OCR Text |
Show A2 Wednesday, September 26, 2007 Bookmobile Continued from Al "We were looking at at least another an-other year or two years beyond the end of December. That would give us a chance to build up our collection here and get up and running before we had to get creative cre-ative about how to serve the more rural parts of the county." Duchesne County commissioners commis-sioners said the plan to eventually eventual-ly withdrawfrom the Bookmobile program came after they decided to open a second library branch in Duchesne, hire a director who would oversee the expanded system, and bulk up the budget with money to buy hundreds more books. The county has for some time paid approximately 70 percent of the money contributed by in the tri-county area for running the Bookmobile, with Uintah County paying about 17 percent and Daggett County about 13 percent. That means most of the Bookmobile's books will be given to the Duchesne County Library system, but with 32 percent of the books going to other counties, coun-ties, Duchesne County patrons will see a temporary dip in the number of books available, according ac-cording to Thomas. In Daggett County the drop in (USPS 0892-1091) Periodical postage paid at Vernal, Utah Published weekly at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Vernal Express at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Phone: 435-789-3511, Fax: 435-789-8690 DEADLINES: News, legal notices, classified ads and display ads must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication PUBLISHER: Kevin Ashby - kashbyvernal.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Les Bowen - editorvernal.ccm ADVERTISING: Jacque Hobbs CLASSIFIED: Tonya Harmer OFFICE: Harriet Harding WRITERS: Mary Bernard Elizabeth Goode Casey Christensen PRODUCTION: Heather Crosby Michele Roper On the Web: http:www.vernal.com Email: editorvernal.com Subscription Rates: I Clin and Send tn: ( Vernal Express 34 im. vernal Ave VeraaVUtah 84078 Out Name Address City Cash or Check only, GM has challenged the September, all offers considered, no reasonable offer refused! 6 APR ON ANY ALL-NEW 0 APR 07 SIERRA 1500 BRAND NEIV AutD,AC,ti!t on-star nam opSon.5. -yr100,000 mi. warranty F25537A 07Yu:m:j n?nnti BRAXDKm ftfV. eiW.-773) tsja&ai9h W3&9i' ndeMyby1VlA)7.NMalMcAmSK()ealtaMife "IP M crfU CWW wWi mW 531 VS trtfn, 8m) or 2007 ItKX pickup trqmert. Exdudu ottf GM vchiclev t9or Aitnx)LGuk52QQ7(nrtJalv3wbdudolteGMv-hH4n Aitnx)LGuk52QQ7(nrtJalv3wbdudolteGMv-hH4n (!WUitwaimBnt6riuO5no1urndulyirMete tSsconipii0Wpj8irr. njCTiwrtotlo'ra UiTiQft.S3wqpcifcitttonptot(wpy available books will be dramatic. Daggett, with a population less than 1,000, is about to get its first library building: anoldstick-framed anoldstick-framed school building from the Clay Basin area that was recently moved to downtown Manila. Currently Cur-rently the county courthouse has a small room with a few books, and patrons stop at the desk of Deputy County Clerk Sarah Lamb to check them out. "Wedon'thavealibrarysetup as yet," Lamb said. "We're in the process of moving from the courthouse court-house to its own building. The push is on to get it done quickly because once the Bookmobile's gone we have nothing." Lamb, who sits on the Daggett County Library Board, said there are no funds to hire a librarian, librar-ian, but it's hoped a volunteer might fill the position. Once a functioning library is in place, like all public libraries in Utah, Daggett County patrons will have access to a vast collection ofbooks through the state's interlibrary loan program. In recent years, a state library grant has even been used to pay Daggett County's share of Bookmobile expenses. On Sept. 21, state Bookmobile coordinator KG Benedict said: "If Daggett and Uintah counties coun-ties could pick up the Duchesne In the Uintah Basin lYr.$26-2Yr.$48 Out of the Uintah Basin lYr.$42-2Yrs.$70 of Stafe iYr. $46 2 Yrs. $80 j r i Zip4 Sony No Charges GIANT FOR 2007 SIERRA 1500 O ! M l I ! ! BEST AVAILABLE FUEL ECONOMY' CMC BEST EXPECTED RESALE VALUE BEST COVERAGE OF ANY FULL SIZE PICKUP' FOR 60 MONTHS FOR WELL QUALIFIED THAT'S $6,238 08 . ftt- 07 BRAND jr m m m J: Vernal portion of the contract, the Bookmobile might continue to run in those counties." Those counties would have to come up with another $23,120 to provide service to approximately 900 patrons. The 2007 budget for operating the . Bookmobile was $110,511, of which the counties paid $74,633 and the remaining $35,878 was covered by the Utah State Library. Uintah Uin-tah County paid $7,613 for its service this year, while Daggett paid $5,921. Uintah County Library Director Direc-tor Sam Passey said his library, which has only' one branch in Vernal, was looking at ways to cope with the loss