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Show quips aimed at the BLM and Forest Service, then sat down to thunderous applause. Michael Williams, research director for the John Muir Institute and New Mexico conservationist, spoke next. Dr. Nick Strickland, University professor and president of the Wasatch Mountain Club, presented a proposal which was largely identical to the Sierra Club proposal. Robert Thompson, Bill Via-vent, Frank Erickson, and Steve Via-vent followed. Erickson, a journalist and conservationist, who has become a perpetual thorn-in-the-side to Utah government agencies, pointed out several contradictions in the BLM proposal. So it went, speaker after speaker, all opposing the BLM proposal and endorsing the Sierra Club concept. It was, of course, planned by the Sierra Club. Erickson, June Viavent, and others had sent out notices on the hearings to all Sierra Club members, gotten news articles printed announcing the hearings, and had lined up their witnesses. Theoron Green was the next speaker. He represented the Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, and he endorsed whole-heartedly the BLM proposal. Then after three more people, two of whom came from Denver to represent the Colorado Mountain Club, Howard B. Latham, of the Utah State Road Commission, entered a statement for the road commission. Mr. Latham was not popular with the audience. The position of the road commission was complete agreement with the BLM so long as they were allowed their choice of road corridors for a trans-Escalante highway they plan to build. Conservationists choke and turn red at the mention of this road, which would slice the heart of the can- i. Ac 30 |