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Show mm SflLI LA-T Mr., 2aUii&Hcmlt edition YOUR TOWN, YOUR NEIGHBORS, YOUR NEWSPAPER THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2009 50 CENTS ITO SCHOOLS: Alpine District marks 100th school day ('"KopZIl&llHy TOWN HALL Knights and damsels gather V r I SEL'IOIl L'EVVS: Get tree help with your taxes P5131 (Cd'Sv opposes f ooul tta elimioaiiom Laura Giles NORTH COUNTY Sales tax provides a significant share of the city's budget, and Pleasant Grove city leaders oppose op-pose Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s plan to remove the sales tax on food. The subject came up while discussing the city's budget at last week's City Council work session. "Sales tax provides 28 percent of the city's operating budget," said Mayor Michael Daniels. According Ac-cording to Daniels, 16 percent of the city's operating budget comes from property taxes. The two different types of tax make up 44 percent of the budget. Frank Mills, city administrator, told the council that the legislative legisla-tive body of the Utah League of Cities and Towns made a vote of support to keep the sales tax on food. That message was passed on to the Legislature. Mills sits on the legislative body of the League of Cities and Towns. Sales tax on food used to be 6.25 percent and this year was reduced to 2.75 percent. The governor gov-ernor has proposed increasing the cigarette tax to $3 a pack to cover the reduced revenues from the removal of food tax. "It would have a devastating effect on the city," said Mills about the possibility of sales tax on food being taken away. "It would have a big effect on our budget." According to Mills, about $3.7 million of this year's budget will come from sales tax. Not all of the sales tax that the city receives comes from food See TAX, Page 2 RUNNING STRONG Tfj I f lSs CD - i (to MARIO RUIZDaily Herald Pleasant Grove Fire Chief Marc Sanderson stands for a photo at the firehouse on 100 East Monday. Fire chief passionate about ultra racing Fire dept. members receive awards Karissa Neely NORTH COUNTY STAFF Pleasant Grove Fire Chief Marc Sanderson runs his fire station with the same determination as he runs himself. When Sanderson isn't at work, he's out running. "I run every morning at 5 a.m. about 10 to 15 miles. The only way I can get away with it is my wife runs with me," he said. His wife Jessica has been running run-ning with him for 12 years. Sanderson runs anything from marathons or longer. Many people peo-ple don't know there are races out there longer than marathons seen as a life goal for true runners run-ners but there are. They are called ultra races, and they are Sanderson's passion. "They are run everywhere, See CHIEF, Page 3 Laura Giles NORTH COUNTY STAFF Members of the Pleasant Grove Fire Department were honored this month at the annual "Kick Off the New Year Party." One member was even surprised by an award Chief Marc Sanderson. A customized, re-created leather fire bucket was presented to Sanderson by Deputy Chief Dave Thomas. The leather fire buckets were once used to transport water to fire sites. "We wanted to let him know how much we appreciate him," Thomas said. "He is a pretty outstanding kind of guy. I've never worked for a person as capable and as good at his job as Chief Sanderson." See AWARDS, Page 3 0 jl Deputy Chief Dave Thomas presented Chief Marc Sanderson with this customized leather fire bucfeet like those used two centuries ago by firefighters to transport water to fire sites. P.G. Fire Department Battle Creek neighborhood chairs fought apathy Editor's note: This is a continuation continua-tion of the Neighborhood profile series. tori Young-Julian NORTH COUNTY STAFF David and Dena Howard say they chose their home site in Pleasant Grove because of the beaiKiful mountains and the spaciousness of the surrounding land. "We had a great time enjoying the land, hunting, sledding and other activities with our six children," chil-dren," said David Howard, who with his family has spent many, many hours on Milter's Hill hi Battle Creek enjoying the snow and the deer populatiorL The Howards moved into the Battle Creek Neighborhood in 1989 and they have both served on the neighborhood advisory board wfth David as its chairman and Dena as the secretary. David Howard said the biggest challenge as board members may be fighting neighborhood apathy. "One person has asked a question ques-tion to me regarding the neighborhood," neigh-borhood," he said of residents' involvement during his two years as chairman, "The challenge is