Local H Union Blames MSHA for Wilber g Deaths Halt Jake tribune By Mike Gorrell Tribune Staff Writer The 27 Wilberg mine disaster victims died because the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration approved a mining system that provided insufficient escape routes if a fire occurred according to the United Mine Workers of America’s disaster report The union’s report which will be released Tuesday in Washington D C after a investigation also disputed MSHA’s preliminary determination that the Dec 19 1984 fire was started by an overheated air compressor The union believes a more likely cause of the blaze was an overheated bearing on a conveyor belt that carried cut coal from the 5th Right section where the victims were attempting to set a production record when the fire broke out The UMWA report was highly critical of MSHA charging that the federal agency contributed to the disaster through its approval of unsafe mining practices The union called for a special independent investigation of the MSHA district office that oversaw th Wilberg and other Utah mines and said MSHA's preliminary disaster re- port “sidestepped” real safety issues and whitewashed the agency’s culpability in the disaster The Tribune was unable to contact MSHA officials for a response late Monday “In this disaster 27 people were killed not because a fire occurred but because they had no way out Had effective escape routes been provided that were properly ventilated the fire should not have cost a single life” said Joe Main administrator of 3 Let 3 Days Of Their Lives Slide By Conrad Walters Tribune Staff Writer It was a three-da- y experiment testing the stamina of the human body and the mind that guides it The event an endurance contest sponsored by KBER radio to see who could climb the stairs and ride a Raging Waters slide the longest began Friday at 2 pm A first-priz- e lure of a new Suzuki Samurai drew 116 hopefuls but only 43 remained after 24 hours of exhaustion and cold Seven lasted for 1000 trips down the water slide But by Monday morning it came down to three men One was Erick Bahr whose goal was to get money for a church mission Then was a mountain-- racer named Karl who accordSmith a ing to friends loves a challenge The third was Roy resident Chuck Bass the father of twin boys and a daughter but he was too tired to rise after a 1 p m break bicycle For more than 70 hours finalists endured the battering and bumping downhill trips of the water slide At the bottom each had a cheering support group Erick the oldest boy in a family with 15 children had supporters stationed along the route shouting to keep the adrenaline surging Karl had fewer people but female lifeguards gave him the edge he See B-- 2 Column 2 ’ Karl Smith rides the slide to victory and a new Suzuki at rode the slide for 70 con- Raging Waters The Manna? County Finds Extra By Jack Fenton Tribune Staff Writer With luck and some good management Salt Lake County has fqund an extra $16 2 million tn its coffers But it’s not part of the traditional revenue stream and county auditors aie fighting to keep it in fund balances This problem may be refreshing since many county departments have gone wanting since the Salt Lake County Commission last attempted to balance its budget But County Auditor Craig Sorensen maintained this is no time for department heads to come calling with wish lists County officials say good management is responsible for some of the windfall But even after hours of analysis Mr Sorensen and his staff acknowledge they can’t explain why all that money is there There is $2 8 million from 1985 that escaped spending last year Mr Sorensen explained And property owners converging on last month’s tax sale spent $1 1 million more than projected Treasurer Arthur L Monson is quoted as feeling higher interest being charged Supreme Court Says Land Beneath Utah Lake Belongs to State Not US By Thomas H Gorey Tribune Washington Bureau In a 4 decision WASHINGTON the U S Supreme Court ruled Monday that Utah owns the bottom of Utah Lake The ruling was a victory for Utah and its top legal officers Attorney General David L Wilkinson and Solicitor General Dallin W Jensen It was a defeat for the federal government which claimed ownership of the lake bed and had issued oil and gas leases on it “Obviously we’re pleased about the decision" Mr Jensen told The Tribune “It gives Utah ownership of about 150 square miles What that may translate into as far as dollars I don’t know I don’t know if there’s any minerals or oil and gas under the lake bed Were uncertain at this ” point The high court's decision which reversed two lower federal court rulings was written by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H Rehnquist Harry A Blackmun Lewis F Powell and Antonin Scalia The dissenting opinion was written by Justice Byron R White Joining him were William J Brennan Thur-goo- d Marshall and John Paul Stevens The court’s ruling was prompted by a lawsuit that the state of Utah filed after the U S Interior Department issued oil and gas leases on the land underneath Utah