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Show The Ogden Valley news May 15, 2020 USPS MARKETING MAIL POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 11 EDEN UT POSTAL PATRON EDEN-LIBERTY-84310 HUNTSVILLE-84317 OGDEN CANYON- 84401 HCR 843AO Your Community Newspaper Please Help Valley Elementary Account for All New Kindergarteners for the Upcoming School Year Valley Elementary is so close to filling four kindergarten classes! Please help get the word out; if you know of any child turning five before September 2, 2020, we need them to register for Kindergarten now! Please help spread the word to your neighbors and new move-ins that the time to register is now. This is when the Weber School District is deciding how many classes of Kindergarten each school in the District will have. If there are not a few more students, the school will end up with three large Kindergarten classes. Now it the time to account for all the Kindergarteners who will be attending Valley Elementary. We understand that not all information forms can be completed at this time because of broad pandemic shutdown issues, i.e. doctors and dentist forms. However, please complete as much/many as you can and return them to the school as soon as possible. Thank you for your help. If you have a child who will be turning five before September 2, please contact the school at 801-452-4180. For more information, visit <http://valley.wsd.net/> Rhodes Farm Mural in Liberty. Photo credit: Ron Gleason Second Starry Night Mural Debuts Weber County Libraries Announce Murals may be the old- the three-way stop in Liberty, a new mural (see Partial Opening of Facilities est and most elemental art photo above), designed and painted by Solenne form as represented by rock Songer, daughter of Jake and Rebekah, has been and cave paintings near ancient human settlements around the world. Following the accreditation of North Fork Park as an International Dark Sky Park, the Ogden Valley Starry Night Mural Trail had its initial installation on the 1870s Enoch Fuller barn opposite Valley Elementary school. For this first mural, Huntsville artist Jake Songer created a stunning night sky and evergreen image picPhoto by Ron Gleason. tured left. And now, near Weber County’s public libraries began a phased reopening May 1, and as of May 11, your Weber County libraries are now more fully open during regular business hours: Monday – Thursday, 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Friday & Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Sunday, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. (September thru May) While the libraries are opening back up, we are still being #SafebutProductive , helping minimize effects of the public health crisis while also managing in a way that helps protect the community and its employees from a secSTARRY NIGHT cont. on page 8 ond wave of COVID-19. Here are some of the precautions we are taking for everyone’s safety. • Temperature screening for staff and the public at entrances. • Facial coverings required for staff and the mounted on a small 1800s cabin on the Mike and Julie Rhodes family farm (see history this issue on page 8), echoing the family’s experience with foxes-in-the-field and conveying the importance of dark sky to wildlife in preserving feeding, mating, and migration patterns. Many folks don’t know there is a constellation for almost every form of wildlife represented in this high mountain valley; the skies have always been seen through a cultural prism. Laplanders see elk and moose in the stars above. Shoshone see mountain goats. The Greek crane constellation can be interpreted as a sandhill crane. And, several years ago, Scottish school Intermittent Road Closures & Delays Expected on N. Ogden Divide Thru July will include the installation of storm drain By Shanna Francis During an April 28 Weber County Commission meeting, commissioners voted to award Granite Construction Company of Watsonville, California a $1.84 million contract to complete planned renovations to the North Ogden Divide, with Salt Lake City’s Stanley Consultants receiving a $137,000 contract to administer the project. The upgrades, slated to begin May 18, 2020 along several points of the well-used, narrow 4.7 mile Valley egress and ingress route, are designed to more efficiently move rain water and snowmelt off the mountain. Improvements crossings, catch basins, retaining walls, and road resurfacing. It is estimated that the work will take two months to complete, wrapping up before August 2020. During this time, drivers can expect A study completed last year showed that the busy road, which carries hundreds of students back and forth from the Valley to Weber High School, is in need of about $6.82 million in improvements, including the straightening of hairpin curves, cutting back steep grades, addressing severe rock fall issues, and pavement upgrades. Please note, that during the upgrades, intermittent road closures and delays can be expected. Weber County Announces Great