UPDATED: Weber High Teacher Suspended Over Genetalia Lesson

UPDATED: 4/15/2014 @ 9:00 AM

Ogden Valley Students Appear On KSL

Weber High School teacher Ashley Williams has been suspended after a parent called administrators to complain about an 'inappropriate' genitalia naming exercise.  The class is "Adult Roles and financial literacy" and is a college level course taught by a high school teacher through the Concurrent Enrollment program.  Concurrent Enrollment allows high school students to receive college credit while still attending high school.

Apparently KSL was also contacted and they originally broke the story on April 11, 2014.  Two Weber High Students who reside in Ogden Valley,  Austin Hanni and James Allen, were interviewed for the story, which can be seen by clicking here.

Teacher suspended over 'inappropriate' lesson

The Standard followed up with

Weber High teacher suspended over genitalia naming exercise

"We had some students who reported to administration that a teacher was having an exercise where they were put into groups, male and female, to come up with names for genitalia," said Nate Taggart, spokesman for the Weber School District. "These were any names that the kids could come up with, and then they were listed on the board ... on the whiteboard."
Upon hearing the students' concerns, administration went to Williams' classroom.
"It was still on the whiteboard, and they had her erase it immediately," said Taggart.

 In an Ogden Valley Forum exclusive, we were able to obtain a photo of the words that were written on the whiteboard.

Many of the words are explicit so we will post the photo on our archive page.  By clicking on the link you acknowledge that you may be viewing 'inappropriate' slang words that are used to describe genitalia.  Click here to view the whiteboard.

The Standard added an article Monday evening written by Rachel Trotter.

Weber teacher was using method to teach adult class she learned at conference

 Weber High School teacher Ashley Williams was teaching a method learned at a Current Technical Education Conference last summer when she instructed students to list slang terms for genitalia, according to a teachers union official,   

The conference was paid for by Weber School District.  Williams is currently on paid administrative leave while district officials investigate accusations of an inappropriate lesson taught in her "Adult Roles and Financial Literacy Class" on Friday. One parent, whose child is enrolled in the class, said parents signed a statement allowing their children to attend the class and acknowledging the subject matter. The parent, who asked not to be identified, supports Williams.

 What do you think Ogden Valley Forum faithful?

Was the exercise inappropriate?

Should the teacher be reprimanded?

Update: 4/15/2014 @ 9:00 am
 We think the Standard's Mark Saal nailed it this morning with:

Teaching genitalia slang not the disturbing crisis in our schools

Mark states,

I am in no way excusing what this teacher did in her "Adult Roles and Financial Literacy" class. I'm just saying that on a scale of 1-to-10, with 10 being the absolute worst thing that could happen at your kid's school, this rates a 2 -- maybe a 3, tops.

Walking onto school property and opening fire? There's a 10. Teacher having sex with a student? Another 10. Bullying? Arguably, and depending upon the severity, an 8. Cheating on tests? There's a 6 or a 7. All that food getting thrown out after school lunch? A solid 5.

Author Suzanne Freeman to share her experiences Wednesday, April 9 in Eden

Freedom First Society

Presents

Suzanne Freeman

Author of:

“Led by the Hand of Christ”,  “Through the Window of Life”, and “The Spirit of Liberty”

Suzanne Freeman had an amazing near-death experience that changed her life.  Although reluctant to share her experience at first, her message of hope and love has made a profound impact upon many people’s lives since sharing it.  Come and hear her amazing story.

Wednesday,  April 9, 2014,  6:30 PM

Eden Park Bowery

Ogden Valley Design Charrette to be presented tonight.

The Ogden Valley Design Charrette is complete.  The results are stunning and imaginative.  The Utah State University Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning student team leaders are fully prepared to present their findings and recommendations.

