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Show THE ZEPHYRSEPTEMBER 1995 PAGE 38 EEDB ACK F The readers respond... This is the Letter of the Month because it only took me a minute and it. fifty-tw- o seconds to type Dear Jim, Is the Zephyr becoming a high-bropublication? letters to the editor, the only thing and Jose Dirk Knighton's Vaughan's Regarding I got from them was they wanted to impress us with their intelligence. w Sincerely, K. Walker Nloab P.S. This letter is an example of getting to the point. THAT WE HAVE ALL GUARDED JEALOUSLY SINCE THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF THE MOAB INUNDATION!!!! So Jose adds insult to injury by digging for some correlation between his actions and that of Mr. Hucko and Mr. Lathrop (actions they took 15 years ago, in a vciy different Moab), trying to prove what he did is OK because he can twist words to try to prove these fine men arc his bedfellows. Or, for a real strctch...he's just like poor Salmon Rushdie. Give me a break!! What a cliche!!! Salmon Rushdie wrote a novel, not a guidebook!!!! 1 I would have a lot more respect for Jose if he simply said: "yeah, thought about it, 1 thought about all the issues, and I decided to write my book anyway. I don't care what you think." However,. he decided instead to slander the names of friends and to manipulate the public with his supposedly well-rea- d knowledge to convince us he is the most popular writer of Colorado Plateau guidebooks. If he wants to be so popular, why doesn't he just form a new COLORADO PLATEAU SELLOUT CHEERLEADER SQUAD? He can nominate himself Head cheerleader. Head Cheerleaders arc always super popular. So Stiles, for the record, you can put my reaction at b, above. Lucy K. Wallingford Moab, Utah Editor, I do not want a helicopter landing pad on the south end of the valley. There arc already 3 pads that I know of in the valley; 1st at the airport, 2nd at the hospital and the 3rd behind Sherri Griffith's. I already live with a police shooting range out my back door. If I have helicopters landing and taking off too, I might as well be living in Bosnia. But, I foci the bigger issue here is community atmosphere. I'm tired of seeing this town roll over for the tourist industry. 1 am not against the tourist industry, but I think it's time we begin to look at what sort of community we are building here. So far we are filling the town with billboards, motels, fast food and shops... and now helicopters. Pretty soon we'll have a town that resembles a cheap amusement park that everyone wants to visit, but nobody wants to live there. Last year, we, as a community, decided to have the airport as the commercial landing site and to keep the helicopters out of town. This new proposal is just another attempt to sell out to the tourist industries' easy money. Let's preserve what small town atmosphere we have left and keep the helicopters at the airport. Jenni Sinor Moab Note: The following letter teas originally sent to the Castle Valley Town Council on July 24, 1995 Dear Council Members, It has been brought to my attention by a concerned neighbor and other CV residents that the CV Planning Commission may have given some type of tentative to a commercial enterprise on Buchanan Lane to be run by Rob Katzcnson that entails bringing tourist groups to his property at night for a type of 'sweat lodge' experience. I am strongly opposed to this type of commercial enterprise for the following reasons: 1 All of the residents of Buchanan Lane and nearby lanes whom I have talked with are opposed to it. These are long-terpermanent CV residents. None of these individuals, including myself, were contacted by Mr. Katzcnson to discuss his proposal. Copies of his proposal could have been mailed or left at our homes in the event that we were not otherwise available. 12) The Planning Commission appears to have considered this commercial enterprise without having it listed on their agenda. Thus, potentially concerned residents and property owners were denied any opportunity at that to raise issues meeting concerning the enterprise. 131 The proposed enterprise seems to open up a whole new dimension to existing cottage industry pursuits in CV. 1 and many other property owners strongly believe enterprises of the nature proposed by Mr. Katzcnson will result in a lower quality of life and potential loss of property values for neighbors. If this enterprise is approved, other ventures bringing organized tourist groups into CV' may follow. I believe that a majority of CV residents and property owners will prove to be opposed to such commercial activity. Town Council members should think about how their quality of life would be affected if tourist groups showed up on a regular basis outside at night within a few hundred yards of their homes. And that during these activities fires will be built during tinder-dr- y summer months from which stray sparks might fly off an of wind. during unexpected gust 14) The proposed enterprise entails building fires in an area where unpredictable winds occur and where tinder-dr- y grasses