| Show Junior College for Roosevelt No 47 Introduced into Uintah county leaders join project push AN EDITORIAL A Junior College For Uintah Basin January could go down into the history records as one of the great days for the Uintah and especially for the Roosevelt On that day Representative Bennie of Duchesne introduced a that if passed by the current would establish a Junior College in this area For many lour years people have dreamed about a college in the As far back as 1931 and perhaps longer Duchesne and Uintah counties have talked about a It was the thought that the day the whole Basin would join whole-heartedly in working for a In the opinion of the Roosevelt Chamber of who were inspired by leaders from other communities in the it was felt that 1959 was the year to launch a campaign for the establishment of a two-year junior college to be located in the center of the Uintah A close study of any map of the area would convince anyone who would be fair and impartial that the Duchesne-Uintah county line was the Committee Was Named With this knowledge and with a desire to get the ball a committee was formed by the Chamber of and the project began to take A strong advocate of higher and a man possessed of experience on the Utah State School R. V. was chosen as chairman of the Be selected a committee who was as as he for a junior and tiro ago today a formal announcement made that the 1959 legislature would be asked to approve the establishment of a college in the vicinity of Union High After the newspapers had broken the the committee really went to With the aid of our newly elected state Bennie a former teach- er and business and civic leader of and encouragement from other were collected and on Tuesday the lower body of the legislature received the House It will be known as H B and was formally into the legislative hopper January Wednesday it was read before the members of the and to the committee on of which is a Has Outside Support Three other one from one from Utah and two from Salt Lake are co-sponsors of II B. with our own One other name should have been on the and could added great strength to We refer to the Uintah county representative fen reasons best to and because a segment of Uintah county has seen fit to oppose a college in name is not on the It would be easy for the Standard to level a loud blast of criticism toward the group in Vernal who have collected a number of seasons why they don't believe any other part of the Basin has a right to advance and receive benefits except suffice it to sav that we who live west of the Sand Ridge are not very happy over their And with one brief we'll let the matter and if they persist in fighting this they'll have to live with their own This is tin observation Duchesne county all the Basin has gone down the line m support of many projects that hai-e helped Vernal and the Ashley Valley grow We are glad we because it is our attitude that what is for Vernal is good for the rest of F. Your Views We could go on into greater lengths pointing out why a Junior College built near Roosevelt would serve all of the Uintah How much easier it would be for students in and the Upper to attend school in than to go that other thirty-miles we'll stop at that and make one plea to to everyone who reads this if you think as we to become a one-man committee and work hard and lona to get bill passed by the current If you know any men in the write them a letter and tell them why the Basin Needs A Junior Report from shows Support is Mass meeting approved A telephone call early Wednesday morning from Bennie revealed that the proposed bill asking for a junior college to be established in the Roosevelt was thrown into the legislative hopper Tuesday and will be known as House bill It was slated for its first reading on the floor of the lower house on Wednesday In his report to the Standard Wednesday expressed a high degree of and indicated he had must- ered a lot of legislative support from house members through all parts of Co-sponsoring the bill with are Leland W. Wasatch Ernest H. Utah majority leader in the Wallace A. Salt Lake County Democratic and Hughes Salt Lake I feel we have an excellent chance to get our bill through the and want to ask the people at home to give me a lot of support by contacting anyone they might know bl the house and and them to support our Support Is Gratifying am thrilled the way the people from the western end of Uintah county have rallied to our This will do a lot to off-set the opposition coming out of which I am convinced is definitely not representative of Uintah Keep the people stirred up at and we'll get this college he Another encouraging report was made by when he told the Standard that the University of Utah is greatly interested in supporting our He indicated he had talked with individuals connected with the and their interest should help stimulate action Reactions To Opposition Considerable was registered by supporters of the college movement in Duchesne County and the western end of over the opposition that has come from Typical is the following loiter prepared by members of the Uintah Education which wras forwarded to the Vernal Express for printing this Utah January 1959 Vernal Express Utah Dear In your January issue of the Vernal Express in the article which dealt with the proposed junior college you wrote president of the Uintah Education Association said that when the time was ripe that Vernal would be the natural location for a junior college and then it could serve the western Colorado area as well as eastern We have contacted Freestone and he informs us that his statement was his own personal opinion and did not in any way represent the feelings of the membership of the Uintah Education We fell that most of the members of the are in favor of building a junior college as soon as we think the fact should be brought to the attention of your readers that there has been no collective opinion reached to date by the as to the of a junior college in this part of the We the as a token of I many teachers in the place our names in favor of the Carl G. LeJeune June Cynthia Tay- Elmond Bill Ed- Gerald Phyllis Fawn Junior Mary Jess I Hullinger Others Are School board county church and civic and other large tax-payers from Uintah were equally unhappy when they of the opposition coming from Vernal business in-i Typical is this state- mont made by a very prominent j who not to be i inference that Vernal is the center of the j Uintah Basin is and without any other than personal Also the statement that the Basin is not ready for a college was analysed by another leader who See COLLEGE Page COLLEGE from Page also not to be when he this experience a certain Vernal individual was asked if a bill were introduced in the legislature listing Vernal as the site for the would you still say we are not Basin is reach for a college in Calls For Cooperation The attitude of the Roosevelt Chamber of Commerce relative to the Vernal opposition was expressed Tuesday when the directors and general member-slap voted to ignore and intensify their own efforts toward getting people who favored the of a college in Roosevelt to go to Strong support has come from city and town officials from every community Duchesne I and from the communities in western Uintah county where the people send their children to Union High and join the people of the Roosevelt area in church and civic The Ute Indian Tribal and the Bureau of Indian affairs have been enthusiastic about the prospects of an institution coming to the area where the children now being sent to vocational schools all over the could be trained at home Letters have been written and data on present costs of educational services being rendered by state universities and supplied to the committee Meeting Well Attended A general mass meeting called by the Junior College committee which is headed by R V. last Saturday night at Union High was very well attended by from Duchesne and Uintah Several ideas were and are being employed to seek support for the bill who is a foi mer member of the State Board of was in Salt Lake Tuesday and met with people who arc aiding the college movement for the and was very gratified at the support he Attending the Saturday meeting was who read the bill he had He asked for suggestions from the group and with a few very minor the bill was approved as introduced The Chamber of Commerce has authorized delegation s expenses who find is necessary to go to the state capitol for j lobbying One final bit of advice comes I from Larson and his eom- I write Mr a letter telling him in your own words why a college I should be built immediately in This will do a lot of good when it conies time to the after it conies lout of he |
