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Show B3 The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH Sunday, May 5, 1996 __ Open Agenda: Hansen, R-Ripoff the broke.” TOM BARBERI Hansen was quoted as saying something about everyone using public lands paying $50 annually, “We'd have more money than you could imagine.” Kindof gives you a warm fuzzy doesn’tit? Evenif they were, so what? boy! to relieve the government fromits yearly financial burdenofits recreational subsidy, let me remind you we're talking about $1.3 bil- the real meaning of that great American policy of laissez-faire. If you thinkall this is necessary lion. No small sum. But while you ponder that, think of one B-1 bomber. Happyhiking! Ciao! Tom Barberi is atalk show host on KALL-AM. If this kind of cockeyed idea becomes a reality, I wonder what form of enforcement will be put in place to monitor every living soul that ventures off the paved portions of America? Like the water that, over the course of time, gouged out the Grand Canyon, the alleged conservatives of the Republican Party in Utah andnationally seem to be eroding our freedoms one drop ata time. trees-without-the-proper-papers laws? Wouldthe moneygained be offset by having to enlist an entire new policing agency, The Hiking cause if Rep. Jim Hansen (R for Ripoff — Utah) has his way, you will have to pay a fee to just look at it. Hansen is toying with the idea of instituting fees for (his term) ‘recreationaluse of federal lands.”” Yes! you out there who think a leisurely stroll in the woodsis a right ofliving in this vast beautiful country canforgetit. His mind is reeling with dollar signs with the mere thought of charging hikers and four-wheelers an annual fee of $50 before being allowed to recreate in national forests or go on BLMland. At this rate, we will have to shorten the phrase, ‘The land of the free and the home of the brave” to something like “The land of the fee and the home of Fruit Highway: Then thereis the stigmaof being cited for such aninfraction. If you failed to pay your fine and were forced to do hard time, how do you explain to your cellmate that you're in the jug for watching a yellow-crested warbler without the proper permit? Or were caught peering at a circling hawk while changing tire out in the middle ofthe desert. As if this idea isn't nutty enough, along comes Bob Turner, senior adviserto the National Audubon Society, who jumps into this tax-feeding frenzy with the idea of a special tax on such things as birdhouses, birdseed, binoculars, film, cross-country skis and hiking boots. This nimrod believes film and binoculars are only used to look at Brigham City or west of the highway, you can’t grow fruit for prof- it becauseit’s too cold.” George Nielson Sr. knew this andstarted buying up small tracts of land in 1929. He and his brother bought five acres of prime ® Continued from B-1 growing cantaloupe and water- farm land for $500 and started ‘They grew old and tired of trudg- ing out of their warm homes on cold mornings to check trees for frost damage. They no longer wanted to keep ditches clear or puli stumps with tractors until it was too dark to see. They began taking offers for their land from developers, especially when their children showed no interest in taking over for them. “Noneofthe kids wantto doit, there ain't no moneyin it,” said Harvey Mund, who started managing his father-in-law's orchard in Willard about 20 years ago. LaVoy Call originally farmed about 100 acres of peaches and farmland. Since Mund took over it gradually has been cutto about 20 acres, which mayalso be sold off unless Mund can gethis son interested in taking care ofit. : That's not likely given the fimancial hardships of running a farm. “This is pretty low pay com- pared to anything else we can do,”” Mund said. - No one denies that homes fit well under the shadows of the Wasatch Mountain peaks that tower above the nearby highway. Butfruit trees claimed the area first. One old-timer recalls BrighamCity being carpeted with budding peach trees after spring arrived on the highway,said Watgon. ‘She told me you could look out your window andall you could see is pink.” ! : Plenty of farmers during the Great Depression took advantage of the mixture of elements that made growing fruit trees near the Highway a success. > The ground on the east side of the highway, where most of the orchardsare located, is sandy and éasier to irrigate. Nearby Willard Peak also forces warm winds down onto the orchards while shielding the farms from quick temperature drops that kill tender buds. Ralph Nielson tries not to pend much time thinking about the naiural bubble that shields the Fruit Highway from too much dimatic calamity. But he does glance over his shoulder occasion- melon, They sold their produce from a roadside stand in Brigham City to nearby hungry hospital workers. They moved their stand outside of the city and beganselling more vegetables and fruit to people who stopped along the highway. Nielson eventually bought up 250 acres and began shipping produce by railroad and trucks to the Mid- MINE,andI'll do whatI like with it! If I own business,laissez-faire means stay out of my way. Don’t tell me how much I have to pay workers, what benefits or safety ecology”jargon the tree-huggers talk about is so much bleedingheart sissiness. and especially don't interfere with my marketing methods the redwoods delicate? Is the moose is good for the country Grand Canyon delicate? Were the 75 million buffalo delicate? Give “Delicate” my chain saw! Are that inch of topsoil to be created? me a break. Freedom, Tom, that's what Americais all about. Freedom to build a house