Insider
The
py p a H ! s y a d i l o H
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, December 24, 2020
4-H Youth Challenged to Serve Utah this Month by Utah State University Extension UTAH - Utah State University Extension 4-H issued a challenge to all Utah 4-H programs to complete one service project in December, providing the entire state with service from 4-H youth this month. According to Megan Hendrickson, USU Extension 4-H program coordinator, the challenge was issued in an effort to provide 4-H youth an opportunity to accomplish one of the four 4-H purposes—hands to larger service. “The counties have taken this challenge and run with it,” she said. “The youth have been incredibly creative in serving their communities while working within the COVID restrictions. They have strongly considered people who the pandemic has hit the hardest, and many have focused their efforts on the 65-and-older populations.” Hendrickson said several counties have written letters and cards, made and sent gifts and decorated the windows of their local retirement and assisted living communities. Others have focused their attention on youth in need, collecting food, gifts and other donations in partnership with various children’s service organizations. A few service highlights Serving Utah Cont'd on page 3
Issue # 1389
And The Winner is…!
EHS Student Awarded GCSD Holiday Card Winning Design
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Garfield County School District (GCSD) Superintendent John Dodds (top left and right) holds Annie Mason's (top center) winning card design for the GCSD 2020 Holiday Card Competition at a ceremony at Escalante High School on Dec. 15. GARFIELD COUNTY It’s been a time-honored tradition. Each year, Garfield County School District holds a Holiday Card Competition, where the artwork for the district’s official holiday card is selected from drawings submitted by elementary, middle and high school students district-wide. “We send an invitation to all of the schools to par-
This Christmas Time, Wayne County is in the Giving Spirit by Lisa Jeppson, Wayne County Senior Citizens Social Director
Courtesy Lisa Jeppson
The combined efforts of Wayne County community members assisted in providing for seventeen families and fortytwo children this Christmas holiday season. WAYNE COUNTY Santa has been very busy at the North Pole this year. He’s had to work harder than ever because most of his elves have been in quarantine with COVID. But, a few of Santa’s healthy elves stopped by the Wayne County School District Office to offer up
Garfield County Commission
their gift wrapping skills and wrapped a few presents for the children of Wayne County. If it was not for the effort from the staff at the USU Extension office, Royal’s Food Town— they provided space for the Giving Spirit Cont'd on page 2
REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR SOME BUT NOT ALL REGIONS REPRESENTED IN OUR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AREA
THURS. DECEMBER 24 - WED. DECEMBER 30
If you were hoping to wake up to fresh, early morning snow this Christmas, you may be disappointed. The forecast is mostly sunny for the first part of the week, with higher chances of precip next week. Highs in the 30s and 40s; lows in the single digits and teens.
ticipate in the competition to do the Holiday Card, and this year we had hundreds of applicants,” said John Dodds, Garfield County School District Superintendent. Referring to the quality and effort in each of the submissions, Dodds said, “All of the kids think and hope that theirs will be chosen.” Fortunately for the superintendent and district staff, the difficult final selection of a
COVID Pandemic Brings Stress, Health Issues to Utah Kids, Families
PROVO - The COVID-19 pandemic and its sideeffects—job loss, poverty, hunger and the threat of homelessness—have hit Americans hard in 2020, and Utah families are not immune. A report out today from the Annie E. Casey Foundation studies how families are coping with the effects of the coronavirus. Among other findings, it observed 20% of Utahns reported one or more family members have experienced significant mental-health issues. Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs with the Casey Foundation, said the pandemic has severely disrupted the lives of Utah's children. "We can't even begin to address the social-emotional challenges that children are experiencing," Boissiere said. "The numbers are staggering, schools are reporting excessive absences. And I think we can expect an increase in learning loss when their education has been disrupted." The study also found in Utah, 7% of adults do not always have enough to eat, COVID Stress Cont'd on page 3
winner is made by school district board members, and this year—as with most group activities these days—they managed a “virtual” judging of the entries. And the winning artwork for the 2020 Holiday Card Competition is a painting by Annie Mason, a 10th grade student at Escalante High Holiday Card
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December 14
The Garfield County Commission adopts 2020 Garfield County Budget amendments, as well as the proposed 2021 Budget GARFIELD COUNTY The Garfield County Commission adopted its proposed 2021 budget at the December 14 meeting. Only one individual from the public came forward to pose a comment and question before the Commission voted to approve the budget as presented. Clerk/Auditor Camille Moore introduced the budget noting “significant decreases are anticipated in revenues and expenditures.” She said the larger intergovernmental revenue items—Secure Rural Schools and Payment in Lieu of Taxes—are unknown at this point, so the budget will not include that potential revenue source until the full amount becomes known. She noted expenditures reflected belt tightening measures within the county and that employees will see no raises or cost-ofliving increases this year. (The 2021 Garfield County Budget is on the Garfield County website, https://www.garfield. utah.gov/departments/auditorclerk.) During the public hearing, one individual alleged an ongoing violation of state code, Section 17-16-14, in not holding public hearings for public employee wage increases and also questioning county policy on loan insurance. County Attorney Barry
Huntington refuted the comment saying that salaries are posted on “the Utah public website notice” and that the purpose of this meeting was in fact a public hearing to discuss salaries. Clerk Moore noted the county’s use of investment accounts and banking accounts and the secured transfers between accounts to pay the bills. Commission Chair Leland Pollock stated that in his three terms, revenues have declined every year. Referring to “the tax associations,” he said “I appreciate they’re keeping an eye on things, but I have a hard time understanding why the county is getting criticized for cutting our expenses to match our revenue that has dramatically declined.” (No comments were made at the hearing by anyone representing a “tax association.”) Earlier, the Commission adopted 2020 Garfield County Budget amendments presented by Clerk Moore. (https://www.utah.gov/pmn/ files/667463.pdf) Commissioner Pollock wanted to state that another 5th class county (same classification as Garfield) had to cut its staff by 30 percent. Garfield Commission Cont'd on page 10
A “Grand Hermitage”at Lake Panguitch Panguitch City is set to host the 9th Annual Ice Fishing Derby
Courtesy Panguitch City
The Panguitch Lake Ice Fishing Derby will take place January 2, 2021, where participants will vie for the $1,700 cash grand prize. PANGUITCH - On January 2, 2021, ice fishing enthusiasts from across the Southwest will flock to Panguitch Lake's frozen surface in Garfield County to try their hand at winning a piece of the $1,700 cash grand prize. The mass migration of thrill-seekers and recreationists to this secluded frozen wonderland is hardly a new phenomenon. The mystical hold of the lake over its enamored visitors has been the
Maybe Christmas (he thought) doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more. —Dr. Seuss, The Grinch
topic of conversation among visitors for at least 150 years now, and the abundance of mountain trout contained within its crystal clear waters have become the stuff of legends. But don't take my word for it; listen to what a correspondent of the Ogden Daily Herald had to say about ice fishing at "Lake Panguitch" in 1882: "The fish must have been born idiots or been stricken
with unanimous lunacy in early youth, for the manner of their capture was thus: the angler would lay on his stomach on the ice with one eye down gazing beneath the ice. When he saw any fish, he thrust his rod—it was more like a pen-holder—through the hole in the ice and held it in front of the fishes' nose. At the end of the rod was some
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Fishing Derby Cont'd on page 2
PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122