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Show 310 JaHJU 11 JLL Park CirJy, Utah 25 Vol. VII, No. 40 Thursday, June 24, 1982 Two Sections, 24 Pages Dressed in PJs Eight-year-old driver leads deputy on wild chase by Bettina Moench Do you remember the first time you drove a car? You were probably 14 or so, and you spent an entire afternoon driving the length of your parents' driveway, absolutely abso-lutely delighted to go back and forth, back and forth. But things have changed, at least in Park City. For one local boy, the first driving experience was at the age of eight, and the trip went not only down the driveway, but all the way out to Interstate 80 as well. Along the way there was even the added thrill of a chase by the local gendarme. "It was a hair-raising experience, experi-ence, I must say," recalled Summit County Sheriff's Deputy Fred Eley. Eley said he was driving into Park City on Highway 224 last Sunday at dusk when he noticed a brown and white Blazer weaving down the road toward him near the Osguthorpe farm. The deputy immediately thought that behind the wheel of the zigzagging vehicle there must be a drunk driver. He was understandably shocked to see the head of a small boy peeking over the wheel as he zoomed by. Eley turned around and started after the Blazer, red lights and siren going. "But he didn't stop. He was going 45 or 50 m.p.h., and he was all over the road. All the traffic coming south on the highway was diving off the right side to get out of the way." Eley pulled up next to the boy, and motioned to him to pull over and stop. Confident the message was understood, the deputy slowed down and pulled in behind the Blazer. "But he kicked it again, and came into Kimball Junction at 45 m.p.h. And I thought, 'Uh, oh, he won't be able to hit the brake pedal, and he'll crash into the guardrail." But the boy apparently knew the rules of the road: he flipped on his right turn signal and pulled onto the Interstate; too fast apparently, because Eley said he nearly rolled the big Blazer. "I pulled up next to him again, and he turned his head completely away from the road, and was looking at me with those big eyes. I thought, this isn't going to work." Eley pulled in behind the Blazer again to take pressure off the boy and to rethink his strategy. He was sickened when he saw the Blazer go off the left side of the interstate near Bitner Estates, then watched the boy overcorrect and head for the right shoulder, spin around and nearly roll over before heading backwards down the highway, and finally tail first down an embankment. As Eley screeched to a stop, he saw the dust clear around the Blazer and watched the boy jump out and head off on a dead run. "I sprinted 100 or 200 yards after him, then yelled for him to stop. When I got up to him, the first thing he said was, 'Am I in trouble?'" Dressed in his pajamas and a pair of sneakers, the eight-year-old Holiday Ranch Loop Road resident followed the officer to his car, where he watched an accident report being filled out. Surprisingly, Surprising-ly, the report listed little damage to the Blazer, and none to the boy. "I talked to him, and he said he just wanted to go for a ride I think maybe he was a little mad at Mom and Dad." The tedious questioning out of the way, the boy proceeded to ask Eley about the radio in the car, the sirens and lights "all the normal things a little kid asks a policeman." A ride back into town in the shiny police car and a call to the folks put a cap on the night of adventure for the boy driver. "It was funny afterwards," said Eley, chuckling at the memory. "But it sure wasn't funny for those 10 minutes or so. I went through heck. I thought I was following a kid and just waiting for an accident to happen." This year, Blazers. Next year buses? County told Change Jnospitel to conic Summit County's health advisory board recommended Tuesday the present county hospital should be converted con-verted to an emergency clinic. In a report to the County Commission, Board Chairman Glen Brown said the group did not want to close the hospital, but financial reasons dictated a change. Brown said he was disappointed that county residents, especially in North Summit, had not expressed enough support for a special service district to finance the hospital. But, said Coalville Mayor Merlyn Johnson, another board member, "a 24-hour emergency service is better than not having anything . ' ' Commissioner Bill Wallin said the commission would make a decision on the Coalville facility within the week. Brown said a clinic initially would probably not be open for 24 hours, but physicians would be on 10-minute call from the hospital. Later, he said, it might grow to a clinic allowing up to 12-hour care. Another future use would be as a short-term or birthing facility. Holy Cross is the only firm to have made a concrete proposal at this time to the county, Brown said. Their offer would be to lease the hospital for $1 a year, he said, and would take the responsibility away from Summit ,ounty. Holy Cross would bear the expense ex-pense of the minor modifications needed to convert the building to a clinic, he added. Advisor Irene Hoyt said the clinic was the best use for now, but said she was not speaking for the future. She also said the commission should be cautious about disposing any of the present equipment owned by the hospital. Brown concluded that the county should continue getting local input on the building. The facility should be maintained to keep its options open. Commissioners said they would keep the advisory board to help their planning plan-ning for the hospital. urglaries