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Show pt&li Press Association 67 East 300 South Salt LakeCity, Utah 8111 I I mi ; I v ' , - w ...rw-ny A .-. . 4 J 1 t--3 r " ""V ' ?U 1 v i If f I L. -r ... J- h ' - r s i I H ' : i 4 H Nv, I js"m? ft f I ;l , . r Li V V 1 f if ... T Deadlines: FRIDAY, September 9, 1983 News: Thursday 10:00 A.M. Vernal, Utah 84078 Advertising: Thursday 2:00 P.M. 91st Year No. 72 Phone 789-351 1 12 Pages Single copy 25c ffffHsirs-flik DEPUTIES LINDA Powell and Manuel Cantu aid Uintah County Sheriff Arden Steward, center, in moving electronic game confiscated for being used as a gambling device. The Sheriff's Department and Vernal City Police also confiscated some illegal alcohol from area bars. Where impcoci funds ore spent Thursday night was the culmination of a three-month investigation by local law enforcement officers which resulted in the confiscation of illegal gambling equipment at five area lounges and a small amount of illegal liquor from three of those establishments. About three months ago a complaint was made to the Uintah County Sheriff's Office that a person had lost a considerable amount of money in a gambling machine at one of the bars. Since that time there have been several complaints about similar incidents, in-cidents, according to Uintah County Sheriff Arden Stewart. At that time word was put out that the activity was illegal and should be curtailed. An investigation was undertaken, which included officers from the Utah State Narcotics and Liquor Control. Those officers were successful in entering the Last Chance Saloon, Kay's Lounge, the Gateway Lounge, Bud's Tavern, and Larry and Tina's Conoco, playing the electronic games, and being paid for betting on their game. The way the gambling machine worked, rather than pay directly, it accumulated ac-cumulated points. At any point the person per-son playing could stop and ask the bartender to be paid, according to Sheriff Stewart. The person playing )fifi) the game could put in one to several quarters. The number of quarters bet determined the payoff. Sheriff Stewart said the bartender would pay out of the cash register and would enter the transaction into a ledger. The ledgers were also confiscated. All of the five establishments ran the machines in much the same manner. Sheriff Stewart said after due information infor-mation was accumulated, search warrants war-rants were issued through Uintah County Attorney Mark Nash. Thursday Thurs-day night a task force comprised of Sheriff Stewart, Deputies Kenneth Pickup, Linda Powell, and Manuel Cantu, along with Vernal City Police Officers Darryl Lance, Paul Parker, Mel Curtis, and Roger Griffin entered the five establishments and confiscated con-fiscated the equipment. No arrests were made and the businesses were allowed to remain open. The owners of the establishments will be summoned to court on charges of operating illegal gambling equipment, a class B misdemeanor. Charges are pending concerning the liquor confiscated at the Last Chance Saloon, Larry's Bar and Kay's Lounge. The five gambling machines picked up will be held as evidence until the trial. Uintah County Attorney Mark Continued on page 2 Editor's note: This is the second in a two part article dealing with federal mineral lease and bonus money, how it is used, and why. Private energy development companies com-panies pay the federal government for the right to extract non-renewable resources from federal land. Companies Com-panies also pay bonus money to help offset impacts of development in the state. The first part of this article, which appeared in the Sept. 7 edition of the Express, dealt with the theory involved in allocating the money. This article will deal more specifically with how the money has been allocated, and will raise, but not answer, the question, ques-tion, Is Uintah County getting its fair share? An error appeared in that first arti cle. It stated that about $18 million had been returned to Uintah County, in the form of grants and loans, since the Community Impact Board was established in 1977. That figure is actually ac-tually closer to $25 million. In fiscal year 1983 there has already been millions of dollars allocated by ' the Community Impact Board. There is no doubt most of the allocations made by the Board are viable concerns con-cerns relating to energy impacted areas. Myton received a grant for $44,000 to install water distribution lines. Altamont received a grant for $320,000 and a 25 year interest free loan for $80,000 for improvemets to their wastewater treatment lagoons. The Ashley Valley Sewer Management Board received a loan for $978,500 at 4 percent for sewer line installation. Vernal received a loan for $1,048,500 at 4 percent for 20 years to improve the water system. The Uintah School District received a loan at 5 percent interest in-terest for 10 years for construction of a new high school. Naples recently received $1 million for road improvements im-provements at an interest rate of 4 , percent for 12 years, providing they: are able to pass a bond to secure the loan. These are only a few examples where money has been received from the Community Impact Board by various entities in the Uintah Basin. There have been many others, but then, there is no doubt the Uintah Basin is impacted by energy development. A few of the allocations are questionable ques-tionable when applying the language of the law, which says that priority for use of the money should be given to energy impacted areas. For instance, recently $750,000 was granted to the Department of Transportation for the construction of a ferry on Lake Powell. The ferry would carry automobiles across the lake. This raises the question of defining the -"priority" language. It can be argued that priority does not mean all the money must be allocated to areas impacted by energy development. It can also be argued that if all impacts have not been dealt with in energy impacted im-pacted areas, that constitutes "priority" "priori-ty" and the money should not be