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Show Increased Effort on fiflosquitos Urged at County's Public Meet "Either give us a mosquito abatement program that works or quit taxing us to provide for a mosquito abatement program," prog-ram," was the general comment com-ment made by persons attending atten-ding a public meeting at the City Council Chambers Monday Mon-day called by the Grand County Commission. Around thirty residents of Moab City and Spanish Valley were in attendance, and all spoke during the two-hour session conducted by County Commission Chairman D. L. Taylor. Only a handful of those in attendance wanted no control measures affe c t e d here, and on the other side of the coin, only a handful wanted the County to pull all the stops and conduct the most severe control program allowed al-lowed by law. To date, as a result of a decision made two years ago, only minimal control efforts are being used within the confines of the Moab Mosquito Abatement District, where one half of one mill is levied to provide funding for the program. pro-gram. At that time, it was decided that aerial spraying of the entire valley would be discontinued, and only conducted con-ducted over the sloughs area in the lower valley w here only a few residences are located. In addition, the program had involved hand-applications of . control chemicals to the Mill and Pack Creek drainages in Moab Valley. Resid e n t i a 1 areas have had no county-operated control program for the past two years. The problem has come to a head this year, as frequent rains have made favored breeding grounds for mosqui-tos, mosqui-tos, where only dust was generated last season. Martin Hamaker, who is employed on a part-time basis by the County to handle the work in the Creek drainages, stated that lawn watering, untended kids wading pools and stagnant stag-nant ditches in the residential area were probably as insect-productive insect-productive as the sloughs, and much could be done by residents if they would only attempt to clear the breeding areas in their own yards. Although County Commissioners Commis-sioners have not yet taken any official action as a result of the Monday hearing, it appears ap-pears this week that they will seriously investigate a number of suggestions offered at the hearing. One. spoken to by a number of those in attendance, attend-ance, was the purchase of an insect fogger, which would be operated from the back of a light truck in residential areas w here no serious objections to the control work were lodged. It was pointed out that Page. Arizona. Grand Junction. Duchesne Du-chesne and a number of other communities with elimatical conditions similar to Moab Valley, were all using fogging machines to great advantage, and it was suggested that the County look into the programs (Cond on Pg. A-2) Mosquitos... (Cond. From Pg. A-l) in those cities with an eye to purchasing equipment for use here. The use of larvae-eating fish was also discussed. A number of problems exist in this type of control, however, as pointed out by County Commissioners. The rapidly changing water level in the Moab Valley sloughs, brought about by the fluctuations in the stream flow of the Colorado River, would make the use of fish in the sloughs difficult unless the level of the sloughs were stabilized. Continued control work on the Creek drainages and aerial spraying of the sloughs was also the general recommendation, recommend-ation, although a number of people mentioned the damage that intensive spraying could do to bird and beneficial insect life. Those living near the sloughs and down the Colorado Color-ado River, said aerial spraying had done a lot of good. County Commissioners, who have been flooded the past few weeks by calls from irate citizens relative to the mosquito mosqu-ito problem, indicated surprise at the low attendance at the meeting. "From all the calls we've been getting, you'd have thought a thousand people would have turned out to tell us what to do." one Commissioner said after the meeting. Commissioner A. Dan Holy-oak Holy-oak emphasized to the assembled assem-bled group that the County was doing its best under the limitations set two years ago, and under the unusual weather wea-ther conditions that have existed this year. "We've already spent $3,700 this year, so you can see we've been trying." he said. It is expected that a decision on what to do next will be made in the near future. Although a number of those in attendance wanted something done right now, many admitted admit-ted that any meaningful program that might be initiated initiat-ed here would probably not be early enough for any help this season. "Get out the 'Off,' cover up and sweat, and scratch a lot," was the general concensus following adjournment adjourn-ment of the meeting. |