Month: November 2018

In a long standing tradition, the Moon family is preparing once again to share their unique and creative talent and vision with the Uintah Basin, all in the form of gingerbread. This year is shaping up to outdo them all. The theme is the Triwizard Tournament featured in the book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. For those unfamiliar, in the book, Harry Potter completes three tasks as part of a competition. To accommodate the theme, the 2 foot by 6 foot display is divided into 3 sections featuring Harry trying to get a golden egg from a dragon, Harry rescuing hostages from merpeople, and Harry in a giant hedge maze filled with monsters. He estimates that it will take about 2 hours to set up the display. “It is all cookies, candy, and frosting, with no wooden supports or wires,” shares Stephen Moon. “The closest to a non-edible item this year are cinnamon sticks used as supports. Yes, they are edible but I don’t know too many who want to just sit and eat them,” Moon muses. “Sabrina, my wife,” he continues, “has been doing amazing work on the dragon. Actually cutting out and attaching individual scales.” The Moon’s 5-year-old son Matthew has also been a help this year, making people out of fondant. “He personally feels that [Harry’s] tasks are too easy and that there should be at least 4 dragons on the first panel, a dozen sharks and a zombie whale on the second guarding the hostages, and many, many more monsters in the maze including a giant turtle,” explains Moon. “Harry was very lucky J.K. Rowling wrote his story instead of Matthew.” In addition to their love for Harry Potter is a special tribute to comic book legend Stan Lee. “If you look closely at the students in the stands watching the first challenge you will see that a Ravenclaw is reading an X-Men comic book,” shares Moon. “Our whole family is huge Stan Lee fans and felt we needed to honor his passing in some way.” Barring any unexpected problems, the display will be at the Roosevelt Branch Library, where Moon is the Director, from December 3rd to the 31st. Be sure to check out the process at The Moon Gingerbread Creations Facebook Page.

A slow-speed pursuit ended in arrest for a Rock Springs man last week. According to Sweetwater County Sheriff Mike Lowell, suspicion of a drunk driver was called in on November 21st near a Trailer Court west of Rock Springs. Deputies responded and saw the suspect vehicle parked on a dirt road. When the deputy activated his emergency lights, the 1985 Dodge pickup took off, driving up and down the streets of the trailer court at speeds of 10 to 30 miles per hour.

A semi accident resulted in injury and slowed traffic on Monday afternoon north of Vernal near Simplot. According to Utah Highway Patrol, the accident took place just before 2:00pm on SR-191 at Mile Marker 367.

The Christmas spirit flourished at the Trees For Charity Auction Gala at the Uintah Conference Center. While a grand total has yet to be tallied, the amount reached during the live auction came to $218,000 dollars on Monday night. It’s very likely this will be a record year for Trees For Charity once the money is added from the silent auction and tree toppers. Last year, the grand total reached $260,000 dollars and this year’s event is on pace to beat that.

The legal issues involved with legalization of marijuana is sending some hard working members of law enforcement to an early retirement and a story out of Rifle, Colorado on the topic made the front page of Sunday’s New York Times. The article tells the story of K-9 Officer Tulo, a beautiful yellow Labrador Retriever, who has served with the Rifle Police Department for 8 years. Officer Tulo will retire early because the K-9 is expertly trained in detecting marijuana.

Naples will continue a new tradition by holding the 2nd annual Naples City Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony tomorrow. It was almost one year ago that 500 people gathered on the newly landscaped Naples City Plaza next to the City Offices waiting for Santa to arrive and for the tree to be lit up.