Show November 1 1995 Gunnison Valiev NewsSalina Sun Page 3 PO Box 189 Gunnison Utah 84634 East Main Street Salina Utah 84654 3 is a regular feature of editorials and public opinion generated from the residents of the Salina Redmond Aurora Gunnison Fayette Centerfield Mayfield communities We welcome your editorials cartoons comments and ideas SOAPBOX will be published the first week of the month Deadline is the week before We will publish signed Letters to the Editor weekly If you have an issue you Salina for space feel strongly abmjt call us at Gunnison or constraints Thank You Very Much for helping to make this new feature a success! SOAPBOX Axtell What's Happening here? Dear Editor: I have been watching and listening in total amazement as this friendly town I was bom and raised in has been turned into a war zone What’s happening here? I suddenly find myself a designated “horse person” What are you others called? “The Chosen?” We are all different to be sure What offends one person may be enjoyed and much loved by another I am offended by personally They make an ugly noise create ratcheting trenches all over the landscape and seem to be everywhere Yet a lot of my friends own and enjoy them I complained about them once and have regretted it ever since These people were angry- at me for a long time and are wonderful people and good neighbors It wasn't worth the hard feelings am offended by the packs of dogs that swarm through my y ard every night I am sickened at having to wake up in the morning to find turI ducks goats and sheep mangled half eaten and actually still keys alive I am offended by children with no respect for fences or another person's property like the ones I often find in my corrals throw ing rocks and chasing everything that mov es They inform me that their mothers have told them they can play wherever they please whether it’s in the road a deep ditch of water or my back yard These same mothers will consider it my fault when those children get hurt I am offended by not being able to drive across town without having to brake constantly for groups of kids strolling or standing in the middle of the street informing me that they have a better right to walk there than I have to drive there These things offend but I seldom complain because it’s life in a small town and you learn to accept and get along Besides I usually have concerns more pressing than petty annoyances Life must be very easy or boring unsatisfying for a few certain people It seems they have nothing better to do with their time than skulk around and spy on their neighbors camera in hand for something to whine about Don't these people have or children to watch or homes to clean or meals to prepare or a job to go to or book to read or something? And where did this suddenly come from anyway? From one man who couldn't see the harm in corralling two horses in a tasteful landscaped enclosure on his own personal property especially when next door feed lot containing is a up to 35 head of steers? Someone smarter than I am will have to point out the logic of I can't see it It doesn’t hardly look like an attempt to preserve the quality of an elite subdivision lifestyle it looks suspiciously like a personal vendetta against one individual who had the guts to do as he pleased on his own land I further do not see the logic-- or the basic human integrity-- in slandering and smearing a fine man and perfectly competent lawy er in order to boost him out of a job All because HE had the guts to stand by a friend and stick by his own opinions Then the city (or somebody) imports a man from another town to draw up a proposal outlining how we in Salina should live? What price range and square footage new homes in certain areas must conform to? Where and if we may plant a tree or shrub? Oh please! And who are these and people harassing new residents telling them they can't improve the corral they just bought and put their horse in it? Have the Nazi's moved to town when I wasn't looking? Money makes the world go 'round--least that’s the way in seems when a man can't even patch a hole in his roof without paying a fee to the city first But if you put an injunction on any new horse activ ity until the issue is settled doesn't it follow that this injunction include the Black Hawk roArena regarding the deo? After all the Black Hawk isn't presently zoned for livestock It seems a trifle foolish to me that the city would issue itself a building permit to erect a million dollar facility in an area not zoned for livestock And if you in the spirit of fairness ban all future livestock events at the Black Hawk who loses? The merchants the restaurant and motel owners the entire city Because it's a fact of our lives that livestock related ing the lives of lov ed ones or themselves to cancer I don’t think flies are high on their list of worries In closing the one thing that really bothers me about this issue is the underlying spirit of hostility and spitefulness Those who are using underhanded ugly tactics to get their point across are only demeaning themselves and ought to be thoroughly ashamed There is not ONE individual in this town with a right to point a finger at any other one We have all done w rong and we have all done right It ev ens out If you want to improve Salina IMPROVE it Be a friend Be a neighbor be tolerant Do something for someone instead of to someone Grow up Salina Just because a few indi- events bring a LOT of revenue to this town If we’re not careful we’ll zone ourselves out of an Auction Yard and a July 4th Rodeo as well Do the rules then apply to one man but not his neighbor? To one facility and not another? Who gets to decide? Us or the Mayor of Richfield and a few significant others? There are w hole vistas of issues that can and will come of this--it borders on the ridiculous If the biggest gripe of your life is fighting off flies from next door I hope you are sincerely thankful for e such a sheltered soft and life There are people w ho hav e to wonder what to feed their children or how to clothe them and pay the bills Some people are losing their children to drugs drinking and delinquency Some are even los viduals have lost their integrity doesn't mean we all have to I can't Go to the polls November 7 Dear Editor commercialresidential zone is prime example of the complacency Over thirty years ago a Political Science instructor lecturing on the decay of the American political systhat by the time tem prognosticated