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Show 6A Emery County Progress Castle Dale, Utah Tuesday August 31 , 2004 Commentary Proposed Amendments to County Plan . Proposed Amendments to the County General Plan-T- o be discussed in a public hearing on Sept. 7 tit 5 p.m. at the commission meeting. ! WHEREAS recent developments, and a review of the Emery County General Plan has disclosed certain deficiencies regarding the Countys policy and goals regarding Public Lands; and WHEREAS the amendments set forth herein have been drafted and reviewed by the Emery County Attorneys Office, in consultation with the Emery County Countywide Planning Commission; and WHEREAS the Emery County Countywide Planning Commission in consultation with the Public Lands Council has developed certain changes to the General Plan as contained herein, and has conducted a public hearing as required by law and received public comment and recommended said changes, as adapted following such public comment, to the County Commission to amend the General Plan; and WHEREAS the County Commission is advised that the General Plan requires reorganization as well as this amendment, which may be done by staff without changing the policies and facts set forth therein; and WHEREAS the Emery County Commission has reviewed said changes, held a second public the date hereof, and havingcon-sidere- d the same and the public comments received, NOW, THEREFORE, THE EMERY COUNTY COMMISSION, BEING THE COUNTY LEGISLATIVE BODY OF THE COUNTY OF EMERY, ORDAINS AS FOLLOW S: 1. That the following language regarding hear-irigo- n Public Lands be added to the General Plan to replace or add to the policies stated therein as the case may be: PUBLIC LANDS History:1 Ninety-tw- o percent of Emery County is public land managed by federal or state agencies. Because only eight percent of the county is privately owned, access to the surrounding public lands is vitally important to the quality of life in Emery County The watershed of the county is mainly on public land. The Countys agricultural industry depends on the availability of water, as well as graz- ing rights on public lands. The Countys energy industry is founded on coal mined under federal leases and on coalbed methane and natural gas wells which are primarily on public lands. The energy industry also depends on w'ater to run steam turbines to generate electricity. The Countys pioneer heritage is evidenced by sites and structures, many of winch are located on public lands, and its history is deeply intertwined with these lands. The deserts, geology, mineral resources, lakes and streams, wildlife and grazing have provided an important part of the living of the Countys people as well as their way of life and important ties to their predecessors. The physical center of the county is the San Rafael Swrell, which contains some of Utah's finest redrock vistas. As the rest of America has become aware of this area, the numbers of people visiting it for recreation and tourism has increased, but the passage of the Wilderness Act by Congress has resulted in large sections being desig nated Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with more targeted by wilderness advocates. Emery County residents as well as others throughout the state, country and from around the world enjoy an range of recreation on public lands within Emery County, attracted by the beauty, as well as the challenge, of the rugged landscapes, as w'ell as the mountain lakes and streams and the scenic vistas which open from mountaintops and canyon rims. Grazing and mineral rights on public land have been central to Emery Countys economy from its earliest days. In order for the countys economic growth, access to public and private lands must be available. Continued access to public lands and the protection of trails y and created in the past are among Emery Countys highest public lands priorities. It is important to note that the County, while advocating continued access and some new access, does not advocate unlimited access to public lands. Each road, y is a sepatrail, route or rate issue which will be examined on its merits and decided accordingly. ever-growi- rights-of-wa- right-of-wa- Developments and Trends: Planning ami Regulation: With the nationwide growth of interest in wilderness, and the passage of federal laws directed at environmen- tal and wilderness issues, Emery County recognizes that federal land managers must operate under federal laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Harriets World- - Species Act (ESA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act d (FLPMA). Private, organizations have appeared w'hich lobby the public, Congress and the agencies that deal with environment and public d lands for increased wilderness areas, and management focused on wilderness values. Many such organizations seem motivated by a desire to close these lands to vehicle travel, grazing, timber harvest, mining and quarrying and other multiple- - use activities. However, federal and state laws specifically recognize the rights and powers of state and local governments to participate in public land management decisionmaking processes, and mandate that state and local planning be taken into account by federal land management agencies. The Emery County Commission, with the assistance and support of the Public Lands Council, the Economic Development Council and the Countywide PlanningCommission developed specific land management proposals which it offered to the state and federal governments as an alternative to demands from advocates for more wilderness These proposals, developed through extensive planning processes in consultation with local, state, and national agencies, reflected local economic, cultural, and recreational interests while the landscape. These proposals were embodied in two documents: 1 362o, a bill which was introduced in the United States House of Represen well-funde- federally-designate- s. safe-guardi- ).. tatives on April 1, 1998 (reported out of the Committee on Resources August 7, 1998), To establish the San Rafael l Heritage Area and the San Rafael Sw'ell National Conservation Area..., and; 2) The San Rafael Swell - Our Treasure, Our Trust, A Swell-Nationa- Comprehensive Management Proposal for the San Rafael