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Show A10 Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Vernal Express Candidates answer questions concerning 2008 election Election Continued from A7 County Commission Republican Party Mark Raymond, Vernal Questions: 1) What actions do you propose in order to protect the county's mineral lease monies from reallocation at the state level? 2) Do you believe that the Seep Ridge road improvement project will help our energy-based energy-based economy? 3) What will you do to improve the county's transportation infrastructure? in-frastructure? 4) The economy of the Uintah Uin-tah Basin has been one of boom and bust, depending upon the energy industry. Once again, we are booming with the energy industry. What type of economic diversification would you suggest to protect this economy? 5) Boom and bust cycles can be coped with if planning is adequate. ad-equate. The effects of the boom must be mitigated so the effects of the bust can be muted or diminished. di-minished. This is one reason why I think placing a portion of all royalties or lease money should be placed into a trust fund. This should happen at all levels of government that receive such funds. 6) Oil shale has been the topic of potential development for 100 years. Do you believe that oil shale has a future in the Uintah Basin? Answer to 1 We can protect our mineral-lease mineral-lease monies by identifying the impacts of industry on our community com-munity at all levels, including the impacts on such things as housing, transportation, education, educa-tion, environment, public safety and crime, health, water, sewer, recreation and tourism. We then need to educate our state leadership leader-ship and government specifically on these impacts and the need for continued funding to mitigate these impacts. Answer to 2 We have been making gradual improvements to the transportation transporta-tion corridors that provide access to the southern end of our county. For example, the BonanzaHigh-way BonanzaHigh-way was completed sometime around 1 983. This road provides access to the Deseret Power plant and the Glen Bench road. The number of oil-and-gas vehicles that use this road is staggering. I believe the same is true for the Seep Ridge Road. There are many oil-and-gas-industry vehicles that use this road every day, creating environmental problematic fugitive dusts. The default speed limit for an unmarked un-marked road in rural areas is 55 mph. Improvements to this road will almost eliminate the fugitive-dust problem. The road will be lined, signed and sharp curves removed. Wear and tear caused by wash boarding and frequent tire failure will be eliminated. With an improved road, industry will be more likely to invest in the natural resources located on BLM and SITLA lands. So, the bottom line is: An improved road will be safer, mitigate impacts to the environment, reduce costs to industry and encourage development develop-ment of School Trust Lands. Answer to 3 Well, if you are talking infrastructure in-frastructure than scheduled maintenance, identifying and prioritizing maintenance projects proj-ects are critical. We need to maintain main-tain the roads that we currently have. It has been explained to me that a simple chip and seal can significantly prolong the life of a road. However, if that road is allowed to degrade to the point where chip and seal is not practical then repairs to the road have to be made. These repairs are costly and time consuming. However, if you are talking about the county's transportation plan then we need to identify and preserve pre-serve the alternate truck route. The recent public 'Land Use Meeting,' identified a number of EastWest and NorthSouth roads that also need to be identified iden-tified and preserved as main transportation corridors within the City and County. The longer we wait to establish these, the harder it gets to preserve them. I hesitate to point a finger, but look at Logan and the difficulties they are now facing. If we make the tough decisions now it will sure pay off in the long run. 3 EA53 STEPS TO QUAUFSJ FOU S0U21 OWil HOME GET PBE-APPBOf ED O LOCATION O HOME Clayton Homes 3768 So Redwood Rd WeM Valley Utah Fax: 801-975-7782 Phons 801-975-7781 Answer to 4 First of all your question is not quite correct. Past boom-and-bust cycles were oil related. We are already further ahead than we were in the past because of our energy portfolio is more diverse. Our current energy portfolio is not limited just to oil, it now includes in-cludes oil, natural gas, tar sands, electric generation and oil shale. Our local economy includes an even more diverse cross section than energy- related industry. Simplot is one of the largest employers in the county, and they mine phosphates. The Uintah Basin Applied Technology College Col-lege and Utah State University provide employment to qualified quali-fied and technical teachers and professors. They in turn provide degrees and certification to meet the needs of industry. They are growing at an unprecedented rate and will attract young and old alike to our community. We need to support tourism and recreation which has recently suffered due to a lack of motel accommodations and frankly the closing of the Dinosaur National Monument. However, plans to reopen and improve the building build-ing are moving forward, and the construction of a new visitors' center have been announced. All of these indicators demonstrate, to me that we currently have a diverse and strong economy. So what do we do to protect this economy? We need to make wise and responsible decisions. These decisions need to be made with input from the public and from industry. Answer to 6 Yes! Recently I attended the Colorado School of Mines, "Oil Shale Symposium." As I attended the breakout sessions it became pretty obvious that oil-shale development is no longer in the quote, "RD&D" (research, development devel-opment and design) stage. Many companies throughout the world are already producingoil from oil shale. Estonia, Russia, Australia and Brazil are all at the production produc-tion level. Petrobras in Brazil has been producing oil from oil shale for almost 30 years. They use the 'Petro 6' vertical retort process and have signed a contract with OSEC, Oil Shale Exploration Company. OSEC owns the RD andD Federal leases on the White River Oil Shale mine. They, are in the beginning of a 14-month review of this project. Ecoshale, a subsidiary of RedLeaf is nearing the completion comple-tion of an encapsulated process and plans to remove oil from oil shale in the very near future. It is estimated that there are 77 Billion barrels of recoverable oil from oil shale in Utah. School Board District 4 Candidates Questions: 1. 