Show 1 Sanpete VOL 83 VALLEY EDITION WWWSANPETEMESSENGERCOM NUMBER 3 MANTI higher Thursday - 8653 Partly cloudy Friday - 8352 tax hike Partly cloudy Saturday - 8353 By Mostly Sunny Last Week’s Weather D Reminder of new Messenger deadline JOHN With the Messenger's shift to Wednesday mailing the staff edits copy on Thursdays and lays out pages on Monday The paper is printed on Tuesday As a result the deadline for priority placement in the next Wednesday’s newspaper is Thursday at 5 pm The nal deadline is Friday at noon cemetery Plans are moving ahead to construct a new gaebo in the Ephraim City Cemetery City manager Richard says a preliminary design has been drafted $30000 allocated for construction The gazebo will include a cemetery map and directory and some kind of memorial plaque listing the names of veterans said It! Six Mile Canyon up in smoke us’ do work ‘We By were letting Mother Nature John Hales Staff writer MANTI — Labor Day weekend vacationers hoping to camp in Six Mile Canyon were disappointed when the canyon was closed because of a major fire that the US Forest Service permitted to burn in accordance with its prescribed burn program Last Thursday Sept 2 massive plumes of smoke began billowing above the skyline suggesting that the fire By “ There have been shortfalls and mandatory added expenses that make the previouly set amount ” — Commissioner Bruce Blackham commenting on why the commission passed a larger tax increase than they had originally planned Geoffrey Pace Staff writer GUNNISON— The BLM may want to sell land north of Gunnison that the city currently leases for a rifle the city may want to buy it At a Gunnisoon City Council Sept meeting Wednesday Mayor Scott Hermansen assigned police chief Blane Jensen to look into buying out the lease The land has been on a renewable lease “for as long as I can remember" said R Truitt Staff writer A5 A8 A9 All A12 CENTERFIELD — Al- though equipment is ready and waiting to drdl a test well for a new culinary water system in Hayes Canyon Centerfield may be looking for another site for its well That was the conclusion the city council and the project engineer reached at a council meeting on Thursday Sept 2 after learning from Mayor Darwin Jensen that the landholder at the Hayes Canyon site wanted to change his agreement with the city Utah Press Association General Excellence winner 1999 - 2001- - 2002 - had burned out of control Nancy Ross acting district ranger for the Sanpete District ! of the National Forest said her office was inundated with calls wanting to know “what was going on up there" However Ross said the Forest Service was able to manage the fire at all times She said the blaze never endangered private lands or property with the exception of a few camping trailers all of which were safely relo- - our cated “We were letting Mother Nature do our work for us” Ross said Fire management officials confirmed Ross’s assertions during a helicopter tour of the region Friday Sept 3 According to the officials lightning strikes ignited the fire on July 27 about 15 miles east of the national forest border and a little more than 3 miles due east of Palisade State Park Since the area was scheduled for a prescribed for later in the season Forest Service didn’t fight burn the the fire Kim Soper fire management officer for the Forest said his team decided it would be wasteful to extinguish the fire only to prescriptively burn the same area later at significant expense The fire burned to the east Forsouth est supervisor Alice Carlton and (See “Fire” on A2) 2003 lemiansen The city received a letter from a gun and ride association diat mentioned a BLM program to unload all such properties owned in Utah The city appointed Police Chief Blaine Jensen who Hermansen said has long been an advocate of the rifle range to contact the BLM If the BLM confirms that such a program exists the city will consider purchasing the property In another matter Council Member Steven Buchanan in formed the council that he had met with the engineers designing the new sewer layout and that drafts of the plan are about 90 percent w ater supply for the year Taylor said that pleas for water conservation didn't seem to work Despite such pleas usage complete A tour of the site will be held later this month allowing companies wishing to bid on the project to preview it Bids for the project should open sometime in October with construction due to start in November Council Member Rod Taylor noted that the farm irrigation system had been shut off that day The system had reached the end of its actually went up 25 percent he said proper resource management allowed the system to stay in operation later into the year than expected Because the irrigation season is not quite over Hermansen predicted that there w ill be added draw from the city’s culinary system