OCR Text |
Show Vernal Express Wednesday, August 25, 1993 9 fori j BACKHOES CONTINUE to dig trench at the foot the conservation pool and the 30-foot deep of Steinaker Dam. The reservoir will be drained to trench should be complete by Sept. 1 . Dnterioir Department opens comimentt on grazing irefonm Washington The publication in Monday's Federal Register opens a 30-day public comment period on a grazing-reform proposal announced by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt Aug. 9. The Department 'of the Interior announced publication in the Federal Register of an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on a sweeping grazing-reform proposal outlined by Secretary Babbitt that would increase grazing fees on federal land from $1.86 per AUM up to $5.05 per AUM. Today's publication of the ANPR opens a 30-day public comment period pe-riod during which individuals and groups may submit written comments com-ments on the grazing-reform proposal. pro-posal. Written comments on the ANPR or Secretary Babbitt's grazing-reform proposal should be sent i To Your Healths Retailers, youth and tobacco problems by Gloria Johnson Uintah Basin Public Jlealth Department The Uintah Basin Public Health Department and local retailers are serious about preventing young people from getting tobacco products. prod-ucts. As health educator for the Health Department, I recently spoke with several convenience store retailers re-tailers in the Roosevelt area about tobacco access issues. The retailers are doing a good job. Most train their staff, and have them sign waivers. The waivers state if the staff sells tobacco products, they are liable and will lose their jobs. A few put tobacco products behind and above counters. The issue of tobacco use often gets turned into a moral or religious issue in Utah. However, it is strongly strong-ly documented that tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable Not all vegetables created equal by Dennis Hinkamp Consumer Information Writer Utah State University About every piece of nutrition advice ad-vice published the last 100 years has recommended "eating more vegetables" but which vegetables? vegeta-bles? One. step in the right direction is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to provide point of purchase nutritional information for the 20 most frequently consumed raw vegetables. This will allow consumers con-sumers to compare the relative nutritional nu-tritional values of vegetables. They may not like what they see. According to Georgia Lauritzen, nutritionist in the Utah State University College of Family life, the list of people's favorite vegetables vegeta-bles and the list of the most nutritious nutri-tious vegetables don't match up well. The top 10 in order of consumption consump-tion are: sweet potato, potato, as-' paragus, sweet corn, carrot, tomato, mushroom, green onion, broccoli and cauliflower. Lauritzen says this ranking is based on overall content of a variety of essential nutrients rather than the vegetables being high in a single nutrient such as vitamin C. Somewhat surprisingly, sweet potatoes top the list of vegetables to the Bureau ot Lanu Management, P.O. Box 6,5800, Washington, D.C.20035-9998. Comments must be submitted in writing; any written comments postmarked after Sept. 13, 1993, cannot be considered in the development Of the proposed rule. The Department of the Interior will also reopen a public "scoping" period that will run concurrently with the ANPR public comment period. pe-riod. From today through Sept. 13, individuals or groups may submit written comments on issues they believe should be analyzed in a forthcoming Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) on range-management reform. The written comments known as "scoping" comments because they deal with the scope of the Range Reform Proposal 2-2-2 Draft EIS premature death. Sixty-percent of smokers start before the age of 14, with 90-percent starting by their 18th birthday. It is not even legal to buy, possess or use tobacco in most states, including Utah, until the age of 19. When asked where they get their tobacco, 60-percent of the youth identify retailers. With the cost of health care such an issue, tobacco use is one factor that can be altered. We strongly encourage en-courage retailers to follow the law about asking for picture identification identifica-tion for the purchase of tobacco products. If staff are trained, and made accountable for their actions, we can put a dent in this problem. If young people know they will be asked for identification, and then are asked, they will know they can't get tobacco at this source. Retailers may feel an undo burden with the most overall nutrients. For most people in this area of the country, sweet potatoes are a seasonal sea-sonal food. Sweet potatoes score high partially partial-ly because they are one of the few vegetables high in vitamin A. They are also high in fiber, iron, calcium and vitamin B6, Lauritzen says. Regular potatoes are close behind