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Show 14 Vernal Express Wednesday, July 28, 1993 Company proposes to offer tour of Flaming Gorge using paddle boat by Melanie Morrison Express Writer Many times businesses are started because "someone was in the right place at the right time." So it is in the case of Flaming Gorge Tours, owned by Joe Jamison and Harry Scott of Roosevelt. One evening last summer, while Scott was picking his daughter up from work at the Flaming Gorge Lodge, he wandered down to the parking lot at the visitor's center at the Haming Gorge Dam to wait for her. While he was there, a bus load of senior citizens drove up and parked near him. They departed the bus and he heard one of the passengers passen-gers say, "What I wouldn't do to be out on that lake right now!" He wondered why there wasn't anyone running a boat on the lake to accommodate ac-commodate these visitors. Both Jamison and Scott are employed em-ployed at the Uintah Basin Applied Technology Center in Roosevelt. Jamison is the director of the "Custom Fit Training" program and Scott is the maintenance superintendent superinten-dent Scott thought about those tourists all weekend and when he returned to work the following Monday morning, he approached Jamison with an idea, a paddle tour boat on the lake, similar to what is found on the Mississippi River. Obviously the boat needed to be large enough to fill the demand placed on the Flaming Gorge Recreational Area. With Jamison's expertise in business management, the two men started their own market mar-ket studies. They found that the Flaming Gorge Area is one of the most popular tourist areas in the country and the second most popular popu-lar spot in Utah, just behind Lake Powell. One of the first problems the two men encountered was deciding on a craft large enough to fill the demand de-mand placed on the growing Flaming Gorge area. Extensive research re-search was conducted and they decided de-cided on a simulated paddle boat. It made sense. The craft was large enough to hold over a hundred people peo-ple and seemed to fit naturally in the area. "The paddle boat fits on that fiwwm Gorge Tours Butch Cassidy Outlaw Trail Pioneer Homesteads Sheep Creek Outlaw Swinging Bridge Kokanee Salmon Spawning Homestead Extreme Water Depth Red Canyon Overlook Indian Caves Boat Camp I our ir(':j PROPOSED MAP for new tour area, Flaming Gorge Tours. The 1 !. I Kit. y " lake," Jamison said. "Just the surrounding sur-rounding scenery alone compliments compli-ments the boat" In their research, they found a company in LaCrosse, Wise, who made a simulated stern paddle, diesel powered craft. The boat will carry 149 passengers and crew, is 74-feet long and 20-feet wide at a cost of $650,000. It will be double-decked, double-decked, heated and air conditioned, with the top deck used for observation. observa-tion. The boat will carry a certified crew and meals will be served from a galley. The 12-mile, two and one-half hour tour will begin at the peninsula near the visitor's center parking lot and will run north with several stops along the way ending at Kingfisher Island. Passengers will be able to see petroglyphs, pioneer homesteads, caves, the Red Canyon Overlook, Butch Cassidy's hideout along the Outlaw Trail, as well as several species of wildlife. This should be a photographer's dream, to be so close to nature. Tours are scheduled to begin in April of 1994. Their season will run from April to October. The men approached the Ashley Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service with their proposal. According to Jamison, the response to the proposal was overwhelming. Brainstorming sessions were held and several innovative ideas were exchanged. The Forest Service is proposing to upgrade the area to include in-clude an amphitheater and a handicap handi-cap accessible boat dock and rest rooms as well as issuing a 15-year special use permit to the tour company. com-pany. Scott and Jamison began working with several agencies in the area, both for technical advice and financial finan-cial support. Negotiations are ongoing on-going between Uintah Basin Association of Governments, Zions and First Security banks, the Small Business Development Center, Uintah County Economic Development Center and the Small Business Administration. They plan to house an office in the Incubator office above the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. The two men are encouraging not only tourists to see the Haming See Paddle Boat page 16 our lum Old Highway "SEX J Around & it:Uint Hideout Flaming Gorge NMii jam b qjjjr Peregrine Falcon J I mms Lions i 1 9 r Pioneer ,JL f Homesteads V Gold Point 0jL jpHS Boat Camp 1 1 Pioneer 1 7 Homestead Osprey Nestlng fcTK business in the ducted on a 74-foot Mississippi River paddle boat tour will be con- and wHI begin operating next spring. """ Jennifer Lee Kerns Deseret Foley 1 gnjMafl -((B B- -B BaaaB-j jr" NIKKI LEMON bids farewell to Uintah County as she passes her crown to the next Miss Uintah County during the scholarship pageant Saturday night. Seven vie for title of Miss Uintah County-Lemon County-Lemon bids farewell by Melanie Morrison Express Writer Seven young ladies will appear on stage at the Vernal Junior High School auditorium to compete for the title of Miss Uintah County. Only one young lady will bear the honor and two others will be named her attendants. . "Caribbean Nights" is the theme for the 1993 Miss Uintah County Scholarship pageant this Saturday night. The pageant will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Vernal Junior High Schcol auditorium. Doug Stone and Nikki Lemon, the 1992 Miss Uintah County, will be Masters of Ceremonies. The young ladies will be judged on talent, an interview, physical fitness fit-ness and evening wear during the competition. The interview portion and physical fitness will be judged earlier in the day, while the audience audi-ence will be able to see the talent and evening wear competitions. This promises to be an evening filled with entertainment. Deseret Foley has been attending Brigham Young University for the past year