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Show County budget considered bare bones Cutbacks keep taxes, services about the same Following promising 14 hours of com- and counting, the Emery County Board of Commissioners came up with an exA $6,385,763.54; B C-- $4, of, budget penditure or 5,959,432 830, 432.95. The commissioners explained that they wanted to be able to avoid an overstated budget in case of a revenue shortfall. A The budget includes unexpected $950,000 from an the business license ordinance. Budget B represents an expected $1,184,000 from federal revenue sharing money. The last budget is The new budget allows for three new officers for the Emery County Sheriffs department. The com- missioners that noted this just in case the revenue sharing probably wouldnt give much room for the department to add some of money doesnt come in. enwill commission the services they would like to. It The likely dorse budget B for the state does save seme of the extra money auditors office. they are spending on overtime. Even though the budget is The commissioners figured it costs smaller than last years, the around $40,000 to outfit a new ofcommission chose to reduce ficer with equipment and salary. There were few budget requests capital expenses and avoid raising that went untouched throughout all the county taxes. recreation and the Emery County three budgets. Some of the items that were eliminated altogether include the Green River airport, Planned Parenthood, Green River Ball Park, Green River Travel Council, hospital, Historical Society. The board of commissioners methodically went though each request trying to find errors in addition, over statements of expected expenses and eliminating overtime as often as possible. County employees were granted a 12.5 percent salary boost. Only a hand full of jobs will open in the government sector this coming year, with most of them coming in Housing authority, sanity hearings, Castle Dale swimming pool and a request from the Emery County Chamber of Commerce. Requests that were drastically reduced include the Nursing Home, Civil Defense, the ambulance service, the fairgrounds, Entrtalnmnt Mogiln 20 Wednesday, December Volume 81 Number 51 17, 1980 Hiring practices under investigation firms may be requiring job applicants to take training courses at their own expense in violation of federal law and state laws. Some local mining That was the word from Milton Saathoff of the Utah State Industrial Commission. Commissioner Saathoff was in Price for an informal hearing Friday, involving Emery Mining Corporation and officials of District 22, UMWA. No Emery Mining representatives were present. that the labor being unfairly Our feeling is is class discriminated against, District President Bill Jones said at the hearing. We ask that this be investigated thoroughly and that all discrimination be stopped, Jones added. Federal law requires that employers pay for employee training and prohibits discrimination against job applicants who have not taken a course, Jones said. the UMWA Furthermore, agreement calls companies to either train employees themselves or to pay for training conducted by outside agencies. Saathoff said testimony at the hearing indicated possible collusion between CEU and the coal mining industry. Some mining firms may require that their job applicants take the course in order to generate funds for CEU. The college has been teaching the 32 hour employment course since pre- 1972. Dennis Anderson, acting manager of the state Employment Security (Job Service) Office in Price testified that Emery Mining requires completion of the course as a condition for employment. Other mine owners, to my knowledge have similar practices, he added. A study conducted by the office indicated about 60 percent of persons completing the course were hired in previous years; this year the figure has dropped to 10 percent, Anderson said. No surprises in special election Elizabeth Hanson Correspondent Following the Saturday special election for board members of the Huntington-Clevelan- d Irrigation Company, the only change in board personnel was noted in Cleveland. Nominted were Sheril Ward, Virl Winder, Lamond Gardner and Lamar Hansen. Hansen, Lavon Oviatt, Dean Howell (resigned and moved away) and Kay Jensen were formerly on the Cleveland representatives. Key Jensen is another held over until February 1981 when the board may reappoint him or choose another. During the Huntington Canal meet at the Canyon View Jr. High, Hal Guymon, Milton McElprang and Harold Simmons were voted in. Guymon and McElprang were board. Elven McElprang is a holdover. UP&L proxy vote submitted by Ronald Gibb, board secretary, favored McElprang. The North Ditch contigent wound up their meeting in a hurry reelecting Clifton Brown by acclamation. About 24 members were present. Brown was all ready a member of the board. Holdover is Lynn Guymon. As it now stands, the nine board members, four from Cleveland, three fron Huntington and two from North Ditch will meet soon to elect officers and continue the business of the board. Current members are Elven McElprang, Milton McElprang, Hal Guymon, Kay Jensen, Lynn Guymon, Clifton Brown, Sheril already on the Ward, Lamond Gardner, and Virl Winder. Ronald Gibb, secretary and river commissioner, is appointed annually by the board. Gibb was present at each election to check water shares of each shareholder present and the proxy votes. Many shareholders chose to vote by proxy. Since there are 600 shareholders in the company holding 150,000 shares, the magnitude of the job is evident. UP&L owns 42,000 shares of primary water stock plus leased water. At the beginning of each meeting, Oral Eugene Johansen cautioned shareholders to choose men in whom they had faith because the board is constantly on the firing line and must be trusted to make the decisions for the good of the majority. Each shareholder was entitled to one vote per share of water. Shares were carefully checked from company records by Gibb, and a slip assigned by him noted the votes or shares to be counted. Johansen, Paul Crawford, Clyde Conover and Gibb spent time checking the records of stockholders before nominations could begin. In all instances, the nominees had already been chosen in private meets and names were clearly stated and motions soon made to cease nomination. After all the rules of order were observed, each stockholder wrote the names on the slip of paper, stating the number of votes or shares he owned, and the slips were gathered in a cap and taken to the judges to be tallied. Attendance at the three meetings proved higher than usual, owing the publicity over pending law suits. In the past, one farmer might hold several hundred shares of water, with discussion based on will of 600 shareholders, much paperwork is involved. The share system originated in pioneer days when farmers worked out shares