$1.50 March 17, 2023 | Vol. 2 Iss. 11
See Inside... Sterling Scholar winners Morgan High School students place at the Northeast Regional competition.
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Covering Your Community
MORGAN COUNTY NEWS Since 1929
Morgan County gets ready for possible flooding By Linda Petersen
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organ County is preparing for a higher-than-average spring runoff precipitated by a record-breaking snowpack this year. At the March 7 county commission meeting, Emergency Manager Austin Turner gave commissioners a report. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the snowpack for quite a while,” he said. Referring to recent state media stories on potential flooding, he said he and County Public Works Director Bret Heiner had seen a significant increase in phone calls. “There’s a lot of people out there concerned, and they’re probably rightfully concerned.” At that meeting, Turner presented a proposed sandbag policy that he suggested the county adopt. (Commissioners subsequently approved the new policy.) Under the new policy, the county
will provide sand for sandbags at the Morgan County Fairgrounds and Kent Smith Park. Property owners will be responsible for furnishing their own sandbags. Turner said they considered the experiences neighboring counties had had in coming up with the policy. During previous flooding, a neighboring county gave out sandbags freely to anyone who requested them but was left short for its own needs, he said. “People came and picked up all the sandbags. Then when there was flooding, the county had no sandbags.” If the county hands out sandbags to everyone, some who do not need them may hold on to them just in case, and others who have a greater need will be left short, he said. So far, the county has brought in four dump truck loads of sand to the fairgrounds and two loads to Kent Smith Park. They are also considering
a third site in the Mountain Green area, Turner said. Although the county is asking individual property owners to provide their own sandbags, if there is a greater need due to excessive flooding, the county will provide more assistance, he said. “If it looks like the flood waters are going to top your sandbags, the county will step in at that point and provide sandbags and sand,” he said. “In the initial phases, as we’re waiting for that potential to happen, we don’t want to hand out a bunch of sandbags until there’s active flooding or within a couple of days of active flooding.” Turner said he has been meeting with National Weather Service representatives about the potential for flooding in Morgan County. Although there has been a record snowpack, whether there is flooding will depend more on
FLOODING on page 7
Community comes together to fight hunger By Alisha Copfer
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food pantry is a common way a community can help assist needy families. These pantries rely on food donations and money from individuals, organizations and businesses. One of the best ways to donate to the Morgan Food Pantry is through a food drive. From Scouting for Food (a Boy Scouts of America food drive) to a local church group getting together, food and money can be gathered and given to the pantry. The Morgan County Food Pantry Director Cindy McKee said, “I just have a heart for this. I grew up with my mother doing this in her church, so I’m just channeling my mother.” The Morgan County Food Pantry is a non-profit organization that provides food assistance to individuals and families in need in Morgan County. It accepts donations of non-perishable food items to help support its operations. The pantry distributes these food donations to those who meet their eligibility requirements. The Morgan County Food Pantry also partners with other local organizations to provide additional resources to those in need. The food pantry used to be in the Morgan City building until 2021, when they needed to move out of the basement. McKee was contacted by the Chamber of Commerce and worked with her two pastors at Morgan Grace to use their secondary space as the new pantry. “We currently pay half of the rent, and the other half is paid by a local stake center,” said McKee. The pantry also puts together holiday meals for those in need. These meals include Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. “We live to give back when we can,” said McKee. “We have seen a consistent increase with people coming each week,” she said. McKee says she has to give the Utah Food Bank a monthly report. These numbers indicate that about 45 to 50 new people have been in need each month consistently since September. “That means we see one to two new people every week,” she said. “This is probably due to the economy; people can either afford housing or food.”
NEWS BREAK Olympic Champion Dick Fosbury Dies at 76 Dick Fosbury, inventor of the “Fosbury Flop” that has become the standard method for high jumper since his gold medal in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, died on Monday at the age of 76. Born in Medford, Oregon, Fosbury became a fixture in Ketchum, Idaho over the last 25 plus years. He served as both a City engineer as well as the chair of the Solid Waste District in Ketchum, as well as a prominent board member of the Simplot Games in Pocatello.
Silicon Valley Bank Collapses The Silicon Valley Bank, a major account holder for a number of Silicon Valley corporations, experienced economic failure over the last week, leading to fears of another 2008 style “chain-collapse” of banking institutions. The FDIC has insured the holdings of bank customers, whose funds were made available on Monday, averting a broader ripple effect through the economy. While several other, smaller banks had their credit downgraded no other bank experienced a similar meltdown, and economists predict that the event should remain fairly localized. Stocks were down immediately after the event, but have since recovered, signaling a resilient underlying system.
Oscars held on Sunday The 2023 Academy Awards were given out last weekend, with the film “Everything Everywhere and All at Once” taking the lion’s share of trophies home. Directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan won best director, Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan won the supporting actress/actor awards, and the film itself won Best Picture. Brendan Fraser took home the Best Actor Oscar for “The Whale.” “All Quiet on the Western Front” won a number of sound and technical awards. “Top Gun: Maverick” won the award for Achievement in Sound.
Inflation falls for the eighth straight month
THE MOUNTAIN GREEN COMMUNITY BSA Scout Troop recently gave their Scouting for Food donations to the Morgan Food Pantry.
Courtesy photo
On Feb. 16, the pantry posted a donation that was brought over by a local scout troop. The caption read, “God bless the community scout troop!” “We serve about 35 youth, and most of them participated in the food drive,” said John Bearnson, leader of the Mountain Green Community BSA Scout Troop. Bearnson says the troop serves kids from Morgan, Mountain Green and Huntsville, so it has kids
from both Morgan and Ogden valleys. Bearnson explained that the troop’s recent food drive, Scouting for Food, started when they passed out bags to the community on Feb. 1 as part of their troop meeting. “Each kid filled about five bags of food, and we filled the bed of my truck with them.” After gathering the bags on Feb. 14, Bearnson took the
PANTRY on page 7
Inflation, which reached historic highs during the summer of 2022, has fallen for the eighth month in row, according to economic analysts. Food prices, which reached an inflationary high of over 11%, are down to a low of 9.5% inflation since September. Fuel and commodities prices are also seeing a decrease. Though inflation is likely to remain an economic issue in many sectors, the overall reduction is being seen as a positive sign of stabilization. Many experts are encouraging the Federal Reserve to begin lowering interest rates in order to restart economic growth.