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Show Viewpoints The A-11 Park Record. Wed/Thurs/Fri, July 1-3, 2020 editorial Your fireworks show could start a wildfire — make sure it doesn’t W guest editorial Park City’s teachers deserve to be paid what they’re worth MIKE BAKER Park Meadows I couldn’t believe what I was reading in the article on the front page of The Park Record in the June 17-19 issue, that the Park City School District is considering freezing teacher salaries this year. Everyone is well aware of the huge tax revenue losses that have occurred in every state, county and city due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of the economy, but wasn’t everyone just talking about the fact that teachers should be paid 10 times (or more) what they have been paid in the past after families had to quarantine and parents had to provide the education to their children? As a society, we finally came to the realization of the important functions that teachers perform, similar to humanity finally coming to the realization that systemic racism is still ever present. We are very fortunate to have the Park City Education Foundation in our town, supporting our students and school district. That foundation has contributed significant financial support to our children and the school district over the years, to the tune of millions of dollars! On their website is the following statement: “The #1 influence on student success is the classroom teacher.” I suspect, if the district makes the request, that the foundation could provide some additional financial support for the teachers in our district. Also in that Park Record article, Todd Hauber, the school district’s busi- ness administrator, states that there are tens of millions of dollars that the school district holds but is earmarked for capital expenditures and that, if the state Legislature granted approval, the district could access about $19 million. I’m thinking everybody in Park City would say let’s hold off on doing these huge capital expenditures at this time and use that money to still provide our teachers with their annual pay raise! If this isn’t a time when rainy day funds should be used to fund one of the most important aspects of our community (our teachers), I can’t imagine what would be worse than what we’ve just gone through. Do we need to wait for 60 days and 60 nights of rain before the rainy day fund (no pun intended) is accessed? Finally, if you feel that teachers are one of the most important components in our society, and that they should be compensated as such, please send your comments to Gov. Gary Herbert (and our legislators) and ask them to please not make any cuts to school funding. Emphasize the important role that teachers have not only in our children’s education, but in their lives. Maybe some of the state tax dollars that are set aside for state capital expenditures could be accessed (or the state rainy day fund) to be used to keep paying our teachers a fair wage along with their needed annual pay increases. Go to governor.utah.gov and navigate to the page where you can add your comments to the governor. This is not the time to turn our backs on our teachers. letters to the editor Preserve the Great Outdoors In a time when there is so much division in the country, both sides of the United States Senate came together to vote on and pass the Great American Outdoors Act. The bill funds a backlog of Interior Department maintenance projects across government-managed lands with up to $1.9 billion per year. In addition, this bill provides $900 million in funding per year to the Land Water Conservation Fund created in 1964 enabling the LWCF to expand and establish parks spaces across the country. The bill still has to pass the House, but should sail through that body, and believe it or not the president has tweeted that he plans to sign it. In this tumultuous time, it is amazing to see that both parties can come together to help preserve and protect our Great Outdoors. Colin DeFord Pinebrook The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Alexander Cramer Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Engagement Editor............. Jeff Dempsey Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Distribution........................... Henry Knight ADVERTISING Advertising Director ........... Valerie Spung Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Lindsay Lane Director of Digital Marketing .. Tina Wismer Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production ......................... Louise Mohorn A sincere thank you The Park City Museum offers a sincere thank you to the people who helped with the Memorial Farewell for beloved, long-time Park City Historian Hal Compton at the Glenwood Cemetery. Friends and family gathered to share stories and memories of Hal in a place he loved and helped restore. We would like to thank the Riverhorse for catering the wonderful hors d’oeuvres, to Tom and Lynn Fey for hosting the delicious wine, and to the museum’s Glenwood Cemetery Committee for their continuing efforts to preserve this garden-like final resting place of so many of Park City’s first families. Sandra Morrison Park City Museum executive director Herculean effort As someone who runs a “larger” business based on local standards, including a Main Street location, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the Park City Chamber/ Bureau, the Historic Park City Alliance and the Heber Valley Chamber. Letters Policy