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Show Woodward early teacher Robert Lewis Woodward, also know as "R.L." or "Lew", was an early pioneer school teacher in Ashley Valley. He was born Feb. 24, 1870 in Fountain Green, the youngest child of James Woodward, Jr. and Maria Jane Johnston Woodward. He was the best in his class at reading and math when he was 15 and was asked by the trustees in Huntington, where his family lived, to teach the younger grades Thus began a lifetime of teaching. Woodward was a born teacher. However he was firm and as one former pupil put it, "Well do we remember re-member the black gutta-percha ruler. How it hurt when laid on our palms as the teacher held us by the fingers. The boys were jerked up by their coat collars and shaken until they almost parted with their pants. But we learned our lessons and we learned them well. Not one of those boys or girls will say that Mr. Woodward was not the best teacher we ever had." In 1888 R.L. answered an ad for a teacher at Central School in Vernal and arrived by stagecoach through Nine-Mile Canyon and Ft. Duchesne the first day of January 1889, six weeks short of his nineteenth nine-teenth birthday. The position at Central had been filled so he was sent to the little one-room log cabin called the "Mud Temple" in Mill Ward (now Maeser). For a time, R.L. taught all the grades in the school by himself. He often had no clock, so Mr. Woodward drew a sun-dial on the floor of the school in such a way that by opening the door and letting in the sun, he could tell what time it was. Some of his students were older than he was because in those days, boys could only go to school when they weren't needed on the farm. In April 1889 he married Annie Rosetta Searle of Mountain Dell (now Dry Fork). They had one daughter, Maude Ethel. He was very active in the church and community. He loved music and organized one of the first youth choirs in the valley. val-ley. When the "Mud Temple" burned down one night in 1892, he helped a bunch of the men from the Maeser community to get timber off the mountain to build a frame amusement hall for the young people. peo-ple. This building was used as a dance hall, temporary schoolhouse and church until 1929 when the new Maeser Church was built. Woodward taught in school in Maeser for several years, before he began teaching at the Uintah Stake Academy which was located where the Glines Stake Center now stands. He was assistant professor to A.B. Anderson until 1903 when he moved away from the valley. The Woodwards moved to Beaver, then Provo. After his wife died in 1924, he moved to Salt Lake City, and later married Lorctta Thompson. Marilyn Woodward Thackcr, Woodward's daughter by this second marriage, married Dale Thackcr and moved with him to Vernal in 1948. Many former students of Woodward who were still living when Marilyn cumc to Vernal, told her they remembered her father with much fondness and felt he left quite a mark on the community in those early days. SuhmiiieJ by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers VFW officer visit planned A field service officer from the Veterans of Foreign Want Department Service Office, in Sail Lake City, will be in the Vernal area March 4 to assist persons in under-Handing under-Handing and applying for rightful VA benefits, preparing anJ documenting docu-menting application for compensation, compensa-tion, pension, hospitalization and other benefits, This is a free service and veterans need not be members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars to qualify for assistance. The VFW field service officer will be working out of the Vernal Job Service Center from 9 a m, to II am. Tuesday, March 4. District releases testing results While students in the Uintah School District continue to perform well in math and science, they still fall short in language arts and spelling. District psychologist Dave John reported the results of last fall's Stanford Achievement Testing (SAT) to School Board members recently. re-cently. District-wide, John reported science sci-ence and math scores above the national na-tional average, social science scores at the average, reading scores "slightly below", and total language scores "relatively weak, and well below" the national average. "All of the patterns of achievement achieve-ment described are very consistent over at least the last five years," said John. "Our language areas are a perennial area of weakness. That's a 20-year trend." John also said that by following data through several years it became BLM extends period on wilderness activities The Bureau of Land Management last week announced a 62-day extension ex-tension of the public comment period peri-od on a proposed rule dealing with activities in wilderness areas. The deadline for the public to comment on the proposed rule, which had been Feb. 18, is now April 21. The BLM is extending the public comment period in response to requests re-quests from members of Congress and other interested parties. The Bureau encourages everyone who is interested in the proposal to take advantage of this extension and to submit their comments before the new deadline expires. The BLM's proposed rule, published pub-lished in the Federal Register on Dec. 19, 1996, would revise and update up-date existing regulations relating to Congressionally designated wilderness wilder-ness areas on BLM-managed land. Among other things, the proposed rule would make it clear that sailboats sail-boats and sailboards are considered "mechanical transport" that cannot be used in wilderness areas. The proposal would also authorize autho-rize the BLM to grant access to American Indians to use BLM-managed BLM-managed wilderness areas for traditional tradi-tional religious ceremonies. In addition, addi-tion, the proposed rule would clarify clari-fy when it is appropriate to use certain cer-tain devices, such as fixed anchors, for rock climbing in wilderness areas. ar-eas. Overall, the proposed wilderness management rule, which the BLM has written in "plain English," would revise or reorganize existing wilderness regulations in five categories: cate-gories: (1) definitions of certain terms, such as "mechanical transport;" (2) uses of wilderness areas; (3) prohibited