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Show UTAH STATE P.IESS ASSOCIATION 300 SO. SALT L All 2 CITY 10, UTAH ib EAST CUl -- THURSDAY, OCT. 6, 1977- - VOLUME terolffi T where By ROSELYN KIRK founded. Sheriff J. William Lawrence said he will proceed with the necessary steps to call for a grand jury investigation of irregularities in Davis county government and the county school district since he feels this is the best avenue open to continuing the investigation begun by the sheriffs office. were allegations interest in the management and sale of hospital bonds and improprieties and manipulation by county and school officials. Sheriff Lawrence said that two of the allegations under investigation involve County Commis- sioner Glen Flint. SHERIFF Lawrence said that complaints and allegations which are should be investigated by the grand jury since law long-standi- enforcement officers, currently looking into the complaints are not equipped to investigate white collar crimes. to Sheriff According Lawrence, a grand jury investigation is the logical way to go since such an investigation would either demonstrate that the complaints and allegations are unfounded and the issue could be put to rest, or the grand jury would hand out indictments in those cases .'Y t FORTY-NIN- E ontioM HE SAID investigation is pending on the conflict of board NUMBER TWENTY-THRE- E Commissioner Flint said that the incidents referred to by the sheriffs office with alleged dealing knowledge of the vandalism of an opponent's political signs during the last election and the removal of gravel from the county shops didnt happen. Commissioner Flint said the sheriffs office had investigated the gravel incident previously and had turned up nothing. Lt. Dean Egbert has conducted the investigation. COMMISSIONER Flint he wouldnt say a grand couldnt be called, but that, if called, the grand said jury said jury - would find no irregularities. Sheriff Lawrence said he will present the list of improprieties within the next few days to Second District Judge Thomley Swan. The matter of determining whether there are enough allegations to merit calling together other District Court judges would have to be decided by Judge Swan. If called, the panel of judges would determine sufficient cause for calling for a grand jury investigation. ACCORDING to Sheriff Lawrence, the state statute requires that a grand jury hearing be held in each county every two years. Although that requirement has been met. Sheriff Lawrence said a special request for a grand jury investigation can be requested to determine violation of the law if it is in the best interest of the county. Sheriff Lawrence said if the grand jury decided there was not sufficient cause to prove political manipulation, the matter would be laid to rest. Sheriff Lawrence said there . '- - ... had not been a grand jury investigation in the county for at least 15 to 20 years. He feels that when one political party is in power for that length of time an investigation is necessary. HE COMMENTED that misdemeanor charges filed recently against a former buildings and grounds director of the Davis School District might result in additional charges if a grand jury investigation were called. He said that if teachers and officials could testify before a grand jury, he feels that some of the real problems could be exposed. In addition, Sheriff Lawrence said that testimony which could result from a grand jury investigation might reveal conflict of interest between banking interests in the community and members who served on the board of directors of the two hospitals during the sale of the bonds. 'THE BEST approach in all of these allegations is to either prove or disprove them.. For that purpose a grand jury should be he said. Sheriff Lawrence said thaTlhree avenues are open to the sheriffs office when they are investigating allegations of the violation of the law. The first is to turn documents By ROSELYN KIRK ITS Workmen from Elden Knudson Construction Company lay the first phase of 60 inch pipe which will carry water r to be lifted from Willard Bay into the A BIG PIPE Davis-Webe- CanaL By ROStLYN KIRK agreement of modification Three more bids were approved by the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District Board and will hasten the completion of the construction of a $4.3 million emergency drought relief project. had been added to the original contract, which specified that the time for completion had been extended to Jan. 31, the Davis-Web- CTff mi Canal. er One of the three bids approved, which include mostly labor rather than materials, calls for the 8,270 feet of 60 inch pipe to be laid by Van Staveren Company of Salt Lake City for $411,028. A bid for the pumping station at the edge of the reservoir was awarded to Nelsen Brother Construction Company of Salt