Show 3 n f Serving Utah’s Great Pahvant Valley Delta Utah $1800 in out of months Senior Citizens (65 and older) $15 OO in county $18 00 $1000 (In Advance) out ot County & & GDTTV I in V USPS Copy 50c a Vol 77 No 26 Jan 1 1987 The Millard County year in news For Millard County 1986 was a year fullfillment with the beginning of power production at the Intermountain Power Project and creation of a nearby national paik It was also a year of troublesome worries with businesses feeling the downside of the construction related boom and a sensational murder case draining county coffers However capital improvements throughout the county may have been the more significant if less exciting development in Millard County this past year In 1986 the county opened a sanitary landfill created a fire district and chose a permanent site at Deseret for the county fair Fillmore initiated water and sidewalk improvement projects and renovated the old hospital for new city offices and library Delta slatted a project to cover at least half of its open drains all its streets and got a traffic control light for Main Street to name just a few of the capital improvements throughout the of TOP STORIES in Millard County for 1986 were a mixed bag with good and bad signs for the economy and promise for continued changes in the coming year Board members put finishing touches on Fillmore library and Library Board members ibrarians at Fillmore City Library are putting in overtime again trying to get the at done touches all the finishing on before the Dedication library January 7 City workers too are putting forth an effort to get as much done as possible The goal of dedicating the building on President Millard Eillinore’s birthday imposes a deadline hich has been it is worth it! The ut hard to Library will assume its new name Fillmore Millard ‘‘The President The City Library" at the dedication Council renamed the library in 1985 to become effective upon the dedication of the new facility A tribute to President Fillmore will be included in the souvenir booklet along with a brief biography President Fillmore established the first library in while serving as the White House president The room still serves each president of the United States Dedication will be held in the Library portion of the building at 5 pm on Wednesday Januaiy 7 1987 and will be followed by an Open House and refreshments for the entire building Everyone is cordially invited to attend booklet will be The sold for $100 county Countywide economics were up and down Early in the year it was reveal31 Millard County dairy ed that herds would be sold in the Federal government buyout program aimed at reducing the national surplus of dairy products Then late in the year it was announced that a Texas firm would begin studies to explore the feasibility of extracting minerals such as potash and salt from the bed of the Sevier Lake If feasible a processing plant could employ hundreds As it has been for the past six years IPP construction is of major concern to anyone interested in Millard County’s future The big question of construction beyond Unit II still looms large With almost monthly announcement of new power projects throughout the west one wonders if and when Unit III will ever be built Power officials candidly admit they do not know when it might But as with last year the prospect of new small construction projects at the site north of Delta remains a bright spot on the horizon Management of public lands made the year with headlines throughout county residents and county officials adamantly opposing a plan to create nearly 300000 acres of wilderness in Millard County as part of a statewide inventory of BLM roadless areas A decision on that proposal is not pected for a few years Also BLM revealed plans to improve the wildlife habitat and protect natural areas of Millard County in a resource proposal which covers the southern third of the county Though nationwide Democrats were making waves by mounting a comeback against Republicans during Election Year 1986 things were rather quiet in Millard Commissioners County Mike Styler and Warren Jensen won reelection with Mr Jensen being the to have an only county official opponent As typical of most years Mother Nature made herself know with plagues of crickets and grasshoppers and range fires destroying large tracts of crazing land Oak City was especially hard hit by both with an unusual infestation of the pesky Mormon Cricket If this wasn’t enough late in the summer a range tire blew up and near Clay Springs threatened Oak City with destruction much as it had in 1981 Though the damage was less than five years ago it took the combined efforts of local and regional firefighters to save the town and minimize the damage On the lighter side of 1986 local fans with Delta High were delighted School’s continued domination of Utah Class 2A sports with repeat championships in boys football and wrestling and girls volleyball TOP TEN Though it’s tough to boil an entire year down to ten stories the following is an attempt to do just that Great Basin National Park President Reagan signed the Great Basin National Park bill Oct 27 1986 officially designating 76000 acres in Nevada’s Snake Range 90 miles west of Delta as the country’s 49th national park It was the first created in the continental United states since 1978 and its purpose is to showcase the Great Basin an ecological area the size of France But more than its natural wonderthe park is suppose to be an economic boon to local economies of Utah and Nevada and was sold as such by its promoters Next year’s top news list mav well include a story about whether this promise is fulfilled IPP goes In September IPP officials lauded the successful completion of the $55 billion first unit of the power plant which went into commercial operation June 10 1986 While construction on the average power plant in the United States is about 14 months behind schedule IPP went on line three weeks ahead of schedule The project has taken the eltoits ot !00(X) skilled craftsmen and has used enough structural Steel to budd 10 Eiffel Towers Unit II is scheduled to go on line in June of 1987 Downside of the boom After much posturing about Millard County’s growing economy due to IPP (one of last year’s top stories) the grim reality of a mass exodus of construction workers settled over local businesses this past year Hardest hit have been rental housing owners who have struggled to keep units filled Also troubled were new businesses which hardly had time to