Home Care In Hatch, UT

Sorry, BYU and Utah Royals fans, Ashley Hatch won’t be coming to the Utah Royals for the club’s inaugural season.

On Tuesday, the Royals acquired the No. 20 and 21 picks in January’s 2024 NWSL draft from the Washington Spirit. In exchange for the picks, the Spirit receive protection from Utah in the NWSL expansion draft on Friday, according to the club.

The agreement means the Royals will be unable to select any of the Spirit’s protected and unprotected players, including the former BYU Cougar. If Hatch was selected, the Washington forward would have been the third former Cougar on Utah’s roster, joining Mikayla Cluff and Michele Vasconcelos.

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Hatch has one year remaining on her contract with Washington after the team exercised her 2024 option, the team announced in June.

Even without the trade, the Royals may have been unable to select Hatch.

Each NWSL team — excluding expansion clubs Utah and Bay FC — could protect nine of its players from being selected by the expansion clubs, per league rules. Teams had until noon MST to submit their list of protected players to the league, according to The Athletic.

When Hatch was asked in October about potentially joining the Royals, she expressed loyalty to her current club, but didn’t rule out a return to Utah later in her career, the Deseret News previously reported.

“I was really excited to hear the return of the Royals,” she said. “Mostly because when we come and play them, I can have a lot of family and friends to come and visit, and I love playing in Utah. And I think it’s a great market for a women’s professional soccer team. At the moment, I’m pretty loyal to the Spirit, but who knows maybe further down the road in my career. I don’t think it would be a bad place to end up but we’ll see.”

The NWSL expansion draft allows the league’s incoming teams to build their rosters by selecting up to 12 players each from the rosters of the league’s other 12 teams.

In 2023, the Royals and Bay FC will be the two clubs participating in the draft. The two clubs will alternate selecting players with Bay picking first and Utah picking second, as previously reported by the Deseret News.

The two expansion teams will continue to build their rosters with the rest of the league during the 2023 NWSL entry draft on Jan. 12. Utah will pick first in the first and third rounds of the draft.

The 2023 NWSL expansion draft will be held on Friday, Dec. 15, at 5 p.m. MST. It will be broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network, according to the Royals.

After more than 50 years of sending interns to Washington, D.C., the University of Utah is officially opening a permanent physical home in the nation’s capital.

On Thursday, Dec. 7, the university will celebrate the grand opening of the Orrin G. Hatch Center. The center—made possible thanks to the support of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and the Kem and Carolyn Gardner family—will not only provide a space for U students to live while interning in D.C., but it will also serve as Utah’s “embassy” in Washington.

“There is a lot of power in being present and being in the places where decisions are happening, where policy is being made,” said Jason Perry, vice president for government relations at the U and the director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics. “Utah routinely has an outsized influence in terms of policy in Washington, D.C., and this is the next step in continuing that influence.”

The Hatch Center occupies two interconnected brownstone buildings and a separate, stand-alone carriage house located at 1527 and 1529 18th Street NW. Just steps from Dupont Circle and Embassy Row, and nine blocks from the White House, the center is perfectly situated for student interns who work at agencies and offices throughout the city. The multi-million-dollar project took just over two years to complete. The five floors of student living and common spaces include:

Purchased from the Mathematical Association of America in 2021, the residential facilities are named in honor of U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah’s longest-serving senator. The carriage house is named in honor of Carolyn Barnes Gardner and will be used to host events.

“Orrin Hatch sponsored thousands of interns during his senate service,” said Matt Sandgren, executive director of the Hatch Foundation. “He was committed to the rising generation, and he loved his interns. He took great care in who they would become and the life lessons they would take from their time in D.C. This center will carry on his legacy by supporting new generations of interns in coming to live, work and learn in D.C.”

Since 1965, Hinckley’s national program has provided more than 100 students annually with full-time, paid internships in a variety of government institutions, public advocacy groups and consulting firms in Washington, D.C. As the program has grown, the list of host offices has diversified, and Hinckley is now able to pair students from nearly all majors with an internship related to their field.

Housing has consistently been a major challenge for the internship program. Each semester, an already competitive pool of interns has been narrowed as dictated by available housing. The Orrin G. Hatch Center will allow the Hinckley Institute’s national internship program to house up to 50 interns per semester and provide exceptional space for university events and educational programs. The first cohort of Hinckley Institute interns to live at the center will start this spring semester.

Read more about the acquisition of the Hatch Center property here.