Lake City for $361,540. Two other bids were submitted. THE THIRD bid approved was for the construction of casing for 60 inch pipe to go under the two railroads and a freeway 'as awarded to Graven Brothers Construction Company of Salt Lake City. Ivan Flint, Weber Basin, said the bid was the only one received. Weber Basin engineers had estimated the cost of pipe casing at $50,000. Two other bids for the project had previously been one to Parsons approved for the storage reservoir and the second to Eldon Knudson. Construction Company, Ogden for the first phase of laying the 60 inch pipe from the reservoir, 2700 South. - THE original specifications of the contract said that the construction completed by must Nov. 30, be but Neal Olmstead, attorney for Weber Basin said an Mr. Winegar pointed out that this will not change the position of Weber Basin in completing the contract work, since the ground will be too hard to complete construction work, but it will allow time for clearing up all the financial arrangements by the end of January. ffiemwdl InJSgUn I?JsisG)ttslh IFman ft By GARY R. BLODGETT employment hit a record high for the three-count- y Wasatch Front North District during September, it was announced by the Ogden Job Service Office of the Department of Employment Non-far- Security. HARVEY N. Rich, district manager, said the district three-count- y Davis, saw Weber and Morgan jobs climb to the record high of 86,500. He said the whopping 2,672 job increase over the previous period can be attributed largely to aggressive industrial development and the end of the summer layoff for school workers. non-far- JUST UNDER 1.000 more persons were on the job in September than the previous month, but cutbacks at the Internal Revenue Service Center and local military installations offset part of the impact from the return of 1,400 school workers following the end of the summer layoff period. the Meanwhile, picture unemployment showed improvement dropping to 5.1 percent from 6.8 percent in August. Last year's employment mark (for Sept.) was 5.5 percent. Action account be set up so that some money needed for the emergency food program will be more readily available in 1978. inJirkeirs WHEN completed, the project will result in water being lifted from Willard Bay to the Davis-Webe- r Canal. The water would be taken from the Slaterville Dam west of Ogden through the unused portion of the Layton Canal to Community Program (CAP) officials have asked that a separate MR. RICH said, The 2,762 job increase of the past 12 months reflects a healthy local economy and can be attributed to all major industrial categories. He noted, however, that the job rate will begin to decline again soon with inclement weather putting a hamper on construction jobs. THIS AREA is very susceptible to unfavorable weather with the market picture fluctuating considerable depending on the weather during any given month, he said. But the district manager added, At the same time, the retail category will pick up some of the jobless slack with its increase in part-tim- e jobs as businesses prepare for Christmas. Also, the Internal Revenue Service begins hiring for the tax processing in the spring. MAJOR increases during the past 12 months were in construction which rose 426 jobs, trade 699, and services 789. Manufacturing increased by 189, government 191, finance, insurance and real estate, 221; and transporta- tion, communication and utilities 142. Air Force Lets 41 Contracts Air Force contracts, totaling $3,557,303 were awarded by Hill Air Force Base to Utah concerns during September. Forty-on- e FLAMECO Engineering of Ogden received a $2,603,705 for specialized sheet metal work for Hill AFB. Utah Power and Light received $308,718 for utilities. DYfAPAC INC. of Salt Lake City received a $43,943 as a royalty share for a new protective cover. McCullough Construction Co. of Salt Lake City received a $21,600 award to repair a base building. PARSON Asphalt Products of Ogden will deliver asphalt products to the base under a contract. Other contracts were with firms from the Logan to Provo area. $23,243 emergency cases. AT PRESENT the money is filtered through the accounting procedure of the county, which requires that all money received through state and federal funding go into the general fund and then be released through a voucher accounting procedure should be initiated and said they could check with County Attorney Milton J. Hess on the legalities involved. In another financial matter Mr. Walker said the county budget will be opened on Oct. 20 to place revenues from federally funded programs--CACouncil on Aging, the nutrition program and Title 20 in the budget. At the same' time revenues totalling about $10,000 received from the Davis County Fair will be placed in the budget MR. WALKER said that after the revenue from the