Utah is bear country and northeastern Utah has many of these amazing animals. The Division of Wildlife Resources wants all Utahns to know what to do to decrease the chance of a bear encounter. Black bears are the only bears native to Utah and they happen to have an excellent sense of smell and will be attracted to the food people eat, drawing them to campsites.
It is the the 75th anniversary of “Operation Overlord”, the cross-channel invasion of France on Thursday, June 6th, 1944. The first day of the operation was called “D-Day”. The battle involved over 156,000 troops from America, England, and Canada. There were also 7,000 ships and landing craft, 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders that transported airborne troops.
The Duchesne Roosevelt Ranger District recently released three projects that they are focusing on this year. First is to reroute the Uinta Beaver Dam Trail. The beavers dams have proven very effective and has created a flooded area of the trail that is impossible to pass. The new route will replace 0.15 miles of existing trail with 0.25 miles of new trail that will avoid the wetlands. The second project is a shaded fuel break on the upslope of Argyle Canyon Road.
It’s tourist season in Daggett County and community members are invited to do their part to make sure everything is looking its best. The county rallied last month to beautify the rodeo grounds with Daggett County employees lining up, ready to work. The Daggett County Commission thanked all the county employee volunteers for the effort to beautify the rodeo grounds.
S.R. 311 has had quite a few projects these last few years and will have another one this year. Although crews started to pave S.R. 311 from U.S. 40 to the Beach Campground intersection in Fred Hayes State Park at Starvation, they had to stop. Bad weather conditions forced the crews to halt the paving and now they must wait for the roadway to dry out. The current schedule shows the crews will continue paving on Monday, June 17th. If there are no further delays because of weather, the work should end on Thursday, June 20th.
Having options is sometimes the key to success and that is exactly what Ashley Valley Education Center is offering to students. According to Principal Andy McKea, the AVEC Class of 2019 set a record for the number of credits earned in the night school program. The 173 students enrolled in the high school earned 508 credits, with 21 graduating.
A pair who were arrested in 2018 for Harboring a Juvenile and Obstruction of Justice have now been charged with 1st Degree Felony Child Kidnapping for the December incidence. According to the Probable Cause Statement, on the night of December 4th, 44-year-old Jared Craig Ekker and 36-year-old Laura Beth Moore allegedly brought the 11-year-old victim into their trailer after seeing her walking outside.
Summer doesn’t have to be spent bored and on the couch. OCTANE soccer open tryouts are being held at the Vernal Middle School fields tonight for boys and Thursday, June 6th, for girls. The local tryout is open to all youth ages 8 to 18 in Uintah and Duchesne County. “We encourage all children that are interested in playing to come participate and be a member of this local organization,” shares the organization.
Although summer has just begun and school might be far from everyone’s minds the Duchesne County School District wants parents to know that there is major change in the works. The school district’s learning management system, The Unified Classroom platform, has officially ended its use as of Friday, May 31st. The new system that will be used in the upcoming fall class is called Canvas. According to Duchesne County School District, there is a general excitement about the change. James Sasser with the district’s IT department says, “it’s the system that all the universities in Utah and most of the school districts are already using.” One of the reasons that the district is informing the public so early is that to access any student grades, attendance records or summer lunch balances, parents will need to login to Power School platform because the Unified Classroom access won’t work. The IT department realizes that it has been a few years since they have used that platform and many parents might not remember their login. “It might take parents some time to get through the transition, which is why we’re starting now,” says DCSD Curriculum Director Jason Young. “We want to make sure everything is in place before registration.”
The Uintah County Office of Emergency Management is asking Basin community member to be vigilant as lowland flooding is expected. What that means is be prepared to move people, equipment and livestock in at risk areas. National Weather Service in Grand Junction has published the conditions that could lead to flooding.