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Show Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 75¢ A5 Gift of time at Gunnison Valley Hospital GUNNISON VALLEY EDITION VOL. 84 • NUMBER 3 MANTI, UTAH • WEDNESDAY, JANUIARY 19, 2005 WEA THER EATHER Changing hands PATRIOTIC PUCKER Wednesday 48/25 Mild Thursday - 50/25 Clear and mild Friday - 49/24 Juab and Sanpete counties trade control of legislative seats at Republican caucus Mild and cloudy Saturday - 47/22 Partly cloudy Last Week’s Weather Date Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. By Sean Hales Max. Min. Prec. Snow 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 40 37 34 33 34 37 39 34 31 23 13 16 17 23 .47 1” - Staff writer AT A GLANCE North Sanpete School Board swears in members MT. PLEASANT— Mica Talbot, Dale Barker and Kathryn Parnell promised to discharge their duties with fidelity as North Sanpete School District business administrator Darin Johansen swore them in as the first order of business at the Jan. 11 school board meeting. Barker, who is newly elected to the board, resigned his part-time, paid coaching position and re-upped as a volunteer coach, since board members are not permitted to receive compensation from the school district. Parnell, an incumbent who was re-elected in November, and holdover Robert Hansen, were reinstated as president and vice president of the board for another two years. Journalism boot camp dated The Utah Press Association and Sanpete Messenger are sponsoring a “journalism bootcamp” Saturday at Snow College. Top journalism faculty from four Utah universities will present a crash course in journalism basics ranging from identifying news to news story construction. The registration deadline has passed, but a few seats may be available. The cost is $15. Teacher recertification credit is available. Contact the Messenger at 835-NEWS. Read Trumpet for scholarfship information Manti High students and parents: Looking for a college scholarship? Read Manti High counselor Connie Good’s column in the Templar Trumphet, which is inserted in Sterling, Manti and Ephraim copies of this week’s Messenger. INSIDE Opinions ............ A4 Lifestyle ............. A5 Sports ................ A7 Classifieds ......... A9 Utah Press Association General Excellence winner 1999 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 SEAN HALES / MESSENGER PHOTO Snow College vice president Rick Wheeler (right) is congratulated by District 70 Rep. Bradley Johnson (center) and former District 68 Rep. Michael Styler on his election victory for the house seat for District 68. Styler vacated that seat when Gov. Huntsman appointed him director of the Division of Natural Resources. Fayette must decide uses of center before going for grant By John Hales Staff writer FAYETTE—The city needs to decide how it wants to use its proposed community center, the Fayette Town Council concluded at its Jan. 6 meeting. Council member Kelly Sue Mellor told the council that a cost breakdown for the building needs to be provided before the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money, which has already been approved, can be dispersed for the project. To d e t e r m i n e a c o s t breakdown, the council needs to decide what the building w i l l b e u s e d f o r. C o u n c i l members suggested that the community center could be used for reunions, weddings, and other such gatherings, and could also include an exercise room, a computer lab, and space for a limited library or book-checkout area in a future county library system. The council is using the recently finished Mayfield community center as a model but isn’t sure that the town can afford the nearly $250,000 spent on the Mayfield building. In determining the cost for the structure itself, the council determined that a 60x120 foot pre-fabricated exterior would cost around $56,000, but the cost of interior finishing, furnishings, and exterior grounds and landscaping would need to be included as well. The town has already spent $34,000 to procure land for the facility. But other land issues may affect the town’s proposal. According to plat maps from the Sanpete County recorder’s office, Fayette has a “gap issue” to contend with in the area of the proposed community center. Land gaps are created by discrepancies between written land descriptions and actual land boundaries. Mayor Shawn Crane said that the gap was probably created by differences in various surveys of the area in the late 1800s. The council discussed the problem, but only to understand it, not to solve it. Crane said that the gap issue would be addressed later. In other business, the council discussed raising cemetery plot rates for nonresidents from the current price of $250 per plot but took no action on the matter. SALT LAKE CITY—In a ceremony at the State Capitol on Monday, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. officially appointed Darrin Peterson and Rick Wheeler to fill legislative seats vacated by state cabinet appointments. The governor’s action ratified results of a caucus Saturday at Snow College where 132 Republican delegates from Central Utah and Tooele County (the Tooele delegates attended by phone) selected replacements for Senate District 24, the seat formerly occupied by Sen. Leonard Blackham of Sanpete County, and House District 68, for(See “Caucus” on A2) County asks fire department support for hazmat efforts By Tery Robertson Staff writer GUNNISON—Sanpete County’s director of emergency services asked the Gunnison Valley Fire Department advisory board to approve an interlocal agreement for handling hazardous materials incidents at a meeting Thursday, Jan. 13. Attending the meeting of the advisory board, which represents municipalities throughout Gunnison Valley, were Lori Nay of the Gunnison City Council; Van Malmgren of the Mayfield City Council; Keith Garff and Blake Sorensen of the Centerfield City Council; and Kevin Hansen, Gunnison Valley fire chief. Hazardous materials are extremely dangerous and require specially trained personnel and equipment. Although the Gunnison Valley Fire Department volunteers go through rigorous preparation, they are not currently trained in haz-mat emergencies, Holman said. Until 2002, the state was responsible for hazardous materials