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Show PAGE 2 THE ZEPHYR AUGUST 1994 to join her in this never ending quest to remove I'm sure Toots will see me and force me Kier "thtiteTto caused so much moaning and year that was as hot, that here been have who longer than L.same story. friends complaining on my part I've asked my And yet I am sure sudi summers No one can remernbci a summer that was so relentlessly hot heat from that particular summer fried the have occurred; I can't remember them because the summer's fierce sun will obliterate the recollection of the memory from my brain. Just as this to determine what might make I In the course of reluctantly assembling this issue, attempted I discovered that most column. wantr Moab a good question of the month for the "What does other than relief from the heat Moabites did not want to be asked what they wanted this month, same the citizens thing, what Moab wants this saying So, rather than wasting a page on local month is..Autumn. And that is a dangerous tiling to admit For as sure as I am sitting here at the blue screen about Summer Miseries; HI be shivering from the cold dripping with sweat and complaining next February and wondering if Spring will ever return. I need another popside. It's too damn hot As I write that complaint the thermometer outside my office window reads 107 degrees in die shade. With the humidity up in die 40 range (a level we call "muggy" around here), the swamp cooler is keeping the inside temperature down to 92 degrees. I feel like I just took a hot shower while fully dothed. I am amazed that the computer continues to function; I'm amazed that I continue to function. I'm astounded that anyone is functioning in this miserable heat Of course; I remind myself that I choose to live here; that I often brag to tourists and other visitors to our area that I life the high and dry desert temperatures. That its hypnotic heat energizes me in some inexplicable way. Bull feathers. AH I want to do is eat popsides and find a place with refrigerated air conditioning. If I lived in Grand Junction, the way I feel now. I'd (God help me) hang out at the MalL I'd go to file movies and watch Forrest Gump all day...I'd hide in die restroom between showings to avoid being double charged, just to add a little exdtement to my day. I'd forget about even printing an August issue and sacrifice the profits. Or, better yet; I'd just the 1990 to of too the bet notices. wilted and that version even August Zephyr Everyone's nobody read anything that might upset them, that might cause them to increase their already overworked sweating processes. re-pri- nt Momentary pause. I just took a look at the August 1990 Zephyr...it must have been a cod summer or I must have been crazy. I actually had the strength to devote this page to a criticism of the proposed Book Cliffs Highway, the Kokopelli Theatre, and the Courthouse expansion projects. Yhere did the energy come from? Is this what another four years of the aging process has done to me? In any event, substituting the 890 editorial is not going to work. One way or the other, all those issues were resolved. Sa..back to Reality. Moab Reality. It's now 109 on die gauge. My cat is hunkered down by the outside water spigot and she's panting. I've never seen a cat pant before. I just burned my hand when I grabbed the metal handle on my steel garbage can. The ants are back in their hole, out of the bright sun...I want to crawl in there with them. The streets look quiet and abandoned. Yesterday, desperate to find relief so that I could return to this office and knock out Page Two, I offered a friend a large sum of money to fill her cheeks with ice and blow on me. She refused, saying that her boyfriend might disapprove and that it would make her look like a chipmunk preparing for winter. So I suffer silently in this little sweatbox of an office, with one eye out the window in search of a storm cloud that understands the meaning of the word 'storm.' And yet, next door, my neighbor octogenarian Toots McDougald, is in the yard, in tills heat, bareheaded, pulling weeds from her lawn. She is out there right now, stretched on her side; pulling bindweed for crying out loud. The woman is obsessed and I don't know if her irrational hatred of weeds is caused by the heat itself or whether it's a curse Toots was bom with. And here I am, afraid to make the short run from the office to the house for another popside because "All the news that causes fits." If we can make it through the summer, we have another general election to which we can look forward in November. Three County Council seats are up for grabs. At this moment, they are generating all the excitement and interest of a stamp collector's convention. seat Will Petty and Dale Mosher will Incumbent John Hartley faces Ray Pene for the Charlie Peterson, and District 5...who knows? square off for the District 1 seat being vacated by Paul Menard has decided to leave office after his current After filing uncontested for wide-open for a write-i- n campaign. Since any and all term expires. That leaves the race write-ins; none of them will be at a disadvantage. candidates will face the same difficulties as at-lar- ge With the Great Experiment, the change of government to a seven person Council firmly established and its representatives having survived a recall, I find myself having some reservations about the system. Maybe it's too early to start expressing doubts, but I wonder if it isn't time to