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Show r 1- 410 UTAH PREE ex a ires fll, 5iZi83 C 47 EPST 32a Si SALT LAKE CITY UT 84111 Serving American Fork, Alpine and Highland Vol. 10, No. 11 Wednesday, March 16, 1988 50 cents a single copy 9m. ;il Edward Bennett, Lehi, flanked by American Fork police officers, walks to 8th Circuit Court for extradition hearing. Suspect to spend 19th birthday in Las Vegas jail Edward G. Bennett will spend his 19th birthday in the Clark County jail in Las Vegas, Nev. Bennett, who will turn 19 on March 19, waived extradition March 9 before Orem 8th Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Sumsion and, along with a 16-year old companion from Orem, was transported to Nevada later the same afternoon. The juvenile similarly waived extradition Tuesday in Juvenile Court in Provo, according to police. They entered pleas of not guilty to the charges later in the week in a Las Vegas courtroom. Both Bennett and the juvenile are suspects in the Feb. 9 slaying of 21-year 21-year old Michelle Moore at a Stop & Go mini-mart in Las Vegas and the wounding of a store patron. They were arrested by American Fork Police on March 7 after information in-formation was developed by police during a separate investigation, according to Police Chief John Durrant. Det. David Hatch, Homicide Detective with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said charges against the young men include first degree murder, attempted at-tempted murder, robbery, and the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a crime. The juvenile will face charges as an adult, he said, because under Nevada law, a suspect over 14 is automatically charged as an adult in Cox announces June retirement Dr. Clark L. Cox, superintendent of the Alpine School District, would like to put his keys on the desk, leave a note and go out with "little fanfare" fan-fare" when he retires June 30. Cox announced his retirement last week after turning in his resignation to members of the district board of education at their regular monthly business meeting March 8. ' With his retirement, he will end 37 years of service to public education -- five of them as superintendent in the Alpine District. In an interview Friday, he said both board members and members of his staff were "shocked" by his decision but that the decision was a "personal decision." "I just decided the timing was right. I've been in education 37 years. I'll be 61 years old this year. I just feel this is the time." Cox said he and his wife have been discussing his retiring over the past few months. "It isn't a sudden decison." Cox said he has good health and feels it is time 'to close one chapter and open another chapter in my book. "I feel that the experiences in Alpine have been outstanding and most enjoyable. At the present time, the district is financially sound, well organized, and has an excellent educational program. "I have learned that the foundation foun-dation of this excellence here is the outstanding teachers, ad- mmmmmsm - try 4 . Si f ill! MH ," 4 a crime like this. Bennett appeared before Judge Sumsion in the orange prison suit of the Utah County Prison. He was emotionless as he stood beside his lawyer and heard Judge Sumsion question whether he understood the charges against him and the ex-: ex-: tradition process."- - - Bennett replied he did. The Judge then asked if he was willing to sign that waiver in open court today, and the youth said he was. "You will be returned to the state of Nevada to answer to these charges," Judge Sumsion then said. Family members and friends were in the courtroom during the procedure. Det. Hatch, during a press conference con-ference March 8, told the media the crime was a high profile crime in Las Vegas because of its nature. The killing of Mrs. Moore received a lot of publicity, he said, because it was "such a senseless crime." He said police feel robbery was an afterthought - that the killers "went shopping for a victim and found one." Police recovered a .45 calibre automatic handgun believed used in the crime from a Provo pawnbroker. Mrs. Moore had been married six months. Originally from Roosevelt, her family resides in Utah. She had only recently moved to Las Vegas, and had worked at the convenience store for two weeks prior to the 10 p.m. shooting. ministrators, and support personnel who are so dedicated and professional. "Add to this, the concern and support offered by parents and the high caliber of students who attend the Alpine schools, and you have one of the finest districts anywhere, bar none. "There are good people here.' he said. 'Too many times I've talked with people who have retired and asked them if they were going to do this or that and they said they couldn't because their health wouldn't allow it, or their spouses' health wouldn't allow it. I don't want that to happen to us." Cox came to the Alpine School District five years ago following the resignation of then superindent Max Welcker, taking office on Aug. 1, 1983. Since then, the district has been one of the leaders in the state in going to yearround or extended day schedules because of over-crowding in the classrooms. With 11 schools now on one or other of the schedules, and five more expected to come on board this year, they are ahead of the majority of districts in this area. "We did it even before the state mandated it," Cox said, with parents, teachers, and administration ad-ministration working together to try and find the best schedule for the See COX on page 3 Mayor tells opposition at laundry proposal hearing By MARC HADDOCK American Fork City's mayor has officially opposed a plan to use inmate in-mate labor to operate the laundry at the Utah State Training School. The opposition was voiced by Mayor Kent Evans at a public hearing at the training school auditorium Tuesday night. ! Other voices opposing the plan included Orville Gunther, a prominent local resident, and Jack Wise, who currently works in . the laundry, as well as several other local residents. 