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Show V t 'I 1 - V. Utah Press Association 467 East 300 South Salt 70th Year Ldke Cltyi UUh 84111 Thursday September No. 35 1, 1983 ' Roosevelt, Utah 20 Pages 25 Cents Teachers agree to district negotiations ' . ' : . Teachers may not have received a raise in pay, but the Duchesne Board of Education and the Duchesne Education Association ratified an agreement which will give teachers added benefits and the possibility of a bonus this school year. Negotiating teams from both aides reached an agreement and submitted it to the district and teachers for ratification Thursday evening. Accor-- ; ding to former president of the Duchesne Education Association, Kirk Wood, the Duchesne School Board was responsive to the teachers and concerned about meeting their needs. Wood was pleased with the outcome of the negotiations which resulted in an agreement that; 1) All educators will go on the Predetermined Medical Insurance Program, the' Long Term Disability Insurance Program will remain as presently constituted, and Life Insurance for all teachers will increase from - $5,700 to $10,000. 2) The Emergency Leave clause in contracts be deleted and replaced by a Personal Leave clause which allows teachers to have up to three days personal leave policy was dependent upon the okay of the principal and. superintendent for emergencies only. Now teaehers are allowed the freedom to take three days personal leave when desired, for the reason desired, as long as it is not taken during the first or last week of school or the day before or after a legal holiday. 3) The District will reduce the number of days in the teachers annual contract from 184 to 183 days. Educa-to- n will take one day of the three days before school or the one day following school, to be mutually agreed upon between the teacher and the principal. 5) The District, after completion of the annual financial audit, will divide equally among the employees any unappropriated surplus existing in the Maintenance and Operation Fund in excess of $25,000. Giving the teachers an opportunity for bonus pay. The personal leave clause is one teachers are extremely in favor of. Wood said, It is said that in our profession we have a lot of vacation time, as we work only 183 days out of the year. But the problem is we have not been able to choose which days we'd like to take oft Now we have the choice of three personal leave days within the school year." "Personal leave and bonus money says to teachers that the board is trying to work with us," Wood said. The absence of a pay increase does not seem to upset the teachers due to the fact that the board has worked out other ways to negotiate benefits for them. Kevin Heaton, teacher at Blast Elementary and president of the Duchesne Education Association said educators understand that the board was given no money for pay raises, and he is pleased with how well board members have done what they could to support area teachers. There is enough money in the budget to take care of those teachers who will be moving up the wage scale, though educators already at the top of that scale will not get a raise. "Those teachers, said Wood, "get only what benefits we negotiate for them each year." Heaton was especially pleased with the increase in Life Insurance. "Our insurance was one of the lowest in the state; $5,700 was not even adequate for he said. "The funeral expenses, insurance increase was a needed benefit and wasn't too expensive for the board to grant Superintendent Lowell Caldwell said the possibility of merit pay for teachers is still being discussed, but for this year the salary schedule will remain the same. Judging by opinions of teacher association members, they accept the board's position and are satisfied with the benefits theyve received. awarded tor swimming pool Contract After much delay, the Roosevelt City Council voted unanimously Monday evening a to award- - the" swimming pool contract to LaMar D. Stevenson Construction. Last week the Council reviewed several alternatives for lowering the cost of the proposed facility after construction bids exceeded the estimate of the architect The initial plan was to cut the lockers, 500 square feet of storage space, and to save $2,000 on the plumbing for the solar system. Then, last week the Duchesne County Commissioners promised $30,000 from next years budget for the project Mr. Stevensdn met with , Construction workers hook cables to the stubborn steel supports of the old Duchesne bridge. It took the crew a full dav to remove the bridqe. OUT WITH THE OLD which was in exceptionally good shape for a 50 year old. The salvaged steel will be used to make repairs on other county ' bridges. is the Council Monday, August 29, to discuss the deletions from the project "Bind ..explained" that the ..savings,, expected from the deletion of the 500 square feet wouldn't be as great as expected. Initial estimates were for a savings of nearly $26,000. LaMar Stevenson explained, however. that because of the work required to alter the steel structure to add 400 square feet, as well as other changes in the plans, the savings would amount to only about $8,000. For this reason the Council decided to cut the lockers but leave the storage building, and the space for pumps for a future bubble. It was felt the $8,000 was not a figure when significant enough considering the overall cost of the .project.. , ... ... The Council discussed the possibility of forming a fond raising committee, and several existing swimming pool committee members voiced their support Mayor Lawrence Yack said he has also had several people from outside Roosevelt express a willingness to help with a fund raiser. The bid price for the new pool now stands as Blightly ova1 $500,000. Groundbreaking will be held Tuesday, September 6, at 10:00 a.m. at the site of the old pool. PROJECT 'OUTREACH' pedal Olympics expands me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt The Special Olympic Motto. f The Area Special Olympic Board plans to spread that message of courase and accomnlishment to every school across eight local counties. The boards outreach program is an