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Show Red Rock Four-Wheelers and other traditional sponsors still do their best to promote a sane The with and responsible event. Nutshell Steve Russell & Jim Unfortunately, like a lot of other events that havea following more akin to lemming phenomena than any honest enthusiasm, it has gotten away from them. More unfortunately, yahoos in souped-up boy-toys can get disproportionately ugly. IfI were a legitimate and responsible four-wheel enthusiast on the Safari Board,I would “cancel” the Jeep Safari for a couple of years. You know your core constituency will still show up, and they will probably be thrilled that the circus has not come to town. That will Stiles give the organizers time to re-think the Jeep Safari concept and come up with an event that will provide an experience to its participants of a quality equal to its setting. RUSSELL’S PART... In the Bart Simpson D'oh Category: How ironic is it to hear truckers, those bellowing engines Save the High Country: of American commerce, Traveling into the mountains in mid-June one encounters quaint swarms of four-legged methane dispensers making their annual trek up the grade. If we must continue the getting their jakes in an uproar about a short delay while the tiny City of Moab conducts insanely wasteful and destructive “tradition” of desert cattle raising, couldn't we, at least, a Christmas parade through its Main Street shopping district? Never-mind that the parade please, prohibit them from passing above, say, 7,500 feet? The high country is after all, our primary source of clean water and summer oasis. The idea that cow-punchers have somehow acquired property rights to ruin public lands at a huge public loss is absurd. A Forest Service with guts could and should boot them out of the mountains. Sure, there is private land up there where doggies will remain free to roam, but did you ever wonder why, for example, the Redds' private mountain property (slowly but surely being sold off), is in so much better shape than their immediately adjacent grazing allotments? Fact is, most western cattle ranchers could not possibly make it without public land was one of the best and warmest aspects of the Millennial Christmas season in Moab. Maybe what we should do is eliminate some of the more pernicious X-mas non-traditions like crass commercialism and insanely wasteful binge spending. That ought to ease those truckers' loads considerably. Better yet, they can form a peace and good-will convoy and join the parade! Man Bites Dog! (City Council Rejects Zone Change!!) / More than a few eyebrows were raised when the City Council turned down a request to re-zone an old city center R-3 trailer court to a C-2 commercial space, with Mayor Hancock casting the tie-breaker. The surprise is not the vote, but the reaction. If a community is committed to careful long-term planning, zone changes should be the exception rather than the rule. (That's a big “if’-- and, incidentally, by long-termI mean something several orders of magnitude more distant than the next change in the political or economic winds.) A recent story in the Salt Lake Tribune featured Rawlins Young who has been monitoring “planning” in and around Salt Lake City for many decades. He's a bother to current planners because he can demonstrate, on the ground, how short term decision making often leads to long-term disasters. subsidies, and the time is long since past when the subsidy made sense on any level. The National Forests should be managed first and foremost as forests, not centers for multiple abuse. If it takes legislation to alter the Forest Circus mandate, so be it, but don't expect to see anything sensible coming from the Utah delegation. In a state as arid as Utah, high mountain forests should be managed with utmost respect, if not reverence for the resource. The High Uintas is the only area in Utah that comes close. And by the way, when cows are limited to private land in the mountains, make the ranchers fence their critters in, rather than forcing the public to fence out the marauders. It's time to give “custom and tradition” a true test. Cattle ranchers willing and able to stick with it in the “real world,” more power to ya. He has the historical evidence to prove how a lack of planning, and whimsical adherence to master plans has transformed an open, green and inviting city-scape into a sprawling, asphalt nightmare. “I believe in democracy with a small d,” says Young. “There is no reason for a person living in a democracy not to take an interest in local politics, politicians and decision making...What I don't understand is why master plans are so often ignored. The urban growth process overwhelms public policy. It is driven by the market...mayors and politicians are not the people making decisions. The real decisions are made behind the scenes by power brokers who are not in the political arena.” There was nothing inherently wrong with the Keogh-Farrell project, and, by all accounts their approach in seeking a zone change was above board and proper. Indeed, there was considerable comment afterward that it is the short-cutters, done deal makers and those of conflicting interests that get their way more often than those who dutifully follow the proper process for development. Maybe so. That is one lesson for our community leaders to consider. Projects outside the boundaries of the existing rules and master plan, or projects moved along by manipulations of the appropriate process should be quickly and loudly rejected. Otherwise, whatever incentive there may be for developers to “do it right” will be destroyed. In this instance, the Council's decision was simple and correct. If the City's historical plan is to have any integrity, the line on encroaching development had to be drawn somewhere. Another lesson for the rest of us is that the vocal participation of residents neighboring Griffith Misses a Stroke For Posterity: the proposed project may well have swayed the decision. It was a good example of the efficacy of small-d democracy. Rawlins Young would be pleased. Chris Cannon's Stick a Fork In It Though I was not here to witness it, the prevailing opinion across most of the entire spectrum of Moab citizenry is that the Jeep Safari has gone off the deep end, or if you prefer, high centered on a huge hump of over-crowding and bad behavior. At its core, the eee aso The 6/6/00 Salt Lake Tribune told, amidst staggering hyperbole, the harrowing tale of (R-Utah) photo-op ride through Westwater as part of the “Passing the Paddle” river road show. Cannon drew Moab's own power babe Sheri Griffith (can that girl work the press, or what!) at the oar locks. From the description, one would have thought our plucky Rep. was being forced over Iguazu Falls. After an accurate portrayal the simple two-stroke maneuver necessary to run Skull, the account morplis into a Mr. Wizard episode. 7. LAZY LIZARD INTERNATIONAL HOSTEL MOAB BUSINESS FOR SALE BY OWNER Reputable, well established, profitable, local services. Printing/Publishing, Est. all equipment, customer account info., adjusted cash flow of $64,443. Price: year around business providing 1967. Includes registered name, etc. 1999 gross $264,172 with $285,000. Terms: CASH ARE YOU DIRTY? TAKE A SHOWER FoR. 42 Real Estate not included - can be leased or purchased. Serious inquiries from qualified buyers only. Send name, address, phone number (with best time to call) to: Business / PO. Box 1323 / Moab, UT 84532. AND CHECK OUT OUR NGUTLY RATES. THE BEST DEAL IN TOWN ONE. MILE. SOUTH OF TO\WN ON HIGHWAY 191 259-6057 iii in| |