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Show Jh w 1 mm Boras Daily Herald Ca Monday, April 8. 1996 i. police link 10 deaths to Mexican drug cartels iUD Mcll still missing aftor truck theft SANDY (AP) More than 2.000 pieces of mail are missing after a postal truck was stolen from the Sandy Post Office and later recovered. The truck was full of mail and unattended in the post office's leading area Saturday morning when two people in a white car circled the area. One person jumped out of var and drove off in the mail truck. The postal truck w as later recovered two blocks west at an apartment complex. But the mail was missing. It was the first time for such a theft in Utah, said Sandy postmaster Robert Vunder. The most likely motive was money, he said. If caught, the two thieves could be charged with several federal felonies, including trespassing on federal property, stealing a vehicle and tampering with federal property. The fine for taking a single piece of mail is a maximum of 5 years in jail and SI 0.000. Vunder said. The mail was destined for residents living between 901X) South and 9300 South on 700 West in Sandy. . ' Ten SALT LAKE CITY ( AP) homicides in Salt Lake the past year have been linked to Mexican drug cartels, and some in law enforcement believe the city has been targeted by dealers trying to gain a foothold in the United States. "You are a transit point. They can move product easily from there to the Pacific Northwest and Midwest." said Phil Jordan, the retired director of the EI Paso Intelligence consorCenter, a said. tium that gathered information about Mexican drug cartels. "They also think they can hide more easily because you are percommuceived as a nity ... few INS agents, not many g officers, etc.." he Most are small operates but get their product through cartel operatives. Others who arrive illegally are "recruited off the train" to work in Salt Lake police detective Chuck Oliver said Salt Lake has another dubious distinction and it may serve as an attraction, the county's overcrowded jail routinely frees people facing drug charges. "That's our reputation and it spreads quickly." Oliver said Investigators believe doens of Mexican nationals with Uxse connections to the Mexican cartels began migrating to Utah about 4 months ago. 1 inner-cit- distribution networks, y said Sgt. Sam Hemingway. Spanish-speakin- Local narcotics officers are nvt willing to talk abiHit whether the city has become a Mountain West clearinghouse for the Mexican federation Hut they a, know ledge that a steady stream of illegal immigrants from the Mexican state of Sinaloa is using Salt Lake as a distribution center. "These people are more than just illegal aliens slinging dope." said West Valley Police detective Bob Day. "They are serious about taking over this market." The immigrants have been dubbed "Sinaloan cowboys" by police because many wear flashy Western dress and drive chrome-adornecars The dealers are and organized, vet thev d well-arme- d seem to do things that inv ite public wrath and heightened scrutiny by enforcement. Manuelillo Valenzuela. a known "cow hoy." is wanted by police tor questioning in the murder ot a mother of live children last February. Police believe Valenzuela. who has a record of drug arrests, lied to J Sinaloa alter Diane Purpcr law shot on an 1 5 Last week. West Valley police stopped a car with a broken driven bv a native of Sinaloa Suspicious officers with dogs discovered I pound ot the largest cocaine in the vehicle coke seizure in the city's history Salt Luke vice officers on a routine prostitution call three weeks ago were approached by a Sinaloan on-ram- tail-lig- drug-sin!l-in- cigarettes f' O-- a air v-x- vw i r- i , lit m i vov. f t i Traffic accidents killed three petple on L'tah roads over the Easter holiday weekend. The L'tah Highway Patrol reported that Dale Lake. 28, of Texas, died Saturday afternoon when his pickup truck hauling a trailer-loaof metal slammed into the back of a slower semi-tract- rear-ende- SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Nearly 50 legislators, lobbyists. fdStk serv ants and American Indi-x- a activ ists were honored this weekend for a century of contributions to the American Indian community. They gathered in the Capitol Rotunda Saturday for the l'tah centennial celebration. Arlene "Skip" Webb, who received an award for her work lobbying the Utah Legislature on American Indian issues, said many toil away on such ivsues in obscurity. "This is the first recognition I've ever got." said Webb, w no has worked on American Indian legislative issues since 1988. The American Indian recipients of the awards were Bruce Parry. Mae Parry. Joe Louis Alex. Travis Parashonts. Gencal Anderson. Luke Duncan. Ruby Atwine. ton Hooper. Mil- Genevieve Fields. Mary Jane Yazie. Dan Edwards. Elva Siler and Gail Russell. Also honored were Betty Windy -boy. Quenttn Kolb. Nola Lodge. Lacee Harris. Harry James, Garnet! Johnson. Dolores Riley. Mark Mary boy. Bill Todachennie. Donna Maldonado, Curtis Cesspuxh. Clifford Duncan, Alex Shepherd. Leela Beaudry and Wil Nemkeiu. Indian recipients of the aw ards were Gov. Mike Loav-it- t, former Gov. Norm Bangerter. Rep. Melvin Brown, Rep. Shirley Jensen. Rep Pi Anderson. Rep. Keele Johnson. Rep. Beverly Ann Evans Rep. James Gowuns. Rep, Jack Seit, Ren. Pete Suanv Sen Mike Dnutricn and Sen. Atarik Mvrin., Nm-Americ- A SALT LAKE CITY AP Utah want of residents maionty the April 17 special session of the Legislature to pass a tax hike on tobacco products, a new public opinion survey reveals. The copyright Deseret News-KST poll, published Sunday, found that Ml percent ot the b08 people interviewed want the cigarette tax bill on the special session call. II the bill were before lawmakers. 