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Show t2 Wednesday, March 2, 2005 .Vernal Express, i l. Linda West of Naples, prepares a bulletin board at Smith's Food and Drug in Vernal to encourage Basin residents to have their pets fixed. "We've seen stories in the paper about how animals keep coming into the shelter despite all the best efforts of rescue groups. As long as unwanted animals keep being born, rescue efforts will never catch up. If the Big Fix encourages more people to get their animals spayed and neutered, then it's a great service to the community because it will slow the flow of unwanted animals," said West. Big Fix to return to Uintah (Basin communities The Big Fix mobile spay and neuter clinic is on tour once again. It will be in Vernal, Roosevelt and Duchesne during March. Dates for Vernal are March 14 and 15. It will be located in the parking lot of Milt's Ace Hardware at 690 W. Main. Pre-register Pre-register at 435-789-2367. The clinic will be in Roosevelt March 16 in the Stewart's Thriftway parking lot at 245 S. Hwy 40. Pre-register at 435-823-0225. Then it's on to Duchesne March 17 in Roy Park at 450 S. Center Street. No pre-registra-tion is available in Duchesne so it's on a first come, first served basis. ' Intake begins at 8 a.m. in all three locations. Since space is limited, those desiring the services ser-vices are advised to arrive early unless they have pre-registered for a later time. Discharge time will be determined during intake. A small boarding fee is charged to anyone who leaves a pet past the pick up time. EA completed for Buckskin Hills Shooting Range The Vernal Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has completed the environmental envi-ronmental assessment (EA) for the proposed Buckskin Hills Shooting Range. The public comment period for this EA closes March 16. The EA is available through the Vernal BLM office or online at The EA number to refer to is UT-080-2004-0369. Written comments should be addressed to William Stringer, Field Manager; Bureau of Land Management, 170 S. 500 E., Vernal, UT 84078. Comments, M VERNAL Express (ISSN 0892-1091) Published every Wednesday for $24 per year in the shopping area and $36 per year out of the shopping area within the state and $39 per year out of state within the USA by the Vernal Express Publishing Company, 54 North Vernal Avenue, Vernal, Utah 84078. Periodicals postage paid at Vernal, Utah 84078. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VERNAL EXPRESS, P.O. Box 1000, Vernal Utah 84078. Steven R. Wallis Editor and Publisher Carissa Magee Feature Writer Virginia Harrington Feature Writer Patty John Proofreader Kitta Dory Ad Layout Rock Ad Layout Jacque Hobbs Advertising Lynne Murray Advertising Terri Black Circulation & Classified Ads Jody Hadden Obituaries & Legals Phone 435-789-3511 FAX: 435-789-8690 Website: www.vernal.com e-mail: editorvernal.com DEADLINES News Monday 12 noon Display Advertising. Friday 5 p.m. ClassifiedAdvertising. Monday 12 noon Public Notices Monday 12 noon 1HW Owners are advised not to feed the pet past 9 p.m. the night before surgery if the pet is older than four months. Those younger than four months may eat up until 6 a.m. Water is permitted for animals of all ages. Animals must be between the ages of eight weeks and six years to qualify for surgery. All cats must be in a carrier that is labeled with identification. identifica-tion. Vaccinations are available only to Big Fix spay and neuter patients except during specified vaccination clinics. A vaccination vaccina-tion clinic is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. in Duchesne only. All three locations will have microchipping available to anyone, including non-surgical patients, at all three locations. loca-tions. Vaccination prices are $10 each for rabies, cat leukemia leuke-mia and for cat or dog distemper distem-per combos. Surgery will not be performed per-formed on sick animals. However, umbilical hernias and cryptorchids (retained tes with names and addresses of respondents, may be published during the decision-making phase of the project. The EA considers the impact of developing the shooting range approximately one mile east of the Uintah County landfill land-fill on Sunshine Bench. If the project is approved, the county would lease and eventually obtain title to approximately 992 acres. The EA states no negative effects of the proposed shooting range on any of the elements examined, including air quality, quali-ty, farmlands, Native American i - ...' ticles) will be treated on a limited lim-ited basis. The fee for cryptorchids cryptor-chids is $60 for cats and $90 for dogs. All dog surgery prices include five days of pain medication medi-cation and an elizabethan collar. col-lar. Cat patients may have two days of pain medication at a cost of $10. Spay fees are $50 for dogs and $30 for cats. Neuter fees are $40 for dogs and $20 for cats. There is an extra $10 fee for dogs that are pregnant or that weigh over 80 pounds. A family plan is also offered at a fee of $90 for cats and $135 for dogs. This plan includes the mother plus her litter if the babies are less than six months Cash and checks are accepted. accept-ed. For more information, or to become an area coordinator for the Big Fix, call 1-866-PETS FIX or log on to www.utahpets.org. Traps to fix a feral cat are also available through this phone number and the Web site. concerns, wetlands, wilderness or wild and scenic rivers. There would be no adverse effects to the