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Show Utah Press Association Arinda Guttierez 1521 East 3900 South Suite 100 Salt Lake City, UT 84124 AN E D I T I O N O FPRIDE PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID &P . SPANISH FORK, UTAH PERMIT NO. 2 The Spanish Fork News M l VOL. 3 / NO. 1 O C A L L Y O W N E D A N D O WEDNESDAY, P E R A JANUARY T E D2, 2008 500 SPANISH FORK, UTAH Inter a Mappi itv uogr Heather Campbell STAFF WRITER Have you ever wanted to know the zoning on a particular area, or more information about your own building lot? While this information has already been made available to Spanish Fork residents for a few years now. the City's Geographical Information System (GIS), has recently been upgraded, and brings with it some interesting new changes. The GIS, is an internet mapping system, and is a public service provided by the City, which allows residents to go online and search for information on their own property as well as other locations throughout the city. Created by a company called ESRI, the ArcIMS server as it's called, uses the internet to share both data and geographical information over the web. According to Spanish Fork City GIS Administrator Shawn Beecher, "Someone looking for more information on their property could click on their property address and find their subdivision code, their lot number or parcel number, their owner information or zoning and general plan information." If you wanted information about a city park," Beecher said "you could type in the name of the park and the mapping system would not only give you information about the park," he said "but you could also find out how to get to the park, and where it is in relation to you on the map." In an effort to make information more accessible to citizens the city implemented the GIS system back in 2005. Just recently however, the city switched over to the newer version of the ArcIMS software, and Beecher said that besides a new look and feel, one of the features of newer software is that it has a link where you can search the "entire GIS." Beecher said, "You can type in the word sports, for example, and the GIS map will bring up information on parks and trails and anything e'se related to sports." According to Beecher the great thing about this mapping system is that it not only provides a wealth of information to the public but, "It gets better and better with time," as they are able add more information to the maps. While Spanish Fork started doing the mapping system on their own, they have now been joined by a See CITY • 5 • • . >* O Public Facilities :*•• C3 Church Points •,* O School Points ;•. 0 Address Numbers Done Courtesy graphic / Shawn Beecher, Spanish Fork City CITYSCAPE: Aaron Painter works on the city's web mapping application, which will provide residents with a wide range of useful data from property information to parks and recreation. Namon Bills / Spanish Fork News UNIQUE GIFT: Larson and Company donated two cows for Christmas through Heifer International. Pictured, left to right, are Jesse Hales, Ashley Kramer, Russell Olsen and Jon Haderlie. Courtesy photos MERRY CHRISTMAS: After serving 15 months in Iraq, Shane Beagley got to come home for Christmas. •-.>.! SF firm gives the gift of... livestock Namon Bills EDITOR Each year at Christmas, the staff at Larson and Company, a CPAfirmbased in Spanish Fork, pool their money to donate to charity instead of giving gifts to each other. This year, JoLayna Arndt, the company's marketing director, came up with the idea to donate a cow — two -J.V.J cows, actually — to impoverished families in third world countries through Heifer International. Based in Arkansas, Heifer International seeks to "give families a source of food rather than short-term relief," according to their website. Groups and individuals can purchase livestock which will be donated to families in need, Arndt heard about Heifer International through a news report. "The idea came from a family who decided instead of getting an X-box, to buy a cow for a village," Arndt said. "We wanted to do a similar effort." After looking at their options, the company decided to donate two cows — one for the Spanish Fork office and See LIVESTOCK • 5 n \ i "nn 1 5 ! /"""^ i i : ['--•-.; f ".1 \Tr\\fC} m Lindsay B. Wolsey STAFF WRITER Santa Claus came early to the Beagley family of Spanish Fork. Son and brother Shane Beagley returned home after serving 15 months in Iraq as a Cavalry Scout in the Army. Jolynn Beagley, Shane's mother, is excited to have her boy home for the holidays. "It's great having him h&re. It's nice to have him back in See SOLDIER • 10 |
