The former UHP trooper charged with Arson in the Maeser Highway Fire pleaded Not Guilty this week to the charges in 8th District Court. The Maeser Highway Fire started on June 9th in Uintah County and burned over 2,500 acres. On August 8th, the Utah Attorney General’s Office charged former trooper, 37-year-old Rex Richard Olsen, with one count of Second-Degree Felony Arson as well as a second charge for placing a lighted item on a highway/wildland area, a class B misdemeanor.
The Uintah School District is continuing its weekly tradition of recognizing a local entity for their support of local education. Team Uintah has now recognized Showalter Ford, stating that for more than 80 years, the Showalter family has been a strong supporter of the Uintah School District and Uintah County schoolchildren.
The Vernal City Council held a public hearing on Wednesday night dealing with changes the state legislature has made to how home occupation business licensing is handled in governing agencies. The amended state law does not allow cities and counties to require a business license of home occupation businesses that either only operate occasionally, are operated by an individual under 18 years-old, or do not have an off-site impact.
Drug use paints part of the picture in a disturbing case of Credit Card theft out of Duchesne County that has many victims. 32-year-old Andrew Shane Encoe was booked into Duchesne County Jail on Friday for investigation of multiple felony and misdemeanor charges including ten counts of unlawful possession of a financial transaction card.
The Uintah School board honored the district’s latest Students of the Month during their October meeting. Five students were recognized: Briann Hazelbush from Davis Elementary, Kylee Clegg from Eagle View Elementary, Walter Littlegoerge from Lapoint Elementary, Alyssa Serrano from Ashley Valley Education Center, and Nadya Polendo from Uintah High School.
The commitment of staff at Jones Hole National Fish Hatchery extends beyond the mission at their own location. Last week the crew traveled to the Saratoga National Fish Hatchery in Wyoming to help spawn Brown Trout and Lake Trout at the northern neighbor’s location.
An opportunity aimed at putting small town Main Streets through rehab is accepting nominations for just one more day and Roosevelt City is asking Basin residents for their nomination. ‘Small Business Revolution – Main Street’ caught fire when they debuted Season 1 of their show as they transformed a small town in Indiana over nine-episodes.
Community members throughout the Basin and beyond were deeply affected in 2016 when a young Vernal man lost his life in a car accident and now his memory is being used as part of a state safe driving campaign aimed at teens. On May 27th, 2016, 19-year-old Sandon Rylee Marshall and a friend were on their way to McCoy Flats when they were hit from behind by an inattentive driver as they were waiting to make a left hand turn.
A hiker missing in Garfield County on Tuesday was found safe. According to the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office was contacted to assist in the search of the missing hiker on Tuesday afternoon. The hiker, listed as 51-year-old Evelyn Danz Shaffer, was reported to be in the area of Trappers Lake east of Meeker.
It was a long day for one hiker and his hunting party in Uintah County on Monday after injury required a call to the Uintah County Search and Rescue team. According to the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office, a call was received that a hunter was injured and required help getting off the mountain above Dry Fork.