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Show Chefk Inside Millennium JamboraL.page 5 HaQ reaches top again page 2 School schedules ..........page 3 T-Rea get new face page 7 Football potential page 18 Classic car winners ....page 20 Express online: www.vernal.com Single Copy 50 WEDNESDAY, August 16, 2000 Vernal, Utah 84078 108th Year No. 33 20 Pages MM Ur WoOdl ffnire conftiiniiuies to By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor The Dry Fork fire continues to bum at the bottom and on the sides of Black Canyon and Ashley Gorge where access to the fire is difficult. The fire, which is the largest to hit Uintah County, blackened another 70 acres Monday putting its total acreage at nearly 2,000 acres. The fire began Saturday the result of a lightning strike. It started on BLM ground one mile north of the Dry Fork Settlement near June Springs. Saturday the fire quickly spread onto Forest Service ground. The fire reached within a quarter of a mile from the Joseph Weyerman residence and sawmill in Dry Fork. Precision bombing of the fire with retardant from low flying aircraft saved the home and sawmill Tankers made 20 drops of retardant Saturday and Sunday. Currently no structures are threatened. The fire is 45 percent contained but continues to have potential to bum acres of the Ashley National Forest. Approximately 72 firefighters are helping with suppression efforts. Helicopters, air tankers and dozers are still on the fire. A Hotshot crew from Coconino National Forest in Arizona arrived Monday to assist firefighting efforts. The emphasis Monday was on helicopter bucket work on the northeast of the fire. A heliport was setup on Taylor Mountain. A 6.000 gallon "canvass pumpkin" was filled by a tender and a helicopter made a trip every couple of minutes down into the canyon to attack hot spots loaded with 144 gallons hanging underneath under-neath it "Nationally this year is the worst fire season in 50 years," said Bert Kulesza, Ashley National Forest Supervisor. Montana has 400,000 acres bumed or burnings, Idaho has 500.000 acres and Utah has 150.000 acres. Kulesza said he is concerned Lapoint man arrested for burglary A Lapoint man was arrested Thursday for aggravated residential burglary and a series of other charges. At about 4 p.m. Thursday, Uintah County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Roth and Bureau of Indian Affair officers Felicia Pikc-Cuch and Andre Gray responded to a report of an attempted attempt-ed residential burglary in Lapoint When the officers arrived, they spoke to the victim and his daughter. daugh-ter. The daughter was at home and heard a noise. When she looked for the origin of the noise, she saw a male cutting the screen out of a window in the house. The suspect saw her and fled the scene in a truck. As she was giving the information infor-mation to the officers, another report of a residential burglary was dispatched giving a vehicle description. descrip-tion. The young girl said "Thai's the truck." the officers then left the scene and attempted to locate the truck. The suspect was located driving, the truck west on State Road 121. The officers attempted to stop the driver with lights and siren, the driver dri-ver didn't respond. He pulled into a residence a short time later, the driver dri-ver got out of the vehicle and ran into the residence. The officers then set up a perimeter and called for additional assistance. Uintah County Sheriff's Det. Sgt. Keith Campbell. Det. Wayne Hollebeke and Det. Shawn Abplanalp, Corp. Vance Norton, Deputy Kevin Orr, Deputy Rockcy Samuel, numerous BIA officers. UHP trooper Jeff Chugg and police dog, Claudio responded to the scene. After speaking to the suspect for about an hour and a half, he surrendered surren-dered to officers without incident and was taken into custody. After taking the suspect into custody, cus-tody, the officers located all of the stolen property in the truck- Stolen property included a safe, a television, televi-sion, a loaded firearm and other items. "1 V t Helicopter flies water bucket to hot about the Dry Fork fire because there is the possibility of it burning up and out of Black Canyon. "Once it gels to that point there is nothing we can do to stop it" he said during a presentation to the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. Because of the fuel stockpile in the forest Kulesza predicted that fire years like the present would become more common. "It will take a while to deal with i I .; , ! - ( I .' Firefighters attack fire at Maeser. Sunday blaze destroys Maeser business At 10:54 p.m. Sunday, Vernal City-Uintah County volunteer firefighters fire-fighters responded to a structure fire at Rustic Valley Inc., 550 North 2500 West. The fire, that is being called an accident started on the south side of the building and spread up and into the attic. "The fire was very difficult to fight due to a number of factors, accessibility to the structure, no doors or windows to enter the structure, struc-ture, and a low pitched roof which does not allow room to get inside the attic area." said Dennis Paulson, Vernal City-Uintah County fire chief. Also attributing to the difficulty in putting out the fire and flare up was the distance to a hydrant and spots in Black Canyon. the accumulation of fuels," he said. They w ill be thinned out w ith controlled con-trolled bums and logging. With more people living close to the forest people need to be aw are that they cannot make a stand against a wild fire with just a garden gar-den hose. Kulesza urged home owners to have an escape plan, space around the home is not prone to the spread of wildlife, and to have a non-flammable roof. the hydrant being on a small volume vol-ume line. The hydrants at