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Show mi) Mssngr-Entrprls- , Thursday, May 7, 1987 Pag 2 Below normal precipitation Mother s Day by Pat Mellor No rest for Mom After last Mothers Day, when my son the missionary explained to the ward in his Mothers Day speech how his mom taught him to fight with a roll of nickels in his fist for added power, (well, he was small for his age . . .) 1 thought maybe all that had been said on the subject of motherhood had been covered and I could stay home this year. Instead, our area is being treated to a spiritually uplifting mothers day in the form of a regional conference. Now, my folks are Presbyterians, and they have wing-ding- s like this, too, so I know that church gatherings are another subject that crosses all the little tight lines we tend to want to draw for ourselves. At some time or another, every mother has spent Mothers Day morning preparing for a big event like this and wondering why she didn't become a nun. The fact that there arent any Mormon or Presbyterian nuns speaks well for the job, I think, but we all falter in our conviction that we are Doing What We Wanted Most In the World To Do, from time to time. Sunday morning is my favorite time to falter. Mothers Day is Panic City. the first place, in a family of free spirits, its a great achievement to get everyone dressed so that they look like they are all In planning to attend the same event. One person's favorite outfit is a white dress, the other's taste runs to Shetland sweaters, and the other teenager is generally attired like the artist who spent his years living in Tahiti. I always seem to have at least one kid with a conscientious objection to shoelaces. When I stand next to them while wearing my Nancy Reagan suit, I look like I'm visiting Woodstock on a campaign stop. Laying clothes out the night before an early Sunday-morninevent is supposed to be a sure time saver and promote Love at Home. It can. in reality, lead to bloodshed. Mom gave you MY white slip? When did she do that? Whaddava g mean, last fall? What am I supposed to wear? You see this? The little creeps got my blazer again! I paid $125 for that blazar, you wear it this morning and you owe me $75! Look at that, hes built himself a whole outfit around it! Mom, I had my shoes all shined and set out. and A.J. threw one in the toilet! You get the idea. Motherhood is supposed to give you a better understanding of others. It's given me a real empathy for Field Marshal Montgomery and General Eisenhocr, who had to fight Adolph Hitler's armies and get along with allies like General DcGaullc, too. Getting there on time is another big consideration. The early bird gets a seat at Conference, right? I've spent a lot of time watching closed-circutelevision in a room about a half-mil-e down the hall from the chapel. Ive always been the type of person whod show up r at w ork a early just to be sure I wasn't late. Somehow 1 got matched up w ith an eternal family whose theme song is. Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow it half-hou- ... Of course on Mother's Day, another big consideration is what to fix for lunch that can be trusted not to send up smoke signals from the oven while you are sitting in Church. 1 have the problem solved for this year. You mothers who are into good nutrition may be interested to know that a Supreme pizza and a strawberry cream pic (made with real cream, of course) fill all the four basic food groups. If you buy the strawberry pie on Saturday and keep it hidden under a layer of carrots in the crisper until you get home from church on Sunday, youve got dinner half prepared. I have bet Heloisc wouldn't thought of that. To be honest. I am looking forward to this unusual break in the traditional Mothers Day routine. I wonder if any of the General Authorities ever learned to fight with a roll of nickels in their fists? County threatened suit over delinquent taxes BY PAT MELLOR do somebody a favor and all you get is sued. County Attorney Ross Blackham told the Sanpete County Commission Tuesday while discussing deals the county has made with delinquent taxpayers. Blackham said one landowner of property in the Fairvicw-lndianol- a area who has had to repossess his subdivided land because the developers defaulted on their payments came to him and asked for relief on the back taxes, which were as delinquent as the payments on the property, or worse. Blackham and the commission agreed that interest and penalties on the taxes would be waived, and the land withheld from tax sales, if the original owners would pay 60 percent of the delinquent taxes for the past five years and all of the current taxes, and then remit the remainder of the 40 percent delinquencies within 18 months. One tax bill had accumulated to about $80,000. Blackham said a title search for the foreclosure proceedings on the property had revealed several other lots not mentioned in the original actions, which the commission agreed to include under the same conditions as the first parcels for redemption. Meanwhile, another party