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Show I T . . . ! i V, f. 00 2atlyi&Hcralf e d I T I 0 N YOUR TOWN, YOUR NEIGHBORS, YOUR NEWSPAPER THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009 50 CENTS SCHOOLS: Stargazing on a winter night TOWN HALL: A.R boy's cancer in remission IIJSIDE: Heating assistance number on the rise Prep lEally Utah Valley High School Sports aiimiiite Jot Couple gets New Year's surprise NORTH COUNTY STAFF Jackson Sean Ricks arrived three weeks early to not only surprise sur-prise his parents, Sean and Jenny Ricks, but to take honors as the first baby of 2009 born at American Ameri-can Fork Hospital. Making his appearance at 3:29 a.m. Jan. 1, he weighed in at 9 pounds and is 20 inches tall. For being the first baby of the Nevj Year at the hospital, his parents par-ents received a bevy of gifts from local businesses and American Fork Hospital Labor and Delivery nurses and doctors. "We think it is great. It was a fun surprise," Jenny said. "We are excited to be parents." Sean agreed, "We are excited (about the birth). We had great doctors." The Pleasant Grove couple said the infant is their "miracle baby," explaining they have been married mar-ried four and a half years and this was their fourth attempt at I' '' ' . f I . --y -y.y, BARBARA CHRISTIANSEN North County Sean and Jenny Ricks with their "New Year's miracle," the first baby bom in 2009 at American Fork Hospital. in vitro fertilization. They were going to be induced on Jan. 9. As it was, they got to the hospital at 12:30 a.m. on Thursday and Jackson arrived three hours later. They credited Dr. Keith Blauer and Dr. Sean Haskett and "many wonderful nurses." Grandparents Kent and Joan Whittington, who arrived from Idaho Falls, Idaho to greet their new grandson, said they have long ties to American Fork. "One of my ancestors opened the first free school in Utah," Kent Whittington Whit-tington said. Items and gifts presented to the family totaled about $(i.r)0 and included in-cluded a handmade quilt, a silver spoon that will be engraved, and cash donated by the physicians and nurses from Labor and Delivery De-livery at the hospital. The anesthesiologists anes-thesiologists also donated a free co-pay on the epidural the mom had during the delivery. Nurses spearheaded collecting items for the gift basket. Businesses Busi-nesses that contributed include Journey's End, Little Angel Baby, Parker's, Massage Envy, Little Tilings, Broadbents, Kid-to-Kid, Rodworks. Costco, Harward Floral, Flo-ral, Paradise Bakery and Dallas Roberts. M ayor prioritizes goals for new year Barbara Christiansen NORTH COUNTY STAFF Santa may have made a list and checked it twice, but he's not the only one. American Fork mayor Heber Thompson has been writing down some of the goals he would like to pursue for the city in 2009. "I have a list of items I would like to have us focus on," he said in an interview. Thompson noted the list w as preliminary and could be changed as the City Council plans a retreat early in January to address the issues facing the community. com-munity. Thompson said he looked forward for-ward to meeting with the council to address these and other issues, saying they are able to work well together. "I am very pleased with the composition of the council and the ability of the mayor and council to discuss tilings and get to the heart of the issues and focus on the highest priority items," he said. "I think we want to measure up to the tasks we w ere elected for." He said he would work further with the council members to set priorities. "This is a starter list," he said. He included the economic cli- See MAYOR, Page 2 V 1 1 to ;, V . : 7 'M 1 CRAIG DILGER North Countv f I would like to have people on their own initiative be ? ' more upbeat about the economy." Heber M.Thompson, mayor of American fork FEDERAL AID Diewe projects Barbara Chiistiansen NORTH COUNTY STAFF Faced with the choice of returning $ 160,000 to the federal government or spending $180,000. American Fork City selected the latter option, saying it was better to spend an additional $20,000 and have something to show for it. City engineer Andy Spencer has been negotiating nego-tiating with officials from the Mountainland Association of Governments, which has overseen over-seen the city's efforts to construct projects using us-ing federal aid. Those include roads and trails. The city's match on those project was around 6 percent, with the rest of the funding coming from the federal government. Because selling bonds for all the projects was turned down by the voters, the city has been looking at ways to work toward and accomplish ac-complish the goals, using different methods. "AH the items in the bond were valid." Spencer Spen-cer said. "The funding option is just not available. avail-able. Many of the projects will simply have to be scaled back or postponed." Spencer said the city w as looking at ways to revamp the projects to best use the available avail-able federal funds. The council has yet to address ad-dress other projects for which funding was voted down. "We don't have any decisions from the council coun-cil related to tlie total bond projects," he said. One of the projects