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Show . ij f - a 1 15th Year No. 15 Vernal, Utah 84078 10 CENTS WARMER WEATHER BRINGS CONSTRUCTION CREWS Workers relocate utility lines near the intersection of 1 500 South and 2500 West in Vernal. Construction Construc-tion crews have already closed portions of 2500 West as they work to realign the intersection at 1500 South and continue repairs north along the county road. The project is slated for completion in late summer. Firefighters across Ashley Valley boast rapid response times f Vx i rife .WfS - - -: CrJ--cj- 'Sj. Naples Fire Department emergency response team cleans up after a Tuesday, April 1 house fire. ' Survey assesses housing affordability Residents across the Uintah Basin are already receiving phone calls for a survey by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. One of the aims of the survey is to determine the fair market rent values for the Uintah Basin area. The figures can be then used to adjust the value of Section 8 housing vouchers provided through the Uintah Basin Assistance Council and Myton Housing Authority. Since HUD last evaluated housing costs as part of the 2000 Census, rent costs in the Uintah Basin have skyrocketed. And while wages have also increased, Exit Realty Proh:ssionai.s 1285 West Hwy 40 Vernal Utah 84078 (435) 789-EXIT (3948) FORE! Dinaland Golf Course crews prep for spring . 1 n A i r.nspp - J "" i iiuuu At; KfifTiTT, -5.1 w w 11 j. 4.U11 n n u w i J, I I many lower income families have discovered that government subsidies are no longer enough to fill the gap between what they can afford and the cost of rent. By conducting the study, officials of-ficials hope to be able to correct the disparity. Questions will include how long renters have been renting and the costs of rent and utilities. utili-ties. Housing officials encourage the public to participate in the survey and not hang up on the callers, who will not try to sell anything to survey respondents. T -cry- fif if i,';' : j I yf iLa J V V lil i! thawed, golfers. - uil a 4 i T A . I I ) ! Your Hometown Newspaper ' With all the talk about spring trash fires and summer wildfires, it is easy to forget about home fire safety. But a chimney fire brought home that frightening reality for the Harrison family at their home on 1750 South in Naples last week. . Luckily, the fire was put out and the damage was minimal largely because of the rapid response of the Naples Fire Department. De-partment. "They we were here before me. And from alarm to arrival, we were here in minutes," said Naples Police Mark Watkins, speaking of his and Officers Cameron Cam-eron Sisam's quick response. "Our response time is generally gener-ally within a couple of minutes," explained Naples Fire Chief Brett Reynolds. "We perform at the level of a full-time fire department. depart-ment. So does the Vernal City Fire Department with whom we coordinate." "We are generally there in minutes," said Vernal Fire Chief Sam Howard. "We train rigorously rigor-ously for this, so when the call comes we don't waste time." Naples Fire responds to roughly 50 incidents a year, while Vernal responds to some three times that number. And they are getting busier. That includes in-cludes emergency response from cooperating agencies like local law enforcement and ambulance services. Reynolds said fire teams have to be on site with gear and hoses ready in minutes. They train at least twice a month in order to sustain this level of reaction time. That includes suiting up in less than a minute with their , - .XJE. - J- J ' -3 j j - & . i .. i Beautiful Executive home In Maeser Location! Over 3,100 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living room, family room and wonderful homemakcr's kluhen. Awesome Master Suite with jetted tub and walk-in closet. This home is lust like new, only better; femed yard, sprinkler system, 2 (at qaraqe Si lots of concrete for RV parklnq. Call Susan fnr ymir showing today B.?8-60fi UINTAH DEFEATS UNION Ute soccer triumphs over rivals 6-3. C12 ' j ' MEASURING PROSPERITY'S DISPERSION USU plan By Mary Bernard Express Writer . Crime, homelessness and neglect. ne-glect. Are these the hidden costs of development? Not entirely, but years of boom and bust economic cycles have had an erosive effect on the quality quali-ty of life for some Basin residents. And some experts suggest that theresultingunevendistribution of social and economic groups in the Basin could threaten the unprecedented growth of recent years. "To promote stable growth we need to assess our overall community health," said Rob Behunin, director of the Uintah Uin-tah Impact Mitigation Special Service District. "To do that, a $40,000 socioeconomic study of new development's impact will be undertaken by USU-Uintah Basin." Speakingbefore ajoint session of Vernal and Uintah County last month, Behunin asked officials for their input on the design of the study. " To remain economically competitive com-petitive and meet the demands of a future workforce, we will need to build a healthy community commu-nity infrastructure," Behunin explained. The USU study will measure the impacts of periodic growth and identify socioeconomic gaps in the community. Where these fire protection gear. , "Training is important, but so are the crew members," explained ex-plained Reynolds. "They work well together. Practice integrates the team for the conditions of an emergency situation. Most of the crew works in central locations