Pariah parade

Conor Murphy

The Pariah River's box canyon is the now infamous site of Utah's very own brand of civil disobedience, after 300 off-highway vehicles were driven up the stream.

Not allowing mere facts to diminish their moral outrage, my fellow Utahns can almost be heard shouting their defiance over the noise pollution, and they can almost be seen celebrating in the cloud of emissions and riverbed dust. And those in charge of their punishment can almost be seen doing their jobs.

In protesting an existing agreement, these OHV enthusiasts distorted facts to elicit an angry response from their base. The box canyon road, they insist, is a vital byway to thriving rural communities, which survive because of white-knuckled resistance to the evil Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and his federal cronies.

In truth, this river/road leads to the Old Pariah ghost town, easily accessible from a well-maintained dirt road. Why, then, protest the closing of a small and scenic portion of our state?

Direct your anger at the elimination of "wilderness areas" for gas and mineral exploration. The enemy is not each other, but those who would deny both the OHV enthusiast and the backpacker the opportunity to explore.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_12522136

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