Dasse- Stephenson

Old man Winter is sure doing his best to let the country know who is boss. All over the country, with all of the snow, there has been a lot of damage due to flooding. California is suffering the most of it, with storm after storm going through the state and no letup in sight. California’s 20-year drought is easing but at a big cost, with all of the flooding that is going on. Even Panguitch is under flood watch; the 5 o’clock news showed flooding here. Pat and I drove around looking for damage but couldn’t find any, but the river is up more than we have seen. Near our home, we looked at that stream, which is usually dry, and it has quite a bit flowing in it. It looks like the city has built up the banks so that if there is flooding, it will flow into the fields. We drove down the River Lane, and I have never seen that water so high. It will go a long way in filling the Piute Reservoir.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. It is tomorrow, but better early than late. Salt Lake City had their St. Patrick’s Day parade last Saturday. I guess it is because the day falls on a Friday. Chicago puts green dye in their river water to celebrate.

I am writing this week’s letter in the daylight. Daylight saving time is finally here. It has been a long four months of seeing it getting dark at 5 o’clock. Yesterday, sunset was at 6:30, and tonight, it is at 7:30. Utah is one of 27 states that wants to stay on daylight saving time, but you have to have all of the states that surround you that want to change before it can happen. We moved all of our clocks ahead on Saturday morning and went to bed an hour earlier, and it made it easy to get up on Sunday morning.

Winter is having its last fling because on Monday the 20th, it will be spring. Hopefully, it will get a little warmer, and the wind won’t blow.

Believe it or not but the committee that sets the sewing classes for the Quilt Walk Festival have already done their work. The classes will be available for signing up within the next week or so [registration begins April 1]. Now is the time to sign up for classes; they will fill up fast. Pioneer home tours are also part of the Quilt Walk Festival entertainment. The charge for the home tour is $5.00 per person, and all the money still goes to the Sub for Santa fund. Those of you who have red brick, pioneer homes you would like to share, please contact Pat Oetting at 676-2418 and volunteer. It is a lot of work, but the satisfaction you will get will be worth it! Besides, it is a springtime

by Mack Oetting ~ mackoetting @gmail.com

house cleaning activity and a great fundraiser.

Easter is in April this year, and on Saturday the 8th, it will be the 26th annual Easter Egg Hunt. If the weather permits, it will be held at the City Park Pavilion. If not, it will be moved inside somewhere. There will be plenty of candy, money and fuzzy animals for all. The Easter Bunny will again be brought in on the big red fire engine. Be sure to be on time because the egg-hunters are fast and make a clean sweep of the egg hunt.

On that same day, it will be the annual car show down in Hurricane. We go down to the show after the Egg Hunt and go through Zion and get there about 2:00, when most of the crowd is gone. There are hundreds of cars there so bring your camera. We like to go into St. George for dinner, and it makes for a fun day.

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints is having a food drive this Saturday, and there will be pickups at your doors. If no one shows up, take your donations to the Care and Share center. There will be a change in the scheduling of services; the Stake Conference will come before the General Conference and will be on the 26th, and the General Conference will be the next week on April 1st and 2nd. The Cedar City Temple will be closed for cleaning for two weeks starting on the 10th.

The Feds met again and said that they will raise the interest rate, depending on the new jobs reports. Well, it wasn’t good; there were 310,000 new jobs created, and the unemployment is still below 4% for 14 months in a row. This really hurt the stock market for the week. Auto stocks are going down because it costs too much interest to buy one. Raising the interest rate also increases the national debt because we were paying 1% and now it is above 5%. So far raising the interest rate has done nothing to cut inflation. The object is to put people out of work, and that will cut inflation. Wouldn’t it be better to go with great job growth and prosperity, than go into a depression?

Senator Lee has more of his friends falling in line to do away with Social Security. Many don’t understand Social Security and how it is funded. I believe that you are now issued a Social Security number upon birth. When you go to work, you pay, I believe, 8% into Society Security, and your employer also pays the same amount into the system. The one real big problem with the system is that it is part of the national budget. When there weren't many who qualified for benefits, instead of building up the system, they then switched it into the budget to pay bills. I believe that three trillion of the national debt is owed to the retirees.

With five railroad trains derailing in the last month, it makes for a bad way to transport freight. The last president rolled back safety rules on trains carrying hazardous and flammable materials. In the terrible crash in East Palestine, the train company, Norfolk Southern, is taking all responsibility for the wreck instead of FEMA. It seems that all trains carrying flammable materials were supposed to have brakes, where if one system fails, all of the cars' brakes come on. They are trying to transport all of the contaminated dirt out of the area, but none of the states want it either. This is not a random accident; there are over 1,000 train derailments each year.

