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Show ' r' I-' IM I'M ( I ' 1 ' I ri' ' i 'I ' i'i ,:! II ;'i I Check Inside ii Vernal Rodeo tonight page 18 Close call page 5 New strike force head page 9 Families flock together page 11 I ait snow winners Pag lo Miss Rodeo America page 16 1,. Express online: www.verexp.com Single Copy 501: WEDNESDAY, July 8, 1998 Vernal, Utah 84078 106th Year No. 27 20 Pages rag Zi City proposes sales tax increase By Shellie Anderson Express Staff Writer Kenneth Bassett, Vernal City manager, presented a proposal to the City Council last week to put 14 cent sales tax referendum on the November ballet. According to House Bill 98, cities are allowed to tax their citizens 14 cent for the improvement of roads and streets as well as curb, gutter and sidewalk. During budget workshops work-shops that were recently held, the Council discussed the tax increase and made a decision that this would probably be a good thing to implement imple-ment in order to continue work on the much needed improvement of streets and roads. During the next several months, citizens will be informed of the possible tax increase in as many ways as possible. possi-ble. It is important for the citizens of Vernal to pay attention to the information so that they will understand under-stand how these sales tax moneys will be used and how the 14 cent sale tax will personally affect them. By becoming informed about this, the citizens will also be better prepared pre-pared to vote in the upcoming November election. At the last Council meeting, the Council voted to approve the sale of a piece of property in the Maeser area that had been given to the City by the State. The sale of the property proper-ty was made to Max McLean for $4,000. BassettO requested that the proceeds of the sale of the property be utilized and added to the recent CDBG grant for housing rehabilitation rehabilita-tion to provide additional rehabilitation rehabilita-tion work on homes within the City. Large class sizes projected at Uintah High By Shellie Anderson Express staff writer Based upon pre-registration data at Uintah High School, Principal Dixie Allen, at School Board meeting meet-ing last week, reported that some classes at the high school will have as many as 40-50 students in a class and that the majority of the classes with high numbers are found in the math and English departments. Principal Allen pointed out that this is a preliminary report and when the final numbers come in adjustments will be made in the classrooms. Superintendent Gawrys expressed his concern and said that any class size above 35 is a negative nega-tive impact and makes it very difficult diffi-cult for a teacher to address the individual instructional needs of the students. During patron input, Collett Jablonski expressed her concern about a fence that has been removed between Maeser Express and the Uintah High School parking lot. The fence has been temporarily removed to create additional parking park-ing at Uintah High School. Her concerns con-cerns were that when functions are being held at the high school that the public trespasses through the yards of several personal property owners that lie to the West of Maeser Express. Nick Richens, owner of the Maeser Express, was also present and added his concerns. In short, the personal property owners would like a new fence installed to keep trespassers off of their property, Richens would like some kind of a fence installed that would allow the public some kind of access to the Maeser Express during high school functions and the School Board would like a fence installed that will discourage students from leaving the campus during school hours. Some members of the board expressed their desire to reinstall the chain link fence that was previously previ-ously in place. Other members of The Council approved this request. Resolution 98-08 was also approved by the Council. This Resolution provides for the 25 cent increase in residential garbage collection col-lection rates. This increase was previously pre-viously approved by the Council, but was formally approved in this County to widen tribal store By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor Uintah County Commissioners agreed to widen the road to Ft. Duchesne Tuesday near where Ute Tribal members want to build a grocery story and truck stop. The road the county will widen intersects with Highway 40 about 20 miles west of Vernal. The tribe is planning to build a grocery store and truck stop on the southeast corner cor-ner of the intersection. The county letter states that the county would not be involved in the project because of the threat the project is to two already established businesses and "numerous complaints" com-plaints" about the county's involvement involve-ment in the road. Roland Cook, vice chairman of the Tribal Business Committee, said that the tribe offered to buy out the two businesses, but the offered price "was much more than the the board supported the idea of a "hitching rail" type fence with a gate in it that would allow access to the Maeser Express. After a lengthy discussion, several motions were made and each failed. Finally, the only motion that gained unanimous approval was to table the fencing issue until the next Elks July 4th fireworks display lights T ' -;r ' jLMI fWir kl 111 1 meeting by resolution. The effective date will be the first billing cycle in July. The next Vernal City Council Meeting will be held on July 15, 1998 at 7 p.m. in the Vernal City Council Chambers. road for property was worth." Max Adams, Tribal Economic Development, requested that the county hold off on improving 6500 East