Month: December 2018

The Hospitality Committee in Uintah County is recognizing the faces of customer service in local businesses. The newest DinaSOAR customer service award recipient is Lacey Norton. Born in Roosevelt, she started serving at the age of 15 at Wingers Restaurant. She worked there for five years and then moved to Salt Lake and then Draper. She continued to be in the service industry with Market Street Grill and Goodwood BBQ before moving back to Vernal and continuing her employment with Wingers where she has been for five years. “Wingers has always been a very comfortable place for me and I love serving there,” Lacey says,  “I would go crazy sitting at a desk all day and the money isn’t bad either.” Her plans are to continue serving for a long time into the future because it allows her to meet new people everyday, a part of her job she truly enjoys. Congratulations Lacey Norton, DinaSOAR award recipient. Thank you for all you do for our community!

The cold weather is a season that has family and friends spending more times indoors. The TriCounty Health Department is reminding people to stay diligent in being aware of Carbon Monoxide. Carbon Monoxide is often referred to as the invisible killer because it is an invisible, odorless, colorless gas. This gas is created when fuels (such as gasoline, wood, coal, natural gas, propane, oil, and methane) burn incompletely.

Santa Claus is coming to town..for breakfast! The local Breakfast With Santa event has been going on for over 15 years and will be held once again this Saturday at the Uintah Middle School. This free gift to the community is a chance to sit down, relax, have a free breakfast with some jolly company, enjoy local talent like Brian Litton on the piano and Mindy Smith’s violin students, and snap a quick photo (if you have nimble enough fingers) of Santa before he leaves at 9:45am to go to the community recreation center.

Despite a small group of protestors gathering attention the day before, the Bureau of Land Management had its Oil and Gas Competitive Lease Sale for land primarily in the Green River District and Canyon Country District on Tuesday, December 11th, with the majority of the parcels for sale in Uintah County. The BLM reports that of the 105 parcels offered, 96 of them were sold. Of the 154,212.88 acres offered, 139,079.68 were sold. The average bid for acres sold was $20.25 and for parcel was $29,332.00. The total sum of high bids was $3,039,891.00 with the total receipts due ending at $3,040,371.00. The 2,560 acres of Parcel 155, located in Uintah County, received the highest bid per parcel. The 319.44 acres of Parcel 234, also located in Uintah County, received the highest bid per acre. Both were purchased by Baseline Minerals, Inc. out of Lakewood, Colorado. The BLM sale results summary noted that there were no disruptions of the sale but that 15 protesters were present in the Utah State Office Public Room the morning before the sale reading letters, chanting, and singing. Four of the protesters locked arms and sang in front of the door, refused to leave, and were arrested for trespassing.

Scammers don’t take a break for the holidays and Vernal Police is warning the public of a new local scam making the rounds. According to Vernal Police Department, the scam involves being contacted by a person representing themselves as being an employee of Mountain America Credit Union and requesting the last 6 digits of a social security number to verify ‘unsubstantiated activity’ on an account. “Follow up on this SCAM verified that the phone number is in fact a valid number to the Fraud Division of Mountain America Credit Union but the number has been spoofed in order to obtain personal information,” shares Vernal Police. “Contact with Mountain America Credit Union has verified that their employees would not request this personal information by phone, and this is clearly a SCAM.” All citizens are urged to protect personal information. If you are concerned you have been a victim, please contact your local Mountain America Credit Union branch for further details.

The ‘2018 Municipal Project of the Year’ from the Utah Construction and Design Magazine was awarded to Roosevelt City and Civco Engineering. The award was a result of the efforts given for the State Street project that was completed in September 2018. The project came about because a large portion of the stormwater drainage runs along State Street.

Fishermen and hunters take note. The Utah Wildlife Board met on November 29th in Salt Lake City and have approved several new hunts that affect the Uintah Basin as well as made changes to fishing regulations at Flaming Gorge Reservoir. There will be bison hunts on the Henry Mountains in southeastern Utah and the Book Cliffs in eastern Utah.

As the prices of crude oil continues to drop, creating the lowest prices in just over a year, the situation for oil producers in the Uintah Basin isn’t good. The Utah Small Business Development Center released drilling statistics that highlight the struggle. Oil sent to Salt Lake for refinement have their oil discounted to the point that it is just below break even in pricing.

The Vernal Regional Airport is thanking the community for their continued support as they near their goal of 10,000 departing passengers in 2018. As of Tuesday, the count was at 9,676 and if they reach the goal, they become eligible for a million dollar federal grant and an upgrade to a primary airport.