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Show A2 Sanpete Messenger/Gunnison Valley Edition Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Students perform at annual dance festival Cent er field Center erf Cour ier Courier Former teachers honored at event By Karen Prisbrey Staff writer GUNNISON—Students performed at the annual Gunnison Valley Elementary Dance Festival on Friday, May 18 at the Gunnison High School new gym. Tribute was paid at this year’s festival to former Principal Rodney Anderson, who passed away Thursday morning, May 17. Anderson, a longtime friend and advocate for children in this valley, committed his career to a quality education for all children, including one of the first schoolbased special education programs in Utah. That program served the children of South Sanpete, North Sanpete and the Sevier school districts. Under Anderson’s direction, the school was named an outstanding school in the United States for implementation of the Accelerated Student Achieve- BY ELVA JENSEN 528-3382 KAREN PRISBREY / MESSENGER PHOTO Kindergarten students at Gunnison Valley Elementary dance the Hawaiian Hukilau. ment Project. Murrell Lyman, a teacher at Gunnison Valley Elementary for 30 years, was also recognized for his years of service as he prepares to retire. ence.” Boore is also a member of the Sanpitch Watershed Conservancy Board. The purpose of the meeting was to get all the state agencies on the same page and thinking in unison about the problem. The problem, according to irrigation company officials is the amount of debris. Doug Bjerregaard with the Mayfield Irrigation Company said this year isn’t too bad and the silt, clay and rocks are at manageable levels. Some years the water is so thick it will hardly flow through pipes. But even manageable levels are hard to believe. During a tour of affected sites along waterways, officials saw how much mud gathers in a single day. At the highland diversion between Mayfield and Gunnison, irrigation officials opened the gates holding back water to “flush” the canal and revealed mud several feet thick that had gathered in a single day. Without flushing, the river would soon breach its banks. Irrigation officials estimate that the river brings down around 30 semi loads of sediment a day. In only two days, with water flowing at 50 feet/second (a normal flow), the riverbed would completely fill with mud. But, as admitted to by irrigation officials at the event, it is illegal to flush the canal under water quality standards, and is considered “point-source pollution.” Other standards that get in the way include regulation about the size of settling ponds. To build a settling pond according to government regulations, which would require professional engineering, would cost around $500,000. However, those same regulations only allow it to be approximately 23 acre-feet in size. In contrast, a 67 acre-foot pond built 3 years ago by Gunnison Irrigation Co. has lost half its capacity due to sediment, and during very high sediment years, an 84 acre-foot pond was filled up in 3 years. Estimates put additional costs for building and digging out ponds and canals for Gunnison and Mayfield irrigation companies at about $40,000 per year. Other problems include the damage to sprinkler and other irrigation equipment and the loss of crops or crop productivity. Boore said the sediment coming through the system will severely decrease the life-expectancy of equipment, and it costs farmers in Mayfield and Gunnison about $80,000 per year. He estimates the sediment results in extra costs or profit losses at a little more than $444,000 per year, and farmers and ranchers lose between 28-33 percent of their income. Since 1983-84 Boore estimates total costs and losses, including figures not illustrated here at more than $10,000,000. Ultimately, fixing the problem is a benefit to everyone, local officials said, pointing out that every dollar not made by farmers is a dollar not spent in the community supporting a business or providing jobs. “We not only lose agriculture,” said Sanpete County Commissioner Claudia Jarrett, “we lose communities.” year for each school. “You need to be looking at your whole music program,” he said. Ephraim Middle School Principal Kent Larsen told the board nearly two-thirds of the middle school students are involved in music classes. Board member Nancy Jensen, Centerfield, said, “The research shows music makes kids smarter, and I think we need to take a look at this.” She then asked Paul Gottfredson, assistant superintendent for business services, what the board could do. “You can do anything you want—just not everything you want,” he said. The board did not give Litteral a financial commitment but promised to consider his proposals. The other weighty financial concern for the board was budgeting for sports. Superintendent Don Hill said, “We’re subsidizing all sports with other money.” As participation in sports continues to grow, money will continue to be drawn from other budgets. Gottfredson told the board that if it wanted to consider implementing the recreation tax, it had to direct him that evening to prepare for next month’s meeting because that is when the tax rate would be set. “If you do not direct me to prepare the truth in taxation statement for publication before the next meeting, you will have to wait until next year.” He then told the board that even though the district has one of the higher tax rates in the state, it has the second lowest assessed valuation per student in the state. (Assessed valuation per student is the total property valuation subject to taxation, divided by the number of students). Board President Larry Smith said implementing the recreation tax would provide money for textbooks and music programs. Assistant Superintendent Brenan Jackson said, “Schools without a recreation tax are in the red in all sports just to cover the cost of officials.” A motion was made and seconded to entertain implementing a recreation tax at the June meeting. By a 3-2 margin the board directed Gottfredson to prepare the taxation documents for their review. Board members Ellen Aste, Manti and Kim Pickett, Gunnison voted against moving ahead