Show MldDM Sunday February 15 2004 A4 The Herald Journal Our view toft HYfM city mk i ciTY cmoL mew Air woes hardly lm 1 one man’s doing T he recent PM 25 pollution must have clouded more than the skies of Cache Valley it's obviously clouded the judgment of some valley residents As levels of particulate matter in the air rose so too did the dander of some Cache Val- leyites The main object of their ire seemed to be Logan Mayor Doug Thompson and his administration While we believe there are many legitimate criticisms that can be hurled in that direction pollution is not one of them In fact pollution is one thing that Thompson and his administration have tried to curb Thompson has been a staunch supporter of valley wide bus transportation During his administration the Cache Valley Transit District was created and the Logan Transit District has expanded The bus system has been far more successful than anyone could have dreamed His administration installed power generators that despite initial controversy were inar-guably cleaner than the diesel generators that polluted the environment Thompson personally championed the idea of carpooling to work and work Fridays Though both of these programs have met with marginal success this administration and the mayor have made significant efforts to try and 1940s-vinta- ge reduce pollution and energy consumption in a number of creative ways Blaming the pollution prob-lems on Logan and in particular Doug Thompson is easy Logan is the largest city it has traffic problems and it has larger industrial-sized businesses Thomp- administration has often played the part of the gorilla — jumping up and down demanding to get its way Still we can’t help but think that some of the people taking potshots at Thompson would be ' the same ones that would stand in line demanding his recall if his administration took more extreme measures to curb pollution The truth is if you own a car a By Bruce Smith Herald Journal publisher wood or coal burning stove a cow or a diesel engine — you are just as responsible for the X his has been the snowiest and coldest winter that I have lived pollution as Doug Thompson tmiDtoxm The winter of my discontent through since leaving Montana more than 10 years ago Unlike the past few winters in Cache Valley this winter has been a brutal one A few weeks ago a temperature Editorials in this space are the opinion of the Herald Journal editorial board which by no means views itself as the last word on matters of public interest If you dsagree please tael free to respond with a letter to the erfitor or contact editor Charles McCollum about a poesfote guest comExt 3020 mentary (Phone: 752-212-1 cmccoliumOhinewscom) See information box at bottom of page for more details invasion trapped cold y air in the and it has remained bitter cold for several weeks val-le- Alsothe’ il: UN opposition baffling To the editor: The article that appeared in the Herald Journal on Feb 4 “House votes to withdraw from the United Nations" was a wake-u- p call for me I would hope that it would wake up some other people m our stale and ' community as well ' tame It is one thing for right- La Verkin in (Southern Utah) wingers to declare their town a “United Nations free zone" and get labeled by amused reporters as “lunatic fringe” It is quite another to have the Legislature of a state like Utah rep- resenting some two million people take such a benighted stand ' Do these legislators intend to with- draw from all the UN agencies as well — niaybe to stop supporting ’ - ' K Herald Journal Uw Opinion page is Mandad to acqwM madata wMi a variety of viewpoints Bn manwt of pubic importance and provide iwnbsis of w community witi a foiun tor thairviawa PmoiM ooluinni cartoons and Mm from madM reflect tie opinions of Mr Nriton aid creators Editoneie under toe heedng 'Our represent toe views of tw Hared Journal MboanL Members of the edflotU boant r wU not be pubinhed hoMvsi end tie scMor M oonionn IM8MI viv ngpv vi 9Qi ifl to tie lengfli and etyto isquiiemerts of toe Mn n LaMts should be: V 'fypewfltonend doubtospsced 'No Van 450 monk in langdi nooratBto no rouot pnoni number for pwpoaaa of variicsdon Signed by toaautoor tndMduefc ere Imbed to one publehed latter Mhin any 30ndsy period Address tsOsreto taeasrttyieMxoHi Qijaal commentaries are also vretoorno and are run at ttwadtorlsilaoreHon m am - nym E-- CMOVYURTTMeetotesedfer PRUCE SMfTHfpubMier CMAMJS McCOUUSMnanagSsj edflor - 30-fo- ot i Bruce Smith to The Herald JoumaTs publisher His column appears on the Opinion page every other Sunday He can be reached by al at bsmithOhjnewscom snow-prow'dri- seems oblivious to what correct but still racist By Elizabeth Armstrong Christian Science Monitor don’t remember his face as a whole but there are details I doubt I'll ever forget His eyes were dark and flickering his weathered velvet skin revealed die slightest hint of stubble around his mouth and the muscles in his jaw Clenched as he met my gaze But those are details and they -- sion: This man wants my money I was about to pass without pause I was after all deep in conversation with my friend But as we neared ' : I am tired of hearing it tired of listening to the dark people I Know and light rich and poor corv young and old I ' something else caught my eye: The ' man with the “Cuprseemed to be suit and polished shoes : wearing a And that caught me off guard' As I passed I glared as if to dial- " lenge turn - to adt yvhat a man was doing asking for vince themselves over v quarters on a cold Boston day b took five quick steps past this man i and over they do not about before itclicked comehaa ' harbor such judgments WuL Slop RewinL Faiqi ruit Frst there was only a question: do you have any “Excuse me but polished shoes three men a car a ' parking meter? quotas?"' A parking meta ' I was wallring toward Boston begin to flinch and I want to stop I stopped dead in my tracks as the Common with a friend on a stagger ' writing Except there’s the possibility 1 conskfcr that I afternoon cold m of my miscalculation hit me I didn’t and fireing something by ingly so despicable something I neva v : turned around warily to see the min tuni to acknowledge him From the with the “cup" standing in shock his coma (rf1 my eye all I could make : tiipected to fiiid Within myselfrl w: out was the shape o& a few men bun- - ndght learn from the experience and hand still outstretched as if my hos--: died up to ward off die cold The one might even convince others to face it tibtyhadfrozeahim' ’£: ' His acquaintances were snickering' within