Do ‘we’ really want thousands

of people to come to Ephraim?

7-30-2020

I have known for years, since I served on the Ephraim City Council and on the Board of Trustees at Snow College that they pushed for growth. Both have been successful. Snow College now has an enrollment of 4,000 as compared to the 500 when I was a student there. Ephraim now has a population of 7,100 as compared to the 3000 when I served on the council.

When I read in the Sanpete Messenger under the title “Ephraim Excited Over Prospect of 90-acre multi-use development” I certainly was not ready or prepared for what I would be reading. As I looked at the multi colored map layout of the proposed development I then read the comment made by Mr. Mike Ballard which blew my mind when he proclaimed, “Before a grocery store could come in (we) still need hundreds of new residents, if not thousands in the city!” Wow!

What an obvious invitation to urban residents along the Wasatch front to pack up and leave what they have been living in, such as hearing police and ambulance sirens many times a day, people being killed, poor air quality, bumper to bumper traffic and densely populated neighborhoods.

I wish Mr. Ballard would have said, there would still be a need instead of (we) would. We, is an inclusive word and I do not want to be included in his statement when he said “we still need hundreds of new residents, if not thousands.” If what Mr. Ballard says we need develops, then, eventually, we will become what the “thousands” wanted to get away from. Ephraim then would have lost what we were known for, nicknames, and quiet rural living.

I believe there are many who agree with me; but I’m sure we are the minority, which I wish we weren’t.

Dick Olson, Ephraim