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Saturday, December 29, 2012

White Caps At The Lake

Photo by Bryce Nielson

Public Hearing on CDBG Jan 10


PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE
 
The Garden City Town Council will hold a Public Hearing on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 4:45 p.m.  The meeting will be held at the Garden City Office, located at 69 N. Paradise Parkway, Building C.  
 
AGENDA
  

1.      Roll Call

2.      Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 1st Public Hearing Notice:  The Town of Garden City, Rich County, will hold a public hearing to consider potential projects for which funding may be applied under the CDBG Small Cities Program for Program Year 2013.  Suggestions for potential projects will be solicited, both verbally and in writing, from all interested parties.  The expected amount of CDBG funds for this Program Year will be discussed along with the range of projects eligible under this program and a review of previously funded projects. The hearing will begin at 4:45 p.m. on January 10, 2013 and will be located at 69 N. Paradise Parkway, Garden City, Utah.  Further information can be obtained by contacting the Garden City Office at 435-946-2901. 

3.      Adjournment

 In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodation (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) during this public hearing should notify the Garden City Office at (435) 946-2901, 69 N. Paradise Parkway, Garden City, Utah, on Monday through Friday, at least 3 working days prior to the public hearing.  The office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.


Posted this 27th day of December, 2012

Help Solve a Moose Murder

Someone shot a beautiful moose and left it for dead in the Sweetwater Hillside.  There are rules against hunting on the Sweetwater Golf Course and Hillside.  This also violates State hunting laws.  We need help in identifying the arrows.


Historical Books at Library

Cathie Rasmussen, Librarian
 
The Garden City Library received a wonderful donation on Wednesday for their Special Collection. Two books containing genealogy, biographies, and Utah history were donated. “Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah: Portraits, Genealogies, Biographies Men Who Came by Wagon Train and Hand Cart 1847-1868” and “History of Salt Lake City” can be perused in the special collections room of the library. At a time when the Library Board has been calling for donations of local history and artifacts for the collection, this generous addition is much appreciated and will be an asset to many history buffs.

Cisco Sonar

By Bryce Neilson

Bear Laker's
Bryce Neilson
Winter has arrived at Bear Lake.  So far my predictions of above average snow made by observing the number of pine squirrel invading my yard is holding true.  I am just relieved that I don't need to hear about drought and climate changes when the news stations have nothing else to report on.


Mist On The Lake
Winter in Bear Lake has a number of characteristics that don't change from year to year.  The fog is the most prominent one.  Now a quick lesson in thermodynamics.  As the surface water temperature on the lake is warmer than the air temperature condensation starts to occur.  Lots of people will say "the lake is steaming" which is incorrect.  Vaporization occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point at which time the liquid turns into a gas.  Condensation is when a gas turns to a liquid by cooling.  On a cold winter morning,  evaporation is occurring on the lake as long as it is liquid.  Evaporation is when a water surface turns from a liquid, directly to a gas.  Another unique characteristic of water.  The water from evaporation is turned into a liquid from gas by the cold air.  These little droplets or ice crystals form the fog we see.

We will see this cycle occur frequently as the winter progresses and the lake approaches freezing.  Depending on the day, wind and temperature the whole Valley will be filled with "cotton" as you look at it from the over look.  Some days, the fog will hang over the valley, drift to the valley floor during the night and when it lifts in the morning everything is covered with hoarfrost.  Hoarfrost occurs when condensation (when the lake is evaporating and cooling) freezes to solid items whose temperature are below the dew point.  That is why when we have these spectacular mornings with hoarfrost on everything you can actually determine which materials hold heat better.  Dark limbs have less than light colored limbs and so on.
Fog on the Lake
 Photo by Bryce Neilson
One last observation that most of us have seen is Grandma hanging out her clothes in the middle of the winter only to have them freeze solid and then dry.  This dynamic activity is called sublimination which is when water goes from a liquid to a solid and then due to cold from a solid directly back into a gas.

