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Show p k.hw-- ip mu W p r?i' t. W.a.,,i,,; - i.n 0:r; WOIlHlODSSyy aoq o Tuesday, November 26, 1991 3S3 .ItKJo liJ- - j ... j. - A1X0 3 iip i 77 Jil,; 3 Z9b h'Hin HCAfVT OF CASTIC 50 Cents district discuss Book mobile By LARRY W. DAVIS Progress editor PSC. Stewart explained the procedure and also offered background on the petition filed by Emery Telephone seeking to provide services to . ' Energy West'and the Emery School District in Huntington immediately and to set a hearing for the transfer of the telephone area now controlled by US WEST to the local company. The petition also calls for a permanent transfer to Emery Telephone. This is a very serious matter before us, Mr. Stewart said. He called the telephone service area property and an asset of the utility company which controls it. That area, he said, is used for many purposes, including the securing of loans. The hearing was held in Huntington to provide local input, and Mr. Stewart later said that an additional hearing will be held in Salt Lake City in February where more technical information will be gathered. A decision will then likely be made regarding the Emery Telephone petition. A packed house witnessed the hearing. Those present , future By LARRY W. DAVIS Progress editor Bookmobile service in . Emery County School Board Member Marie Guymon reads her statement as members of the Public Service Commission listen during a recent hearing into phone service by Larry Davis in Emery County may not be at an end just yet although a recent mailer from the Emery County Commission indicated that the program has been terminated. The commission has agreed to review the matter and discuss it again in a commission meeting set for 6 p.m. on Dec. 4. Meanwhile, the Emery County Library Board, which made the recommendation to the commission to terminate the services, met with school officials today (Tuesday) to discuss Bookmobile services as they impact the county and school district. In a school board meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20, Board President Wes Curtis told board members that the service is in jeopardy and asked them if they want to take measures to try and save the service. Mr. Curtis explained that the school district funds $5,000 a year for the $36,000 service. However, he pointed out that $14,000 of the total cost is paid for through grants to the county, leaving $22,400 in actual costs to the county. Of that, $5,000 is paid for by the school district. He told the board members that a county tax levy goes toward library costs, but he said that the library board apparently wants to put all of that money into the county library system. Mr. Curtis said that the Bookmobile service is heavily used by the schools, and Huntington. Photo represented the various interests in Emery County which deal with the telephone service of US WEST on a regular basis. Many elected representatives were on hand along wif.h n t - officials, JV vkm ' - ' 'V-- , ; s ; : ' businessmen and private " ' 4 i Zi citizens. Speakers offering testi- mony were not restricted to how much time they could take in making presentations but each testified under oath. To begin the hearing, Ted Smith, attorney for US WEST, said that he and other US WEST officials were present to hear testimony and to inform the PSC that US WEST opposes the Emery Telephone petition. He called the hearing part of a discovery process which allows all sides to learn more about the telephone situation as it exists within the US WEST territory in Emery County. He said the US WEST 4 switching equipment in Emery County was installed in the 40s or 50s while an upgrading of that equipment will take place in the next three to five years. However, he noted that the office in Scott Johansen, attorney for Emery County Union Telephone, chats with a PSC official during hearings regarding US WESTS phone service in Emery County. Photo by ry Davis Lar-Farme- rs Progress editor HUNTINGTON The policy recently adopted by the school district which prohibits junior high athletes from trying out for high school teams if those same programs are available in the junior highs lasted just two weeks. In action at the Nov. 20 board meeting at the district office, the board voted to change the policy so that junior high athletes can now try out for any high school team. Several parents who have had or now have students in junior high requested further review of the policy, and the item was placed on the Nov. 20 agenda. After a lengthy discussion of the matter, the board again voted, and. the decision was again split. When the board voted to allow junior high students to tryout for high school athletic programs only if such prog s K rams are not available in the junior highs, board members Phil Nelson and Tom Roush supported the motion while Marie Guymon and Royd Hatt did not. The deciding vote was cast by Board President Wes Curtis who voted in favor of the motion. Two weeks later, the motion was made by Mr. Hatt to allow junior high students to try out for any of the high school programs. His motion was seconded by Mrs. Guymon