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Show UT CE -- PKKSCET 83 C 307 SLC, V; ASSOCIATION PRESS UTAH 200 S UT B4101 W winners Page B8 FBLA Medical lab bOUb personnel See page A12 Seven day forecast See page A5 Single Copy 50 $ Wednesday, April 23, 2003 Vernal, Utah 84078 111th Year No. 17 20 Pages Hospital construction to begin next month ' has Construction announced it will begin the construction phase of the expansion and remodel at Ashley Valley Medical Center at the end of May. Work is expected to last 25 months with completion expected in June 2005. The project will involve a building addition totaling 25,000 square feet which will include emergency PACUpre-op- , ICU, services, endoscopy and an additional OR. The project will also require the relocation of 200 West and subsequent relocation of the facilitys helipad. The renovation area totals 20,000 square feet and includes radiology and imaging, central sterile, labor and delivery, and nursery. Our challenge will be to ensure public access and to phase the renovation and expansion in such a way that we accommodate staff needs as well, said Mike Phillips, vice President, "We hope to keep inconveniences to the public and staff at a minimum during the construction perihas renovated and od. Big-expanded many healthcare facilities in the Utah market, including Express online: www.vernal.com Mii dloirem o Big-- D 0 By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor -- a v ( r ; j I post-partu- m An memorandum signed earlier this month concerning public road landmark is being hailed as a Mike Governor by agreement Leavitt and as a step in the right Uintah direction by County Commissioners. It is believed to be a start in resolving a three decade legal struggle over Revised Statute 2477 roads. Commissioners are not as optimistic about the agreement as state federal and agencies. Commissioners believe that the agreement falls short in it directives. In some cases statements in the said are politics, agreement Mike Commissioner McKee, Uintah County. y The acknowledgement does not apply to environmentally sensitive areas such as national parks, refuges and wilderness areas. The agreement was announced during a signing ceremony with Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton and Gov. Leavitt. We listened and applied a practical approach to decision-makinNorton said. Its lime to move forward and, by working collabora-tivel- y with the state of Utah, we are issue able to resolve a that may otherwise have lead to costly and lengthy litigation. This settlement secures the states transportation system, honors the property rights of local governments and preserves Utahs most scenic landscapes, important Leavitt said. The agreement defines what constitutes a road: existed before 1976 and be traveled by a car or truck. Where the agreement is evasive is in defining the width of a road. In Uintah County there are about 4,000 miles of Class B roads which are maintained by the county. What the agreement does not do is define the width of a road which should be enough to maintain it, said Commissioner Dave Haslem. If a road currently disturbs the ground to a width of 20 feet, the Interior Department will acknowledge that width. If the road is currently a gravel road, it will acknowledge it as a gravel road. It provides no way to make improvement or upgrade a road, Haslem said. In one paragraph, the signed document recognizes that a wider width is required for maintenance, but in the next sentence to denies it: Therefore, the scope of a road that the Department disclaims should include a sufficient width to rights-of-wa- D See Construction on page A3 SUPPORT OUR TROOPS Photo by Loran Webb Officer Chad Watts, Vernal City Police, gives 400 North. a helping hand to two youngsters who are out for a walk on g, IP Darners pirepaire ffor tierrorSsm By Maureen Spencer Express Writer emergency managers and emergency planning personnel are attending a Terrorism Planning Course this week in Vernal designed to help them develop coordinated responses to a terrorist incident. terrorism planning The three-da- y course is sponsored by the Utah of Public Safety Department Division of Emergency Services and Homeland Security. ty This course is designed to assist state and local emergency managers and emergency planning personnel incident terrorism to develop appendices. By making more officials and professionals capable of planning for and managing the response to a terrorist incident, jurisdictions will be more self sufficient. Providing such training will increase options at the local level and will result in greater readiness for population protection and higher quality management of the response. The goal of the course is to equip County-Vern- al Week, April City Clean-U- p 26 to May 3, ask for the help of everyone in the county. Residents can do your part by volunteering as an individual, family, business, or organization to help cleanup the area in and around our Call either Heather community. 2 with Uintah County at Hoyt or Jerry Kenczka with the Bureau of Land Management at 0 to report a public land or to be registered as a dumpsite volunteer. Registered volunteers are invited to attend a thank you barbecue planned for Saturday, May 3. Prizes will be awarded at the barbecue for the most trash collected in both adult and youth divisions. There is also a prize for the most unique or interesting find of the Last year a dresser full of day. mens rather nice clothing was found during the cleanup What would possess someone to throw these clothes away? Maybe this year there will be another interesting find. Prizes have been donated by Kmart Stores, Burger King, Nikis Stockmans Restaurant, Restaurant & Steakhouse, Vernal Theatre, and Circle R Party. A special thank you goes out to these businesses for their contributions. The Uintah County Landfill will be open free of charge from 26, through Saturday, April Saturday, May 3 (closed on Sunday, April 27). The hours during the Uintah County Clean-u- p are from 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. Reminder Limit of four tires per load 781-548- 781-444- COPY tions receiving planning grants FEMA to long-disput- terrorism meet their requirements Jodi Horn of the Utah Division of Emergency Services and Homeland Security pointed out that although this intensive planning training is scheduled for Eastern Utah jurisdictions, several representatives will be coming into the area from other portions of the state. Vernals class is the final of four state regional training sessions held this spring. request help with cleanup County-Cit- y Supporters of the Uintah government officials and emergency management staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to plan for and respond to a terrorist incident. This weeks course is reserved specifically for those on the Planning Team directly responsible for developing and revising a community plan. Participants were strongly encouraged to attend together as a jurisdictional planning team to gain the most benefit from the training. Target audience for this course is state and local emergency planning personnel, and should help jurisdic Batteries must be separated Refrigerators must be separated from the load and will have a $15 Freon evacuation fee. Landfill questions can be directed to Shawn Labrum, Uintah County Landfill Administrator at Vernal City will be conducting their annual curbside pickup on Saturday, May 3. For additional information call Russ Pearson at 789-601- 789-225- 8. 5. Naples City will conduct its annupickup on Saturday, May 21. For additional information, call Craig Blunt at Illegal dumping within the county continues to be a concern to Uintah County and the land management agencies. During this past year, a number of citations were issued by the agencies. The result can be fines and hours of public service. Public Land User Education is the key, says Law Enforcement Officer Wayne Stevens of the BLM. Illegal dumping prevention and education on private and public lands is d achieved by a of approach signage, public contact and unfortunately sometimes by law enforcement. It is our goal to achieve the elimination of illegal dumping by education and public land user responsibility," said Stevens. A trip to the landfill is less expensive than a citation and I am sure folks would rather spend their time doing public service for another reason, says Stevens. The landfill does take yard waste, but another suggestion is to mulch the clippings and cuttings and work al curbside 789-909- 0. them back into the soil. Another idea is to make a compost pile. Much of what is taken to the landfills can be recycled back into the earth. Recycle bins throughout the area hold newspaper, schooloffice paper and aluminum. Cardboard can be recycled by calling the at Remember: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! The Uintah County Clean-u- p is sponsored again this year by Uintah County and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in partnership with Vernal City, Naples City, State and Institutional Trust Lands, USDA-For- est Service, National w 781-312- 3. Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Division of Wildlife Service, Resources, Dinosaurland RC&D, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Roosevelt City is also hosting a city wide spring cleanup campaign April 28 through May 12. Garbage collection will take place a no cost to city residents. For everyone living north of Lagoons Street, the pickup up days will be Monday April 28 to Monday May 5. For those living south of Lagoon Street, collection day will be Tuesday, May 6, to Monday, May 12. multi-pronge- Federal, state and county officials join together to support this years Uintah County Clean-u- p Week. allow the State or county to maintain the character, usage and travel safety of the road existing at the date of this MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). For purposes of the Acknowledgement Process only, the width of the road asserted and the width of the road disclaimed shall not exceed the width of ground disturbance that currently exists for the road at the date of this MOU. During the MOU, a road cannot be substantially changed beyond the scope of routine maintenance by expansion or relocation without the review additional by Department, and this allow counties to maintain the character, usage and travel safety of the road existing at the date of the agreement. Federal, state and local land managers and environmental advocacy organizations have demonstrated a desire to put disputes surround S.R. 2477 to rest and move towards an approach to land management that emphasizes cooperation, the MOU between the Department of Interior and the State of Utah is an approach to resolving the issue. Uintah County Commissioners point out that that MOU applies mainly to undisputed R.S. 2477 in other counties. We will want to claim most of the Class B roads in the county under 2477, McKee said. Uintah County has documented the roads it is claiming under the R.S. 2477 law and has joined with other counties in Utah in a lawsuit. For now the lawsuit will be set aside to determine if there are certain roads counties and the Interior can of Department agree upon. R.S. 2477 was enacted as part of the Mining Law of 1866, during a time when the federal governments focus was on encouraging settlement and development of the West. Congress passed R.S. 2477 to ensure miners routes to their claims and cattlemen trails for their herds over any by granting rights-of-wa- y federal land not otherw ise set aside. Although Congress repealed the statute in 1976 with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, it did not terminate rights-o- f way in existence at the time. As part of the new law in 1976, Congress recognized all valid existas ing claims to these rights-of-wa- y of that date. |