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Show 14 Vernal Express Wednesday, October 28, 1998 Clean-up project aids plight of county By Carol Jewert Express Staff Writer The plight of the Vernal area lies in the hands of individuals, clubs and organizations who have foresight fore-sight and appreciation to clean up after the few individuals who dump trash and garbage in the backyard of the community. On Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the 4-H Piebald Horse Club, Uintah High School FFA, and the Outlaw Trail ride Committee, kids, parents and leaders picked up 20 tons of garbage in a radius of a couple miles of Doc's Beach. "The pur - - . A 'V" .u- Garth Horrocks and Christy Gardiner pack out trash during a community com-munity work day. Jaren Winkler and Clay Johnson take their four wheeler to clean up garbage. Locks of Love provides happiness By Carol Jewert Express Staff Writer Hair is a person's crowning glory, whether it's two inches or two feet long. It can be cut to fit to the face, cropped, worn long and silky, curly or just casual enough to sway in the wind. Whatever, it's there to be washed and styled or just left alone; and it's still there. Has any thought been given to the fact that one wakes up in the morning and hair is left on the pillow and continues to fall out until there is only a bald head left. Can you picture the loss? Imagine you were 10 years old and the continual loss of hair was happening. hap-pening. In July of this year, an 11-year-old, 6th grade Vernal girl, April Sherrick, decided to do something extraordinary. She cut her long, golden hair and gave it away. "I wanted to give my hair to another little girl," said April, who is kind of shy. "My hair will grow back but there are girls like me whose hair is gone and it won't grow back." After reading an article in The American Girl magazine and watching a program about it on TV, she donated her tresses to an organization, organi-zation, Locks of Love, that provides hair pieces for cancer victims and kids that have alopecia areata, a disease dis-ease that attacks hair follicles. Alopecia areata (AA) is a non-scarring, non-scarring, inflammatory, hair loss disease that can affect men, women and children. The factors that bring pose of this community project," stated Garth Horrocks, Outlaw Trail Ride Committee member, "is to clean up our county. It's a shame how people just throw trash anywhere any-where and leave it for others to clean up after them. People dump just anywhere because they are too lazy to go out to the dump or pay the $7.50 it takes to have someone come to their house and pick it up." "I saw a lot of animal carcasses," said Gail Winkler, assistant leader of the 4-H Piebald Horse Club, "and the dump doesn't charge to take them." the onset of AA and the mechanisms mecha-nisms of its development are not fully understood. Circumstantial evidence suggests AA is a disease where cells of an individual's own immune system prevent hair follicles folli-cles from producing hair fiber. Although AA is not life threatening, the pressures of society can make hair loss psychologically devastating devastat-ing for those affected, their families and friends. Locks of Love is a new, non-profit corporation formed for the purpose pur-pose of providing quality hair prosthetics pros-thetics for children afflicted with medical hair loss. They provide custom-fitted hair prosthetics free of charge or on a sliding scale to deserving children whose parents or guardians prove financial hardship. Donors provide the hair, volunteers volun-teers staff the office, and the manufacturer manu-facturer hand-assembles each piece at the exact cost. The entire process takes approximately four months. "Since April's hair grows so fast she said she could do it again in another couple of years," said Holly Sherrick, April's mother. "They showed a little girl on TV who had the disease and the best her family could afford was a little hat and one day, when she went to school, there was a substitute teacher who would not allow hats in class. Not knowing know-ing this little girl's situation she insisted 'hats off.' The teacher would have no way of knowing how humiliating it would be for the Egpressiupm "I can't believe how many animal carcasses those kids picked up," said Horrocks. "They really stunk too, but those kids got 'er done! People rip all the meat off and throw em out hoping the coyotes will eat em." Tree trimmings, agricultural refuse, and household trash make good homes for mice which encourage encour-age the mice population to escalate which bring forth diseases like Hantavirus. "Glass is strewn down the rock ledges from people using bottles for target practice," stated Winkler. "This is a problem for our kids riding their horses out there and also for the wildlife." "Most of the trash that I found were cans and broken bottles from target practicing. The hills are peppered pep-pered with broken skeet and there are rock ledges that glitter with shattered glass. It was impossible to pick it all up. I find it quite ironic that people drive past the Rod and Gun Club with all kinds of firing ranges to litter the hills not five minutes away. I was amazed at how many carcasses of