1 amam not satisfied with the current school results from the mandatory testing andor annual yearly progress test results. re-sults. 2. 1 dodo not support the district dis-trict participating 4A extracurricular extracur-ricular activities, vs. maintaining 3A status. 3. 1 amam not satisfied with current efforts to recruit qualified quali-fied teachers. 4. 1 amam not satisfied with the current drop-out rate at Uintah High School. 5. 1 amam not satisfied with current district policies regarding regard-ing boundary changes andor school transfers. 6. 1 amam not satisfied with current district policies regarding regard-ing school bus safety issues, andor "parental responsibility zones." Shane Frost, Randlett Answer to 1 As a school board member I would address the issue by: I am not satisfied with the current results from mandatory testing and yearly progress test results. I believe the changes that have been made this past year to try and change education in the Uintah Uin-tah School District from focusing on teaching to and focusing on learning will help increase test scores all over the board. Answer to 2 As a school board member I would address the issue by: I guess I am kind of neutral on this because if our numbers say we need to be 4A then that's where we should compete. I don't like the fact that they want us to compete in 3Aduringregion play then 4A in state play offs that gives us a real disadvantage. We either need to be 3A or 4A, not both. Answer to 3 As a school board member I would address the issue by: I am satisfied with the hard work the district office staffhas done to recruit re-cruit and hire qualified teachers. It has been a real challenge for them, but we have hired over 40 new teachers for the 08-09 school year. But it is never ending to keep recruiting new teachers. Answer to 4 As a school board member I would address the issue by: I am not satisfied with the current dropout rate at UHS. We need to keep trying to find ways to educate edu-cate the kids of Uintah County so they are not below grade level when they reach the High School. . After they fail a few classes they see it as too big of a challenge to graduate, and drop out. I am in hopes, with the new administration administra-tion there is now, they will help find the way to make education fun and graduation a number 1 goal for students. Answer to 5 As a school board member I would address the issue by: I am satisfied with the current district policy on boundary changes and school transfer. This policy must be enforced with neighborhood Schools. As a district we know how to staff each school and try and keep class size down. I realize how tuff it is on people who go to one school this year and then because of boundary change must go to a different school next. If we just allow people to go where they wanted because of different opinions one school might have 1,000 students and another have 100 students that would really mess with class sizes and staffing. Answer to 6 As a school board member I would address the issue by: I am not satisfied with current district policy on school bus safety and parent responsibility zones. The board and district office is in the process of finding out where we need to reconsider bus routes and then look at the cost to see if we can add some more routes stops. Allen A. Huber, Lapoint Answer to 1 I am not totally satisfied with the results from mandatory manda-tory testing or annual yearly progress since some schools within Uintah School District did not meet these standards. Failure to meet the standards is an indication that academic improvement is needed and is possible to achieve. Like many educators and parents, I recognize recog-nize that some state and national education laws place difficult expectations on educators and students. It is the responsibility of the school board, the district administration, and parents to work collectively in helping stu-" stu-" dents succeed academically and assisting educators in meeting testing standards. As a school board member, I will support realistic funding proposals, programs, andor staffing needs that will help schools meet state and national standards. Answer to 2 Since Uintah High School meets the criteria of a 4A school, I support the district participating in 4A-extracurricular activities. I recognize that some school rivalries that have developed over the years may diminish, but new rivalries will form with other 4A schools. It may also be difficult for Uintah High School to initially compete with other 4A schools in some sports or activities, but I believe that the district will eventually adjust and compete at a higher level of competition. New rivalries formed and extracurricular organizations or teams learned to compete when Uintah High School moved from 2A to 3A classification many years ago. I do also recognize the potential of higher travel costs and increased lost classroom time by students because of the reclassification, but I am uncertain of how significant the difference will ultimately be. Answer to 3 I support the district's current efforts in recruiting qualified teachers. Because of the high cost of housing in our area, the Uintah School District is often placed at a disadvantage in competing with other school districts