Show Serving Utah’s Great Pahvant Valley Delta Utah $20 00 in county $25 00 out ot county month $13 00 (In Advance) Copy 50 Senior Citizens (65 and older) $18 OO in coun'y $20 00 out of L'SPS County Vol Heavy caseload worries Peterson by Ken Rand Millard County Attorney Warren Peterson says the caseload that has him “streteched tighter than a drum” could hurt the county and he wants to do something about it There are four options Peterson told county commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday Feb 28 in Fillmore They are: Authorize a temporary deputy position “The duration of that temwill have to be position porary measured by need” he said “I don’t want to saddle the county with a staff incounty attorney definitely” Peterson is now assisted by Dexter Attorney County Deputy Anderson in Fillmore The third job would likely be phased out by the end of the year - Flire special deputies to take on “It’s fairly expenspecific projects sive” Peterson said “but if it’s a very short term thing it’s the most cost effective way to go” Privatization is a relatively new concept “I think a better method for delivering services is to have the counby a group of atty represented torneys” Peterson said “a law firm if you will or at least a designated panel” Private corporations hire law firms which retain many different attorneys expert in various areas of law “The county attorney’s office is a historical anacronism” he said “The presumption is that in a rural county you hire an attorney and they do it all As highly sophisticated as todays world is that simply doesn’t work anymore” Fie cited a current caseload involving bonding capital homicide cases and other criminal prosecution employhazardous waste ment agreements zoning and more “It’s absurd to think that one person in a rural county attorney’s office can do all that” he said "I also gave them what called Peterson ‘the mediocrity alternative”’ said “where one attorney still tries to do it all and hopes that he doesn’t step into a booby trap” He said the option is “fraught with risk” Commissioners informally authoriz- - - There are 42 cells in the Millard County jail in Fillmore 10 of which are Jail designated as pretrial housing population fluctuates - A number of other cases are awaiting trial where defendants are not jailed Peterson said they include sex abuse cases and two fraud cases “Everybody involved with it says this is the heaviest criminal caseload that they’ve ever seen in Millard County” he said The county is being sued by Union Pacific Railroad and Intermountain Power Agency in a dispute over the tax assessment levy Similar cases throughout the state have been stayed pending appeals to the supreme court except w Millard County where a request for a stay was denied “That is a fairly sizable piece of litigation” Peterson said - Several other lawsuits are underway including the on going tax litigation with IPA “Realistically it should take a third- to a position just to deal with that” he said A complete set of procedure manuals is being prepared for the county A code of ordinances and a risk management and safety manual have been adopted A policies and procedures manual has been adopted “but it needs revision still” Peterson said A budget manual and a zoning and subdivision manual is in the works The county attorney is a position Peterson said paid at “point eight of equivalent” Peterson said he is working from to “So equivalent” county taxpayers are certainly getting their moneys worth” he said The turnover rate for county attorneys is higher than for any other elective office in Utah Peterson said It is more than 50 percent Peterson has been Millard County Attorney for two years “I think it should be like the he said “I don't think presidency” you should do it for more than eight years That’s because of the burnout Warren Peterson - County gets murder trial aid An “interlocal agreement” has been reached between Millard and Davis Counties to pay expenses for Carvel Harward a Davis County Attorney who will help in prosecuting the homicide case Harward is Chief Deputy over the Criminal Division of the Davis County Prosecutor’s Office Lance Conway Wood and Michael Anthony Archuleta are charged with capital homicide in connection with the death of Gordon Ray Church near Cove A Fort last November preliminary hearing started last month in Fillmore before J ustice of the Peace Ron Hare It was continued and is scheduled to resume Monday April 3 Harward was brought in because capital cases are very specialized “and he has the expertise in such cases” Millard Warren County Attorney Peterson said A capital case is one in which the death penalty is an option "Also professional standards dictate that a homicide case should never be tried by a single attorney You should have at least two and usually three people on the trial team” Davis County will be reimbursed for their actual costs in loaning Harward to Millard County That is “the time that he spends that he would be working for them but instead works for us” Peterson said “and we also pay for any mileage and so on that they reimburse to him” Harward will donate his overtime hours “I told him that’s suspect” Peterson said “and he said he’s doing Water Plan meet tonight Public review meetings for the Draft Stale Water Plan are scheduled for today Thursday March 16 in Richfield and Delta A meeting was held yesterday in The Richfield meeting is Panguitch scheduled for 1:30 pm at the courthouse The Delta meeting is scheduled for 7:30 pm at the Delta High School Little Theater The meetings conducted by the Utah Division of Water Resources are part of a public meeting schedule that runs through April 5 The Draft State Water Plan has been prepared by a state interagency coordinating committee from information provided by numerous water oriented state and federal agencies and special advisory groups Public review of the plan has been endorsed by the Utah Board of The state’s water Water Resources plan is expected to help coordinate activities of local state and federal water agencies The plan briefly describes water agencies the programs they administer and their statutory responThe plan also sibilities and authority discusses a number of policy issuts and makes recommendations to resolve them Free copies of the Draft State Water Plan will be available at the meetings or from the Utah Division of Water Resources 1636 West North Temple Salt Lake City UT 84116 The division Comments phone number is on the Draft State Water Plan may be made at the meeting or submitted in writing to the Utah Division of Water Resources by April 20 Clearfield man killed in accident O Nyle Thomock 33 of Clearfield was thrown from a northbound car on near Meadow when his wife swerved to avoid hitting a deer The car left the road and rolled three times in the median The accident at about 7:54 pm Sunday on about 20 miles south of Meadow Driver of the car Dana Thornock 30 was listed in good condition at the Fillmore Hospital Monday Her sons Aaron 9 and Tyson 7 are in good condition at Primary Children’s Medical Center Riley 3 is listed in serious condition Another son Chase was uninjured 