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Show V 50ft Volume 112 FACA students Doing what? What's FACA Seepg.B1 anyway? FCCLA students Doing what? What's FCCLA anyway? See pg. B1 Business Directory: Classifieds: B6 Editorials, Letters: Historic Photo: B1 BIO A8-- 9 Notices: B4 Obituaries: A4 Region Review: B1 B1 Sports: TV Guide: B2-- 3 Thursday, June 2, 2005 Proposed city budget reflects sewage treatment plant expansion and new office increases by Carrie Switzer Moab City will see an overall 5 percent increase in its next fiscal year proposed budget, which is offset by a 4.5 percent increase in sales tax and a 5 percent increase in water rates. The water rate increase is the first since 1998, according to City Manager Donna Metzler, and will pay for projects that have already been started. The reason for the increase is that water is an Enterprise fund and it needs to operate like a business, Metzler said. Weve put in a new water line and brought Skakel Spring back into the system. That was a $300,000 project. We still have one of the lowest water rates in the state. Using averages, Metzler said a typical months residential bill could go from $6.88 a month to about low-wat- Inside T he T imes www.moab times, com Number 22 $8.20; and in months, April through September, the increase is approximately from $22.90 a month to high-us- e $24.08. A lot of people use more water, and a lot of people use less, Metzler added. These are only averages, it really depends on how much people use. The city will see a large increase in general government spending, 40 percent, when it moves into new offices on Center Street. Utilities and new staff positions are the largest chunk of the increase, which Metzler said will be partially offset by new revenue from other tenants of the building. The budget reflects an expenditure of $568,000 for property surrounding the sewage treatment plant in preparation for expansion of the plant. Money has been collected in this acquisition fund from sewer impact fees from new Continued on I age ( 'K-'- er & Cross given long prison sentence in homicide case strati V LP ' ' vt? by Lisa Church contributing writer A Duchesne County man with a long history of drunk driving was sentenced to up to 35 years in prison Tuesday for his role in a crash that killed three members of a Moab family. Rex A. Cross, 28, pleaded guilty to two e counts of felony automobile homicide and a felony charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. e A third count of felony homicide and four other traffic related offenses were dropped in exchange for the plea. Cross admitted to being drunk when the 2000 Dodge pickup he was driving M 2nd-degre- 3rd-degr- ee ' 2nd-degre- WEATHER FORECAST Thursday Mv Partly Cloudy High 85 Low 40 Partly Cloudy c High 72 Low 51 Saturday Partly Cloudy High 79 Low 52 Sunday Partly Cloudy ryv High 86 Low 52 Weather forecast courtesy National Weather Service Grand Junction office. LAST WEEK'S WEATHER May May May May May HiLowPrecio. 25 26 98 62 91 51 crossed the center line and slammed head-o- n into a Ford Bronco driven by Kathleen Parry, 35, of Moab. James Parry, 72, and his wife Olive, 67, also died in the crash. Kathleen Parrys now 7- year-ol- d daughter Emma survived. At the time of the crash, Cross was on probation for a November 2003 DUI Friday Date - conviction in 8th District Court in Duchesne County - his second DUI conviction in two years. He was required, as a condition of his probation, to have an ignition interlock device installed on his vehicles. The device connects a breath analyzer to the vehicles electrical system, and requires the driver to pass a breath test before the vehicle will start. The vehicle Cross was driving belonged to his wife and did not have the device installed, authorities said. During sentencing, Cross apologized to the Parry family, especially Emma, saying, I hope she can overcome the shadow of this horrible experience. My ' lt by Lisa Church contributing writer West side residents were without electricity for several hours on Memorial Day after a large tree, apparently uprooted by wind, toppled a power pole on 400 North and damaged the cross arms on eight other poles along the north side of the street. No one was injured in the incident. The weight of the tree just pulled down our line and broke some nearby crossarms, said John Cordova, Moab operations manager for Utah Power. It was a pretty good mess. The incident occurred around 12:30 p.m. Utah Power scrambled to assemble a large work crew to repair the damage and restore service. We pulled in all our available line Continued on Page A2 per hour to topple large trees, but Crowley said other factors, including the trees