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Show 'i ''''''''"'''''''I'ImImiIIiIiIiiIiIiIIiiimI,!,!,!,,,!!,! 3DIG3;t g41 UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION M, 1521 E 3900 S STE 100 1 SALT LAKE CITY UT 84124-1550 Weather by ASPLN BROOK REALTY, INC. B1 See A7 r 11 5th Year No. 52 Vernal, Utah 84078 50 CENTS www.vemal.com Wednesday Oecemlien 24, 2003 Your Hometown Newspaper Thu Fri 1225 1226 28 14 23 5 Plenty of sun. Mainly sunny Highsin theuppef Highs in the lov. -0s and lows in 70s and lows he upper 30s. the low 40s. i HrZ EH MB r ' yp&i - - - - fin ' i ' 1 dent This 2008 Ford pickup was struck by a semi on Hwy 40 at mile marker 1 37, after the driver tried to pass cars on the icy road. The accident occured about 7 a.m., Dec. 23. The 46-year-old driver was killed in the accident. (Gary ParkerVernal Express) pccdlj ic cause ra acci By Tabaiha Deans Express Writer Utah Highway Patrol troopers, Vernal City police officers of-ficers and Uintah County Sheriffs deputies responded to a fatal traffic accident at mile marker 137 on Hwy. 40 at approximately 7 a.m., Dec. 23. A 46-year-old man was killed in the accident, but his name has not been released pending notification of his family. Trooper Jody Hodgkinson said the driver of a 2008 Ford pickup was speeding eastbound as he passed several cars in the passing lane, which was covered with snow and ice. The driver lost control on the slippery road, and ran into a westbound semi-truck. The impact disintegrated the front end of the pickup, throwing the steering column from the vehicle. Hodgkinson says speed is always dangerous on the highway, especially during winter months. "Even just a little speed is detrimental on these roads," he says. "We really need everyone to be more courteous and not so impatient. We hate to see tragedies like this just because somebody gets in a hurry." The driver of the semi-truck received minor injuries, and the driver of the pickup was taken to Roosevelt, where funeral arrangements will be made. tdeansvernal. 11 1 f v t i Hi', ' I all' ':-i;-tr--"- "V The new Marriott Hotel on Hwy 40 could mean more rooms for tourists and help bring down rates throughout Vernal. . (Patrick Timothy MullikinVernal Express) HOTEL HEARTBREAK New construction, rooms may benefit tourism industry State liquor store, seven others, sell alcohol to minors By Patrick Timothy Muujqh Express Editor Is there room at the inn? Maybe. Depends on who you are and how much you are willing to spend. In Vernal, Economics 101 -supply and demand - determines rates for the roughly 750 rooms spread out among 17 motels and hotels. Just ask any visitor, or would-be would-be visitor. A good night's rest in Vernal comes with a hefty price tag - somewhere between $100 to $120, says Nikki Farmer, executive execu-tive director for the Dinosaur-land Dinosaur-land Tourism Board. Farmer also manages the welcome center in Jensen. Her group is charged with promoting the region and for recruiting re-cruiting visitors who, she hopes, will shop, dine, and otherwise spend money during their stay. Promoting and recruiting is the easy part, Farmer says. Finding suitable lodging for these visitors isn't. "A lot of them are having trouble findings room," she says. The reason: Roughly 70 percent of all available hotel rooms are rented out to oil-field workers. "It doesn't seem that a lot of rooms are being held for tourists," tour-ists," she says. "They (tourists) are making the assumption that they can just come into town and be able to stop and get a room." From a tourist's standpoint that seems a fair assumption. But hotel owners see otherwise. other-wise. There's gold in the mineral-extraction mineral-extraction industry -in the form of oil-field workers. Guaranteed . occupancy is where it's at. "They are catering to these rig workers that may come and work two weeks on, two weeks off," says Bill Johnson, associate director di-rector of economic development at Uintah Basin Applied Technology Technol-ogy College. "There must be so much money in gas and the oil out here that these Halliburton and BJs (BJ Service Company) are giving these guys enough of a room allowance to cover some of these (hotel room) costs. I'm sure they (the employers) are getting some kind of a break. Still, they are still paying some pretty good prices (to the hotels)." SEE HOTOLROOMS onA2 By Patrick Timothy Mwwm ' Express Editor Eight area businesses, including in-cluding Department of Alcoholic Alco-holic Beverage Control Store 28, 