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Show : 75th Year No. 33 i Wednesday, August 17, 1988 Roosevelt, Utah 16 Pages 50 Cents The check is in! center construction begins; bid let USU 20 years ago, Alva Snow, Dan BUILDING A DREAM-Alm- ost Dennis and several others had a dream of building a facility specifically for the USU Education Center in Roosevelt for the Basin. On August 8, the dream started becoming a reality as ceremonies were held for start of construction facility. Members of the center board, local officials and dignitaries turned out for the official ground- breaking ceremony. ground-breakin- ar Earlier in the day, it was Construcannounced that 3 tion, out of Springville, had been awarded the contract for construction of the facility, with the basic construction low bid of$l, 034, 000, not counting the cost of the two addendum for additional air conditioning and woodwork, which took the bid to about $1,068,000, which was still several thousand dollars under the basic bids of other firms. Another item that was looked at in choice ofbidder was whether M-1- and suppli- local ers were being used, whenever possible, ity, which the facil- - was apparently willing to do, as they hired Larry Beal of Altamont as construction SupervisorForeman of the project. M-1-3 Prior to the $450 million are Alva Snow, Dan Dennis, Vem Osmond, Mayor Lawrence Yack, County Commissioner LeGrand Gilbert, Dr. Laird Hart-ovman of the USU Center and Brad Hancock, Roosevelt City Administrator. er . from the Impact Board for $1, 100,000 was signed and turned over toVem Osmond of First Security Bank, in Roosevelt for deposit The remaining $200,000 allotted by the Impact Board for construction of the Center should be received within a month, which brings the total to $1,300,000 which is what center proponents went after to construct the facility. price-ta- g officals; receives united Basin demands During a meeting at Bottle Hollow, Basin residents presented a bill to a U.S. Congressman that basically demands et ' ap- proximately $450 million dollars for water development in the Basin. Utah Congressman D. Wayne Owens met with and heard the water concerns of local Ute Tribe Business Committee members, county officials from Duchesne and Uintah counties, as well as local representatives and . mem- water user's organizations, among other groups, at a special luncheon meeting held at Bottle Hollow Resort at Ft. Duchesne on Friday, August 12. Ute Tribe Business Committee Chairman, Lester Chapoose bers from welcomed the Congressman and then proceeded to express the concerns of the tribe on the lack 'of action in fulfilling promises made to the Ute Tribe and the Basin, . both in the Central Utah Project, (CUP) and the 1965 Water Deferral Agreement. Chapoose was cordial but firm on the bribes position on the matter, citing the 1965 document and 8upreme Court the tribe's sovereignty and water rights, Congressman Owens then gave a brief statement about his visit and his feelings on the issue. He stated how the original agree-cases on ment only called for 6500 acre-feof water to be left for stream flows and. how hed pushed and got or seven times 44,500 acre-fee- t, the original amount left for main- -' taining fisheries and other environmental concerns. He also stated that water development projects in the Basin, as well as in the rest of Utah, did not solely rest in the hands of the Utah Congressional Delegation. In a recent congressional committee meeting where 41 members were voting on public funding for irrigation projects, only two members, Owens and Hansen, voted for the funding with the rest op- posed. Owens explained that even with the deletion of the Baain projects and other items from the CUP ceiling bill, as well as compromise talks on funding the bill was stalled in $45 Congress and only a million extension was granted to the CUP, with no irrigation or drainage projects included as had been originally hoped. Duchesne County Commissioner, Larry Ross strongly reaffirmed the position of the county and the Ute Tribe on the need of the whole Basin for the water storage and development projects promised both by the CUP and one-yea- r, ' 1965 water deferral agreement ' with the Ute Tribe. He stated that in the areas of water storage and development and irrigation, that the Basins interests ...are the same as the tribes se Concerns were expressed that the Upalco project, or Taskeetch reservoir, which was originally part of the CUP and promised to the Basin, in return for water to be diverted to the Wasatch front, due to delays, was now no longer "economically feasible, especially since the Wasatch fronts needs were being met and the "push for meeting die Basins needs wasnt there. Ross also expressed concerns about raising public power rates, by making CRSP utilities fund the mitigation aspecta of the CUP bill that Owens and Gam had pro- posed. Ross said that the county was willing to work together with the tribe and other officials, as well as the congressional delegation to see that the Basins water, develop- ment needs were met, but that they wouldnt be put off, delayed or About 5 people attended the meeting including