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Show 16-2-r s ro i5 Neu; Vear 77 WSHEfllL Check Inside Grand lady turn 100 page 10 Mayor signs KidCare page 3 City gives to education... page 4 Delinquent taxes. ...pages 13-15 Car seats donated page 17 Matmen nipped page 18 Single Copy 50$ WEDNESDAY, December 27, 1995 Vernal, Utah 84078 103rd Year No. 52 20 Pages CR UT PKt.SOlU -162 C 123199 UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION 307 W ?00 S K5005 SLC, UT 84101 if Victim escapes with life A Vernal man is glad to be alive for Christmas after an his assailant brought him to the edge of death. Friday Ike Slaugh, 27, of Uintah County was arrested by Uintah County Sheriff deputies for attempted homicide, aggravated kidnapping and witness tampering. The charges stem from an incident inci-dent last Thursday, in which a Vernal man (who law enforcement will not identify) was beaten, kicked, stabbed several times and stuffed into a 30-inch oil field well. The victim, who reported the incident inci-dent to police, said he was driven by Slaugh to a remote oil field location loca-tion in the Book Cliffs where the incident took place. When the suspect attempted to push the victim into the 30-foot hole, he pleaded for his life and the suspect relented and drove the victim vic-tim back to town, said Det. Steve Hatzidakis. The suspect is incarcerated in the Uintah County Jail. The incident is drug related, Hatzidakis said. Search continues for home for dome Vernal City has received several suggestions for a future home for the lantern tower and cupola dom removed this fall from the roof of the Uintah Tabernacle. i The city accepted custody of the century-old structure after it was donated by Jim McCullough, owner of the contracting firm which is renovating the tabernacle into an LDS temple. The leading suggestions thus far are placement at either Independence Park or at the CityCounty Park which adjoins SBamiCceir seirvace The Public Relations Committee of the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce last week recognized its final recipient of the year for the Outstanding Public Service Award, The award was presented last week to Lane Thomas by Marie Yoder, member of the committee. Thomas is assistant vice president and manager of the Vernal branch of First Security Bank. He graduated from Spanish Fork High School in 1975. He attended Utah State University and was on the Deans list for three years. He graduated in 1979. He went into First Security Banks training program out of college and has been with them ever since. He started his career in Provo, went to Mt. Pleasant for three years before coming to the Uintah Basin as a Loan Officer. ! He has worked in Roosevelt, Altamont and now in Vernal for the past six years. City to close for Centennial Vernal City will close its doors Jan. 4 in honor of the State Centennial. City councilors voted unanimously unanimous-ly last week to give employees a paid vacation day which would earn r W jf I ''-3 fc-i V'AtTV;'! I i. PAf c ALUMIMVM CANS. gf (2 Sir "3fG &h?t, ; I . I 5 fw. . r :-.vf.' .-v..;- Members of the Uintah High School FFA, Ryon Kurikel, Justin McKowen, Justin Harrison, Joe Serre and Brian McConkie, place recycling center near Smiths. Ashley Elementary School. But city councilors are not content con-tent to stop soliciting suggestions just yet. Since the state centennial year is upon us and local nine- and ten-year-olds are studying Utah history, all fourth grade classes will be asked to formulate a plan for how best to preserve, and where to place, the historic structure. struc-ture. In the meantime, the tower and dome are safely locked up at the city public works yard and will be refurbished. awaircO Thomas was president of the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo in 1994. He has been asked and he agreed to be president of the rodeo again in 1997. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Uintah Basin Area Technology Center. He has been instrumental in the partnership program that First Security began with Central Elementary School. The bank received a State PTA Education Award for Business of the Year for 1994 and 1995. The bank was also nominated by Uintah County for the Award inEducation and public support category cat-egory that is given every year by the Center for Rural Life From Southern Utah University. The bank was runner up. allow them . to attend Centennial events in Salt Lake if they chose to do so. Councilors also challenged Uintah County to follow suit. Local Centennial events begin with a Grand Ball, Saturday, Jan. 6. If ' " rr.. L - Recycling center