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Show A2 Opinion and Commentary: Wednesday, October 8, 2003 PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters from its readers concern5 3 any subject pertinent .to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions as to contents, if not libelous or vindictive and of reasonable length (two typewritten double spaced pages). Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express and bear the writers full name, signature, phone number and address. Letters for the sole purpose of expressing thanks to individuals or groups will not be printed in the forum. 0 Letters may be mailed, faxed at at editorvernal.com. or through The name or names of those submitting 789-869- letters must appear on all published letters. All letters are subject to condensation. Letters express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of the Express Editor. L Assault Deal editor. My daughter was assaulted by a young man while in school on homecoming Friday. It took a few days for her to come to me with the news. I want to take this moment to tell parents lh.it we need to talk to our children about the severity of this. For parents with young ladies; we need to let them know that when they tell a boy no. that means NO. No matter if they feel like they may have done something to initiate it. The moment that they say no, it means just that. ..NO! That means that they DO NOT want to be groped, manhandled, fondled, touched in anyway sexually. For parents with young men; we need to let them know that when a girl tells them no, they should S TOP what they are doing and respect that wish. NO does not really mean yes. There are consequences for those who choose not to listen. We have to make it clear (hat these young girls cun trust someone to help them. It has come to my understanding that this is not the first time this has occurred. There are other young ladies that have been groped, and touched in places they shouldn't. Sme we have a safe school program, but how far does that really go. We as parents have the obligation to make sure that our children are safe and feel like such. My daughter unfortunately felt that she would not be believed and that the embarrassment was too much lor her to handle. She does not feel safe and she was made to Icel like she could not face the rest of her pupils in school; I Teel sad that the other young ladies out thcie aie coping with this by themselves; because they leel embarrassed and untrusting. We need to let these young gills know that they are not the ones that did anything wrong and that the person that should feel the cmbairassment is the offender. Unfortunately more oltcn than not, it is the victim that is left with the cmbairassment and the anger of having to deal with such a violation. Please help to stop unneeded gnef for others by teaching your children no means NO and if it happens to them that they report it to the first adult they ieel they can trust. Maybe by doing so, mote of these assaults will be reported and maybe we the parents can make the schools a little safer for our childien.This in no way should exclude young men that may be assaulted in any way by anyone. All victims should leel like they have someone on they're side. PLHAM. take time out of your busy schedules to talk to your children about this. If you shrug your shoulders and let this pass, it will continue. I also thought that this could not happen to my daughter, but thank God that took the lime out to have a talk with my children about this bcloie it happened. If not, I'm afraid that my daughter may never have told me and she would be lost in this torment by herself. Knowledge truly is power!! JOSIP: HARRISON 1 Vernal Fall tor. Once again this morning of Oct. 3. I smell the smoke. My eyes bum. my nose runs, my throat is sore and my head hurts. My house, my garage, my clothes all reek of smoke. For a full four weeks now, a farmer on 5(X) Fust has been burning in his field. I do not know what he can be burning, that after a month is still going, but nearly every day and every night we try to cope with the smoke he sends our way. We cannot hang out our wash. We oltcn cannot open our windows. I am developing a cough. My neighbor doesn't seem to care. He keeps on burning. I never see him or I would talk to him about it. I just see the Express (ISSN 0892-1091- Published every Wednesday lor $24 per year in shopping area and $36 per year out ol shopping area within state and $39 per year out of Mate within USA by the Vernal Express Publishing Company. 54 North Vernal Avenue. Vernal. Utah 64078 Periodicals postage paid at Vernal. Utah 84078 POSTMASTER Send address changes to VERNAL EXPRESS, PO Box 1000. Vernal Utah 84078 Steven R Wallis Virginia Hamngton Maureen Spencer Marx Oaks Editor and Publisher Guest Writer Feature Writer Feature Writer Pubkc Note .. . Millecam . Jacque Hobbs .Adverting Tom Leverton Tern Black . ... Tasha J Robinson .Advertising Classified Ads Advertising and Layout Circulation .. Phone Website & FAX vernal com editor 6 vernal com NEW DEADLINES Display Advertising Classified Advertising PiOkc Notices f THE-WA5ATC- H Anyone with common sense can see the advantage of safe local shooting facility for law enforcement officers. Several years ago, a group of officers approached Mrs. Larry (Charolette) Zufelt, to obtain permission to use the range that she and her late husband (Larry) had constructed. Permission was received, and with mostly volunteer labor, donations by businesses such Burdick Paving and individual officers, the range was improved to National Rifle Association standards, and proper insurance was purchased. In