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Show 2 VTfial Expre Wednesday Ociotef 2. 20Q2 Opinion and Commentary JACK-STRAWS October is Car Care Month Because a typical family spends 15 percent or more of Us annual huseh4d budget on motor vehicle related relat-ed evpeiiscs. AAA l uh urges motorists hi protect their automobile investment with an annual maintenance mainte-nance and salct) inspection doling October. AAA Cat Car Mtnlh 11k- average annual cost ol owning and operating a new iai estimated to he $7,53, according to AAA's "Your iHivmg Costs" brochure This is neatly 15 percent ol die average Umiiy's annual income of $S4ii. calculated h the I S Bureau of litht Staiitics V preventive check is an easy way to help safe-eu.ud safe-eu.ud the investment families put in their vehicle, as wkcll as protect against haafjous breakdowns," said Kolaync I aiu tou'h. AAA I'tuh sp4eswoen "A preventative iheik h a professional let.hnu.ian usual I) talcs alxKit IS ininutes llic professional tan deter mine it aii maintenance or repairs have been over looked and need to le performed " toinplt te preventative inspection should include 1 1 PI- lulloWllie ( Vik all lluid levels, vehicle lights. Kits and hoses Keliil ii'plave adjust as necessary liistvil and leplate wijvt blades if tliey are more lli.ni sn months old Check the level and condition of the oil Change the otl if it has been nunc than 5.0UO nuke since the last lubrication Older vehnles will require more frequent fre-quent otl changes Chec k the coolant Mush and refill engine coolant if it has been more than three yean since the last coolant change Inspect the tires regardless of the vehicle age or mileage for wear and under inflation. Check the brakes if the vehicle has more than 30.UIU miles on the odtxneler, or it has been more than 30.UX) miles since it last brake job. "The owner's manual is the best place to learn about maintaining a vehicle." said f aire lough. "For specific maintenance information about your vehicle, it is the mtrst authoritative source " lor reliable assistance with vehicle repairs and maintenance. AAA has identified a network of approved repair facilities that include new car dealerships dealer-ships and independent repair shops. These shops meet AAA's strict quality standards and display AAA's logo Established KM) years ago, AAA otters a wide array of automotive, travel, insurance and financial services. AAA Utah serves over 120.0110 member. PUBLIC FORUM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters let-ters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent perti-nent lo the Uintah Basin There are no restrictions as to contents, if not libelous or vindictive and of reasonable length (two typewritten double spaced pages) Loners must be submitted exclusively to the Fiptess and bear the writer's full name, signature, signa-ture, phone number and address Letters tor the sole purpose of expressing thanks to individuals or groups will not be printed in the forum Letters may he mailed, laaed at 789 8690 or through e mail at editor f vernal com The name or names of those submitting letters must appear on all published letters let-ters All letters are subect to condensation Letters express ttie opinion ol the writer and are not necessarily nec-essarily ttie opinion of the Express Editor. Party IK jI I ditot This is letter coming from die heart I have tried to understand why I leel the way I do, and the only thing I cm say, is , "I though! I had friends " l ast month hosted a party where I invite guests, they conic to my house and there was a person demonstrating demon-strating pioducls my guests can buy, if tttcy want lo. I though! that it would be fun to have a bunch of people peo-ple over. In some tun foods and drinks and visit with people I ilon see daily I feel like today more than ever, our family and friends arc such a big part of our lives, arnl we should riot lake them for granted. We nevet know what tomorrow will bring We might lose someone that is siiecial lo us The world is changing so much, and hie is fragile We see that everyday in the news and the violence around us Anyway. I invited all of my family and friends, my husbands' family, his co workers' wives, etc I planned for (Ik- pad), made special food and drinks, etc. I told the demonstrator thai we should have a lot of people a! Ilk- pail) I was excited Well. I had three guest show up I was very hurt, embarrassed and upset. I guess people d'm'i feel the same ahoul me as I feel about them I alw.i)s go lo wedding receptions, baby showers. hod.il showers, birthdays and parties thai I am invited. It is not only a fun thing to do. (what else is there to do hcic anyway where you can gel dressed up a little and see your friends ') hut I also think it is the right thing to do 1 also go to funerals to pay respect That is how I was raised Resvct Maybe that is what's missing today