Show Sunday April 25 2004 A3 and regional news Local state Aggies with excessive credits to pay more rate will be imposed spring term ’05 dents with taxpayer dollars” said Joyce Kinkead vice provost for undergraduate studies and research "The state has a vested interest in having students graduate” About 15 percent of a student’s total cost of education comes from the student she said The state pays about 35 patent of that total and the rest comes through federal funds grants private gifts and auxiliaries uke the bookstore and housing Abachelor’s degree at USU cred6 requires a its When the university calculated the 135 percent the target was set at 170 credits Kinkead said which is really generous “Wevve tried to be as generous as possible in defining the limit” she said A university analysis revealed 158 credits One students have 170-ple of student has 258 credits the students in excess will graduate Out-of-sta- te By Hilary Judd staff writer Utah State students exceeding 13S percent of graduation requirements — that’s 170 credits versus the required 120 — will pay tuition beginning next year Like all Utah higher education institutions USU will implement the new State Board of Regents’ Policy S10 It requires students beyond the set credit limit after fall semester to be charged tuition rates ' beginning in spring 200S “The legislature said they didn’t really want to fund professional stu state-alott- out-of-sta- te 120-12- ed " out-of-sta- te us Fifty-nin- next week Priority registration allows earlier access for students with more credits So a student with 200 credits could register for a course taking the spot a student with fewer credits may need to graduate with only 120 total credits Kinkead said The goal is to not block limited availability she said Bottleneck courses can delay graduation espe- cially when they’re flooded with students repeating courses or piking more credits than necessary for a degree stuIn the fall USU will dents with 170 credits letting them know they’re ova the limit Kinkead said An to students with 150 credits will caution them about ing the limit “Students who hit 170 credits during fall semester would have to pay the surcharge in spring semester if limited-availabili- ty ail ail they’re not exempt” Kinkead said Exemptions according to the policy include concurrent enrollment advanced placement and credit by examination courses Other surcharge waivers include credits necessary for a program some transfer cases enhancement to a major or reentry after many existing credits o For example a student transfer with several may religion credits Kinkead said Those credits would add to the total credit count but wouldn’t count toward a USU major This student would qualify fa a waiva Worried students in an "initial panic” have contacted Kinkead she said But they usually fit into die exemptions MU Warner a forma aerospace ' d engineering major is now a psychology senior He said he “wasn’t too happy” about the policy The Alaska native pays resident tuition BYU-ldah- pre-me- now but thinks his pocketbook may be affected next year because he’ll be “way over” die limit “If they’re going to make me pay out of state tuition I may go to another school or transfer back to Alaska” he said “There ’s no sense paying taxes in this slate if I can’t get any benefit from it” Though he said he can see the logic if someone’s jumping from major to major that’s not how he’s doing it Warner hasn’t yet looked at the exemption petition which may exempt him It names the reason for the waiver creates a plan and an estimated graduation date “When you fill out and explain what exemption you fit” Kinkead said “we want to know the plan for graduation The goal is to get the degree and get a plan set” ppl-icy- semester-bysemest- er Cache law enforcement Walker r is ‘critical’ SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Despite the green grass blooms of spring and recent rain Gov Olene Walker reminded residents Friday that water levels remain dangerously low as the hot and dry months approach A solid snowpack in the mountains was sharply reduced by a warm dry March and what’s left on the mountains will not produce enough runoff to replenish the state’s depleted reser-- 1 voirs “It’s not getting better We’re in critical condition We need to start now to conserve” said Walker who signed an executive onter directing state agencies to begin wata conservation efforts The need to conserve water comes up almost annually but usually not until it’s deep into the summer months when precipitation is sometimes rare in July or August Looking around the Salt Lake Valley where it's still the green and lush of early spring there appears to be iu lack of water but conservation advocates say that is very misleading “I’m not sure the general public ' saidCariy Burton executive directofbf the Utah Wata Users Associationd There has been some rain the past few days in the valley However most of it is absorbed immediately by the soil where moisture levels have been drained by the drought Topsoilisthe first to refill so getting the reserve levels back up will take much moire than a handful of rain " ' storms'’ The state is asking consumers to use' wata only as needed andavoid watering during the hottest daytime hours And with the cool temperatures of the past couple of weeks Walker said residents can wait a week to begin wata- ’ i V? ing their lawns Turning off automatic sprinklers when it’s raining would also help the conservation effort The' more wata that is conserved the more wata that will be available when it’s needed most in a few months “I think at some point we may have determine what the priorities are on the use of wata’ Walker said “My hope' is that ty being smart in how we use wata ana conserving wata that We won’t have to take the drastic steps that we would have to take” 'Those she said would include efforts municipalities started rationing ' -i v earlier than normal ' ' Burton said his organization repre- senfs water interests in the state including agricultural municipal and ' industrial Businesses and cities have been dealing with shortened wata ' supplies for years but Burton would like to see citizens add tp the effort He said he saw sprinklers running during the rain this week giving lawns an unnecessary double shot of wata when one may not even be nec-: ' Lt Kim Cheshire of the Cache County Sheriff’s Office explains that there was no prior notice condffion appears so chaotic: fa the inmates BrentStevensHeraJd Journal to move from the old jai which is why its - much-neede- County officials survey aftermath of move to new facility It's hard to imagine missing a place like the old Cache County Jail but Sheriff’s Sgt Mat! ’ Bilodeau does bfthe abandoned During a facility on Thursday Bilodeau said certain things reminded him of former employees who no longer work for the sheriffYoffice And " then there were die passageways he walked through every day since joining the agency in 1987 until the new jail on 200 Noth West of ' Logan opened last month “I’m very nostalgic” Bijodeaii said “It’s hard to say goodbye to airold friend” " The old jail biiih in 1963 and expanded in 1992 is slated to be tom down this spring The initial target date fa demolition was May 1 ' but Sheriffs Lt KimCheshire said that might have to be pushed back a little while officials ' scramble to salvage things like computers ' cameras and furniture Since moving out of the old jail March 25 they’ve also unbolted all the ' bunk beds from the concrete floors and trans- ported them to the new facility ’There’s still a lot of stuff to be moved” said Cheshire the county’s jail commando V "C Officials will even try to salvage things like cell bars in the original sec-the tiori of the jail Cheshire said it’s possible thru r otha jails will buy thon “I’m going to a meeting of the Amoican Jail : Association next week so I'll see if I can get any feelers there” he said If not Cheshire said officials have discussed the possibility of cutting up the biira aid sell- ing the pieces as collectors items ‘They’re selling (old) Yankees seats so why couldn’t we?" he Said While it’s unclear when the exterior of the i" v : ed i them --KimCheshire - : Cpr-rcetio- ns sherrif’s lieutenant : ' - - ‘ hesaid: Since the move the jail’s population has ballooned from 1 1 7 to 1 82 That includes 48 state prison inmates whom the Department of has been shipping up from Draper iat a rate of about 15 per week The DOC is paying the county $43 pa day per inmate to house ' more orderly fashion but we didn’t want the inmates to know we weremoving" : ! problems” “We could haye moved in a walk-throu- gh ’ “That’s not to say that we didn’t have our """ng : - ‘It makes me want to stop and knock on dieir door and tell them to Shut it off” he said VI don’t say any- more ’it can't get any worse 1 don’t ' By John Wright staff writer building will be razed parts of the interia look like they’ve already been hit with a wrecking ball Officials had to knock but parts of walls to get the bunks out and old mattresses and pillows are strewn about the floors of the housing areas On the inmate tables there are cups magazines and even a monopoly game that apparently was in progress when the securi-- : moving beUrang Cheshire said that weren’t toldabout the inmates trip ty reasons until 10 minutes beforehand v “We could have moved in a more orderly fashion but we didn’t want the inmates to v ° know we were moving” he said Designed to hold just 68 inmate the old jail was severely overcrowded Cheshire explained that the 1992 expansion was built to house 28 additional inmates but held 48 more on mov- ing day after the jail became the first in Utah with triple bunks Meanwhile the old “drunk tank” where intoxicated inmates were tradi- tionally held ended up being used to house three female inmates Cheshire said managing the crowded out- iiiatfri facility Wasn’t easy but with the coordi- nation of staff and cooperation of inmates officials managed to avoid any majainci--doit- s- fa f' -- " ‘ Cheshire said he expects the new jail which has a capacity of 360 inmates will have a pop- In addition ulatipn of about 225 by mid-Ma- y to more state prisoners he expects a continue ing increase in the number of county inmates That's partly because with plenty of space at its disposal the sheriff's office has abandoned the “matrix” a scoring system used to deter-mine- d whether arrestees are eligible to be released bn their own recognizance Now inmates are simply gi ven a bond and if they can’t pay it they must Wait to go before a ' judge 1 The sherifT s office recently finished hiring the 16 additional employees needed to help staff the new jailSome Willstart wokinefauly' months May but others will haye to wait barause the trainingacademy's nextsession doesn't begin untilMay 19 In the meantime -the shoilTs office is working With roughly the same nutriba of employees it had at the old ! fa : facility “We’re busy and it's stressful because there’s just so much to do” Cheshire said : short-staffed Despite the fact that he's currently Cheshire said he doesn't miss the old jail Bilodeau on the other hand admitted that and far the new facility is more more spacious However the old jail will ' always have a plaice in his heart “I like old things" he said “Any time a piece of history is gone it kind of hurts” user-friend- ly ’s |