OCR Text |
Show Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Bryce • Tropic • Antimony • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder • Duck Creek Thursday, February 26, 2009 • Issue # 204 TROPIC RESIDENTS HONORED AS LONGEST MARRIED COUPLES The Utah Commission on Marriages had their annual awards ceremony this month. Two couples from Tropic were honored with awards. Charles and Eva Dean Francisco received the Golden Marriage Award as having a marriage that endured through time. Larvin and Eva Pollock were honored with the Valorious Military Marriage Award. The ceremony was held at the Salt Palace with eighteen couples being honored. They received a certificate and a dozen beautiful red roses donated by Bob and Randy Harmon of the Harmon Stores. There were light refreshments served and the keynote speaker was Dr. John Van Epp. The certificates had been signed by Governor Jon and Mrs. NEW REGULATIONS FOR ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS Kevin Heaton, USU Extension Agent Huntsman. Some awards were also given to the longest married couples. It had to be at least seventy years of marriage involved. One couple from Weber County had been married for eighty years, Willis and Marie Barns. Russell and Eudora Johnson had been married for seventy-five years. He was 101 years old and she was 95 years old. The seventy-two year couple was Clifford and Winifred Jones and then Ken and Lola Olsen have been married for seventy years. The Francisco’s stayed overnight in Provo before returning home. Eva Dean said it was a wonder- ful event and she was glad they were able to go. The Pollock’s were unable to attend. Attending with the Francisco’s were daughters, Sandrea Francisco and Robyn Griffin. Grandsons Charles Mortensen, Shane and Shad Griffin. Robyn was fortunate enough to see an old college roommate that she had roomed with for three years. The parents of the roommate had also been nominated for an award.. Congratulations to Charles and Eva Dean Francisco and Larvin and Eva Pollock on being honored in this way. That is a wonderful award to two wonderful couples. Many More Homes COULD be Weatherized in Utah Under the authority of the Clean Water Act, EPA has developed more stringent rules affecting livestock producers. These changes prohibit any discharge to waters of the state (e.g., ditches, canals, streams or creeks) regardless of the size of the storm event. Those who do not comply may face fines and penalties! Livestock fed in confinement (pens or corrals with no vegetation) for 45 days or more in a twelve-month period are subject to these regulations. Producers who keep animals exclusively in pastures or on range are excluded. If you raise livestock, including cattle, sheep, horses, pigs or poultry in confinement, you can learn about the regulations, how they will impact you as a producer, and your compliance options. A workshop is being held at the Triple C Arena in Panguitch, Utah on March 17th, 2009. The workshop will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Sponsors for the workshop include Farm Bureau, the Utah Division of Water Quality, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Utah Association of Conservation Districts (UACD), and Utah State University Extension. For more information please contact: 435-676-1113 or email kevin.heaton@usu.edu. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP. With the federal Stimulus money, (which everyone will be paying for anyway)... it would be wise for low to moderate income Utahns who struggle to pay high utility bills to pay attention. Homeowners who have insufficient insulation and heat efficiency understand the vicious cycle of trying to save up for improvements because high monthly utility bills take every penny they can raise. For many years, a state agency, Utah Weatherization Program, has been going into homes, and making those improvements at no cost to eligible Utahns. The catch has been that the federal funds available were never enough. In some parts of the state, the waiting list was two years long. Now, new federal money is coming into the state, so that more households than ever can have needed improvements, like more efficient furnaces, better insulation, air sealing, duct sealing, more efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, and in some cases, a more efficient refrigerator. Energy auditors will evaluate the home. Any improvements paid for by this program must be cost effective. Trained technicians will then make the needed improvements-all without cost to the household. Residents can then expect an average 20% to 40% reduction in their home energy costs. Slot Canyon Inn chosen as Best Bed and Breakfast weather thursday showers early high: 52 low: 27 friday Mostly CLOUDY high: 52 low: 29 saturday Mostly CLOUDY high: 51 low: 30 sunday Mostly CLOUDY high: 51 low: 27 monday PARTly CLOUDY high: 48 low: 28 tuesday Mostly CLOUDY SNOW shower high: 45 low: 23 True West Magazine chooses their “Best of the West” in many categories annually. For 2009 Slot Canyons Inn of Escalante has been chosen the Best Bed and Breakfast. Joette and Jeff Rex developed their dream BNB in 2003. They’ve been the focus of many articles about their facility and service and provide lodging year round. Their award states” Slot Canyons Inn provides luxury cabins in one of the most beautiful and historical locations in the country. Nestled in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument region of Utah is a secluded 160 acres, where the Escalante River and North Creek create waterfalls and canyon pools from America’s highest plateau.” Dairy Prices to Trigger MILC Payments Changes to the