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Show THE ZEPHYRDECEMBER 1995 PAGE 30 III mill Mill! H.1.JH1JI1II IIHI.I IIMIIII FEEDBACK The readers respond ... This is the Letter of the Month Dear Zephyr, We've been thinking about this Portal project and really believe it's a big mistake not to give it your wholehearted support. Some of you should save up your money and come over here to Colorado, and you'll see why. We had the same thing years Colorado. ago, and most of us supported it. It's made all the difference in called these we things chair lifts, and Anyway, when we were just getting started, some of our old timers came up with the unique idea that if we could get people to ride up 'em, we could have a whole new industry (well, maybe the idea wasn't entirely ours, but we sure refined it). You guys may need to be a little more inventive, but you could certainly take the ball and run with it like we did! What started with one lift now numbers in the hundreds, and rumor has it that someday they'll cover the entire state! Like we said, it's made all the difference, and we'd certainly be glad to be your mentors, if nothing more than to repay the generous advice given us by Californians and Texans when we were just getting started. Just like you, we had nothing but some vast empty country, but we've sure managed to fix that! We understand that it's probably kind of hard to keep your chin up around there after the uranium disaster of the 50's. We Coloradoans have a lot of experience with building tourist economies and we'd like to offer you some ideas - proven successful ideas! For example, how about a nice little up Mt. Peale - we've had one on Pike's Peak for years and it's been quite the tourist attraction - we even have a road race up there! Or how about a nice little motorbike rally around Canyonlands g (you could call it the White Rim 500 - you'll definitely need some bleachers, out there to do it right). We really like your idea of the stands, and and arc getting one going here (with Range Rovers). And how about something new and slick, like casinos - or is Mormon integrity still a problem over there? We've made whole new towns out of Black Hawk and Central City, and we're now helping the Utcs and Navajos gain new leases on life with their very own gambling enterprises. And from a purely engineering point of view, wouldn't the Fins make an awesome roller-coastsetting? Think of the trestles! We have dogsled races - maybe you could have coyote-sle- d races (harnessing them might be an event in itself, I kind of like our rodeos). could go on and on, but you really should just come to Colorado to see for yourself how we did it. But you have to go sort of slow with this kind of thing, because some of the less progressive types don't like developers and high real estate prices and the thought of having to commute for hours and live with several other families in a little trailer in places like Green River (over here we just labeled these dissidents environmentalists and that seemed to slow 'em down a little). But these kinds of projects arc really good for the ECONOMY, and that's what you have to keep in mind. Our cousin Joe has a gas station on Grand Avenue in Glenwood Springs and all this tourism has sure improved his life! he has 30,000 cars a day go by with workers and tourists on their way to Aspen, even though Glenwood has only about 6,000 residents! They all gotta gas up! He has lots of cash in his pocket and even a nice Wally World here to spend it in! (He doesn't have to drive to Grand Junction.) Be sure to look into the future and don't forget your marketing image. We did it e New York marketing people to advertise us. They're right and hired slick real pros at picturing how good it used to be and won't take pictures of the 15,000 bikers clustered at Slickrock or the coked --out fry cook living in his van on the river. And don't forget, there will always be a certain segment of the population that hates progress - these radicals will eventually quit coming around and will cause trouble cog-railw- ay hot-do- port-a-potti- es Jcep-O-Ra- er big-tim- Ml EL1.111 ' elsewhere, like Escalante or Hanks villo. fust don't forget, you cant eat wilderness. Anyway, you really should just come over and visit one of our cxcmplaiy towns, like Vail or Aspen. If you do all this right, before long you'll find that your little town attracts movie stars and the rich, and at that point the town pretty much becomes an uncontrollable creature with its own mind, since the rich can do whatever the hell they want. But now you have an ECONOMY, which benefits everybody. Finally, as for Moab in particular, it appears that you're really on the right track a lot better than some of your neighbors, and we commend you. Along with the Portal project, your movie council should get all your support, as well as people like the publishers of Canyon Country Guidebooks. These all do a lot to bring you closer to the lifestyle we're beginning to experience over here in Colorado. However, we do recognize that you Utahns have no small expertise in these things - witness the colossal and undying testimony of Lake Powell, which puts all of our best endeavors to shame! A lot of us do wonder why more of you don't come over here. We always figured it was the distance it takes a hell of a long time to get to Moab from Boulder, but we guess it's the same both ways. We just figure it's because you don't really have the ECONOMY yet to get around like we do - it makes all the difference. Good Luck! Meg Miller and John Foster Glenwood Springs, CO Dear Jimbo: I have enjoyed reading the Zephyr. Western issues and attitudes are foreign to us Kentucky Hillbillies. Now to join the fray... I don't understand why this states rights issue has been resurrected. For better or worse the Union won. Sorry guys, the Confederacy died in 1865 (ironic my father and name was Jefferson Davis Caudill, huh?) 1 I is a 10th amendment to the Constitution. However, I know...thcrc know, interpret the amendment to mean reserving powers to the states whatever the feds don't want to handle. Well I want the Feds to keep handling the land management of federal land. I don't trust the State of Utah to manage our legacy. Remember this is my land too. Even though Yu'al (you all for the Yankees present ... I had to insert a little southern lingo for you Jimbo), live in closer proximity to our lands, it's still every American's resource. I want at least some of the United States to remain unspoiled. Every piece of land does not have to be translated into dollars and cents. In addition, I find it humorous that ranchers, miners, farmers and loggers want to exploit federal resources at bargain basement prices while many of these same fellows want to cut job programs, welfare, food stamps, earn income tax credits, etc. which serve the poor. Sounds a lot like welfare to me. Using their same "Jobs" logic, if we as a nation can afford to subsidize ranchers, miners, fanners and loggers why can we not afford to have job programs for the urban underclass? Is one person's job or business somehow more valuable than anothers? I think not Thanks for your space. great-grandfathe- r's Sincere as always, Greg Caudill "Glen Meade Gang", Luuval, KY DESERT PLAZA (Next to City Market) hot am mm 12-- 7 MOM 471 South Main 10-- 4 Saturday Closed Sunday ORGANIC HONEY WHOLE WHEAT 12-GRA- IN ORANGE PARADISE RAISIN-NU- T SOURDOUGH GARLIC COOKIES CINNAMON ROLLS TOM Ull 7 am glad I shall never be young, without wild country to be young in. To what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" Aldo Leopold |