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Show Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Bryce • Tropic • Antimony • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder • Duck Creek Thursday, February 5, 2009 • Issue # 201 Rumour’s Has It! Friends, clients and employees of Shantel Manning’s Rumours Hair Salon located at 45 No. Main Street in Pangutich, came together over the weekend to repay Shantel for her years of friendship and service to our community. Together they painted, reupholstered and added accents for a total Salon Style “Make Over”, hoping to surprise her when she arrived to work on Monday morning. They all wanted Shantel to know how much she is loved and appreciated. We are so honored to have her as a part of our wonderful community. She touches us all with her love and friendship, not to mention her great sense of style. It was a pleasure to be able to give back to a wonderful friend, mother and woman business owner. USDA Rural Development reduces interest rate on home mortgages The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development recently announced a decrease in the home mortgage interest rate for its Section 502 Homeownership Direct Loan Program. Effective February 1, 2009, the new interest rate has been reduced to 4.375 percent, down from the 5.375 percent rate. This rate decrease makes this a good time for limited-income families to purchase a home through the USDA Rural Development program. The Section 502 direct loan program is available to eligible very-low and low income households to purchase an existing home, purchase a site and construct a dwelling, or purchase a newly constructed dwelling in rural areas. Financing under this program is available for up to 100 percent loan-to-value, and no down payment is required. Eligibility is based on household size and income. Applicants must have acceptable credit histories, and debt-to income ratios. Depending on household incomes, mortgage payments may be subsidized to as low as 1 percent interest rate. To view rural eligibility requirements and/or the area’s income limits, visit http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov or contact the USDA Rural Development local office in Cedar City at 435-586-7274 x 6, serving, Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and Washington Counties.. weather Contact: Donna Birk @ 435-835-4111 x27 high: 47 low: 22 thursday high: 40 low: 20 friday high: 38 low: 14 saturday high: 38 low: 12 sunday high: 40 low: 15 monday high: 38 low: 12 tuesday high:41 low: 13 wednesday BRYCE CANYON WONDERS OF WINTER Bryce Canyon is one of the most beautiful Parks and it lies in our backyard. 1.5 million people come to the Park each year from all over the world. But only a fraction of that many come in the winter, when Bryce is in the making. Marilyn Bulkley who is the Education Outreach Specialist for Bryce Canyon Natural History Association started a program for the 7th and 8th grade students to come to the Park and see the “wonders of winter”. Putting on snow shoes and hiking through the snow to the rim at Paria Point she teaches the students about plant and animal life in the winter and the remarkable creation of the Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon. This a breathe taking sight, on the cold crisp mornings sometimes the high is only 12 degrees, and on these clear mornings the students can see 150 miles out over the Grand Staircase. Using specialist at Bryce Canyon like Patrick Hair, who is an Interpretative Ranger and teaches the students about winter ecology and winter adaptations of wildlife and Gayle Pollock, Director of the Natural History Association teaches the “creation” of Bryce Canyon through his knowledge of geology. So far over 150 students in Garfield County have participated in this snowshoeing educational experience. Marilyn Bulkley said: “This is such a great opportunity for the students to learn a new sport, get exercise, enjoy the beauties of Bryce Canyon and learn the science of winter.” BLM and Forest Service Announce 2009 Grazing Fee The Federal grazing fee for 2009 will be $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM) for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and $1.35 per head month (HM) for lands managed by the Forest Service. The grazing fee for 2009 is the same as it was in 2008. An AUM or HM – treated as equivalent measures for fee purposes – is the occupancy and use of public lands by one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month. The newly adjusted grazing fee, determined by a congressional formula and effective on March 1, applies to nearly 18,000 grazing permits and leases administered by the BLM and more than 8,000 permits administered by the Forest Service. The formula used for calculating the grazing fee, which was established by Congress in the 1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act, has continued under a presidential Executive Order issued in 1986. Under that order, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35 per AUM, and any increase or decrease cannot exceed 25 percent