dead animals we found. If there is a problem why the county dump is not being used, it needs to be resolved. If it's simply laziness or lack of concern on an individual's part, it needs to be stopped. We want to make the public pub-lic aware of how bad the problem is getting in our own back yard. I knew there was garbage scattered about, but I had no idea to what extent until I tried packing it out on horseback. The project was a real eye opening experience for everyone every-one who participated, particularly the youth. They're to be commended, commend-ed, they did a great job," stated Carol Gardiner, assistant leader of the 4-H Piebald Horse Club. "It's good to see the 4-H and the FFA working together. Part of our 4-H pledge say, 'I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty and my hands to larger service," says Tiffany Gaudette, president of the Piebald Patriots 4-H Horse Club. "I think this is one of the many ways of not only giving more service to our community, but also greater loyalty to our parks, because if we're going to ride in them, it's also a good idea to help them stay clean and beautiful beauti-ful so others can enjoy them, too." "Also, being a member of FFA, their motto is, 'learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve.' This a great way to serve," concluded Gaudette. "It just needed to be cleaned," -Gabe Holmes, FFA. "I think that it is important to pick up trash because we need to keep Vernal clean." - April Terry "It is ugly, it's not healthy, the dead animals and trash spread disease dis-ease and it is not fun." - Christy Gardiner. April Sherrick after she cut 12 inches off her hair. little girl to have to pull off her hat. The class pretty much knew she didn't have very much hair anyway, but it didn't stop the humiliation she felt." Peggy Knight, founder of Locks of Love, suffers from alopecia areata area-ta and she developed a hair prosthesis prosthe-sis that she felt comfortable wearing. wear-ing. "I know what these children go through. I spent 35 years coming to terms with living without hair," Knight said. "I want this to give children a boost up in life." Utilizing her 20 years of professional profes-sional experience in the hair replacement industry, Knight developed devel-oped the Locks of Love hair piece, which provides its recipients with a custom vacuum-fit hair piece made entirely from natural, human hair. The custom vacuum-fit is designed for children who have experienced a total loss of scalp hair. Vacuum fitting a hair piece creates an air- "To keep the trail clean so we don't see the trash all the time." -Clay Caldwell. "So it is cleaner and no more pollution." pol-lution." - Cara Gardiner. "I think that it is good to pick up trash because it keeps Vernal clean and with these groups doing a service ser-vice project, maybe others will realize real-ize that we need to clean up," said Jocelyn Witbeck. "Vernal is a beautiful beau-tiful place and with the help of others oth-ers we can keep it that way. People need to keep their mess on their own property, and use some manners. man-ners. Why else did people invent garbage cans?" "I think it is really neat that two clubs can come to gather, work hard, have fun and make our com munity a better place to be." - Tiffany Emery "I think that what we did today will help out in the long run. People need to realize that you can't dump trash just anywhere and doing this project will help the community realize that people really do care. Not only did we do a lot we had fun while we were doing it." - Tausha Merkley. "I was afraid that we wouldn't get the support, but through community service, it shows that the whole community needs to get involved." - Markelle Guffey. "This is a real popular area for 4-wheelers, 4-wheelers, motorcycles and horses. Dumping garbage in this area not only is a hazard to the animals but also to the riders," said Bob Nielson, president Outlaw Trail ride Committee. "Our club is real civic minded and we are glad to have this chance to serve our community," said Shanna Witbeck, leader of the Piebald Patriots 4-H Horse Club. "The FFA and 4-H have a lot in common. Members of both clubs strive to be good citizens, develop good leadership skills and support the community," says Mariana Winkler, FFA vice president and April Sherrick before she cut 1 2 inches off her hair. tight seal that does not require the use of tape or glue and provides the security needed for children to maintain a normal, active lifestyle. When Knight goes to fit a hair piece on. a child she gets by the awkward moments by removing her own hair piece in front of the child to make them feel more comfortable. comfort-able. Up to this point no one knows that she has the same condition and is wearing a hair piece. "The immediate support that Locks of Love received overwhelmed over-whelmed us," said Knight. "We only expected to provide two hair pieces in 1997!" Bundles, of hair arrive daily at Locks of Love as a result of initial publicity in newspapers and on local television in states throughout the country. Most donors mail a note and a photo telling their story along with FFA volunteers for community service project. i " fj K 3iL v -, . fira-iiimnfifr i ' Ti Jocelyn Witbeck, 