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Show A2 Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Oral Histories Continued from Al with the Outstanding Contribution Contribu-tion Award for their work in Myton's historic preservation. Cooper was followed by White, a Vernal resident for more than 50 years. White met and married Dinosaur National Monument paleontologist Ted White, who brought her to the Basin in 1957. White spoke about her experiences experi-ences in community involvement. She was a member of the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce, the Uintah County Fair Board, and the Clean-up Campaign for Vernal for many years. White has been honored for her contribution to the beautification of the community. com-munity. "I was pretty much responsible for saving the doughboy," White said, referring to the statue of an American doughboy infantryman that stands on the front lawn of VERNAL 1 Em (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: 435-789-351 1, 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 - Ibowenvernal.com ADVERTISING MANAGER: Byran Marshall - bmarshallvernal.com ADVERTISING: Jacque Hobbsjhobbsvernal.com CLASSIFIED: Tonya Harmer classifiedsvernal.com OFFICE: Harriet Harding WRITERS: Mary Bernard mbernardvernal.com Marleah Jacobson Casey Christensen - sportsvernal.com PRODUCTION: Heather Crosby Michele Roper On the Web: http:www.vernal.com Email: editorvernal.com Subscription Rates: Clin and Send to: In the Uintah Basin ' i Vernal Express 54 N. Vernal Ave Vernal, Utah 84078 Name Out Address City Cash or Check only, i I SelectHealth is celebrating 25 years of Superior Service by donating $2,500 to 25 individuals or organizations in the community. Recipients will be recognized for: ENCOURAGING HEALTHY BEHAVIOR COMMUNITY SERVICE AND INVOLVEMENT r .t the Uintah County Building. "Back many years ago, the statue was moved and moved and finally forgotten," explained White. "It was vandalized to the point that his rifle and arm were torn off. After three years of sitting sit-ting broken in Milton Hatch's garage, Milt asked me if I wanted to salvage the thing. I got the welding weld-ing class at the Vernal Junior High School to fix it and we donated it back to the county." Preece followed White with the story of Humphrey's Peak and the Brush Creek ice caves. A lifelong resident of the Vernal area, Preece is the son of Karl B. and Leila McCoy Preece. He married mar-ried Jackie Hatch and together they raised five children. Preece's passion for carpentry and building led him to earn his contractor's license. For years he operated the Preece Construction Construc-tion Co., building many Vernal homes and cabins on Diamond Mountain. His knowledge of the region's history is precise. 1 Yr.$26-2Yr.$48 Out of the Uintah Basin 1 Yr. $42 - 2 Yrs. $70 of State -1 Yr. $46 2 Yrs. $80 I I I Zip4 Sorry No Charges Select 25 'A i I; V Vernal "Back in the 1940s there was a spring in the Brush Creek area," Preece said. "The water tested pure so the Civilian Conservation Conserva-tion Corps built a fence around the spring to keep the livestock out." The water proved so good that they built a flume to carry it off the mountain. "We packed mud into the joint and slates of the flume to keep the water from seeping out," Preece said. "After about two years of operations, some boys got the idea of building a fire under the flume to dry the mud and stop it from leaking. Course that was end of the flume. We really missed that leaky flume, we used to grow watermelons in the damp ground beneath the structure." The final speaker of the night was George Long, who was born in the Basin in 1925 to parents Porter D. and Minnie Powell Long. He graduated in 1943 from Uintah High School and entered service in World War II in the South Pacific shortly afterwards. Upon his return he married Reva Olivers in 1947. Long related his experience in the war as one of "12 million Americans, men and women, who served their country." "Nine local boys entered the service from the Vernal area when I went in," Long said. "We entered in New Guinea before moving onto the island of Luzon at San Jose. There, we unloaded rail cars stamped Dragon, Utah Bonanza area. So we'd come across the globe to find railroad cars from home." He returned to the U.S. through Seattle for discharge on Aug. 24, 1946. "I'm proud of my time in the service," Long said. "We weren't the heroes though; the heroes were the ones who never came home." Long is a well-known community com-munity historian and author. He has written articles for the Vernal Express as well as The Outlaw Trail Journal. He is a member of the Uintah County Historic Preservation Pres-ervation Board and a nominee for a lifetime achievement award through the Utah State History Division. The oral history project at the Uintah County Library is made possiblebyarecurrent grant from the Utah Humanities Council and the Utah State History Division. It is a 10-year program that has resulted in over 300 taped and transcribed histories. For information, visit the Regional Re-gional History Room of the library or contact, them at, 7S9-0Qqi . ! Wild- 2007 Scloclllofllth All rights rmerved. 00l 0208 Express i Denny won the adult division title Hoop dancer Continued from Al "I went up there and danced but had a wardrobe malfunction. That is a big deal and costs you points. One of my bells fell off. That was 10 points off and I lost by two points. If I'd kept that on I would have taken first place, but I just said stuff happens so I'll just work until next year," explained Charles. At the 17th annual competition, competi-tion, Charles was 17yearsoldand knew this was his last chance to win the teen division. The year leading up to this competition was a busy one for Charles with schoolwork and basketball, leaving leav-ing little time to practice hoop dancing. He practiced when he could and planned to do the same things he had in previous years. "I had increased on my speed and timing which helped a lot. The third round that year was the best performance of my life and a lot of good things happened and I won the teen championship," champion-ship," Charles said. "I thought wow this is cool ... now next year I'll be in the adults who are a lot better than me in my mind but wouldn't it be cool to be the first teen ever to come into the adults and win?" As the new teen champion Charles looked forward to his senior year at Uintah High School. He planned to