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KNEU 1250Representatives from Special Service Districts in Uintah County provided updated CIB project priority lists to the Uintah County Commissioners during a February Commission meeting.
It’s not too late to sign up for a chance to influence the future of the Ashley National Forest. The public is needed and urged to attend the public workshop on Saturday, March 3rd, from 1 to 5pm at the Uintah Conference Center.
Advanced technology is part of the new Women’s Center at Ashley Regional Medical Center. The hospital announced Wednesday the addition of 3D Mammography, a service that allows for more effective and earlier detection of breast cancer.
Mild winter weather has moved along the last phase of construction on the Vernal Regional Airport runway project. According to Airport Manager Doug Brown, the last phase is ahead of schedule. The old runway has been torn out and dirt work is ongoing to grade and rake the shoulder on the east side of the new runway where the old runway used to be.
A bill, nicknamed the “dying from detox” bill, aimed at seeking solutions to an increase of detox related deaths in jails throughout Utah is making progress in the Utah Legislature. HB410 Alcohol and Substance Use Withdrawal in County Jails received support in the House after its 3rd reading on Tuesday, February 27th. Bill sponsor, Representative Carol Spackman Moss, has explained that the death of Madison Jensen in the Duchesne County Jail in December 2016 was among the incidents that inspired her to pursue HB410. Madison Jensen’s family had reported Madison to law enforcement authorities and she was taken into custody and then died at the Duchesne County Jail as a result of complications related to opioid withdrawal. The main aim of the bill is to establish a workgroup through the Utah Substance Use and Mental Health Advisory Council to study alcohol and substance use withdrawal in Utah’s county jails. As it is currently written, the workgroup would identify the number of deaths in county jails in the state after December 31st, 2012 and before January 1st, 2017 that are related to offender alcohol or substance use withdrawal. It would also identify what treatment or resources are available to offenders in county jails and the standard used by county jails in offering these resources, among other items. If it passes, the Council would be required to report findings to the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee before November 30th, 2018.
Colorado doesn’t want wolves, according to a report in goHUNT magazine. Around 65 western Colorado residents, comprised of many ranchers, hunters, and farmers, learned more about the wolf reintroduction movement during the First Conservation District’s annual meeting and banquet held earlier this month in Moffat County.
TriCounty Health Department is always welcoming new recruits to volunteer organizations including the Medical Reserve Corps or MRC. “We can always use more people, more hands on deck,” shares TriCounty representative Liberty Best.
The UBTech Student of the Year is Practical Nursing student Faith Burk. Faith lives in Vernal with her husband Daniel and their six children. Before enrolling at UBTech, she struggled to believe she could go back to school and become a nurse while still balancing life as a wife and mother.
A petition for a “Writ of Certiorari” to the Supreme Court filed in December regarding Vance Norton versus the Ute Indian Tribe has been denied. The petition questioned a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to allow exhaustion by Tribal Court on the trespassing claim in the Todd Murray case. Norton’s lawyer, Jesse Trentadue, says this means they “must try the issue of jurisdiction in the Ute Tribal Court.
Something community members might not know about Uintah High Theatre is that their annual grand scale productions are not school funded. The amazing sets, elaborate costumes, and specialty props are thanks to dedicated sponsors each year and the generous donation of time given by many community members as well as ticket sales, shares publicity director MaryAnn Spainhower.
Local teachers took advantage of an opportunity to learn more about the legislative process and attended Educator Day on the Hill on Friday. Teachers Rachelle Durrant, Kristen Oaks, Brian Baldwin, and Daniel McKenna represented Uintah School District. The event is hosted by the Utah Education Association every year.
The defense for the men awaiting trial for the alleged rape of a 9-year-old Uintah County girl in 2016 have filed motions to dismiss the rape case against the men. The rape trials for Jerry Neal Flatlip, Randall Flatlip, and Larson Rondeau are scheduled for May in Salt Lake County’s 3rd District Court. The “Motion to Dismiss” dated February 20th and signed by Loni F. DeLand, defense attorney for Randall Flatlip, moves to “dismiss [the] case on the grounds of intentional prosecutorial misconduct and jury tampering.” DeLand first disagrees with the decision to declare mistrial in Summit County and then outlines instances in which DeLand says an investigator for the Uintah County Attorney’s Office, who is listed as a witness in the trial, communicated with the potential jurors in the lobby on December 12th. According to DeLand, one of the potential jurors contacted the Utah Attorney General and the defense lawyers in the days following the mistrial, concerned that what he had witnessed was jury tampering. A “Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss” dated January 22nd and signed by Bryan Sidwell, defense attorney for Jerry Flatlip, makes multiple assertions. First, that there has been an “unreasonable or unconstitutional delay in bringing the defendant to trial.” It also asserts that “the alleged victim’s testimony was not corroborated by other witnesses or physical evidence” and that “there were no injuries and no DNA, therefore the alleged victim’s story is not credible and the case should be dismissed…” The rape of the 9-year-old girl was reported to deputies on March 29th, 2016. Larson Rondeau, Jerry Flatlip, and Randall A. Flatlip each pleaded Not Guilty on rape charges and the three men were ordered to stand trial. The trial was originally moved from Uintah County to Summit County but ended in mistrial in Summit County in December due to failure to seat a jury. The trial was then moved to Salt Lake County.