OCR Text |
Show The Ogden Valley news Your Community Newspaper PRSRT STD POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 11 EDEN UT POSTAL PATRON EDEN-LIBERTY-84310 HUNTSVILLE-84317 OGDEN CANYON- 84401 HCR 843AO Ogden Awarded $169,000 In Blue Skies Grant Money Ogden City has been awarded a Blue Sky grant. With the help of the grant money, Ogden will be able to install a Hydroelectric Plant at the City’s Water Treatment Plant. The Hydro Electric Plant will produce power by water running from the City’s water supply through the unit. The 131,400 kWh of power produced annually by the turbine will, in turn, power the water treatment plant. The system will also be equipped with monitoring equipment that will be used for research and educational purposes. The cost to purchase and install the hydroelectric system is part of the Blue Sky grant award. Through Rocky Mountain Power’s net metering program, the power produced by the unit will cut in half if not eliminate future power bills at the water treatment plant. “Thanks to Rocky Mountain Power, this is a huge step forward in the city’s movement towards going green with renewable energy. It is not only environmentally friendly, at current utility rates, it will mean approximately $10,000 to the city in saving each year,” says Mayor Matthew Godfrey. The City of Ogden has been working together with Gardner Engineering, a local alternative energy engineering firm, for the past several months to secure the grant that will make this project possible. The Hydro Debris is strewn at length along the highway leading to Powder Mountain after a 40-foot, class “A” motor home pulling a 24-foot trailer lost its brakes Electric unit will likely be installed next and rolled twice. The explosive impact left little behind that was recognizable—the driver and passenger seats and a sofa. Two were critically injured summer once final design and permitting is in the accident and were air lifted from the scene; another, a 16-year-old juvenile, lost his life and was transported off the mountain by ambulance. completed. Teen Dies in Accident on Powder Mountain Road By Shanna Francis A tragic accident on Powder Mountain Road left a sixteen-year-old dead and two others severely injured. The accident occurred on August 30 at about 8:45 p.m. A Weber County Sheriff, one of many patrolling the road that day, passed a 40-foot, class “A” motor-home coach pulling a 24-inch trailer traveling at a high rate of speed down the mountain. Witnesses say that the driver had passed a number of cars also traveling down the mountain at the conclusion of a motocross event that had been running on top of the mountain for several days. The officer, surmising that the vehicle had lost its breaks, turned around and retraced his route back down the mountain. He came upon the trailer near the bottom in a mangled heap near Mile Marker 8. Twelve Weber County deputies ascended on the scene along with four Utah Highway Patrol troopers. Fire Engine 62 from Eden along with an ambulance, and Engine 65 from Huntsville with a second ambulance, also responded. Two of the victims were airlifted from the scene of the accident—one by Life Flight, the other by Air-Med. The third victim died at the scene, and had to be extricated from the wreckage. All three were from Nevada. Traffic was blocked until the early hours of the morning while an investigation was conducted and debris was cleared from the scene. While the motorhome was completely destroyed, the trailer it was pulling carrying motorcycles and cycling equipment was left intact for the most part. It was thrown into the underbrush and surrounding trees. Investigators say it looks like the motorhome lost its breaks and rolled a couple of times before coming to rest on the west shoulder of the road. Corporal Nealy Adams stated that during the motocross event, officers had been patrolling the road continuously, many working overtime. The Weber County Sheriff’s office had taken several calls reporting brake loss, with drivers asking for tow service to take them off of the mountain. In addition to the two injured in the motorhome incident, seven other accident victims had to be airlifted from off of Powder Mountain due to injuries sustained in separate incidents related to the weekend motocross event. UDOT Takes a Stand and Texters Take Notice: Texting-while-driving-documentary views exceed 260,000 in only three weeks UDOT reports its 15minute documentary on the dangers of texting while driving has been viewed more than 260,000 times in only three weeks. The documentary was created to help educate drivers and support Utah’s law banning texting and emailing while driving. Released August 12, 