acts and penalties; penal-ties; (4) special provisions affecting certain uses; and (5) access to private pri-vate property that is completely surrounded sur-rounded by wilderness areas. American Legion state convention to be held in June The American Legion Uintah Basin District 9 has made final arrangements ar-rangements to host the 1997 State Convention to be held at the Weston Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Vernal. This will bring more than 250 legionnaires legion-naires and auxiliary members to the Uintah Basin June 27, 28 and 29. Flans are being made for a golf tournament, river trips, dinosaur quarry trips and more. Elephants never forget and neither do wet Wt alwayi rrtmamber to put 'our cuitomeri lmU ' Whatever you want to sell ADVERTISE IT in the Express JCall 783511 evident that students elementary scores started strong, then gradually dropped through the secondary years. That seems to have been reversed. re-versed. "That is no longer in evidence," he said. "Our higher secondary scores are stronger now." Board members asked district officials of-ficials to provide them with a report on what is being done to improve the language arts program as soon as possible. District administrator Bill Murphy told them a 14-member curriculum committee is already in place. The committee is charged with determining deter-mining why the scores are low and correcting the problems. Murphy said the work of the committee com-mittee is not viewed as a "one shot deal," but as an on-going process which will provide strategies for teaching the core language arts curriculum cur-riculum more effectively. Comments on the proposed rule must be submitted in writing by April 21 to the Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D.C. 20240. Comments may also be submitted sub-mitted electronically via Internet to: WOComment WO.blm.gov. Persons submitting electronic comments com-ments should include "attn: AB69" and their names and address in their Internet messages. Buy a new kitchen, pay college tuition or get something you've alwayswantedwithour Home lujuity Credit Line, and something kind of strange happens. Suddenly, your nameandgeniusare being mentioned in the same sentence. See, any genius worth their IQ knows that a line of hut ifl trtwr htm tte ptw hmw SI -tvr . -mwt fUt t-1t I fiw pit I A 4 f iff1 APm: rV pi APR Ir'1 Sr prim ft to tMM H Snn ifw-mi-m. tl ttw wv nv Ptwr (Im 'N bp dVm4 n V hank A IS t n murmur nf ftvr m -WU fit. I'ifl tw Changes made in burning regulations Landowners engaged in agriculture agricul-ture burning such as ditch banks, fence lines, stubble field, are not required re-quired to obtain a written permit prior to June 1. t Those engaging in agricultural burning do need to notify central dispatch and identify themselves where they intend to burn, date and time they intend to burn and the responsible re-sponsible party. Landowners or the responsible party will be billed all costs for suppression should the fire escape their property or necessitate suppression sup-pression actions to prevent damage to others' property. The clearing index should be a minimum of 500 feet to insure smoke doesn't infringe in-fringe on neighbors' who may be sensitive to dirty air. Yard cleanup projects which include in-clude burning, are restricted to the spring burn window from April 15 to May 31. These types of burning also require the landowner to notify central dispatch and supply them with the appropriate information and carry the liabilities of suppression suppres-sion costs if needed. At no time is the burning of garbage, plastic articles, tires or any man-made materials legal and should not be burnt. These items should be taken to the landfill. If you have questions about burning burn-ing and you live within city limits, contact the local city officer, Vernal City 789-2255 and Naples City 789-9090. If you live in the county call the District Fire Warden, 781-5334. Open a Zions Bank Home Equity Credit Line AND PEOPLE will think YOU RE A FINANCIAL GENIUS. MF4 MFS SIX M O X Til APR VA R I A Ji L E APR IXTROM'CTORY RATE W I.OAX-TO-VAI.l'E No Points The smart way eredit that gives you tax-deductible interest and lets you access 100'lb of the equity you have in your home is a cry smart way to Itorrow. Plus, for the first six months after you olttain your credit line, we'll give you an introductory 5.90 annual percentage percent-age rate (APR). And there are no Ar4 2 W If pwf 2V. t r?-nitv - ttwt wtt t 4 1fct tht to aiUMp m few Vernal Express p"A J M Maeser students of the week include: Front row, Chanse Rinderknecht, Corbin Kay, Keenan Kuchler. Back row, Jenessa Jones, Hannah Larsen, Aleshia Perry and Emily Leishman. Christina Colton was absent when pictures were taken. City buys land for housing Vernal City Council members have approved the purchase of seven sev-en land parcels. Homes for the disabled dis-abled will be built on the property. The purchase was made possible by a Community Development Block Grant and a matching grant from the Utah Housing Finance Agency (UHFA), together totaling over $62,000. The UHFA plans to build seven, specially-equipped homes for disabled dis-abled adults or families with disabled dis-abled children. Three of the 1000-sq. 1000-sq. foot homes will be located in the Quail Hollow subdivision, two homes each will be built in Midland Heights and the Meadow Park sub I No Fees to borrow money. tmn tlut tm ttrm . wt riU' tt iliuv Al'Hi W-wy fJw 4: fUJv AM Kl m tW fwm r m W m V i 4M a h -Hf-nv ttvHM Mr Jitwi AV ymt Wednesday, February 26, 1997 5 division. The houses have three bedrooms, a carport, and are finished in brick and siding. "They're nothing elaborate, but they're adequate," said Mayor Leonard Heeney. Vernal City must now establish a housing committee to find interested interest-ed tenants, although the land technically techni-cally becomes the property of UHFA. UH-FA. After the homes are completed, they will be rented or leased for 15 years. Tenants will then have the option to purchase them, and the city's money is reimbursed. origination fees, no appraisal fees, and no closing fees. To find out more, simply call I -.HOO-r-LOAN or stop I A any Zions Hank branch. 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