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Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Jeffrey R Larson 1956 - 2018

Jeffrey R Larson passed away peacefully May 7, 2018, at home surrounded by his family. He was the son of Leland Kay and Alda Larson. Jeff was born in Evanston, WY on January 26, 1956, and raised in Randolph, UT.

Jeff faithfully served in the New York Rochester Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where he participated in the Hill Cumorah pageant both years. He attended Utah State University where he met his wife Patricia Jean Wilson. They were married on November 18, 1981, in Hyrum, UT. They were sealed as a family on September 21, 1985, in the Logan, UT Temple.

Jeff was an avid reader who enjoyed science fiction as well as other genres.  He loved to participate in Community Theater and performed in several plays. He enjoyed playing trivia, board games and loved to spend time with his family. He also had a love for knowledge and enjoyed learning about the paranormal.

He is survived by his wife Pat, his children Ann, Brian (Katie), Lorraine, and Matthew (Brittany) and 8 grandchildren. Also surviving are his 5 siblings Louise (Ron) Tolman, Norman (Elaine) Larson, Sharon (Bryon) Hatch, John (Whitney) Larson, and Steve (Kim) Larson. He is preceded in death by his parents and his brother Leland.

He will be greatly missed.

Graveside services were held Friday, May 11, 2018, at 11 a.m. at the Randolph Cemetery, Randolph, Utah.  Friends visited family Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 No. Fairfield Road.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Good Stuff

FAT?
By John Brown

So what if everything you know about fat, cholesterol, and diet is pretty much wrong?


What if you found out that the science behind the good old food pyramid is, well, not really there?
We’ve been told that a healthy diet consists of lots of grains, bagels, bread, pasta, cereals, rice, etc. and very little fat. What if it’s actually the reverse?

If it is, then it might explain why the rates of diabetes and obesity began to skyrocket as the nation started to implement this experiment.

I remember having gained about fifteen pounds when I was first married. I decided I would go on a diet. I read up on the low-fat high carb diet and followed it strictly. Two weeks later, I had gained ten more pounds. Did I at the time look at the diet and think that maybe there was something wrong with it?

No. That would have been too intelligent.

Instead, I figured something must be wrong with me and continued to try to “eat healthy.” What’s that definition of insanity—doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Call me insane. Or slow. Or too trusting of authority.

It appears that the science of nutrition got hijacked. Government policy then ran away with it. It’s a fascinating and cautionary tale. Let me recommend three books that explain what really causes us to deposit fat and how we got off track.

The first is Why We Get Fat by science writer Gary Taubes. In it, he reveals the bad nutritional science of the last century, why the good science was ignored, what really causes us to store fat, and what to do about it.

The next is The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung. Fung is a kidney specialist. Obesity and diabetes are the roots of many kidney problems. And so he decided to help his patients by strop treating symptoms and get at the root cause. Fung’s gift is clarity. He explains how obesity and diabetes became an epidemic, the errors in how we think about calories and diet, and then he explains in great clarity the new model of what really causes obesity and how to reverse it.


The last is The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by investigative journalist Nina Teicholz. She spent nine years investigating this, and the book reveals how the misinformation about saturated fats took hold in the scientific community, government, and the public and how recent findings overturn these beliefs. It’s a startling history, a cautionary tale showing how ego, bias, and premature institutional consensus allowed dangerous misrepresentations to become dietary dogma.


If you’re dealing with obesity, heart disease, or diabetes, I think you’ll find these books very interesting. 

Well Water Protection

RANDOLPH, Utah. May 2, 2018.   The Water Protection Plan was outlined by Ben Willoughby, County Attorney.  Periodically additional wells are needed and unless the county has a Water Protection Plan each site has to go through a complicated and lengthy process to drill.   State law governs this issue through the Department of Environmental Protection and its Division of Water Quality which ensures water quality and mandates water system protections. 

