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Show , State Opinioss C3 C4 CI EDITOR: MITCH WILKINSON THE DAILY HERALD 344-255- 4 W8 THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 0 rem committee unveiling new plan for sewer fees By DONALD W. MEYERS The Daily Herald , OREM The city's sewer fee comis mittee taking another stab at coming up with an equitable way to collect money for handling sewage. : Water Manager Bruce Chesnut said the committee will present new recommendations at the April 28 City Council meeting, including a fee with a fixed consumption-base- d base rate. It will also present its original plan to base the rate fee on the size of the water meter connection. The committee went back to the . drawing board after residents complained about a proposal released last month that proposed making residents meter connections with larger-bor- e for more basic pay sewage service than do moment. at the they "We know that whatever we do will affect some people. When you're dealing with fees, somebody will not be happy" Chesnut said. "We are trying to make it fair and equitable." The City Council was poised to vote on the measure in March, but put it on hold to allow the committee to consider the public concerns. The committee was formed last year after the city began charging a $9.87 base fee for each residential unit on a property instead of charging on a basis as was done in the past. Landlords who opposed the change argued they received no notice it was happening and it unfairly penalized them when each of their apartments didn't produce as much sewage as a y home. c The committee, representing homeowners and landlords, reviewed the city's sewage fee schedule and decided to base payments on the size of the meter connection on the grounds that a larger connection would translate into more water being dumped into the sewers. The proposed system left the basic single-famil- rate of $9.87 for h connections, while increasing it for larger meter connections. A resident with a meter connection, typical in many city homes, would be billed $18.06 a month for sewer service. Consumption rates would remain at 55 cents per 1,000 gallons. The move, however, met with oppo34-inc- ch sition from homeowners who believed they were being penalized. ad-ho- want something that is fair and logical," said Kip Meacham, a Springwater Park resident with a' meter. Meacham said he's installed pressure-reducin- g devices in his home to cut water consumption, so he can't understand why he "I anoe competition set in cement BYU engineers' titanic hopes rest with Poseidon Tree-- 34-inc- fees. But Meacham said the fact the city is reconsidering the proposal is a hopeful sign. A better method, he added, would be to charge for the water used rather than the amount that can come into a house. Chesnut said that's one option the committee is considering; another is leaving the proposed schedule in place. and buoyancy YWm ' Roche paints grim picture of U.S. education By RYAN VAN BENTRUYSEN The Daily Herald The president of Hillsdale College on Michigan's Wednesday painted a dismal picture of an American educational system riddled with missing values, low standards and student bodies with ..JIJI J 1HUI average grades and next to no motivation. "I think the American people are ready for a revolusaid tion," George Roche, PROVO Hi By GIB TWYMAN S ""I The Daily Herald r should have to pay more to flush his toilet. Meacham said his own study shows that his meter connection is 78 percent h meter, but he larger than a would pay 83 percent more in fees. Over the course of a year, that would add up to $108 in additional sewer Jeff Brimhali had both shoes off, his pantlegs rolled up and was shin-dee- p in the Provo River near where it feeds into Utah Lake. Then Keith Steurer, another. Brigham Young University civil engineering student, entered the water and started pushing the canoe' with "Poseidon" lettered on the side into the icy stream. "Oooohh, that water is said Steurer, alternately dipping and withdrawing a tentative toe. "Aw, quit whinin'. I got jui" ' Brimhali replied. ';. "That is just like snonvmelt. Whooee!" shouted Steurer. . ."C'mon, Wisconsin," said Brimhali. "I may be from Wisconsin. But we don't go in water like , this," Steurer countered. -- But he did. He pretty much had to. -- Steurer and Brimhali are two of the 65 BYU students who helped construct the craft for the concrete canoe competition at the Rocky Mountain Conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which will be Saturday at the University of Colorado at "r PROVO less-tha- II - blue-and-whi- te v - 1, -T! Vs'V KEVIN LELThc Daily Herald "We named it Poseidon after the Greek god of the sea. A symbol of royalty and majesty." And buoyancy, he wished. Taunted into it, Steurer jammed both legs into the water and pushed the canoe out into the river. "Scary".-',- . moment, : ' said j Boulder. Steurer. "Either it floats of we just wasted four- months of The water line ' ' The students will compete in preparation." "So far, so good," said Matt a design contest, but five men civil engiand five women will also paddle Kasunick, another, who student helped neering in sprint and distance races. d canoe and heft the They would paddle, that is, if d fiberits protective the canoe floated. ' The moment of truth was glass liner off a trailer. "Try getright here, right now, in the ting in." Brimhali and Steurer did. frigid Provo River. "Where's the water, line?" "We didn't name, it the Poseidonthat's the. boat that Steurer asked. "It's designed to of the come just below the blue line sunk," Steurer, ' said canoe team, and the lettering." hopefully. ' . 