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Show 1 Vernal Express Wednesday, July 20, 2005 E5 -4: :;. ;&3aaaiat - - Cook celebrates 80th birthday Nelda Cook was born August 2, 1925 in Maeser to Samuel and Jeennie Jones Gray. Nelda has been married to Harold Cook for 58 years and they are blessed with two children, Greg (JaNae) Cook and Penny (Mike) Adams. They have six grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. Nelda is very active in her church and genealogy is her love. Nelda will be celebrating celebrat-ing her 80th birthday at Vernal First Ward Chapel July 23 at 4 p.m. Friends and family are invited to help celebrate this special occasion with her. ; Brandi Duke, ORR Rodeo Fear Factor and Dance Coordinator (left) with Jennifer and Allen Bennion, winners of the j $5,000 Rodeo Fear Factor. Jennifer demonstrates her unique ability of eating Mormom CrickeKbne of the stunts involved in this year's Fear Factor. ; ; m -v; . ........ Rodeo Fear Factor lands Vernal couple trip to Bolivia When Allen Bennion signed himself and wife Jennifer up for the Fear Factor competition competi-tion taking place Friday and Saturday night at last week's rodeo dance, he wasn't even sure she would truly participate, partici-pate, let alone win the competition. competi-tion. After signing up, Allen didn't let Jennifer know about the competition until a few days later. "At first I thought it was just singles Fear Factor so I decided that I would definitely definite-ly to do it. Then when I heard it was couples I decided what the heck and signed us up anyway," any-way," said Allen Bennion. "I just didn't tell her about it right away.-.that's all." Once Jennifer was told of her participation she made a deal with Allen to participate on the condition that .if they won the $5,000 they would travel to Bolivia to visit her parents who are currently living liv-ing there as Mission Presidents for two more years. He agreed, although he really hates to fly. Friday night's Fear Factor events started out with a stunt where the couples were required to transfer earthworms, earth-worms, Salmon spermsacks and miscellaneous other unpalatable unpal-atable items from one bucket, by mouth, to their partner's mouth then to another bucket Seventeen couples participated with a few being eliminated at the end. The second event consisted of the couples being locked in a water tank searching for keys to unlock the padlock holding them in. "The water event was exciting but it was too hard for anyone to finish. Everyone passed that one," said Jennifer Bennion. Saturday night started out just as appetizing as the night before with the couples each Larry and June Pierson ijji , J r Piersons to celebrate Mp) " 50th Anniversary Larry and June Pierson were married July 23, 1955 in Roosevelt. Larry had a successful career which he started with Western Electric and continued with AT&T after the companies became one. He is now retired and spends his time enjoying hobbies which include spending spend-ing time with the grandchildren, grandchil-dren, camping, fishing and taking trips to Wendover. June successfully raised three children chil-dren and she now enjoys spending spend-ing her time with the grandchil being required to eat as many Mormon crickets as possible in 45 seconds. Although many of the couples completed the task, some did not and they were then disqualified. Jennifer and Allen ate a total of nine crickets, crick-ets, Jennifer ate six of them herself. "It was hilarious to watch the couples trying to get the crickets down," said Brandi Duke, event coordinator. "Jennifer ate them like a pro but Allen squirmed around and gagged quite a few times. It was great!" Allen said the worst thing about eating the crickets was trying to swallow the legs. "The legs wouldn't crunch up when you chewed them. It felt like you were trying to swallow toothpicks whole and they just kept stabbing into my throat making me gag even more. It was pretty bad," said Allen. Jennifer said her trick was squashing the critters in her hand before eating them because she knew she couldn't chew on something while it was alive. After the chewing, crunching and squashing of bugs, the six couples still standing stand-ing were sent on for one final stunt. In the end each couple was required to climb the infamous rock wall in a timed event The men were first with each finishing finish-ing in decent time, coming very close to one another. It all came down to the women and who was the quickest wall climber. In a combined time Allen and Jennifer finished first with 33.54 seconds. "He climbed that wall like a gorilla," said Brandi Duke. "I couldn't believe what I was watching." Jennifer said at one point during the climb, when she was in a difficult spot, she almost aw z I r dren, camping and knitting. Larry and June have three children and four grandchildren: grand-children: Wayne (Margaret) Pierson and son Coy reside in Vernal. Judy (Marion) Kupitz and son Colton reside in Salt Lake City. Sandie (Doug) Hemingway and sons Brandon and Mathew reside in Twin Falls, Idaho. A Garden Party will be held in Centerville, Utah at 923 Main, Centerville from 1 to 3 p.m. ) decided