across from the Hilltop Lounge and instead widen the Ft. Duchesne Road. "It is a matter of safety," Adams said. Adams said the grocery store should be completed by the end of October and he didn't see it putting neighboring stores out of business. "They sell different merchandise than we will. They might have to adjust the prices they are charging." The tribe plans to move Ute Petroleum from Bottle Hollow to the grocery store location and build a truck stop. Adams said the only tax break the tribe receives is from the state on gas taxes. The tribe receives one-third off the state tax. The tribe pays 100 percent of the federal gas taxes. It was determined See Widening on page 5 scheduled School Board Meeting in August. In accordance to Section 9 of the Voted Leeway, "The canvass of the election returns shall be made in public and at its conclusion the governing gov-erning body shall make an official See School Board on page 1 0 up the sky. ESQ 'IM:if . f V J V & 1 Jr, r JT JS f -irJ V Jul King Tusk, retired star of the Ringling Brothers - Barnum and Bailey stopover at Dinosaur Gardens. Elephant lias 900c! romp at Dinosaur Gardens By Sue Ann Bilbey, Ph.D. Curator The 4th of July is a time to party and have fun with family in celebration celebra-tion of the many freedoms of being an American. At the Utah Field House there was an amazing family reunion between the Wooly Mammoth and his distant offspring, an Asian Elephant. King Tusk, retired star of the Ringling Brothers - Barnum and Bailey circus, was in town with elephant ele-phant trainer, David Polke and his family. Also accompanying them photo by John Kay was Ruth Chaddock, the special event manager for Field Entertainment, Inc., and the circus. July 4th was a busy day at the Utah Field House with nearly 1,000 visitors. In the early afternoon, one young visitor came to the entrance and asked if she could bring her pet in to the garden to play. One of the seasonals, Shauni Boren was startled star-tled when the visitor explained that she had an Asian elephant that would like to meet his ancestor. The approval was given. The Polke family fam-ily (David with wife and daughter) and Ruth Chaddock have been touring tour-ing the country with King Tusk aka Tom. Recently they were in California near Sacramento and in San Diego doing educational shows for the public. Vernal just happened to be on their route to Colorado Springs, Colo., and their daughter wanted to see the dinosaurs. King Tusk is a 53-year old Asian elephant that weighs more than two tons. He is primarily pachyderm grey, but he has a light brown forehead fore-head with freckles. Recent measurements measure-ments show the circumference of his front foot at more than 60 inches around the base. Still, he is almost a third smaller than the Wooly Mammoth in the Dinosaur Gardens. King Tusk also has "wool" but it is sparse. The handlers said that sometimes some-times if an elephant lives in a cool dry climate, he also becomes more hairy. King Tusk's journey into the Dinosaur Gardens began at the handicapped zone near the Scout House where he guzzled water from a garden hose for nearly five minutes. min-utes. Then he dropped the hose, picked it up with his trunk and "handed" it to his trainer. David proceeded to give him a shower while everyone watched. Certainly that was a welcome relief on a hot, 100 degree day. The journey into the Dinosaur Garden was not particularly eventful, event-ful, although some of the trees and plants were sampled. The horseradish horserad-ish and pie cherries seemed to be favorites. However, as soon as King Tusk saw the mammoth he slowed and approached it with caution. He was hesitant about this encounter, and it took quite a while before he would circus, takes a shower during a touch the mammoth with his trunk. It was almost as if he expected it to charge him. Finally he established that it wasn't alive it didn't smell like an elephant. He proceeded proceed-ed to caress the tusks and feel the "wool." The Polke family recorded this event for their video collection. Even some visitors and the Utah Field House crew were allowed to have their pictures taken with him, from a safe distance. After having numerous pictures taken in the typical elephant poses, albeit normally with other elephants not mammoths, they moved onto the tyrannosaurus rex. It did not seem as intimidating as the mammoth mam-moth had, so King Tusk moved easily eas-ily around him. Although from the crowd's point of view, the T-rex looked like he was ready to take a major chunk out of our visitor's backside. King Tusk found a nearby pine tree far more interesting, not as food but as a back scratcher. It isn't hard to imagine why the African savannahs are mostly grasslands. He gave that poor old tree quite a shaking. Slowly as they made their way toward the truck, he stopped to visit the Stegosaurus, to munch on the willow tree, and to drink out of the pond. The elephant looked at the pond in the gardens as if he wanted to go wading. Although there were no problems with this huge animal, those around him moved cautiously and gave him plenty of room to travel. He left a few remnants of his visit an elephant foot-sized divot that he surely would have eaten given the chance, tree limbs and pine needles nee-dles that must have, tasted nasty because he spit them out, and a couple cou-ple of surprises of mammoth proportions. pro-portions. Maybe next time he visits, there will be more of a notice of his arrival. That way more local children chil-dren will have the chance to see an elephant up close and personal. And to realize that the Gardens' mammoth mam-moth makes a incredible big brother. :opy |