Former President Jimmy Carter is having hospice care at home. President Carter is well known for all of his efforts after he left office. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and was widely celebrated for helping build more than 4,000 homes with his Habitat for Humanity foundation, which he founded. He continued to work till 2020. President Carter is the oldest living president at the age of 98. He still lives in a modest home with his wife, Rosalynn, in Plains, Georgia. Mack O.

Wayne Commission:

An update on the Hanksville Diversion Dam and the new contract with Jackson Excavation, an initiative for Remote Work Certification classes, the approval of the Economic Development Board and projects that received monies for capital improvement projects in 2022, a food truck business proposal, and a new Girl Scout troop in Wayne County discussed.

Wayne Commission Cont'd from A1 cedures and how the river works. Last year, 2022, the cost to pump the water was $386,695. That figure has increased to $519,735 for the year of 2023. This year, there is an extra charge of $70,000 to have a pump on stand-by. The rain storms that Wayne County received last summer deposited so much sand and silt that the pumps shut down, and there was a lag time to get a replacement pump trucked in. “By having a pump on site to replace a clogged pump will save time and money,” stated Wilden. This was accepted and approved.

Wilden also presented an update on the Diversion Dam. Design for the new dam should be ready for submission to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) this week. It may take the NRCS four to five months to approve the design. “Hopefully by this time next year Wayne County should have an answer on the Diversion Dam,” stated Wilden.

Next was Trenton Willson, who is the Program Coordinator with Utah State University, with a presentation of an initiative for Remote Work Certification classes. This initiative is to help bring online jobs to rural Utah. The courses will include a leadership course, remote activities course and a remote work practice course. The cost of the course is $40 and lasts for four weeks, and students must be available each Thursday either at 1 p.m. or 6 p.m.

Market Star has guaranteed an interview for those students who complete the course.

Jenna Draper was out due to illness, so Commissioner Brian presented the approval of the Economic Development Board. Board members are Greg Pace, April Torgerson, Brian with Work Force Services and Commissioner Roger Brian. The Economic and Development Board oversees the economic Development for Wayne County with monies provided through the State of Utah. During the year 2022, the following projects received monies for capital improvements: Cainville received $1,000,000 for water system improvemnts, Hanksville received $2,000,000 for sewer lagoon improvements, Lyman received $75,000 for a mini excavator, Bicknell received $50,000 for a planning grant and Torrey had two projects approved—a walking path for $150,000 and $300,000 for the Torrey Town office remodel (Author's note: This information was obtained from www.waynecountyutah. org/economic.).

Megan Mattingly presented a business proposal to open a food truck that serves soda. It would be a mobile location and would move around. The commissioners advised her that she would need to obtain a business permit from each town or city and also one from Wayne county if she is going to be parking in unincorporated Wayne County locations. The commissioners wished her luck with her endeavor.

Dani May, who lives in Fremont, presented a new Girl Scout Troop #1647. She was looking for a location to hold the Girl Scout meetings. The Loa

Civic Center was agreed upon. This was accepted and approved.

Other Business:

B & C Road Funding, which is being funded by SB0175, is offering $40 million dollars for road improvements throughout the state. Wayne County must adopt one of the five public road taxes. A public hearing will be held within the next 30 days for public input. A replacement for Justice Court Judge Brown has been found and hired. The Administration of Courts (AOC) has approved the appointment of Judge Mark McIff, J.D. He currently serves as Justice Court judge for Sevier County, Piute County, Spring City, Moroni, Ephriam City, Gunnison, Manti and Mt. Pleasant. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Southern Utah University in 1995 and a Juris Doctorate in 1998 from Gonzaga University. For a time, he served as the Attorney for Wayne County.

• Vouchers were accepted and approved. The commissioners then went into a closed session.

The next Wayne County Commission meeting will be held on Monday, March 20, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in the Wayne County Courthouse. You may also listen to the minutes from this or any past meeting at pmn@utah.gov.

The Wayne County Commission meets the first and third Monday of every month at the Wayne County Courthouse in Loa.

Ccrs

CCRS DR Appeal

Cont'd from A1 landscape architect Delmar Price, that make this wonderful place eligible to be recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.

Many of our local neighbors have shared their concerns with us about BLM’s proposed plans, so we feel confident that we represent others with our appeal, as well.

