OCR Text |
Show Page A8 Thursday, December 30, 1982 Park City News And here's to you, Sheriff Robinson Summit County's top cop retires photos by Nan Park Place Condominiums 1378 Park Avenue Excellent Location 8 quality built condos 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units. Individually treated, custom furnishings, designated covered parking, whirlpool whirl-pool baths, outdoor jetted spa and laundry facility. Within walking distance to the Park City Ski Area, City Park, and Holiday Village Cinemas and Shopping Center. Reasonably priced all offers considered. $143,750 to $243,750 No. 8 Snow Park Deer Valley 3200 sq. ft. custom home Teak floors, plush carpet, large window areas with beautiful Aspen trees to view. 4 foot custom spa tub, wine cellar, sauna, 4 bedrooms, 4'2 baths. Seller will consider all offers $400,000 Chalal by NanChalat A lot of people still carry around a Rod Steiger image of county sheriffs. You know the type the mean-talking, gun-toting preserver of the status quo, no questions asked. Well, for the last 20 years, Summit County's sheriff has been a man who is the exact antithesis of that image. Ron Robinson is soft spoken, has seen and accepted ac-cepted a lot of changes and says the most challenging part of the job is learning to be more understanding. Robinson has concentrated on moving the county peacefully peace-fully through 20 years of potentially troublesome times. He has watched Park City go from bust to boom and the quiet rangelands east of Coalville transformed into busy oil fields. It has been his job to sort out the growing pains from the serious problems, to acknowledge acknow-ledge the benefits of growth and to deal with the impact. And at the last five elections Summit County residents have let Robinson know that he has their support. A Coalville native, N 1 Robinson worked for several years setting timers in the Alliance Mine in Park City until taking over as Coalville's Coal-ville's chief of police. "It was just something for a winter job," he said. But he won the respect of his associates who encouraged encour-aged him to run for county sheriff in 1962. He won and won again in 1966 and 1970. He ran unopposed in 1974 and 1978. His roots in Coalville and experience in Park City gave him support among disparate dispar-ate segments of the county. Nevertheless, last May he made the difficult decision not to file for the election. As of last May the Singer case was about to come before a federal hearing. Robinson was faced with the possibility of spending most of the year in court. Although he believes he acted in accordance with the law, at the time he felt as though his actions were being questioned ques-tioned and so he did not file for re-election. Robinson says that the toughest decisions of his career involved John Singer. It is something Robinson does not like to talk about. Singer refused to send his children to public school while the state said he must. After searching unsuccessfully unsuccess-fully for alternate solutions Sheriff Robinson felt compelled com-pelled to act on the state's orders to apprehend Singer. In the course of the arrest Singer was shot and killed. Now, three years later, Robinson asks, "What did it accomplish?" The children, he points out are still not in school. In retrospect, he said, if he had known how it would all turn out he would have resigned then. As it is, Singer's death and the resulting re-sulting wrongful death lawsuit law-suit filed by Gerry Spence on behalf of John Singer's wife Vicki were the biggest factors fac-tors in Robinson's decision not to run again. He could not have known that the federal judge would throw the case out of court. Lift Line Walking distance to Park City Resort Located near bus stop for Deer Valley Amenities include: Decks, Jetted tubs, Sauna, Large family jacuzzi, Game room, Lounge, Storage, Garage and furnished units with washers and dryers and cable TV. 2 & 3 bedroom units, 1 100 to 1300 sq. ft. Prices start at $173,250.00 Land 7 unit parcel on Park Avenue close to proposed future lift 5 present homes on property Development parcel on Ridge Ave. 30,000 square feet of land - $390,000 Duplex Lot on Ridge Avenue - $40,000 American Flag, Deer Valley - $205,000 Thaynes Canyon III - $180,000 If the decision had been made sooner, Robinson said, "I just might have filed again." When Robinson hands the job over to his successor on Jan. 1, he will be giving Fred Eley responsibility over a very different territory from what he began with. In 