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Show OT CI -- PISSCIT 82 C 307 SLC, ASSOCIATION PRESS UTAH VI UT 5005 200 84101 S Wednesday Seven day forecast See i wed. nightN Thursday RairVsnov A9 Showers. Commission meets In new location. See page B1 fa Landscaping for less water use. See page 88 -- Vf kCbX, . Single Copy 50$ Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Vernal, Utah 84078 1 1 1th Year No. 13 20 Pages Express online: www.vernal.com wmmmammmmmmim m m iwriiwmw1 rum i no sipsarCss nirDipMfi Ever since its opening in June 1945 at 825 South 500 East, the Vernal CityUintah County Airport has been the subject of debate. disease pathogens Whirling have been found in Colorado River cutthroat trout and brook trout taken from the Burnt Fork River on the northeastern slope of the Uinta Mountains, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR). We have confirmed that the whirling disease parasite is in the said Kirk Burnt Fork River, Mullins, UDWR biologist. We had plans to use the native Colorado River cutthroat trout from Burnt Fork as a source of eggs. To do that, we needed to have the source certified as disease-free so on December 17th we sampled fish and sent them into the diagnostic lab in Logan. Instead of good news, the lab reported the fish were diseased and asked for more samples to verify their findings. We collected more samples on February 25, 2003, Mullins said. Due to the weather and snowfall, we had to collect fish from just inside the UtahWyoming border. The heads were submitted to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Lab for histopathological test- re Denver. Previously, McKee said he was the toward favoring leaning Sunshine Bench location, currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management. In fact, the Uintah County Commission recently announced it supported the Sunshine Bench location and had given approval to d property. apply for the The existing airport site, part of which is located within the municipal limits of Naples City and the remainder in unincorporated Uintah County, includes a main runway, a crosswind (auxiliary) runway, and one parallel taxiway. The airport. BLM-owne- 6,200-foot-lo- 4,109-foot-lo- airport can expand to provide better service. 75 percent of which is owned by Uintah County and 25 percent by Vernal City, also includes an airport tentrinaT. building constructed in 1986. It also features two fixed-base- d respectively hangars operator owned by Dinaland Aviation and Vernal Aviation, along with two hangars owned by Hatch River Expeditions, and one hangar owned by private citizen Roger Beckstead. While the existing airport site is classified by the FAA as a "B-2- " small commercial service airport. Vernal City Councilman Allan Mashbum, also serving on the CityCounty Airport Board, said a federal "C-- 2 classification is needed because of the increasing number of larger jets now landing at the airport. Lakes Air, the current Vernal carrier, uses a Beech 1900 aircraft, a plane, Which provides., adequate service and falls within the "B" classification. Mashbum said airport officials have three choices: extend the existing airport runway, move to a new location, or not allow larger planes to land at the existing airport because of liability concerns. Mashbum said it would cost $17 million to extend the existing runway to 7,700 feet, purchase needed adjacent property and make other airport improvements, while the cost to build a new airport at McCoy Flat was estimated at $21 million and $16 million for the Sunshine Bench location. Those figures are based on a study by citycounty airport consul Great tants GDA of Cody, Wyo. If the airport was relocated to another location, Mashbum said the ' FAA wpuld only provide 20 to 23 percent of the funding costs. A number of Vernal residents said if FAA plans to pay 9 1 percent of the costs of improvements to the existing airport, they favored leaving it at that location to save on taxpayer expense. National Monument Dinosaur Chas Cartwright Superintendent expressed concern that increased noise levels could occur if the Bench location was Sunshine since that site is less than selected, three miles from the monument's closest boundary. "We are one of the quietest parks in the National Park Service," Cartwright said. "We'd like to keep it that way. But we understand how Public can help slow West Nile virus The experts agree, West Nile Virus can devastate Eastern Utahs horse population if preventive measures arent taken immediately by both hone owners and the general public, If everyone watches out for anything that will hold standing water which provides a breeding place for the mosquito, and farmers avoid letting flood irrigation stand for 4 days, we can seriously slow the spread of this disease, urged Dr. Stephen Romney, director of the Uintah County Mosquito Abatement District, at a public educational seminar last week at the Western j 3-- Park. Romneys views were echoed by veterinarians, Dr. Doug Murphy and Dr. Sheilah Beckstead, whose words of warning were equally as bleak for the horse population. According to the trio, anything cans in a that holds water-em- pty s, area, wading pools, garbage decorative yard accents that collect water during lawn sprinkling every possible water container must be eliminated or emptied regularly. Constant public awaredifferness will make ences. For the highly susceptible horses a recently approved vaccine has been tested with 95 percent success. Among the control group not receiving the vaccination, 82 percent developed the killer virus. The vaccine is available from local veterinarians, but must be given now to allow the proper boosters and passage of time to develop immunity before the carrier mosquitoes breed and begin passing the disease. Vemal bird-bath- life-savi- R COPY Murphy urged vaccination. Even though owners discover their valuable horse has been infected and provides thousands of dollars worth of care for the animal, and the animal actually survives, permanent nerve damage has been done, and the animal will never be normal again. While humans are at risk from the virus, the chances are remote that a person would even be aware that they had been infected by a bite from the carrier mosquito, Culex tarsalis. Very few humans would register flu-lisymptoms, and even fewer would develop the life threatening encephalitis. Horses face a much deadlier reality. Dr. Murphy conducted an immu- nization clinic at the Western Park Saturday and encouraged horse owners attending the state Team Penning Association competitions. Murphy reported that about 30 Board hears Harrington Express Writer During the March 20 meeting of