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Show Utah Press Association 1521 E 3900 SSte 100 Salt Lake City UT 84124-1550 T H E Hie O N I II " I||U E T H A T ' S L O C A L L Y ForkAfews O W N E D A N D O P E R A T E D WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2009 50fZf VOL. 4 / NO. 14 SPANISH FORK, UTAH HITTING HOME (Homelessness in Nebo School District Marilyn Nielson STAFF AfrRITER Courtesy photo / Jessy Davis ON ASSIGNMENT: Jessy Davis, second from left, and other PRCA cowboys traveled to Afghanistan on a goodwill military tour. Local rodeo pro travels to Afghanistan Jeril Bills STAFF WRITER Local professional bareback rider Jessy Davis recently returned from a Goodwill Military Tour of Afghanistan staged by Pro Sports MVP of Colorado Springs, Colo. Davis traveled with others from the world of rodeo, including sixtime world champion saddle bronc rider Dan Mortensen. The trip lasted from Feb. 24, 2009, when the group landed in Qatar, to March 5,2009, the day their plane landed back in the United States. For several days in between, Davis and the others toured Afghanistan, buoying the spirits of U.S. soldiers in that country. "It was quite the experience, I'll tell you that," said Davis. The group spent two days in Qatar, then was flown to Bagram, Afghanistan, from which they visited a number of military bases, touring the facilities and meeting soldiers, many of whom had heard of him or seen him on TV. The soldiers even let them fire some of the weaponry, after Davis and company "conned" them into it. It was the first time he'd ever fired a semi-automatic or a grenade launcher. NEW EXPERIENCE: Jessy Davis fires some practice rounds as part of his visit to the troops. When they got back to Bagram, they held a meet-andgreet where they set up a table and signed autographs. After each of the visiting rodeo stars spoke, soldiers watched a highlight video of the riders. Because of an injury, Davis, who has competed at three National Finals Rodeos, has been unable to participate on the rodeo circuit lately. But his trial became a blessing when the call came. "I think they knew I was injured," said Davis. "The ... PRCA referred them to me. Once they called me and asked me to go, I was like 'Heck, yeah, I'm gonna go over there ... and thank all [those] guys for keeping us safe.'" Davis said that a lot of people here take security for granted. "Over there it feels like someone's watching you," said Davis. He said the trip was planned for the winter because See DAVIS • A7 Scammers targeting local residents Jen Allen ing kinds of cases. The first scam includes letters stating that citizens have been chosen A recent wave of scammers to be secret shoppers. A check has been targeting Spanish along with the letter is includFork City. ed. Those receiving the letters "It is a problem that is be- are to cash the checks, keep a ing reported more frequently portion to spend at a local reto the SFPD, and unfortunately tailer, and then wire the rest of several citizens or local banks the funds to the listed location. are being scammed out of As the checks are made to look thousands of dollars. It is our authentic, several citizens have hope that we can let the pub- cashed these checks against lic know of some of the scams their own personal accounts. we are seeing in hopes that it A few days later however, the will deter people from being checks are returned as stolen victims of fraud," said Ser- account information or simply geant John Jackson of Spanish asfraudulentchecks. This then Fork's Police Department. puts the individual's financial So far this year, 28 reports institution in a bind. of fraudulent activity have The second scam involves been reported in the follow- contact via mail or email in- STAFF WRITER structing the individual that they can make money by wiring money. A wire or traveler's check will then show up for the individual to keep 10 percent and wire out the remainder. Yet again, the check will be returned to the individual's bank or credit union as fraudulent. The third scam is particularly alluring. In most cases, an individual will receive a phone call or email informing them that they have won the Publisher's Clearinghouse giveaway. The target of the scam is told that their prize amounts are large sums of money, "sometimes in the millions of dollars," said Jackson. The individual is to then wire money for processing fees. Most often, the funds are to be sent out of country to Jamaica. "On one occasion, after a resident had fallen victim to this scam, they received another call from the scam artist asking for more processing money. I was able to talk to the scam artist on the phone and could detect their Jamaican accent. When I asked them if they felt bad for taking advantage of a resident they simply hung up the phone," Jackson said. "We would like SF residents to be aware that instructions to send money to anyone are a giant red flag to a fraud scam. The saying that 'money is not free' rings true with fraud. We encourage everyone to be suspicious of situations that seem too good to be tme." Many families with students in the Nebo School District have been affected by the recent economic downturn, and some students find themselves without a place to live. Monica Hullinger, one of Nebo School District's two social workers, is in charge of helping these students so they can still function and be successful in school. In Nebo District, there are 1,632 students who do not have good living situations. They may be doubled-up in houses with other families — 1,432 of Nebo District's "homeless" students fit into this category; they may be living in a car, campground or shelter; or they may not have running water or heat in their home. Hullinger said the district has students fill out a residency questionnaire which asks questions such as, "Does your home have running water?" This survey can alert Hullinger to problems and guide her to which students may need assistance. "If the student answers 'yes' to any of the risk questions on the survey, they immediately become eligible for free breakfast and lunch at school, because thefirstthing we want to make sure of is that they are fed," said Hullinger. "It's really important that the students have enough to eat, and getting two meals at school is a lot of help for that. And then as I read the surveys I can call the student's family and just check on the situation, find out what is going on, and if there are ways that we can help." Ways that Hullinger and the district can help include putting the families in touch with community services such as Community Action, which provides weekly food boxes; Deseret Industries, which supplies clothing and household items; heat programs, and other church-sponsored programs. "There is a lot of help available, and if we know about the situation there is a lot we can do," Hullinger said. The district also receives both federal and state funding that can help these students during times of difficulty. The district can give aid in a variety of ways depending on the situation. For example, if students attend a homeschooling group and then become homeless, it can become difficult for them to continue going to classes. In these cases, the district can arrange bus transport or gas vouchers to allow the student to stay with their school group and maintain continuity in schooling. Through the federal McKinney-Vento Act, the district also offers skill-building classes to help students who have had a hard time staying caught up with their work. "When these kids are facing lots of changes or economic hardships at home, their work can suffer," said Hullinger, "So these classes allow them to have help during school time and hopefully help them get caught up and succeeding in school again." Utah state also has programs in place to help homeless students. "From the State Office of Education, we have about 200 backpacks filled with school supplies and snacks," Hullinger said. "If a student needs a backpack, I can give them one of those." While the number of students and families in need this year has increased by about 200 students, Hullinger emphasized that there are many positive things going on and lots of ways that the community is able to help these families. "If you would like to donate to the students and families in need, the best way to do it is to go through the Nebo Education Foundation," said Hullinger. "We really appreciate people's desire to help, but when we get cases of food or clothes here at the district, we're not in a position to distribute it as efficiently. If you go through the foundation, you can help give what is really needed, and everything goes where it's supposed to go." As far as items to donate, Hullinger said, "Most of our clothing needs are met through D.I., but some items, like socks, underwear, gym clothes, shoes etc., are sometimes harder to find, and it's nice to have those items new rather than used." Those wanting to help can also make a monetary donation to the Foundation specifying that you want it go to the McKinney-Vento Act. More information on how and what to donate can be found at wwwjiebo.edu/foundation. |