Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 6A Emery County Progress Castle Dale, Utah Tuesday January 15, 2013
COMMENTARY Letter to the President Concern over Greater Canyonlands monument proposal Mr. President, Emery County, Utah’s Public Lands Council opposes the designation of 1.4 million acres in Southeastern Utah as a Greater Canyonlands National Monument. In the letter addressed to your office in mid-November, the Outdoor Industry Association proposed such a designation and stated that it would pursue this course of action for the next four years. It appears to us that OIA’s desire to designate such a monument is simply doing the bidding of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. SUWA has the dubious honor of being known as the “uncompromising” wilderness advocacy organization that has tried for decades, and failed, to have millions of acres of federal land designated wilderness in Utah. The Greater Canyonlands designation is their latest strategy. There is a better way to address special land designation in Utah. The Washington County legislation, included in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which you signed into law on March 30, 2009, was the first step. The Emery County Public Land Management Act is the next step. Over the course of nearly four years, with collaboration from scores of organizations, agencies, and individuals, the PLC crafted a land use bill which maintains current resource use while designating a significant number of acres as wilderness and National Conservation Area. In our potential legislation approximately 466,000 acres of BLM Wilderness Study Areas which have been in limbo for three decades will be designated wilderness and managed for that quality. Additionally, ap-
proximately 18,600 acres of United States Forest Service Lands would be designated wilderness. These special designations would apply to 39 percent of the federal lands within Emery County, or 31 percent of the entire county. SUWA disengaged from our process when we refused to consider tripling the number of acres for wilderness designation. The potential Greater Canyonlands National Monument includes nearly 200,000 acres within Emery County. This area was inventoried and evaluated in the PLC’s process. We concluded that most of these acres should continue to be managed under the current BLM Price Field Office Resource Management Plan. We recommend that about 28,000 acres in this part of the county be designated as wilderness. In 2009, SUWA’s Red Rock Wilderness Act was granted a hearing before the House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Subcommittee where testimony after testimony pointed out those proposals by resource specific advocates didn’t seem to be the way to address special designation of federal land in the west. The more inclusive, grass roots, multiple resource oriented strategy of the Washington County bill had indeed produced reasonable designation. The Greater Canyonlands designation is an old, failed strategy given a new name. We urge you to not support, or engage in this designation. Respectfully, Gary Petty, Vice Chair, Emery County Public Lands Council Members of the public lands council also signed the letter.
Letters to the Editor Thanks to recess monitor the “fiscal cliff” I grew more and Editor: I would like to publicly thank Gene Austin Snow, or Mr. Snow as the kids call him for the service he has provided to our school Cottonwood Elementary. Mr. Snow has been a recess monitor on the playground for many years. It does not matter if it is rain or shine, snow or sleet Mr. Snow is always there to keep an eye out for our kids. In this day and age it is a great comfort to know that another pair of eyes is on the lookout and that there is another pair of helping hands ready and willing to help the kids whenever called upon. It seems like Gene always has a kind word or a piece of candy ready when the occasion calls and I know that many of our kids have been helped by him. Due to some very unfortunate circumstances precipitated by certain individuals the district has decided Mr. Snow will no longer be needed. Considering the pittance Mr. Snow received for his exemplary service I find it hard to believe the district cannot continue to support his position. Jared Young Orangeville
Social Security is not an entitlement program
Editor: As I followed the overly melodramatic debate in congress over
Making Resolutions you can live with By: Leanne Ely It’s that time of year again. The new year. A time to reflect on the year we’re leaving behind and make promises to ourselves about how we may live better for the next 12 months. If, when the clock struck twelve on Monday night, you made some resolutions that involved living a healthier life in 2013, I want to make sure that you start out nice and slow so that you don’t get all overwhelmed, with your good intentions discarded by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around. When you resolve to live healthier and you’re starting out with a lifestyle that has lots of room for cleaning up, there are tons of tiny changes you can implement that will add up to greater health for you by this time next year. If you know me at all, you know I’m about keeping things simple. So that’s where we’ll start. The following are five simple things you can start doing today that will make you
more disturbed with the attempts by the liberal-left to place at least part of the responsibility for our growing national deficit on the elderly by lumping social security and Medicare in with the parasitic “entitlement” programs that societal freeloaders depend on. While it is true that a great proportion, and by some measures the greatest proportion, of our financial problems are caused by there being more people riding in the wagon of our society than there are pulling that wagon, the elderly are not the freeloaders riding in the wagon they are the builders of the road that the wagon is riding on who are now taking a well earned rest. We need to fix one reality in our minds and, in the strongest terms possible, make our elected representatives aware of our understanding of that reality . . . social security and its related programs are not “entitlement programs” in the sense the liberal-left, socialist, and progressives use that term; they are obligations of the federal government. Social Security and its adjunct programs are an annuity program that employees and employers were forced, by force of law, to participate in without the option to opt out. It is in a sense a contract that the federal government made with every working American that if they contributed to this annuity over their working lives at some fixed point in time, “retirement”, the annuity would
and your family healthier: 1. Get friendly with vegetables. You don’t like leafy green and/or dark colored vegetables? Too bad. You have to eat them anyway. Vegetables are key in weight management and we need them to make ourselves healthy and to get in all of those nutrients and minerals that are essential for our bodies. If you think that peas and carrots are enough, you are sadly mistaken. Sure they count as veggies, but we need a diet varied in fruits and vegetables in order to get what we need out of the foods we eat. The next time you go to the grocery store, shop the rainbow. Buy purple cabbage, dark green spinach or kale instead of regular green cabbage and iceberg lettuce. Fill your cart with sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes. Try a new vegetable every time you go to the grocery store and do some research on Google to figure out the best way to cook it. Vegetables are not only full of nutrients that fight disease, but they aid in your digestion process (can you say fiber?), they fill you up without loading you up with calories, and they just make you feel good!
