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Show ipirniiirwNtii Miaig riTi'yi i I.m ' ?" i- -'Yr .'rnrnmMldSjmmmCP, vem Can the Cannery Wm tc. t Aln HmM UT u4i im4 ct.it KtOf t IH.h toummutr. M xMrm dOT9 f - HmiH Uf' U t Main Mml UT MANTI, UTAH I4M2. THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 50Cotopyi come back? Mfcrt (See page 6) 1S7 76 of residents sign for natural gas service BY PAT MELLOR The main line serving Manti City with natural gas from Mountain Fuel Supply will run along the railroad y north of the city track and then along 500 West in the city, Doyle Coates of Mountain Fuel Supply advised the Manti City Council last Wednesday evening. The main line will be steel tested to 1800 pounds per square inch and is planned for a maximum pressure of 750 psi, Coates said. The Mountain Fuel spokesman told the council that about 76 percent of the residents contacted during the gas companys recent sign-u- p effort had indicated an intention to use the new utility service. Coates also noted that it is his understanding that more local personnel will be hired by the installation contractors. Mr. Coates also encouraged Manti service for City to consider a one-ca- ll service calls, in order to utility system allow for the quickest maximum response in times of utility service interruptions, and said he would provide the council with more information on this concept. Fence Good channel The council approved a proposal from A. William Peterson of Deseret Insurance, whose offices are located on Main Street, whereby he will purchase fencing materials to fence off the flood channel banks along the length of his property if the city will provide the personnel to do the work of constructing the fence. Councilman Galen Christiansen strongly endorsed this project from the standpoint of safety, noting that the banks in the area are still treacherous and a steep drop into the water during runoff season. right-of-wa- . City Offer rejected attorney Paul Frischknecht reviewed an offer for an settlement received from DeBry and Associates on the Call Engineering case which was recently heard by the Utah State Supreme Court. The case arose when Manti City retained Call Engineering to do some preliminary engineering work on a proposed municipal sewer system. After about 10 months. Call Engineering was informed by the city council that the companys services were no longer desired. The city subsequently hired another engineering firm and completed the sewer ponds, and Call Engineering sued for breach of contract. In the lower court, the engineering company lost. Call then appealed the decision to the State Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in a precedent-settin- g court session held March 5 in St. George. The decision is still awaited. Mr. Frischknecht told the council that he believes the maximum possible exposure the city might suffer would amount to about $14,000 if the district court decision is reversed by the Supreme Court. The council members, some of whom were affronted at the tone of the DeBry letter offering the settlement, decided to take no action on the offer. Water, aewer billings combined Shutting off customers culinary water service because of overdue sewer billings is not an appropriate recourse in collection procedures, Mr. Frischknecht advised the council, unless the water and sewer billings are combined on the monthly statements sent out. The city attorney was asked by the council to draft an ordinance combining the functions of water and sewer together in order to enforce payment of the sewer fees. Mr. Frischknecht also outlined a compromise proposal to offer to Hal Davis, a local trailer court operator who claims he was overbilled for water service for several years. Persona equipment Councilman Galen Christiansen told the council that city mechanic Mike Dennis had been told that he could not do private work at the city yard, and that Mr. Dennis had then decided to take home several items of welding equipment used at the yard, which are his own. Mr. Christiansen pointed out that the type of welding equipment owned personally by Mr. Dennis is necessary for many of the repair tasks done on city equipment at the city yard, and asked if the city wanted to purchase the welding equipment needed, which he estimated would cost about $2,200. The councilman also attacked the policy stating that Dennis could not perform private work at the city yard, noting that the mechanic was using his own equipment to accomplish this work and that it was being done after hours, and in very low volume. Councilman Max Call told Mr. Christiansen that it was concern about city employees being in competition with private enterprise that had prompted the councils actions. Recorder Bill Mickelson advised the council that Mr. Dennis used his own tools to repair the citys equipment and never charged the city for any of them; in fact, the mechanic had refused to submit a bill to the city for such work. Councilman Larry Cox brought the debate to a close by saying he would like to look into the entire matter further, and the other members of the council agreed to let the matter be further reviewed by Mr. Cox. Councilman Lee J. Anderson presented several suggestions for purchases to the council including equipment and fertilizer for the spring cleaning of the city cemetery, and advised the council that during the spells of intermittent bad weather anticipated in the next few weeks, the sexton will paint the inside of the fire station if he is unable to work outdoors. Prison proposal discussed A meeting called at the Ephraim City Hall by citizens with concerns