the Board of Education for the Uintah School District, 23 individuals expressed their opinions on the controversial neighborhood schools issue. Board president. Tod Tesar kept to a tight schedule and allowed all speakers only two minutes each to present their views plus time to answer questions from board members. Two moderate outbursts were quickly silenced by Tesar and most of the 103 people who attended the meeting in the Vemal Middle School auditorium, listened respectively to all sides of the issue. Of those presenting their views, the issue was evenly divided between parents and teachers. Every teacher who addressed the board was in favor of leaving the schools as they are now and every parent, with the exception of one father, expressed the need and desire to return to neighborhood schools. Most of the parents cited long bus rides and a separation of siblings as the main reasons for returning to neighborhood schools. Other reasons expressed were the inconvenience of having several children all in different schools, the treatment of younger children by junior and high school students on the bus and the high number of students that have been moved out of the school system and into home schools or private schooling because of the current configuration. The teachers cited class size as the main reason for maintaining the current configuration. Other reasons expressed included sharing of materials and ideas, a highly important a local airport is to the Vernal area and we prefer that they upgrade the existing airport or look at the McCoy site, nine miles south of Vernal." However, Cartwright said if local officials choose the Sunshine Bench area. Park Service officials would still work with the community to make sure we come out with a good outcome. Bill Johnson, Vernal CityUintah economic development County director, said while the FAA has decided not to fully fund either the McCoy or Sunshine sites, he said the Sunshine Bench site should still be seriously considered. "Fact's not throw out the Sunshine Bench site, even if it costs us $5 million more, maybe we can find it (funds) somewhere else," he said. See Airport on A2 sBdes sdhiooDs focused media center, the length of time it takes to completely make a change in the configuration, and cost effectiveness. One teacher countered the busing argument by reminding parents that some students must ride the bus even with a neighborhood school configuration. Susan Talley, an educational psychologist and faculty member of Utah State University, said the younger children experience a lack of socialization with older children under the current configuration. Children must have learning experiences with older children and adults for proper socialization. The one dissenting father said he prefers the current configuration because many of the things young children learn from older students are inappropriate and undesirable. See Schools on page All This finding of whirling disease is the first confirmed identification of the parasite, Myxobolus cerebralis, in this region of the state, said Dr. Chris Wilson. Biologists in Wyoming have also been notified of this finding since the waters drain into that state. Now that weve found it, we will be changing our work plans to do more sampling in this area to determine its distribution, Mullins said. We have some concerns since there is a major system of canals that collects water from several stream systems in this area. Wc confirmed it in one small stretch of the stream. We dont know where this infes- - See Whirling on page A7 IM H,"l- - iviiihtm UDOT chart compares to new capacity of highway project and the growth of vehicle miles traveled. UDOT explains local road repairs An animated Chamber quickly provided a list of Vemal highway problem areas to Utah Department of Transportation representatives Tuesday. Within a few minutes the high school traffic patterns, 100 South and Highway 40 intersection, 500 South and Highway 40 intersection, and the entire west side business access section of Highway 40 had been identified as high accident and congestion areas. Spring-summ2003 bridge projects were also announced. Causing concern for oil field equipment and transportation was the Ouray bridge work scheduled to begin in May. The bridge will be closed for 11 days and all vehicles will be detoured through Vemal to access the oil fields and surrounding er ! mm ing. lit M horse owners had their animals vaccinated. Since December, Murphy has sold over 1 ,000 vaccinations for use on area horses. The concerned veterinarian continued his earlier educational seminar sentiments that animals need to be inoculated now to allow time for the animals to have their booster before the deadly disease is being transmitted by the newly hatched carrier mosquitoes. Ibotilhi off neiiglhilborihiood By Virginia disease found in Uintas By Loren Webb Vernal Express correspondent During public hearings last Thursday and Friday in Naples and Vernal City respectively, citizens again expressed their views on three major options for the airport's future: leave the airport at its present location, build a new airport at Sunshine Bench, east of Vernal, or build a regional airport at McCoy Flat, west of Vernal. At Friday's hearing in the Vernal City Council Chambers, most of the nearly 50 persons attending, airsupported leaving the 250-acport at its present location. A final decision by the Uintah County Commission, on the airport options, is expected by the end of April. Uintah County Commissioner Mike McKee said he now favors leaving the airport at its present location since the Federal Aviation Administration will fund nearly 91 percent of the eligible costs of any upgrades. The remainder of the funding costs would be evenly split between the state of Utah (4.53 percent) and Vernal CityUintah County (4.53 percent), McKee said he learned of the FAA's decision after he and Manager Airport CityCounty Thom Wardell met March 12 with FAA' official Craig Sparks in Whirling area. Concern was expressed for the many additional hours this would take trucks and equipment, and the impact of the heavy traffic through Vemal city. The Starvation and Jensen bridges should have work beginning in June. Traffic will be restricted to one lane and the project should take two months to complete. Antelope Creek bridge will probably have work start in late 2003 and take four to six months to complete. Traffic will be restricted to one lane on this span, also. Elden Bingham and Matt Swapp represented UDOT at the meeting, presenting an educational outline of the various steps and time frames that road work must follow. Bingham explained the initial See Repairs on page A1 2 |