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Show MOAB, UTAH Volume 108 50 WEATHER FORECAST i ft I t &-- Thursday.. rfT Partly Cloudy High 83 Low 52 EddajL 'Jv Partly Cloudy High 80 Low 51 Saturday Mostly Sunny High 81 Low 51 Sunday Partly Cloudy High 81 , Low 50' Classic cars come cruisin Thursday, April 26, 2001 WWW. moab times . coni Number 17 Chamber makes pitch for funding Tailings dust control to commence Transfer to DOE is set for Sep t. 1 by Franklin Seal staff writer Atlas tailings trustee has worked out a deal sides of the pile ering the with a polymer coating designed to keep dust from flying in the wind. A conference call between PwC and the agencies was scheduled for Wednesday morning to finalize an agreement. According to senior staff at Utahs Department of Environmental Quality, the deal will with state and federal agencies that gives it die legal assurances it needs to finish work at the site that was halted last January Grand Junction contractor A in- spected the tailings site on Monday. On Tuesday they turned in a bid for com- pleting a work list previously agreed upon by the trustee and government representatives. A top priority will be cov Continued on Fage AI School board by Lisa Church staff writer The Moab Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday asked the Moab City Council to provide funding and build a partnership with the Chamber to help promote area businesses and create months. new events to increase tourism during Chamber Board Member Hertha Wakefield made the request during a presentation to the council. Wakefield said the Chamber is r- talks cuts at closed session n The Ninth Annual Moab Rod Benders April Action Car Show is this weekend in Moab Organized by the Moab Rod Benders Car Club, the event will feature hundreds of classic cars from the 1900s to 2001 parked on the grass at Swanny City Park. Observers will see Street Rods, Muscle cars, Classics, Customs, Trucks, Hot Rods and more. The event starts off on Thursday evening with special '50s movie night. 7 p m.. at Star Hall. Cars will cruise a Main Street on Friday night, and spectators will watch the 'parade.' On Saturday the car show officially begins. There will be live music, food and entertainment. A- lthough there is an entry fee for car show participants, there is no charge for specta- tors. Saturday night the classic cars will again cruise Main. Inside The T imes Business Directory: B3 Calendar AS Crossword Puzzle: B7 Classifieds: B7 Dining & Lodging: AS Editorials, Letters: AS, 9 Notices: 42,65-- 6 Obituaries: A4 Region Review: A10 Television Listings: B4 WEATHER HISTORY April April April April April April April 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 87 82 78 67 64 68 77 48 66 -- 52 Tr. 45.19 38 -- - CPI advances in March Higher housing costs jre factor causing the increase. a see Real Estate Weekly, inside To subscribe to The Times-Indeaende- nt call subscribemoabtimes.com 77 nt This news- - (Jyj paper is T A printed on recycled paper and is recyclable. r. by Lisa Church staff writer After a long and sometimes tense discussion, the Moab City Council expressed general support for a proposal Expedibeing floated by tions owner Bob Jones to have outfitters provide free downtown bus shuttle Tag-A-Lo- service during peak evening hours through months when the community is most heavily impacted by tourism. Jones had approached the city with the idea of using his own vehicle and drivers, and enlisting similar help from other area outfitters who had buses and drivers available in evening hours, to operate a bus shuttle between 5 and 10 p.m. as a free service to the community. The bus could transport visitors from motel rooms to restaurants and shops throughout downtown. Jones had asked the city to determine appropriate bus stops, provide signage for the bus stops and a magnetic sign for the bus, and generate promotional flyers to be handed out at area businesses. But the majority of council members Tuesday night said they didnt believe the city should pay for bus stop signs or advertising flyers to help promote the service. Council Member Kirstin Peterson said she likes the idea of a downtown shuttle, but she is concerned that any direct involvement by the city could create a financial burden down the line. I think it could end up costing us more than we anticipate," she said. I dont think were ready yet to take this on. Council Member Rob Sweeten said he supported the idea, but didnt believe nual funding another and $50,000 each from the Grand County Council and the Grand County Travel Council, to help the Chamber hire an events to for pay stepped-u- p pro- motional efforts for existing The events. funding also would create several new an- Asked if the primary reason the nual events to attract visitors. board was discussing Dolphins position was the teams performance, Ferguson said, Certainly that has to play into it, when teams arent playing well, pople get restless. Asked if there were any other key reasons, such as allegations of questionable conduct, Ferguson said, Whether there were or not, those are personnel issues and I cant go there. Later he added, Any issues that concern those kinds of allegations were dealt with a long time ago. She said ideas under consideration include a Fourth of July celebration, an Old WTest festival, and possibly a writers festi- val. Wakefield drew a distinction between the Chambers funding request and the requests for donations to non-prof- orga- it nizations which the; council receives every year. Were asking the council to partner with the shuttle people around, but I dont see the city spending one penny to fund annual budget," she said. What were asking for is an investment from the city. We need your help." Wakefield But Council Member Kyle Bailey said he felt the limited city involvement being requested was appropriate. We regulate transportation. It does make sense to say these are appropriate stops, he said. And he praised Jones for his efforts to provide a needed comI think it would be munity service. unfortunate to stop this before it begins, he said. Im sorry to see it turn into this. The whole point is to stimulate the economy in downtown and to provide some parking relief. Its in our own best interest to figure out how to help support these businesses. Hie council agreed to invite Jones to attend a future meeting to further discuss the idea. I dont think we want to come across as a wet blanket on this idea, said Gregg Stuck! We think its a good idea. But Travis Garcia told the council that a free shuttle would severely impact his