OCR Text |
Show 4 fctXVi .Vernal Express, The Polar King tradition lives on By Jamne Shannon Express Writer Vernal is home to one of the last original drive-ins. Built in the 1950s, the Polar King continues to serve hamburgers, ham-burgers, fries, and shakes, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1954, for a cost of merely $2,000, BX. "Red" Leathers opened the Polar King drive-in drive-in at 659 West Main in Vernal. Polar King was actually an ice cream stand franchise started by Orson Gygi, a successful Utah restaurant supplier. As the first drive-in restaurant in Vernal, the Polar King was a popular place, especially for high school students. At the time, Leathers also owned the Ute Canteen and a seven-unit apartment building build-ing in Vernal, as well as a Conoco station in Artesia, Colo. He and his family operated oper-ated Polar King for about two years before selling to employee Annie Caldwell and her husband, Orson. The Leathers moved from Vernal Riches 'N Niches to be addressed at business symposium Speaking on business at the tenth annual Uintah Basin Business symposium will be Fred Ball, a senior vice president presi-dent of Zions Bank and president presi-dent and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce for 25 years. A graduate of Ogden High School and Weber State College, where he served as student body president, pres-ident, his business acumen has been exhibited throughout his career. Ball is heard daily on the Utah radio program, Speaking On Business, which has been aired for 21 years. His luncheon speech "Riches 'n Niches" will start at noon. Just the titles of the topics should make people rush in to register. The rest of the news is that they may have to choose between three concurrent sessions ses-sions in the morning and afternoon. after-noon. The session on "Overcoming New Business Challenges" will be led by Guy Collett, owner of Beehive Homes. "This Isn't Your Grandpa's Workplace Anymore" will include a panel discussion with honored guests from Generation Y. Using generational genera-tional diversity as an asset is the topic of this session to be led by Kelly Thornton, Program Specialist with Department of Workforce. "'What the heck is that?' Strategies for Marketing in Rural Demographics" will VER11AL n7 (ISSN 0892-1091) Published every Wednesday for $26 per year in the shopping area and $38 per year out out of the shopping area within the state and $42 per year out of state within the USA by the Vernal Express Publishing Company, 54 North Vernal Avenue, Vernal, Utah 84078. Periodical 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 Jen Petty Writer Janine Shannon Writer Elizabeth Goode Writer Sarah Forsgren Writer Gabrielle Jones Legals, Obit, Classifieds Patty John ...Proofreader Jennifer Downard AdsLayout Heaher Crosby AdsLayout Jacque Hobbs . . .Advertising Eric Petty Advertising Harriet Harding Circulation & Billing Phone: 435-789-3511 FAX: 453-788690 Website: www.vernal.com email: editorvernal.com DEADLINES News Friday 5 p.m. Display Advertising Friday 5 pjn. Classified Advertising .Friday 12 Noon Public Notices Friday 12 Noon Polar King Drive-in was placed on the little since being built in 1954. in the early 1960s. The Caldwells, both Utah natives, operated the business for about 12 years and then sold it to their son, Owen, and his wife, Sherry. For 36 years, Owen and Sherry Caldwell worked together to provide customers with the same delicious 1950s-style 1950s-style food. Annie Caldwell con- examine ways to promote businesses, busi-nesses, led by Robert Behunin and Robert Peterson, USU's tag-team tag-team marketers. "Protecting Your Most Valuable Assets from Drugs" will be directed by Mark Thomas, Uintah County Prosecuting Attorney who manages man-ages the county Drug Court program. pro-gram. "Fish Sticks", a philosophy of customer service, will be presented pre-sented by Tom Freestone for employees new to the FISH philosophy phi-losophy and those that already know the basics. "Finding Your Niche" will be an afternoon session led by Fred Ball. "Hiring, Firing and Everything in Between" is a primer on basic employment law. If the topics didn't get your attention, the break will: Aggie ice cream and Pepsi. According to the brochure which is available avail-able at the Chamber, it promises prom-ises to be "a fun-filled, information-packed day you won't want to miss!" Pre-registration is REQUIRED before Oct. 6. Lunch will not be available when registering reg-istering at the door. Call or e-mail or fax a registration, stating how many people will be attending, and the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce will send a bill. Phone 789-1352; Fax 789-1355; E-mail vchamber easilink.com. ff National Register of Historic Places tinued to work for her son, and even