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Show A2 Wednesday, December 24, 2008 Vernal Express Hotel Rooms Continued from Al Great for hotel owners but not so great for the tourism industry. Johnson says he's seeing the effect the limited roompremium price scenario is having in the tourism industry, and it's not good. Add to the mix the closing of Dinosaur National Monument, and tourism has really suffered, he says. Farmer agrees. Tourism numbers num-bers are down, and the hotels are partly to blame. She says she would like to see hotels set aside a larger number of rooms for visitors. "Tourists are always going to be around. We need to have a place for them to stay. If I drive into town in August, the odds of finding a room are less than 50 percent," she says. When there are no rooms, she says, visitors simply move on to the next town. Bob Chaudhari, general manager man-ager of the EconoLodge at 311 East Main, and a self-proclaimed family man, doesn't want to see that happen. Chaudhari and his uncle, Mike, own andor manage man-age together several area hotels including Motel 6, Rodeway Inn and the Split Mountain Motel. He says he always reserves a handful of his 49 available rooms for those folks - especially those traveling with kids - who are driving through town and need a place to stay, then and there. In the same breath, he's also quick to point out that roughly 80 percent of his business is extended-stay oil-field workers. "This year we have had a lot of oil people, on average 40 rooms for oil people." Chaudhari says he's seen a drop in tourism this year and blames the closure of the monument in part. On this particular Saturday his hotel is 60-65 percent full, and he says business has slowed down since October - both with tourists and oil-field workers. He also says he has rooms as low as $49, rates well below the Vernal average. Forty-nine dollars? With the construction of the new Marriott on Hwy 40, and others oth-ers earmarked for 2009, Johnson says these additional rooms could help drive down rates throughout the area, especially rates at older hotels and motels. "What's going to happen is that the older ones like Motel 6, the Rodeway, those kinds of places, are going to suffer. You're going to see all of a sudden a real reversal where they're going to go down to $29, $39 a night just to get anybody. Everybody will go to the newer ones, and the older ones are going to have some vacancies that will drive their prices down." Until then, Johnson, oil-field workers and visitors will continue con-tinue paying current market rates - or higher, depending on demand. "I had clients of mine that came in from Minneapolis," says Johnson. "They paid 200 bucks a night for Vernal, Utah. That's almost the Waldorf Astoria!" pmullikinvernal.com Busted! Continued from Al opted themselves out of that in their store." The employee who sold to the minor had no nametag. . Jensen said the 18-year-old who was successful in buying alcohol from the state store was not even asked for his ID. "Typically people will actually ask for ID, and our youth, with confidence, give it to them." A minor's drivers licenses states clearly: "Under 21 until (date)" and is formatted vertically verti-cally rather than horizontally. "It's actually written right on the license," said an exasperated exasper-ated Jensen. "So if you are not a mathematician, it's not tough to look at that little inscription on the drivers license to see that these kids were too young." Jensen said he spoke with the director of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control who indicated he was looking forward to addressing the council, adding he was sorry and disappointed with his group in Vernal. "I'm not quite sure what type of thing he will do to ensure that this doesn't happen again," said Jensen. The UDABC director and representatives from the other businesses that sold to the minors mi-nors will have the opportunity to describe what each intends to do to end underage sales when the council meets Jan. 7. By then each will have received re-ceived a letter from Vernal City Mayor Allan Mashburn mandating mandat-ing their presence. "I find the irony of this amusing amus-ing because the state moved a whole line of alcohol products out of the grocery stores and into the state liquor agencies so they'd be more