in the suit to foreclose, Paul Clint, came to the county attorney and paid last about years tax on the property $7,000 out of the total $80,000 due, to keep the land from tax sales. Now, he wants an auditors tax deed to the properties, about 140 lots, Blackham said. He says hes got buyers for the land and he is suing the county for a million dollars, claiming Sanpete County held up his sales. You try to , - Blackham said the land, or some of it. is the same lots redeemed under the agreement with the previous property owner. I took the position that he (Clint) is not entitled to an auditor's tax deed, because he only paid one years taxes out of the five years due, Blackham told the commissioners, who agreed that this seemed reasonable to them. Nobody else. Commissioner Keller Christenson pointed out, is permitted to claim ow nership to property unless they pay the amount due for all five years that the taxes have gone unpaid. Blackham said that he allowed Clint to pay the one year's taxes and keep the property from going to tax sales because "originally" he w anted to go to the State of Utah and appeal the valuation. Well, he did, and the State of Utah sustained Sanpete's present valuation of the lots. Then (Clint) decided he wanted deeds. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander: I told him we wouldnt give him the property until a judge tells us we have to. Many of the same lots have been completely redeemed by the previous owner who is foreclosing, Blackham said, and that owner has the deeds. Clint claims he is acting in behalf of the property ow ners association, and he claims that the property owners association has a lien on the property," Blackham said. "I've been burned royally." the county attorney said disgustedly. Ive learned my lesson. I won't even talk to this guy unless he has counsel with him. And Im having second thoughts about the rest of these people we've tried to help. All its done is get us into a big lawsuit, and its supposed to be my job to keep the county out of suits. I Trivia . portends dry water year BY BRUCE JENNINGS in that month April was dry Ephraim and Manti received less than half their normal precipitation but May looks more promising. That promise is represented by a storm that brought .35 inch of moisture to Manti. That long-tim- e average for the month is 1.20 inches. Lee J. Anderson, cooperative weather observer in Manti, measured .59 inch for April. Normal for April is 1.30 inch. And in Ephraim Gary Jorgenson, who keeps the weather data at the Forest Services Field station, recorded even less, .38 inch, which is only 37 percent of the long time average for April at the station. The early May storm got the month off to a good start, but there'll be a lot of catching up to do since the precipitation for the first seven the months of the water year months that pile up the water in the is not much mountain snow banks more than half of normal. This is what the Soil Conservation Service reported Tuesday about the water content in the snow pack on several Sanpete County water sheds, according to the data assembled by LaMar Jorgensen. At the Meadows course in Ephraim Canyon there are 51 inches of snow, containing 19.8 inches of water. Thats only 72 percent of average. The Headquarters course lower in the drainage has 29 inches of snow, with 10.9 inches of water, 62 percent of normal. The SCS helicopter crew also flew over the top to the Seely Creek Ranger Station. There are 37 inches of snow, with 15.3 inches of water, in the snow pack there. That's 80 by Max E. Call percent of normal. at the In Fairview Canyon Mammoth Ranger Station there are 19 inches of snow, with 6.9 inches of water, 33 percent, and at the course 43 Huntington-Horsesho- e inches of snow, with 16.1 inches of water, 58 percent. The Beaver Dams course in Twelve Mile Canyon is bare. At the Mt. Baldy Ranger Station high in this drainage there the snow is 46 inches deep and contains 16.6 inches of water. Thats 63 percent of normal. The crew survey also visited watersheds in two neighboring counties. At Rees' Flat east of Levan in Juab County there is no snow. At three courses in Sevier County's Salina Canyon watershed, a precipitation shortfall similar to that in Sanpete. There are 54 inches of snow, with 19.9 inches of water, 86 percent of average, at Farnsworth Lake; 16 inches of snow, with 5.4 inches of water. 