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Show I -- tyr 'y iymr jjj ij ijjr 1D '4tfnJf gniijiifiiiif mr TJ (Dir Page A6 (Timr8-3nhrpmhf- n Thursday, March 7, 2002 nt OUR, TOWN Community Comments by Sam Taylor A the statement that I'm not really against the development, BUT . Let the Board of Adjustments continue its rather mundane work of handling zoning disputes Let's not let the board become the tail wagging the county coun- petition tiled this week by a group ot Grand County citizens fronted by Moab resident Clark Minson, is now in the hands ot county attorney Scotl Barrett tor re- . view The petition (see story Page A2) seeks to overturn ttie Grand County Council's approval of a preliminary plat tor the planned Cloudrock Lodge and luxury housing development tt was filed with the Grand County Board of Adjustments -- an obscure and rarely heard from appointed board that usually deals with disputes over planning and zoning matters Why it should deal with matters as weighty as questioning county council decisions is almost beyond belief County Planning Administrator Mary Hofhme submitted the petition to Barrett because sfie feels if is unclear whether the Board of Adjustments is the proper venue for the appeal I believe Mary made the right decision If the allegations in the petition, that ttie county council failed to follow guidelines set in the county land use code, a'e valid, they should be questioned in a court of law not by a board charged with settling disputes over planning and zoning issues That, of course, would be expensive Legal counsel would obviously have to be obtained Court costs and attorney fees would undoubtedly cost a lot more than ttie $260 filing fee the group put up to try and involve ttie Board of Adjustments in something they have no business being involved in The group cites a number of issues including whether ttie county can provide water and sewer services as outlined in ttie plan, potential negative impacts caused by increased traffic to the development, and violations of land use code protecting sensitive lands Those are ttie same issues that concerned members of the county council when they approved the preliminary plat And those issues will have to be settled before any final approvals are granted The local end run this week by petitioners is grasping for straws Mr Mmson's statement that "I'm not against Cloudrock as such, I'm just against decisions being made without following proper procedure," is one we've heard before Almost all the critics of the proposed development have prefaced their attacks with Many cil . dog sjt During its final couple of days in the spotlight, the Utah Legislature approved a line item appropriation of $140,000 that would require the Attorney General to employ an attorney whose primary job would be to sue the U. S government over land and resource squabbles The measure, pushed by three rural legislators, David Ure of Kamas, Tom Hatch of Panguitch and Brad Johnson from Aurora, has been strongly questioned by many of their urban colleagues, but it passed anyway And Attorney General Mark Shurteff likes the move "This person will defend the state's interest against the federal government ... I'm anxious to go after the federal government when they overstep their bounds, and they often do A lot of urban legislators just don't get It. After all, most of their cities and counties consist of private land that raises a lot of property tax revenue. I happen to live, however, in a county where only about one out of every ten acres of private land is forced to provide the property taxes needed to provide all governmental services, including education. What happens on the other nine acres of publicly-owne- d land is pretty darned important to me whether it be for development or for preservation in its original form, as much of It has been. If Utah government can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire an assistant attorney general to protect us against pornography, It ought to be able to spend a similar amount for an assistant AG to look after Utah's interests with respect to the federal government, Utah's biggest landlord. I personally know the three sponsors of the action. They are men of intelligence, integrity and strength of purpose. Thankfully, they have a great deal of influence with their urban colleagues who greatly outnumber them. Trails by Adrien F. Taylor Last March we had lambs born during the time we weie at the annual Utah Press Association convention in St George, so I decided to put off lambing this spring until afler the meetings I had boarded my nice young ram, Pretty Boy, out at Cunnmgton Farms from shearing on until the first part of October With a five month gestation period, that would put lambing somewhere between the first and third weeks of April, depending on when the girls came into season. Pretty Boy wasnt all that pretty while he was away from home In fact, I'm told he was a real brat. Merv Lawton (can you believe it7) used worse words than that for his behavior, which straightened right up when he gof back.with his ewes So imagine our surpnse last Saturday to discover a newborn lamb in the pen. With humans the old rag is that the first baby can come at any time, but subsequent children each take nine months I counted back on my fingers How could this be? Immaculate conception was not in the realm of possibility, nor was this lamb premature He weighed well over seven pounds at birth, dancing around quite sure on his feet minutes after birth (I toyed briefly with the name Jesus; the ewe s name is Mary ) I knew for sure Pretty Boy wasn't the father It wasnt lust timing, it was color Our new little ram lamb is tan, with a white topknot, and his fleece is not at all similar to Pretty Boy s But, of course. Pretty Boy was still out at Cunmngton Farms Then it dawned on me, what I had known all along, but didn't think about. Last