Swell. Both documents are included as appendices in this Plan and may be consulted for additional statements and explanation of Emery Countys views and policies regarding Public Lands. Tourism and Recreation: The reputation of Emery County as a place of scenic beauty has grown throughout the nation and the world. As more tourists and recreationists come here, demand for sendees is expected to rise, and create economic opportunity as well as stresses on Emery Countys rural lifestyle and character. The development and availability of various types of recreational equipment and personal vehicles has created a new forms of vehicular recreation both motorized and non- - motorized for which much of Emery County is These, as well as the growth of other established forms of outdoor recreation, have resulted in increased numbers of recreationists attracted to this area. well-suite- d. Remaining changes to the county plan will be published in the next edition of the Emery County Progress on Sept. 7. Remembering the Cars of Years Past By HARRIET BISHOP was thinking the other day about the first car I ever owmed. It was back in 197)6, My parents bought it for me as a graduation present. They gave it to me as a surprise just before my senior year so I could have it to drive back and forth to school, etc. It was a gray Plymouth, four door, built somewhere in the early 1940s and a little old lady had owned it and drove it back and forth to the grocery store. (Where have you heard that before?) I loved it and it served me well for a lot of years. Until one day when it just stopped going and it wouldnt go anymore. I had to pay a tow truck to tow it off the street it had stopped on. It just froze up and refused to go anymore. I am sure many of you can remember your first car. Since then I have owned a few others and each one has had its own personality and I have had a name for some of them. Some of the names w'ere good and some werent so good. You know what I mean. Back in my day the second cars were generally owned and driven by the moms whose husbands were financially well off. If we did get so lucky as to get a second car it did not have to be inspected or have any emissions certificates or anything like that. We just owned it and drove it. Usually it had something that wasnt quite right with it. We lived with it and drove our kids around in it and went to the grocery store in it and put up with all its little idiosyncrasies. Once in awhile our husbands w ould drive it to work and maybe take pity on us and fix something. More than likely not. They always drove the good car and wTe ended up with the clunkers. Sound familiar? I think the things that have changed over the years is all the certificates a person has to have now days. It makes the car that you have a lot more reliable. I remember a car in particular that my older sister owned. We called it the Tank. That was because when you stepped on the accelerator it would take a long time to engage and go forward. It sounded something like a B54 Bomber warmingup for take off. When we got to a busy street we had to be sure that no cars were in our line of vision on either side of the road. Otherwise we could be killed crossing the street. It took so long to get across. We often felt that we could get out and push the car faster than it would take it to get going. Once it got going it was great! My sister use to tell my brother about it but it fell on deaf ears until one week w'hen he had to drive it to work. That was the last of the Tank. Then a friend of mine had a car wre I LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, In June, a resident of Big Sandy, Mont, lost his life when his plane crashed while fighting fires in Utah. He was earwig and compassionate and was always reaching out to others in need. His first lov e, after his family, was flying, and he always felt at home when in the air. He was a gifted pilot with over 31,000 hours of flight time. In addition to operating his own flying service complete with aerial application and contract piloting, he was an accomplished flight instructor and an FAA designated examiner. His accident was a huge shock to the family, and his loss has left a tremendous void in our lives. Currently, airtanker pilots are employed by aerial firefighting contractors; pilots are not employed directly by the government agencies involved in wildland fire management. Because of their independent contractor status, aerial firefighters arent eligible to receive the Public Service Officer Benefit that is made available to other firefighters. Sadly, life insurance policies for pilots are extremely costly, leaving families a huge financial burden as wrell as tremendous grief. Congress currently has legislation in committees that address this issue. Bills HR977 and S989 would amend the PSOB to extend death and disability benefits to these unsung heroes and their families. Presently, these bills are lacking sponsors and have been stalled in committees since May 2003. Repre ; sentatives Cannon and Bishop have signed on as cosponsors of the bill. Representative Matheson and Senators Hatch and Bennett are still undecided. Senator Hatch currently chairs the Judiciary committee w'here S989 has been held up since May 2003. We urge you to ask your congressmen to cosponsor this bill. Although passage of these bills wont bring him back, it would recognize tanker pilots for the invaluable work they do as public safety officers. These pilots know the risks, but they still fly their planes to protect our homes and resources. Dont you think its time wre protect them too? Kristie Turner Kalispell, Mont. Dear Editor, just read about a well researched book that called How Much Are You Making on the War, Daddy? by Bill Hartung. First of all, I need to say that I get no commission for waiting about this book. Especially so since the book is about mostly hidden financial connections between government officials and the weapons industry. Mr. Hartungends his book with suggestions for way to verify his statement and things to do, if wTe see this as a danger to our country. Paula Wellnitz Orangeville I Letters to the editor should focus on public issues rather than private : personalities or entities. All submissions must be verified ' ' prior to publication t The Emery