themsdvCs as welL asking about quarters held what looked to be a cup b was based on these observations and exchanged knowing glances -- thd bodies huddled die And there was one more thing: their eyes angry as they tried to question that hung in the air and the color of These men were black Sec RACISM m AS This is the part of the story where I their skin - that I drew my concfai- : i ns nprao jounw sMUornw nun v-imOf novsfwiffy rnku or onmiM mwi : healer is standard equipment for cars in Mon- tana If you didn’t plug your car in at night when it was bitter cold it simply wouldn’t start die next morning If you kept your car in the garage at night unless it was heated it had to be plugged in or it wouldn’t start Even during the day when you knew you were going to leave your car parked for a few hours you either parked it where there was a plug-i- n for your head-bo- lt heata or you went out every hour to start it up and let it run for five or 10 minutes I’m surprised that during the past 'several weeks there hasn’t been a rebellion against snowplow drivers in the residential areas of Cache Valley or at least in the North Logan neighborhood where I live I'm iisu-ally one of the first ones on our street to remove the snow from the drive-wa- y And it never fails as soon as I have the driveway cleared after a heavy snowfall the snowplow comes along and pushes a nice big drift in front of my driveway Often this v winter I have stood in my driveway and watched it happen The he is doing Obviously his job is to plow the snow off the street but he doesn’t seem to care very much where he puts it So when the snow-- : plow is finished I trudge out to the end of the driveway shovel in hand to once again clear the driveway I think snowplow drivers in other communities must be a little more driveway friendly The snowplow operator pushing snow around even complicates the delivery of mail After the first big snowfall in December the post office notified everyone oh die street that it Was our responsibility to keep a area in front of the mail box clear of snow so the mailman could drive dose enough to the mailbox to deliva the mail I have faithfully tried to help the mailman by keeping the area in front of my mailbox free from the big drift of snow the snowplow leaves behind I haven’t had much successThe snowplow driva treats the area in front of mailboxes the same way he treats driveways he just plugs it up with a big snowdrift Last Monday our mail wasn’t delivered becadse the mailman couldn’t get to the mailbox becauseT hadn’t had time to clear away the big snow- drift in front of my mailbox that was ' pushed there by the snowplow I’m wondering how long it is going to take before all of the snow that I have piled up around the yard melts enough for die early spring plants to begin to grow I can hardly wait to see the first crocus poke its head through the snow because that means we’re done with this seemingly endless winter and warmer weather is just around the corner Commentary short-sightedne- ss The'': if- heater A head-bo- lt inversion wouldn’t allow the pollution in the air to disperse so in addition to ' being bitter cold the air has been unhealthy to breathe It seems like every morning before I leave for work I have to shovel snow I’ve run out of places to put if '' When Karen and I moved to Cache Valley in 1993 everyone said that we needed to get used to hard winters We kind of laughed to ourselves when people would warn us about how cold and snowy it was going to get in January and February We thought the people of Cache Valley really didn’t know what it was like to have a bitter cold miserable snowy winter like we had almost every year of the 20 years we lived in Montana Forty below zero was and still is a regular occurrence each winter in Bozeman And when it gets that cold just like Cache Valley there is usually a temperature inversion and it stays way below zero for several weeks at a time So we suspected a ' Cache Valley winter wouldn't be a challenge for us because we already knew what extreme cold weather vaccinations and disease containment of the World Health Organiza tion? Or to withdraw from participating in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that ' helps stabilize currencies and build die world's economies? Would we ' withdraw from die Universal Postal Union and hand deliver all our mail td the various countries of the world? What about UNICEF U N ESCO the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN: and so forth? Do we Nick Eastmond think that theUS acting on its own Logan will solve all the world's problems? What are these people thinking? s See YOUR VIEW on AS - : Do they remember that a major cause for World War II was the United States’ unwillingness to be part of the League of Nations the UNY predecessor after World War I Part of the fabric that was supposed to help prevent another world war was the establishment of the UnitedNations’ Over the past years the United Nations has had a major part in building the kind of globalization that has helped our economy and our world to prosper' I want to applaud theefforts of all the folks that have kept the Model UN ideal gone in 'our high schools I once belonged to that club at a high school jn Salt Lake now 40 years ago and I learned a lot about how the international world worked from ' that experience The problem with our legislators I believe is that many’ of them lack a vision beyond the borders of our state Unless we are willing to under- -' stand the world from the viewpoint oif other countries exactly the kind of thing that happens when issues are discussed in a world forum like the United Nations we are doomed to the frustration and of isolationism The work of the Model United Nations and other out- reach efforts help keep our perspective global 50-pl- : : was like The cold spells in Montana usually came to an aid when a Chi- ' nook wind came and warmed things up In a matter of 15 or 20 minutes a Chinook could raise the temperature from 20 or 30 below zero to 20 or 30 above zero You never knew when a Chinook was going to come but when it did it felt wonderful It ' would have been nice if we would have had a Chinook a few weeks ago in Cache Valley (hie of die reasons we didn’t believe people when they told us that Cache Valley winters were colder and more miserable than we were used to was because we didn’t see any cars with an electrical plug hanging off the front for the head-bo- lt T Your ' btickfwhns'fa(t9icm : well-drns- ed that : : : - - — frr tmwi1kUAmakmjui(UZ2rl36l ' r - |