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Show Viewpoints The A-13 Park Record. Wed/Thurs/Fri, December 9-11, 2020 editorial The backcountry may be calling, but be prepared before answering M guest editorial Pandemic shows us workplace culture needs major changes ADAM HICKEY AND GEORGE FUSS Park City and Mamaroneck, New York There are many lessons we have to learn about disease from the COVID-19 pandemic, and one is that we all need to be more mindful of the risk we may pose to others while we’re sick. One review of academic surveys (most of which were conducted in the United States) conducted in 2019 found that between 35% and 97% of respondents in those surveys reported having attended work while they were ill, often because of workplace culture or policy which generated pressure to do so. Choosing to ignore sickness and return to the workplace while one is ill puts colleagues at risk, regardless of the perceived severity of your own illness; COVID-19 is an overbearing reminder that a disease that may cause mild, even cold-like symptoms for some can still carry fatal consequences for others. As a method of combating COVID-19, especially after many states set recent records in the number of new cases detected in a single day, we all have to be responsible and ensure that we do not put our coworkers at risk by attending work while ill, even if one is relatively confident that they do not have COVID-19 or one’s symptoms are mild enough to work through. Even after the pandemic ends, we should remember the lessons it’s taught us, and we should as individuals attempt to dismantle existing workplace cultures that may purposefully or unintentionally encourage workers to tough out illness rather than stay home. It’s likely that COVID-19 will simply be eradicated or disappear upon the deployment of a vaccine or a surpassing of the pandemic, and we can’t afford to become more compla- cent and continue engaging in risky workplace behaviors in the future. A widespread and generous paid sick leave policy would be an integral part of any serious plan to change personal behaviors in order to combat future pandemics. According to the CDC, many essential workers are at higher risk for exposure to COVID-19 because their jobs require frequent contact with the public. But this higher risk is not rewarded with higher pay: According to the Atlantic, one in seven essential workers have no health care, a third of essential workers live in a household that makes less than $40,000 per year, and millions of grocery store employees rely on food stamps to get by. Essential workers are also disproportionately likely to be immigrants who possess fewer labor rights than native-born workers and have often come to the country on exploitative work visas. Additionally, the ranks of essential workers are disproportionately composed of women and people of color who have less social capital and on average receive less pay than their white male peers due to discrimination and systemic oppression. These inconvenient truths force essential workers to keep clocking in hours even when they’re running on empty in order to feed themselves and their families, and in many cases they keep working when they’re feeling under the weather — even when they could be infected with COVID-19. A mandatory paid sick leave policy for every worker, ideally across the globe, would allow essential workers to return to work when necessary while still providing enough wiggle room for economically impoverished employees to take time off without going broke if they believe they’ve contracted an illness so as not to infect the rest of their workplace and the public at large. letters to the editor Who’s a sore loser? Regarding the letter titled “Choose rollbacks wisely” in the Dec. 5-8 edition, Mr. Miller is of course entitled to his opinion, but he lost all credibility when he stated, ”Only a ‘sore winner’ would completely erase everything done by his predecessor.” That’s rich, when you consider how the “sore winner” Donald Trump made every possible effort to reverse everything and anything with Barack Obama’s name on it. Thank goodness Trump wasn’t able to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Diane Bracey Old Town 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 Assistant ...... Jessica Burlacu Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Joe Siemon Director of Digital Marketing .. Tina Wismer Digital Sales Executive ............... Erik Jones Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production ......................... Louise Mohorn Bear witness and speak truth Bill Barr and Donald Trump have ordered the federal government to execute multiple death row inmates before inauguration day. Let us see this rush to execute federal prisoners as the inhumane publicity stunt that it is. I am wondering why they just do not set up firing squads on the South Lawn of the White House for maximum effect. Under Trump