consider a little elections. I One aspect of the change that I applauded was the move toward thought that freeing citizens from party distinctions would generate mare interest and participation in the electoral process. If the forthcoming election is an indicator, I was gravely mistaken. Perhaps the early registration for candidacy is to blame; or maybe this damn heat has rendered everyone apathetic In any event this is not what I expected. But participation, or the lack of it, is only one reason why I'd like to give partisan elections another hard look. Since the Council was elected, each one of them has felt like the Lone Ranger a good deal of the time. I don't think any of them feel they have received the support they expected when they took office. Citizens have rallied to their defense a couple of tones, most memorably over their efforts to secure the Mayberry Orchard and protect it from development But mostly, we, the voters who put them in office; have gone about our lives; assuming the Council would do what's best As a result the Harried Seven hear from the citizens who are mad at them and seldom from anyone else. And so it occurred to me that political parties, in addition to having an organization that can sponsor candidates and provide financial assistance; also function as support groups of sorts. No. matter how disenchanted one part of the public may be with any elected official, the political parties are tiiere to stand behind their representatives and, when necessary, give hard advice and constructive criticism as well Everybody needs a kind word from time to time, and everybody needs a kick in the butt from someone who cares. I think the Coundl has had a tough time differentiating between kicks and the ones placed just for the hell of it. As a result their enthusiasm for the job has waned dramatically since November 1992 when they were flushed with victory and full of unrestrained optimism. I do think that the political parties could participate more in the current political process than far. have so still can candidates and provide financial backing. And so I get they They sponsor the sense that they're leaning back in their seats saying, "This is what you guys wanted. Make it work." But I really can't blame them. There are other aspects of the new form of government that trouble me..5even Coundlpersons may be too many. David Knutson was right, I think, when he said that more people would not reduce anybody's work load. Ultimately, when in six years we can make adjustments to the basic structure we approved in 1992, maybe this county should consider a five person Coundl, elected But unless I am mistaken, the question of elections is an issue partisan versus we could consider at any time. Agpin (let me hedge one more time), it's probably too early to throw in the towel, but I think everyone should at least give it some thought. No one who supported the change of government should be too stubborn or proud to honestly evaluate its success so for. fine-tunin- g. non-partis- an well-intention- ed at-lar- THE CANYON COUNTRY ZEPHYR P.O. BOX 327 MOAB, UTAH 84532 (801) non-partis- an 259-777- 3 publisher & editor Jim Stiles contributing writers Jack Campbell Jane S. Jones Cherie Gilmore T. Scott Groene Mary Grizzard Hank Rutter historical photos Herb Ringer food editor WlHie Flocko ROVING REPORTER Robert Fulghum subscriptions & grounds maintenance Jan Peterson circulation Niels Adair Photographs and art are by the editor, unless otherwise noted. THE ZEPHYR, Copyright 1994, all rights 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 published . There has been a lot of conversation and debate lately about the iVmlrien Ranch along the Colorado River and what fete awaits it The new owner, Mr. Robbie Levin of Perk City, Utah has construction additions to the property including proposed major bungalows spaced at equal intervals along the banks of the river. Levin maintains that he will plant enough trees to hide the from the which is used Colorado; bungalows throughout the mmwhmt by Himwnda of tourists on daily river trips. The property is zoned G-- l for grazing which does not allow subdivision developments, and currently the Coundl is attempting to draft a new and tougher subdivision ordinance. Whether Levin ultimately finds a way to develop his plan, despite the new ordinance,' remains to be seen. When you consider that tiie Council stuck its neck out to secure federal funding to save the Mayberry Orchard, just down the road from the Boulden Ranch, it's hard to imagine how any of toe Council could even consider a zone change. But the question of what happens to this property and other parcels like it, is more than a dilemma that can be resolved by zoning ordinances and building restrictions. The few remaining ranches in Grand have County changed very little themselves, development-wisin the hundred years since they were created. Most of them have changed, hmds a few times. But the new owner's goal was no different from his make predecessor's...to a living from the land itself. Some ranchers treated the land better than others. Some ranches have been environmental disasters. Some have made a success from their efforts; others have not e, But one thing is certain. ..today it is virtually impossible for anyone of modest means and the willtagness to work hard, to buy a ranch and try to eke a living from It cannot be done. A ranch that might have brought $60,000 in 1974 cannot be touched for less than $750,000 today. it |