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Show (Thf Page A10 (TimfS-3nhrpmin- Thursday, June 27, 2002 tt OUR TOWN Community Comments by Sam Taylor who slept snug'y under a heavy tarp. We didn't have such a luxury But being Boy Scouts, we made beds of Ponderosa boughs and covered our sleeping bags with more branches. That night it snowed about a half a foot. Our pine bough covers didn't keep out the wet, and before long we were drenched and freezing. Near our campsite was an old pine stump about six feet high that was the remains of a lightning strike many years before. We managed to get it burning thanks to a lot of pack-ra- t leavings in the stump. We stood around that blazing tree trunk all night huddling under our sodden sleeping bags Next morning, after a quite spartan breakfast we started checking the trap line. We found some beaver and watched in amazement how quickly Emit could skin the critters with his razor sharp pocket ki fe The pc ids were frozen over with a thin layer of ice. After rebaiting the traps with some of the foulest smelling bait Ive ever smelled, we continued a few miles upstream. At one point, a beaver had taken the trap up a beaver tunnel and we couldn't pull him out. Poke the opening with a stick, Max," Emmit said. When he sticks his head out of this blow hole, I'll shoot him. The trapper carried a small .22 pistol on his patrols. Max, standing near the pond poked away. Sure enough, the animal stuck his head out of the hole and Emmit shot him between the eyes. I've been shot" cried Max as he stumbled Into ttie pond. I can still remember his silhouette in the ice after we pulled him out. We had to build two fires to dry him out. It turned out that a small fragment of ttie .22 shell had embedded itself in Ns forehead. let s face it Even though the evenings, nights and early mornings are delightf ul the hundred degree days are tough Adrien and I came to tte office early Sunday tor morning to work on a special printing project the Dalton Gang m Monticello Its the pedigree catalog tor ttieir annual July sale of mostly paint horses Their animals are beautiful (we have one young filly m our yard now that Sena purchased a tow years ago) Tie Dalton family is a hoot and fun to work with We proud that the family has carried on tie annual event since the death of family patriarch Melvin, a few years ago His widow, Bonnie and sons Val and Wade are just as crusty and funny as Melvin was Then it was church time f rice my garde' was on the edge o tal dehydration arid sine had to had cultivated it tew days bef' make new furrows before could get water on it. By the time got to it. the clock said 2pm That is just about the hottest time of the day I got tfie pb done, and the garden is recovering, but it was tough duty Still, like summer can even stand the hun dred degree days if the humidity is low You can cool off in ttie shade, and ttie swamp coolers work fine And you don't have to scrape the heat off the m just not a winter person windshield When the hot weather comes, often like to think about cold weather to take my mind off ttie perspiration Some of those thoughts bring back memories of cold that make me shudder One winter, between Christmas and New Years, as a young teenager, a friend, Max Cooley and accompanied government trapexper Emit Pittman on a three-day- , cursion to La Sal Pass to check the trap line. Beaver, plentiful in that area, raised havoc with the irrigation ditch system that fed farms in the La Sal area during ttie summer. It was Emmit's job to keep ttie critters thinned out. We drove to ttie edge of La Sal Creek Canyon in an old Model A Ford, and hiked down to ttie creek bottom where we set up camp It was cold, and we weren't very well prepared, though the cold didn't seem to bother our trapper friend, a-- e I I I I I I -- I I I two-nig- Emmit promptly picked it out with his pocket knife. It didn't even bleed. I can imagine Maxs feeling when the fragment hit him, though. Winter memories are fun. They help me for- get the summer heat. Growing up in Moab was a great experience. never want to huddle under a blanket by a campfire during a snow storm, patiently awaiting daylight again, however. Some winter memories aren't so fun to remember. I Trails Many by Adrien F. Taylor attitude of the Justice Department representatives. They described several cases where tightly interpreted regulations have prevented compensation. Now, however, it appears ways will be found to work through (or around?) the rules. Thats rather refreshing news, and not what one usually expects from the federal bureaucracy. Other meetings on RECA are being held in Monticello and at Montezuma Creek, where a Navajo interpreter will be on hand. There was a time when I wouldnt have Included an Internet website as a point of information reference, but Ive changed. Anyone who wishes more information on RECA can go to the www.usdoj.govciviltortsconstreca or write RO. website, or call 1 Box 1 46, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC Staffers of Sen. Orrin Hatch, who accompanied representatives of the U S. Department of Justice, were pleased at the turnout of folks for their meeting here Tuesday. About 150 people attended, all of them interested in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. RECA has been a pet project for Senator Hatch, and understandably since so many of the people who were exposed are his constituents. The RECA program provides compassionate payments to eligible individuals, or their beneficiaries, injured during the Cold War as a result of participation in the uranium industry and from nuclear weapons testing Over $487 million in claims have