program will slow payments to producers Lori Jones, Program Specialist, for USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Utah announced today that due to low milk prices FSA will be making payments in April to producers through the FSA’s Milk Income Loss Contract, or MILC, program. The 2008 Farm Bill made changes to the MILC program, most notably the addition of a dairy feed ration cost adjustment in addition to changes to the payment rate and modifications to the per-operation poundage limit, depending on when the milk is produced. “We will be making MILC payments as a result of the low prices but because of the changes to the program ordered in the 2008 Farm Bill, the payments may be higher but will take a bit longer to gather the required data before payments can be made,” Jones explained. FSA makes MILC payments on a monthly basis when the Boston Class I milk price falls below $16.94 per hundredweight (cwt) as adjusted for feed costs. The monthly Boston price is posted online at: http://www.fmmone.com/ Northeast_Order_Prices/NE_Prices_main new.htm#Advance. FSA determines the per hundredweight payment rate for the applicable month by subtracting the Boston Class I price for that month from the $16.94 MILC payment trigger price as adjusted for feed costs, and multiplying the difference by 45 percent. The payment factor of 45 percent will decline to 34 percent on September 1, 2012. The MILC payment trigger price of $16.94 is adjusted upward when the National Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost for a month is greater than $7.35 per cwt. This rate will change to $9.50 on September 1, 2012. The dairy feed ration cost is calculated each month from the price of feed ingredients used to create a 16 percent protein dairy feed as reported by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). “While the dairy feed ration cost adjustment benefits producers when feed costs are high, it also means we must wait until that month’s National Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost is known before the MILC payment rate can be calculated,” explained Jones. “For example, while the Boston Class I price for February is $13.97 and below $16.94, we still won’t know the actual MILC payment rate until late March when we receive final figures from NASS for determining the National Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost. That means the MILC payment for February cannot be made until April.” FSA issues payments not later than 60 calendar days after FSA receives production evidence for the applicable month or the entire month’s National Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost is posted for the applicable month, whichever is later. FSA makes payments on up to the maximum eligible pounds of milk produced and marketed by each operation per fiscal year. The annual maximum eligible pound limit per dairy operation is 2,985,000 pounds per fiscal year. The amount drops to 2.4 million pounds per fiscal year on September, 1, 2012. MILC participants must select a month for which FSA will begin issuing payments for each fiscal year. Starting with the dairy operation’s selected month, FSA will issue MILC payments based on that month’s milk production and the milk production for each consecutive month thereafter with an effective payment rate until the operation reaches the production cap or the fiscal year ends. Dairy producers must select a start month on, or before, the 14th of the month before the month which they want to receive payments and before the selected month’s Boston Class I fluid price is announced to the public. Or the dairy producer has the option to select the month in which the contract application is submitted as their start month. For subsequent years or if they wish to change a previously selected start month the producer must select a start month prior to the 14th of the month before the month which they want to receive payments and before the selected month’s Boston Class I milk price is announced to the public. In addition, if changing a start month selection, the change has to be made by the 14th of the month before the month originally selected. Producers may contact their local FSA office to sign up for the MILC program. The 2008 Farm Bill also excludes producers whose non-farm average adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeds $500,000 from receiving MILC payments. Producers will have to sign an AGI statement when signing up for the program. More information about the MILC program can be found on the FSA website http://www.fsa.usda.gov. wednesday Abraham Lincoln once said: You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could do for themselves.” high:44 low: 20 A kleptomocracy is apparently a new type of government that has decieved itself into thinking it is ok to help itself because it can’t help itself. THE GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER is owned and operated by Snapshot Multimedia and is distributed weekly to all of Garfield County. Its purpose is to inform residents about local issues and events. Articles submitted from independent writers are not necessarily the opinion of Snapshot Multimedia. We sincerely hope you enjoy the paper and encourage input on ideas and/or suggestions for the paper. Thank you for your support. Phone: 435-676-2621 Fax 435-836-2700 PO BOX 472, ~ Loa, Utah 84747 snapshot@scinternet.net ALL content for THE GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER must be submitted on FRIDAY before 5:00 pm to be included in the following Thursday edition of the paper. BOXHOLDER PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID LOA, UTAH PERMIT No. 5 |