about the proposed location of a prison in Sanpete County turned out an estimated 80 persons last Thursday night. According to one of the main participants, the meeting lasted two hours and ended up not really answering anything." Councilman Mark Anderson said he had indeed made the reservation of the city hall's meeting space for the group of citizens known to be opposed to the construction of the facility, but added that he personally was not the organizer of the meeting, nor did he feel that efforts to actively oppose the facility should be made at this time. Anderson said the chief spokesman for the group of Ephraim citizens opposed to the facility is Gary Nelson, and the councilman said Nelson approached him about holding such a meeting on the Snow College campus. Anderson said he told Nelson the use of the campus for such a purpose would put the school in an awkward position, and offered to reserve the Ephraim City hall instead. "Next thing I knew, I walked into the meeting about 15 minutes late and discovered I was the moderator for the evening. I was kind of surprised," Anderson recounted. Therald Wernz, an Ephraim resident and director of Utahs Social Services for District 4, said the meeting was heavily attended by Sanpete Search and Rescue Patrol members and local law enforcement officers, who apparently favor construction of the corrections facility in Sanpete. Wernz said it appeared to him that while opponents of the corrections facility didn't want a prison in Sanpete, they presented no viable alternatives in terms of industry capable of employing 200 or more persons. "I thought maybe they had another option lined up," another attendee said, "but it turned out they didnt. Anderson agreed that "about all we did was bring up questions. I dont think anything really got answered. Thus far, the Division of Corrections has not released any information on the specifications it will require for a potential corrections site, nor even specific facility information on the number of inmates expected to be housed. Such information is anticipated within the next couple of weeks, according to a committee member working to bring the facility to Sanpete. Councilman Anderson said on Monday that personally he feels opponents of the proposed facility might save their energy and wait until it is ascertained whether Sanpete will even be among the counties selected as possible sites: "I can't see letting this thing divide the community . . .1 can't see polarizing people over what could turn out to be nothing, at this point." Early retirement may tempt some The South Sanpete School District has 31 employees whb qualify for early retirement under the provisions of the states newly adopted early retirement program. However, Supt. Scott Bean doesnt expect to see that many South Sanpete School District personnel opt for early retirement. "We could lose 7 to 10 teachers and three or more staff people to early retirement, Superintendent Bean said. And because there will be more than the usual number of good teaching and administrative jobs open up all over the state, he said some South Sanpete employees may want to transfer to other districts. However, he doesn't anticipate any trouble filling vacancies that may occur. i And some of the retiring teachers may not be replaced because of dwindling enrollments, particularly on the elementary school level, he said. Overall the state could lose nearly 4,000 school employees to early retirement. And that exodus could save the state an estimated $8,000,000 in salaries. Thats because the replacements for the retiring employees will go on the payroll at much lower salaries than the retirees at the top of the salary brackets. Although the state may benefit financially from the new retirement law, this isnt true for the school districts, Superintendent Bean said. "We must return to the state any savings that occur on the district level, he explained. The new law allows school employees with 25 years of service to retire this summer and collect full benefits regardless of their age. And it gives districts the option of keeping some key personnel on an extra year to ease the transition. Otherwise, in order to qualify, applicants must file for early retirement by May 31 and leave between July 1 and Sept. 16. Under the old law only two or three South Sanpete teachers retired each year. In fact, last year there were none. This year at the most there will not be more than 10 to 12 employees take the early retirement route out of a possible 31, Supt. Bean thinks. Why not more? "What would I do with myself if I retired? one eligible teacher asked. Rosa, Mtn. Fuel President, and Governor Norm Bangortor particlpato In ceremonies for Mtn. Fuel's new natural gas pipeline to serve central and southern Utah. ground-breakin- g Construction begins on new Mountain Fuel gas line BY BRUCE JENNINGS Mountain Fuel Supply Co. expects to begin delivering natural gas to several Sanpete County towns by early fall. In fact, the company hopes to have the delivery systems installed in Ephraim and Manti before mid-Juland Mormon Miracle Pageant time. That was the forecast that Nick Rose, Mountain Fuel president, ceremonies made at at Indianola Monday morning. Commissioners Wendell H. McGarry and Keller Christenson represented Sanpete County, Mayor Bob Warnick, Ephraim, and May Peterson, Manti at the groundbreaking, shoveling a few spadefuls of earth and bringing home the souvenir shovels. This is an historic day because it opens a new chapter in the development of our state, Governor Norman Bangerter said. He added that the advent of natural gas should give