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Show n nn.n.n.si i Soccer V I I UTAH ' 1521 Hf i SALT 11 5th Year No. 28 Vernal, Utah 84078 i0 CENTS By lis Bowen Express Editor The Daggett County Commission Com-mission chose to terminate the county's contract with County Attorney Bryan Sidwell last week in a 2-1 decision. . Media reports about Sidwell's termination have largely revolved around the ongoing investigation and prosecution of voter fraud cases related to the 2006 election. But Commissioner Henry Gutz told the Vernal Express Monday that the decision to terminate the attorney's contract was not based on a single case or isolated Transportation district makes final bypass recommendation By Mary Bernard Express Writer The final recommendation for the alternate transportation corridor known as the truck bypass was made by the Uintah Transportation Special Service District to the Uintah County Commission on Monday, June 30. Out of the original suite of 13 possible transportation options, UTSSD narrowed the field to three potential construction corridors to be considered. After 18 months of -of public meetings, traffic studies and engineering assessments, the district described the three final corridors. Only one will be preserved pre-served for future transportation development. V . i," K - v l ' .. .. A helicopter was used to airlift BlK Ashby Express Publisher It's not every day you witness wit-ness a helicopter flying into the wilderness area located in the Uintas. But that is the case as earth moving equipment is moved into more high mountain lakes as part of a forest service high mountain lake stabilization plan moves ahead. Many years ago, before some High Lake stabili Exit Realty Professionals 1285 West Hwy 40 Vernal, Utah 84078 (435) 789-EXIT (3948) craze hits Vernal - - Innni tr I III PRESS ASSOCIATION E 390D .q LAKE CITY UT 84124 incident. "The purpose in termination termina-tion of Mr. Sidwell has nothing directly to do with the voter registration problem," said Gutz. However, he said actions by the county attorney in the voter fraud cases and throughout his term of service in Daggett County prompted the decision. Sidwell has been employed as the county attorney since the start of 2007, when he was selected as counsel for the county. The four-year contract has a termination ter-mination clause, allowing either party to end the agreement with six months notice with or without Described are three alternatives alter-natives on the west side. One alternate runs through Dog Valley Val-ley with the other two diverting through McCoy Flats. These alternatives support public input that preferred the transportation bypass preserve the southernmost alternate routes. It was noted that the corridor should be removed from areas of future development in the Ashley Ash-ley Valley. This will exclude the Dog Valley route where mineral resources on asphalt ridge may - be targeted for development.-1 The last two options, routes A and B, will cross McCoy Flats along 6500 South connecting to U.S. Highway 40 in the vicinity of the Jensen Industrial Park. Bypass routes McCoy Flats VH .' ..'.f;"- .,-.-,, , i;V,;V,i'J"lil"'""'''rl,l,,,l,, heavy equipment to High Uinta Mountain lakes inside wilderness boundaries to work on stabilizing dams. 450,000 acres of High Uinta mountains were designated as wilderness, work crews were hired to enlarge 13 high mountain moun-tain lakes for additional water storage that would be available avail-able through Uinta Mountain streams feeding the Basin. As part of the Central Utah Water project, storage of this additional water was made available avail-able at a new reservoir in the upper Sandwash which would " -.".' is;-.tt Nclvkci FEEDING THE HUNGRY I in a a t c udAUb pantries oners mnn to mose in neea. .... 1 M1 i - 6705 r i T""T 'j,TNv - Tr""! v u Your Hometown Newspaper reason. "It has been our position to not give a reason," explained Gutz. Sidwell did not respond to attempts by the Vernal Express to reach him for comment this week. When contacted last week by the Uintah Basin Standard, he declined to comment on the county commissioners' decision or his future plans. Sidwell will continue his contract through the end of the calendar year. "He has made a commitment to perform the duty that is required re-quired of his office," said Gutz, SEE ATTORNEY FIRED on A2 A and B cross Bureau of Land Management and state lands on one path, splitting at the Bonanza Highway. At that point Route A crosses more private land; whereas, Route