COMMUNITY SERVICES
401
staff. In 1981 Mary Ellen Connor became district nurse supervisor. In 1986 the offices were expanded and new programs were added, including the Children at Risk p r o g r a m and the Women's Health Resource Center. The Uintah Basin Public Health Department currently offers extensive programs, special contract services, and intensive personal and professional development courses. A nine-person board of health governs the Uintah Basin Public Health Department; it includes commissioners from the three counties and several doctors and dentists. The department provides four offices—the home office in Vernal and offices in Manila, Duchesne, and Roosevelt. Joseph Shaffer currently is the director and heads thirty employees. A mosquito problem was addressed in the 1970s. Clouds of mosquitoes had plagued the citizens of Uintah County, its visitors, and long-suffering livestock for years. Massive a m o u n t s of m o s q u i t o repellent were used and, in parts of the county, veiled hats were commonplace. The vast geographic area of the county supported extensive mosquito breeding grounds. In 1974 a citizens' committee was appointed and spearheaded by Wiley E. Stewart, a Jensen cattle rancher, and Vaughn Hunsaker, county extension agent. Petitions were circulated and a successful appeal made to the Uintah County commissioners. The Uintah County Mosquito Abatement District was created by order of the commissioners on 5 August 1974. Organized mosquito-control procedures were commenced for the first time in Uintah County on 14 May 1975 under the direction of Dr. Steven Romney, an entomologist who had been employed as district director. Along with Romney, the Uintah County Mosquito Abatement District commenced its first operations with four seasonal employees. Cumulative field work and comprehensive mapping of aquatic mosquito sources throughout the county eventually identified mosquito-infested areas totaling 1,000 square miles. The current (1994) resources of the district which are now employed in countywide mosquito control include Director Romney, assistant director Randel Sessions, and ten highly trained seasonal field technicians. The district has expanded the scope of its p r o g r a m to encompass the local control of other economically and medically important insects in addition to mosquitoes.