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Show Grand teachers followed big statewide walkout Monday Monday, September 25, members of Grand Education Association joined the rest of the teachers in Utah in a one day walkout. Teachers in the association gave several reasons for their action. AssociaUon President Jim Walker said, "This action is not directed against our local board of education nor the community. It is rather a message of protest to the governor and state legislature for continuing to ignore the dire straits of education in Utah. We hope the community will join us in sending a loud and clear message that we want quality schools in this state." "Our local problems of large elementary classes, outdated textbooks, uncompetitive salaries, The $1.5 million John Wesley Powell River History Museum on the banks of the Green River in that comto its official munity, is now complete, and awaiting installation of displays and other equipment prior will play museum the impressive opening in the spring. Funded by the Utah Community Impact Board, Grand on Located the River County side host to all facets of history along the Green and Colorado system. the Utah be to built the river Departof the river, the museum will be accessed by a footbridge across by ment of Transportation, for those visitors wishing to walk to it from motels on the Emery County side. The museum features large display areas, a compact theater and large open space for a variety of activities, according to Roy May, who has been coordinating work on the structure. full-tim- Moab voters go to the polls next Tuesday to pare a list of three candidates for Mayor of Moab down to 2. This will be the first Primary Election ever for Moab. Until this l" year, municipal elections were affairs. Shortly after the last Mayoral election four years ago, the "free-for-al- Moab City Council adopted a Primary Election ordinance, to assure that winners in municipal elections, primarily for Mayor, would win by a majority of votes cast Challenging incumbent Mayor Tom Stocks, who has held his post for eight years, are Bill B. Meador and Manuel Torres. Meador served for many years as superintendent of schools in Grand County, taking early retirement last year under a special legislative-mandate- d early retirement law aimed at thinning the ranks in state government. He is currently doing educational consulting work for the state Office of Education. Torres is a general contractor in Moab, specializing in masonry and concrete work, and has been active in civic and church affairs here. All three appeared Tuesday this week at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, and answered questions from the audience. One of the principal areas of concern was the form of government favored by the three. well-attend- Currently, Stocks serves both as Mayor and City Administrator, a e with that system. Meador stated that he felt the question was a matter for City Council action, and that he would e as or part-timserve either dictated by the Council following the election. Torres stated that he would serve e for several months, and then make a recommendation to the Council as to what form city government should take. All three full-tim- Grand County Commissioners named two new members to the Grand County Special Road District board of directors, from a list of eighteen applicants Monday in regular Commission session. Named to the posts, following a .engthy discussion, were Kent Dalton and Susan Mayberry. They will join Chairman John Zimmerman, Robert Shumway and Ollic Knutson on the newly enlarged board. Commissioners had earlier agreed that all three would have to agree on any new appointments to the board, which has had a stormy life since its inception. They did so Monday after a lengthy discussion over qualifications of the large list of applicants. In other action, the Commission Primary post. He favors staying e, full-tim- have waged active campaigns during the past several candidates weeks. This year for the first time, Grand County voters will be faced with a new form of ballot. Instead of the old paper ballot used here since the beginning, voters will be given a paper sample ballot and a computer punch card. Instructions for voting by numbers appear on the reverse side of the sample ballot. The computer voting should speed up the counting process following the closing of polls at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, but voters are cautioned to use care in making their punch-car- d selections so that ballots will not be mined. Polls will open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, and close at 8 p.m. Moab District 1 will vote in the Courthouse lobby. Districts 2 and 5 will vote at the Civic Center. Moab District No. 3 will cast ballots at the Holiday Haven office; Moab District 4 will vote at the First Baptist Church on MiVida Drive, and District No. 10 will vote at the Episcopal Church of St. Francis on Kane Creek Blvd. discussed a letter from Uintah County regarding cloud seeding. Uintah is pressing for action to gam a halt to cloud seeding along the Mayoral candidates spoke at Chamber meeting The candidates for the office of Mayor spoke to Moab Chamber of Commerce members and guests at the September noon luncheon held at the Cattleman's Restaurant. A large audience had the opportunity to learn the platforms of Manuel Torres, incumbent Mayor Tom Stocks, and Bill Meador. An open question and answer session yielded questions of concern from the public. The three candidates were asked to respond to the issue of restructuring the present Bed and Breakfast ordinance in the city. Bill Meador, past Grand County School Superintendent, noted the new ordinance needs to be written in a way to be sure pupil than the national average. That's a big handicap for our kids," said Joan Gough. "In the library that translates into fewer books at least a decade lag in technology and few current information sources." In a recent press release, Utah Education Association President Jim Campbell gave this background for the walkout. "On August 3 1 the governor called UEA 'irresponsible' because we want the surplus spent on education and promised that 'just plain won't happen. The governor said, 'I took a lot of heat for my support of education in raising taxes by $165 million in 1987, but the UEA doesn't recognize that support and probably never will and just keeps asking for more money.' "After two years without any kind of tax increase due to a campaign promise it was necessary for the governor to request the largest single tax increase in the history of our state. The governor and the legislature did indeed go out on a limb by raising taxes. And we did recognize their support." "We, too, took a lot of heat from the tax protestors for the tax increase. Approximately 60 million of the 165 million dollars in tax increase went to public education 2 and although we deeply appreciated it, the increase basically paid back the 10.5 cuts education suffered " during the two previous years K-1- Phyllis Reed, long-tim- music e teacher, noted, "The recent special session of the legislature was seen as yet another chance for them to route the 'surplus' into education. When they chose instead to cut taxes, many teachers' frustration rose to the boiling point. Davis County teachers walked out of their classroom on Friday, precipitating the state-wid- e action." "For many teachers it was the second time the legislature had a chance to help education without raising taxes and chose not to. Teachers saw this as a breach of faith after promises of help when the economic picture improved." Commission named two new members to Road Board Voters go to the polls Monday in Moab rs first-eve- r four-da- y week, few computers and other technologies, no gifted and talented programs and no school counselors are nearly impossible for us to solve locally. The state legislature must shoulder most of the responsibility," said Linda Warren, Past Local "In Utah we spend $1,970 less per neighbors are protected. "I believe if we are to be a tourist community, we must look at ways to extend our lodging capabilities." Mayor Tom Stocks stated the city is presently operating from a Boarding HouseRooming House ordinance on the books. "It is important not to interfere with neighbors, and parking areas are important, but we must encourage this very clean industry." Manuel Torres, Moab business owner, noted that if a large motel concern were to enter Moab, the Bed & Breakfast investor would be faced with a burden. "With careful planning, this can work." Candidates also answered questions Wasatch Front, claiming that the action is reducing precipitation in the Uintah Basin. Grand Commissioners agreed with the position of Uintah, but decided that since the seeding doesnt impact Grand County, they would be unable to support Uintah's efforts financially. After reviewing six bids on used automobiles for the Sheriffs office. Commissioners agreed to purchase a 1989 Buick from Mike Young Chevrolet at a cost of 10,675. Commissioners also voted to buy a new power lawn mower from Rim Supply at a cost of $636, even though the mower was the more expensive of the two bids received. Chairman Merv Lawton discussed a contract with San Juan County whereby Grand maintains certain San Juan roads in exchange for payment. He adviseds that the County Attorney is revising the contract. Tom Kuehne introduced the new regional director of the Department of Social Services, McCord Marshall, who will be in charge of a district including multi-count- y Daggett, Uintah, Grand, Duchesne, Emery, Carbon and San Juan. Commissioners asked for a list of services and for a brief quarterly update of happenings, changes and funding. Commissioners discussed Castle Valley's storm flood drainage project which states that Grand County will commit $90,000 in labor and equipment to complete the project Commissioners directed the Clerk to write a letter to the Town of Castle Valley stating that the County will help out with the project, but would not commit to a dollar amount. Cont. on Page A-- 2 Middle School will be cleaning up Hwy. 128 This Friday, Sept. 29th, the Grand County Middle School students will on the River do their first clean-u- p Road (Hwy. 128). As part of the Blue Ribbon Committee campaign, the students plan to a 7 mile stretch of road between Lions Park and Big Bend Picnic area. Grand County Middle School is the first public school in the state to Adopt-A-RoaThe clean up will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 12 noon when Pizza Hut will graciously feed everyone at Big Bend. To top off the event, MAX from the "Don't Waste Utah" ad campaign will arrive to visit with the student volunteers. Everyone will be volunteering their time, food and efforts for this event. The school is desperately in need of adult volunteers. One adult is needed for every 5 students. A huge turnout is expected, so Adopt-A-High-wa- y, d. if you would like to help, please call Grand County Middle School at Wayne Ruth at 259-8464 or the Bemie Radcliffe at Moab Chamber of Commerce at 259-715- 8, 5, 259-637- 259-753- 1. Please use caution when traveling the Colorado River road on Friday the 29th of Sept, in the morning hours. The students will be hard at work cleaning up Utah! to increasing communication between the business community and its citizenry, vision of the community, law and pertaining order, beautification and zoning. The Chamber of Commerce would like to thank the candidates for participating in this informative session. Appreciation is also extended to its membership and guest attendance. A special note of thanks to Darlene Hassen and crew of the Cattleman's Restaurant for providing a superb buffet style luncheon. Primary election will be held Tuesday, October 3. The Chamber Board of Directors will meet Tuesday, Oct. 3 at the Creekside restaurant, 7 a.m. Anyone with questions ' or concerns about the business Candidates for Mayor, facing a test from the voters next Tuesday, spoke and responded to questions Tuesday at the regular monthly meeting of the Moab Chamber of Commerce at the Cattlemen's Restaurant. Left to right, Manuel Torres, Tom Stocks and Bill Meador. community is invited to attend. The Chamber Evening Social for the month of October will be held at the new location of Petra Computers in the Western Plaza. Everyone is invited to view the expanded line of computers and services provided by Petra. Drop by between the hours of 6 and 7 p.m., Tuesday, October 10th, for a casual get acquainted tour of this new facility. hunt's not far away Big October is and with it the annual . . . popular deer and elk hunts. And there are some mce ones out coming, film on this like there, by the editor last week in the Sand Flats area east of Moab. captured as are not Things, however, always they appear. For more on this fellow, read John Maynard's feature. B- -l this issue. of Page four-poi- nt 4 ) |