OCR Text |
Show 12A Emery County Progress Castle Dale, Utah Tuesday February 20, 2001 Gas prices drop, but cheap ride may be ending soon Utah continues to benefit from declining prices at the gas pump, but the high cost of crude oil may' mean the end of the ride for lower gas prices, according to AAAs latest gas survey. The average price for a gallon of e gas in regular unleaded Utah is $1.4 1, down one cent, and it is the fourth straight month of decreasing gas prices. Todays AAA survey shows Utah gas prices are 23 cents lower than the $1.64 high set last October and the lowest since last Februarys self-serv- trips, shopping for the best price, and using commute alternatives." Provo has the states lowest gas, at $1.30, down 8 cents since January, followed by Ogden, $1.32, down cent. Moab has the highest gas price in Utah, at $1.50, down 12 1 cents; followed by St. George, $1.48, down 5 cents; and Salt Lake City, 3 $1.39, up 2 cents. Hawaii, at $1.98, has the highest statewide gas price in the United States, according to the AAA gas survey, followed by Alaska, $1.70; and California and Nevada, at $1.65 each. The states with the lowest regular unleaded gas in the country are Georgia at $1.37, and South Carolina and New Jersey, both at $1.40. The U.S. average for regular unleaded is $1.49, up 2 cents in the last month, and up 12 cents since last February Quicker loan assistance available through FSA Margaret Swasey and Dick Manus, field manager of the Price BLM at Copper Globe, the site 999s National Public Lands Day. The plaque was designed by Lee and Margaret Swasey. of $1.33," said AAA Utah spokeswoman, Rolayne Fairclough. We are starting to see a slowdown in the rate of decline in gas prices. AAA continues to urge Utah motorists to conserve fuel by planhing I Farm Service Agency acting administrator James Little today announced that GSA has reduced the paperwork required for farmers to receive farm operating loans from 1 Hammer Award USDA. Margaret Swasey and the Recreation Subcommittee of the Emery County Public Lands Council recently were honored with the Hammer Award for the work accomplished at Copper Globe for National Public Lands Day in 1999. The award recognizes the efforts taken to care for public lands. Involvement in National Public Lands Day has grown from three sites and 700 volunteers in 1994 to nine agencies, 277 sites and nearly 4,500 volunteers last year. Producers who need to borrow $50,000 or less and those who have a record of borrowing from and repaying FSA on annual operating loans will benefit from the new procedures. This brings us closer to private sector lender practices, said Little. Until now, a producer in need of FSA assistance submitted the same amount of information, whether the proposed loan was for $2,000 to $200,000. We need to focus more on the larger more complex cases constitute the highest risk to the government and make it easier for smaller producers to access FSA loans. The changes in documentation requirements will reduce the time for loan officials to review application information and make the nec w hich essary determinations. Require- ments that are repetitive or are not essential for a sound credit decision in light of the financial risk involved are being dropped. Decreasing die time required for FSA employees to reach both eligibility and feasibility determinations on smaller, low er risk loans allowg more time to concentrate on larger, higher risk loan applicants. Fbr more information contact the Farm Service Agency at Work place intervention: A good place to start Imagine a chronic health condition that makes employees: More likely to steal from their employer. More likely to be involved in workplace accidents. Twice as likely to have unexcused work absences. Twice as likely to ask for early dismissal from work. Three times more likely to report for work late. Five times more likely to file a workers compensation claim. Given these costs, employers would be foolish not to intervene and initiate treatment for this condition. You dont have to imagine such a condition. It already exists in the form of addiction to alcohol and other drugs. And its rampant in the cial job tasks safely. Addiction American workplace. employers often hesitate to take action when addiction impairs employee performance and creates workplace hazards. iesitant to intrude on their employees private lives, supervisors and managers naturally resist the need to confront the problem until action becomes unavoidable, writes Janies Fearing, author of a 1 taking carefully planned steps to guide an addicted employee into treatment often works. Hazelden book, Workplace Intervention: The Bottom Line on Help- Fearing reports that employees who receive treatment for addiction can experience sharp decreases in ing Addicted EmployeesBecome Productive Again. This delay costs too much. Contrary to popular beliefs, most addicts are actively employed, and they bring their addictions to work. Employees wrho are hung over or high at work cannot operate machinery, drive, or perform other cru absenteeism, injuries and problems with supervisors. Fearing explains five steps to conducting an effective workplace intervention: 1. Select a professional interventionist. Find an experienced person from outside the organization who can facilitate the process. Bour Digital Blowout Sale verlzsB ONLY $40.00 PER MONTH Authorized Agent FREE DIGITAL PHONE FREE NATIONWIDE LONG DISTANCE FREE ROAMING WESTERN U.S. - FREE 2. Organize the intervention. Plan for a group of people to meet with the employee and present that person with specific, documented consequences of his or her addiction. This group of people is the intervention team. Also make preparations for the employee to enter treatment, including insurance coverage and travel arrangements. meet3. Hold a ing. Include all the intervention team members. Present addiction as a disease and explain how treatment works. Then assign each team member a part to play !a key point to make duringthe actual intervention meeting. Keep the intervention from becoming a that escalates into a confrontation. 