location on the property and the condition of the soil surrounding the tree, likely played a role in the accident. Since its a singular incident, it kind of leads us to think that theres actually something special about that tree or that location, he said Wednesday. Just because the tree looks healthy, doesnt mean its healthy un- - Weather Services Grand Junction office. Continued on Page A2 Water and economic issues to highlight June 7 county council by Carrie Switzer Grand County residents are invited to comment on a draft economic development plan that outlines objectives and action steps over the next five years that would encourage oil and gas development, Spanish Valley planning efforts, the location of a private higher education campus, and support for the wine indusThe plan also seeks to revive a Moab Film Festival by 2008, reintroduce an Nation First in the Cummuwt EPA Green Power To subscribe to nt call nt This news paper is -- 7 X) 37 printed on recycled paper and is recyclable. 2005 Canyonlands PRCA Rodeo Royalty . . . From left:Ta!esha Bradshaw, Princess; Nicole Williamson-Quee- n, Speech and Interview who Awards winner and was also voted Miss Congeniality; Brittany Ellis, 1 st Runner-U- p tied with the queen for the written test award, Tosha Bullock, 1st Attendant and Horsemanship Award winner; and Lacey Sherman, 2nd Attendant. These ladies were crowned Saturday May 7, 2005 after a full day of competition. Queen Nicole and her court will reign over the Canyonlands PRCA Rodeo June 9, 1 0 and 1 1 . They were presented with crowns, sashes, belt buckles and other prizes provided by the Rodeo Committee and flowers donated by Designs by Kathy. The queen was presented with a saddle, blanket, bridle and reins all donated by C. Noyes Plumbing as sponsor of the pageant. Typically, it take gusts of 50 to 60 miles men, Cordova said. We had everybody we could find working on this job. Cordova said the tree, which was located at least 20 feet back from the property line, did not appear to be diseased. It was pulled out at its roots, he said. It didnt snap branches. The tree was jtist pulled over. The weather station at Canyonlands Field reported wind gusts reaching 48 miles per hour, said Doug Crowley, the chief meteorologist for the National try. subscribemoabtimes.com The " Terrific wind gusts knocked power out Monday 29 not available May 30 not available May 31 not available Times-Independe- - An unseasonable wind gust uprooted this tree near the Grace Lutheran Church on Fourth North, knocking out power to area residents for several hours as Utah Power worked to repair poles and lines. Photo by Adrien Taylor 27 90 52 28 not available The A2 analysis of a highway through the Bookcliff Mountains, and grow a bank of stable small businesses through a small business incubator. The top three of nine goals stated in the draft Grand CountyCity of Moab Action Plan inEconomic Vitality to clude action items encourage local entrepreneurs, provide enough infrastructure and facilities to meet development needs, and appropriately develop, utilize andor preserve the areas natural resources. The last stated goal, No. 9, is to better inform local elected officials, local businesses, and local residents of economic development activities, trends and opportunities, the plan states. In the actual steps outlined to accomplish this goal, the plan calls for tracking business start-upexpansion and closure rates; and tracking wage and unemployment trends in different industries. s, public hearing on the plan is scheduled before the Grand County A Council on Tuesday, June 7, 7 p.m. Copies of the draft plan are available at the Grand County Administrators office, Moab City Hall, or by calling Moab Area Economic Development Director Ken Davey at In other action next Tuesday, the county council will consider a classification of the Spanish Valley water table 259-134- 8. that designates the underground aqui- fer as drinking water. According to Dale Pierson, manager of the Grand Water and Sewer Service Agency, that designation wont be any more binding on San Juan County than the present status of the valley as an Aquifer Protection Zone. Currently, the agency draws its drinking water from the Glen Canyon Aquifer zone, high above the valley. At some point in the future the agency will draw from the Valley Aquifer, a ground-wate- r source that city and county officials are attempting to protect from an influx of septic systems across the San Juan County line. Pierson said that reclassifying the Valley Aquifer as drinking water, as opposed to irrigation water, would bolster those protection efforts. However, even as a state designation, it holds no regu- Continued on Page A2 |