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Show CThr Page A10 Community Comments J by Sam Taylor any time m our nation's history said Rascon director of the agency It sends a crystal clear signal to adversaries of the United States that w stind ready to mobilize national manto defend America in a major crisis power, if nee-it'of the draft" He noted that n reinstatement requiring the aftermath of ttie September 11 terrorist attacks, young men unequivocally showed their support for e registration by deluging Selective Service's with That four traffic the normal times registration site activity shortly dropped hack to its regular level, as has been at The School Lunch program has proved its value Over the years Particularly lor children who are eligible tor free and reduced hot lurches and there are 130.000 of those kids m Utah, the program is great Even tor those who don't quality the lurches are reasonably priced and they are good This summer, m 120 qualified Utah sites, kids between the ages of 1 and 1 8 can eat a balanced meal five days a week Free And that s ALL kids Grand County has qualified tor one of the sites Lunches tor young people from 1 to 1 8 will be served at Helen M Knight Intermediate School, 168 W 400 N , from 12 noon to 1 p m Monday through Friday Summer schedules are busy particularly lor the youth It is good to know that this federally funded program is available here I'm sure that Moub area youth will take advantage of the program sponsored by Utahns Against Hunger A qualified site is designated in areas where over 50 of children qualify for free or reduced school lunches Now hungry kids from all walks of life can have a balanced mid day lunch We hope they take advantage of May 23,2002 nt tmc'S-3nbrpfiii'f- Alfred on-lin- did activity at military recruiting offices We still h ive the system, though and that includes draft board m every county in the nation. We have one here in Grand County but it doesnt have much ' do ets hope we never have to reinstate ttie draft, hut one never knows F'aitioularly during the war in Vietnam, ttie system was increasingly unfair Those wfto wete .elected were II too often from minority ' , L tanks I was never opposed groups and as long as it was fair to mandatory military set vi And believe ttie two years spent in the peacetime Army as a draftee was a valuable part of my e I I it -S- t- We received a news release this week from the Selective Service System We don't hear from them often, but there was a time when we got lots of releases from this independent federal agency before the draft was discontinued in favor of all volunteer branches of the military ust after the end of the war in Vietnam The agency still exists, however, and law requires all young men to register with the agency wfien they pass their 1 8th birthdays Compliance with that law is still pretty good, the of the agency reports Nationally, around 87 nation's young people register Those who don't are guilty of felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000 With the events of the past year, Selective Service registration is probably as important now as it life military is best, though, and An in- creased pay scales and benefit packages have helped fill ttie ranks of all branches of the military don't think ttie $86 a month made as a private would attract many people these days We all owe a lot to those who choose to serve these days Military life is a lot different than civilian It's hard on families, it involves a lot of travel, arid is filled with impending risks In ttie unfortunate event tfiat huge numbers of people are ever needed in the future, it is good to know that the Selective Service System is alive and well All down through ttie history of this relatively life young democracy citizen soldiers" have been called on to serve And they have served with Many Trails by Adrien F. Taylor take the mare to the stallion, and 1 1 months in this case on May 22, you have a new member of the horse world The name was chosen before the birth, male or female She is Torch, in association with the Olympics Because of the weather weve been having lately, I favored Mariah, but then I had forgotten about the original name plan. Torch Is sorrel with fall white sox on all legs, and the Paint of her mother's breeding coming out in beautiful markings along both sides of her neck and little white face. Shell be gorgeous with a saddle on Shes the third foal weve had born in that pasture over the years, each its own small miracle Our lovely AppyQuarterhorse gelding, Pokey, was the first born of the three, and he has been pasture mate to the mare, Polly, down at our place We've already started calling him Uncle Pokey I can't say how much Torch weighs, but she is a good size for a newborn, and those little ribs sticking out will soon be filled over. I can say that the afterbirth weighed well over five pounds when I carried It out In a plastic bag And I'm pretty proud of Polly She's a young mare, this was her first foal, and she Is doing a great job mothering So there was a steady stream of family and friends to see the new arrival this morning, while I was still trailing around in night clothes. It is really quite hard to pull oneself away from these new arrivals. Lambing is finished tor this year, and the little guys (yes, all but one are ram lambs) are doing fine, but will be gone come fall Torch will be with us, al one place or another Into the foreseeable future. You later, and aft completed ttie sptxiing and plying o( ttiree large skeins of yam