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Show EDITORIAL An article published recently in "Utah Holiday", a Salt Lake based entertainment magazine, has caused considerable stir in Park City this week. Euphcmistacally titled "Blowing Snow in Park City", the story by Richard Barnum-Reece deals with ;people who buy, sell and use cocaine in our city. (The term "blowing snow" is the vernacular for inhaling cocaine through the nose, the most popular method of using the drug.) In his article, Barnum-Reece spins an intriguing , tale o! ruthless dope dealers competing for high stakes against the backdrop of a glamorous, affluent resort community. Beautiful women are used unconscionably by their "boyfriends" to carry cocaine across state lines, a local ma 1 known to have associated with the drug, is missing ani presumed dead by the Park City Police Department and the bodies of two young women alleged by Barnum-Reece to have been connected with cocaine and Park City turn up in i ravine near the Colorado border. Meanwhile, back in Park City cocaine is being used with reckless abandon in bars anil clubs on Main Street. Detective Lloyd Evans is quoted substantially in the article and contends he was represented with relative "fairness". Evans maintains the PCPD knew nothing of the deaths of the two girls, Jan Gentile and Mary Murdoch, prior to the publication of "Blowing Snow in Park City" but admits there nas been a missing person report on urexei Jones on tile at his office for almost a year. Evans says the drug problem in Park City is probably "much larger than most people imagine" but confesses his department does not have the resources or manpower to adequately tackle the situation. The Record does not attempt to pass judgement on the truthfulness of the article in total. It appears in parts to be startlingly accurate. One paragraph we know however to be untrue. That paragraph alleges the Park Record editorial staff "boosted" the benefit held in December 1976 to raise money for Corky Foster who was then in a Mexican prison charged with cocaine smuggling. No one at the Record was in any way connected with the benefit. We refused to carry advertising for the benefit and gave it no advance publicity whatsoever! No one on the Record staff attended the benefit and no mention was made of the affair after the fact save for an editorial indicating we could not support Foster's cause because we felt laws prohibiting drug smuggling were viable and beneficial. "Blowing Snow in Park City" gives the outside reader the impression our community is inhabited by hardened criminals who are motivated only by greed and the prospect of "snort" of dope. Like other negative articles about Park City, there is no mention of the hard working honest people who are dedicated to the betterment of the community and its citizens. We question Barnum-Reece's motives in writing the story but admit if it in any way deters the drug trade in Park City it will prove in the long run worthwhile. As long as drugs continue to be used and sold on a large scale in our community we are open to future articles which will similarly damage the reputations of honest people. |