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Show PAGE 2 THE ZEPHYR AUGUST 1993 five Charlie Peterson. --Poor posture and strange interludes. Charlie is the chairman of Council and, as a result, runs the meetings. His posture is horrendous. He hunkers down over his own knees until, at times, his head appears to be directly between them. But more important are his "strange interludes," a condition first observed by Groucho Marx in 1934. There are some who believe that five length erf Council meetings couid be cut by hours if Peterson was not affiirtoH with this ailment. As the discussion lags at the Council table, and then stops altogether, a strange silence fall over the chambers. All eyes turn to Charlie, who appears to be examining a mole on the inside of his calf. Then, ever so slowly, he raises his head, revealing an silence. "All those in favor of the expressionless face. "Any more discussion?" Silence. More motion?" Praise be. member of the Council, is probably the most District 2: Ken Ballantyne-K- en but sometimes his calm demeanor does not serve him well. Ballantyne has allowed fellow Councilman Hartley to call him "Bubba" in public places, and frankly, Ken should not tolerate this kind of disrespect...Bubba THIS, Hartley. worst thing Menard ever did turned out to be his best Fie District 3: Paul Menard.-Th- e infuriated county employees when he issued a gag order of sorts, restricting their access to the District 1: even-temper- "Hell yes, I think there will be a recall election, at least one...There are people who are waiting. I know one guy who says he already has the petition signed and is just waiting for the date to come up. But that's just talk." David Knutson Zephyr interview, May 1993 Wait no more. If my calculations are right, all of you who want to see the newly elected county council recalled, can start turning in or picking up your petitions on August 22. That marks the six month anniversary of the day the council took office. Do these guys really need to be recalled? It depends on who you ask. When David Knutson and I chatted back in April, barely 8 weeks after the new government took over, it was obvious that at least a segment of this county wanted them recalled cm February 22. Their job performance was irrelevant; those opposed to the change of government consider the recall provision an opportunity to respond to file initiative that created the council in the first place. Many consider last November's election to be little mare than an illegal recall to rid the county erf its duly elected county commissioners. In a way, I can see their frustration. Knutson and Torres were elected to 4 year terms; yet found themselves out of a job 2 years earlier than they'd expected. But this story isn't about the pasL.both sides could spend the rest of their lives arguing foe or against the old commission. Ilie question here is: have the individual members of the new county council committed such heinous, intolerable, and unthinkable crimes against the citizens of Grand County as to be removed from office? Back in April, Knutson said absolutely. This whole government was put together on the idea that we don't need any time to figure out what we're doing. We can do it now and better," David explained. Their feet are going to be held to the fire." While it appeared to me that the citizens of Grand County were in a hurry, for whatever reason, to change their government, the new council never struck me as a governing body in much of a rush. The one issue they did move swiftly on was the Book Cliffs Highway, only because there was such a demand from the public to resolve the matter, once and for all. As one council member pointed out, "That's the main reason we were elected." The council stumbled a few times on that issue, partly because they were new to file job and really weren't familiar with administrative procedures, partly because they expected the road board to be good losers and accept the vote of the people, instead of acting like a bunch of thumb-suckinbabies heavy into denial, and partly because they couldn't get a straight answer from the people upstate. In the end, however, not one of the doomsday predictions made by Walker, Nodine and Co. came to pass. No mineral lease monies were lost, the funds were transferred to a new service district without incident, and this county can finally move on to other more important matters. g So what about these new council guys? Should they be stripped of their responsibilities and removed from office? Is it time to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear? I've tried to look at each of the council members and determine just what they've done that steamed me the most. Here's what I came up with... ed media, but confounded everyone shortly thereafter, when he publicly apologized and admitted it was a pretty dumb thing to da Elected officials just don't do things like that has this nasty habit of speaking in complete sentences and District 4: Bill Hedden-Hed- den using words that even Ken Davey has never heard of. Bill once sent Davey scrambling for a dictionary and Ken has never been the same since. Come on, Hedden...quit being so damn...articulate. District 5: John Maynard --Maynard is the most "animated" member of the Council and sometimes I worry that he's failing to take his lithium medication. No more dancing on the tables, John. And certainly, no more handstands. Peter HaneyJIhe antithesis erf Maynard, sometimes I think Haney has astr ally projected himself right out of the meeting. Maybe now we know what happened to Maynard's lithium. second-moanimated member of file Council, he is also the most John Hartley-T- he reckless. Sooner or later, Gentle Ken is not going to tolerate his Bubba comments, and he's going to find his head in one erf those big 5 gallon mayonnaise jars he uses at the Subway. And John, no more cookouts inside the equestrian center. At-Lar- At-Lar- st If it seems like I'm not taking any of this seriously, you're