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Show Viewpoints The A-9 Park Record. Wed/Thurs/Fri, September 18-20, 2019 editorial When those most affected by gun violence speak, let’s listen I letters to the editor Re-elect Worel Editor: As a lifelong Park City resident, I am proud to endorse Nann Worel for City Council. Though I may not have as many years in Park City as other locals (because of my age), I can say Park City has not only seen me grow up but has helped raise me into the person I am. I moved to Park City when I was 2 years old in late 2000. I am a son of immigrants and an immigrant myself. Nann has been a huge part behind the scenes in services that helped me and my family establish a real life here in Park City, most notably through the People’s Health Clinic. I remember back when the People’s Health Clinic was simply the People’s Health “Trailer.” Twenty years later the clinic continues to serve our community’s uninsured. Nann served as the executive director for the People’s Health Clinic where she made a huge impact in our community. Nann continues to fight for locals through the work she has done in her first term in office. Her experience working with nonprofits has helped bridge the relationship between our private and public sector. Nann has continuously reached out to our diverse population to truly hear their concerns. The experience she has gained in her first term along with her professional experience working with health care centers has made Nann a very humble, caring and compassionate person who will continue to fight for all Parkites. Re-elect Councilwoman Nann Worel, her passion, experience and dedication are what we need on our council. Junior Enrique Sanchez Park City Vision for the future Editor: I moved to Park City in 2010 and met Becca Gerber in 2011. I have always found her to be an extremely friendly, fair, hardworking, honest and upbeat woman. When I first heard that she wanted to run for public office my initial response was, “young people don’t do that.” In my opinion, it is Becca’s youth, yet history that makes her such an appealing candidate. Having grown up in Park City, Becca has seen it undergo massive changes. From the days of a two-lane S.R. 224, an undeveloped Empire Canyon, and a single gas station in Kimball Junction, to the current times of a movie studio at Quinn’s Junction, gridlocked roadways many times of day throughout the year, and a Colorado-based ski resort company settling into town, Park City has undergone massive changes. Change is inevitable and with it comes pluses and minuses. This community needs representatives with an appreciation of the past, and a vision for the future to be able to implement that change as gracefully as possible. I believe Becca is very in tune with the desires of this community, has a progres- The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Alexander Cramer Ryan Kostecka Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy Editor ............................ James Hoyt Engagement Editor............. Jeff Dempsey Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Accounting Manager ......... Jennifer Snow ADVERTISING Advertising Director ........... Valerie Spung Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Erin Donnelly Lindsay Lane Sharon Bush Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production ........................Chelsea Babbitt sive but realistic vision for the future of Park City, properly represents what is best for us, and knows how to effectively and fairly do so. Emily Burney Park City n a better world, neither Parkites — nor millions of other people around the country — would know the teenagers’ names. But we do. We know the names David Hogg and Jaclyn Corin because on a February day in 2018 a gunman entered their high school in Parkland, Florida, and killed 17 people, including 14 of their peers. We know their names because, in the wake of that tragedy — the kind of experience that is difficult for most people to even fathom — they turned their grief into action and set about doing everything in their power to prevent others from having to endure what they did. Their example — and that of many of their classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who have also raised their voices to change the discussion surrounding firearms in America — is inspiring. And their message is important. When Hogg and Corin speak at the Eccles Center on Saturday evening, Parkites should pay close attention. The vitriol the gun debate engenders among some people can make it tempting to avert one’s eyes. So, too, can the anguish of watching mass shootings continue to occur month after month, year after year, without our leaders in Washington taking any meaningful steps to prevent them. But we have an obligation not to look away. Importantly, that means listening to the people who have been most affected by gun violence. For an example of what can happen when well-meaning people engage on the issue, Parkites need look no further than Hogg and Corin. After the Parkland shooting, the teens