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Show f - .iriv n ear w ,4 A-A- A s V MOAB, UTAH WEATHER City rejects cable hike FORECAST Thursday Sunny High 84a Low 49 T' by Janet Lowe 4A'JLc Friday. Staff Writer Mostly Sunny High 83 Low 48 In a decisive and near unanimous vote, the Moab eity council denied Precis Communications request for a rate increase for basic cable service in Moab. Precis first notified the city of a planned rate nijie in June stating Saturday Partly Cloudy 4 High 84 Low 47 ,.Ta 22 vyr Sunday, Mostly Sunny High 86 Low 48 The post office has installed new collection bins to help prevent burglaries. Photo by Jeff Richards l T-- EXTRA! Look inside for The Extra! nt You'll find weekly events, a TV guide, horoscope, crossword, calendar, real estate listings, classifieds and more. Inside The T imes Business Directory: B7 Dining & Lodging: S3 Editorials, Letters: A Historic Photo: A2 Notices: B6 Obituaries: A4 Region Review: S3 Sports: Sf-- 10-1- 1 September flick The Canyonlands film Society presents Monsoon Wedding" on Sept. 26, 7.30 p.m. at Star Hall. 8 is a story that crosses over national boundaries and celebrates universal human nature. B8 Check mate! wins Date Bgh Lsm Predp. ept. 20 ept. 21 Sept Sept Sept 22 23 24 79 74 79 87 85 85 54 46 46 46 48 45 91 45 mail theft when a customer reported finding opened envelopes with un canceled stamps in a trash can inside the Post Office lobby over Labor Day weekend. Redford retrieved the mail from the trash and discovered that personal checks from letters and bills, including credit card and utility payments, had been removed, and the envelopes discarded in the trash. The Post Office has since installed new, tamper-proo-f collection bins at the lobby site, Redford said. Federal postal inspectors spent three days investigating the theft and examining the recovered mail items at the Moabs branch office. They identified mail belonging to at least 30 area residents, who were immediately contacted and advised to place orders on the checks, and to notify their credit card companies to protect credit accounts, Redford said. The thieves were initially trying to get money out of some of the letters. But when they couldnt get cash, they stole the checks," he said. A big break came when someone tried to use one of those stolen checks at a local business." Postal officials turned over the investigation to Moab City Police. Redford said mail theft cases are often difficult to solve. I cant say enough about -- WEATHER HISTORY 19 The Moab City Pojice Dept, has arrested four juveniles in connection with a rash of burglaries at 14 local businesses since July, and mail theft from the Moab Post Office earlier this month. The area youths were referred to Grand County Juvenile Court and will face up to 20 felony charges, including burglary and mail tampering, and six misdemeanor charges of vandalism stemming from break-in- s at a number ofbusinesses the night-tim- e including the Moab Poet Office, Moab Area Chamber of Commerce, Walker Drug, Gravel Pit Lanes, and the Spanish TYail Arena. So far, police have recovered about $9,000 in stolen property during the investigation, Police Chief Mike Navarre said Tuesday. About $6,000 in restitution will be sought in the cases to cover damage to the businesses as a result of the break-inNavarre said his officer does not have a complete estimate of property loss from the thefts, but he guesses that the amount of property and cash "stolen is far higher than the $9,000 recovered. Navarre said the investigation is ongoing, and additional arrests may be made. It took everyone that works here to put this together, he said. Were not done. One investigation seems to lead to another in this case. Police received a break in the investigation after the federal postal inspector offered a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the mail thefts. A lot of people came forward with good information. It helped, Moab Postmaster Mike Redford sai Tuesday. We will be distributing some of the reward money Post Office employees became aware of the 1 B1 18 24 percent increase would take place August 1. The city responded by reminding the company that a franchise agreement in place between Precis and Moab City renotice of increase quired a y along with a public hearing. Precis reluctantly accommodated the citys requirements but have continued to stata there will be a rate 90-da- increase. In a recent conversation public comments I received were negative. Its just too much for something people didnt want." In a surprising twist, Gregg Stucki voted in favor of the rate hike citing his frustration over the topic as his reason for the vote. I dont like 2 -S-S- --- - stop-payme- To subscribe to The T1 rot?-- IngppsMeni call sutecribemoabtiinw.com CThe Trnes-tndepend- This news- paper Is printed on recycled paper and is recyclable. nt our local law enforcement. They really did an astonishing job on this investigation, Redford said. Mail theft is more common in larger cities, but Redford cautioned area residents to be vigilant. If you see anyone suspicious tampering with mail or near mailboxes, report it, he said. The only one who legally has access to your mailbox is your mail carrier. Anytime anything is put into a mailbox by anyone else, its a felony. And we do report all incidents to the federal authorities." POOR COPY1, the increase, but people have options regarding television. They can discontinue their service and show the company its too much. They can get satellite dishes. We don't get to regulate the price of gas. ...its not the citys job to say whether or not a private company can raise rates." Mayor Sakrison reminded the council before the vote that according to the terms of the franchise agreement only the basic cable service fee increase can be denied This vote has nothing to do with expanded service or premium channel charges." The basic cable service charge is currently $11.75. Precis proposed a rate hike to $17.00 per month representing an approximate 40 percent increase. There are 2,000 basic cable users in the Moab valley and 1,700 expanded basic users. City returns split vote for school reading program Fourjuveniles are arrested s. nationally rated chess tournament in Moab Sept Sept Police nab suspects in theft spree that the overall with Mayor Dave Sakrison a Precis spokesperson said the rate hike will now take place November 1. People definitely feel they are being taken advantage of by the cable company. All the comments Ive received have been negative. No one has noticed any improvements and they werent looking for improvements or added channels in the first place," said Kirstin Peterson at Tuesday nights meeting. Rob Sweeten agreed. All the by Lisa Church staff writer 3 ld Thursday, September 26, 2002 wwv.mbabtimes.com Volume 109 Number 39 50 by Janet Lowe Staff Writer to apThe city council voted to amendment the an prove citys policies and procedures manual allowing employees to participate in the Parents for Public Schools reading program. 3-- 2 The original resolution stated that employees may, upon written Kids and grownups alike found lots to do far fun at the Grand County Fair, as evidenced by visitor totals over 3,000. These youngsters were among hundreds who enjoyed the slides outside the Old Spanish Trail Arena. Photo by Jeff Richards Successful fair may help guarantee another season by Jeff Richards staff writer If last weekends crowds are any indication, the Grand County Fair remains alive and well. Record numbers of people showed up at the Spanish TYail Arena for the free event on Friday and Saturday and helped ensure that it will be held again next year, organizers say. We surpassed all of our attendance goals, and basically shattered the records. We were just tickled by the level of participation, said Hertha Wak efield, of the Grand County Fair Board. Wakefield said that 833 people were counted on Friday, the first day of the fair, and nearly four times that number turned out the following day. We stopped counting at 3,000 on Saturday," 6he said. The parking lot was filled almost all day long." co-ch- Fellow Sam Cunningham attributed the successful turnout to a number of factors, including an increased number of vendor booths (particularly those offering food and beverage) and an emphasis on fun contests with prizes. Thats basically ir what made the difference, in addition to all the advertising we did," Cunningham noted. Of course, we saw many familiar names entered in the exhibits, but we also saw lots of new people, Cunningham said. We had so many things to do." There truly was something for everyone," agreed Wakefield. Everything we did as a fair board was based on our survey that we did back in March," said Wakefield, adding that contests ranked extremely high on the list of Continued on Page A2 approval of the supervisor, take up to one hour per week paid School Assistance Leave to assist children in the Grand County School System." Kyle Bailey, who made the motion to approve, amended the resolution to limit participation to kindergarten through third grade and to do so in support of the 90 percent reading goal which requires that all children must read at the third grade level by the time they leave third grade. The community needs to assist the school system in meeting this state statute. The city needs to set the example in our community for doing that," said Bailey. Kirstin Peterson, who also voted in favor of the resolution, said, We all have the responsibility to teach. We have set education as a priority in the city and we nted to take care of this at the lower levels of schooling, not wait until its a problem state-mandate- d later. Rob Sweeten, whose wife Lisa Sweeten heads up the Parents for Public Schools program in Grand County, was once again vociferous in his support of the program. We've made education one of the top five priorities in the city. We need to send a message to city employees that you have a lot of important things to do and this is one of them," Continued on Page A2 Rains help relieve Ken's Lake water woes by Lisa Church staff writer Recent rainstorms have modestly raised water levels in Kens Lake, d providing irrigation water to customers in the upper reaches of Spanish Valley. The Grand Water and Sewer Service Agency has not completed its monthly meter reading at Kens Lake, but agency Manager Dale Pierson said Tuesday that the lake has adequate water to activate the pressure pumps for the irrigation system in the farthest reaches of the valley. We have not read the meter yet, and we dont know exactly Low much water we gained from the rain," much-neede- Pierson 6aid. Its probably up about four feet. And we hope we get more. He said the pressure pumps shut down when no water is being drawn, and the district is unsure whether customers are actually using the water now that it is available. At the Sept. 25 board meeting, the agency board will discuss when to cease pumping for the season, Pierson said. The pumps typically run through Nov. 1, but the pumps may be shut down early due to low lake levels, he said. We Ye having a hard time using those pumps because we arent using very much water," he said. We dont know how many people are using it, and we dont want to encour age people to use water they dont need, but we do want them to know its available if they need it." For Cory and Stacy Dezelsky, owners of Spanish Valley Winery and Vineyards, the water has come just in time. Last month, the Dezelskys feared that a lack of water now would cost them their vineyards over the winter. But on Tuesday, Stacy Dezelsky said they are more optimistic. Everything is great. Were able to water just like before, she said. And now that they have the valves shut off to the y users who are able to pump water, were hoping that this water will last through down-valle- the season. |