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Show 1989-1999: The Most Tumultuous Decade Moa6’s last ten years have been as turbulent as the Uranium Boom of the 50s...Its effect more permanent (Compiled from the last 96 issues of The Zephyr) I'd like to be able to say that I anticipated the staggering changes that were about to turn Moab, Utah upside down when I started the Zephyr in 1989. I’d like to say I was a prophet but I can’t. I didn’t really see it coming. For a while it looked as if this project might proceed. Senator Garn introduced legislation calling for $6 million in appropriations to build what some were calling After the defeat of the toxic waste incinerator, it looked as if Moab might become a sort of peaceful oasis in the red rock country. We had some tourists, about 400,000 a year at massive roll-back roof for the theater. Scoping meetings were But somewhere along the way the University lost interest Plans by the U to establish a campus for the arts in Moab clouds over the mountains. By 1992 the Kokopelli Theater was had come and gone like a 24 hour bug. ‘Wolftrap Arches, up about 90,000 from a decade before, but not enough to seriously disrupt the town. We had a few river running outfits that made a comfortable living for its owners and great summer work for a lot more. There were plenty of rental opportunities for all those part time summer employees—at one point in the late 1980s, almost one in every five homes was empty. The played out uranium boom was over once and for all. But we should have seen it coming. With the birth of mountain biking and its almost explosive popularity in Moab, lycra-clad yupsters from Colorado and California and West.’ Stories of even more grandiose plans began to leak out, including a called for August. in the project and in Moab. also dissipated like August just another goofy idea that Beyond began to show up in ever increasing numbers. And they came to do more than challenge their own skills on the Slickrock Bike Trail. They came to buy. It was a standard line at many real estate offices in the late 80s: "Tell us,” the Aspenites would grin, "How many houses can we steal today?" Quite a few was the answer. Sometimes visitors to Moab arrived empty-handed and left town a day later, the owner of four Moab homes, and still had change from their $100,000. That's how it began. But Old Moab was still hanging on and in the first few years, in the early 90s, some of Moab’s biggest ‘controversies’ focused on old issues and old ideas. What follows are a few flashbacks; from Day One and Ground Zero, this is how Moab got from there to here... 1989: BIRTH OF THE ZEPHYR & THE BOOK CLIFFS HIGHWAY At about the same time the Zephyr was taking shape, so was the Grand County Special 1990: THE COUNTY ATTORNEY IS DEFEATED In 1986, Elaine Matthews Coates was elected upsetting the longtime incumbent Bill Benge. Four and it appeared that she would run unopposed. But Services Road District. Lame duck commissioners Jimmie Walker and Dutch Zimmerman, recently defeated in the “Toxic Incinerator Overthrow’ and incumbent David Knutson created this autonomous governing body, appointed Dutch and David's father to be board members and hired Jimmie to be the paid administrator. to the counties by the federal government, the new road a paved highway from I-70 over the rugged Book Cliffs a $6 million loan from the Community Impact Board With mineral lease money funded board had a grandiose plan: Build to Vernal. The road board received and hired the engineering firm of into that scenario. From the June 1990 issue... The newly amended law allows citizens to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a county attorney candidate running for election...if the county has three or fewer active or licensed attorneys residing within the county. | Creamer & Noble to start the engineering work. From the beginning Creamer & Noble’s role in the project had raised eyebrows. Creamer & Noble had lobbied the legislature to release mineral lease monies to the counties; now they were lined up to receive a lion’s share of it. In September 1989, Commissioner David Knutson spoke relationship with the engineering firm... freely with the Zephyr about the road BY HERSELF to serve as Grand County Attorney, years later, she was up for re-election a newly amended law threw a wrench At the time, Grand County had four attorneys but one of them had been suspended by the Utah Bar for six months. I almost made a nuisance out of myself calling the Utah Attorney General Office trying to get a ruling on the applicability of the law to our county. Finally the AG’s office