A new housing story begins; two middle school stories; and more

Sorrell River Ranch was closed for lunch on Saturday. According to Doug, they blame an inability to hire.

There’s a meme in a popular Moab Facebook group that the reason it is so hard to hire in Moab is that nobody wants to work. That’s, of course, stupid. More than that, the data refutes it.

The unemployment rate in Grand County as of March 2021 (5.2%) was higher than the state as a whole (2.9%) but lower than the United States as a whole. This is a normal state of affairs; the county usually has a higher unemployment rate than the state and a lower rate than the country.

The conservatives who are active in that Facebook group I suppose aren’t free market capitalists because, if they were, I think they would recognize that the problem is a lack of housing and low wages (both). Instead, they blame the workers.

My job in the coming weeks is to show that housing and wages are the problem.

The new middle school will be open tomorrow.

Middle school students are moving into the new building tomorrow. School starts at 8:45, so I guess I need to wake up for that.

Skateboarding in the middle school

Doug gave me a police report on a student who was skating in school, fell after a teacher either stood their ground or tripped them, got bloody knuckles, fought teachers to get their board back, then later called the police.

I think reporting on crime should focus on trends, the plights of victims, and crime reduction strategies. At a time when names are so easily searchable, I am very hesitant to report on the identities of private persons in the context of crime unless they have been convicted or settled a case.

I think the exceptions are generally when a crime is credibly serious. To me, that’s any incident that involves death, severe injury, major property loss, grievous abuse of power, or something as severe as any of those things.

On top of that, saying out loud that this happened just generates interest. Who does it serve to point out that there was a problem with a student breaking the rules? I suppose I can see a case for airing the allegation that a teacher hurt them, but what’s the right to do that while providing context?

Birthing Rock defaced

It looks like it might just be chalk, but I am going to withhold judgement on how easy this will be to fix until an archaeologist or two tell me. The Moab Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (where the petroglyphs sit) is working on a statement.

The key at the moment is to follow the instructions on the signs at the location: Do not further vandalize the rock by attempting to remove the graffiti that is already there.

Carter Pape, licensed for exclusive use

Carter Pape, licensed for exclusive use

Carter Pape, licensed for exclusive use