2009, the 15-minute documentary illustrates, through a true-life example, how one Utah teen’s texting while driving resulted in the deaths of two men. The documentary is available for download on www.ZeroFatalities.com and is also posted on YouTube at <http://bit.ly/EzWGS> In addition to garnering significant attention in Utah, the documentary is gaining viewership throughout the nation. The topviewing states, in order, include California, Florida, Idaho, Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Arizona, Illinois, and Oklahoma. “The tremendous number of views in such a short period of time shows that people UDOT & TEXTERS cont. on page 9 Huntsville Town Nominating Convention Selects Candidates Our Town Convention Candidates Party #1 Convention Candidates Chris Stevenson - Mayor Jim Truett - Mayor Alan Clapperton - Town Council Doug Allen - Town Council Mike Engstrom - Town Council Richard Sorensen - Town Council Congratulations nominees, and good luck in November! Vandalism Continues Against Powder New Section of Pathway Being Completed —Volunteers needed for maintenance event By Shanna Francis Mountain Town Opponents the pathway; it’s up to us to take care of it.” By Shanna Francis A deadly stretch of highway that doesn’t meet current road-construction standards, developers who are financially and legally running amuck, and community members who have had their constitutional rights to vote for their representatives and whether At right, vandals stab a “Stop Powder Mountain” sign onto a boundary post and throw another up into the tops of the trees that line Wolf Creek’s golf course in Eden. Tampering with the signs is a felony punishable by law. to tax themselves or not, are just a few of the foul aspects surrounding the controversial Powder Mountain incorporation proposal plaguing the once sleepy community named after a Biblical paradise. Eden residents caught up and being held captive in the aggressive actions of a handful of developers and Powder Mountain stakeholders are now battling to find out who keeps stealing and destroying signs and banners, and sending threatening messages to those who are using their Constitutional right to free speech to oppose, what they see as, infractions on their legal rights. Signs along the road leading to Powder Mountain and around the back yards of residents abutting Wolf Creek’s golf course have had to put up with a few occasional missing signs. But the vandalism is now reaching unprecedented levels, and is beginning to cost homeowners several hundred dollars to keep replacing the signs, posts, and banners being stolen and destroyed. Community members fighting the town incorporation have also received threatening emails and text messages. Several police reports have been filed with the Weber County Sheriff’s office regarding the reoccurring problem. The latest two incidents were reported Another one-half mile section of the Volunteers are being asked to meet Ogden Valley Pathway around Pineveiw Thursday, September 24 at 5:30 p.m. at the Reservoir has almost been completed. new Valley Elementary. “If you have them, Workers are now waiting for water levels please bring gloves, brooms, tree-trimming to recede at Geertsen Bay so infill can be loppers, and/or pruning sheers. We need brought in to raise the shoulder of the road everyone’s help. If we get a good turn above the high-water mark, and construc- out, we should be done in about an hour tion of a bridge can be completed over the or two.” For more information about this culvert where Pineview’s water back fills volunteer effort, contact Wheelwright at to the opposite side of Highway 166. The 801-745-2344. newest section of pathway continues on If a section of the Ogden Valley Pathway from the current pathway where it stubs runs in front of your property, please do your across from the LDS Stake Center in Eden, part by maintaining it to the best of your then heads eastward to where the Middle ability. Removal of weeds and debris would Road veers off from the main high- be greatly appreciated. VANDALISM cont. on page 14 Fork way. The expansion of the pathway was made possible by funding from a RAMP grant. The logistics and construction of this latest section has been overseen by Eden resident Alan Wheelwright. He stated that he hopes the Geertsen Bay portion will be completed by next month. “This year, water levels in Pineview Reservoir have remained unusually high, which has delayed the pathway’s completion.” Wheelwright has planned an evening for pathway maintenance, and is asking for community volunteers to help. “Weber County states they lack the funds or A new section of the pathway is being completed in Eden. resources to maintain |