At hrst, I thought to myself, "if these people aren't going to come to my party, then I will never go to anything any-thing of theirs again either " But that isn't how I want to be I want to he a friend. So I will go on being the kind of person that I know I should be. and hope that the world will someday get better Tin-re is so much sadness and hate in the world, that I will make it my goal to be a better pcrvm than the ones lhal hurt me SHAKI AOWI.NS Jensen Mailbox smashing Dear Iditor. I am a very concerned resident of Uintah County, last night my neighbor's mailbox was smashed, the addiess is 1 175 N 1500 W Then down the road a bit another was smashed from what we had heard. I just would like to say how would you like it if your mailbox was smashed Whom ever it was I hope thai you get caught and you have lo pay for the damages that you have done I think that smashing mailboxes should be a federal offense and they should be punished to the highest conviction they can be You know who you are so you need to come forward and tell. Thank you. SUSAN HACKIMi Taxes Dear l-ditor. What I'm writing ahoul is politicians who can only solve a problem by raising taxes. I irst they had pumps at the Great Salt lake to keep it from flooding were never used except to try them out They were never needed and were paid for by a lax that was supposed to he taken oft. hul was not. Second the high school property lax was raised to pay the bond It was paid off years ago or should have been. Now they want to raise property taxes again lo build on to the Junior High School they say it will be paid for in a certain amount of years. To build on to the Care Center they had lo raise sales lax As far as I know they raise these taxes (hen had the Care Center rented out. Then they raised taxes lo fill the pot holes in the roads, but there arc just as many now as there were before they raised the taxes. I believe that most of the taxes or our payment to bonds and that were so city, county and stale officials can raise their wages. I'm positive that is where the county commission got the money for (heir raises and if they did not want the job for the wages lhat were being paid why did they run? Why not raise the wages gradually instead of all at once.' Another thing lhat has bothered nve are people passing pass-ing over a double yellow line using the middle lane on Main Street for a third lane. People going over 50 miles an hour in 25 mile an hour one and passing a school at 30 or 40 miles an hour Mainly I believe that politicians should be able to solve a problem without raising taxes or do road repair such as in SIX." on a continued basis instead of all at once. RAI I'M SHARP Vernal Bench Press Exp, (ISSN 0892-1091) Puttohed every dey lor ti per year wi ttxwrq area and SX par year (Ml ihocxiwg VM an e and 130 per year out of taw wthn USA by Vernal E Putihtrvng Corryany. 54 Norfi Venal Avenue Vernal. Utah 64078 PenoOc poetagt paid at Vernal. Utah 64078 POSTMASTER Sand addrew change to VERNAC EXPRESS. PO Ben 1000. Vernal Utari 64078 .Put' Ed and C-Pver -Feats Wmar -Pubc Ncaces JadiR WaM Steven H Walla Vrgnm Hemngton P. Pamck Boabcfc Acnard Harrington Jufca Tartar JodySmiwi OcUeton Qeaafad Ad Taehe J Rabmeon Adveraang and Layout Ptona 436-78 3611 FAX 436-789-6090 tlfbrnt am vernal com e-na4 edaormaj com DEADLINES Oepiay Adverting 12 MAN, WAIT TILL YOU SEE THE REST OF HIM (Dance of deatih in Nebraska by Doug Pitton Lisa Bryant had been married for only one month. She was 29. Lola El wood and her family belonged to the First United Methodist Church and enjoyed camping together. She was 43. Jo Ann Mausbach loved her job and took pleasure in helping run the family farm, but her life revolved around her husband, Dave and their two children. She was 42. Sam Sun loved opera. He and his wife, Joan, had raised two sons together. He was 50. Evonne Tuttle was 37. After working at various jobs to support herself and her three children, Evonne had finally found her calling working for a local weekly newspaper. ltst Thursday morning, Lisa, Lola, Jo Ann and Sam were working work-ing together at a branch of the U.S. Bank in Norfolk, Neb. Evonne was the bank's lone customer. Shortly after 8:30 am, three young Hispanic males walked into the bank, intending to rob it. A fourth remained in the car for a quick escape. What happened next will be grist for the evidence mill for a decade, as these four punks sit in courtrooms, court-rooms, defended by bleeding-heart ACLU lawyers, and challenge our right to put them lo death. Ixss than a minute into the bungled bun-gled robbery, Lisa, Lola, Jo Ann, Sain and Evonne lay dead on the floor, a bullet through each of their heads. Another woman narrowly escaped as she entered the bank, realized what was happening and caught a bullet in the shoulder as she turned and ran. As the trio fled the bank, they discovered dis-covered their driver