54 percent, at the Gooseberry Ranger Station, and 25 inches of snow, with 9.4 inches of water, 59 percent, at Pickle Keg Springs. The output of springs east of Ephraim and Manti is now picking up and the runoff in the streams they feed is varying, depending on the weather, between 50 and 60 second feet. But the forecast now is for high water far below normal, and far, far below the streamflow of the flood years of recent memory. That means production at Ephwill probably raim's new hydro-plabe substantially below the facility's potential and both culinary and irrigation water will be in short supply by Ordinarily June and July are the driest months of the year in the Sanpete Valley. bid on the construction of facilities at the Sanpete County fairground, that came in about $7,000 under the county's budget estimate proved to be a windfall for the, county's Emergency Medical Technicians on Tuesday. Dr. Wendell McGarry, county commission chairman, has seen the project through from the initial complaints about the inadequate present facilities to the beginning of construction. He said on T uesday that the County had set aside $25,000 for the construction of the restrooms, with the stipulation that they must be completed by August and county fair time. Successful bidder on the project was Mont C. Daniels. Ephraim, a licensed contractor whose bid was accepted at $16,900. Engineers designing the original ans estimated that the building would cost about $19,000 to construct. Other bids taken on the project were Construction Services, Centerfield, $19,102.72; Dan H. Brown, Manti. $19,804; Menco Construction, Ephraim. $19,930; and Dallman Construction, Mt. Pleasant. $24,355. Mr. Daniels said work on the project will begin within the next two weeks and will be completed well before the Sanpete County Fair in August. Dr. McGarry then suggested to commissioners Keller Christenson and Bob Bessey that with the funds left over from this budget item, still A restroom 3rd place in Nation for Editors Column in 1981 Five times Best Editors Column by Utah Press Association, including 1985 and 1986! A happy anniversary allowing about $2,000 for contingencies. the county donate $2,000 to the Ephraim-ManAmbulance, $2,000 to the North Sanpete Ambulance Association, and $1,000 to the Gunnison Hospital Ambulance. The money will help provide funds for inservice training. Dr. McGarry pointed out, and the action will let some of the cities on the north end of the county know that the County does indeed value the services of its volunteer emergency medical technicians, and encourage some cities who have been slow in offering monetary aid to the ambulances to match the county's appropriation if they are not already doing so, or exceeding it. ti Dr. McGarry said the elimination of $10,000 to help the ambulance associations was an error in this year's budget on the part of the county commission, and added, "We are sorry, as Commissioner Bessey has already pointed out, that the association did not get this money originally. They are certainly deserving of the $10,000. This will help, at least in part, for this year. As the time the commissioners cut the $10,000 from the budget, they were under the mistaken impression that the funds were just being accumulated to eventually provide new ambulances. In reality, the commissioners were later informed, the money is used to help pay for inservice training which is mandatory for the Emergency Medical Technicians who must and renew their licenses every two years. re-te- set their minds to something they are such a formidable team? Mel and I didnt have a chance. "How about seafood? I asked, thinking about Dees Drive In. Esta said. Sounds OK, " We'll go to Brattens. They have the very best." Yum, yum, said Beth. Beth and I had been to Brattens before and found the food excellent, but I was leery of the prices. "What if she orders lobster, I thought. That has to be the most expensive item on the menu." But she didn't. Both of those lovely ladies ordered only $9.00 dinners. I hurriedly consulted my billfold and went the same route. Mel likewise. It was a lovely dinner. It was our (all four of us) 46th Have you heard the story of the two red corpuscles who loved in vein? For the benefit of all you critics who think I'm a little tough on Beth, I want you to know I took her out to dinner Saturday night. I even paid the bill for both of us. We have season tickets to Pioneer Memorial Theatre at the University of Utah and Saturday night was the last performance of the season. We always attend with our friends from Evanston, Mel and Esta Baldwin. (He's Scottish and even stingier with his wife than I. In fact hes so stingy he resented sending his kids to school because they had to pay attention). Mel and Esta were married Apr. 5 and May 3 was our anniversary. So we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate both anniversaries. You can go anywhere you want. Mel told Esta, "as long as its in the McDonalds price anniversary. I hope Beth doesn't read this but I think she is actually worth lobster. In fact next year for our 47th I think I'll suggest she go and I'll ahead and have lobster have lobster and steak! After 46 years of living with me, shes entitled to a little lobster in place of old goat. range." A r. Restooms bid provides windfall for local EMTs womens . good suggestion," I said to Beth. Listen, you old goat, were going someplace classy," Beth countered. "The very best." Esta reinforced her. I had desperate thoughts that they would select The Jordan Queen, or some other such expensive place. "How about Arby's?" Mel asked. No way," said Esta. "Right," said Beth. Why is it that when two women Esta says Mel is at an awkward too round for his old age