may be related Two burglaries and a theft cost two local restaurants nearly $3,000 in cash over the past week, and Park City Police Detective Lloyd Evans thinks the incidents may be related. The theft was reported by Adele Holmlund at the Utah Coal and Lumber, Lum-ber, who said $259 was taken sometime between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on June 16. Three days later, the popular Mexican restaurant was victimized again, this time by a burglar who took $800 in cash from a safe. Sometime after 1 a.m. on June 20, a burglar entered the Sneakers restaurant in the Park City Racquet Club and stole $1,900 in cash. "It looks more and more like these were inside jobs," said Detective Evans. "It looks like it was someone who had the knowledge of where the money was kept, and the keys to get into in-to the buildings, since there was no sign of picks used on the locks. "We're looking real hard at employees and past employees. " Evans said that the burglar at the Utah Coal and Lumber was selective. There were apparently several envelopes en-velopes of money in the safe, yet only one containing the largest amount of money was taken. The detective said that the selecti veness suggested a nonprofessional, non-professional, and a person knowledgeable knowledge-able of the safe's contents. "And that incident looks a great deal like it is related to the one at Sneakers," he said. "Again, there was no forced entry, no forcible damage needed to recover the money, nothing else in the building was messed up; that person knew where to go to find the money." Evans said that both restaurants have been dusted for fingerprints, and the questioning of employees has begun. He said it is a painstaking process to pinpoint who may have had access to the information or the means to take the money, but said he was looking for connections such as one person employed at both restaurants, or perhaps two friends who worked together to burglarize each of their employers. Simmmit County Grand Jury has oiue more week In less than one week, the Summit County Grand Jury will bring to a close its eight months of investigation. Next Wednesday, June 30, the seven-member seven-member jury is required to hand down any criminal indictments it rules are necessitated by its findings. City otticials are optimistic that there will be no indictments, and that instead, criticisms of the administration ad-ministration will be limited to recommendations recom-mendations in a written report currently curren-tly being drawn up. The jury was called Oct. 26 to investigate in-vestigate the illegal use, sale or distribution of controlled substances in Park City; any illegal conduct relating to building permits and the assessment and collection of fees by city employees; em-ployees; possible conflicts of interest by city administrators; and possible illegal conduct by law enforcement agents. The jury requested two three-month extensions to complete its work, and is now required by law to disband as of the last day of this month. However, a It will still be Ryan's Doug Ryan may be gone, but his memory will live on. Ryan, 42, was found dead in his Main Street apartment June 14. A preliminary report from the state medical examiner indicates he died of natural causes stemming from advanced ad-vanced cirhosis of the liver. An integral part of the social and business scene on Main Street for the past dozen years, Ryan was on the brink of managing a new bar when he died. Carpenters were still working to transform the old B-Bar-G Custom Leather shop at 541 Main Street into the new beer bar when Ryan's body was found. The name of the new bar? Ryan's. At the news of his friend's death, building owner Bob Williams was at a loss as to whether construction would continue. But on Monday, he said work would go on as scheduled, and would hopefully be completed in another week. "Doug was a personal friend," said Williams. "I wasn't ever planning to operate the bar myself. So I'm going to talk to a number of people about leasing it." While Doug may not be behind the bar setting up beers, there will be reminders of him. Williams assured that the name of the new establishment establish-ment will still be Ryan's. "And we've got just a great picture of him that we're going to hang in the bar." About 150 locals turned out to remember their friend last Saturday at a wake held in Digger's Express Company on (where else?) Main Street. Doug's body was cremated, and the ashes were taken by his sister to Wisconsin for burial next to his wife, Bonnie, who was killed in 1976. per '' i, . .. TP"- 1 I I a Off x LV 5664 6 k ' '""!'' A new grand jury could be called if Third District Court judges deem it necessary. The city's attorney, Stewart Hansen, said while the possibility exists, it would be statutorily difficult to accomplish. Grand Jury Special Prosecutor Francis Wikstrom acknowledged that a "general report" of the investigation is currently being prepared. According to Hanse, that report would be forwarded forwar-ded to presiding Third District Court Judge Ernest Baldwin. Since the purpose pur-pose of the report is to offer recommendations recom-mendations to the city administrators, Hensen said it would likely then be passed onto the city, therefore making it open to public perusal. He noted, however, that the written report cannot can-not contain criticism of individuals, unless that criticism is accompanied by indictments. The report is probably all the public will know of the secret meetings that were held weekly for the past eight months. The judge, jurors, and anyone present at the hearings are sworn to not disclose any