OCR Text |
Show Letter to water tanker owner called work of a 'crackpot' By MARK EDDINGTON Staff Writer BOUNTIFUL A threatening letter mailed to the company owning the 43-ton runaway water wagon that recently destroyed a Bountiful home is being dismissed by police as the work of a crackpot. Harper Excavating Inc., located at 4655 W. 5415 South in K earns, received a signed letter the day following the incident from a man who threatened the Qch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and made Klnce to desecrating temples. The truck was being used in the construction of the Mormon Church's Bountiful Temple when the mishap occurred. The Caterpillar water wagon, fully loaded with 5,000 gallons of water, rolled off the temple site and cut a 300-foot swath of destruction before its momentum carried it into the back of Paul and Jackie Peterson's home and caused over $100,000 worth of structural damage. Bountiful Police Lt. Bill Collard said company officials thought the letter could be an indication the mishap was caused by vandalism rather than by equip ment failure or operator error. But police investigators disagree. Collard said church security officials traced the letter to a man residing in a psychiatric institution in the Midwest. "He was just kind of a crackpot who liked to send out letters," Collard said. "We get letters like that too. Every couple of months we get a real zinger from someone who is really crazy. They sit and write literally lit-erally hundreds of letters to police departments, church leaders, to you name it." An investigation conducted by the Utah Highway Patrol found no evidence of sabotage and points to brake failure. The truck has air brakes and usually carries a spring-loaded brake that acts much like an emergency brake in a car. However, the truck had been legally modified to haul the water and did not have a spring-loaded brake. Questioned one day after the accident, Lawnie Mayhew, Harper lirector of management, said at least part of the responsibility for the accident belongs with the operator. The truck had been left parked on an incline, in-cline, which Mayhew said violated company procedure. |