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Show PAGE 3 THE ZEPHYR APRIL 1994 You won't find too many of Telluride's 1975 population living there any more became the taxes were more than what they'd paid for the house in the first place. In his editorial, Sam opposed efforts by the County Council to cut die Travel Council's promotional budget in an effort to use the funds for other county services and said, "You can grow and still maintain quality." And he's right. It's just that we might not be able to afford the growth we've encouraged. We may end up promoting ourselves right out of our homes and businesses, and right out of town. As County Councilman Charlie Peterson said recently, "We want a town that is as nice to live in as it is to visit." I don't care how much Rupert Murdock offers me, I don't want to sell. When we watch the changes in Moab on almost a weekly basis, a lot of us instinctively ask: How can this be allowed to happen? An orchard makes way far a subdivision, a vacant lot next to a residential area becomes a go cart track, and we rise up and yell, we want something done! And yet, as much as I detest relentless change and uncontrolled growth, it is extremely difficult to determine when the rights of an individual are outweighed by the rights of the community. Echoing the complaints of those residents of Spanish Valley, perhaps, who felt they had the right to deal with their junk as they pleased, the same might be said for anyone who chooses a particular use for their property. I wouldn't fancy having a go cart track in my backyard, but I doubt if the guys who built the track thought it would be any more obnoxious than the big Diesel trucks that used to idle back there on that lot for hours, belching black smoke and rattling nearby windows. And the owners of the Emporium have taken a fair dure of criticism lately for their newly painted turquoise color scheme for the historic building. A lot of people are really angry and they want something done! But it's their building. So is there ever a time and a situation where the rights of the community at least should be considered with the rights of the individual property owner? I think there is. When a proposed use of a piece of property directly affects residents miles away from that property, when limited city services are provided to a business that operates outside the city limits, it's appropriate and essential to take a hard look at file proposed use and allow the public to participate in the process before any decision is made. The proposed Portal Recreation Arm, (first mentioned in the Zephyr last December) according to its business plan would provide "a 200 foot low profile quad chairlift rising to the Portal Rim, a paved parking lot, gLftshop and snackbar facilities, amphitheater and stage; scenic trails, shaded lookout points and night time illumination of the majestic red rock rims." The project would be visible to virtually everyone in Moab. Hundreds of thousands of people come here to see the natural beauty of our area. These towering sandstone cliffs that surround and embrace this little green valley are an integral part erf the attraction. And still quoting from the plan, "Long range potential...indudes but is not limited to the construction of outdoor cooking facilities, an enlarged professional size stage for major entertainment, expanded scenic trails, and a 100 unit motel." What may impact Moabites more severely than any other aspect of the proposal is the real possibility of 200,000 tourists (by the business plan's own projections) making their way up 500 West from the north and Kane Creek from file south to tide this tram. This is file kind if project where the citizens of the community should have the absolute right to at least express an opinion to the governing bodies of this county before any decision is made. While file proposed tram is situated in the county and is zoned for the' type of use proposed. It must request services from Moab City in order to proceed. And so it may be that the City Council ultimately decides the fate of the tram; I hope they take the time to listen to all its citizen encouraged me to pursue my idea for a newspaper. He said he wanted to contribute to file first issue with an original story. In February, a package arrived from Tucson. But the piece, called "Hard Times in Santa Fe," was accompanied by a letter and an apology. The story was not what he had intended to send, he said. He had hoped to send something especially for the Zephyr, but he had just not had the time to complete it The truth, of course, is that he was dying. And he knew it In the early morning of March 14, after a hard fight he let go. That was five years ago. I'm not sure what Ed would think of this newspaper now, or of Moab, or of all these bikers and espresso stands. Somehow though, his greatest gift his sense of humor, would have saved him from total despair. Keeping that in mind, I hope that fids newspaper can continue to inform, provoke, annoy, and particularly amuse you for many years to come. Whatever else anybody might say, it's rarely been dull. And to all of you who make this newspaper possible, from the writers; to the advertisers, to the readers (even the ones who steal it), I would just like to say thanks. We're experiencing a few changes here at the Zephyr ...some or all (rf them temporary. You'll notice that Greene's Watchdog is missing from this issue. No, he hasn't been driven from the pages by irate letters to the editor. Scott has taken a much needed vacation from his duties as staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (5UWA). As a result he isn't around to put together his very informative and sometimes wittily sarcastic column for file Zephyr. He will miss the next issue too, unless attempts by me to make him fed guilty cause his early return. Jack Campbell has