RICH WEASELS AND THE RIVER CORRIDOR
I have followed the river corridor development controversy with a mixture of curiosity, frustration, and disgust. I waxed nostalgic about the solitude and peace of Rt. 128 in the last issue and applaud efforts by people in Castle Valley as well as here in town to get some kind of a plan in place before any development can proceed.
But just remember where you live: This is Utah. And as Owen Severance points out in his article on "The Morality of Grave Robbing" (page 22), Utah is different.
This is the same old dilemma we've been grappling with for a decade, and without resolution---community rights v. the rights of the individual. What is notable in these dwindling years of the Greed Decade is that there are a few individuals around here who have more money, and as a result more power, than the rest of the community combined.
The days when a normal middle-class citizen can go out there and buy a ranch because he or she actually wants to be a rancher are gone. Forever. We are now into the Rich Weasel Era. Only disgustingly rich people can afford to buy these choice properties along the Colorado River (or elsewhere in 1998). And all we can hope for is that they turn out to be Benevolent Rich Weasels instead of Just Plain Old Rich Weasels.
For most of us who are not rich at all, money is a means to an end. We make money so we can first pay for the things we need. And then we hope that there is enough left over to buy some stuff we simply want.
But if you are rich enough, money becomes an end unto itself. It no longer represents stuff. It can mean power and ego gratification and control.
Which is why we hope for the Benevolent Rich Weasel. I've always thought that the only difference between a Democrat/liberal Rich Weasel and a Republican/conservative Rich Weasel is that the Liberal Rich Weasel feels guilty about it. The liberal will live just as opulently as the conservative, but will give some of his money away to "worthy causes" so he can "feel better about himself."
So our only pathetic choice is to hope for benevolence. And it doesn't appear to be forthcoming.
There is one other factor to consider, however. There are not many Main Street merchants who like the government telling them what they can or cannot do with their properties, their businesses, or their lives. But has anyone in the Moab Chamber of Commerce considered what major commercial developments on Rt. 128 might do to their properties, businesses, and lives?
If overnight accommodations and restaurants and other tourist-related businesses are developed along the river, what is that going to do to the town of Moab? For many downtown businesses, this has been a rotten year. When motels rooms that went for $65/night last year are being sold for $38/night in the summer of 1998, what will more competition do to them?
Just something to think about.
BUT SOMEWHERE THERE'S A TOWN WITH GUTS...IT JUST AIN'T US.
While we all sit around and wring our hands over the impending changes in Grand County, one little Utah town is doing something. An article tucked away in the back pages of the Salt Lake Tribune caught my eye recently: "Bucolic Bluffdale Has Gone Ballistic Over Proposed 75-Acre Development."
The Bluffdale mayor and City Council are running for their collective (and some might argue worthless) lives after citizens angrily said "NO!" to a proposed 75 acre commercial and mixed housing development.
One City Councilman quit ("Health reasons."), another is about to, and the mayor has "gone fishing" after an angry crowd of more than 250 residents turned up at a meeting to voice their fury and opposition to the proposal.
Can you imagine 250 people showing up at any meeting in Moab? To the citizens of Bluffdale: even if you're tilting windmills, you're my new heroes.
A WORD ABOUT THE 'LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF MOAB' THAT FOLLOWS...
About a month ago, I received a letter from Ms. Rhea Cleaveland. I'd never met Rhea or even talked to her. But in one sense I felt I knew her. Rhea lives across the street from the home where John and Holly Dinsmore resided and was an eyewitness to John's fatal shooting by a Moab Police officer last November.
As I assembled and wrote the story about John's death in the June/July issue I read all the eyewitness accounts and was particularly impressed with Ms. Cleavelands's keen powers of observation. What I noted, in fact, was how often her testimony corroborated the eyewitness account of Deputy Steve Brownell. I depended on their recollections more than anyone else to re-create the chronology of that awful evening.
I did not ask Rhea Cleaveland to write a letter. In fact, after I read her powerful words, I called her for the first time, just to be certain the letter was for publication. I am grateful to Ms. Cleaveland for her courage and for her determination.
A LETTER TO THE ZEPHYR
& THE CITIZENS OF MOAB
THANKS TO BRUCE HUCKO: The cover photograph, as well as the photographs that appear on pages 15, 16, 20 and 21 are all the work of Bruce Hucko, a master with a camera. They are from A Gesture of Kinship, Bruce's B/W portfolio from his time on the Navajo Nation. For print sales or just conversation you can reach Bruce at: 259-4176 or write P.O. Box 201, Moab, UT 84532.