to get people to care Many changes have occurred to the Battle Creek Neighborhood as more homes have been built there, and he said getting input from residents is important. His neighborhood is or of the oldest neighborhoods in Pleasant See CHAIRS, Page 3 Community Briefing BUSINESS ALLIANCE MEETING - The Peasant Peas-ant Grove Business Alliance's monthly meeting will be held on Feb. 13 at The Grove Theater (Showtime Utah), 20 S. Main Street, at 12 p.m. Josh Jarnes. CEO and founder of Omniture, will be the speaker. There is no charge to attend the monthly meetings. Box lunches may be purchased for $9. Lunches must be reserved by noon on the Thursday before the meeting meet-ing by calling 801-380-3179 or e-mail to info " pgbaut. com. For more information and to RSVP, go to www. pgbaut.com. PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULED - The public is invited to attend a public meeting Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Pleasant Grove City Council chambers at 86 E. 100 South. Questions regarding the issue of accessory apartments apart-ments will be addressed. The city is seeking input regarding the following questions: Should a homeowner hom-eowner in Pleasant Grove be able to legally rent out a portion of his or her home as an accessory apartment? apart-ment? What concerns do you have regarding the ability abil-ity or inability to have accessory apartments in your neighborhood? After the City Council has received public input, a meeting will be scheduled to consider whether or not to adopt an ordinance regulating legal accessory apartments in Pleasant Grove, and which regulations should be adopted. For additional information, call the Community Development De-velopment Department at 801-785-6057. FIRE CHIEF NAMED ASSOCIATION VICE-PRESIDENT Pleasant Grove Fire Chief Marc Sanderson is the new vice-president of the County Fire Chiefs Association. As-sociation. The association, which includes fire chiefs from every community in Utah County, meets once a month to discuss issues and training and what is going go-ing on throughout the county. The current president is Blair Camp, Provo's Fire Chief and Sanderson will fill that office next year. WHITE RIBBON AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY - Pleasant Grove's City Council approved a proclamation declaring February 2009 as White Ribbon Against Pornography Por-nography Month at last week's City Council meeting. Many communities in Utah and across the nation are involved with White ribbon Against Pornography Month, which is sponsored by Communities For Decency. De-cency. The proclamation, which was signed by Mayor Michael Mi-chael Daniels, states several dangers of pornography. Some of these are: pornography contributes to the breakup of marriages and the United States Supreme Court has held that obscenity is not protected speech under the First Amendment. PANCAKES AND POLITICS - Several north Utah County legislators will make presentations and answer an-swer questions from community members at "Pancakes "Pan-cakes and Politics," in the education room, in trailers behind American Fork Hospital, 170 N. 1100 East, American Fork. The event includes a free breakfast and is open to the public. It will be Feb. 7 at 9 a.m. There will be an additional session at 9 a.m. on Feb. 28. The invited legislators leg-islators include Sen. John Valentine and representatives representa-tives John Dougall, Craig Frank and Ken Sumsion. TWILIGHT TALES - Twilight Tales is a family story time held at the Pleasant Grove Library's lower level. No fee or registration is required for this program. Twilight Tales lasts approximately 30 minutes and is held every Tues. evening at 7 p.m. The mission of Twilight Tales story time is to bring families together in a shared love for books and reading, and provide a friendly, welcoming atmosphere in which that love of literature can be fostered. Upcoming themes include: Feb. 10: Valentine's Day I Feb. 17: President's Day I Feb. 24: Pets: Feb. is Responsible Pet Owners Month ANNUAL TOUR PLANNED - The Utah County Republican Women will travel by bus on Monday at 7 a.m. departing from Orem to the State Capitol to meet local representatives, discuss issues, lunch. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wifl address the group at 1 45 p.m. The return trip will be at 2:30 p.m. Reservations can be made by contacting Peart Rex Hartzetl at 225-1521. Marge Stofk at 756-1851, or Suzanne Su-zanne Merrill at 787-9372. Tickets for the bus and hot lunch are $25. Members and visitors are invited. 00050 6 ""61055 |