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Show FEED BACK sentencing. Ray whipped off his kitchen apron, opened his docket and fined the guy- all in about the time it takes to tell this story. Wayne was so impressed with this example of “frontier justice” that he and Ray became good friends thereafter. Ah well! I can go on and on! Just wanted to say thanks for the copy of the Zephyr. We still do think of Moab and the role it played in our lives. Best of luck! (CONTINUED) growing. At the current rate of growth, our sheer numbers will always out-strip any improvement in conservation. I'll be the first to admit that I access the outdoors environment via an automobile. I participate in modern society and use computers, televisions, guitar amplifiers, backpack stoves, compact disc players, lawn-mower and, yes, automobiles. How long would it take me to walk from Boulder, Colorado to Moab, Utah anyway? We human animals love our technologies. So much so, in fact, that, as a collective, we are depending on technology to solve our problems for us. But technology's ability to keep up with the growth of human numbers has already been superseded by those very numbers. We can conserve resources, reduce consumption and pollution, doing all those environmentally correct things that we know are ethically responsible, yet we're playing a losing hand if we fail to tackle the population issue. If we could but reduce the population, we wouldn't need technology to solve our conundrums for us. We could keep our technologies, as damaging as they might be, if only we reduced our numbers to a level that recognized the carrying capacity of the environment for human beings and their industrial culture. As scientist Al Bartlett has often asked, is there a single environmental problem that wouldn't be that much closer to solution if human numbers were reduced? Same thing goes for the canyon .country. There's just too many dad-blamed homo sapiens littering the landscape! If this opinion makes me a misanthrope, sign me, Evan Cantor Boulder, CO REMEMBERING THE GOOD OLD DAYS \ Jim Stiles- Just received the April/May edition of the Zephyr and experienced a sudden attack of nostalgia for Moab and the high desert country. My late in-laws, Ray and Ethel Scovil, were Tong time denizens of the area years ago. They owned the Porcupine Ranch. (Don’’t know what it’s called now.) To get there you crossed the river and just before you came into fown you took a hard left. You hugged the river for what seemed like forever on a washboard road. Eventually you climbed over a bluff and gazed down into Castle Valley. From that point it was just a few miles through that valley of majestic red rock formations to an old cottonwood tree. It marked the way over an impossible rutted road through National Forest land to a magical little haven we called “the ranch”. Ray Scovil died in Moab in 1972. It was the last time my wife, Sylvia, and I were ever there. We keep promising ourselves that one day we will come back and maybe even visit the old ranch but, we just haven't made it yet. From time to time Sam and Adrien Taylor af the Times Independent were so very kind in sending us a copy of their paper so that we wouldn't lose touch. It did help to preserve memories of Moab, the fantastic countryside and, of course, some of Ray and Ethel's friends. As you may know Ray provided some of the local color back in the daysof the “uranium boom”. Among his ventures he included a small restaurant then called “The Red Door”. It was situated in an alley off the main drag. I’’m not sure the alley ever had a name. He was both “chef” as well as the local Justice Of The Peace. I remember those precious moments for laughter at someone else’’s expense when Ray was forced to “hold court”in his kitchen. He would be standing in front of a huge tome (the court docket) while busily broiling steaks and fries on the side. He’’d have a highway cop standing beside him while a totally bewildered driver who'd been cited for speeding would be standing in front of them. I kept thinking, “only in Moab!”. One summer John Wayne happened to be filming there and was having dinner at “The Red Door” when a highway cop brought some poor guy he'd cited in for a hearing and Sal and Sylvia Tedesco Dear Jim, I was at Main Street Bagels in Grand Junction and grabbed a copy of The Canyon Country Zephyr to read with my coffee. I read your "Take It or Leave It” column and enjoyed the recap of your 15 years publishing the Zephyr. Your "Top 10 High Points" were an interesting and amusing commentary of how Moab and the environmental battles have changed over the years. My husband and I first encountered Moab during the summer of 1970 when it was the nearest "civilization" to a field camp we were living in at Circle Cliffs, four hours away (Hanksville was closer to us, but was not civilized at all - although it was very interesting.). That summer the Redrock Country burned itself into our very souls, so when we retired in 1996 we chose to be near it in Grand Junction. That brings me to Jennifer Speers. Several years ago my husband and | were driving to Moab on Utah 128, one of the prettiest drives in the country, when we happened upon the abomination of development at Dewey Bridge. We were stunned that expensive homes were going to be plopped into this very scenic and historic valley. Once the first house was erected we felt all was lost. We just didn't know what to do and assumed that people in Utah had either not attempted to stop the development or had lost the battle. When I read #10 in your list of "Top 10 High Points” I could hardly believe what Jennifer Speers had done. I had become completely cynical that today's wealthy Americans would ever realize their responsibilities to those of us who helped create their wealth in the first place. In my book "weasel' is an excellent term for people such as Ken Lay and his ilk. After all, how many homes are necessary (he was reported to have 6)? He and other rich weasels like him never seem to know when they have "enough". So when I learned that Jennifer Speers had purchased all the lots in the subdivision and had torn down the house that had been built, I was ecstatic and astonished. To also buy the Proudfoot Bend Ranch so cows rather than condos would be on the land was truly wonderful. I look forward to driving down to Moab and seeing NOTHING on the subdivision property. If there is any way you can extend my thanks to this remarkable woman I hope you will do so. She may be wealthy, but she is definitely not a weasel. I hope her actions will be publicised widely as an example of the sort of things other wealthy people should be doing. Best Wishes for another interesting 15 years of publishing the Zephyr. Sandra Hood Grand Jct, CO A NOTE ABOUT MAHBU It's been a long time since | got the kind of response that 'Mormons and Heathens for a Better Utah’ (MAHBU) received. (Apr/May 2004) Even with an expanded Feedback, | didn't have space for all the letters that I've received. | hope this idea doesn't fade away. If you read it and thought the story has merits, please pass it along. You can find "MAHBU" on the Zephyr web site. Send it to anyone you think needs to read it--ranchers, enviro groups, ATV clubs, mountain bike groups, the recreation industry---if we're going to have a 'MAHBU Movement,' we need to get the word out...Thanks, JS WA. com Red River Canoe Co. 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