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Show Duchesne seeks to revive dam projects Duchesne County Commissioners are striving to revive the construction construc-tion of two Central Utah Project dams on the Uinta and Yellowstone rivers. The two projects were recently abandoned as the Ute Tribe pulled its backing of the two projects which would have been built on the reservation. Many like Commissioner Ted Kappcn, are still waiting for the promise benefits of the CUP Project which whisked away water from the county to the Wasatch from Rock Creek. A proposal being pushed by the Duchesne County commissioners related to the project upstream on U.S. Forest Service property that is sandwiched between the Uintah Uinta Wilderness Area and the Uintah Ouray Indian Reservation. The cost of the project would be over tens of millions of dollars. The federal government spent $12 million mil-lion preparing to build the abandoned aban-doned projects. The reservoir would have stored 35,000 acre-feet of water. Officials are lobbying members of Utah's congressional delegation for support Division over the issue within the tribe is speculated as the reason for its last minute withdrawal from the projects. Currently water is being tapped by distant downstream users, although al-though . Utah technically retains rights to it The projects would allow al-low enough development for 50,000 people. There are 14,000 residents currently in Duchesne County. Local school teacher sentenced Jay Vanwagoner, 69, formerly of Vernal and now living in Orem, was sentenced in 8th District Court Tuesday for Forcible Sexual Abuse. The sentence follows a conviction entered earlier this year involving an incident with one of his former students from a Vernal public school. Judge A. Lynn Payne suspended sus-pended a prison sentence and ordered or-dered Vanwagoner to serve six months in the Uintah County Jail for his crime. Vanwagoner must also pay for the counseling of his victim, who was severely affected by the abuse. Vanwagoner was ordered to register as a sex offender, carry a card identifying iden-tifying himself as a convicted felon sex offender, stay away from any boys under 18 without another adult's supervision, complete a sex offender therapy program through the Utah Department of Corrections, and pay a fine of $1,250. Judge Payne noted that the sentencing sen-tencing was difficult and that many people in the community had written writ-ten letters of support Chief Deputy County Attorney Ken Wallentine acknowledged the letters, but also commented that no parent whose child was abused wrote a lefer of support "Many sex offenders are involved as youth leaders, but that certainly does not excuse their conduct, con-duct, it makes it worse, particularly in light of all the great people who work with kids and never think of sexually abusing them," Wallentine said. In response to reports that Vanwagoner had not admitted his responsibility and told people that he was seduced by the child. Vanwagoner told Judge Payne. "I'm hazy about part of it Those things arc probably true." He asked Judge Payne to "not cause me to go to jail." Defense attorney Bradley Rich told the judge that no jail time should be ordered. Prosecutor Wallentine read from the Department of Corrections recommendation recom-mendation and asked the judge to impose a one-year sentence. "School teachers and other youth leaders ought to be held to a very high standard of moral conduct and school teachers who sexually exploit young students should pay a corresponding high price," Wallentine concluded. Wild... Continued from page 2 with this wilderness idea.. The scenery is spectacular. If you have all day and a couple or three spare tires it is well worth the time to drive out there and look around while in your air-conditioned pickup pick-up (don't take your car.) The proposed pro-posed wilderness areas have already been inventoried as mandated by congress and found to be unsuitable for wilderness as defined by law. In these wilderness proposals, the American With Disabilities Act is being ignored, the 14 Wilderness Act is being ignored, the rights and needs of the local citizenry is being ignored, the rights of the Ute Tribe is being ignored, and RS2477, which gives the county the right to maintain roads, is not only being ignored but downright abused. If you oppose . the proposed wilderness areas on the grounds of economic reasons, then you are viewed by the opposition as a capitalist capi-talist pig, only concerned about yourself and eager to go out there to rape, pillage and plunder the landscape land-scape and the environment. Companies and individuals with mining and mineral leases on these lands agree to follow BLM regulations regula-tions as set forth by appointees, no matter how ridiculous or asinine those regulations may be. Never mind that when oil and gas production produc-tion concludes, the land is reclaimed and re-seeded to BLM specifications. specifica-tions. There is simply nothing out there to attract