response. However, according to Holman, “…the state decided to get out of the haz-mat business and pulled out, leaving each region responsible for its own hazmat emergencies.” The state was divided into eight regions (seven geographic and a single, statewide “bomb” region) with the regions rolling out their programs one at a time. Volunteer personnel who might become involved in responding to haz-mat situations must go through 48 hours of hazmat training per year in addition to the 120-140 hours of regular training already required. The inter-local agreement Holman presented requires each town to provide 2-4 operations personnel to go through haz-mat training. Malmgren asked Holman how the county would enforce the requirement. Holman responded that it’s a request, not a requirement. “It’s an honor thing and each city needs to hold up their end of the agreement…It’s in the contract but not enforceable.” Holman also spoke about the potential risk. Throughout this area, thousands of pounds chemicals are carried daily. “It’s not a matter of if a haz-mat emergency will happen—but when,” he said. In the past two years, Ephraim has had three haz-mat incidents. Another discussion centered around the fiscal burden of the extra training on the volunteer fire department. Its budget is already stretched—in fact, for the area it covers it should have 48 members, but its budget, location and equipment can only accommodate 21. Holman answered that federal money is available in the form of grants, from mainly Homeland Security. In the event of a haz-mat emergency, the response team would assess the situation, report back, deny entry to the area and request assistance. According to Fire Chief Hansen, “We don’t have a choice (of whether to participate in the program) because we can’t afford anything else…” The fire district and its financial strains also came up at a Gunnison City Council meeting Jan. 5. Nay told the council that the fire department needs some administrative support to respond to mail, answer questions and make sure grants are submitted on time. “They don’t even have a roster of members,” she told the council. “Maybe See “Haz-mat” on A2 Hansen admits wrong, gets probation By Suzanne Dean Publisher MANTI—Wendy Hansen, former Ephraim city clerk and former treasurer of the Sanpete County landfill, admitted wrongdoing in court last week and was sentenced to two year’s probation for depositing third-party checks made out to the city and landfill into her personal account. At the sentencing hearing Wednesday, Jan. 12 in 6th District Court, Sanpete County attorney Ross Blackham announced that Hansen had paid $30,000 in restitution that morning. Both sides in the case agreed that more restitution might be required. But they agreed to try to settle on the amount out of court. A presentence report from Adult Probation and Parole recommended that Hansen serve 90 days in jail. But consistent with a plea agreement reached last September, Blackham recommended against jail time. Judge David Mower accepted the county attorney’s recom- mendation. Officially, Mower sentenced Hansen to up to five years in prison, and a $9,275 fine, on each of two third-degree felony counts of misuse of public monies. But he suspended the prison time and all but $1,025 of the fines. He also ordered Hansen to comply with all future restitution requirements and to complete 100 hours of community service. The emotional case was launched in early 2004 when Blackham filed papers charging Hansen with 42 counts of communication fraud and two counts of misuse of public monies. All of the counts were felonies. Documents filed during the case listed checks totaling $116,000, most of them checks customers had made to Ephraim City or the landfill, that had ended up in Hansen’s personal account at the now-defunct Bank “ a shambles, it was impossible to determine the precise total of Hansen’s improper deposits, Blackham said. Hansen has not spoken publicly since charges were filed. But friends and associates have maintained that Gary Anderson, former Ephraim mayor, former landfill chairman, and Hansen’s supervisor in her landfill work, directed her to deposit the third-party checks to cover the time she was putting in for the landfill. The friends —Wendy Hansen and associates act as pay agent for the landfill have contended Hansen kept in compensating Hansen.) Other timecards documenting her landchecks on the list appeared to fill hours. But they have said the have been used to transfer money records vanished from Hansen’s from the landfill to the city to office in the Ephraim City Hall after she was suspended from her cover Hansen’s compensation. Because of the complicated job as city clerk. Anderson denies pathway some of the money trav- ever giving such a directive. During last week’s hearing, eled—from the landfill, to the city to Hansen’s account and be- both sides referred to a statement cause accounting records were in Hansen submitted as part of the of Ephraim. But subsequent investigation suggested the amount of apparently illegitimate payments to Hansen was considerably less than $116,000. Some of the checks in the original charging document turned out to be valid contract payments from Ephraim City to Hansen for her work as landfill treasurer. (The city had agreed to I know I have responsibility for this, and I’m sorry for what happened ... I just want to move on with my life. ” presentence evaluation. Blackham described the statement as an “accurate, honest and concise” statement of the facts. In it, Hansen said that in 1999, when Sanpete County started developing a new landfill, her workload as part-time treasurer increased dramatically, and the small stipend she was receiving ($300 per month) no longer covered the hours she was putting in. She said she had talked to Anderson and claimed he had authorized her to take extra pay for the extra time she was putting in. But she admitted that her method of taking the money—depositing customer checks to her personal account—was illegal and improper. The whole case was “about the manner in which this money hit her account,” Blackham told the court. Hansen’s statement, he said, contained “a clear acknowledgement that the protocol was not proper.” Some of Hansen’s support(See “Hansen” on A2) |