675 E. Main St., Vernal, sold alcohol to minors during a Dec. 5-6 sting, Vernal Police Chief Gary Jensen reported report-ed to members of the Vernal City Council at the council's regular meeting meet-ing on Dec. 17. Laverne & Shirley's Conoco, 1175 E. Hwy 40, and Top Stop Chevron, 722 W Hwy 40 in Vernal, along with the Mae-ser Mae-ser 7-Eleven, 500 N. 2500 W., Jensen Sinclair, Sin-clair, 9475 E. 6000 S, sold beer to one of the,' two underage un-derage participants partic-ipants - one 16 and one 18 - in the state's Eliminate Alcohol Sales to Youth program. This is the second offense of-fense for each establishment. The four stores each sold alcohol to underage participants in early August during the Vernal Police Department's first quarterly alcohol sting, Jensen said. The Maverick station at 951 W Hwy 40, Winger's Diner at 1797 W 1000 S., and Randlett Mercantile, 10329 E. 4250 S., also sold to the minors. This was the first offense for those three businesses. Sir: m-tT&l i V'- ' L A H H ) A ta i j ; -, ' ' i 1 t :! ! ! v ' I " I i : 1 I r- '.-,' " - ; j lt ' 1 Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Store 28, 675 E. Main St., Vernal, one of eight area" stores that sold alcohol to minors during a Dec. 5-6 sting. (Kevin AshbyVernal Express) In addition, on Dec. 14,a 20-year-old patron purchased and consumed alcohol at Cassidy's Club, 1350 E Main St. Though not a part of the Dec. 5-6 operation, opera-tion, the club was part of the August sting and was found to be in violation at that time. But it was the sale at the state liquor store that irked Jensen and council members. "I was a little disappointed. disap-pointed. They didn't seem to be too uptight about it," Jensen said. "There is an irony here. If you are a person selling alcohol in any one of these convenience stores, by UD ABC rules you have to have a name tag. In Vernal, Ver-nal, Jjiey BUSTED! on A2 Council to decide fate of stores selling to minors By Tabatha Deams Express Writer In an ongoing effort to curb underage drinking in the county, Vernal City law enforcement enforce-ment officials conducted its second "sting" operation in six months, sending minors into local businesses to try to obtain alcohol. Their results - eight out of 23 business sold to the minors - were slightly less dismal than the first sting when 11 out of 22 businesses sold to the minors. mi-nors. Two Vernal busi ness caught selling alcohol to minors in August were caught selling to minors again. Two other business busi-ness in the county were also caught sellingto minors asecond time. Discouraged by the sting's results, re-sults, Vernal City Council members mem-bers will decide the fate of the two Vernal businesses, Laverne & Shirley's Conoco and the Top Stop Chevron, at its regularly scheduled meeting on Jan 7. The public is invited to attend and comment at that meeting, which begins at 7 p.m.. "The city council can do one of three things: They can suspend sus-pend their license, revoke their license, or nothing at all," says Vernal City Manager Ken Bas-sett. Bas-sett. "Beingasecond offense, I'm not sure what action the council will take." Determining an appropriate consequence for repeat offenders can be difficult, says Bassett, and council members try to work with businesses on first offenses. "Usually it has to do with improper training, or lack of compliance by employees," he says. Utah has some of the strictest strict-est liquor laws in the country, and identifying the severity of the problem can sometimes be difficult. . Establishments that sell beer or liquor for consumption on the premises are subject to regulation regula-tion by the Utah Division of Al coholic Beverage Control, and if caught sellingto minors, can face severe penalties, including a suspension of their liquor license for one week, posting signs in their establishment declaringtheir indiscretion, as well as fines for the employer and employee. Sharon Mackay, public information officer for the UDABC, says they have few repeat offenders because of their stiff penalties. "You take someone's liquor license away for a week and it makes a big impact on their business," she says. "They're very careful about not re-of- "SEE ALCOHOL SALES on A2 1 . ) I ... I M ,7. v. i : '1". w vy JoAnn Hancock Susan Nebckcr Lisa Samuels- Belinda Pike uroKcr Associate Broker MlTimon.S nc con dA! Cell 790-2729 Cell 828-60S6 790-5529 --nui Cody Borcn 790-0781 v , ,..V I J V I .Y r " ft . .' Demse I lnohoc 828-2273 724-2772 790-8438 Kelly Knibhc Scott Nelson |