been expressing his opinions and raising blood pressures in this paper for almost as long as I have. After three years; however, he is simply worn out Jade has attended and participated in more public meetings than almost anyone I know. Frankly, I don't know how he does it. But while hell relinquish his responsibilities as a regular columnist, look for Jade to return to the Zephyr as a features writer, whenever he wants the space. Finally, and this grieves me die most...even though there are times when I want to strangle the guy...Ken Davey is going to take a "hiatus" for awhile. For five days a week, Ken is file news director for Channel 6 News, where his honest and objective repenting has won praise; respect and admiration from a broad spectrum of this community. He also contributes news stories to each week. the But onoe a month, he dims the columnist's cap to write far this paper. It is extremely difficult to play both roles. Yet while he has excelled at both, it hasn't been easy. A reporter provides the facts; a columnist gives an opinion. Doing both at the same time is exactly the balancing act that Ken has been forced to perform. Sa.ior the time being, my next door neighbor is going to deal with "just the facts," and spend more time playing with one of the most entertaining 15 month old kids I've ever met, his son Cisco. Somehow, though, I get the feeling he'll miss file Zephyr and the way I pound on his door the Wednesday night before press day and yell, "I want your damn disk and I want it now!" To which he replies as if bored once again with my histrionics, "What disk?" Times-Independe- nt As a result of all this, I am looking for new writers who would like to contribute to file e basis. I'd like to see political l, regular columnists or on a Zephyr. Local and and environmental essays, historical pieces, humor...Tm flexible and open to new ideas. Call me or drop me a line. one-tim- non-loca- . before ) they act. ' 1, As unbelievable as it seems to me, it has been exactly five years since this newspaper went to press with its first issue on March 14, 1989. One thousand eight hundred and twenty eight pages, hundreds of stories, scores of interviews; thousands of cartoons and photographs, and untold controversies later, we find ourselves still here, a little older, sometimes a little wiser, and sometimes a little dumber than we were in 1989. Mostly, we've changed, like the town itself, and we wonder if it's an improvement or not. The idea to start the Zephyr came to me in a vision high in the Himalayas while searching for the Meaning of Life...Uh, maybe not No "writer's embellishment" today. Actually, it may have been that I simply needed a job so I hired myself. Those were, after all, lean times. But in the days after the dramatic toxic waste incinerator vote in November 1988, when Grand County citizens overwhelmingly rejected a plan to build an incinerator near Cisco, it became dear to me that the kind of newspaper I wanted to create just might survive. Five or six years earlier. Grand County had voted overwhelmingly to support a government plan to bury millions of tons of high level nudear waste right along the boundary of Canyonlands National Park. Obviously attitudes ; W i had changed dramatically in the span of a few years. Maybe, I thought, Grand County could even tolerate me. . By January 1989, 1 convinced myself the paper idea could work. I planned on calling it the Slickrock Journal, about as boring a name for a newspaper as I have ever heard. But driving along Mill Creek Drive one day, I must have been thinking about trains or nightclubs, because the word jumped out of my head and danced up and down my dashboard..epftyr it would be. Now all I needed was money; unfortunately I didn't have any. But my good friend Bill Benge offered me the use of the computer in his law office (while he was in private practice), his secretary Trish West offered to type (I did everything in longhand on a yellow legal pad for the first three years), and I managed to convince a hundred people to buy subscriptions. In February, and still struggling streets erf Moab and coerced enough I ventured out on to the advertising out of 49 incredibly kind and generous merchants to pay for the printing costs and with a little left over. boards into my Volvo and In file early morning hours of March 14, 1 loaded the camera-read- y Cortez of master the where News, Larry Hauser, managed drove to Cortez, Colorado pressman 1. to work wonders with Volume 1, Number My editorial may have stunk, but it locked good. To this day, Larry and the crew, including his sons Randy and Patrick, meticulously produce the Zephyr with the same care and professionalism they showed then. I left Cortez in the early afternoon, and was home by four. I had carried the first box of What had Zephyrs in the front door of my house when a neighbor Jean Akens stopped by. Ed died that morning. Abbey had seemed like a perfect day turned blade when she told me that I can say, without hesitation, that no one in my life has had a more profound effect on me than Edward Abbey. I read Desert Solitaire when I was a senior in college. He managed to define and articulate feelings and ideas that this 22 year old kid could not express. But his words, hilarious...all at once, affected me deeply and eloquent and outrageous, heartbreaking and semi-deserte- Subscribe to the NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS: We cannot include back issues as part of the subscription price. You can order back issues, when available, for $3 .00issue including first class postage. Write to: d forever. Later, when I moved to Moab, we met, we became friends, :.2vc and in the winter erf 1988, he The Zephyr P.O. Box 327 Moab, UT 84532 One year (11 issues)...$15 Two years (22 issues)wJ$28 Three years (33 issues)aM$40 Name Address Renewal New Subscription, ' |