spring's crop of lambs were mainly ram lambs, so they were headed tor the freezer come fall. And since they grow better when they are not castrated, I did not do so Also, and most importantly, in pnmitive breeds, these young gents can become sexually mature as young as five months of age Let s count again. The 2001 lambs were all born between February 24 and March 14 Their main bloodline is Navajo Churro, a pnmitive breed We took one group to Blue Mountain Meats along about August, and the second batch . . well, I dont have that marked in my calendar Suffice to say it had to be after October 1 Those young rams were 6 5 months old by then Thinking back a year, their own father was probably only nine or ten months old when we had him in with the ewes So I think it s fair to assume that virility runs in this bloodline I think it's also fair to assume that Pretty Boys job may have been all done for him before he came home The coming weeks will tell, as the remaining two ewes, Martha and Miss Chocolate, are looking pretty wide. aft We are hearing stones about a cougar in the neigh- borhood. Since Mill Creek and Pack Creek make a pretty direct route down from mountain habitat, discreetly through Moab and on into the Matheson Wetlands, it s an obvious game trail. If it's a game trail, it's also the trail on which you will see predators. More Moabites and visitors have been in the creek area since the city built pathways there, and so we have heard reports of people seeing wildlife. Cats will be among them, although they are generally good at hiding themselves Andy Pitas stopped in to say that hs chicken run had been raided and several fowl killed, with both scat and track of a cat left behind. And we did lose a very nice ewe lamb last fall to an unknown predator. I am pondering the offering of a guard Hama, which for some shepherds has been a real boon, and for others a mistake, so I need to do some more investigation. Umiics-3Jnbcpcnbc- ut 6309-2000- address to; The 435-259-75- Member 1538-183- 8 of March 3, 1897. address: edltor8moabtlmes.com of PO. Box 129, Moab, UT 84532 Ttmes-lndepende- or FAX 435-259-77- 41 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION a and UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Sena T. Flanders, Editor Tom Taylor Zane Taytor Bon FTanderg Franklm Seal Lisa Church.. Circulation Manager, T l Maps Press, Production Manager Out-classe- d It was only by chance that I found myself in the Pakistani man a few evecompany of an India-borto Our visit my cousin and his was plan nings ago. lovely wife whom we dont get to see enough. Wfe were going to meet at their second home on the slopes of Arizona. We the White Mountains in north-centrgot there a day before them, retrieved the hidden key and went in and crashed on the couches for a nap. Afler spending the rest of that day and most of the next with our kids who live near by, we went back for the much anticipated visit at my cousin's place Israr was there. My cousin had mentioned him but we had never met. I dont know if it is possible to form accurate impressions of a man in just a few minutes, but it didn't take long for me to get the distinct, and not at all comfortable, feeling that I was intellectually outclassed It wasnt fair, really. I was deep into the game before 1 knew one was even being played. It reminded me of the game called NIGYYSOB," (Now Ive Got You, You S.O.B). I was the one who was being got." I doubt that there is anything I could say about this Moslem fellow that he could not nor would not successfully dispute. That is the point. For him it seemed to be the disputation, the debate, that was all important. Two analogies come to mind. One is that he is like someone who carries a chess board with him wherever he goes and is just dying to meet a challenging opponent. More simply put, he is like a man with a gigantically muscular right arm who would give anything for a good arm wrestle. He did not find a worthy opponent in me. He was extremely well spoken. His mind ranged far ahead in the discussions, setting little traps to catch the unwary. He seemed very happy to meet me. My cousin had told him that I was a writer, which seemed to impress him. He wanted to know what I wrote. I al much-neede- d Bobbie Domemck, Jed Taylor Dann Hawk Systems Manager News Writer Betty Bailey Ron Drake News Writer Sadi Warner Office Manager'Saie&'Design Ron George Mail Room Supervisor Oliver Hams Dorothy Anderson Distribution Jose Churampi Ryan McDowell CasWe Valley columnist Columnist . Columnist Sports told him. He was not impressed. that one must endure great suffering in order to be a great writer. But, my writing is not about fifes epic struggle. There is little of pathos. My writing is like the simple drawing of a dead cedar tree. I find a comfortable familiarity in its lines and texture. There is beauty in the play of shadow and light, and in the piece of shaggy, dangling bark swaying in the breeze. There is no need to place an eagle in its branches, nor to put great, black clouds in the sky nor lightning on the horizon. Just the tree is enough. He began to speak of classical music. He wondered why he instantly loved Bach the first time he heard it as a young boy. Such music was not part of his culture but something about it greatly appealed to him. I could not help but notice the two large, worn textbooks he had brought with him. One was of trigonometry, the other of calculus. So, I asked him if he considered himself gifted in math. Like many gifted people, he hesitated to admit the gift but simply said that it gave him pleasure. I suggested that in its purest form, Bach was mathematics and that his pleasure in math and music might flow from the same source. Score one for Ollie. . He mentioned a son named Kahlil. I asked if he was named for the Lebanese poet, Kahlil Gibran. His face fit up as he said that Gibran was his fathers favorite