addition to police agency training, the Utah Peace Officers Association Convention has been held in the area, bringing money to the local economy. In addition, competitions were held, where officers could shoot against other officers, receiving training and improving their proficiency. A proficient officer is a safe officer, both to themselves and to innocent bystanders. Nothing motivates a shooter to improve more than being aced out by some out of town dude or dudette. Women in law enforcement are a fact of life, and they tend to shoot very well! It might inspire some of us to even practice on our own time. (Wait til next time.) Shooting competition is not just work. Some officers even bring their families to competitions, indicating the safety of the operation. Not a single stray bullet has ever escaped the facility since we have taken it over! The range season usually runs from May to September. It open the first of May and May 14 it was closed by Uintah County. The question seems to be: Why have the Uintah County Commissioners decided not to support local law enforcement? It sure isnt the interest of public safety. I must be under the false impression that our elected officials are there to support law enforcement, not to undermine their efforts to maintain and improve their abilities. This is a slap in our faces. CHAD CROSBY DON HASLEM RUSS LEE TIM TRUJILLO Gins Gems Help stamp out breast cancer By Virginia Harrington Express Writer Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States and is not unknown in men. Even when breast cancer patients survive, they suffer pain, mutilareconstructive tion, surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The emotional and financial costs to the patients and to their families are extreme. For the last several years, there has been one easy step each of us can take to help find the causes and a cure for this devastating condition. That step is simply to purchase the breast cancer stamp, which was designed by Lthel Kessler of Bethesda. Md.. instead of normal postage stamps. The hi east cancer stamps cost 45 cents each instead of the usual 37 cents. A sheet ol tegular postage stamps sells lor S7 40. The breast cancer sheet co-only SI. 60 more. The extra eight cents per stamp is used to fund hi east c, nicer research. The bren-cancer stamp does more than raise money for research. Its presence on an elope helps raise awareness ol the disease. It is a reminder to all who see it that breast cancer can strike anyone, including out mothers, our sisters, our daughters, ourselves. Employees at the local post office have conimenied that the breast a r Rexburg teacher writes novel, Vernal Promises Wanted: women age 50-6- 4 for breast cancer check-u- p Breast cancer is a disease of aging. It's that simple. The older a woman gets, the more likely she is to develop breast cancer. Unfortunately, many women either don't know that aging puts them at risk, dont get breast cancer checkups because they don't feel sick, or they can't afford preventive or early detection health care services. October is National Breast Health Awareness Month and TriCounty Health Department is making an all-oeffort in October to get these urgent messages to women ut he worked in sevciul grocery stores and for an oil field equipment sale Man charged passes out, arrested for DU I 1 Man with sex abuse Uintah County Sheriffs deputies arrested a Ballard man for forcible sexual abuse after reported allegations of sexual abuse against a family member of the suspect. The incident occurred at the suspects residence in Uintah County around Sept 2S. The victim reported the abuse to school officials who in turn reported the incident to the Sheriffs Department. Monte Lee Mitchell, 49, was incarcerated in the Uintah County Jail on second degree felony forcible sexual abuse. Mitchell was a registered sex offender in the State of Utah at the time of the incident. Sheriff Rick Hawkins commended the courage of the victim to come foreword and report the abuse. Victims shouldn't have to live in fear of their attackers, he said. 40-6- 4 If you have questions or need more information about of the health services provided by TriCounty Health Department contact Toni Bolton at TriCounty Health Department, Toll Free any I njMMfi1 Jack Harrell Monte Lee Mitchell of devel- Meet income limits (a single woman can make up to $22,450 a year and qualify, a woman with a family of two can make up to $30,300 a year and qualify). Women who do not qualify within the age guidelines for a mammogram may still be eligible for a clinical breast exam and free Pap smear. TriCounty Health Department pays for these services through a grant from Utah Department of Health, which gets federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. are offered Free breast and cervical cancer check-up- s by TriCounty Health Department at the Duchesne, Roosevelt and Vernal clinics in the Uintah Basin area. "The key to reducing breast cancer in women is finding the cancer early," said Paulson. "To do that, a woman should get her cancer check-u- p even if she feels m tWfLV L'vutp hjtuwmiih plains desert was perfect for the kind of spiritual struggle I was trying to portray. Theres something about a fight for faith in the wilderness that reaches back to ancient times and resonates with us still. In 1995, he was hired at Ricks ), where College (now he started working on the novel e again. He completed a draft, threw out 75 percent and started over. The second draft was 300 pages long. He submitted a third draft to the Marilyn Brown Unpublished novel contest and won first prize, $1,000. The novel tells the story of Jacob Dennison and his wife