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Show Wednesday, January 10, 2007 If!'! I School bus driver, Beverly Whitaker, Vernal Junior High. vv 7 An impressive row of buses, driven by well-qualified drivers, all ready to load Junior High passengers. School bus drivers needed to provide critical services for school district By Elizabeth Gqope Express Writer "If you want to get your kids to school, come and drive the bus," said Russell Anderson, Transportation Coordinator, Uintah School District. "We desperately need substitute drivers." Uintah School District is looking for contracted substitutes substi-tutes (subs). "We offer wages plus benefits for four to seven hour drivers, with the school district paying for 90 percent of 0$ of medical benefits. We 3gije flalso , : seeking at-will drivers (voucher subs); the pay is $18 per hour with no benefits. ben-efits. These subs may decide to become route drivers in the future, and they will be all ready to go. The training for a school bus driver's license will be provided by the School District." According to a School Bus ill r' ' - Ut Zions Bank help with your financial resolutions fey fc&fe? i . :r.t:;j of our 5.20 APY, 15-month IHA Cert;?icztcs cf Cc;::!t C.:t cr.Vwill it mcka n:jrtr.cst a tKia rAttr, fc.lyrj cry t$o fc elicit fcr Ux Lzr.zrsa this ytzr." To track your New Year's Resolutions and to team p to zionsbank.com. To t;;n up, visit your Iccil Zions Cank branch cr ci'.l 1-CC0-7C?-Ei2. fell ' 1 "0 ' ' . ''" 'j I o will drive the first bus away from the Fleet magazine survey, nearly three out of four school districts dis-tricts nationwide are experiencing expe-riencing school bus driver shortages. The Uintah Basin's booming economy and low unemployment rate contribute to the shortage, but there may be individuals that just haven't thought about the opportunity opportu-nity that is available. Parents who want to work the same schedule and calendar as the students in their family; semi-retired semi-retired people; self-employed workers; retired folks needing extra money; and anyone wishing wish-ing part-time work all are candidates for the challenging and rewarding job of transporting transport-ing students. "If you can help us all day, just in the mornings, afternoons, after-noons, or even just field trips," Anderson said, "we invite you to come and apply at the School District Office. The offer of 90 percent of the medical benefits Vernal F School bus driver, Roland Searte, waits outside the Vernal Junior High for students to board. paid by the school district is valid until May 30, 2007. "School buses provide the safest form of transportation," continued Anderson, "and the driver's license is one of the hardest to get. It takes a month of training before a driver can get on a bus to drive our children chil-dren and grandchildren." Joan Sheffer, Route Coordinator, spoke of the quality quali-ty of the Uintah School District drivers and commented, "The camaraderie among our drivers driv-ers is outstanding; they are right there to help each other when someone gets in a bind. Come and join a fine group of people." Uintah School District Transportation Department oversees 54 buses, 68 cars and trucks. There are 36 regular route drivers and four special needs drivers. They travel 3,894 miles daily, which amounts to 700,920 miles each year. They fcsy V.V "3 mm fit r.v-.-.v.j 5fVk-AM-.1i Express transport 3,804 students twice a day. Mileage for activity and field trips add up to 66,554 miles per year. "We have great incentives: flexible working hours that match the hours your child is in school; summers off to be with the family; medical benefits bene-fits if you work more than four hours a day; $18 per hour beginning begin-ning pay for substitute drivers; training; and excellent opportunities opportu-nities for the future," Anderson said. "The School Board has been very supportive of the transportation department and provided the funding. We just need to find the drivers." For further information, contact Russell Anderson, Transportation Coordinator, at 435-781-3180, or make application appli-cation at the Uintah School District Office, 635 West 200 South in Vernal. Space junk streaks across morning s Jan. 4 Fragments of a French rocket rock-et streaked brilliantly across the Vernal morning sky sometime some-time between 6:10 and 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 4. Vernal resident Sally Alexander said: "It came out of the north and headed south, dropping debris in an arc that lighted the morning morn-ing sky." Salt Lake City's Channel 5 news reported the rocket as fragments of a decaying French telescope launch vehicle. Part of the rocket struck the ground in Riverton, Wyo. Several Vernal Ver-nal residents reported seeing pieces of the rocket explode in brilliant orange flame. Wayne Prokopetz, Vernal resident said, "It broke apart as it cleared the Basin sky. It went from one to 50 or 60 tightly-packed balls of fire." The French launched a Soyuz U rocket on Dec. 27th, which broke into pieces upon re-entry, causing the fireball. Uintah Basin 'energy boom' prompts creative housing The energy boom in the Uintah Basin is making hotel rooms a scarce and pricey commodity com-modity as oil and gas workers fill those vacancies. That situation situ-ation is prompting some creative cre-ative thinking on the part of the Utah Division of Water Rights, which needs to find housing in Vernal for seven employees next summer. They will evaluate evalu-ate and determine the extent M ffnvsjABaifL mm JZN5HSI.UT. Eckles to at API tonij The American Petroleum Institute meeting for January 10 will be at Stockman's in Ft Duchesne with the Ice Breaker beginning at 6:30 p.m. All interested inter-ested parties are invited to