wherever we want, even in the flood path of a great river, and freedom to have as What's so precious about topsoil many kids as we want, drive as big meansnotrespassing. If I choose to let the precious topsoil blow away, that’s my business. So what if it took thousands of years for Dang right, Tom! This land is your land; this land is myland, from the slash-cut mountain to the haze-filled canyon. Sing it, with a shotgun? All this “delicate precautions I owe them, what standards I must meet to ensure a safe product for the consumer, If 1 own land, laissez-faire RESPONSE a spotted owl,orofall the spotted owls in the world, with the Godgiven rights of an American kid anyway? You can’t eat the stuff! If I have a kid, just you remember he’s mine. Don’t try to tell me I can’t teach him what I want, or [here andleavelittle plastic bags of our human waste along the trails as proof that we conquered nature. Whyheck, freedom is so impor- tant to us that we namedour great roads “freeways” because they would let us move freely and speedily from suburbto city and back again. Isay let the freeways surround- ing the cities of America stand as a reminder to those fools who would monitor access to and use of public lands. Those lands are OURS, and come hail or hi water, we'll enjoy the dayligh out of them, just as long as they last. By the way, Tom, are you a grandfather yet? Elouise Bell is professor emeritus dom to roarup these glorious can- at Brigham Young University. Lote... Mother’s Day is May 12 MRS. BAKER’S | Fragrant candle jars square miles planted in fruit trees, and ranks second in the siate to Utah County in fruit production — a distinction Nielson grudgingly concedes. ‘They grow good pears there,” Nielson said. “But we grow a better peach.” People from Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Wyomingwill soon start streaming into the Pettingill stand, whichis on the south end of the Fruit Highway near the Weber-Box Elder Countyline. Gay Pettingill has worked his 250acres for nearly 50 years. Un- like many farmers along the high- way, he has two sons wheare willing to take over his operation when he is unable to work anymore.Pettingill knowsthatis still no guarantee they will sell the family holdings for a developer's check. Still, he has faith they will recognize and hold on to a good arrangement. “I hope they are smart enough to know that when you put it into housing you are through,” Pettingill said. “You can only sell it once.” Besides, the customers that have depended on his family to provide the tastiest fruit in Utah probably will demand theystay in ty of the fruit means a lot around here.” The winning numbers drawn and South Dakota's Tri-Westlot- Saturday right in the Powerball tery worth $602,000 were: 6, 12, 16, 24, 30, 33 The winning numbers drawn Montana of us to climb Mount McKinley. a car as we wantand use as much gas as we want, along with the right to cheap food and gas. Free- As a very special Mother’s Day offer to you from ZCMI, you may purchase a 22 oz. jar in any of six fragrances including mulberry, vanilla spice, cinnamonstick, spiced apple, peach or apple blossom (reg. 17.50), plus either a black wire heart or a white trellis large jar holder(reg. $10), both for just 19.95. Large quantities are available, howeverthis offer is only available through May 11 or while supplies last in our Gifts department. LOTTERY oO see. Freedom for more and more City. The first crop of sweet cherries will comeoff around June20, followed byapricots, pie cherries, peaches, apples, pears and pumpkins in the fall Most people who buy from the Nielson stand have been customers for years. Others are people whohave heard of the Fruit Highway and cometo see whatthe orchards haveto offer. “People love to drive up and see the product,” Nielson said. “We havetons of stuff out.” Box Elder County has about 2,275 acres of the county's 5,615 “One year we gotfroze out and I brought in a bunchof California peaches, and people wouldn’t buy them,” Pettingill said. “The quali- 4, 9, 24, 31, 42 Powerball: 39 Gentlemen, start your engines. Freedom to use half the state’s water supply to grow lawn like Pappy grew ‘em back in Tennes- sold almost year-round to nearby grocery stores and customers at their roadside grocery in Perry aboutfive miles south of Brigham “The area between Ogden and Brigham Cityis the best protected lottery worth $14.5 million were: world is welcomehere! states, Muchof what they grow now is business, he said area in Utah for growing fruit,” said Ralph Nielson. “But north of alone! Get outta my face! This is longs to me, doesn’t he? These are public lands we're talking about, these canyons and “wilderness” lands. Cripes, the way some people talk, you would think they belonged to the goldarned animals. How can any sane person comparethe rights of west and the Rocky Mountain ally to pay tribute to the sur- foundings that treated his dad so well. Translated into good old American idiom, that means: Let me way my father trained me. He be- yons in our ATVs and our 4WDs in ever-growing numbers — the vistas and take picturesof nature. Will It Go to Seed? it if there is a small scratch. Peoplejust won't buyit,” Watson said. Much ofthestrip’s decline is traced to the farmers whoused to tend to the orchardsatits edge. We Westerners are the last people on Earth who understand What's good for General Bull- What would be thecost to enforce these new no-staring-at-the- Police? I mention the Grand Canyon be- ELOUISE BELL train him with the belt just the For winning numbers and prize amounts, players can call the Ida- ho Lottery's information hotline: 1-800-432-5711 Mother's May 12 (27 MI I |