October Tricks / Treats ~~ Bear Essentials Oct. 24, 2019

Life in the Rural West

~~Possible Fallout from the "BIG Little Question" on Nov. Ballot

By Bill Keshlear

"However, any eventual change brought about in good faith across party lines could foster a sense of electoral fairness among all county residents – a crucial ingredient in bridging San Juan's monumental divide and successful governance. Democratic Party intransigence, real or perceived, could widen the divide even further than it already is."

"It's a countywide vote, and countywide votes don't go well for liberals in San Juan. The county remains deeply anti-monument and deeply conservative, even with a slight majority of Navajo residents (Here's an under-reported factoid: Navajos can be, and are, conservative and Mormon).

• Not one pro-Bears Ears National Monument candidate came even close to winning a majority of county votes in any race conducted across San Juan in November. For example, county voters handed pro-monument congressional candidate James Singer, a Navajo, a landslide loss. Same with Jenny Wilson versus Mitt Romney for U.S. Senate. Democrats didn't even field a candidate against Phil Lyman, the former county commissioner, in his bid for the Utah Legislature.
• Former commissioner Rebecca Benally, an anti-monument Navajo, lost a squeaker of a primary race last year to Kenneth Maryboy despite winning her district’s two Navajo majority precincts. Liberal voters in and around Bluff put him over the top.
• Tally up the total number of votes countywide that put Grayeyes and Maryboy on the commission. Those two pro-monument candidates got 2,022 votes; Kelly Laws and Bruce Adams got 2,354 (2,957 if you count the write-ins against Maryboy).
• The Aneth Chapter, the largest of the Utah Navajo chapters and the only one wholly within the state’s border, voted against monument designation. It also is closest to Bears Ears."

~~ The Real Question that Needs to be Asked in Presidential Debates:  What about the National Debt?

~~ Socialism has Failed in Every Country Where it's Been Tried

~~ Information ad In Navajo on KNDN  - Information on SJC Gov Study 

~~ County Citizens to Vote on Study Concerning Form of Government

~~ Whistle Blower Reinstated in Nevada Grazing Dispute

~~ Utah's Unemployment Rate Continues to Improve

~~ Judge Rules that Lyman Does Not Have to Increase Restitution Payments

"misdemeanor charge for illegal use of ATVs and conspiracy for organizing a 2014 protest ride through a canyon."

~~ People of All Faiths Invited to Show up for Sabbatt to Show Unity Against Hate 

~~BLM Speeds OIl And Gas Leasing Despite Concerns 

~~ ACLU Claims Navajos Aren't Informed Regarding Ballot Issue

    Ryan Benally disagrees with article: "The county was at every chapter meeting...With TWO Navajo liaisons describing the election. Back in SEPTEMBER...."  

~~ County Officials Considering Tax Increase  San Juan Record

"Despite the fact that San Juan County is already the highest-taxed county in the state by percentage, a property tax increase of 22.9 percent is being considered by three separate entities associated with San Juan County."

~~ Liberals of America Want Public Lands Protected Via More Monuments

                           This is what happened instead: Graffiti at Moki Dugway 

~~ Where are Funds Coming From to pay for False Publicity like this?

~~ How to Handle Overcrowding In National Parks

~~  Moab City Officials Disagree with NPS, Hope to keep ATV's out of Arches

"A recent order by Acting Regional Director of the National Park Service, Palmer “Chip” Jenkins, to allow off-highway vehicles such as ATVs and UTVs into Utah’s national parks is positioned to possibly stall out when it is scheduled to go into effect Nov. 1."

~~ Moab Sun Times Writer, B. Blosser,  Disagrees with ATV's in Nat'l Parks

~~ Public Land Workers Face Assaults and Threats/ Montana

~~ Studies on Arches Traffic May Last through 2020

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~~ Discussions / Decisions from Oct. 15  SJ Commission Meeting

 SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING ADMINISTRATION BUILDING - COMMISSION ROOM AGENDA
                                                      October 15, 2019

  9:00 A.M. Work Meeting

1. Public Hearing - Mexican Hat Special Service District
a. Public Hearing to receive input from the public with respect to the issuance of the Water Revenue Bonds for the Mexican Hat Special Service District and the potential economic impact that the improvement, facility, or property for which the Bonds will pay all or part of the cost will have on the private sector.
2. Economic Development & Tourism Update Regarding Economic Diversification Summit & Tourism Tour - Natalie Randall, San Juan County Economic Development & Visitor Services Director
3. School District Briefing on SITLA and what it does for the School District - Kyle Hosler, San Juan School District
4. Road Department Procurement Request for Spreader - Ben Musselman, San Juan County Public Works Director
5. Jared Kropf Property Reassessment - Greg Adams, San Juan County Assessor
6. Lisbon Valley Mine Property Tax Pay Off Proposal - Greg Adams, San Juan County Assessor
7. Briefing on Potential Property Tax Increases - John David Nielson, San Juan County Clerk
8. Discussion of At Your Leisure State Parks 360 Trail Mapping Project - Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
9. Proposed Manti-La Sal National Forest Plan Revision - Nick Sandberg, San Juan County Planning
10. Discussion of Utah Back Country Pilots Association Request - Nick Sandberg, San Juan County Planning
11. Public lands updates - Nick Sandberg, San Juan County Planning
12. Updates - Jerry McNeely, San Juan County Liaison

