Entries from April 2009 ↓

Explore Escalante
jana@exploreescalante.com

May Day, it’s May Day (no I don’t need help – although some would argue that point). It’s a cross-quarter day, falling approximately halfway between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. Historically, it’s been celebrated mostly in Europe, although US folks started celebrating with May Poles and May flowers in the late 1800’s. It ultimately got linked with Easter celebrations using ribbons, garlands and colored eggshells. Take an empty washed cottage cheese tub, staple a long handle (long enough to fit over the door knob) on the outside. Cover it with colored paper or paint with tempura paints. Fill 1/3 with rocks to anchor the flowers you pick from Grandma’s garden (with her help, of course). Have a great time, and then on May 1st hang it on someone’s doorknob, ring the bell and run.

Earth Day was last week and Harriet Priska taught water conservation for all the classes at the Elementary School.

The second annual “Garfield County Greatest Horseman” competition was held this weekend (Saturday April 18, 2009) at the Triple C Arena in Panguitch. There was a great turnout and all the participants had an enjoyable time. The competition was based on a rider competing in four different events on the same horse. The men’s events included roping (heading, heeling, and or calf roping), working ranch horse sorting, trail, and or reining. The womens events included breakaway roping, barrels, poles, reining, working ranch horse sorting, and or trail. The results showed the east side of the county (Escalante) has awesome horsemen. The winner of the men’s division and the 2009 Garfield Counties Greatest Horseman is Russell Johnson, resident of Escalante employed by Flying V bar Ranch. 2nd place was Mike Porter also from Escalante and employed by Flying V. There was a tie for third between JS Butler of Escalante and Kevin Moore of Panguitch. In the Women’s division first place and Garfield Counties Greatest Horsewomen is Cassie Lyman of Escalante, 2nd place was Jessica Miller of Panguitch, and 3rd place was Amber Hatch of Panguitch. Everyone’s horses preformed great and there was a lot of hard work involved in getting horses trained and ready for this competition. Escalante would like to congratulate all the participants of the 2009 Garfield County Greatest Horseman Competition.

The City Council went through a long list of projects, requests, and pretty much completed everything. The two items for the Council Chambers were tabled until the next fiscal year. Bill Weppner will present information to the council at the next meeting as our representative to the Highway 12 committee. Relieving Wade Barney of many years of going to these meetings, Bill will do a good job.

If you haven’t heard – there’s an article in the most recent edition of National Geographic “Adventure” regarding Everett Reuses. They have found his bones in a grave in Bluff. DNA testing has confirmed the identity. The family is quoted saying they plan to have him cremated and his ashes spread in California. Log into http://blog.exploreescalante.com for a link to the article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Escalante Lions Club did their clean-up duty this year on Hwy 12. I know Desert Dr. does his and the City Clean up groups did a great job. But 300 South was looking pretty tacky until last week when the Bears Cub Scout Den, including Klint Torgersen, Josh Brinkerhoff, Michael Mortensen, and friend of the Den Bobbie Griffin, cleaned many blocks gathering 6+ large bags of trash. Thanks to all for keeping us looking beautiful. The residents appreciate it and our visitors comment on how clean the town is. And the visitors are here. With all this publicity, between being one of the 10 best places to vacation (according to the LA Times) and the Everett Reuss Story, I keep seeing “NO Vacancy” signs everywhere. Going out to eat? Go early – the restaurants are packed.

Remember, the US Postal Service is raising their price for stamps effective May 11th. Postcards go up 1 cent to $.28, first class letters go up to $.44, oversize letters go to $.88. There are increases for certified, return receipt, etc.
Mark your calendars – - – Graduation is Friday, May 22nd; Heritage Festival is Saturday, May 23rd (don’t forget to get your tickets); Mother’s Day is May 10th (we have some special treasures here at the gallery); June 19th – Evolution Dance Company Recital “The World is Dancing” at the High School 7 PM.

