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Show A2 Wednesday, February 23, 2005 .Vernal Express, 1 it Storyteller Diane Ferlatte has received numerous honors including includ-ing grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Storytelling Network's Circle of Excellence Award, as well as the California Arts Council's highest ranking. All of her recordings have also received awards including Parents' Choice, American Library Association, National Parenting Publications, the National Youth Storytelling Pegasus Award, and Storytelling World Awards. Among her most exciting performances are her appearances at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., as well as performing at President Clinton's first inauguration. Regional storytelling group underway The Basin Community Storytelling Group is growing in scope, size and popularity. The group meets the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Vernal Kingsbury Church sanctuary located at 100 N. 100 E. The theme of the March 7 meeting will be Irish stories to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. From Rangely to Duchesne, storytellers, or those interested in becoming storytellers, are welcome. The group anticipates growing large enough to start local groups in all the Uintah Basin communities. The purpose of the group is to provide an environment for storytellers to hone their skills and for beginners to develop storytelling skills. It also provides pro-vides avenues of performance for those who wish to gain public storytelling experience. Those that do not want to take advantage of performance opportunities can enjoy swapping swap-ping and collecting stories from around the world. One of the major performance perfor-mance opportunities will be the next annual storytelling festival. This will offer local storytellers the opportunity to perform with famous storytellers storytell-ers such as Diane Ferlatte, who Vm VERNAL Express (ISSN 0892-1091) Published every Wednesday for $24 per year in the shopping area and $36 per year out of the shopping area within the state and $39 per year out of state within the USA by the Vernal Express Publishing Company, 54 North Vernal Avenue, Vernal, Utah 84078. Periodicals postage paid at Vernal, Utah 84078. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VERNAL EXPRESS, P.O. Box 1000, Vernal Utah 84078. Steven R. Wallis Editor and Publisher Carissa Magee Feature Writer Virginia Harrington Feature Writer Patty John Proofreader Kitta Dory Ad Layout Rock Ad Layout Jacque Hobbs Advertising Lynne Murray Advertising Terri Black Circulation & Classified Ads Jody Hadden Obituaries & Legals Phone 435-789-3511 FAX: 435-789-8690 Website: www.vernal.com e-mail: editorvernal.com DEADLINES News , Monday 12 noon Display Advertising Friday 5 p.m. ClassifiedAdvertising Monday 12 noon Public Notices Monday 12 noon participated in the first festival and plans to return for the next. Ferlatte, a native of New Orleans, remembers childhood years of sitting on the porch of her grandparents' home, captivated cap-tivated by the oral stories of family generations past. Their spirit, their journeys and their heartfelt fantasy became more alive in each moment. Now an internationally renowned storyteller, Ferlatte has traveled the globe, from Europe to Singapore and Malaysia, from Australia to Alaska and Hawaii. She believes that telling and listening listen-ing to each other's stories not only enables people to learn about each other, but also to understand each other better. She views storytelling as a traditional tra-ditional art form that can promote pro-mote literacy, imagination and values. While emphasizing African American stories, she loves to tell stories that hold truths touching upon our common humanity, including personal stories as well as many tales from across the globe. Being fluent flu-ent in American Sign Language as well as having a background in music, Ferlatte frequently incorporates both into her performances. UHP releases Utah alcohol crash statistics The Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) has recently released the results of its analysis of statistics statis-tics for 2002. UHP Sr. Trooper Roy Steen compiled the information infor-mation for the Vernal Express. For the past nine years, the percentage of alcohol and other drug-related fatal motor vehicle vehi-cle crashes and fatalities have remained fairly consistent at approximately one quarter of all fatal crashes. In 2002, there were 2,102 alcohol and other drug related crashes in Utah that resulted in 1,117 injuries and 61 fatalities. In 2002, there was a 13 percent UCAT proposed changes House Bill (HB) 86, which would affect the Utah Collage of Applied Technology (UCAT), has passed in the House and is currently in committee in the Senate. The bill would allow Utah College of Applied Technology courses to fulfill high school graduation requirements, subject sub-ject to State Board of Education approval. It would also repeal the authority for UCAT to offer a high school diploma. HB 86 establishes the UCAT as a body politic and corporate, requiring the president and board of trustees of UCAT to maintain a central administration administra-tion office. It changes the campus cam-pus president appointment process pro-cess and authorizes campuses to enter into lease-purchase agreements, subject to certain approvals. Repository funding one step The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved 17 bills last week in a business meeting. These bills have been sent to the Senate floor for future action. Among them is Senate Bill 182, a bill to provide for the establishment of the Uintah Research and Curatorial Center for Dinosaur National Monument in the States of Colorado and Utah. Current plans are to establish the repository repos-itory by erecting a building in Vernal that will be attached to the Field House Museum. A similar bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year but was too late for the Senate to take action. It has once again passed the House and the committee report to the Senate was favorable. Funding for the repository must still be found, even if the bill passes the Senate. Among the other bills that received favorable reports Changes to seat belt law running out of time With the 2005 legislative session ses-sion nearing completion, there is little time to finish work on bills that remain in their first committee review. That is the current situation with House Bill 92, which would alter the law concerning seat belt use, especially as it applies to minors. It would change the penalty for a safety belt violation from an infraction to a class C misdemeanor. mis-demeanor. Penalties would provide for suspension of a person's driving privileges for 30 days if the person cited for a safety belt violation is a minor and the operator of the vehicle at the time of the violation. It would also provide for suspension suspen-sion of the operator's driving privileges if a passenger in the vehicle at the time of the violation viola-tion is 16 or 17 years of age and not wearing a seat belt LAST WEEK'S WEATHER Date Hkh Low Precipitation TEMftMTUW TEMPtMTWg Tuesday, February IS AT 2T 0.13 Wednesday, February 16 35 22 0.04 Thursday, February 17 34 20 0 Friday, February 18 35 21 0 ' Saturday, February 19 36 21 0.09 Sunday, February 20 39 IV 0.02 Monday, February 21 46 IT 0.04 increase in fatal alcohol and other drug-related crashes and an 18 percent increase in crash fatalities from the previous year. The following are a few statistics to remember while out on the roads. In 2002: More alcohol and other drug-related crashes occurred on Saturday than any other day of the week. Over half (56) of alcohol and other drug-related crashes resulted in at least one injury compared to 37.2 percent of all motor vehicle crashes. Fatal alcohol and other Tuition tax credits one step House Bill (HB) 39 has received a favorable recommendation recom-mendation from the House committee and was prepared for a second reading Feb. 21. This bill would create tuition tax credits for families with children in private schools. Specifically, the bill creates cre-ates a refundable tax credit against individual income tax for tuition expenses paid or incurred during the taxable tax-able year for private school education received by a qualifying quali-fying student. It establishes maximum tax credit amounts based upon a taxpayer's federal fed-eral adjusted gross income and household size. It also provides pro-vides that a qualifying student is an individual who was not enrolled in a private school on January 1, 2005, unless the adjusted gross income of the taxpayer who paid or incurred closer trom the committee were a bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey a ' parcel of real property to Beaver County, Utah; a bill to adjust the boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and a bill to establish the Rio Grande Natural Area in Colorado. Manila FFA attends area contest The Manila FFA Chapter attended the Area VI FFA Leadership Contests at Duchesne High School Feb. 8. Members participated in many activities at the contests. In the Creed Speaking Contest, Blake Olorenshaw was named the area winner. He will represent the area at the state convention. Kali Hughes also competed in the contest. In Extemporaneous Public Speaking, Michael Hughes was named the area winner and Kodee Schell won the Prepared Public Speaking contest. Both members will represent the One bill could increase costs for teachers, another would bring a decrease House Bill (HB) 43 concerns School Land Trust Program funding. The bill removes the $2 million mil-lion distribution cap on the amount of interest and dividends divi-dends earned on the permanent State School Fund that may be appropriated for the School Land Trust Program. It eliminates elimi-nates the requirement that a portion of interest and dividends divi-dends earned on the permanent State School Fund be used for teachers' classroom supplies. This could have a serious financial impact on teachers, especially those who are begin- drug-related crashes peak from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Salt Lake County had the highest number of alcohol and other " drug-related crashes, Although Daggett, Wayne and Rich counties had the highest rates per million vehicle miles traveled. Daggett and Wayne counties had the highest rates for non-injury crashes. Male drivers were involved in almost three quarters (73.2) of alcohol and other drug-related crashes. Overall, male drivers between 20 to 24 years old were involved in the largest number of alcohol and the private school tuition expenses is less than or equal to 100 percent of the income eligibility eli-gibility guideline for reduced price school meals. The bill defines a private school as an elementary or secondary sec-ondary school that has a physical physi-cal location in Utah, enrolls