been approved since the program's inception. There are five categories of eligible claimants downwinders, uranium millers, ore transporters, uranium miners and onsite participants. Despite the large amounts of money already awarded in compensation, many people feel they or loved ones should be eligible and haven't been able to get compensation. The purpose of Tuesday's meeting was to facilitate the process Melanie Bowen, who is the senator's state director, attended along with Trish Knight, his administrative assistant in the Washington, D C. office. We always seem to choose the hottest time of year to come to Moab," Melanie commented. Trish, however, appreciated the cool nights here, compared to the D C. summer temperatures. Both were highly complimentary of the audience members at the meeting, and the helpful ljc uucs-J3Infrcpcufc- 20044-014- 6. aft seeds for miniature gourds this broke one up from a prior harvest and spring, it. from little gourds came up fine, The planted in but got overly dry these hot winds weve been having, and I don't know if theyll make it. If they dont I'll be content with the big gourds Sam is raising along with the vegetables. It was very welcome news that our mountain is closed to fire of any kind. Lightning is another matter, but we sure dont need to have e fire get loose on the La Sals, as a it And is. as speaking of dry, you may want dry to give those fruit trees and shrubs an extra shot of water as they start setting fruit. Failing to find I man-mad- cut ISSN Entered as Second class Matter at the Post Office at Moab, Utah under the 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 (UPS) of 1538-183- 8 ) Act of March 3, 1897. address: edltormoabtlmes.com all Postmaster: Send changes 6309-2000- address 435-259-75- to: The Times Independent, P.O. Box 129, Moab, UT 84532 or FAX -- 435-259-77- Member NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION -l V by Ollie Harris New baby chicks Last winter we added a handsome blond and black banty rooster to our little flock of three banty hens. He is not such a fearsome suitor aa was the big red and black rooster we had before. We were able to place eight hen. Those of fertile eggs under Henna, the barred-tawho to read stories children or grandchildren may you know that Henna is the name of a little brown hen in one of the stories. Our Henna is the only chicken on the place that has a name. Henna is a proven brood hen. Last year there were two broods of chicks hatched at about the same time and Henna eventually ended up with all the chicks. This year is no different. She hatched all eight of the eggs. We were watching through the top of the wire cage when one of the new hatchlings emerged from beneath Henna enough that I could see that it was black with a yellow tip on its left wing. I said, Oh! We can call this one, Lefly.Afew moments later it turned around so that I could see the yellow tip on the other wing, also. 1 said, Oops! Well have to call him, Bothy. When Henna began to set we put her and the eggs in a nice little box inside a wire cage and placed it in the shade, just outside the north kitchen window, where Barbara could watch her. It is an acceptable arrangement except that Barbara has to repeatedly remind me not to turn the kitchen light on at night because, Henna doesnt like it." When I picked Henna up to remove her and the chicks from the cage so that I could clean it out, I learned something that I should have known. When a hen seta she stays on the nest most of the time, getting off to eat and drink only occasionally. During this time she loses a lot of weight. I put my hand under her and discovered that her breast is not much more than a sharp bone with hollow cavities on each side where the flesh would have been. It stands to reason that a hen with a broad, flat breast would be n Mail Room Supervisor Dorothy Anderson Valerie Brown, Jed Taylor, Jose Santana. ..Backshop Ron Drake Castle Valley columnist Ron George Columnist Oliver Harris Columnist Distribution Jose Churampi J unable to fit her chicks under her without smashing them. Henna can rest her breast bone ujion the bottom of the box and have plenty of space for the chicks to gather beneath her. It will be good, though, when she begins to put on a bit of weight. I dont know why we bother with the bantys. They are scarcely big enough to butcher and their eggs are quite small. But, we like having them around. They eat a lot of bugs and weed seeds. When I was a boy in Washington state we moved onto a rural place that already had a resident population of banty chickens. They had free run of the place and every now and then a banty hen would emerge from the brush, trailing a brood of tiny chicks behind. There were two mature banty roosters whose territories were delineated by the gravel road that ran between the house and the barn. It seemed that the hens and their broods crossed freely from one side to the other but the roosters never willingly crossed to the other side. I say willingly, because I used to sneak one or the other from his roost in the night and place him next to the other rooster and wait for daylight. When each rooster began to crow to greet the dawn, there was great confusion and a most entertaining battle. None of our roosters have proven to be aggressive toward people, although I suspect that the big red and black rooster that I mentioned at the beginning might have become aggressive as he grew older. We had an aggressive rooster when I was in second grade in Idaho. I was terrified of him. One day we were faced off, he was all fluffed up and ready to leap upon me with spurs and flapping wings, and I with a sauce pan