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Show 1 UINTAH BASKETBALL STARTS SEASON C:j- WINTER WONDERLAND With a blanket of snow and single digit overnight lows, winter has hit the Basin..-- A3 f Ihu Fn J2jt Weather by , , jfe & iywffnt'r snow show- snowhnw. REALTY, INC.-cts INC.-cts Highs in m Hijitu in ihe mid U)g ihc tow 4( QoQ A7 and im m and lows in O C " A ihe km 2ih the low UK boys win three at Ben Lomond Classic, a ! X girls drop three at own round robin C2 O " " i i ; , , , i u i , e 11 4th Year No. 49 Vernal, Utah 84078 50 CENTS www.vernal.com Wednesday Decerns 5, 2007 jf Your Hometown Newspaper .. f 1 i Forest travel plan enters second round of input BilKevdvAshby - Express Publisher Public comments continue to come in concerning the Ashley National Forest travel management manage-ment plan that began Nov. 9 and will end Jan 8. . Proposed actions for the plan were first developed from the current management plan as well as from proposals from the public received last summer. The Forest Service addressed hundreds of proposals in several public input forums last summer. These proposals were transposed onto forest maps and have been used as the basis for discussions in public input meetings held in Duchesne, Vernal and Manila this past month. "I represent Daggett County and I know of several proposals that were made during the summer sum-mer and I am here to see which ones you addressed and deter WEST STUDENTS HEADED TO VERNAL chool for new By lis Bowehi Uintah Basin News Service1 Seventh and eighth graders now attending West Middle School will be bussed to the Ashley Ash-ley Valley beginning in August after a decision by the Uintah School District Board of Education Educa-tion last week. The 4-1 vote put a new K through 6 building for Todd Elementary at the top of the district's priority list. The decision comes as a response to federal guidelines after West failed to meet testing standards for the seventh year in a row. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, the school board was required to restructure the school or face losing federal funding. fund-ing. But busing kids across the county is not an option supported by the Ute Tribe's education or business committees. In a position posi-tion statement issued last month, the tribe stated its opposition to closing West Middle School. "I know this question is of utmost importance to our com i - - Brothers Matt Preston and Kirt Martinson, Vernal, took advantage of the first snowfall of the year to load up their four-wheelers and Vernal. They explained that they didn't have snowmobiles so they did the next best thing at least in the snow - ride four-wheelers. J nxiT Realty Pkofessionals 1285 West Hwy 40 Vernal, Utah 84078 (435) 789-EXIT (3948) mined would be on the map," commented Daggett County Commissioner Floyd Briggs during the input meeting held in Manila on Thursday, Nov. 29. "I want to know the rationale that was used to bring these proposals propos-als forward. At least the major ones." This concern seemed to be the reason listed by most of those attending the meeting in Manila and most were pleased with what had been included on the maps to be considered as new trails and roads. One concern came out early in the meeting about the change forest personnel made recently to change off road parking and camping access from 300 to 150 feet. This concern was addressed by Jeff Schramm, Flaming Gorge District Ranger. Schramm explained Ashley Forest was the only forest in Utah allowinga300 foot parking Board votes Todd buildin munity," said Elaine Willie, speaking as the Ute Education Committee's designated representative repre-sentative at the Nov. 27 meeting. "It would send an important message to our community if it's a K through 8." She said while the school would not serve seventh and eighth graders, the tribe will continue to support the best education for students. She added that tribal officials still want to be involved in curriculum development for tribal students attending district schools. Starting in the fall of 2008, seventh and eight graders from the district's west side will begin attending Vernal Middle School and Vernal Junior High School. In his motion to build a new facility facil-ity for Todd Elementary, board member Scott Ruppe indicated that sixth graders would have the option of attending Vernal Middle School or Todd Elementary. Elemen-tary. However, with the restructuring, restructur-ing, the district can now enforce its boundaries meaning that students who live in the vicin ... -i.-v-i- Great family home1 This home has 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living mom, family mom, and nke silting mom Wonderful homemalier kitchen with nice dining area, double deck just off the dining room Beautiful mature yards with frat bushes.agardenersdeiiqht! (SEAT CONDITION -CALL SUSAN TODAY 121 corridor off their roads. He said to make all the forests in Utah uniform, this was changed. But, he explained that they were careful care-ful to include many campsites requested by users last summer. Though many were further than 150 feet from the road, forest officials noted access spurs for these sites on the map. "If you look at the Vernal District map, there are 50 or 60 of these camping sites that are accessed by road spurs and the 150 foot area is in effect for these spur roads also," commented Schramm. "In the long run, this