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Show Jew animal :ontrol special services listrict sets After a rocky start with a few procedural glitches, the first leeting of the Animal Control ipecial Services District met Tiursdav. Jan. 18 at 4 n.m. at the bounty building in Vernal. Board concurrence was asked to otterate the Histrir from tha lUintah Animal Shelter. Dennis JGlines, board chair, noted that as an item not listed in the agenda agen-da consensus could not be motioned mo-tioned but acknowledged that the operation should carry on from that location. Tina Bagley, animal control district manager said the shelter "is. going to be the hub of our district headquarters. headquar-ters. We're all relocated there, that's where the majority of the staff is located, and our field officers of-ficers come in and out of there. They use it as a base." The district needs some help getting operational as county commissioner, Dave Haslem, noted. He credited Bagley's ef- I forts to make the district "a sep-larate sep-larate entity, but suggested that festablished services like human , resources, legal assistance, and accounting could be contract-, contract-, ed" through the county for the time being. There is much to be idone. Bagley said, "Our goal is jto fix problems in the field" and not recycle animal control problems prob-lems throughout the county. She says, "We are professionally, profes-sionally, morally, and ethically bound to evaluate the animals that come into the shelter for adoption." In 2006, out of 1,700 animals impounded by the shelter, shel-ter, 50 percent of dogs and 15 percent of cats were adopted to homes.. Ultimately,' through a network of adoption services, "our goal is create a limited kill shelter," she said. Si Hutt, CEO, Ashley Valley Medical Center, talks to the Chamber about quality, cost and access, that combine to measure value of health care. AVMCis by Vernal Si Hutt described a way to assess good value for health care as thinking of the three legs of a stool; without any one leg, the stool cannot stand upright "Value is comparing quality with the cost you are paying for it and how easily you can access the service" Hutt is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Ashley Valley Medical Center (AVMC). He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah and his Master of Health Services Administration from Arizona State University With experience at Arizona Affordable Health Care Foundation, HealthTrust, Inc. and Ogden Regional Medical . Center, he came to AVMC, a 39-bed 39-bed hospital, in 2001. "It is noteworthy that nationally nation-ally in 2002 AVMC was named one of the top 20 small hospitals hospi-tals of the year, out of 1300 hospitals hos-pitals of 100 beds or less," Hutt said. Expansion of facilities is now three years old, but equipment equip-ment upgrades and additional spacing for certain areas have continued. An example is the new lab draw station which is now just inside the hospital doors, which makes it easier and more comfortable for wait- 'II high goals To achieve that goal, Glines suggested that an increase in shelter hours could better serve the public in placing adoptable animals in homes. Currently, the shelter is open to the public for pet adoption for four hours from noon to 4 p.m. Hours are restricted by available staffing and OSHA safety regulations for people and animals. Haslem pointed out that by "increasing part-time workers to full time and, perhaps adding two hours in the evening and four hours on Saturday" could help their operation. Bagley detailed plans to purchase equipment that is more efficient and additional personnel will alleviate some of the burden on existing staff. Animal control-related calls to dispatch currently cost in the neighborhood of $12,500 a year. At this time, the district has one full time officer and one city officer of-ficer in patrol of 450,000 acres in the county. The two field officers respond to virtually all livestock live-stock trespass and stray animal issues. When they are busy, then the sheriff or city police have to respond to the call. Both agencies agen-cies have requested that the shelter increase staff to handle these calls. Only the subject of board member compensation raised public comment at the meeting. This comment questioned the principle of paying the members of a voluntary board. The board has set $200 a month in compensation compen-sation for its members. Haslem noted, "Most of the board mem-. bers take time from their jobs to serve. For the amount of time and energy it takes, it comes out to about a dollar an hour." ing clients, and gives the lab technicians more room to work in. "If things were more transparent, trans-parent, someone could find a provider, . compare, hospital outcomes, and compare prices. Health care is starting to move in that direction for a client to seek that information." ' Hutt compared AVMC with hospitals across the nation, across the state, and across the Basin. "We had higher than average quality at lower than average price." This quality data and cost data is published by the federal and state governments, and can be accessed at the web sites, www.hospitalcompare.hhs. gov and www.health.utah.gov myhealthcare. "When describing experiences experi-ences with family, friends and neighbors, we often talk about events and circumstances that were negative, but don't mention men-tion the positive ones," said Hutt "This is also true when we discuss our health care. We would hope that patients will share some of the good experiences experi-ences they have here. "AVMC has been around since 1946 and well be around a longtime." . Hw L f assessed Chamber Vcmd Teen use of cellphones may be limited By a margin of 9 to 5, the Transportation Committee passed House Bill 217 onto the Utah Legislature for consideration consider-ation on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The bill would make it illegal for drivers under 18 years of age'to call or text message while driving-Representative Kory Hold-away's, Hold-away's, (R-Taylorsville) proposed pro-posed bill reflects observations by the Utah Highway Patrol, Utah insurance companies, and emergency room doctors. All the bill supporters say that in-car in-car distractions like talking on the cell phone or text messaging messag-ing contribute to thousands of crashes by teenage drivers every year. The bill is not intended as a punitive strike against teens, but rather an added measure of safety for all drivers. Exceptions to this prohibition include notification of a medical emergency, reporting a safety hazard or requesting assistance relating to a safety hazard, and reporting criminal activity. driving Education a priority in Senate majority funding proposals Saturday's, Jan. 20, Senate majority met in caucus to discuss dis-cuss policies and priorities for the state's budget surplus. Sena-. tor Kevin VanTassell said, "We spent five hours coming to a consensus over some important work." Policy goals and proposals propos-als for the current legislative session set by the majority are: 1. Fund Public Education at levels at or beyond the $320 million mil-lion proposed by the governor. 