Show Vernal grass roots drive goes to Secretary of Army It's been the classic confrontation through David Carter Spinks Indians Cavalry-small For it's Colleen Martin and Lee Balka the United States Army as what started to be a local campaign by a committee of two and to persuade the army to terminate Balka's orders to active duty and to nullify his agreement made nearly a decade ago has now turned Into a political struggle in our nation's capital with Senators Orrin Hatch and Jake Gam getting involved in talks with the Secretary of the Clifford In a span of only two the letter-writing and petition-circulating campaign initiated by Hatch and Martin during a night of bowling has reached the Pentagon in Washington D.C. where the Army Chief of Staff is They started the campaign after reading about Balka's appeals loss in the Salt Lake They decided to Initiate a fight to keep Balka from having to go into the service because of the critical doctor shortage in the Vernal A University of Utah survey identified the Vernal area to have a patient potential during the winter months and a patient potential during the tourist season with only five full-time doctors to serve It was erroneously mentioned in an Express article last week that another doctor had been hired to replace Balka in he had been hired prior to the Appeals Court decision in favor of the The fact of another doctor being hired at the Family Health notwithstanding area is still listed as a critical doctor shortage The Save the Doctor Committee enlisted the aid of twenty-five Vernal residents to undertake a phone to inform Balka's patients and other residents about the loss of a doctor from this area to the The response to their plea was nothing short of amazing as petitions started filling with and letters began pouring into Senator Hatch's office in Salt Lake City and Washington D.C. It was reported that approximately names have been sent thus Meg explained the principle behind fighting for Balka was the critical shortage of doctors in the That WHILE LEE weighs the possibilities of going into the army or remaining in Meg and Colleen display some of the hundreds of names gathered on petitions and letters in a campaign to keep Balka from mandatory army and the fact the in delaying their allowed Balka to establish residency in Vernal and to build a large unfair to his patients to snatch Balka away because the army delayed their decision for a number of Hatch In addition to the loss of the loss of his is another The people in the campaign are upset over losing a certified assistant in Since the campaign was initiated the response has set off a chain reaction of protest letters and petitions and snowballed into Senator Hatch's office where administrative assistant Frank Madsen and army liaison staff member John Haddow have taken over the cause of the Vernal Madsen and Haddow report they have already taken the request of the Vernal residents to the army in hopes of having the matter handled through their administrative Haddow reported the army was initially receptive to the idea to allow Balka to remain in Vernal based on the critical doctor shortage Haddow gave odds of better than even the army would void Balka's That was last i In subsequent talks with army staff up the chain of the changed to one of pessimism as higher ranking officers in the thinking the army's action was Vindicated in the The army is looking thi their legal department to determine If it is legal for the army to void contract after the courts have ordered him to active Further action on the part of Hatch's staff is expected to continue despite the note of Haddow reported Hatch was scheduled to meet personally with the Secretary of the Army in mid-week to discuss the No word reached the Express regarding that meeting before press Hatch also is enlisting the aid of Jake Garn in this matter by asking Garn to also call Hatch is going to pursue the need of Vernal versus the need of the army for Army staff members are currently investigating their own needs to help determine if the needs of the community exceed those of the Senator Hatch reportedly feels very strongly about the loss of a doctor from a doctor shortage According to Hatch instructed his office staff to do whatever they can to keep Balka from entering the service because of the critical doctor shortage in Haddow expressed his admiration in praising the efforts of Meg Hatch and Colleen Martin in mobilizing the town to undertake the campaign to save their The final outcome of saga may come later this week after Senators Hatch's and Gam's meetings with or it may come within daj s as one Hatch assistant Whatever the it's evident the people can still be |