72 percent would want the cigarette tax increased, pollster Dan Jones svviaies found. What's more, support for the tax hike runs across political, economic and education lines, with 79 percent of Republicans wanting the tax raised, the survey showed. The poll, conducted March 2b-- 2 h.is a margin for error of 4 percent Leavitt vetoed House Bill 43 because of an amendment that would have limited how local governments control the sale of tobacco products The bill would increase the curtax to 31 rent cents and raise an estimated S4 8 million a year The extra money would go to discourage youth from smoking and help those already snvoking to quit. Rep. Jordan Tanner. who sponsored the bill, said he and Sen Robert Montgomery. Ogden. the Senate sponsor, came w uhin one vote of remov ing the offending Dmitrich amendment. L d American Indian advocates lauded shows favor for tax hike on during weekend 1 drugs Poll 3 dio on roads trailer rig. Lake apparently had lost his brakes, and spent the moments prior to the 12:30 p.m. crash on Interstate 80 near Mountain Dell Golf Course try ing to w am others on his CB radio. "It looks like the victim missed d the runaway truck exit and the (semi truck)," said I'HP Sgt. Tony Garcia. It took rescue w orkers nearly an hour to free Lake from the wreckage. He was then taken by helicopter to LDS Hospital, where he later died. Dallas Green. 4 . of Salina. w as a passenger in a I98S) Ford Bronco that spun out of control and ov erturned Friday in Sev ier County. The Bronco was traveling west on Utah 24 about 4:30 p.m. when it drifted to the right side of the road. The driver. Craig Sorenson. 44, causapparently overeorrected ing the vehicle to roll into a gully bordering the highway. Green was taken to Sevier Valley Hospital and later flow n to LDS Hospital, w here he died. Sorenson escaped with minor injuries, the I'HP reported. Steven C. Craner. 51. of Davis Countv. was driv ing west on I SO in West Valley City about 11:30 p.m. Friday when he apparently lost control of his car and crashed into a concrete barrier ho tried to sell them cocaine. The ensuing chase ended when one of man's asMViates shot at the detectives, who returned fire, killing the gunman at the Ovemiter Mitor Inn on west North Temple. Representatives of the Mexican community in Salt Lake lament the image their law breaking countrymen create. "These people are not representative of the 2 percent (Utah's Hispanic population! that are here." said Inacelia Perez de Meyer, the consul of Mexico to Utah. The majiMity of residents coming t.i the state .ire ust trying to make a living, legally, she said. These others want to earn the money fast, so they resort to " w "Ww Q - : if' ) J Grassy pews Members gather with their blankets on the lawn outside the Salt Lake Tabernacle to lis- - ten to church leaders speak over the loud- speakers during the 166th Annual Genera! Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ Saints on Sunday. of Latter-da- y Wyoming ruling nixes use of thermal imaging A federal SALT LAKE CITY (AP) appellate court's decision in a Wyoming case has cost Utah's narcotics officers a tool that allows them to detect excess heat from buildings where marijuana is grown. Citing the Fourth Amendment's shield against intrusive police searches, the 0th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver recently "thermal imaging" rejected use of without a search warrant. "The science of investigation has progressed to the point where the government can now divine useful data from clues o slight as to be beyond the awareness of the average cit0th Circuit panel stated izen." a in rejecting Wy oming agents" imager "Use of a thermal imager enables the government to discover that which is shielded from the public by the walls of the home." the court added. "We reject the government's contention that its technical wizardry should free it from the restraints mandated by the Fourth Amendment." Utah is one of six states in the 0th Circuit. The limited use of thermal imaging by drug agents is on hold while Wyoming appeals the ruling. high-tec- h 1 so-call- three-judg- e 1 1 Troy Nay lor. a Salt Lake County sheriffs detective and certified thermographer. insits police don't use the technology until after implementing more traditional techniques, such as analysis of electric bills, observations from neighbors and tips from informants. "We're instructed to build a wall of probable cause before we een use the thermal imager." Nay lor said