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Show PERFORMANCE ART STUDENTS School focuses on vocal training C9 O-MOK-SEE Horse races run through end of week NUISANCE ORDINANCE County looks toward - Tta , 726 Frt 727 Weather by V 9161 Mktany MP mi ASrtNUOOK mandated clean up REALTY. INC. SeeA7 A5 oft 50 CENTS 114 Year No. 27 Vernal, Utah 84078 www.vernal.com Wednesday Jai25fZtt7 Your Hometown Newspaper BLACKHAM VISITS BASIN IV A mm mi ' ' ' ; ' ' ;'; ' ' ' 0 !,'-; r r. ;.: Lzld y r i ifir',-' . .. f S h n l Utah Commissioner of Agriculture Leonard Blackham addresses Uintah Basin residents effected by drought, wildfire, and grasshopper infestation. Blackham and representatives from the offices of Utah's congressional delegation, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s office, and the National Resource Conservation Service attended the meeting last Tuesday in Roosevelt. Basin candidates seek mayoral, council seats The following is a list of candidates can-didates seeking mayoral and city council seats in the Uintah Basin. The filing deadline was Monday, July 16, at 5 p.m. Incumbents are denoted by the "I" aftertheir names. Altamont - Mayor: one seat, two years - Clyde Watkins (I); Town Council: two seats, two years - Todd Anfinson (I) and Robert Gordon (I); two seats, four years - Larry Henry (I), Brent "Ole" Olsen (I), and David Rust . -. Ballard - Town Council: two seats, four years - Ace Davis (I) and Mark Reidhead (I) Duchesne - City Council: three seats, four years - Darwin McKee (I), Jeannie Mecham (I), Terry Stephensen, Bruce Chamber announces new office manager Sandra Richins is the Office Manager for the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. She has lived in the Vernal Sandra Richins is the office manager for the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. Exit Realty Professionals 1285 West Hwy 40 Vernal, Utah 84078 (435) 789-EXIT (3948) J Thomas, and Nancy Wager (I) Myton - City Council: three seats, four years - Ron Gab-bard Gab-bard Sr., Ken Palmer, Dawnetta Roche, and Kevin Thompson Naples - City Council: three seats, four years - Dale Bowden (I), Dan Olsen (I), and Kenneth Reynolds (I) Roosevelt - City Council: three seats, four years - Guy Coleman (I), Steven Timothy, Dave Woolstenhulme (I), Robert Yack (I) Vernal - City Council: three seats, fouryears-JoAnn Cowan (I), Cal Dee Reynolds (I), and Sonja Norton (I). No primary elections will be necessary this year. The general election for city offices will be Nov. 4. area for 29 years, and on July 12 she began serving as the office manager. "I am loving it," she said. ; "I've always thought Vernal was a great place to raise my family. My family are all active in the area - it is a rich life for us." Her children are Amy, married to Travis Lemon; Ryan, married to Brooke Robb Richins; Rhett, married to Angie Raymond Richins; Rich-ins; and Ashley Richins, a high school junior, a good student and a cheerleader. "I have two granddaughters, Rio'n and Ava Richins." Sandra said. "My favorite pastime is being a mother and grandmother." grandmoth-er." Richins has worked for 14 years. She was in the Jubilee pharmacy for seven years. She worked as Brian Spendlove's office manager for more than three years, and most recently managed the local McDonald's. Sandra seems to be a good advocate of the area for the chamber. CALL Jf W a 'tails' 'is.i'Py . ' J I Pioneer day parade celebrates cultural history in Miss Uintah County royalty stand atop a float as part of the Pioneer Day parade on Main Street yesterday. Their float is themed after the Disney movie "Aladdin" and has been featured in every parade this year. See more parade coverage on page C10. Vernal council seeks CIB funds for Main Street, 2000 West utilities By La Bowa Eipress Associate Editor A tie-breaking vote by Vernal Mayor Allan Mashburn gave city staff the go-ahead to apply for a grant from the Utah Permanent Community Impact Fund Board to fund installation of water and sewer, utilities along the planned construction of 2000 West and Main Street. The project takes in areas governed by Ashley Valley Water Improvement . District, Maeser Water Improvement District and Vernal. It includes 20 blocks of new road construction, along Main Street, from 1500 West to 2500 West; and 2000 West, from 500 South to 500 North. The costs of building the road Met in km tocjoon nM two bedroom md a naK mmotm baM Tm hone hat Hvdwood noon and nict M(lntrMidlchMGailioataiKlivaporatlvtu)olw,trKH cvattachodgaragtHottub includtd. SUSAN tor your alwwlng today! I2I4MI Ranchers seek aid for drought, fire damage Br faff Lm Uintah Basin Newt Service About 60 ranchers and farmers farm-ers turned out last Tuesday afternoon af-ternoon at Roosevelt Junior High School to meet with the state's top agriculture official about the losses they've suffered after more than a decade of drought, a massive wildfire and recurring problems with grasshoppers (See related story, this page). "We