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Show i-l-t iayNwed. nightNTl Walk a mile. See Page B8 (. .'.'! W 'I'd S SMUT, :i (. . ui ,s i i ii i Wednesday Thursday Troops get hero's welcome home See Page B1 n-day ast page A7 Some sun; warm and nice. Variable cloudiness. Some sun. Single Copy 50t Wednesday, May 12, 2004 Vernal, Utah 84078 112th Year No. 20 20 Pages 77 Wsmmi mm SUPPORT OUR TROOPS Express online: www.vernal.com iwirTfiiTiffra 3 i ffffocBaiDs express oiraceinrDs oveir slhwtiagge off ormraoff By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor County officials are concerned about the lack of runoff this spring due to the below average snow pack last winter. The April 30 SNOTEL report provided by the Natural Resources Conservation Service shows Trout Creek, an indicator of flows on Ashley Creek, at 16 percent of average aver-age with 1.3 inches of water. In 2003, there was 2.2 inches and .1 of an inch in 2002 on Trout Creek. Higher elevation SNOTEL sites registered high numbers. Chepeta, 10,300 feet, was at 79 percent of normal, Lake Fork Basin, 11,100 feet, at 85 percent, Trial Lake, 9,960 feet, at 58 percent and Mosby Mountain, 9,500 feet, at 52 percent of normal. "As both a rancher and a commissioner, commis-sioner, these levels are concerning," said Commissioner Mike McKee. "There is the potential for a disastrous disas-trous water year." Actually, spring runoff on Ashley Creek began about a couple of weeks ago, said Scott Ruppe, manager of the Uintah Water Conservancy District. "We are currently taking all we can into Steinaker and the canals are all full so in the afternoon and evening we are spilling some water down Ashley Creek," Ruppe said. Currently, Steinaker is two thirds full at 22,000 acre feet of water. Red Fleet is also about two thirds full. "We'll know in the next 6-7 days if we will be able to deliver a full allotment of irrigation water from Steinaker," Ruppe said. Red Fleet, because it only has about 4,000 acre feet of subscribed water, can already meet a full allotment. allot-ment. Several weeks ago, the Ashley Valley Treatment plant switched from using Ashley Creek water to using water from Red. The annual switch is in preparation for spring runoff which makes Ashley Creek water more difficult to treat. Ruppe said that Ashley Creek's runoff likely peaked a week ago, which is three weeks to a month early, "We are now hoping Ashley Creek flows will stay high for the next couple of weeks," Ruppe said. The rate of the runoff depends on the weather. Cooler weather will slow the run off, while hot weather will cause it to come too fast. "What we could use right now is about a week of rain," Ruppe said. Flows on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam increased significantly sig-nificantly for a full two-day test period, which is in the late evening hours of Saturday, May 8. This was done to enhance both the biological Historian Much can be learned from the his tory of Uintah County and nobody tells it better than Uintah County Historian Doris Burton. One of her regrets is that young people will never really experience the things early settlers did. "Kids now days miss the gifts God freely gives, such as clean air in the outdoors," she told member of the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. Burton was asked to speak at the luncheon because she has been chosen as the 2004 Uintah High School Alumnus of the Year. She spokes Tuesday morning to Uintah High School students. Since becoming the Uintah County historian, she has written numerous books, articles and pamphlet pam-phlet about her favorite subject, the people and places of Uintah County. Burton was born in Vernal in 1932 and graduated from Uintah High School in 1950. During her growing up years, she experienced the best of two worlds spending the winters in Vernal and the summers sum-mers on Blue Mountain. During her summers on Blue Mountain, she met a lot of inter Divider walls go up on a million gallon water tank being built at Doc's Beach Hill north of Vernal. Construction of the $5.9 million project for emergency storage and culinary infrastructure for Ashley Valley began last July. The Maeser Water District, Ashley Valley Water and Sewer District, Vernal City and Uintah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD) participated in 2 million gallons of the tank at a cost of $600,000. The tank will store treated water from the Ashley Valley Water Treatment plant. conditions and habitat needs of the endangered razorback sucker that lives in the Green River. Beginning at 10 p.m, Reclamation officials increased flows from an average of more than 300 cubic-feet-second (cfs) to a maximum power plant capacity of 4,400 cfs for a full two-day period. Each year, keeps going strong esting people, which inspired her write a book about them. One of her most interesting acquaintances on Blue Mountain was Joe Haslem. "He was about 7 feet tall and 12 inches wide," she said. "During one visit with him he reached into his shirt and pulled out a wood tick, i thought I would pull him out before he starves to death,'" she remembers Haslem saying. Burton is cred Uintah County Historian Doris Burton unveils book about prominent Vernal residents Chuck and Lillian Henderson, parents of Renee Buzarde, right. ited with starting start-ing the Regional History Room at the Uintah County Library, which has thousands of books, microfilm, pictures, oral histories and other resources about Uintah County. Burton's most recent project is Reclamation times the increased flows from the power plant into the Green River to match the spring runoff peak of the Yampa River as a means to aid in the recovery of endangered fish of the Green River. Current projections are for the Yampa River to peak at about 7,000 cfs during the second week