had panicked and driven away without them. They stole a car, w hich they soon abandoned in favor of a pickup truck, but they and their hapless getaway driver were all captured in the town of O'Neil, not many miles away, before the day was out. A preliminary investigation indicated indi-cated that no money had been stolen from the bank. The murdered victims left behind grieving spouses, spous-es, extended families, friends and a combined total of 1 1 children devastated dev-astated loved ones whose shattered lives will never be the same. If the averages hold up, the families fami-lies of the victims will still be waiting wait-ing for this open-and-shut case of cold-blooded murder to come to trial a year from now. In this case, there is a legal minefield the state must traverse before a decision can even be made to seek the death penalty. In June of this year, the United States Supreme Court ruled that if a sentence of death is to be pronounced, pro-nounced, it must come from a jury, not a judge. Nebraska law still calls for such sentences to be handed down by judges. The dance of death has begun in Nebraska. It will play out from bloody crime scene to execution chamber, and it will be debated until the we, the people, finally tire hearing excuses for delayed justice. It took 12 long years to execute confessed child murderer John Joubert in 19. We can't get this one wrong. Some crimes are so heinous they cry out for the ultimate penalty. This is axiomatic to the American people, if not to cloistered judges and liberal legislators. Taxes... Conteinued from page 1 Vernal and Roosevelt Exchanges were owned by Qwest, Uintah County had 53 percent of the total assessed value of the company in Uintah and Duchesne counties. Now that UBTA has purchased the Vernal and Roosevelt exchanges, Uintah County only has 43 percent of assessed value in the two counties, said Deputy Clerk-Auditor Mike Wilkins. Taking into account the connections connec-tions in the two counties, Uintah County's 12,660 connections represents repre-sents about 63 percent of UBTA's total connections, "Yet Duchesne County has $10 million more in assessed value," Wilkins said. Uintah County Commissioners agreed to appeal the state's value of UBTA's property in Uintah County. In the early 1990s the method by which centrally assessed property value on oil and gas was changed which caused a sharp decrease in the value of those properties. "People on the Wasatch Front are not concerned about centrally assessed property. People need to wake up and get involved in this matter," Wilkins said, "Otherwise centrally assessed property values will continue to decline and business busi-ness and individual property taxes will climb to fill the void." Parking your car isn't always a 'waif; in the pari;' PutMcNoacM fSam -Monday) a j Running a distant third to the highest volume of complaints com-plaints to law enforcement next to dog and noise problems-is people griping about how other people have parked their vehicles. Many complaints are justified. "She's blocking my driveway!" "No way is that guy handicapped -look! He's roller blading into Wal-Mart!" "Outside the lines? You mean those painted on the pavement aren't just for decoration?" Let's review a couple of laws about parking. First, a curb painted red means "NO PARKING". Red jones usually mean fire lanes. Public safety requires adequate space for fire suppression equipment in the event of a fire at the building The red zones around our schools are among the most visible-and the most violated vio-lated Some people seem to think the red fire zone is free, close parking. After all. they're only going to be in the school "for a minute". What happens if during that "minute" fire breaks out in your child's classroom and the fire truck can't get close to the building because of so many people parked in front of the school "for a minute"? Besides, it's illegal and might cost you up to $50. Second, don't park ON the roadway when there's room to park OFT the road Section 41-6-101 says: Outside a business or residence district no person shall stop, park, or leave standing any vehicle, whether attended or unattended, upon the roadway when it is practical to stop, pari, or so leave such vehicle off the roadway, but in every event an unobstructed width of the highway opposite a standing vehicle shall be left for the free passage of other vehicles and a clear view of such stopped vehicle shall be available from a distance of 200 feet in each direction upon such roadway. So does that mean it's okay if there's not room lo park off the road lo park ON the road? Not exactly. If an emergency makes k necessary lo park ON the road you have lo leave enough room for traffic traf-fic to go around your vehicle and your vehicle must be visible 200 feet in front and 200 feet from the rear. Third, don't "double park", part on the side walk, crosswalk, in