You get to experience a lot of things living next to a large temperate lake.  Luckily water is such a unique matter and a more extensive education in physics and thermodynamics will help you understand why or just read RCT.  I hope you look a fog and winter days differently now.               
 

Rich County School Board Meeting


Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times 

RANDOLPH, UTAH-December 19, 2012.  At the beginning of the meeting there was a minute of silence out of respect to Newtown and the tragedy that had occurred there. 

As the Board was signing checks, Ralph Johnson indicated that he felt all employees should be paid monthly, not every two weeks.  That would save a tremendous amount of office time and save the District money.  This item was to be placed on next month’s agenda. 

Jaren Wadsworth was present at the meeting with his wife and three daughters.  He teaches math and science in the Rich Middle School and had not been able to get to any of the other Board Meetings.  He was introduced to the Board. 

The Travel Guidelines Policy was discussed.  There were some wording changes and the motion was made to adopt the travel reimbursement Policy.   

There was a request to home school which was approved.  

Rich County School District and one other district are invited to attend a dinner the first night at the EMI (school insurance company) meetings.  It will be held at Little America Steak House on January 10, 2013, at 5 p.m.  There will be time set aside for a question and answer session. 

Mr. Saby is the new School Board Member. He has already attended the new school board member workshop meetings and will be attending the school board meetings beginning in January.   

The Utah High School Athletic Association held a Public Hearing concerning changing the boundaries of what schools play each other.  Rich High School would like to keep the current way things are going but may have some other schools added to the division.  This would mean there would be play- offs in the division prior the state competition.  That adds additional travel and addition games where more school class time would be missed.  The discussion is still open and no final decisions have been made.
 
Four additional basketball games have been added to the middle school schedule.  Two are home games on Thursday nights.  The other two are away but close enough that the players will be able to travel after school to these locations. 

Tributes were paid to Blair Francis for all of his good work on the Board these past few years.  Everyone noted their appreciation for his efforts and wished him well with his future plans.

 

 

 

Calling Out Students Who Don't Do Homework Works Says Motta


Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times
 

RANDOLPH, UTAH- December 19, 2012.  Kip Motta, Middle School Principal, reported that the school holds students to high standards.  Homework is necessary for students to attain the goals that are set.  Currently about 25 percent of the students are not performing up to the required proficiency level.  Every Monday morning, Motta calls out the names of the students who need to remain after school to complete their homework and move closer to the desired levels.  There are already five students who will be going to summer school this coming summer. 
 

Some parents have complained that they do not like the name of their children called out over the loud speaker.  Motta said that this is one of the ways that get the students working harder, because they don’t like their names being read aloud.  This practice has become a real incentive for students to get their homework done.  The staff supports the policy, and most parents like to know weekly where their children are as far as grades and homework goes.
 

Students who attend summer school and do not pass are required to take their last year of school over.  Having the student remain at the junior high for one additional year before they move on to the High School sometimes works.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  However, at the high school level, if they are not successful, they will be given a certificate of attendance, not a diploma.
 

It was suggested that Motta use the student’s ID number instead of their name in calling out the students who need to remain after school.  He indicated that he would be more than happy to try this and see how it works.  However, if the students don’t respond as well using this method, he will probably go back to reading out names because this policy has been very effective in the past.

Governor's Education Budget Discussed


Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times


Christine Kearl was to be present at the School Board Meeting and was listed on the agenda.  She, however, had been held up in meetings at the Governor’s office.  Superintendent Lamborn told the Board that she wanted to report on the way educational items are being released from the Governor’s office that is supposed to fund and foster education. 

She was also going to talk about a committee called Leadership of Prosperity made up of businessmen.  They are particularly interested in getting young people in Utah with enough background and education to step into the business world.  There is also an Excellence Commission who has set as their goal to obtain a 90 percent average graduation rate.  They have established an eight-year long-range plan to try and accomplish this. 

Several days ago, the Governor presented a budget plan indicating that next year’s budget would be kinder to education.  However, he had $1.67 million set aside for education.  The Committee of businessmen had asked for $2  million in order to meet the goals that have been set.  Hopefully, the Governor will rethink this issue and at least fund education to the needed level to move the State forward. 

