An open letter to Mike Noel
Dear Rep. Noel,
As two of your constituents, we are writing to let you know we strongly oppose HB481, which seeks to rename significant stretches of highway in southern Utah after our current president. It seems out of touch to ram such a bill through the legislature when there are more important issues to address. The costs of adding new road signs to accommodate the name of a remarkably polarizing president should on its own stop your bill. We hope that in a legislature anchored by fiscal conservatives members will see that our tax dollars are better spent elsewhere.
The bill seeks to lionize a president who, while filling the most influential seat in the world, continues to damage civil society with attacks on his fellow Americans. Through his tweets and other erratic behavior, he continues to undermine our vital institutions while a burgeoning cloud of Russian involvement and potential collusion continues to box him in. Because of the president’s actions, history will not be sympathetic to him or his administration. A magnificent stretch of highway bearing the name “Donald J. Trump” would likely become an ugly scar on the state of Utah for generations.
To us, as supporters of national monuments and the protections they provide, this proposal is an attempt to inflict punishment on those who do not agree with your perspective. Local areas like Kanab are increasingly divided regarding public lands. You didn’t help this polarization with your comments during the forest fire last summer when you placed all blame for the occurrence on the bird and bunny lovers, tree huggers, and rock lickers.
As our representative, we expect you to work towards bringing people together, but we continually see you perpetuating the divide. This is troublesome to say the least. Passage of your bill would specifically add fuel to the harmful “us vs. them” situation that persists here and in society at large. Implementation of our president’s name to our local highways would unnecessarily corrode person to person relationships throughout your district. You seem to already understand this, yet your obstinacy continues.
After listening to the March 5tcommittee hearing, it’s apparent you have decided to avoid sound judgment regardless of the consequences. As you are aware, we are friends with people who support your politics and vote for you regularly. Many of these people grew up with us in Kanab. Interestingly, some of them have told us they do not support your bill. We are confident these friends are showing trepidation because they can plainly see the bill is retaliatory and punitive by nature.
We call on you to learn more from your fellow citizens by holding a local meeting to allow us and others the chance to address our concerns in a public forum. As our representative, we openly request that you make this happen. We await your leadership.
Sincerely,
Latimer and Megan Smith
Kanab, Utah
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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