became outspoken gun control advocates, helped organize the nationwide March for Our Lives movement and pushed thousands of other young people into action, such as the Park City High School students who walked out of class last year to protest gun violence and later marched on Main Street for the same cause. If teenagers whose lives were changed forever by a mass shooting have the courage to stand up and speak out about what they believe in, even as people on the other side of the issue vilify them, so too can everyone else who understands the importance of common-sense gun reform. From that activism, perhaps there will be a day when parents can send their children to school without hesitation and when people can walk into a place of worship without fear. If that day comes, it will be the people who refused to stay silent, people like Hogg and Corin and those who have followed their lead, we’ll have to thank. The voice for Park City Editor: Park City needs a person on the City Council that understands growth, development, streets and services to those in our community that need them. I believe that Nann Worel is the most qualified candidate on these critical issues. With six years on the Planning Commission, four years on Council and extensive nonprofit experience ,including as former executive director of People’s Health Clinic, Nann has done the hard work to become a great leader. I know that she will be able to find practical and achievable solutions to those issues that matter most to our neighbors. She believes, as I do, in the benefits of tempering spending and better utilization of our tax dollars on the things that we all believe in. Nann IS the voice for reasonable solutions for Park City! Beth Armstrong Park City Enough is enough Editor: How big will Park City roads need to be to meet the financial targets of our current developers (sometimes referenced less politely)? The Aug. 18 Park Record reported that UDOT has plans for a seven lane catastrophe on S.R. 224 to accommodate traffic increases through 2030. We already have 42,000 vehicles per day on that highway serving a town of 8,743 people (2017 data). The same article tells us that there is consensus among elected officials to “get people out of cars.” What? How in the world are bigger roads going to “get people out of cars”? The silver mines took all they could and left. Think of Vail Resorts and TCFC the next time you’re sitting in traffic on your way to the store. How long will it take us to finally say enough? Nick Wright Park City Bright futures await Editor: During the week of Aug. 5, incoming Park City High School sophomores attended Summer Academy, a week-long orientation into the Bright Futures program dedicated to helping first generation students get to and through college. The academy began with a parent presentation from Rebeca Gonzalez, program manager, in addition to encouragement from school district leaders, members of the Bright Futures Advisory Board, Park City Councilor Becca Gerber, and founder of the program Eric Garen. Throughout the week students developed relationships through team building activities with their peers and coaches, who will be there to support them throughout the next seven years. Additionally, students learned about the college process, including high school preparation, applications, financial aid and college tours. The upcoming school year will present students with more opportunities at monthly leadership academies to build connections with their crews and volunteers, as well as learn the importance of establishing healthy relationships, identifying appropriate conflict resolution, and other soft skills that will aid them in fostering a successful college experience. We are very excited to present the class of 2022! A special thanks to the Park City Education Foundation, Bright Futures Advisory Board, and Park City School District for all your support, as well as the Park City Hospital for hosting the event! Lauren Young Bright Futures program assistant guest editorial Step back into the ‘real world’ of wilderness PAUL ANDERSEN The Aspen Times You can still find places with no human impacts ... hidden places, rare and sacred havens, trail-less enclaves of remote wilderness, settings of beauty, grandeur and primeval purity, places of salvation that exist in our very backyards. Where else can one find an antidote to the constant demands of electronic devices? Devices that not only prompt a connection, but also prompt responses with canned language and pre-processed words. Devices that make us automatons who no longer need to think about how or what we communicate. The future of these wildernesses is imperiled by these very same electronic devices. How many of our future generations will want to preserve a personal connection with pure nature when they are addicted to the pacifying comfort of a device in their pocket? Happiness is a warm iPhone. These wild places have no designated trailheads, no signs marking boundaries or routes. They are vague jumping off spots where elk, deer, bighorn sheep and mountain goats