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Show C-1 B-1 FESTIVAL WELL VERSED IN SONGWRITING ATHLETE HOUSING CROSSES FINISH LINE INSIDE THIS EDITION! House hunting in Park City or the surrounding area? View our Real Estate Guide to find your dream home COLUMNS, A-16 MTN TOWN NEWS, A-12 POWER UP YOUR BICYCLE FOR NATIONAL PARKS TERI ORR’S FAVORITE PEOPLE ARE THE CURIOUS ONES Park Record. The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H | W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, September 7-10, 2019 Serving Summit County since 1880 Vol. 139 | No. 62 50¢ Wave in the fall colors Park City officer rushes to save a life at hair salon He is credited with quickly performing CPR on a man who collapsed JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Pam Mayer dances with scarves as a singer performs at the Park City Library’s Voices in the Hills music series on Wednesday. Mayer is visiting Park City from Arizona. Terry Knechtel, a veteran Park City Police Department officer, was on duty at noon on Aug. 31, a busy Saturday in the city during the three-day Labor Day weekend. The Police Department received a report of a man who had collapsed inside a salon on Kearns Boulevard. Knechtel was the first to arrive at Hair Solutions, on the 1300 block of Kearns Boulevard. Phil Kirk, a police captain, said Knechtel found a man on the floor of the salon. He was not moving and had stopped breathing, Kirk said. Knechtel called for an ambulance to respond. Knechtel, trained in life-saving techniques like the other officers, started CPR on the man as the ambulance was in route. The officer continued the chest compressions as the ambulance arrived. The man was stabilized COURTESY OF PARK CITY MUNICIPAL CORP. Veteran Park City police officer Terry Knechtel was the first on the scene when a man stopped breathing at a salon. Knechtel started CPR on the man as an ambulance was in route. The Police Department is considering Knechtel for an award. as he was taken to the hospital, Kirk said, crediting Knechtel for the officer’s quick response and recognizing the need for CPR. He said it “certainly looks like he probably saved the individual’s life,” Kirk said. “The fact that he actually did that and Please see Officer, A-2 A plan for the Wasatch presented A calm voice needed at one end of the line Links to Cottonwoods envisioned for transit, not skiing expansion ALEXANDER CRAMER ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record When the owners of Solitude Mountain Resort and what was then Canyons Resort proposed connecting the ski areas with a gondola, the effects reverberated as far as Washington, D.C., though the proposal didn’t make it past the planning stage. It did, however, serve as an eye-opening moment for those with an interest in protecting the Wasatch Range, said Ralph Becker, the executive director of the Central Wasatch Commission who was then the mayor of Salt Lake City. Eight years later, the Central Wasatch Commission, which was born out of a coalition of stakeholders who came together at that time to protect the Wasatch Range, unveiled a new draft of a piece of federal legislation that would establish a massive new conservation and recreation area, restrict potential growth of Wasatch ski areas and enable certain transportation improvements in the conservation area. It does not prohibit linking ski areas with an aerial tramway, Becker said, but it attempts to restrict such a link to a transportation use only, rather than opening up new skiing terrain. That means there likely won’t be a new tram dropping riders off on ridgelines in the Cottonwood canyons, Please see A plan, A-2 3 sections • 38 pages Classifieds .............................. C-8 Columns ............................... A-16 Crossword .............................. C-4 Editorial................................ A-17 Events Calendar ..................... C-6 Legals ................................... C-11 Letters to the Editor ............. A-17 Restaurant Guide.................. A-15 Scene ...................................... C-1 Scoreboard ............................. B-5 Sports ..................................... B-1 Weather .................................. B-2 Dispatchers who answer calls to 911 must work long hours in a stressful environment doing it for the pay, or for the schedule.” They cover emergency services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no breaks for kids’ birthdays, Christmas or Thanksgiving. Most work 60hour weeks, and though overtime isn’t mandatory, there are times it has been. The limit is 120 hours in a two-week pay period, and some of the dispatchers bump up against that. A typical schedule is three 12-hour shifts and one four-hour shift, but supervisor Suzy Butterfield said she’ll usually turn that four into a 12 and sometimes pick up an extra 12-hour shift, as well. Odenbach said the overtime average