in nutrients, but this should not be construed to mean that french fries, potato chips and other fatty concoctions concoc-tions are good choices. If you decide to try to put more sweet potatoes in your diet, be warned sweet potatoes and yams are not the same thing! They come from different plants and have different dif-ferent nutritional values.. Sweet potatoes are high in vitamin A while yams have almost none, she says. They are often lumped together in the vegetable section of your supermarket super-market so you may have to sort them out yourself. Yams are longer and more cylindrical than sweet potatoes and have a scaly brownish or tan skin, she says. Sweet potatoes tend to be stubbier and have tapered ends and smooth thin skin that can range from orange to purple. Another thing to look for is orange flesh of the sweet potato if a little of the skin is scraped off, Lauritzen says. on range reformmust be postmarked post-marked no later than Sept. 13, 1993. Like the ANPR comments, the scoping comments should be sent to: Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 65800, Washington, D.C. 20035-9998. (The original scoping period ran from July 8 to July 23.) The Department of the Interior expects to publish draft grazing-reform regulations and an accompanying accompa-nying Draft EIS in December 1993. After publication of those documents docu-ments in the Federal Register, the public will have 60 days to submit written comments on the draft grazing graz-ing reform regulations and the accompanying ac-companying Draft EIS. The Bureau of Land Management will also hold meetings in the West to solicit responses re-sponses during the 60-day public comment period. on this issue of access. It is true that young people trying to buy the products have liability in this situation. situa-tion. However, stores do have some responsibility. Staff need to do their job, which is to ask for picture identification, iden-tification, and not sell to their friends. Doing this makes a significant signifi-cant contribution to the prevention of youth access to tobacco products. In addition, we are working another angle to prevent the youth from even wanting to try tobacco, let alone becoming hooked to a deadly lifestyle that does not need to be. Tomatoes ripen slow this year Your tomatoes aren't ripening like normal? Don't worry, they're normal. nor-mal. The weather's not "Never in my history as an Extension horticulturist have I had so many questions as to why tomatoes toma-toes are not ripening," said Larry Sagers, Utah State University Extension agent in Salt Lake County. Blame it on the unusual weather patterns, he said. Tomatoes are a warm season crop and require warm temperatures. This year has not been particularly conductive to good tomato fruit set. In most cases, both day and night temperatures have been too cool, according to Sagers. "Tomato plants that sit in the garden gar-den when night temperatures don't get to 55 degrees for several hours simply sulk and refuse to set any fruit," he said. The average lows for July were only 56 degrees. That means many of the nights have been cooler that the 55 degree minimum needed to set fruit, Sagers said. Cool nights have also caused the blossoms to drop on several occasions. occa-sions. The blossoms open, but the pollen that germinates takes so long to fertilize the plant that the blossoms blos-soms drop off before they are fertilized, fertil-ized, he said. ' Gardeners who planted cool set tomatoes that set fruits at cooler temperature, or those who provided protective devices are now enjoying the fruits of their labors. Ordinary field grown tomatoes, however, "are painfully slow," he said. School board finalizes participation fees by Kathleen Irving Vernal Express Writer The Uintah School Board last Tuesday finalized the general fee and participation schedules for the district's freshmen through seniors, significantly increasing the cost of extracurricular activities. While relatively few changes were made to the general schedule, board members unanimously approved a two-tiered system for participation fees. For the 1993-94 school year student participants will be charged $50 per "major" activity, $35 per "minor" activity. District' secondary education administrator ad-ministrator Bill Caldwell defined "major" activities as those more costly to operate. They include football, wrestling, both boys' and girls' basketball, volleyball and debate. de-bate. "Minor" activities include cross country, soccer, tennis, golf, swimming, track, baseball, dramaspeech, vocal music, and jazz, concert and marching bands. Board members capped participation participa-tion fees for individuals at $100 annually an-nually and at $200 for families with two or more students participating in extracurricular activities. Tne fee caps represent the maximum amount an individual student or family can be charged regardless of how many activities are involved. Participation fees will be collected at the time participation begins, not at