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Painting The Marina

Lauriann Wakefield, Bear Lake artist, demonstrates the process of painting the marina in one of her newest paintings.

Conservatism VS Reality

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  April 15, 2015.  In the most Republican County in the most Republican State in the nation," Bryce Huefner, school board member said, “we need to start somewhere by turning down federal money. We are the most conservative county and we should be able to take care of ourselves.”  Huefner made this statement in a plea to turn down federal funds for our local schools, as the school board discussed the approval of a Title I school-wide plan.

Over 64% of South Rich Elementary students are eligible for free and reduced lunch fees.   It is a high enough rate that all county students benefit from Title I funding which provides extra aides and more teacher involvement.   According to Dale Lamborn, Superintendent, local teachers and parents and other stake holders have developed a plan to improve the quality of education under Title I.  Reading and math programs are stressed.  There is more parent involvement with student education as parents volunteer in the SRE classrooms and students who are having academic problems have teachers who will work with them.  The federal government gives Rich School District $50,000 through the state for this enhanced program.

But Huefner objected to taking this money as he had for taking subsidies for school lunch. 

“How do you determine eligibility for reduced or free lunch?”  Huefner asked. “I think the district pushes it.   As a state and nation we continue to beg for money instead of coming up with our own solutions.”   

Reduced lunch is based on a state scale of family size and income levels.  Huefner asked if there were strict  verification of income level and was told that every file is  audited, and  families are required to show check stubs and income tax returns.  

“The district gives us about $50,000 how much does it cost to administer it?” asked Huefner.  He was told that is only a portion of a salary.

“They want this to be over what the district is spending to add benefit to the students.  This money goes to aides,” said Pete Cornia, school board chair.  “You have to play by the federal rules so if you refuse the money you have to replace them locally.”  Cornia said the feds are wasting money but not in the school.  “It is  waste to give Iraq the money to educate their kids, but spending on our own kids is not waste.”

Huefner  said that the US constitution has no requirement for the federal government being in our education system.
 

Monty Weston, school board member, said, “we can’t turn down money and then tax our own residents, one little county with so few people.  You have to get to our state elected officials and make the state turn down the money and tax the whole state so that we don’t bear the whole burden of our costs.”  Huefner voted no on accepting Title I money.

Huefner said, “give us a high WPU (weighted pupil unit) and let local people govern themselves.”  The State likes to earmark for special needs and make it single year money. The state loses control when they give a higher WPU. 

The state legislature introduced 161 bills dealing with education.  Lamborn said that 90% were unnecessary. Most are addressing things that should be addressed by the local boards or addressing single issue or special interests of single legislators .  For example, someone had a gripe against a Salt Lake School Board having a retreat in Park City, so they passed a bill outlawing school boards from retreats outside their district. 

Rich School Board Meeting

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  April 15, 2015. After a tour of the Bridgerland Applied Technology Center, which included demonstrations by students of the mills and lathe technology, welding, health career training, building trades demonstrations, and computer aided design technology being taught at the Center, school board members convened at the  Rich County School Board offices in Randolph. Board Members Bryce Huefner,  Eric Wamsley, Monte Weston, Scott Saby , Pete Cornia were present.

Dale Lamborn, Superintendent, said that new elementary teachers and aides had been hired at North Rich.  Shay Pace will be the cheerleading coach and Ruthann Jarman will be the new drill team coach.  The speech and language pathologist has not been hired yet.  The unusually large second grade has an aide in the classroom and the community council has recommended that State School Trust Land money be used to continue that aide as the class moves to the third grade next year. 

 

Superintendent Lamborn hates setting a precedent for keeping on a part time aide, but feels he should listen to trust land committee recommendations, and request for staffing fits well under trust land funding guidelines. Laketown elementary now has 30 in the third grade so there is an aide paid for out of  general school funds.

