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Show Serving East Juab County i i Volume 101, No 16 -- A Nice Place To Live! Single Copy Price Wednesday, April 23, 2003 www.nephitimesnews.com Earthquake hits the Juab Valley, no reports of damage Myrna Trauntvein Times-New- s Correspondent By magnitude 4.4 earthquake shook the Juab Valley in central Utah on Wednesday night, University of Utah Seismograph Stations reported. A Seismologist Jim Pechmann said the earthquake occurred at 7:04 p.rn. and the epicenter was three miles south of Levan at the western edge of the San Pitch Mountains. The quake was felt throughout the valley, including in the towns of Levan and Nephi, but the Juab County Sheriffs Office said there were no reports of injury or damage. The earthquake was felt as far away as Nephi, said Pechmann. Juab School District Board members can vouch for that fact. Board meeting began at 6 p m. and the board was diligently working their way through the published agenda w'hen the district office began to shake. What is that? asked Rick Durbin, principal of Juab High School who was meeting with the board. The building shook accompa- nied by a sound like a gale wind blowing. Is that the wind? someone asked. At that point, Darrin Clark, district financial officer, parted I NEED THIS MOWER FOR MY LAWN Probably not . but with the grass and spring weeds needing mowing every week, a lot of us would like it to keep the chore down to a bare minimum of time and this baby could really do the job. The weather man is calling for more rain for the rest of the week so the grass and weeds will get another dose of water to keep on growing". Above, c ity employee Neil Wilkey keeps the grass neat at the Nephi City Park. spite of the wet weather, visitors still flocked to the Little Sahara Sand Dunes for the Easter holiday In By Myrna Trauntvein Times-New- s Correspondent More than 35,000 visitors the Little Sahara Sand the Easter holiday this flocked to Dunes for the vertical slat blinds and replied that there was no wind. year. Its an earthquake, he said. ' Most of the injuries for the five The building stopped shakdays occurred on Saturday with ing at that point and the boards nine individuals, with serious to brief interval caused by the quak- critical injuries, being taken by ing and creaking of the building medical helicopter to hospitals. came to a halt and business went There were 11 total air meds on as usual. made during the holiday. That was strange, said The record number of visiDurbin. tors started to arrive at sand Fern Wankier, who lives in playground on Wednesday and Levan, was at a ballgame in by Saturday had reached their Nephi. She said she did not notice the quake. The epicenter of Wednesdays quake was nearer Levan and, as a result, it was felt by all residents there. Janet Carter, who lives in Levan and who was home that evening said everyone she has talked to felt the earth shaking. It felt like a tree had fallen, said Carter. I could hear the noise before the shaking started. Things shook off of the walls. Since she thought a tree was falling in her yard, she rushed to a window to look out and see if she eould tell which tree it was. i ! I I At first, I just, didnt think about it being an earthquake, she said. When she went out. her neighbor, Shawn Bryan, was outside. He had been there for the entire time. Others also went outside immediately following the earthquake. Many of the towns 750 residents went to discuss the happenings with neighbor? Levan's Golden Mangelson said he felt the earthquake and so did his wife, Irene. I was out in the field when it struck, said Mangelson. See Quake on tape 2 peak. According to the records of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), this was one of the largest Easter weekends at the Sand Dunes, said Alden Orme, Juab County Sheriff. Considering the number of tourists to the site, said Orme, the weekend was managed so that most visitors were able to enjoy a fun time and family oriented vacation on the sand. As usual, there were visitors camped not just at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes but all through the West Desert at Cherry Creek and Topaz and at other sites. There were also visitors in forests, at Iurraston Ponds and at sites like Cedar Spots, in East Juab County. However, the largest of all the sties w as the popular Easter destination The Little Sahara Sand Dunes. Nevertheless, by Sunday, victors had begun to make the trek home and the numbers continued to dwindle through Monday. The weather controlled the crowd on Thursday and Friday," said Orme. Although there were still people out riding in the wet weather, most people were kept inside their trailers and tents." He said the bulk of his manpower arrived at the site on Thursday. Friday, he said, the crowd finally