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Show .SHAKESPEARE! YEA! Traveling Shakespeare tour I v v c l. ic i I..- y '. .- r- K . !!,.!.. I..! ""iliiiiiiiliiiiliiiiifiiuiniliiimlihli!,,!,!,,,!,! ' ('jf u 'i' k 1'kESS RSSOCI JillOU I "T ' ion (, 3 '.; fj A- 115th Year No. 12 . Vernal, Utah 84078 59 cents Even massive road graders are P'"""' 1 ,lwaMi---- t ' .-. - Warm temperatures make oil fie By Kevin Ashby Express Publisher "It is a mess!" stated Aaron Johnson owner of Bandit Trucking Truck-ing as he described the spring runoff and road conditions in the oil field area south of Vernal. He went on to explain, "It's not really worse than a typical year, but there was a longer season of snow and now a longer season of Robin Taylor conducted the End Meth Now town meeting held on March 5 at Northeastern Counseling. Coun-seling. Taylor travels to companies in and out of the oil industry to deliver a free meth prevention presentation. on b By Kristin Baldwin Express Writer A boom in oil and gas drilling drill-ing means a boom in young, roughneck workers with colossal paychecks. The economic development devel-opment of the boom in the Basin has come with an exponential increase in domestic violence, property theft, and meth addiction addic-tion largely at the hands of the young workforce. While women are the most common meth users in Utah statewide, the Basin and its surrounding sur-rounding area reflects different numbers. In the last quarter of 2007, 104 out of 118 clients receiving re-ceiving help for drug or alcohol abuse at a local resource center, worked or were involved with the oil and gas industry. In a profession where the work is long and grueling, meth-amphetime's meth-amphetime's perceived superhuman superhu-man benefits hold strong appeal. m lifgligSlSt McMullin Homes Smart, Efficient, Affordable 3ii! : Exit Rkalty Proii:ssionai.s (435) 789-EXIT (3948). T .'",V"'7 ri 71 - ! 't A 1 ' ' i V V. -i . getting stuck in what seems to be mud that we are all getting tired of." "Without a doubt, this has been one of the worst winters we have experienced," stated Russ Cowan, RNI Trucking. "It has been very expensive to keep the roads open and extricate our vehicles that have been stuck in the mud." And the costs for driving in , the mud are mounting. n n n n n si mw no There are many types and sizes of drilling rigs; what each has in common is the need for strong laborers who can work long and difficult hours to insure there is no down time in the operation. "Methamphetamine is pretty appealing because it at least gives a person the perception that they can stay awake for hours on end," explained Lieutenant Keith Campbell of the Uintah Basin Sheriffs Office. From his jail cell, a previous oil field worker and meth user named Steve explained, "It's hard to stay up twelve hours, especially if you're doing a short trip and a full trip on pipe, and the exertion is just really extreme. I would say that methamphetamine methamphet-amine covers up what I call the - fatigue. It fools you so you keep going and you keep going." At first companies may see higher production from meth using employees but this bonus Your Hometown Newspaper an endless supply of mud caused Wilson Supply, a local oilfield supply company, has a fleet of only six trucks but they drive an average of 2 1 ,000 to 30,000 miles a month. According to general manager Bob Alexander, normal monthly expenses for transportation transporta-tion average about $8,000. This last month they soared to over $18,000. So far this spring they have replaced transmissions, 4x4 transfer cases, front ends' plus n n is short lived. The first thing that is compromised is safety. Keith Materi, owner of a drilling company in Wyoming learned to SEE OIL AND METH on A3 EMERSON ACADEMY An artist's rendering by Architectural Nexus shows the exterior of the planned Emerson Alcott Academy. About 20 people turned out Saturday morning on 2500 East in Ballard, including the town's mayor, Tom Nordstrom, and state Sen. Kevin VanTassell, R-Vernal, R-Vernal, for the charter school's ceremonial groundbreaking. Emerson Alcott is expected to open its doors to 1 92 students in grades K-6 this fall. The school is being built on a nine-acre parcel of land donated by longtime Ballard resident Max Rasmussen. 3 Hilrms, 2 bath, 3,070 sq.ft. iin lulling iniliiiislu'd hiiscnicnt Seller Is ollering $5,000 in buyer int'f ntive. 3 Kilrms, 2 bath, 3,070 sq.lt. including unfinished basement Seller is tillering $5,000 in buyer incentives. SOFTBALL OPENING Team shows lots of promise with 15-11 win -V V K . 