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Show 70th Year ' No. 2 ic jam It began to look last week as if Duchesne County crews and residents along the Strawberry ton miles west of Duchesne may have to wait- - until Spring for a solution to the ice Jam which threatened homes and farmland. The problem began several weeks ago when alush flowing down the Strawberry River firose solid upon . Elmer. VWere experimenting with what is the best method." water, as river to Mens. ; is , field.- - Two homes were threatened by the Was the Duchesne County road. A 800 foot dike was eonatructod along the road to keep it from washing out. In addition to this, County crews build an embankment around one home and dug a channel for the now diverted 20 Pages ' 25 Cents Roosevelt, Utah flow in the channel. Commissioner Moon said they hoped it could be removed before the channel from, thereby causing increased problems. Concernb were' also expressed regarding the two bridges which were bring threatened by rising ice levels. Mother Nature had provided some respite Thursday and Friday by raising temperatures which, along with that week's blasting, helped lower the level of ice under the bridges. ' With tho sunrise Saturday, January 8, came a large number of National Guard members from Company A of the 1457th Engineer Battalion of the National Guard. A split unit from Vernal and Price, the groups brought with them 2,500 pounds of a commercial gelatin explosive. According to Colonel Chafes Elmer, one of the major problems is that there aren't a grdat many people around who have had experience with this type of problem. He said they placed calls to a number of Individ uals.with experience to. get information. "We even looked in said the Colonel. . our cookbooks, We're just like the County, said ' reaching the inlet to Starvation Reservoir. According to Alton Moon, County Commissioner, the level of Starvation was so high that as the hit the ice it frose, thereby ig.a wall which prevented the water from entering the reservoir. ,..As this happened, the water backed up and caused several ice jams mi the river. The first, and most critical Jam, occurred near the second bridge mi the river road. This jam forced the water, at that time about 150 second feet, to flow over the bank and east' across several fields. Because of the loss of water, several additional sections of the river developed jams and tiie water . crossed the river channel near the first bridge and continued east across the 13. 1983 Thursday January . The National Guard's effort began with the drilling of 22 holek. Within each hole was placed five pounds of the explosive. The charges were then set in succession over a spaee of about 100 feet. K 1 . The blast, which took place about 2 A solution to the problem was m. Saturday, January 8, was fairly proposed last week, and efforts to ssfre, but the ice jam remained. bring the river back into its natural With most of the afternoon gone, the channel were tried. Last Wednesday, the January 5, Duchesne County crews' optimisdi which had arrived with deteriobe to seemed Guard of National 25 sticks and ignited placed dynamite in the center of the channel. ' rating. jAs of Saturday, evening, . the Their hopes werO to dislodge the lee" water Had yet: to be returned M its 4 'UrTe-ente- r its channel. and allow the-riv- er .: Sunday found the National Guard channel. Crews were partially successful, but water, still flowed from the , members still on the Strawberry west and only a small portion crossing; gearing up for a masaive assault the channel had been diverted baek According to Sergeant Verl Tucker, into the natural flow, near the first . over 400 pounds of explosives were placed in the ice above the upper bridge. bridge. The charges were spaced over 000 feet' The detonation was the Efforts were undertaken again seen on the river during the Thursday to free the jam, but proved largest and it was the solution. ordeal, unsuccessful. That afternoon Lorraine According to Tucker, immediately Tempest, State Emergency Managethe Mast the river had returned ment, and .'Skip Anderson, Utah ; after to its original channel. Additional met of Transportation!!!, Department was also dime between the two blasting Moon with County Commissioner Alton bridges,1 and Road Supervisor Lynn Mitchell. After the use of nearly 1,000 pounda "The im of explosives by the National Guard, fo solve and that used by County Crews, the Lorraine Tucker said Governor Matheson to get the problem river was flowing again.those the after blast, present large solved, so the National Guard was could begin to hear the contacted Thursday, January 6, and waited and cracking as the water began to break requested to help. Between the initial problem, and the ice. As of Tuesday afternoon, January Friday, the Bureau erf Reclamation had 11, the river was still flowing and of water amount reduced the coming removed much of the had crews County out of Strawberry Reservoir to 18 around several second feet, the minimum amount ice which had farmed in area. the homes. fish populations required to keep the The .situation faced thia year has alive. ' They had also informed the 'never been seen before in that area, would maintain that that they County will never be again. and hopefully solved. was level until the problem the Factors ' problem have been causing Word was rweived that National have safeguards against as discussed, would be Guard troopa arriving ' future problems. Saturday, but immediate concerns However, the problem is now a thing were paramount. The major concern reminder of the week was that id the entire river channel of the past The be this spring as the will of anticipation to freesing. Crews were unable dean-u- p begins. t determine whether water continued to ice melts and . . . - It Youth Questions concerning the develop-- 1 ment, cost, and location of correctional farilitiM are often numerous. The Uintah Basin has not been spared the problem individuals usually confined to sueh facilities, but until now no facilities of this type have been available in the Basin. For the past six years discussion has been progressing concerning the dev elopement of a Residential Treatment and Supervision facility for youth in the Basin. For the past six years discussion has been progressing concerning the development of a Residential Treatment and