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Show Page 3 The Garfield County Insider March 19, 2009 IN OUR TOWN... Explore Escalante jana@exploreescalante.com FUN WAYS TO PHONE IN A PIZZA ORDER If using a touch-tone, press random numbers while ordering. Ask the person taking the order to stop doing that. Order a Big Mac Extra Value Meal. Tell the order taker a rival pizza place is on the other line and you’re going with the lowest bidder. Tell them to put the crust on top this time. Put an extra edge in your voice when you say “crazy bread.” Stutter on the letter “p.” Say hello, act stunned for five seconds, then behave as if they called you. If they repeat the order to make sure they have it right, say “OK. That’ll be $10.99; please pull up to the first window.” When they say yes, heave a sigh of relief. Say “Are you sure this is (Pizza Place)? When they say yes, say “Well, so is this! You’ve got some explaining to do!” When they finally offer proof that it is, in fact, (Pizza Place), start to cry and ask, “Do you know what it’s like to be lied to?” Order a slice, not a whole pizza. Order two toppings, then say, “No, they’ll start fighting.” OPEN HOUSE - everyone is invited to see the Kazan Clinic in all it’s beauty Friday, March 20, 2009 from 4-6 PM. Join Sheri, Judy and Becky Roberts and celebrate this beautiful building created by the community volunteers. I forgot to include Precision Pipeline, who is installing the new water lines in the city, in my kudos for the clinic. Trent Danklef, the supervisor for the project, volunteered two of his crew to help Sheri, Judy, two IHC workers, and Jeff Dunn move the equipment and boxes. What community support. Thanks Precision!!!!! There is much debate in the community about the water project for Lost Creek Spring. There is a large public record at City Hall that identifies the various players, what they did and did not do and who was going to do what, when and how. You could write a Freedom of Information Act Request for the Forest Service Records on Lost Creek. I could write several articles about it, but rehashing is not going to get the necessary land use permit for a 30’ usage ¼ mile long that will be reseeded and reclaimed and use the old CCC Camp gravel pit for the staging area with access for maintenance. I think the Mayor summed it up the best when he wrote to the U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester in Ogden and simply said, “the service we received from the Forest Service is unacceptable. The City of Escalante is asking you to accelerate the process for the land use permit so the citizens of Escalante can have the needed water.” The City started this process in January of 2007. The Council was told last meeting it would take 24 months to complete. We should be done. I hope they’re listening. If you’d like to add your two cents to the discussion you can reach the Regional Forester , Harv Forsgren, at 801625-5306 in Ogden, Utah. Until next week - - - Ask for the guy who took your order last time. Ask if the pizza is organically grown. Make the first topping you order mushrooms. Make the last thing you say “No mushrooms, please.” Order a one-inch pizza. When they say “Will that be all?”, snicker and say “We’ll find out, won’t we?” February 19, 2009 School Board Meeting • The meeting was held at Bryce Valley High School. • The Board celebrated Michael James Clarke’s fiftytwo year career in teaching, and his years of service at Bryce Valley High School as the Art Teacher. KayeLynn Neilson read Principal Slack’s letter of tribute. “Jim retired for the first time in the late 1990’s, but could not stay away from the classroom and his beloved students. He was rehired at Panguitch High School and spent the next several years teaching three classes a day. He eventually retired for a second time just to be rehired at Bryce Valley High School. Now at age 81, Jim is completing his 52nd year in education and his 33rd year in Garfield County School District.” Jim received a certificate of recognition and a stipend from the District at the Board Meeting. • Academic Spotlight: Nathan Pratt, Bryce Valley High School’s Mixed Choir Director, spoke to the Board and described his musical program. Over the years Nathan has taken his choir to many regional and state competitions where the students are judged on performance criteria rather than in competition with other choirs. Last year the Bryce Valley High School Choir took first place in regional competition. • The Board hosted an open forum on improving education in Garfield County. Gladys LeFevre asked those attending to comment on just how important text books were in this age of digital products. Debbie Pollock responded by describing her class on Journalism which she teaches out of an online New York Times electronic text. Debbie reported her students find the medium fun and informative. Ryan Houston stated many on-line texts are free and teachers use them in conjunction with their Smartboards. KayeLynn Neilson described her recent purchase of an Amazon Kindle Book for her classroom. Kindle books are wireless signal devices that store electronic books in a “paper-like” readable format. KayeLynn purchases books from the Amazon Kindle Store where she can make more than 100,000 selections and reads them on this lightweight wireless device. Books purchased in this way cost less than half the normal price and are downloaded in less than a minute. A new version of the Kindle is “read-aloudcapable” and can be used to help struggling readers progress. • Garfield County Commissioner Claire Ramsey spoke to the Board on the benefits of bringing the Regional Basketball Tournaments back to Panguitch. Claire appealed to the Board to use its influence to make this happen. Board President Ken Platt agreed to speak for the Board in asking Ted Chidester to appeal to the rest of Region 15 to bring the Tournaments back to Panguitch. Claire reminded the Board it controls three of the seven votes in Region 15. Superintendent Park agreed to raise the issue at the District’s monthly ADMIN meeting in March. The Board directed the Superintendent to place this issue on the March meeting agenda. • The Board has requested the following be included in hiring letters from the building principals and head teachers when requesting the Board’s approval: 1) the rationale for the hiring; 2) the job title and a description listing the duties and responsibilities of the position; 3) the person’s qualifications and experience; and 4) the individual’s rate of pay and the fund account from which the position will be financed. • The Board directed the Superintendent to write a letter to the principals, head teachers, and community councils to review the Trust Lands Standards when writing or re-writing their yearly