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Show Aii --A v hometown Newspaper 19 ' for san juan county, utah SINCE - 50 cents 84 Number Hot, dry weather marks May, continues into June Record breaking high temperatures and little precipitation have combined to create possibly dangerous weather conditions in San Juan County. The month of May mirrored e figures for precip- year-to-dat- itation in Monticello and Blanding with actual precipitation falling well below normal levels. Normal precipitation through May in Monticello is generally 9.4 inches. This year, the gauges have recorded 6.37 inches through May 31, which is 67 percent of normal. At the same time that precip- itation is down, temperatures are up. The average high temperature for the month of May in Monticello is a full seven degrees higher than normal. Record breaking temperatures were recorded in Workers are busy making repairs to swimming pools San Juan is to The County. Blanding pool expected open today, Wednesday, June 7 with new tile, seal, slide, and diving board. The pool in Monticello pictured here, with Jeff Taylor and Terrell Pearson hard at Lesii Tracy photo work, is expected to open June 1 2. in a proposal which would create a Drug Court in the Seventh District Court in San Juan County. Drug courts are an innovative alternative to incarceration for individuals charged with drug offenses. The implementation of a Drug Court would mean that a number of local residents arrested on drug charges may have the opportunity to avoid serving jail time for drug offenses in exchange for following a stringent program of drug testing and treatment. Utah Governor Mike Leavitt traveled to Monticello on June 3 to meet with local officials in order to build support for the concept. After the previous success of drug courts in Salt Lake City, the Utah State legislature re- cently appropriated $1.3 million from tobacco settlement money to fund additional drug courts. Leavitt is eager for rural areas to try the concept because, he said, "drug use is increasing disporportionately fast in rural Utah, particularly methamphet-amin- e use. Leavitt said that drug courts the highest temperature ever recorded in May in Monticello, easily eclipsing the previous record of 88 degrees on May 31, 1984. Local agencies considering alternative Drug Courts Local law enforcement, judicial, substance abuse and social service agencies are considering Monticello on May 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, and 30. The high of 91 degrees on May 29 is It is similar in Blanding, with record high temperatures re- are a concept which provides a solution to many drug prob- lems. While adding that the drug courts are the toughest sentence people ever recieve, Leavitt pointed with pride to the success of the test program in Salt Lake City. Of the 171 people who have completed the Drug Court program, only 13 have reoffended with drug charges. Dan Rogers, of the San Juan Substance Abuse District, said that any program with less than 50 percent recidivism is considered a success and less than ten percent is considered wildly successful. Rogers is developing the local proposal to begin the Drug Court Local law enforcement officials state that methamphet-amin- e use is growing in the area. The joint San Juan Grand Drug Task Force has been busy in recent months. In addition to making a large number of drug related arrests of visitors to the area, drug use among local residents is also apparently on the rise. Two meth labs were recently discovered in the Moab area. Leavitt reports thst the cost corded on May 10, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29 and 30. The high of 94 degrees on May 23 and 28 easily eclipses the previous high temperature for the month of May, set on May 31, 1997. precipitation in Year-to-da- te Blanding is 6.9 inches, which is 86 percent of the average year-to-date precipitiation of 8.01 inches. The low preciptation figures, combined with record breaking temperatures, have water officials beginning to show concern. (please turn to page 3) 'T v - June 7, 2000 - llllSIWKKiM Commission brief - The Monticello City Council recently rescinded all watering restrictions after public criticism of previous watering restrict- See page 2 Before and after photography - See page 3 ions. How'ever, many Monticello City residents have not re- sponded with responsible water use, using an average of more than 1.7 million gallons of water a day in the past week. The use of secondary water in Monticello averaged more than one million gallons a day between May 30 and June 5. Culinary water use in Monticello varied from a high of 914,501 gallons on Monday, May 30 to a low of 396,974 gallons on Sat- Dust in the Wind - See page 9 Life in watering See page 1 1 My View, My Cave See page 18 -- Gnaoms I boy Ray Christine & Ray Black May 19 age water use in the State of Utah is 185 gallons of water per person per day. In Blanding, residents used an average of 1.45 million gallons of treated water a day, according to Blanding City Water Manager Danny Fleming. The majority of Blanding residences use culinary water for outside watering. In addition, a large number of private wells are used for outside a Nutshell - urday, June 4. The total water use averages 858 gallons of water a day for each Monticello resident. Aver- Sheila Mary girl Sheila & Fitzgerald Johnson May 19 girl Alisa in Abigail Jeff Nielson May 21 & boy Anthony Venita Begay & Angelo Billsie May 23 Blanding. There may be some relief on the way. National Weather Service long-terforecasts show higher than normal precipitam tion through the summer months in San Juan County. The higher than average precipitation forecast follows a summertime line of moisture streaming up through New Mexico and Arizona into the Four Corners region. Paige Jescile girl Adalia I Nathan Halls May 24 & rofeoaiBlBl Monticello May Hi Lo Pr 29 91 54 30 88 46 31 85 50 Blanding Lo Pr Hi 62 59 56 97 95 91 June 1 San Juan Statistics" -- May Weather Report 2 3 4 84 48 83 46 84 46 87 49 90 89 90 56 47 56 58 93 Record high temperaturea were recorded in Monticello on May 29 and 30 and June 1, 2, and 3. The 91 degree high on May 29 ia an record high for the month of all-ti- May. In Blanding, record high temperaturea were recorded on May 29 and 30. The 97 degree high on May record for 29 ia an the month of May. -- of drug abuse is staggering, 1915-- ?: all-ti- INDEX NEWS ROUNDUP..... LETTERS. SOCIETY. SP3RTTS.. .......... COMMUNITY NEWS Source: Lewie Black family, Monticello Port of Entry, Utah's Comprchemive Weather Almanac 2 8 .. 10 .. 14 . .. 16 . . LEGALS REAL ESTATE. .20 CLASSIFIEDS. ,.22 ..21 |