There should have been a box around the article about Jeremy Parriott’s fun-hog playground with the words "Unpaid Advertisement" at the top (HCN, 8/22/05: His playground pulls fun hogs off the public lands).

Does your newspaper really believe that 320 acres will keep hundreds of off-road vehicle owners happily contained and off the thousands of acres of public land currently used as a free playground? It is obvious that Parriott plans to attract national attention to Moab for his "for profit" motorized competitions and music festivals.

I found Parriott’s opinion that the BLM should close some trails to motorized use so that hikers could have places where they would not hear motors to be sadly ironic, rather than altruistic. Might closing trails make Area BFE more attractive?

From now on, I will read your newspaper much more carefully, and be reminded that bias and distortion can appear in any media. If anything good came out of this article for me, it was the reminder of the (sometimes god-awful) power of the press.

Carol Mayer
Tijeras, New Mexico