County Progress reserves the right to I edit letters not only to satisfy space constraints, but potential liability concerns. ; : n-law called the Brown Bomber. It acted some- what like my sisters car and my friend just hated it. It got us back and forth to our bowling league and wre had a lot of laughs in it. When we got to this particular highway we had to cross, I used to say, Now be careful, we dont want to get a whip lash. We would laugh and laugh. My friend used to park it outside her home and never lock it up or anything like that because she was hoping someone would steal it and her husband would have to buy her a new one. One night some kids started a fire in it and when her husband came home from his shift work he found it just starting to blaze up. He got the fire put out but it left a big, old burned place on the drivers side. My friend was just sure that she wuuld get a new car. She was so excited. I laughed and kiddingly accused her of starting the fire. Turns out her husband accused her also. She swure up and down it wasnt her. The police got involved and it turns out that it was a bunch of kids and my friend never got her new' car. You know what her husband did? He stuffed some old stuffing down in the seat of that car and threw a blanket over the seat and she was suppose to keep on driving it. She rawer drove that car again. It sat outside their house until he had to have it towed off. I owned a little, foreign, sportscar called a Hillman for a few' years. Getting parts for it wus really hard so it wus always needing something. For awhile I was in need of a Bendix Springand the clutch would slip and stick, causing the car not to move forward at any given time if you stopped moving. Remember the movie American Graffiti? Well sir, we were the kids in California that made that movie possible. We were the kids who cruised Van Nuys Boulevard in the 1930s. We started it all. I used to cruise Van Nuys Boulevard with my little sister and in my Hillman. My little car could attract attention and I got pretty adept at rocking that car w hen it would get stuck. If we were talking to boys when it would act up, I could open the drivers door, stick my foot out on the ground, slide over in one swoop and place my back against the door and gently rock that little car back and forth a few times and then slip it in gear and away wc would go. You should have seen the look on the guys faces when they saw this. After awhile w'e got so well knowu that if I got stuck other kids would jump out and help us rock it and I wouldn't even have to open the door. The last car I owned before I bought a brand new car was a Chevy Impala. Oh, that car. It had electric windows in it and a tape deck and I drove it back and forth here in Orangeville for a lot of years. One particular incident that stands out is when my son and I had to make a mad dash to the Castleview Hospital because my Dad had taken ill. We had had a very cold winter and the temperatures had dipped well below zero for several days. A lot of people were having trouble with their windows and doors freezing up at night on their cars. I w'as no exception. At this particular time we had just had time to grab our coats during the day. Alien w'e left the hospital it was about 1 a.m. and colder than cold. I dont remember why the windows w'ere down but they tw'o-doo- r, were and they were frozen solid. We could do nothing but drive home that way. All w'e had wras our coats and my son had on a ball cap. I had nothing on my head and even though the heater was on full blast it didn't help our heads or anything else for that matter. You can imagine how cold it was to drive across that desert from Price at that time of the .qjght, We had no blanket or anything to put up on the window. I happen to have sijfpe dirty rags made from old diapers that I was bringing home to wush as a custodian at Perron Elementary. I dug into this bag of diapers and found one that I could put on my head like a scarf. It didnt help much but it was better than nothing. I mentioned to Mark to do the same thing if he got too cold. Mark was sitting next to me all hunkered down tiyingto stay warm and it went through my mind, Well, here is another fine mess youve gotten yourself into. noticed Mark had been rummaging around in the bag of rags and the next time I looked, my son had turned his cap around and taken the rags and folded them and had stuck them up in his cap so that they hung dow n around his ears. All you could see was the tip if his nose It looked pretty inventive to me so I asked him to do something similar to me. He responded by sticking some rags up inside my scarf like he had his' Here we were driving down the high-- ; wav with diapers sticking out of our heads and the thought struck me. Can you imagine what we must have looked like to anyone passing us in another car that late at night? Ill bet we were a sight to see. We laughed and laughed the rest of the way home. We got home and the next day rolled up my windows and left them that wav until it warmed up. I had one more incident in that old Chevy. My front seat broke and- my mechanic had to take the full front seat out. That left the front completely empty with a hole on the drivers side on the floor where the seat had been attached. You could see clear to the pavement. It was a hole about the size of a dinner plate but it was a hole just the same. My mechanic wanted to keep the car and fix it but I had to get to work some way So he said, Ill keep the hunt seat and work on it here. I'll fix you a temporary seat so you can drive it to work tomorrow. Then you can come over after work and I'll finish the job. That sounded good to me. You know what the temporary seat was? A gas can! He placed a square gas can over the hole in the floor and I had to sit on that stupid gas can and drive the car. Wasnt that a picture. Well, I did for two days. Count them. TWO days. Ever tried to work and press the gas pedal and the brakes and drive a car sitting on a gas can? It aint easy let me tell you. Seat got fixed. The next year I bought a brand new car. Is it any wonder? Well that is my world. Until next time remember those infamous wurds 1 stick-ingou- t. 1 of Charlotte Whitton, Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily this is not difficult. |