for qualified teachers from outside the Uintah Basin. As a result, it is necessary for the school board to fund andor support sup-port programs, scholarships, and partnerships with local colleges and universities that will help educate and train "home grown" teachers and administrators. Furthermore, I would support other recruiting techniques that are proven successful in finding and hiring qualified teachers. Answer to 4 No one should be satisfied when a drop-out rate of any level exists at a public school. In today's business world, a high school degree, at the very least, is needed to qualify for many well-paying jobs. On average, about 100 students dropped out between the 7th and 12th grades during the school years 2002, 2003, and 2004 in the Uintah School District. Many of these drop-outs were enticed by moderate to high salaries offered in the local oilfield and other reluted businesses. Currently, the school district does offer career-oriented classes, which is part of the secondary education curriculum. These classes help students focus on future career options and helps them identify strengths, weaknesses, and interests in-terests in the employment field. The school board, educators, and parent-teacher organizations should continue to study and implement programs and policies that will reduce the current dropout drop-out rate and encourage students to earn a high school diploma. Answer to 5 I support the district policy for boundary change requests or transfers by students who desire to attend a school located in an out-of-boundary area. I strongly support a parent's choice to send their children to the school they believe will be the most beneficial for their child's education. I also believe that the school district is responsible for busing these students as long as a prohibitive financial or geographical burden is not incurred by the district. Answer to 6 I support the district's transportation trans-portation policy that provides busing for elementary students who live further than one-and-one-half miles from the nearest elementary school and secondary students who live further than two miles from the nearest secondary sec-ondary school. For those students who do not qualify for busing, safe walking routes should be identified, adequately signed, and crossing guards hired, if necessary, to ensure student safety to and from school. I believe that school community councils, which consist of parents and teachers, should be given the responsibility to determine if safe walking routes exist, and if they do, identify needs to ensure student safety. If no safe walking routes are identified, I support busing these students to their respective schools. School Board District 5 Candidate Perry P. Taylor, Vernal Answer to 1 I believe that the annual mandatory man-datory testing is an important tool in assessing the progress of our schools. We have some schools that perform well every year and others that struggle. As a board member I have been an active proponent of increasing the learning of the student. We must get to the point where we do not have any of our schools not passing the No Child Left Behind standards. I believe there are two methods to help this happen and in the schools where we have actively implemented these tools we have seen a great jump in student learning and test scores. The first is to continue training train-ing our teachers on collaboration methods and building structure that will enable them to effectively ef-fectively work with each other and focus on the curriculum and teaching methods that will most benefit the students. In the past most teachers have been given the curriculum from the state and then they build their own teaching methods based upon what they think is best for the student. Under this new collaboration effort, we are allowing the teachers to get together on a regular basis and plan together how they will teach the students in their classes. By doing this teachers are learning from each other and they are able to combine their efforts to focus on students who are struggling and for those who are excelling they are providing advanced learning methods. We need to continue to train each teacher on the structure and method of collaboration, because it is truly helping those students who need it the most. The second is to continue to use the NWEA (North Western Education Assessment), which is a testing tool that measures the progress our children need to make for the year and allows the teacher, the student, and the parent to set clear goals for that student for the year. The assessment doesn't compare the student to others but rather to themselves, and it allows the student to track their improvement improve-ment throughout the year. It also allows the student for a portion por-tion of the day to get the exact teaching level that they need in math, reading, and language arts. It is a great tool and if we can help the parent understand and participate in the goals with their student, great things will happen in the learning of the these kids. It is exciting stuff and Uintah School District is one of the leading districts in the state involved in the assessment. Answer to 2 There is really nothing as a school board that we can do to keep Uintah High School 3A. The number of students dictates how we will be classified. We are currently cur-rently pushing to allow Uintah High to compete in region play against the same schools they will bo soodod wKiiinst in the region and stato tournaments. This decision however lies with the Utah lhKh School Athletics Association. Wo have petitioned them to not put us in a split region, in other words play 3 A but compote at region and ft ate competitions in 4 A. This is the current division but wo are hop-ingthoywillchauHrthoircurront hop-ingthoywillchauHrthoircurront direction. Answer to 3 We have one of the host teacher teach-er recruit ors in the stat e working for Uintah School District. Lee Gagon has done an excellent job in bringing many t oachors