Until next week – - –

Use this link to read the story in the Salt Lake Tribune

Explore Escalante
jana@exploreescalante.com

Escalante continues to get lots of publicity about our Grand Staircase. I’ve been working with some of the local businesses to create one-page web sites to use as grabbers and then link to various Escalante Businesses. I’ve been using pull quotes from various articles published about the area over the years. As I get them done I’ll share them, the list of articles is pretty impressive.
Are you ready for some summer reading? Summer? Winter just quit (I hope). There’s only a month of school left and the longest day of the year is only 60 days away, so get ready. You might pick up a book a month (remember the old club?) and be prepared to loll the summer days away (after you’re done canning, gardening, making repairs to the house, barn and fences, getting the kids school clothes made and planning your Christmas gifts).
Printed material s are on a downward slope straight to the e-screen versions of newspapers, magazines and books. Amazon has a book reader you can buy and download books to read. Its call the Kindle. Somehow it’s just not the same as curling up with a good book. Until they completely go away, here’s a few you might consider:
“Animals Make Us Human”, by Temple Gradin and Catherine Johnson, the second non-fiction about a pets right to a “decent life” and “a painless death”. For politicos, “The Rules of the Game”, by Leonard Downie Jr. will keep you on the edge of your chair. Using his 17 years with the Washington Post, Downie uses the material for a different twist. Don’t forget, its fiction. Lastly, if you like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architectural skills you’ll be intrigued by “The Women”, written by TC Boyle. You’ll learn of the other side of this complicated man. The story is about love, not architecture.
Garfield County School Board met at Escalante High last week. I attended the work session and found new members asking hard questions focused on educating our children. Make no mistake, there are five strong-minded Board members with their own sets of priorities. But with this board, it’s not about who will win or lose, it’s about how they work together. So far it’s lookin’ good. There’s a budget work session scheduled for May 6th at Bruce Valley High School. Check the district’s website for confirmation of the date, place and time.
My thanks to Supt. Parks for making sure the agendas are posted to the state website, http://www.utah.gov/pmn/index.html. If you’re interested in the board meetings and their content, you can sign up to get agendas e-mailed to you from that site. Now if we could get Garfield County to post theirs the miles between us would be fewer.
Until next week – - –

Explore Escalante
jana@exploreescalante.com
Lots happening in this fun spring weather. Rain, sun, snow —— April showers bring May flowers. Let’s hope so. We’ve got a wildflower blooming page on the blog now and hope to keep it full of information on what’s blooming in the desert and where. In the meantime, the Chamber General Membership meeting is April 27th at 7:00 PM at the Interagency Office. Date changed because of the Mountain Hardware Conference coming here the 16th through the 21st. We hope they have a great time and enjoy the new Pavillion at the Outfitters.

Senior Lunches for the week of the 20th. I’ll give you the main dish and you can explore from there. Tuesday – Sausage w/biscuits and gravy; Wednesday – Spaghetti; Thursday – Chicken Cordon Blu. Thanks Donna.

Five County Association of Governments held a Human Services Public Forum at the Community Center. They did a survey of topics of importance to the community. 18 people attended, besides the Mayor and myself, Skyhoopie and Envision Escalante, Care and Share, Senior Center Dir and 5 counties staff. It was good information and I came away with a Human Services Directory for 2008. I’ll work on extracting information to make up a list of resources for Escalante.

In no particular order, the City Council approved:
Welcome Signs by the Potato Valley Lions Club for each side of the City on Hwy 12;
Little League Field Partnership with Garfield School District at the High School;
Letter of support for the Science Center being proposed by Envision Escalante;
Spend up to $1,000 for sprinkler system upgrades and repairs at the park;
Purchase 2 commercial throw rugs for Care and Share;
Keep the old dump truck for summer road work;
A business license for Nicole Gracie’s Tanning Booth.
Deferred Maintenance Dept Items to next meeting:
Sewer Camera – get bids;
Partitions for Council Chambers – get bids;
Flashing Barricades – get bids;
Council Chamber Carpet – get bids;
Spray ordered last fall – never picked up or paid for – get $ due and get approved.;
Prepare & Post Bids for:
Dump Clean-up;
City Building Lights w/diagram and units;
Tabled purchase of a street broom.
The Council discussed, at length, the huge grease clog in the main sewer line. All the Restaurants have been sent letters of warning. The City will require proof of disposal for grease required by the State if another clean-up is required. The cost of the clean-up will be billed to the restaurant unable to provide proof of disposal.

