OCR Text |
Show A-2 The Park Record WedThursFri, June 30-July 2, 2004 City disputes artist lawsuit Park City 'confident' that $700K case m m - .... m . . brought by artist will By JAY HAMBURGER Of the Record staff City Hall has filed papers in federal court disputing claims made by an artist seeking $700,000 in a lawsuit against the government charging that his free-speech rights were violated when the city allegedly alleged-ly barred him from showing his artwork art-work in a public place. In his four-page legal filing, known as an 'answer,' Deputy Park City Attorney Tom Daley also asks that the case be dismissed and the artist be made to pay the city's legal costs. However, artist Bryan Travis, who filed the federal civil-rights complaint in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City in May, said in an interview the response by the government gov-ernment was expected and he said that he would continue to pursue the case. Daley said that the government questions the nature of the lawsuit and said that the government does not believe that it deprived Travis of his constitutional rights. "I'm confident this complaint will be dismissed," Daley said. Daley declined to comment further fur-ther about the allegations in the lawsuit. Throughout the answer, Daley writes that the city either denies the allegations made by Travis or does not have sufficient information to admit or deny some of the charges in the lawsuit. In a key part of the answer, the government denies that Travis was DNA could identify bones Continued from A-1 gested they gear up. After informing family members on the telephone of the ranger's warning, before hiking Sept. 8, investigators say the women withdrew with-drew money from a bank account and made a $99 purchase at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart. Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said the women were living liv-ing near Atlanta, Ga. and weren't reported missing until they failed to return home almost a week later. Members of the women's family recently raised about. $17,000 in a fundraiser and donated the money to Summit County search and rescue, res-cue, Edmunds said, adding that roughly $15,000 has been spent on the search. "The training exercise was staged in this area knowing that this was an area that was in fairly close proximity to where the ladies went missing from," Siddoway said Monday. About 40 searchers from Those rescued may be charged Continued from A-1 "If we use an A'l'V, we'll charge them for that . . . but where do you put a price on it," he said. "If you have an individual that's hurt bad, or maybe even deceased, how do you put a price on that?" Those rescued in Grand County are not charged for searchers' time, Green said. In 1997, the Utah Legislature passed a bill that created the state's Search and Rescue Financial Assistance Program to help counties augment search-and-rescue budgets. "That has helped these rural counties coun-ties out like you can't believe," Green said. "We don't have the tax base like Four F-I6s from Hill Air Force Base's 419th Fighter Wing will flyover nearly a dozen venues Saturday as part of their support for Utah's Independence Day celebrations. F-16s will maintain an altitude of 1,000 feet and an airspeed of approximately 300 knots. The flyover for Park City will occur at 9:05 a.m. and at 10:05 a.m. This year's pilots are Lt. Col. Kurt Gallegos, Maj. Dave Castaneda, Maj. Mark Lantz and Maj. Tyler Otten. Blind Dog Restaurant, Patio and Sushi Bar Open for Lunch and Dinner Monday thru Saturday l 1am 'til close FXTREMELY FRESH FISH AND OTHER FAVORITES. WASHED DOWN BY WINES FROM A LIST "LONGER THAN MOST NOVELS". rra r.- t?oKI& be dismissed threatened with arrest and, "harassed and run out of public places," as Travis alleges in his lawsuit. law-suit. Travis brought the lawsuit five months after a dispute that he claims unfolded on Jan. 17, a Saturday during the opening weekend week-end of the Sundance Film Festival. Travis says he was displaying, but not selling, painted violins in Miners Park on Main Street. Travis claims that a police officer threatened threat-ened to arrest him if he did not leave. Travis says that free-speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution allow him to display the violins. The city in the response, though, denies that the constitutional constitution-al rights were violated. Meanwhile, the city argues against the case through a series of legal doctrines and immunity clauses, claus-es, including that the government and police officers "have qualified immunity" against the lawsuit. Travis, who is from Salt Lake City, said on Monday that the response from the government was not a surprise. "They can deny everything they want but what's happened, happened. hap-pened. I expected no less. Why would they admit that they are wrong," he said, adding, "They can say whatever they want but look awfully stupid." He said that he had planned on the city attempting to have the lawsuit law-suit dismissed. Travis said he has not hired an attorney but intends to. He said he Summit County, Wasatch County, Weber County, Davis County, Bountiful Jeep Posse, Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs, American Search Dogs and the Utah Department of Public Safety participated partic-ipated in the two-day operation last weekend. "Searchers were briefed the night before on clue awareness," Siddoway said. "This find was the result of very, very good search work." The makeshift campsite was found roughly 1.5 miles from the nearest trail, he said. "It appears that somebody sought shelter there," Siddoway said. "This opens a new case for us, we can not assume that we have Beverly and Wetherton." Though not in tlje direct vicinity of where the bones were found, Siddoway says several people remain missing in the High Uintas at elevations of 10,000 feet. "I would be very naive to believe that there are no human remains on these big cities. These rural counties are really suffering the consequences because that's where everybody wants to go." The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources charges 25 cents extra for hunting and fishing licenses, which is tunneled into the state search-and-rescue fund, said Linda Braithwaite, financial manager for the division. Fifty cents charged to those registering regis-tering their boats and off-highway-vehicles in the state also ends up in the search-and-rescue account. In 2003, the fund generated $153,223, said Derek Jensen, a public information officer with the Utah Department of Public Safety. Each year, counties submit requests .