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Show Page A2 'Qltie Miss Grand County pageant Continued from page 1 Halliwell. Ilodsons efforts earned her first place in the talent competition, which accounted for 30 percent of the overall score. The interview portion, conducted earlier that day by a statewide panel of five volunteer judges, was 40 percent of each contestants overall score. The swimsuit and fitness portion, which also took place earlier in the day before the pageant began, comprised 10 percent of the total. The remaining 20 percent was divided between the evening gown competition (10 percent) and the final question session (10 percent), during which each contestant answered two questions, one posed specifically to them individually by the judges and on-sta- another drawn at random from questions submitted by the contestants themselves 'QItmg-t3Jnhepmhg- in p My Fair Lady for her talent, is also a senior at GCHS this year. She is the daughter of Bart and Sharon Leavitt. Second runner-u- p Francis, who sang Memory from the musical Cats, is the daughter of Zeke and Maralee Francis. Danielle Hodson. She is a 2003 graduate of GCHS and has completed one year at Dixie State College, studying physical education and physical therapy. Michael Arehart, the father of Miss Grand County 2003 Monica Arehart, was the master of ceremonies for the Finest Selection Main - Moab UT - 435-259-- 1 father-daught- er duo performed a couple of musical numbers together. At one point, Mike Arehart joked that the winning contestants dad would have to serve as MC next year. We just had a few dads faint, he quipped. Grand Countys prestigious Woman of Achievement award for 2004 was also Utahs Largest & 8 with Carol Hoggard winning the honor announced, A Thought for that Back to School Special Person (see related story). It was a great evening, and all of the girls did very well, said pageant director Kris Hackney, who also thanked the pageant committee, the numerous other volunteers, and the many sponsors for their help and support. Were already getting things ready for next years pageant, added Raschelle Pierce. Bullock trial reset to Nov. 8 by Lisa Church contributing writer A new trial date has been set for a Salt Lake City woman charged with the January murder of her daughter. On Tuesday, 7th District Judge Lyle Anderson rescheduled the trial of Wendy Bullock, 28, from late September to November 8 in order to resolve a scheduling conflict with a prosecution witness. Bullock, 28, is charged e with felony murder in the January 2 death of Make that great student even greater with a Home Study Area! first-degre- her daughter, Sarah Pollyanne. Grand County Sheriffs deputies discovered the childs body in the back Desks Chairs Computer Consoles Bookcases seat of Bullocks car, which was parked in a pull-ou- t area on Interstate 70 about five miles east of the Moab exit. Bullock approached a Colorado motorist who had stopped nearby, and asked for razor Knowles Home Furnishings Has It 1 only schools offer many open- Hanni says that the state of the national economy also means the standard Southeast Utah comparison between a fat mining paycheck and a slim waitering or housekeeping one is not as valid as it used to be. The wage differential between tourism jobs and mining is narrowing as a general rule. A large percentage of the jobs in, say, the mining industry, are actually jobs where training you get and you start working there at a low wage and learn as you do it. Its those more specialized positions that bump up the average for the industry. One of DWSs projects is a o projection of job on-the-j- Ripper. Southwest Furniture Jewelry Rugs Pottery Kachinas Baskets Sculpture Sand Paintings & Continued from page patriotic awareness, said in response to her first question about whether her generation was patriotic, I think our generation is very patriotic, but we could be more politically involved. Answering her second question, she called Mother Theresa a wonderful role model. Hodson, who of this serves as team drill at Devilette years Ed is of the GCHS, daughter Hodson and Becky and Tom evening. The First South Business in Grand County . . . (no one drew out her own question). Hodson, whose platform is First runner-u- Leavitt, a drama student who sang Wouldnt It Be Lovely? from Thursday, August 19, 2004 nt blades. The man summoned authorities after noticing the unresponsive child. During a January hearing, Grand County Attorney Happy Morgan said the child might have died as early as 6 a.m. - about four hours before she was found. Autopsy results revealed during a preliminary hearing last month showed that Sarah was strangled. non-metr- openings from 2000 to 2010, which it updates every two years. Looking at the numbers, Grand Countys mix of industries matches up nicely, with five out of the nine most employee-hungr- y occupations in retail, restaurant or lodging, and the balance in education, transportation or office work. the Dont send for the rest of family just yet, though. Those top nine occupations total an average of 2,560 job openings a year, scattered across 25 rural Utah counties. And DWS points out that at this level of detail, its only looking at supply, not demand. There may be thousands of people competing for a few hundred jobs, or in the case of Utah Power, hundreds of applicants for one recent opening. Those wide-opeoccupations also tend to be shorter-tern and lower-wag- e. - elementary one m Only school teacher, which in Grand County pays less than in much of the state top-payin- g - made the list of non-metr- o jobs with more than 50 openings a year. The rest of the higher-payin- g jobs tend to be supervisory or support positions tied to larger companies. A definite bright spot for smaller, entrepreneurial communities like the Moab area is which sectors are growing. The fastest include computer-relate- d jobs, personal care, social services, teaching, health care, the arts, sports, landscaping and property management. Theyre not the biggest sectors, but for someone considering a start-u- p business, that may be an advantage. g The of the with (ones occupations larger over 100 openings a year) include social and child services, fastest-growin- teachers, hotel and motel clerks, recreation workers, and police and sheriffs officers. Training levels get particular attention in the DWS study, which predicts that 74 percent