The Wayne and Garfield County Insider 8/03/17

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The

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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, August 3, 2017

Issue # 1214

Wayne County Businesses Shared Information, Great Food and Entertainment at WCBA General Meeting

InSIder

Over 60 people and 30 businesses attended the Wayne County Business Association general meeting at The Saddlery in Torrey on Wednesday, July 26th. Some of the businesses attending were: Garkane Energy, Notom Ranch B&B, Capitol Reef National Park, Wags to Whiskers, Fremont River Veterinary Clinic, Torrey Trading Post, Wayne Community Health Center, Gallery 24, Perfectly Posh, Capitol Reef Natural History Association, The Old House, Circle Cliff Ranch, Hooley's Homemade Crafts, Royal's Food Town, Sandcreek RV Park, Scentsy, Broken Spur, Torrey House Press, Torrey Grill, Torita's Mexican Food, Schooley Mitchell, Fish Lake Resorts as well as many vendors from the Wayne County Farmer's Market.

TORREY - Members of the Wayne County Business Association were treated to a brisk program, a sumptuous buffet style lunch and live music during their general meeting on July 26, 2017, hosted by Gary and Francine Hallows

at The Saddlery. There’s a lot going on in Wayne County with both new businesses and changes taking place at existing establishments. Nycole Durfey of the Wayne County Travel Council said that Wayne County’s

new travel brochures will be available on August 1. Local businesses can obtain boxes of them for handing out to visitors. Durfey recommended that businesses continue to send visitors down to the Wayne County Visitor Information

Center, as it’s been shown that this additional contact leads to longer stays per visitor, which helps everyone. She also enWCBA

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Annie Holt and Don Gomes stand in front of their new/old house on Main Street in Torrey. TORREY – One of the oldest standing wood frame houses in Torrey, left abandoned and empty for years, is getting a new lease on life thanks to the vision and hard work of Don Gomes and Annie Holt. Located in the heart of town, The Old House at Center and Main will be opened as a retail business featuring locally made crafts, artwork and books. Gomes and Holt have been getting the space ready for months, polishing up both

The interior of the building with original flooring.

the interior and exterior spaces to the home. Their grand opening will be Saturday, August 5. “It’s a really, really old house,” said Don Gomes, during last week’s Wayne County Business Association, where he shared a brief presentation about their upcoming business plans. Admittedly, that many adverbs would be difficult to work into a business name, so “The Old House” will have to do. According to Gomes, the house was built in 1900, and was last occupied by Luis Monarques, who died in 1996. Since then, the house has stood idle for 21 years, until Holt and Gomes purchased it last year. Gomes is still piecing together details on the home’s history, but plans to continue his research. Renovations have exposed a number of historical gems, such as some intact vintage lineoleum, and old (though not as old as the original house) newspapers

REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR SOME BUT NOT ALL REGIONS REPRESENTED IN OUR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AREA

THURS. AUG 3 - WED. AUG 9

CLOUDS AND RAIN, CLOUDS AND RAIN. Monday through Wednesday will be the wettest. The rest of the week will mostly cloudy. Highs in the mid to low 80s, lows in the mid 50s. Wind will be coming with the thunderstorms up to 11 MPH. Humidity levels will drop towards the end of the week, to around 35%.

available, the request would not be made. In the year just completed the Small Rural Schools federal program decreased district revenue to $37,000 down from $542,000 the previous year. The local tax decrease was approximately $500,000 (including redemptions and fees-in-lieu). State revenues will be down about $100,000 due to the district’s declining enrollment. All tolled, revenues dropped by over $1 million. Or, about 1/10th of Garfield’s operations budget. The two schools being replaced were both built in 1953. Nationally, a properly maintained school is expected to last 40 years. Our schools are now over 60 years old. Although we may not have an increasing student-body at present, schools must be replaced. There are no state funds for rural districts to replace buildings. The local taxpayers are required to foot the bill. School Taxes Cont'd on page 2