poet and his also, and that it seemed appropriate to give his son that name. How in the world, he wondered, did I know of Kahlil Gibran. I told him that it started many years ago with a small booklet called, The Prophet, and that now I had the complete works of Gibran. It was just a little thing but maybe we could score another for Ollie. ing. I He explained his belief Writers on the Range Our Western economy is changing, and it's for the better by Thomas Michael Power The economy of the Mountain West confounds most observers. On the one hand some economic statistics indicate that this is one of the nations poorest regions: Judged in terms of average incomes Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Utah are among the poorest 10 states in the nation; Arizona just missed being a part of that undistinguished group, coming in 1 4th from the bottom. Wyoming, too, was in the poorest half of the states. Only Colorado and Nevada were in the top half. Obviously the Mountain WTeRts economies are miserably failing. At the same time the region continues to be the fastest growing region in the nation, a pattern established back in the 1970s. It is generating new jobs and income and attracting new residents and businesses at a rate that makes most other states envious. So it must be true that the regions economies are amazingly successful. Which is it? The very fact that people were moving into the Mountain West despite its low pay and income suggest that income statistics do not tell the whole economic story Despite the low pay, people, voting with their feet, were, on net, moving into the Mountain West, not moving out Just as mysterious, the highest income states in the nation were losing population during the same period. Analysis can explain a good deal of this apparently economically irrational behavior. The smaller the size of place, the lower is the pay. But offsetting this is the fact that the smaller the size of place, the lower is the cost of bring, especially the cost of housing As Richard Barrett and I pointed out in our new book. Post Cowboy Economics: Pay and Prosperity in the New American West, when variations in cost of bring were accounted for, those bring in smaller cities (less than 250,000), rather than being 30 percent poorer than those living in the largest cities (greater than 2 million), faced wily a 9 percent pay -- fap. Backshop ...Sate&Production Green River Correspondent dont know how to answer that. It is something called, Idle Thoughts, but that doesnt explain anything. He asked how much I earned from my writ- High Country News of curiosity. The quality of the fleece tells part of the tale of his male parentage. His is typical Pretty Boy is California Red (Cormo Columbia, and he was nowhere in the neighborhood five months ago, anyway. ISSN ) (UPS) Entered as Second ctass 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 Postmaster. Send changes by Ollie Harris We decided to name this lamb Lion. Bom on March 2, he was in like a lion, out and about, the picture . cEljc Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas We also found that this small remaining pay gap is wiped out by the value of natural and social ameniand rural bring. Resities associated with small-cit- y dents of the Mountain West were neither mistaken nor just plain stupid in choosing to live here. They knew they were better off living here rather than in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Dallas. The popular explanation for low incomes in the f Mountain West has usually been the decline in the industries. For instance, regions natural-resourc- e our home state of Montana had its highest average income relative to the rest of the nation back when copper was king in Butte and logging, milling, ranching and farming were kings elsewhere in the state. In the late 1940s, Montana ranked among the top 10 states in terms of average income. By the 1990s, Montana fell to the bottom 10 states. Our book carefully investigated the superficial assumption that simultaneity implies causality. We found that if we could have magically frozen the industrial structure of employment in whatever golden era" someone might imagine, that jobs in those natural resource industries not only did not decline but expanded rigorously with the rest of the economy, 85 percent to 95 percent of the relative decline in average pay would have taken place anyway because pay was failing in all sectors, includsectors. No empirical ing, especially, the high-pai- d evidence exists that the change in the industrial structure of employment caused the relative declines in pay and income in Montana or the rest of the mountain West. The Mountain West has not been losing its economic base over the last several decades as the contribution of its natural resource industries to total employment fell to just 5 percent. Instead, the region has been successfully evolving from an unstable frontier economy based on s few extractive exports into s diverse, far more economy quite similar to the rest of the national economy. This has reduced the volume of exports needed to support our habitation of the region. In addition, new light service busimanufacturing and export-oriente- d nesses have blossomed. The base for this transformation has been the ability of the region to attract and hold residents and the economic activity that supports them. Our natural landscapes and spectacular, the environmental quality and outdoor recreation they support are a big part of that economic base. Those concerned about protecting the economic well being of residents need to incorporate protection of those natural landscapes into their economic strategies. Thomas Michael Power is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service ofHigh Country New in Paonia, Colo, (hcn.org). He is a professor of economics at the University of Montana in Missoula. region-definin- g, |