of jobs opening by 2010 will require training or related experience only. Those occupations cover most of whats available in this area, and while they can pay as much as an average $20 an hour for a construction supervisor, they tend to hang between $6 and $8 an hour. Just under 20 percent of the jobs are expected to require a bachelors degree or higher, but within this group, Youll Love Our Great Selection t i g it muss L i over. After all, if youve got a job like that, why give it up? Kelly Shumway, owner of Corporation, points out the logic of it. Look at the plumbers and electricians that make $40 and $50 an hour in our little town and have no equipment payments. If you can get a job paying $20 or 30 an hour working for someone else, I would do it. DWSs Hanni expresses mixed feelings about the education factor: If those people coming out of high school in Grand County want to stay in Grand County and work there, its anybodys guess as to whether higher education will be a benefit or not. As a product of Utah, though, I think higher education is a very good thing. Advertiser owner Marge Fleenor is more direct, saying shed pay an employees tuition for specific training, but K-S- the Utah State University extensions focus on degree-drive- n programs doesnt allow for that. No matter how marketable peoples skills may be, one thing thats lacking across the board in Grand County now is small-busine- ss are more liberal in who theyll grant loans to. There are also more and more ways to tap into available revenue. Shumway registered as a K-Su- es DisadvanBusiness Enterprise, taged gaining a bidding edge in state contracts. If her status had been in place when the Moab Canyon highway job came up, shes certain that some of the federally-funde- d part of the work would have come woman-owne- d K-Su-es way. like other construction and excavation contractors, is also benefiting from the increased oil and gas exploration triggered by intema-tionK-Su-e, al supply concerns. Shumway worries that if the administration changes in the next election, those projects could be shut down, but there are a few, perhaps more shock-proprojects in the works that could soften the blow if it came. On the large-scal- e side, incoming employers like the Lisbon Valley copper mine, the of hospitalsenior center complex, and the Med Spring medical-suppl- new-busi-ne- ss focus is money. With most start-up- s and small businesses citing financing as one of their biggest problems, Daveys goal is to find ways around mainstream lending criteria. One vehicle is through more government-sponsore- d and government-backe- d loans. . .Theres more paperwork involved, but very often since the loans are partially guaranteed, banks and institutions company are expected to provide up to 300 new steady jobs in the next few years. Davey sees Med Spring as a potential template for other entrepreneurs: That would be a great, great direction to be going. It has all the things you need; it has an ownership bloc who want to be here, it has the ability to tap into the world market, and it has the ability to provide long-terstable work for residents. On the smaller end of the scale, 92 percent of county businesses in 2001 had 20 employees or less, and the trend is continuing. Information technology businesses are spreading like mushrooms, thanks to better internet con- nections, specialized services, a growing market here and elsewhere, and cheap credit. Joined by growing services and manufacturers like Glo-Ger- training, whether that means help with marketing or incorporation, or just a reality check from an impartial observer. I think Moab lost a great deal when the small business development center was shut down a year and a half ago, says Moab Area Economic Development Coordinator Ken Davey. Any programs in terms of individual counseling for business went away. Were now in process of trying to rebuild that. An SBDC advisor is supposed to come from Blanding once a week, and Daveys office directs people with questions to the most appropriate agency. The economic development offices other y Zeal, Synergy, and Moab 4x4 Outpost, these smaller companies employ hundreds of people year-rounmake everything from to jeep parts, and could operate from anywhere. d, hand-sanitiz- er Whether its because theyre still awed by the land- scape or are bound to the community, business owners large and small are staying in Grand County because they want to. The next challenge may be convincing potential employees and new entrepreneurs that its worth staying too. The attitude has to be among local residents, that they can earn a living and stay in Moab, says Fleenor, a sentiment echoed by Ken Davey. Stephanie Brewer, who grew up here and just opened Bliss Skin and Body Works, says she sees that attitude, along with a healthy taste for experimentation. Theres a lot of creativity here in Moab and people sort of go with the flow and are always trying something new, and whether one thing works or not they dont give up. Tourism will probably never be supplanted as Grand Countys main industry, and in many ways, its millions in tax revenue and wages help underwrite that experimentation, along with the overall growth of other sectors. But economic diversification has been a county and city goal for years, and its starting to gain momentum. I think its happening as we speak, says Davey, and I think its going to continue happening, and as we have the opportunity to possibly free up more investment money and loan money, the opportunities will increase. Im actually (3SGB FURNISHINGS GEXc ouTioiicHwaOMOApHowOsa-tse- ings in Grand County, and their average pay is less than most of the other jobs in the study. Of the other college-backe- d occupations, recreation worker has the lowest earning potential, with an average wage of $10 an hour, and usually no company benefits. In this region, in this economy, the DWS study indicates that an associates degree or vocational training could be the best investment, with lower tuition, and average wage of $13.22 an hour, and jobs that actually exist here, such as medical personnel, mechanics, welders, hair stylists, computer technicians and forest and conservation technicians. The catch is that these openings make up only seven percent of the total, partly because of low turn- . . . e quite optimistic. For more on employment projections, a see jobs, utah.gov wi. 7 http 1 1 |