1962 Park City as a destination ski resort was just a long shot and the Overthrust Belt was just a theory. Both have impacted the county more than anyone would have John Singer's death and the resulting wrongful death lawsuit were the biggest factors in Robinson 's decision not to run again. predicted, creating heavy demands on the county's social services. In general Robinson says the growth has been positive but the increase in the transient population has resulted re-sulted in longer and more complicated investigations. Over the years the sheriff's sher-iff's department itself has expanded. When Robinson started, he hired one deputy, Leon Wilde of Oakley. With just one other part-time deputy they were responsible respons-ible for law enforcement throughout the county. For at least ten years, said Robinson, the sheriff's office was often called on to help Park City's understaffed police force. Now, he says, Park City has a very competent police department depart-ment which has taken a considerable amount of pressure off his office. To keep up with the county's population growth during the '70s the sheriff expanded his staff to include six full-time deputies and six dispatchers. An addition to the county courthouse was built including a modern jail, new offices for the sheriff and dispatchers and a courtroom. court-room. Direct lines to the sheriff's dispatch were in- Condos stalled in Kamas and Park City to improve response times. Hotlines were also hooked up to all of the state's major ports of entry and to the national warning system. "The job has become more professional," says Robinson Robin-son of the sheriff's responsibilities. responsi-bilities. He attended the Academy of Police Science in 1963 and has attended workshops since. But now he says an Associate Degree in Police Science is really essential. The most satisfying case of Robinson's career took two years to solve. State Trooper William J. Antoniewicz stopped a motorist for speeding speed-ing through Echo Canyon. The driver pulled a gun on the trooper and killed him. Robinson soon came up with a suspect but the suspect had an alibi. Months later an inmate at the Coalville jail who had once been the suspect's cellmate dropped a clue which helped Robinson refute the alibi. After tracking track-ing the suspect across three states he finally obtained a courtroom confession from the murderer. The cases which trouble Robinson the most are the ones involving juveniles. He would like to see more money spent on immediate counseling, especially for first-time offenders. Robinson plans to spend more time at his ranch in Chalk Creek but says he isn't really ready for retirement. "You can only stay around the house a couple of days," he says. He will offer his help to the department during the transition and then he plans to look for work in other fields. "I really appreciate the support I have had from the people of Summit County," he said last week. When asked if he would do it all over again he answered "Yes, certainly. I've met a lot of fine people and I have learned a lot about people." Above all Robinson says he has learned to be more understanding and his advice ad-vice to the next sheriff is "to be tolerant." Deputy Leon Wilde, who has been with the sheriff's department since 1962, will also be retiring on Jan. 1. rr 4 '""T? 9 " '-v 'Sir r ft JZ m Jtf ii- n tfj Snowflower Ski in - Ski out location Surrounded by Aspen Grove Amenities include: Walking distance to Park City Ski Resort, Tennis Court,, Hot Tub, Swimming Pool, Underground Parking, Llevator & many more, Nicely decorated 2 bedroom, 2 bath 980 sq. ft. unit Priced to Sell: $175,000 Marsac Mill House 40 steps to the largest gondola in the West 1600 square feet 2 bedroom, 3 bath with lock out arrangements Priced to sell at $220,000 Terms available. Contact Henry Sigg Before some of the smaller towns in the county had their own police departments, the first thing people said at the scene of an accident was "Call Leon." According to a volunteer EMT "Leon stays cool in emergencies and he has always helped the ambulance ambu-lance crews above and beyond the call of duty." Says Wilde, "If it weren't for Ron (Robinson) I wouldn't have stayed on." For 20 years Ron Robinson has demonstrated that a sheriff can accomplish a great deal without being a tough guy. According to Eley "He'll be a tough act to follow. I think he has been one of the best sheriffs in the state in the last 20 years." Condo 014 Main Stn. LAND CO. Park City, Utah 649-9066 |