is 16 hours a week. The division’s director told the County Council at an August meeting that overtime has run 400 percent over budget. Then there’s the stress that comes with answering those calls. Butterfield said many dispatchers suffer from PTSD, but unlike, say, police officers, dispatchers cannot reach a medical retirement even if their symptoms warrant it. That’s one of the things Odenbach said might be changed if a bill passes the U.S. Senate that would declare dispatchers as official first responders. It might help with the occupation’s pay and benefits, too. In Summit County, dispatchers’ insurance covers mental health, and there are mechanisms in place to bring in professionals to help them if there’s been a particularly rough call or a tough The Park Record The hardest calls are the ones with kids. Or maybe the searches that stretch from hours into days. Or ones with a more personal connection, like when the unresponsive male is the same age as your neighbor’s son, or it’s happening on the street you grew up on. When Summit County dispatchers pick up a 911 call, they don’t know what’s going to be on the other end of the line. It could be the lady who calls once a week asking for the number for the library. Or a man overcome with emotion at seeing a pregnant squirrel that’s just been hit by a car — send units immediately. The routine calls are often a matter of life and death, too. Dispatchers handle the daily activity for every first responder in Summit County, from the Sheriff’s Office to the Park City Fire District to the Utah Highway Patrol to Animal Control. They cover more than a dozen agencies. There are 14 dispatchers, including supervisors, leads and new hires. Most are women. Operating at full strength, the crew would have 20 members. ALEXANDER CRAMER/PARK RECORD Gus Sandahl, seated, starts his dispatching shift Thursday, while in the background, Tara Lewis works at her console. The Summit County dispatchers handle all the traffic in the county, covering more than a dozen agencies. Ideally, there’d be four or five working a shift, but they’ve had to get by with as few as two or three. Supervisor Tanya Odenbach, who’s been a dispatcher for 15 years, said she’s seen the department fully staffed a few times, but it’s hard to hire and retain employees. The pay is comparable to other entry-level jobs, or even a bit better — a new dispatcher starts at nearly $18 an hour with good benefits. But the job comes with demands that most others don’t. “Not a lot of people grow up wanting to become a dispatcher,” Odenbach said. “Not a lot of people Please see Calm voice, A-2 Bomb threat at junior high found to be hoax There was no danger at Treasure Mountain, the police determine JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record A note found at Treasure Mountain Junior High School on Thursday indicated there was a bomb in the Kearns Boulevard building, the Park City Police Department said, a threat that drew a significant law enforcement response to the school before it was determined to be a hoax. The school said in a statement administrators found the note, describing it as being a “possible hoax.” Wade Carpenter, the chief of police, said a staffer found a note, which he described as “crudely handwritten,” indicating there was a bomb in a storage closet at the school’s library. The junior high contacted a Police Depart- ment officer assigned to the schools at approximately 9:30 a.m. The officer reviewed the note and called for the law enforcement response. There were several Police Department vehicles outside the school or leaving the immediate vicinity at approximately 12:30 p.m. The School District said in a statement the area of the school impacted by the law enforcement response “was cleared out of abundance of caution while the Park City Police searched the specific location.” The School District said in the statement a police K-9 was brought to the location. The statement said the search did not result in any suspicious discoveries. A School District spokesperson said six students were removed from the area as the police conducted the search. They were in the same class and are in the eighth grade and ninth grade, the spokesperson said. The authorities did not order an evacuation of the school. Please see Hoax, A-7 JAY HAMBURGER/PARK RECORD The Park City Police Department responded to Treasure Mountain Junior High School on Thursday morning after a note was found indicating there was a bomb at the Kearns Boulevard building. The Police Department determined the note was a hoax. VISITOR GUIDE Fall for the Silly Market now that autumn has arrived Park Silly Sunday Market, the annual open-air green street fair, will open at 10 a.m. on every Sunday on Main Street. The event features live music, arts, crafts, new businesses and a farmers market. Admission is free. For information, visit www.parksillysundaymarket.com. |