establish themselves before the bottom dropped out Murder trial In February Police were alerted to possible suspects in the grisly Aug 1985 murder of Fillmoie teen Sharon Sant Later Geoige Wesley Hamilton was arrested and the resulting investigation preliminary hearing and forthcoming trial is expected to eventually cost the county some $250000 Hamilton has pleaded innocent to charges he picked up Ms Sant while she was hitchhiking then killed and buried her dismembered body in a shallow grave near Cove Tort Millaid County Hamilton had no means to provide for his own defense and by law the county must pay for both defense anJ This has proven a prosecution difficult task since the county has seen its revenues drop by a third and has had to do some hefty budget cutting while paying lor the enormous cost of the murder case Hamilton is scheduled to come to trial in District Coiut m March 198’7 Sanitary Landfill The plans toi an ambitious solid waste control system was one of last year’s top stories This year it became a reality as did a significant portion ot the project: the effort to close and cover the old dumps The new system of satelite dumpsters and a central sanitary landfill east ot Delta is intended to control pestilence and disease created by the old system Deseret Fair Site County commissioners were able to del use a potentially emotional issue of where to site the county lair by settling on a compromise at Deseret Tor years the county fair has languished under difficult circumstances as it was tor a few years in Fillmore the a few years in Delta It was widely telt that the fair needed a home but it took some courage for commissioners to decided that Deseret with its traditional fair roots should be the permanent home It mains to be seen if the fair can regain some its oldtime teputation as a great county attraction New Fillmore building One of the best moves by a city government was I illmote’s decision to take the old but spacious hospital and renovate it for new city offices and library Now I illmore residents can point with pride lo new facilities that rival historical preserany in the county vation room at the libiaty promises to make it a nice compliment to the Statehouse Museum next door County against wilderness in At a BLM hearing Delta last summer area residents made it quite clear in that any wilderness designation Millard County is probably too much LYidci a Ma’C'V ide pioposal ilie BI M is considering almost 5(K)000 aues of West Desert Mountam tango as potential wilderness But speaking lor the matonty Counts ommissionei Mike Stylet said that any that he was unconvinced higher pm pose could be served by designating any aiea m the county as wilderness The BI M will submit us recommendations to Congress next year Sevier Lake Minerals State studies of resource development potentials in Millard County have for years pointed to the minerals in the bed of the Sevier Lake southwest of Delta Now a Texas firm with mmual leases covering the entire lake has set to the task ol determining if development at the lake is feasible W'D Haden Company hopes to take advantage of destroyed mmeial extinction operations around the tlo Great Salt ake and pick up sc le ol that business But at best the company has said that development could take two to five years The bnght side however is that an extraction plant could employ hundreds Election 1986 hough the biggei news was a Democratic comeback here at home it wjs apathy as potential candidates staved away in droves wo countv commissioners won leelection one had an opponent The icst ol almost a dozen county positions went unopposed Smaller local races in Court Justice and school lie pi hoard genet ated some interest Naturalist completes trip and ardent naturalist backbacker Steve Tabor has completed his 1638 mile walking tour liom the California Coast to the Great Div ide ot the Rocky Mountains remote Mr Tabor’s intentionalh and wild route included a hike through Millard County last July when he contacted the Chronicle Progress and formed us that he was impressed with the area’s natural beauty Last week he wrote to tell us that he Pass (Elev mounted Independence 12095) near Aspen Colorado Dec 25 1986 right on schedule Mr Tabor plans to return to his native California and present his trip with slide shows at various libraries In July he told the Chroncile Progress that the highlights of Millard County were climbing Notch Peak “wild and spectacular" visiting Sevier I ake: ‘‘a real gem” and finding native grasses in the western part of the county: ‘‘seldom seen these days” The abundance of wildlife spawned by the newly filled Sevier Lake also pleased the modern “I explorer observed a colony of grey foxes on the shores ot the lake and a fair amount of crustaceans in the water assume both species have thrived since the lake filled up” he said Coalition says rural houses need fix-u- p problems" DEAN PETERSON a 16 year member of the Fillmore Library Board works on finishing touches installing the "hanging strip" which will be utilized for traveling Art Shows and for permanent works of art The need to solve problems in rural housing will be the focus ot the The Utah Housing Coalition in 1987 as the group pushes for a trust fund to aid in fix up of old homes A recent study by the Coalition revealed that the health safety and economic development ot rural areas depends on fixing up old homes According to the report housing conditions and economic development are tied together “The message is that areas with the most serious housing needs mirror the state economic pic ture Rural Utahns are a proud people no matter what their current financial r status” said UHC Project State Bill Walsh “But as long as the job picture is grim many of them can’t find a way to teed their families pav their mortgage and utility bills and ix their roof too Lrom there it becomes a Catch-2situation because potential will think twice about employers locating in communities with substandard housing I see improving rural housing conditions as the first step toward the solution of niral Utah’s ma- aid lor The UHC plans to make recommendations to local otticials the Governor and Legislature to create a Utah HousFund during the 198’ ing Trust Legislative Session to address the need documented bv the group’s study Dr Shirley Weathers who directed the survey said the need to start correcting deficiencies found through the survey is critical “Any homeowner knows that waiting to repair structural problems only ensures thev will cost more later” |