fair was received, that he estimates that the fair cost the county about $35,000. This figure is about $3,000 more than the fair cost last year. In 1975 the cost of the fair was $28,000. Commissioners commented that they do not favor the rising cost of expenses for the fair. system. Lynda Bowns, superviser of the CAP emergency food Roselyn program and Dechart, CAP financial officer, said that the emergency nature of the program makes it necessary to have easier access to the funds. money to meet the daily emergencies which sometimes occur on weekends when it is impossible to get emergency purchase orders. Lynda said if the reimbursement funds from the state could be placed in a bank account, they could be drawn out when needed. She said all money would have to be approved by CAP director Carl Chappell and all checks signed by Rodney Walker and County Treasurer Robert TelClerk-Audit- ford. COUNTY Commissioners were not sure if the separate Sheriff Lawrence said at this time he doesnt think this method is politically expedient, the third avenue open to the sheriffs office is to call for a grand jury investigation. SHERIFF Lawrence said the results of the request for a grand jury investigation will depend upon how well the case is presented. If the list of alleged improprieties is well documented and presented and is factual, he believes it will provide a base for the investigation. Commissioner Wendell Zaugg said, "Anytime any they better back them up or theyll be open to slander. He expressed the opinion that the matter stems from per- replenished through state MRS. BOWNS said an additional problem is the lack of torney Generals Office. person makes allegations, ALTHOUGH the emergency food program funds are funding, Mrs. Dechart said that the staple items were placed on the shelves through $600 in contributions from Davis County residents and businesses. The staple food shelf has dwindled down to $300 and there is no way to replace the items under the present accounting system. When the state replenished the emergency food fund, the money goes into the general fund and cannot be received in cash. over to the Davis County Attorneys Office. The County Attorneys Office proceeded after the investigation of school district official DeWayne Jay and asked that complaints be signed. This trial has been set for Nov. 10. The second option available to the sheriffs office in investigating allegations of violation of the law is to call for a investigation by the At- By ROSELYN KIRK The tentative budget as proposed by the Davis County Health Department calls for an increase in the areas of administration, environmental health and public health nursing. RICHARD Harvey, environmental health director, said in most cases the increases reflect the growth in the county with the accompanying demand for more health services. Dr. Richard Johns, administrator of the Davis County Board of Health, presented the budgets to the board of health at the October meeting held Tuesday. The members will look over the budget and consider them for approval at the Nov. 1 meeting. at the budget is necessary now. Dr. Johns said, since the budgets must be presented to the county commission and approved prior to the December budget hearing. The proposed county health department budget calls for an increase from $472,121 in A LOOK 1977 to $557,176 in 1978. sonality conflicts between Commissioner Flint and DR. JOHNS, Mr. Harvey and Mrs. Dolleen Jewett, administrator of the public nursing division, said the budgets reflect a seven percent increase in salary that has been approved by the county commissioners for all county employees. The budgets call for the expenditure of additional salaries for two new an administrative aid at a proposed salary of $11,238. The other addition would call for a public health engineer in the environmental health department to be hired at the proposed salary posi-tions-o- Sheriff Lawrence. SHERIFF Lawrence said the problem has political overtones since he is outnumbered as only one of the two Democrats elected in the county government. The other Democrat in power is County Attorney Milton J. Hess, who was appointed to that position when Judge Duffy Palmer was appointed to a District Judgeship. Sheriff Lawrence says he is the first Democrat to be elected to a county office in Davis County in 14 years. of $13,932. -- DR. JOHNS pointed out that the health department generates a portion of their own funding through the Well Child Clinic and the Handicapped Childrens Clinic. Total proposed budgets by departments are: administrative budget, $73,540; environmental health, $169,158, and nursing division, $135,478. Dr. Johns asked the board to consider thw budget and present their concerns prior to the next meeting when the board will seek approval. 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