and Barr, the federal government has executed eight federal prisoners so far this year. From 1963 to 2019, the federal government killed only three prisoners, all between 2001 and 2003. After Biden was elected last month, Barr scheduled three more executions. Lisa Mongomery is scheduled for Jan. 12. Cory Johnson will be executed on Jan. 14, and Dustin John Higgs the next day. All three of these cases involve capital crimes and no doubt of guilt. As an advocate for Lisa Mongomery argues: “We are not asking that she be absolved of guilt. We are asking that she be extended mercy.” No one should live or die deliberately at the authority of one president when a week later they would have been spared by another. It is nationally endorsed cruelty. What is our role as citizens of this nation? It is to bear witness and speak of this to our families and friends. Perhaps a publicity stunt like setting up firing squads on the South Lawn is far fetched, but it tragically replicates the reason these people will be executed by the government in the coming weeks. We all need to have our eyes wide open, because democracies die in darkness. Martha Macomber Park Meadows aybe you missed out on nabbing a reservation to get on the slopes at Park City Mountain Resort on a weekend powder day. Perhaps you don’t want to stand in lift lines with others during the pandemic and are looking for a hill of fresh snow all to yourself. Or you could be seeking a different kind of winter adventure, one that involves an engine rather than skis and poles. So you head into the backcountry. This winter, you won’t be alone in turning to the wide open terrain in Utah’s mountains. Avalanche experts are preparing for a record number of people to flock to the backcountry as the pandemic and safety restrictions at ski areas entice them to look beyond resort boundaries for their fill of winter thrills. While there’s plenty of space for (extreme) social distancing, a large increase in backcountry usage this season is cause for alarm. Officials are concerned that among those venturing into the wilderness will be people who lack the basic avalanche safety skills that should be a prerequisite to strapping on a snowboard or clicking into skis in the backcountry. What’s that? You’ve conquered every black-diamond run in Utah? Being an above-average skier or snowboarder isn’t enough, which is obvious when you consider that avalanches frequently travel 70 or more miles per hour. The only way to guarantee you don’t get caught in an avalanche is to avoid triggering one. Fortunately, there’s an easy place to learn. The nonprofit Utah Avalanche Center, for one, offers a number of safety classes for backcountry users. And even people who’ve safely traversed the backcountry in the past can use a refresher course, or take the next step in their education. Classes, though, are not enough. Becoming educated about avalanche safety gives people the best chance to avoid a slide, but it does not eliminate the risk. Carrying the proper equipment — a shovel, an avalanche beacon and an avalanche probe, at minimum — may just save your life if the worst-case scenario strikes. The backcountry is endlessly alluring, especially this year. There’s plenty of adventure to be had in Utah’s mountains away from the crowds and the chairlifts. But the dangers are not to be taken lightly, as evidenced by the six avalanche fatalities that have occured in the state since the start of 2019. Heeding the guidance of experts will give us the best chance to avoid increasing that number this winter, even as more people than ever explore Utah’s backcountry. Backcountry safety resources can be found at utahavalanchecenter.org, including avalanche forecasts and educational courses. perspectiVe We’ve been living with too much rudeness CRISTA WORTHY Writers on the Range There’s a lot of disgruntlement if not downright hate these days in America. On Facebook, strangers snipe at each other. Old friends “un-friend” each other based on political preference. Talking heads trade insults on cable “news.” The angry acting out isn’t new: Four years ago New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told an interviewer on public radio “... hate has become the currency of this nation. We hate, therefore we are.” The facts bore him out: The FBI had just documented a 16-year peak in all types of hate crimes. Which brings me to some of the ways people use prejudice and personal attack as forms of identity, here in the West. In Idaho, where I’ve lived for over nine years, big diesel pickup trucks are a way of life — even for folks who live in Boise and probably don’t need them for hauling. Before the 2016 election, I began noticing more and more big pickups with full-sized American flags mounted in the rear cab. Soon after, many of those trucks had a full-sized Confederate flag mounted on the opposite side. I asked a man who works on diesel engines why he thought so many guys in big