Pa. It begins with Pams miscarriage, an incident that triggers Pams to the LDS church. It carries the couple through their struggle to find financial, spiritual and marital balance. In the course of the novel, Jacob works in a Vemal grocery store, he works for his father selling oil field equipment and he works for a few months in Rock Springs as a rough neck on a workover rig. The novel deals with Mormon characters, its not a story of cheap grace or easy solution. Jacob and Pam face some serious problems in their marriage with Jacobs drug and alcohol abuse, his infidelity and his fight with his merciless perceptions of God. If there is a moral to the story, it is that life is filled with hard questions and simple, or rather simplistic answers just dont work. Harrell has previously published short stories. His work has appeared in Dialoge, Irreantum and Manna. He lives in Rexburg with his wife, Cindy, and their children. 200-pag- company. Lighteen months after joining the LDS C'huixh, he left for a mission to Chailotte. N C. Even though the people in my ward barely knew me. they paid the majority of my mission expenses, he said. To this day still don't know who the people were who those contributions. Three months after his mission he married Cindy Hunaker, a first grade teacher at Maescr Elementary. In 1992. in a creative writing class at Brigham Young University, I got the idea for a novel about a troubled young man living in Vernal, Utah. he said. As 1 continthe book. 1 realized ued to work that Vernals small town setting and the natural environment of the high 50-6- 4: oping breast cancer. Get a breast cancer check-u- p before you feel sick. A woman has a very good chance for successful treatment if cancer is found early. TriCounty Health Department offers breast cancer check-up- s and free mammograms for women who meet income and age requirements. "All women should know about breast cancer, but most especially important for women over the age of 50 to have a mammogram and a breast check-u- p by a qualified health professional every year," said registered nurse Rae Paulson. TriCounty Health Department provides free breast and cervical cancer screening to cancer check-up- s include a breast women who qualify. The check-up- s examination and Pap smear by a health professional and a voucher for a free mammogram. A mammogram is an of the breast that can find lumps too small to feel. To qualify for the free breast cancer check-u- p and mammogram voucher, a woman must: cancer stamp has not sold well in the Vernal area in spite of a large and colorful poster advertising the stamp. That poster hangs next to the counter. Take a look at that poster the next time you are standing in line at the post office. Perhaps it will encourage you to spend that extra eight cents for the postage stamp you are about to buy. At the very least, the poster may remind women in the area to have regular checkups for signs of breast cancer. It may remind men to encourage the women in their lives to do the same. The current treatment is long and difficult, butjitjust might save the life of a woman you ' ' " J love. BYU-Idaho- In February of 1981, Jack Harrell, moved to Vernal from Illinois following his brother who moved West to work in the oil business. His years in Vernal had a lasting effect on him and is the basis for Vernal his book, Promises released Sept. 15 by Signature Books. The unpublished manuscript received the Marilyn Brown Novel in the from 2000 Award Association of Mormon Letters. While Harrell has lived in Vemal, 1 qumnuwn IT'S FROK healthy. Monday 12 noon Monday 2 pm. Monday 2 pm. Monday 2 pan. K' i ticing. Be age ) COME Dear Editor, Where can local police officers go to safely practice with their firearms, in order to remain proficient, and fulfill the qualification requirements of their respective agencies? In the Uintah Basin, it just became more difficult, since the Uintah County Commission closed the Zufelt Range in Ballard this May. One commissioners response was, You can go to Grand Junction or Sandy, cant you? Why should officers have to? It would take time spent, doing what we are hired for, or better yet, actually prac- the older you get, the greater your chances Dear HERE THEY Zufelt Range? age Smell of smoke Courtney smoke rising from the field as I drive by each morning and evening. The smell and smoke fill the entire neighborhood. If I could speak to him, I would ask him is it really necessary to bum now? Can he not wait until winter, when our windows are closed? Must he continue to let the fire bum day after day and night after night without let up for a whole month? Why are you not out there supervising the bum? Dont you care about being a good neighbor? When the wind came up last Wednesday, I was fearful that the fire would spread to some of our homes. Would you please stop burning? STEPHEN BORTON High Country Subdivision Sept. 30 Uintah County Sheriffs deputies arrested a Uintah County resident for felony driving under the influence (DUD and related weapons charges. Deputies responded to a report of a man passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle with a firearm in the Hayden area in west Uintah County. Deputy Troy Slntigh responded and located the man. From the observations of the complainant and the deputy, it was apparent that the man was intoxicated and had physical control of the vehicle. The man was ai rested for DU1 and based on upon further prior DU1 conv ictions. the arrest was classified a felony Kelly Roger OJiiscoll. 40. was incarcerated in the l intah County Jail for third degree lelony DUI and possession of a firearm while invc-ngati- Kelly Roger Odriscoll POOR |