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KNEU 1250An armed robbery took place at a Roosevelt convenience store this week. According to Roosevelt Police Chief Rick Harrison, Roosevelt Police responded to an armed robbery call at 11:45pm on Christmas Eve at the Top Stop convenience store located at 500 East 200 North in Roosevelt.
The Vernal Regional Airport is home to a very specialized piece of equipment. It is called the ARFF truck which stands for Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting truck. These specialized fire trucks are different than municipal trucks used by fire departments. A few key differences include the amount of gallons of water it carries (1,500 gallons), the ARFF’s ability to carry a higher capacity of firefighting “agents” (500 pounds of dry chemical and 200 gallons of Aqueous Film Forming Foam), and finally an ARFF can accelerate from 0 to 50 miles in 25 seconds or less and is required to reach a top speed of at least 70 miles per hour. In contrast, municipal trucks must be able to accelerate for 0 to 35 miles per hour in 25 seconds and reach top speed of at least 50 miles per hour. “It is a very unique truck,” shares Airport Manager Doug Brown, “and we are very lucky to have it.”
Keep a Moffat County family in your prayers. The holiday season was marred when a fire broke out in a residential home on Monday, December 24th, the Craig Daily Press reports. Scanner traffic identified that the home had a family of four and the 3-year-old child was lost in the fire. “About 10:20, officers were dispatched to a house fire,” Craig Police Captain Bill Leonard said. “They were informed that there was a child still inside. They attempted several times to get in and were pushed back at every attempt and could not get to the room where the child was.” An emergency responder sustained minor injuries trying to get to the child and was treated at the scene. It is not known what caused the fire but the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is completing an arson investigation. The Red Cross is providing support and taking care of immediate needs of the family. Those that wish to help can contact Karen Brown, the director of The Community Budget Center, at 970-824-7898 or drop off donations at the center.
Things are changing in the way indigent defense services are being provided in the State of Utah. It is, in part, because of Uintah County. The county was one of ten counties that were part of a 124-page report from the Sixth Amendment Center. The report documented challenges and successes of indigent defense services throughout Utah. The report lead the state Legislature to create the Utah Indigent Defense Commission in 2016. The IDC is starting to gain the roots to provide real change. Governor Gary Herbert has committed a historic increase of $5 million dollars to his budget for fiscal year 2020 to fund IDC. According to IDC Director Joanna Landau, that means that, if adopted by lawmakers, Uintah Basin counties could apply for supplemental funding to start in July 2019. “The IDC also offers other resources to local governments, in addition to funding,” shares Landau, “to help each contract for and provide constitutionally-effective defense services and sufficient defense resources to their constituents.”
Certified destruction of data on computers and devices is not easy to come by but a window of opportunity is now open. The Vernal Chamber Conservation Committee is holding their annual electronics recycling event. Electronics can be dropped off for recycling for free at the Vernal Chamber Office and at TriCounty Health Department locations.
The elves in Duchesne County helped many families this year as part of two phases of ‘Be A Santa’s Helper.’ According to Chamber Director and event coordinator Irene Hansen, 231 children in 85 families were given gifts for Christmas as part of phase one while coordinators worked with local non-profits and clergy to help another 26 families during phase two. “This year went especially smooth,” shares Hansen. “Every time we had a need, a wonderful, generous contribution would come in. We also worked with a Roosevelt Stake on a humanitarian project to collect and make blankets. They were added to many of the families [gifts] to add the perfect cozy touch.” The ‘Be A Santa’s Helper’ effort supplements families own efforts by providing an old fashioned Christmas with dolls, trucks, games, and other traditional or old fashioned gifts. Hansen says the Santa room used to store everything and distribute gifts is called the “magic room because of the wonderful tears of joy” shared there.
Homes and yards with Christmas decorations around Uintah County were vandalized over recent days. Local law enforcement confirmed that areas were hit by vandals including on Christmas Day. One victim took to Facebook hoping to get help finding the culprits, even offering a $3,000 dollar reward. Jessy Mckee says he and his four-year-old daughter worked hard to put together the display in their yard. Part of their Christmas morning was sadly spent discovering that four of their inflatables and the timers on the lights display were destroyed, the damage adding up to at least $800 dollars. The Mckees were not alone, with many other homes experiencing damage of their own. Law enforcement would appreciate any information on the vandalism from the public and encourages citizens to report any suspicious activity to Central Dispatch at 435-789-4222.
It might not be the gift we were asking for but Utah was given a wonderful present just before Christmas. Utah Department of Transportation reported that we had a 10 consecutive day stretch with zero fatalities on the road. As a state we have not gone more the than seven days without road fatalities since January 2016. John Gleason, the public information officer for UDOT, implores the public, “This is something that we can do. We just had 10 days without anyone dying on our roads. And if we can do 10 days, why can’t we do another 10 days?” Distractions are a big part of the problem, as are not wearing seatbelts. Even though 88% of drivers wear their seatbelts, it’s the 12% that do not wear them that is the number one cause of death. “In 2018, we shouldn’t have to have this conversation anymore,” Gleason said. “But that’s still the number one cause of deaths on our roads — people not buckling up.”
Local county unemployment rates haven’t shown much movement from the month before. According to new data from the Department of Workforce Services, unemployment in Daggett County rose from 4.3 to 4.5 percent. Unemployment remained the same for another month in Duchesne County at 4.7 percent and Uintah County ticked down slightly from 4.7 to 4.6 percent. Utah as a whole remained at 3.2 percent unemployment for another month while nationally it remained at 3.7 percent.
Western Duchesne County experienced an earthquake shaking up the mountains near Fruitland this month. The University of Utah Seismograph Station reports that on Monday, December 17th, at around 8:05am, a 2.3 magnitude earthquake struck about 11 miles Northwest of Fruitland. The classification of earthquakes into categories depends on magnitude and this qualifies as a micro-earthquake. A minor earthquake classification is a magnitude of 2 to 3.9. The University of Utah Seismograph Station reports on all earthquakes in Utah and the greater region at Quake.Utah.Edu.
Goodbyes are in order for a dilapidated former business located on Highway 40 in Roosevelt. Roosevelt City announced last week that Western Hills Motel is scheduled for demolition the first week of January. Construction fence is in place around the perimeter and crews have started work removing items of value. The Western Hills Motel is in disrepair and has been unoccupied for several years, drawing criminal activity.
Dinosaur National Monument will remain accessible during the federal government shutdown. According to a Dinosaur National Monument press release, Monument roads and trails will remain accessible to visitors, unless safety concerns warrant their closures. Emergency and rescue services are limited due to the shutdown and there will be no NPS-provided visitor services, including restrooms, trash collection, and facilities and roads maintenance, including snow plowing.