Curmudgeon Man weighs in on college, water wars

Curmudgeon Man stopped by recently to share some of his latest observations. For a guy who lives in a cave and wears tights and a cape, he seems to get out enough to keep up with current events pretty well. Here are some of his thoughts:

The controversy over whether a by-pass around Payson is needed is faulty at best. Those who are terrified that Payson would become a ghost town are apparently under the impression that Payson lives off tourists on a daily basis. Not so.

Sure, a few stores benefit from increased income on holiday weekends, but many more suffer from dense traffic, making it impossible to navigate to them. At best, the increased financial flow is a windfall and not a dependable regular income. It might be missed by some, but it certainly wouldn’t kill the whole town. People who need gas and groceries will still come to Payson to get them.

Here’s an additional thought, he adds: What about the miles and miles of traffic coming through town on the return run? Do they spend a great amount of money on their way home?

Dense traffic is far more likely to choke a town to death than losing some windfall dollars would.

“Cur” continues:
In spite of numerous naysayers, building a small college in Payson is a splendid idea. The benefits to the town outweigh the possible problems by a mile or two. Talk about a huge windfall economically - this could easily become the Golden Goose.

Money isn’t the only issue, however. Local students would be more likely to go on to college since the cost would be greatly reduced. Additional cultural and sporting events, available to the town would be very popular. Access to enhanced facilities for research on many topics would be welcomed. Etc. Etc.

As mentioned, the pluses far outweigh the minuses. There are people who will never be convinced, however.

“Cur” allows that the on-going soap opera starring Star Valley and Payson in an eternal tug over water rights would be comical if it didn’t have rather serious consequences at stake. All the thinking at present seems to be geared to satisfying short term concerns and is strongly influenced by long held animosities. Star Valley, for better or worse, would appear to benefit far more from a reasonable agreement insuring its water future than winning a turf war would bring.

As far as the Great Radar Traffic Improvement Plan in Star Valley, “Cur” wonders how that is working for them. Are there available statistics showing a noticeable decrease in traffic violations or accidents? One un-named local business owner has been overheard doubting its effectiveness. Brings in a ton of revenue, though, doesn’t it? One wonders how the town would survive off this life support.

I asked Curmudgeon Man if he had any thoughts on the way the Forest Service is now managing our forests. I was amazed that, for the most part, he had high praise for their approach and hard work. The future looks very encouraging for greatly reducing the threat of devastating fires, and a new fuel source will apparently result from tree and brush thinning.

It’s no secret that a small contingent of “Old Timers” still nurture old grievances against the Forset Service and will never approve of their modern work. The odds are that a time machine will not be built to take them back to the old days, though. It’s a shame in a way, because the old days certainly provided a wonderful life for some ranchers and cowboys.

There are abundant photographs, though, of folks living in dug out caves or slapped together wood structures trying to survive on meager crops or slender wages back in those same times. They weren’t and still aren’t included in the life of what some laud as the “Good Old Days.”

On a somewhat similar subject, “Cur” Man wonders why the town of Payson doesn’t combine the rodeo with the state fair somehow and celebrate an entire week of “Doin's,” be they August or whenever. Also combining with the spring rodeo would make sense economically and attendance wise. He admits, however, that the arrangements are far too complicated for him to understand.

I asked this Masked Crusader if he had any advice for the general population. His curious reply was, ”By all means support your government, but keep your powder dry.“

I couldn’t pry a further explanation from him, and he said he had to go.

Somewhere in the night sky a light was shining, illuminating the Cur Signal. It was time for him to save some unfortunate individual from a terrible fate. Later, I could have sworn I saw him fooling with the connections to a speed trap - oh, a speed timer I mean, of course.