just now, but during that season, many people would like to use the letters columns as a place to either praise or trash a candidate. Thats against the rules. Additionally, some candidates have tried to use the letters columns to get their names before the public. It Times-lndepen-de- nt A (Lite (Dmcs-31nfcepcnhc- 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 ail of address: editormoabtimes.com P.O. address to: The Times-lndependen- or FAX 5 Member U t, Box 129. Moab. UT 84532 435-259-77- NATIONAL NEWSPAPER M! ASSOCIATION and UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Sena T. Flanders, Editor Tom Taylor. Zane Taylor Ron Flanders Franklin Seal Usa Church j Kari Gibb Sad.e Warner Dorothy Anderson i Circulation Manager, T--l Maps ....Press, Production Manager Systems Manager News Water News Writer Sports' Advertising Rep. Office Manager'Sa:esDes'gn Mad Room Supervisor Jose Churampi, Stan Zook by Ollie Harris Wild things Can you believe were going to travel 300 miles (one way I just to see the baby geese? There must be more to it than simply baby geese. It's just that these baby geese are special. The pair of migrating Canadas decided to nest on the island in our kids pond. It is the same pond in which they have stocked fish and to which the elk come to drink and to frolic. Im not sure I would make the trip if it were up to me alone. But, Barbara penciled it in on my calendar. This interest in the goslings has me thinking about all of the wonderful things one sees simply by being out w here the w ild creatures live. I think of the magnificent mule deer buck that came to drink, just yards away from where we were standing quietly fishing from a beaver dam in the remote Colorado Rockies. He sucked water from the surface of the pond then began to paw at the water with his forefeet. Finally, he lay down in the water, stretched out his neck, drank some more and slipped back into the forest. I am one who believes that almost nothing in the wild quietly dies of old age. As it grows weak and feeble, some predator or other comes along and kills and eats it. We were hiking and playing in the mouth of Fish Creek Canyon where it debouches into Comb Wash one winter day. One of the children discovered a large mule deer buck with a heavy, three-poin- t rack, lying on the ground. We all came to look at it. The poor old fellow was too weak to stand. He was emaciated to the point that there seemed to be no flesh upon his bones. I marveled that the coyotes had not discovered him. We could find no wound or parasites upon him and concluded that perhaps he had become too weakened by the rut and could not recover. owls that nest and roost How about the long-eare- d not far from C rescent Junction? The ground beneath the roosts of these consummate hunters is littered with hun Kelly Jed Taylor Dann Hawk Layne Mdier. Betty Bailey. Ron Drake Ron George Oliver Hams Backshop Pressroom Assistant Regional Correspondent Green River Correspondent Castle Valley columnist Columnist Columnist Distnbution long-eare- d Writers on the Range Utah is for lovers Stephen J. Lyons the bravest man I know. One of the first residents in 50 years to be convicted of charges adding up to polygamy, he has been married 10 times. I've only tied the knot twice and Im thoroughly exhausted. Green has to be one of America's 50 most charming, attractive, dashing and virile men to have garnered such amorous attention. He has 29 children and is rumored to have several more on the way. I have only one and she keeps me up at nights worrying about that impending tattoo or the next pierced body part. If you add up Greens wives and children you have a community about as large as Stanley, Idaho. Give the man a zip code and the first gold medal of the 2002 Winby Tom Green is - Whats wonderful about this trial is that once again the stereotypes dont held true. Weve come to expect free love to frolic in northern Californian communes between drugged out men and their women named Tree Bark or Meadow Fern. But in Green -- long-haire- we have a hanging out on the sex-craz- renegade Mormon named Tom border in a compound of trailers. (If the trailers rocking, dont be knocking.") . His openness about sex must drive some Utah folk to their nearest hidden fifth of Wild Turkey. And it might send many to grab their family records and head to the nearest shredder. Green has committed two crimes. The first is giving in to his biology. When the male genetic code was constructed, monogamy was left out of the helix. Instead, our bumpy path to evolution is similar to that of a roosters: to breed and flee and following a nap to find the nert available