B remains on public lands. There is a nominal difference in cost between the two alternatives, alterna-tives, however, there logistical issues in developing a 250-foot right-of-way corridor over private pri-vate land. According to district officials, the option of a bypass route connected to Vernal Avenue -has received reaoundiiig public disapproval. It is not be part of the current recommendation. Elected officials are expected to make their decision this summer. sum-mer. ' , zation allow these 13 lakes and their man made dams to be stabilized to minimize downstream damage in case of a flood. "We are now in the third year of a six or seven year process to stabilize these lakes," explained Kevin Elliott, Ashley Forest supervisor. su-pervisor. "Now this is not taking out what was done many years ago. It is looking at each site individually and stabilizing the dam." ! If. . 421 E. 2970 S. If 349 E2970 S. I v f -. j ' y v r I 1 "f wk sat 71 Wk : VA I JULY 4 FIREWORKS BLAST INTO NIGHT SKY Valley residents filled Ashley Valley Community Park for a fireworks display in Vernal that lit the sky with a display visible from Maeser to Naples. Cold spring impacts water year By Kevin Ashby Publisher , Ask any farmer and they will agree that this has been a real odd year to predict water levels and outcomes. It started with a very long and cold spring, a couple of short bursts of heat, then more cold and in the end, most ponds are just now starting to be pulled ? olan continues JL Elliott explained the challenge in the project of getting into the area and stabilizing the dam in one season. ' "We need to get into the area, breach the dam and revegitate the site all in one summer," said Elliott. "We don't want to get it half way done and make the scar and leave it for the snows of winter and then chance the dam blowing out in the spring." The wilderness protections ,1 3 5 9d LI4 ' J.tAnn 1 l.iHcoik !v! .r t,oV up . RODEO THIS WEEK c.;-v. ;r7' Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo r' "--v. t 'v starts tonight. 'iff See down by irrigators. "This has been the weirdest water year in history," said Mark Kettle, Class E director over Montez Creek for Dry Gulch. He explained he attended a water conference last October and it was reported that up to that point, it was the driest eight consecutive years recorded in the area. And then winter hit and it . v.. . V. , -f f V 4 i i also call for minimal tools, even primitive tools to be used if pos-, sible. But Elliott explained that with a tight schedule they have to take in earth moving equipment equip-ment to complete the job in one summer. Last week, crews flew in 250,000 pounds of material and equipment using a Chinook class helicopter into the Brown Duck and Island Lakes area. The stag- SEE HIGH LAKES on A2 You deserve the best In carets living! throughout, buyer Incentives offered. Spocial'lnscrt www.vernal.com Wednesday July 9, 2008 was along, cold and wet one. "It stayed so cold for so long that when it was time for the runoff to start, it was soaked up in the mountains," explained Kettle. "We didn't get the big gush of runoff water this year." But this was good for Montez Greek water stocKnoiders as water was still running over the SEE WATERREPORT on A2 USTAR: Innovation in energy education ByMary Bernard Express Writer Utah's Science Technology and Research (USTAR) brings universities and energy-related businesses together in commercial commer-cial and educational outreach to keep high-paying jobs in the state. But developing energy engineers engi-neers at Utah State University, Uintah Basin's extension campus will take more than capital, it will take creative minds. "No two resource zones have precisely the same geology," said Alan Walker, director of the eastern east-ern region of USTAR. "We'll need lots of innovative approaches with different technologies to solve our energy problems." Walker has a cadre of international in-ternational graduate students in petroleum engineering to USTAR. He'shopingto cultivate from more the Uintah Basin and surrounding region. ' As a professional in the energy industry, Walker's has worked with companies like Questar, Amoco and General Electric for years. But his position with USTAR's will hit closer to home. Here the challenge is to help rural Utah to create a stable local energy industry and break the cycle of boom and bust economy. Walker is an associate of the SEE ENERGY ED onA2 ' . 4 . ' Available NOW JWCCUpancj r . . rf-1 n n rrr "N vouji liny ui i uuTuuy 1 p,---i |