times were actually sucked dry' to leave firefighters w ith little or no water. Also, very flammable and toxic materials were used in the construction construc-tion of building. The 100' by 300' building is a total loss. About $200,000 were estimated in damaged to the building build-ing and about $175,000 to the contents. con-tents. The Vernal City-Uintah County fire department was assisted by the Sherifffs office and Naples Fire Department on the fire. Fire Cause Determination was done as an effort of Uintah County Sheriff's office and the t'tah State Fire Marshall's Office, hum , .1- -t photo by Steven R Wafts Fire danger remains extreme on the Ashley National Forest and Stage II fire restrictions remain in effect Stage II restricts open fire except in developed campgrounds; travel off-roads; operation of chain-saws, chain-saws, generators, or any other type of machine powered by internal combustion engine from 1 p.m. to I a.m use of explosives, blasting, welding or any other activity generating gener-ating flame or flammable materials from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. Man arrested for defacing petroglyph A Salt Lake City man w as arrested arrest-ed Saturday for defacing a popular petroglyph on Dinosaur National Monument near the Josie Basset cabin. At about 8 p.m. Salt Lake City-family City-family visiting the area, noticed six men leaving the petroglyph stop 13 as they went view it. Members of the family noticed that "Osmar was here 812AXT was etched on the petroglyph so they dialed 911. They were directed to the L'intah County Sheriff Department who contacted the Park Service. The family members were able to describe the vehicle and said the occupants were six Hispanic men. Two park rangers. Sam Martinsen and Cindy Crowle, assisted by a sheriffs deputy, contacted con-tacted the six men at Josie's Cabin. Arrested on a felony charge of defacing an archeological resource was Osmar Mejicanos-Mendoa. 26. Another man in the group was taken into custody on a warrant. The other four men were released. Mejicanos-Mendoza is awaiting a second arraignment hearing in federal fed-eral court. Defacing an arehcologi-cal arehcologi-cal resource is punishable by a maximum fine of $250,000 and or 2 years in prison. "The suspect said he wanted to make right w hat he did." said Daw Pancbaker, chief ranger at Dinosaur Monument. Tt is estimated estimat-ed to cost about $3,800 to repair the damaged panel." Mew acufiinraaD slheDfter proposed By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor During a joint meeting of the L'intah County Commission and Vernal City Council last week it was decided to pursue the construction con-struction of a new animal shelter. shel-ter. The current shelter, located in the back of Ashley Valley Veterinary Clinic and has served the community for over 20 years. Dr. Chuck and Chris Powell recently puahased the clinic and would like to devote all their time to their veterinarian veterinari-an practice. Rick Bell. L'intah County Animal Control officer, proposed pro-posed a 3.0t0 square foot facility facili-ty which would cost about $250,000 to build. He said the city and county could save money by using a design for the facility which is already being used. The preferred location for the animal shelter is the old Sumption Yard. Another pa posed location is at the L'intah County Landfill. ...J I : Cvifsr. - i f s Lr , IniVr n if ?U;3? d V-W I; J i .. . . . ... . . "-""- I ' ' v - - - . - -- - - - Main Street constnxtion will continue for another week. Main Street traffic slowed by construction Travel on Venial Main Street will be reduced to two lanes for another wvek and the contractor will begin putting ow n a chip and seal. The project, being done by Mitchell Construction, includes the rotomilltng of sides and intersections intersec-tions of Mam Street overlay and chip sealing from the Vernal Post Office to the Cracked Pot Restaurant. Construction began last Sunday. Earlier this month Main Street business owners met with L'tah Department of Transportation and Mitchell officials and suggested that work begin on Sunday, which is usually a slow day. One-merchant said 20 pea-ent of her annual busi Kenneth Bassctt, Vernal City manager, said the funding for the animal shelter could be presented pre-sented to the Community Impact Board by December. Darlene Koemer. representative representa-tive of LUntah Animal Care said. "This is a great opportunity for this community with all entities and veterinarian clinics working work-ing together. We are all after the same thing reducing the number of unwanted pets through spay-neuter. education and responsible ownership." Naples City Mayor Mathis. is also in support of the new facility facili-ty and sits on the Community Impact Board. "The partnership we are developing devel-oping between Naples. Vernal. L'intah County and the veterinarians veteri-narians reflects the desire for our community to be more responsible to animal issues." said Koemer. Bell said he had looked at the designs of other facilities in Price and Helper. He said he wanted to use an existing plan and modify it for a specific kxa-rion. ness occurs in August. She feared the project would impact travelers. At the meeting Mitchell said that work on the project would begin at 5:30 a.m. and would be finished at 3 p m. daily. During the paving, a 12 foot pass a day w ill be made starting on the west side of town. The maximum time the paving operation would be in front of a Main Street business is three hours. The paving will be fum the Post Office to the Cracked Pot. Chip and seal will continue through Naples to the Bonanza Highway 40 intersection. The contract con-tract on the project calls for an Aug. 25 completion date. Copy |
