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Show I School board canvasses vote during special Thursday meeting i Urie supixrt i west Vernal City precincts gave the school bond un the tSe "ceded 10 ss by a t i-ill nujority Tuesday. ' :h all but two precincts reporting, xSiiV n;i;ht. it appeared that the bond deieated but Die southwest Ver-reciivt Ver-reciivt number tipped the scales -Ivor of IN? bond by casting 1) voting " ;ior and 55 voting against. bond passed on a mere 36 votes. : .hool district reported that 1.954 ;n favor of the bond and 1 .918 voted v-iTSt representing 50 4 percent for and iwrcent against the $17 million bond sje TV east end of the valley opposed the x;o uith 120 more votes cast against i for the bond in southeast Vernal, v.-jeast Vernal. Naples and Davis jstjcts. The southeast Vernal precinct a; jt Ewisrd precinct show vd the stroi vest I ,ws:::on to the bond each casting 62 ! votes against the bond than for it. 1 )txh of the opposition in the Ballard i-sa as because of a misunderstan--i according to Gary Taylor, school Xi-d president. .Var.y of the people in Ballard thought d the bond passed, students atten-iul"r-oa H:gh School from that area be forced to attend the new high sis! in Vernal. iVe have never proposed that idea." .i:x sa;d about the Ballard residents' ir;er precincts on the w estside of L in-2 in-2 Cc-T.y supported the bond u ith the Trsl Lapojit and Whiterock precincts reieig the yes box 64 more times than i s DO. Areas in Ashley Valley outside of Vernal Ver-nal tended to oppose the bond with Naples having 38 more votes against than for and Davis voting 16 more against. The Glines precinct recorded 174 for the bond and 174 against. Despite the small majority vote that passed the bond, school board members were pleased w ith the outcome. "It was really a cliff-hanger," said Taylor. "I would feel better tf there were more of a majority in favor, but its better bet-ter than losing." Thursday night the L'intah School Board canvassed Uie voting precincts and found all but the G lines precinct to be in order. The election judges from the Glines precinct were summoned to the mooting to verify the voting results. They certified that the voting was a deadlock in the Glines precinct as previously reported. The board also added three absentee ballots to the total: two votes for the bond, one vote against. The board will be meeting next Thursday Thurs-day w ith their architects to begin planning plann-ing the new schools. Taylor said bids w ill be let on the projects in September. The construction of the w estside auditorium w ill begin at the same time construction on the new high school. Renovation of L'intah High will begin the summer before students move into the new high school in 19S5. Following the canvass of the votes. Reed Johnson, engineer with a local engineering firm, presented a letter to the board w hich indicated that there are tw o serious problems with the site where the board has proposed to build the new high school. Johnson said he felt the new school should have enough room for expansion, sports facilities and park. He suggested that the new school should be on 5u acres rather than the 30 acres secured by the board at the proposed site on North Vernal Ver-nal Avenue between 1300 and 1500 North. The present high school is on 30 acres, but there are 15 more acres across the street that the school uses for tennis courts, baseball and football fields, Johnson said. The oi her objection to the proposed site is that it is near a flood plain which may require extra construction cost and increased in-creased maintenance. Ray Nash, a local attorney and former school board member, supported Johnson. "I've seen the area where the school is proposed to be built covered by w ater twice in the years I've been here," he said The board has tentatively selected the North Vernal Avenue site, but are still looking for a better location and have, been offered at least one other option. The property was purchased about seven years ago with the intent to trade it for other property better suited for a high school. When the school designated the North Vernal Avenue site for the new high school, they left the option open to trade the property for another that is better suited for a high school. The board said they w ould take into advisement ad-visement the recommendation of Nash and Johnson in determining a site for the new high school. |