attend. Dinner is $15; membership member-ship is available for a small fee. The speaker will be Mark Eckles, who is chief operating officer and a director of Wind River Resources Corporation. He earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Dartmouth College in 1973, and has spent more than 30 years in the oil and gas business while living liv-ing in Denver, Roosevelt and Park City. During most of his career he has been responsible for a broad range of activities, including exploration, well completion, production operations, opera-tions, and product marketing. Eckels drilled his first well in the Altamont-Bluebell field in 1983 and has been based in Utah since 1986. From 1983-1996 1983-1996 he worked mostly in the Altamont-Bluebell area of the Uintah Basin for Quintana Petroleum. During this time he was also involved with projects in Montana, Argentina and Peru. Since leaving Quintana he has concentrated his efforts on wildcat natural gas exploration projects in the Book Cliffs area of the Uintah Basin. In 1999, he was retained by Tom Bachtell to help assemble what became Wind River Resources. Wind Millecam ends eight years service The Uintah Parks and Recreation department is different differ-ent than it was eight years ago partially due to the service of John Millecam. For the past eight years, John has served on the board of the Uintah Recreation District and served as vice chair and chairman. He joins an elite list of community leaders volunteers who have served on the recreation board for nearly a decade, including Vernie Heeney,1 Steve' Wallis, and Jim Abegglen.' 'i;' " One of the accomplishments includes working with a variety vari-ety of other social service and non-profit : organizations to promote programs for area youth. He was instrumental in supporting funding toward the construction of the new ice rink. In addition, he worked with the School District on replacing and enhancing all of the playground equipment1 at elementary schools. - Until 2001, the recreation district funding was quite limited lim-ited and the district needed to stretch dollars and collaborate with local service organizations. organiza-tions. Millecam also helped work with the legislature to help secure mineral lease funding fund-ing for the county and more specifically for recreation. Millecam has been a strong supporter of the Golf Course and pushed funding forward for the creation of a BMX track. He consistently pushed for low-cost programs for area youth and also advocated for funding the youth connections program. Although Millecam of use of water for 1,500 water ngnts in the area. Teresa Wilhelmsen, a Water Rights engineer, says they have never faced a similar situation situ-ation before. "Usually, rooms are available and reasonably priced at government rates. But we need as many as seven rooms for up to six months during dur-ing the field season. Not only are the rooms unavailable, the 5785 South 9500 East PO. Box 19 Jensen, Utah 84035 n Office: 435-789-0633 Jason Gross Cell: 435-790-5772 Brandon Gross Cell: 435-828-7308 Truck: 435-828-7307 speak ght ...4. ') i 'Irs Mark Eckles, Wind River Resources to speak at API meeting January 10. ' River shot the first exploration explora-tion 3D seismic survey in the Uintah Basin in the fall of 2000. This survey has resulted in the drilling of sixteen producing wells on Ute Indian lands, so far. These wells produce from multiple reservoirs, including includ-ing deep dune sands that have not previously produced in the Uintah Basin or elsewhere. Wind River has now shot 96 square miles of 3D for its own account and another 22 square miles with partners in a federal unit, The company has three projects underway: North Hill Creek, on Ute Indian acreage; Rock Spring, on SITLA acreage; acre-age; and Tumbleweed (non-operated) (non-operated) on a mix of state and federal leases. John Millecam pushed for many projects he was also fiscally conservative and constantly urged the board to create an emergency fund. Most notably, his greatest accomplishment is currently being constructed at 5th South and Vernal Avenue. The $16 million community center is scheduled to open in the spring of 2008. Millecam worked with the Kay family for several months in negotiations to purchase pur-chase the 80 acre parcel. The community center is phase one in the development process of the site. "John did an excellent job of setting the stage for the building build-ing of the recreation center. Without his vision and dedication, dedi-cation, we would not be constructing con-structing this incredible building," build-ing," states Dan Rodgerson, the District Executive Director. "His influence and enthusiasm will be missed, but his contributions contri-butions will be remembered for a long time." market is making them cost-prohibitive." cost-prohibitive." Wilhelmsen is currently reviewing the feasibility of purchasing used trailers for the employees. "While the initial ini-tial investment for purchasing the trailers may be more than the price of the hotel rooms, ' the trailers will be sold after completion of the project We should be able to recoup most ofthe initial cost." Through a potential cooperative coopera-tive agreement with the Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation, the trailers will be set up at Steinaker State Park, which is about seven miles from Vernal. This is a mutually-beneficial arrangement,'' said Wilhelmsen. "State Parks will provide the campsites and Water Rights will provide permanent per-manent improvements including includ-ing sewer, water and power to the campsites. This will improve facilities at the park to meet the needs of future park visitors." The project may extend into Spring 2008. Mtre.10.lNU 1 1MT7 2:4036 PM I ; ' " " ' mmml |