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Show THE ZEPHYR/FEBRUARY-MARCH Te CONTINUED men allegedly assaulted an interracial couple with racist epithets and one of them was charged with a third degree felony, based on Utah’s new hate crime law. A few weeks after the incident, stories of an underground 2009 From August/September 2000 I have a question: Is there anyone out there under the age of 30 who gives a damn about any of these issues? Are there any of you Gen X/Yers who regard yourselves as environmentalists? I know there are plenty of “recreationists” in this town. But I'm not talking about that vast Moab sub-culture that plays extreme sports and sees every rock as a climbing challenge and drinks a lot of espresso. If you're out there, and I suspect you white supremacist sub- culture in Moab persist. They are fueled in part by a circular that recently made its way around town in defense of Mr. Robison. In part the inflammatory rhetoric from the National Alliance in Hillsboro, West Virginia proclaims: _ “The Leftists are celebrating the fact of the Nonwhite America in the future. The so-called right-wing is ignoring it. But it is coming, and we are all going to die like a bunch of dumb grasshoppers, if we do not get White America fired up soon. When I was | growing up, there was a television commercial, where there was a cartoon bear who was promoting fire safety. The slogan was, Smokey Bear says, ‘Only you can prevent forest fires!’ However corny that sounds; it is fundamentally true. Only you, collectively and individually, can prevent the Winter slaughter of our race. You CAN prevent it. You must prevent it! “WE MUST SECURE THE EXISTENCE OF OUR PEOPLE AND THE FUTURE _ FOR WHITE CHILDREN.” On the one hand, such vitriol seems incredible in this day and age. And certainly we ’ have come a long way in the last four decades. I am old enough to remember when incidents like the one that occurred here on New Year’s Eve were so commonplace as to be un-noteworthy as a news story. : ow, in the first months of the 21st Century, we find ourselves confronting the same mean-spirited demons that have always haunted us. So while we can pat ourselves on the back for the strides we’ve made in the arena of human rights, we are still a primitive and intolerant species. are, albeit in small scattered numbers, please contact me. I’m serious. I want to know who you are. It’ll make me feel better and more importantly, I want to introduce you to each other. You may have kindred spirits in this town that you don’t know exist. You guys could form the activist core of a group with a lot greater interest in Moab’s future than I have. After all, you’re going to be here a lot longer. Call me. Email me. Stop by the house. Do something. THE RICH WEASEL FACTOR IN THE ‘NEW WEST’ John Hendricks is the CEO of cable television’s Discovery Channel. He says he has passionately loved the West since he was a kid. Hendricks’ father once told him that the most beautiful place on earth was a seldom-visited redrock paradise called Gateway, Colorado and so John Hendricks bought it---lock, stock, and barrel. John Hendricks is rich. His attorneys made offers to local landowners that were hard to resist and by last year, he had accumulated more than 6000 acres of property, some of which he intends to put into conservation easements. Now, with the kids off to college, Hendricks is building himself a little cottage where he can survey his holdings. At last report the Hendricks home will have just enough space for John and his wife to feel cozy---about 27,000 square feet. Be it ever so ostentatious, there’s no place like home. The John Hendricks Castle is just the most grandiose (that I’ve heard of) acquisition in a frenzy of western land buying by America’s wealthy and elite in the last decade--- | rich weasels. They seem to be everywhere and, for the life of me, I can’t figure out where all these people are finding all that money. The question is: How bad is the Rich Weasel Factor and is there anything we can do about it? October/November 2000: CLOUDROCK: The Drama Continues... It is indeed a rare occasion when I ever | wish this publication could go back to its old monthly format, but last month, when a copy of Cloudrock’s confidential proposal to the Utah State Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) fell into my hands, I could scarcely contain myself. THE PROPOSAL... “Our intention is to create a world-class wilderness destination resort community in the American Southwest for people who enjoy the natural beauty and cultural legacy of this region...The centerpiece of this community is Cloudrock Desert Lodge, an intimate luxury wilderness lodge that will set the tone and standard for the entire development. . Our initial marketing efforts will focus on establishing an international awareness of Cloudrock and its location in Southeastern Utah...We expect our guests to return time and time again, finally deciding that this is they want to own a second or third home (sic). The high-end positioning of the lodge and its associated service amenities will serve to deliver top prices for the homesites and condominiums...We plan to spend the time, money and creative energy necessary from the inception to create real estate development that will deliver top prices. “REGIONAL MARKET: We will use a highly targeted approach, planning intimate get-togethers at the homes of our friends and initial clients, as many second-home real estate purchasers are often as interested in who their eventual neighbors might be as in the property itself. (NOTE: And now a Zephyr editorial opinion: WOW. Read THAT one again. Did he REALLY say that?)” Almost a decade later and the plan moves toward Reality, with limited opposition and certainly not the groundswell of outrage that was needed to kill the project early on. 2001: THE CONTRADICTIONS OF OUR LIVES From April/May 2001....This issue has been in the works since last summer. As a gnawing dull pain in the back of my conscience, it’s been around for years. I suspect that anyone who lives here and makes a living here, and actually thinks from time to time, knows the kind of ache I refer to. We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Many of us moved to Moab years ago, or decades ago, against the advice and approval of our friends and elders who said, “How in the hell are you going to make a living out there in the middle of that desert? Pretty sunsets don’t pay the rent, boy!” Moab's Oldest Legal Brewery! Meet me at McStiff's..... EDDIE PICSTIFFS Restaurant mee Pee hist SERVICE Bogie & Eddie drink a toast to The Zephyr. &3 Microbrewery 9/ S. Main in the McStiff's Plaza 259.BEER www.eddiemcstitfs.com And to THE FUTURE. |