to give up. Then she heard a voice from the audience say, "Come on Jennifer! It's for five grand!" and she kicked it back into high gear. Allen and Jennifer Bennion won the $5,000 Rodeo Fear Factor dollars and will be heading head-ing for Bolivia later this fall. Unfortunately for Allen, the plane flight will be his final Fear Factor stunt since he truly hates to fly. The 2006 DRR Rodeo Committee plans to have Fear Factor again next year and would like to thank J.D. Field Services and Service Insurance for their sponsorship. All of the funds for the Fear Factor were raised through donations from the community. Governor Huntsman enjoys a four wheeler ride at the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo Friday night Governor Humtsmami pays visit to BKR;; It may have been all business during the day for Governor Jon Huntsman but it was fun and games Saturday night at the 54th Annual Dinosaur Rodeo Roundup. Governor Huntsman was in Vernal for economic development and ended the day as special guest at Vernal's largest Rodeo. The five-day event draws over 600 contestants annually, and PVT. Anthony Trevor Gabossi Gabossi graduates from Basic Infantry Training PVT. Anthony Trevor Gabossi of the 2nd Battalion 19th Infantry Regiment graduated grad-uated from Basic Infantry Training on June 17, 2005 at Fort Benning, Ga. PVT. Gabossi took part in tactical communications, rap-pelling, rap-pelling, nuclear biological chemical warfare, hand grenade and grenade launcher training, hand-to-hand combat, basic and advanced rifle marksmanship. While in training he earned his rifle marksmanship and expert grenade medals. Upon graduation, PVT. Gabossi will be stationed at Fort Polk, La. He is the son of Tony and Cami Gabossi and is a 2003 graduate of Uintah High School. Ws 0 t J M brings in over 24,000 fans. Seven reigning World Champions, past World Champions, National Finals Rodeo qualifiers, and Circuit Champions are drawn to this prestigious event. In 1999 the Dinosaur Rodeo was selected select-ed for the highest level of ProRodeo competition as a Tour Rodeo, putting the Vernal Rodeo on national television in 2004 and 2005. The Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo has been nominated six times by the cowboys and cowgirls cow-girls as the best Large Outdoor Rodeo of the Year in the Professional Rodeo r Cowboys .... .i l .guiiyw'i i'fsia'xl bin- .-:-.s5 Day celebrations: remembering the past July 24, Pioneer Day, is a Utah state holiday. On this day we celebrate the pioneers settling set-tling in Salt Lake. The 24th is a huge holiday for Utahns. There are more parades and fireworks fire-works displays during the Days of 47 celebrations than on the earlier holiday in the month celebrating the country's independence. inde-pendence. In 1847, a group of Mormon pioneers led by Brigham Young, headed out on a journey across the land with covered wagons and handcarts, determined deter-mined to make a life in the west. They began the journey because they were suffering religious persecution where they were living in Nauvoo, 111. It is said that as Brigham Young gazed out on the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, he proclaimed "This is the Place." To make it through their first, most critical winter, they immediately planted crops so they could survive the winter, since they were all alone with few supplies or established Here! The NEW Basin Directory Directory Features Full Color Yellow Page Section Community Information Complete White Page Listings Government Section Numerical Cross Reference Menu Guide Wedding Guide Coupons NEW Audio Information Line NEW Mini Books LARGE PRINT q WeVe got it! "c' reat Books, Cf). Association (PRCA). Each year the PRCA sanctions over 750 rodeos across the United States. Additionally, six Dinosaur committee members have been selected for the most prestigious presti-gious award one can receive, the Justin Boots Committee Member of the Year. Jim Davis, Joe Evans, Cindy Snyder, Sherry Gines, Rex Jacobsen, and this year's recipent past president Dave Olivers. Photographs taken by professional pro-fessional photographer Kerri Tuckness can be viewed and purchased online at www. CowboyImages.net. trade routes. The pioneers were inundated inun-dated by a plague of crickets in 1847 which started eating the crops and threatened their survival. But just when hope seemed gone, the seagulls swarmed in and ate the crickets. crick-ets. It was proclaimed that the miracle was an act of God, and the seagull was designated the state bird. The pioneers who originally named the area we now know as Utah, "Deseret", but the name was changed when they joined with the other states in the union. It was then that the state became known as Utah. Vernal's Pioneer Day celebrations cel-ebrations will be held on Monday this year due to the holiday landing on Sunday. Monday morning the annual Boy Scout breakfast will begin at 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. with the parade on Main Street following. follow-ing. Activities will be available all day Monday at the park with a fireworks show later that evening. I PHONE DKEC1QHES COMPANY has arrived. ' Great W |