while Mr. Nelson and Mr. Roush voted against it. That again left the matter up to Mr. Curtis who this time supported the policy of allowing junior high athletes to try out for high school teams whether the sport is offered in junior high or not. . As the discussion got under- way, Superintendent A. Ernest Weeks said that since the previous meeting on the matter, junior high wrestling both greatly supplements Huntington is in the process of upgrading systems affecting business and education- al facilities and should be in place by the end of the year, Scott Johansen, represent- ing Emery Telephone, said that the local company has had numerous complaints about problems with the sys-lar- ge tem in Huntington. He said (Continued on Page 4A) Board changes mind on jr. high sports By LARRY W. DAVIS - No. 48 County, input Mr. V- - Volume 92 Locals offer phone HUNTINGTON In an unprecedented hearing, the Public Service Commission spent nearly four hours in the senior citizen center Tuesday, Nov. 19, listening to input on telephone service in the Huntington area as provided by US WEST. The input represented the private citizen, business, city government, county government and the school district. Each speaker was sworn in, allowed to present testimony and was then subject to questioning by counsel from US WEST, Emery County Farmers Union Telephone, the PSC and the Commission of Consumer Affairs. The hear-- ' ing was under the direction of Ted Stewart, chairman of the COUKTHV and high school basketball had gotten underway, leaving the matter of allowing junior high wrestlers and basketball players trying out for high school teams moot at least for this season. He later called a Utah High School Activities Association official to make some clarifications. After the call, the supe- rintendent said that the UHSAA does not maintain any jurisdiction over junior high schools in the state. That jurisdiction extends to high schools only. He said the UHSAA policy prohibits ninth graders from participating in high school programs if they have already participated in that same sport the same year on the junior high level. If this happens, a student will use up two years of eligibility. Dr. Weeks also reported that if a ninth grader participates in high school sports, whether he has tried out for a team and failed to make it or whether he has made the team but wants to discontinue his membership on the team, the student can go back and participate in the same program on the junior high level. Larry Brown, who has a son in junior high wrestling and one in high school wrestling, Carole and Gordon Larsen of Orangeville, who have a daughter who participated on the high school track team as a ninth grader last season, also supported a change in policy. Mrs. Larsen said that the junior high track meets offered no competition for her daughter who competed in field events. She said that to not allow her to compete on the high school level would have been an injustice to her while hurting her chances for offered his support of a policy allowing ninth graders to tryout for high school teams. He said that most of the schools in Region 7 have ninth graders in high school wrestling and a track scholarship. Mr. Larsen added that the that ninth graders are necessary because of the lower number of junior high kids weights and because it is who are good enough to make necessary to build wrestling high school teams is minimal. programs. Why do we want to He said that if. the policy hobble ourselves? he asked allows for junior high athletes the board, indicating that a to try out, there will not likely lack of ninth grade wrestlers be a great deal of damage done is a disadvantage to the high to junior high programs. school team which is trying to Although most coaches schools from in compete against Emery High did not take most cases larger because of a stand on the matter when it the 3A breakdown in size. (Continued on Page 13A) A school and public libraries. Sara Cook, an instructor at Castle Dale Elementary, said that the faculty there was told that the services would be ter- minated but that the Castle Dale Library would provide books for the school and make arrangements for those books to be delivered and picked up. She added that the Bookmobile service has given students at the school opportunities they normally would not have had. Superintendent A: Ernest Weeks suggested that the school district check into funding the Bookmobile service if the county decides to drop it, but Mr. Curtis said that if the county does not continue the program, state grants would be lost. He added, From the school districts point of view, we are getting more use out of the Bookmobile than we are from the public libraries. Board member Tom Roush agreed and suggested that the board draft a resolution supporting the continuation of the Bookmobile service. However, Mr. Curtis suggested that the board hold off on any resolution involving funds until after the meeting with the library board and county commission. According to the board pres- ident, the problem involves duplication of services. He (Continued on Page 13A) - |