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Show Page AS Hit iliniis.plubrpuftfut Thursday, November 14, 2002 OUR TOWN uA Comments Co.MMUNrrY by Sam Taylor But they aie young Thats the sad part. Wars always claim the young people erf our nation while the rest of us cheer them on from the sidelines One erf tN? mast unfKaoed holidays each year is one ot my tavontes Veterans Day. with the courthouse lawn ceremony sponsored by 'st 54 us one never Moat) s Amen can Legion teas partioular'y spemiss TNs ears ptcv-cial with a rvxjghrul tax C Moab veteran Bill Smith pdfvtv muse by the Vaitey Voices, and a crowd sweneo to record x?v4?i$ with the entire student body ot Henn M Anight Intermediate Softool marching up me soewax to pm the rest of the group The ranhs of veterans are thinning There were over 3 million American men and women II heard serving in the military dunng World War Dinner the at the Legion ceremony that following of are nearly 2000 them passing away each day a was war Well, that long time ago. and time marches on Now it appears we may be on the edge of another global conflict Hopefully, common sense will prevail, and Iraq will agree to the terms of the resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council this week, calling for complete inspection of the country and elimination of any and all weapons of mass destruction. It was interesting to note that a large contingent ot military personnel from Utah returned home this week after having served longer in the war zone in the Middle East than any other unit. was impressed by televised interviews with some of the members of that contingent, who said they were well trained and equipped, proud ot the contribution they had made, and would go back in a heart beat Americas citizen soldiers have proven that they are no pansies. When called upon to do so, they can get down in the mud and slug it out with the best of them. They are not the pampered, spoiled young people that many in the Third World believe they are. Its been that way since this nation was founded over two hundred years ago, and predict it will always be that way I sjt visited at the Veterans Day program with Pete Byrd, former decorated Manne fighter pilot, who came to Moab to tty airplanes tor his old college friend, Charlie Steen. Pete told me that he had attended funeral services last week for Oren Moore, Moab resident Pete said that Oren had dug the first twelve feet ot Charlie Steens famous Utex shaft by himself and by hand. When he got down so far that he couldnt throw the overburden out, he built shelves and shoveled from shelt to shelf to get the muck out of the hole When Charlie started that shaft, which would reach down to 83 feet betoie hitting the nch ore core body he had discovered with a broken-dow- n to think he had dont drilling rig, any money pay miners. Those first few who eventually got the shaft down to probably were working on the come agreeing to take their wages when the first ore was sold. If memory serves me correctly, the first load of ore hauled from the MiVida Mine paid off all the bills. Those were heady times, and make for great memories. S-itGrand County is currently advertising for interested parties to fill numerous vacancies on County boards and commissions. Those vacancies, according to a public notice running in this issue of The Times, will be filled at a meeting during the month of December. Since three new County Council members will be sworn into office in the first week of January, it appears to make good sense to me to postpone filling those vacancies until the new Council is seated, or at least sit in on the deliberations. After all, this new Council is the one that is going to have to work with their boards and commissions. They should have some say on board membership. I long-tim- I I I g I bought a very nice harmonica the other day. All of the others that I have are worn out, their reeds all fuzzy Bounding or not functioning at all. I was taken aback at the price, but like most things, they are getting more expensive. And, quality comes with a price. 1 mentioned the harmonica to a friend and he suggested that the next time we are out in the evening to watch a full moon rise, perhaps 1 could play a few tunes. I could, too, hut 1 can guarantee that whatever I played on the harmonica would sound nothing like the Wagnerian symphony that I hear in my mind as a full moon liegins to slide up from behind the horizon. n We recently went on our traditional Powell. to Lake the one Its Fishing trip where we meet at my place for a 7:00 a m. breakfast of Dutchoven potatoes, fried eggs, bacon, late-autum- along. At stories are not the most frequent guess part of the job With that duty done for another year, were moving on to Christmas music, and I am finally falling prey to the big merchandisers, I guess, since I am ready for singing the holiday favorites before Thanksgiving. Well, truth be known, we actually started working on the Christmas music before Halloween! of editor is going to aft Times-Independen- on-lin- I I I I aft The Valley Voices always enjoy Veterans Day, as it is another opportunity for us to sing for the public. In this case, we also sing for our supper as American Legion Post 54 invites us to lunch after the ceremony. ums-(3Jnhcpenb- Veteran Sug Bailey ran Old Glory up the flagpole during Veterans Day observance, with Bill Bly saluting and lots of people on hand to take part. cnt ) ISSN (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 6309-2000- of address to: The 435-259-77- NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION and UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Samuel J. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Adrien Taylor, Editor Sadie Warner, Assistant Editor -rir Circulation Manager, T- Maps Press, Production Manager Systems Manager Zane Taykx Ron Flanders Lisa Church, Janet Lowe Jeff Richards 84532 jyljMSf NATIONAL A-- -l Staff Writers Contributing Writer Dorothy Anderson Valerie Brown, Jed Taylor, Ron Drake Ron George Oliver Hams Mail Room Supervisor Jose Santana. ..Backshop Castle Valley columnist Columnist Columnist J V if by Ed Colby After he shot ofThis big toe, my dad lost all interest in guns. He lived to fish, but he never took me hunting. When I came of age I bought an army surplus British .303 rifle and went forth into the Colorado hills above Loveland to hunt. I had no idea how, really. I walked in the woods for a while. When I heard shots, I sat down by a clearing, thinking a doer might come by. I learned this hunting technique from reading Outdoor Life magazine. After a time, I heard rustling in the brush, and a deer emerged at the far edge of the opening. When I fired, the animal instantly dropped. Euphoric, I ran to it. A wave of revulsion and remorse swept over me, but like anybody determined to shoot a gun, I pushed my emotions aside and did wat I came to do. It was only after that second shot that I realized, to my dismay, that I had killed a fawn. Not a spotted fawn, like Bambi, but a yearling one that had probably been born in the fawn of spring the previous year. She was at least as big as a German shepherd. Yet when I aimed at her, she didn't look like a fawn at all. She just looked like a deer. As I gutted my kill, I tried to convince myself that I'd shot a small doe. Over and over I told myself that. This worked until I got back to the car with my prize. There another hunter congratulated me. Nice little fawn, he said. My shame and humiliation was not yet complete. When my mother saw the tiny carcass hanging in the garage, she recoiled in horror. Its a baby, she gasped. How could you?" Then, Get it out of here. I no longer hunt, but I dont mind if other people do. Hunters exhibit a certain moral toughness. They accept that eating meat means killing. They understand that the natural world is not Disneyland. I refer to hunters as those who harvest animals for food, not sportsmen who collect heads or amuse themselves bv shooting prairie dogs. self-decepti- P.O. Box 129, Moab, UT Times-lndepende- or FAX 435-259-75- Member 1538-183- 8 address: editormoabtimes.com ail Send changes lt fifth-whe- el One big thing Tve come to know about hunting ts annual report with the Utah Deof Commerce. Since theres been a big partment e hullaballoo about Utahs new information and form since the filing system, encourages doing the report on line, thought Id do that. Changed my mind when found out it was going to cost $2.50 more (or $12.50 versus $10.00) for supposed convenience of using this method. Last looked a stamp was still just 37c, which still saves us over $2.00. Even if updated the report on line, Id still have to spend the 37c to mail a check in. Just what are the bureaucrats thinking, I wonder? lc red-roc- k Writers on the Range this week. came time this week to file The the end of the day of fishing, swimming and visiting, a magnificent moon made its appearance through a notch in the distant rim. I got Borne nice photos. The moment was made all the better when a couple came romantically paddling a canoe down the inlet and out into the moonlit bay. I envied them. People have different feelings about what they like when they are out in the wilds. The idea of quietly Bitting in the evening while someone softly strums a guitar and sings, or plays the harmonica, has a nostalgic feel to it. There is something of the olden days in that sort of experience. I admit that I like that sort of evening, too, but in those olden days people spent endless hours without hearing a single note of music. Of course, some sang, hummed or whistled while they worked Mostly, though, the hours were devoid of music. So, it was a real treat to hear singing or instrumental music that lasted long into the evening. A great difference for us today is that we are surrounded by noise almost all of the