Month: February 2020

Uintah High Wrestling had a great weekend at state competition in Orem, taking 2nd place out of 21 teams. Mountain Crest took 1st with 319.5 points, Uintah had 274.5 points, and Bear River followed in 3rd with 202.5 points. Uintah had several individual state champions: Brady Merkley in the 126 weight class, Gus Harrison in the 138 weight class, and Dylan Swift in the 170 weight class. The following also placed in their respective weight classes: Dillon Dick, 2nd; Raiden Harrison, 3rd; Cole Huber, 3rd; David Swarts, 3rd; Koby Smith, 4th; Jacob Rhoades, 5th; Gunnar Harrison, 5th; and Cameron Laris, 5th.

A new District Ranger has been announced for the Flaming Gorge/Vernal Ranger District. Curtis Booher will serve in the position on the Ashley National Forest, headquartered in Manila. “I am honored to have been given the opportunity to serve at such a national treasure,” shares Curtis, who describes the assignment as a “dream come true.” Initial goals for new District Ranger Curtis include sustaining and enhancing forest restoration, collaboration, tribal consultation and recreation management.

The cause of a residence fire in Naples on Saturday night remains under investigation. According to the release from the Naples Fire Department, a page was received from Central Dispatch for a report of a residential structure fire at 1587 East 6000 South on Saturday night at 10:00pm. “Upon arrival crews found a single wide trailer house with heavy fire showing,” shares Naples Fire Department.

The presence of wolves in Moffat County has been a hot topic with some doubting if what was spotted was actually wolves. Biologists with Colorado Parks and Wildlife have now provided the proof of their original announcement. They shared on Thursday that genetic tests have confirmed that four scat samples collected near a scavenged elk carcass in Moffat County came from wolves. The test provides the first official documentation of a pack of wolves in Colorado since the 1940s.

A Uintah County man is in custody and facing charges including 1st Degree Felony Human Trafficking of a Child and 2nd Degree Felony Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. According to the probable cause statement filed on January 29th, 34-year-old Dustin Lane Person solicited a 9-year-old female to participate in the production of child pornography on January 19th.

Uintah School District officially has a new Superintendent. During Wednesday’s regularly scheduled board meeting, Dr. Rick Woodford was sworn-in as Superintendent by 8th District Court Judge Clark McClellan. After taking his oath and signing his contract, Woodford thanked the school board for trusting him with “a stewardship over the education of the children in [the] community.”

The CEO of Ute Tribal Enterprises, Valentina Sireech, is featured in this week’s issue of Native Business Magazine. The publication announced last October that Sireech was among 30 CEOs to be highlighted in Indian Country. The in-depth highlight of Sireech was shared on February 12th, describing Sireech as a “People Person” who wakes up early each day, “prays to the Creator”, and then gets busy planning for a productive day. The article shares the following quote from Sireech: “My goal is to serve Tribal communities, offer jobs and training for Tribal members, while strengthening the Tribe’s financial position.”

We might be a small, rural community but the efforts to improve our services and opportunities have certainly shown promise. On Tuesday at the Vernal Chamber luncheon, Vernal Regional Airport Manager Doug Brown provided a report on airport growth. In 2018, there were 10,658 Commercial Enplanements, a term for people flying out of Vernal commercially. For 2019, the area reached 13,561 Commercial Enplanements with a total of 27,129 passengers coming and going. Enterprise Car Rental also stays busy, stating that they have 60 to 70 cars rented at all times.