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Show rm iwwjwijw W1 "pr Emery County featuring Volume 80 Lack of funds brought the Castle Dale Police Department within a hairs breadth of being dissolved at the latest city council meeting. The department will hang on from month to month until next years budget is set in July, hoping to work out a back-u- p agreement with the sheriffs office for the meantime. The department had lost one of its two full time officers a week before, and the council said there was no money to replace him. Chief Terry Lofthouse said the $19,000 remaining in the department budget isnt enough to keep the patrol car maintained, pay salaries and meet other expenses. He said that just with himself with the one working part-tim- e e officer it is impossible to provide adequate protection. He pressed the council to come up with more money. Mayor Don Jorgensen and each city council member praised the concept of a city police force and the job it has done so far, but said it appeared a lack of money was going to force it to be dissolved. A few citizens spoke up at the meeting, saying die city should try every way possible to keep the police. Were not hiding the money, Jorgensen said, It just isnt there. full-tim- Lofthouse told the council the current situation of only one full- time officer and limited funds is stretching the department too far and he couldnt remain under those conditions. Lofthouse, too, said he has searched for grants to help out, but has found none. The Councils attitude was one of if we cant do it right, lets not do it." If the police department were to be desol ved, though, law enforcement would revert to the already undermanned sheriffs office, and the council didnt like that option, either. The temporary solution came when the council and Lofthouse agreed to see if they can get the sheriffs office to fill in when police officers aren't on duty or available. Sheriff Lamar Guymon says he will help with law enforcement in Castle Dale whenever the police are unavailable and he has men available. He says that has been his policy all along and is required by statute. Guymon says all that is needed is a lot better communication between the police department and sheriffs office. The sheriffs office has to know when the police are or are not available on a call, and that hasnt been the case up 1 H fcASTLE OALEi I ' to now, according to Guymon. The sheriffs office also AX f r con- gw I I Iww f Cm I Iwm ? tracts with Huntington and Ferron to enforce city ordinances and provide extra coverage, Guymon says. Huntington pays $16,000 a year and Ferron pays $6,000. One source of funding mentioned at the meeting was a hike next year in the towns mill levy, already the highest in the county. Jorgensen said a referendum of the voters should be taken before such an increase could take k t'&i' 4A $r If 4 i A t t jf 4 i fr I I place. In the meantime, the department will operate until it runs out of money, hoping to last to the next fical year. In other action, the council: told developer Winn Sparks the city could not issue water subdivision hookups for a because the city water treatment plant is at capacity. Jorgensen said it is possible a small portion might be approved basis. We can on a honor a home here and there, he said. There isnt a moratorium, but weve been told to go slow, no big developments. discussed possible sites for a new Castle Dale Library. The present library will be eliminated by the court house v r ' V av L p i I m 4 I 4 - itt - "i , 1 4 f i, r r s ' t si 65-l- ot I U- w 1 4 Ij & ? t J . . .fi. ? A.At & V jfc t f i i By TONY ARNASON Staff Writer - The LAKE CITY developers of the Skyline Project near Scofield have filed their mining and reclamation permit to mine coal. Some of the coal lease area is in the northwest tip of Emery County. The project will be operated by Utah Fuel Company, which has become a subsidiary of Coastal States Energy Company. Also Getty Mineral Resources Company of Los Angeles is participating in the project. The 10 volumes of the application were filed with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, with copies going to the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Office of Surface Mining and the U.S. Department of Interior. An earlier application was filed in 1976, but the permit request had to be updated due to new government regulations, vice - president Vernal J. Mortensen of the Utah operations of Coastal States stated. It has taken Coastal States, a Houston based company, the past 15 months to update the application. The Skyline Project consists of 6,400 acres of coal leases in the area west of Scofield and Clear Creek. In the next ten years three underground mines will be developed at a cost of more than $100 million, Mortensen said. The first mine should begin operation in 1982. When fully developed in 1989 the mines are anticipated to produce some 5 million tons annually. At production peak the project is anticipated to employ more than 900 workers from the Carbon, Sanpete, Emery and Utah counties. To help move some of these workers from their homes to the mines, Coastal States is working with the Utah Department ot Transportation to put in a all - weather road from Fairview through Scofield to the Price Helper area. The proposal has a few routes which are being considered. One from possibility is to extend Clear Creek to Coastal States is looking into the possibility of paying for the road and taking a future cut in -- U-9- 6 U-3- 1. tax. The sales funding arrangement is permitted under the state Resource Development Act. Coastal States Energy has operated the Southern Utah Fuel Company mine near Salina since 1973. It now produces some 1.6 million tons of coal annually. Senior vice - president Leo Smith of Coastal States Energy Company, said that the key to operating a profitable mine in Carbon County is locating nearby markets that need the higher grade Utah coal. Coastal States will be looking at the possibility of supplying some of the nearby coal - electrical Monday's snow seems to be burying the Castle Dale city hall in this scene. The Castle Dale Police Department was almost buried last week under financial troubles. is providing building. funds for a new the library board is an- ticipating a 2,800 sq. ft. structure for Castle Dale. The possibility of building on the city hall block or the site of the old tennis courts, (owned by the LDS Church) were discussed, but no decisions made. generating being plants proposed. Smith