secure, so the kids would be less likely to get into the malt liquor things," said council member Jo Ann Cowan. "Then a 16-year-old kid can walk into there and buy it where if he tried to buy from a grocery store, he would have been ID'd at either Smiths or Jubilee or WalMart. But he goes to the state liquor store and he can get it. That's surely not what the legislature intended." Jensen agreed with Cowan, adding he hoped "the council takes a serious and dim view of the repeat offenders." InAugusthalfofthe 22 Ashley Valley area businesses licensed to sell alcohol sold to minors. Stores selling alcohol to minors could lose their license to sell alcohol. The public is invited and encouraged to attend the Jan. 7 meeting of the Vernal City Council at 447 E. Main St. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. pmullikinvernal.com Alcohol Sales Continued from Al fending." The regulation of retail outlets, out-lets, such as grocery stores and gas stations, fall under local ordinances. Bassett says the city tries to work with businesses who violate that policy the first time. "When they appear before the council, they have the opportunity opportu-nity to explain what happened, and what they intend to do to prevent it in the future," Bassett says. Hiring, trainingand retaining responsible employees in the area can cause problems for local business busi-ness owners. Until now, employers employ-ers have not received stiff penalties; penal-ties; however, employees have faced job termination, as well as fines from the justice court, since selling alcohol to a minor is a Class B misdemeanor. Ironically, the local liquor store 28, 675 E. Main St., also violated state and local policy by B (USPS 0892-1091) Periodical postage paid at Vernal, Utah Published weekly at 60 East 100 North, Vernal, UT 84078 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Vernal Express at 60 East 100 North, Vernal, UT 84078 OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Phone: 435-789-351 1, Fax: 435-789-8690 DEADLINES: News, legal notices, classified ads and display ads must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication PUBLISHER: Kevin Ashby - kashbyvernal.com EDITOR: Patrick Timothy Mullikin - editorvernal.com ADVERTISING MANAGER: Byran Marshall - bmarshallvernal.com ADVERTISING: Jacque Hobbs-jhobbsvernal.com Alycia Johnson - ajohnsonvernal.com CLASSIFIED: Tonya Muse - classifiedsvernal.com OFFICE: Harriet Harding WRITERS: Mary Bernard - mbemardvernal.com Gary Parker - gparkervernal.com Tabatha Deans - tdeansvernal.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Dana Colovich - editorvemal.com George Long - editorvernal.com PRODUCTION: Heather Crosby , , Michele Roper . On the Web: http.7www. vernal. corn' 'r ' Email: editorvernaI.com Subscription Rates: I Clip and Send to: In the Uintah Basin Vernal Express 60 East 100 North Vernal, Utah 84078 Name I I lYr.$26-2Yr.$48 . Out of the Uintah Basin lYr.S42-2Yrs.S70 I Out of State -1 Yr. $46 2 Yrs. $80 I Address City Zip4 Cash or Check only, Sorry No Charges asm io By Mary Bernard b s rowth si ows Express Writer The labor market's performance perfor-mance in the Uintah Basin - while mixed - will end the year in the positive column. Uintah, Duchesne and Daggett Counties reported a combined 7.5 percent growth in employment during the second quarter of 2008. Mike Hanni, regional economist econo-mist with the Utah Department of Workforce Services, says the Basin had a job slowdown because be-cause the country's natural gas industry was temporarily hurt by a collapse in the price for its product. Statewide job creation will net just under 1 percent at year's end, which is slightly better than the national rate of -0.1 percent. Job growth in the mining industry of the Basin hit a low of 0.3 percent in the first quarter and a high of 8.9 percent in the second quarter. Uintah County's second-quarter high added 800 jobs overall in contrast to Duchesne County's job growth of 350 jobs for the year. "Year-over jobs settled at 4.2 percent in the (third) quarter of 2008, which is the sixth straight quarter of slowing growth, " says Hanni of Uintah County. Job growth occurred the area of specialized oil and gas employment employ-ment as well as construction for transportation infrastructure and commercial building. Daggett County, heavily dependent upon tourism, saw a "sharp pullback in employment with a loss of lOOjobs" due largely this summer's high gas prices. For the year, Uintah County non-agricultural jobs ended in the positive with 6.1 percent, Duchesne County at 13. 