Samuraiman
Sand Pile
- Location
- St George Utah
Here is an attached article from the spectrum. I have heard that the author has received nothing but hate mail. Please contact her and tell her that her views are appreciated. Also her managing editors contact is below. I have heard another writer for the spectrum wants to debate her. Isn't it ironic today's front page was an associated press article about illegal dumping on public lands in Skull Valley. Her article was buried in the back of the paper Thanks Casey
Cedar City Daily News Bureau Chief Jennifer Weaver at 865-4526 or e-mail jeweaver@thespectrum.com
St George Editing manager Tod Seifert tseifert@thespectrum.com main switch board 674-6200
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912260303
If a New Yorker moseyed onto my property claiming its beauty should be beholden to the public and, therefore, be designated as protected wilderness, I would commence yelling, "Get off my lawn!"
That's exactly what Utahns should be doing with the American Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009. Yet, there is mostly silence from the public. Seriously, have we forgotten the 1.9 million acre land grab by President Bill Clinton with the national monument designation of the Kaiparowits Plateaus in 1996? That's chump change compared to the 9.4 million acres the act is seeking. That's one-sixth of the state designated to wilderness, primarily in southeast Utah on the Colorado Eastern Plateau.
That translates into the closure of the lands to any mechanized access, including bicycles. It also ceases any opportunity to explore the rich mineral and natural resources to generate energy from that area for local and national use. It also stifles economic development in rural Utah.
Alas, the legislation has 21 sponsors in the Senate and 138 sponsors in the House. The act was created in 1989 by the late Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Salt Lake City, who introduced the 5.7 million-acre Citizens' Proposal bill. It has been pushed by Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York since 1992. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois joined Hinchey in 1997.
For the first time in two decades, the bill has made its way before the House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.
Members of various special interest groups linked to the bill - such as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Grand Canyon Trust - have been thrust into the limelight because of allegations of conspiracy and securities fraud. This should concern every Utahn because it is these groups' dollars pushing for passage of the bill, and I don't think any legislation should be bought and paid for the way this act appears to be.
Case in point from several published accounts and online reports accessible to the public:
Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who owns the Wyss Foundation, helps fund SUWA - $574,171 between 1988 and 2000. Wyss is a SUWA trustee and former SUWA chairman and Grand Canyon Trust trustee. On June 16, a grand jury indictment charged Wyss's company, Synthes Inc., with 52 felony counts on accusations the company engaged in illegal "off-label" use of a bone cement in spinal surgeries.
Three patients died on operating tables in 2003 and 2004 during surgeries while company sales representatives looked on, the indictment said, according to The Associated Press. Wyss is not named in the indictment, but he is well-known for donating significant amounts of money to Democrat members of Congress who favor SUWA goals.
New York millionaire Bert Fingerhut - who served on the SUWA board of directors for 18 years, was a Grand Canyon Trust trustee and served as the director of the Wyss Foundation - pleaded guilty in May 2007 to one count of conspiracy in connection with a plot to reap more than $12 million in illegal profits by circumventing rules controlling how private banks are converted to public ownership. As part of his plea deal, he forfeited $11 million. On Aug. 3, 2007, he was sentenced to two years in federal prison.
Fingerhut's wealth stems in part from timber. Also, he gave substantial donations to Hinchey's campaign.
In October 2007, Mark Ristow, SUWA's treasurer and a trustee for nearly 20 years and chapter official of the Nature Conservancy, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in a scheme similar to Fingerhut's. In February 2008, he was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and forfeited $2.8 million in profits.
Like Wyss, Ristow is a long-time, high-dollar donor to the Democratic Party committees. In fact, he contributed $3,000 to Rep. Owens' campaign in the 1990s.
Finally, the top 10 foundations funding SUWA alone are the Wyss Foundation, Educational Foundation of America, Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller Family Fund, Florence and John Schumann Foundation, General Service Foundation, Town Creek Foundation, New-Land Foundation, Weeden Foundation and the W. Alton Jones Foundation. The fortunes of a few of these foundations - and others contributing to SUWA not listed in the top 10 donor list - primarily derive from oil, natural gas and timber. Whose interests are they really trying to protect? Not those of Utahns or Americans.