Supervision facility for the youth in the Basin. According to Wayne Griffin, a Youth Corrections Officer with Social Services, Tom Freestone of the Juvenile Court System has been pushing the project for six years. "We have always had to send these kids to the Wasatch Front, said Wayne. He said the judges have also realised the problems this situation promotes. ' The facility is designed to house young boys, between the ages of 12 and 10, who are having trouble in their present home situation but are unable to function in a foster home setting. Wayne said the main need for having the home in Roosevelt is to foster involvement from the family, some tratmrrf home said there have been concerns expressed regarding the developement of the facility here, but he said it shouldnt really be a problem. "The kids are already here, said Griffin. Were not bringing ip additional kids. He said they have found when treated away from home the youth learn to adjust to their new environment, but are unable to move Mick into their family environment With the proposed facility the parents could aim be worked with, thereby making the youths transition back to the family much easier. "Ninety-nin- e percent of the problem is family oriented, added Griffin. He said they need to work with the family also. Heritage Youth Services, a private organisation, has been awarded the contract on the project. The Heritage Home concept is used to provide a structured family living environment with accountability. non-prof- it d Present plans ment of a call for the responsibility for assigned tasks, personal hygiene, performance in school, ability to set goals, attitude toward authority, assessment of degree of delusional and other four-be- d ' A meeting was held last Friday, January 7, at the Moon Lake Building to discuss the pros and cons of the program. According to Wayne Griffin, the decision has been made to begin in Roosevelt. This facility would service Duchesne, Uintah, and Daggett Counties. He said the home will open as soon as a location is selected and a staff is hired. the program Pool bond fo b develop- facility with two' single family units also available. He said should the need arise for more space, a separate- facility would be built. Griffin said if more than four are housed at one time it destroys the fomily teaching model. Individuals enrolled in this program shall be placed there by court referral. Thh basic standard of the program is that individual performance will be evaluated daily. Written short and long term goals will be made. The program inappropriate behavior, assessment of self directed, behavior, and performance while on home visits. Griffin said the program is very strict and is designed to watch the youth closely. The facility will also provide therapy for the youth. It was pointed out that those staffing the house will be trained, but a number of outside professionals will be brought in to help. is designed to monitor more than how how often the jyouth are gone from the home and subsequent court referrals and release planning. Peer interaction will be monitored, and the youth will be required to take program is to spot the problem early and provide the necessary help. Wayne Wayne. , This blast, environments. The hope of the thing which is lacking when the youth are sent away. "The main thing is to try and involve the entire family, said According to Griffin, the 'main purpose of the Youth Home is to teach these young people how to function in a home atmoshere. In addition to the four-befacility, plans include two single family situations. These are designed to help the youth progress back to his regular family. "We're trying to intervene as soon as possible with these kids, said Wayne. He said they are presently monitoring those youth who are having problems at home. A number of these youth are placed in footer homes, but many are not able to function in these homes. For this reason, the facility will be opened in Roosevelt Wayne said when such a situation arises they look initially to relatives. From there they look to foster care in the form of responsible adults. If both these alternatives fail, the youth would be placed in this home. It was stressed that these are not violent agreasive youth, but youth who are having trouble in their family once Sunday, a blast which cleared the ice and started the water flowing. The National Guard used close to 1,000 pounds of explosives to remove the ice. the result of over ICO pounds of explosives, was the first set off last Saturday by the National Guard. The blast did little to solve the total problem, but efforts continued Sunday. Over 400 pounds were ignited at THE BLAST . . A family recreation center is something many people in Roosevelt would like to see, and in several weeks residents will decide just how badly they want such a facility. For the past several months, architects, with the guidance of the Roosevelt swimming pool and library committees, have been redoing plana for the construction of a family recreation center. Now, however, plans have gone about as for as they can go. The time has come to put the issue before the voters and make a decision. The facility, which would provide swimming, raequetball, library, and ' other ammenities, has an estimated cost of $857,500. These costs include the construction of the library and phase one of the recreation center. It also includes the swimming pool, deck, fence, and all architectural and engineering costs. There are three alternatives which be added, but which would increase the cost of the project. One of these would be an bubble with a cost of $79,500. Another alternative would be the installation of a solar heating unit at a cost of $41,500. This would have a payback of about six years. The final alternative would be could w sf the installation of additional facilities and furnishing for the library, ail at a cost $40,000. Sources of funding availaMe for the project include 338,000 from the capital sinking fund. It is also hoped that $100,000 can be raised in donations before the completion of construction. The final two sources of funding would be $30,500 in operating money from the 1983 swimming pool budget. Should construction progress, the pool would not be open this summer. The remainder of the project funding would be acquired through the issuance of Continued os page 2 |