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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, September 6-8, 2017 The Park Record A-12 MEETINGS AND AGENDAS CORE SAMPLES By Jay Meehan TO PUBLISH YOUR PUBLIC NOTICES AND AGENDAS, PLEASE EMAIL CLASSIFIEDS@PARKRECORD.COM The DNA of pigskin PARK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT PARK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT COMPLAINT REVIEW COMMITTEE Friday, September 8, 2017 12:00 pm – 12:15 pm 1900 Park Avenue Park City, UT 84060 AGENDA: Approve 12/20/16 Meeting Minutes ADJOURNMENT A majority of Complaint Review Committee members may meet socially after the meeting. If so, the location will be announced by the Chair. Committee business will not be conducted. Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodations during the meeting should notify the Executive Assistant to the Chief of Police at 435-615-5505 at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. Posted: See: www. parkcity.org Utah nurse raises awareness By AMY FORLITI Associated Press The videotaped arrest of a Utah nurse who refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient has raised questions about how far officers can go to collect evidence and has led to policy changes within the Salt Lake City Police Department. Here are some of the legal issues involved: What Happened? Police body-camera video released Thursday shows Salt Lake City Detective Jeff Payne handcuffing nurse Alex Wubbels on July 26 after she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient after a car crash. In the video, Wubbels, who works in the burn unit at Utah University Hospital, explains she’s protecting the patient’s rights and she can’t take the man’s blood unless he is under arrest, police have a warrant or the patient consents. None of that applied, and the patient was not a suspect. Payne’s written report says he wanted the sample to show the victim did nothing wrong. The dispute ended with Payne telling Wubbels: ``We’re done, you’re under arrest.’’ He pulled Wubbels outside while she screams: ``I’ve done nothing wrong!’’ Wubbels is being praised for her actions to protect the patient, while Payne and another officer are on paid leave. Criminal and internal affairs investigations are underway. Legal Issues at Play A 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling says a blood sample can’t be taken without patient consent or a warrant. But in this case, the officer reportedly believed he had ``implied consent’’ to take the patient’s blood. Implied consent assumes that a person with a driver’s license has given approval for blood draws, alcohol breath screenings or other tests if there’s reason to believe the driver is under the influence. Paul Cassell, a criminal law professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, wrote in an opinion piece for The Salt Lake Tribune that state law doesn’t permit a blood draw in this situation _ especially since the blood was being sought to prove the patient was not under the influence. Wubbels’ attorney, Karra Porter, said the state’s impliedconsent law ``has no relevance in this case whatsoever under anyone’s interpretation. ... The officer here admitted on the video and to another officer on the scene that he knew there was no probable cause for a warrant.’’ Medical Personnel vs. Police Charles Idelson, a spokesman for National Nurses United, said a nurse’s prime responsibility is to be a patient advocate and protect patients, especially when they can’t consent themselves. Meanwhile, police are investigators and have to capture forensic evidence, which in the case of a blood draw, is decaying with every passing minute, said Ron Martinelli, a forensic criminologist and certified medical investigator. ``For the officer, the clock is ticking,’’ Martinelli said. But even with those different objectives, police and medical professionals routinely cooperate and conflicts like the Utah case are infrequent, Martinelli said. The Officers A second officer who was put on leave Friday has not been formally identified, but officials have said they were reviewing the conduct of Payne’s boss, a lieutenant who reportedly called for Wubbels’ arrest if she kept interfering. Wubbels, who was not charged with a crime, has said that Payne ``bullied me to the utmost extreme.’’ Payne hasn’t returned messages left at publicly listed phone numbers. The Salt Lake City police chief and mayor also apologized and changed department policies on blood draws. Police spokeswoman Christina Judd said the new policy does not allow for implied consent for any party and requires a warrant or consent. Judd also said the agency has met with hospital administration to ensure it does not happen again and to repair relationships. I am quite aware as to how we siblings of the clan contracted the virus in question. Up and down the line, we all blame our father Bob, the patriarch. No passing the buck to another sports fan from the family tree, here. We are all USC football fans because of Bob. If further proof is needed, a check of his medical records should suffice. Although his sports addictions became manifest in varied ways, the night he woke in a cold sweat with his beloved Trojans involved in a 4th-and-goal from the one-yard line trailing by a touchdown with time running out comes easily to mind. At the time, when homegames came-a-calling, his weekends were spent as an usher in the LA Memorial Coliseum for the Trojans on Saturday and the Rams on Sunday. At night, his dream world became a film-room for replaying that day’s emotional trauma. His Doctor informed him in no uncertain terms that one of them had to go. Although he loved checking out the seasonticket holding starlets in his section, he, of course, opted to become Rams-free. No doubt Joan Collins and Natalie Wood and the others missed him madly. I was shocked, (SHOCKED!), when he first jumped on the USC bandwagon. Being of IrishCatholic stock from the panhandle of Idaho, we were naturally dyed-in-the-wool Notre Dame fans (from, no doubt, the hardy Blackface Mountain sheep). I memorized lore of the Fighting Irish probably around the time I first contemplated sin – which is to say, relatively early. I could recite the names of Knute Rockne’s “Four Horsemen” backfield before I could those of “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,” whoever they played for. Matter of fact, we all jumped ship, except for mom. She re- mained a Notre Dame fan until the end. She kept us in her prayers, however. We had that going for us. And they worked, Mom’s prayers, that is. Unless they are locked in combat with USC, I’m totally rooting for Notre Dame, Utah, BYU, and even UCLA. The “Utes” are the only one on that short list of secondary college pigskin passions that cause me to lose sleep, however. What with them being in the Southern Division of the Pac-12 Conference along with my Trojans and their habit of soundly thrashing my boys about the head and shoulders as often