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Letters to the Editor, July 6-8, 2011

Swaner Preserve, fireworks don't mix

Editor:

While I was unable to even search for the culprits, fireworks were being tossed into the Swaner Preserve over the past two evenings. What part of "preserve" don’t these people understand? It’s a preserve until we blow up some birds and bugs?

I’m tired of Park City Entitlement, that I can do anything I want because Daddy will pay for it. Taking that theory through life will only lead to another trust-fund baby having his/her own. If values were not instilled in the beginning, they cannot be passed on. We can do better.

The cranes on the preserve show us that we can be married, have kids, protect them from harm, show them how to fly and fly away. Then come back next year. This should be a science-class requirement. To have kids throw fireworks into that preserve harms so much of what we need to teach.

Dee Carpenter

Park City

An example of Park City civility?

Editor:

We live in South Shore on Little Lake Drive. Our 13 year-old granddaughter is visiting us from Phoenix for a couple of weeks for the very first time by herself. Last night, a neighbor across the lake from us launched some illegal fireworks from a boat in the lake. A neighbor on our side of the lake came out and began yelling threats and obscenities across the lake at the perpetrator, and a contest for the most disgusting insults ensued. The language was equal to anything I heard in Marine Corps boot camp many years ago. This went on for at least 30 minutes until a sheriff arrived to put a stop to it.

During that time, another neighbor came out and joined in the shouting match, so we were pretty much triangulated by an unbelievable display of some of the crudest behavior I’ve ever seen or heard in what we thought was a pretty decent neighborhood. Placing blame solely on the fireworks perpetrator is wrong because the offended neighbor could and should have voiced his complaint once or twice and then called the sheriff and stayed inside. In my opinion, it takes two (or more in this case) to cause what happened last night, and all parties were equally at fault.

I am totally disgusted by the behaviors I heard and saw last night, and they make me seriously re-think whether this neighborhood is a place where I can feel good about bringing my grandchildren for a visit. I now will be embarrassed to have to explain all of this to my daughter who entrusted one of her children to us for a vacation this summer. It will certainly be a memorable one, and I will not be surprised if my daughter chooses not to allow it again.

Phil Carter

Park City

Join partnership to save Round Valley

Editor:

The Park City community can stand up and cheer another achievement for open space. The Summit County Council approved spending $300,000 of the Basin’s new open-space bond to help purchase the conservation easement on the Osguthorpe Farm in Round Valley.

Like so many other open lands around town, the farm in Round Valley, with its irrigated fields and undeveloped rangeland, appeared to be protected open space. In fact, it wasn’t. Developers were eying this flat land that had 150 water hookups and connections to Highway 248 and Fairway Hills.

Fortunately for all of us who love the trails, the wildlife and the peace of Round Valley, the Osguthorpe family made a different choice. They agreed to sell a conservation easement on the property to Park City and the Summit Land Conservancy, permanently removing all threat of development on this land. The City paid the bulk of the money a year ago and the Conservancy has been working to find partners to fund the last $1,000,000.

Now the County has joined with the City and the Conservancy with this $300,000 contribution. Members of BOSAC and the Basin Recreation Advisory Board forwarded a positive recommendation to the County Council about this project. Here’s why. The Osguthorpe farm combines almost every conservation value. Preserving this property:

  • Protects the scenic entry into Park City along Highway 248
  • Protects important wildlife habitat and migration corridors
  • Enhances the community’s investment in the Round Valley open space by expanding winter and summer trails
  • Keeps local agriculture active and productive in Park City

    Perhaps most importantly, this $300,000 will be leveraged against other funds almost 20 to one.

    This funding represents another great example of the powerful partnership that can occur when we all work together for open space. But the transaction isn’t finished. Thanks to support from individuals and foundations, the Conservancy has now raised about half of the $1,000,000 needed. We must raise the rest by next February and we need the community’s help.

    If you love Round Valley, if you love the moose and elk that roam under the Gambel oak, if you love the trails and the open undisturbed views, please join the partnership to save Round Valley. Contact the Summit Land Conservancy and be a hero for open space.

    Thank you,

    Cheryl Fox

    Executive director, Summit Land Conservancy

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