So, I'm standing guard, readying my vocal pipes to scream, "Get off my lawn!" Care to join me?
Contact Cedar City Daily News Bureau Chief Jennifer Weaver at 865-4526 or e-mail jeweaver@thespectrum.com
Cedar City Daily News Bureau Chief Jennifer Weaver at 865-4526 or e-mail jeweaver@thespectrum.com
St George Editing manager Tod Seifert tseifert@thespectrum.com main switch board 674-6200
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912260303
If a New Yorker moseyed onto my property claiming its beauty should be beholden to the public and, therefore, be designated as protected wilderness, I would commence yelling, "Get off my lawn!"
That's exactly what Utahns should be doing with the American Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009. Yet, there is mostly silence from the public. Seriously, have we forgotten the 1.9 million acre land grab by President Bill Clinton with the national monument designation of the Kaiparowits Plateaus in 1996? That's chump change compared to the 9.4 million acres the act is seeking. That's one-sixth of the state designated to wilderness, primarily in southeast Utah on the Colorado Eastern Plateau.
That translates into the closure of the lands to any mechanized access, including bicycles. It also ceases any opportunity to explore the rich mineral and natural resources to generate energy from that area for local and national use. It also stifles economic development in rural Utah.
Alas, the legislation has 21 sponsors in the Senate and 138 sponsors in the House. The act was created in 1989 by the late Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Salt Lake City, who introduced the 5.7 million-acre Citizens' Proposal bill. It has been pushed by Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York since 1992. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois joined Hinchey in 1997.
For the first time in two decades, the bill has made its way before the House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.
Members of various special interest groups linked to the bill - such as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Grand Canyon Trust - have been thrust into the limelight because of allegations of conspiracy and securities fraud. This should concern every Utahn because it is these groups' dollars pushing for passage of the bill, and I don't think any legislation should be bought and paid for the way this act appears to be.
Case in point from several published accounts and online reports accessible to the public:
Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who owns the Wyss Foundation, helps fund SUWA - $574,171 between 1988 and 2000. Wyss is a SUWA trustee and former SUWA chairman and Grand Canyon Trust trustee. On June 16, a grand jury indictment charged Wyss's company, Synthes Inc., with 52 felony counts on accusations the company engaged in illegal "off-label" use of a bone cement in spinal surgeries.
Three patients died on operating tables in 2003 and 2004 during surgeries while company sales representatives looked on, the indictment said, according to The Associated Press. Wyss is not named in the indictment, but he is well-known for donating significant amounts of money to Democrat members of Congress who favor SUWA goals.
New York millionaire Bert Fingerhut - who served on the SUWA board of directors for 18 years, was a Grand Canyon Trust trustee and served as the director of the Wyss Foundation - pleaded guilty in May 2007 to one count of conspiracy in connection with a plot to reap more than $12 million in illegal profits by circumventing rules controlling how private banks are converted to public ownership. As part of his plea deal, he forfeited $11 million. On Aug. 3, 2007, he was sentenced to two years in federal prison.
Fingerhut's wealth stems in part from timber. Also, he gave substantial donations to Hinchey's campaign.
In October 2007, Mark Ristow, SUWA's treasurer and a trustee for nearly 20 years and chapter official of the Nature Conservancy, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in a scheme similar to Fingerhut's. In February 2008, he was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and forfeited $2.8 million in profits.
Like Wyss, Ristow is a long-time, high-dollar donor to the Democratic Party committees. In fact, he contributed $3,000 to Rep. Owens' campaign in the 1990s.
Finally, the top 10 foundations funding SUWA alone are the Wyss Foundation, Educational Foundation of America, Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller Family Fund, Florence and John Schumann Foundation, General Service Foundation, Town Creek Foundation, New-Land Foundation, Weeden Foundation and the W. Alton Jones Foundation. The fortunes of a few of these foundations - and others contributing to SUWA not listed in the top 10 donor list - primarily derive from oil, natural gas and timber. Whose interests are they really trying to protect? Not those of Utahns or Americans.
So, I'm standing guard, readying my vocal pipes to scream, "Get off my lawn!" Care to join me?
Contact Cedar City Daily News Bureau Chief Jennifer Weaver at 865-4526 or e-mail jeweaver@thespectrum.com