Fire Chief Porter reminded folks that burning will be illegal before too much longer. If you have things to burn, please:
Do it now – keep it small – have a hose there – watch the wind – notify the Fire Chief and get okay.
Until next week – - –

Science Fair winner

Aidan Croft - Escalante 5th Grader

Explore Escalante
jana@exploreescalante.com
Greetings. Now you know where Silver Reef was, I wonder how they’ll get to Escalante? Maybe through Alton? Alton’s earliest name was Roundys Station after Lorenzo Wesley Roundy and his family. He built two log cabins there but was forced to abandon his ranch site because he was having trouble with the Indians. He drowned in 1876 while ferrying supplies across the Colorado River. All right Jerry, which Roundy was this? I know – come to the play.

There’s always so much going on in our great village that we don’t hear about, that’s why I was greatly pleased that Steve Roberts dropped by to tell me about 5th grader Aidan Croft. He participated in the SUU Science and Research Fair and project “Plant Invaders of the Grand Staircase Escalante” won several awards. His project won an honorable mention from the BLM in the 5th – 8th Grade Division; a first place from the National Park Service and 2nd Place overall in his category – Earth and the Environment. Congrats to sponsor Escalante Outfitters and Aidan. Good Job!!!

There’s been a great deal of discussion in the business community about Utah Senate Bill 272. Introduced by Representative Herrod at the request of Dewey Reagan (Reagan Outdoor Signs), there were three amendments to the bill before it passed the house and senate. There was an attempt to get the Governor to veto the bill, and several requested if he couldn’t sign it let it slip into law without his signature. In the end he signed the bill. It was called the billboard bill, but to me it was about allowing cities and counties to have jurisdiction over the roads that provide their links to life. Unlike Escalante, new Scenic Byways will require approval by the legislature before the route can even be submitted for Federal Highway Approval. It requires cities and counties to formally approve the route, or request segmentation out of the route because it is not scenic, historic, or culturally significant.
Unfortunately, the Federal Outdoor Advertising Control Program a part of the Highway Beautification Act, Public Law 89-285, was signed on October 22, 1965 by President Lyndon B Johnson. The first section of the law sets forth the basic program objectives: “The erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices in areas adjacent to the Interstate System and the primary system should be controlled in order to protect the public investment in such highways, to promote the safety and recreational value of public travel, and to preserve natural beauty.”
The law mandated State compliance and the development of standards for certain signs as well as the removal of nonconforming signs. Expeditious removal of illegal signs was required by Federal regulations. While the States are not forced directly to control signs, failure to impose the required controls could result in a substantial penalty. The penalty for noncompliance with the Act is a 10 percent reduction of the State’s annual Federal-aid highway apportionment. Not going to happen.

Over the years other amendments to the law have been developed and approved and the criteria for off-premise signage was included in 1978 and later included Scenic Byways and All American Highways, Both of which SR 12 is designated. As Representative Herrod indicated to me when I last e-mailed him, you cannot segment out of a byway just for signage. The Federal Highway Administration will not allow it. So much for Escalante. HB 272 creates an avenue for new byway communities to learn from history and be sure they know what they asking for, and exactlywhat they’re going to get. At least for them, it requires formal approval by the cities and counties, not some committee made up of good folks that don’t live in the city, don’t know the city and don’t vote in the city, And it will require elected officials to approve the actions. That’s what democracy is about.
Until next week – - -