OCR Text |
Show J ( fr- - iV.ti?f iM - l .;. JL - r? " -. 2- V ' 1 - wfcr'w A WaM 0 t . I .' s jT i; , 1P)c MOAB, FORECAST Thursday s Showers High 52c Low 35 Friday Partly Cloudy High 54 Low 4 -- T -- Sunday contributing writer v- section B for weekly events, a TV guide, horoscope, crossword, calendar, real estate listings, classifieds and more Nice Folks. You can meet all sorts of nice "folks on your walk See morning B1 . J$l , Viti&&3 Safe ways brought Dee and Sue Holiday an NPS award. See r B5. 'h' Crt In ted to the Copies of the countys proposed 2004 budget are available at the County Clerks office, 125 East Center in the courthouse. The county council will hold a public hearing on November 18 to take citizen comments on the proposed budget. The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 125 East Center. across-the-boar- d salary raises, a move they deem important because in employees 2003 were asked to tighten their belts and forego pay increases to - help the county make up budget deficits created by decreased federal payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) funding. The countys proposed 2004 budget projects a $284,833 shortfall, in part because of the planned salary changes. The money will be transferred from the countys general fund surplus in order to make up the shortfall, leaving the county with less money held in reserve to cover unexpected expenses and emergencies. County Clerk Fran Townsend said it is common to transfer surplus funds Tearing her hair? A5. Business Directory: B9 Dining & Lodging: B2 Editorials, Letters: A6-- 7 Historic Photo: B1 B3-- 4 Aifi it Region Review: B2 Real Estate: B5-- 7 Classifieds: B11 TV Guide: v d monies What you have to say, does make a difference, school board member Kaaron Jorgen reminded the public at last Thursdays open forum meeting at Grand County High School. Case in point: the state school Performance boards competency-basePlus proposal appears to be on the back burner, at least for now. The controversial measure was the Utah State Office of Educations response to the Senate Bill 154 (the education reform bill passed by last years Utah Legislature), along with other goals and requirements associated with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Among other things, the Performance Plus proposal would have made sweeping changes in high school graduation requirements. However, Grand County Schools Superintendent Ron Ferguson said that after the state school board conducted several hearings and summits around the state, they decided to scale dowm the proposal and back off on the urgent deadlines they had originally suggested. Now, it appears that various aspects of the program will be phased B8-- 9 WEATHER HISTORY Date High Low Precip. Nov. 5 57 33 Nov. 6 52 28 Nov. 7 59 36 Nov. 8 64 35 Nov. 9 64 42 Tr. Nov. 10 58 46 .12 Nov. 11 61 Townsend said And Monday often we end up not needing all the money we we thought would. V2 is&ue was money. According to the NCLB act, each school must test at least 91 percent of its students in certain areas, such as math and language arts, and meet certain levels of proficiency, with 100 percent proficiency expected by 2014. Schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) face sanctions, including possible loss of federal education funding. Basically, they give you this in gradually. The idea was that we do want to have accountability, but there were a number of things that were not ready for, Ferguson said, adding that the No. ndicu-Continue- d on Page A3 , KIMV teXhCP ii XZ2 Nv- . K n. . M V f - dwfcitfr '" j Above is Sarah Melmcoff, and the clean up she is doing on behalf of Moab R- - y les Day Photo t y MicnoTo Wiley coming up Nov 15 See story on page A-- 3 GCWCD approves preliminary 2004 budget; selects date for board applicant interviews By Michelle Wiley Contributing writer At a full board meeting on Nm ember 6, Grand County Water Con er ancy I )i trict (GCWCDi unanimously approved the preliminary budget for 2004 The onl change from the 2003 budget is the expenditure of S 166, 473. the first bond pnv ment to K paid on the George White prop wells and properU, a source of culinary water for Spanish Valley, lor $2 4 million To receive water rights and the wells, a contract was signed to purchase' 120 acres of land, also It is the intention of GCWCD to sell the acreage to pa for the wells Ifthe land isn't sold by GCWCDI the end of this year ISpanish Valley Water and - - Sew er Improv i mi nt fist nil1 w mild tin n have to of f m t the ost of tin bond p,i I sill ment bv anproximatelv bold,' said Dali 1ieison j n r bmi- -i GW.sSV Mm ager Spanish Valiev Wall r and Sevvi t Ini pnivement District iSVWSID1. out of tin three districts manage d bv ( fra ml Water andSewei Soi n e Aim ih i(1SSA' v is water distribu- responsible for