mule deer population. Bald eagles would be able to use the deer winter range to the north of the project so they are not likely to be adversely affected. There may be some loss in population pop-ulation of white-tailed prairie dogs and a loss of habitat for burrowing owls, although more desirable habitat is nearby. A sound test conducted by the Uintah County Sheriffs office reports no disturbance to human populations as the nearest near-est homes are about two miles from the site. Livestock grazing on the acreage would be eliminated as would two reservoirs used for livestock watering. PFLAG organizes in Uintah Basin Utah will have its third chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) when PFLAG of Uintah Basin holds its first meeting March 20 at 6 p.m. in the Kingsbury Church Community House. The other two chapters are in Salt Lake City and St. George. The goals of PFLAG include offering support, education, awareness and understanding of homosexuality in a confidential confiden-tial setting. "What is said in PFLAG stays in PFLAG," said organizer Robert Edwards. He said that family members and friends often need help dealing with their own reactions and emotions when they learn that someone they love is homosexual. homo-sexual. In addition to support for family and friends, PFLAG helps in the fight for equal rights for homosexuals. Edwards said the homosexual homosex-ual population in the Uintah Basin is larger than what most r hill The Vernal Rotary Club will be selling daffodils to support the American Cancer Society again this year. Daffodil Days return to Vernal Amy Farnsworth has taken over the job of organizing Daffodil Days this year. Farnsworth is asking the community to help the Vernal Rotary Club and the American Cancer Society welcome an early spring by celebrating Daffodil Days. From March 4 through March 14, daffodils will be available for purchase by the bundle or by the case. Proceeds from the sales of the daffodils will benefit the American Cancer Society and will be distributed locally in the form of scholarships for students. stu-dents. The flowers will arrive in the bud stage and can be purchased pur-chased in bundles of 10 buds for $7. They can also be purchased by the case with 25 bundles per case. Those who want to share the beauty of the flowers and help worthy causes at the same time can contact Farnsworth at 828-7079 828-7079 for the purchase and delivery deliv-ery of the daffodils. They can be purchased at Davis Jubilee in Roosevelt and Vernal and at McDonalds in both cities. The public may also contact any Rotary member. BLM nets millions in quarterly lease sale The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offered 39 parcels of federal land at the quarterly oil and gas lease sale Feb. 15. The parcels amount to approximately 38,664 acres. The sale netted $10,853,231.5 in total revenues. Of that amount, $10,804,694.50 were bonus bids, $46,212 were first year rentals and $2,325 were administration fees. Utah receives 50 percent of all monies mon-ies collected on the leases from sales, in addition to any rental fees or royalties paid for the life of the leases. 31 out of 39 parcels offered for lease received bids ranging from the minimum of $2 per acre to $3,100 per acre. Don Nordquist of Bismark, N.D. submitted the highest total bid in the amount of $2,785,200 for a 2,320 acre parcel par-cel located in Sanpete County two miles west of Manti. In the case of the February sale, approximately 120,300 acres were deferred for further environmental analysis or are pending the Resource management manage-ment plan approval for the Price and Vernal field offices. For more information on this sale, go to www.ut.blm.govleas-esalefeb2005. people think it is. The new organization will offer a chance to build an inner circle of trust within the membership. It will offer the comfort of being able to talk with another person one on one as well as in a group situation. sit-uation. Feelings, experiences, sensitivity, confidentiality and understanding are all part of the PFLAG guidelines that will be distributed during the first meeting. One of the reasons Edwards is starting PFLAG is because he gets many calls from the Salt Lake PFLAG concerning Basin residents that are looking for assistance. Currently Basin residents must go to either Salt Lake City or to Grand Junction, Colo, for support meetings. The new chapter will eliminate that necessity. Members are expected expect-ed from Rangely to Duchesne, with the hope that in the future additional chapters will be started in those communities. The national base for PFLAG f Western lawmakers call for repeal of public land fees Opposition continues to grow against a new fee scheme for recreational use of federally managed public lands. Known as the Recreational Access Tax, or RAT, the measure was buried bur-ied as a rider in a 3,000-plus page appropriations bill in the waning days of the last congress. con-gress. In Montana, the state House of Representatives approved a resolution calling for repeal of the RAT by a vote of 92-8 on February 21st. The 100-member body is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. "This overwhelming vote shows the level of outrage that exists in Montana about this major change in public lands policy. Obviously this is not a partisan issue - this is a citizen issue," said Bob Raney, Executive Director of the Montana State Parks Foundation. The measure, House Joint Resolution 13, now moves to the state Senate, where a favorable favor-able vote is also anticipated. It asserts that "Montana's culture, quality of life, and traditions demand free access to public pub-lic lands" and goes on to say that "the Montana Legislature demands that H.R. 3283 be repealed by the United States Congress." In Colorado, Ouray and San Juan Counties have also called for repeal of the RAT, joining San Miguel, Hinsdale, and La Plata Counties. All the county resolutions express dismay that a major change in public land policy was made behind closed doors, without congressional debate. They are directed to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate, and to the Colorado congressional delegation. U.S. Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), who has no fed- Meeker to hold cowboy poetry event An Evening in the West is the new name of the Meeker cowboy poet gathering in Meeker, Colo. The event will be held March 12 in the Meeker High School auditorium with an afternoon session at 2 p.m. and an evening eve-ning session at 7 p.m. The two sessions will feature different material so spectators may want to attend both shows. This is the seventh year in a row that cowboy poets have gathered in the Meeker area to share their poetry with the public. The cowboys and their often humorous poetry bring in thousands of dollars to the community while providing entertainment and preserving an historic way of life. This year's featured poets are Peggy Coleman, Jeff Anslinger, Tim Nolting, Pat Meade and Fred Ellis. Tickets are available through Meeker FFA members and local businesses includ- is in Washington, D.C. with chapters throughout the country. coun-try. Edwards said there is a significant sig-nificant amount of paperwork involved in starting a new chapter that conforms to all the charters and by:laws of the organization. One of the national nation-al board members is from Salt Lake City, where last year's national conference was held. Edwards has a schedule of events through the end of 2005. March 20 will be an open forum as the group is getting started. A spokesperson from the Health Department will speak on AIDS awareness April 17. May 15 will again be an open forum and June 18 will be an outing to Lagoon. July 17 is scheduled to be an open forum and a counselor coun-selor will speak August 21. An open forum will be held again Sept. 18 and a representative of the Gay Rodeo, based in Salt Lake City, will speak Oct. 16. Nov. 20 and Dec. 18 will be fund raising dinners. ' "".VS;rf..-Jti tit?'-- eral public lands in his district originally introduced the RAT officially known as the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, as H.R. 3283. It allows the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation to charge fees for use of vast tracts of federally managed land by the general public H.R. 3283 passed the House Resources Committee on a voice vote in October but never passed the floor of the House and was never introduced into the Senate. It became law nev ertheless by being attached as a rider on the huge Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which must pass in order to keep all government operations funded. The RAT supersedes the RecreationalFeeDemonstration Program (Fee Demo). Fee Demo was originally a two-year test program but was repeatedly renewed and expanded and ran for eight years. Regula attached Fee Demo to the 1996 Omnibus Appropriations Bill as a rider meaning that it, too, never was subjected to hearings or a vote on its own merits. Robert Funkhouser President of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition and a lead ing opponent of Fee Demo, is pleased that elected officials are taking action. "The RAT fundamentally changes the way our public lands are funded and managed. This new tax will have a disproportionate impact on rural Americans, and will mean that all Americans will be treated as customers and trespassers on the public land managed by these agencies instead of as the owners of the land." ing Farm Bureau Insurance. Wendell's Wondrous Things. Meeker General Mercantile and Meeker Drug. Tickets can alsc be purchased by calling Meeker FFA Advisor Trina Kennedy at (970) 878-9076. UBATC meets gas and oil education needs The Uintah Basin Applied Technology College (UBATC) has recently developed a "Petroleum Technology" course. The Petroleum Technology course provides an opportunity opportu-nity for local residents to learn the fundamentals of oil and gas operations. Employees at the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) help local employers fill vacancies vacan-cies for various positions in the petroleum industry. In order to better understand the industry and the positions, DWS employees employ-ees approached UBATC about offering a condensed course on the Petroleum Industry. Margo Weeks, director of the Vernal DWS office, said the instructor, instruc-tor, John Busch, and UBATC management were very willing to accommodate the request of DWS employees. Over a period of six weeks, DWS staff were able to learn the basic operations of the oil and gas industry. Staff visited a QuestarPatterson drilling rig to see firsthand the process in motion. Having learned about the petroleum industry provides pro-vides DWS staff with the ability to better serve our oil and gas employers. At the conclusion of the course, the Department of Workforce Services presented a certificate to John Wahl, vice president of Instruction at UBATC and John Busch, course instructor, in appreciation for their great support. 1 V |