OCR Text |
Show IWELJ-'' It JBWal Kristi Staton, 23, daughter of Harold and Cathy Staton. who reside at the junction of Hwy 12 and US89, drew out one of 10 special buck antelope permits this year on the John's Valley unit With one shot of her Savage 7mm, she brought down her prize only 20 minutes into the hunt on opening day. Not luck, just lots of scouting trips weeks in advance. County Commissioners Look Into Ostriches Garfield County Commissioners Maloy Dodds and Clare Ramsay received an in-depth lesson on ostriches as Commission Chairman Louise Liston and a man and wife team of ostrich ranchers discussed the ins and outs of raising and slaughtering the gangly birds whose meat is rapidly gaining popularity on the American dinner table. Will and Tina Honsvick are proposing to establish their ostrich farm in Garfield County under the name Sunrunner Ostrich Ranch. Explaining the financial end of the proposal was Roy Salisbury of Strategic Alliance Holding Corporation Corpo-ration who participated by telephone. tele-phone. Investment bankers by trade, SAHC people will be working work-ing with the Honsvicks on financing finan-cing and obtaining an industrial bond. The Honsvicks were seeking help from the county in obtaining an industrial revenue bond to bring in their operation to be located near Panguitch. The Honsvicks were probably surprised to learn that Commissioner Commis-sioner Liston already knew a good deal about ostrich farming her husband and two sons are also in the business and Liston had some probing and interesting questions ques-tions for the couple and their financial representative. Will Honsvick said that ostrich ranching has been growing steadily since the 1980's, largely as stock raising and just now moving into a viable slaughter market. The Honsvicks propose to bring in their ranching operation and also open an ostrich-only slaughter facility. They will bring in their birds, starting off with a "trio" (one rooster and two hens) and later bringing in an additional 10 trios. The Honsvicks are seeking bonding to purchase the ranch, the birds and the slaughter house, but Liston had reservations that assisting assist-ing the Honsvicks might set a precedent for others who may come in seeking similar assistance from the county. She expressed concerns about the slaughter house in Milford that currently must seek birds from outside Utah to stay fully operational. opera-tional. But Honsvick told Liston that he had commitments from Arizona, Ari-zona, New Mexico and his own ranch of 10 birds a day, five days a week. He said he anticipates having slaughter-ready birds by spring by purchasing between 400 and 600 chicks out of Illinois and Texas. Honsvick said he hopes to bring them in late September or October, as soon as his pens are constructed. He expects, if his financing comes into place, to start construction on the slaughter facility in midsummer mid-summer 1997. He said h'e will have 150 trios within five years from the 10 trios they will bring in. Honsvick, who has a degree in (See Commissioners Look Into Ostriches On Page 2A) Travis Shakespear, 21, of Henrieville got this 4x4, 28-inch buck on the final morning of the archery hunt. Travis won't share the exact location, let's just say near Pine Lake. It weighed approximately 187 pounds. County Commissioners Look Into Ostriches x "few. I zoology, said he had been learning C the ropes of ostrich farming by t working on an ostrich ranch for the past two years, functioning in all parts of the operation and steeping himself in ostrich literature. He told the commission that he has consulted with other breeders and that his plan is "100 percent feasible." He said that 10 percent of all j chicks born will be reserved for breeding purposes. For the first three years, they will import breeders, but after that he will no longer need to import. He expects to have 150 roosters and 300 hens, dealing strictly in trios. He said that Zions ostrich ranch, a well-known well-known operation, had grown from 10 trios to more than a 1000 breeding breed-ing hens in less than two years. Honsvick said he will have five employees the first year, expanding to 20 to 30 by the fifth year of operation. The purpose of the ranching operation and slaughter house will be to sell the meat. He said seasonal workers will be used to augment his full time employees. Salisbury, by telephone, said that he had done exhaustive financial finan-cial research on the ostrich business, busi-ness, looking into all apparent discrepancies. dis-crepancies. He said the goal would be to use an industrial bond as a mechanism to raise the bulk of the capital to put the ranch and slaughter slaugh-ter house into full operation. He said no profit could be expected to show until the second year of operation. oper-ation. Salisbury said that their company com-pany perceived ostrich ranching as generally conducted as very small ' (See Commissioners Look Into ! Ostriches On Page 3A) Commissioners And Ostriches From Page 2A business, almost a "Mom and Pop" situation. The reason they have become involved in Honsvick's Sunrunner ranch and slaughter house proposal is that it is designed to be a full scale, large business operation. He said what they are looking for from the county is a commitment commit-ment to supporting the ranch and to support an industrial bond procedure to sell the bonds to the public through their own people and through licensed bond dealers. It would be accomplished, he said, as a conduit using county and state bonding procedures. Salisbury said he is checking into Utah's bonding process and will get back to the county when he has details firmed up. He said if Sunrunner tried to issue its own bonds, they would be non-rated bonds, considered junk bonds. If on the other hand the county provides the support through an industrial revenue bond process, the bonds issued would carry the county's higher rating, making them much more salable. Commissioner Dodds wanted to know the total cost of the project and the risk to the county and to Sunrunner. Salisbury said that Sunrunner would accept responsibility responsi-bility for all debts and obligations of the corporation and, if the corporation failed, it could wipe out the principals and force them into bankruptcy. He said he could not explain the county's potential responsibility and andor liability without the information he had asked for from the state which he anticipates receiving momentarily. He told the commission that the amount of money to be raised is $2 million which may or may not be all bond money. He estimated the cost in the process at 14 percent of the total to cover accounting, commissions com-missions for the bond sales people, and all other expenses from start to finish. He said the bonds would be going for a minimum of $1,225,0.00 and a maximum of $2 million. County attorney Wallace Lee said that he believed the county had done such a bond only once before, for Ticaboo. Liston said that it had brought in mineral lease moneys and other benefits to the county. "Historically speaking," Salisbury Salis-bury said, "the reason that an industrial revenue bond is used by a county or state is to attract business to bring more business employment employ-ment and value to the community. It happens to be a highly under-used mechanism." He added that the reason it may not be more used could be due to the complexity and difficulties of the process, a "paper monster," he said. "It's a very complex transaction and I think people shy away from it for that reason." He said that they will also approach Panguitch City about industrial revenue bonds, making it a joint effort between the two government entities. Salisbury said that while the bonding process itself would take time, they were prepared to help Honsvick financially to get his operation underway while the bonding bond-ing process is in the works. Honsvick said he was hoping to get things moving this month because of a need to get his chicks acclimated. The commissioners thanked the men for their input and prepared for a scheduled public hearing on another matter. |