clothes and too square for the new styles. Not so trivial: The best things In life may be free, but you still have to fight your way through the crowds to get in on the distribution. Many communities vying for state prison facility BY PAT MELLOR Multiple benefits" will be the result if the regional state prison is located in Vernal, an article in the Vernal Express relates. Vernal is only one of many areas of the state making a concerted effort to bring a regional prison facility to its area, aside from Sanpete. Uintah County Commissioner Nyle Bigelow explained that the prison would not only produce an estimated 850 employment opportunities, but the county would also benefit from support services for the prison which could create additional employment opportunities. The Uintah Basin Association of Governments has appropriated 5,000 to prepare a professional quality presentation citing the advantages of a site east of the Ashley Valley. Duchesne is another county preparing a proposal for the State, Arlea Howell named Spring City principal BY ELEANOR MADSEN The North Sanpete School Board announced Monday the appointment of Arlea Howell of Ephraim as principal of Spring City Elementary Mrs. Howell has been School. librarian at the North Sanpete Middle School in Moroni the past two years. She will replace Francis Black, who is retiring as principal. Mrs. Howell is the first woman principal ever to serve in the North Sanpete District. She taught for 22 years in South Sanpete schools, teaching all elementary grades from kindergarten through eighth grade. She was instrumental in beginning the Ephraim Middle School and also taught in Idaho. In returning to Spring City, Mrs. Howell will be renewing her early relationships in the place where she was born and reared. She and her husband, Dr. Demont Howell, will now move to Spring City to make their home since they own a home and farm there as well as their home in Ephraim. Dr. Howell will commute to Snow College. Mrs. Howell is a graduate of Utah State University and has her masters degree from Brigham Young University. She is certified in library and in early childhood education. Recommend English as 2nd language Principal Arlea Howell and that county is working with Uintah to support the selection of either county as the prison site. Duplicate letters of support from Duchesne, Uintah and Daggett Counties support the Uintah Basin as a prison site. The Express reported that the director of the Vernal Chamber of Commerce had contacted four regional prison sites and only one community had anything negative to report concerning the facility, a complaint that local jail employees had left to take work at the prison and a lack of public transportation to and from the prison site. He said the communities had reported no increase in prostitution, inmates chose not to settle in the area after release because they were known by prison personnel, families of inmates rarely moved near the prisons while their relative was incarcerated, and escapes caused no problem because of the escapees desire to flee the area. All of the communities interviewed reported that they had expanded, or had requests to expand, their facilities. No mention was made of a rumored offer to the State on the part of tribal members in the Duchesne area to settle negotiations on land with the state if the state will agree to locate the prison in that area. Rumors of such an offer have been circulated but have not officially been confirmed. Carbon County is also preparing an extensive proposal to the state, and apparently the Tooele area is another contender. The Sanpete County Commission has adopted a resolution supporting national efforts to recognize English as the official language of the nation, and also state efforts to make English the official language of the State of license exams and instruction booklets, other government docu- Utah. nation. The commission supports other efforts to retain Ironically, Sanpete Countys high 20.9 percent unemployment rate last month may work in its favor in the State's deliberations. Proposals are due in to the State Corrections Division by May 15th. Sanpete County is presently working on a multiple-sit- e presentation for the State, According to Sanpete County commission chairman Wen- ethnic heritage dell McGarry. ments, and voting forms, as well as bilingual classes in public school, in making its determination that Utah and the U.S.A. should be a e The commission's resolution is similar to those presently being adopted by several other government agencies in the state, in hopes that the effort will draw bc:h state and national attention. The commission's resolution termed the English language "a unifying force" and cited the expense involved in offering bilingual driver t privately, but recognizes from a practical standpoint the need for a single language to be the official language for documents. The commissioners said they will endorse a constitutional amendment to make English the official language. Sanpete County Volunteer Crisis Hot-Lin- e Call t |
