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Show Thursday, August 3, 2006 The Gunnison valley Gazette Page 4 Day trips Living the Outdoor Lifestyle Utah Prehistoric Museum By C R A I G PAYNE Summertime is for taking vacations, right? Disneyland beckons, with all the glitz and glitter needed for a full blown family getaway. But, what if you have no desire to head south towards the masses of sunny California? There is Lagoon or the Hogle Zoo. What if you have made those trips every year, year in and year out since old Shep was a pup? For Kerri and I, we did not want to bum up a lot of vacation days, but still longed for some type of adventure. Loading a cooler with drinks and sandwich fixings then covering them all with ice, we headed east. Bound for Green River. Now some may ask what in the world there is to see in Green River, Utah? For the longest time now, I have wanted to visit the John Wesley Powell River History Museum, Situated on the eastern banks of the Green River, in the town of Green River, the John Wesley Powell Museum has been on my short list of desired destinations for quite some time now. I have always enjoyed history and Jourtesy Photo Craig at the John Wesley Powell River History Museum. learning of the great men and displays, plus full-size replicas women that blazed the first trails of actual boats used, gave us an into this, until then, unknown wil- appreciation of the rigors of life on derness we of the modern world theriver.The Museum has a "Hall of Fame" for river runners. Those so often take for granted. The parking area proved to ' from the "olden" days as well as be more than ample, with cov- more recent voyagers. Each inered pavilions, a fountain and ductee has an information panel gardens that offered the perfect describing their river adventures, setting for our picnic lunch. Upon with facts and legends about their entering the Museum, visitor's escapades. Along with Powell's history, are met by friendly staff personnel who guide you to a complete the museum contains a wide variselection of area maps, books ety of exhibits, from early Indians and river charts of the south and mountain men, to explorers eastern Utah area, as well as a and river men. A magnificent galwide variety of posters, souvenirs lery room hosts continuous and and gifts centered around the traveling exhibits of paintings, Colorado Plateau. Entering the sculpture, and other historical auditorium was like taking a step showings. Local and state-wide back in time. There we enjoyed a artists are presented. motion picture depicting Powell's If you find yourself with time journey down the Green and Col- on yoiir hands, or just need a orado rivers. short getaway. A trip to Green Exiting the auditorium we River and an afternoon reliving entered the actual Museum, find- history inside the John Wesley Powell River History Museum is ing it to be all we had hoped for. Artifacts, models and working time well spent. |§|S|lj^ (59-2-919) Price is usually known for it's Wendy's where everybody stops on the way to Lake Powell, but if you go a little further into town, you'll find it worth your time. On Main Street is the College of Eastem Utah Prehistoric Museum, a fantastic journey back in time. The museum is divided into two different parts, the Hall of Man, and the Hall of Dinosaurs. It has the greatest collection of nearcomplete dinosaurs in the world. In the Hall of Man you can learn all about different Native American tribes indigenous to the area. The display also includes the skeleton of a giant ground slbth, and the mighty bones of a Columbian mammoth'. The display of the mammoth is the best in.the world. According to Don Burge, emeritus professor at CEU and former museum director, they found over 90 percent of him. "Complete specimens are very rare," he said. "He's huge. He was an elderly citizen of the elephant family, over 60 years old, and you can tell by his joints that he had arthritis. He's just enormous." Burge had bits and pieces of him in his freezer for a while, and in fact, rumors in Price go that he had mammoth steaks in his freezer. "While that's a nice rumor, there was no flesh on our mammoth,11 he said. "But we did find fosilized beetles in his brain cavity." Courtesy FhoTo/CEU Museum A young Don Burge displays the head of Al the Allosaur. mous attraction at the museum is the Utah Raptor which was discovered by Don Burge and Jim Kirkland in 1991 during the filming of "Jurassic Park." Director Stephen Spielberg created a fictional Velociraptor that was seven feet high, thinking the actual version of the dinosaur at around four feet was not scary enough. "Spielberg took some license there and he got bad rap from some scientists. What he did was take something that was known and exaggerate it. The Utah Raptor gave Spielberg credibility," Burge said. The Hail of Dinosaurs includes the skeleton of an Allo saurus, a carnivore similar to but smaller than T-Rex. It has been argued that Al, as the Allosaur is known, was even more vicious than his larger cousin. "He's my favorite," Burge said, "He's just a killing machine." But probably the most fa- The Utah Raptor gave truth to fiction to a point, except for one thing. Spielberg had not exagger- ated the Velociraptor enough. The Utah Raptor is two to three feet bigger than the movie version. In the display case there is a copy of the toe claw carried by Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) in the movie beside the actual claw of the Utah Raptor. You just have to see for yourself how there's no comparison. The complete skeleton of the Utah Raptor is on display at the museum. "Spielberg called us and talked to us about it," Burge said, "We actually considered naming it Utahraptor Spielbergei after him, but eventually named it Utahraptor Ostrommaysorum after paleontologist John Ostrom and Chris Mays." The CEU Prehistoric JVIuseum NOTICE OF PROPOSED TAX INCREASE The South Sanpete School District is proposing to increase its property tax revenue. As a result of the proposed increase, the tax on a $125,000 residence will be $557.15, and the tax on a business having the same value as the average value of a residence in the taxing entity will be $1,013. Without the proposed increase the tax on a $125,000 residence would be $524.01, and the tax on a business having the same value as the average value of a residence in the taxing entity would be $952.75. The 2006 proposed tax rate is .008104. Without the proposed increase the rate would be .007622. This would be an increase of 6.32%, which is $33.14 per year ($2.76 per month) on a $125,000 residence or $60.25 per year on a business having the same value as the average value of a residence in the taxing entity. With NEW GROWTH, this property tax increase and other factors, South Sanpete School District will increase its property tax revenue from $2,611,942 collected last year to $2,818,004 COLLECTED THIS YEAR WHICH IS A REVENUE INCREASE OF 7.89%. All concerned citizens are invited to a public hearing on the tax increase to be held on Wednesday, August 9, 2007 at the South Sanpete Education Support Center, 39 South Main Manti, Utah at 6:30 p.m. f>-lS5ia$t:Main Street, Price, Utah • 800-817-9949 "Currently Open 9 am-to 6 prin 7 Days a Week ; (hours will change October 1, to 9 am - 5 pm Monday- Saturday) '-:.'" Admission Fees $4/adufts.- $2/chitdren (under 2 free) -$10/famity ;•••;.«V;, .-.-V" -.:,: ;/ Setter stlli; g museum membership. Is an annual fee of $30.00 for af&mlly qod entitles you' & ' ^ t b Gift Shop purchase discpunts, special invitationsland nritiriy other per$[' ' " " • • v * • : : • • ' • " ' • - ' • - • • : * - • • - ; - • Somewhere in Utah is sponsored by: SfianeCCe 'Winn 85 East Center Street, Gunnison 528-7161 Auto • Home • Life • Business • Recreational Vehicles NOW PIAYINC Ot She Stwt Jfkeatxe THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Playing: August 4 - August 10 Rated PG-13 Staring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway & Emily Blunt New Summer Time hours! Mon-Thurs = 7:30 pm nightly Fri&Sat=7pm&9pm Tuesday is Bargain Night - All Seats are $3.50 Ticket Prices 15.00 - Adults $3.50 - Children under 12 £ Senior Citizens The South Sanpete School District is proposing a tax rate of .008104. This proposed tax rate is not an increase over last year. In fact, the certified tax rate has been .008104 since 1998. The District is shifting a variety of levies and by doing so is required by statute to advertise this shift as an increase in tax revenue. i |