 

Policy 706  has been adopted to bring fairness to unbenefited employees who used to be capped at 20 hours per week.  Now there are unbenefited employees who work 30 hours per week.  If a classified employee wants to work more hours it now means that they are paid at a lower substitute wage.  Sometimes the cooks substitute as aides on their day off and aides are paid less than the cooks are.  Should that cook be paid at aide rate then or at their cook rate? Activity drivers fill in for regular drivers, but are not paid at the regular driver route rate, but have been dropped down to sub rates. 

“So what do we do about classified employees who do substituting?”asked Laborne.    He suggested that substituting employees go to the bottom rate of the job they substitute for, rather than the lower sub wages.   Currently at state tournament time bus drivers are paid overtime.  And overtime needs to be paid at a higher rate according to fair labor laws.  Also activity bus drivers are paid less than regular bus drivers.  Lamborn recommended that all bus drivers be paid the same, not one activity bus and a regular route fee schedule.  A vote on Policy 706 was tabled until the next meeting.

The proposed school calendar is on the Rich County Schools website. http://www.richschool.org/pages/Rich_School_District.   School will begin next year on August 24.

Cache Civic Ballet Free Concert

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BEAR LAKE TIMESHARES &CONDOS

is hiring for

 Housekeeping Positions

Contact:

MYRNALYN LUTZ

Housekeeping Manager

Or stop by the office or email for Application.

725 East  2200 South

Garden City, UT 84028 

Office# 435-946-3306

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Cisco Sonar

Sculpin

by Bryce Nielson, "The Character"

For eons there has been a sure indication of spring at Bear Lake.  You might think it is the budding of plants, a lack of snowstorms or hard freezes, or maybe the number of boats in the marina.  To me, however, it is the arrival of common loons and mergansers swimming close to shore along off the marina and Cisco Beach.  They are there because of an event going on under the water.  Cottus extensus, commonly known as Bear Lake sculpin, which is endemic, are starting their migration towards the rocks.

Few locals, other than fishermen, even know they exist because they are rarely seen.  The species Cottus is highly evolved.  Sculpin average two to three inches but I have seen them up to six inches in length.  They don’t have scales but more of a prickly skin.  Sculpin have a large head, fan like pectorals, stiff pelvic fins to keep them from laying on the substrate and tapered body with no swim bladder.  This means they cannot suspend themselves in the water column and are destined to a life on the bottom, only swimming in short bursts.  They are like chameleons and can change their color to match the material they are on.  The color that never changes is their “Bear Lake Blue” eyes prominent on top of their head.  They feed on all types of worms, insect larvae, minute clams and other detritus on the bottom.  They appear to be evenly distributed throughout the lake at all depths.

In late March and early April they begin their annual migration to the few rocky areas around the lake including the east shore, Gus’s Point, and marinas.  These little fish travel miles over sand, mud and marl to get to the rocks.  No research has been done to determine whether they return to where they were hatched (more research I didn’t have time to do before I retired).  During this journey they are exposed to predators, both fish and birds along the way and especially the loons and mergansers hanging around the rocks.  Once there, the males immediately start staking out large flat rocks and wait for ripe females.  The larger the rock, the larger the male.  Females swim under the rock, invert, and attach about 400 eggs while the male fertilizes them.  Then she packs it up and leaves.  Sculpins are “guarders”, which means the males take care of their eggs, fanning them to keep the slit off and scaring away other egg eaters.  Although I never had time to research it, through cursory observations, I believe the egg masses hatch in association with spring storm wave action.  The larval fry float while absorbing their yolk sacs and developing mouth parts. The wind and currents distribute the larval fish across the lake and when their yolk sacs are absorbed they sink to the bottom.  They frequently get inside shells like hermit crabs, to avoid predation and the cycle starts over.

School Board Redistricting Boundaries Proposed

Notice of Public Hearing
RE: Rich County Commission

PURPOSE: To consider redistricting the voting boundaries for School Board Members in Rich County.  A map with the proposed changes will be on the Rich County website or in the Clerks Office for Review.