of writing books about prominent local people. Her first such book features the histories of Chuck and Lillian Henderson of Vernal. i iSor""'' I I if ft Mil x - r r J May. Based on runoff projections, it appears that this peak will be the largest to occur this season. Concerns of landowners in the Jensen area, were considered in planning the increase flows. With peak flows of the Yampa River projected near 7,000 cfs this week, flows of the Green measured at Jensen may exceed 1 1 ,000 cfs beginning today. However, the combined flows of the Green and Yampa rivers will remain below peak flows of the past decade, Reclamation officials project. Rollover injures two Vernal A passenger was ejected and the driver injured during a one-car rollover roll-over on Highway 40 about 4 miles west of the Ouray turnoff . The 2001 Ford Expedition was traveling east Thursday, May 6, at 4:30 p.m. on S.R. 40 when the driver, Lola T. Carroll, 57, of Vernal, fell asleep and drifted into the west-bound lane. The driver awoke and over corrected, and rolling roll-ing the vehicle at least two times down the center of the roadway and ejecting the front seat passenger. passen-ger. The vehicle came to a rest on the driver's side in the center of the roadway. The driver and passenger were taken by ambulance to Ashley Valley Medical Center. Corbin Carrol, 25, suffered broken bones, cuts and abrasions. The driver, who was wearing a seat belt, was treated and released. The passenger, who was not wearing a seat belt, was chools to stay status quo By Maureen Spencer Express Writer A motion made by Uintah School Board member Rodney Anderson failed Tuesday night to reconfigure elementary schools back into Kindergarten through fifth grade and maintain all other schools as is. Voting against the measure were Board President Todd Tesar, Jenifer Foley and Joseph Shaffer. Mike McKee and Rodney Anderson voted for the reconfiguration. With their votes, Tesar, Foley and Shaffer kept the current division of grades as it is. In his introduction to his defeated motion, Anderson acknowledged that there was "no such thing as a perfect configuration." con-figuration." Board member Shaffer, speaking speak-ing as an advocate for the student, stu-dent, pointed to his belief that the least disruption as possible for students was preferred, and echoed many of those who spoke by stressing educational quality as the most important Walker announces wilderness plan Last week Gov. Olene Walker, surrounded by a group of state, federal fed-eral and local leaders, announced a new plan to resolve decades-long wilderness and public lands disputes. dis-putes. "The time has come to bring everyone to the same table in a spirit spir-it of trust, cooperation and shared vision to resolve these issues," Walker said. "I am confident the members of this group share mine and the Lt. Governor's goal to reach consensus, create solutions and see the process through to closure one region at a time. We've gone from a top-down to a bottom up approach, and we're going to make things happen." The plan is to set up "wilderness "wilder-ness work groups" in various areas across Utah as determined by officials offi-cials in each region charging each group with the goal to find the best land use and management strategy strat-egy for each area. The groups will be similar to makeup each will include government leaders and representatives from various private groups but will vary in representation represen-tation by geographic area. "The chairs at the table won't . . M 7' ' Rollover on west S.R. 40 ejected a passenger and injured the driver. Traffic on the highway was stopped for 30 minutes because of the accident. hospitalized for his injuries. utes, reported UHP Trooper David The accident shut down S.R. 40 in both directions for about 30 min- Swenson. factor. The Board had heard from nearly three dozen patrons, most of whom had come to praise the present system. Many of them acknowledged that when the present system was introduced they had been strongly against dividing children into grade specific school settings, but that subsequent experience with the system had changed their minds. A large number of teachers from throughout the district came to support the present system, as well as many parents par-ents who felt satisfied with the results their children were experiencing. expe-riencing. Of prime concern to everyone every-one was the "best situation for the children," and it was interpretation inter-pretation of this point that also brought the most divergence of opinion among patrons addressing address-ing the board. Comments by Vickie Nelson brought the loudest audience response as she pointed out that "Vernal is my neighborhood" during her remarks. change much as we work across the state," said Lt. Gov. Gayle McKeachnie. "What will change are the faces. We'll always include representatives from the counties, the federal government, the environmental envi-ronmental and outdoor groups and the state, but the individuals who sit in will likely change. Since local issue are best solved at the local level, with cooperation from the state, we want those most involved in the issues of a specific area to be part of the team in that area." The slots, while flexible, will generally represent a cross-section of those needing to be part of the process as the various groups move ahead. Consistently included will be representatives from the Bureau of Land Management, county commissioners, com-missioners, the Governor's Office; the Utah State Department of Natural Resources; the Utah State Department of Agriculture; the oil, gas and mining industries, recreation recre-ation and environmental groups and the School and Institutional Trust Land Administration. The state's congressional delega- See Walker on A2 residents ' V " .. ".V. '" |