the intersection. etc. Section 41-6-103: (1) Except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic, or in compliance with law. the directions of a peace officer, or an official traffic-control device, a person may not: (a) stop, stand, or park a vehicle: (i) on the roadway side of any vehicle stopped or parked at the edge or curb of a street; (ii) on a sidewalk; (iii) within an intersection; (iv) on a crosswalk; (v) between a safety zone and the adjacent curb or within 30 feet of points on the curb immediately opposite the ends of a safety zone, unless a different length is indicated by signs or markings; (vi) alongside or opposite any street excavation or obstruction when stopping, standing, or parking would obstruct traffic; (vii) upon any bridge or other elevated structure, upon a highway, or within a highway tunnel; (viii) on any railroad tracks; (ix) on any controlled-access controlled-access highway; (x) in the area between roadways of a divided highway, including crossovers; or (xi) any place where official traffic-control devices prohibit stopping, standing, or parkins; or (b) stand or park a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except momentarily to pick up or discharge a passenger or passengers: pas-sengers: (i) in front of a public or private driveway; (ii) within IS feet of a fire hydrant; (iii) within 20 feet of a crosswalk; cross-walk; (iv) within 30 feet upon the approach to any flashing signal, stop sign, yield sign, or traffic-control signal located at the side of a roadway; (v) within 20 feet of the driveway entrance lo any fire station and on the side of a street opposite the entrance to any fire station sta-tion within 75 feet of die entrance when properly signposted; sign-posted; or (vi) at any place where official ttaffic -control devices prohibit standing; or (c) park a vehicle, whether occupied or not. except tenxrarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading property or passengers: (i) within SO feet of the nearest rail of a railroad crossing; or (ii) at any place where official taffic -control devices prohibit parking. The there's the problem of parking at our State Parks. Take Steinaker, for example. I often hear from people who've bees ticketed for inproper parking at Steinaker make the following arguments: other people were parking there; there wasn't any 'no parking' sign right there; I didn't hurt anything, just flattened some grass and stuff. You need to remember that, for the most part, all vehicle travel and parking is restricted or forbidden for-bidden anywhere in the park EXCEPT where signs say you CAN drive or park. It just isn't practical for the State to label every possible place people CAN'T park. Instead, they try to identify those places where parking is permitted. I won't even comment (any more than this brief statement) on the excuse that "other people were parked there". Remember what your mom told you about Johnny, Susie, Tom, Dick & Harry jumping off a cliff??? Please be mindful of others when you park, not just your own convenience. Question of the week: The officer giving me the ticket told me to "tell it to the judge". Why wouldn't you talk to me over the phone about my ticket? (Judge Petry's note: this young man called me at home one evening-NOT a good idea, trust me.) Arraignments are conducted in the courtroom for several sev-eral reasons. One is so you have an opportunity to see and hear how the cases of other people who have received tickets are handled. Another is that when court business is done in the open courtroom, in the presence of a court clerk and a bailiff, there is less chance of a later misunderstanding about what was said and by whom. That is important because the Justice Court is not a "court of record" and does not tape record the proceedings pro-ceedings or have an official court reporter. Also, because of the number of cases that are handled by the Court, a schedule with definite dates for appearances by those receiving tickets is necessary. So don't take it personally per-sonally when I refuse to discuss your case with you at Wal-Mart, at church on Sunday, or on the phone. Please remember that I need readers to submit their questions. I can accept your questions three ways, (1) write to this newspaper do Bench Press; (2) write to the Justice Court, 147 E. Main, Vernal, UT 84078 ate Bench Press; or (3) email me at jpetryco.uintah.utus. Please be aware that I cannot comment on any particular particu-lar case pending in any court, including my own courts. This column reflects the opinions of Judge Petry. It in no way purports to be a comprehensive guide to legal matters. Judge Petry makes no representations as to the validity and accuracy of the information provided other than it is correct to the best of her knowledge. You are encouraged to seek competent legal counsel for any specific questions you may have. |