of service to outlying areas. "At Avalon and Whiterocks community centers where they have some computer stations, we might add some encyclopedias and some popular titles so people can check things out," Passey said. According to Passey, the Sept. 10 letter from Morris was the first he or the library board had heard that Bookmobile service would end this year. He said the issue will be discussed at a public library board meeting Wednesday Wednes-day at 1 p.m. in the county administration ad-ministration building in Vernal at 152 East 100 North. Community responds ByMmyBbbwb Express Writer Imagine a strain of the flu virus so severe that millions of people across the globe succumb to the disease. It happened in 1918, when the Spanish flu, a virulent strain of influenza, killed 20 to 50 million people worldwide. But that was not the first time in history that influenza took its toll on human populations. Could the events of the past occur today? Even now, with advances in medicine and disease control, new strains of influenza are tracked every year. Whether it is avian flu (the H5N1 strain) or some other viral threat to public health, the past suggests a pandemic pan-demic of influenza will recur. "People need to prepare and protect themselves to prevent the spread of disease," said Joe Shaffer, TriCounty Health Department director. Timeless advice, which may well have aided the world unchanged 100 years ago. PreparjrigJor tfc&ihreat-of a pandemic begins years in ad-rvm-rnrarirtibal application of community-wide resources Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah countyhealth and human services ser-vices came together last week to test emergency preparedness. to liquidate 200 new CREW CAB 100,020 MILE5-YEAR TRANSFERABLE POWERTRAIN LIMITED WARRANTY" 100,009 KIUE5-YEAX 24 100,008 KILE5-YEAX CO IN AVERAGE FINANCE GCIC ACADIA THE NEWEST GMC 6da.iMrilmt. laylam,CD,(kHMriiM YUKON SLE MEW 1 MiHUMM sr v s ; 'jl?2siW7i Express Work begins at site of UBATCUSU building Kevw Akbt fXPKtt PlBUEP "I have lived in a lot of booming boom-ing towns before, but ...Wow!," said Larry Ramirez, project superintendent for D&D Construction, Con-struction, the contrator working on the new Uintah Basin Applied Technology CenterUtah State University school building. "I'm from Denver and I haven't seen anything like this," continued Ramirez. There are times when I am moving from motel to motel, and even over to Roosevelt, just to find a place to stay here. If you can get a room for two or three nights, you are doing good!" He described the night he arrived in Vernal as being so busy that he had to drive back to Rangely, Colo., just to find a room. "And this drives the price of things being built, up," continued contin-ued Ramirez. To do this, the Statewide Public Health Emergency Response Exercise, or SPHERE, set up a realistic scenario in a trial of local response teams to a pandemic. The test consisted of staging a fictional account of the H5N1 influenza virus spreading west across the United States. "Something like this won't happen overnight, it takes years to get to this point," Shaffer said referring to the potential progression of the disease from birds to humans and then, being transmitted across the globe. His comments underscore the need for readiness among public health departments both locally and nationally to a pandemic influenza outbreak. "Important tools in protecting protect-ing a populous are education, treatment and community-wide effort," Shaffer explained. As the scenario opens, the Basin's communities are realizing a serious seri-ous flu outbreak of nation-wide proportions. "In the real world, we would have started two years out from this point in. the scenario.) We would have gotten the word out early about taking preventative measures to protect the populous against illness," said Shaffer. He recounted practical, community-wide community-wide measures: Frequent hand washing. GMC's in Don't miss your SAVINGS' 07 SIERRAS BRAND HEW CresrCsb SLE Mad, id Mm G2S04U C2! f 07 YUKON HI. BRAXDKEh 4X4 ,A str-2i ' Ui ' Mherca : . . ' .r- y" iMtkaM, f K24MM J ' -' D&D Construction is also the contractor for the new Lowe's building and Ramirez cited that on that project, concrete is available, avail-able, but deliveries have been slow due to not enough drivers to make the haul. He said that they are having the same problem with the new recreation facility which is being built by Layton Construction. "Plus, the price of property is crazy!," he continued. Ramirez explained that when he goes to work on a project for a year to 18 months, he will purchase an older home to live in and then sell it at the end of his stay. "They are pretty proud of what they have here with the kind of prices they are