Celebrating Freedom in Rural Utah July 10, 2019

Epic Blanding 4th of July Celebration

Blanding Fireworks 2019  Some of the best in the West! 

Thanks Raini Chee

Short Version of Stan Bronson's Concert, July 4

Combat Veterans are Grand Marshals for 4th of July

>>News In the West <<

~~ 1984 Voting Boundary Decisions Compared to Gerrymandering of 2017

"in the November 1984 general election, voters approved the boundaries of the new voting districts. These voter-approved boundaries remained the same for nearly 30 years.

In the general election, 64 percent of voters approved the new voting districts, with 2,055 approving and 1,161 opposing.

~~July 2 Commission Meeting in Oljato

~~ Commissioner Maryboy Comments on July 2 Commission Meeting

~~ Moab Considers New Nightly Rental Policy

Opinions in Recent San Juan Record

~~ Government's $22 Trillion Debt, and Annual Gov. Shutdown, Makes Case for State Control of National Parks and Monuments

"The federal government, on the other hand, has no skin in the game when it comes to shutting down monuments and national parks thousands of miles from Capitol Hill. For the feds, it's all a political game in Washington, DC. What happens in the communities bordering federal lands — many of them rural — is but a mere afterthought to people like Nancy Pelosi. But at the local level, access to local tourist attractions could mean a restaurant's ability to pay its staff with income from tourists."

~~ Stop Relying on Tourism to Save Rural Communities

"No less than five new hotels are currently being built (in Moab). Tourists are pouring in like the end is near and Moab is the only safe place. The sewer system can barely keep up. And yet, Moab and the State of Utah continue to advertise the area throwing more than $2.3 million dollars into promoting the area each year.

Regardless of the fact that the land is suffering, that the roads cannot hold the amount of traffic, that the sewer system is being overwhelmed, growing tourism in Moab continues to be a top priority. In 2017 more than 46% of Moab’s job force labored in the tourism industry compared with the 11% of Utah’s total workforce."

~~ Administration Reining in EPA Union

~~ Families of Blanding Veterans Post Information on this Site

~~ America Has A Moral Obligation to Develop and Export Clean Nat'l Gas

~~ Utah's Cattle Herds are "Udderly" Astonishing: Cow Appreciation Day

~~Three Pillars of Good Navajo Communication

~~ Big Government is Not the Answer to Climate Change

~~ Does Supreme Court Decision Have Local Implications

"I recently reviewed the 1984 issues of the San Juan Record to better understand the issue. I walked away from the process with an increased appreciation for what happened in 1984. I also had a growing concern about what happened in San Juan County in 2017.

In 1984, the process to create the voting districts, at several key points along the way, was a public process. This is in marked contrast to the process to create the current voting districts." San Juan Record editor, Bill Boyle

~~ Roads in Ruin in Parts of Utah

"A transfer of ownership of some roads in San Juan County, Utah, from the county to the Navajo Nation has resulted in disappearing road signs, general confusion, and spreading potholes.

Around October 2018, Manuel Morgan, a former San Juan County commissioner, noticed that the county roads signs in his community between Ismay and Aneth were missing.

“One morning they were gone – everywhere,” he said. “No county road signs to help people find us. No one told us the county roads signs would be taken down.”  Four Corners Free Press

~~ Developers Redirect Water Resources Away From Agriculture in Colo.

~~Taxing Tourists is Popular, Taxing High Density Housing is Divisive

~~ Uranium Mining Ban and Russian Cash: Arizona Lawmakers at Odds

"trade tensions between the U.S. and a number of countries have heightened the need to assure adequate domestic supplies of minerals and metals.

Uranium, a crucial part of the nation’s energy supply as a fuel for power plants, is one of those minerals. Yet the country’s uranium production is near historic lows because of an international oversupply."

 Ten Years Since Infamous Blanding Raids of 2009  

~~ Emotions Run Hot After Artifact Raid in Blanding

~~ Federal Agents Bust Artifact Ring

~~ Artifact Raid Raises Questions Years Later

~~ BLM Used Excessive Force

~~ Artifact Sting in the Desert Goes Awry

~~ The Shameful, Archaeological Raids in the Four Corners

            (Be sure to read Jay Redd's Reply)

~~ Widow Sues Over Husband's Death

~~Artifacts, Suicides, and Struggle over Federal Lands

~~10th Circuit Court Clears Federal Agents In Doctor's Death 

________________

~~ Posted on Protect the Bears Ears:   

June 25 at 7:29 AM · 

I think you'll find this as upsetting.

So, I'm hiking through Wire Pass which is a beautiful slot canyon that leads to an opening that's so breathtaking and sacred. It's a huge natural amphitheater that the Native Americans held so sacred. It's a huge natural amphitheater that the Native Americans held so sacred. You can actually feel it. I just get to the amphitheater and sit for lunch and notice who's here, I see a nice couple with two dogs soaking in the beauty. Then, I see a woman and daughter (I'm only guessing mother and daughter). I see the daughter open the metal box which contains a brief history of this historic place how sacred it was to the Native Americans and about it being unlawful to deface this area. I then stopped paying attention but then something drew my eyes over to where the girl was. I look and think she's carving into the wall but I see her mother watching her so I think naw, but curiosity got to me so I took out my camera and zoomed in. I yelled 'hey' to her and she walked away. I told her mother about it, I said your daughter just destroyed Native American Sacred history. I said look, she never said a word to me and walked towards her daughter. I was thinking she was getting her to bring her over when they both took off! Then, I go back to where I was sitting and I see a man letting his kids use this sacred place as a jungle gym destroying artwork. If you look at the picture with the name she carved you'll see it's right in the middle of petroglyphs This was all within 15 minutes of being there. No stopping this. It's going to be all destroyed soon. If you want to see this, best do it soon. I'm happy I can share these wonders with those who can't get here.
Update, she was caught. Here is the link
https://www.facebook.com/120889757943366/posts/2519780228054295/?substory_index=0