Their first presentation is to County Commissioners Gibson, Zogmaister, and Bell on 1 April 2014 at 7:00 pm in the County Commission Chambers at 2380 Washington Blvd in Ogden.  Ogden Valley Planning Commissioners, Weber County Planning Division, GEM Committee members, and valley residents are invited to attend this presentation.  The 15 charrette team leaders will summarize and highlight their work in an hour-long slide show.  The 63 charrette posters will be taped to the walls of the overflow room at the back of the Commission Chambers.  Attendees may view the posters beginning at 6:00 pm and continue after the formal presentation to the County Commissioners.  The team leaders will be available for questions and comments.

The second presentation will be at Snowcrest Junior High School in Eden.  The 63 charrette posters will be on display in the balcony area up the stairs and overlooking the library.  Valley residents can come anytime from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm Monday through Thursday, 14 through 17 April 2014.  Visitors are welcome to spend as much or as little time as they wish studying or scanning the posters.  It’s easy to get to where the posters will be displayed.  Go through the main entrance, left past the administrative offices, across the large foyer, into the library, and up the stairs.  The Snowcrest administrative staff, faculty, and librarians will see that you get to where the posters are.  There will be paper and envelopes available for your comments and questions.

The 2014 Ogden Valley Design Charrette does not constitute the final plan for the future of Ogden Valley.  It is an important to step to visually display some ideas and gather thoughts and comments from valley residents.  The Weber County Commissioners have allocated money to engage a professional planning firm this year.  April 1 and April 14 - 17 are two of your chances to point these professionals in the right direction before they submit their proposals and the winner starts work.

By far the best way to ensure your ideas and comments enter the public record and are fully considered is to email them to the Weber County Planning Division at ssillito@co.weber.ut.us.

Family Sues Syracuse based Island View Residential Treatment Center and Dr. Phil - call facility a "private prison"

Island View Residential Treatment Center was co-founded by Waypoint Academy co-founder

KSL recently reported, "The family of a teenage girl who claims she was berated on television by Dr. Phil and then sent to a residential treatment center in Utah where she was falsely imprisoned, has filed a civil lawsuit."

Read the full story here:

Family sues Dr. Phil, Utah treatment center

In their suit, they now call the facility a "private prison" and claim their daughter was placed there "for the purpose of forcing her to become obedient instead of truant by depriving her of freedom, privacy, education, and subjecting her to involuntary servitude, and unjust unusual punishments."
In one incident, the daughter apparently refused to obey staff members who told her to get off of her bed. When staff members tried to pull her off, her right arm "was badly and perhaps irreparably broken, and its main nerve severely damaged," the lawsuit states.
The family also claims their daughter's constitutional rights were violated and she was falsely imprisoned, as well as conspiracy and fraud.

The facility, Island View Residential Treatment Center (now called Island View School), was co-founded by Waypoint Academy co-founder Jared Balmer.

From the Waypoint Academy website, we read some of Dr. Balmer's credentials:

Jared’s professional career centers on adolescents and their families. He is one of the pioneers of a multi-disciplinary approach in the private sector of the residential treatment arena, integrating education, milieu therapy, recreational therapy, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. While living in the mid-west, he founded two treatment centers that served students with severe conduct and related disorders. Since returning to Utah, Jared co-founded Rivendell Psychiatric Hospital, Island View RTC, The Oakley School, and the Aspen Institute for Behavioral Assessment. Drawing on his vast experience and passion for working with adolescents, he has joined forces with other seasoned professionals to create WayPoint Academy, a specialized residential treatment facility for males with anxiety and relation problems.

The Man Behind Wolf Mountain Purchase Revealed As Eden Resident Josh Richards

The Standard has been all over the Wolf Mountain story the last two days, following up on Fox 13's breaking story that we posted Thursday evening.

On Saturday, they published this JaNae Francis article:

Investors confirm purchase of Wolf Mountain ski area

From the Saturday article,

Reports had floated about the sale for several days. However, officials from the resort and the Prudential Utah Real Estate office in Eden, where media inquiries were directed, have not been available for comment this week.
Tessa Ann Harbertson has posted on a website run by Skyline Mountain Base, a group of local and European investors, confirmation that the group has purchased the resort.