time. Some of it is even music. We have access day in and day out to a nearly infinite variety of music and talk. After a day of such noise it is so appealing to just sit quietly and listen to the evening. Besides, it is pretty tough for a plaintive little harmonica to compete with the rest of the world's music. If anybody asked, I wouldn't hesitate to say that my preferred evening out in the wilds is one of quiet. I get tired of sound, at least the modem cacophony of endless talk and music. Give me a quiet evening. Let enough time pass that the thrumming in my ears can settle down. Let me sit back in a camp chair and listen to the evening voices of birds and the awakening of insects. Throw in a distant pack of coyotes if you dont mind. A pair of owls plaintively calling in the night would be a nice touch. And, if you want to get really exotic, let some nearby elk chirp and bugle. Otherwise, as the refrain in the hymn says, "...peace, peace, be still. We have friends who like to take a small twelve-voTV with them when they camp. I have enjoyed watching videos with them for a few hours. Barbara even went ao far as to surprise me with the installation of an AM-Freceiver and CD player trailer. Sometimes, when the in our mood is right, it is nice to listen to some of our favorite music. But, I find that mostly I prefer the quiet. Somewhere, in the midst of all of this, there is a place for my friend, Ron Kartchner, and his voice and guitar, or for a little harmonica music. But, not too many numbers and not too loud. Maybe we can listen to a story or two. If there is a fall moon, so much the better. Then, lets just kick back and sink into the silence of the evening. High Country News be trying to get my column finished before Wednesday morning. That would definitely have been hard Tom Taykx Quiet Evenings by Adrien F. Taylor umn. Postmaster arrs Many Trails Many other little snags often get in the way but this week it was both. We knew there was to be a story coming out of an Allen Memorial Hospital news conference Wednesday. We even found out early what the story was, but getting the green light to publish took a little time. In the end, its worth waiting at least in the weekly news business it is. When there is only one chance a week at a story, well go quite a ways to be the first news agency to break it to the public. And, so the story on Page A1 about AMH Administrator Chuck Davis moving to the hospital in Tooele kept us back a bit this week, as did some general other lagging, including finishing this col- It oiiie I rolls, toast, jam, Brigham tea, orange juice or milk. This year we were four men and four boys. Usually there are a few granddaughters who go causes of press deadlines being pushed back. I Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas pay-dir- t, I Late-breakin- e Hunters act out humankind's oldest provider instinct, while the others seem merely wanton. Im willing to give the benefit of the doubt to hunters from Texas and Alabama and Kentucky who come out West every fall. I don't exactly understand why they cant just shoot a deer back home (maybe there are none left), but I suppose this must be a ritual they love. They get together with their buddies, sleep in tents, drink some whiskey, play cards and maybe they even get lucky and kill an elk while they're out walking in the woods. If they are fortunate, nobody has a heart attack or gets lost or stranded in a snowstorm. As long as a healthy number of animals remains when the season ends, I don't see the harm. The herds normally need thinning so that deer and elk dont suffer the ultimate cruelty of starvation. I can also see that hunting provides jobs and income in rural areas that need it. Plenty of farmers and ranchers manage to survive with the help of hunting lease income. If anyone wants to feel sorry for animals, feel sorry for chickens raised in crowded little cages. Feel milk and butchered for sorry for calves force-feveal. Pity pigs produced on factory farms. These animals have in common that they usually live in harsh circumstances before we kill and eat them. The deer and elk at least roam wild and free. They fight and mate and raise their young. One day they will die, as we all must, perhaps killed by a mountain lion or a pack of coyotes, a car or starvation or disease. Or a hunter. You say you never eat red meat? Then nothing I say will make any difference. You also show a kind of morality and my hats off to you. As for the rest of you, I recommend that you hunt With luck youll discover intimately what few people truly compreon the grill will never hend, and afterward, a look the same. But when you finally place your quarry in your sighta, and youre about to squeeze the trigger, do yourself a favor. Make dead sure it's not a fawn. Ed Colby it a contributor to Writert on the Range, a tervice of High Country Newt in Paonia, Colorado (hen org). He u ritet in New Castle, Colo rado. d |