Mechanical engineering major Andrew Hatch will represent Southern Utah University’s Class of 2023 as the university valedictorian. Originally from Mesa, Arizona, Hatch will graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in Spanish.

“In the beginning, I wasn’t really sure where to go before I found out about SUU,” said Hatch. “I loved that it was a smaller school in a place where there are great outdoor activities.

Growing up, Hatch was always big on playing sports: specifically basketball and volleyball. He also loves being outdoors and is passionate about his family and loves spending time with them. Along with his extracurricular activities, school has always been at the forefront of Hatch’s focus.

“Both my parents are teachers, so from a young age, learning and school were always important to me,” Hatch stated. “I think that helped me in college in terms of being accountable for my education and keeping up with those habits of going to class and doing homework.”

During his time at SUU, there have been many professors who have been a cornerstone for Hatch’s learning experience in the mechanical engineering program. Two, in particular, stand out to him: Dr. Scott Munro, professor of engineering, and Dr. Ali Siahpush, professor of mechanical engineering. Both challenged Hatch in extending his limits, while offering support along the way.

“Drew is an exceptional student with outstanding grades resulting from diligent work,” said Dr. Siahpush. “As a person, he is well-balanced, intelligent, and self-disciplined. He is mentally and physically tough, and he sets the pace and expectations for other colleagues and raises the standards. He works well in collaboration with others, and his collaborators often look to him as a leader. I have the utmost respect for how he conducts his professional life, and I believe that he has a bright future ahead of him. Given his outstanding qualities as a research student, I am sure that he will be successful in any academic and engineering endeavor.”

SUU has helped Hatch in more ways than just academics–he’s worked in the Tutoring Center for the last three years helping his fellow students with their assignments. This position has helped him discover his passion for helping others.

“I’ve loved working one-on-one with my fellow students and watching them learn to solve problems,” said Hatch. “From a career standpoint, I think this has made me want to do something along the lines of training or teaching in the field of engineering. I’ve seen how much it means to me to help other people.”

Hatch has also had some real-life experience in the field due to an internship with the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, in their water resources department.

Along with being valedictorian, one of Hatch’s greatest accomplishments during his time at SUU has been maintaining good grades for all four years.

“In hindsight, it makes all the hours I spent studying worth it,” said Hatch. “I’m also really proud of the connections I’ve made on campus–not just with my classmates and people in my major, but also with my professors and other friends. I didn’t know anybody when I first came here, but now it feels like I have a family at SUU. I’m really appreciative of all my professors, classmates, and friends who helped me get to this point. It’s definitely been a journey, and it shows me that it was all worth it.”

For Hatch, one of the biggest life lessons he learned in college has been learning to balance school and real life; be it jobs, responsibilities, and social aspects. But Hatch agrees that it is possible to find that balance and maintain it.

Following graduation, Hatch intends to get a job in the engineering field and start working as soon as he can.

“I definitely will take what I learned here at SUU into my career, and go forward from there,” Hatch stated.

For incoming Thunderbirds and college students in general, Hatch offers his advice; “I love the Tutoring Center, so make sure to utilize that–it’s an awesome resource and everyone there wants to help you. Don’t be afraid to go ask for help, whether that’s from a professor, a classmate, or the Tutoring Center. And don’t be afraid to do hard things: some classes may seem so rough, but you will make it through.”

Southern Utah University’s Commencement Ceremony will be held on Friday, April 28, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. in the America First Event Center. The Commencement Ceremony is open to all graduating students and their guests. Tickets are not required, but graduates and their families will be given priority seating.

Visit SUU’s graduation website for a full schedule of events.

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OGDEN — Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch is looking to take his talents to the state level.

On Thursday, Hatch told the Standard-Examiner that he has filed to run for the state auditor position in 2024.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said. “People have asked me for several years if that was my next step. I love public service that is closest to the people and the county is close to the people, so it was really challenging.”

However, Hatch said he sees several parallels between himself and current Auditor John Dougall, who announced this week he will not seek reelection.

“We both came into office with existing good offices and I feel like we’ve both taken them up to a much higher level of service and efficiency,” Hatch said. “I just want to keep the momentum that he’s established. I nominated him at the state convention back in 2012. I believed in him then and I want to continue what he’s done with making not just the office but government in general more transparent, more accountable and more efficient. I feel I’ve done that with the auditor’s office.”

He said he views this step as a continuation of his service to the people.