The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor on any subject. We ask that the letters adhere to the following guidelines. They must include the home (street) address and telephone number of the author. No letter will be published under an assumed name. Letters must not contain libelous material. Letters should be no longer than about 300 words (about 600 words for guest editorials) and should, if possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long or if they contain statements that are unnecessarily offensive or obscene. Writers are limited to one letter every seven days. Letters thanking event sponsors can list no more than 6 individuals and/or businesses. Send your letter to: editor@parkrecord.com ith concerns about the coronavirus prompting officials to snuff out Park City’s annual Fourth of July fireworks show, Parkites won’t be looking sky- ward Saturday. But that doesn’t mean pyrotechnics won’t be part of Independence Day in Park City. It seems likely that, given the show’s cancellation and the dearth of other events that typically mark the holiday, more Parkites this year will turn to personal fireworks to celebrate. As long as they keep their gatherings small and socially distant, it’s a way for residents to enjoy at least one Fourth of July tradition without risking exposure to COVID-19. But coronavirus precautions aren’t the only safety measures Parkites need to take into account. The arrival of summer means wildfire season is here, and all it takes is one errant spark, one careless lapse, for a festive fireworks display to turn into disaster. Think the odds of that happening are remote, or that the early-week rainstorms washed away the risk? Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Let the situation in Utah County, where a pair of large hu- man-caused fires over the weekend threatened more than 1,000 homes, serve as a sobering reminder of the danger we’re facing. While the specific cause of one of the fires remained under investigation Tuesday afternoon, officials said the other was started by a firework. With no restrictions on fireworks planned in Park City or unincorporated Summit County for the Fourth of July, residents who plan to light them off shoulder the responsibility of ensuring a similar scenario doesn’t play out here, where there are longstanding fears about the potential of a disastrous wildfire sweeping through densely wooded neighborhoods like Summit Park or Old Town. Even a blaze lit in a more rural area of the county would tax firefighting resources and have the potential to spread rapidly. There’s no doubt fireworks are a treasured part of Fourth of July. And this year, they’ll be one of the few traditions residents will be able to enjoy. But don’t do so carelessly, lest a wildfire be at the end of the fuse. Personal fireworks are allowed in Utah from Thursday through Sunday and again from July 22-25 in celebration of Pioneer Day. For tips about firework safety, visit firemarshal.utah.gov/department-services/fireworks/. guest editorial 4 decades on, KPCW continues to be a beacon of community radio in Park City BLAIR FEULNER KPCW Radio founding board president Happy 40th birthday, KPCW! As one of the persons most responsible for creating KPCW (along with Susan Feulner), I’m pleased to report Park City’s home-grown radio station has kept the flame of local news and information burning brightly since the night (8 p.m. on July 2, 1980) I signed it on the air. The year I set out to invent KPCW (1978) Park City was still a busted old mining “camp” with more people working underground at the Ontario Mine than working above ground at the ski area. The town’s adult population would have fit into the yet-to-be built Eccles auditorium, leaving the balcony empty. Park City’s infrastructure was disintegrating and Main Street was home to boarded-up buildings and epic potholes. Then, volunteer firemen would scramble to a burning building, only to watch helplessly as it burned down because there wasn’t enough water pressure in the hydrant. Worse, on the other end of the pipe, the town’s broken sewer plant made sure Poison Creek lived up to its name, creating nasty algae blooms downstream in East Canyon Reservoir. And that wasn’t the only thing that smelled. Equally odoriferous was City Hall. Every contractor knew for the price of a scotch, the chief building official would gladly sign off on a fictitious building permit. And then there was the Cop Shop. Walk into any saloon and see coke being snorted off the bar, while absent from The Park Record’s police blotter was any news of drug busts. The locals figured best case, the cops were looking the other way. Worse case, they were the ones dealing. The town’s real estate and construction industries had melted down in the face of double-digit interest rates. Park City was truly a proletarian paradise, with everybody equally broke. So, in 1978, the notion that enough people, in such a tiny town, would donate enough money to fund a public radio station that would broadcast six hours a day of local news, interviews and information seemed quite insane. Talk about pivoting to address business concerns during COVID-19! All three have been a tremendous resource with constant updates of useful information in navigating all there is in our “new normal.” I truly appreciate the herculean effort each of these organizations continues to provide to local businesses. From the bottom of my heart, a big thank you. Nancy Seraphin Heber Wear a mask for others I hate wearing masks. I