with the tax. If the board decides to implement the tax, the proposed rate, assessed against the current assessed valuation, is expected to generate $82,000 annually for the district. The board also approved one-time technology money for each of the schools and the district office. Slide (Continued from A1) Then in 1998, another slide came down Middle Mountain, where there were two more slides in 2004 and 2006. As snow melts and spring runoff fills streams and creeks that supply the Gunnison Valley with water, sediment from the slides is picked up and carried downstream. And things aren’t expected to change. A report filed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service in 2003 said about the slide, “The sediment source is a renewable, annual, natural process for the foreseeable future. … The landslide is … just in the beginning stages of activity.” The report concludes that, “It will be many [a] year until the landslide is not a major impact and hazard to the irrigation systems and all down stream areas.” “It’s a very significant issue,” said Gunnison Irrigation Board member Danny Boore. “We just can’t bear it anymore. It’s threatening our very exist- Tax (Continued from A1) over,” he said. Litteral provided the board with an estimate of $52,000 for instruments the band lacks. Such an expenditure is needed, he said, to bring the Manti High School band up to “par with the other 2A high schools in our region.” He indicated that Gunnison might need a similar amount of money for its band. He also noted that the entire music budget at Ephraim Middle School is $1,500 per year. That is supposed to provide sheet music for the choir, band and orchestra as well as money for repairs. Yet, he said, “each band and orchestra song costs $65 per set and because of instrumentation in the set it often requires us to buy two sets per song.” Besides one-time funds, Litteral asked the board to consider $10,000 in ongoing funding per Staff writer GUNNISON—The annual auction in conjunction with the Fourth of July celebration in Gunnison will be sponsored by the local Lions Club this year, announced President Brent Jensen. The Fourth of July committee has been approached by a number of organizations requesting benefit from this year’s auction, and the Casino Star Theatre 78 S. MAIN, GUNNISON committee decided it was time to spread the money raised each year to more than one entity. Because the Gunnison Lions Club has been successful in sponsoring the auction in previous years, the celebration committee asked the club to organize this year’s event and determine which organizations and activities would be funded by the money raised from the auction. According to Jensen, the or- Rated PG13 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Prices: Adults $5 Children under 12 and Seniors $3.50 ganizations that have approached the committee desiring funds from the auction so far are Fayette City, to help with the construction of their new City Complex; Gunnison City, to fund the roof over the new City Cemetery Index; and Centerfield, to help with restoration of the old town hall. “If there are other organizations who feel they could use some assistance with their community projects, we would like to hear from them. We may have to select projects on a first-come first-serve base, or award the funding to the project that has the most critical need,” said Jensen. “The number of projects funded will be determined by the amount of money that is taken in at the auction.” For more information, contact Brent Jensen, Marshall Sorenson or Vern Hatch. The Messenger 35 S. Main • Manti (435) 835-4241 "Image is Everything" 528-STAR CASINOSTARTHEATRE.ORG Jail (Continued from A1) well as possible water resource damage, and complaints of logging trucks exceeding the speed limit. Intermountain Resources officials Tom Fassio and Marvin McDougal admitted they didn’t Thurs. May 24 - June 7 Fri., Sat., 7& 9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 7 p.m. No Bargain Night! PRINTING, COPIES, BUSINESS FORMS, BUS. CARDS AND MORE! SUPERIOR SERVICE QUALITY GUARANTEE have an agreement with Pine Creek yet, but still asked the county for the conditional use permit renewal while the courts settled disputes between the loggers and homeowners. The county agreed, but added new conditions to the permit. Need a good reason to see a dentist? Well, we’ve got 2 for you! $25 towards your Lions will take lead in annual auction By Karen Prisbrey The Gunnison Valley High School band and chorus performance on Tuesday night was a great experience. The band played just beautifully. The school has a large band, and each section received awards at competition. Also, many of the students won awards for their personal performances. The band teacher, Mr. Clark, handed the band a brand new piece of music to show the audience how their talents have developed by playing an unrehearsed piece. It was amazing! The high school chorus with boys and girls did very well in their performance. The girls choir, Cantus, received several awards for their performances in several competitions. Many of the members had solos and did very well. Their accompanist is Linda Campbell, and their conductor is Jody Allred. What great opportunities our children have in this area. We were excited to have Felicia Willden from Centerfield as one of those honored. The Rex Brown family attended the blessing of son Dustin’s (DeLynne) triplets: Cael, Ross and Von. Dustin and DeLynne also have a boy whose name is Ezra. Dustin and his family are planning to move to the Gunnison area. It was exciting to cheer our Gunnison High School boys baseball team for winning the state championship. Wow! The boys have done very well throughout the season. The fire engine brought the boys, all dressed in their uniforms, through Centerfield during Cinco de Mayo. Everyone at the party really cheered for them. On Sunday, May 6 a new bishopric in the Centerfield first ward was sustained. The new bishop is David Beck, and his counselors are Thomas Sorensen and Curtis Miller. Those who were released were Bishop Kelly Frandsen and counselors Ron Anderson and Merrill Gunderson. 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