asking," said Ramirez. The Lowes facility has all of their subcontractors in place and crews are pushing to be through about the second week in November. to mock emergency Coveringthe nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. Regularly cleaning surfaces or objects that are touched or handled. Limiting exposure to others. oth-ers. Staying home when sick. Stocking an emergency response kit with three days of food and water. Listing family's personal medications. Having an updated family plan. These sound like simple steps, but in an emergency situation these measures may make the difference between life and death. As the scenario unfolded, the response team received data by fax, phone and Internet tellingof the number of sick in hospitals, clinics and care centers throughout through-out the Basin. The disease was running its course and within hours, it is clear that the area served by the Tri-County Health Department is cut-off from the outside world. v it, Th team evaluated methods of informing the public of needed pfecautidns. Options to keepthe public informed, include such things as radio, TV, Internet, newspapers and door-to-door surveillance were discussed to get the word out. The team rapidly chance! BUYERS For the UBATCUSU school facility, bids are being sent out new for the ground work, footings and pier construction. Ramirez expects that most bids will be back in by the second week of October. "We should be starting to work the ground in three to four weeks," said Ramirez. "But I am concerned with such things as concrete delivery and especially the weather. I know how cold it gets out here and it is hard working in wet soils with deep frost levels." Already, heavy equipment has been scraping some of the land where the new facility will be located and Ramirez described the "mushy" conditions of the wet soil found in that area. Because Be-cause of the wet soil, building plans were changed to include some 350 rock piers that will go down about 17 feet to bedrock. These piers will be tied together with footers and the floor of the building will be anchored to the assessed their medical stores of masks, gloves, and Tamilfu - an antiviral medication that helps to alleviate symptoms of the flu. In oder to contact the nearly 40,000 residents of three counties, apian to dispatch circuit riders to reach some of the more remote areas was discussed. Tasks were assigned to the different groups within the health department to locate and stockpile medical supplies, to ensure financial credit or cash reserves are available, to establish a logistical center of operations, and to maintain coordination with Emergency Operations Committee and Local Emergency Planning Committee along with the Red Cross and law enforcement agencies. Vaccines will likely not be available until well after the onset of the pandemic. Even if the strain of virus was identified, identi-fied, it would still take months to produce. The Utah State Pandemic Influenza Response Plan states, "It will take five months to produce an adequate SWipplytb imnMinize'the'entire US. population." "t -mu j-i ' "Outside oflthis agency, we are going to be pretty much on our own," Shaffer said. Nothing new for rural residents, who are often accustom to seasonal isolation. Still, replenishing the food supply sup-ply is a problem. The potential disruption of commerce in the Basin means people will have to add to their food and water storage stor-age prior to an outbreak. Task force members noted the typical 72-hour readiness kit in homes may have to be expanded to cover days or weeks of isolation. "It's simply the matter of getting the word out," Shaffer explained. "Push prevention and immunization." He pointed to the successful West Nile virus "Fight the Bite" campaign over recent years. . "People got the word over the two years before it arrived in the Basin," he said. "We got the message out and people knew how to protect themselves from exposure." In the 1918 influenza, the Uintah Basin communities fared well compared to the outside world. Part of this is due to the geography of the Basin and too, the self-sufficiency of the occupants. oc-cupants. If a similar outbreak occurs today, a largely self-reliant and informed populous will be likely to survive a pandemic influenza outbreak. "Communities that were most successful in warding off deaths during the 1918pandemic quickly enacted a number of measures," according to Dr. Robert Rolfs, Utah State Epidemiologist, Epide-miologist, quoted on the Utah Department of Health Web site. For more information staying informed and developing a plan visit the UDOH Web site at http:pandemicflu.utah.gov. Our Ads are worth the time in the... 54 North Vernal Avsnue VanalUWi -435-78&-3S11 www.vernal.com |