21 months Only the mother and the baby were wearing seat restraints and remained in the car when it rolled because prosecution is as much a profession as any other specialty in the legal field He said he does it for the good of the profession He says ‘If I want to do it that’s my business’ I said ‘Thank you’” The preliminary hearing is being held concurrently for the two men for the sake of efficiency and to save cost to the county Peterson said But he said if they are bound over to Fourth District Court for trial Wood and Archuleta will be tried separately Peterson said there is one charge that is imposed against one defendant that is not imposed against the other But he would not elaborate: Hare has issued a gag order on the case and the preliminary hearing has been closed to the public it Mar 16 1989 An imbalance in money owed the Power Agency by Delta has been settled recent audit showed an imbalance between what IPA paid Delta City to mitigate direct impacts associated with building the Intermountain Power Project and claims against the city by the company The audit showed Delta had received SI 749918 from IPA while IPA claims amounted to $1616147 leaving a balance owed by the city of $133841 M a meeting of the IPA Board of Directors in Murray Jan 24 “Amendto Impact Alleviation ment No Agreement No 47 with Delta City” was passed The resolution allowed the debt to be offset “against the value of the additional services and facilities provided to IPA and that no additional cash payments are required to be made by either Delta City or IPA” according to minutes of the meeting C ity A Property taxes down from 1987 - factor” 37 IPA Delta settle - ed Peterson to “start thinking about putting either a temporary deputy position together” he said “or give them a proposal on what I call the privatization alternative” The matter will appear formally on the Tuesday Feb 21 commission agenda faces is The caseload Peterson staggering: “We have the Church case in which the most likely scenario is separate trials for the two defendants” he said “At least for planning purwe have to regard them as poses though they will be separate” A preliminary hearing is underway for two men accused of capital homicide in the death of Gordon Ray Chtirch last year A capital homicide is one in which A the death penalty is an option special prosecutor has already been hired to help in the case is George Wesley Hamilton awaiting a court date He is accused of second degree murder in connection with the death of Sharon Sant in August 1985 “There will be a significant manpower commitment there” Peterson said - “The entire pretrial section of the Millard County jail is full” he said "including a number of arrests made on ‘drug pipeline’ cases” 79 No Joe by Moody Ken Rand In the view of Representative Joseph Moody of Delta the recently completed state legislative session was a success “From my perspective it was a very good session” he said “We got through some good meaningful legislation and felt very good about that” None of the bibs introduced by Moody failed to pass Those were a resolution clarifying the definition of a rural hospital service district which will appear on the general election ballot in November an bill the school vending machine bill and a bill to limit the number of hazardous waste sites in Utah Moody was also successful in reversing a decision that would have denied funding for the West Central Utah Vocational Center in Delta Need for the service district bill was brought to his attention by Millard County Attorney Warren Peterson Moody said The problem had to do with how state law defines a rural to how such hospital as opposed facilities actually operate “A hospital might start out as just a hospital” Moody said “then they might add a wing for extended care or something like that so it really took it out of the realm of a hospital beyond their definition” Moody said he discovered the restrictive language is in the state constitution so a vote of the people will be needed to make the change “To the best of my knowledge” Moody said “I believe that’s going to be the only resolution on the ballot this fall ” The measure encountered no problems on its way to being passed “All do is change the term it would ‘hospital’ to include ‘health care facility’” Moody said The measure directly affects about seven rural Utah counties including Millard An AIDS information bill pushed by Moody on behalf of the state Department of Health has become law “What this bill did was make it so that information AIDS and concerning other diseases would be confidential” A similar bill Moody introduced last Gov year passed but was vetoed Bangerter said it was too broad and would violate civil liberties The revised narrower version passed this year with the blessings of the American Civ il Liberties Union See MOODY page 2 taxes were down for Property residents in Fillmore in Delta and in the unincorporated areas of Millard County according to a recent report by the Utah oundation The average property tax charged on a home valued at $7500 in Delta last year amounted to $605 or 0 81 percent of current value This compares with an average tax level of 094 percent on residential property during 1987 Property lax charged on a similar home in I lllmore amounted to $554 or 074 percent of current value which compares with an average tax level of 0 81 on property during 1987 On homes in county unincorporated areas a $75 (XX) home was chaiged $467 or 0 62 percent of current value That compares with the 1987 level of 0 76 percent The Utah foundation study calculated and reported the average tax burden in 1988 and 1987 on a home valued at $75000 located in 142 different communities the throughout stale Tor the state as a whole property tax levels moved up during most of the 1980s The statewide average property tax on a $758X1 home in Utah last year was $737 or 0 98 percent of market value This compares with an average tax burden of $552 or 074 percent in 198) oundation analysts hasten to point out however that most of this increase occured during the early years of the See AXKS page 2 I Farm mishap kills infant Samuel Chad Stanworth son of Tony and Kris'ine Stanworth Oasis was killed in a farming accident near his home Sunday March 12 The accident occured at about 3:35 pm to a according Millard County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher The child was pronounced dead at the scene by Dr Brent Black The accident was investigated by Sheriff’s Deputies Forrest Roper and Jeff W'hatcott “The kid was on a tricycle and rode it behind a frontend loader when it was backing up” Whatcott said "The driver d'dn’t see him ” Public notices There are 14 public notices published in this issue of the newspaper You will find them on page II and 12 March 11 tj speak at the annual Utah Farm Bureau banquet held in the cafeteria of Delta South Flementary Garn shown here being interviewed by Mike Y HU It'M HjitlAr-vminx icmtiv from his home in Salt Lake City The Delta High School acappella choir entertained The choir catered the affair with a prime rib dinner as part of their efforts to raise funds kir ctiwnoe foe fr l‘n |