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Show TheEmeryCountyReview.com the My Mom’s Region Champions Greatest Students spread the news on the qualities that make the perfect mom Spartan track team takes region for first time in 15 years D1 B1 REVIEW Emery County The Volume 2, Issue 20. Local News, Local Voice, Locally Owned 75 Cents Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Criminal inquiry sought on Crandall mine tragedy Josie Luke Photo by James L. Davis Grant Jenkins overlooks the pile of garbage that has been illegally dumped on his property between Emery and Ferron. Dumping Ground T h e Ferron couple battling the illegal dumping that is making their property an eyesore James L. Davis Grant and Kathy Jenkins of Ferron are standing on the edge of a dumping ground. On either side of the road dissecting their property is a pile of garbage sliding down the slopes of a gully. Some of the garbage shows signs that it has been there for years, decades, but other garbage is far fresher, having been illegally dumped there only weeks or even days before. The Jenkins shake their heads at the sight of it. Sometimes those who dump their garbage on their property don’t even throw it over the side of the gully; they simply dump it in the middle of the road. It’s been a problem the two have tried to find a way to deal with since they bought the 80 acres of land between Ferron and Emery two years ago. The area had long been used by residents of the town of Emery as a dump before the town dumps were closed and the county landfill was established. But there are those who still use the land as a dumping ground, and the Jenkins never know what they will find when they come out to their property. The gully is littered with old refrigerators, batteries, mattresses, televisions, household waste of all kinds. And amongst the litter are the carcasses of dead animals. In the past few weeks, seven dead calves were thrown off the side of the road, and as they get out of their vehicle the Jenkins are relieved to see that one of the farmers that uses the road to access their own property has mercifully used a tractor to bury some of the stinking carcasses. Finding a solution to the illegal dumping has become a central theme in the Jenkins lives of late and for Grant the easiest solution is to simply put up a fence and gates at the roadway. Unfortunately, he can’t. The road used to be SR-10 leading to Emery before the new road was built to the east. The county claims it still maintains a right-of-way on the road and won’t allow it to be closed. Frustrated by the lack of options At the Emery Telcom 2008 Annual Meeting, both board members up for reelection, Kendall Mortensen, the president of the board of directors and Huntington representative, and Kathy Justice, at-large board member, were re-elected by popular vote to their respective positions. During the meeting the company discussed their services, including telephone, long distance, high-speed internet, cable television and call center. They revealed that their 95 employees now provide 14,377 access lines, have 5,837 internet customers and 8,155 long distance customers, and provide bundled services to 572 customers. Emery Telcom also announced the development of a local internet protocol television network called ETV, which Jared Anderson, who is over business development and marketing, said is “essentially digital television transmitted over an IP network.” An IPTV network offers features similar to satellite or digital cable television. Like satellite television, IPTV will require a set-top box, but the digital signal will come through home DSL connections over an IP network. This will provide a larger bandwidth which will allow more interactive applications. Those who are familiar with internet video clips have seen this technology in a general way, but because of the larger bandwidth involved in IPTV, the stream will be clearer and won’t require the time it sometimes takes to load such a clip. The satellite feed will be transmitted into Emery Telcom’s central office in Price and then sent through DSL lines to homes and businesses throughout the community. The service will provide more than 200 standard channels and 44 HD channels at first, with 85 HD channels expected by the end of the year. Commission signs agreement on memorial The Emery County Commission signed a memorandum of agreement between the county and Andalex Resources regarding the creation of the Crandall Canyon Miners’ Memorial during the May 6 commission meeting. While the monument itself will sit on Forest Service property, the agreement between the mine and the county will result in Andalex deeding over to the county the trail head, parking lot area and roadway. The commissioners praised the spirit of cooperation evident in the development of the memorial, which is expected to be complete prior to the one year anniversary date of the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster on Aug. 6. A key to the development of the site was a special use permit put into place by the Forest Service. Normally obtaining a special use permit is a time consuming process and the commission thanked Mesia Nyman, Ferron District Ranger, for the efforts of the Forest Service to put the special use permit together so quickly. Health Administration,” he stated. Continued on Page A3. Continued on Page A6. Emery Telcom unveils new services under development Josie Luke The Crandall Canyon Mine tragedy was once again brought into the national spotlight as the fourth in a continuing line of reports on the disaster was released by U.S. Rep. George Miller (DCA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee on May 8. After nine months of investigation, the chairman referred the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice for criminal investigation. Miller reported, “I didn’t take lightly the decision to make the referral to the Justice Department; I did it in full recognition of the fact that this tragedy cost nine men their lives.” In a press conference, Miller explained the committee’s conclusions. “Based on our experts’ analysis, I am able to conclude that it is likely that the tragedy was the result of a flawed plan for conducting retreat mining in the area of the mine where the deaths occurred. “Therefore, also based on this analysis, I am able to conclude that the plan should never have been submitted by the mine operator, and should never have been approved by the U.S. Mine Safety and Anderson also revealed that the service will provide a feature called “the portal” which will “essentially enable internet access from the television.” It will also allow integration into other internet sites, so users are able to use instant messaging, email, websites and webcams which Emery Telcom will install on their towers. In addition, because it is a telephone network “riding on” a data network, they will be able to integrate much of the telephone functionality onto the television, allowing for caller ID to “pop onto the television screen.” The company is also purchas- Continued on Page A4. The pressurized irrigation system being constructed for the Huntington/Cleveland Irrigation Company is starting to come on line in some areas. Pressurized irrigation starts to go on line James L. Davis After a long and sometimes slow process to revolutionize irrigation in the Huntington and Cleveland area, the future arrived last week as the first line was pressurized and the first water hit the ground through a web of pressurized lines being constructed by the Huntington/Cleveland Irrigation Company. The lines were pressurized with water from Huntington North Reservoir, as the other regulating water ponds are slowly being filled with water and checked for leaks. The water line, part of a web of lines that will replace more than 300 Continued on Page A3. |