net long ago, a silk, merino wool and cashmere btond pravocatMty catted Butterfly Blue by Lambspun of Colorado I spun K fine tor another lace knrttmg project, so wanted to finish ttie yam al al one time. Finishing consists of washing the skeined yarn, I and then steaming to set if. One very large skein was spun about two years ago This project has been In the making between other projects for quite a Taylor Flanders stands with the newborn filly. Torch while And thoughtlessly did not check the ties on that first skein closely before washing Well the skein came out more like a mass, and I tiave spent several hours in the last week or so getting the tangle back into balls. The first, and most important, challenge is finding an end to beI gin with was lucky Then it's a matter ol starting a new little ball and running It over, under, around and I through the mass, winding as you go. Some years ago, I learned that a tangle (rope, chain, hose, yarn) can really be sorted out quite easily, so long as the tangle is kept loose and open. But with about 500 yards in this particular tangle, It did take time And when ttie first ball got to be over four incfies in diameter, I just had to break H and start a new ball. will put H back into skeins and wash it Now, again Maybe a projed will even suggest itsell. since I am almost between projects at the moment. There's a lesson here I (EIc (HuucS'htftrpcubrut ISSN ) (IllS) 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 1538-183- 6309-2000- of address to: The PO Torres-Independen- t, or FAX 435-259-75- Member 8 of March 3, 1897. address: edltoremoabtlmes.com ail Postmaster Send changes Box 129, Moab. UT 84532 435-259-77- NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION -- and PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Sena T. Flanders, Editor ,4i7wV' UTAH Circulation Manager, Tom Taylor Zane Taylor Ron Flanders Lisa Church, Jff Richards l Maps Press. Produdion Manager Systems Manager Janet Lowe Sadia Warner. Dorothy Anderson T-- Staff Writers Contributing Writer Oft ice ManagenSalesOesign Matt Boom Supervisor Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas I I Valerie Brown. Darin Hawk Ron Drake Ron George Oliver Hams Ryan McDowell Jose Churampi Horwitz withdraws from race Jed Taylor Backstop Saies-Producfio- Castle Valley columnist Columnist Columnist Sports Distribution j Grand County Council Candidate Marc Horwitz Monday announced his withdrawal from the race. Sine he has dropped out of the election in District 1, in which incumbent Kimberly Schappert now ony faces Nate Knight, a primary election will not be held i v by Ollie Harris I'd like to see it rain One of the favorite memories from my youth is of summer evening. It had been raining across the La Sals for most of the day. I asked one of Moabs lovely daughters if she would like to go to La Sal and smell the sagebrush and rain. She was agreeable so we drove out there a little after dark. We rolled the windows down and slowly drove the back lanes and quiet, dark roads. We breathed the incomparable aromas of wet earth, of sagebrush and rain. We drove a little way onto the Browns Hole road where we stopped the car. We got out and walked along holding hands. To this day there are few aromas as evocative of nostalgic feelings as the smell of sagebrush and rain. And, I wonder what ever happened to Anita. A while back I heard the joke about the old southeastern Utah man who, in a dry, gravelly voice, said, I sure would like to see it rain. Not so much for me as for my children. Ive already seen it rain, once. I get a chuckle out of the joke because it rings so true. I know how the old guy feels. I, too, sure would like to see it rain. I hope my kids and grandkids get to drive along hack lanes and quiet, dark roads to the smells of sagebrush and rain. A few years ago Ron Kartchnef and I were hiking along the foothills of the Blues. In the distance we could hear the strangest, muffled roar. We hiked in that direction and came upon a small canyon filled with the happy sounds of snowmelt laughing as it tumbled over the rooks. The music of flowing water is exceedingly rare in southeastern Utah. It is not a sound to bo ignored. One rainy day I was riding my bicycle along Highway 95, up and out the west side of Comb Wash. I was grinding along just for the fitness of it. Because my mind had gone off to entertain itself, I was slow to hear the intruding sounds of a waterfall ofT to the north. When I seemed to be about even with the sound I laid the bike against a bush, climbed the a long-ag- o fence and slogged through the mud to see this rare event. I stood on the rim of a beautiful canyon and watched a stream of tan water flow over a pour-of- f and spatter against the stone ledge far below. I was once riding my bike along a ridge, pushing as hard as I could to beat a furious storm and the lightning that ripped and shredded the ominous, black clouds. When the rear tire slipped in the mud, I jumped off the bike and ran down the side of the ridge. I squatted down, hunched under a bush, as the rain, hail and lightning swept over me. The hailstones rattled against my helmet and I wondered if I was going to become a statistic. and I took a bunch of the kids My father-in-laout to play in Arch Canyon one rainy day. We were a short distance up the canyon when the rain began to fall in earnest. We decided that we ought to return to the car because there was a good chance of a flashflood. As we milled about the vehicle, wondering where else we ought to take the kids to