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Show 2 Vernal Express Wednesday, August 1 3. 1997 OpiniOn aild COmmCD-taiy JACK-STRAWS Business complaints by Jack Wallis The Better Business Bureau of Utah has reported an increase in its year-to-date services. Calls to the Utah office have jumped 23 percent compared to the same period last year. A recent survey of 200 callers to the BBB indicated that the money transaction related to their inquiry averaged over S4.000. Multiplying the 74.652 inquiries received through June by the Bureau on specific spe-cific individual' companies by S4.000 equals over S29S million in marketplace purchases impacted by just one of the Bureau's services in 1997 so far. A listing of the top five industries that are the subject sub-ject of inquiry and complaint to the BBB of Utah are listed as follows: INQUIRIES: No. 1 Home construction, remodeling remodel-ing and maintenance companies. No. 2 Automobile sales, repair and maintenance companies. No. 3 Seminar marketing companies. No. 4 Multi-level marketing companies. No. 5 Business opportunity companies. COMPLAINTS: No. 1 - Computer sales and service ser-vice companies. No. 2 Automotive sales, repair and maintenance companies. No. 3 Retail merchandising mer-chandising companies. No. 4 Home construction, remodeling and maintenance companies. No. 5 Credit and collection related companies. One reason the computer complaints are high in Utah is because of all the nationally prominent companies com-panies havinc all or part of their operations located in Utah. The Council of Better Business Bureaus and the Federal Trade Commission have launched a public education campaign against investment fraud. Statistics for recent years indicate that inquiries and complaints to the BBB system about investments have risen dramatically. While many investment offers are legitimate, every offer deserves close scrutiny before investing. Here are some tips for investors: Be wary of unsolicited phone calls, letters, e-mail e-mail or visits from strangers offering investments. Remember the higher the return, the higher the risk. Refuse pressure to invest immediately, a good deal will be here after your investigation. Always examine written information about the offer, review the "risk" section of the prospectus. Read and understand any contract before signing. sign-ing. Check to see if the salesperson andor promoter is licensed with regulatory agencies. Check the company's reliability report with the BBB. "The world judges you. not by what you stand for, but what you fall for. Why not let the BBB help you in making the right choice." Members can call a hotline hot-line 1-801-487-4300 or bring up on the Web Page at www.bbb.ora. WHAT'S that? ( ITS A 'RAIN MAKER " (HOW DUZ IT WORK ? WELL YOU BUILD A FIRE UNDER. IT AND WHEN A LIQUID FILLS THE JU& YOU DRINK IT AMD i .AFTER A WHILE YOU V DON T CARE IF IT 1VRANSORNOT7 -2 1 rrfVV J X. I'vT... I V a via - .bv A JlAFTER A WHILE YOU J Slb )AADONTCARE IF IT (TT W PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters let-ters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent perti-nent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions as to contents, if not libelous or vindictive and of reasonable length (two typewritten double spaced pages). Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express and bear the writer's full name, signature, phone number and address. Letters may be mailed, faxed at 789-8690 or through e-mail at editoreas-ilmk.com. editoreas-ilmk.com. The name or names of those submitting letters must appear on all published letters. All letters let-ters are subject to condensation. Letters express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of the Express Editor. L Darkness to Light Dear Editor. We attended two performances of the locally produced pro-duced "From Darkness to Light" at Vernal Jr. High. If there is another performance at a later date I'm sure we will attend that. Obviously the word cot around regarding the show since the night of the final performance. Monday. Aug. 11.1 could not see a vacant seat in the auditorium. We left the performances emotionally drained from both laughing and cry ing but well rewarded for attending. attend-ing. The volume of superb talent we continue to exhibit in our small community is wonderful. STAN & CHRIS ANDERSON Vernal Museum location Dear Editor. The UnK force for the revitaliation of the Utah Field House presented a workshop last Tuesday. I think this ta-k force has done some very creative work, and they arc to be commended for all their hard work. An area of concern is a lack of adequate parking. Many of the museum' parking spaces are currently used not by patrons of the museum, but by local people who want to go to the Skillet, the courthouse, or the library, becjun; of the lack of adequate paiking those three entities have. According to the architect, as long as the museum is in an urban setting, parking will always be less than desirable. The team slated that they fell the museum rtcedcJ to stay in its present location "because of the downtown businesses," When asked directly if anv studies had been done to verify that Ihc present Wat ion was necessary to ihe economy of the down-lown. down-lown. he was honesi enough to say that no research has been done. The downtown businesses. most of which are not tourism related, already have a problem with lev tlun adequate parking for the local people. The maji'tity of the "walk-in" traffic to ihose tourism related relat-ed businesses i commg from (he motels, noi the museum muse-um Why ate e looking to maintain the present location, loca-tion, Miner than expanding one of our besi tourism attritions? With a move to another, more spacious location, a nue large museum with more than adequate Express (ISSN 0892-1031) ,-,) K t vrf'a 9'M hn IM W M C5Vtt 5--J - cS-ji 16 Vt&SAfc tfttfSS P 0 6c Vs jt mi trffmn ltyt W"f V tfi tx-m fa a$M . U tea VWf hwKtfiv Vry t a1 parking could be built, and at less cost than remodeling the existing one. There could be a covered botanical garden setting for the dinosaurs, which was one of the original plans. A wing to feature our local artists, some of whom are world renowned, a wing to feature Native Americans, explorers, etc. the ideas are limitless. We should be looking to strengthen, and expand our tourism base with the resulting positive impact on our economy. The museum in Cody, Wyo.. is a destination in itself, not just a place to hold the Yellowstone visitor a day longer. Their downtown is reaping the benefits. The new visitor center in Jensen is finding that a large percentage of visitors that stop there did not even see the museum, and did not know that there was any place for them to park their big motor homes. We need to look into our future and ask ourselves, is the present location the best answer to a strong tourism attraction, or would a better location mean more visitation and more dollars? I hope some unbiased research would be the next, most logical step. Please voice any questions or comments to one of the members of the committee. SHARON BRESHEARS Vernal District hosts training The Uintah Special Service District will host a training train-ing seminar for all special districts in the tri-county area. The training meeting is scheduled for Tuesday. Aug. 19. at Western Park. The session will commence at 10 a.m. and will conclude at 2 p.m. Jan T. Fumer. executive director of the Utah Association of Special District will provide instruction on: board training, special district purchasing compliance, compli-ance, special district board selection procedure, budgeting, bud-geting, fiscal procedures and other topics. "It is important that we understand and comply with existing laws," said Kate Erickson, Uintah Special Serv ice district manaeer. Foruner sheriff seeks $36,000 legal fees The 1994 felony case against former for-mer Uintah County Sheriff Lloyd Meacham totaled about $450. but he is now seeking payment of his $36,000 legal "fees from Uintah County. After Sheriff Meacham pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors and was put out of office in 1994, he gave Uintah County Commissioners an unpaid $36,000 legal bill. The legal fees were for payment to Salt Lake City lawyer Loni DeLand to defend Meacham against three felony charges which Judge Ronald Hyder. 8th District Court, later dismissed. dis-missed. Utah Law, passed in 1977, requires taxpayers to reimburse public officials for legal costs in defending criminal charges that arise from their public duties, and end in acquittal. The law is on the books to protect public officials from bearing the expense of unfounded charges. So far former Millard County Administrator has a $51,000 legal bill in successfully defending himself him-self against charges of public corruption cor-ruption and theft. The taxpayers will be stuck with the bill. The statue does not specifically address public officials who beat only part of a multicount complaint, but DeLand argues he is entitled to fees associated with the dismissed felony counts in the Meacham case. In April of 1994, Meacham pleaded plead-ed guilty to three misdemeanor charges of falsified government records. Judge Hyde granted the request to dismiss the felony charges because he believed Meacham was not in a position of fiduciary responsibility which is needed to charge him with the felony charges of "misuse of public funds. This is just a case of a patrol officer filing a false report," Judge Hyde said during the 1994 hearing. Deputy Attorney General Michael Wimms requested a recess so he could refile the felony charges as "theft by deception." During the recess. Meacham agreed to plead guilty to three class B misdemeanor charges of falsification falsifica-tion or alteration of government records, if the felony charges were dismissed. Judge Hyde agreed to the guilty plea and sentenced Meacham to a suspended 30 days in jail, one year of informal parole, to pay $490 restitution and a $750 fine. An additional addi-tional $640 surcharge was added to the fine. The charges, however, were appropriately filed since the sheriff admitted wrongdoing in the episode, so Meacham is responsible for all of DeLand's fees, states County Attorney JoAnn Stringham. The Utah Court of Appeals will decide the dispute after hearing oral argument Aug. 26. "The same act of receiving the money constitutes the basis for the misdemeanor as well as the felony," Stringham argued. "Just because he is found not guilty of the felony for technical reasons, that doesn't mean we're liable for his fees." Stringham also contended that the charges do not relate to Meacham's public employment since doctoring time sheets hardly falls within a sheriffs job description. According to the charges, time slips submitted by or for Meacham claimed up to 35 hours of time on the mountain patrol in June of 1993 when the credit card receipts indicate indi-cate he was elsewhere. Two