OCR Text |
Show A8 Wednesday, July Texas man charged after fight outside Vernal bar By 6eoft Lesik Uintah Basin News Service A Texas man is facing felony and misdemeanor charges follow-inga follow-inga July 19 incident at a Vernal bar. Aaron Baltazar Dominguez, 47, was charged last Tuesday in 8th District Court with forcible sex abuse, aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault, domestic violence, and intoxication. intoxica-tion. The charges stem from an altercation outside the Cassidy's Club Lounge, according to a probable cause statement filed by Vernal Police Officer Chad Watt. According to Watt, officers were called to the bar on a report of a fight in progress around 10 p.m. WTien they arrived, they found Dominguez standing over another man who was lying on the ground in the bar's back parking park-ing lot. Both men were bloodied, the officer said. Watt said when he tried to move Dominguez away from the downed man, he attempted to pull away and was taken to the ground and handcuffed. "As he was being put into handcuffs I noticed that his knuckles were bloodied and had lacerations," Watt said of Dominguez. "He also had a small laceration on his chin, a cut in his mouth, and a bump on his forehead above his right eye." When asked about his injuries, inju-ries, Dominguez allegedly told officers that he'd walked out to his car and caught the other man kissing his wife in the backseat of a car, "so he beat him up," Watt said. Police located Dominguez 's wife inside the bar. Watt said she was uncooperative with officers and was arrested on suspicion of intoxication. A bar employee told investigators investiga-tors that she was in the parking lot when Dominguez pushed his wife into an open car door. The -woman said she tried to stop the alleged domestic assault, but Dominguez turned on her. Location of Incident V, ran . r IT' A map indicates the location of a Child drowns in Green River Upper Disaster Falls rapids A child died Sunday, July 27, in an apparent drowning during a Green River rafting trip through the Dinosaur National Monument, Monu-ment, according to a monument spokesman. The incident occurred near Upper Disaster Falls, at river mile 237, in which a boy was reported missing from a rafting trip. Moffat County Sheriffs Office and National Park Service rangers were notified the same day of the accident. The boy was found by approximately a iiiioliiie I'Jcst Kims is actitie in Hi County YOU CAN HELP PREVENT HUMAN AND EQUINE INFECTIONS!!! f '':'';r'M i1 An Urgent Message From The Uintah losonito Abatement District 30, 2008 "(She) stated that he grabbed her by one hand, bending her fingers back as he kept walking at her," Watt said, adding that this was the point where the man police found lying on the ground tried to intervene. The man and Dominguez started to fight, the bar employee told police, so she went back inside to call 911. Police also interviewed a bar patron who said she was at Cassidy's Cas-sidy's with Dominguez and his wife. Watt said she told officers that, after spending some time at the bar, she had gone out to the car to sleep in the backseat. She told investigators that she awoke to find Dominguez on top of her trying to have sex with her. "She kept telling him to stop, but he wouldn't," Watt said. "(She) stated that she started kicking him and he ... climbed out of the back of the car. " Watt said the woman told police po-lice that Dominguez's wife came out to the car a short time later and asked if he "did anything to her." When she said he had, the woman said Dominguez's wife got upset and started to leave, but Dominguez came back out of the bar and assaulted her. Watt said he also interviewed the man who'd allegedly been beaten by Dominguez. The man said during the fight Dominguez Domin-guez hit him in the head with a rock. "(The man) then fell to the ground, telling (Dominguez) to stop ... but Aaron continued hitting him in the head with the rock," Watt said, noting that the alleged victim suffered two large lacerations on top of his head, swollen eyes, ruptured capillaries capillar-ies in his right eye, and a broken right leg. After being medically cleared at Ashley Regional Medical Center, Cen-ter, Dominguez was booked into the Uintah County Jail. He later posted bail and was released. His initial court appearance is scheduledforAug.il. drowning incident July 27. half mile downstream from the falls by trip members who began lifesaving measures. A helicopter and advanced life support were dispatched to the location, but due to inclement inclem-ent weather and steep terrain, they were unable to reach the boy before nightfall. The monument monu-ment said no other details are available. An investigation is being conducted by the Moffat County Sheriff and the National Park Service. Protect Yourself: 1. Use mosquito repellents containing DEET. Follow the label directions carefully. 2. Wear long sleeves and pants for extra protection. 