$1.50 January 26, 2024 | Vol. 3 Iss. 04
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Wrestler takes first place at tournament
MORGAN COUNTY NEWS
Meibos wins at Junior High/Middle School State Tournament. page 3
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NEWS BREAK Trump takes New Hampshire primary – Haley not out yet
After coming in a distant second place behind former president Donald Trump, Florida governor, Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Republican primary, pitting the former president against Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina. The New Hampshire primary was much closer than either Trump or his campaign may have anticipated. While the former president took the majority, it was a very close win, with Haley’s votes coming in just a small percentage behind. Haley stated, even before the votes were counted that, regardless of the outcome, she would continue her campaign, providing friction to Trump’s.
MHS DRILL TEAM at the Opening Ceremony.
Sundance Film Festival celebrates 45 years
Courtesy photo
MHS Troyettes place first at region
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ive years ago Morgan High School’s Drill team was combined with the Cheer Team to become MHS Spirit Squad. However, this year the renewed drill team, donning the Troyette name once again, the MHS drill team took first in this year’s region competition held on Saturday, Jan. 9 at Union High School. The team will compete in the State semi-finals Wednesday, Jan. 31 at Utah Valley University. l
Morgan angler catches world-record bass in Amazon By Tom Haraldsen
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MORGAN’S own Asher Johanson
Courtesy photo
Morgan High Student Earns Perfect ACT and SAT Scores A
sher Johanson has accomplished something truly exceptional – achieving a perfect score of 36 on the ACT as well as a perfect score of 1600 on the SAT. In doing so the Morgan High School senior joins an elite group of high school scholars. A perfect ACT score is incredibly rare. Only around 0.313% of students achieve this goal and, according to a press release, less than 0.5% of the 1.3 million students who took the ACT in 2022 earned a
JOHANSON on page 7
dam Van Tassell knew the Fire Peacock Bass he caught while fishing in the Amazon last November was a big one—he just didn’t know how big it really was until several weeks later. Van Tassell, who owns and operates Crazy Good Fishing in Morgan, hooked the bass while fishing with his 13-year-old son Brock on the Rio Cururu, one of the thousands of tributaries in the Amazon of Brazil. “We have a small YouTube channel for fishing trips as part of my business,” he said. “We were fishing with a guide and a friend we were with thought we should shoot some video of our trip for the channel. So the whole catch is on tape.” It was the third day of their fishing trip to Brazil, a country Van Tassell had visited before. Using a feathered jig to get a little lower in the waters, he felt the bass hit immediately, then fought it for about 8 to 9 minutes until he was able to land it. The weight—12 pounds—far outdistancing the average size for a Fire Peacock Bass of about 4-½ pounds and passing the existing world record of 10.6 pounds. “We knew it was a nice sized fish, but didn’t really know how special,” he said. “Our guide was very excited but he didn’t speak English and we don’t
ADAM VAN TASSELL caught this world-record Peacock Bass in Brazil last November.
Courtesy photo
understand Portuguese. When we got back to camp, the director learned about the fish and realized it was record-setting.” It’s a world record–but can’t be officially certified as such because even after weighing and measuring it, Van Tassell released it back into the river. To be “certified,” the fish would need some other work done on it on dry land which could lead to its death. Van Tassell didn’t want to do that–he’s a catchand-release guy. But he got a text from a Brazilian government official telling him what he had caught.
VAN TASSELL on page 9
Started by Robert Redford’s company in 1978, the Sundance Film Festival came once more to Park City, bringing with it some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including Robert Downey Jr., Christopher Nolan, Will Ferrell, and Kristen Stewart among many others. Sundance has been the premiere location for many classic independent films which rose to prominence following their debut, and has been a huge boon to the local economy. Among the many talked-about pictures this year was the documentary, “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story”, which told the story of the famous Superman actor, his accident that left him paralyzed, and his life thereafter.
Turkey’s first astronaut arrives at ISS
For 25 years now, the International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit around the Earth. The facility has played host to astronauts and scientists from all over the world. Periodically, astronauts from many nations will launch into lower orbit, and to date, astronauts from 16 different countries have participated in the program. This week, however, the first astronaut from Turkey made the journey to the ISS. This will be one of the last few, as NASA announced just last year that they plan to “de-orbit” the space station in 2031.
Son of Martin Luther King Jr. dies
Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., passed away this week at the age of 62. A civil rights activist like his father, King’s battle with prostate cancer ended Jan. 22, 2024. King is survived by his wife of eleven years, and his older brother, Martin Luther King III, but proceeded in death by his sister, Yolanda Denise King who died in 2007, and his mother, Coretta Scott King in 2006. A lifelong humanitarian and activist, King was tied closely to his father’s legacy, and worked tirelessly to continue the work his family has been, and still is known for.