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Serving Wayne & Garfield Counties, Utah
Loa • Fremont • Lyman • Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Antimony • Bryce • Tropic • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Over 95% of People Hospitalized From COVID are Not COVIDVaccinated
Issue # 1419
insiderutah.com
Preserving What's There
For DUP Mauna Loa Camp, Restoring and Maintaining Loa Tithing House is an Ongoing Labor of Love
P&Z still looking for members, drought and development concerns, cemetary trees and potential engine brake ordinance discussed
by Jillian Fahey
by Amiee Maxwell
SOUTHWEST UTAH The numbers are compelling: those who are being hospitalized with COVID are overwhelmingly ones who have not been vaccinated for COVID-19. Data from the Utah Department of Health shows that from March 23 to June 15, 2021, when all Utahns aged 16 and older became eligible to receive the vaccine, there were 27,017 total COVID-19 cases identified in Utah, with 96.9 percent of them unvaccinated; there were 1,532 people hospitalized, with 95.2% of them unvaccinated; and there were 110 deaths, with 98% of them being unvaccinated. Eric Packer, CEO of Intermountain Cedar City Hospital, said that the data speaks for itself. “We are once again seeing numbers rise of patients with COVID, and it’s clear that getting the vaccine is the strongest way to prevent getting hospitalized from COVID.” Dr. David Blodgett, health officer for Southwest Utah Public Health Department, stresses the importance of getting the COVID vaccine. “The single best way to stay out of the hospital COVID Cases Cont'd on page 2
Jim Ireland Selected as Superintendent of BCNP BRYCE - National Park Service (NPS) Regional Director Mike Reynolds announced the selection of Jim Ireland as superintendent of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Ireland has almost 30 years of NPS experience and has served as the superintendent of Timpanogos Cave National Monument near Salt Lake City, Utah for almost 10 years. Ireland has most recently served as the acting superintendent of Bryce Canyon National Park since April 2021. He will assume the permanent role on July 18, 2021. “Jim's deep operational experience, empathy for employees and partners, business acumen, commitment to communication and collaboration, and familiarity with Utah will make him a very effective leader for Bryce Canyon.” said Reynolds. “Bryce Canyon is a wonderful park, beloved by visitors and its community,” said Ireland. “I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to be part of its stewardship.” While at Timpanogos Cave, Ireland also served as the NPS Utah state coordinator, acting as the liaison to state, county and local officials and other federal agencies and representing Utah’s 13 NPS on statewide committees and Jim Ireland
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Torrey Town Council July
Courtesy Jillian Fahey
The historic Loa tithing house is in the capable hands of the DUP Mauna Loa members. Shown back to front are Charlene Nelson, Monte Laing, Allie Brown VeeAnn Pace, Marsha Chappell, Ramona Brown, and Sherrie Anderson. LOA - One of the oldest surviving buildings in Wayne County is the Loa tithing house just off Main Street. This small building is easy to find nestled across the street from Loa's wonderful steepled church. The stone monument on the corner explains that "Loa Townsite was named in 1876 after Mauna Loa, the beautiful 13,000 foot high volcanic mountain on the island of Hawaii, by Franklin Wheeler Young." The monument later states that the volcanic rock inside of it, "was
obtained in 1933 by Eldon Putnam Morrell," and is a piece of Mauna Loa. The rest of the monument is made of petrified wood and old stone from a fire pit that used to be behind the church. When it comes to the history of the Loa tithing house one of the most knowledgeable people is Marsha Taylor Chappell, who spearheaded its restoration. Marsha was raised in Loa and moved back home when efforts had already started on restoring the little tithing
house. Remembering how her parents would go to the old storehouse with many other community members in order to maintain it, Marsha jumped in with both feet. The storehouse had been entrusted to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers decades before. Records say that it was sold to them by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. However, the DUP got the
TORREY - The July 8, 2021, Torrey Town Council meeting opened with a big thank you from Mayor Chesnut to all the council members and volunteers that made Apple Days a huge success. The council then discussed the Planning and Zoning Commission member situation. They’ve discussed the possibility of dropping the committee members from seven to five at the last few meetings since they’ve been having a hard time keeping members. They only received one application for a new member after advertising for the last month. The council will discuss this further at their next work meeting. Colleen Dudleston then presented the financial report. “It’s been a pretty quiet month since the budgets were passed. There’s not much going on,” she said. Dustin Oyler then gave his maintenance report and stated that work on the new fire station has begun and that there’s a lot of work going on at the springs. Speaking of springs, Janet Hansen then took the floor to discuss her concerns about the current drought conditions. “We don’t know what next year will be like so you as the town board really need to look at the facts and the future of our water,” she said to the council. She asked the council how the springs are producing and