Wildlife officials, water board and district representatives as well as Representative Beverly Evans and Senator Alarik Myrin. Steve Boy den, Ute Tribal Attorney, (and former business asso 20-2- ciate of Owens), presented a bill to Owens, on behalf of the tribe and the interests of the Basin for water development, entitled "Ute Indian Water Settlement Act of 1988. Boyden explained that the bill was a "working draft, and that the -- ground-breakin- g ceremony, the m jor portion ofthe Impact funds for the project were officially received and a check PICTURE WORTH A MILUON-T- he Impact Board check for $1,200,000 towards the new USU Center facility was turned to Vem Osmond of First Security Bank in Roosevelt for deposit. The other $200,000 of the funds allocated by the Impact Board for the facility should arrive within a month or so. Pictured After the check was deposited g and the over, work started almost immediately and on clearing the ground-cove- r topsoil from the site and stockpiling it for use after the facility is completed. Additional fill material has also been brought in and stockpiled at the northern end of the sight, although more will be needed for construction and completion of the facility. Duchesne county, in addition to committing some funds received from Wildlife sources for this year and next, is also providing two 12 x 14 metal storage buildings that it acquired from the Bureau of Reclamation for storage use on site and later for use by the USU Center. Fill dirt and gravel are also being provided through efforts of the county and state. Survey of the property and staking was done on Friday, August 12 and continues with crews hoping to set and pour footers for the building during the week of 'August 15. A 65 payment of the architects fees was also authorized and disbursed after the check was deposited. ground-breakin- g of the million-doll. The ground waa finally broken for the start ofconstruction of the new USU Education Center in Roosevelt on August 8, 1988 with a quiet ceremony held on the 3.9 acre piece of ground located off of Lagoon street, which waa attended by local officials and dignitaries. idea was to get the bill up for hearings prior to the close of the last legislative session of the 100th Congress, so that action could be taken when the 101st Congress takes office in January Depending on weather and progress of construction, it is hoped that the outside of the facility will be completed before snowfall this Winter, so that interior work can continue throughout the bad weather months and the facility will then be completed by next June or July. This would allow the transfer of computers and other material from the current, leased facility and set-u- p would be done in time for the center to open to regular classes in September. The bill basically covers and defines in more detail, some of the issues brought up by fire CUP and water deferral agreement of 1965. The bill calls for file U.S. government to keep its promise for developing the water resources of the tribe, and the Basin by fulfilling its obligation to build water storage facilities. It also calls for the both the state and federal government to officially and in writing, recognize and ratify the full water rights of the Ute tribe. In the bill, it calls for a total amount of $432,350,000 to be appropriated for the actions called for within the act $100,000 ofthat is tobe held in trust as an economic Continued on page 3 1989. Basin gets smoked as two fires rage fires, one sparked by lightning and another of unknown causes spread smoke across the Basin from Daniels Canyon to past Ft Duchesne on the weekend of August 13. According to Helen Frazier of the Fire Center, thefire northwest of Starvation Reservoir, about 15 miles northwest of Duchesne on Blnrktail Ridge was reported about 2:20 p.m. on August 14 and was apparently started by lightning the evening before. The fire put out thick, black smoke, visible for over 40 miles and according to Frazier, this is the third or fourth fire in that area this season. Two separate crew and four A engines, along with two aerial tankers fought the blaze and it was expected to be contained by 1 p.m. August 15 and under control r by that evening. The in the area have been sparked irito fires by lightning several times this year. The second fire was under BIA jurisdiction and apparently started from "unknown sources sometime Sunday afternoon, August 14 between Lapoint and Neola, northeast of Whiterocks. According to sources, the fire had consumed 900 acres of cottonwood, cedar, juniper, sagebrush Pinion-Junipe- and grass, with a crew battling the blase. One aerial tanker also made a drop on the fire as welL The fire is expected to be contained by the end of the day, August 15, and the cause of the fire is still undetermined at this time. Cloud cover, some rainfall and lower temperatures are exfor most pected to aid of the day, Monday, August 15. Campers, tourists, sportsmen and residents are still reminded that persistent drought conditions have made vegetation in the Basin tinder-drso extreme Caution is advised with machinery and 50-m- an fire-fighte- rs y, devices. . |