used otherwise. In 1982 Governor Matheson asked the Utah Attorney Generals for an opi- Continued on page 2 Bid delayed on site for new high school The Uintah School Board delayed awarding the bid on site preparation for the new high school Thursday so they could negotiate a change order with the low bidder that could save the district a large sum of money. H. K. Construction of Idaho Falls was apparent low bidder Thursday last week with a bid of $924,000. The contract requests the contractor contrac-tor to move 90,000 cubic yards of dirt and fill, more than five acres nine feet deep. After the bids were opened last week, Ted Taylor, district maintenance and building supervisior, told the board that he was informed of a possible cheaper source fill for the building. It may be possible to take fill from a gravel pit used in the construction of Steinaker Dam and owned by the federal government, Taylor said. If the fill could be used it would save the district upwards of $200,000 Taylor said. John Peterson, architect on the high Continued on page 2 Unwanted! visitor sleeps on sofa, found, arrested Thelma Smuin, 262 West 200 North, In Vernal, awoke Wednesday morning to find a stranger laying on the sofa in her living room. A bizarre series of events led to the apprehension and arrest ar-rest of the man. At about 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, Mrs. Smuin came out of her bedroom to find a planter tipped over in the hallway. The carpets in the Smuin house had been cleaned the day before, and in order to let them dry the Smuins had left all the windows and doors in the house open. The front storm door was closed, but not locked. When Mrs. Smuin saw the over turned planter, the first thing she thought was that a cat had somehow gotten into the house. Mrs. Smuin proceeded into the living liv-ing room to find a man laying on the sofa. She said It was so strange, she went closer to see If It wasn't one of her family. She realized it was not, for the first lime became scared, and hurried back to the bedroom where her husband. hus-band. Ken Smuin, was. Mr. Smuin Is very 111 and has been for several years. Being rather feeble, he would not be capable of protecting himsrlf In a confrontation. con-frontation. He keeps a revolver by the bed. and rather than confront the man. he decided it was best to call the police. The attempt to call the police mulled in a wrong number, Mr. Smuin then caOed (he neighbor's house across the street. Vel Sorennen arawered the phone, but her husband, Cal, was at the golf course filling their golf cart with gas so Mrs. Sorensen could use it later in the day. Mrs. Sorensen asked if she should call the police, but Mr. Smuin said he would do it. When Mr. Smuin attempted to call the police he could not get a dial tone. At this point both of the Smuins said they became very scared. Mrs. Sorensen called her husband at the golf course. Me left the gas can right where it was and headed for home. In the meantime, the Smuins had removed remov-ed the screen from the bedroom window, win-dow, and Mrs. Smuin was on her way out the window. Mr. Sorensen said he deliberately drove as fast as he could through town, hoping he would pick up by a police officer on the way. He did not, and as he pulled up in front of the Smuin residence, he grabbed a claw hammer, which was all he had In the vehicle, and ran up the steps to the door. Mrs. Smuin was In the front yard and told Mr. Sorensen the front door was unlocked. Armed with the hammer, ham-mer, Mr. Sorensen stormed through the front door and through the hall. Mr, Smuin hollered at him to lake the revolver, which he did and proceeded to the living room, where the unwanted un-wanted visitor remained laying on the tofa. Mr, Sorensen said be pointed the revolver between the man's eyes and told him the only thing he wanted to see move was his lips, and he better do some fast talking. Meanwhile, Mrs, Sorensen and a son Kelly, called the police, but in the excitement the police was given the wrong address. The man on the sofa said he hadn't done anything, or stolen anything. Mr. Sorensen said the man reeked of alcohol. The man asked what town he was in. Mrs. Smuin went to the phone, and amazingly it worked. She called the police aga in , and when the correct ad- dress was given. Officers Bob Vender-busse Vender-busse and Scott Gudmundsen, from the Vernal City Police Department, were at the Smuin residence almost immediately. They took the man into custody. The phone failure was apparently ap-parently a coincidence. Only later did Mr. and Mrs. Smuin realize was Mr. Sorensen had done for them. Although the man apparently meant no harm, no one knew that at the time. Least of all Mr. Sorensen, who, according to Mr. Smuin, was totally unconcerned for his own safety safe-ty and was willing to take a chance to protect his neighbors. Mr. Sorensen said he realty didn't think much about what might have happened at the time. He said he knew Mr. Smuin was unable to protect himself, and because the element of surprise was on his side, he just did it. "When a Job needs to be done, you just have to do it," he remarked The whole neighborhood really Continued o poge 2 tt wm in 1 '- PW II MO m ml I m CAL SORENSEN received a call at the golf course Wednesday morning, when a neighbor found a stranger asleep on her sofa. Mr. Sorensen sped home, stormed the house and held the man at bay until police arrived. The man turned out to be drunk and just wandered into the house, not knowing where he was. INSIDE Sports The first annual Vernal Express Vernal Recreation Tennis Tournament Tourna-ment is under way with m entrants, prizes and a M of play. M page 4. Jfl))h-! Business Economic professional tells businessmen how to espartd with using us-ing federal funds below current interest in-terest rales The trick is being accepted ac-cepted p(f j. Education Computers in the classroom are old hat to Discovery EJetnenlary as U school has been hailed as tader in the use of computers Dr . CWJeen CW-ton CW-ton tells why Vr p,lr j. |