4-H Piebald Horse Club, writes her thoughts on a community project, clean ing up trash left on public lands. Dave Moore a BLM employee was on hand during a community communi-ty project. secretary of the Piebalds Patriots 4-. H Horse Club. "This was a great opportunity for the FFA and 4-H to work together on a project that not only benefits both clubs, but also the community. We plan to work together in the future, not only on clean-up projects but others as well. I hope other clubs and groups will join in and help keep our valley beautiful." Convictions for littering on public land includes a fine of up to $10,000. Violators also get to clean up their own garbage and also one pick-up load of someone else's. Is that enough? The 12 inch poney tail donated to Locks of Love will make a hair piece suitable for another child in need. their bundle of hair. The level of human interest truly warms the heart. Children comprise about 50 percent per-cent of the donors making this a charity where children have the opportunity to help children. Donated hair is evaluated for its usefulness according to the following follow-ing guidelines: The donated hair must be at least 10 inches in length. It must be bundled and pony-tailed pony-tailed with cuticles running in the same direction. v It must be free of hair damaged by chemical processing. The hair must be clean and dry, placed in a plastic bag, and mailed in a padded envelope to: Locks of Love, 1729 E. Commercial Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla 33334. Even older people can donate hair. If the hair has some gray in it but wouldn't be suitable for a child, they take it, sell it to other companies at fair market price and use the money to buy supplies needed to do the Locks of Love hair pieces. tit- pY7 ft I ! Calendar of Events October 1-29 Uintah Arts Council Third Annual Outlaw Trail Festival of the Arts Juried Photography Show is being held at the Western Heritage Museum. October 30 A community dance will be held at the Golden Age Center. This is a dance for the whole community so everyone is welcome. wel-come. The dances will be held every Friday evening from 8:30-10:30 8:30-10:30 p.m. All ages welcome to listen to the music. For more information call 789-2169. October 28 Fall prevention for older adults will be held at the Golden Age Center free of charge. For more information call Mike Miller 781-0132. . "We want your blood!" Ashley Valley Educational Center, 250 S. Vernal Ave., is offering to work off U's by donating blood. The blood drive will take place beginning at 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. A note from parent or guardian and picture ID must be brought with you. Anyone donating will get a free T-shirt and cookies and juice. October 28, 29 The Sew Creative workshop will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 28 and 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Oct. 29. For more information informa-tion call Ronda Olsen, 781-5452. October 29 The Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring ; a Festival of Trees this holiday season sea-son on Friday, Nov. 27-28. Entry forms for sponsors of trees will be available at the Chamber Office at 134 W. Main, at 9 a.m. There is a non-refundable $5 entry fee. Space is limited, so sponsors will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, contact the Chamber at 789-1352. October 30 The Great Pumpkin Festival will be held at the Jensen Park in Jensen from 5-8 p.m. October 31 The Utah Field House of Natural History - will host "Halloween in the Dinosaur Gardens" from 6-8 p.m. October 30, 31 Uintah School District will offer the GED Test at the Uintah School District Office, 635 W. 200 S. to begin at 6 p.m. Those interested in taking the test need to fill out an application by 5 p.m. A $35 fee is required to take the test. Any questions call Elaine at 781-3100. November 4 The Uintah County Library, 155 E. Main Street, will host a lecture, "20th Century Pioneers: the 1905 Land Rush in Eastern Utah" with John D. Barton. For more information contact Darleen Kinsey and Ellen Kiever at 789-0091. The Vernal Ladies of Elks will meet at the Lodge at 7 p.m. to discuss the December activities. activi-ties. A program is planned. Novembers A workshop will be held at the Uintah County Library, 155 E. Main from 10:30-11:30 a.m. "More Crafts" with Maurlne Spencer. For more information call Darleen Kinsey and Ellen Kiever, 789-0091. November 6 Dinah Dancers Square Dance Club is offering dance lessons at the Vernal Middle School from 7-8 p.m. For more information call Mickey at 781-2065. 781-2065. The Uintah Arts Council presents pre-sents Utah Ballet to be held at the Vernal Middle School Auditorium beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets available at IGA. Bitter Creek Books and at the door the evening of the concert. November 7 A cookie decorating contest will be held at Wal-Mart beginning begin-ning at 2 p.m. For more information informa-tion call Judy Smith 789-9784. To place items of public interest on the Community Calendar mail to Vernal Express, P.O. Box 1000, E-mail, editorvernal.com or call the Express at 789-3511. Materials are subject to edit. Deadline is Monday at 12 noon. 4 i |