- !- W s expects the lawsuit to go to trial. A hearing in front of Judge Tena Campbell has not been set in the case. The allegations stemming from Jan. 17 focus on an encounter that Travis says transpired when the police approached him while he was showing the violins, which he said typically sell for about $800. According to the lawsuit, an officer told him, "You can pack up and leave or be arrested what is your answer?" Travis responded that he would leave "even though it is a violation of my rights," the lawsuit states. The government in its response denies an allegation made by Travis that a police officer told him that he "would be arrested if I did not leave immediately." The lawsuit was filed as the Park City government is embroiled in a dispute with at least one other artist regarding city rules regulating the arts community. The government has adopted what's known as its 'Art in Parks' ordinance, which allows artists to set up outside the Park City Library and Education Center and sell their art on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 1 . Artists must register with the city before being allowed in the Art in Parks. Earlier in June, artist Stephen Cornelius erected a grisly effigy on a crucifix in protest to the Art in Parks law and displayed it in a small parking lot at the intersection of Main Street and Hillside Avenue. He took it down after the city said it was illegal. Cornelius is registered in the Art in Parks program. Wasatch National Forest other than those that have been reported missing," miss-ing," he adds. "It's a vast area and we're going back years." The women's family members were notified after the bones were found but Siddoway isn't drawing any conclusions. "We want to be positive that through forensics these bodies are identified," he said, adding that the remains may never be identified. "There's no guesswork to this ... we're not willing to speculate until we have the forensics backing." Siddoway continues to rule out foul play. "There are a lot of scavengers in the area," he said about animals that likely disturbed the site. More than 100 volunteers searched for the women last year and searchers determined they weren't in that area of the forest before ending the operation. "There were search teams in there last fall," Siddoway said. "This became an area of interest this year." for funding and last year Summit was reimbursed $2,846 for searches and $2,260 for training from state search-and-rescue coffers, Jensen said, adding that Summit County was not granted money for equipment replacement. "We have a search-and-rescue grant advisory board and they go through and they look at each request and make sure that it falls within our guidelines for reimbursing the counties," Jensen said, adding that money from the fund can't be used to pay salaries or overtime over-time costs for searchers. State officials are examining ways money for search and rescue could be collected more equitably, including a possible tax on motor vehicle registrations, registra-tions, he said. sih ir f- just kicking around I W fM fai wpg Mini l'T".w jgyr : j? . S i- I - - r- V " J ? ' . . Ik iwj v.wv Taxis combat drunken driving Continued from A-1 does not want to drive calls Advanced Transportation Services for a ride home. The person is charged full price for the ride home but the next day, the taxi service serv-ice will take them back to their vehicle at no charge. "Its a community service. It raises awareness," Pierret said acknowledging diat Advanced Transportation Serv ices will make money on the initial rules home. Drivers only pick up people in Summit County but can take them as tai as the Salt Lake Valley, lie said. It operates oper-ates between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m. everyday. Three vehicles are available lor the service, serv-ice, but more can he deployed if needed Pierret said. He expects more people will use the service stxuling with the Independence Day holiday, which is the traditional start of Park City's summer-tourism season. Pierret said the nonprofit is euuenilv Politics a Continued from A-1 Bishop said. "It's a win-win situation." The actual pageant isn't until Aug. 5 at the start of the county lair, so mtei-esled mtei-esled girls can still join, liannav said, adding, "We'd love to see more participation partici-pation from Park City." But getting contestants from I'.uk City for Miss Stimuli! Countv has historically his-torically been a challenge. In the three years Bishop has competed, there have been very few fellow contest, mis trim Park City, although the current Miss Summit County. Crystal Christiansen, is a Parkite. One reason people from Park (. ii might not compete is financial "Park City as a whole has a lot more money." Bishop said. If people don't need the scholarship money, there's less drive to compete for some. Time commit men) One of the reasons girls in Park Citv might not pursue Miss Summit Count is because of time. With schedules divided among