Life at Bear Lake

Photos by Bobbie Coray

 

 

 

Photo by Elizabeth Buffy Evans

Raspberry Days July 30- Aug2

 Go to www.bearlake.org for complete listings of activities.

Wednesday: July 30 at 7 p.m. the Miss Berry Princess is chosen at the stage at 50 S 100 W in Garden City.

Thursday:  July 31, Craft Fairs at two places, 50 S 100 West in Garden City and local crafts at the Garden City Town Center.  10 a.m. to 8 p.m.  Parade a 6 p.m. Entertainment after.  Family dance at the Bear Lake Dance Place.

Friday:  August 1, Craft fairs and entertainment all day at Raspberry Days venue and city offices
Laketown Rodeo 7:30 p.m. Laketown Arena.

Saturday: August 2,  Raspberry Days 5 k run, 8 a.m.  Pancake Breakfast 8 a.m. - 11 a.m. Garden City Park.  Craft fairs 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.   Entertainment all day.  Laketown Rodeo at the Laketown Arena at 7:30 p.m.

No Fire Board Report This Month?

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

A report of what occurred at the fireboard meeting for July was not written this month.  The Garden City District Fire Board normally holds their monthly meeting the third Thursday of each month.  In the past, the writer was also sent an agenda or could check at the post office to make sure the meeting was being held.  That didn’t happen this month. 

Actually the agenda has not been posted in the post office for a number of months, and the agenda hasn’t be mailed ahead of time either.  The agenda must be picked up when you get to the meeting.

Anyway, this reporter made her way to the fire board office to attend the fireboard meeting at the usual time and on the third Thursday of the month.  When I arrived, there was no one there.  I checked the door.  It was locked.  I looked at the side of the doors because sometimes the agenda is posted there.  

The meeting had been held the previous evening—Wednesday night.  I felt badly that I was unable to get fireboard information to you this month, especially when it is the time of the summer when there is a much greater fire danger and decisions are generally made concerning fireworks and other problems that require the services of the fire department.

I will try extra hard to discover and attend the next meeting.  I hate to have to go directly to the fire office several times until the agenda is posted there—at least I think it may be hung there.  Since it is an open governmental meeting, it is supposed to be posted somewhere in a timely manner.

Fires!

Statewide Fire Restriction Order

Effective July 12, 2014, the state has put into effect fire restrictions that until rescinded are the law in all private unincorporated and state lands in Rich County (and others).  These include:

1)      No open fires of any kind, except campfires built within facilities provided for them in campgrounds, picnic areas, or permanently improved places of habitation (some areas have even stronger restrictions, not state law, but those are locally enforced, as in some HOA’s),

2)      No smoking except in a closed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or while stopped in an area at least 3 feet in diameter that is barren or cleared to mineral soil,

3)      No fireworks, tracer ammunition, or other pyrotechnic devices,

4)      No cutting, welding, or grinding metal in areas of dry vegetation,

State and Federal Fire Officers and firefighting forces in the performance of official duties are excluded, as are persons with a specific permit specifically authorizing the prohibited act at a specific location.

Violation of these restrictions is a class B misdemeanor.

These restrictions do not apply to lands In incorporated areas.

How Do Short Term Rentals Affect Subdivisions In Bear Lake?

Over the years we  have heard both pro and con about allowing short term rentals in the subdivisions of the Bear Lake Valley.  Some CC&R allow them and some do not.  Positively, it makes so that larger homes can be built in the subdivisions since they can generate income and so we are seeing homes with 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms worthy of Architectural Digest being built on the hills around the lake. And it provides "hotel" space for recreational visitors who are a major part of our economy.  If the cabins are used as "hotels" they also pay a resort tax and sales tax.

Negatively, those same bedrooms often house 20 to 30 people with ATV, boats and cars which park on common streets and block traffic.  These "hotels" are often built as private homes without being built to commercial fire and building codes.  Renters often do not know or observe the firework or fire pit restrictions on our dry hillsides.  Owners are often out of the county or state and cannot be contacted to control noise or dangerous situations.

Sweetwater Hillside CC&R prohibit commercial use.  The Bylaws prohibit rentals.  This issue will be addressed at the annual meeting.  Other subdivisions are faced with similar issues.  RCTonline would like to hear from people who have opinions on how short term rentals do or do not affect them.  Editor

The Muddled Male

Tiger

 

By Bob Stevens, The Muddled Male

 

         I have always been a model of obedience and compliance in spite of what Ann, my wife, might have told you.  Suffice it to say that any negative comments she may have made to the contrary are to be ignored since she has been known to carry a grudge for a very long time.  Take Tiger, for example.  Tiger was a stray cat we took in about forty-five years ago when we were a young married couple living in Washington State.  Even though I was kind enough to allow Tiger to eat and sleep at our place free of charge, his demeanor toward me always seemed to be a mixture of arrogance and disdain. 

            Tiger loved to lay on our driveway and warm himself in the sun.  So much so that he considered that spot in the driveway as his personal and private property.  Each time I would approach the driveway and try to drive the car into the garage, Tiger would just lay there and stare at me as if to say, “This is my spot and you better not try driving past here.”  His game of chicken would always end at the last second with a quick little sidestep to avoid me running over him as I drove the car into the garage.  And then came that fateful day when he didn’t sidestep.  Actually, I don’t know whether he forgot, or just moved too slowly in his declining years.  Whatever the reason, we held a nice memorial and then buried him in grass town, a place in the woods where the neighborhood dumped their lawn clippings. 

