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Show Accusations against commissioners are . dismissed by judge I By GARY R. BLOPGETT FARMINGTON - Second District Dis-trict Judge Douglas L. Cornaby ruled last week that there is "no evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors mis-demeanors or malfeasance in office on the part of three Davis County .. .public officials." " The!, summary ruling handed down in a written statement cleared ' County Commissioners Harold Tippetts and William (Bill) Peters an(l former-Commissioner Glea Saunders of all nine charges filed against them by a small group of county residents. , The conclusion of the prepared- I- statement said that "those charged under Section. 77-6-1, Utah Code Annotated, are free of personal misconduct, mis-conduct, gross neglect, usurpation or personal disregard of public in- . terest in the discharge of the duties : of public office." The statement also 'noted thast . there was no "intentional act or? r, omission..; which involve a sub-. stantial breach of trust imposed upon the official by the nature of his : office, and which conduct is of such character as to offend against com- monly cpeptcd standards of honesty hon-esty and morality.".. J '' "On the other, hand, the in-, vestigation shows these public officers offi-cers to be men of high character, human erring at times but with integrity. All accusations are ordered dismissed." A request by the defendants to assess attorney fees and court costs against the accusers ac-cusers was denied. The judge's conclusion stated the claim was filed with merit and in good faith and that all eight signers of the accusation were supposedly sworn and each individually at-tested at-tested to the fact that the statements cpntainedin i the accusation were true to the best of their knowledge and belief. . The citizens' peution, a civil suit action, alleged nine wrongdoings by the defendants -- any one of which could have resulted in malfeasance . in office or misuse of public funds. At the outset, the court suggested the filing of the accusation just prior to the PrimaryElection and the fuN nishing of a copy to a newspaper of general circulauon in Davis County to be "politically motivated.' However, this does not mean that the action was without merit or frivolous, fri-volous, according to the court ruling. rul-ing. The court, it. said, does not doubt the good faith of the accusers . in bringing the action. ' V O CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Commission verdict CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 " Judge Cornaby expressed appre-' ciation to attorneys William F. Daines and Melvin C. Wilson, and to investigator Victor Gabrenas for their efforts in this case. Commissioners Tippetts and Peters, along with Clerk Saunders, said they are very pleased and relieved re-lieved with the judge's decision to" dismiss all allegations against them. "We did no wrong," they said. Commissioner Peters added in a prepared statement, "I find it truly ironic that self-annointed tax protestors, protes-tors, who outwardly claim to be concerned about the level of taxation taxa-tion in Davis County, for political reasons can file a frivolous lawsuit which ends up costing the taxpayers of this county more than $80,000." |