after retiring in 2000, she still chopped onions for them. She passed away in 2002, preceded pre-ceded by her husband in 1983. Owen Caldwell passed away two years ago. His obituary read, "He owned the Polar King in Vernal, Utah, and cooked a good hamburger for over 30 years." Sherry Caldwell continues contin-ues to serve those hamburgers, which regular patrons call the "Ow'ny burger." "I try to do it the way he did it," she said. The menu includes cheeseburgers cheese-burgers and corn dogs, malts and shakes, onion rings and homemade fries. Caldwell said she goes through about a ton of potatoes every two weeks in the summer. But it's not just the food that she has kept the same. "I've tried to keep the restaurant restau-rant exactly the way it was," Hatch seeks to protect rural patients Washington - Concerned about a new Medicare competitive competi-tive bidding process starting in 2007, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation legisla-tion late last week to ensure that small businesses are not squeezed out of the market for homecare devices. Hatch's bill would protect rural Medicare beneficiaries who rely on these small businesses to provide their walkers, wheelchairs, diabetic dia-betic supplies, and other durable dura-ble medical equipment (DME). "Those living in Utah's rural areas could be really hurt if their local provider is forced out of business," Hatch said. "Sure, we want competition, but some rural areas just don't have the infrastructure for a truly competitive market." A growing number of people with disabilities over the age of 50 are choosing to live at home instead of in assisted-liv-ing facilities or nursing homes. These patients often require DME to so they can live independently inde-pendently at home. Next year, Medicare will start implementing a DME com Roosevelt hosts band winners at skate Dark fund-raiser The Roosevelt Skate Park fund-raiser is slated for this weekend, beginning around 5:00 Saturday evening at the Roosevelt Utah State University (USU) campus building. It was originally planned for the middle mid-dle of the month but was canceled can-celed because of rain storms. This year's county fair Battle of the Bands winner Tripwire will be hosting the benefit show. Rock bands who will be performing include Year of Sundays, Mindless, and Doc Holiday. Tripwire has one CD that has been released and are currently working on their second CD production. Year of Sundays has been in the studio working on their first release this year. They say it will be "a straight forward traditional rock album, with influences stretching from the likes of Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Matchbox 20 and Jet" The album is recorded and produced by Joe Clarke, formerly with recording artist Chris Ledoux. It should be readv for release last year because it has been altered said Caldwell. According to the Utah Office of Preservation, the Polar King is the only historic drive-in in Vernal that has not been either demolished or altered and is "an extremely well-preserved example of the drive-in architecture archi-tecture of the mid-1950s." Out of all the original Polar King franchises, only four are still in operation today. The Vernal and Coalville drive-ins still use the Polar King name, while the Spanish Fork and Kemmerer, Wyo., drive-ins use a different name. Caldwell estimates that about 600 teenagers have worked at Polar King over the years. Many of these former employees, or their children, are now regular customers. She currently employs 12 and also works there herself. The drive-in drive-in is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., petitive-bidding program that is intended to drive down the cost of DME and potentially save taxpayers millions. Medicare will determine reimbursement rates for DME based on a competitive com-petitive process, and it will limit the number of suppliers that will be awarded Medicare contracts. That could shut out small business that lose the bid, but can still compete at the bid rate. Hatch's bill keeps the new contracting process in place, while making modest changes that will help small suppliers suppli-ers continue to compete in Medicare's bidding process. The measure would require quality standards in equipment, so beneficiaries ben-eficiaries are not forced to use cheap, low-quality equipment, and it would also allow small businesses that provide homecare homec-are equipment to continue to participate in the Medicare Program if they qualify and meet a competitively bid price. Smaller, rural (populations under 500,000) Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) would be exempted from competitive bidding, along with items and in early winter. Second to None Sound will interject D.J. dance music amid the various styles of the bands. Many