to our area despite t ho expensive cost of living (primarily housing costs). Our area continues to grow and we need to keep l,oe in her role. She does a good job. Answer to 4 One drop is one too many. We cannot accept the idea that it is okay to leave school for a good-paying good-paying job in the oilfield. Good, quality education is the foundation founda-tion for any person who wants to find joy and satisfaction in life. As a board member all we can do is help students and parents realize the importance of staying in school and keeping their kids in school. We can and need to do more to educate the parents of this growing problem. Answer to 5 School transfer laws are dictated dic-tated to us by federal and state law. It is my personal belief that we should always do all we can to enable parents the right to choose where their kids go to Voters to decide Legislature's start date By Brock Vereakis Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Every Ev-ery year, state workers and school children take a day off to honor Martin Luther King Jr. for his contributions to the civil rights movement. That same day, Utah lawmakers lawmak-ers report for duty at the Capitol in Salt Lake City. It is a practice that has long offended civil rights leaders, in a state that was the last in the country in 2001 to establish a holiday specifically in King's honor. Lawmakers meet on the holiday holi-day because the Utah Constitution Constitu-tion says the Legislature must convene on the third Monday in January, which is also the day set aside in memory of King, who was assassinated in 1968inMemphis, Tenn. v This year, however, voters will get a chance to change the constitution so the Legislature convenes on the fourth Monday in January, a date that doesn't conflict with the federal holiday. holi-day. "We do realize that when the Legislature started beginning on the third Monday, it wasn't a holiday at that time," said Jea-netta Jea-netta Williams, president of the Salt Lake branch of the NAACE "But since then, it is a national holiday. And with the Legislature starting the session on that day it's saying that more or less ... they don't really care about the holiday if they continue to meet on that day." Williams and others' complaints com-plaints were ignored for years. Lawmakers insisted they were honoring King by meeting on the holiday, giving school children a chance to see them work and hear a presentation from a civil rights commission. Very little work actually occurs the first day of the session, ses-sion, and many legislators don't give their full attention to the presentations. Lawmakers also said it was too difficult to change the state constitution, although WHAT'S "AFOOT" IN YOUR COMMUNITY? 777 T J. . A y 7 f W 'V. school, and most regulation is moving that direction. Regarding school boundaries - all I can say is that in a community com-munity growing like Uintah County is right now. We have enrolled over 300 students in the first three months of this school year above what we had anticipated antici-pated and planned on. There will continue to have to boundary changes made every year. There is no way of being able to know exactly which schools are going to be crowded until the school year starts as was the case when we had far more students than we had planned on this year. This year Discovery, Naples, & Maeser are beyond capacity. There will have to be boundary changes again. They aren't fun and easy to do, but they have to be dealt with. Answer to 6 I have an active role in serving on the newly formed transportation transporta-tion safety committee that is currently cur-rently working on addressing all the parental responsibility zones. It is our number one objective along with the Uintah County Commission, Vernal City, and Naples City to find the best way to get kids to school in a safe manner. We are currently in the process of getting feedback from the School Community Councils and we will soon be making recommendations rec-ommendations to the entities involved on the committee. The one thing that is apparent it we will most likely not have the immediate im-mediate funds to do it all and that is where the real problem lies. We are going to have to figure out where to get the money. constitutional changes are frequently fre-quently considered by voters. Legislators' views didn't change until 2007 following widespread attention to the issue. is-sue. That's when the Legislature - which doesn't have a single black member - decided to put the issue before voters this year. "I think we heard loud and clear that one community really wanted to have us not have the Legislature' meet on thlt 'd&$ W6 felt like for the most part we were' doing a great service by having observances on Martin Luther King Day," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem. "But the community that was really focused on honoring the holiday really thought a different way, Finally, we listened to that community." com-munity." Under the proposal that was unanimously approved by the Legislature, the start date would be moved back one week. The Legislature would continue to meet for 45 days, although President's Day in February wouldn't be counted as part of that calculation. Valentine said ending the legislative session a week later would also give lawmakers more time to review revenue estimates before settling on a budget. There is no organized opposition op-position to the constitutional amendment, and Williams expects ex-pects it to pass, ending years of frustration. "It would send a clear message to the rest of the country, saying that Utah more or less 'gets it.' That Utah is now looking at making mak-ing sure they're sensitive to the wishes of the community," she said. And if it fails? "It would be very negative. I can say that. It would be very negative for the state of Utah," she said. Valentine said he doesn't think there's anything to worry about. "It'll pass on its merits because be-cause it just makes sense," he said. nur y y u wi l |