Most people want to see Utah grow.  If this is to happen, more money has to go to education.  People moving here to work want to have good schools for their children.  Schools and their reputations are usually some of the first items people check out prior to accepting work in the State. 

One-To-One Technology Initiative

Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times
 

RANDOLPH, UTAH- December 19, 2012.  The Middle School and High School both would like to move toward having a computer for every student called one-to-one technology.  Currently the High School will be at that point with the purchase of the 30 computers that have already been approved for the coming year.  The Middle School, however, is not that close. 
 

The current trend is to load all textbooks onto the computers as well as necessary classroom and drill software.  This is the direction things are going.  There are actually two different operating systems, the Apple and the Windows environment.  Currently, the school has the Microsoft Windows software because it is set up to control and work with groups of students.  This would be a suggested way at the present time.  The school would not have to buy nearly as much software because management of the students and classes is already in place.  The devices that work with the windows environment are called net books.
 

Casey Johnson, the technical person for the District, had both an Ipad and a net book to show to the Board.  He noted that the textbooks will have to be bought and downloaded but that there would not be additional software purchased.  With the Ipad, there would need to be approximately $500 for software for each of the machines purchased.
 

Canvas is currently the software used by most post secondary schools and would be ideal for the submission of assignments and things from the students.  Not only is it efficient, but would make going away to school much easier for the students.
 

It was noted that several districts have gone to one student, one computer.  Each student is assigned a machine which is theirs throughout their schooling.  This means that as they take care of the equipment, it continues to work well and do a good job for them.  If they are careless or damage the machine, they are required to make restitution if it is their fault.  Seniors will be given the oldest machines since they only have one year left.  The new machines will be given to freshmen to use for the next four years.  There are still lots of questions to answer and problems to work out.

 

The Board asked Johnson to continue to investigate and refine what is needed in order to move forward with technology in the Rich County Schools.

Winter in Bear Lake Valley



Doug and Elaine Alder
 
 By Doug Alder, Historian                                      

The original settlers to Bear Lake Valley knew they would encounter intense winters.  That is why Brigham Young chose Salt Lake Valley over Cache Valley and Bear Lake Valley that some fur trappers recommended as preferable for the Mormon settlers. The church leaders waited for 15 years before considering Bear Lake seriously. Then they undertook the effort partly because the 1862 Homestead Act could have attracted “outsiders” there.  They wanted the valley to be part of the Mormon empire.  Knowing that the winters there could be severe, they undertook it anyway.  The winters indeed fulfilled their expectations but they also provided a greater supply of water than elsewhere in Utah.
 

In his book A History of Rich County, Robert Parson includes this report of continuing winters:  “A resident of Laketown commented in 1884 that ‘never, even during the experience of the oldest inhabitants, has there been so much snow upon the ground as at present.’  Two to three feet of snow covered the valley with drifts up to eight feet deep.  This kind of precipitation, occurring for a ten-year period from the mid-1870s to the mid-1880s, made supplemental irrigation in some cases unnecessary.” (p.79)
 

Nearly a century later my wife, Elaine, and I were invited to Laketown to speak to the high school students during the winter.  As I recall, there were six of them in the senior class.  When we got to Garden City in freezing weather, we turned south.  The snow was piled high on the side of the road, higher than the roof of the car.  We were frankly frightened.   We did not know if our old car would make the return trip.  We confided that to the principal.  He had a colleague address the problem.  He put a large piece of cardboard over the front of our radiator so that the freezing air would not get into the engine on the trip home.
 

As we watch the news each evening in St. George, we have kept close track of the snow level at Bear Lake for 35 years.   We know that our friends there have often seen three feet of snow, especially on the Sweetwater Hill, and that they have to get professional snow plowers to clear roads so they can get to their homes.  That is likely why the population of the county is still modest and why summertime visitors enjoy the quietude and richness of the vegetation when we arrive in the spring.  Please keep shoveling. 

