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Show 1 Progress today: On track Sports The editor and his family took a trip on Amtrak over the holiday. From Thanksgiving to Lake and back Salt Helper was quite memorable as he recalls. For the feature, turn to Wrestling dominates this weeks sports section. Emery lost a close match to Juab last week while the countys two junior highs prepare for tournament. The sports begins on page 6A. Business Todays business section features a new car dealership in Ferron, information on getting summer work with the Forest Service, and a report on Christmas tree permits at the Ferron Ranger District. For details, seepage 3A. Volume 84 v m ff at .i J A- V - J ri wq "it i it itjt Student growth up but not in Emery ' r: , "te , 1 1 X ' v x been contracted, and the bills paid in advance. However, he by Larry W. Davis Progress Editor Utah is growing. An obvious indication of that can be seen in the enrollment figures of the states schools which show an increase of nearly 9000 students Sjsrf I above V-- a i ,tft a K 4 t V -- ? 4 1 J One of the problems with having a sidewalk in the winter is keeping the snow son off. Jim Petersen and his Brett don't mind the work though. The Petersen's were one of several families in a Ferron neighborhood which worked together in getting the sidewalks as well as curb and gutter installed by their homes. W. Dovlo Photo District are shrinking which will result in the loss of thousands of dollars to the local system. According to the Emery County School District Attendance Report for the first term, which ended Nov. 4, the district lost 54 students during the period from Oct. 3 to the close of the term. Funding to the district, to a great extent, is based on these enrollment figures in terms of the weighted pupil unit which is the number of students attending school in the district on a daily basis. According to the state formula for funding, each WPU is valued at just over $1000 for the school year. As a result, the loss of 53 students in the district means a loss of over $50,000 to the local district. This is a significant loss to Ferron neighborhood , r . i , Progress Editor Money , for community improvements may be tight, but that didnt prevent a group of residents from organizing to work toward making their neighborhood a better, and safer place to live. Property owners along 500 South in Ferron first began five years ago in their efforts to get curb, gutter, and sidewalks along their street. The City of Ferron made every effort to help the lot owners obtain the improvements, but the city faced declining revenues and added expenses each year. Finally, the neighbors took the bull by the horns, offered to pay a proportion of the costs based on frontage, and said that they would provide all the labor. To that, the city pitched in $13,000 as well as the use of city equipment. ' long-await- ed Office closed for tax work by Larry W. Davis Progress Editor If you go to the Emery County Treasurers Office after today, you will find a closed sign on the door. Treasurer Elaine Wilson and her staff havent gone snowmobiling for the month of December, but have closed the office in compliance with state law in order to sort out collected and delinquent taxes. The deadline for paying property taxes to the Treasurers Office was at noon that point, the office closed and will remain closed until Jan. 3, 1984. Mrs. Wilson explained that while the law has been in the Utah Code for many years, the office in Emery County has never been closed in the past. Weve always stayed open and tried to get the tax work done while keeping regular office hours. This year will be difon Nov. 30. At the closure period, the staff will be preparing the delinquent tax ferent. During 30-d- ay notice list to be published by the first of the year. Mrs. Wilson also said that other functions of the Treasurers Office will continue during the closure although the office will not be open to the public. She added that taxes can still be mailed to the office which will accept them without assessing a penalty until the middle of December. We need to get our books in order and its worth a try to close the office, the treasurer said. 111 The school district opened the year with more students than at the close of the 1983 school year. (Continued on Page 10A) V h ' , . J U r r v t2 T k , it ' X $ ' ,, 1 ; - f f ft i 4 A ( i f ft 1 - - L f . ,.?i - , c ... r . i $ K f u ftft A a Vv 's'- - - -- f "v. j i la - H f t - t J ' 4. - J v 4ft I . .fc. y V .- r rf ' 4 t i s V S ' . jS. '' rg next to husband and the children pitched in where possible. Much of the work was The result is a beautiful street near the junior high which now imboasts the The sidewalk, provements. curb, and gutter run the length of the street from SR 10 to the west side of the school. Actual work on the project began on Aug. 27 and was just behind other neighborhood-voluntee- r type projects in the completed in November. Each, would the families community. gather night 136. . t to lay the sections. Wife worked also done in the mornings before regular working hours and many of the families worked on days off and weekends. An estimated 1200 volunteers hours went into the project. The total cost of the project has been estimated at $17,000 although this figure would have been considerably higher had the work been contracted. Ferron Mayor Max Ralphs has said that the city hopes to get At the beginning of November, Ferron and Huntington elementaries were the most populated schools in the district with 505 students each while Emery High had 442 enrolled. Other enrollment figures as of Nov. 4 include Book Cliff Elementary 150, Cleveland Elementary 303, Castle Dale Elementary 394, Cottonwood Elementary 335, Ann Self School 14, Canyon View Junior High 278, San Rafael Junior High 359, and Green River High School U completes street work by Larry W. Davis year. widespread throughout the district. Emery County High School has had the most dramatic loss with 18 students leaving in the one month period. Mr. Hall said that all but three or four of the students who left the school transferred to another high school out of the area. Castle Dale Elementary showed a loss of 13 students : . winter came on, many of the people in the county without jobs decided it was time to move Mr. Hall said. He on, suggested that it is quite unusual for so many transfers to come two months into the school the future. The attendance report shows that the student loss has been Hall, us, supervisor of schools, said. We cant cut teachers at this point and most of our services have by Lorry to just one at Canyon View Junior High. Green River High School showed no loss of students during this period. It looks as though when Elementary students, the supervisor said, but if the legislature passes the additional cuts requested by the governor, it will be difficult. He said that the board will be watching the budget and state budget actions very closely in district Ferron seven at from However, Mr. Hall noted that Governor Matheson has sent word to the districts that he will be asking for a state-wid- e educational funding cut of $4.5 million. Emery Countys share of this would be $45,000, according to Mr. Hall. We can absorb the loss due to the reduction in the number of year ago. But Frank during the four weeks while losses in the other schools throughout the district .ranged said that the district in preparing the budget had anticipated some loss of students and planned to absorb some of the loss of revenue. enrollment figures in the Emery School Ferron ft Wednesday, November 30, 1983 V V V1 page 4A. No, 48 - 5 - J r V"? small city has sprung up below the dam as workers prepare to open the new section of highway. About left is the train tunnel while the dam is to the right. The photo was taken from an trak passenger car last Saturday, shortly after a heavy snowfall, Am-Thist- le Photo by Larry W Dovli Weather culprit in road delay By STEVE IIEIDE Staff Writer The best laid plans of mice and construction crews often go astray, and so it goes at Billies Mountain as weather has forced back the opening date for the U.S. 6 Thistle bypass. Officials of the Utah Department of Transportation had planned to open the bypass around the mudslide in 6.5-mi- le the Spanish Fork Canyon this Thursday in hopes of reconnecting Price with the Northern part of the state. But more than p 10 days of almost snow and rain have forced crews to a non-sto- crawl, and Art Chidester, project manager for UDOT, said the opening of the road would have to be delayed, probably until Dec. 15, for safetys sake. We could have some sort of path open through the cut at Billies Mountain, but it just not safe, so I cant in a clear conscience open the road, Chidester said late Tuesday. Im really disappointed. I thought right up until last night that we could maybe come in on schedule, but we had another (Continued on Page 8A |