Trust Lands Plans. • The Board approved the hiring of Anja Lowe as AES Food Service Substitute. • The Board approved Justin Baugh’s accounting plan to pay some of the District’s custodial costs, which were formerly funded out of the maintenance and operations budget, out of the capital projects fund as the first part of the District’s response to the state’s reduc- tion of $175,000 in Garfield School District funding. The rest of the plan for addressing the short fall will come from an analysis of input gathered by Superintendent Park and Justin Baugh from administrators, teachers, and support staff throughout the District. • The Board approved changes to the Bryce Valley High School Trust Lands Plan. • The Board tabled the first reading of Policy DEBA – Early Retirement Incentive Program and asked the Superintendent to schedule a meeting with Gregg Christensen, John Gillett, Debbie Pollock, Justin Baugh and himself to take the Board’s input and ready this policy for a first reading. The meeting must be scheduled before March 12, 2009 to accommodate Gregg’s work plans. • The Board set aside funds as a line item in the FY 10 Budget to purchase a new wrestling mat for Escalante High School. • The Board tabled approving changes to the Superintendent’s contract. • The Board approved Panguitch High School/Middle School’s request to put into effect a $12 PE Fee for all incoming 7th grade students. • The Board scheduled the March School Board Meeting for Panguitch High School, Thursday, March 19, 2009, Work Meeting at 4:00 PM., Dinner Break at 5:30 P.M., Business Meeting at 6 P.M. Bryce Valley Area News by Vicki D. Syrett 679-8687 or vickidiane36@hotmail.com Happy Birthday to a beautiful little girl, Cambri Twitchell, who just turned two years old. She had a great family party and sang Happy Birthday to herself as well as with everyone else. Grandparents Monte and Rita Twitchell of Cannonville, Kedric and Jolin Redd of Blanding, aunt Kara Redd of Blanding, aunt Deysha Twitchell, and mom and dad, Cole and Janice Twitchell were delighted to attend this birthday party. Congratulations to John and Ramona Morreale who have been called to be Family History Consultants. You will love the work folks. Deysha Twitchell and Kaitlin Pollock took part in the All Star Game at South Sevier High School this past week. They had a great time meeting everyone and felt it an honor to be invited to the game as players. Three from Escalante’s boys team also were there to play in the boy’s game. Congratulations to all of you for being chosen to play in this All Star Game. Parents of all concerned attended and cheered on the game and the players. All three Bryce Valley towns took the youth up to Draper Utah to attend the Draper Temple Open House. Seventy seven from Tropic, thirty nine from Henrieville, and Cannonville also had some go along. Everyone reports it was a wonderful trip and worth the early hours to go. All returned safe and sound. Mary-Miller Boyd organized a fun sewing class with Linda Walters, from Cedar City. There were 16 ladies in attendance. Everyone left with a finished or ‘almost finished’ project. A great time was had by all who attended. Next time some of us hope it is advertised more so others can attend also. The Tropic Ward Annual Pack Trip is being held this Friday out in the Watson Ridge area. Hope everyone is able to attend and there will be a mutton fry and for those who don’t like mutton there will be something else to be had. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby is being held on Wed. March 18th at the Bryce Valley Elementary Gym. It will be at 6:30 P.M. for the weigh in. Then the race will begin. The Cubs report that the Blue and Gold Banquet held last month in February was very fun and had lots of good food and everyone enjoyed it. It was a fantastic evening was one comment heard. Everyone enjoyed dancing the Circle Dance with Duztin Sorenson and his family. Congratulations to Noah Sorenson who earned his Arrow of Light award. He is the son of Duztin and Sara Sorenson of Henrieville. Duztin did an “Arrow of Light” tribute that was wonderful. He also did the Hoop Dance which is always wonderful and his family joined in providing the music to make this a special evening for everyone, especially Noah. Today in Tropic Ward, Blaine and Shauna Anderson were the speakers and they talked about doing Family History and Temple Work and their importance. Danielle Brinkerhoff honored us with a beautiful piano medley of church songs. It was a great meeting. Danielle is the daughter of Tyson and Kayce Brinkerhoff of Tropic. Arthur and I were honored with a surprise dinner party by our children and grandchildren with some of our very dear friends attending. They fed us royally and presented a talent show, a video show, and a scrapebook with many memories inside. IT was a wonderful evening and it made us feel very loved. What a fun thing to do for our 25th. Where are the storms we have been promised? I know someone stole them away from us. We need them back. I don’t like snow but I also know the importance of the moisture that comes from the snow and rain. Everyone have a great week. Try not to get sick with this horrible cold that is putting everyone down. It knocks you flat I am told. Please call or email your news. Maybe if I get enough you won’t have to hear about me and mine. He he he!! Thanks VS FIVE COUNTY AOG REACHES HISTORIC MILESTONE! Five County Association of Governments is proud to announce that 100 business loans have been provided through its Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). Since its creation in 1987, the RLF has provided nearly $6.52 million in funds to area businesses and created/retained approximately 740 jobs. The main purpose of the RLF is to create permanent, long-term jobs within the southwestern region of Utah by providing “gap” financing to qualified businesses. Loans made through the RLF are intended to help bridge the gap created by shortfalls in commercial financing. The type of loans eligible for funding include: land and building acquisition; purchase of machinery and equipment; working capital; and building construction/renovation. In addition to the above mentioned milestone, Five County is responding to the current economic times by amending its Microloan Program which provides additional lending opportunities for businesses. The Microloan Program is a component of the RLF and provides capital to small businesses that lack access to traditional commercial financing. Five County Association of Governments services Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and Washington Counties. For more information about the Revolving Loan Fund or Microloan Program feel free to contact Darren Janes at (435) 673-3548 or djanes@fcaog.state.ut.us |