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Show . JTAU Wednesday, August 3i-q00& 1 r ' . i hi i i www.vernai.com V f It's all about doing I ,. ft 41 Fire in Neola comes close to burning home alsong the Neola Highway. Investigators suspect fireworks caused Neola fire By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor Investigators into the cause of a fire north of Neola have determined that it was caused by someone driving on the Neola Highway and throwing fireworks out of the window. The fire that started Saturday morning burned 4,047 acres by Monday evening. Fire crews had the blaze 90 percent contained con-tained Monday, but were still fighting hot spots. The fire destroyed a seasonal home, a home that was under construction construc-tion and two out buildings. "The blaze sounded like a freight train," said Errol Whiting. "The Neola and Roosevelt fire departments saved the day." Whiting said he had to spray his son's home with the garden gar-den hose to keep it from burning burn-ing due to the ash falling on it. Sheriff updates fingerprint By Virginia Harrington Express Writer Sheriff Rick Hawkins received a $65,000 grant from Homeland Security to update Uintah County's fingerprinting technology. The new machine, located in the Uintah County jail, is fully computerized and can connect to a central Federal Bureau of Investigation data base that contains the prints of known criminals throughout the nation. Within seconds, information concerning the individual being printed can be obtained. This includes information infor-mation on outstanding war r Deputy Rod Eskelson demonstrates how new technology in the Uintah County Jail will give law enforcement instant access to a national data base when fingerprints are taken. L 4 s I I J V 'Jul iZtbA . I mm ii ft? Tft r. Whiting saved his son's home, but the seasonal home across the street was lost to the fire. "This fire should have never happened, it could have been contained to 40 acres," Whiting said. "Neola and Myton fire crews were told to stay away from the fire when they initially initial-ly responded." "My son was fighting the fire Saturday morning with a shovel shov-el when he was asked, "What are you doing?" and was told to leave the area," Whiting said. A bulldozer had cleared a circle around nearly all the fire, said Dale Jablonski, northeast area Division of Forestry fire manager. Monday the fire was in the river bottom in the pines along the Uintah River. The fire burned east of the Neola Highway and west of Route 7. At the peak of the fire there were one type one and two type rants and prior criminal history. his-tory. Hawkins said this will be a valuable tool to the department. depart-ment. He gave one example of the difficulties faced with the old technology. An individual who was in custody on a minor charge had been printed before being released. The prints were sent in and several days later the sheriff received notice that the individual was wanted on a murder warrant. The new technology tech-nology will prevent this type of incident. In addition to fingerprinting ability, the machine can photograph pho-tograph distinguishing marks such as tattoos, scars and birth- 7 W3 O two fire crews on the blaze or about 20 fire fighters. A helicopter helicop-ter was dispatched to the fire to drop water on the fire and there were two drops of retardant. At about 7:30 p.m. a moderate rain helped stopped the spreading of the fire, Jablonski said. In the past 10 years there have been half a dozen fires in the same area, but last weekend's week-end's was the largest. It burned mostly pinyon-juniper and sage, but spread quickly because of the tall cheat grass and winds. The cost of the fire has not been estimated, but if the persons per-sons who started it are apprehended appre-hended they would be responsible respon-sible for the entire cost of suppression. sup-pression. Tuesday afternoon another fire ignited in the Ft. Duchesne area west of Four Corners. The fire was about 40 acres when reported. technology marks. It takes prints of the entire hand, measuring the length and width of the fingers and the palm. It can also take retinal scans of the subjects eyes for additional means of identification. Sheriff Hawkins and his staff are not the only ones who will benefit from this machine. Uintah School District will screen its employees using the new technology. This will allow them to have instant access to vital background information on potential new hires. Dr. Larry Klein, director of Human Resources for the district, said, "Uintah School District is so very pleased that the new fingerprinting machine is being installed in the Uintah County Sheriffs Department. Utah law requires that all new employees be fingerprinted and have a background check. The system we are presently using has new employees do an ink fingerprint card, then we have to send it to Salt Lake City. Results can take six to eight weeks to come back to the Uintah County School District. Sheriff Hawkins informed us that we have almost immediate immedi-ate results with the new digital scanner. Then we will know the backgrounds of all new employees before they go to work instead of after they have worked here for awhile." '?SP! VERNAL PILOT Hawkeye flies over See By Virginia Harrington Express Writer Mark Eaton, luncheon speaker for the Uintah Basin Business Symposium held August 30, played basketball for the Utah Jazz for 12 years. Since then he has been making a name for himself in the business busi-ness world with his restaurants and his appearances on the speakers' circuit. Eaton said he was forced to retire from basketball at age 38 because of back problems. This pushed him into starting over and finding something meaningful