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Show 0 R E M TIMES Thursday, July 12, 2007 Page 2 NEWS AND NOTES Orem mulls culinary water deal with Vineyard Jackie Springgay The Orem City Council asked for more time Tuesday to become comfortable with a proposed interlocal agreement to provide culinary water to Vineyard. Chris Tschirki, Orem's public works water division manager, presented the draft agreement as a 50-year contract con-tract starting July 1 and ending end-ing in 2057. The agreement would provide Vineyard with three different locations to get 3,500 acre feet of water annually annu-ally from Orem. Water used in excess of that amount would be tacked on to subsequent years' allotments and billings, he said. Vineyard also would agree to pay all treatment, administration and impact fees though the fees would be reviewed and peri-(xJically peri-(xJically adjusted. Orem's small neighbor to the west would not have its own water rights but would essentially rent a portion of Orem's water, Tschirki said. Orem City Council members Costume Confirmed from Puge 1 ImH-rial sympathizers, such as bounty hunters while a sister organization dresses up as Jedi, Rebels and princesses. Club costuming specialists assist new members to create their own ABS plastic pieces of armor using vacuum-forming vacuum-forming molds or sewing uniforms. Depending on the type of outfit, materials and labor invested into a project, Ricks said a costume can range from as little as $40-50 $40-50 to several thousands of dollars. Continually upgrading and modifying his own Darth Vader outfit, Rick's costume is a perpetual work-in-progress that he guesses might be worth $3,500. Legion members (many of whom own more than one costume) are all the rage with adults and children at parades. Star Wars-related events, and other public functions. On any given weekend, members may be attending an event along the Wasatch Front or "trooping" to southern Utah or northern Idaho. Ricks and several members of the 501st Legion's local chapter, the Alpine Garrison, which encompasses Utah, Idaho and Montana, were crowd favorites during last week's Freedom Parade in Provo. NorthCounty NEWSPAPERS 399 E Stale St Pleasant Grove Marc Haddock 443 3268 North County Editor mhaddockheraldextra.com Cathy Allred 443 3262 Lehi. Saratoga Springs, PI. Grove callredheraldextra.com Barbara Christiansen 443 3264 American Fork, Alpine, Cedar Hills bchnstiansen heraldextra .com Mike Rigert 443 -3265 Orem, Vineyard mrigertheraldextra.com Beky Beaton 443-3267 Sports bbeatonheraldextra.com f.Vrii.klHl.'MSlgSl Josh Walker 443 3260 Advertising Account Executive jwalker heraldextra com Volume 134 Orem Times Daily Herald Edition, USPS 411-700. a weekly newspaper published at 399 E State St , Pleasant Grove, Utah 84063 Periodicals postage paid at Pleasant Grove, Utah 84062 and at additional matting offices Poetirweter: Send address changes to Orem Times. P 0 Box 65. Orem, Utah 84059-0066 Published Thursdays by Lee Publications, which is a divson of Lee Enterprises, Inc. Mmbf : Audit Bureau of Circulations Mwsi IS TO KEEP YOU expressed concerns about the water situation during a drought. "We just want to make sure we are not going to rue the day we don't have those shares because we've committed commit-ted them to Vineyard," said Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn. The council asked Tschirki and his team to add a drought provision in the event of a worst -case scenario. The team agreed to add the provision stating if Orem's supply of water is reduced, Vineyard's share would also be proportionately reduced. I or example, if Orem were to lose 80 percent of its water, Vineyard's allotment from Orem would also be reduced by 80 percent. The council continued the item until its next meeting instead of putting the item up for a vote Tuesday. "We don't need to take a vote if some things need to be looked into," Mayor Washburn Wash-burn said. "I want the City Council to feel good together. We don't do the community a service if we do something Yet life is anything but a picnic for 501st members portraying characters in thick, armored costumes with helmets like Darth Vader and his troops. "It's extremely hot," Ricks said. "I've been in a couple of parades in July and August that 1 almost passed out because it's been so hot." Nathan Christiansen, another Orem-based 501st member who's alter ego is an Imperial Scout Trooper, said things get toasty under the suit and helmet, even during the winter. Introduced to the club by his brother, Christiansen, 37, vividly remembers attending his first 501st event. "When the guys did up their stormtrooper stuff and put on their costumes, ooh, it was a freaky feeling like they just walked off the movie set," he said. Though he considered several characters, Christiansen said he settled upon the Biker Scout Trooper purely for practical reasons. He said the eye pieces in the stormtrooper helmet are far enough apart that it's difficult for its wearer to see anything directly in front of him. The Biker Scout visor boasts a much wider field of vision. Though Ricks and Christiansen agree the costuming and camaraderie of the 501st are key selling points, Phone: 756-7669 Fax: 756-5274 DAILY HERALD PUBLI8HIMO CO. Jennette Esplin 756 7669 Office Manager Erin Stewart 344 2558 Project Coordinator, DesignerCopy Editor Julia Fullmer 344 2570 DesignerCopy Editor Jeremy Harmon 344 2585 Photographer Issue 79 INFORMED AND like this on a split vote. We need to have all the questions answered and do our homework home-work appropriately." OREM BRIEFS I Orem tweaks law