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Show 2 - TARDY TIMES - AUGUST 1992 Doing the Things They Love—An Interview with Doug and Ann LaMunyon Although a frequent visitor at IaMunyon’s down on Pope Road, I had seldom spent more time than it takes to exchange a friendly greeting and some change for the much appreciated fresh milk and eggs. But the other day we sat down and talked. Mrs. LaMunyon told me how they came upon Castle Valley and what it has meant to them. Doug and Ann LaMunyon had been keeping an eye out for some retirement property, and Doug’s brother had suggested Moab, but they had not been impressed with it when passing through back in the ’505. In and fertile eggs. Ann is meticulous Who could blame him? When you stop about her animals’ health and cleanliness and her milking machine is impeccable. This rather beautiful, shiny, stainless steel machine milks the cow without ever allowing the milk to by you'll find them always busy and always generous with a kind word and a smile. —Ji1 Kulander t0uch the air. Her cow Beauty (they ate Beast), during peak milking time, will produce up to 12 gallons a day, and her Ostrowhite hens will lay”up to 18 fertile eggs a day. But this is only one of the services provided by the LaMunyons to our community. Ann is Relief Society president for the local LDS branch. At present they are working on the CV cemetery. She is also president of the Grand County Chapter of the Alliance of the Mentally Ill. “People are so frightened of those with mental health 1978 their daughter Janice was graduat— problems. What these people need is ing from SUU in Cedar City; afterwards, passing through Hanksville, kindness, love, a smile. Even though they spent the night in a small hotel and hurt or illness, keep trying, reach out to while talking with the clerk they heard about Castle Valley and stored the them.” Love, kindness, and action seem to emanate from both the LaMunyons. they might be withdrawn because of l’ n W So Far So Good Two months ago the Town Council passed an ordinance requiring that future electric utility lines be installed underground. It is hoped this will be the first stage of the much larger project—g going back and placing some or all of the existing power lines underground, in a time frame of possibly as much as 20 years. . Since then I’ve had several more meetings with Utah Power. No problems so far. We have talked about several situations where an additional pole may be needed to solve a particu- Ann looks forward to finding some lar problem. Utah Power has also had a planner looking at the general electrical extra time in her life to do more within supply in Castle Valley, with the goal heading out of Moab, the roadsign, “Castle Valley 17 miles,” caught their our community. She would like to see eyes. “Do we have time?” They did, the town put up a building on our and this is how Ann and Doug first saw the valley. It was May, after a wet community lot so that we can have socials, plays, talent shows. We talked spring. “The valley was covered with wildflowers and blooming alfalfa everywhere. We fell in love with it.” They soon discovered there was water a little about the changes, the growth CV is going through. “I love the name away. Later, as they found themselves and that the land was affordable. They returned again with more family, camped up at Warner Lake, checked out the valley again, and decided to buy. Ann remembers that the winter of ’80 was a mild one. She set up camp on their property—without septic or water of evaluating how we might want to Individuals must still pay any of the country life but am happy to share it. If we find this a desireable place to live, well then so will others.” They both feel that Castle Valley is a lovely place to live and will continue to be. They are hoping for planned progress and looking forward to a paved CV Drive. or husband. (She had a couple of 55 Perhaps because of her own personal background as the only Mormon of her birth family, Ann has no problems with gallon water barrels that never did a diverse and rather eclectic community freeze.) Doug was to retire from West Electric Telephone Co. and join her in such as ours. “With charity and concern for others, neighbors with different beliefs and cultures can get along just fine." Aside from all the responsibility, they find time together to do the things they love—to hunt, fish, and garden. August. Although transplanted from Southern California, Doug had been raised in Grand Junction and Ann in rural Peyson, Arizona. It wasn’t long before they started hatching chickens and raising goats. Soon to follow was a calf from California and then a couple more bought from the Seventh-Day Adventist neighbors. Among their first milk customers were Denise DeAgnes, the Ottingers, and the Nunns. The LaMunyons now supply a good deal of the valley with high quality raw milk have things done in the future. For the immediate future, Utah Power will be using the same policy for charging for power extensions that has been in effect for the last few years. extension cost above the $3,000 threshold (which represents an esti- mated power usage of $50 a month for five years and is called the EAR, or Estimated Annual Revenue). Where possible we will try to coordinate electric service requests as a way of minimizing costs of extending service. Currently, people paying for extensions receive credit or refunds on Ann also sews and crochets. Doug loves to tinker and make things right again. He is always busy repairing one machine or another. They have three sons, three daughters, and six grandchildren who love to visit. Their grandson Kevin has been spending his summers here with his grandparents since he was a year old, and loving it. part of the cost of their connections if anyone else ties into the lines within five years after installation. We were hoping to extend that payback time to ten years, to make it more fair for people who originally paid to have the lines put in. Utah Power sees nothing wrong with trying to extend this payback period. Things seem fine so far with the new ordinance. If you have questions or would like a copy, please call or write me at 259-5115, CVSR Box 1903, Moab UT 84532. ——-.Iack Campbell |