attempt to allow every eligible handicapped person an opportunity to participate in Special Olympics. : Special Olympics is designed to Let : program. Every high school, junior high and elementary school has resource and spedd education classes for the slow learner, and Horrocks said involvement in Special Olympics should be encouraged in each of those classrooms.. Plans are being made to hold area indoor games during the latter part year-roun- d e bridge self-estee- m . - 'The board hopes to give more people that opportunity as members plan to present the Special Olympic program to every school district in all eight counties, including Summit, Wasatch, Duchesne, Uintah, Daggett, Emery, Carbon and Grand Counties. At present 13 schools hold Special Olympic training, preparing students, for the area games most recently hdd in Roosevelt Following area games Olympians move on to state competition. Horrocks said last yew the Vernal . . ol Spedd . Olympic swim team com- peted in its first meet and went on to take first place in state. Some areas' hold only events, but with ol the expansion of the- - Olympic program; Horrocks said he hopes, all schools will participate and take em on through to state. To qualify for state Olympics, partidpants must first compete in school and in area events. They must be eight years of age or older, have a mental IQ of 75 or below and not be involved in any other school atheltic He built that bridge. Howard M. Cowan, Duchesne, helped construct steel arch bridge the which spanned the Duchesne Rivw at the east end of the city. Fifty years later, he watched the old bridge crane down. Construction workers began early last Wednesday morning bringing the bridge down. They hooked a 90 ton crane and a 40 ton crane to the bridge, estimated to weigh 50 tons. The crew ran into more problems super-structur- - : Last years' area games, hdd in Roosevelt, attracted 115 participants. There is ro entry fee and the number Pasf recalled sports training provide and athletic competition in a variety events. Area Coorof Olympic-typdinator Floyd Horrocks said the program gives mentally retarded children and adults a chance to develop physical fitness, accomplish goals and fed joy. Experiencing joy and gaining a is all part of the strong training. The handicap participate in Special Olympics and go through a building process, he said. There is no limit to what they can achieve, when given the opportunity to ' 'achieve. of October in Vernal. Events will indude swimming, diving, gymnastics and bowling. Spring games are tentivdy scheduled to be hdd April when athletes will compete in track and field events. . e, than anticipated as the bridge proved to be stubborn in giving ujp its spot and concrete walls were destroyed to loosen the bridge's grip. That One worker commented, bridge has got to weigh more than 50 tons, our crane is sinking. " The 90 ton lift was placed new the bridge on unpaved ground and as it pulled on the bridge, it pushed itself into the sand. After lunch, the crew came Wlr to solve the problems and pull the bridge out. Putting the old bridge in was just as difficult as bringing it out, recalled Cowan. As a young man in the ewly 1930's, Cowan was in the first cw, a Lincoln touring cw, to cross the bridge. He had worked on the construction of the bridge that summw, and as his boss, Paul Wood bum, removed the barricade he is j said he anticipates having newly 200 Spedd Olympians at this years competiton. In addition to indoor and spring games, the national Special Olympic program also sponsors winter games. In fact, the next International Continued on page 8 as new constructed motioned to Cowan and said, jump in and well be the first to cross er. There was no fanfare about the completion of the bridge, but people woe grateful that they now nad a way to cross the river there and no to detour to the north said. In low water, when there was no bridge, a lot of forded the river in horse and or on horseback, though the of traffic went around to the north and back south to town. "We detoured much the same way then as we have to do now, while the new bridge is being built, he said. Concrete for the abutments and the deck of the old bridge was mixed one bag at a time and transported by wheelbarrows to dump into the forms. The cement was shovelled in wheelbarrows. fay hand into the Cowan said his father, Joe Cowan, provided the river gravel for the aggregate, which he obtained from the iriver channel, a ways downstream from the construction site. His fatha hoisted the gravel onto a screen elevated about 10 feet, and the smaller gravel fell into the wagon bed. It was then taken to a mixing location south of the bridge. The gravel was unloaded by a pull plank method, whore a board was removed from the bottom of the Xhad of athletes is not limited. Horrocks wagon and the gravel fell through into the stockpile. About ten men worked on the bridge, they built forms for the concrete, mixed the concrete, loaded it into wheelbarrows, pushed it into forms, dumped it and returned for another load. Local men were not allowed to touch the steel work, said Cowan. Steel workers were brought in for this purpose. He said local workers assisted with the lifting of the steel placement, but it wasn't done with the ease of cranes cm these men used a gin pole about 25 feet long, a block and tackle, and a donkey engine. Men Cowan remembers working with were Lloyd Belt, Barney O'Toole, Duchesne, and Ora Budny, Ogden, was the State contractor. The project was then, as it is now, federally funded. It seems the men who worked on old bridge and the material put the ' into it were of high quality. Inspector for the Bureau of Land Management, Gerald Huff, witnessed the removal of the old bridge and said the steel used in the construction was still good, not even rusted, You dont find the same quality material now days, he said. Huff will also be on hand as the new Duchesne bridge goes up. A volunteer hugs one happy Special Olympian during Spring Games this April. Special Olympic Area Coordinator Floyd Horrocks said the joy experienced in volunteer work is more than worth the time invested.. ' IT IS SPECIAL |