To the editor:
On May 9, the Deseret News ran an article titled, "UEA, Utah AFL-CIO back Owens in race for Senate." The article quoted Lily Eskelsen listing several congressional bills on education that Owens favors. So be it. Sens. Jake Garn and Orrin Hatch also support all bills that are beneficial to education. Does Eskelsen think that the taxpayers are so stupid to be led to believe that Owens is the only congressman who supports Utah education?When Bonneville International was trying to develop the Alton coal fields in Kane County, which had the potential to produce in excess of $200 million for Utah's tax coffers, of which our school trust system would have been entitled to every ninth dollar, Owens did not lift his little finger to push this project. It was apparently in conflict with the views of the Sierra Club and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the National Parks Conservation Society claiming that one more portal might be seen from one viewpoint in Bryce National Park, 15 miles away.
Then let the UEA not overlook the fact that Owens has sitting on his desk a bill taking 5.7 million acres of Utah lands into his wilderness dream, which will lock away over 200,000 acres of school trust lands.
Let us all hope that one day soon all those involved in the education system of Utah, including the UEA, will come to learn the great value and importance of our school trust lands and vow to not let one more acre be frittered away as has been done with the 3.5 million acres.
Paul L. Young
Helper