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Show Recapping The Year 2001 The Garfield County News continues its recap of the significant signif-icant events of 2001: NOVEMBER County's Voters Make Some Changes in Nov. 6 Municipal Election Voters in the county's eight municipalities went to the polls on Nov. 6 to cast votes for many of their local officials, making some changes in every community. commu-nity. Changes included new mayors may-ors for Panguitch (Janet Oldham), Escalante (Lenza Wilson), Hatch (Kevin Eldridge), Cannonville (Alma Fletcher), Henrieville (Riley Miller), and Antimony (Shannon Allen). Re-elected were Jean Seiler (Tropic) and Keith Gailey (Boulder). Local Residents Lauded At BCNP Visitor Center Dedication A great crowd and fairly cooperative weather marked the Veterans Day dedication of the newly remodeled Visitor Center at the park. The historical and patriotic ceremony was marked by uniformed employees of park, led by Supt. Fred Fagergren and joined by the audience singing God Bless America. Garkane To Refund $400,000 To Members In December Garkane Energy's Board of Directors announced a $4000,000 Capital Credit Refund to the cooperative's members for December. The refund was made possible in Part by a rebate from Garkane's power supplier Deseret Power. Members could expect to see the rebate in the form of a credit cred-it on their December bills. Wade Barney Honored By Court As Juvenile Mentor Wade Barney of Escalante was honored in St. George at the Restorative Justice Annual Banquet By the Utah State Juvenile Court System. Utah Court Administrator Daniel Becker presented the award to Barney for his work with juveniles juve-niles who were working off court-ordered work hours. Monument Manager Cannon Takes Job At Grand Canyon Nat'l Park Kate Cannon, manager at Grand Canyon-Escalante National Monument announced her intention to leave the GSENM to take a position at Grand Canyon National Park as deputy superintendent. Associate Manager Dave Hunsaker was named Acting Monument Manager. Hunsaker, a 27-year careerist with the BLM, joined the monument staff in May 2001. He was formerly for-merly the director of the BLM's highly acclaimed National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center Complex in Baker City, Ore. Escalante Man Bound Over For Trial On Securities Fraud Charges A trial date had yet to be set and, prior to trial, a Motion to Sever acted upon following a preliminary hearing that bound t over Escalante resident Frank P. Venuti, 53, on 15 felony counts. The hearing was held in 5th District Court in St. George before Judge James Shumate. Health Care Foundation Readies Items For Possible .Thrift Store The Garfield Memorial Health Care Foundation announced intent to operate a full time thrift store in Panguitch. Proceeds from the Facility would go toward assisting assist-ing the needs of the Log Term Care Center and other health-related health-related needs at Garfield Memorial Hospital and Clinics. Twelve California Condors Go To Grand Canyon Area Twelve California condors were transported to a new home on public land on Arizona's Vermilion Cliffs near the Grand Canyon on Nov. 27. Eleven of the condors hatched this year at The Peregrine Fund's breeding facility in Boise, Ida.; the other is a female that hatched in 1999 and was brought into back into captivity on Apr. 1 1 , 2000 due to her interaction with humans. Biologists observed the condor in captivity for over a year and a half and felt she was ready to be released. DECEMBER Escalante Sawmill Announces Closure and Impending Layoffs Escalante residents were stunned when Utah Forest Products, Inc., the city's largest private employer, and one of the largest in ( Garfield County, announced the end of its sawmill operation. The company compa-ny announced a potential layoff of 65 sawmill workers and another 35 contract loggers. The economic impact was expected to be felt in Garfield, Wayne, Piute, Kane, and Iron (See RECAP on page 2-A) Recap From Front Page Counties. The financial impact to the area is an annual payroll of $1.4 million and an additional addition-al $1.5 million lost to logging contractors. Adventure Air Helicopter Crashes Near Fosters on Highway 12 When an Adventure Air (formerly (for-merly Aladdin Air) helicopter crashed Dec. 1 near Fosters Fosters on Highway 12, help was almost immediately on hand to help. Owner Terry Andrews and his two passengers excepted the totaled craft and were transported by ambulance with only minor injuries to Garfield Memorial Hospital. A large number of EMTs and firefighters fire-fighters were less than two miles away at Rubys Inn where they (See RECAP on page 3-A) Recap From Page 2-A were attending a HAZMATTerrorist training seminar and responded within minutes to the scene. Panguitch Students Chosen To Train On New Windows XP Eight students from Panguitch High School's Computer Com-puter Networking Class journeyed jour-neyed to Salt Lake City to participate par-ticipate in a newly released, world wide computer presentation presenta-tion Windows XP. They attended attend-ed the Advanced Technology Center where they were trained by highly professional computer experts on how to install Windows XP. Nine Tropic Volunteers Certify As Fire Fighter II Tropic Volunteer FireRescue Chief Kerry Alvey and Assistant (See RECAP on page 5-A) Recap From Page 4-A Chief Ron Harris announced the completion of certification of nine of their fire fighters at the Fire Fighter II (FFII) level. It was a major accomplishment for a small rural fire fighting unit, as St. George and Santa Clara, larger larg-er urban areas, have about the same number, or only a few more. Couple Charged With Setting Illegal Snares On Dixie National Forest Criminal complaints were filed in Sixth Judicial District Court which charged a Kingston couple, Stanton Jack Gleave, 52, and Charlotte Gleave, 50, each with two third degree felony counts of wanton destruction of protected wildlife. The couple, who operate a sheep ranch on the Dixie National Forest, were charged with using steel cable snares to illegally kill cougars and bobcats. Commissioners Challenge GSENM On Closure Of Left Hand Collett Garfield County's commissioners commis-sioners objected strongly to and officially protested what they perceived as Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Manager Kate Cannon's arbitrary arbi-trary indefinite closure of a grazing graz-ing area on the monument. The commissioners stated that they (See RECAP on page 6-A) Recap From Page 5-A had been ignored in decisionmaking decision-making processes on the monument monu-ment contrary to specific promises prom-ises made by the BLM and resolutions reso-lutions adopted by two counties and several cities and towns. The commissioners further claimed that Cannon's decision : to close Left Hand Collett was made without scientific foundation. |