Bob Greenberg, director, from the Four Corners Mental Health addressed the Emery County Commission on July 19 concerning a loop hole in the drug monitoring system. Greenburg said those being monitored for alcohol abuse have used this loop hole to avoid detection. Alcohol leaves the system fairly quickly and some alcohol abusers have learned that they can test early one morning, drink all day and then retest the next day without detection.
“Random testing is not effective. We would like to purchase continuous monitoring bracelets which monitor through sweat and perspiration which uploads information to a modem on a regular basis. This would be at the sheriff’s office. The cost of each bracelet is $1,500 each and continuous monitoring costs of $4.25 each day. The users of the bracelet would be assessed a fee to reimburse the county for the purchase costs of the bracelet,” said Greenberg.
Deputy Shaun Bell is the drug tracker. He told the commission the bracelets are guaranteed for three years and will probably last longer. They are reusable and waterproof. The person using the bracelet will be charged $10 per week and the money will be collected by Four Corners.
Sheriff Lamar Guymon said no funds are currently available for the purchase of the bracelets and the request is for the county to purchase the bracelets and the drug court program will reimburse the county as costs are recouped. They will also try to write a grant for the purchase of the bracelets in order to reimburse the county earlier.
Bell said, “It’s tough to catch the alcohol abusers.’
Commissioner Ira Hatch said the commissioners would look into finding funding for the purchase of the bracelets and let the sheriff’s office know if funds are available. Greenberg said the cost of the bracelet also includes the monitoring package. If funds aren’t available for purchase now, then Greenberg said they will make an official request during the budgeting process.
The commissioners appointed four men to fill the empty positions on the North Emery Water Users Board of Directors. They include: Randall Bell, William Coyne, Carl Fillmore and Ray Quinn.
Dennis Worwood thanked the commissioners for their support of the stock show. There were 250 exhibitors and half of those were local kids. The sale totaled over $100,000. “The sale went really well. There were 25 trailers there on the 4th and probably 40 trailers there for the week. Gilly’s was also booked for the week and the Castle Dale motel and some exhibitors went as far as Huntington to book a room. Gilly’s is already booked for next year during stock show week and he has a waiting list. Visitors like to come to Ferron. There are a lot of youth, parents and grandparents who treat Ferron like a family reunion and they sit and visit and enjoy themselves.
“We had 60 or 70 kids volunteer to help with the setup. They put in a lot of volunteer hours,” said Worwood.
Commissioner Hatch said he appreciates the stock show and the opportunity it gives the local youth to participate.
Under the citizen concern category, Dan Hunter spoke to the commission regarding the county road up Mohrland canyon to Gentry. A large block of that land belongs to the Co-op Mine and Hunter owns the grazing rights to the area. He said they are having trouble with access and keeping the general public on the county roads. A CWMU, cooperative wildlife management unit, is being developed in the area and wildlife need peace and quiet. Hunter proposed the land owner wants to fence the east side of the county road across the top so people can’t drive in onto the private property. Fencing will slow down the access and keep honest people out, others will probably still cut the fence and go onto the property anyway. Hunter said it is a large roadway and it will not diminish public access on the county road, but will help protect what they’re doing on the mountain.
They have a fencing crew available and would like to proceed with fencing. Gates will also be installed to allow the cattle to graze both sides of the road. Hunter is planning to put the pastures up there on a rest and rotation system of grazing.
The county will maintain the right of way on the road and will look at the alignment for the fence. Hunter said that public land is accessed from the county road. He also said they have plans for a cattle guard at Mohrland canyon near the mine to keep the cattle in the bottom for a time. Hunter said the cattle guards are being planned because they haven’t had any success with gates.
Commissioner Hatch advised Hunter to work with Morris Sorensen and Rex Funk from the county road department in regards to the fencing project.
The drug task force grant was approved to allow grant money to pass through the county. Two business licenses were approved one for CC Ranch which is a horsemanship and horse training school near Cleveland and Ben Grimes Photography which is an internet photography business.
A public hearing was set to amend the ordinance for ATVs on county roads. A public hearing will be held in Green River on Aug. 16 at 5 p.m. during commission meeting and on Sept. 6 at 5:30 p.m. during commission meeting in Castle Dale. The public hearing is in regards to the finalization and approval of the ATV map of open routes for ATVs on county roads.
The commission approved the establishment of a petty cash fund for use at the landfill so they can make change.
Commissioner Hatch said they are considering management options for the Lawrence cemetery. Commissioner Gary Kofford recommended that Commissioner Hatch and those involved come back to the commission with a recommendation of what they would like to see done there.
Mary Huntington was hired as the new personnel director. Two part-time and one 90 day temporary employee will be hired by the Emery County Travel Bureau for operation of the information center at the John Wesley Powell River History Museum in Green River.
During the commission reports, Commissioner Drew Sitterud reported the Miss Emery Pageant had gone well with Shala Pitchforth being named Miss Emery and Kristine Johansen as first attendant and Shawna Rogers as second attendant.
Commissioner Kofford said he and Ray Petersen had attended a training session on how to work through the resource management process with government entities. The meeting was attended by people from throughout the state. One thing coming from the meeting was the proposal to make RMP documents fluid and a working document that can be amended rather than starting over every 10 years; just add to the existing document.
Commissioner Hatch said that the commissioners had met on the Wedge with Kathleen Clark, BLM national director and Sally Wisely, state BLM director.
Commissioner Hatch has also met with some people interested in getting the Huntington Airport going again.
Work is continuing on putting the tower up on Cedar Mountain and Bret Mills is helping move the project along for the new digital TV transmitters.
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