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Show V -l-f c IMAM 'V- ANS.iClAi HI ';)' W ,'i k.i .-, Hmuj1- SI I , I! I h-tf) toywed. nightNTl Robin survives piercing. See Page A12 Wednesday Thursday Inside Man retires to toy making. mak-ing. See Page B1 Seven-day forecast I see page A7 Mostly cloudy. Mostly cloudy. Considerable cloudiness. Single Copy 50t Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Vernal, Utah 84078 112th Year No. 10 20 Pages 77 Wmmi 11 P I SUPPORT OUR TROOPS Express online: www.vernal.com 4. Visitors to the new Field House will comssiiiriccticoTu By Maureen Spencer Express Writer Major contractors of the new Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum gathered gath-ered Monday to review each portion por-tion of the developing interior and exterior of the expansive facility. The group, which has been meeting meet-ing regularly at the Museum throughout construction, is now into the phase of overseeing details that requires a walk-through more frequently. Working with on-site sub contractors, contrac-tors, the officials went through the entire building and grounds in detail before meeting to decide when the Dinosaur Gardens resi Swallow hopes for another shot at Congressional seat By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor On the shoulders of his past campaign, cam-paign, John Swallow, Republican running in the Second Congressional District, hopes to march past other Republicans in the Primary and have another try at unseating Congressman Jim Matheson. In 2002, Swallow bridged a 31-point 31-point gap in the early voter opinion polls to nearly defeat incumbent Democrat Matheson. In the final tally, Swallow came within 1,600 votes out of 224,000 total votes cast seven-tenths of one percent. Swallow said when he began his campaign in 2002, he had 5 percent name recognition, and he ran out of money toward the end of his campaign. cam-paign. During the election, Swallow took 1 1 of the 1 5 rural Utah counties. Swallow said while he was in Vernal last week, that he was raised on a 40-acre hay farm off the Wasatch Front. From his upbringing, upbring-ing, he contends that he learned at a early age the value of hard work. Concerning President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, Swallow said he is against it. "The federal government has no business in education, that is a state issue," he said. "They should return the money to the State of Utah and let it decide what is best for the state 8 0 begin their Uinta fossil journey by dents will be loaded on flatbed trucks for their trip to the new Field House. That date remains pending a final decision. Frequently checking plans at this review were Karen Krieger, heritage her-itage coordinator and a project manager with Utah State Parks; Allyson Craig Sundine, a project designer with Portico; Jeff Nielsen of AJC Architects, who are architects archi-tects for the building; A.J. Higgs, vice president of Maltbie; Brent Lloyd, a project manager with Utah State Parks; Lori Johnesse, project manager for Dixon Studios; Chuck Mayes, one of the principal designers design-ers with Portico; Ken Hughes of Hughes and Sons Construction, general contractor responsible for If ; 1 II John Swallow, candidate for Congress, campaigns with his son, Taylor, down Vernal streets. in the way of education." Swallow said his answer to Utah's economic woes is to free up more public land for development. Swallow said he is excited about his chances of defeating Matheson, because of additional funding and a new campaign team the same team that put Chris Cannon and Enid Green into office. As a private attorney, Swallow jUINTA'- I? CD. La? II meeting "Dippy," a diplodocus skeleton. 9h ,T Kt- vv' Construction details are examined in the new Field House Museum by Allyson Craig Sundine, Gary Dixon, Lori Johnessee and Steve Sroka take a close look at details at the new Field House construction construc-tion site. interior contracting, building and garden work; Mark McWilliams, site superintendent for Maltbe, general gen-eral contractor responsible for the exhibits; Heather Finlayson, curator of the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum; and Steve Sroka, Park manager for the Utah Field House of Natural serves as a Judge Pro Tern for the Third District Court and as chairman chair-man of the Business Section of the Utah State Bar. He also co-founded On International a start-up technology tech-nology company focusing on innovation inno-vation in lighting options and electro elec-tro eluminescence. Swallow is also running against Republican David Wilde, a Salt Lake City councilman. 