InSIder

The Garfield County Commission unanimously approved a state mandated Resource Management Plan following a public hearing on July 25, 2017, to little public comment. Wayne County passed their RMP on June 5, 2017. County Resource Management Plans will be rolled into a statewide plan by Utah's Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. PANGUITCH – The Garfield County Commission held a public hearing on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 25, following their regular meet-

Op-Ed

Skepticism Should be Order of the Day When Evaluating Political Statements about Grand Staircase-Escalante N.M. by Scott Berry Reading the “news of the day” about the campaign to shrink or terminate Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument can leave the impression that the debate is between “locals” and “outsiders”. Which side am I on? My great great grandfather, Albert King Thurber, brought the first church cattle herds into Wayne County in 1875. The next year

GARFIELD COUNTY On August 17, the Garfield County School District will present information to the public about a tax increase. Sounds ominous, right? Here’s the rest of the story. The district is replacing the elementary schools in Bryce Valley and Panguitch within the next few years. It has saved over $10 million to accomplish the task. While that is impressive, it’s not quite enough for the two new schools, and the tear-down of the existing schools. There may be savings if the schools were built simultaneously, but we haven’t the funds. This year, the GCSD decreased (yes, decreased!) taxes by about $60 on a home valued at $150,000. Next year, it can fully recover that tax collection. But, rather than increase taxes all at once, it might be nice if the increase were spread across two years. The district will collect approximately $207,000 more each of the two years. If there were other funds

Garfield County Passes Resource Management Plan

The Old is New Again The Old House at Center and Main Grand Opening August 5th under other flooring. Gomes and Holt are working with the home’s historic features to complement displays of the arts and crafts that will be available for sale. The Old House will feature locally made quilts, jewelry, paintings and other wall art, handmade wooden boxes and utensils, bird houses, bags, cards, sculpture, soap and more. It will certainly be worth considering as a destination when traveling through Torrey and as a regular stop to explore to see ‘what’s new’ and for gift items. The Old House at Center and Main is located at 9 West Main Street in Torrey. Store hours beginning August 5 will be Thursday through Sunday noon to 6pm. For more information visit their website at oldhousecrafts.com or call 435-425-3707. —Insider

Garfield County School District Proposes Tax Increase

he founded the town of Thurber, known today as Bicknell. Personally speaking, I am a lifelong resident Utah. I’ve been a property owner and a taxpayer in Wayne County since 1981, and today I live near Torrey, the gateway town to Capitol Reef National Park. Op-Ed

ing, to accept public comment on Garfield County’s newly drafted Resource Management Plan. With just two constituents in attendance to make comment, the hearing was brief and the plan was approved unanimously by Commissioners Pollock and Taylor. Commissioner Tebbs was not present and had an excused absence for a family vacation. All Utah counties have been mandated by state legislation, HB 323, passed in 2015, to develop Resource Management Plans as an addition to each county’s General Plan. The deadline for Utah counties to develop and approve their plans was August 1, 2017. Following that deadline, Utah’s Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office (PLPCO) is instructed to obtain a copy of each county's RMP and create a statewide RMP.

During the hearing, one commenter stated, “First, I’d like to recognize the massive amount of effort it has taken to produce the RMP draft as it exists. Were there six more months before the state’s final deadline, one could say it’s in good shape, and ready for public comment, subsequent revision, a final hearing/comment period, and editing. Unfortunately, with the state-mandated deadline of Aug. 1 looming, there is no time for adequate input or review, let alone the grunt work of researching and integrating those comments into a respectable final document.” Garfield County Engineer Brian Bremner, who was the author and coordinator of the major portion of the RMP, stated in a brief comment before the commission,

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Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. —Jules Renard

ALL content for THE WAYNE & GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER must be submitted on FRIDAY BEFORE NOON to be included in the following Thursday edition of the paper.

BOXHOLDER

RMP

Cont'd on page 2 PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122


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