 

 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Have a Merry Christmas!

Garden City Second Ward Nativity 2012
Photo by Lauriann Wakefield

 
Christmas
By Bob Stevens
      Ann and I were born and grew up in Utah but moved to Seattle, Washington in September of 1956 when Ann was nineteen and I was 21.  We had a brand new baby, born in August, a brand new job paying $1.75 an hour, no money in the bank, no arrangements for a place to live, and a hazy future.  I headed to Seattle without Ann so that I could get processed into my new job and find a place we could rent.  Ann and the baby stayed with Ann's parents while I was house hunting, and while she was recovering from the birth plus the shock of moving away from her family right in the middle of trying to learn the ins and outs of motherhood. 
 
      I probably wouldn't have made it those first few weeks except that my dad gave me twenty dollars to help me with expenses as I was leaving for Seattle.  Even then the only thing I could afford was to rent a bed in an attic room shared with another fellow who I didn't know.  There were no cooking facilities and so I just bought a sandwich wherever I could find one at a price low enough to afford.  Once I had gotten my first pay check I found a little two bedroom house to rent for $95/month and sent for Ann.  Her parents moved her, the baby, and all our belongings to Seattle.  It took one very small U-Haul trailer and a few things in the trunk of their DeSoto car.  We lived in the Seattle area for the next fifty years, but we drove to Utah almost every year to spend Christmas with Ann's family in Porterville, a little farming community just outside of Morgan, Utah.  Vic and Zylpha Shaw, Ann's parents, had lived in that little 150-year old house since early in their marriage.

 
      Over the years the roads we traveled between Seattle and Porterville varied from dry to wet to blizzards to solid ice, but every year we returned to Porterville for Christmas .... like lemmings to the sea.  One Christmas we wrecked our new car, but pushed on to Porterville by bus because that was our tradition.  Spending Christmas anywhere else was unacceptable to us and our children.  The home of Ann's parents, were we stayed, was small with one tiny bathroom, but the kitchen was big and so was the love that we all felt there.  Christmas eve was hot, homemade chili cooked on a coal stove, and pan-fried bread made fresh from dough rolled and kneaded by Zylpha on the kitchen table.  Outside it was cold, but inside it was warm because Zylpha carried buckets of hand selected coal and tended the big fireplace that heated the front room.  Napping on the floor in front of that fireplace was a warm and delightful way to spend a lazy afternoon. 
 
      Remember that Christmas is first about Him whose birthday we celebrate, and then it is about family and tradition and caring about others.  To Quote Thomas S. Monson, "...our opportunities to love and give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable.  Today there are hearts to gladden, kind words to say, deeds to be done...."  So from the Muddled Male and Ann, his wife, we hope that you have a Christmas filled with the happiness of family and traditions of love.  And if you are faced with challenges we wish you understanding and hope.


Ice Center Party, New Year's Eve

Mon, December 31, 7pm – Tue, January 1, 2013, 12am
WhereGeorge S. Eccles Ice Center / 2825 N. 200 E. / North Logan, UT (map)

The George S. Eccles Ice Center will host a New Year’s Eve celebration for all ages. Three live bands will play 60's, 70's and 80’s music all night. There will be dancing, ice skating and entertainment for the children. The cost is $10 per person. 
 
There is an optional dinner which includes a steak or chicken fajita bar, rice, beans and dessert catered by Café Sabor for an additional charge of $10 (advanced notice needed). Please go to www.ecclesice.c​om for more details. Bring your date, bring the neighbors and the kids and come help bring in the new year with the community at the Eccles Ice Center.

A Science Festival in Logan for Kids

Thursday, December 27, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
WhereWhittier Center  290 N 400 E  Logan, UT

4th Annual Faraday's Holiday Event - A Festival of Science for Kids! Exciting, Hands-on Science Activities for Kids of all Ages!
 
Keynote speaker: Amber Stokes, USU Biology Graduate Student Suggested donation: Kids (5-15) $1 / Adults $2
www.starhousedi​scovery.org