There are very strict laws governing the protection zones around springs and wells.  The first 100 feet or Zone 1 is highly protected.  Zone 2 requires 250 days ground percolation.  Zone 3 is a three-year protection and Zone 4 a five-year percolation protection. 

The ordinance will protect watersheds and keep the four zones protected.  This ordinance is for all future wells in the county and does not impact existing wells.  Without the ordinance, Terry Allen, Bear Lake Water Company, said that they cannot be approved for new wells.  At least one new well will be drilled in the Sweetwater Subdivision immediately if the ordinance is approved.

The Division requires this legal protection of every county and municipality.  Rich County assumes that Zone 2 is the most important to protect from such things as hazardous waste, septic tanks, sewers etc.  This ordinance will prevent building on this zone unless there is approved design by the state.  This ordinance would apply within the whole county.

Enforcement will be by the county and water companies.  The county will enforce all regular issues however if it is an emergency discharge, the water company can go directly to court to get an injunction. 


The Division of Drinking Water will allow the new well on Sweetwater to be drilled as soon as the ordinance is passed.  Cities can have their own ordinances but they must be more stringent than county rules.  The ordinance was approved.  Terry Allen said it will benefit the entire county.

Look!

Photo by Melinda Peart Hislop, Garden City

Bike Path

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah. May 2, 2018.   Tyler Stuart, Rich County Engineer from Cook, Sanders, and Associates, and Mitch Poulsen, Bear Lake Regional Commission, said that UDOT has been given the 90% plans for the bike path from Ideal Beach to Epic Recreation Beach. In the last meeting, it was decided there was a need for a wetland study which might cost $1500 dollars unless they found problems, and then it could cost as much as $3,000.  The wetland study will be done by Bio West.

UDOT doesn’t want to cut through the rock wall but wants a retaining wall that is three feet high and about 300 feet long.  Landowners along the bike path who have driveways are concerned about safety issues.  So the design has been changed to give a longer line of sight for passing motorist. UDOT is also looking at changing the speed limit at the area around the Sweetwater trailer park turn off because there is a blind corner and lots of people turn there. 


Construction should begin in the fall to avoid the busy summer season. 

Cisco Road Costs And Bids

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah. May 2, 2018.  Cisco Road on the east side of the lake needs to be rebuilt and refinished.  County Commissioners outlined the plan to finance the road work so that it can begin this year.  The engineers estimated $8.5 million which will be funded by issuing bonds by the Rich County Building Authority and Rich Special Services.  The bonds will be purchased by the Utah Community Impact Board, (CIB).  The CIB has given Rich County a grant of $3.7 million and has committed to a loan of $1.7 million for 15 years.  The county was able to secure $1.9 million from non-urban highway funds and $500,000 State Parks Access money.  The non-urban money is available in 2021-2, but the county can borrow against that anticipated money to start this year.

Later in the day, the bids were opened.  Jones and DeMille of Richfield, Utah is the engineering company who prepared the bid and they supervised the opening. LaGrande Johnson (Kilgore) estimated a cost of $9,195, 560.  Staker Parsons bid was  $9,411,499.  Whittaker Construction’s bid was $8, 877 832. The engineer ’s estimate was $7,209,235 for construction only.  The bids will undergo review to see why the costs were higher than the estimate.

This project has taken about seven years to put together and could not have been done without CIB, Non-urban money and State Parks.  Bill Cox has been working with all those agencies to put the deal together.

This will pave thirteen miles with a bike pathway and hopefully, there will be funding from other sources to help with sewer construction at the same time.  The Rich Special Service District has declined so far to pay for that.  Commissioner Bill Cox is working with them to find funding. 
Cox has had additional conversations with Bear Lake County in Idaho to continue the road to the end of the lake but BLC does not have the state support Rich County has.  Cisco Road is a county collector road.  That is one reason there are funds for it.  The County has also traded federal dollars to UDOT for state dollars which saved 20% on the cost of building.

Will not authorize until May 16 so that the bids will have all come in and the actual cost can be finalized. They will call a special meeting.