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Show i: f K. t Gardners' talents payoff in beauty and practicality -- See Wi.UI "Grandma Lloyd" honored as County Fair Grand Marshall -- See page 9 Page 9 - J JM" J..UH jii'.aaffs d .1 still pending, but may be just one year away E-9- 11 -- See aMuminwn 1 ...l . page 15 "it t. O 78th Year Wednesday, August 21, 1991 No. 34 16 Pages Roosevelt, Utah 30 Cents approves 1.7 million budget for fiscal year UBAG motion was made to bring in an efficiency expert to straighten out some of these problems. This motion was met with some opposition by various board members. The Board then proceeded to make a new motion in favor of Ruf. "I make a motion, said County Commissioner Max Adams, "that we support Reine Ruf for 90 days and that we don't listen to what June 30, 1992. At this meeting the Board also employees or people who write for the newspapers have to say." addressed some of the When Ruf was asked how he felt problems that have been going on within the UBAG office itself. After about the decision he would not an executive session the board once disclose any specifics except to say, again held an open session. A "Tuesday after the board meeting The Uintah Basin Association of Governments Board met this past week. One of file top items of discussion at this board meeting was the approval of a proposed budget for the UBAG Programs. After some discussion as to where the money would be spent the Board voted to approve the proposed budget for July 1, 1991 to inter-offic- e new Duchesne County Royalty was named Saturday night They are left second to right: attendant; Camille Holgatc, Queen; Stephanie Lowe, first attendant; Michelle Palmer, and Committees Choice Award recipient Gwen Hamilton. NEW ROYALTY-T- he New Miss Duchesne County chosen in Saturdays pageant Saturday night Stephanie Lowe, daughter of Dallas and Suana Lowe, waa selected as the new Miss Duchesne County. Her attendants were 1st: Michelle Palmer, daughter of Redge and Amy Palmer, 2nd: Camille Hoi gate, daughter of Douglas and Sherrie Hoi gate. A special award called the Committees Choice Award waa given to Gwendolyn Hamilton, daughter of Gail and Shannon Hamilton. The pageant was a success as a full house watched to see who would be selected as the new royalty. The emcee for the evening was Brian Mullahy of the channel 5 (KSL) Noon News. The evening began with a patriotic dance performed by all of the contestants. Following the opening number Tiffany Montgomery, Miss Duchesne County for 1990, gave an encore performance of her toe ballet which she performed at the Miss Utah Pageant. Stephanie Lowe was the first to perform for the talent division with a toe ballet Then Gwendolyn Hamilton played a self composed piece on the piano. Next Angie Ivie performed a jazz dance followed by Michelle Palmer who also performed a dance solo. Katie Lou Barton sang an opera solo. She was followed by Camille Holgate who also danced. Holli Marshall was the last contestant to perform in the talent division with another dance solo. In between talent and evening gown there were some more numbers performed. Tiffany Montgomery performed another dance solo and Justin Olsen sang "Thats Entertainment from the Broadway musical The Bandwagon. Brian Mullahy even attempted to dance for the audience. There were a vast array of beautiful evening gowns worn by the girls for the pageant. Stephanie Lowe was wearing a turquoise, off the shoulder gown with silver and white sequins. Gwen Hamilton wore a shimmering royal blue gown. Angie Ivie was wearing a ballet pink dress with detailed sequin work. Michelle Palmer wore a stunning low cut white gown with gold sequins. Katy Lou Barton a had pink backless gown with details on the sleeves. Camille Holgate wore an eye catching turquoise and silver sequinned gown and Holli Marshall won a beautiful flowing lavender evening dress. I felt really good. Its nice to know where you can operate and what you can do. Ruf went on to talk about Borne of his goals for the next 90 days, 1 want to establish in the minds of the board and in the community that our stafT can run efficiently. My plan is just to utilize the abilities and potential of the people. To let everyone know that we are capable to do the work and that we really do want to do the work. He also said, Tm looking hard at every aspect of the operation. Looking at making the best of what Continued on page 3 Economic Development Boards work toward Uintah Basin unity The Economic Development Committee met fur lunch at the Cow Palace on August 14. The committee is working towards "establishing an attitude of harmony between local businesses and the tribe according to chairman, Bob West. Homey Secakuku, Director of Economic Development and Larry Cesspooch, Public Relations Director for the tribe were invited. Guest speaker at the meeting was Fred Payne. Mr. Payne talked about current legislation in congress that will directly affect businesses here in the Uintah Basin. He reported on the advantages offered by doing business on an Indian reservation. He also talked about Senate bill 383, the Indian Economic Development Act of 1991, which deals with tax credits and enterprise zones on tribal land. "We must get together locally, socially and personally," said Payne. The purpose of the bill is to revitalize economic development cm or near reservations by encouraging the formation of new businesses and the retention and expansion of existing businesses. Mr. Payne emphasized that it is critical we combine efforts to ensure the passage of this bill. He said that unless we Thursday, September 12, 8 am at start working together the "Uintah the Frontier Grill. Any interested Basin economy win decline steadily. persons are encouraged to attend. The committee decided that "Hopefully the Ute Tribe Business another meeting is needed with mare Committee will be represented," said tribal representatives present. They .West, chairman of the Economic scheduled the next meeting for Development committee. Teachers vote Tuesday to ratifiy contracts Duchesne School District administration and representatives from the Duchesne Education Association met Friday evening, August 16. Superintendent Mower said