Utah Centennial County History Series - Grand County 1996

Better news was found three weeks later when the army announced an extension until 1970 of the Athena missile program at Green River-a move that would bring an additional $43 million to the region. The Jeep Safari was expanding and the Friendship Cruise continued to attract hundreds of participants, but the latter event was marred by the death of a boater who failed to make the turn at the confluence and was swept to his death downstream in the ferocious rapids of Cataract C a n y ~ n . ~ The Moab newspaper now featured travel and tourism sections, and the educational resources of the community were considerably enhanced when Utah State University began a continuing education program-Southeastern Utah Center for Continuing Education (SUCCE)-in Moab (among other locations in the region) that has continued to the present time. Many different classes-from auto mechanics and accounting to English and zoology-are offered each term, and hundreds of locals have made good use of the educational opportunity since the program's inception. The community's educational resources were boosted by the opening of the new county library in Moab on 30 August 1968. Most of its books had been saved from a fire the year before in the old high school building in which the collection had been housed after it had been moved from the county courthouse building some years before.'' Moab also gained a new post office in 1968, celebrated in the paper of 14 November.

County property valuation increased that year to $2 1-5 million.

Other news was not as good. On 15 August the TimesIndependent reported that floods had ripped through Moab after an inch of rain fell in an hour. On 17 October the grim news was reported that a Moab soldier had been killed in action in Vietnam.

The BLM proposed an increase in grazing fees in November which brought a storm of protest including complaints fom Senator Frank Moss, known as a liberal Democrat." The year closed with news in the 26 December issue of the paper that a major fire at the Atlas mill had resulted in damage estimated at one million dollars.

The Times-Independent generally could be counted on the side of developers and private enterprise, but in its edition of 9 January 1969 editor Sam Taylor came out in favor of strict and limited timber cutting in the La Sal Mountains. He wrote that although areas had been