on the reservoirs with team and scraper and dump boards on their wagons. In many instances, ownership of shares has been handed down through the family. Cliff Brown says his grandfather, Charles Brown, was one of the early workers on water projects. Fifty years ago a share would cost two dollars. Now the price is $600 per acre foot. In Sanpete County, noted Cliff, the going rate is $1,700 an acre foot. As director of the company for years, Cliff observes situation adding to the water scarcity. People sell out their water stock to Utah Power and Light and they try to keep farming. We try to distribute the water thinner and thinner and it just runs to an end. He has seen cases of people buying 10 acres of land with 10 shares of water, yet 10 shares of water cannot begin to take care of 10 Stack it high Canned goods are piled high on a table In the Community Action Center as sacks are bulging with foodstuff and gifts for families who can't afford a Christmas. Most of these gifts have been received from a drive conducted in the area's schools. Donations are still being accepted. deputies. The commission began by reducing capital expenses from the budgets. This comprises mostly of needed equipment. Following a search of capital expenditure, the body then went through requests for additional personell. They then jumped into searching each budget individually and finding possible overages in expected expenses and budgeting. We feel pretty good about what Commissioner we have done, Rue Ware said after they had passed the budget. Speaking for all three men, Ware said that things went relativley smooth and, We are leaving tonight as friends, not enemies. We have treid to make the money stretch as far as possible. Thre entire budget is published elsewhere in todays issue of the Emery County Progress. Emery County featuring the highway and sheriff depart- ments. The sheriffs department will get a new jailer and two new road acres of land. If people would only realize the water in this valley is worth more than anything else. Water is the stem of life. The Huntington-Clevelan- d Irrigation Company was incorporated November, 1931, after years of strife between Huntington and Cleveland Irrigation The side If people are having a hard time getting hired after taking that training, we dont want to send any more to the training, Anderson said. However, Associate Dean Lee Hofeling of the CEU Mining Department said that job placement rate has stayed steady at 28 percent from those getting the training at the college. The course should be required after an individual is hired so that the training can be adapted to a given mine, Jones said. Its safety training and it doesnt constitute good safety training unless it is applicable to the mine the employee goes to work in, he added. Following the hearing, Saathoff said both federal and state law specifically provide that such training must be paid for by the employer. Saathoff said he would review tape recordings of the hearing and confer with other commissioners. He said he may have to call a formal hearing sometime after Jan. 1 and require the appearance of company representatives by subpoena. It would have been better for them to appear at the informal hearing which allows more latitude for resolution of the problems by negotiation, Saathoff story told By Jim Olsen There I sat. For most of the 14 hours, I was the sole observer of the Emery County Commissioners efforts to balance the final budget. For me, it was a waste of time. All I needed were the big figures they released at the end. Sure, it was nice to see what was getting cut, how much and why, but I could have gotten that from a 15 minute interview with the commissioners or their admini ator, Dan Hunter. I chuckled as 1 1. hem try to figure out which buev i was which budget, Is B the tr.e with the federal revenue sharing or without? Which one are we working on? And then there were the sacred hnrsh cows. I expected nr.je-Tn- d words. Even blood maybe. But they were whittled down too. The road department gave up a new roller so Green River could have two television translators and grass for their medical clinic. The Sheriffs department bought new cars this year, and get three men. They had requested six new men and a part-tim- e secretary. The parks and fairgrounds were whittled down. .Other services the county offers were cut back to bare bones. Nothing was sacred. It wasnt the humor ever present during the meeting, the lightning fast fingers of Commissioner John Parker on the adding machine that was a part of the meeting. The commissioners dilegently tried to said. Mining department officials at CEU were out of town Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. At press time, Director Larry Saling of Emery Mining Company was still formulating a statement. (Continued on Page 2A) Yurina caught after escape from prison from a Utah State corrections facility were recently arrested at a residence in Ferron, by Emery County Sheriffs Two walk-awa- officers. Sheriff LaMar Guymon said the pair, Steve Yurina, Ferron, and minutes later by officers who had surrounded the home. Yurina had earlier entered a plea of gulity to a burglary charge after he was caught in the middle of the night in the Ferron Drug store. Seventh District Judge Boyd Bunnell had sent Yurina to the state prison for a 90 evaluation prior to sentencing. Joseph A Churchwell, were arrested after less that 24 hours of freedom after they had walked away from the Utah State Prison Churchwell is being held on diagnostic facility in Salt Lake charges of possession of a stolen City. vehicle from Southern Utah. He too Both men were undergoing pre- was serving out a 90 day sentence evaluation prior to evaluation. Churchwell was receiving sentences from district returned to the prison diagnostic courts in Utah. unit. Yurina was sentenced to a The two men were arrested term in the Utah State prison not to without incident after a deputy exceed five years by Judge Boyd sheriff observed Yurina enter the Bunnell. Ferron residence. Churchwell was County area have brought a found hiding in the home a few (Continued on Page 2A) Progress hours noted News and advertisments for the Because Christmas and New 31 issue need to be into the Dec. the on a fall Years both Thursday, deadlines for news copy, classified ECP office before 5:30 p.m. on and display advertising have been Dec. 26. The Progress offices will be moved to Friday. If you have any announcements closed the afternoon of Christmas for the Dec. 24 issue, the Emery Eve, and Christmas day, Dec. 24, County Progress needs the in- 25. The office will remain open formation before 5:30 p.m. on until 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, but will Friday, Dec. 19. Any information be closed on Jan 1, 1981. We sincerely hope you can work received after this date will not be the deadlines. within published. |