on check cashing businesses The City Council approved the new code for check cashing businesses and other credit services. Steve Earl, assistant city attorney, asked that limitations limita-tions be placed on the number and distance requirements on these types of businesses. He asked for one business for every 10,000 citizens which would place the number at nine. He also asked that they be built a half-mile apart. There are 24 businesses already al-ready in Orem, and Earl said they would be able to stay but as soon as they were abandoned aban-doned they wouldn't be able to rebuild. Jared Clark, an employee of this type of business, asked that the council to distinguish in the amended code the dif Sijw f tl ""N 11 fi JERONIMO NISADaily Herald 501st Legion-Alpine Garrison member Lars Bybee is dressed as a stormtrooper. it 's the look in kids' eyes they visit and charities benefited during club appearances that really make it all worth it. The Keeping up parks for We spent our Fourth of July holiday holi-day at the "crown jewel" of Orem's park system, and I must admit I found Nielsen's Grove to be delightful. It was hot, of course, and the newly -planted trees are still small, so shade was pretty sparse. After all, the park only opened a year ago. Still, Nielsen's Grove has the potential po-tential to become a great city park. Once the trees get some height, it will be spectacular as long as care is taken to maintain the reflecting pools and the pond. Sharon and I picked the park as a gathering place for several reasons, the primary being location. Just off the Interstate 15 exit at University Parkway, the park is mid way between our family members living in American Fork and Eagle Mountain, and those living in Spanish Fork. It is only about a mile from another son who lives in northwest Provo. And it is near the home of still another son-in-law. How convenient can you get? Another attraction is that the park has water, wa-ter, and it's water that kids can play in. This was important, especially when temperatures were expected to reach around 100 degrees. The two reflecting pools on the south end of the park one with a fountain in the center are really more for wading than reflecting. Kids were splashing in the shallow water all day long. At one point I even found myself embroiled em-broiled in a water fight with my grandkids that snowballed until everyone in the pool was trying try-ing to soak the old man. They succeeded. There were also plenty of tables, with bowery-type coverings that will provide lots of shade, once the vines have grown in. There was also lots of open space in which to throw a Frisbee, play some softball, start up a game of bocce (lawn bowling) or shoot off some paratrooper para-trooper fireworks. We started at 3 p.m. and didn't go home until about 10:30. Our British son-in-law, Ian, said it was the best Fourth of July he could remember. The only drawback was the circular swing, which holds eight kids, but requires a lot of INVOLVED ference between check cashing cash-ing and title loans. A resident described how her late husband was involved in title and check cashing loans and had such high interest inter-est rates that he was still in debt when he died. She said there was no difference between be-tween the two and that the businesses are not healthy for the citizens of Orem. The council decided against specifically defining the difference dif-ference and voted to enact the code. t Street Vacation Approved Sanford Sainsbury, Orem development services director, direc-tor, asked the City Council Tuesday to vacate the west six feet of 650 East Street from 400 South to 416 South and the south six feet of 400 South Street from 650 East to 622 East. He requested that the sidewalk side-walk there now be replaced with curb and gutter, an eight-foot eight-foot planter and a five-foot sidewalk. "The sight distances will be safer if we do it this way," he Alpine Garrison has partnered with organizations including the Make A Wish Foundation and Toys for Tots to lighten Marc Haddock THE EDITOR'S COLUMN said. Sainsbury said the sidewalk side-walk is in good shape but in 20 years it will have to be replaced at the city's expense and Orem might as well have the developer fix it now. The council approved Sains-bury's Sains-bury's request. I Site Plan Drawing Law Amended Currently, the ordinance pertaining to the contents of site plan drawings draw-ings does not require an applicant ap-plicant to show the "location of mechanical equipment and mitigation measures to reduce noise impacts caused by the equipment," according to the agenda for the meeting. Stanford Sainsbury, development de-velopment services director, asked the council to add a line to the ordinance that would require an applicant to show the location of mechanical equipment and mitigation measures. He said it would bring issues is-sues to the site plan process and make people aware of the issue during the initial site plan. children's spirits. At one event, Christiansen said 501st members attended an evening for childhood cancer survivors at which kids lined up to shake Darth Vader's hand. He said the experience touched his heart and made him want to be part of the club. "For me specifically, it's the ability to work with charities and make a difference in kids' lives," he said. "That was an awesome experience." Camie Ricks said Star Wars isn't her favorite but that she supports her husband's hobby and said their kids are wild about dressing up at Princess Leia, Padme, Jedis, and Jawas. "They're not just a geek squad," Camie Ricks said of the club. "That's what