business. Garcia, who recently began operating a taxi service in Moab, said much of his business comes from transporting people between motels and restaurants. He suggested that a free shuttle, even if it only operates a few months during the year, could put him out of business. That cuts into my business quite a bit. Id probably have to close down, Garcia said. Ix-e- coordinator, and Chamber and make them a private owner donate his bus and staff writer The Grand County School Board met a in special closed session Monday evening in order to consider several personnel issues. Following the meeting, both Superintendent Ron Ferguson and Board President Bruce Louthan explained what they could about the confidential contents of the meeting One issue concerned Head Football Coach Ron Dolphin. Basically, there was discussion on that b 'cause theres some concerns by members of the community," Ferguson said. But w e have a new principle w ho s been in athletics, and he wants to work with the coach on some improvements. Louthan said, I suspect that next years principal, Tom Brown and Mr. Dolphin are going to work real hard to make some changes." from the city, the city should become financially involved. I have no problem letting some this, Sweeten said. 61 Tr. 35 City supports shuttle idea by Franklin Seal equesting $50,000 in an- line item in the warned that if the community did not expand efforts to draw visitors to the area, many area businesses, particularly lodging establishments, would suffer. She said in the past six years, the available overnight lodg- ing has increased by 64 percent, while tourism has grown at a much smaller rate. She said the parity, dis- could force some businesses to close. At some point we are Continued on Page A2 Coy Woodard fires the ball during baseball action last week against Monticeilo. Region play for baseball, softball, soccer, track and field and all the spring sports winds down this week. Playoffs are just around the corner and nothing has been decided yet for any of the teams. Follow the race into the playoffs in Sports and Recreation, Section B. Photo by Kari Gibb Baseball team needs win to stay in 2nd place by Kari Gibb scoreless to end the game a run shy with loss. When you hold a team the Red Devil baseball team members have scoreless for six of the seven innings, you their backs up to the wall now. The 2 loss usually win, said Steele. 1 tip my hat to the San Juan Broncos on the road Tuesto them for putting the win together and left Satleaves Monticeilo one on day game capitalizing on our mistakes. critical in cost Errors situations Duchesne came to tow n to start this urday. the team two runs and the game to set week and make up games that were a week or more over due. up the region showdown in Monticeilo. The loss to San Juan Game one pitted Chris means the team needs to beat Brewer, Mike Lopez and Steve See Sports Monticeilo to stay in second Hirschfeld against the visitors. loss A in means Section b Six innings and one Woodard place region. e finish and road a solo home run later, and the A for n the win should enacted Devils rule with the the playoffs. give trips 18-- 8 the Devils at least one home playoff game. win. Solid base hitting by the entire I know the guys from Monticeilo, squad lifted the team to the win. said head Devils Coach Mike Steele. I Cody Oleson joined Hirschfeld on the like them and respect them. What a mound for game two. Duchesne made a run at the beginning with a lead, but great thing for their program to have a win like this (the first game in Moab was win the Devils came back to post the a win for Monticeilo). For us, we downwith good hitting all along the lme-uThe team travels this week to San play it. At the 2A level, any given team can beat any other team at any given Juan and Monticeilo. Two wins and the time. They played well and we didnt. Devils are an outright second place reThey got the win and we didnt. gion finisher. A San Juan win combined So much for the historic first loss to with a loss to Monticeilo will leave all Monticeilo by a GCHS baseball team. three teams tied for first place. A loss to The Devils began the game well last San Juan as well as Monticeilo puts week. Coy Woodard was a bit sore, but GCHS in third for the year. looked strong on the mound going the This is all assuming that Monticeilo first two innings without allowing a run. on sweeps Duchesne in a double-heade- r Monticeilo started the top of the team first seed The of out this Thursday. third inning with a triple and didnt look region has a good position going into the back. The team tallied five runs by the playoffs, said Steele. We want that and time the last out was made, giving them we want to finish the season out with momentum for solid defensive play. wins. It will keep the week interesting, Devin Dalton pitched the last four especially since Dusty (Steele) and Coy (Woodard) are game to game. innings and the Devils held Monticeilo sports editor 5-- 4 4-- Other matters discussed during Mondays closed session included possible staff cutbacks. Ferguson explained that as of this week, the board was looking at the possibility of having to cut the Districts staff by five or six positions" out of a total of approximately 210. A drop in school enrollments this year and last means the district may have to chop $300,000 from its basic maintenance and operations budget for next school year. Last year that M & O budget was between $7 million and $8 million Ferguson said most of the cutback will have to come out of staffing funds. There are other areas we can look at, but. ..we feel like we need to keep our Continued on Page A2 . School calendar set The Grand County School third-plac- ten-ru- -- 3-- 0 8-- Board met last week and approved the calendar for the 2001-0- 2 school year. There will be 180 days of school next year - starting on August 22, 2001 and ending May 31, 2002 with 19 days off during the school months for student vacations as well as the Christmas break. There are also four days scheduled for teacher and 10 days slotted for teacher conferences. parent The school district has not slotted any time off during the 2002 Olympic games. At the seme meeting the board updated their official transportation policy. The move brings local policy in line with state regulations. In other matters the board will continue negotiations with several projects around the community including cooperation with the Moab City Recreation Department, alternative education and the Shafer house project. The next scheduled business meeting will be held May 16, 2001. 3 p. ' |