GENERAL46327

• Permit No: M1977210
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 8/30/1987
• Doc Name: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

~J
'T'o destroy canyon walls
would be demented
I walk up Williams Canyon
several times a week. The exemise
refreshes my body, and watching a
new day dawn over the canyon
refreshes my soul.
A hundred million years of
Roc y-k~un4v'~tistory are on
_display to ttie walls oE~WiTSams
Canyon: -Castle Concrete now
iniends to destroy this record as
well as the unique beauty of the
CaRYOn tar the sake o~cl:
This is something t-T'ke scraping
away the Mona Lisa for the sake of
cattvas. Any idea that Castle
Concrete - or any other human
agency -can "reclaim" Williams
Canyon once it's been destro_y_e_d_is
as ludicrous as it is arroganC
I believe strongly in tree
enterprise, free trade, and the right
of a property owner to do as he
pleases with his properly. As mayor
of ivianitou Springs, I always tried
to uphold those beliefs. But Flip
over any right and you find~a
responsibility, The idea ~of
unrestricted property rights only
works within a community of
people willing to accept the
responsibilities that go with the
rights.
The responsibility shat goes
with "'ownership" of land is an
especially heavy one -not at all
like the responsibility that goes
with ownership of a car or a house.
People create cars and houses. God
creates the land. To understand the
responsibility that goes with land
you must carefully read the Pazablc
of the Talents.
No one can "own" a Williams
Canyon. Onc can only own a
"decd": a contract with the rest of
the community that gives you the
right to do with the land what
benefits both you and the
community - to profit from the
"talent" placed in your trust, but to
profit from it wisely. I believe that
when a land owner violates that
wst, the people of the community
Continued from preceding page
have a. right to limit the owner's
control - in the same way one
would seek to limit a demented
person's control.
I believe that to destroy
Williams Canyon for the sake o_f .
gravel would, on the face of it, be a _
demented act Therefore, it seems'
cleaz that as members of the
community that extended Castle
Concrete's "ownership" contract to
Williams Canyon, it's time. for all
of us to move to limit the contract.
EI Paso County's "scars on tTie
mountain" are a pathetic reflection
on ourcommunity, and I find it hard
to understand how the people of
Colorado, El Paso County, i
Manitou Springs, and Colorado
Springs let them come into bei~J•
But while a [cw hundred years
will soften, and perhaps almost
obliterate these reminders of our
arrogance and cupidity, only a
complete new cycle of
peneplanation, uplift and erosion
could recreate Williams Canyon.
A hundred million years worth of ..
exquisite art could be destroyed by
a few years, of mindless digging.._,,,,
If you agree with me', contact.
the politicians who were elected w
represent your interests and the
officials they've appointed to tarty
out your desires. Let them know
shat you don't want Castle Concrete
to destroy any more, of our natural__
trcasures~ whether or not they
"own" the land.
Our Governor, Roy Romer,
State Capitol Building, Denver
80203 is at the top of the Grst list,
and Dan Hernandez of.the Mined
Land Reclamation Board, 1313
Sherman St., Room 215, Denver
80203 is at the top of the second.
Time is running out. Let's not
let this vandalism continue.
Russell S. Lewis