of the previous year’s level. The annually adjusted grazing fee is computed by using a 1966 base value of $1.23 per AUM/HM for livestock grazing on public lands in Western states. The figure is then adjusted according to three factors – current private grazing land lease rates, beef cattle prices, and the cost of livestock production. In effect, the fee rises, falls, or stays the same based on market conditions, with livestock operators paying more when conditions are better and less when conditions have declined. Free Foreclosure Training The $1.35 per AUM/ HM grazing fee applies to 16 Western states on public lands administered by the BLM and the Forest Service. The states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The Forest Service applies different grazing fees to national grasslands and to lands under its management in the Eastern and Midwestern Hatch Amendment Would Ensure CHIP Eligibility for Unborn Children An amendment to the Children Health Insurance Program Improvements Act that would guarantee the eligibility of CHIP money to unborn children. Speaking on the Senate floor, Hatch noted the nation’s founders built their case for independence from Great Britain on the truth that the “creator endows us with unalienable rights including the right to life. The senator added that the Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is about children, which includes children still inside the womb. “I cannot understand those who insist that we establish hundreds of programs to help millions of people by spending billions of dollars, but who do not believe that the lives of those very same people should not be protected,” Hatch said. “The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is about promoting children’s health. My amendment does exactly that. The child in the womb is just as alive, just as human, as that very same child will be after he or she is born.” In 2002, Hatch said, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revised the definition of the term “child” under the CHIP program to clarify that an unborn child may be considered a low-income child for the purposes of eligibility for the program. Currently, 14 states have approved plans to provide CHIP coverage to children before birth, including Arkansas, California, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Hatch’s amendment would codify that HHS regulation that has been in place since 2002 to protect states that have implemented rules addressing these issues. It effectively ensures that states have the option to protect the health and rights of the mother and the unborn child. In the first quarter of 2008 the rate of foreclosures in Utah nearly doubled, rising from 0.64 percent of total mortgage loans to 1.02 percent. Although Utah?s foreclosure rate is currently less than half the national rate, Utah?s foreclosure rate has historically been relatively volatile, often rising well above the national rate. Conditions Creating Record Foreclosures • National Recession and Global Credit Squeeze • Declining Housing Prices • Weak Job Market • Utah?s most Severe Residential Construction Contraction in History • Exposure to Subprime Loans Please see attached study for more information, Utah Foreclosures Likely to Set Record in 2009. James Wood, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utahhttp://www.utahhousing.org/documents/JamesWoodForeclosureAugust2008.pdf Do you know the resources in your community that may be able to help your neighbor, relative or even you in saving your home & credit? FREE Trainings for West Valley City and Weber County Community Members Sustaining Homeownership; Foreclosure Prevention Training. FREE Foreclosure Prevention Workbook and Breakfast provided Training provided by: JP Morgan Chase Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Utah Attorney General’s Office West Valley City Training: Weber County Training: Tuesday, February 10, 2009; Wednesday, February 11, 2009; 8:00am -12:30pm 8:00am -12:30pm Cultural Celebration Center Your Community Connection 1355 West 3100 South 2261 Adams Avenue West Valley City, UT 84119 Ogden, UT 84401 Please call for more inforI’m really glad that our young people missed the Depression, and missed the mation: Kari Sunderland, great big war. But I do regret that they missed the leaders that I knew. Leaders Utah Housing Coalition who told us when things were tough, and that we would have to sacrifice, and (UHC) 801.364.0077; Jan these difficulties might last awhile. They didn’t tell us things were hard for us Bontrager, Federal Reserve because we were different, or isolated, or special interests. They brought us toBank of San Francisco gether and they gave us a sense of national purpose. ~ Ann Richards (FRBSB) 415.974.3370 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. states and parts of Texas. The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land – 256 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, manages 193 million acres of Federal lands in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. 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 |