01 TV 7 dps- History State Park Museum. Work continues throughout the building and grounds to meet the May 22 Community Appreciation Day for the community to come visit the new facility, and the official offi-cial June 5 general public opening day. Museum bricks available In 1999 and 2000, a campaign was launched to raise funds for additional expenses at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum. On the north, Main Street, entrance there is enough space for 650 memorial bricks, and before long close to 200 bricks had been purchased for $50 each. Now that the Field House Museum is nearing completion, the brick sales drive has reopened, and Vernal City Manager Ken Bassett says that the same special memorial nature of the bricks will be continued. contin-ued. There is room on each 4-inch by 8-inch brick for a person's name, and a choice of a birthday, wedding date or death date. A small Dinah is imprinted on the special bricks, and Vernal City has the engraving done on the bricks. Special forms to order the bricks are available at the Vernal City Office building, 447 East Main. Payment of the $50 donation per brick needs to be made at the time of placing the order. Now that the opening of the new Field House Museum is close, Bassett says the remaining bricks are going quickly. Disttirictt plans sevem iroad projects The reconstruction of nearly 8 miles of the Lapoint to Gusher Highway maybe put on hold until next year, in order to preserve the federal funding for the project. The federal funding for the project, proj-ect, over 90 percent of the total cost, cannot be released until the bid is signed on the Dry Fork Road project. Federal regulations require a signed bid on a federally funded project, before another federal project can be funded in a county. "The Dry Fork road bid is nearly ready to be signed," said Uintah County Commissioner Mike McKee. "All that is lacking are some minor rights-of-way questions." ques-tions." If the loose ends on the Dry Fork project are not resolved before next month, it will put the Gusher to Lapoint Highway reconstruction off until next year. The Gusher to Lapoint Highway hasn't been improved for over 15 years and some people living in the area believe the stretch of road needs some immediate attention. Bob Timberlake, who lives along the road, said there are numerous heavy trucks that use the road. "The road has become rutted to the point, that you don't need to hold the steering wheel when you drive down it," said Timberlake during a Uintah County Commission meeting two years ago. The road has only gotten worse. He said the rutting makes it No meth in large suspected drug seizure Although the investigation into a drug arrest last January is still continuing, con-tinuing, the 1.55 pounds of suspected sus-pected methamphetamine was not meth. Those arrested in the case, Larie Dawn Oaks, 38, and Michelle DeSilva, 40, both of Vernal, both claimed the substance taken by members of the Uintah Basin Joint Strike Force (UBJSF) was bath salts. The suspected methamphetamine was sent to the Utah State Crime Lab for analysis after the arrest Jan. 15, 2004. If it was meth, it would have been the largest methamphetamine methamphet-amine seizure in the history of the Uintah Basin Narcotics Strike Force, with a street value between $68,000 and $80,000. V1 Marie Spurlock displays one of the special Field House Museum bricks available through the Vernal City offices. impossible to plow the snow. The Uintah Special Service District Project Summary as of March 2, 2004 includes: 1) County-wide Chip Seal Project-65 miles 2) 3000 North Reconstruction-(2500 Reconstruction-(2500 West going East approximately approxi-mately .6 miles) 3) 1500 South (500 East to 2400 West) with design engineering and irrigation work being done in 2004, completion of roadway in 2005 4) Air Village from 2500 West to water tanks 5) 1700 South (1500 East to 2000 East) Reconstruction 6) Steinaker Canal Bridge Replacement (5 Bridges) 7) Lapoint to Gusher Reconstruction Match dollars on Federal Projects The estimated cost of these projects proj-ects is $3.7 million. These improvements are made possible by mineral lease monies received by the district. "I want to clarify that these are the regular mineral lease receivable, receiv-able, not 'catch-up' from the state from the estimated period," said Cheri McCurdy, district manager. Most of the projects will be constructed con-structed during the 2004 construction construc-tion year. The crime lab report states that in examining item 4-72, suspected meth in a pink jar," no controlled substances were identified." Dylan Rooks, UBNSF, said the charges of possession of a controlled con-trolled substance with the intent to distribute against Oaks and DeSilva, involving the large quantity quan-tity of suspected meth. will be dropped, but because it is an ongoing on-going investigation, other charges could be filed. Officers recovered, in addition to suspected meth, materials suspected to have been used in connection with weighing and packaging of drugs. The Uintah Basin Narcotics Strike Force is comprised of officers offi-cers representing the Vernal, See Meth on A2 ' r 1 J |