we as students were middle aged adults apathy among the American people towards the government would allow the original intent of the Constitution to erode to a near worthless piece of paper He suggested that the resulting ignorance would allow us to be taxed at every turn and would keep us continually indebted to the We could never say we government owned our own homes or do with our We would as we pleased property ev en be required to have government to make improvements permission Freedom of choice on that property would be limited speech and religious orientation would be challenged and conflicts of interest and of politicians would be corruption rampant We students laughed and scoffed at his ludicrous pronouncements little knowing how true some of his As elecpredictions would become tions for our local town or city counI think back to those cils approach lectures and ask myself if I am con- tent to sit back and let these changes in the democratic process erode further or do I want to stand up and be heard as one who feels our basic freedoms hav e been infringed upon enough? Recent controv ersy in Centerfield brought on by the enforcement of an ordinance against animals within the ' The college is building a pool of e prospective faculty part-tim- Interested parties who wish to be considered for part-tim- e teaching assignments are now being invited to submit their resumes Candidates in all disciplines are heeded your letter and resume to: Dr Richard L White Submit r Vice President for Instruction Snow College 150 E College Avenue Ephraim Utah 84627 Sincerely Marsha Ann Baker 620 South Ev ergreen Salina Utah Lane It takes the response of yourself more than one person to make things Go to the polls on Nov emhappen ber 7 and be counted a that is rampant across America This ordinance had been written into the city code years ago never enforced or thought about until someone on the council found it and decided it was now time to see that it was enforced There are a number of ordinances written into Gunnison City 's code that have never been enforced yet they are allowed to stand without consequence for the time being What will the reaction be w hen the council says those ordinances will have to be enforced? If they are not currently v iable why have them written in the code at all? continue to As our communities grow we vyant to maintain the heritage that has been a part of this area We don't want to befor decades come sterile concrete cities We don't want our children for lack of interest to become memand opportunities bers of gangs with little purpose than destroying life and property our freedoms are precious — we need to protect them — we must become better informed in the politiCheck the ordinances cal process that have been adopted by your city and make sure that those areas of the code that you do not agree with are Make sure there is nothquestioned ing written that you would not want Take an interest in those enforced people being elected to represent you in local state or federal government If you have a better agenda positions than those being offered get involved Would YOU Like to Teach at Snow College? believe this town has become so that we can’t nasty and settle this issue like ladies and gentlemen and for the benefit of all My personal stand is just this: I live on a little patch of land that has been in my father's family for three half of it is Currently generations in the city and half is in the county My family has alw ays kept liv estock and ridden horses and always will Anyone trying to tell me I can’t had better bring their lunch when they ho doesn't hke w hat come Anyone I ride up the street in my own town are welcome to hold their noses and look the other way It's not my intention to offend I just w ish respect for my rights like any one else Sincerely Concerned Gunnison Citizen Trust lands an issue Dear Editor: The land patterns of Utah's 54 million acres are both varied and complex resulting at times in a serious inability to effectively manage them Such is the case w ith the State's 37 million acres of school and institutional trust lands Under the Enabling Act Congress set aside four sections out of every tow nship to be held in trust for support of the State's public education system Because of their widely scatlocatered nature and geographical tions the history of rev enues generated from these school trust lands has been severely limited Add to that problem the number of trust land acres captured for the past ten years in defacto w ildemess status and one can readily see how the school children of Utah are being short changed Development of any kind within a w ilderness study area under protected status is v irtually impossible For this reason the wilderness bill currently being proposed by the Utah delegation includes an exchange of trust lands captured in the wilderness designations for federal lands located areas on outside of the wilderness which possible development could take place and thereby benefit the schools and institutions This exchange makes sense in that wilderness v alues would also be preserved by remov ing the possibility of future developments which could occur should trust lands remain embedded in w ilderness areas It is hard for me to understand why env ironmental groups are opposing the exchange when it seeks to prealues they serve the very wilderness wish protected In their preferred 57 million acre wilderness bill which from New they had a congressman York introduce over 700000 acres of school trust lands would be captured with no proposed exchange Such a proposal is an indication to me of a biased and selfish attitude that to Utah's would be very detrimental schools and other public institutions ignored the They have consistently economic impacts of restrictions on trust lands brought about by federal regulations and have historically protested and appealed other means of enhancing school rev enues (ie timhe ber sales) As a result you and taxpay ers of Utah the parents and of school children are grandparents bearing the burden At some point in time we must ask ourselves a very important question “Is a few hours of solitude in a place where only a few are able to visit and enjoy worth the loss of a quality education for Utah's school children?” In our rush to save the land let's not sacrifice the children Sincerely Louise Liston Member Board of Trustees School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration |