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Show The Park Record B-16 Heart and Sole Farrier Service A gentle trust based approach to handling your Horse • $30 Trims • Behavioral Training • $65 Cold Shoeing • $75 Hot Shoeing ****435-640-0201**** John Armstrong First Time Clients Receive 20% off • with this coupon J I LUNCH BUFFET 1 I FAMILY DINII^S • •• •• ' ^ - ^ - • • i i - - - | FREE EASY PARKING . WINE A N D BEER * c' 1 KID'S MENU '^v••'''*' I WIRELESS INTERNET A*dCESS Cleaning up radioactive waste By NANCY L OF HOLM Media News Group Wire Service (Grand Junction, Colo.) The residue of uranium mining - waste rock and tailings - has blighted some Western states for more than half a century. Now, two businessmen say they have u revolutionary and environmentally friendly solution to the problem of radioactive waste. Don Cora m and Gerald Harrington have applied for a patent, have an initial contract, and are preparing a permit application for a pilot project they say will demonstrate how they can use synthetic acid and alkaline to pull virtually all traces of radioactive material from waste rock and tailings. They propose to do that where the waste sits, and to leave no contamination behind. Down the road, they say, the process also could he used on mill tailings, such as the crushed residue that was lull at the Shattuck Super fund site in Denver and the huge uraniumlaced pile that looms over Moab, 15% off your biU * located behind fart O t y Albertson's n c ^ t t o G a r t 5 p o t 6 WENTWORTH AT SUMMIT COUNTY Utah. "We haven't reinvented the wheel. We've just redesigned what has been done in the past," said Coram. who has been working in the uranium and vanadium mining industry for three decades. Coram and Harrington of Mont rose, Colo., have been unveiling their unusual odorless, nonburning acid and their portable extraction method to mining-company and government officials. So far, no one is calling it snake oil. Those who have seen the laboratory results say that, scientifically, the method works. They are waiting on proof that it can be done economically on a large scale and that it won't create further contamination. "I remain a little skeptical. but if it works, it would be revolutionary," said Mike Tucker, a project manager for the Department of Energy. "If il is economical, if that is indeed true, it would be very beneficial to society." An estimated 800 to 1,000 piles of uranium-mine waste dot western Colorado, left where it was pulled from the ground before the government required reclamation of the troublesome waste. Much of that waste is rock that wus deemed too low in uranium and vanadium content to justify hauling it to a mill. The current methods of dealing with such waste range from doing nothing with the remote rock piles to undergoing the costly Band-Aid measures of hauling mill tailings to secure facilities or stabilizing them on site by covering them with a skin of inert material. The mill leftovers are problematic because while the milling process can remove up to 95 percent of the uranium, the residue is laced with caustic chemicals. What is left behind can pose a danger to health and environment. Now, it also represents a potential profit. Uranium prices more than tripled in the past 18 months to $29 a pound, and the steel-hardener vanadium shot from less than $2.50 a pound to about $26. At those prices. Coram and Harrington say, there is a profit to be made from processing the minerals from low-grade rock on site and from squeezing that last 5 percent of uranium out of tailings. Their method, they say, will remove 99.9 percent of the uranium and vanadium and, turn it into a sludge that will be taken in tanker trucks to the Colter Corp. mill in Canon City. Colo., one of two licensed operating uranium mills in the country. Cotter has already contracted to process that slurry from the pilot project and, if that goes well, has committed to a second project on a 60.000-ton pile of Colter waste rock in western Colorado. "I've been through this a lol of years. Some things come along that look good, but the economics aren't there," said Cotter Corp. vice president Rich Ziegler. "Their process looks to be the real thins." Marriage policy penalizes gay couple By JOHN INGOLD Not valid with any other coupon or discount. Good for Dine in or Take out Wed/Thurs/Fri, May 25-27, 20Q5 MediaNews Group Wire Sericcc (Denver) Fay McCall's lesbian partner. Karen Mullcr. works as a Social Security Administration claims representative. McCall sought a job in the same office, but Muller said she was told that McCall couldn't have the job because of a prohibition on hiring married couples. Bui gay couples cannot marry under Colorado or federal law, and Muller cannot list McCall as a beneficiary on her federal health plan. And. in what the two women see as the greatest of ironies, neither could receive the other's Social Security death benefits if one died. McCall has filed a complaint with SSA over (he job denial. "Married couples, if one of them dies, the other can claim benefits as a survivor." said John Hummel, legal director for the Gay. Lesbian. Bisexual and Transgendcr Community Center of Colorado and McCall's attorney. "That's not something available to Karen ant)'Fay. and yet, for the purpose of this job. they are married." So, nearly two months after first lodging an informal complaint with the administration seeking to simply be given a job at the office in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. McCall is still working at her old job in a private medical transcription company. "It made me mad enough to file a complaint." McCall said. "It was unfair, il was unwarranted, and there was no excuse for it." McCall's complaint suggests that the real reason the agency refused to hire her is because she is a lesbian. Regional Social Security spokeswoman Delia Lasanta said I he formal complaint triggered an investigation by Social Security's associate commissioner for civil rights and equal opportunity. Until that investigation is finished, Lasanta said, she cannot discuss details of the case. But she added that it is against Social Security policy to discriminate against anyone on the basis of their sexual orientation'.1" ' '"" "When we have job openings, we evaluate all the candidates on their qualifications." she said. McCall. 54. first applied for an entry-level, call-taker job with the SSA's telephone service center in Lakewood in August. There were three openings then. and she was not selected for any of them. However, she received a letter from the office's manager telling her that she was rated "acceptable" following her interview and would be eligible for future openings, according to a copy of the letter in McCall's complaint. In January, 10 positions opened at the office, and McCall again applied. Because of her previous interview, she did not need to re-intcrview, but Muller. according to her declaration in the complaint, soon learned there was a "problem" in hiring McCall and asked why. The office manager told her it was because a regional administrator said that no married couples should be hired. I said, "Yeah, but we're t "So, not-married.' " said Muller. The office manager said he didn't have a problem hiring McCall. according to Mullcr's statement in the complaint, but that because of the prohibition on hiring married couples, he didn't think he could. Hummel said there are several instances of married heterosexual couples or other related individuals working at the Social Security offices. "It seems like it was a special rule just adopted for this lesbian couple," Hummel said. Lasanta said the administration has no policy against hiring married couples so long as the hiring doesn't constitute nepotism. "It's not part of our evaluation of their qualifications." she said. A mediation session in February proved fruitless. McCall said the administration offered to give her the chance to re-interview for any future openings. Muller said McCall wants the job she deserves. "AH we're asking for is a job." she said. "It's not like we're asking to be millionaires. Just a job." LEADERSHIP We are pleased to announce the opening of The Stratford ... special care unit... which strives to bring the challenges associated with memory disorders such as Alzheimer's into a more manageable perspective. Call JuliefordetaUs: 435-783-5575 or toll free: 1-800-464-9917 4200 North 400 West • Oakley, Ut 84055 It's not always being the biggest. It's always striving to be the best. It's never being comfortable with the status quo. It's seeking new challenges. It's setting a standard of performance that inspires associates and challenges competitors. Being a leader is a lot tougher than being a follower. Ifyou're looking for a financial advisor who sharesjour commitment to leadership contact Michael A. Ruzek, Associate Vice President - Investments at 435~94O-6gil 866-J2O-612O, or or by e-mail at michael.ruiek@wachovtasec.com. Michael A. Ruzek Associate Vice President - Investments 435-94O-69II • 866-720-6120 michael.ruzek@wachoviasec.com 'fterfodffiffftifc r OS Wiffaifil SecuiEwi. UC 6ZBBT S/05 This bracelet was a grft Amber Apodaca received from the center where she helped teens with drug and alcohol problems. She was wearing it when an underage drunk driver took her life. 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