I recently read Matt Lindon’s excellent guest commentary, “Call things by their name, be what you are.” It just so happened that shortly before reading it, I had read a news article about the chairman of the Garfield County Commission, Leland F. Pollock, proposing to remame the Burr Trail. He would like it to be known as “The Donald J. Trump Presidential Burr Trail.”
In Mr. Pollock’s opinion, Trump is worthy of such recognition because of policies put in place during his first term, including his 2017 proclamation to downsize Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. Mr. Pollock said, “This is just a sign of appreciation. This guy right here was good to Garfield County, and he was good to all of the Western public land counties.”
The Burr Trail, a 67-mile iconic drive through spectacularly scenic stretches of southern Utah between the town of Boulder and the Notom-Bullfrog Road, is named after John Atlantic Burr, a pioneer and rancher who settled in the area and carved out the trail for his cattle. There cannot be a more fitting or a more historically significant name than the name it has had all along.
As far as Mr. Pollock’s opinion regarding Trump deserving such an honor, my opinion is quite the opposite. Attempting to severely downsize those national monuments, thereby opening up the majority of the land within their original boundaries to extractive industries and other profit-minded development interests, has always been to me a horrible idea. They should be left as they are.
I see Mr. Pollock as trying to outdo the many other Utah politicians who have spent much time and energy trying to suck up to our newly reelected president, in spite of his 34 felony convictions, liability for sexual assault, and attempts to overturn the previous election which he clearly lost.
Who knows? If he emerges as the winning Utah suck up, maybe he’ll get a cabinet position.
Marty Morrison
Summit Park