the Board had only received a 3.2 increase on the weighted pupil unit but would offer a package to total a 6.76 increase far the teachers. Mower said the Blue CrossBlue Shield health insurance was asking far a 19 12 increase from last year. He said, "2.94 of the teachers total package would indude the increase cost of health insur- - ance." He added that, ".82 of the total package would be for step and lane changes. Mower said, "the Boards intent is to move the base of file teachers salary up so they have dedded to put a 3 increase on the base." He added that anoth- er small amount would come from a slight enrollment gain, entry-lev- el teachers replacing a few retired teachers, and a small amount of money transferred from elementary education playground duty to the teachers general sala-Continued on page 3 Insurance costs increased by a multitude of complex factors Duchesne District educators are complaining about cuts in insurance coverage. The district administration is saying because of 31 percent premium increases, the previous level of coverage is impossible to maintain. With an inflation rate under 5 percent, a 31 percent increase in insurance rates seems excessive. However, Blue Cross, which insures the district, says the 31 percent increase is really minimal. They first asked for a 39 percent increase, according to Phil Thomp son of Duchesne District. Neil Spero, a Blue Cross spokesperson, said the increase was based on the usage of those in the group. The insurance company figures a basic 18 percent increase to cover rising medical costs. They allow percent for administration of the insurance, and 2 percent for reserves. Since the groups claims roughly equalled their premiums, the rates had to go up. He said the average increase in his company was 20 percent. But Blue Cross group rates have increased any 6-- Self insurance is a popular alternative to rising costs Because of spiraling health care and insurance costs, many employers are turning to self insurance to provide protection for their employees. Both Duchesne County Hospital and Duchesne County are self insured. Most selfinsurance plans are administered by an outside company. or insured against catastrophic claims to The group is of the the protect funding pool. integrity The advantage ofself insurance, according to Tim Cox, of Duchesne County Hospital, is that the group has control of the plan. Were able to control our own plan, and make our own decisions. Theyre not telling us how we run our insurance program. The danger of self insurance is that there may be a number of large claims in this first few years that break the fund. It seems, according to Cox after the first few years, with a reserve built up, the insurance works well. In four years of self insurance at DCH, the rates have only gone up once, Cox said. Another advantage of the insurance is that the company can build in incentives that help hold the cost down. Since essentially, the employees own the insurance company, they are concerned about keeping costs down. Judy Mutton, at Duchesne County, said the insurance seems to be working for them. This is their first year on the plan. where from 0 to 70 percent this year. Spero said there seemed to be heavier than normal usage of prescriptions and office calls in this education group. The way usage is figured, a certain number of large claims are discounted, and not figured into the usage pool. Then, as in this case, the 39 percent increase is adjusted based on the average community usage, which brought the increase down to 31.5 percent. He said because erf1 the size of the group-abo- ut 350the company can expect about the same type of incidence next year. Spero said the Districts plan to raise the y costs of the Scrip Cards and medical care was a typical way to reduce usage. "People are a little more careful about claims if theres some sort of cost sharing, he said. The reduction in coverage lowers the rate of increase to 19.5 percent Numerous reasons have been cited for the rising costs of medical care and insurance rates, according to insurers and hospital administrators. One reason-oftecited is the prevalence of malpractice suits. Not only are malpractice insurance costs passed on to consumers-most- ly insurance carriers-b- ut the cost of defensive medicine is added to the medical bill. Doctors request millions of dollars worth of unnecessary tests to protect themselves against the threat of a malpractice suit That can add a couple of percent to the bill according to one hospital administrator. Another reason for the rising costs is the cost of equipment and trained personnel to operate it Tim co-pa- ncc COST OF costs continue to spiral as a result the cost of medical care and those who pay for it. CARE-Insura- of a complex set of factors affecting Cox, of Duchesne County Hospital, said "We get gouged any time we buy any equipment." He said the The new technology is also a problem. One administrator said people have come to expect a certain level of service even in demand a higher wage. As new equipment and technology continues, trained stafT to operate that hospital has banded together with new equipment will become even other hospitals to negotiate on more scarce. However, Cox said costs at the hospital have only costs to keep the price down. There has been and continues to increased 4 percent per year. But be a shortage of trained health care the insurance rates are figured on personnel. Consequently, they can statewide rates. - As long as Americans believe all the health care they could possibly want is their fundamental right, it will be an expensive right to grant to 250 million people. Hospital administrator small hospitals. Consequently, in order to retain customers and attract good doctors, hospitals have to invest in expensive new equipment that often becomes obsolete before it is paid for. Consequently, the cost of that equipment must be added to other hospital fees. Sometimes doctors invest in equipment. Then they order as many tests as passible on tfvMw machines, in order to recoup their investments. Spero said mnpViiwg that cost a million dollars can be paid off within six weeks. Physi. cians also sometimes use their own Continued on page 3 |