items have been donated by Roosevelt and Vernal businesses. Tickets for the drawings can be acquired by contributing to the skate park for the youth. There will be skateboards donated by The Edge and In the Zone; a BMX bike provided by Basin Saw and Cycle; a gift certificate from Sundance RV; a pillowtop mattress from Oak House; there will even be a P.T. Cruiser. Playback CD and Altitude Cycle have also made contributions. Food and drinks will be available, donated by Pizza Hut and Smith's. Admission will be $3 for children and $5 for adults. All proceeds from the night's activities will be donated to the Roosevelt Skate Park. Every one of every age is encouraged to be a part of the goal of starting start-ing a skate park by having an evenine of fun. 5- Sherry Caldwell is now the sole owner been the family business for about 50 Monday through Saturday, but closes for the winter, usually from November 30 to February Caldwell said she will contin- ue to operate for at least three services with savings under 10 percent from the fee scnedule in effect January 1, 2006. The bill would also restore the right of DME providers provid-ers participating in the program pro-gram to administrative and judicial review, and it would protect beneficiary access to care by requiring the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to conduct a comparability compara-bility analysis for areas that are not competitively bid to ensure the rate is appropriate to costs and does not reduce access to care. Utah Public Health officials find E. coli in bag of spinach Public health officials from the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) and the Salt Lake Valley Health Department (SLVHD) have confirmed that E. coli 0157:H7, the strain associated asso-ciated with the recent national outbreak, has been found in a bag of Dole baby spinach purchased pur-chased in Utah. Laboratory tests which found the E. coli were conducted by the Utah Public Health Laboratory (UPHL). The Salt Lake Valley Health Department submitted the bag of spinach for testing as part of an investigation into E. coli illness associated with eating spinach which came from the bag. Testing confirmed that the strain of E. coli from the bag of spinach is the same as Two pulled from ballot for State Board Two local candidates for the State School Board were pulled from the ballot for not filing financial disclosure forms on time said the Lieutenant Governor's Office Wednesday. Incumbent Dixie Allen of Vernal and her challenger, Tod Tesar of Vernal, have been disqualified, said Michael Cragun, deputy director of the Lt. Governor's Office. That leaves no one running in Allen's Districts. Allen said her efforts to file reports online somehow didn't go through. Tesar has since filed as a write-in candidate. Candidates were to report how much money they'd A 9i of the Polar King drive-in, which has years. more years. After that, she is not sure she couii bear to see , mm . . someone else run Polar King. "It's not just a business," she said. "It's been our life." "People should have the same level of access to this equipment no matter where iWy, live," Hatch said. "If we make these small changes, small businesses - including many in Utah - will be able to continue providing medical equipment to those who need it." The lead Democrat cospon-sor cospon-sor of Hatch's bill is Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota. The legislation is a companion measure to H.R. 3559, which was introduced earlier this Congress by Reps. David the strain associated with the national outbreak. UPHL is the second laboratory laborato-ry in the country to confirm the presence of E. coli in spinach associated with the national outbreak. The UDOH, SLVHD and the UPHL's efforts are part of a national investigation into E. coli infections linked to eating eat-ing spinach. To date, seventeen Utahns have become ill from E. coli associated with the national outbreak. FDA has determined that the spinach implicated in the outbreak was grown in three counties (Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara) in California. Fresh spinach grown outside these counties can be safely eaten. received and spent on their campaigns by 5 p.m. last Friday. Cragun said postcards containing deadline notices were mailed to candidates Sept. 1, four days earlier than the law mandates. Allen, though she says Burningham reminded everyone every-one of the filing deadline at last week's board meeting, didn't receive a postcard. She said she tried to file online Thursday, but never could get the confirmation to print out. She said she tried to call the Lt. Governor's Office for help, but didn't hear back until Monday, when the office notified her they did not receive her report. c V'lIMIIl f'; : - giiiiili iisspS' j |