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KNEU 1250Local news from across the Uintah Basin.
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.
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.
A local high school student has a big vision to make an impact on the world and is inviting the community to help. Union High School student Joseph Garcia, Jr. is leading a donation drive locally to collect hygiene essentials for a Guatemala Medical Mission. Joseph is a member of HOSA – Future Health Professionals, an organization aimed at helping youth become the future leaders in the global health community. Joseph will attend the Guatemala Medical Mission this June and is gathering hygiene kits among other useful items. Following are among the needed items: bars of soap, combs, hand towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, nail clippers, exercise books, rulers, sharpeners, erasers, glue, colored pencils, blue pens, pencils, and backpacks (plastic lines if possible). Donations can be dropped off at the main entrances of Uintah Basin Healthcare locations.
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.
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.
Upon hearing he had been named the 2018 Librarian of the Year by the Utah Library Association, Stephen Moon called the lady in charge to ask if a mistake had been made. “I’m the guy who dresses like the Mad Hatter when I go to the schools,” Moon explained, to which he was told that while they were not aware of that fact, it only added to his deserving of the honor. Stephen Moon has been at the Roosevelt Branch Library since 2004 and has worked in Utah libraries since 1989 in Uintah County, Davis County, and Duchesne County. Moon will receive the physical award at the Utah Library Association conference in May but he is quick to point out that he is getting the credit as the boss for the creativity and dedication of the entire library staff. The Roosevelt Branch Library staff has been doing outreach programs with the Head Start Schools in Ft. Duchesne regularly for the past 2 years. They also visit Parkside and the Villa once a week to bring items from the library collection for the people staying there. The library has become a hotspot in Roosevelt for families. “Our family events have become really popular and unlike most libraries, we tie all our events to books in our collection,” shares Moon. The Library is also known for its Wall of Awesomeness and the Moon family gingerbread creations on display every holiday season at the library. It is easy to understand why the Basin’s own Stephen Moon is the 2018 Librarian of the Year.
Scams come in so many forms it is crucial to exercise caution even when a phone call or email seems commonplace. Last month, local reports of scammers posing as Dish Network representatives began to spread.
Utah State University has students all over the state they could spotlight but a USU-Uintah Basin student is currently getting the attention. Utah State University’s Utah State Today is featuring Vernal native Ryker Hacking for his research as part of the USU-Uintah Basin summer internship program aimed at ending the negative side effects of diabetes. On February 9th, Hacking presented his research, which found a way to synthesize a molecule called MBT, at the 12th annual Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research. USU-Uintah Basin associate professor Mike Christiansen oversaw Hacking’s research which could inhibit AR, the enzyme that causes kidney, eye, nervous system, and red blood cell damage. “If MBT proves to be a successful and nontoxic means of inhibiting AR in clinical trials,” explains Christiansen, “it could serve as an eventual medicine to prevent the negative reactions of diabetes. Once we optimize Ryker’s new method, we can scale up production and begin testing MBT’s viability.” In the Utah State Today report, Hacking praises the USU-Uintah Basin summer internship programs that help students grow professionally. Research will continue refining the process of making MBT with the hope that someday it will be able to help treat Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
Week 5 of the Utah 2018 Legislative Session is over with 171 bills passed through the Senate and more coming. Senator Kevin Van Tassell reports that the hot topics of week 5 included a Resolution honoring Senator Orrin Hatch, a Resolution in Support of a New National Park in Escalante, Education Open Enrollment, Talent Ready Utah Center, Medical Marijuana, and Food Truck Regulation Amendments. SB154 Prohibition of Law Enforcement Quotas also received a lot of attention. The bill passed on the Senate floor and has now moved to the House for consideration. The Executive Appropriation Committee announced in week 5 that updated revenue estimates show a surplus of $581 million dollars this year, which is nearly twice what was expected. The Senate also approved SB130 which would authorize the Department of Agriculture to regulate CBD or Cannabidiol that is currently being sold to Epileptic patients. It would also apply for a waiver with the DEA for Utah to develop a medical grade CBD product that doctors can prescribe. That bill has moved on to the House.
Job offers followed a competition earlier this month at the Vernal UBTech campus after students from Roosevelt and Vernal showed off their automotive and carpentry skills. According to a UBTech press release, several business owners attended the contest and by the end of the day several students had received job offers.The area businesses supplied judges for the events and donated prizes. “Where else can high school students perfect their hands-on skills and meet with possible employers?” shared UBTech vice president of instruction Tammy Wilkerson. “We are getting these kids to succeed in the world.” Automotive students competed in over 14 stations to test their knowledge and skills. In a carpentry competition, the first of its kind, students were put in groups of three and instructed to build dog houses. Vernal’s carpentry students swept the competition.
The death of a Rock Springs man in a car fire has been determined to be an accident. 47-year-old Michael Lee Tinnie was killed in a car fire in Sweetwater County on February 15th. Fire crews were dispatched to the fire west of Rock Springs at the base of White Mountain where a silver 2006 Dodge was in flames. Investigators say Tinnie’s car had become high-centered and stuck and it was believed the heat from the exhaust system and/or catalytic converter may have started the blaze. An autopsy determined Tinnie’s cause of death was asphyxia due to smoke inhalation with no indications of foul play.
A boat with plenty of history is worth the stop to see at the Canyon Visitor Center on the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument. “The Loper” was built by Jack Brennan for a river trip in 1946 down the Yampa. Brennan based the boat’s design on another famous boat, “Mexican Hat”, which is on display in the Powell Museum in Green River, UT.