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Show 12 THE SIGNPOST Lawsuit threatens Park By Paul Foy writer I Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A dispute between two Park City ski areas in a major Utah tourist hub threatens to shut down Park City Mountain Resort and damage the local economy, city officials said Tuesday. The parent company of Park City Mountain Resort filed a lawsuit earlier this month claiming the owners of nearby Canyons resort are trying to drive it out of business by refusing to extend a lease for another 39 years on land where it has invested $100 million in lifts, lodges and other improvements. The Canyons' Toronto-based resort opera- Ct WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2011 tor, Talisker Corp., owns much of the land at Park City Mountain Resort, which leases 3,700 acres of upper-mountain terrain for ski lifts, lodges and slopes. Neither side is revealing terms of negotiations that have broken down, but Park City Mountain Resort pays just $155,000 a year in rent for the Talisker-owned land, according to its lawsuit. Mayor Dana Williams said the companies are two of the biggest players in the city and should "sit down and figure this out." Canyons officials have said they pay $3 million a year to lease much of their ski resort from independent landowners. Talisker became a landlord years ago after buying former mining lands at Park City Mountain Resort. Park City resort's lease is set to expire April 30, but it insists it has an option to extend it until 2051. Officials for the Canyons have said they're simply trying to negotiate a new lease and aren't aiming to engineer a hostile takeover. Still, local officials are worried the dispute could force Park City Mountain Resort to shut down. The resort drops to the town's center, where scores of businesses depend on vacationing skiers for their livelihood. The Canyons Resort is a few miles outside of the town center. "The retail operations have already put their orders in for next ski season," said city Councilwoman Liza Simpson, who works at a bookseller. "I don't know how that is going to work out." The Park City resort is asking a state court in Salt Lake City to keep its lease in effect until the dispute is resolved. It is suing Talisker for $7 million in alleged damages, saying that's how much it invested in resort upgrades last summer alone. Talisker has yet to answer the demands, and no hearing dates have been set. "Clearly, I think Park City felt some pressure or they wouldn't have filed this lawsuit, which most people would describe as drastic," Simpson said. Park City also is home to Deer Valley, long rated the No, 1 North American ski area by SKI Magazine. Park City Mountain Resort is the magazine's No. 1 "Family Vacation" resort. The Canyons consistently ranks in the top 15 for North American ski resorts and has expanded its terrain to 4,000 acres across nine peaks. "We're going to fight as long as it takes," Jenni Smith, president and general manager of Park City Mountain Resort, said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit. Smith said it wouldn't be possible for the Canyons to take over her ski area because Park City Mountain Resort owns land and lodges at its base, along with parking lots, ski lifts and crucial water rights for snowmaking. Park City Mountain Resort spokeswoman Krista Parry said Tuesday that for weeks before the lawsuit was filed on March 9, "our calls were unreturned and the dialogue ceased completely. We had no other option but to file suit." Mike Goar, managing director of Canyons, wasn't immediately available Tuesday for a response. Park City officials, merchants and skiers hope the dispute is settled quickly, Simpson said. "The negative impact on our community would be profound if any of the three resorts were to close," she said. and the dead and wounded officers. The deputies kept a close watch on the suspect's outspoken father, a private investigator who has questioned police tactics in the Jan. 4 shootout. Police say the 37-yearold suspect, Matthew David Stewart, opened fire on them but he claims it was self-defense. The case has polarized Ogden. One camp is grieving for the dead officer and five others from a narcotics task force who were wounded by gun- fire. Another group insists police over-reacted by storming Stewart's house for 16 pot plants. The opposing views have played out for weeks on the Internet and the website of the StandardExaminer of Ogden. On Monday, the judge scheduled an evidence hearing for three days in July. Stewart is expected to return to court earlier for a status conference May 14. Prosecutors are seeking a gag order, while Stewart's attorneys are asking the county to pay for a defense investigator and a ballistics expert. Second District Judge Noel Hyde issued no rulings Monday on those requests. Outside court, Michael Stewart said recent court filings by police and prosecutors are an effort to discredit his son with allegations that he researched guns and ammunition on the Internet, studied anti-government websites and had "images consistent with child pornography" on his computer. "They're trying to label him a terrorist and a pedophile," he said. "Let's see the evidence." The family is seeking online contributions for a defense fund, an effort that was briefly interrupted when state officials said it had to incorporate a charity first. Those donations have amounted to "maybe $9,000" so far, Michael Stewart said. "We have limited resources. That's why we're turning for help," he said. "The county can spend all the money they want." Matthew Stewart ap- peared attentive to court proceedings in jail garb Monday. His father said he had depression and anxiety and pain from being shot by police. He may have been medicating himself with homegrown pot, his father has said. Michael Stewart said the war on drugs should focus on illegal distribution, not "self-use" and that his son's case was "not about the drugs. It's about violence and intimidation." By Staff has an attorney. John Wollshleger, a 30-year-old from Sandy, had a gunshot wound to his head when authorities found him lying dead in the bed of a pickup truck in July 1995. Police also saw abrasions on his back, as if he had been dragged over asphalt and concrete. Witnesses have indicated Wollshleger came to the party to buy cocaine. Detectives had been using DNA found on Wollshleger's socks and shoes to try to crack the case in recent months, but they say two recent interviews helped lead them to an arrest. One witness inter- viewed in January told police Martinez had a rifle at the party and shot Wollshleger. A second witness interviewed at the end of the February said the same. Martinez had encountered a Salt Lake City police officer in May 2003, telling the officer he had to flee to Mexico and live there for a year after cornmitting a crime. He said he'd been on the run ever since, but had never been interviewed by police for it. Police arrested Martinez after an interview this month, in which he confirmed he owned a hunting rifle in 1995. Man charged in police shooting, in court By Paul Foy writer I Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A hearing held amid tight security Monday for an Ogden homeowner charged with killing a police officer during a pot raid underscored tension in the community between people who are sympathetic for police or critical of the late-night raid. Courtroom doors were kept locked as bailiffs carefully separated the families of the suspect Cops crack cold case 1 INTERNATIONAL PIANQUIET writer I Associated Press Presented by International Student & Scholar Center WHEN March 24th , 2012 6:00pm to 9:00pm WHERE Shepherd Union Ballroom TICKETS $10.00 $12.00 Day of Event Children $ 7.00 •• •* • * Salt Lake County prosecutors believe they've cracked the 17-year-old cold case of a man found shot to death at a party in Sandy. County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Tuesday that a murder charge is being filed against Antonio Martinez, who told police nearly a decade ago that he committed a crime so bad he'd been on the run for years. Jail records show the 34-year-old was being held in lieu of $1 million bail. 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