1 percent and Daggett County with a job loss of 19.6 percent. Both Uintah and Duchesne counties ended with seasonally adjusted unemployment rates below 3 percent. Daggett County's seasonally unemployment rate ended at 4 percent, which although high for the region is less than the national average of 6.7 percent. Hanni summarizes the year in Uintah County job growth as "slow, with energy jobs hitting a plateau," but attributes the sector sec-tor as responsible for job growth in Duchesne County. Another factor contributingto the slowdown Hanni says "there simply aren't enough workers in the area to allow an unlimited amount of growth of any industry - especially of the oil and gas industry that attracts a very particular type of laborer. " Workforce News states that the current job situation in the Uintah Basin as well positioned to weather the national economic storm. "While growth may slow, if the area maintains its current base it should consider itself as having been quite successful in a very difficult time.' mhernardvernal.com Below: Employment and wage information for counties of the Uintah Basin as compiled by http:jobs.utah.gov UINTAH COUNTY; Period Year Period 2008 r Uuarter 2007 Annual DUCHESNE COUNTY: Period Year Period 2008 r uuarter 2007 Annual DAGGETT COUNTY: Period Year Period 2nd 2008 2007 Quarter Annual Av erage Non-Farm Jobs 15,230 14,262 Average Non-Farm Jobs 8353 7378 Average Non-Farm Jobs 444 486 Establishments 1,342 1,303 Establishments 766 726 Establishments 56 59 Average Monthly Wage $3,609 $3,534 Average Monthly Wage $3,505 $3,300 Average Monthly Wage $2,575 $2,508 Payroll $164,967,452 $604,739,913 Payroll $87,823,280 $292,118,461 Payroll $3,422,729 $14,613,111 selling alcohol to a minor. But because be-cause the liquor store is governed by the DABC, Mackay says it will not receive the standard penalties penal-ties that come with the offense. Imposing a fine upon themselves, or suspending their license, is not an option. The employee who sold to the minor may face local charges, however. "Our purpose is to provide reasonable liquor access to the-public," the-public," she says. "We don't want to punish the public by closing." Offending businesses in Vernal Ver-nal will have to wait until the Jan. 7 meetingto learn their fate, but are able to continue selling alcohol until then. tdeans vernal.com DNM to close road on Jan. 1 Dinosaur National Monument Monu-ment Superintendent Mary Risser announced last week that the Harpers Corner Road will be closed to the public for the winter beginning Jan. 1. The road begins 2 miles east of Dinosaur, Colo., on U.S. Highway 40 and runs 31 miles north into the monument. The first 5 miles of the road up to Plug Hat Butte will remain open and plowed throughout the winter to allow public access to the Plug Hat parking area for snowmobile and cross-country ski enthusiasts. The road closure entails locking lock-ing two gates on the Harpers Corner Road above and below Moffatt County (Colo.) Road 16 and the gate at Plug Hat Butte Picnic Area. Cross-country skiing and snowmobile use is allowed on the closed portion of the road beyond Plug Hat Butte. Snowmobiles are not allowed off the road surface and may not go past the Echo Park Road turn-off 21 miles north of U.S. 40. The Split Mountain campground camp-ground on the Utah side of the monument will remain open far the entire winter. 1 . "" The campgrounds at Rainbow Park, Deerlodge, and Echo Park remain open, but snowfall may prevent access to the campgrounds camp-grounds as the winter progresses. Campgrounds have vault toilets, but no running water. No fees are charged at these campgrounds during the winter season. fllHilll Call Tonya at 789-351 1 to place your vernal txpress uassmea ad today! - iWinneKof SHis Sill iSiSS " ...... . . ' -"., .-' IWinner o'f ;( ; V" Home Category DeWalt 10" Heavy Duty table saw wstand? Just $399.99 That's $170 OFF! Roofing World Specialk i w- 1 M l: I I' 1 Business Category SentRViWest nsurance I W Sponsored by: PAINT & GLASS 534 North Vernal Ave. Vernal Jvh.'Av 40 VM"t'! 47 AnmAmes 435-789-3241 f ! I I i Bimn-i.i |