By Carbon County Sheriff Jeff Wood
Last week was a busy week for the sheriff’s office with homecoming at the high school and the Castle Valley Clash at the Desert Thunder Raceway. I want to thank the organizers of the homecoming parade for honoring our law enforcement leaders as the grand marshals of the parade this year. I am proud to be part of this team.
This year has been full of challenges with COVID-19, but we feel that we have developed a good plan and are prepared. I wanted to remind the public that the main office of the sheriff’s is closed to walk-in traffic, but we are still open for business. If you stop by, just ring the bell and we will be happy to come out and take care of your need. Or, you can call in advance and arrange an appointment. We are taking extra precautions to avoid spreading COVID and feel our officers are at risk every day. We would be challenged if we had to quarantine any of our deputies and want to take every precaution to avoid such a challenge.
I have been talking about teen drivers lately in my radio addresses. I want to remind everyone of the 5 to Drive the Teen Safety Campaign. It brings up five good topics to discuss with your teen driver. The topics are no cell phone use or texting while driving, no extra passengers, no speeding, no alcohol and never drive without a seat belt. I think these are good topics to discuss with our teen drivers and areas that are often taken for granted.
I would like to remind everyone to have their house numbers and addresses visible on their home. Seconds count in emergency situations and having an address that is easily seen can save time for emergency responders.
It has been an extremely dry year and fire dangers are high. I just want to bring awareness to this issue for any hunters going out in the field to be careful with campfires and such. With the rifle hunts around the corner, I wanted to remind everybody to practice safe firearm handling practices. Treat all guns as if they were loaded and always pointed in a safe direction. Know your backstop and what is beyond it. Most of all, enjoy the time out in the field with friends and family.
I would like to assure everyone that our local law enforcement team is strong, trustworthy and dedicated to the good citizens of Carbon County. I appreciate this community and being able to serve as your sheriff. I want to say thank you for all of the support shown to law enforcement by the community. I am proud to be part of this community and honored to be in the position of sheriff. We truly live in a great place.