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Show Wednesday, March 5, 2008 A7 Drake to lead charter school Vernal Express 1 r-"lw " wii-w im !...! jl'Ii '. ,..) 1 1. w wuu. i mi. i a maumjtijm IUiiU ymiMm'UJJU.ui4Uj-MijiijijuijiiJWfcwwiiM"Wff f3..-.. .... .. . ,-1 ! i ' , .i " ? - n: : .. j . 1 ? ' - . "!' . ....... " E ...... ... ,, --- By Iacey McMurry STREET SWEEPING BEGINS ON DIRTY STREETS Vernal City crews sweeps the streets on and around Main Street in an attempt to clear sand that was used for the snow and ice control. Motorists are reminded to use caution when they see sweeper trucks in their lane as at times a cloud of dust will raise up without warning and make driving conditions condi-tions poor for a few seconds. BLM to discuss West Tavaputs The Bureau of Land Management's Manage-ment's Price Field Office will host a public meeting in Roosevelt to discuss its draft environmental impact statement for the West Tavaputs Plateau Natural Gas Full Field Development Proposal. Pro-posal. The BLM is asking the public to attend a March 1 1 meeting at the Utah State University-Uin-tah Basin campus in Roosevelt. The meeting - an opportunity for the community to comments on the DEIS, which evaluates a proposal to develop natural gas resources on the West Tavaputs Plateau in Duchesne and Carbon counties - will be held from 5-8 p.m. Two additional public meetings meet-ings will also be held on the DEIS: one in Price on March 12 at the Holiday Inn, located at 838 Westwood Blvd.; and the other in Salt Lake City on March 13 at the Salt Lake City Library, located at 210 E. 400 S. The DEIS, released Feb. 1 for public review and comment, considers con-siders a long-term development proposal by Bill Barrett Corp. that includes drilling up to 807 natural gas wells in 538 locations over a period of eight years. Each well has the potential to produce gas for up to 20 years. ' Infrastf u'cture forth?' project"" would include development and construction of roads and pipelines, pipe-lines, gas compression stations, and other facilities to accommodate accommo-date natural gas delivery. The BLM is currently evaluating evalu-ating five alternatives in detail in an effort to address a broad spectrum of issues and uses specific to this area. The range of alternatives includes applying best management practices for oil and gas development, optimizing optimiz-ing opportunities for directional drilling, and other mitigation measures developed to address sensitive issues. The West Tavaputs Plateau, which includes miles of Fremont Indian petroglyphs in Nine Mile Canyon, is an area that has seen oil and gas development since the 1950s. More than 100 gas wells have been drilled within the proposed pro-posed project area, most of which are currently in production. A substantial network of roads, pipelines, and compressor stations already exists on federal, state, and private lands within the proposed project area in support of both past and present natural gas production. Comments on the draft EIS will be accepted through May 1 and should be as specific as possible. pos-sible. Comments which express only opinions or preferences will not receive a formal response; however, they will be considered in the BLM decision-makingpro-cess. The most useful comments will identify issues that should be considered in the analysis. Comments will be accepted by letter, fax, or e-mail and may be sent by May 1 to: Bureau of Land Management, Attn: West Tavaputs Plateau Natural Gas Full Field, Development Plan DEIS, Price Field Office, 125 South 600 West, Price, UT 8450 1; or by fax to 435-636-3657; or by e-mail to UTPrComments blm.gov. Before including an address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information infor-mation in a comment, members of the public should be aware that their entire comment - including personal identifying information - may be made publicly available at any time. While individuals may ask in their comment to have their personal identifying information withheld from public review, the BLM cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so. Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents respon-dents will be available for public review at the BLM Price Field Office from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding exclud-ing federal holidays. Comments may also be published as part of the NEPA document and other related documents. All submissions from organizations orga-nizations or businesses will be made available for public inspection inspec-tion in their entirety. For further information, contact Brad Higdon at 435-636-3613. Uintah Basin News Service Friends and family of Neola resident Bobby Drake will tell you he's a man who loves learning. learn-ing. Over the years, Drake has mastered the Spanish language and become a self-taught expert in everything from car restora-, tion to carpentry to computer technology. He's also a man who loves to share the things he has learned with others, and for the past 13 years he has done just that, as a teacher in both the Duchesne and Uintah school district. "I love the moment when it clicks; you can almost hear it," Drake said when asked what it was that he most loved about teaching. "It's always fun when a child finally 'gets it' and feels empowered by what he or she learned." Drake's love for learning and teaching will serve him well as the first director of Emerson Alcott Academy, a Uintah Basin charter school slated to open in Ballard this fall. Members of the charter school's founding board named Drake to the post last week, after a comprehensive selection process that included a national search for qualified candidates. Deb Richards, president of Emerson Alcott Academy's founding board, said she is confident confi-dent in Drake's ability to lead the charter school in the future. "We're really happy to have him on board," Richards said. "He has proven to be an excellent excel-lent teacher and we all feel like he has the ability, leadership, and knowledge to take this school where we want it to go." Drake's educational background back-ground includes a bachelor's degree in elementary education with a Spanish emphasis and a master's degree in education. His real-life experience as a teacher and a local Realtor have given him a solid background in business, busi-ness, budgeting, leadership, and staffing - all necessary skills for a charter school director. Now that he's been named to the director's post, Drake will head up the search for teachers and work closely with those edu cators once they've been hired. He will also be responsible for handling the day-to-day and business busi-ness operations of the school and interacting closely with parents and students to help ensure a positive learning experience. It was the opportunity to work closely with others that attracted Drake to the job, he said. "The director's position at Emerson Alcott Academy really re-ally appealed to me because it seemed like the opportunity to be an administrator, yet still be very involved in the students' lives and learning," Drake said. "The ability to interact and affect the students so directly was the .reason I considered applying." For his part, Drake said he is excited about the vision of the charter school concept and the opportunity to provide educational edu-cational choices in the Uintah Basin. Emerson Alcott Academy will feature a 12-to-l student-teacher student-teacher ratio, something Drake said he thinks is important when it comes to education. "That high ratio of teachers and aides to students is going to help kids get that one-on-one help when they need it," he said. Richards said a ceremonial ceremo-nial groundbreaking for the new school is set for March 15 at 10 a.m. The public is invited to attend. at-tend. When school starts in August, Richards said the 20,000 square foot, phase-one portion of the school will be finished. The second phase of construction is expected to begin after the end of Emerson Alcott's first academic year. When it's fully completed, the school will be a 55,000 square-foot, square-foot, state-of-the-art facility that offers a gymnasium, library, and auditorium, Richards said. "This building is going to be the whole nine yards," she said. "We're very excited about it and think it's a neat thing that we're going to be able to offer it." As plans for the building begin be-gin ramping up, so too does the registration process for students who have been pre-enrolled. Letters Let-ters were sent out last Monday letting parents know of their student's pre-enrollment status and the need to accept their seat at Emerson Alcott. Richard said parents must confirm their child's enrollment in the school and letters of acceptance accep-tance are due by March 15. Any acceptance letters not returned by that date will imply that the student will not be attending Emerson Alcott Academy and will create a vacancy for another prospective student to fill. Richards said enrollment can be done online at