also said he was concerned about state legislation which would place a severance tax" on coal. Its true, the royalties have been quite low," Smith said. But as the federal leases expire and are renewed, they are being increased from 15 cents a ton to a minimum 8 percent of the thats a value at the mine to a ton." $2 of $1.50 range It also means an increase of 10 limes the royalty revenues to the state, Smith said. So instead of the $700,000 that Utah has been receiving for coal mining activity, the state will get up to $8 million as mining activity increases. It seems to me thats enough, Smith said. He added that having a severance tax on top of increased royalties would make it very difficult for Utah coal companies to compete with the strip mines in nearby states. A double-wid- e mobile home in Lawrence was destroyed by fire late Monday afternoon. No one was home at the time. There were no injuries. The home is rented by Clark and Claudette Powell. No cause of the fire has been set. Flames were first noticed by a neighbor, Bernice Cullum, who lives about one quarter mile away. the notified She fire Happy Thanks giving Bus driver Laura Wilstead took the children to her home in Lawrence to wait for their parents. tensen try to comfort her. Two of the Powells married sons notified them of the fire. The Powells rented the trailer from Utah Power and Light Co. Apparently three puppies were lost to the flames. Consumers Power Association would bring the total to $1.6 million he said. Being municipalities, Provo and Bountiful would apparently not be required to pay property taxes. There is some question as to whether the ICPA, a collection of municipalities, would be required to pay property taxes. Service Com- sale say the actual amount of tax revenue will not drop from what the county is receiving now, because the taxes on Unit 2 will go up when it goes on line in June. Johansen said as many residents as possible should plan to attend the Castle Dale hearing to let the service commission know how they feel. The hearing will be the court house. 10 a.m. in Average class size going up here as in rest of Utah year is 26.51 students. Last years department, and units from Mr. and Mrs. Powell were in Salt Lake City at the time. Two of their children, Prudence and Joshua, were returning home from school on a bus and saw their home in flames. Service and service district he said. The sale of 49 percent of Hunter Unit 2 to the Intermountain The Public sixth grades, including Emery County, increased from last years level, according to a Utah Education Association survey. Average class size statewide for students in those grades this Prudence Powell, 13, watches her home go up flames, as Geraldine and Amanda Mor- - Public mission, June 7, ordered UP&L to negotiate the sale of the portions and submit executed contracts to the commission within 90 days. The due date of those contracts has been put off to Jan. 21, at which time the PSC will conduct another hearing on the matter in Salt Lake City and hear closing arguments from attorneys. Johansen said proponents of the The average size of Utah public school classes in the first through in Utah $300,000, Flames level home Huntington, Cleveland and Castle Dale responded. Water had to be shuttled to the scene. Neighbor Martin Cullum drove to the trailer and found the doors locked, the interior filled with black smoke, and flames shooting from a rooftop air conditioner. Mr. Cullum tried to fight the blaze with a fire extinguisher, but with no success. Fire fighters kept the blaze from spreading to a nearby The Commission has scheduled a hearing Dec. 14 in Castle Dale on the proposed sale of portions of UP&Ls Hunter Plant. Three days of public hearings were held in Salt Lake City earlier this month, but the PSC says it wants more local comment and the chance to answer questions from county residents. Emery County Attorney Scott Johansen says the Public Utilities Division is going to try to convince county residents the sale isnt harmful to the county. Johansen said the PSC - ordered sale of portions of the plant could cost the county between $300,000 and $1.6 million a year in potential revenue. The sale of about 10 percent of Hunter Unit 1 to Provo and Bountiful would cost the county, school one-at-a-ti- expansion, and an increased county library mill levy this year Plant sale hearings coming to county f North county site of new mine garage. CAITLI COUNTRY 1979 Future remains unclear for Castle Dale Police SALT of yJc(jy)(07c t"" Number 47 Thursday, November 22, HCAdT average was 25.8 students. The average class size in the Emery District was 25.74, an increase over last years average of 24.39, but below the 1977 average of 26.54. The study showed the average size of classes by grade level was: first grade, 24.72 students; second grade, 24.96 students; third grade, 26.48 students; fourth grade, 28.84 students; fifth grade, 29.05 students; and sixth grade, 28.81 students. All of those state averages reflected an increase over last year except the sixth grade. In the Emery County, the fifth grade average was the only to drop, from about 29 to about 26. In Emery County, the averages were: kindergarten, 22.50; first grade, 25.64; second grade, 25.70; third grade, 27.44; fourth grade, 28 88; fifth grade, 25.86; sixth grade, 28.13. The highest district average in the state was 29.97 students in Millard School District, while the lowest was Daggett. 18 students in Those figures are averages, and they dont reflect the very large or very small classes, said UEA Research Director Don Ulmer. The study also provided specifics on larger classes across the state. Ulmer said the number of classes with 25 or more students is greater this year than last year on every grade level statewide. This is a turnaround for the first grade, which last year had more classes with fewer than 25 students. has 584 first grade 25 or more students, and only 523 classes with 24 or fewer. Last year, 586 first grade Now Utah classes with classes were in the smaller category and only 412 were in the larger group. The Utah State Legislature has appropriated funds with the aim of reducing the size of classes in the first, second and third grades to an average of 24 students. Progress made in class size reduction during 1977 and 1978 seems to have reached a plateau and is in danger of being lost unless funding levels are increased to meet the influx of new students," Ulmer said. Of course, voters in Emery (Continued on Page 3) |