play, around the corner came a rumbling, tumbling flood. We listened to the boulders inside the water, clunking against each other. And now, we endure this ugly drought. It does not bring out the best in me. I see water being wasted and I struggle not to be judgmental. But, I really do not mind going the extra mile to conserve water. This morning I moved the washing machine across the room to a window. I made extension hoses for the so that the water supply and fixed up a drain-pip- e used water can be pumped out onto the back lawn. We will leave the front lawn to nature. We carry dishwater out to the trees and shrubs. Barbara catches the cold water that runs from her shower while it is warming up and carries it out to her favorite plants. We all know the saying about the toilet, If its yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down." And, I figure that after about three minutes in a shower it ceases to be sanitation and becomes recreation. Meanwhile, we wait. I sure would like to see it rain. g High Country News Writers on the Range In the West, its not easy living with drought by Susan Tweit the color green, wrote the late historian and novelist Wallace Stegner in Thoughts on a Dry Land, his treatise on living in You have to get over the West. Ive remembered Stegner 's words frequently this brown spring as gusty winds smudge the air over my valley with clouds of dry soil. Green appears only along the shrunken streams, or where borrowed water irrigates lawns, parks and pastures. Here in Colorado, we're in the third and most severe year of a dry period. The snowpack is way below half of average for this time of year, some streams in lows. The rest southern Colorado are at hundred-yea- r of the inland West is similarly parched. Tarts of Montana and Wyoming are in their sixth year of drought, and governors of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico have declared either states of emergency or asked for federal disaster-are- a designations. The flurry of proclamations implies that these years of sparse precipitation constitute some kind of abnormal emergency, an unpredictable disaster. Wrong. Drought lives in these sere landscapes. Dry years are a normal part of the climate west of the 98th Meridian, the line that roughly marks the boundary between the Midwest, where annual rainfall averages more than 20 inches a year, and the West, where precipitation drops below the amount needed to sustain crops and lawns without irrigation. Climate records show that Colorado has weathered six drought cycles including the current one since record keeping began in 1893. Meteorologists label 38 of the past 109 years as dry, an average of one dry year in every three. Yet we live as if green were the normal color here, as if there will always be sufficient water to wash our cars, water our lawns, irrigate our crops and pastures, flush our toilets, brew our beer, fill our swimming pools, cool our power-plan- t generators. When a drought comes, we cry Disaster!" and bold out our hands for federal assistance. Perhaps the problem lies in our understanding of what average annual precipitation means. An average annual precipitation of 10 inches, for instance, is not a promise that 10 inches of moisture will fall every year. Average in this case, is the statistical mean, a figure obtained by totaling the precipitation amounts from a period of years, then dividing that sum by the number of years in the period. The figure obtained is simply a mid point in a range: it is just as normal" to receive five inches of precipitation, as it is to receive 12. Or perhaps the problem lies in our continuing belief in that most optimistic of Western boosterisms, rain follows the plow. Wrong again, both literally and metaphorically. Drought is native here, though we can make it worse and more frequent by our activities. Bare soil feeds drought, as farmers on the western Great Plains discovered in the Dust Bowl. Solar energy quickly evaporates the moisture from bare ground. Rainfall depends in part on how much water passing clouds can draw from the soil; without that stored moisture, a dome of dry air forms over the fronts. landscape, repelling It seems that we haven't learned how to inhabit dry country. We see it through green-tinte- d lenses, imposing customs and practices developed for landscapes where rain is both more predictable and more abundant When the wind blows in my town, a veil of grit appears on my door and windowsills, a gift of the formerly vacant industrial property across the alley where my husband and 1 are building our new house. Aa I wipe up each days deposit, I remind myself that this is my fault: It was the construction for my house that powdered the soil to dust, and I'm the one who didnt get it seeded last fall. Even though 1 know better, 1 counted on winter snow and spring moisture to hold fast the dirt. Now, watching the grit from my yard-to-b- e slide along the window, I wonder if Im feeling what farmers might have felt during the Dust Bowl, this combination of guilt and frustration because of what I unwittingly set in motion. Getting over the color green," means abandoning our preconceptions and learning to live in the arid West as it is, not as we imagine it should be. We will belong here only when we understand that spring means grit and wind, just as it does green and rain. Susan J. Tweit is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News m Paonia, Colo, (hcn.org). She is a naturalist and author of several books in Salida, Colo. rain-bearin- g (POC |