re-established A new recycling center has been - established near the Smiths parking lot as part of a joint project. The recycling centers are sponsored spon-sored by the Conservation Issues Committee of the Vernal Chamber. Chad Reid, a member of the committee com-mittee recommended that the FFA organization at Uintah High School be used to re-establish a recycling center near Smith. The Chamber Committee provided the materials and the FFA designed and built the new center. Committee chair Heather Campbell said the previous center at Smith deteriorated to the point it was not used. With the help of the FFA members and advisor Ramsey Buffham, the new center is up and Eric Rasmussen, Vernal student director, Dr. John Caldwell. oyrrr n . V 4 ; 1 l - it A College hires former resident as director Former Vernal resident, Dr. John LeRoy Caldwell, is new director of Stevens-Henager College in Provo. Caldwell has 27 years experience in education and 15 years experience experi-ence with the LDS Church Education System and the U.S. Army. Caldwell also has 8 years of leadership service with the Boy Scouts of America. The new director will continue his family's tradition of Stevens-Henager Stevens-Henager support and involvement. Caldwell's father was a graduate of Stevens-Henager College when the campus was located in Salt Lake City. Caldwell's mother taught high , r L I operating. The Can-Do Crew, under contract with Vernal City, will begin taking the materials deposited at the center to a storage building on east Highway 40. Campbell noted that recycling newspapers is becoming more cost effective as the price has increased to $60 a ton. The recycling centers, at Smiths and IGA, handle newspapers, computer com-puter paper, aluminum cans, and office paper. They cannot accept cardboard, bottles, magazines, tin cans, aluminum alu-minum foil, shredded paper or plastic. plas-tic. The project is supported by Vernal City and Uintah County as a way to keep recyclable material out of the landfill. welcomes new Stevens-Henager school English and business classes similar to the Stevens-Henager program. pro-gram. Caldwell is married with seven children. He is a 1963 graduate of Uintah High School. His parents are Chellus M. and Electa L. Johnson Caldwell. "Most jobs today do not require a college degree," Caldwell said. "The college will continue providing provid-ing an excellent education for students stu-dents seeking job opportunities requiring less than a year of training," train-ing," Caldwell said. 11995 recalled stiooes of yeair Both sadness and joy line the top 10 stories of 1995 as selected by the Vernal Express staff. The selection was based on impact to the community. communi-ty. The number one story of the year was the May ground-breaking on the construction of the Vernal Temple. President Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told the nearly 12,000 church members and friends at the Vernal Utah Temple construction commencement ceremony that, when dedicated, the new temple will become a spiritual center for the future thousands. The temple, which will be built within the shell of the 88-year-old Uintah Stake Tabernacle, represents a first in LDS Church history. No other temple, worldwide, has ever been placed in a renovated building. "I don't hesitate to tell you, on the basis of the architectural drawing ... that when the temple is completed and you have the opportunity of walking through it, you will feel touched by that which has been created out of this historic, dedicated, sacred structure," said President Hinckley. President Hinckley was joined at the ceremony by President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, W. Eugene Hansen, a president of the Seventy and Elder Earl C. Tingey, member of the Quorum of the Seventy and Utah South Area President. For the first time in days, warm sunlight and blue skies crowned Ashley Valley, and created an atmosphere of joy among the throngs of church members and friends of other faiths who gathered for the hour-long outdoor out-door ceremony. The number two story of 1995 was the cutback announced last August that Deseret Generation and Transmission would reduce its workforce by 60 as part of a restructuring of the company. The cutback primarily impacted the 150 workers at the Bonanza Power Plant in southeastern Uintah County. The cutbacks reduced the Sandy office of Deseret by 14. The Bonanza workforce was reduced to 103. Every employee at the Power Plant was required to reapply for a position. "It is imperative that we obtain maximum efficiency in our overall strategy to survive in the marketplace," said Lynn