arrested on drug charges A traffic stop for an expired registration ended up in (he arrest of a 23-year-old Vernal man. Last Friday at 5:30 p.m. Sheriff Deputy Shaun Abplanalp was on patrol and observed a vehicle with a license plate that expired in December of 1996. He stopped the vehicle and reported detecting the odor of alcohol from inside the vehicle. The deputy administered adminis-tered field sobriety tests and then arrested the driver for DUI. While doing the impound on the vehicle. Deputy Abplanalp located some methamphetamines and drug paraphernalia in (he vehicle. The driver, Michael Greg Ilenline, 23. was charged with DL'I. possession of methamphetamines and pos session of drug paraphernalia. He w as booked into Ihe Uintah County Jail. In an unrelated incident. Deputy Abplanalp stopped a vehicle for speeding on the Lapoint Highway last week. When he made contact with ihe driver, he reported smelling burnt marijuana corn-inn corn-inn fnm In r:K rf In Vihi- clc. Deputy Abplanalp then Mchael Henline obtained a consent lo search the vehicle for contraband and located a plastic bag of marijuana and some drug paraphernalia. The female driver, Kristy Sue Richens. 30 of Ncola. was arrested and charged w ith i possession of marijuana, pos session of drug paraphernalia and speeding. The possession of marijuana was enhanced from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor because of a prev ious convic tion for possession of mari juana. She was hooked into the Uintah County Jail. Kristy Sue Richens 1 IN " 1 y I CI Voice of Business Fewer splotches of pink by Dr. Richard L. I slu-r president U.S. Chamber of Commerce WASHINGTON - When I came lo the helm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 22 years ago. communism and its various socialist offshoots had rcaihcJ a highwatcr mark, from a distance, the world map looked like a child w ith a bad case of measles huC pmk splotches every where, Like clockwork, the new media chronicled whai seemed lo be the irre Mi viable march of communism in Eumpe. Asia. Africa and Latin America. Every few weeks another nation was colored pink. Even in the United States, the world's citadel of political and economic freedom, there was a widespread wide-spread assumption that capitalism was on its last legs, Communism seemed lo he coming into its own while our free enterprise stcm seemed to he fraying at the scams. Runaway inflation, unemployment and interest inter-est talcs were eroding our standard of living. Twite in the 1970s, our economy was practically brought to a standstill by international oil boycott. Foreign make product erc flooding into the country and middle cla jobs were flooding out. t'niserstiy prnfessor. respected philosopher and influential political commentator com-mentator pke in awed tones about our inevitable transition to a statist economy. The only serious question, ques-tion, they said, was whether it would be based upon th more humane models of Western Europe or ihc repressive regimes of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Less sanguine observers said we were drifting inio anarchy as domestic radical groups waged guerilla warfare upon domestic institution, often with bombing bomb-ing and other violent crimes thai caused great destruction destruc-tion and loss of life. Now all thai seems like a had dream a nightmarish vision from another world far removed from the reality of modem American life. How- strange it is to remember it was so real, so close and so recent. To he sure, our social and economic trouble in (he 1970 ssere real enough, but the apparent supctionty of life in communist countries was artificial, We were fully aware of our difficulties because our free pres exposed them relentlessly. In the absence of a free press the weaknesses of communism were hidden from view. Thus, it came a a shock to many when international communism suddenly disintegrated a if capped by some cosmic ray gun. Almost overnight Ihe Soviet t'nion disappeared and its satellite in Eastern Europe discarded Marxism. Throughout the world the shift to free market and open political ) ' tern i virtually complete except in North Korra and Cuba, and even there communism' das are hum be red. In less than a quarter of a century, we have come full circle. -All over the world nations are eagerly embracing free enterprise value and institution in a veritable explosion of capitalism. Everywhere you go ihc impact i conspicuous buildings ate going up, new road arc under construction, new companies ate matkeling their products and scrsues. job ate abundant abun-dant and people are living better wiih real hope for the future. Ye. China maintain official adherence lo communism but in reality it i shifting to an open economy, which in turn will foster political freedom as well, Political and economic freedom are two side of ihe same coin you cannot long have one without with-out the other. The essence of thi most promising miracle is the abiding power of freedom. The U.S. may have been down at one point, hut because our institutions are free to address our rMHtcoming. because our bui ncsse are free to respond to challenge, became our people are free to learn ne things, lest new Mcas and pursue new dream we have triumphed oer adver ity and are today stronger than ever. The world stand in awe of out example and i eager to follow the path we have chosen. It i the ooe true path of hope fot mankind Ihe path of political and economic eco-nomic freedom. |