3. Especially from dusk to dawn, avoid outdoor activity when mosquitoes are present. 4. Use mosquito netting when sleeping outdoors or in unscreened structures. . . 5. Seal doors and windows with screens in good condition. Reduce Mosquito Habitat: 1. Don't allow irrigation water to stand pooled in the field. Millions of aquatic mosquito larvae will die if deprived of waer before they can develop into disease-carrying adults. 2. Drain any standing water around your home or busines. Empty water from tires, rain gutters, cans and other containers which may collect water. 3. Change water in birdbaths, water troughs and wading pools at least once per week. 4. Don't allow water to stagnate in garden ponds. Clean them Often. Vernal Congress considers raising gas tax . . UI,wui:Mrr hirfhavc LU I ICIJ ICpail OIUIMUIIM5 1 11511 vvwjr By Jim Abrams Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel will have to go up ff they go anywhere. Despite calls from the presidential presi-dential campaign trail for a Memorial Day-to-Labor Day tax freeze, lawmakers quickly concluded - with a prod from the construction industry - that having $9 billion less to spend on highways could create a preelection pre-election specter of thousands of lost jobs. Now, lawmakers quietly are talking about raising fuel taxes by a dime from the current 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents on diesel fuel. With gas prices settingrecords daily, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and former Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a 90-day 90-day suspension of the federal fuel tax to give drivers a little relief at the pump. The fuel taxes go into the Highway Trust Fund, which is used for road construction and repair and mass transit. Clinton suggested making up for the loss by imposing a windfall profit tax on oil companies, an idea that Republicans rejected. McCain said the money could come out of the general Treasury fund, in effect adding to the federal fed-eral deficit, and is still getting mileage from the idea. "Some economists don't think much of my gas tax holiday," he State making it easier to get health insurance As part of health system reform,' the 2008 Legislature has made it easier for Utah's uninsured to enroll in their work-sponsored work-sponsored health plan. Uninsured individuals and families who qualify and sign up for Utah' s Premium Partnership for Health Insurance (UPP) can now enroll in their employer's health plan anytime during the year. Previously, employees could enroll or make changes to their insurance only during open enrollment or if they had a , "qualifying lifetime event" like marriage or the birth of a child. Now, qualifying for UPP is included as an eligible event, making it possible for individuals individu-als to enroll in work-sponsored coverage year-round. "This is just one step our state is taking to help improve access to health insurance," said Dr. David Sundwall, executive director of the Utah Department of Health. "We are grateful that lawmakers saw the importance 3EAS9STEPSTO QUALIFY FOR SOUR own mm O GET PRE-APPROVED O LOCATION OHONIE Clayton Homes 3768 So Redwood Rd West Valley Utah Fax: 801-975-7782 Phone: 801-975-7781 Express said in a speech this month. "But the American people like it, and so do small business owners." Barack Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, opposed the idea from the beginning and the White House gave it a cold shoulder. Depriving the 52-year-old Highway Trust Fund of $9 billion at a time when it is heading into the red doomed the notion of a gas tax holiday in Congress. The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Infrastruc-ture Committee, Rep. James Oberstar, and the chairman of the highway subcommittee, Rep. Peter DeFazio, presented fellow lawmakers with a list of how many jobs and how much money each state would lose. It ranged from $30 million and 1,000 jobs in Vermont to $664 million and 23,000 jobs in California. Just three years ago, that trust fund enjoyed a surplus of $10 billion. Even without a tax freeze, the fund is projected to finish 2009 with a deficit of $3 billion. That could grow as Americans drive less and buy less gas because of higher pump prices. The consequence is that only about $27 billion in federal money mon-ey will be available next year to states and local governments for new infrastructure investment even though the current highway act calls for spending $4 1 billion a year. For many, the solution is to raise rather than suspend or cut federal fuel taxes, which haven't changed since 1993. The Transportation Con- of UPP for Utah families and made this change to make work-sponsored work-sponsored health insurance more accessible." Like many Utah families, Jennifer and Preston Thomas were relieved to be able to finally enroll their family of six in their employer's insurance plan. "It has been a huge blessing to us. We got on our new insurance insur-ance and shortly after, I found out that