2. Develop tax reform. The Senate majority proposes that $150 million is a reasonable tax-cut tax-cut target this year. Majority members want the flat tax rate reduced to benefit more Utahns. They also want consideration of tax cuts for research and development to attract more business to Utah, equalization of cable and satellite sat-ellite TV tax, and a renewable energy credit Finally, they propose pro-pose a statewide uniform rate for sales tax on food. 3. Avoid unnecessary public pub-lic debt This is a top priority. They propose that the state set aside enough one-time money for road and building projects, so no bonds will be necessary. In addition, they support using us-ing much of the surplus to pay down existing debt. 4. Provide pay increases to cover the cost of living for state employees. It is essential that the state remain competitive in order to attract and retain a qualified workforce. . ' 5. IncreasefundingfojUtah's transportation infrastructure. : 6. Significantly increase the state's investment in higher education. Excress Recreation comes in many flavors. On the public lands outside out-side of Vernal, we need a variety vari-ety of land management styles, to accommodate our . sometimes-incompatible activities. We need "Primitive" areas, where non-mechanized horsemen horse-men and walkers share the scenery (like Kings Peak in the High Uintas Wilderness). We need "Semi-primitive Non-motorized" backcountry, where mountain bikers and skiers are added to the mix, but everyone is non-motorized (like the Dry Fork Flume Trail). We need "Semi-primitive Motorized" front country, where trails are used by motor-bikes motor-bikes as well. ' We need "Roaded Natural" areas which OHVs, jeeps, and trucks can also access (like the trails in the Buckskin Hills). We need "Rural" areas which are dominated by a lot of heavy use by a variety of vehicles (like the Red Cloud Loop Road and Iron Springs Campground). And we need "Urban" areas, like bike and jogging paths that will allow city folk to access the areas that are Senate majority actions deferred de-ferred a final decision on some dollar amounts in anticipation of the appropriations committee commit-tee and public input process. They encourage citizen participation partici-pation and look forward to hearing hear-ing from all interested parties. They also look forward to working work-ing with their colleagues in the other half of the legislature and the opposite side of the aisle. Together, the Utah legislature will develop sound policies for the good of the state. ra. i, 'PP!l!,Af Buy 3 Outlaw Trail Journals Receive 30 OFF! And Receive 25 OFF Books Written by Doris Karren Burton T' -mi- ' . i ' " 1 , ioj- g) ITSARE JIIAYGROUND ! MST FOOD ' Notes from the Uintah Mountain Club (In)compatibility close to town (like the bicycle and jogging lanes that are being designed into our newest road projects). Some people ask, as Rodney King famously did, "Can't we all just get along?" The implication impli-cation is that if we are all just polite to each other, then all sorts of recreationists should be able to use every area. People who ask this question truly don't get it: some forms of recreation, by their Very nature, prevent . other types of recreationists from enjoying enjoy-ing themselves. Backpackers don't normally make Hacking Lake, at the end of the road, a destination, because the kind of peace and quiet they seek is not available there. Instead, they use Hacking Lake as a jumping off point to go further in, to a more remote area r like Lakeshore Basin. That is why motorized recreation rec-reation can displace the. non-motorized non-motorized users. Hikers, bikers, bik-ers, skiers, and horsemen often abandon areas they formerly used, because the coming of motorized use has eliminated what they were looking for. Hunters and fishermen can find Vernal man dies in house fire A fast moving house fire took the life of a Vernal man early Wednesday morning. Responding to a structure fire at 2:13 a.m., fire fighters from the Vernal City and Uintah County Fire Department found a one-story one-story family dwelling, on 500 South 392 West fully engulfed in flames. Uintah County Fire Marshal Jeremy Raymond said, "Firemen were told that a person per-son was still inside the burning home." . " One team of fire fighters was dispatched to attack the blaze from the outside, while the other entered the building build-ing through a back window. Inside they found Norman Keith Gibson, 75 years old,, lying unconscious in a back ON SALE NOW!!! November 29 to January 31, 2007 m I 31 themselves in the same position, posi-tion, if they are seeking a certain cer-tain kind of experience. There have been recent examples of this displacement outside of Vernal. Anyone who doubts this might ask themselves: Do motorized users abandon their favorite spots when bikers and hikers show up? Does a popular OHV area become abandoned when the non-motorized users show up? What we really need is a spectrum of different types of land management designations, designa-tions, with different groupings of compatible recreationists. The public land managers concluded con-cluded this long ago, when they came out with the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS), described at the beginning of, this Round River. We just need, them to apply it, so that all groups will have areas in which tp enjoy themselves in their own ways. Which areas should, be managed for which uses is tC legitimate discussion, but the; first step is to realize that we; can't all play together and come away happy. bedroom. Fire fighters believe that Gibson tried to fight the:, fire himself before he was over- come by the smoke. Gibson wa$-removed wa$-removed and transported to th$ Ashley Valley Medical Cente where he was pronounced dead the . Utah State Fire; Marshal's office determine that the wood burning stov caused the fire. According tcf, Raymond,, the fire began in; the attic, spread across the" attic floor and set fire to th& living room ceiling. The fire! had not reached the back bed:!; room where Gibson was found; although the room 4was filled with smoke. Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire but the home was destroyed com pletely. I "V Jo (pun rl 'hi r lJ fiUJ . i t it- ' "3 1 K i! 1 I A. |