pickups were flying the Confederate flag, here in Idaho. After all, this was the West, not the South. “They’re just giving the finger to this (bleeping) politically correct government,” he said. If that were true, then American flags as protest to Obama should have stopped once Trump was elected. Instead, there were more flags than ever before the 2020 election. I’ve come to see the flag flying as a form of personal identity. I asked an African-American friend how the flags made him feel. “Intimidated and unwelcome,” was his reply. But they intimidate me, too, and I’m white. Others use their trucks as weapons of aggression. I drive a 15-year-old little red sporty Japanese car. Back when I lived in southern California, the sunroof was open almost every day. In Idaho, I still like to open my sunroof on nice days. Funny thing is, even though the air here is theoretically much cleaner than it is in Los Angeles, I nearly always end up having to close it. Perhaps because my little red car is definitely not an “Idaho car.” Lessons learned I am writing in response to Susan Aleva’s letter, “Answers needed,” in the Dec. 5-8 edition. The mayor made a mistake but not a malicious one. In his enthusiasm Park City demonstrated (maybe not 100%) a response to a serious social issue. My hope is that in our non-diverse community, dialogue was started about Black Lives Matter, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others. This took me back to my youth demonstrating against the Vietnam War and other injustices. Not all our protests were positive, but it started dialogues and brought issues to the forefront. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if every town in Germany during the 1930s wrote Jewish Lives When somebody in a big diesel pickup equipped with “rolling coal” sees me, he inevitably speeds up, passes me, and then steps on the brakes. As I near his tail, a giant cloud of toxic black diesel exhaust blows out, and if I haven’t already shut my sunroof, I’m going to be inhaling it. What drives his aggression and gives him pleasure about harming me? In 2017, Idaho State Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, introduced a bill to prohibit the practice of modifying diesel engines to increase the amount of soot and smoke belching from tailpipes. The bill failed to pass, but thanks to the Clean Air Act, rolling coal is already illegal. In Idaho, however, don’t expect much enforcement. Unless there’s a state law, most Idaho police won’t issue tickets for rolling-coal pollution violations. The bill would have made it a misdemeanor, but the state senate decided that public health was less important than the right of angry drivers in diesel trucks to blow smoke into our faces. I’ve also heard from bicycle riders who say they’re sitting ducks when trucks pass by while belching out black smoke, and that this is a particular problem on rural roads. It seems to me there was a time — not that long ago — when this would have been considered rude, if not downright dangerous. The people who spew hate on the Internet or peddle conspiracy theories on Facebook, who wave flags all over town, or who blow smoke in our faces, all say they are expressing the freedom to be themselves. They are proud to be “politically incorrect.” Last week at my local gym, a man strode angrily up to the front desk to complain about the rap music playing that day. “Turn off that (bleeping) music and put on some rock ‘n roll!” he insisted. The staffer at the front desk was Black. After a moment of deer-in-the-headlights shock, he quickly complied. You know what politically correct means? It means nothing more than good manners, and manners are sorely lacking these days. Crista Worthy is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. She writes about travel, aviation and wildlife from her home in Idaho. Matter in their streets? I hope Mayor Andy, the messenger, learned a lesson; but the bigger lesson of racial injustice is the message we all must digest and learn to move forward as a human race. Fred Rubinfeld Pinebrook Wear masks for others I was in the Saddleback lift line at the Canyons Village side of Park City Mountain Resort over the weekend. I am a healthy 60-something. There was a group of young adults, probably in their late teens or early 20s, behind me in line, several of whom had their masks down around their chins. I turned and asked them to please pull them up. Two of them looked at me like I had asked them eat something unpleasant, but they reluctantly pulled them up. As soon as I turned around to face forward, they pulled them back down. How can people not get it? That it’s not just about their own health, but also about the people around them? Are they OK with jeopardizing others because of the inconvenience of wearing a mask while in proximity to others? Please, Park City, make this small gesture. The sooner we all do, the sooner we won’t have to any longer. Larry Rose Pinebrook |