Lake m 1976 Utah argued that it owned the under the “equal footing doctrine” under which all states admitted to the union enter on an "equal looting” with the original 13 states - 5-- Citing this doctrine Utah declared that it like all states entering the union before it held title to land under navigable waters The federal government claimed title to Utah Lake’s bed on the basis of an 1888 law that authorized the U S Geological Survey to select and reserve lands as reservoir sites In 1889 Major John Wesley Powell director of the Geological Survey submitted a report saying he had chosen Utah Lake as such a site W’hile Congress repealed the 1888 law with another law in 1890 the 1890 law said that reservoir sites “shall remain segregated and reserved from entry or settlement” to prevent homesteading on the reservors’ shores Although Utah entered the union in 1896 on an equal basis with the original states the federal government contended that its designation of Utah Lake as a reservoir site defeated Utah’s claim to the lake bed under g doctrine the In her opinion for the majority Justice O'Connor said there is a against find“strong presumption state’s tito the defeat an intent ing g doctrine tle” under the 1894 1926 a an and Supreme Citing Court case as precedents O’Connor wrote “Given the longstanding policy of holding land under navigable waters for the ultimate benefit f the we would not infer an instates tent to defeat a state’s equal footing entitlement from the mere act of reservation of the land itself “ The United States would have to establish that Congress affirmatively intended to defeat the fu-- r equal-footin- equal-footin- See B-- 2 Column ! re- Mr Sorensen expressed elation that elected officials and heads of departments in the general fund which y government serprovides vices saved $3 5 million from last year’s budget allocations That’s nearly three times his projected $1 2 million day-to-da- “They took the warning They cut from tight budgets’ Mr Sorensen told commissioners Still that leaves an extra $8 8 mil A 450-Mi- le the UMWA’s department of occupational health and safety and the report’s primary author The disaster’s severity was increased by failures of fire warning firefighting and fire detection systems lack of an emergency evacuation plan and inadequate training in emergency evacuation procedures and use of breathing apparatuses the UMWA report said The union consistently has criticized the government’s approval of y longwall mining plans and said the Wilberg disaster revealed te Council Tells U to Divest Africa Stocks the system’s deficiencies After the fire ignited the union said the lone air current ventilating the 5th Right section carried smoke and deadly gases into the two tunnels that were designated escapeways trapping the miners No other avenues of escape were available because MSHA allowed Emery Mining Corp which operated the mine for Utah Power & Light Co to continue mining in 5th Right although a tunnel off the longwall min- - Resolution Ends Struggle 2-Y- two-entr- in Coffers court-securit- 2 Trek From Leningrad to Moscow Utahns Lace Up for Peace Walk in By Dan Bates Tribune Staff Writer Seven Utahns left Monday for the Soviet Union with stout backpacks able footwear and a symbolic bearing toward world peace The group was sent off at Salt Lake International Airport by family friends a former US senator and a performing local Russian dance class They were off on the first leg of this year’s Great Peace Walk — a e trek from Leningrad to Moscow by 400 Soviet and American companions from many strolls of ftO-mil- life They were joining six other Utahns already in Washington D C lesfor intensive Russian-languag- e sons and further orientation at a makeshift camp on a school's grounds Shelley White among those who left Monday said the American and Soviet walkers would attempt to accent the threat of nuclear war and the prospect of harmony among different cultures “Right now if you say 'communist' most of us Americans don t know what that means” said Ms White just before her departure “If we say to them Soviets the word " ‘capitalist’ they're afraid of it She said the walkdemonstration — more of a "cultural exchange among new friends” — should start in Leningrad in about a week and take about a month to complete in the Soviet Union’s capital This year s Great Peace Walk is a variation on 1986 s feat in which hundreds ventured across the United States J ear By Peter Scarlet Tribune Education Editor The University of Utah Institutional Council Monday directed the university administration to divest its See B-- 2 Column 5 stock holdings in companies that do business in South Africa The decision came after two years of struggle with the issue which at one point last year resulted in the erection of protest shanties on the U of U campus and judicial intervention M John Ashton the only council member to vote against Desmond Barker Jr’s motion that the council divest said he wasn't convinced the action was the best way to reflect the university’s opposition to apartheid in South