Show 4i V' X‘ V- Thursday April 3 2003 - - w ’V A4 i The Herald Journal Your view I Community behind LHS principal ‘ To the editor I disagree with the position you have taken in Sunday’s editorial “Logan High speech crackdown necessary?) Rather than question the motives of Logan High principal Dr Charles Nelson I congratulate him on standing firm for his beliefs and not caving in under the pressure to do the “politically correct” thing Dr Nelson took the right course of action in denying The Herald Journal the opportunity to interview his students I don’t believe the Herald Journal is as upset and concerned about the students being “robbed” of their right to speak as you are that someone would have the audacity to stand in your way of determining (or creating) what is newsworthy Your edito- rial reads like a case of your showing Dr Nelson who has the real power A free press is a wonderful and a powerful thing that The Herald Journal has sadly abused in this instance Had your reporters really wanted to interview the students it would have been a simple matter to wait until school was over for the day and interview them after they left the school grounds You complain that Dr Nelson made no effort to ascertain parents’ desires but apparently neither did you His job is to educate and administrate not spend his time trying to determine which students have parental approval for their five minutes of fame Your editorial has insulted a man who lives by deeply held principles It reflects poorly on your newspaper and the “rights” that it claims to represent At the very least you owe Dr Nelson an apology for implying that he has something to hide ami that he is being less than forthright and honest To Dr Nelson I say “lead on” and know that the community sup- ports your actions Ron Case Wellsville Update from Anywhere ' ' - USA To the editor Somewhere out in space there has to be a special alignment of the planets that is bringing our two neighboring cities into their current confluence Both Logan and North Logan seem to be suffering from similar identity crises each wants to be something else Poor North Logan doesn't want to be confused with Logan and ironically neither does Logan While North Logan doesn’t know what it wants to be called or what it wants to be Logan has the advantage in that it wants to be Ogden but has not yet publicly addressed a name change! What a propitious moment for our local TP (thespian politician) This situation presents a rare opportunity for our LTP and the NLTP to break new ground (in more ways than one) Each is rushing to see which can be the first to destroy all vestiges of the old Cache Valley Vying for the boredom of boxdom and mindless sprawl they rush into fray adding ticky onto tacky to see which can be the first to clone a Cache Valley version of Ogden’s charming Riverdale Road on North Main At this point it’s pretty much neck and neck and anybody's call as to which has pro--' duced the most unimaginative and ugliest result I have a suggestion Why not call North Logan New Logan as sometime in the future Logan will want to have a name more representative of its aspira- tions New Logan has a certain ring redolent of new beginnings and is consistent with its pioneer heritage If no association with Logan can be tolerated then a fallback could be Box Haven also conveying its cur-- ' rent direction and not without some poetic lilLS Now that'kaves us with Logan’s dilemma I suppose it could be renamed New Ogden but somehow I don’t drink Ogden would like it and it’s not politic to alienate those you aspire to emulate I believe an appropriate name would be Anywhere Sort of like Truth or Consequences NM it conjures up an identity all its own When you reflect on it this is a very accurate description as anywhere you see the blunders that have destroyed countless other towns you can find them all bang embraced and replicated here in Logan Mindless sprawl the same boxes everyone else has neighborhood pitted against neighborhood trying to shunt Thompson’s traffic off by someone else’s float yard residents ignored in favor of the outside real estate exploitation crowd and bickering with neighboring cities about bound- ary lines We have it all right here in Cache Valley’s commercial hub The more I think about it Anywhere has real possibilities r Gary Bertonneau Logan ' The Achilles’ heel of Utah’s Arches By Jim Stiles I Writers 1927 a gathering of huge sandstone windows in Utah was set aside by presidential proclamation and named Arches National Monument Now a national park its 75000 acres welcome almost 800000 tourists a year who come from all over the world to look with “ has such a weak climbing policy Hie question of unlimited com- mercial backcountry operations is even more troubling and could have conseeven greater long-ternational Some quences parks such as Zion in southwest Utah recognize this danger and ban all backcountry commercial operations At Archesjhe precedent is that almost anything goes: In 1998 Walt Dabney gave his tacit approval to a potential tour operator explaining that while “commercial technical is prohibited commercial canyoneering is allowed and managed under our commercial backpacking and hiking regulations” Dabney defined technical rock climbing as “ascending or descending a rock formation utilizing equipment” He defined travcanyoneering as el involving occasional ascending or descending a rock formation utilizing equipment” In that language there lies the problem for as he put it the distinction between technical rock climbing and canyoneering “can be ambigum awe Company buyout brutal to staff To the editor Open letter to the citizens of Cache Valley: To those of you I know and those I never met I write you thus as I can find no other means of reaching a larger audience ' I bid farewell to all with-whoI interacted with at the recently local business Trans-Lu- x bought-o- ut one time ISE Inc I am sickened by the treatment we all received at the hands of the new company Bianco by which I refer to the approximately five minutes notice we received after in some cases 12 years of loyal service to the company I am grateful that I am having to sell the car of my dreams that I recently managed to get hold of as it was only going to become a cumbersome and frivolous hobby restoring it when there was the problem of having to rebuild your life on the aforementioned five minutes notice to contend with! I hope all of my friends that I have been