female. The idea of sticking around to pick out bving room curtains is foreign to our sex. No wonder states had to create laws to make us stay and take out the trash. Cultures throughout the world live in harmonious polygamy. Utah itself banned polygamy with a wink of its eye in 1896, a few years after it became a state. Though the Mormon Church has long excommunicated practitioners, some 50.000 polygamists are estimated to be bving in collective bliss. Thats a lot of trailers. Green's second crime was to speak so openly about right-leanin- Utah-Nevad- a le Ericson, Bobbie Domemck, dreds of regurgitated pellets. Within each pellet will be found at least two skulls of small rodents snatched from the nearby desert. owls I once heard what Not far from the sounded like the squeaking whistle of a bird. Thinking that I knew the sounds of most of the birds in the area, and not recognizing this particular whistle, I began to search it out. The sound led me to crawl beneath a matted canopy of brush to find a litter of coyote pups, one of which was separated and crying for his mama. I think of the ravens nesting in a remote Anasazi ruin. It interests me that with all of the ravens in the country, their nests are so seldom found. I remember the aged buffalo bull in the Henry Mountains. He was traveling with some other bulls, all of whom seemed sleeker and healthier than he. There was the young osprey that we watched make unsuccessful dive after unsuccessful dive for fish in Recapture Reservoir. And the loons that cried into the dark on the lake in Montana. We watched as they had better success catching fish. The list of wild animal tales is almost endless. But, there are other things of interest that one sees simply by being out in the wild country. There was the crashed airplane that I walked upon, the bones of four people scattered across the canyon floor. There were the strange whirlwinds atop Mt. Peale that revealed their presence only by their eerie shrieking and lofting of small rocks high into the air. There was the partially exposed Anasazi skeleton in Comb Wash and another partially exposed Anasazi skull in the bank of a wash running into Cottonwood. There are gastroliths and other interesting rocks, bone, artifacts, ruins, and, of course, animals and birds. All reasons to get out and enjoy the wild country. High Country News ter Olympics. 6309-2000- Postmaster: Send changes Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas 1. his lifestyle on the talk show circuit. When you have a thing, it is best to keep quiet. Dont boast or you may end up moving to Nevada where you have to pay for the ss.me sort of fun. Americas favorite polygamist eventually caught the attention of David Leavitt, Juab County prosecuting attorney and brother of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt. The prosecutor brought Green in on four charges of bigamy for not taking care of nine and one count of of his children. Another charge of child rape awaits him in a separate case. Allegedly, Green began his physical pursuit of current wife Linda, now 28, when she was 13. Gosh, if he had only waited until Linda was 14, and found a judge to determine that the union was voluntary and had the blessing of one of her parents, they could have been legally married in Utah. d state officials are embarrassed that the Beehive States innovative marital subculture is surfacing on the eve of the 2002 Winter Olympics. But what are they afraid of? That Coca-Col- a will be replaced by YTagra as the main sponsor? That the Games will be tainted? I distinctly remember a small issue about bribes and payoffs to land the Olympics. Governor Leavitt must be launching a public relations image campaign for the thousands of journalists that will descend upon Utah for the Olympics. Apparently the British magazine The Economist upset the governor when ir. described Utah as "comically conservative." One wonders which of the nine planets in our solar system Leavitt inhabits. Doesnt he realize that Tom Green and his merry band of be by makers is the best thing to happen to Utah since Intel and Karl Malone? Green is to Utah what the Mustang Ranch was to Nevada. Throw in a little snake handling and some more outlet malls, and watch tourism revenues soar. And if the good governor needs a fresh motto to highlight Utahs more sexy side, he might try Utah is for Lovers." Oops. Virginia took that slogan. Well, there's always Utahns do it in Denominations of Ten." Get it. Stephen J. Lyons is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (uwu.hmorg ). He has one wife and lives in the Midwest. good non-suppo- rt Red-face- -- |