the city planned on has been canceled. It is an expansion of the park and ride near the West Main Street freeway interchange. Since the time that was initiated, the state has announced plans for a Front Runner Run-ner station nearby and said it will transfer bus service there from the existing park and ride. The city decided that tlie previously planned park and ride expansion w as not needed, so they canceled it. With the help of Mountainland Moun-tainland officials, $400,000 of that project's funding will be available for transfer to other projects. "We moved some money around so they could complete some projects that were ready to go, and put other projects on tlie back burner," said Jim Price of Mountainland Association As-sociation of Governments. "We are trying to find a way to get as many of these projects See FUNDS, Page 2 ommun ityBriefing FAMILY HEALTH AND FITNESS FAIR The American Fork Fitness Center will have its 12th annual Family Health and Fitness Fair Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The center is located at 454 N. Center St., American Fork. The public is invited to attend the event, and admission to the center is free all day Saturday. One of the main attractions is the once-a-year sale on passes to the fitness fit-ness center. It comes to $100 off an annual an-nual family membership. Rebecca Danklef of the center explained ex-plained the benefits. "This is also the best way for a non-Tesident non-Tesident to get normal resident rates," she said. During fhe hours of the fair, there will be free health screenings, free prizes and giveaways, information booths, program demonstrations and face painting and balloons for the children. "We will have lots of demonstrations and tons of prizes and drawings," Danklef Dan-klef said. At approximately 11:30 a.m. there will be gymnastics and tumbling demonstrations followed by demonstrations dem-onstrations of break dancing and Le Parkour at noon. Those latter activities include jumping off walls, doing flips and aerials. Instead of paying a fee to participate in the fair, those vendors who will have booths at the fair are offering prizes for the public. "There will be drawings every 15 minutes," Danklef said. "We will be giving giv-ing away a pass to the center, also." There will be free body fat testing, along with demonstrations on turbo kick, zumba and by the first place teams from the cheer squads based at the center. Members of the Rotary Club will be on hand to offer fingerprinting. "ft will be great for all ages, and very informative," Danklef said. Patrons and visitors may use a new entrance on the west side of the building. build-ing. On regular days when admission is charged, it is for members and swim team only. They may swipe their membership mem-bership card or enter their PIN to have access to enter and leave. There is a drop-off area and new parking layout to accommodate the new entrance. More information is available from the front desk of the Fitness Center. LONG-TIME CITY EMPLOYEE DIES - Pamela Jane Durrant Hunsaker, 55, died Jan. 4, after a 1 0-year battle with cancer. She spent the last 24 years serving serv-ing as the city treasurer and benefits administrator ad-ministrator for American Fork City. City officials lauded Hunsaker for her contributions: "Pam was an inspiring leader and an extremely caring person," said Chief of Staff Melanie Marsh. "She instilled in others the desire to be their best and work hard to achieve results. Everyone at the City knew that they could rely on Pam for just about any thing. Pam was a perfectionist in everything that she did. She always paid attention to even the smallest details to ensure that everything was just right. Pam enjoyed working for the City, and even in her most difficult times she spread her enthusiasm for her job and life with all she came in contact with. American Fork City wifl not be the same without Pam. She was such a part of f3 city and was such a people-person. Pam always brought a smile to your face. She will be sorely missed at the city. " Mayor Heber Thompson agreed. "Pam has been an integral and very valuable part of our city family for more than 30 years," he said. "Her daily work always included looking for opportunities opportuni-ties to serve or help someone. She is known throughout the city as a very compassionate, empathetic person. Her greatest joy was her family and she always loved sharing wirh us the goodness good-ness of her children. Her very strong work ethic, even in the face of her dealing with cancer and its treatment demands, never discouraged her from desiring to put in as full a work day as possible. Her dedication and endurance were exemplary to us all. We wiFI miss her enthusiasm for life. " Funeral services will be held today at 1 1 a.m. in the American Fork East Stake Center, located at 825 . 500 North. Friends may call at Anderson & Sons Mortuary, 49 E. 100 N., Thursday at the stake center from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. Burial will take place at the American Fork Cemetery. Online condolences may be sent to andersonmortuary .com. 6 "61055 00050llll8 "13 i ,. tf 1 MSS. T . 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