have beaten in faint depressions in the forest duff, the highland grasses, the alpine tundra. Here you discover that your trail eyes can be tuned to hoof prints and scat, your senses keened to the ways of wild animals. When the trail braids across a wetlands bog, you make your best guess and go with it. You may find yourself scrambling through a maze of downed timber. And if it’s wet, the going is slow and laborious. Legs get scratched and nicked. A sense of humor is necessary, plus a good measure of humility. Go high enough and eventually you break out into open tundra where timberline is marked by the interface of the Krummholz ecosystem, the visible boundary of stunted trees between the sub-alpine and alpine life zones where trees stop growing and the tundra begins. Here the wandering is easier, unless a storm is brewing and lightning and thunder issue crackling, rumbling warnings. Eventually, you come upon a hidden lake, a serene reflecting mirror that shimmers in a breeze and shines in the sun. Here, the limpid water reveals cutthroat trout lazily swimming the shore, looking for the right fly, which you happen to have in your kit. With fry pan and butter — no seasonings necessary — you savor their succulent pink meat that has the flavor of lobster from feeding on a diet of high mountain lake shrimp. My son, Tait and I, had such an experience last week where we followed faint game trails — or no trails at all. We spent nights in lake-filled cirques with no signs of human activity. No trails. No fire rings. Only jets roaring overhead. In one deserted basin, storms pounded our tents with rain and hail. The next morning dawned blue sky and cool. Hiking out, we watched a herd of 15 mountain goats scamper up an impossible couloir while we climbed our own vertical ridge on a series of narrow ledges. The hiking was breath-taking, not only in stark vistas, but in thin air over 12,000 feet. We filled our bottles with headache-cold spring water rushing from snow-crested boulder fields, tasting the snow from last winter. At one timberline camp, tucked into my warm down bag and wakened in the dark of night, I unzipped the bag and the tent fly and stood out in the cool of night. My consolation for a midnight pee was a star-filled sky with the Milky Way arching overhead in a cloud of cosmic dust. I stared up and was both lost and found in the vastness of our home galaxy. At one camp, Tait ventured off to find an overhang under which to weather the next onslaught of storms. I wandered off in another direction toward the sound of rushing water from a nearby waterfall gushing off granite slabs planed smooth by a glacier. I perched on a boulder between stunted Krummholz trees and took in a magnificent landscape of vertical escarpments and noisy creeks, just me and the Great Mystery, a transcendent experience that is so beautiful when one steps away from the demands of devices, away from the news cycle, away from manmade stressors into the “real world” of wilderness — man’s original home. Paul Andersen is a columnist for The Aspen Times, a Park Record sister paper based in Aspen, Colorado. The Park record Pulse Here’s a sampling of the conversation readers are having on our Facebook page. To visit the page, go to Facebook.com/parkrecord/. It’s a start. When you allow bad behavior such as speeding for so long, then posted speeds become nonexistent to drivers and they do what they want. The lack of speed monitoring has become wide spread and people drive out of control and unsafe. The only way to change behavior is to hit them in their pocket book. Driving fast is fun, but not safe and we need to get back to being held responsible to honoring posted speeds. Driving is a privilege, not a right and the amount of deaths in Utah due to speeding is a problem. I see it all while driving for a transportation company, and the risks people take are just mind blowing.” Deaneen Elswick, on “Park City traffic stop: ‘due to driving with a total lack of regard for his own or the public’s safety’” Now with NO SAFETY INSPECTION required for passenger vehicles we should ALL be concerned about our safety on the highway.” Steve Gibson, on “Park City takes 13 of 20 trucks off the road during safety sting” How is this a good thing? The poor guy who works harder then anyone of you lot ever have to make ends meat is the only one hurt. This is going the direction of Europe where only well do to individuals can be on the roads. Totally stupid. If it has four wheels and puts food on their table then leave it alone. You guys are ridiculous. You never cared about a truck inspection when it was helping to building your mansion.” Roger William Jorgensen, on “Park City takes 13 of 20 trucks off the road during safety sting” Hit the easy button and ban commercial traffic, turns it back into a residential street...end of discussion…” Nic Norsk, on “Deer Valley lodges pledge to avoid Old Town street, but want less neighborhood harassment in return” The Park Record attained permission to publish these comments. Some comments may have been lightly edited for clarity. |