Month: January 2019

The new year has brought a very special gift to the Uintah Basin. On Wednesday, January 23rd, the Utah Symphony will be coming to Vernal. In 2017 the Utah Symphony played at the Dinosaur National Monument and had an unprecedented turn out of support. This time the symphony will put on a free concert at the Vernal Middle School at 7:30pm. There will only be 1000 seats available and no tickets will be issued, shares Lesha Coltharp, Uintah County Travel and Tourism Director. It is a first come, first serve event. Some of the featured songs are by the masters including Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart, Britten, Copland and Falla. It will certainly be a night to remember!

Photo Credit: USUO.org

The Roosevelt branch library is developing a wonderful tradition of having great parties. On Saturday they had a Captain Underpants Epic First Party. Anyone familiar with Captain Underpants knows that the books are about friends, imagination and a hefty dose of potty humor.

An ACLU lawsuit, suing Daggett County and individuals associated with the inmate abuse scandal, will move forward in federal court. The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah announced in May that the lawsuit was filed on behalf of  Dustin Porter and Steven Drollette, two former Daggett County Jail inmates. Other inmates including Joshua Asay joined the lawsuit, according to the Utah Investigative Journalism Project. The complaint states that the inmates are seeking “damages and injunctive relief for a pattern of severe cruelty against them while they were incarcerated at the Daggett County Jail.” The complaints describe being shocked by a Taser as entertainment, being attacked by police dogs, being subject to physical assault, threatened with a gun, and denied medical and mental health care. They also contend that State and County employees and officials were aware of the pattern of abuse but failed to take action. Judge Kimball of U.S. District Court denied the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss in a ruling issued on Friday. A hearing on the motion was held on December 18th where the court took the Motion under advisement and issued the Memorandum Decision and Order on Friday.

It was a weekend of hot competition and hard fought matches at the Tournament of Champions at Vernal’s Western Park over the weekend. 31 teams with a total of about 630 wrestlers competed in the tournament coming from around Utah and surrounding states.

It was a night to remember for the Uintah swim team at the Wasatch swim meet on Thursday. While majority of the Ute swimmers broke personal best times during the meet, one young man had an especially banner night.

These ain’t your usual singing nuns! Nunsense, a musical comedy, opens tonight at Vernal Theatre: LIVE. Nunsense features ‘a hilarious talent show staged by five survivors of the Little Sisters of Hoboken nunnery. The high energy talent of Taunia Wheeler, Claire Owens, Nashelle Jackson, Carrie Chapman, and Cami Harrison make up the cast of spunky nuns.

The small town of Tabiona lost one of its residents in a house fire Thursday. According to the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office, flames engulfed the home of  66-year-old Rickey Evin Wilberg early Thursday morning. Firefighters responded but tragically Wilberg did not get out and his body was recovered Thursday afternoon.