but that it is late enough in the year that “we don't foresee " any problem Town may need to move well site By C Lifestyle Business Classifieds Sports Sports MESSENGER PHOTO Gunnison looking to buy BLM land where city rifle range is now located You inadequate HALES Huge plumes of smoke billow up from fire in Six Mile Canyon last Thursday Sept 2 The fire had been smoldering for blaze Because the area was already scheduled weeks over about 260 acres when winds whipped it into a 2200-acrfor a prescribed burn the Forest Service let the fire burn while watching it carefully in works for Ephraim John Hales Staff writer Reported by Lee J Anderson Anderson 8 2004 County passes Mostly Sunny Gazebo SEPTEMBER WEDNESDAY UTAH Wednesday 6652 O 75e GUNNISON The drilling contractor had already sent equipment to the site to start drilling Now the heavy equipment is sitting at die city lot wailing for the problem to be resolved The mayor said he would try to come to an agreement w ith the owner one last lime before seeking out an alternate site Due to efforts by council member Richard Ahlers city employees will be able to join the slate retirement program However the vote to join the system was equally split Jensen broke the tie in favor of going with the state system Council member Earlene Christensen who opposed the motion w anted to wait to investigate a 401 K plan before making the final decision but Ahlers made a motion to go ahead with the retirement program Council member Kendra Sorensen seconded the motion Along with Christensen council Leslie member Gregerson voted against the measure Both voiced concerns about the strain a retirement plan would place on the budget In other discussion the council agreed to verify whether the city had a noise ordinance that would prohibit truck drivers from using their engine brakes called “Jake brakes” within the city Several cities have ordinances regulating use of Jake brakes Ahlers said there w as no reason for truck drivers to use engine breaks on level ground He said truck drivers going and coming from the asphalt plant use them routinely for no good reason Jensen promised to research the ordinances and if the city ordinances don’t deal with the problem to draft needed changes Meanw hile two ordinances passed dealing with sexually oriented businesses One ordinance was amended to provide a location in the LTR-- light zone for such businesses The other ordinance set up the rules on conduct of sexually oriented businesses Recorder Debbie Hansen explained that the city has to have a place for these type of business otherw ise they can be set up almost anyw here in the city The council can’t prevent the businesses — only control them The council wasn’t satisfied with the placement but no one could sug- (See “Will” on A2) MANTI - The Sanpete County Commission passed a $670000 property tax increase Tuesday — a significantly larger increase than was contemplated when commissioners approved the 2004 budget last December The commission approved the hike despite a significant outcry against it at a public meeting Aug 24 When the commissioners approved the 2004 budget last December they planned on a $470000 tax inciease to balance it But their unanimous vote Thursday raised the size of the increase by $200000 However Commissioner Bruce Blackham explained an overview of county finances now that the year is over makes the necessity of the added increase obvious “There have been shortfalls and mandatory added expenses that make the previously set amount inadequate" he said with nods of assent from his peers on the commis- (See “Taxes” 2 on Arapeen Days will herald harvest By Darlene Agren Staff writer MAYFIELD— The hay season will be over the crops in and it will be lime to appreciate the goodness of life in Mayfield The city has looked to its history as a cause for celebration and has designated Sept as Arapeen Days The celebration will include an art show a quilt show 'and craft booths On Friday evening a dinner and a program of cowboy poetry and music will be held at the Town Hall On Saturday the city w'ill host a v ariety of activities: a soapbox derby a mountain men gathering with demonstrations of ironw orks leather and wood wagon rides a relay competition poker shoot and a lunch turing Mexican food a fea- The Gunnison Valley Centennial Book describes what the Fust settlers beheld when they came to Mayfield Arapeen Valley lush with its meadows lay to the north of the stream and the canyon stream cut a “:the zigzag path through the wide creek bottom” As these settlers crossed the creek to the south magic circle of “a earth and sky surrounded them a panorama of the most pleasing color and design” They soon moved their families to May field The Utes who inhabited the area before the settlers certainly must have been awed (See “Arapeen” on A 2) |