determined that Grand County indeed only had three attorneys at board’s the time of the filing deadline. County clerk Fran Townsend determined that Elaine Coates “Basically we told him that if he could find the money for Grand County to do this project, he could do the engineering on it. It was more of a gentleman's agreement." But later the engineering contract was put out for bid. According to Knutson, the bidding process was a farce... “It was pretty much of a given who's going to get it. And it was. There wasn’t any intention of even seriously considering anybody else. Steve Creamer was the one who got the money, who pushed it through. He had all the contacts. That was a gentleman's agreement in the first place. For all intents and purposes, the decision to go with Steve Creamer had been made a long time ago. Right or wrong, it had." Z The next day, Knutson’s comments in the Zephyr appeared on KTVX News in Salt Lake City. A bewildered Steve Creamer was interviewed on camera and shakily denied any wrong-doing. It was the first crack in the Book Cliffs Highway scheme. 1989: THE ‘LEGITIMATE’ BABY OF THE YEAR AWARD As The Zephyr approached the end of year #1, a Moab citizen pointed out some fine would have to run as a yes/no candidate. In November Elaine Matthews Coates was soundly defeated by herself. * 1991: A PEOPLE’S PARK? OR MILL CREEK CONDOS? From the June 1991 issue... The Moab City Council has an opportunity to do something visionary. Moab has always been blessed with a lot of green space. We've taken for granted the fact that within the city limits and right around its perimeter, we have orchards and alfalfa fields and pastures-—sights that we've grown accustomed to. But all that is likely to change as more and more out-of-town speculators buy up relatively cheap acreage. One such piece of property is a six acre parcel on 400 East, across from Mill Creek Drive. The owner has recently proposed to lease this property to the city with an option to buy after 10 years...It is one of the loveliest spots in Moab. But if a developer gets hold of it, I doubt if it will be for the purpose of turning it into a wildlife print to me one day. This was the result in the Page two editorial of the Jan/ Feb. 1990 issue... ; Leonardo da Vinci was a great artist and inventor. Sarah Bernhardt was a great actress. Alexander Hamilton was the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. What does this diverse group of people have in common? Their parents were not married when they were born. To use the antiquated vernacular, they were ‘illegitimate.’ If they were born in Moab, and if their birthdays fell close to the first of the year, all of them would be disqualified from the First Baby of the Year Contest, sponsored by almost two dozen merchants. Each year these sponsors award a variety of presents to the baby and the parents of the newborn. But the contest rules are explicit. The fine print reads: ‘Winning baby must be legitimate.’ The Zephyr urged the organizers of the contest to re-evaluate their position; after all, why punish the baby? And we proposed that if the contest rules were not changed, a group of Zephyr advertisers were prepared to award the prizes anyway, if the first baby born in 1990 was to an unwed mother. The contest organizers did re-evaluate and the "illegitimate" disqualifier was removed. Score one for Leonardo. 1990: THE NEXT BONEHEAD IDEA: THE KOKOPELLI THEATER This is the state that gave us cold fusion. But in the summer of 1990, we caught wind of a project that rivaled it. From the August 1990 issue... Recently the University of Utah, in conjunction with the BLM, announced plans to construct a $9.5 million theater complex on the Sand Flats Road adjacent to the Slick Rock Bike Trail. The multi-phase project includes an outdoor amphitheater, an outdoor theater in the round, a theater of the stars for astronomical programs, and an enclosed year-round performing arts center. The price tag would be paid for by $6 million in federal building funding and the remainder from nongovernment matching funds. sanctuary. Condos loom just over the horizon. It would cost each Moab citizen about $2.75 a year for a decade to preserve and protect this valuable ‘green space.’ That's nothing...This could truly be a People’s Park-—a piece of yesterday that we've set aside. Talk to your councilperson; there's still time,but one of these days that land will be sold and then it will be too late to do anything except kiss it goodbye." The city council did nothing. Four years later we "kissed it goodbye.” Today it really is called Mill Creek Pueblos. continued on page 22 |