I have breast cancer," Jennifer Thomas said. UPP helps working Utahns pay their monthly health insurance insur-ance premiums. If an employee's company offers health insurance, qualified individuals and families fami-lies may receive up to $150 per person each month from UPP to help cover their portion of the premium. Current UPP enrollment stands at 20 1 adults and 350 children chil-dren and the program has funds to enroll many more families. To qualify for UPP, individuals must: D Not currently have health insurance 0 -Be able to enroll in an employer's health plan D Be a U.S. citizen or legal resident 0 Meet specific household income guidelines To learn more about UPP, visit www.health.utah.govupp or call 1-888-222-2542. To learn more about how your company can help employees take advantage of UPP, please visit the Web site or call the toll-free number. struction Coalition, a group of industry companies and unions, said that if Congress does not do something about the shortfall, states will lose about one-third of their road and bridge money in the budget year starting Oct. 1. That would put 485,000 more jobs at risk. That message carried the day this summer. But now Congress has the bigger task of dealing with the short-term deficit crisis in the fund and coming up with a new spending plan, including revisiting the gas tax issue, when the current six-year, $286 billion highway-transit act expires in September 2009. Senate Democrats in May tried to add $5 billion to an aviation avia-tion overhaul bill to replenish the highway trust fund next year; Republicans objected. Democrats tried again in June, but this time for $8 billion; Republicans objected to that, too. Oberstar said his committee is working on the next long-term highway bill. He estimated it will take between $450 billion and $500 billion over six years to address safety and congestion issues with highways, bridges and transit systems. "We'll put all things on the table," Oberstar said, but the gas tax "is the cornerstone. corner-stone. Nothing else will work without the underpinning of the higher user fee gas tax." At the very least, the gas tax should be indexed to construction cost inflation, DeFazio said. The nonpartisan National Surface Transportation Policy Information sought on historic photo. "5s Recognize this class? From the looks of the clothing and hair the time period could be around the late 1950s or even early 1960s. The smiling young man in last weeks photograph was identified as Calvin Jones. According Ac-cording to callers the photograph would have been taken in the early 1950s, perhaps when Calvin served in the Korean War. This photograph along with others is housed at the Regional History Room of the Uintah County Library. There is no identification on the photograph Unmixed j t 0 it 6 i t ) Cf n n ii 4 t u if a 0 l "f Native Asphalt For Sale Great for driveways and parking lots a Screened 1" minus Screened reject 6" minus Oversized reject 24" minus As dug ore - (unscreened) XL Our Ads are worth the time in the... 54 North Vernal Avenue Vernal, Utah -435-789-3511 www.vernal.com and Revenue Study Commission concluded in a report this year that the U.S. needs to spend $225 billion annually over the next 50 years to create a highway high-way and transit system capable of sustaining strong economic growth. Current spending, at federal, state and local levels, is about $90 billion a year. Among other revenue-raising possibilities, the commission recommended rec-ommended gradually increasing the current federal fuel taxes to 40 cents a gallon. The American Road & Transportation Trans-portation Builders Association is calling for a 1 0-cent-a-gallon raise and indexing the tax to inflation. With construction costs soaring because of competition for building build-ing materials from China and other developing nations, the tax rate would have to be about 29 cents a gallon to achieve the same purchasing power as the 18.4-cent rate imposed in 1993, the association says. Including state and local levies, lev-ies, people in the U.S. pay about 47 cents on average in taxes for a gallon of gasoline. Fuel in many European countries costs $8 to $9 a gallon, with half or more of that going to taxes. Other ideas that will be on the table when lawmakers write abill next year include more toll roads and public-private partnerships, congestion pricing and user fees where drivers pay a tax based on how many miles they drive. LTV ' 11 A and library curators would love to know what the photo represents. repre-sents. If you wish to view this photograph, it is on display in the Regional History Room, Uintah County Library, 155 E. Main Street in Vernal, open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you have information on the photo, call the Vernal Express at 789-351 789-351 1 or contact Mary Bernard at mbernardvernal.com. Thanks to Lila Caldwell for her help last week in photo identification. if ' O u. it 13 J f n ii 0 i t I ft i t$ 9 |