4. Conduct the intervention. Meet with the addicted employee. Talk in a nonjudgmental way about how drinking or other drug use impairs free-for-- all that persons ability to work. Offer treatment as an option. Also explain what will happen if the employee does not accept treatment. 5. Admit the' employee directly into treatment. Or, take the next step to getting a referral to treatment. Employers can avoid legal problems with intervention by taking two steps. First, tie a workers alcohol or other drug use to declines in performance and work safety. Also, review the intervention plan with counsel or an outside attor- se ney. Employers specifically need to know the Americans with Disabilities Act. This law requires employ- ers to accommodate employees with a chronic health condition. However, the ADA does not give addicts an open license to use alcohol or other drugs. By MATTHEW HICKEN There have been some interesting bills sponsored by the Legislature so far this session. Some have discussed the sovereignty of the state, school funding, or racial profiling. Then there are some of the lighter types of bills. Senate Resolution 5, sponsored by Senator Blackham, gives the state a unique status among dessert connoisseurs. On Jan. 31, Utah officially named the state snack. Jell-took the prestigious honor of that 0 title edging out ice cream. Utah has longbeen among the top Jell-- 0 consumers per capita of the nation. Far two years the top honor went to Iowa, but has now been recaptured. Bill Cosby, the Jell-- 0 spokesman for many years, addressed the joint session of the House and Senate. He claimed he was proud of Utah, not only for being the number one Jell-consumer per capita, but for the reasons it held that position. Families are the reason Jell-- 0 consumption is so high for this state. He joked that Utahns have lots of babies, and whats more amazing is that they O FOLLOW VOICE MAIL THE RAINBOW TO THE FEBRUARY 20 & 21 48 HOURS ONLY! & ip 694 v cellular WE HAVE IT ALL Price River Drive, 0 Price POT OF GOLD SPECIAL Sign up to Peak Cablevision and get the installation and first month basic service for just $. 637-600- ADDITIONAL WIRELESS LOCATION: OFFICE EQUIPMENT COMPANY, 637-657- 0 Even Q00 better get the STARZ and ENCORE Channels FREE for the first month too!! savings of up to $65.00 1 Some restrictions appiy, 0AC. 1 year service agreement required. 1000 weekend minutes valid for first year only. See rep for details. Fearing, who has led over 1,000 interventions, notes that he has never been sued. He urges employers to proceed with intervention because its the and comto do. passionate thing The whole idea of workplace intervention is to help people get help," said Fearing of Minneapolis. Its not to trap somebody, and its not a scenario. Were not taking a bad person and helping him get good. Were talking about people who may have gotten sick and helping them get well. (Alive & Free is a chemical health column provided by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide cost-effecti- good-guybad-g- range of information and services relating to addiction and recovery. For more resources on substance abuse, call Hazelden at From Jello to sovereignty, legislature debate bills Special to the Progress 1150 MINUTES: - in- creases health insurance claims and downgrades productivity at all levels, from thq assembly line to the boardroom. The up side is that workplace Yet IPSACI CABLEVISION 750 South Hwy. 0 1 637-681- 3 www.pcakcabic.com get married before they have the kids. Although Jell-- 0 was the highlight of the day, other, more controversial issues, were discussed. Representative Johnson is sponsoring House Bill 189 which in essence discusses the sovereignty of the state of Utah. Currently 71 percent of Utah is owned by the federal government. House Bill 189 proposes that the federal government should not be allowed to purchase private land unless it is approved by the state legislature. The federal government does have the power to buy land to build post offices, arsenals, and other needful buildings. The bill would not hinder such purchases. However, if the federal government needs or wants to acquire land that is not declared in the constitution, they would need approval from the state legislature. With only twenty nine percent of Utahs lands being privately owned, this severely limits the tax base that Utah has to fund its programs, such as education. Many have commented that Utah spends less than any other state per child for public education. This may be one of the contributing factors. This bill is being looked at on a Constitutional level on the committees that it has been brought before. Many wonder if Utah has the power to oversee private land owners actions when they have a desire to sell their land to the federal government. This bill protects our sovereign rights and controls the steady loss of properly to federal controL Representative Johnson said in the bills defense. I feel strongly that this bill is within our riits, and is what the framers of the Constitution intended." This bill has been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate standing committee. It is currently awaiting debate on th6 Senate Door. Some restrictions apply n 1 1 3 I f 4 |