“I wouldn’t see this as a promotion, it’s just a different area of service, and I’m excited to use the skills and experience that I’ve gathered my whole career, both in and outside of government, to further the vision,” he said.

Hatch said he’s still working on his full vision for the position, but if elected, he wants to make sure the state auditor’s office doesn’t go in the wrong direction.

“I’m still figuring out the numerous duties of the state auditor,” he said. “One key component is, whatever that office is doing right now, I want to take that and make sure it doesn’t slide in any way. Basically, take that ball and run with it.”

He added that he would like to boost the office’s communication and support for local jurisdictions throughout the state.

“They all have budgeting and financial reporting requirements,” he said. “The state auditor’s office has done a good job at reaching out to them, and I think we can do a better job.”

Hatch said his previous professional experiences in financial auditing, business, information technology and local elections have prepared him to take on such a role.

Still, he said leaving his position in Weber County isn’t the easiest prospect.

“I absolutely love where I work, love working with Weber County,” he said. “We’ve got a world-class team that provides excellent services to the citizens and voters of Weber County, and the thought of leaving that really breaks my heart because I absolutely love it. But this feels like the right thing to do.”

As of Thursday afternoon, Hatch was the only candidate to have filed for the state auditor position, according to the state of Utah’s elections page.

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HATCH, Utah — Note: The following article contains descriptions of the scene that some might find graphic in nature.

The Garfield County Sheriff's Office on Sunday arrested three people after being tipped off to a company that may have dumped human waste in the wilderness near a river, according to court documents.

Based on the scene authorities reported finding while investigating, the company may have used the area for human ordure disposal multiple times.

A series of affidavits of probable cause for arrest were filed with Utah's 6th District Court, which detail a grisly scene near the town of Hatch.

According to the probable cause statements, the office was notified on July 15 by an individual who had placed trail cameras near Asay Creek, a distributary of the Sevier River. The tipster alleged the trail cameras had recorded a company dumping what the person believed was human excrement in the area.

The specific location wasn't identified in the probable cause statement, but the arresting deputy wrote the site was approximately 4 miles south from Hatch, off a dirt road near the creek. The nearest location that fits that description is a dirt road off mile marker 111 on Highway 89 -- Asay Creek Road -- which follows the meandering waterway into the Dixie National Forest.

The creek is one of the Sevier River headwaters. It has a high fish population and can be a hotspot for anglers.

"I went to the area and observed several different sites where it appeared human waste had been dumped," according to court documents filed by the investigating deputy. "Most of the sites were older, but there was a smell consistent with raw sewage and what appeared to be dried toilet paper and female hygiene items."

The report added that one the multiple sites where excreta had appeared to have been dumped was "very recent" as evidenced "due to the ground still being wet."

GCSO's investigation began that day, according to the deputy's report.

Just over two weeks later, on July 23, the deputy was notified once again regarding the suspect vehicle.

"The same reporting party advised me that he, by a photo notice from his trail camera, told me there were vehicles in the area where the dump site was with (an) excavator," according to the arrest report.

Sheriff's deputies responded to the scene in the 1 p.m. hour and discovered three adults working at the site, one of whom was identified as Sindi Vetere, the owner of A-Action Sanitation, which operates in southern Utah and northern Arizona and is listed on its website as being "a division of RD & B Enterprises."

The other two suspects were identified by the arresting deputy as the owner's husband, Weston Vedere, who was attempting to clean up the dumping site with an excavator.

The third individual was one of their employees, James Torgerson, who reportedly admitted to dumping the detritus and used sanitary items in the first place, the deputy wrote.

"Sindi said that when James had made her aware that it was he who had dumped the human waste in the area, that it was determined they would all go and clean up the mess that James had made," according to the GCSO report. "None of the parties present said they had reported the incident to anyone and had not received permission from the state, who owns the property where the human waste was dumped, to dig or alter the land."

All three are facing potential felony charges in the incident, according to court documents.

Sindi Vetere was arrested on suspicion of third-degree felony obstruction of justice for not disclosing the illegal dump to authorities. Weston Vetere was booked on suspicion of the same.

In addition to suspicion of third-degree felony obstruction of justice, Torgerson was also arrested on suspicion of third-degree felony knowingly and unlawfully discharge pollutants.

2News has reached out to the Utah Department of Water Quality for details on how extensive the damage may be, and if the dump site had polluted the Asay Creek, Sevier River, or had contaminated any groundwater.

2News has also reached out to A-Action Sanitation for comment.

Neither party had responded at the time this article was published.