Mitton, general manager man-ager and CEO for Deseret. The cutbacks went into effect Oct. 2. A blast that killed one person and injured two others was voted the number three story of the year. The incident occurred Dec. 13 about 4:30 p.m. as three workers were completing the sealing of a 1,059-foot deep, 30-foot intake shaft at the White River Shale Project, 50 miles southeast of Vernal. The workers were welding a one of two eight-inch steel pipes which would be used for ventilating tubes for the vertical shaft and abandoned aban-doned oil shale mine below. The blast occurred when gases from the mine ignited.. Killed in the accident was Rick Bilbey, 36, of Vernal. Injured by the accident were Tom Justice, 55, of Roosevelt and Glen Kurtz, 65, also of Roosevelt. The incident shocked the community and put in question the future of the White River Shale facility which was proposed as a juvenile detention deten-tion center. Over $150 million was spent on the shaft. 4,761 feet of declining underground tunnel and surface facilities for the oil shale mine before plummeting oil prices and vanishing government subsidiary forced the White River Shale Corp. to turn the site back to the BLM Oct. 1, 1986. Last October, Gov. Mike Leavitt which set up a Revitalization Fund to receive money from mineral leases on Ute Tribal Property. The historic action was voted the number four story of the year. It was the first time the state has recognized the Tribe's claim to the mineral lease payments to the federal government. Initially the bills brought $400,000 back into the Uintah Basin. Distribution of the funds are overseen by a committee formed of county commissioners, state and Ute Tribe leaders. The money could increase as development of oil and gas increases on Tribal properties. A maximum of $2 million could come back to the Uintah Basin. The bills were unanimously passed during the last session of the Utah Legislature and Gov.. Leavitt signed the bill last March. The bills were also the first time the tribe and state have entered into an interlocal agreement. Last May, the Uintah School Board reconfigure five elementary schools and close a sixth elementary in the District. The impact this action had on the community won it fifth position posi-tion among the top 10 stories of 1995. Despite a well-organized and con certed effort by opponents of the proposal to change the minds of Board members, the measure was approved 4-1 with only Fran Harding, board member, voting against it. An identical vote was cast April 13 after a first reading. All of the Board members lamented the division the proposed reconfiguration reconfig-uration created within the community, but, of the four members who voted to accept it, three said they felt an urgent need to assure that class sizes were held as low as possible, and, thus, felt compelled to vote for the change. The vote came the same week the result of a Vernal Express telephone survey was publicized which indicated that 48 percent of those called opposed the action while 28 percent were in favor. The new elementary ele-mentary configuration placed K-2 students at Davis and Maeser, 3-4 grade children at Ashley and Naples and all fifth grade students at Discovery. Central was closed as an elementary to allow Ashley Valley High School to move into the space. The announcement last September of 2 1 0 workers at the Deserado Mine north of Rangely, Colo, being let go is the sixth top story of 1995. By November the mine was back in production. The underground mine provided 170,000 tons of coal for Deseret Generation & Transmission Co-operative's Bonanza Power Station over the balance of the year, with 1.5 million tons production anticipated during 1996. The Deserado Mine was idle since July 18, while Deseret converted 400,000 tons of stockpiled stock-piled coal to cash as part of its financial restructuring effort. During the time the mine was idle, operations were restructured. Production resumes as a result of modified work rules, a change in the quality of the mine's product and reduced manpower at the mine, which reduces the mine's cost of production. Deserado is employing 128 people (94 hourly and 34 salaried) working ten-hour days. June 13 this year, Uintah County Commissioners declared a state of emergency as the runoff on Ashley Creek reached a peak of 3,000 cfs. The call to action was ranked number seven among the top ten. Heavy equipment was place in the creek to shore up the bank to stop flooding of 1500 West, along the Steinaker Ditch diversions and on the new 15th See Top Ten on page 3 formally signed two bills into law made a controversial decision to 0 |