5 sb. Win Tatham, director of Utah Correctional Industries, presented the plan at the hearing and responded to objections to the proposal raised at last week's American City Council meeting and other public meetings. In a prepared statement, Evans said he could not support the program as outlined "because I do not feel it is in the best interest of the citizens of American Fork." Evans's statement spelled out three concerns with the proposal, which were: -Incomplete accounting to show that a significant savings would result from the program. -The chance that the program might be "a foot in the door for wider use of the Training School facilities for other State Penal Institution In-stitution Programs." In the statement, Evans pointed out that the states owns considerable property around the Training School. "Until the state does something of a permanent nature with this acreage to the north of the School campus, this scenariq is real and a threat to us all." r -Possible security violations created by moving inmates itf and Highland hears opposition By SHARON MORREY Highland City's mayor Larry Miller advised constituents at the Highland March 9 council meeting "not to lose the fire in their arguments" against the proposal by Utah Correctional Industries to bring prisoners in to man the Training School laundry. Miller told the group of citizens gathered to list their grievances Wednesday that he shared many of their concerns and he hoped they would all take them to the Tuesday Public Hearing at USTS, March 15. "This is a complicated issue and one that's very important to us," said Miller. "I encourage the council to be there. I will be there." As Highland borders the USTS grounds, concerns were noted over " . . t ? 4 ( f? 3f JM f ' U -. r'iS s ' '7 I-'; i- . i 'to' Dr. Clark Cox prepares his last School District. Cox will retire in f f V ' I v mm urn hi m I I V! 'X V 0 It was standing room only at American Fork City Council Fox and Don LeBaron find a seat on the floor. The hearing Kent Evans against proposal to use inmate labor to operate out of the Training School property. "We realize that this would be controlled to the best possible ability of the correctional people, however, this does not alleviate the possibility oi an unforseen accident occurring," the statement said. Evans said he had supported examining the proposal since it was first suggested as a possible way to save a substantial amount of state money. the prisoners crossing through the city each day - "bus breakdowns do occur" said one citizen -- and over the emotional and social impact on the community. Councilman Kent R. Day said he has great concern over putting criminal male inmates in the vicinity of handicapped female inmates. Jack Wise, who stood to speak against the proposal, said he works in the laundry and does not "want the training school area turned into a penal colony." Wise cautioned Highland against believing the move will save taxpayers tax-payers money. "We believe this is a political issue. We think it needs to be studied further," he urged. "We feel efficiency and character of budget proposal for Alpine June. w MM0! ) The statement followed a well-attended well-attended city council meeting on March 8 where several individuals spoke against the state's proposal. Tatham defended the proposal, showed a detailed cost analysis of the proposal and outlined other UCI program which successfully use inmate labor in other parts of the state. ' . Richard Clasby, also of UCI, stated in an earlier interview that workmanship will be lost. A 30 year neighbor of the USTS, Orville Gunther spoke out against the cost-cutting plan also. Gunther reported that despite security measures and "good intentions of those in charge", he often has escorted training school residents back to their facility-even one man who was found in the Gunther's bedroom filling his pockets with jewelry and expensive knickknacks. Gunther said his concerns were threefold; he did not believe the benefit would be vorth the savings, he felt the plan would introduce an atmosphere into the training school life that isn't good and the laundry would just be the first of the USTS departments to be taken over. Despite the explanation and Pageant asks city for financial help Members of the Utah Pageant of the Arts Board presented a Five-Year Five-Year Plan to the American Fork City Council, requesting the city's financial help to reach their goals. Producer-Director David Brockbank said, "The bottom line is Rec. survey to help determine city plan Approximately 500 residents in American Fork City will receive an important survey from the Recreation Department this week. The results of the survey will be used by city leaders to determine how the current facilities will be replaced. The city is considering the construction con-struction of an all-new recreation facility with an indoor-outdoor pool that could replace both city pools and include other amenities such as, racquetball courts, gymnasium, weight room, indoor track, indoor tennis courts, whirlpool-physical therapy room, and a multi-purpose room. The survey will be very important in determining the desires of the citizenry. It will be analyzed by Brigham Young University and is being distributed by this newspaper. If you're household is randomly selected to receive the survey (by mail), please return it by Wednesday, Wed-nesday, March 23. All responses will remain completely anonymous. In . Jj " .:, f f II I 111 meeting, as state reps. Chris led to a statement by Mayor Training School laundry. the final decision on the proposal will be made by the director of the Utah Department of Social Services and the director of the Utah Department of Corrections. Approximately 200 people attended at-tended the hearing, which was still in progress at press time. More information on the hearing will be printed in next week's newspaper. to plan protests registered by USTS Supt. Jerry Dandoy and UCI Director Wynn Tatum that there are no plans to instigate prisoner labor further into USTS activity, Gunther asked: "Can't you see what is happening? The legislature meets and see these state-owned empty buildings and open area and what will they propose to do with it?" "We need to be conscious of the trend developing," he pointed out. Tatum explained that UCI did not come to the training school with the plan but was requested by a legislative committee to find ways to save tax dollars. He said any further plans to share costs between the prison and USTS involved staff only, not inmate labor. tnat we are not able to maintain the building and keep it up without financial assistance." The City Council appointed a committee to look into the matter and gather more information before Se PAGEANT on page 3 order to ensure the statistical accuracy ac-curacy of the survey, nearly all of the mailed surveys must be completed com-pleted and returned as soon as possible. "We hope all residents will complete the survey with their candid opinions and true intentions regarding the future use of recreational facilities in the city," says Steve Bailey, city Recreation Director. Plans for a new recreation facility were made urgent by the sudden closure of the indoor swimming pool at American Fork Jr. High last fall. Estimates to repair that facility would approach $300,000, making plans for a new facility all the more practical. "Also, the outdoor swimming pool in Rotary Park is now 34 years old and is getting difficult and expensive to maintain," says Bailey. "A new facility that would fill all the city's needs, for residents of all ages, could be the best investment in the long run." |