News for County Business Owners! We know COVID-19 is impacting our Weber County businesses in a significant way. To help alleviate this, the Weber County Commission has established a temporary ordinance to provide a deferral of business personal property tax penalties and • • • • • • • • • public (we have donations of free masks for those who do not have them). Hand sanitizer at entries and exits. Roped stanchions to funnel community members to service points while maintaining a safe distance. Social distancing instituted throughout the facility. One-way traffic through book stacks (shelves). Cough and sneeze guards at public service points. Latex gloves for employees. Sanitizing of public workstations and computers between each user. Sanitizing of all returned library materials and set aside for a period of time before reshelving, as recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Sanitizing of all public areas on an ongoing, rolling schedule. LIBRARY OPENING cont. on page 11 Monte Cristo Highway Tentatively Set to Open on Memorial Day The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) advises motorists and outdoor recreation enthusiasts that state Road 39, the Monte Cristo Highway, is tentatively set to open to all traffic for the spring and summer season by Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, according to Zach Whitney, UDOT Communications Manager; however, the opening is always conditioned upon seasonal weather. SR-39 will open from milepost 37, the Ant Flat parking lot east of Huntsville, to milepost 56, near Woodruff in Rich County. Once the gates are opened, the roadway between these two points will remain open until late next fall. The remainder of this route is open year around. Off of the roadway, snow is still deep and most campgrounds are snowbound. Motorists and recreationalists are urged to use MONTE CRISTO cont. on page 6 Huntsville Structure Fire interest due to late filing submissions. State law still requires your business personal property tax filing on or before May 15, 2020. In prior years, the penalty was imposed on the day after the filing was due. This ordinance allows Weber County to defer the application of all penalties and interest on 2020 past due accounts until August 15, 2020. For more information visit #WEPullTogether. Census Bureau to Resume 2020 Census The Field Operations in Utah U.S. Census Bureau, invitations and paper questionnaires at the front in coordination with federal, state and local health officials, will begin to drop off 2020 Census questionnaire packets at front doors of households in Utah this month. This is done in areas where the majority of households do not receive mail at their physical address. The Census Bureau began hand-delivering census materials on March 15, but suspended all fieldwork for this operation on March 18 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Temporary field staff has been trained to observe all social distancing protocols and will wear official government-provided personal protective equipment for their safety and the safety of the public. This operation is contactless and follows the most current federal health and safety guidelines. The health and safety of Census Bureau staff and the public is always a top priority. The Census Bureau will deliver 2020 Census doors of roughly 5.1 million stateside households and 88,600 households in Utah. This operation is crucial to ensure a complete and accurate count of all communities, which helps guide hundreds of billions of dollars in public and private sector spending per year. People are strongly encouraged to respond promptly to the 2020 Census using the ID number included in the questionnaire packet. Responding with a census ID or the paper questionnaire helps ensure the best count of their community. People can respond online, by phone or by using the paper form in the packet. For more information, please visit the 2020 Census COVID-19 operational adjustments page at <https://2020census.gov/en/news-events/ operational-adjustments-covid-19.html> To see the most current Area Census Office (ACO) restarting status, visit <https://2020census.gov/ content/dam/2020census/news/acos-reopen. pdf> This list will be updated accordingly as more ACO’s resume activities. On Monday, April 27, Weber Fire District, Ogden City Fire Department, and South Ogden Fire Units responded to a reported structure fire in the Huntsville area. Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire within minutes of arrival, drastically limiting damage to the home. All occupants were able to safely exit the home. According to the fire department, the garage fire is still under investigation, “but is another great example of the importance of ensuring the door from the garage to the living quarters of the home remains closed when not in use. Also, special thank you to our dispatchers at Weber Area Dispatch 911 & Emergency Services District that always help make these incidents run smoothly.” Photo courtesy of Weber Fire District. |