The count down to the 2009-2010 school year has begun for residents of Washington County and we want to remind you of a few safety tips. Each year, more than 200,000 kids are treated in hospital ERs for playground-related injuries, many of these could have been prevented with the proper supervision. Remind your children about playground/recess safety, if they know the rules prior to playing, they are less likely to get hurt. Talk to your school to make sure your child is properly supervised during outdoor activities. It’s ok to ask questions like, What is your schools policy on recess? What’s the student to child ratio outdoors? What polices are in place if there is an emergency? If you don’t like the answers you receive, get involved, join the PTA ,School Safety Council or other groups and help make positive changes. Remember it will still be hot outside when school resumes, sunscreen might be in order, have your child drink plenty of water, remind them to test the temperature of the playground with a finger, prior to placing their body on a hot surface. Recess and outdoor play is meant to be enjoyed, let’s make sure our children our supervised and safe.

Traffic accidents in St. George do not seem to decline as temperatures rise. The following information was obtained from The Spectrum, a local publication that focuses on southern Utah news.
July 14, 2009
A traffic accident with injuries was reported Tuesday on the 2200 South block of River Road.

A traffic accident with damages was reported Tuesday on the 2200 South block of River Road.

A traffic accident with injuries was reported Tuesday near the intersection of South Mall Drive and 2000 East.

A traffic accident with damages was reported Tuesday on the 2800 South block of 60 East.

July 15, 2009
A traffic accident with injuries was reported Wednesday on mile marker 12 of Interstate 15.

A traffic accident with damages was reported Wednesday on the 100 South block of Bluff Street.

A traffic accident with injuries was reported Wednesday near the intersection of Bluff Street and St. George Boulevard.

July 16, 2009
A traffic accident with injuries was reported Thursday near the intersection of South Honey Locust Circle and East Elder Circle.

July 17, 2009
A hit and run traffic accident was reported Friday on the 600 South block of Bluff Street.

July 20, 2009
A traffic accident with injuries was reported Monday on the 1700 East block of 280 North.

Please use caution while driving. IF you are injured in an accident please call Dixon Truman & Fisher 435-652-9000, for your Free Consultation

Dixon Truman Fisher and Clifford promote the use of approved safety devices for children.  Always securely place children in proper child restraint seats.
This story in the St. George Spectrum reemphasizes the importance of that.

CEDAR CITY – A fatal crash involving three vehicles on I-15 at mile post 42 led to two deaths and six people injured early Sunday morning.
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Driver Juan Garcia, 29, of Hesperia, Calif., was traveling southbound on I-15 at 4:05 a.m. with Chantel Manuel, 22, Olegario Angulo, 31, Zapatista Angulo, 3, and Assata Angulo, 5 months, all of Los Angeles, when Garcia swerved to the left to avoid a deer, according to a Utah Highway Patrol report.

Garcia’s 1993 Range Rover rolled several times and both children, not restrained in their car seats, were ejected from the vehicle, according to the report.

Olegario Angulo was seatbelted but sustained fatal head wounds from the roof and door of the vehicle, according to the report. Assata Angulo also died after suffering head injuries.

Manuel suffered injuries to the lower torso and Garcia to the head and arms, both later taken to Valley View Medical Center.

Mario Mendez, 67, of Vista, Caif., was driving a 2006 Toyota 4-Runner southbound when he saw the debris in the road but not the Range Rover, which did not have lights on, and hit it on the front right while swerving into the emergency lane, according to the report.

Mendez told UHP he got out and tried to warn oncoming traffic of the crash, but a third vehicle, driven by Jennifer A. Jordan, 47, of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., did not see the Rover and hit its side.

Jordan’s 2003 Toyota Tacoma spun around into the emergency lane and came to rest facing east next to Garcia’s vehicle, according to the report.

Jordan suffered a broken ankle and was LifeFighted to Intermountain Medical Center. Her son, Jeremy, 20, who suffered bruises and abrasions, was taken to VVMC and later IMC to be with his mother.