to make their response time more effective." His comments are mirrored by the efficient conclusion of the Naples incident last week. As Uintah County grows with more homes and highway traffic local fire and emergency response teams will have an increasing responsibility over time. Naples and Vernal Fire Departments appear to have a good foundation from which to grow. i 11''' TRAFFIC SLOWS WITHOUT APPARENT REASON The exception becomes the rule last Friday at 5 p.m. as traffic slows and backs up out of Vernal past the scenic overlook. After getting into town - very slowly - it turned out that there was nothing slowing the traffic except for traffic itself as there were no accidents, tickets being written nor even a sight onlooker. Groat Family Home with nice uptown location. Four bedrooms, two baths, living room, kitchen with new appliances and pergo flooring. New windows, now siding, new melal root, lull sprinkler sprin-kler system, storage shed and nice patiol Close to shopping, schools and church. Listed under $200,000. Call Susan todayjM 82B-60BB J tod s to snow ) (1 s UK pitfalls occur and how they can be avoided will be a critical aspect of strategic planning for the Basin's future. Criteria like population change, access to services, higher education rates, employment and income standards will be compiled by the study. Education In 2000, the US Census Bureau Bu-reau described the county populous popu-lous as more than one third under 18 years of age. At that time, at least 80 percent of adults in the county described themselves as high school graduates. Since then, the number of residents younger than 18 has grown to nearly 40 per cent and so has the number of adult without a high school degree. The present dropout rate - now hovering near 7 percent in Uintah District- has increased substantially from around 4 percent at the start of Foley asks jud seal court By Geoff Lesik Uintah Basin News Service He pleaded guilty to three felonies in connection with his dealings as an insurance agent and now wants a judge to allow him to withdraw that plea, but Mark Foley doesn't want the public to know why he should be able to back out of his agreement agree-ment with the Utah Attorney General's Office. Foley's attorney, Darin B. Goff, filed his client's motion to withdraw his guilty plea last Monday and a memorandum supporting that motion. Goff also asked the court to seal those documents to prevent the public from examining them. "To characterize it as a strategy strat-egy - that it has anything to do with winning the motion - is inaccurate," in-accurate," Goff said, when asked about the move last Tuesday. Goff added that he intends to file a revised request to have the motion and memorandum reclassified re-classified as "controlled judicial documents" instead of having them placed under seal. "We would be asking to have them characterized as containing contain-ing sensitive data about an individual," he said, declining to clarify whether that individual was Foley or someone else related to the case. Of -if ii Thu Frt 410 411 Weather by J . V jf a 1 C.j ft . 4628 5226 XNMOOK R-witKiwcn, Mnofim' Dr i tv mr Highs in Uk owl domlv KCAll 1, tFHV,. mkl4lKaiid Hiiminthc lows in lite k5)Mid A 7 mill 21): www.vemal.com Wednesday Jlpra 9, ZC30 en cos ts the decade. "An honest appraisal of the dropout rate is needed," said Vernal Councilwoman JoAnn Cowan, who also sits on the the Uintah School Board. "Not the sugar-coated one that we'd like to see." Criteria relating to dropout rates such as income, minority status, or distance of travel or other measures will be integrated into the study. Income The rise in the dropout rate is attributed" in part to oil field wages. The University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Busi-ness Research stated that in 2006 the "average wage paid by companies in the oil and gas extraction ex-traction industry was $84,795." That's 54 percent higher than the average non-field wage in SEE STUDY on A2 filin Foley, who was an agent and part-owner of Service Insurance in Vernal, pleaded guilty in November No-vember to three felonies in con- nection with a bogus bond he filed for a construction company. In exchange for his plea, Assistant Utah Attorney General Shelley Coudreaut agreed to dismiss 22 other felony counts pending against the 47-year-old, including includ-ing a racketeering charge. Foley had been expected to enter his plea in October, but his attorney at the time, Keith Eddington, told 7th District Court Judge Douglas B. Thomas that Foley was recovering from surgery and did not believe he was able to fully understand the conditions of the plea offer. Part of the state's offer included in-cluded a requirement that Foley cooperate fully and honestly with investigators looking into operations opera-tions at the Service Insurance offices in Vernal and Roosevelt. Foley was expected to testify against the agency's majority shareholder, Philip J. Timothy, who was charged by the state in January with 15 felony counts, if Timothy went to trial, Foley was supposed to be sentenced in February, but told Thomas then that he wanted to hire a new attorney and with- SEE FOLEY on A2 ge to as Brand New Home Available, Four bedrooms, two and hall baths, formal livlnq room, family room and beautiful kitchen with Alder cabinets. New Appliances Includedl SELLER IS Of I IR 55,000. BUYER INCtNIIVtS. View this home any afternoon, 2')46 W, 450 S. LISTED tor $245,900, Call Suon 1 (WW |