culmarv tion SVW SII) pun hasi s culmarv water from GCWCD at wlinltsih rate- - and at retail II the then sell- - to - not i II bv doelute itv George propi the end of the v i ar, ( t ' ( ) mild bav e i at i to SVW SII) to raise t hi ir hole-al- e who in turn would need to rai-- e their -- V I vv vv i r iti - Currentlv. Spanish Valliv onlimied oil Page 2 , Canyonland Monoliths," a painting by artist Jack Dudley, was donated to Arches National Park on Friday by the Grand Canyon Association Despite the title, the painting depicts the Three Gossips, a rock formation located in Arches National Park Photo courtesy Grand Canyon Association Church contributing writer by Lisa Jack Dudley may have named it Canyonland Monoliths, but his painting of the Three Gossips found its way home anyway. When I looked at it, I knew it was actually the Three Gossips in Arches National Park, said Brad Wallis, director of the Grand Canyon Association, a nonprofit group that supports research, education, and other programs that benefit Grand Canyon National Park. Wallis would know. Last year, he left call subscribemoabtimes.com The This news- nt QjX) on recycled paper and is recyclable. J, .WJ Grand Canyon Association donates historic paintings nt XZly7 te , sible. To subscribe to 7 t (NCLB), which already has schools across the nation scrambling to fulfill requirements that are being deemed by many to be unrealistic and iven impos- First Place A paper is printed A the spring of 2003. GCWCD pur chased the mrijontv of the George White 38 Times-Independe- x In In Four Categories Groups The A ortv yessAss . . balance." Funding's got to be the foremost thing, he noted Performance Plus, as initially proposed, would have cost more than $200 million in new funding, according to the USOFL Still, Ferguson said that local schools are considering several of the issues addressed by Performance Plus, including the possibility of issuing "differentiated" high school diplomas based on the graduates level of skill, along w ith other measures designed to address competency and higher expectations. Were looking at how we can make the senior year a very meaningful year, Ferguson noted. Ferguson said that funding is also one of the key problems associated with the federal No Child Left Behind Act 1 k " . the fund Continued on thige d Notices: from - the ha transferro some CsJ Y ei al to $85,704 in 2002, and about 836,000 for this fiscal year. Every year that projection is off. so not worried about this budget," said Im councilman Nate Knight. "I dont think well end up needing to transit r all (1 it nt money. And I see this as an lines contributing writer sm:. uuuudiieo. t In 2002 and 2003, the county projected utilizing about $200,000 and $300,000 respectively from the surplus to balance the budget. But increases in counts tax revenues and other fees - the funding source for the account - cut the transfer amount by Jeff Richards Find out what's up on -- Performance Plus, other issues discussed at school forum S. i jy-z- counts on Monday, cil members said they are commit- Look inside The details on past years. coun- - it! i penditures. This isn't unusual at all Fur the budget meeting Read all , . County employees and all elected officials except the Grand County Council will receive a pay increase under the proposed 2004 county budget. During a Partly Cloudy High 55 Low 32' about to help balance the projected budgi t uul the general fund surplus will ri mam healthy, with more than $900,000 tucked away in the event of unanticipati d v by Lisa Church yiitC Partly Cloudy High 56" Low 32 Thursday, November 13, 2003 County budget hearing to be held Nov. 18; 5 pay increase set for all but council members 32Q Saturday wi V www, moab t i me s . co m 500 Volume 110 Number 46 WEATHER ' f ' x his longtime job as director of the board member Chris Simon tours Chicago with teen radio producers Wendy Dalton, Hayley Pearson and Ashley Davis. Read all the details on page A4. KZMU r Canyonlands Natural History Association in Moab to assume the post in the Grand Canyon. On Friday. Wallis donated the oil paintingto Arches National Park during a quiet ceremony in Moab He also presented paintings by Dudley to Canyonlands National Park, and Great Basin National Park Park officials said they plan to display Dudley's original art in their respective v lsitor centers The paintings were among 77 of Dudleys oils and watercolors - including scenes from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the American Southwest -donated to the Grand Canyon Association (GCA) by the Dudley family to help the association raise funds to purchase original art pertaining to the Grand Canyon. The family has also partnered with the association to establish the Jack Dudley Memorial Fund, a dedicated Continued on Page A2 non-prof- it |