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Show Open Letter To SUWA From Garfield County's Commissioners We would like to respond to the letter sent by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) to the citizens of Garfield and Kane Counties on Oct. 2. Our first reaction to the letter was that we must be doing many things right to bring about an attack by our adversaries in the environmental community. Also it makes us wonder if SUWA has fallen on hard times to the point where they solicit membership from the very people peo-ple they have been trying to destroy. Surely Larry Young, Scott Groene, and the rest of SUWA members can't believe that the citizens of Garfield and Kane Counties would lick the hand that has stabbed them in the back so many times for so many years. . Let's just look at a few of the things that these new-found-wannabe-friends of ours (SUWA) have done for us (or to us). Citizens, think about these questions, then determine who is a friend or foe: Who stood side-by-side with a corrupt president on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and watched Garfield and Kane Counties and the whole nation being stabbed in the back to the tune of a 1.9-million-acre monument? monu-ment? SUWA! Who appealed i the timber sale on Cedar Mountain that could have prevented pre-vented the devastation we see there today? SUWA! Whose actions contributed to the closing of the sawmills of Garfield County, causing hundreds hun-dreds of lost jobs? SUWA! Who is still appealing every single proposed timber sale on our forest lands, including the salvaging of the dead timber caused by the beetle infestation? SUWA! Who is agitating for an additional addi-tional 9 million acres of wilderness wilder-ness in Utah (the BLM is also recommending 1.9 million acres) to further restrict our citizens citi-zens and take away our rights and freedoms? SUWA! Who wants to close county roads that cross public lands, prohibiting anyone from accessing access-ing millions of acres of our public pub-lic lands? SUWA! Who is advocating the draining drain-ing of Lake Powell which would result in a devastating loss to our economy? SUWA! Who is responsible for blocking block-ing the construction of the new Wide Hollow Reservoir dam that would greatly benefit the citizens of the Escalante Valley? SUWA! The list goes on an on, so we ask, "Is this the organization that said to you in their letter of Oct. (See LETTERS on page 4A) Letters To The Editor From Page 2A 2 that 'You may have more in common with SUWA than you think'?" We think not! Remember that SUWA was conceived in lies. Remember when they brought suit against the BLM and Garfield County almost 20 years ago to prevent the paving of the county-owned Burr Trail Highway (a suit they lost). They are still using the same tactics and lies today to assert control over our citizens. So, Mr. Young and Mr. Groene, don't expect to be flooded with applications for SUWA membership from the citizens of Garfield and Kane Counties, because we have been made aware many times of those who are friends and those who wish to destroy us. The citizens of Garfield County can- rest assured that your commissioners have your best interests in mind while serving you to the best of our ability. You can also be sure that we will oppose and continue to fight this war with SUWA and any other organization that has the goal of limiting our freedoms free-doms in any way. It should be noted that Garfield and Kane Counties are not standing alone anymore in this war with SUWA and other extreme environmental groups. Utah's 29 counties are working with the Utah Association of Counties, the Governor's office, the Office of the Attorney General and the U.S. Department of the Interior to bring a successful resolution to of the R.S. 2477 roads issue as well as the wilderness controversy. contro-versy. Could the progress being made on these issues be what has SUWA so concerned at this time? For answers to any questions you may have and to have the lies in SUWA's letter pointed out to you, feel free to call or visit any or all of your commissioners. commission-ers. Garfield County Commissioners Clare M. Ramsay Maloy Dodds Dell LeFevre |