I thought of at first." The Ricks' say 501st events are opportunities for their family to spend time together and see places they ordinarily wouldn't while helping kids through charities. "Everybody knows Darth Vader and stormtroopers ... My childhood dream was wouldn't it be cool to be that character," Ricks said. Now "it's like a dream come true. Especially when you brighten someone else's day, it's that much better." For more information about the 501st Legion, go online to www.501st.com or www. alpinegarrison.com. the future effort to make it spin. When four adults were hanging on, running as fast as we could, you could get the swing going pretty fast, but it wore us out and the swing slowed down again very quickly. The kids sure loved the ride, though, so we pretty much did that until we wore out. The best part was watching a dozen grandkids chase the parachutes para-chutes that we launched before the sun went down. It was all very memorable. The key, of course, to this kind of park, is upkeep. Just look at how Highland Heritage Park fell to pieces when it was called the Adventure and Learning Park and owned and operated by the state. After several years, Highland is still trying to help the park recover from years of complete neglect. I thought about our Fourth of July when we took our 20-month-old granddaughter to the American Fork pool Monday. I hate to admit it, but I hadn't been to the pool in several years, not since the kids got old enough that they didn't need parents to take them to the pool. But now we have grandkids and the pool is hip again. I knew the city had invested in its aging fitness fit-ness center and pool, but I wasn't prepared for how well the city had invested its money. With the slide and water features and the new shallow pool, American Fork has created a great place to get away from the heat. And it occurred to me that a city benefits when its leaders have the foresight and the determination de-termination to provide great places for public recreation, and then to continue to invest in it to protect the resource. Nielsen's Grove is a good example because it represents Orem's commitment to invest in something that won't reach maturity for a long time. We can look forward to meeting there for years come. And American Fork's willingness willing-ness to reinvest in its fitness center and pool is likewise heartening. And that's what good city parks and recreation recre-ation programs are all about. Family Continued from Page 1 two unrelated, unmarried adults to live together with the children of either or both of them. The previous ordinance also permitted 20 disabled individuals in-dividuals to live together and prohibited student housing units from having four to six unrelated individuals sharing the home. Earl suggested a new definition defi-nition for family with the following fol-lowing definitions and items added: "Related" will mean uncles, nephews, aunts and nieces, but extend no further. "Guests" will mean a person per-son who does not live in the dwelling for more than 30 days in one year, and does not use the address as his mailing address. Two more unrelated people peo-ple can live with the family to accommodate for exchange students, nannies or health care providers. Six unrelated people can live as a family in the Student Housing Overlay zone and PD-21 zone. A resident at Tuesday's meeting raised concerns about the ordinance and how it would be enforced. Mayor Jerry Washburn said the new definition would make it easier for city officials to enforce the amended law. "The issue tonight isn't enforcing," he said. "How do you enforce a vague thing? We just want to accomplish the definition tonight." Earl said the new definition defini-tion simply puts current practice into city policy and procedure. "We are codifying how we have been interpreting the ordinance," he said. "We want to make sure there will be no more confusion or debate." Brisk Continued from Page 1 full-time police officers. "He represents really all that's good in volunteer public pub-lic service," Orem Mayor Jerry Jer-ry Washburn said of Brisk's work and his selection as a Walter C. Orem Award recipient. re-cipient. Conner said Brisk not only made Orem's volunteer police program a first-class organization, but also traveled trav-eled the state and nation for a year training other police departments on how to set up their own citizen programs. "He's very committed to working in the area of community com-munity service," Conner said. I believe everybody every-body needs to be involved in the community in some way or form. JD Brisk AWARD RECIPIENT Presented with the accolade acco-lade at the Orem City Council's Coun-cil's Tuesday night meeting, Brisk shuns the spotlight of his own efforts and defers to the hard work and long-term dedication of every-day volunteers vol-unteers in the trenches that makes Orem's VIPS a standout stand-out organization. He said that the city's volunteer vol-unteer policing program also works because it has been supported by the city from the highest levels including Public Safety Director Mike Larsen and the Orem City Council. Though he's a businessman, business-man, Brisk is no newcomer to law enforcement and offering of-fering to lend a hand. His father was captain of a sheriff's sher-iff's posse for 25 years and a brother in a police officer in southern Utah. "I considered it a challenge chal-lenge to see if you could get people to come out and work for free and the experiment worked," Brisk said "I believe be-lieve everybody needs to be involved in the community in some way or form." (pOO |