            I thought that after Ann’s initial tirade against my ineptness as a driver, things would calm down and we could go back to being friends.  Silly me.  The untimely exit of Tiger continues to come up every time Ann becomes upset with something that either I do wrong or I didn’t do but should have.  Forty-five years later I am still being punished for that minor flaw that crept into my otherwise sterling character all those years ago.  Today, as I am writing this column, it is our fifty-ninth anniversary and I already know what Ann will say when we sit down later today for a celebratory supper at a nice eatery where I will order my usual extra-large portion of buttermilk-battered French fries.  Instead of, “Bob, my darling, thank you for sticking by me all these years.  I have loved every minute of our time together.”  I suspect she will say, “I should have known that someone who would run over my favorite cat would order that culinary disaster.  Your gastronomic choices have filled my life with long periods of worry and despair.” 

            A week ago I tried a dry-run of our planned celebration of Ann’s birthday hoping to develop a husband/wife communication technique that would help me avoid the reprimand I was certain to receive at the real celebration.  We were in Logan, so I took Ann to Chick-Fil-A, one of her favorite places to eat.  She loves the grilled chicken, and I love the waffle fries.  Especially when she happens to forget that a waffle fry is just a lacey version of a French fry.  When we arrived we found the place full of people.  I don’t mean kind of full.  I mean chuck full as in almost no place to sit.  There were adults, teenagers, and a whole bunch of little ones running in and out of the play area dropping food and spilling drinks as they ran back and forth beneath the sign that said, No drinks or food in the play area.  And the adults who were supposed to be watching them were oblivious as they busily chatted with each other.  The reason for all this activity, we noticed from the sign at the entrance, was that this was customer appreciation day, and anyone who came in dressed as a Holstein cow would receive a free chicken sandwich.  We were surrounded by people wearing cow’s ears, tails, faces and arms covered with Holstein spots, and a few customers with make-believe udders.  Because Ann and I were the only customers dressed as people, we were the only ones who had to pay for the chicken sandwiches we ordered.  We completed and paid for our food, fought our way to the only two seats available, sat down, and then Ann said, “All these people in cow costumes are cute.  Tiger would have loved this.  Too bad someone didn’t allow him to live.”  And that is how our dry-run ended.  Well, maybe I am exaggerating a little, but I knew what she was thinking.

Goose landed in Bear Lake This Week

Photo by Steve Larson, Logan, Utah

Rich County School Board

 Kathie B. Anderson, Reporter

 Rich Civic Times Online 

Action Items:

RANDOLPH, Utah, July 16, 2014. The Rich County School Board approved a contract with the R & D Cleaning Company for the 2014-2015 school year.

A sport fee of $5.00 was approved.   This adjustment will make the middle school and high school sport fees uniform.  After an adjustment, the fall athletic schedule was approved.  Policy 601.3.4.1 was ratified. Policy 601.3.4.1 deals with assistance from volunteers. 

Policy 513, the child nutrition policy, was modified as follows:  students and parents, rather than students, parents, and teachers are covered by the policy; 1% milk will replace 2% milk; and wheat products must contain at least 51% wheat, rather than 50%.  The One to One Procedure for the middle school was adopted.  This procedure will provide computers for all students.  A contract with the parent, student, and school will be require. The parent will pay a $40.00 insurance fee; pay $50.00 if the computer needs repair; and if the computer is damaged beyond repair, it must be replaced by the parent.  Supervised computer changes can be made only by the teacher.  No explicit items may be accessed.  The student will use this computer throughout middle school and high school.    

Information Items:

Shelly Stapel requested having a Foreign Exchange Student again this year.  After a lengthy discussion, the Board members were of the opinion that the cultural opportunities for Rich County students outweighed any negative concerns.

The summer work projects are on schedule.  The Special Education room has been remodeled and new desks and tables for the school have arrived.  Lodging compensation for conferences was raised to $100.00.

Our Beloved Marie Weston's Flowers Are Blooming!

Marie Weston
Photos by June Marie Saxton

 

 

Reader's Comments on Cell Service in Bear Lake Valley

Comment:  We have AT&T as a carrier and we could not access the internet all day July 4, 5, and 6  Kept getting message no service or no connection to internet and when there is service it is very slow.  I agree more towers are needed.

Lynn Davis

Comment: I read the editorial in the Rich County times about cell phone coverage. I have a house in Fish Haven that has been spotty for AT&T cell phone use for years – but worked reasonably well.

This year it has gone from bad to worse! It was to point where if I had an emergency I would  not be able to use my phone. Text messages were even unpredictable.

I called AT&T a few weeks ago and they basically told me sorry, nothing they can do. Which I responded to them C-YA….

I called Verizon immediately after that call with AT&T and got a new Verizon phone along with reliable service. It worked great this last July 4^th weekend as well. I was the only one in my family that had cell phone use on the lake and Fish Haven.

I am now going to switch the rest of my family over to Verizon so they have cell phone coverage at Bear Lake, as well as some peace of mind knowing they can get a hold of me.

Thanks 

Mark Scadden

Comment: I noticed a severe decline in cell service with AT&T in the past two to three weeks.

When I called the company they said the issue has been reported and documented.  It is because their tower is "severely degraded". She said they are currently working on it and should be back up and running in a week or two.

Before we get all huffy and puffy, let's recall when not so long ago there was NO cell service in the Bear Lake valley.

Krista Klein

Comment:   We have been having probems for almost a month with our cell service.  Most of the time when we go to use our cell phone we have no bars with EMERGENCY CALLS ONLY appearing on our phones. Also  we are getting messages when we go to Logan that were sent to us two days before  several times we were cut off during calls that we made when we had service.  Today (7/14) while I was talking with the receptionist at the Special Service District I was cut off during our conversation.  We have called AT&T several times and all they can say is they are working on it.  We need something done  We need our cell phones to work.  We're thinking about chaging to Verion if things are not corrected soon.

Karen and Richard A Droesbeke