settled down for the remainder of the night at about 4 a.m. Saturday while on Saturday night, it took one hour longer. It was approximately 5 a.m. when the crow-- settled down on Sunday morning, said Orme. The crowd was active all day Saturday and all Saturday night. Orme said that the reason there were so many injuries on Saturday was that the sun finally came out and dried out the sand. The sand was nice a fluffy on Saturday, said Orme. The campers had been penned in by the bad and were finally able to and out get enjoy the sun." He said those who had been kept inside were finally able to enjoy dry sand with their sand vehicles and were able to rev up their motors and that made it so that there were more injured. In addition to the medical air lifts given to those in serious condition, said Orme, there were a number who were taken to medical care by ground transport. As far as the owners of motor vehicles were concerned, more were in compliance this year than has been the case. There were fewer violations such as unregistered vehicles. We did recover a stolen vehicle that was taken at the Dunes last year, he said. The thief brought it back and we were able to recover it for the onginal owner. Orme said he is appreciative of all the help he and his office received during the Easter holiday. There were between 50 and K) law enforcement officers on site all of the time. h said. The Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division; Utah Highway Patrol officers, an arm of the Public Safety Department; FBI off-roa- d BLM Division of Law Enforcement; BLM employees who man the recreation site; Juab County Search and Rescue; The West Juab Ambulance Association; Juab County Deputies; Nephi Two local men approach Nephi Council with proposal to expand golf course. By Times-New- s Correspondent Two local men would like to help the city expand the golf course from its current nine holes to 18 holes. Bud Philhpson and Merrill Carter, two Nephi natives, said the city needed a bigger course. They told council members that the course could be expanded to cross the road and go up Salt Creek Cans cm along State Hoad 132 on the east of Nephi. I have equipment and Merrill Carter knows golf," said Phillip-son- . One problem would he the water line to the course but, he said, he had the equipment and know-hoto build the line. Philhpson said the scenery was beautiful and the area would make a good course with natural hazards and obstacles which would attract golfers to the site. What we are ready to do this vear," said Brough, is install a 400.000 sprinkler sWem at the course " That would take care of the funds available for this v ear. However, the city council had been considering the idea of expanding the course to If holes I had the opportunity to talk to the mavor of Price," said Brough For about 20 vears they have had course and now they an want to expand that to 36 holes. IH-hol- e - golf course would be a good attrac- - if t a, I Myrna Trauntvein agents; Adult Probation and Larger courses were proving Patrol officer1-- , Utah State De- jM.pular with golfers partment of Corrections officers Philhpson said the community from the prison at Gunnison: two had lot of cafes and motels and canine units from the State Parks could accommodate tourists. The Division of Law- Enforcement; the , City Police; Air Med; Department of Public Safety Dispatch Centers in Richfield and Salt Lake; Motor Vehicles Dispatch in Salt Lake; Juab County Dispatchers; BLM fire crews. - tion and could draw those tourists to tow n. That in turn to bring business to the communitys merchants. Another benefit of the plan, he said, was that the city owned all of the land and would not have to go to the expense of purchasing property in order to expand the course. The high school golf team have won the championship two times, said Carter. It would be nice to qualify to have high school golf competitions in Nephi at the local golf course. However, in order for that to happen, the golf course would need to be expanded to Brough said the property around the big blue water tank also belonged to the city. A golf course addition had been designed for that area, he said. A. Ragland, a golf course designer, was able to plan another nine holes around the blue tank. Mike Jones, council memler w ho ha9 been working on the project, said he obtained a lavout and the golf pro at the course had obtained another. think he has the designs posted at the golf course in the office, said Jones. 1 While he was not a golfer, said Philhpson, Carter was However, he had watched television tournaments and knew that woods, sand traps, and water hazards were big attractions. I would like to see some of those built into the golf course, he said. The two men the couni ll to some th lr thought. pn poal give ed See Golf on page 2 |