ST. GEORGE — State and local officials celebrated the opening of the first phase of the Southern Parkway Tuesday, calling the event a precursor to the next phase in Southern Utah’s development.

The new Highway 7, four miles of two- lane highway extending from Exit 2 on Interstate 15 east to River Road, is the first phase of a proposed $475 million project expected to eventually meet up with state Route 9 near Hurricane. Along the way it would connect with Fort Pierce Industrial Park and the $160 million St. George replacement airport, currently under construction, and include additional links to Washington City.

“This is a line in the sand,” House Speaker Dave Clark said to a small crowd gathered for the occasion, saying the more than $600 million being spent on the highway and airport would open up Southern Utah to economic opportunities.

Clark, who lives in Santa Clara and works in St. George, is the first House Speaker from Southern Utah since Cedar City Democrat Walter Granger, who was elected in 1935. He said the influx of new projects shows the state is making a commitment to its southernmost communities. The state has promised $130 million to the Southern Parkway project so far, and federal dollars are funding the majority of the airport construction.

St. George Mayor Daniel McArthur said such largescale projects have attracted much criticism in recent months, as residents endure ongoing economic instability and governments cope with dwindling tax revenues.

However, he argued short term struggles should not get in the way of long-term planning and looking ahead. “If we look, our forefathers in St. George have gone out looking for things before they happened,” he said.

The first phase of the project, open two months ahead of schedule, extends from the Atkinville Interchange (Exit 2), to the very southern end of River Road, four miles to the east, at a cost of $58.5 million.

Construction crews are also leveling the area near the interchange in anticipation of commercial development. The first building will be a new state welcome center, on six acres of land south of the highway, said DeLoss Hammon, project engineer with Alliance Consulting, the company working with the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, which owns the land.

SITLA has plans for more than 6,000 acres of development along the new highway called the “ South Block.” Kevin Carter, SITLA director, said he was excited to see the development under way, as the various parties involved in the project spent years in planning.

“This is the type of cooperation people ought to expect from their government,” he said.

The next phase is slated to open in early 2011, coinciding with the opening of the new airport.

BY DAVID DEMILLE • ddemille@thespectrum.com • July 8, 2009

St. George, Utah, June 26, 2009 — Super Lawyers, a publication of Key Professional Media located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has awarded St. George attorney Ronald W. Truman of Dixon, Truman & Fisher, P.C. with the 2009 Mountain States Super Lawyers award. Truman was nominated and awarded this coveted peer acknowledgment for his dealings in a variety of practice areas including Personal Injury Plaintiff: General, General Litigation, and Construction Litigation.
Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. In selecting attorneys for Super Lawyers, Law & Politics employs a rigorous, multiphase process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.

According to Super Lawyers, “Once a year, we invite lawyers in each state to nominate the top attorneys they’ve personally observed in action. Lawyers may nominate attorneys in their own firm, but these nominations count only if each in-firm nomination is matched by at least one out-firm nomination. Each nomination carries a point value. An out-firm nomination has substantially greater point value than an in-firm nomination. Lawyers cannot nominate themselves, and must limit their nominations to others who practice in the same state.”

After obtaining these nominations, they are turned over to the research department who evaluates each candidate based on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement: verdicts and settlements; transactions; representative clients; experience; honors and awards; special licenses and certifications; position within law firm; bar and or other professional activity; pro bono and community service as a lawyer; scholarly lectures and writings; education and employment background; and other outstanding achievements.

These indicators are not treated equally; some have a higher maximum point value than others. Attorneys are then separated into Areas of Practice and once again sent through another evaluation of their peers. The final selections of the nominees are grouped into four firm sized categories, this means solo and small firm lawyers are compared with other solo and small firm attorneys, and large firm lawyers compete with other large firm lawyers. Five percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers.

Truman has been practicing law in southern Utah since 1988. He is licensed in UT, CA, IL, AZ and NV. Dixon, Truman & Fisher, P.C is an AV rated law firm by Martindale-Hubble.

Also on http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907020331

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