"As some of you know, I have been extremely busy with a new 'project' for the last six months," she posted. "All of the long hours and hard work has (finally) come to fruition. Skyline Mountain Base investors have purchased Wolf Mountain for development (and all around awesome-ness).
The resort has struggled with financial issues in recent years. In June 2010, officials with the 3,000-acre ski area filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
A statement at that time from the resort read: "Wolf Creek is exploring corporate restructuring and is in advanced discussions with a number of potential purchasers to sell nonstrategic portions of its operations and attract new ownership."   

 That new ownership apparently has become Skyline Mountain Base.

In a follow up article this morning, the principal is revealed as Ogden native and current Eden resident Josh Richards is "the man behind the Wolf Mountain deal."

Ogden native Richards is the man behind Wolf Mountain deal

In this morning's article, Francis writes:

Richards, who said he has been an entrepreneur all his life, starting as a boy who mowed lawns and then as a newspaper carrier for the Standard-Examiner for two years, said he has wanted to purchase Wolf Mountain for a long time.  

And Richards said he tried unsuccessfully to purchase the resort a decade ago.

But he said this time, he was more prepared, not only with more business sense, but with additional investors.
"We have a very good feeling about the mountain," he said.
The article continues with,
Richards is president and CEO of Caelum, which grew out of a multimillion-dollar company with a focus on environmentally friendly housing developments.
His organization also formed a partnership with The Sorep Group, European investors, to finance the ski area purchase.

Together, he said the two groups formed Skyline Mountain Base, the entity that purchased Wolf Mountain.
Richards said his and the investors' goal for Wolf Mountain is for the resort to position 

itself as offering a family friendly product at a fair price.
"We are steering in a very different direction than Powder Mountain and Snowbasin," he said, noting that the other Ogden Valley resorts are more like Audis or BMWs while Wolf Mountain is more along the lines of a Subaru or minivan.
But just because he wants the resort to be more for the everyday folk, doesn't mean he doesn't want it to be nice.
Richards said he plans many improvements, starting with his personal pet peeve, the restrooms. He said among the improvements will be lockers where visitors will be able to store their personal items.

Already since the purchase, Richards and his team have added ski rentals.
"Now we have the nicest rental fleet in the state from Tech Skis," he said. "People have rented our skis and taken them to other areas already."
And he wants to construct many environmentally friendly improvements on the resort's 400 acres of private property.

Richards wants to expand the lodge's offerings to include a year-round restaurant and other services, such as shops catering to local residents.
He believes one of his team members has secured a world-class pastry shop to re-locate there from France.
"We want to improve the experience at the resort," he said.

A search of Utah corporations shows this:
https://secure.utah.gov/bes/action/details?entity=8901583-0160#

Entity Number: 8901583-0160
Company Type: LLC - Domestic
Address: 1391 N 5900 E Eden, UT 84310
State of Origin:
Registered Agent: JOSHUA M RICHARDS
Registered Agent Address:
1391 N 5900 E
Eden, UT 84310

In the past year, out of three Ogden Valley resorts have changed ownership and all three seem to have aggressive development plans that will likely change the look and feel of Ogden Valley.

What say ye about the recent events?

BREAKING: Ben Winslow of Fox 13 News confirming that Wolf Mountain has been sold

Wolf Mountain ski resort sold

Posted on: 4:38 pm, January 23, 2014, by Ben Winslow

• Facebook5
• Twitter8
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• Google
• Email

The Wolf Creek Resort.

EDEN, Utah — The Wolf Mountain ski resort, once under a cloud of bankruptcy, has been sold to an investment group, FOX 13 News has confirmed.

Skyline Mountain Base, a group of local and European investors, purchased the resort in a deal confirmed Thursday. The purchase amount was not disclosed.

A representative for the resort told FOX 13 News the group had a 10-year plan that included some expansion. In a statement, Skyline Mountain Base said no changes were immediate, except staying open longer (and on Sundays).

“Few changes to the mountain will be noticeable this season; our focus will be creating a plan for a family oriented, world class year around resort. The resort will continue to operate as Wolf Mountain until sometime in the near future,” the group said. “We look forward to the continued support and participation of our local community and guests.”