need to hear from you more than anything else," Utah Commissioner of Agriculture Leonard Blackham told the group. "Just tell us what the conditions are out there so we can help you." The commissioner's request for comment was readily met. Steve Richens of Lapoint told Blackham he hasn't been able to locate his cattle, which were grazing graz-ing in areas closed off because of the Neola North Fire. Richens said authorities have prevented ranchers from accessing the restricted re-stricted areas to check on their livestock. "Since the fire started, I don't are expected to be covered by Uintah Transportation Special Service District. But the transportation trans-portation district wants to make sure utilities are installed before road construction commences. "To make this as simple as possible, only one entity should be in charge of this project," said Bassett. However, that creates questions regarding who will end up paying for utility lines. Bassett explained it makes sense for Vernal to take the lead role because the city has an interest in improving the local economy, which improves the city's overall tax base, whereas the improvement districts are somewhat less concerned and have a single purpose: providing utilities. A ii w&nm& NcwPMvti NtwbfptNew Tit & Wood w Ska md btMM Akkr custom brnifflS.ttmlilPiMmaifcnnidiwm.TtelMmi iiBmiyreoMhttebsmMamiomnilMitotftis know anything about them," Richense said ofhis cows. "I know there's a few there, but I don't know how many. The majority of them need taken care of right now." Richens said his grazing permit per-mit is good until Sept. 15 permit. After that, he's unsure what his stock will survive on because he's two months short on feed. Blackham said state officials are speaking with the U.S. Forest Service to try to extend grazing permits in the areas effected by fire and drought. He said scientists with the Department of Agriculture have found that regardless of how much grazing occurs on drought-stricken land, grasses will rebound when the rains fall. Whether those rains come though is another question. ques-tion. "Overall it's going to be a tough year for Utah livestock producers pro-ducers unless we get some rain," Blackham said. "If we don't get some rain this fall, there won't be any winter range on the desert. There's just no great answers there." 1" M V. W .. J w " WJ Uintah Basin Mashburn said utilities fall best into Vernal's domain because be-cause other players in the project, such as the county and special service districts, are not utility agencies. The dty manager said the plan was to approach the CIB for an 80 percent loan, 20 percent grant funding package. He added that the 20 percent grant portion would likely be used to offset the costs of installingutilities for the planned USUUintah Basin Applied Technology College campus cam-pus planned in the area. Bassett reminded the council that it is common practice for cities to waive impact and permitting fees for other government agencies. Bassett said as development begins to expand into the area, r 1 ftoonNcwMRytlMndoWk Utthn (a imst smI) Four 6 3 Blackham said he's met with other state leaders and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on the dire straits facing Utah's farmers and ranchers. ranch-ers. One of the key decisions to come out of those meetings is a plan to aggressively reseed fire and drought damaged areas in an attempt to prevent highly flammable cheatgrass from taking tak-ing root. "The governor is very concerned con-cerned about the conditions of the ranges out here and he wants take this as an opportunity to make sure we get out there and do some re-seeding to reduce this risk in the future," Blackham said. During the 2007 legislative session, lawmakers approved $8 million to pay for damage caused by last year's wildfires. One million mil-lion dollars was pledged to reseed burned out areas. In order to help those effected by the recent wildfires, budget appropriations would have to be made by state leaders in 2008. For some though the damage done be the fire is a thing of the SEE RANCHERS AID on A2 the city could require property owners to participate in repayment repay-ment of the loan, regardless of which water and sewer district they were part of. However, if the area fails do develop before the end of the life of the loan, Vernal could be stuck paying for water and sewer lines outside of city limits. And while there have been attempts to incorporate part of the area into the city, those proposals have been opposed by county officials. "The county won't partner in helping pay for this loan?" asked council member JoAnn Cowan. "Maybe there ought to be a trade-off. Maybe if we're willing to do this, the commis- SEE VERNAL onA2 II acre oT rani' wi& wrter Ant. ckae to Kfcmfa ViniAlnM2000ilcaiieldwiei3bed-room, ViniAlnM2000ilcaiieldwiei3bed-room, 2 twdn. Ltrgt Bvin roan nidi hwiauc mi dafag cranny kftchai with mmk bar mi femil (knot. NewptbL bnntifal yvd. i |