From Deseret News archives:
Let voters decide future of lands
I understand why congressional action is required. Uncle Sam is a major landlord in southern Utah. But as a resident of Washington County, I'm disappointed that I didn't hear about the proposal before it made its way to Washington, D.C.
At first I was disappointed in myself. But then I took a look at the process that produced the bill. Alan Gardner, a Washington County commissioner, described it in a recent editorial:
"The original committee of 20 represented a broad spectrum of interest groups and stakeholders. The county was divided into geographic areas, and open public meetings were advertised and held to discuss each area in detail."
I believe that Sen. Bennett and Rep. Matheson hoped to include as many residents as possible in the process. But how many do you think actually participated? Was it a few hundred or a few thousand? I don't know, but I'm willing to bet it was a very small sampling of the 130,000 residents of the county.
Is that lazy? Is it wrong? Maybe, but that's the way it is.
Commissions and public hearings are inadequate for an issue of this magnitude. The quality of life of every resident of Washington County is at stake and the voice of every resident should be heard.
So, let's put the proposal to a countywide vote.
We should also unwind the unwieldy conglomeration of proposals in the current bill. It's a typical political ploy. Some of the proposals have no chance of passing unless they are attached to other proposals in the bill that are very popular. We should require that each component stand on its own merits.
For example, the two primary proposals might look something like this:
Comments
- Is glucosamine good for pain? 11:45 a.m.
- Old teapot has little value 11:43 a.m.
- Emerging from mental illness 11:41 a.m.
- Energy efficiency grants available 11:38 a.m.
- Party primped in under 10 minutes 11:37 a.m.
- State launches volunteer Web site 11:34 a.m.
- Two faucets better than one 11:31 a.m.
- White House ornament salutes past 11:28 a.m.
- Students, militia clash for 2nd day 11:27 a.m.
- IOC mulls cycling, tennis changes 11:24 a.m.
- Witness: Mitchell stalked victims
- BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
- Williams' late jumper tops Spurs
- Yet again, we learn BCS is a big joke
- $2M error could mean layoffs
- Cougars in better mood about bowl
- Storm pounds Utah for 2nd day
- Ranking the bowl games
- BYU eager for crack at Oregon State
- TCU's BCS game missing something
- Y. profs: Beck not all-knowing
268 - TCU to play Boise in Fiesta Bowl
203 - Letters: Global warming a lie
182 - Cougars going back to Vegas
147 - Utah/BYU rivalry can be more civil
138 - George lost in rivalry hatefest
119 - BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
113 - Ed Smart 'appalled' at testimony
100 - Harpring's NBA career is over
98 - Utahns want health care reform bills
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