of the discussions. "Many things are said at those hearings that are, perhaps, based on Neighbor complains heresay or rumor, or may have been said with a bad motive," said Hansen. The secrecy would prevent the defamation of character of a witness who was not indicted, he said. For the most part, the areas under investigation by the jury are old news. The Summit county attorney's office conducted an investigation two years ago on the alleged misconduct in the building department. No indictments resulted from that investigation. And state and local law enforcement officers of-ficers looked into drug problems in 1980 "Operation Snowflake." But Hansen said that the widely-held view of grand juries is that they "serve a salutary purpose of catharsis they get issues out in the open, and then put them to bed." If there are no indictments, indict-ments, he said, the rumors and innuendoes in-nuendoes that prompted the calling of the grand jury will be answered. Hansen said he would not attempt to predict the jury's verdict. But he noted optimistically that Prosecutor Wikstrom "is a very, very competent and qualified attorney who has a good handle on what the grand jury is all about." City Manager Arlene Loble, w ho was subpoened to appear before the Grand Jury last week, said she felt positive about her two-hour conversation with the jurors. "In terms of the approach they're taking their interests are not in variance with the city's interests, and they appear to care as much s we do about Park City. I felt it (the discussion) was positive and constructive." construc-tive." Even if the grand jury process does not cost individuals through indictments, indict-ments, it will cost taxpayers. County Clerk Reed Pace said that commissioners com-missioners approved a readjusted 1982 budget last week to reflect $105,000 in expenditures for the grand jury. He said, however, that up to $12,000 may be paid by the Statewide Association of Prosecutors. Utah Gov. Scott Matheson has also been requested to authorize the repayment of a large sum to the county. Pace said he is hopeful that county residents will only have to absorb the $14-a-day stipend paid to the jurors and about 25 subpoened sub-poened witnesses a total bill he estimated to be less than $10,000. Dog catcher accused of neglect by Rick Brough A Summit County resident says a dog's death last week is part of a persistent policy of neglect by a county dogcatcher. The dog was chained in the back of a county truck operated by animal control officer Barry Shoda. Sometime Monday night, June 14, while the truck was parked in Shoda 's yard in Oakley, the animal lept over the tailgate in an attempt at freedom, and strangled to death at the end of its leash. Oakley resident Gilbert Mayhue said this is not an isolated incident. "This is the third time I've seen a dog hanging out of that truck," he told The Newspaper. "The first time was last fall. He was driving along Route 189 with a brown-and-black dog hanging out the back. Last February, I saw a large golden dog hanging dead. It was almost big enough to reach the ground. And then this one last Tuesday." Mayhue summoned a neighbor, who took the picture which accompanies this story. The photographer also confirmed that Mayhue had, previous to this incident, complained about a similar situation. Mayhue said he did not bring the dogs to Shoda's attention. "He's difficult to talk to," said Mayhue. "I don't think a man like that should be dogcatcher." Shoda told 1'he Newspaper the death was a tragic one-time error. The real problem, he said, is inadequate means in his truck to contain animals, and he said the county is working to correct the problem. The officer said he caught the dog on the night of June 14, after he received a 10:30 p.m. call that it was chasing sheep. Because of the time of night, Shoda said, he took the dog home in his truck instead of transporting it to the impound lot at Kimball Junction, which is his usual procedure. Shoda said that since he took the animal control job last September, he has come to realize that dogs will jump over the tailgate. Currently, he said, he doesn't chain dogs near the back. (The truck has six leashes two up front, two in the middle, and two in the back. ) On Monday night, he continued, he intended to tie the dog to one of the front chains, but in the darkness accidentally tied the dog to a middle chain which allowed him to jump the tailgate. Shoda said only this dog has strangled in his truck. "We're not pleased about it. This truck is being discontinued." He said Sheriff Ron Robinson has met with county commissioners several times to decide what to do when the lease on the truck, rented from Park City, expires at the end of June. He could not provide details but mentioned a cage on the truck as a possibility Shoda said he has tried to put doors, made of expanded metal, on the back of the truck but they are destroyed by the dogs. The last time, he said, a Saint Bernard captured last winter wrecked the door and damaged the truck windows. In the last six or seven months, he has kept dogs from jumping out. however. "I can only recall one time recently, when a dog jumped out, by the courthouse." he said He would not comment on Mayhue's charges. But, speaking in general, he said that complaints and stories about animal control officers are rife. "We run into some long-time quality citizens who get mad when you pass dog ordinances ." On the more unpleasant unpleas-ant side, he said, "we get verbal threats, we get nails in our tires." The death last week, he said, was due to "human error, combined with not having the right equipment." |