how much water is being delivered to our district. Oyler said that 1,070 gallons/minute is coming into the chlorinator and that only 260 gallons/minute (town tank only, does not include Sleeping Rainbow usage) is being used during the highest usage time between 6-10 am. “How come we’re not getting any overflow into Sand Creek?” asked Hansen, “Usage must be more than you’re figuring.” Councilmember Jordan Pace also raised concern and stated, “It seems like there is a leak or something. We’re bringing a lot more water in than we’re using.” Mayor Chesnut explained that there’s the same amount of water sitting in lines as sitting in the storage tank, which can explain why we aren’t not seeing a ton of overflow. Hansen then questioned the council about new developments in town. She has heard rumors about a new hotel and said, “We feel that we’re at the point that any more big hotels or big developments - it’s really necessary to look and decide if this is the best thing to do.” Mayor Chesnut said, “I agree with you.” Several other citizens also brought up water concerns and Hansen concluded her speaking time by refreshTorrey Town Cont'd on page 7
Birds in the Megadrought Everyone is having a tough time
Loa Tithing House Cont'd on page 4
Monuments and Remnants
DUP Camp Geyser Seeks to Preserve Reminders of Early Settlers by Lauralee Williams FREMONT - As we near the July 24th celebration of Utah Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, we reflect on their heroics and bravery as
Fremont, named for explorer John C Fremont who traveled through the area around 18531854 and for his namesake river. In the early days, the town
Courtesy Lauralee Williams
A monument at Allred or "Jack's" Point, was erected by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in 1961, and describes the settlement of the Allred family. they navigated the unknown. Let us focus on those first settlers of Rabbit Valley, specifically the village or town of
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of Fremont had a greater population than any other settlement in the county until around 1895. In 1876 a small group of about twenty pioneers were called by Brigham Young to settle “Rabbit Valley.” They
traveled up and over the mountains from Salina in covered wagons, herding a few sheep and cows along with their belongings on pack horses. They trudged slowly along, moving rocks and clearing a path through tall sagebrush to make way for the wagons. The party consisted of Andrew Jackson Allred, his two wives, ten children, his older brother, Hackley, and his son Monroe and wife. Also with the group were William Wilson Morrell, his son Silas and William Henry Maxfield. Andrew Jackson “Jack” Allred was born in Missouri, 1831. His father was a Captain in Zion’s Camp formed by Mormon leader Joseph Smith. Later Andrew’s family moved to Nauvoo then traveled to Salt Lake City with the Brigham Young Company, Andrew even rode in Young’s buckboard when he suffered “white swelling” in his left leg. They arrived into the
THURS. JULY 22 - WED. JULY 28
Chance of scattered thunderstorms Thursday and through the weekend and into Monday, moving to partly cloudy onTues/Wed. Highs in 70s-80s, lows in 50s, light winds.
For any sin, we all suffer. —Wendell Berry
Monuments
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Jens Munthe
Cliff Swallow in its nest, wondering where the insects are. ESCALANTE - Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know it’s freakin’ dry— the driest year in our area in 120 years according to a friend who knows these things. Our drought has been going on for 20 years, and there is no end in sight. According to a University of CA paleoclimatologist, the current drought “is on track to become the worst that we’ve seen in at least 1200 years.” She is referring to the 300-year Great Drought which was a factor in the abandonment of our area by the Anasazi. There have been three megadroughts since, lasting decades at least, and we’ve now entered a fourth. I’m hoping climate change deniers are
getting a clue. Just how bad things are out there was brought home to me when we did our Breeding Bird Surveys in June, the first in two years. Much of the vegetation that hasn’t been eaten or trampled by bovines is in sad shape or dying, there are few flowers, there will be little fruit produced, and insect populations have crashed. Birds depend on these things for food, and there is little of it. We saw that bird populations are very low, and there are a number of groups that are just plain missing. Whitethroated Swifts and Cliff and other Swallows, all of which
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BOXHOLDER
Megadrought Cont'd on page 3
PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122