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Show y 4 w y-- ' 0 4,h.m iir'r,ryr-i,irf"-igifgtiar'r,f,,,,i'JlW- w11? l'i,ll ,l Visit us on the World Wide Web http.www ecprogress.com Erneru County SU. 6',llax:iun.D S8Z- Home Grown News Since 1900 Tliesday, April 9, 2002 Crowd gathers for - MnDDsitie By PATSY STODDARD Editor Ferron City Hall was the site of a public hearing on April 3 to discuss the proposed Millsite State Park closure. Members of the Utah State Parks Board and state parks officials were in attendance to talk about the issue. The room was filled to capacity with many people standing around the room and into the foyer area. Ferron Mayor Garth Larsen opened the meeting by saying, I hope that we will respect each others opinions and right to speak. would like to introduce the director of state parks, Courtland Nelson, Tim Smith, Southeast Division 1 Photo by Patsy Stoddard on the capacity crowd fills Ferron City Hall for a public hearing closure. Park Millsite State posed A pro- Volume 102 Castle Dale, Utah manager; Steve Ogilvie, financial man- meeting Number SOt 15 inside j Drew Sitterud and Commission Chairman, Kandy Johnson, Mayors' Jackie Wilson from Huntington and Glen Johnson from Green River. Members of the state board are Scott Truman, Bill Hedden, Jeff Hacker and Ron Tay- D park manager. Courtland Nelson said, appreciate coming here tonight to discuss whats happened. We will have a power point presentation by Steve and discuss the financial situation. About three or four years ago the state legislature made a request for us to rank all parks. alThey did this for two reasons, we to the to add have things requests ways state parks system and if we had an assigned process in place we could walk away from parks. They were Softball Battles n lor, 1 ager and Brad Johnson, our state representative, Commissioners Ira Hatch, Continued on PAGE 2A. Lady Spartans off to a good season 5A. BRIEFLY Lands council plans meeting on monument Water issues A public information meeting on the San Rafael Swell National Monument Concept will be held on April 1 1 at 7 p.m. in the Mu- seum of the San Rafael in Castle Dale. This meetingwill focus on debated grazing issues. Garfield include Speakers Dell Commissioner County Conservancy district discusses water worries during meeting Monument By PATSY STODDARD the area was designated a National Monument. Mr. Ivory will speak on the BLM Rangeland Health Standards and Guide- lines. As in previous Monument meetings, public comments will be taken. The meeting is spoil- sored by the Emery County Pub- LeFevre and BLM Range Specialist Karl Ivory. Mr. LeFevre will speak on his experiences as a grazing permittee in the Grand Staircase, both before and after Editor The Emery Water Conservancy District met in their regularly scheduled ofmeeting on April 1 at the district fice. Board members present were: Chairman Eugene Johansen, Lee McElprang, Kay Jensen, Morris Sorensen, Tracy Behling and Jay Mark Humphrey, manager and secretary. Also present was Wayne Pullan from the Bureau of Reclamation and Greg Farm Bureau and the Emery County Economic Development Council. FSA program Coal truck traffic through Ferron City run dowm of revenues and expenses. The results of our audit procedures disclosed no instances of noncompliance with the requirements referred to above. In our opinion, the district complied, in all material respects, with the idengeneral compliance requirements Dec. 31, 2001, tified for the year ended said Marsing. The next item on the agenda was the approval of the previous meeting minutes. Johansen read the minutes to the board and a motion for their approval was made by McElprang and seconded by Behling. The board meetings for 2002 will be on May 20 at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. The next item of business was the election of officers. Present officers . as McElprang-vic- e Johansen-chairma- n, chairman, Humphrey-manager-secreta- and ry Nick Sampinos as attorney. It was recommended by Jensen that they put in the same officers as last year. A motion was made, seconded and carried that the officers w'ould remain the same. ' The w'ater report was next on the agenda. Humphrey reported due to the warm weather this past week there has been a 2 percent loss of snow pack. He said that due to the dry fall they estimate a 25 percent loss of runoff to the dry ground. Joes Valley Reservoir currently is storing 37,880 acre feet of water. Last year at this time it held, 44,290. Joes Valley is currently releasing 3 C.FS. of primary water and 19 C.F.S. for project water. Huntington North Reservoir is currently storing 4,070 acre feet of water. Last year at this time it was storing 5,420 acre feet. It is currently not releasing any project water. The board decision on allocation from Joes Valley Reservoir for 2002 was to go with 100 percent allocation. Johansen said they lost every round with the w ater legislation at the legislature this year. They were unsuccessful in getting the language changed in Which would give water shareholders the right to refuse a change of SB-3- j lic Lands Council, Emery County Marsing. The first item on the agenda was the financial audit report for the year 2001. This report was presented by Marsing, certified public accountant for Smuin, Rich, & Marsing of