raised to strike him. My dad stepped out of the house and said, Dont just stand there. Hit him!" So I whacked him alongside the head and knocked him unconscious. When I came out of the coop with eggs in the pan. the rooster fled across the run to cower against the fence. Sometimes lifes lessons come in unusual ways. High Country News Writers on the Range Surprise: California can teach us to live within our means by John Krist When the nations largest water district issued its annual report this year, detailing its efforts to conserve and develop new supplies for sprawling Southern California, a pair of bland sentences stood out. Metropolitan expects to be able to meet 100 percent of its member agencies water needs for the next 10 years, even during times of critical drought," the report says. Metropolitan and its member agencies have identified and are implementing programs and projects to assure continued reliable water supplies for at least the next 20 years." Could this really be so easy? The Metropolitan Water District serves 17 million people in 240 cities and towns, and has an annual operating budget of nearly ! 1 billion. The agencys critics are skeptical that its promand there are many ise to ensure adequate water for all these people will translate neatly from paper to reality. Gone are the days when rivers could be dammed, towns drowned beneath reservoirs, distant watersheds seised and harnessed to the greed of speculators. Instead, as the new report makes clear, the agency plans to make good on its promise of adequate supplies over the next two decades by something perhaps even more radical: efficiency. The notoriously profligate region it serves will, in other words, try to live within its means for nearly the first time since Franciscan friars planted their cross and flag on Southwestern soil. It will have to behave in a way communities in the West seldom have as if every drop of water is precious. The Met says it will continue to offer rebates for installation of water-savin- g plumbing fixtures and equipment Over the past decade, the agency has invested 1 106 million in such programs. They have largely paid off. Although the region is widely perceived as a champion water waster, consumption in coastal Southern California is lower than the statewide average. In fact the Mft delivered less water m 2000 than in 1989, although thp pnpdatian in its service area increased by more than 2 million people during that time Other strategies described in the Feb. 1 report are more innovative than installing stingy shower heads and toilets. The agency is paying farmers in the Palo Verde Valley, an agricultural region on the edge of the desert, to fallow some of their cropland. Unused irrigation water goes to urban customers. It has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in projects reducing agricultural waste in the Imperial Valley lining irrigation canals with concrete, for example. per-capi- UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publisher Sena T. Flanders, Editor Circulation Manager, T- Maps Tom Taylor Zane Taylor Press, Production Manager Ron Flanders Systems Manager Staff Writers Lisa Church, Janet Lowe Jeff Richards Contributing Writer Office ManagerSalesDesign Sadie Warner Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas to reduce seepage in return for rights to the conserved water. Farm programs alone are expected to provide the water district more than 200,000 acre-fee- t of water a year, enough to serve about 1.6 million about 326,000 gallons, is the people. An acre-fooannual consumption of two average Southern California households. The Met also is paying for recycling projects that provide treated wastewater for irrigation and industrial uses, as well as to replenish depleted ground-wateMetropolitan has funding agreements with its member agencies for 53 such recycling projects; last year, they produced about 67,000 acre-feeA study the agency undertook in 1993 suggested that such projects could yield more than 450,000 acre-fee- t per year. Critics of the agency have sug-ge- : ted it could accomplish even more by encouragrecycling at private homes, diverting gray-wating water from showers, sinks and washing machines to landscape irrigation, vhich typically accounts for half of domestic use. Metropolitan has even embraced seawater desalination, inviting proposals from agencies interested in building such plants. Desalinated seawater has always been too expensive to compete with traditional sources, thanks to the enormous energy demands of reverse-osmosand distillation plants. (Santa Barbara built one during the states last major drought and promptly mothballed it when the rains returned.) Nevertheless, five Southern California agencies have submitted proposals for desalination plants in response to the Mets offer to subsidize construction. Even pricey seawater may eventually look like a good deal to thirsty urbanites. Metropolitan already has subsidized construction of 13 desalination plants to treat brackish or a process that recontaminated groundwater quires less energy and that has become cheaper than desalting seawater. Nine more are planned. This, according to the Met, is Californias future. By extension it could be the future of every West. Every drop will be replace in the semi-ari- d garded as too valuable to use unwisely, because what we have is all there is. Imagine how different the West would look today if that attitude had prevailed in the past. John Krist is a contributor to Writers on the Range t a service of High Country News in Pannia, Colorado (hen org). He is a senior reporter for the Ventura County Star. t, r. t. is iPOOR i C |