and profitable just at the age when most people are reaching a peak in their careers. After many ups and downs in his business and personal per-sonal relationships, Eaton said he had succeeded in finding what doesn't work. He set out to find what does work. His search started with memories mem-ories of his teenage years. Being very tall (seven feet four inches) inch-es) people were constantly trying try-ing to push him into basketball. He had no interest and usually found himself irritated by these suggestions. He wanted to follow fol-low his father into the field of mechanics and left his home in California to attend a 12 month course in auto mechanics mechan-ics in Arizona. Returning to California, Eaton found and lost jobs with car and tire dealers. Things didn't look so bright in his life until he met a teacher and coach from a junior college. col-lege. This coach took one look at him and told him to go into basketball. Instead of reacting with irritation, Eaton said this time he was moved by the passion pas-sion of the man. He went to the University of California, Los Angeles, and got himself on the team. That's where he started learning learn-ing what doesn't work. No matter mat-ter how hard he practiced and how much his game improved, he spent his time sitting on the bench. When graduation time came, he was drafted by the Utah Jazz, which was at the bottom of the basketball world at that time. That's when he started learn- Vehicle lays on its side in Willow Creek itoFiMil Odd a ft vmj Wed TJw 831 91 ' x. 8449 8251 B4 Mark Eaton, former center with the Utah Jazz, speaks of his ideas for success during the Uintah Basin Ba-sin Business Symposium luncheon. Eaton stresses passion, order and humor in daily living for both business busi-ness and personal success. ing what does work. Eaton said working with Jazz coaches Frank Layden and Jerry Sloan taught him about creating order out of chaos. Layden took a bunch of losers and made them into a winning team. Sloan has kept the team going and kept it at the top by ; doing the same thing. Eaton said one of the most important things he has learned is to "go into the zone." By this he means being able to see openings instead of closures, clo-sures, opportunities instead of failures. This is how order is made out of chaos. Eaton said he observes life with a sense of order on a daily basis. Looking at the world with this sense of order provides space for accomplishments. "Don't focus on the crises," Eaton stated. stat-ed. "Focus on what can be done. Create something distinctive." He gave an example of what he means by this using an experience expe-rience he had with Carl Malone and Jon Stockton. The team was on a long road trip and was in a losing slump. Nothing seemed to be going right. One evening in the hotel, Stockton picked up the phone and called Malone's room. He told Malone that he had talked with basket- after accident. ft Single Copy 500 Vernal, Utah 84078 113th'YearN(h35 WEAIfltfl BY ASPEN BROOK REALTY INC. See A11 ball star Larry Johnson, whom they would be playing the next night. He said Johnson had told him Malone was no good at the game. The next day Carl Malone scored 56 points and brought the team out of its losing streak. Eaton said Stockton had created something distinctive, albeit a little white lie, that worked. It brought order out of chaos. Eaton said he has found that stepping back and taking a breath from the pressures of life, whether they be business or personal, can offer a new perspective. per-spective. He added that doing something such as cleaning a desk or shining a pair of shoes during that break can bring a sense of calm and enhance the orderoftheworlcT:'' Another important lesson Eaton said he has learned over the years is to identify where your heart and passion really are. "Speak from your heart; stand up for yourself," Eaton said. "And let others do the same. This brings freedom to everyone." His advice is to remember a time when you were touched by passion, as he was by the junior college coach. Bring this passion forward and let it help you to truly be engaged in work and relationships. relation-ships. "This is proactive rather than reactive," Eaton said. Eaton gave four final pieces of advice for living. The first is to pay attention to your environment, environ-ment, including relationships with people. "Don't judge," he said. "Instead, ask what you can do to help." The second is to eliminate crises, unless they are life and death situations. Evaluate the events and make decisions based on logic. Third, take care of yourself, including heart, body and mind. This includes speaking the truth. Finally, don't lose your sense of humor. Acknowledge problems so they can be solved but focus on opportunity rather than problems. And always, don't forget to be grateful for the good things that come along. Eaton lives in Park City with his two teenage sons, his horses and his dogs. Accffi&it claims driver Sunday Uintah County Sheriffs deputies were dispatched dis-patched to a report of a vehicle accident in the Willow Creek area. The driver of the vehicle had been reported overdue on Saturday evening by his wife. The following day a family member located the victim's vehicle, which was not noticeable notice-able from the roadway. Investigators with the Sheriff's Department believe that the driver of the vehicle was southbound when he ran off of the road on the right side impacting an embankment and rolling down an approximate 50 foot cliff coming to a rest in Willlow Creek. The victim, identified as 56-year-old Larry Howard of Vernal, was killed on impact. The accident is still under investigation but speed and alcohol are being considered as contributing factors to the accident. |