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Show Df Page A6 (Ttnira-plnbfpmhf- Thursday, December 5, 2002 nt m frmtiT 44 1) Community Comments L4 H by Sam Taylor Lit late in the day when he slipped the measure up on the calendar, and got it passed by a hart-fu- ll House late one day by voice vote, m fact. I was about ready at the end of a long day to leave the office to head home for supper, when the phone rang It was an elated Larry Burton on the other end telling me about the final passage Four years of bitter controversy preceded the passage in Congress in 9o4 of the bill that created Canyoniands National Par The matter was debated tar and wide Public hearings were held by both houses of Congress The two sides of the deDate were vocal and almost equally divided, but in the end, the bill 1 the bill. was just as excited as he was, since had supported the park Jrom the beginning, and testified to both Houses' committees tor it. I think was about the only elected official in Southern Utah who wanted the park to happen. didn't go home for supper. called Adrien and told her the news and then headed out to the old rock house in Arches where Bates Wilson and his family resided. Bates nearly jumped through the ceiling when told him that all Canyoniands needed was the President's signature to become a reality. Adrien joined us there and we had a real celebration. Bates had made literally hundreds of trips into the Needles with anyone of influence that would go, trying to sell them on a Canyoniands National Park. In the next issue of The gave equal editonal credit to Sen. Moss and Rep. Burton, with big pictures of both of them. It had been a long hard fight. Larry died last Wednesday in Ogden at the age of 76 That death brought back a flood of memories. He served in the Congress for eight years, and probably could have stayed for a lot more if he hadnt made a run for the Senate ironically against his old partner in cnme, Sen. Moss, who won. The Burton family stayed in the Washington area after his defeat in 1970, working in a number of positions in government before retmng and returning to Utah a few years ago. His wife of many years, Janice, passed away in 1999. Ted Moss got a lot of well deserved credit for passage of the Canyoniands National Park bill. In my book, though, the park had two equally effective fathers." of passed Moss. Democrat from Utah was Sen Fran the persistent sponsor of the bill in the U S. Senate, and is thought by many to be the father' of I Canyoniands Although the park didnt turn out the way Ted Moss wanted it to, his persistence began the long process of creating the nation's newest national park The problem was not in the Senate. The House of Representatives was the tough nut to I I I crack The unsung hero of the day was Rep. Laurence J Burton, a Republican, who represented all of rural Utah in the days when we only had two House members from Utah Larry visited Moab often, and made several trips into the Needles area Even though most of the elected officials from Southern Utah were Republicans like Rep. Burton, and were nearly unanimous in their opposition to the new park, he finally became convinced that the bill should pass. His support of the park bill alienated a lot of his Republican friends in Utah, but he stuck by his I Times-lndepende- guns We became close friends over those four years. Larry had been administrative assistant to then Governor George Dewey Clyde, and was a big influence in getting me appointed to the Utah State Senate, even though was still in my twenties. remained there for two terms, during which time Mr Burton was elected to Congress. He told me on the phone a number of times he didnt think the Canyoniands measure had a chance of passage there. But he was a shrewd lawmaker, and waited for the right moment to bring it up. It was I I I I E Idle Thoughts from Mt. Waas Harris by Ollie HAIRCUTS have a problem. Admittedly, it ia not a big problem and would scarcely find a place to inarch in that great pantheon of problems that afflict mankind. But, the definition of a minor problem like minor surgery, is: Somebody elses." The thing ia, both of my barbers have retired. So? What's the problem?" you ask. Have you ever tried to find a barber who could give you a flat top haircut? Bill could do it and so could Clyde. Bill and Clyde, now there are a couple of names befitting barbers who can give great flat tops. Im in something of a panic. With the passing into retirement of Bill and Clyde Im facing the specter of going to the little girls to have my hair done." It kills me to even say the word. Some time back a person asked me, Who does your hair?" I told her but I had to clarify that my barber cuts my hair, he doesnt do it. He gives me a haircut, I not a hair-d- o. looked these words up just to see if Im making too big a deal out of it. My trusty Funk & Wagnalls says that a haircut is, The act of cutting on the the hair; a trimming of the hair." A hair-dother hand, is, A style of dressing the hair, coiffure." Coiffure?? Have mercy!! And, whos going to give me this coiffure? Certainly not a Bill or a Clyde. Itll be some skinny little thing named Misty or Fawn. Shell be too beautiful and we wont have a thing to talk about. Shell smell all jierfumy and sweet, nothing like Bill or Clyde, but thats not a bad thing. There wont be any pictures of bulls or horses or elk or deer, no calendar of antique tractors on the wall. Thats if she can get me in." You have to make an appointment for this (a hair apjxnntment)! If Im lucky, therell be a cancellation and she can get me in. I was sitting in Clydes chair a few weeks ago. A