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Show j We Need Both Sides Of The Story ' When our guest speakers came to Escalante High School and spoke to us, we came to realize the many different perspectives that i they had. j Being a small community, we tend to stereotype certain groups. For example, we seem to think that newcomers who are pro-monument must be environmentalists. We thought this was the case with Tom Mansell. However, after our discussion dis-cussion with him, we came find out "that he is totally for the new res-i res-i 'ervoir and for cattle grazing. He j ; admires Escalante for the way it is j land believes we should not change j 'our lifestyles. The' reason why he j likes the monument is very reason-j reason-j able it helps to bring him busi-j busi-j ness. j ! We need to know people before j we make accusations about them, i because they really aren't always S the same, and we need to see others' j views. If we did this, then maybe they will take a second thought on J their actions and how they could j affect our lifestyles. I When Barb Sharrow (the BLM assistant director) spoke to us, she ( talked about how wonderful it is i that they are discovering the Mexi-( Mexi-( can Spotted Owl around here. Yes, it is good in one way, but she never j really thought about the scare that is to us. Discovering new endang-j endang-j . ered species could have a very negative impact on our town as a whole, and even the surrounding areas. To us, it is jut another reason rea-son for the environmentalists to start to close off areas from ranching, ranch-ing, farming, or maybe even a new reservoir that has already fallen through once. Barb Sharrow stated that the BLM's position was not to take sides but to find a balance between the left and the right wing. However, she appeared to be unaware una-ware of the town's issues and seemed to be more interested in how the people affect the monument monu-ment than how the monument affects the people. After our discussion, discus-sion, we hope that she will be able to look at both sides of the issue, which should affect the decisions the BLM makes in the future. During our discussion with Barb Sharrow, she also stated that the ATV's on Hole-in-the-Rock Road were shut down at the request of the county commissioners due to safety reasons, and had nothing to do with the BLM. We would really appreciate appreci-ate it if a county commissioner would respond to this. One of the main issues we discussed was the Escalante Center that may be put in. We heard many different sides to this issue. It surprised us how many people in (See LETTERS on page 4-A) LETTERS From Page 3-A Escalante think of the Escalante Center as a conspiracy of some sort, but we can look at it from our view and see the positive side of it. We believe that it will be a great benefit for the students coming up in school. We will be having college teachers tea-chers come down and teach classes. This will give the students a major boost intellectually and could prepare pre-pare them for high-paying jobs. Our final and longest discussion was with Mr. Patrick Diehl. As we listened to him, our class was very surprised to find out how many types of environmentalists carry very different opinions on many issues. We tend to carry the thought that environmentalists are all for Clinton and anti-growth, but we came to find out from our discussion with Mr. Diehl that he is not pleased at all with Clinton, and he is not all anti-growth. Our main issue we discussed with Mr. Diehl was the new reservoir. We discovered some new reasons why Mr. Diehl worked so deliberately to overthrow the reservoir. res-ervoir. No, he did not like the idea in the first place, and protested against the reservoir to the BLM, but because of some vandalism against him that destroyed his property, we literally tossed the match onto a pile of gasoline-soaked gasoline-soaked wood, and what happened then? The flames of retribution instantly erupted. Patrick put in a lot of effort to overthrow the new reservoir, but who fed his fire? It was our cruelty and childish behavior that is partly responsible, and has deprived our town of what we stand in such critical need of the new reservoir. reser-voir. What if we had talked things over with Patrick like a person? We may not be able to change his way of thinking, but it sure beats adding fuel to the fire. You can disagree with all your might against what Mr. Diehl believes, but unless we start to have discussions with him like mature adults, we will just stay ignorant and gain nothing! Folks, you need to have both sides of the story to be smart enough to defend your side with a strong effect. Escalante High School Students Crystal Carter, Danielle Smith, Brandon Barney, Raymond Young, Cade Christensen, Rhett Butler,' Clayton Carter, Michael Porter, Shane Shakespear |