as not, they occupy my dream-world more than most. That isn’t to say that the I could recite the names of Knute Rockne’s “Four Horsemen” backfield before I could those of “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,” whoever they played for.” Utes aren’t my second-favorite college team, because they most definitely are -- even more so than the University of Idaho Vandals (“Big I”) and the Montana Grizzlies, the scallywag squads of my youth. So here I sit, awash in the usual dread of being a sports fan, with yet another football season nuzzling up against Major League Baseball pennant races. I refuse to touch upon the fact that my Dodgers have lost 8-of-9. I’m not going there. I might, however, revisit the fact that my sum total interest in the local Prep gridiron scene continues to languish in the wasteland of negative numbers when it comes to how the Park City Miners, Wasatch Wasps, and both South Summit and North Summit are making out. There was a time, however… I recall back during those heady days prior to UHSAA upsetting the party cart with the “promotion” of Wasatch from 3A to 4A that, seemingly, forevermore, separated them schedule-wise from Park City. Back then, everything revolved around “the game.” Even timelines of a spectacular two-week jaunt through southern Utah would be predicated upon a kickoff at Dozier Field between the Miners and the Wasps. It mattered not if I awoke on Boulder Tops or in the Henry Mountains or at Lake Powell, Hovenweep, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Jacob’s Lake, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, or Brianhead, each and every morning the ritual remained the same: making sure that day’s drive didn’t interfere with the “rivalry.” When the Miners met the Wasps in Hebertown with the tailgating erupting around the pool tables, beer kegs, jukebox, and wall-bound dead animal heads at “Tinks,” well, then, all bets were off. Friends of the Park City High alumnae persuasion would show up with their own thirst and an admittedly often-brilliant stash of trash talk, and the frolic would ensue. Those days are long gone, of course. With new towns, new teams, and new fans, it’s just not the same. Anyone happen to know of a watering hole similar to “Tinks” up Hyrum way? Jay Meehan is a culture junkie and has been an observer, participant, and chronicler of the Park City and Wasatch County social and political scenes for more than 40 years. RED CARD ROBERTS By Amy Roberts 248 Other Options for S.R. 248 Post your best shots on Instagram with the hashtag: #ParkCityPics and we’ll put the best ones in The Park Record! Over the past decade or so, in every local election, those with names on the ballot cite their top issues as: Traffic, affordable housing, and environmental impact. They might be prioritized in a different order, and solutions vary a bit, but no one hoping for an office at City Hall claims they’ll focus on much else. At least not enough to make it a campaign platform. Despite the city’s recent efforts to mitigate traffic; including an express bus, electric bikes and price-gouged parking spots, there seems to be no decrease in the number of cars clogging the roads in and out of town. And with school back in session, the commute and congestion along State Road 248 is once again frontpage news. Quite literally. Last week, there was a front-page article in this paper about concerns and options regarding the traffic along 248. A $10 million price tag was thrown out, along with the “just thinking out loud” option of turning the Rail Trail into a thoroughfare. Fortunately, the article also stated both city and transportation officials want to hear from the public; input is welcomed. So here’s mine — expanding 248 makes as much sense as giving anyone who rents an e-bike a free gas card. It’s completely counterintuitive and counterproductive to any desire to take cars off the road. If you want fewer drivers, do not spend millions of dollars to make driving easier. Though the idea of turning the Rail Trail into a traffic corridor is hopefully far fetched, the idea of widening S.R. 248 to accommodate traffic is not. I live in Prospector, very close to the schools, so I have a driver’s seat view of the congestion nearly every day. Fortunately for me, my commute goes the opposite way — town to Quinn’s Junction in the morning. But that doesn’t mean I don’t notice the slowmoving stream of vehicles. In fact, I’ve been paying sharp attention over the years, and in my independent traffic study, I’ve noticed a few things. First, nearly every car has only one person in it. And second, there’s an alarming ratio of Land Rovers to 16 year olds in this town. The stretch from Quinn’s Junction to the high school is anywhere from four to two lanes, divided by what can only be described as a turning lane to infinity.” Teenagers with luxury cars aside, the school and the city should work together before considering a costly and timeconsuming road-widening project. Currently, any student with a car and $50 can park either at the high school or the nearby LDS church. Why not reserve parking for seniors only? Incentivize them to carpool with their junior or sophomore neighbors. Or for that matter, their younger sibling. I know of a family whose 17year old drives to high school, leaving the house 20 minutes after whichever parent drives the 8th grade sister to Treasure Hill Middle School. That seems ridiculous. But so does expecting to change behavior with no reward or penalty. It would also be far less expensive and disruptive to flex S.R. 248 a bit. The stretch from Quinn’s Junction to the high school is anywhere from four to two lanes, divided by what can only be described as a turning lane to infinity. Why not make the four-mile turning lane an actual driving lane, changing its direction to flow with traffic during peak commute times? If easing traffic is truly a goal, at some point, penalty outweighs reward. Encouraging people to take the bus will never be as effective as penalizing them for renting a car to get here. Perhaps the city should partner with hotels and lodging companies to charge tourists for overnight parking. Sure, a tourist can rent a car at the airport, but if he or she is paying an extra $25/day to park it at a hotel or rental house, they might be more inclined to take a shuttle and use the free bus. I’m not a traffic engineer, but common sense suggests there are a number of other solutions to our transportation problem. Making it easier to drive into town does nothing to alleviate cars on the road. When I run out of room in my closet, I don’t add on to my house; I purge and stop accumulating more junk. It would be wise for city officials to apply that same logic to traffic. After all, they campaigned on the idea. Amy Roberts is a freelance writer, longtime Park City resident, and the proud owner of two rescued Dalmatians, Stanley and Willis. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. Follow her on Twitter @amycroberts. |