activities that include school, sports, clubs, church, and friends, it can be difficult to fit in time to prepare for a pageant. "It just becomes overwhelming." said Tara Martin, a Park City High School teacher. Martin also used to coach the school's cheerleaders, often potential candidates for pageants - know there are a lot of great opportunities opportuni-ties out there." "We've focused on other stuff." said Lizzie Leader. Park City High School student. College-bound high school students can't devote "that much tune mill (fi&SM5) vVirglfi7 e&Kiizlc r seeking funding from the local business community and is researching whether grant money is available. He also said the organization is working with the Park City School District to possibly create a scholarship fund to benefit a student affected by a drunken-driving accident. The program received accolades (mm the Park City government, including includ-ing from Police Chief Lloyd Evans. "Anything that takes a potentially impaired driver off the roads is going to get the endorsement of the Police Department." Evans said. Still. Brian Andersen, the parking supervisor at the Public Works Department, said the programs success lunges on the ability to publicize Taxis Against Drunk Driving and if bars and nightclubs offer assistance. "It would depend I think, on the organizers' efforts to get the word out ,md the cooperation they get from the c'sLibli-hnients," Andersen said. factor in on our appearance and a trivial talent," she said. Time commitments include rehearsals leading up to the event and then activ ities during the week of the lair. I his year, the pageant also added a 4ti -hour service requirement, Hannay said, for her service project. Bishop has woiked with the program Arts-Is Arts-Is ids. because she wants to inspire ' confidence in the vouth through cream cre-am tiv " she said. Beyond that, the reign as Miss Summit County is a yearlong commitment. commit-ment. Finalists are required to stay in the area and participate in certain events, such as those pertaining to the county's recent 150th anniversary. "Anything that the county has going and we can help with, we're there," liannav said. For example. Bishop represented rep-resented the county at emergency services serv-ices lairs at elementary schools. Politics of beauty Politics play a role too. Martin said interest in such pageants has diminished dimin-ished in the last 30 years, and even in the last decade, because of feminism. "They (parents) don't want their daughters to be recognized because of their face," Martin said. Regardless of the name change from beauty to scholarship schol-arship pageants, she said "They're trying try-ing to make it more politically correct, when it's still the same old thing." Schools are moving away from too much emphasis on beauty. Martin continues, con-tinues, "but in the real world it's more intense now than ever." She noted that a star like Britney Spears didn't get where she is because of talent. "Those Easton McBeth, 2, from Lehi plays soccer with his father Brian, not pictured, Saturday at the opening of the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse located locat-ed at Kimball Junction. The new facility offers softball, baseball and golf cages as well as additional fields on which to play soccer, lacrosse or football. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information about services, log on to www.basinrecreation.com. GRAYSON WESTR4RK RECORD In 2003, the Police Department arrested 74 motorists on drunken-driving charges, according to the departments depart-ments annual report. In previous years, Evans said police officers have arrested as many as 100 motorists for drunken driving. The most infamous of 2003 s drunken-driving cases happened during film-festival film-festival week in January, when Matthew Nielson, who had been drinking and partying on Main Street, struck Ana Bussmann, a Brazilian woman who was spending the winter in Park City. She was left in a coma and is not expected to make a full recovery although she came out of the coma. Nielson was sent to prison for up to five years. His father subsequently started his own shuttle service for drunken drivers, giving them free rides home from Salt Lake City nightclubs. For more information about the Taxis Against Drunk Driving service, call 647-3999. pageants women become icons for young girls," MartirLsaid. Hannay says Miss Summit County is "not all about beauty by any means." Contestants are judged on their interview inter-view skills (worth 40 percent of the final score), talent (30 percent), appearance in an evening gown (10 percent) and swimsuit (10 percent), and an on-stage question ( 10 percent). "A lot of girls are intimidated by the swimsuit, but it's such a small part," Bishop said. Still, old-fashioned bashfulness might deter girls from beauty pageants. Leader said many girls "just assumed that we don't qualify for the standards." "I think a lot of girls don't want to have that much attention on them," said Sara Sturgis, a Park City High School student. "It would kind of be looked on as vain." Competition among female adolescents adoles-cents can be cut-throat, so much so that it inspired the recent movie "Mean Girls." Junior Miss competition organizer organ-izer Lois Wille said "Teenage girls compare each other like crazy and it's kind of hard to get them to compete with each other." Leader said she'd be surprised if any of her friends told her they'd applied for Miss Summit County, but supportive. "I would probably admire any of my friends for follow ing through with such an endeavor." she said. Single women ages 17 to 24 can still join the Miss Summit County pageant. pag-eant. Anyone interested in more information infor-mation can call Tracy Hannay at 640-2886. 640-2886. SUSHI |