The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Salt l ake City apparently is the only police agency in Utah with one of the S 30.000 devices. The DEA refused to discuss the technology. When the thermal imager is aimed at a building, sharp gradations of light appear in the view finder if varying degrees of heat are seeping through the wall. The heat comes from intense indoor lighting placed over plants. The imager is effective up to a quaiter of a are well mile, and some indoor aware of the imager's capability, lining their walls with additional insulation to thwart it Four federal appeals courts have declared that using a thermal imager does not constitute a search, thus a warrant is not required Wash ington state's Supreme Court, though, ruled that without a search warrant, the imager is unconstitutional U.S. vs. Cusumano reached the Oth Grant last year from Wyoming That state's Division of Criminal Investigation had arrested two men cultivating 50 marijuana plants in their Cheyenne home When a Wyoming federal trial judge rejected the pair's Fourth Amendment arguments, they entered conditional guilty pleas and appealed to the I Oth Circuit. While other federal appeals courts decided have no expectation of privathat cy in the "waste heat" wafting from their buildings, the I Oth Circuit focused on police scrutiny of the heat differentials recorded by I 1 the imager. The court found that the machine intruded "upon the privacy of the home ... because the interpretation of data allows the government to monitor those domestic activities that generate a significant amount of heat " Hut Oth Circuit did not reject the entire prosecution The panel found "sutlicient untainted ev idence" unrelated to the imager to justify the men's arrest. I 2 legislators have 1 00 percent success SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Rep. Marty Stephens. West, and Rep. Brent Goodfel-low- . Valley City, saw (K) of their bills pass during percent the last two legislative sessions, the highest success rate among all least-effectiv- e st legislators. Stephens also was the most 2 effective House member in with an 8 percent success rate and in lNJ.x)4 with 00 percent success. He sponsored K) successful bills in the past two sessions, Goodfcllow. who had seven bills in the past two sessions, joined the ranks of the most effective for the first time, according to an analvsis by the . Deserel News. In I had a 75 percent success ratio. For the third time in a row. Rep. Alton Bradshaw, IW-v)- 1 W.i-94- Good-fello- tt Baca was zero for 12 and Bradford's nine bills all faded. Rounding out the list iu the House were LaM-on- t who saw Tyler. one of his 12 bills passed and IVn E. Bush. R Clearfield, who had one of nine bills passed In the Senate. Si George Republican David Watson led the list of most effective senators. He had an S5 percent success ratio over the past two years, with 17 of his 20 bills passed. Senate Assistant Majority Whip Lyle Hillxard came in second in the most effective list. The veteran Logan Republican earned 40 bills and 33 of them passed, an 82.5 percent success nr. fitter: Lake City, placed third on the most effective list. Bradshaw passed 4 or 15 bills for .V J percent success ratio oxer the two 1 years. Tied for fourth and fifth in the House top five were Reps Byron Harward and Shit Icy Jensen Both were 13 of IS for 72.2 percent. Freshman Democtat Loretta of Salt Lake City. Rep. Reese Hunter. R Murray, and Rep. Ted Btadfoid. had none of their bills passed. Hunter, who is retiring from the House, was zero ft 10 over the past two years. Baca rate Sens. AI Mansell. and George Mantes, Craig Peterson, R Orem. rounded out the list of the five nxist effec tive senators. Mansell saw nine " I'm sure the House would vote to remove the amendment, if the governor gave us the chance tin a special session i. and wc believe we could get that one Senate vote. too. to remove the amendment." he said. vetoed the bill, Since law makers can attempt to ov erride the veto. Because they will already be in special session on April 7, Tanner said he has discussed with 1 other legislative supporters whether he should try to override I eavitt's veto then However. Tanner dws not think there is a gixsj chance of winning the vote that would be needed in both the House and Senr two-thir- ate. Opponents of Tanner's bill say increasing the tax just encourages bootlegging cheaper cigarettes from neighboring states into Utah They also question whether a higher tax really would encourage teenagers to quit smoking. of his II bills passed. Mantes had 13 ot his lb bills pass and Peterson saw 17 of his 23 bills pass. Sen. Brent Richards. led the least effective list for cc w 3 Iwv -- Richards was one for 15 over the past two years, abb percent success ratio. Steve Poulton. Lake and Robert Steiner. second tied fvr City, Both had success rates of less than 17 percent. Democratic Sens. Sctl Howell and Eddie Mayne rounded out the Senate's low success ratio rankings Howell. D Granite, saw eight of his 35 bills pass, a 23 percent success rate. Mayne. City, had a 22 percent success rate. lt least-effectiv- st Sal-le- r "it-!.- . y t !4 |