In preparing to write our appeal, I was up after midnight, reviewing the 84-page CCRS Environmental Analysis document and its FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) and DR (Record of Decision), a task that would normally lead to unconsciousness, but their plans are so disturbing that they keep me up at night. By their nature, Environmental Assessments are organized in manner that is brutally difficult to follow; they are redundantly redundant and then they repeat themselves again and again. It’s like trying to read a book in House of Mirrors. Not to mention the wonderful assortment of bureaucratic acronyms: DOI, BLM, GSENM, CCRS, EA, FONSI, DR, NRHP, SHPO, ISA, WSA, FOIA that cause one to think “WTF” & “BS”! (You guess.)

The BLM/GSENM considered only two alternatives—deferred maintenance and maximization of parking. The CCRS documents were particularly difficult to comprehend because they are so incredibly biased. Their proposed “improvement” project takes care of all the problems (identified in their purpose and need), whereas dealing with deferred maintenance issues goes no farther than propping up collapsing retaining walls and patching potholes. In his comments and separate appeal, Dan Rice points out that many of the repairs included in the “improvements” alternative could be done as a part of the deferred maintenance project (replacing retaining walls, repairing the swimming hole, renovating campsites and picnic areas, repaving road and parking areas...).

In the CCRS EA, the historical features might be titled “Old and In the Way” and the planned “improvements” are basically “Pave Paradise and Put up a Parking Lot.” Let’s consider these alternatives.

Old and In the Way

Our goal is conserving the historical character, and scale, of the Calf Creek Recreation Site, where so many local folks have childhood memories. Sadly, the BLM plan is to destroy most of the historically significant features that make the CCRS so special. Only two of nine historically significant features recognized are not going to be destroyed and replaced, the pedestrian bridge over Calf Creek and adjacent stone outhouse. In discussing alternatives, they state that “construction-related disturbance” (that is removal of seven historically significant features) would negatively impact the site’s eligibility for the NHRP. In their MOA with SHPO, they state that the features will be “adversely impacted”

(which is an alternate way of saying removed or destroyed). Their proposed mitigation strategy is to map and photograph each feature before it is destroyed, study the history of this historic campground, and later install interpretive signs that show what was lost! The BLM did not even try to find alternative solutions that might preserve any of these features. For local citizens who have fond memories of family reunions, the Group Picnic Area is the most important single feature on the chopping block. The BLM stated, “The picnic area in the oak stand would be removed to allow for reconfiguring and expanding the main parking area.” Might there be some way to design parking that would preserve this historic feature, including the old oak trees that provide shade for both people and wildlife?

The BLM claims that the charming historic arch bridge over Calf Creek, where visitors enter the CCRS, has maintenance issues, so it must be destroyed (thereby negatively impacting the site’s eligibility for the NHRP); it would be replaced with a prefabricated steel beam bridge with no aesthetic appeal. The BLM sites a 2019 engineering report that said this bridge is in poor overall condition. In the CCRS Final EA, it says “patching the damage to the concrete base to extend its life and prevent its failure would directly affect this historic feature—patching this historic feature could result in a loss to site integrity and negatively impact the site’s eligibility for the NHRP”. However, we examined the bridge with a local contractor who stated that the bridge is in good shape overall and that the minor degradation on a small part of the foundation could be easily repaired in a manner that does not detract from the historical character and would be significantly less costly, by orders of magnitude, than replacing the bridge. Tearing out and replacing the old bridge, which might cost a million bucks, clearly has a much larger impact on the historical character than patching the foundation.

Pave Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot

BLM’s proposed improvements are primarily designed around providing additional parking for more tourists. Plans to increase the existing parking area from 30 to 45 spaces, and also to add another 15 spaces along the access road and build a new 40-space parking lot near the highway—an increase from the present 30 to 100 designated parking spaces is more than a threefold increase. The impact of this huge increase in parking areas would dwarf the existing historic character of the Calf Creek Recreation Site.

To accommodate this increased traffic, the roads will be widened by an undesignated amount. Getting rid of the existing bridge eliminates this narrow impasse.

In addition, new parking would be established for up to four new campsites. Cramming these additional campsites in between existing campsites is not in keeping with the historical BLM campground that originally had seven campsites and has been since expanded to thirteen spaces. One of the proposed new campsites is to be located inside the turnaround circle at the end of the campground road; a prime campsite if you like to be encircled by other cars and trucks moving about the campground—basically “camped” in the center of a roundabout.