The resort went into bankruptcy in 2010, and parts of it were put up for auction. The ski resort itself failed to sell at that auction.

Eventually, court filings indicate the resort emerged from bankruptcy. Skyline Mountain Base said it purchased the resort from America First Credit Union.

IMPORTANT MEETING TODAY: Community Asked to Participate in Charrettes Designed to Help Shape Ogden Valley’s Future

The students and professors are coming!  Utah State University Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning have already started work on their creative ideas for the future look and feel of Ogden Valley.  They call it a design charrette.  

Professors and student team leaders for the 15 projects will meet with Ogden Valley residents on Wednesday, January22, 2014 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Weber County, Ogden Valley Branch Library in Huntsville.

Each team is assigned one of the 15 topics listed below.  They need your involvement and ideas.  Please help set the direction for the future of Ogden Valley

1.​What makes Ogden Valley unique and special? How can the valley maintain this unique specialness?

2.​What makes each community unique and special? How can each community maintain its specialness?

3.​Discover potential and future opportunities for the Ogden Valley Region

4.​Future alternatives for Pineview Reservoir and its waterfront

5.​Future alternatives for Huntsville City’s annexation property

6.​Where are future and existing village and neighborhood centers; what should

they be and how should they be developed

7.​Pineview Reservoir - land use, new development, waterfront protection, water

quality protection.

8.​Development and open space preservation - cluster techniques, TDR’s, new

communities, where, how, etc.

9.​Property ownership and property rights - should there be guidelines, committees, controls? How? Examples?

10.​Agriculture - can and should it be a part of the valley? How? What conservation tools should be used?

11.​Wildlife - habitat and conservation - How can conservation work on private lands?

12.​Resorts - what is their contribution, what is their relationship to the valley, and

what relationship should they have?
13.​Moderate Income Housing - where, how, what should it look like? Part of neighborhoods?

14.​Huntsville - what should it be and how should it grow?

15.​Snowbasin’s Pineview’s waterfront property - what should/could it become?

Summit and Harley and Bucks welcome Hip Hop Poet Sekou Andrews Thursday

Summit and Harley and Bucks are teaming up again Thursday night, January 16, 2013 to welcome Hip Hop Poet legend Sekou Andrews.

According to a recent Standard Examiner article, Andrews has performed for President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Maya Angelou, Larry King, Norman Lear, Sean "P-Diddy" Combs, and Coretta Scott King and family.

According to Craig Bonham, Harley & Buck's owner and chef, dinner reservations are required because of the venue's limited space. The buffet serves from 5 to 8 p.m. and adults eat for $15, children for $9. Sekou Andrews is expected to take the stage at 7:30 p.m. For more information or to make a reservation, call 801-745-2060.

Following an Italian-style buffet at Harley & Buck's, an upscale Eden eatery at 3900 N. Wolf Creek Drive, Andrews will dish up a taste of "Poetic Voice." 

"I'm creating it as I go, out of thin air," Andrews said of his innovative work during a recent phone interview from his home near Los Angeles.

A decade ago, Andrews delivered poems at business conferences to break up the otherwise "cerebral, brain-numbing content." 

"I was asking why art is the break from the content, and not the vehicle to deliver the content," Andrews said. "That was my aha moment."

To read the Standard article in its entirety and view a video clip, click here.

Troubled Youth Steals Van and Escapes From Waypoint Academy

The Ogden Valley News reported in their December 15, 2013 issue, that a youth had been located after fleeing the Waypoint Academy (formerly Green Valley Academy) in Huntsville.  

While the "academy" has only been open some nine months (since spring 2013), this is at least the second such escape that has been reported to the local authorities.  Since discipline is typically handled in house, It is unknown if any other youth have fled the facility.

From the Ogden Valley News,

A report from the Weber County Sheriff's Office states that a deputy recently responded to Waypoint Academy in Huntsville after staff reported that a juvenile had left the facility without permission and took a minivan belonging to the center after finding a spare set of keys to the van.  The juvenile then abandoned the van at about 8400 E. 100 S. because he couldn't figure out how to turn on the headlights.  He then ran north into area fields.

