This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
What is disturbing about Phil Linhardt's letter ("Deer Valley and Alta should remain skier-only resorts," Forum, Jan. 20) is his use of language. Mr. Linhardt wants to keep Alta "clean." It is extremely unfortunate timing that his letter using this language is published in the paper on Martin Luther King Day, a day set up to remember the advances in civil rights achieved for lots of Americans in the face of bigotry and discrimination.
Racial bigotry was and is often framed in the language of purity and cleanliness, and the use of this language in any social context still has a horrible ring to it. I wonder what Mr. Linhardt wants to keep Alta clean of/from. My guess is that he thinks that snowboarders are a specific group of people and he does not want to be around this group of people.
Perhaps he thinks snowboarders are from a different socio-economic group. This thinking is at best confused. Snowboarders and skiers come from many socio-economic backgrounds and are men and women, boys and girls, working and retired and so on. Keeping Alta "clean" of all these people would empty the slopes completely, a different goal than Mr. Linhardt's.
Steve Downes
Salt Lake City