The lack of any specific plans makes it impossible to know what the overall impacts will be. Their conceptual site plan in the EA is so generalized as to be nearly useless, so we fear that the existing parking area will be a total makeover. When I asked the project lead, Allysia Angus, if she had “any plans (even sketches) for their renovation of the existing trailhead parking lot,” she replied that “BLM has not begun detailed design for... the project, so there are no plans to share at this time.” Yet their plans can specify that the new parking area will accommodate up to 15 additional cars. They must have a more detailed conceptual plan that they refuse to share with us. We are trying to force them to provide us with this information with a FOIA request.

In our appeal, we are suggesting a remedy that will allow the BLM to proceed with those aspects of the project that are considered deferred maintenance. Their $1.4 million grant from the Great America Outdoor Act can be used for deferred maintenance, so this should not be a problem. We recommend that the existing landscape block walls be replaced with rock walls that enhance the historical character, and that all new buildings and campsite renovation should be done with a “Parkitecture” theme. Ideally, this would incorporate collaborative efforts involving folks from Boulder and Escalante who love Calf Creek Campground and have already offered to provide expertise and elbow grease to help repair the park’s elements in keeping with its historical nature.

The CCRS should be nominated for the National Register of Historic Places recognition and protected as a unique example of one the BLM’s first recreation sites/campgrounds. Plans for any additional parking areas should wait until the carrying capacity of the Calf Creek Falls trail has been fully analyzed and the new Monument Management Plan is in place. The BLM stated that this project will be done in phases. Let the first phase be the preservation and enhancement of the existing Calf Creek Recreation Site.

A “Petition to Conserve the Historical Calf Creek Campground” has been circulated within the communities and online, and we have gotten ~700 signatures so far! If you would like to join us, sign the online petition at change.org (a petition-toconserve-the-historicalcalf-creek-campground: chng.it/HZRBbfxzYh).

Keith Watts and Sage Sorenson are both members of the Calf Creek Conservation Corps. Watts is a resident of Boulder, and Sorenson is a resident of Escalante.

March 20 - 26

by John Mosley

There are two bright “major” planets in the sky tonight, and they’re trivial to see, plus one “minor” planet that you can see with a pair of binoculars (which every stargazer must have!) or any telescope and add it to your list of solar system conquests. Here’s how to find them.

The two major planets are Venus and Mars, goddess of love and god of war. The planet Venus is indeed pretty, and the goddess of love is an important goddess, so one can imagine how that association came about, while the red color of Mars reminded people of blood and hence of war.

Venus is brilliant in the west for almost three hours after sunset. How soon can you see it as the sky is growing dark? You can see it in the daytime if you know where to look. Venus is passing through the constellation Aries, but Aries has no bright stars to compete with it. Not until mid-April, when it moves through Taurus, will there be bright stars—and a bright star cluster—in the background.

Mars is high overhead in Taurus and then Gemini amid the many bright stars of the winter Milky Way. An alert for people with binoculars or telescopes: it passes near the bright star cluster M35 late this week and next.

The brightest “minor planet” in the evening sky tonight is Ceres, and you can easily see it with any pair of binoculars as a moderately bright 7th-magnitude “star” in the constellation Coma Berenices, or Bernice’s Hair. You will need star-charting software (which I strongly recommend that you own) or a good printed star chart. On the 21st, Ceres is at opposition, opposite the sun, when it rises at sunset and looks like any other 7th-magnitude star.

Ceres is 149 million miles from earth (14% farther than Mars), and it’s only 580 miles in diameter, so it looks starlike (hence the term “asteroid”). Google “Ceres” for tons of information on this interesting little world that was visited by a NASA spacecraft in 2015; that spacecraft is still in orbit around Ceres, although it’s no longer functioning.

If you need a finding chart you can create and print a great one at “in-the-sky.org” (https:// in-the-sky.org). Start here if your target is Ceres and your location is Kanab, but you can easily change it (for Ceres your location doesn’t matter much): https://in-the-sky.org/findercharts.php?id=11&latitu de=37+2+8&longitude=112+31+52&timezone=07%3A00. You’ll have to learn to use the website, but it’s useful for many things, so bookmark it for future reference, and this is really my opportunity to introduce you to it. Note that Ceres passes in front of the bright galaxy M100 for several hours on the evening of March 26th in a highly unusual event that people with a telescope will not want to miss. There are hundreds of thousands of asteroids in the sky. A few dozen are within the range of a backyard telescope, and you could spend many hours hunting them down.

John Mosley was Program Supervisor of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles for 27 years and is the author of “Stargazing for Beginners” and “Stargazing with Binoculars and Telescopes.” He and his wife live in St. George, where he continues to stargaze from his retirement home while serving on the advisory committee for Stellar Vista Observatory.