spend his time practicing his hoop dancing danc-ing while also preparing for the upcomingbasketball season. His basketball coach had challenged him to lose twenty pounds and then when he accomplished that Junior high By Les Bowen Associate Editor Students attending Vernal Junior may be unable to take planned elective courses next year after a change in the school's schedule. Students are registering register-ing for next year's classes this week and have been told they will be taking six classes each semester, down one from this year's seven-period schedule. "We're concerned that we didn't make U-PASS or AYP standards this year," said Vernal Ver-nal Junior High Principal Kirk Bunderson. The state-administered U-PASS test and federal Adequate Yearly Progress are two benchmarks used to determine the success of a school. Bunderson said between one-fourth one-fourth and one-third of students are as far as two years below their grade level, particularly in math and language arts. Have Laser treatments done right here in the Basin Clinic that you have heard about on the Oprah Show, in Vogue, Bazaar, Self, and Time Magazines and other media coverage! Procedure Price per treatment Packages Eyebrow (middle) $25 of 3 $60 Upper Lip or Chin $50 Separate or $75 (both) 3 treatments $ 1 35 6 treatments $240 Front of Neck $75 3 for $135 or 6 for $360 Back of Neck $15 3 for $135 or 6 for $360 Bikini Area $100 3 for $270 or 6 for $480 Underarms $75 3 for $135 or 6 for $360 Lower Back $100 3 for $270 or 6 for $480 Upper Back $100 3 for $270 or 6 for $480 Entire Back $150 3 for $405 or 6 for $720 Arms $100 3 for $270 or 6 for $480 Lower Legs $100 3 for $270 or 6 for $480 Entire Legs $150 3 for $405 or 6 for $720 Misc. fingers, hands, toes, $75 every 15 mins. feet, lower cheek, ect. -s."""" ''V Acne $15 for up to 10 blemishes SETQ333I Spider Vein $75 for 1 5 mins "L. 93 GBP Big city Vernal, Utah 84078 789-1165 Li v. . -tjri i -5. 7 as the youngest hoop dance champion in history. task another fifteen. Faced with the challenge Charles turned to his mother who told him to just put his mind to it. "I thought about it and all these things require mental toughness," said Charles. "So for about a month I ate rice and chicken for dinner, egg whites or plain oatmeal in the morning, a regular lunch, while drinking water all day. Next thing I knew I lost the weight. This all helped me with my basketball but also with my hoop dancing." Charles started turning to quote books for inspiration and guidance. He adopted Michael Jordan's philosophy to play every ev-ery game as your last. A second favorite for Charles being, don't worry about tomorrow, don't worry about yesterday, just worry about right now and what you're doing. As the 18th. annual world championship hoop dance contest con-test approached, Charles and his mother worked to prepare. His mother always helped decorate his outfits with beading but this year wanted to make the entire outfit herself. "She came out with a fully beaded outfit; the best I ever saw in my life. I couldn't believe all that time and work she put into it," he explained. "She was working hard for me so now it was my turn to work hard. I started making new hoops and spent about $80 on electrical tape to decorate the hoops with different colors. My hands hurt making them all." Disaster struck the week before the contest when Charles developed a serious cold along with, strep throat. He wasn't By dropping one period, the principal hopes to create additional time for classroom instruction. Under the current schedule, classes are approximately approxi-mately 45 minutes long. Bunderson Bunder-son explained one fewer class period will also mean students can focus more on the remaining six courses. In making the schedule change, school administrators recognized there will be fewer elective courses available to students. "There is no perfect schedule," sched-ule," admitted Bunderson. "Each schedule has its pros and cons." Still, the change has several parents and faculty questioning whether the decision is best for students. "Some are making the case that this is about electives," said Bunderson, countering that electives elec-tives are not at the heart of the drops 7th period . ...XI - technology for small town prices r-'l P.U- I 7 : 3 Hi till .. . si 1 H. .new able to go to school all week and was also worried about missing the last basketball home game. Determined to play he showed up to the game but barely made it up and down the court before feeling to weak to play. Immediately after the game Charles and his mother drove to Salt Lake City where they slept for a few hours before catching a flight at 7 a.m. to the hoop dancing competition in Phoenix, Ariz. Making it to the compete ' tion in just enough time Charles hoped he'd be well enough to compete. Charles was the first to dance in the adult competition. "I was still feeling sick and it was really hot," he explained. "I told the drummer to play a medium fast song but they started playing a totally fast song and I thought, I can't dance to this!" Despite his sickness and apprehensions Charles stayed focused and delivered impressive performances. When his name was announced as the adult division hoop dance champion history was made. Denny has performed all over the country taking him to Washington, D.C., to dance for the opening of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of the American Indian. He has also performed in Georgia for the dedication of St. Catherine's Church in Marietta. He performs locally at schools and events as well as throughout Utah when invited, even performing at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. issue. He said some of the faculty who teach primarily elective courses are not favorable to the change. "They think their subjects are valuable, and they are," said the principal. "But we need to differentiate between essential and good." And new requirements coming com-ing down. from the state will require added focus on core academic coursework. In coming years, high school graduates will have to take two one more credit of both math and science - a full year on the junior high's semester semes-ter schedule or two trimesters at the high school level. Bunderson added that once they reach high school, students will see more opportunities for elective credits. And while they may have to delay electives a year or two, students can get a better and earlier handle on the core academics. I f ' ( |