a boost to the troubled economy of the area. President Rose likened the coming y ground-breakin- g of natural gas to central and southern Utah to the coming of the railroad nearly a century ago. He said that the company pledges to share in the effort to improve the economy by bringing in a dependable supply of clean energy at a fair, competitive price. Sterling Construction Co., of Sterling, Colo., has the contract to construct the main line from Indianola to Cedar City. It will follow the Denver & Rio Grande y into Piute County. The main line will be built in 30 mile sections. MFS work crews will install the delivery systems along the route. right-of-wa- After a section has been completed and a delivery system installed, the gas will be turned out. That means Fairview will get delivery first. MFS officials wouldnt make a commitment on when Ephraim and Manti will begin getting gas, except "in time for the fall heating season, but unofficially they indicated a special effort will be made to get the lines in before mid-JulThe main line will be buried about four feet underground and will cost around $41,000,000. The delivery systems will cost $17,000,000. Initial rates for customers in the area will be about 22 percent higher than in other areas to defray start-ucosts. That is 10 to take about expected years. The rates will then be cutback. Initial heating costs will be about the same as for oil, but lower than electricity, MFS officials said. Headquarters for the new system will be in Richfield, with area offices in Cedar City and Ephraim. The Ephraim office will have about six employees. p canvass began in Sanpete County in February to explain the operation, the advantages of natural gas and sign up customers. That canvass has been completed in Sanpete and is now underway in Sevier County. "So far," President Rose said at Monday's ceremony, "the number signing up has exceeded our expectations." Those signing up have included individual home owners, businesses and industries, school districts and governmental agencies. A door-to-d- Sterling Scholars to be named Manti High School Sterling Scholar candidates will be joined by the nominees of 12 other central Utah high schools for judging at the Centerfield Ward chapel Monday. Judges from BYU, SUSC and Utah State Office of Education will examine the portfolios submitted by the candidates and interview them in selecting a winner and two runners-uin each category. The candidates submitted their portfolios to Mark and Margie of the Central Anderson, Utah Sterling Scholarship Program, by March 26. Those portfolios contained a substantial body of material, including school records, references, samples of their work and other documents. Candidates in areas like speech and music will also perform for the judges during the interviews. The winners and runners-uwill be announced at an awards program on April 2 at 7 p.m. in the North Sanpete High School auditorium. Don Olson of KSL Television will be master of ceremonies. In addition to the announcement of the winners, the program will include tributes and musical numbers by Sterling Scholars candidates in that category. During the evening the portfolios wil be on display. Each winner will receive $200 and each runner-up- , $100. Most of them p p will also receive scholarship offers from the states colleges and uni- versities. Students who participate in the program are nominated by their high school faculties. These schools are represented in the Central Utah program: Manti, Wayne, Delta, Juab, North Sanpete, Wasatch Academy, Gunnison Valley, North South Sevier, Sevier, Richfield, Millard and Tintic. Manti High Schools nominees are: Chrissy Shaw, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Shaw, Manti, English and literature; Tracy Mendenhall, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Mendenhall, Ephraim, speech and drama; Stephanie Sanderson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sanderson, Manti, mathematics; Chris Nance, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Nance, Manti, social science; Nathan Jackson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Jackson, Ephraim, foreign language; Manny Mellor, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Mellor, Manti, visual arts; Dale Henningson, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Dale H. Henningson, Manti, vocational education; Melissa Olson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Olson, Ephraim, homemaking; Lynette Daniels, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mont Daniels, Ephraim, business education; Melody Hansen, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Hansen, Ephraim, music, and Rachelle Tervort, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Tervort, Ephraim, general scholarship. Carolyn Bessey named new Manti Librarian Carolyn Bessey, Manti, has been hired as the new librarian for the Manti City Carnegie library. Kimberly Schmidt has been hired as a reserve librarian, and the City Council has appointed former Natasha Madsen to the post on the city library board vacated by Mrs. Bessey. Councilman Galen Christiansen coun-cilwom- noted that suggestions have been made that the librarys weekday hours be adjusted from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. rather than the present 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. schedule, and that Saturday hours for the library be from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The change in hours was discussed at the city council meeting last Wednesday night, but was left open for a later decision following additional review. |