the beginning of school. Program directors for each activity are to keep the fees in their budgets to use as necessary. These fees, like all others, are subject sub-ject to waivers for those who quali- District business administrator Richard Tolley justified the need for the participation fees by saying a $20,000 budget which might have been used to fund extracurricular activities had been "involved in teacher negotiations to pay wages" this year. According to Tolley, only passage of a voted leeway could A , f ft jT Presented by a$f Uintah Arts Council MMEL920 Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1993 flDULT RflDK) 7:30 pim at Ujntah Hjgh Schoo p9 itfauHAtio ox tftec tvtutd. U6e fa foot men6vt& o t6c ceut cU 'Up- 7Vit6 Vcofite 6((icc: 7X9-610O (HSU 0(icc) Adults - $7.50: Students and Senior Citizens - $6.00 "Fun-for-Four Pack " - $25.00 (any ages); 3 and under (on laps) - FREE Tickets available at: Davis IGA Super Centers in Roosevelt and Vernal, Music Music, Bitter Creek Books and at the door. Special thanks to Brinkerhoff Auto, Showalter Ford and Utah State University Education Center prevent the need for the fees. He said that, by state law, an approved Board leeway could only be used for class size reduction. "Establishing these fees has nothing noth-ing at all to do with our getting out of the Recreation Association," Tolley added. "We were having Trouble making our programs work." He also said there was no intent to "spring" participation fees on parents par-ents so close to the beginning of the school year. "This has been in the works for several months," said Tolley, "It just wasn't finalized until now." Despite the hope that fees will be eliminated next year after the District pulls its $125,000 annual funding from the Recreation Association, no guarantees are being be-ing made by administrators or Board members. Tolley said participation fees are subject to yearly Board approval. "Next year they could reduce them, eliminate them, or keep them," he said. In conjunction with the fee schedule sched-ule discussion, Board members also insisted vocational education programs, pro-grams, such as woodworking, scale back their purchases to keep costs within budgets. "We have to have accountability from the teachers and administrators in charge of these programs," said Board member Valda Massey. "Several community members have told me they are concerned about running programs in the red. They absolutely must be brought out of the red." District superintendent Grant Drollinger agreed with Massey. "Our administrators have been told. Our expectation is that they will fix the problem." The School Board also passed a resolution authorizing a $1.95 million mil-lion heating equipment lease agreement agree-ment The district accepted a Honeywell, Inc. proposal to update Up with Jteflpte and computerize its temperature control and security systems earlier this year. This resolution represents payment for that program. The nearly two million dollar, nine year lease is 7 of the district's dis-trict's total $27.7 million annual budget Honeywell guarantees energy en-ergy savings to the district of at least the cost of the lease. Several other districts in the state have already al-ready used the Honeywell program successfully. Drollinger told board memben he was anxious to have the new school security systems installed. He mentioned men-tioned recent break-ins and vandalism vandal-ism at Davis and Todd Elementaries and West Jr. High, which he said he hoped the systems would help to avoid. Thieves escaped with nearly $300 in cash from Davis. The money had been collected for lunch tickets and PTA dues during registration there. Within days of that burglary, (vandals (van-dals broke into both Todd and West where, according to Drollinger, they defaced school property. No suspects sus-pects have yet been apprehended. Drollinger also presented his opening school report. In addition to routine reports, he told Board members projected district enrollment enroll-ment showed a little more than a half percent decrease under last year's numbers. District projections show 3272 elementary, 3248 secondary sec-ondary and 167 special program stu-dents, stu-dents, for a total of 6687 students. He also presented the year's school calendar which includes six elementary teacher preparation days. Elementary students will not attend classes the last Fridays of September, October, and January, through April. Drollinger also announced the selection se-lection of Uintah High and Davis Elementary as State Centennial Schools. Participating schools go through an application and approval process before selection is finalized. UHS will receive approximately $28,000 in extra funding; Davis will receive about $12,000. Entertainment Takes A Whole New Spin! Live on stage-a stage-a cast of talented performers from over 20 countries. Two riveting hours of electrifying music and dance. It's high voltage entertainment. Grab your ticket and hang on! Express nn ii in ii i r- r"r-"i1 |