right Part of it is the heat...when it's 106 in the shade, nothing else matters. But I really couldn't take this recall stuff seriously if it was cool and breezy. There is simply no reason to make the citizens of this county pay for a personal vendetta by a handful of sore losers. As I understand the rules of this game, a recall petition requires 15 of the total number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election, i.e. last November's general election. But that's 15 of five voters in that particular district. That means that as few as 100 signatures on a petition can throw most members of this new council into a special recall election. If the voters were to choose to recall a particular councilman, then I guess another election would have to be held to fill the vacant seat. While I'm happy to see the recall provision in the structure of the new government I believe all elected officials deserve a chance to prove themselves. The initiative to change Grand County's form of government was not a rash, spur of the moment in the heat of anger gesture. It grew out of citizens' frustration with the three person commission dating back to early 1988 and the toxic waste incinerator controversy. Five years of unresponsive and arrogant government passed before Grand County finally said enough is enough. Recall is a serious step, not unlike impeachment. Those who are willing to sign a recall petition should firmly believe in the action they are about to take. And they should have the conviction to stand up for that belief. That's why this newspaper intends to publish all petitions (if any) that ultimately force a recall election. I admit they've seemed unsure of themselves at their times, moving hesitantly, feeling way, testing the waters. Their meetings tend to bog down in minutia and inertia (Come on Charlie! Embrace the living and call for a vote!). And Knutson was probably right about one thin- g- the greater the number of opinions, the more difficult it is to make a decision. But it sure makes mince meat of his theory that the new council shoots from the hip and fails to take the time to make solid decisions. Do I want to wade through a recall election this fall? I'm already on tenterhooks waiting to hear if Tom Stocks is going to run far an unprecedented fourth term. I think that's all the excitement I can stand. Sa.xlo these guys deserve to be recalled? "All the news that causes fits." THE CANYON COUNTRY ZEPHYR P.O. BOX 327 MOAB, UTAH 84532 (801) 259-77publisher & editor 73 Jim Stiles political specialist & features Ken Davey contributing writers Jack Campbell Jane S. Jones Cherie Gilmore T. Scott Groene Mary Yates historical photos Herb Ringer food editor Willie Flocko Roving Reporter . Robert Fulghum production & circulation assistant Arden Trewartha photographs & art are by the publisher unless noted otherwise. The Zephyr, copyright 1993, all rigjhts reserved The Canyon Country Zephyr is a monthly newspaper, published eleven times a year at Moab, Utah. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of its vendors, advertisers, or even at times of its publisher . It was bound to happen sooner or later. This morning I found a message on my machine, and heard the voice of local real estate agent Joe Kingsley. He announced that he was canceling all his ads in the Zephyr. Joe runs Arches Realty, part of the Coldwell Banker organization. I called him back and learned that he and his staff took offense at last month's story by Jack Campbell and my piece entitled "New West Blues." Two of his agents, Tom and Suzanne Shellenberger, were particularly offended, according to Kingsley, by Campbell's references to real estate "carpetbaggers." (The Shellenbergers moved here several years ago from the resort town of Park City, Utah and have been involved in a variety of businesses and enterprises here at one time or another, including the Grand Emporium, the La Sal Ice Cream Parlor, the Kokopelli Lodge, subdivision developments, and, of course, as agents for Coldwell Banker.) Besides, Joe added, he didn't think the ads were doing any good anyway. I wasn't completely taken by surprise, although Its about the first time in more than 4 years and 48 issues that we've lost an ad because of editorial content I'd wondered if someone locally would take offense. But if I had the chance to do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing. I couldn't change a thing. From time to time, I've struggled with the content of some of the ads that have appeared in the Zephyr as much as Kingsley and others have struggled with the Zephyr's rhetoric But in fiie end, I felt that as long as advertising didn't compromise this paper's message or editorial theme, I would not censor any ad that an individual or business wanted to place in it. I drove one of my best friends right up fiie wall a few years ago when the Western Association of Land Users took out an ad in the Zephyr. But they knew where I stood politically, and I was well aware of their position on the issues, so I let the ad ride. Beyond my own point of view. I've also tried to avoid censoring or attempting to moderate the opinions of the writers that contribute to the Zephyr. There are many times where I take exception to the views of some of the staff, but, to me, that's the beauty of this paper.. nobody gets gagged. In this case, however, I thought Jack's plan for using transient room taxes to buy up state land sections and preventing their wholesale exploitation was brilliant. I'm sorey that Kingsley, Shellenberger et al took the "carpetbagger" story so personally. I had thought Jack's thrust was mostly intended at speculators who have recently been making their way to council meetings with zoning change requests and grandiose schemes. Campbell's story mentioned neither names nor businesses, so those who are interpreting his words and finding their face among the carpetbaggers are making their own judgement as to whether "the shoe fits" or not out-of-to- |