large numbers of people in such ways as to detract from the natural beauty of the area. As it is now, the area is accessible to all. When industry ceases to be active in the area, of course there will be fewer people out there than there now is. If we want to "save the area for our children" then lets let industry develop the natural resources that are there and wind up their activities, because once that happens, after we are all pushing up daisies, then it will be quite lonely out there except during hunting season. sea-son. I know because I have been out there almost every working day for the past 13 years. With a little bit of prudent management by whatever organization is managing the area, we can have natural beauty and multiple use. However, the area needs to be administered by an agency that is interested in having multiple use. At this time that does not appear td be the Vernal office of the BLM. IVAN SADLIER Vernal fc.-J - ny - " I 1 M 1 J 1 I v. ! la-i": 1 t 4 : lJlJ;i-j;jfV;Viir't',-'---: - rn --rtr-- -nrnm Remains of shed lay scattered in John Busch's yard following tornado which hit his yard. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ For current UDOT 24 hour road conditions report 1-000-492-2400 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Tornado scatters shed through yard At about 4:30 Friday a tornado hit a shed and hurled it at the John Busch residence, 1293 South Vernal Ave. Several large boards and poles from the shed went through the wall of Busch's garage. The rest of the shed was scattered across the driveway, drive-way, through Busch's front yard. toppling over a gazebo and wrapping wrap-ping around trees. "We were just lucky it didn't hit the windows on the south side of the house." Busch said. The shed, which was totaled, stood south of the home about 100 yards. i Got Shade? We have wonderful perennials and shrubs to brighten your shady garden: Hostas, winter hardy Hydrangeas, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and many more varieties that thrive in shade. Need Shade? Take advantage of our specials litis utek on fasl-gmiviiig sliade lifts: Alt Cottonwood, Poplar & Aspen Trees Many thea tiviUbU !Q) OFF "JV U) SPLIT MOUNTAIN GARDEN CENTER 789-5512 9122 E. Hwy 40 in Jensen Open Moh.SoL 9-6t Sui. 15 Information meeting set for new mine July 28 Uintah County will host of informational meeting concerning concern-ing a proposed new phosphate mine and fiber board plant. The nweting will be at Western Park at 6 p.m. There project is still in the preliminary stages, but the meeting is set to keep the public up to date, commissioners said. Currently a company is proposing to mine a section of ground along the Taylor Mountain Road before the Forest Boundary. The material would be slurried or trucked to a site near the Bonanza Power plant where the phosphate would be processed. Key to the project is the establishment of a railroad in Uintah County to transport the product Board meeting moved The board meeting for the recreation recre-ation district moved its regular monthly meeting from the third Tuesday to the second Tuesday for July only. The meeting will be held at 7 a.m. July 13th in the board room on the second floor of the Chamber of Commerce building. The public is welcome to attend. If you have any questions please call the recreation office at 781-0982. Special Service District to meet today The Uintah Special Service District will hold its regular Board of Director's meeting at 3 p.m. today at the district office, 134 West Main Street, Suite 201. On the agenda is the 1998 audit report, Ballard Water District presentation, pre-sentation, insurance presentation and other business. Vernal Express Wednesday. July 7, 1999 3 i f i . f i a in - - i n' o Handles on the new toilet facility at Crouse Reservoir were damaged by vandals. 6 : r f 12 f 1 Skylight was smashed by vandals during the last week of June. Vandalism costs anglers over $1,000 A skylight window and both door handles were vandalized at the new toilet facility at Crouse reservoir sometime during the last weekend of June. The damage and costs to repair the structure are estimated at over SI.000. This vandalism cost anglers the equivalent of 50 fishing licenses," said Ron Stewart, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "These funds could have been ucd to raise fish in the hatchery or to increase in-crease fishing opportunities -Anyone with knowledge of the vandal or vandals, please contact the Division of Wildlife Resources at 435-789-3103 or any bw enforcement en-forcement agency. The callers name can be kept confidential if desired ' yy Rhino Linings welcomes CRAIG DAVIS Pro Rodeo PRCA Bullfighter Thursday, July 8 from 10 am to 6 pm at TOP IT OFFRhino linings inoUnings Craig will sign autographs! Give away hats and other freebies! Play bullfighter with the kids! Free FP for everone Come the funt ik'ik ik ik ik ik JULY 8 ONLY!" 10 Off cny truck accessories with parcheco of Rhino linings bed liner IM Rhino Linings' 4 1 |