By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Sunday of Memorial weekend was a busy one for law
enforcement officers in Juab County even though no single
spot demanded all the attention.
"After the Easter holiday, there was a state radio
station that had one day devoted to our handling of the
holiday. There were a lot of calls from the party crowd who
were not happy with all the law enforcement we had on
duty."
In addition, he said, some said they would not come to
Juab County for recreation again.
"If visitors want to have a good time with their
families, we are happy to have them. On the other hand, if
those visitors want to have a big, rowdy party, we are happy
to discourage them," he said.
A few of the rowdy group who ran afoul of the law
during the Memorial weekend holiday said they thought there
was too much law enforcement at all of the recreation sites
in Juab County.
"We are happy about that," he said. "Because the word
is getting around about our stepped-up law enforcement
efforts, the DUI arrests were way down this holiday. It made
us happy that since we stepped up the law enforcement so
much on Easter, it helped with Memorial weekend."
The intent was to keep the pressure on and to have
extra law enforcement assistance during holidays in Juab
County.
Carter said he was happy to have a lot of assistance
from other law enforcement agencies, both on a local and
state level. Local Utah Highway Patrol Officers assisted at
Little Sahara Sand Dunes, he said.
The county sheriff's office was also pleased to have a
five-member UHP DUI squad from the state, based at Salt
Lake, to work to keep drivers from driving vehicles under
the influence of alcohol and other controlled substances
from taking to the highways.
In addition, the sheriff's search and rescue officers
were on duty throughout the holiday.
"They patrolled all of the canyons for us and four
helped at the Sand Dunes," he said.
Deputies from the Sheriff's Office worked a demanding
schedule&emdash;18 hours on and six hours off&emdash;for the
entire holiday.
Sunday there were several problems that officers had
to handle all at once. Carter said deputies were sent from
one end of the county to the other trying to provide control
and assistance.
"All at about the same time we had several serious
incidents which all required officers to be dispatched to
the scene."
"Two women had a fight at Yuba, resulting in one of
them being arrested and the other being taken by ambulance
to a hospital for plastic surgery for a serious face wound."
said Carter.
Also at Yuba, there was a family dispute requiring a
search for a young female, a man backed his vehicle into
another individual's vehicle, and a rowdy group needed to be
settled down.
"A TV crew rolled their vehicle en route to the
Partoun area to do a story," said Carter. "They were taken
to Delta Hospital."
There were two complaints about someone shooting a
firearm, one of those at the Oasis Campground at the Sand
Dunes and the other at Mona Reservoir. The individuals at
Mona Reservoir were shooting into the water for recreation
and alarmed nearby campers.
Several ATV accidents were handled by East and West
Juab Ambulance crews.
"We usually have several accidents each holiday but
there were no critical injuries this year," Carter said.
There was a reported act of vandalism at Mona
Reservoir and a man was reported missing after setting out
on a horseback ride in Deep Canyon near Levan.
The man said his horse refused to obey him and leave
the area. The man walked out to Chicken Creek where an ATV
rider picked him up and transported him from the canyon. On
Monday a group of Levan men searched for and retrieved the
horse.
In Eureka, a law enforcement officer stopped a vehicle
and found illegal drugs. He needed back-up on that stop.
"We were just busy everywhere, throughout the county,
on Sunday," said Carter. "Friday night was fairly calm and
quiet," Carter. "Of the three-day holiday, Sunday evening
was our busiest time."
"We had more calls at Yuba than we had more calls for
law enforcement than we have had since we opened the site
back up," said Carter.
Even at that, he said, by comparison with past years,
the holiday was better than it has been for some time. For
several years, Yuba Lake was a hot spot for law enforcement.
Crowds numbering in the thousands flocked to the boating,
fishing and camping site.
"We had all of that demand on law enforcement and
still had thousands of visitors at our other recreation
areas&emdash;the Little Sahara Sand Dunes, the West Dessert,
our canyon recreation sites, and our fishing spots."
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