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FYI Panguitch



A lot of things and records have fallen this last week, and since we don’t get any newspaper, here are some of them. Heat, heat, heat; there is only one place to get away from it, Cedar Breaks at 10,000 feet is the place to be. Las Vegas and St. George both tied their high temps, at 117 degrees, Death Valley 130, Palm Springs 122 and on and on. When we came back from Widtsoe for the Frandsen and Hatch reunions, we stopped at Joe’s market. At 6 p.m., it was 99, but a friend said out on the River Lane where he lives it was 102. The heat on our reservoirs is murder with all of the evaporation, however, our lake looks pretty full. I hear that they are draining Otter Creek so that there will be enough water to cool the coal driving generators in Delta. So, if you want to get in some good fishing, head on over to the creek. The weather people say that it will cool down a little this week, maybe, with some rain.

The old Panguitch Elementary School has been demolished. Courtesy Shawn Caine.


The Harley folks were in town this last weekend, giving the motel some much needed business. We are getting a lot of tourists this summer, and most of them speak English. Most of the countries around the world aren’t allowed in because of COVID-19. We aren’t allowed into most of the countries ourselves, so why not come to the best scenery anywhere. When you go into Joe’s Market, they are doing a booming business, and you probably won’t see anyone you know. The RV parks are also doing well. I believe all of those who bought their RVs last year are trying to get their money’s worth out of them. We have two new RV park owners. The Cooper’s sold their KOA, and Randy sold his Hitching Post park to John Henrie; all four of our parks are full up. It seems like it might be a good idea to start a bus line out to Bryce Canyon for all of these campers and keep them in town.

Billionaire Richard Branson has won the race to be the first commercial flight business to go into space. You can fly on his space ship for as little as $250,000, but there are 600 people who are on the waiting list. Branson’s space craft is really something. It has a mother plane that brings it up to 40,000 feet and cuts it loose, and the rocket boosters soar you up to the 50 mile level and the edge of space. You are at zero gravity level, and all of the passengers cut loose their seat belts and float around for a couple of minutes. The whole flight lasts for 90 minute, and the space craft glides back to earth. Branson was also on the flight and was met by his grandchildren when he landed.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame also has plans for his space flight for the 20th of this month. His flight will be more traditional with a rocket ship, and his flight will only last 13 minutes. He is making the flight with his brother and a passenger that paid 28 million for the flight. He also has a number of rich folks, that don’t know what to do with their money, waiting for a ride. His rocket ship will come back to earth by parachute.

Since I have forgotten this three weeks in a row, congratulations to the Panguitch High School boys basketball team on winning the Cedar City Summer games. They are going to be something this next season.
Here today, gone tomorrow; our old elementary is a pile of rubble. Oh, what memories it brought to the 1,000s of students that learned their ABCs there. The old school had been refurbished a number of times. However, they did keep the newest additions, the gym and the building that housed the pre-School, kindergarten and 1st graders. I think they will stay there. Guessing I would say that the school was built in the late 50s. Allen Henrie thought he went there when it opened in 57 or 58, which would have made it 60 + years old. It produced a lot of great people, both educational and caring. They include doctors, lawyers, teachers, ranchers, farmers, all kinds of skilled laborers and many good family members. The new school is really something and is a first class school building that has been inspected all through the building process. I understand that the next school to be built will be an Escalante elementary. Then all of the towns in Garfield County will have new elementary schools.

In a couple of weeks will be the Summer Olympics that are being held in Japan. What a nightmare for them; COVID originally caused the postponing of the event for another year. Japan spent over 13 billion on buildings, track venues and, like all cities that host these games, they expected to recoup their investment by the 1,000s of people from all over the world coming there to view the games and spend money. Because of fear of the other countries bringing the COVID to their country, it was decided to only let 10,000 locals come to the events. They are now having a spike in the virus because of lack of inoculations (40%), and no one will be in attendance at the games. Like years in the past, I will be watching them on the tube. I do like the competitions of the games.

Oh my! What a disaster in Southern Florida with that condo coming down and killing all of those people. They have switched over from search and rescue to recovery after two weeks. As of today (7/11), they have recovered 96 bodies and 32 are still missing. Those that are working day and night on this project have removed 15 million tons of debris. One of the really sad notes was that one of the firefighters that was working on the rescue had a seven year old daughter who was killed. This condo was on prime property, right on the oceanfront, but it was 40 years old and was badly in need of repair. I understand the vice- president’s sister and her husband and their small child were some of the victims.

From my Utah magazine: In 1950, Fry sauce was born. The Utahans’ love affair with a pink condiment began on May 26, 1950, with the opening of the first Arctic Circle in SLC. It was the invention of the restaurant founder Don Carlos Edwards, whose signature blend of ketchup, mayonnaise and spices has become a Utah favorite.

In 1965, a records vault was blasted into the mountain. The world’s largest genealogical archive is housed deep within the walls of Little Cottonwood Canyon at Granite Mountain Records Vault. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints created this network of tunnels and vaults, and it was completed in 1965. It is to safeguard the ever-growing collection that today includes 2.4 million rolls of microfilm containing 3.5 billion images of genealogical information. The vault has three tunnels, delving nearly 700’ long, as well as having four cross tunnels.

The Church has long maintained an extensive library of genealogical records, both for general family research purposes and to aid its members in performing saving ordinances for deceased relatives. In 1938, the Church started microfilming records, and within a decade, it had grown to 100,000 rolls. During the 60s and the Cold War, the Church wanted to have a secure place to store their information. The vault is behind a 14 ton door that is locked each night. The wisdom of such extremes was illustrated in 2004 when a cyclone hit the Pacific Island nation of Niue destroying all original birth, death and marriage records there. The only thing that kept these records from forever being lost was the nation’s document being stored in the Granite Mountain Record Vault.

Next week is the big one, the 24th celebration. It starts off with the Panguitch Lions Club breakfast at Zions Bank. Then, the big parade will be marching down Center and Main Streets. You need to give a big hand to the first responders that worked through the pandemic to save lives. I hope that I have better luck with my A Bone this year than last. Have your kids bring their bags for there is going to be a lot of candy being thrown. Then at 1p.m., the firefighters will have their traditional luncheon, and it will probably be at either at the pavilion or the fair building. It will be an old-fashioned hamburger and hot dog fest. See you there.
Mack O.