unable to say goodbye to will read this farewell and with it comes my best wishes that you use this opportunity to move upward David Crawford Logan These letters and other personal essays in the Herald Journal may express opin- ions that do not align exactly with your own If you disagree please respond with a letter to the editor or contact editor Charles McCollum about a possible guest com1 Ext 3020 mentary (Phone: cmccoBumOhjnewscom) See ml inrormanon dox ai Donom qt paga tot more details 752-212- This marvelous place must be well protected by federal laws and regula- tions right? Wrong Arches has an Achilles’ heel in fact twoof them: There are practically no rock-climbi- rules regulating technical rock climbing or commercial day-uoperations These loopholes have combined to threaten the park’s mostly untouched se rock-climbi- backcountry Since 1999 Arches National Park has allowed off-tra- il tours into sensitive locations that include technical rappels down into a series of rock-climbi- ng canyons Expansion bolts pounded into the rock at several sites provide anchor points for some of the rap- pels! Now a “canyoneering" company operates five different commercial tours inside the park ous” To suggest that these commercial tours include “occasional” rappels as if they were an afterthought is ludig crous The technical aspect of the tour is why most people take the tour Cleariy this is a com- Until 2002 day-ucommercial operations at Arches didn’t even require a permit As for the park’s climbing policy climbers are simply encouraged to abide by “a clean climbing ethic” according to a 1988 superintendent’s directive If a visitor walks up to a sandstone fin and scratches his name into it with a car key he’ll be ticketed and fined But if he pulls out a bag of bolts and a hand drill and starts pounding them into the rock a park ranger can legally do nothing No other national park in sou than Utah se rock-climbin- mercial technical business But it sticks to the “descending” aspect of the climb only which requires much less technical skill than going both up and down In 2002 the Park Service at Arches Incidental began issuing a Business Permit to canyoneering companies The permit seemed to rock-climbi- one-ye- ar Sen Barbara Boxer Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal D-Ca-lif point- ed out that the United States could save more oil than die refuge could produce just by demanding automakers to improve die fuel effiUnder a loophole Congress ciency has failed to close automakers are allowed to classify SUVs as trucks allowing diem to avoid the higher e standards imposed on cars N ow that the Senate has proposal to rejected an drill for oil in an Alaskan wildlife refuge the Bush administration should let this bad idea go The measure died by a scant 52-4- 8 vote yith several Republican senators joining Democrats in opposition gasoline-mileag- The Opinion proa is Mended to acquaint readers with a variety of viewpoints on matters of publti importance and provide msmbon of -- tot community 1 wfth a fonim for Mr views Psnonsl columns cartoons and MtsreYrom rsflsct Sis opinions of Visir writers and giMmi BflMiM unoervw headtogi Our repreeonttha views of tie Herdd Journal onona doml 11 MBrnotrs nflhw nnovmi dome — YPOLP mxbbtusreN NOWTOKCOP TO Afc? -O v Jim Sti les is a contributor to Writers on the Range a service of High Country News in Paonia Colorado (hcnorg) He publishes the MmontNyfree news- paper the Canyon Country Zephyr based hi Moab Utah Higher mileage requirements are needed The technology is there — in fact both Ford and Lexus will soon introduce new hybrid SUVs which use a minimum of gas deriving most of their power from electricity The president should look at die Senate's rejection of its Alaska drilling plan not as a defeat but as an opportunity to explore better solutions for a growing energy crisis' Herald Journal immsL J i NO-O-O- - White House should shelve Alaskan drilling plan TIME SWNto PUTT river-runni- ng National views oBACKWMV 7W££ iN&f&t&l LET WEKmf- ng “cross-count- ry Non Sequltur OUR on toe Range ignore concerns raised by its own environmental screening form which asks for detailed information about cumulative impacts What happens for instance when a business expands? What would stop a company from rapidly multiplying die number of tours it offers? What would stop a company from exploiting every backcountry region of Arches National Park? These ques- dons have not been answered and the permit is now up for renewal No one knows for sure how canyoneering will change Arches but I think there’s a precedent for what might happen Forty years ago indusdie commercial in its No was one infancy try dreamed that in a short decade or two commercial river use would explode Motorized trips through die canyons allowed many companies to significantly increase their business and of course with increased traffic came increased impacts The silence and peace of die river became things of the past By the time the Park Service attempted to deal with the motorized river industry it was too late It was entrenched had gained political clout and to this day has not been eliminated The river companies are highly regulated and yet the Colorado River’s overused You can’t run thousands of visitors through a wilderness and say it’s a wilderness experience It’s a recreational experience That ultimately is what canyoneering companies offer It’s up to the Park Service and die public to decide if intense backcountry use for fun and profit is appropriate for wild lands It’s early tut right now die Park Service is sliding into a pattern it may not be able to change I t j f flLSHfikJOU4B30nUB-- 'HUM Kjgfit conclusions at mm Eff to btgathered out ofa multitude v of torym tUm through U0p4d30lTU(2uA DARRELL EHRUCKfcVy edtor CINDY YURTHfsaturesodNor Bf&JCE SMTHjpuMahor CHARLES McCOLLUMAnanagkig edtor ay fodofoutforitatwc sdixtkm' — i The Hereto Journal welcomes letters to Vie odKor rntonWnlyiinlnm nr nftonslw lotion wN not bo published however and toe edtor reeenree Vie right to edit al letters to conform to tie length and style requirements of Via Letters should bo: Typewritten and double spaced No more ton 450 words In tangto Addressed and Include daytime phone number tor pupocos of verification Sgned by the author IndMduais are kntod to one piMshod lat-lwithin any SOday period Addrees al litas to tytotaOtynwvt£omGuialcom" nuntoriMariatowatoomtandmiuntf 19 aiHIaJU (BBCtBSOn UkA NKn |