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Show Page Area-Wid- e Week in Review i! Items from regional newspapers j neckers9... County to cite rubberOffice a is The Uintah County Sheriffs issuing warning to rubber neckers" in Uintah County. Rubber neckers are people who follow emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks, ambulances and law enforcement vehicles. They usually respond because they hear sirens or have been listening to a police scanner. A recent house fire in a neighborhood congested with onlookers in their vehicles caused concern by volunteer fire fighters. Following the incident, the sheriff" s office issued a warning that it would issue citations to citizens who go to the scene of an emergency simply to watch. Vernal Express CThc B1 Nucla, Colo. A private contractor hydrologist is evaluating the stress of the narrow leaf cottonwoods along the San Miguel River for the BLM who is providing major funding for the broad assessment work being spearheaded by the San Miguel Watershed Coalition. BLM hydrologist Dennis Murphy said the final draft of ihe study will come out in early winter covering a wide range of concerns, including water quality, recreation, fisheries, stream flows and development. San Miguel Basin Forum Concern over forest road plan... attended a highly emoManti Over 200 Sanpete citizens tional Forest Service information meeting May 18 at the Sanpete County Courthouse. At issue was the Roadless Initiative. Most of those who attended were concerned about local control, road closures, and lack of trust in government agencies. The group had to be spilt into two rooms to accommodate the crowd. The Messenger-Enterprise Fruit crop maturing fast... Grand Junction, Colo. Palisade fruitgrower Harry Talbott bit into a fresh tartarian cherry from a tree on his prop- erty one morning last week. Ive never had a fresh cherry this days have early in the year, ever," he said. Recent local residents sweating, but farmers have watched their crops mature early. Many are expecting a few early harvests, some as early as this week. The heat can advance maturity of soft fruits, such as cherries, peaches and apricots by as much as two weeks. The Daily Sentinel 100-degr- Bad fire season predicted... imrs-3Iii&fpriiftr- Thursday, June 8, 2000 nt Storm warning: Computer improvements allow weather center to operate more efficiently by Franklin Seal Vernal Watershed assessment continues... I staff writer several monster storms ripped through Moab tipping over utility poles and cutting power, public safety officers here were warned of the approaching thunderheads a few Two weeks ago when minutes earlier than usual, thanks to recent improvements at the National Weather Service center in Grand Junction, Colo. The weather center that provides forecasting and severe weather warnings for the Canyonlands area six weeks ago w ent online with a new computer system that cuts its warning time almost in half. The Grand Junction NWS office is responsible for the western half of Colorado and the Utah counties on the Colorado border, including Grand. It also recently added San Juan County to its coverage area. According to Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jim Pringle, their new AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) is one of several recent improvements that has moved the office one notch higher in national weather service designation. They are now an offi- checks the newly installed AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) at the Grand Junction National Weather Service Office. The system has helped cut in half the time needed to warn An operator communities of approaching storms. The high-spee- computer d work station and computer network is the centerpiece the offices modernization effort. It is capable of receiving, processing and help Park City Sparse snowfall last winter and a spring that is shaping up as warmer and drier than normal, despite recent rainfall, have fire officials worried. Much of the Snyderville Basin is already at high risk for fire danger, according to Shawn Winder of the Park City Fire Service District. Usually its not until the end of June that the area gets into the high range, Winder said. The Park Record satellite feeds, and other local ing forecasters analyze huge amounts of weather data from an expanded array of newly upgraded cial Warning and Forecast Office. sources such as river gauges. The AWIIS gives us a much clearer picture of data," also said. streamlines It Pringle the process of sending out a warn sources. Those include hundreds of Automated Surface Observing Systems, new Doppler radar and real-tim- e A Look Back in Time Leavitt asks counties to join suit... of Gov. Mike Leavitt addressed a .- - XY. i'-sU Richfield meeting county commissioners from throughout the state recently in Richfield, asking them to join in the states lawsuit against the federal government to secure Utahs road rights. The lawsuit aims to settle a dispute. This is a massive undercould go on for years, but were going to taking," Leavitt said. It resolved as soon as possible." push to get this issue The Richfield Reaper TM CL Town fights planned DCFS move... Monticello Plans by the Division of Child and Family Services to move its office to Blanding wont happen without a fight from the Monticello City Council. Despite the fact the decision was made in December, the city was not told until the bags were packed and ready to go," one city official said. DCFS officials say they no longer have the funding to maintain both offices and must consolidate. But city council members pointed out that the agencys lease has another two or three years yet to run. One said he was against the state subletting the building because it would compete with private enterprise. The city says it will do whatever it can to keep the office from moving, and discussed various strategies, including letters to legislators and Governor Leavitt. The San Juan Record Two years later, fugitive still free... Cortez, Colo. Two years after Cortez Police Officer Dale Claxton was killed by three assailants, two of their bodies have been found in the canyon-crosse- d wilderness that straddles the border. But the third fugitive, Jason Wayne McVean, is still on the loose and despite exhaustive searches, no clues have turned up that point to his wearabouts. Cortez Journal Utah-Colora- A- A bridge to remember . . . For 30 years after Moab was permanently settled in 1 879, travelers to and from the community were forced to ford the Colorado River or later take one of two ferry boats that operated near this location. In 1911, Grand County State Rep. J. P. Miller introduced a bill in the Utah Legislature which passed, e bridge across the river. It served the community loyappropriating $45,000 to construct this until the the when ally present bridge was constructed. Photo from the Elaine Peterson collection one-lan- mid-195- Discover why State Farm For fill Your Plumbing Needs p. else. oa-- s VY&n-l- y 333t) . fffo TD 259-566- 4 aa It s OtelL-- (Mg) licensed fi t Atari Seniors Discount vYfeiifoY U)aiihigJhH3y(itsl r Jensen 32Dk fllan nr . -- I or (call) s - S2BflG?ys Farm Agent i 23.1 -- run C. 570 West rca Service Repair Orthodontics Jensen, D.D.S.. M.S. 400 North Moob. (IT 84532 Call for an appointment yf cp STATE FA Call 260-128- 8 insures more homes than anyone )f ing when storms threaten a community. We now have the capability of pushing a button and it automatically turns on peoples weather radio alarms, he added. The same button also instantly updates the appropriate pages on websites and sends a warning out over a variety of established networks, including regional public safety dispatch centers as well as appropriate media organizations. We are able to issue our warnings a lot faster with this system," Pringle said. With the old system, it would take five to eight minutes to outline the critical area and send out the various messages. With AWIPS, three to five minutes is more typical. Currently, weather radio owners in the Moab area can not receive automated weather radio broadcasts, Pringle said. But he has a plan to fix that, and has begun discussions with Utah's Project Impact coordinator for the Moab area, Heather OHanlon. Project Impact funds go to help designated communities make advance preparations to ward off damage from natural disasters. Pringle estimates it will cost about $27,000 to add the necessary antenna and equipment to the states existing radio station on Bald Mesa in the La Sal Mountains. OHanlon said she hopes to enlist pubic safety agencies in the area to help pay for it, along with the Project Impact funds. Once the new equipment is installed, it will be capable of automatically turning on modern weather radios w hen severe weather approaches. 259-223- 2 . .. Like SPECIALIZING IN BRACES Will Be in Moab June 22 o good neighbor. State Farm is there m EIRE AND CASUALTY COMPANY HOME OFFICE BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS t t nni'imni m V 33fcl235SiSI55r J ass5Wnii" aaaM t 4 |