The juvenile was returned to Waypoint Academy after being located by the deputy a short time later hiding in the fields.  The center's operator ended the juvenile's enrollment at the facility and asked that he be taken to Archway Youth Service Center in Ogden so his parents could arrange placement at a new facility or travel plans could be made for his return to New York.  According to the sheriff's report, the juvenile was taken to Archway.

Residents will remember when Academy owners initially were considering a large home near the Trinity Abby in Huntsville as their campus.  Neighbors objected to having troubled teens housed in their backyards. 

Ultimately, Academy owners removed their petition and later purchased property in another residential neighborhood on Highway 39; their current location.

A Weber County planning staffer decided the Academy fit the definition of a "school" and issued approval for the facility, rather than putting the issue on the planning commission's agenda.

Concerns over potential water shortages and other issues surfaced, and the "Protect our water" campaign ensued.

Early on, during meetings held in 2010, Academy owners stated publicly that they would accept low risk "Forest Gump" type kids.  More specifically, kids with Autism, Asperger's syndrome and similar disorders.  However, their new website makes no mention of these disorders and instead touts anxiety.

WayPoint Academy provides specialized treatment for young men between the ages of 13-18 who are afflicted with various types of anxiety.

• Generalized Anxiety 

• Social Phobia

• Panic Attacks

• Agoraphobia

• Specific Phobia

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Depression is frequently present in individuals with severe anxiety. Thus, the criteria for admission also includes students with symptoms of depressive disorder.

Summit & Powder Mountain: Winter Has Arrived

Powder Mountain has officially opened for the season and the Summit Team sent out this email announcement.  Pay particular attention to the link below for an article in this month's issue of Ski Magazine.

Ski Magazine article

Here is the email:

Hi,

As the snow begins to fall on the mountains here in Eden, Utah, winter is finally upon us, and we couldn't be more excited for what this season will bring.

This winter marks Summit's inaugural year as the proud owners of Powder Mountain, and we are thrilled to announce that as of yesterday, the mountain is officially open for the season!

It's been an extraordinary year. We've made great progress designing our future village, building roads, infrastructure, and a stunning, mountain-top lodge.  We've also closed a county-backed $18 million infrastructure bond which supports the development of Summit's permanent home.

Most recently, we saw SKI Magazine publish an eight-page cover story on the project in its December issue, on stands now. You can read the full article here.  Also, Outside Television shot the winter season of its popular morning show, Outside Today, atop Powder Mountain at the newly constructed Skylodge. You can find a teaser here.

Lastly, all of us here at Summit truly believe that wintertime in Eden is one of the most beautiful places we've ever experienced, and we want to be able to share this spectacular place with you. We would love for you to join us this winter to experience Powder Mountain for yourself.  You can plan your trip, book your lodging, and purchase your ski tickets, cat tours, and ski lessons all directly through www.powdermountain.com, or reach out to one of us on the Summit Team for more information.

We hope to see you on the mountain this winter!

-The Summit Team

Ogden Canyon Construction Update

Construction Activity Update – 11/7/13

The following are planned construction activities. Please note that due to weather conditions, emergency situations, or equipment/supply issues, schedules are subject to change.

• Intermittent flagging operations and/or lane shifts will continue for approximately two weeks for slope stabilization work.  Any flagging operations will occur between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• Travelers are advised to use caution and slow down at the mouth of the canyon where the lanes shift and flaggers and workers will be operating.

·         During early November, the city plans to perform structural upgrades to the pipe support structure at the Gray Cliff bridge.  No water service interruptions or traffic impacts are expected with this work.

More Information

Residents can get more information by calling 801-910-5356 or emailing email@ogdenpipeline.com.  Text “ogdenwater” to 25827 for regular project text updates.

Additionally, area maps and waterline information can be reviewed by clicking here.

 

Valley Sixth Grade Blood Drive TODAY