majoring in history and ballet and hopes to teach on the secondary sec-ondary level. She is a graduate of Uintah High School with a 3.73 gpa and scored a 30 on her ACT test Her love lies in fine arts, dancing Kingfisher Island Boat Camp Dam and drama. Miss Foley trained for eight years under Taunia Wheeler and has continued con-tinued her dancing career at BYU in the past year. She is a member of the Brigham Young Academy Club and the Ballet Club. She has been teaching other members of the Ballet Club for the past year. She received the Presidential Academic Fitness Award and the Congressional Special Award for graduating in the top ten of her class. Miss Foley was awarded a half-tuition to BYU and a full tuition tu-ition to Utah State University. She will perform a ballet dance to "Maid Marian's Theme" from Robin Hood. Jennifer Lee Kerns has been attending Brigham Young University with a major in exercise phyj iology and is working toward a Masters Degree in physical therapy. Miss Kerns has been a student athletic trainer as well as a motivational motiva-tional speaker. She is a graduate of Flagstaff High School in Flagstaff, Ariz, with a 3.64 gpa. While attending attend-ing BYU, she has maintained a 3.03 gpa. , She says that she hopes to become a youth athletic coach and a motivational motiva-tional speaker. In addition, she hopes to establish a successful physical rehabilitative practice. In addition to her athletic ability, she is an accomplished flutist and pianist She will perform a very difficult flute 'solo the night of the pageant called "Badinerie from Suite in B Minor," written by J.S. Bach in the Baroque period. Shari McKee is a 1993 graduate of Uintah High School with a 3.8 gpa. She is planning to attend Utah State University this fall. She has been trained to work with the disabled dis-abled and knows some sign language lan-guage for the deaf. - She is a three year member of the National Honor Society where she currently holds the position of secretary. sec-retary. She was also a member of the Junior Honor Society for three years. Miss McKee has been raised in a family of 11 on a large dairy farm. She is an avid pianist and will perform per-form a self-composed piece called 'The Puzzle." Sheri Lynn Marshall has high hopes of becoming a nurse in the near future. She is a graduate of Uintah High School and has been attending medical classes at the Uintah Basin Applied Technology Center and will continue at Utah State University Education Center. She was a varsity cheerleader at Uintah and served as peer-tutor for Special Olympics. She lias been involved in dance groups since the age of three and was a member of the "Stars" drill team for five years. Miss Marshall will perform a jazz and aerobic dance at the pageant to the music, "Hot, Hot, the Postman." . Kriston "Kris" Sorenscn is known among her friends as "Edith Bunker," for which she says she is honored. She is a graduate of Uintah High School where she served on the Executive Council as Academic Vice President. Miss Sorensen has been involved in dance for ten years, including ballet, tap, competition clogging, funk and drill. She will be attending College of Eastern Utah on a o 1 if I- 1 J ; Sheri Lynn Marshall Alisha Oostveen dance scholarship this fall. Her ultimate ulti-mate dream is to go into the entertainment enter-tainment field professionally. Kris will perform a tap dance solo to "Stumblin" the night of the pageant Alisha Oostveen hopes to be a driving force for her own children by earning a degree in early childhood child-hood and elementary education. She will begin her post high school career ca-reer this fall at Snow College, where she received a full-tuition scholarship. scholar-ship. Miss Oostveen will present a piano pi-ano solo called "Jessica's Theme," by Bruce Rowland during the pageant She has been a piano student stu-dent for approximately live years. She was active while in high school and was recently nominated to "Who's Who Among American High School Students," and received re-ceived the Presidential Academic Fitness Award. She participated in numerous debate competitions and was involved in the 1992 Utah Mock Trial Competition. In addition, addi-tion, she was a member of the UHS Flag team and marching band color guard. The final contestant on Saturday night will be Amber Lee Witbeck. She is a recent graduate of Uintah High School and says she is excited about attending Utah Valley Community College in Orcm to pursue a career in nursing. Curcntly she has a certified nursing assistant certificate and is certified in CPR and first aid. Amber says she is a "D.A.R.E.-ing "D.A.R.E.-ing person" and is referred to as the "sandwich artist." She enjoys volleyball vol-leyball and basketball but is fond of all types of sports. Miss Witbeck will perform a dramatic dra-matic speech called "A Mother's Prayer for her Daughter," a poem written by an unknown author, the night of the pageant. Doug Stone is a film maker and media professional with a degree in both from BYU and New York University. While in New York, Stone worked on numerous productions, produc-tions, including the Statue of Liberty Centennial extravaganza for ABC television. He was raised in Provo, where he was active in performing per-forming arts at Provo High School and BYU. Utah audiences have seen Stone on stage in the Utah Shakcsperean Festival; as the host of Channel 4's "Homcshow;" and . - I ,. Amber Lee Witbeck Shari McKee Kriston "Kris" Sorensen Doug Stone on the air as a KSL radio personali- More recently Stone has been busy in Los Angeles behind the camera as an independent producer, director and writer. He says he is pleased to have a chance to be back in Uintah County, an area he visits en route to backpacking trips in the High Uintas. One young lady will be crowned while Nikki Lemon will be giving up her title as 1992 Miss Uintah County. She says she has thoroughly thorough-ly enjoyed this past year and if given giv-en the opportunity, would like to' represent Uintah County again. Miss Lemon will get that opportunity opportuni-ty when she is called by the LDS See Miss Uintah page 16 c 1 |