www.emerson-alcottacademy.org. www.emerson-alcottacademy.org. Online registration regis-tration will be open until March 20. A lottery will take place the following day for open student spots in each class. Phone calls will be made to those selected in the lottery. Any student on the waiting list for the 2008-09 school year will automatically be accepted for the 2009-10 school year when enrollment will increase from 192 to 450, Richards said. Drake said the charter school is focused on encouraging parents par-ents and guardians to take an active role in their children's education, both in and out of the classroom. Additionally, he said members of the founding board are focused on creating a culture of "fun learning" through integrating art, music, classical literature, foreign language and constitutional constitu-tional principals into the core subjects. Drake said he grew up in a home with a focus on art and culture, and his parents took the family to as many different art venues as possible. As the parents of four children, Drake said he and his wife, Lisa, also make a continual effort to expose their children to culture through music, literature, foreign language, lan-guage, dance, drawing, plays and ' travel. Through his experiences as a parent and as a teacher, Drake said he has noticed that art plays an essential role in education. "Being around those sorts of things just makes you a more rounded person," he said. "Some kids relate better when you incorporate art with their learning, and if you can touch on their strengths, a lot of times everything just comes together for them." UintaH County makes sandbags available With the snow accumulation from this past winter beginning to melt, some residents of Uintah County may be experiencing flooding around their homes and businesses. Mechelle Miller, emergency management director for Uintah County, wants residents to know that the county does have sandbags sand-bags available to help protect their property from flooding. Anyone who needs sandbags, is asked to tontact the county's Emergency Management Office at 781-1911. They will receive information on where to get bags and sand. Miller is asking citizens not to call Central Dispatch or the road department unless there is an actual emergency, and to please direct all calls regarding sandbags to the Emergency Management Office at 781-1911 or 435-781-5466. 7TH ANNUAL (Dfl? mm yvWincj frcm Within MARCH 25-26, 2008 Carbon County Event Center, Price, Utah Hosted by Senator bob Bennett and the Utah Rural development council ,. K . KEYNOTE Speaker David Taylor Group President .Global Home Care Proctor & Gamble FEATURED PRESENTER DONNA FISHER Author and Consultant if Got Money? A Guide to Small business Finance Small Business, Big Sales: Increasing your bottom Line Progress in Health Care Reform, A state and national perspective The Future of Coal The Changing Landscape for Natural Gas in the west Locally Owned, Globally Minded: exporting to New Markets Innovations in Marketing: Small business Podcasting Not What You Know, But Who: ' Effective Networking Special thanks to our Generous Sponsors HUNT Oil MSMBtB BUSINESS LENDING ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWI yVOKHCR) COMPSENSATION FUND ZlONS BANK ATK LAUNCH !V111M9 HILL HAURLTT Cun'OHliu II.... n..-.. c r- A.xr.riAriON WtSTfRN ACBIIT CARBON COUNTY CHAMBen Of COMMKRCl LMCBY TELCOM MOUNTAIN WEST SMALL DUSINtS flHNCl UTAH D( PABIMrHr rip COMMEflC-E LI TAM '.rATf; UNIVF U1IT Y f. XTF NSION BUYS A ASSOCIATES C A5TI I COLIN IB Y RAOIO Coi i tau or u'jmuN i haw f in Oiam Community cnr.oir Union Mid-Utah Radio Picum pwintinb, inc. SOUTHEAST UTAH AOS ECONOMIC 1 1 E VE LO fM II N T DISTRICT SUN ADVOCATl - fNEBY COUNTY PBOOBISS tJNIIlioPAnrEl. 5l.-,vi K U'.iIJA I-AIIM HEMVIfE AlJFNt.V US OA RlJBAL DEVELOPMENT UTAH STAT OPEICE Of REHABILITATION www.ruralutah.com ( i :' Exclusive Office Listing! V nr-i .1, , -4: J t vJv ; 'J ASPEN BROOK REALTY INC. Crissy Kremin Realtor, GRI 435-790-4930 Caring, Creative & Committed!!! 1288 sq.ft. 1 car garage & 1 car carport 3 bedrooms RV parking 1 .5 bathrooms mature landscaping .24 acre In-Town location "Expect the Best" 1340 West Highway 40, Vernal, UT 84078 Office: (435) 789-7555 Fax: 781-2913 Today's Weather i m , Wed Thu Frl Sat Sun 35 36 37 38 39 3114 3215 4019 4323 4524 Mix ol sun and Mostly sunny. Highs Times of sun and Mix of sun and Partly cloudy. Highs clouds. Highs In the In the low 30s and clouds. Highs In the clouds. 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