Sport’s stuff by Gary Arrington By GARY ARRINGTON
Flipping through the channels to find something worth watching brought me to ESPN and something called the Grumman Military Bowl. I watched for a minute or two. One team was San Jose State and the other was BGSU, whoever that is. And the game was being played where; I don't know cause I never hung around long enough to find out. The Grumman Military Bowl? Why? Whose brainstorm was this and why? Do we really need a bowl game by this name? And where were the fans, the stadium was practically empty. If bowl games were designed to reward schools for having a good year and to provide extra income, I would think the only way to accomplish this would be to have fans in the seats. Evidently neither the local fans nor the fans from the hometown of the schools playing wanted to travel to this game. And that is the problem with college football today; games being played before nobody in places nobody wants to go to. Utah State just won the Famous
Idaho Potato bowl and my thought is, who cares outside of Logan. Nobody. And do we really need a bowl named the Famous Idaho Potato bowl. I think not and I am from Idaho and Boise is a nice city but it is cold this time of year in Idaho. I grew up watching bowl games in locations like Miami, New Orleans, Dallas and Pasadena. These are locations that are warm and exotic and romantic. Now we have bowl games in places like Boise and Albuquerque and such and these places are not hot vacation destinations, actually they are rather cold and not exactly where I would go to watch a game. So what can be done about the charade that is posing as postseason for college football? We really don't need all these games with all the weird names. What we really need is a solution. The smartest people in the world work at these schools, or at least that is what they tell us, so why can't they solve the problem. The problem is football rules college sports and changes are being made so that schools will have their
proper reward. Solve t h e probl e m , have a playoff. Scrap t h e bowl games that nobody watches and nobody travels to and have a playoff. Let all schools in, split the money equally and have a true playoff system to where all have equal opportunity. It is simple. Form football conferences and let the other sports do whatever they want to, leave them out of the football thing. Let football winners matter, fans will go if the games matter and right now most do not. With a playoff, they will matter and fans will be everywhere. Unfortunately this will never happen, it is too simple. The haves will not give up their kingdom and let the have-nots in. That is too bad because the answer is simple.
Letters to the Editor Apology for misunderstanding
Dear Editor, I am a bit late in extending an apology for a misunderstanding between myself and a few people. I already spoke with them about this, and duly apologized. The issue was when I did my last Letter to the Editor I thought the editor left out part of my letter, when in fact I forgot to add it. My error. When I complained about the pricing in the area, I failed to note it was the fuel prices. I have said this time and time again- it’s pretty bad when I can get gasoline in Moab during tourist season cheaper than I can in Green River. Transportation isn’t the factor, you
have an Interstate Highway going right through town. If it wasn’t for the Free Market system America is known for I’d call it theft. That’s the pricing issue I had. I had even apologized in advance to one person I learned might feel targeted. Well, he still felt that way and said so even though I told him he wasn’t. A couple more businesses also turned me away for that same reason. Does that bother me? No. I never had a problem with them and the pricing issue. I guess they feel guilty for some reason. Hmmm. As for employment, a few people
pay them, amongst other things, a sum certain (adjusted for the cost of living) for the rest of their lives. In view of our current national economic situation, the number of “free loaders” in our society, and the longevity of retirees this may now have proven to be a bad deal on the part of the government but that is not the problem nor fault of the holders of this annuity and does not give the government authority to unilaterally change the terms and condition of the contract with those already fully vested. Congress and the President have an obligation to resolve our present financial crisis but it needs to be made clear to them that they must disengage social security from any association with and discussion of “entitlement” programs and that social security is truly the “third rail” of politics and that any politician that attempts to paint those who have spent their lives as, and continue to be, productive members of society with the same brush as the parasitic sponges whose votes they buy with “entitlements” does so at the risk of his/her political life. If the means to support the government’s obligation to this social security annuity needs to be uncovered then it may be time to increase the numbers of those pulling the wagon by reducing the number of freeloaders riding in it, time to stop paying tribute masked as “foreign aid” and time to reduce the size