Date:  Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Time: 6 p.m.
Rich County Courthouse

Fire and Six Hour Power Outage At Sweetwater and Laketown

Chris S. Coray, Reporter

Reporter, Rich Civic Times 

Photo by Steve Larsen

GARDEN CITY, Utah. April 14, 2015, the Bear Lake Valley experienced very strong south winds for much of the morning and afternoon.  About 1:55 p.m. the wind became strong enough to snap two adjacent poles in half about 8 feet above ground carrying the major Rocky Mountain Power transmission lines, along a line adjacent to the south end of Cherimoya.  These lines carry more than 12,000 volts of electricity and when the lines fell a fire was started near the houses in Cherimoya.  The fire department arrived within 5 minutes and controlled the fire but could not finish the job until the transmission lines could be determined to be safe.  When that event happened, the fire department completed the task of putting out the residue of the fire. 

Photos by Joe Stocking

Power to Sweetwater, Round Valley, and Laketown was interrupted for about 6 hours until approximately 8 p.m. The power work, led by Lance Bourne, Rocky Mountain Power, included the installation of two new power poles and accompanying connections, finishing just before dark.

Lake Pumping To Begin For Irrigation Water

Well, our few days of winter helped stave off the irrigation draw on Bear Lake, but only by a few days .   The inflow to the lake has been closed off and the Paris Dike outlet was opened yesterday. This means that all the water diverted from the river is being returned to the river. In a normal year this would happen later in the spring and the natural flow would sustain the first part of the irrigation season. (There is nothing "normal" about this year and we hope this is not the new normal!) It is highly likely that pumping will begin by next Friday and at the very latest by May 1st when more water rights come on line.   As we reported last week, the amount of water that the irrigators can take is already set by PacifiCorp, as per the Bear Lake Settlement Agreement. So, just because they are starting delivery early does not mean that they will or can take more, it just means each irrigator will have to be very vigilant how they use their portion of the allocation because when it is used up, they are o-u-t. They also work together via conference call twice a week to coordinate with each other and PacifiCorp regarding the amount and timing of water delivery. If the demand is greater than the pumps at Lifton can deliver, they have to come to an agreement as to how to take deliveries in turns.   Each delivery is tracked by PacifiCorp according to their specific contract with each Canal Company or individual user. It is also reported to the respective state's Water Resource department where a data model keeps track of each water right's use, both natural flow and storage.   The lake is at 5913.38, most likely this is the high for the year as the only increases now would be from the local streams, springs and upwelling in the lake which would probably negligible.   If we do get a spike in the runoff, it will be pass on downstream in lieu of storage water being pumped. Consequently, unless there is a real wet spring, we will see the lake recede early this year.   We'll keep you posted,     David Cottle, Bear Lake Watch

Claudia & David Cottle  Executive Directors  Bear Lake Watch, Inc. 4544 Hwy 89  Fish Haven, Idaho 83287  801-243-8980 - Claudia  208-530-0058 - David  Working to keep Bear Lake "Clean, Deep and Blue"

Garden City Fire Board Meeting

Chris S. Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  April 16, 2015.  The Garden City Fire District board held its regular monthly meeting.  All members were present.  The board approved an employee policy handbook, announced that 3 of the board members had completed public meetings training, and heard from Chief Mike Wahlberg on several matters.

A couple of hoses had been damaged (by burning) during suppression of some recent fires and will be replaced.   The pump on Brush Truck 40 was repaired at no cost because it had so few hours on it that the vendor felt it was fair for the vendor to do the work without charge.

There were some department requests for new personal firefighting gear but the chief is waiting to see how a grant proposal turns out before spending internal money.

There were 5 fires in the past month, 2 on the Garden City canal, 1 on sage flat, one on highway 30, and the wind caused transmission pole destruction near Cherimoya.

Jenny England asked if the department should continue paying for web site maintenance when there has been very intermittent work on updating that site.  Chief Wahlberg will make a recommendation at the next meeting, hoping to find an internal firefighter with IT interests and experience to carry out this task. 

Chief Wahlberg indicated that the open but supervised controlled burning at low elevations would likely be suspended by May.

Little Bear Lake Monster Preschool