really hate spending my whole day wearing a mask. It makes me claustrophobic and sweaty, makes my nose itch, makes my throat dry, makes my skin tingle when I inhale too much carbon dioxide while talking. But I’d hate it much more if I inadvertently gave one of my patients COVID-19 and caused them to die. I’d hate to inadvertently give my friend or neighbor COVID-19 in the grocery store and cause them to die. If the mask was to protect me, I’d definitely take my chances. But it’s not — it’s for you and everyone else. COVID-19 is a crazy bug that causes a huge array of symptoms. Even though you feel totally normal, there is a much higher likelihood of you having it and being contagious than you realize. Wearing a mask when around others can decrease the likelihood of you inadvertently passing them a deadly disease by as much as But it did — so well, that a 1995 study found KPCW had (per capita) more listeners and raised more money than any other public radio station in the nation. In the nation! Subsequently, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 1998 funded a study that asked the question: “How can we explain or understand this station’s extraordinary local fundraising?” Part of the answer was the unique and powerful fundraising tools created by KPCW’s first development director, Susan Feulner: “(Susan) invented the fundraising strategy, developing an aggressive approach to financial development. ... She was a natural in the art of relationship fundraising, establishing a network of community leaders, business owners and friends.” “The results are impressive by any standards. The 1995 SRG Benchmark study reported KPCW was raising double the level of business underwriting dollars than any station in the nation.” The report concluded that one reason the station’s fundraising was so effective was that KPCW was so heart-deep in the community. KPCW’s emphasis on local news and information made it essential listening for a large portion (78%) of Park City residents: “From the outset, KPCW was self-consciously small town radio. It is a community station in the best and most profound sense of that term. It plays a central role in the daily, civic life of Park City, filled with familiar voices, sharing vital information that affects daily life.” So happy birthday to the hundreds of board members and staff (in particular Board President Bob Richer and General Manager Renai Miller) and the thousands of volunteers and tens of thousands of residents who have donated millions of dollars to keep KPCW on the air, through every real estate recession and no-snow year, for four decades. In particular, special thanks from us (Susan and Blaire Feulner) to Leslie Thatcher, Rick Brough, Randy Barton and Emily Elliott for being keepers of the flame of localism, demonstrating during the COVID crisis what Tom Thomas, past president of the National Association of Community Broadcasters, told me: “There is clearly a very special relationship between KPCW and Park City residents.” 90%. That seems worth it to me. I do wear a mask in public to make a statement, but the only statement is to say that I care about you, the neighbor I don’t know ... nothing more. Your servers, baristas, retail employees and everyone else wear masks simply as a sign of respect of you and your health. I hate wearing a mask. We all hate wearing masks. But we do it out of respect for each other. I wear a mask for you. Please wear a mask for me, for your coworkers, for your fellow Parkites, and most importantly, for your loved ones. Bill Pidwell, MD Park City Be respectful and caring Nineteen months ago, my life changed forever. It started with seven months of bed rest while pregnant with my twin boys. Six of those months thankfully were spent working from home and the final month was spent at St. Mark’s Hospital. My little miracles arrived a little over two months early, weighing only 2 pounds and 3 pounds. After their three-month stay in the NICU, we were finally able to bring our little guys home on oxygen and one of them had a feeding tube. During the first year we practiced strict social distancing to keep our little ones safe. Every cough or sneeze while in public made me jump, and a wave of fear would engulf me. About six months ago we started finally going out and enjoying all that our beautiful town has to offer. We took the boys skiing for their first time, we went to the sabering at The St. Regis with friends, and grabbed dinner out. Then COVID-19 hit and we reverted back to our old ways, staying inside and avoiding crowds, wiping every surface down, dousing our hands in hand sanitizer, asking that family and friends quarantine before they visited. As the weather began to turn from the springtime chill to the sunny days of summer, we longed to take our boys on walks on the McLeod Creek Trail that sits right next to our home. After months indoors, we finally have broken down and are now walking our favorite trail again on a daily basis. While I’m overjoyed to be outside, I’ve been frustrated and disheartened by the fact so many people are choosing not to wear a mask. I know it presents a challenge while biking, running and walking, but by simply wearing a mask as you pass others, it keeps others safe. Even if you feel you can’t be burden to wear a mask for yourself, please remember you have neighbors that have fought long and hard to be here and would really appreciate it, if you would please be a respectful and caring Parkite and wear a mask. Tiffany Marshall Park City |