Africa or that it would do any good for South African blacks Miles Parker representing student groups that have persistently called upon the council to divest expressed pleasure at Monday's decision but criticized the institutional council as an "undemocratic" body that didn’t reflect the university s diversity Approved by the council was a resolution directing the university s investment managers to divest stocks in U S companies doing business in South Africa The resolution would except gift stocks — the university has one Texaco stock — given to the university on condition it retain the stock The resolution concluded by stating that only m “highly unusual circumstances” should the university adopt institutional political positions Council members’ vote drew heavy applause and several shouts of “it's about time” or “congratulations" from divestment activists attending the meeting in the Alumni House board room For sometime now council members have tied the university’s investment policy regarding stock of companies doing business m South Africa with the principles expounded by the Rev Leon Sullivan of Philadelphia Last week the cleric spurned his earlier principles and called for total divestment in South Africa American — Tribune Stall Photo by Al Hartmann companies in South Africa following secutive hours to win first place outlasting 115 other comhis principles provided blacks equal petitors The contest began Saturday and ended Monday pay and benefits as white workers and ignored apartheid laws in the work place Mr Barker earlier promised the university would have to reassess its divestment position should the Rev Mr Sullivan change or repudiate his adlion that has appeared literally out of Monday as commissioners and principles since the university’s polinowhere visers began considering mid year cy has been based on the Sullivan budget adjustments and tax rates principles Mr Barker is chairman of Spending the money however needed to finance the package shouldn’t be a problem A massive the council s subcommittee on apartA public hearing on the matter is heid and divestment issues Other want list ranges from $780000 to fischeduled June 16 members are council members Donnance flood control projects trimmed from 1987 spending plans to Sheriff Mr Sorensen is vehemently op- ald Pugh Jacque Morgan and LeonPete Hayward s plea for 104 000 for a posed to expanding programs That ard Lewis Ms Morgan is student y plan started early this becomes a 1988 commitment against body president In explaining his vote against the year $282000 to pay jailers and buy stagnant revenue streams furniture for a $3 million mental Mr Sorensen and his staff would resolution Mr Asnton said blacks in health wing scheduled to open in Occarry that money into next year South Africa probably benefited tober and on and on more from American companies when they believe financial prob“This is not a time for new spendlems will be even more intense there following the Sullivan prm-Se- e B-That s insurance Column 2 ing requests" Mr Soiensen declared $162 Million late taxes prompted owners to deem early on Tuesday Morning — June 9 1987 Section B Page 1 Ms White USSR a documentary-fil- major at the University of Utah was among the state's contingent who took part in that walk as a grip on a film crew The other 12 Utahns joining the Soviet walk are Stephen Randall Tom Johnson Coreen Cummings Dick Sherwood Tom Malloy Betn Malloy Suzanne Malloy Donna Kiddie Sandy Boudrou Deeann Downing Logan Hebner and Michael Padgett at the airAmong port Monday was former U S Sen who is presiFrank Moss dent of Utahns United Against the Nuclear Arms Race "We believe this imaginative undertaking will bring a better understanding to people m both the United States and the Soviet Union” he said in a news release Adrian Riuz — an instructor of well-wishe- Russian dance for East High School’s Community Education program — and some of his students performed a few sendoff numbers at the airport boarding gate He urged the walkers to “bridge that gap between us and the Soviet people” and to “bring to them our friendship and love ” Up to 230 Americans will link up with some 200 Soviets for the peace jaunt according to orgaof the Amerinizers Seventy-nin- e cans who took part in last year’s walk will walk again this year 450-mi- le Utahs contingent is the largest per capita of any of the other 27 states represented Spokesmen for the organizing group — the International Peace — 1 ' iDur? Van Hhoto Dy Dr MHhH Shelley White leaves for the UJSSR along with six other Utahns to join 400 Americans and Russians in a peace march Walk Inc — say Utahs number ranks third overall behind 82 walkers from California and 22 from Colorado They said the average cost per walker is about $2500 The Utahns United organization is soliciting donations to help pay the expenses of many participants all of w horn first must post payment for travel and food m the Soviet Union before they begin the walk Contributions can be sent to Utahns United 1000 Walker Center 175 South Main St Salt Lake City Utah 84111