at least 25 students, annually assesses the achievement of each qualifying student and provides information to par Legislature works to provide economic incentives House Bill (HB) 11 is likely to be signed into law in the near future. As of Feb. 21, the Utah House of Representatives had approved the amendments suggested by the Senate and a favorable vote is anticipated. HB 11 would allow development devel-opment of economic zones to attract new commercial projects, proj-ects, but only with prior approval approv-al by local government entities where the projects are to be located. It would allow the use of partial tax rebates from new state revenues which would be generated by the new, commcr- cial projects located within the zone. This is designed to be an incentive to new businesses and industries. The bill would require the new businesses or industries to make significant capital invest area at the state contests. The Parlimentary. Procedure team, composed of Michael Schwartz, Jeff Catron, Calvin Schnell, Camille Rose, Kali Rogers and Christy Gardiner, was also named an area winner and will go on to state competition. In Proficiency Awards, area winners included Jeff Catron in Turf Grass Management, Calvin Schell in Diversified Agriculture, Casey Olsen in Sheep Production, Kandice Potter in Forest Products, Brandilyn Potter in Natural Resources, Michael Schwartz in Outdoor Recreation, Malcolm ing. While each school provides some supplies for classroom use, teachers must often purchase pur-chase many supplies out of their own pockets. These include small items, such as crayons, to major purchases such as books and message boards. As of Feb. 21, the bill had passed in the House and is expected to pass in the Senate. At the same time, HB 188 would create the Beginning Teacher Compensation Program to enhance the compensation com-pensation of beginning teachers. teach-ers. It directs the Legislature to annually appropriate a certain amount of money for the program, pro-gram, subject to future budget constraints. The bill specifies how money appropriated for the Program can be distributed and used. It also requires school districts and charter schools receiving receiv-ing money under the Program to develop and implement a teacher mentoring program that meets minimum standards of the State Board of Education. It provides money to school districts, dis-tricts, charter schools, and con other drug-related crashes. Female drivers were involved in about 20.2 percent of alcohol and other drug-related crashes. These statistics were taken from the Utah Safety Council and Network of Employers For Traffic Safety (NETS). The Uintah Basin has had its share of alcohol-related and other drug-related fatalities. "Let us all drive responsibly. We all know what we have to do if one of our friends tries to drive while impaired: Take the keys!" said Steen. closer to law ents on teachers' credentials and school accreditation. It requires the parent of a school-age school-age minor who transfers from a public school to a private school to notify the school district dis-trict or charter school of the transfer. Many public school administrators admin-istrators and educators are against this bill as it is seen as destructive to the public education educa-tion system. ment and to create high paying jobs, or to make significant purchases pur-chases from Utah vendors and providers in order to qualify for the rebates. The bill also disallows disal-lows qualified projects from additional financial assistance from the Industrial Assistance Fund. The bill is endorsed by i Workforce Services, Community Commun-ity and Economic Development ; Interim Committee and the Utah Technology Commission. There would be no immediate immedi-ate fiscal impact to the state but future state' revenues could be diverted as a result of the incremental incre-mental tax provisions in the bill. Any loss would probably be offset by an increase of jobs in the state. Rose in Home and Community Development and Zac Schofield in Beef Production Placement. Star State FFA Degree candidates can-didates include Casey Olsen in production, Calvin Schell and Michael Schwartz in placement and Jeff Catron in business. Star Greenhand candidates include Lacy Larsen in production, produc-tion, Kodee Schell in placement and Karlee Schell in business. Area winners go on to compete com-pete at the state contests at the Utah State FFA Convention in Cedar City March 24 - 26. sortiums of school districts and charter schools to implement teacher mentoring programs. The bill would appropriate appro-priate $2,900,000 from the Uniform School Fund to implement imple-ment a Teacher Mentoring Program in the schools. It would establish a formula-driven formula-driven Beginning Teacher Compensation Program, estimated esti-mated at $18,290,000 for fiscal year 2006. The formula amount in subsequent years may fluctuate fluc-tuate depending on the number of beginning teachers and the value of the Weighted Pupil Unit. HB 188 creates oversight provisions of the Utah State Office of Education and an additional staff member may be required at a cost of $100,000 in Uniform School Funds. If the Legislature chooses not to fully fund the Beginning Teacher Compensation Program, , the bill provides for a lesser appropriation appro-priation to be pro-rated. HB 188 has passed in the House, has received a favorable report in Senate committee and is currently ready for a second reading in the Senate. |