exist in close proximity. Even with the proposed precautions cited by Mr. Katzcnson before the Planning Commission a fire disaster cannot be ruled out especially during summer months. The CV Fire Chief should review this proposal with great care. If any neighbor should be harmed by a fire originating from this enterprise devastating legal consequences could ensue . affecting all parties associated with the enterprise, including the town. 15) I believe that the proposed could be staged on public lands outside enterprise CV town limits near the river or elsewhere. This opinion is based on my personal experience in constructing temporary sweat lodges with the Native Americans on BLM and Forest Service lands in Utah. There seems to be no compelling necessity to stage this particular type of commercial endeavor on Buchanan Lane with thousands of acres of available scenic public lands surrounding CV. 61 In the future, recommend that no action be taken by the Planning Commission or the Town Council on any such commercial enterprise until (a) adequate notice has been given to all potentially affected property owners and (b) ample opportunity has been provided to receive feedback in a public meeting and by mailed response. The onus for providing this notification and obtaining this feedback should rest with the proposer(s) and the CV Good Planning Commission. communication channels are essential in reducing conflict and in the insecurity Valley as should be evident from past experiences. 17 It may prove necessary to institute more explicit legal barriers to prevent this particular type of commercial enterprise from entering the Valley. If so, I hope that the Town Council will authorise an attorney to draw up the appropriate languagedocumentation as soon as possible, thank you very much for considering this letter. go-ahe- ad non-reside- Dear Jim: Regarding enviros' ideas of force. Theories of law enforcement which are rampant in all law enforcement don't work. Our free America has more than 3 times people in jail per capita than anyone anywhere. We have concentration camps (called tent cities). We have forced labor camps defined as chain gangs. Gas chambers would complete the picture. Abuse of distressed people is causing rampant disrespect of the law. We cannot build jails fast enough to handle our self created criminals. A better way would be to decriminalize. Tear the jails down. Use the money to create opportunity for us all rather than destroying families and dreams. Offer hope rather than punishment. Give our troubled people and law enforcement a break. Help instead of hurt. Offer opportunity and not punishment. Enviros should take the high road. The low road is unthinkable. We should let freedom work. Joe Stocks Phoenix, Arizona Editor's Note: I have to admit, you've lost me this time, Joe. Are you now blaming Arizona'a new chain gangs and the rising crime rate on environmentalists too? The reality is, most environmentalists would rather see highway roadsides overgrown in weeds than see a bunch of convicts chopping them down. Anyway, just which 'low road' are you talking about? It sounds more like the road Nrwt Gingrich travels to me. Dear Stiles, I have these observations to make about Jose Knighton's Letter to the Editor from last month's issue: 1. Anybody who writes with a vocabulary that out of reach of the general public and in a style that difficult to read is not trying to communicate, he's trying to show off! 2. Anybody in Moab who would write a local guidebook and not realize beforehand there would be a lot of people who (take your pick): a. would be very upset with him b. would lose ail respect for him c. would question his integrity d. would hate his guts forevermore for publishing our last secret spots e. would consider him merely a pimp selling his mother to build his own eco f. all of the above ...is exceptionally stupid. However, since Jose is obviously not really stupid, since he knows how to use all those big foreign words (sec point 1, above), he must be... what? DID HE ACTUALLY THINK HE WOULD WIN A POPULARITY CONTEST OR SOMETHING BY PUBLICIZING OUR SECRET SPOTS FOR HIS PERSONAL GAIN? Well that's what his letter says to me. 1 can find no other reason for a letter like that. He is trying to win some kind of Junior High era popularity contest by slandering others to elevate himself. What else could possibly motivate the in his letter? know Mr. Lathrop and Mr. Hucko unnecessary Neither would condone SELLING, SELLING NO LESS OF OUR personally. SECRETS!!!! JOSE IS ACTUALLY MARKETING ACCESS TO SACRED SPOTS mud-slingi- ng 1 nt 1 Sincerely, Dr. J. Dennis Willigan Castle Valley Zephyr, Kudos to Cherie Gilmore for her gut-fe- lt passion in regards to her article on child abuse in the August 95 Zephyr. 1 read the Zephyr for entertainment (don't we all?) -- but also for information. Even in our sun filled lives, we must never forget the atrocities that can occur in the shadow filled cracks and crevices of this world To throw light on this awful subject - in what is essentially a light, carefree rag - shows -- -- |