The
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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, February 12, 2015
Issue # 1085
BLM and Forest Service Announce 2015 Grazing Fee
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The Escalante Lady Moqui basketball team. Bobbie Griffin, Tayler Duthie, Audrey Lindsay, Lexi Johnson, Keyera Churilla, KrysTelle Noyes, Jaycee Nez and coach Dan Hitt. Sitting down front are team managers Lilly Steed and Ali Catmull.
It Takes Heart
ESCALANTE - It’s a Friday afternoon late in the high school basketball season, and the young women from the Escalante High School Lady Moquis basketball team are at work on the court, preparing for their final games of the season this week at the Region 20 meet in Kanab. It’s five on five, with Coach Dan Hitt as well as the two sophomore “managers” of the team filling out the offensive and defensive lines. Coach Hitt calls out tips and techniques during play, and every few minutes he sends the girls for a run down the court and back with a command to “hit the wall.” The previous week, the team got hammered by their
cross-county rivals, the Panguitch Lady Cats. In spite of the beating, the girls recall the game fondly. During a break in practice, they talk enthusiastically about their favorite game, out of all the games of the season. “It was Panguitch! For sure!” they said. The feeling was unanimous. Though the Lady Moquis lost 15 – 69 to the Lady Cats, the town of Escalante was abuzz with a gallery of photos of the game taken by professional local photographer Patrick Hayes, which he’d linked to the “Escalante 24-7” Facebook page. From the start of the game to the finish, the Lady Moquis clearly kept up their spirits and their energy,
and it shows in every image frame throughout the game. Yet the game against the Cats is an echo of the Lady Moquis entire regular season, which the seven-member team has finished with zero wins and 14 losses. During the break, when asked about their favorite as well as the most challenging aspects about being on the Lady Moquis team, the girls at first were quiet. “I think I’d better leave the room,” said coach Hitt. “So they can say what they really think.” “Hey, grab me a Kit Kat, will ya?” senior Tayler Duthie called after him. Really, it didn't seem to matter whether Coach Hitt
was there or not—they didn’t need to think for very long. “It’s hard and it’s discouraging losing all the time,” said Jaycee Nez, who is a graduating senior. “But I think it Heart
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WASHINGTON, D.C. The Federal grazing fee for 2015 will be $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM) for public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and $1.35 per head month (HM) for lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The 2015 fee is the same as last year’s. An AUM or HM – treated as equivalent measures for fee purposes – is the use of public lands by one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month. The newly calculated grazing fee, determined by a congressional formula and effective on March 1, applies to nearly 18,000 grazing permits and leases administered by the BLM and more than 8,000 permits administered by the Forest Service. The formula used for calculating the grazing fee, which was established by Congress in the 1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act, has continued under a presidential Executive Order issued in 1986. Under that order, the grazing fee cannot fall below $1.35 per AUM, and any increase or decrease cannot exceed 25 percent of the previous year’s level. The annually determined grazing fee is computed by using a 1966 base value of $1.23 per AUM/HM for livestock grazing on public lands in Western states. The figure is then calculated according to three
factors – current private grazing land lease rates, beef cattle prices, and the cost of livestock production. In effect, the fee rises, falls, or stays the same based on market conditions, with livestock operators paying more when conditions are better and less when conditions have declined. The 2015 grazing fee of $1.35 per AUM/HM grazing fee applies to 16 Western states on public lands administered by the BLM and the Forest Service. The states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Permit holders and lessees may contact their local BLM or U.S. Forest Service office for additional information. The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land – over 245 million surface acres – than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, manages approximately 193 million acres of Federal lands in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. —U.S. Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Land Management
Escalante Police Chief Placed on Administrative Leave
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A message on Escalante's downtown public message board shows support for Escalante's police chief Kevin Worlton, who has been placed on administrative leave since January 12.
Bryce Valley Junior Prom Royalty BRYCE VALLEY - Congratulations to our newly selected Royalty for the Homecoming Week Activities. What a great bunch of people to rule over the Junior Prom. Queen Sierra Leech, daughter of Tim Leech and the Late Chrishel Leech, Tyerah Tebbs, daughter of David and Cherrie Tebbs, Elisabeth Ahlstrom, daughter of Mike and Lesa Ahlstrom, and Lizzie Platt the daughter of Nathan and Lori Platt. (See page 4 for another pic with the guys.) —Vicki Syrett REGIONAL Weather forecast for some but not all regions represented in our newspaper coverage area
Thurs. FEB. 12 - wed. Feb. 18 MORE WARMTH. All week, highs are projected to be in the low 50s to low 60s, with lows just hovering near freezing. Sunny to partly cloudy throughout the week. The forecast is showing zero chance for precipitation until Wednesday, when there may be some morning rain and show showers.
ESCALANTE - The office of Escalante City’s Chief of Police remains in limbo as the city awaits a report from the Utah Attorney General’s office regarding an investigation into Escalante’s police chief. The city of Escalante placed police chief Kevin Worlton on paid administrative leave on Monday, January 12, following receipt of a letter from the Utah Attorney General’s office advising the city that a complaint about Officer Worlton had been filed with their office, and that they were implementing an investigation. The decision to place the officer on paid leave was made following a consultation with Paul Johnson, the city’s risk management and liability insurer, in addition to an emergency executive session by the Escalante City Council. During two consecutive city council meetings fol-
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. —Lao Tzu
lowing the officer’s notice of leave, council members remained silent as to the cause of the investigation, with no agenda items nor discussion regarding the events or process leading to the investigation, nor any discussion regarding their disposition toward their police officer or the city’s relationship to the investigation. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,” said Escalante City Mayor Jerry Taylor during a subsequent interview last week. Taylor stated that the letter that the city received contained no specific information regarding the complaint or the nature of the investigation, and that the city had no additional information about the situation. “All I know is we got a letter from the Attorney General’s office saying that because of a complaint they are opening an investigation. And I can’t say anything more about it. I just want to make
sure that our officer is protected and that the city is protected. Beyond that I have no comment. And you can quote me on that,” Taylor added. Nate Mutter, who serves as Section Chief for the Attorney General’s Special Investigations and Public Corruption Unit, confirmed that an investigation is taking place, but also said that he is not at liberty to provide details. Mutter stated that while their office investigates criminal complaints, “That doesn’t mean that everything ends in a criminal charge,” he said. “It is a process, and we want to be thorough and fair and we want to get it right,” he added. Mutter said that their office manages criminal complaints which may come from citizens, or from other law enforcement entities or from prosecutorial entities. He says
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Police Chief Cont'd on page 2
PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122