11:00 A.M. Commission Meeting

1. Approval of minutes - August 6, 2019
2. Citizens' comments to the commission* (Please complete the request form - available at the door)
3. Recognition - Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
4. Approval of Jared Kropf Property Reassessment - Greg Adams, San Juan County Assessor
5. Approval of Lisbon Valley Mine Property Tax Pay Off Proposal - Greg Adams, San Juan County Assessor
6. Approval of Grant Application for County Road B127 La Sal Regarding Utah Federal Lands Access Program - Ben Musselman, San Juan County Public Works Director
7. Approval of Road Department Procurement Request for Spreader - Ben Musselman, San Juan County Public Works Director
8. Approval of proposed Manti-La Sal National Forest Plan Revisions - Nick Sandberg, San Juan County Planning
9. Ratify Approval of an Independent Contractor Agreement with Ricky Richardson for IT Repairs - John Fellmeth, San Juan County IT Director
10. Ratify Approval of the annual All Weather Inc. agreement for Aviation Support and Maintenance of Cal Black Memorial Airport - Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
11. Ratify Approval of a Google Street View 360 Mapping Agreement - Mack McDonald, San Juan County Administrator
12. Ratify Approval of Notice to Residents Regarding Potential Property Tax Changes - John David Nielson, San Juan County Clerk
13. Consideration and Adoption of A RESOLUTION APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING SAN JUAN COUNTY TO PROVIDE FISCAL AGENT SERVICES FOR THE OLJATO CHAPTER DROUGHT ASSISTANCE GRANT
14. Consideration and Adoption of A RESOLUTION APPROVING AND UPDATING THE REMAINING REGULARLY SCHEDULED COUNTY MEETINGS AND MEETING LOCATIONS FOR THE 2019 ANNUAL MEETING SCHEDULE PURSUANT TO SECTION 52-4-202 OF THE UTAH CODE.

~~ 

News in the West; Bad, Better, and Best ~~Bear Essentials 2/27/2019

News in the West: 

Bluff Town Hall Meeting with John Curtis March 21

Recording of 2/19 SJC Commission Meeting  (start at 57:53) 

George Washington's Farewell Speech: Prophetic Advice

$22 Trillion Debt and both Parties say "Spend More" 

Utah Ranked #1 in "Social Capital" 

"Variables for ranking: family unity, family interaction, social support, community health, institutional health, collective efficacy, and philanthropic health"

Environmentalists Call on Herbert to Veto Bill Related to Spent Uranium

Current Government Policies would Rather Burn Forests than Log Trees

"Federal wildfire statistics show the average number of acres burned 

every year since 2000 is double what it was the preceding four decades."

Zinke Accepts Post with Lobbying Firm

Moab Council Votes for Moratorium on More Building

~~ A Good Site to Follow: Balanced Resources

~~ Winter Storms Help Against Four Corners Drought

~~ Senator Mike Lee Opposes Natural Resources Management Act

1. It fails to reform federal land acquisition programs and adding new restrictions to how Americans are allowed to use land already under federal control. 
2. 25 percent of all Land and Water Conservation Funds have been given to states while 61 percent of the funds have been spent on federal land acquisition
3. LWCF keeps on buying new federal lands without securing any method for maintaining the land they already own. According to a 2017 Congressional Research Service report, the maintenance backlog on federal land is up to $18.6 billion
4. The bill creates another 1.3 million acres of wilderness in the West — half of it in Utah

~~  2019 AUM Grazing Fees Lowered

~~Commissioner Adams Asks State for Litigation Help

~~Signs that Republican Tax Cuts are Working

~~Aztec Commission Passes Resolution Against UnConstitutional Gun Control

 ~~ Rural Lands Bill "Reflects Utah Priorities, Op ed Mitt Romney, 

 ~~ Land Grabbing Avalanche of Bills Will Harm Rural Economies

~~ SL Trib: San Juan Should Build a Wall Around Itself

~~ N. Arizona Faces 1.7 M. Acre Environmental Land Grab 

In defense of mining: "Uranium and depleted uranium are critical to the U.S. military and our national security. The U.S. military uses depleted uranium in armor plating for tanks, Phalanx gun systems, armor-piercing munitions and cruise missiles, naval propulsion reactors, as well as A-10s, Harriers and other military and civilian aircraft. The U.S. Navy cannot maintain its global presence nor maintain its nuclear deterrent against countries like Russia without uranium. 

In 1986, the United states produced 100% of the uranium ore used in U.S. domestic nuclear reactors.  Today in 2018, 3% is produced domestically with virtually all of the remaining fuel for domestic reactors produced in Kazakhstan, under heavy Russian influence.  The U.S. desperately needs domestic uranium given this high 97% import penetration into domestic market. The U.S. Navy is fit-to-be-tied over the prospect of being dependent on Putin for uranium. The situation is untenable.

Americas’ 98 nuclear power plants provide clean energy while generating electricity for one of every five U. S. homes and businesses. Nuclear energy has unmatched reliability in the U. S. electrical system.  In 2014, as has been the case every year for the past decade, the nuclear industry’s average capacity fact (a measure of efficiency) was an electric sector leading 91.7 percent."

~~ State House of Rep. Gridlocks over County Government Bill

~~National Debt Spiraling Out of Control $22 Trillion!

~~Massive Land Bill Has Hits and Misses for Ranchers

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Submitting Letters to Salt Lake Tribune