of government using the savings incurred as that means while simultaneously adjusting the annuity contract for new participants in a manner to make it self sustaining. Does society have a responsibility to help those that have fallen on hard times? Of course it does, but that help should always be a “hand up” and not a “hand out”. The policies and programs of the socialist, the liberal-left, and the progressives in our government and society have raised generations born into “economic slavery”. Generations willingly accepting gold-plated chains and manacles and who are made to feel “entitled” to be supported by the state at an economic level that in previous generations was achieved through the industry of the individual but which in these generations is considered just compensation for their votes; “The more you give us, the more you can be assured to be elected or re-elected,” government by quid pro quo. If it is truly the intent of these new, cynical economic slave masters disguised as champions of the poor and middle classes to help those in our society struggling economically they would not be encouraging dependency on the state, class envy or employing class warfare; they would not seek to make the impoverished comfortable in their poverty but would be motivating the struggling to improve their status; they would be
re-instilling in society the principle that no one is entitled to anything save the opportunity to succeed or fail based on one’s own industry and that success and the fruits of that success are not negatives but are things to strive for. Members of the Judiciary, some members of the Legislature, and (most assuredly) the Executive branch of our government have either forgotten or are consciously ignoring, as they have the constitution, the proper relationship between governors and the governed in a representative republic and the governed have tacitly accepted this violation of this basic social contract. The proper relationship is that those that govern are not the masters they are the servants, they do not dictate to but are answerable to the people that they govern, they do not grant and rescind rights but are tasked to protect them, and their function is not to foster idleness and dependency but to facilitate industry and independence. It is time for the governed, especially those that are most productive, to reassert their proper position in this relationship and demand that the annuity they are vested in remains inviolate. Failure to do so will quickly result in conversion of those chains of plated gold to ones forged of iron. Lou Sansevero Ferron
Train yourself and your children to like vegetables. It’s the best thing you can do for your family’s health. 2. Add one new healthy food to your diet each month. Hearing about all the health benefits of coconut oil lately? Resolve to incorporate it into your diet this month. Next month, perhaps you’ll want to give salmon a good honest try. Start eating flax in March. Swap sugar for honey in April. You see where I’m going with this. Slowly start incorporating super foods into your diet and by this time next year, you’ll be laughing. Also, vowing to add one new food per month is less overwhelming than trying to do it all at once it’s all about baby steps! Every Friday, I feature a different healthy food here on the blog. Search through the archives and keep your eyes peeled for lots and lots (and lots!) of ideas. 3. Drink more water. This one is key. I believe that if we all ate six or seven servings of vegetables a day and drank our daily recommended amount of good old fashioned H20, we would be a much healthier (and leaner) nation. If you’re not a water
lover, too bad. You have to drink it anyway. How do you figure out how much water you need to be healthy? There are calculators all over the Internet that will help you determine your hydration needs based on your weight and activity levels, so do a simple search and you should soon know your optimal water intake. One important piece of advice is to pace yourself. Don’t drink all of your water in the morning or before bed. Spread it out over the day and just drink drink drink! Water is the ideal beverage for all of us. Swap out the juices and sodas for this simple thirst quencher. 4. Cut out packaged foods. Stop buying processed foods and resolve to cook all meals for your family from scratch. This will likely be the one item on this list that makes the most folk cringe, but it is an important one. I wish that everyone could experience the joy that comes with putting a nutritious, homemade meal on the dinner table every day. Start by not buying anymore of those “helper” meal kits from the dry food aisle as well as the frozen meals from
the freezer sections of the grocery store. These are highly processed foods, chock full of GMOS, chemicals, sodium and other ingredients that nobody without a science degree can pronounce. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store and make meals from the vegetables and meats that you buy. 5. Stop baking. Have a weakness for cookies? Quit baking them. Have a tendency to sit down to a couple of muffins every time you bake a batch? How about not baking them anymore? I see these recipes all over the place for healthy muffins, paleo-friendly cookies, gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free desserts, and I have to ask myself . . . why? Our diets should be based on high quality vegetables, lean meats, poultry and fish. Do you really need another muffin? Snack on nuts, fruit, eggs, raw vegetables and berries. There you have it. Follow these five little nuggets of information and by the time 2014 rolls around, you’ll be feeling amazingly healthy and resolving to never go back to that old lifestyle ever again!
hounded me for a week or so wanting to know who I had sought employment with and was turned away. I failed to mention that this is a problem I found in Grand, Emery, Carbon and Sevier counties. I won’t say who it was. They know and I know. As for the local businesses, unless I have already confronted you on an issue, you’re not targeted. I have no reason to blindside someone. If you felt targeted anyhow, perhaps you should reflect on why you feel that way. But that’s OK. It’s never too late to repent. Carl Kem Columbia