opens up more access available for camping than there was before." be-fore." When asked, Schramm also felt the 150 foot camping access would also apply to ATV trails. Commissioner Briggs commented com-mented that he was also concerned con-cerned about increased ATV SEE TRAVEL PLAN on A2 ity of Todd will be required to attend the school. That's something some-thing that hadn't been allowed at West Middle School for the past five years because of federal guidelines surrounding failure to make adequate yearly progress under NCLB. One of the factors influencing influenc-ing the board's decision was the cost of the new building. Though complete plans haven't yet been drawn up, Uintah School District Business Administrator Randy Upton said the cost for a new school could easily reach $16 million - a price tag that would tap out the capital outlay budget for 2007-08 and 2008-09, along with the remaining funds from the bond for district-wide school renovations. With the decision to build a new building at Todd, the district dis-trict has yet to determine how it will address renovation needs at Discovery, Davis and Lapoint elementary schools. "I hope what you hear in this meeting is that the district is willing to dump every dime we SEE WEST SCHOOL on A2 I ft Beautiful brick tn-level with wonderful location. 4 bedrooms, J baths, oak kitchen with Hk flooring, hand new carpet throughout the home. Nke living room and family room. Solid wood doors and trim throughout, (as heat, central air, sprinkler system and larqe over sued gawp with double doors, his home won't last long, so hurry and make . your appointment today! UISiiunt2M6 trees and hut 6084 Many proposals have been made to the existing travel management plan used by the forest with others still to be added as a second battery of public input meetings draw to a close. By Mary Berimm Express Writer Thursday evening, Nov. 29, Exit Realty and Halliburton hosted host-ed a public meeting at Western Park that focused on community change. Vernal is changing with booming business, building and residents. With every previous energy boom there has been a corresponding corre-sponding bust. And that has county and city officials, real estate and financial professionals, profession-als, and members of the energy industry looking to change the traditional outcome. "In the 1990sbust, homeowners homeown-ers lost 70 percent of their home's assessed values," said Irene Hansen, Han-sen, Duchesne County economic development officer. "Don't plan for the bust, plan for sustainable community growth." - - 't,., . Y " """" " ' v ' " - ... . . - , . . . ; ' V'' -i-"r i , ' 595 North 3500 West 3.13 acres, out-buildings and a great little 3 bedroom home! Many possibilities for any buyer. Call Lisa 790 5529 , 1 : .J: -I Ur- - r : Easier said than done as once again energy extraction is driving driv-ing development in the West. Thursday's topic specifically focused on the natural gas boom that dominates development in our corner of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. "From a demand and technology tech-nology standpoint, the fundamentals funda-mentals are here to sustain a 15-year period of natural gas production in the region," said John Wickham, Halliburton district manager in Vernal. Increased exploration in the West has been pushed by a five-year decline in offshore gas production. The decline and commensurate com-mensurate boom is projected to be long-term as geologists believe that the Gulf is a mature basin. And they see ample gas reserves in the West. "The Rockies are critical lands 55y hit the hills located just north of ! V in natural gas resource exploita tion," projected Lowell Braxton, Utah representative of the Independent Inde-pendent Petroleum Association of Mountain States. "In recent years, a 32 percent increase in resource growth translates into a $9.5 billion capital expenditure in the Uinta-Piceance basins resource re-source fields. That's real money spent here in the West." "We are invested in the West, " said Wickham. "The Rockies Express Pipeline is a 1,678-mile natural gas pipeline system from Rio Blanco County, Colo., to Monroe County, Ohio." Combining the increase in SEE Housing Plans on A2 Gardner's conduct 'reasonable' By Blbi Wksiovy tm Geoff Lies!K Uintah Basin News Service An investigation has concluded con-cluded that a Utah Highway Patrol trooper was justified in shooting a man with a Taser during dur-ing a videotaped traffic stop that became painfully public when it was posted on YouTube. The Utah Department of Public Pub-lic Safety announced the results of its initial probe into trooper Jon Gardner's use of a Taser on Jared Massey. A 10-minute clip posted online has been viewed more than 1 million times, and Gardner has been placed on paid administrative leave primarily to protect him because of death threats he has received from angry Internet commentators. "We found that trooper Gardner's actions were lawful and reasonable under the circumstances," cir-cumstances," UHP Col. Lance Davenport said Frjday. The Utah Attorney General's Office has been asked to conduct SEE UHPFFICER A3 Nice 4 bedroom 2 bath home located in the Jolley subdivision. This home has several updates and is in great condition. Newer paint, floor coverings, and vinyl windows. 2 larqe storage buildings with power. Home has central air. 24 hour infnmwticin line 1 800 5B6 260S t 212 I ia T-r ' 1 |