Price. Marsing discussed the report with a page by page stand j 7. Continued on PAGE 4A. has become a source of concern for many residents. Through Editor the Ferron City Hall on April 3 a public hearing was held to discuss the speed limits through Ferron City. At the request of Fferron City the Division of Traffic and Safety has conducted a speed study on 0 RP25.0 to RP 28.32 in Ferron. Ferron Mayor Garth Larsen said, We have received a lot of complaints about speeding in Ferron, both on the south end and on the north end of town. We would like to see the speed limits lowered, Kleston Laws from the Utah Department of Transportation will speak to us on how and w hat the process needs to be to make that happen. Laws explained how speed limits are set in the state of Utah. Laws said, Speed limits are set by a number of things including: At SR-1- design speed, vehicle speed, number of accidents, road surface and shoulder conditions, grade, curvature, sight distance, roadside development- - parking, drivew'ays. Engineering studies to determine the proper speed limit therefore include actual measurements of the prevailing 85 percentile speed. The speed limit is set by the rate of speed 85 percent of the vehicles are going. We did the speed test in Ferron twro w'eeks ago. Most of the drivers are reasonable and prudent and dont go faster than the posted limits. We did find one section that could be changed from 55 to 45 at mile marker 25 to Scotts RV Storage. Studies show that lowering the speed limits does not automatically decrease speed and increase safety. was at this point in the meeting that Ferron citizens and Sheriff Lamar Guymon told Laws his study was flawed. They pointed out a number of reasons, including the people conducting the speed study were in a white van and a w hite car which automatically led to reduced speeds and also the fact the survey was done in the morning and afternoon. The coal trucks passing through Ferron do not start running until the evening hours. Mayor Larsen wondered if as a city Ferron could propose a speed limit. Law's said it is a state law that UDOT set speed limits. In some cases ordinances set speeds on local city streets, but most limits are set by the 85th percentile and he was not aware of any ordinance to change it. Mayor Larsen asked who they could talk to. Rep. Brad Johnson said a good place to start would be with the transportation commission. He mentioned that Bevan Wilson from Huntington is a member of that commission. Laws pointed out before a change could be made there would have to be a comment period, consultation with It The Farm Service Agency andeadlines for nounces sign-u- p the 2002 Noninsured Assistance Program. The 2002 water year is shaping up to be a dry one in Emery and Carbon Counties. The FSA office in Castle Dale is currently taking applications for the 2002 NAP program. Producers must complete application for this program by the April 8, dead- line in order to qualify. The NAP covers crops that cannot be insured through Federal Crop Insurance. Examples 1 Ferron residents gather for a public hearing to discuss concerns over lowering the speed limits in the city By PATSY STODDARD deadline nears the county sheriff and highway patrol. State law allows UDOT to establish a new prima facie speed for specific locations on state highways., when it is based on an engineering and traffic investigation. The comment period from the citizens was next with Roy Edgell speaking, he said, have had 24 kids in foster care and Im conerned about their safety. Coal trucks come by and shake the house. The other day my son was almost hit by a coal truck. 1 have been in an accident with a coal truck. 1 think the speed limit is too high and the study was bogus. They need to hide in the bushes with the radar gun and stay all night. One citizen wondered why all the cities have speed limits of 35 m.p.h. the whole length of their city limits but Ferron. Why should we have to put up with excessive speeds? Mayor Larsen said they would draft a letter as a city council to the governor to find out why the city has no jurisdiction on a road going through their town. Rep. Johnson volunteered to research what rights the city has and what they do not have. He will report this information to the city. One citizen was concerned about trucks she has seen racing 1 Continued on PAGE 3A. of these crops are, alfalfa, BLM permits, canta- - apples, loupe, Forest Service permits, honey, irrigated pasture, im-- j proved range ground, mixed for-- 1 age, private range ground, peaches, pears, and watermelon. In order to make application there is a SI 00 fee per crop not to exceed S300 per county. All producers in Emery and Carbon counties that anticipate losses in excess of 50 percent of normal production are encouraged to come to the office and sign up at this time. If vou have questions call 435-3- 8 J MEETINGS Orangeville City The Orangeville City Council at 7 p.m. in the will meet April 1 1 Orangeville City Hall. County Commissioners The Emery County Commissioners will meet April Hi at 9 u.m. in the Commission Chambers of the Emeiy County Courthouse. Emery Town The Emery Town Council will meet April Hi at (i p.m. at the Emery Town Hall. Cleveland Town The Cleveland Town Council will meet April Hi at (i p.m. at the Cleveland Town Hall. |