1 V by this year's plentiful snowfall are spending more on cleaning and fuel costs. Scott Day, salesman for Wilson stated that as he drives in the field south of Vernal he can see county trucks hauling truckload after truckload of fill to cover up the areas where the bottom of the road has dropped away. "It's hard to keep up, but I'm seeing good effort by everyone down there to get the holes filled in," said Day. "As of this week companies are still using big equipment to pull vehicles up hills in the Flat Rock and Table Rock areas as well as Buck Canyon and Winter Ridge." Bandit truckinghas 26 trucks that are used to deliver water to County candidacies declared Uintah County candidates for the following positions declared candidacy in the filing period that ended Monday 17. For the Uintah County commission seat that will be vacated by Dave Haslem, two candidates Mark D. Raymond and Anthony Paul Byron have filed as Republican Party prospects. . For the Uintah School District Dis-trict 4 there are seven potential candidates, including Shane Frost, Matt Wallis, Jason A. Rasmussen, Raymond Murray, Foreclosures below By Lacey McMubry Uintah Basin News Service While the number of foreclosure foreclo-sure filings nationally has soared to an all-time high, a booming economy in the Uintah Basin has helped people here continue to make their house payments. According to data obtained from RealtyTrac - a private company that tracks real estate information across the nation - the number of foreclosures in Duchesne and Uintah counties m m DUE . lr i 3 bdrms, 2 bath, 2,400 sq.ft. including unfinished basement Seller is ollering $5,000 in buyer Incentives. f 3-?0 32 1 v " V , 4826 4825 i " " '4 m ife-upix'i iipvr 4i J -in, ami Iiimv and m jr j ' . in ihc Oiid ' thf mul JUv 1 tv'N' and warming temperatures. Photo the field. "We have seen more work being done with the axles, clutch and rear end but the mud is especially espe-cially bad on the wheels, seals and brakes," explained Larry Hall with Bandit Trucking. "Some days it's a circus when we have had one truck a day stuck and sometimes more." Hall explained that there are companies with blades down there that are helping everyone get to where they are going, but when they have a truck in the area they will try to pull their own trucks out when a simple tow will do. "It's kind of like everyone is working together out there and Allen Huber, Barb Thorne, and Gloria Thompson. Only one position po-sition is available in District 4 or 5. In Uintah School District 5 only Perry R Taylor filed for candidacy. In House of Representatives Representa-tives District 55 position, four candidates filed for nomination. Daniel Ray (Constitution Party), Wayne Y. Hoskisson (Democrat Party) and Ronald S. Regehr (Libertarian Party)have filed. And incumbent John G. Mathis over the past few years has been well below the national and state averages. In 2007, just .05 percent of all households in the Basin experienced foreclosure or were sent default notices, compared to a state average of 1.1 percent of all households and a national average of 1.77 percent of all households, according to RealtyTrac Real-tyTrac numbers. State Sen. Kevin VanTassell, who represents the Uintah Basin, said the low number of foreclo 4 - - 1 Id mud bath 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2,264 total sq.ft. Seller is ottering $5,000 in buyer Incentives. ASPLN BROOK RF-AITY, INC. SeeA7 www.vernal.com Wednesday Orchis, 2C0 k4Hsi4 by Scott Day if you need help and someone is close by, they will help you," explained ex-plained Hall. "In the end, we are all out here for the same reason and we help each other." And County Road Superintendent Superinten-dent Clinton Johnson agreed. "It's been a tough spring and the only way we have been close to keep up with the mess down there has been with the help from all the oil companies. They have helped tremendously," said J ohnson. "And I am not referring to one or two companies, but all the oil companies have done a lot and it is very much appreciated." appreci-ated." Johnson stated that this is just SEE MUD MESS on A2 (Republican Party) has also filed for re-election. For the House of Representatives Representa-tives District 54 position, three candidates have filed, including Douglas K. Thompson (Constitution (Consti-tution Party), David R. Labrum (Republican Party) and Ezra L. Segura (Republican Party). Gordon Snow has not filed for re-election. Finally, Judge John R. Anderson An-derson filed for candidacy in his judicial race in Uintah County. average sures in the area is a direct result of the fact that there are plenty of jobs to go around. "It's really indicative of the economy that we're in right now," he said. "Our unemployment is less than 2 percent and anyone who wants to work can work. The booming economy is generating the ability for people to make their payments." Predictions for the stability of the Basin look good as long as demand for oil and gas remains SEE FORECLOSURES on A3 Mi" |