Letter to the Editor: HB 481 naming Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway insults 55 percent of Utah voters and more
On March 1, Utah Rep. Mike Noel came up with another of his hair-brained ideas. This involves naming highways to Utah’s major national parks after President Trump.
This is worthy of challenge on so many levels that it’s difficult to know where to start, but perhaps the fact that the idea goes against the will of 55 percent of Utah’s voters who voted in the 2016 presidential election is a good place to begin.
With that many Utahns not favoring Trump and his administration already being fraught with many issues, why would Utah’s leaders line up behind Rep. Noel and pass such a thing? And yet, that just may happen. At this time, March 6, the bill has been passed by the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on a vote of 9-2-2 (9 Republicans for, 2 Democrats against, and 2 members absent) and has been circled in the House. That means that the bill was held and now appears to be in the House Rules Committee, which, interestingly, if chaired by the bill’s author Mike Noel.
What will happen at this point is anyone’s guess, but we can only hope that the House members and the Senate members, should this bill reach them for a vote, are thinking about the following things in addition to the problem I mentioned initially. In the meantime, Utahns should contact both House members and Senate members. House Rules Committee members can be reached at le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?Year=2018&Com=HSTRUL.
Senators can be reached at senate.utah.gov/senators/full-roster.html.
Need more reasons to ask that legislators vote against this atrocious bill? It is certainly too early in President Trump’s presidency to give him this honor. We have had other presidents who preceded him and have left a legacy worthy of such an honor who have not been so honored. With the turmoil that currently exists in his administration, people fleeing like rats vacating a sinking ship, and the Mueller investigation, which has yet to be completed, why would even those 45 percent of Utahns who voted for him want to have our major highways labeled before we know how all this will play out?
Although we may not care what foreigners think about Trump, the fact is that many of Utah’s tourists are foreigners. Although they may be impressed with Utah’s parks, what will they think of our leaders who would prematurely take such action?
Polls show that as of now Trump is the most unpopular president in the history of such polling. Will that improve in the next three years? If it doesn’t, do we really want these existing highways labelled with his name:
—Route 89 at the Utah-Arizona border near Big Water.
—Route 89 to Route 9 near Mount Carmel Junction.
—Route 9 to Route 17 near La Verkin.
—Route 17 to Interstate Highway 15.
—Veterans’ Memorial Highway (Trump overrides our vets?!).
—Route 14 near Cedar City.
—Route 14 to Route 148 near Cedar Breaks National Monument.
—Route 148 to Route 143 near north end of Cedar Breaks National Monument.
—Route 143 to Route 80 near Panguitch.
—Route 89 to Route 12 near Red Canyon.
—Route 12 to Route 24 near Torrey.
—Route 24 to Route 95 near Hanksville.
—Route 95 (Bicentennial Highway) to Route 191 near Blanding.
—Route 191 to Highway 70 near Crescent Junction.
One of the roads included, State Route 9, was named Zion Park Scenic Byway in the late ’90s following a study done in 1985 by the Five County Association of Governments. The initiative that inspired the study was to become a prototype of a statewide program that would involve participation by several state and federal agencies and many local government groups. The hope was that this would aid Utah’s tourism efforts. Scenic roads draw Americans and other visitors to view the beauty that the designation denotes. One can only imagine what mental visions the Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway moniker will inspire.
—Lisa Rutherford
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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Where is your data on the 55% of Utahn’s opposing this? I personally think its premature for Pres Trump, but who was surveyed, what demographics were surveyed etc… easy to throw out numbers in these opinion articles.
Craig, I think the author was referring to the 55% of voters who did not vote for Trump in 2016, as 45.1% did.
Thank you for clarifying, Josh. That’s exactly what I meant and sorry to readers if it was clear.