tourist came pulling a horse trailer up into the gravel yard. Someone in town had told him where he could get a haircut. Thats the way its supposed I o, Many Trails by Adrien F. Taylor had the report of a conversation this week that Id like to discuss. The gist was that one person was disappointed that a certain story had been put on the front page of the Extra supplement to the Nobody reads that," was the comment. can understand the feeling, given that Extra has contained mainly household, real estate and gardening information in its news hole in the past. We are trying to beef that up with more current local news, especially on the cover. So ask that readers have patience while we see how this evolves. All suggestions are welcome and will be carefully considered. Feel free to call or write a note. Id also like to say that the sports news has been a little chopped up lately because of the basketball schedule. We've included sports in the B Section of the paper in an effort to give it more focus, but with games on Tuesday nights, and the B Section being printed on Tuesday afternoons. it just doesnt mesh. So sports has been in the A Section. Play this week, however, is over the weekend, and we should be back to normal placement. delivering Singing Valentines. We make people smile; we make people cry; and sometimes our appearance on this special day makes people I blush! We are always looking for new members, so any of you women readers out there who would like to try us out" are welcome to attend Monday night rehearsals beginning at 7 p.m. at Balsley Hall of the Community Church. T-- l. I aft I Take a peak at Page A2. Thats my sister, Brangwyn, modeling a new lace shawl just finished knitting for the Higher Ed. Centers silent auction fundraiser. Marjorie Wagner, of Sunshine Gardens, has tucked the center under her wing for the Christmas Craft Fair this Saturday at the MARC. Her expanded booth will contain many of the items donated for the silent auction, and also for a drawing. This type of sale is not really legal in Utah, but is a good example of a bad law. Most organizations that know use the sale of tickets (chances) as a tactic. And its a successful one, for sure. See what the Delicate Stitchers have been up to in the photo on Page A1. As you will read in Sharon Northrup's story, also on Page A1 , the Higher Education Center is up against some serious challenges. Getting the community involved in support of the center was apparently not a high priority of previous program directors. Officials from both the College of Eastern Utah and Utah State University have been critical of the Moab Center for the lack of such support, so now it's catch-u- p time. Take a class . make a pledge ... bid on an auction item buy a chance on a prize. Those are some concrete ways people can show their support. I money-raisin- The Valley Voices are starting off on a nice round of Christmas singouts this year, which feels good. We all love to sing, of course, and thats the point of belonging to a singing group. But there are times of the year when it seems we just rehearse and never get to sing for others. While the calendar is full for now, we are available to sing for parties and special occasions most any other time, and we are also available to sing for funerals. Community service of this sort has evolved over the last few years. Of course our one big day of the year is Valentine's Day when we spend the whole day . . g . . . mt unes-3lnbcpmb- ISSN (UPS) Entered as Second class Matter at the Post Office at Moab, Utah under the Act of March 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- 8 6309-200- of 3, 1897. address: editormoabtimes.com ail Postmaster: Send changes address to: The Member P.O. Box 129, Moab. UT 84532 Times-lndepende- or FAX 435-259-75- 435-259-77- NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION and ffti PRESS ASSOCIATION SmrfbdTj. and Adrien F. Taylor, Publishers Adrien F. Taylor, Editor Sadie Warner, Assistant Editor Tom Taylor Zane Taylor Ron Flanders Lisa Church Janet Lowe Jeff Richards V Circulation Manager, T- -l talk, sometimes youd listen and sometimes youd doze off. It didn't even matter if you were wearing yesterdays work shirt. It will never be the same. Instead of going to a barbershop 111 be going to a beauty parlor. Instead of a barber it will be a beautician. Instead of getting a haircut 111 be getting my hair cut. The difference is profound. If I can get an appointment, if Misty or Fawn can get me in, Im going to have to shower first, put on clean clothes, even Bhave. After all that Im afraid shes going to want to tip me back and wash my hair in that little sink before she does" it. Its beginning to take on the feel of a trip to the dentist. Misty or Fawn will be the age of my daughters. That is some comfort to me. I love my daughters. If some crusty old curmudgeon were to go to one of my daughters for a haircut hed damn well better be nice to her. Shed smell good, too, and run her fingers through his hair. Thats a happy thought. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. I aft XEl1c to work, no appointment, no problem. He sat quietly waiting for his turn. When Clyde was about finished with me the tourist spoke up and said, Thats the best lookin flat top Ive seen in forty years." I was just glad to provide the hair. I have good hair. In fact, other than being gray, it is just about the only thing left on my entire body that is worth a dam. Everything else has droojied and sagged, wrinkled and bulged, and creaka and wheezes and groans. My hair still stands up about as thick, coarse and bristly as it did when I was a kid. It is the kind of hair that just begs to be cut into a flat top. There was no fuss with Bill or Clyde. When it was your turn you just sat in the chair. A clean collar strip was wrapped around your neck, the hair from the previous guy was shaken off the drape before he put it over your lap and pinned it behind your neck. Hed ask, The usual?" and youd say, "Yep, and hed go to work. Sometimes youd Maps Press, Production Manager Systems Manager Staff Wnter Staff Writer Contributing Writer High Country News Writers on the Range A message to environmentalists from a wildlife biologist by Richard L. Knight that, although Im an environmentalist and a wildlife biologist at a Western university, I admire ranchers. I should further confess that I live on a small piece of property near real ranches ones big enough to be home to cattle and the shy kind of wildlife you dont see on smaller I should confess up-fro- places. My wife and I try to pay our dues for living among these large and beautiful pieces of land by helping our neighbors. We keep up our irrigation ditches, we keep weeds off our property, and we lease our grass and water to them. I confess these things because I know that my comer of Colorado would be better off if our place were to be part of a larger piece of neighboring land. It would be less fragmented and more attractive to the kind of wildlife songbirds and carnivores that shun land with roads and cats and dogs and houses and lights. I make those confessions in the hope that my fellow environmentalists who are intent on pushing cattle off the Wests 420,000 square miles of public land will make a confession of their own. I movehope they will confess that their cattle-free- " ment has absolutely nothing to do with the health of the land and everything to do with their selfish desire to recreate on the public land. I would like them to also confess that through their shortsighted desire to walk on trails free of cow pies, they are helping to subdivide the West. I am convinced that the cattle-fre- e people have struck an unholy alliance with developers. Under their pious statements about saving the land" and punishing welfare ranchers," they are playing into the hands of the boomers who would turn the open spaces we love and prize into a sea of malls and roads and housing developments. How can this be? The devil is in the details. Late each winter, the mother cows in tfie West drop their calves. Some of those pairs, as they are called, spend the summer on private lands and are sold in the fall. But on the 21,000 cattle ranches that have federal grazing allotments, pairs get trailed onto Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land, where they spend summers and part of the fall. During that time, the ranchers generally raise hay on their private, irrigated property. This is the property Westerners see every day. It is our best watered land, with the deepest soils. It is the land our most desirable wildlife prefers to use. Deer and cow-ca- lf cow-ca- lf Mail Room Supervisor Dorothy Anderson Valerie Brown, Jed Taylor, Jose Santana ... Backstop Ron Drake Castle Valley Columnist Ron George Columnist Oliver Harris Columnist Jose Churampi Distribution Bnan Donegan ColorGraphics ) skunks and raccoons will happily live in subdivisions. But bobcats and yellow warblers will only live on unfragmented land, such as ranches. In the fall, the cows and their now d calves are brought back to the ranch. The calves are sold; the mother cows live through the winter on the hay raised the previous summer, and the cycle begins again. The point of this story is that the 170,000 square miles of private ranchland and the 420,000 square miles of grazed federal lands are a unit. Drive cattle off the public lands, and youve driven them off the private lands. And once theyre off the private lands, the ranchers can do nothing in most cases but sacrifice that land for development. Cows wont graze the clouds. Thats the argument. We need to keep the productive and private low elevation lands in ranching to protect diverse wildlife. Our public lands are beautiful. But for the most part, they are the leavings of the homestead era. The homesteaders took the land with the best water and richest soils, and left us the rest. Those leftovers cant support diverse wildlife by themselves. What about subsidies for cattle ranchers? Its a fair question, since grazing permits are relatively inexpensive. But we should also ask: What about welfare recreationists?" Recreation is the Wests most subsidized activity. Even with the controversial federal-fe- e system, recreationists who climb who snowmobile, who gape at mountains, Yellowstones wonders, who fish our streams, pay hardly anything for those activities. Some recreationists pay back indirectly. They buy fishing gear and backpacks and snow machines, and food and gas and lodging in small towns near public land. Some of them, recognizing their responsibilities, build trails and pick up other recreationists trash. They organize into groups to protest mining and logging and dam building. They pay their way, more or less. In the same way, ranchers who have federal grazing leases pay their way. They keep their private land In open space for us to look at and for wildlife to live on. Its a more than fair trade. I hope that someday, before theyve helped to destroy the West, the cattle-fre- e environmentalists come to understand that. Richard L. Knight is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News in Paonia, Colorado (hcn.org). He is a professor of wildlife conservation at Colorado State University. 600-poun- high-elevatio- n |