100-poun- 250-poun- -- "It's abdiift' an; inch below,"' Kasunick reported. - 1 ALPINE They don't have a crystal ball, but city officials, residents and developers are coming together anyway to try and predict the future. For the past six months, the Alpine Planning Commission has been conducting a study of seven parcels of land that border the city in order to see if they can be annexed. With more than 100 building permits issued since June and an annual growth rate of 8 to 10 percent, city officials said the need to' prepare for future annexations will help determine 'the direction the city will grow during the next decade. - "Each proposed annexation parcel was judged against Commission said itself," Chairman Hunt Willoughby at a commission meeting Tuesday night. "This way, we can create criteria to evaluate each on the same level like a sheet of music." The land along the mountainside that skirts the city was broken up into separate parcels and evaluated on several different environmental, economic and safety concerns. The land was judged on location of fault lines, slope of land, cost to service the area, impact on wildlife and water tables and even how it would affect the view if development were to occur. Each area was rated from 1 to 10, with one being the lowest con - chairman of the Sutherland Institute's board of trustees. Roche cited statistics that , surface. "Bingo!" shouted KasunicL How does concrete float? Well, not too badly, actually. "Its unit weight is just a little Sec CANOE, C2 and by lobbying legislators. Roche was chosen to speak because he's the president of Hillsdale, a privately funded college in Hillsdale, Mich., that teaches a traditional curriculum and conservative values, said Gaylord Swim, 25-ye- ar A sinking feeling The ultimate test was next. MasseThe students had to submerge the canoe a couple feet below the surface and it had to bob back to the top. , "The judges used to have to fish .one too many of these things out of the water," said Steurer. "So they made sinking it part of the buoyancy test." Brimhali gave a hearty shove with one leg. The canoe went under...then popped back to the Alpine preparing for future annexation! ' - policy with scholarly research - The Daily Herald J,- II Hillsdale pres ; ident. "If we're true to our beliefs and true to our values, the impact we could have is very much available to us. We could do great things." Roche spoke to a group of more than 200 supporters at a Sutherland Institute luncheon at the Provo Park Hotel. The organization is a conservative think tank that tries to steer public ; By BEKKI JANSON n- America spends 44 percent mor? per pupil now than it did 15 years ago and labeled the system ' a f BBKiun.JK- - 7. Heavyweight: Above, Jeff Brimhali and Keith Steurer admire the seaworthiness of their concrete vessel at Utah Lake State Park Tuesday. The BYU engineers are preparing for a competition in Boulder, Colo., this weekend. Top: Matt Kaunick, in the foreground, steadies the cement craft as Jeff Brimhali climbs in to test its bouyancy. Rating the parcels for annexation By BEKKI JANSON cern. Only two areas scored The Daily Herald under 20 out of a possible 90; the other five scored between The city recently ALPINE 50 and 90. annexaa .completed The study results propelled of the commission to come up with tion study of seven parcels borders. new guidelines to add to the land along its The areas were rated on a city's zoning ordinance. The scale based on nine proposed guidelines and study categories. The categories results were presented to resiincluded fault line danger, soil dents and developers at a meetslope grade, water table ing Tuesday night. The most quality, erosion, view hotly debated aspect of the new endangerment, to service the cost ordinance is the limit placed on obstruction,' and wildlife hazard area, fire construction above 5,350 feet. Each category "I came here because I like endangerment. a scale of 1 to 10, scored on was the rural aspect and every lowest concern, house built on the hillside one being the The scores were 10 the highest. infringes on the view," said resthe lower the ident Keith Schofield. "Can't we then totaled; concerns. the fewer score, the completely stop the' building up Bonny Eardly. 84 acres. Scored 15 out of 90, with . See ALPINE, C2 wildlife endangerment the main concern. Willow Canyon. 68 acres. Scored 53 out of 90, with wildlife endangerment, slope grade and cost to service the area the main concerns. South Box Elder. 41 acres. Scored 53 out of 90, with and wildlife endangerment concerns. main the slope grade Pine Grove. 74 acres. Scored 89 out of 90 with wildlife endangerment, fire hazard, cost to service the area, view obstruction, slope grade , six-mon- th 90-poi- nt ' and fault line danger the main concerns. School House. 439 acres. Scored 78 out of 90 with wildlife endangerment, water table endangerment and fault Sec RATING, C2 ar monopoly. And the extra money does no good, he added, saying that a quarter of American high school students won't graduate and 50. " percent of college students won't ever earn their degrees. "Nothing succeeds like failure," Roche said. As long as the government keeps pouring more cash into the system and continues its tight grasp on education, the problem will get worse, he said. Electing good leaders won't solve the problem, either. "I do not think we can cure the ills in our society with more money or more regulation," said Roche, whose college traditionally refuses any form of federal funding or support. "You could send one of the 12 apostles to Washington, D.C., and not succeed." So what's the answer? The country needs to return to the traditional teachings of reading, writing and arithmetic and revisit the days when there was a right answer and a wrong answer, he said. , Once the country finds a system where the government has less say in schools and the citizens have the loudest voice, the downward spiral of education can straighten itself out, Roche said. But right now, Big Brother still has a stranglehold. u'it.w!a ! in in iit tM poo RCOPyf 4 " |