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Show A Starve Press Assn. f'wUi PO Box 1327 alt Lake City, Utah 84110 LPI1 Volume 80, Number 39 Brigham City, Utah, Sunday Morning, September 25, 1977 Ambulance use will cost more, council decides Brigham City ambulance service will be more costly to those who use it in the future. This was assured Thursday as the city council approved rate increases and added some new charges. Officials said the cost is still well under that charged elsewhere in the state. Prior to Thursdays action, use of a city ambulance was billed at $12 per call plus 50 cents a mile. The new figures are $25 per call and 30 cents per mile. In addition, the following charges also will be assessed if services are used: Oxygen, $3 per hour; resuscitation, $15; first aid, $2.50; respirator, $15; intravenous infusions, $10, and replacement costs for equipment and supplies. There has not been a charge for these in the past. Councilman Dale Baron said it was intended to get the service at least to the break-eve- n point. In associated action, the council approved purchase orders for two new ambulances. The cost for each will be about $19,764 with delivery expected within 60 to 90 days. Theyll be purchased through bidding conducted by the state using local, county and state funds. Councilman Baron announced also that Perry and Corinne cities have asked to renew contracts with Brigham City for fire fighting service. A contract with Mantua was approved at the previous week's meeting. In still other action, Mayor Harold B. Felt suggested that Rodney Merritt be considered as the next parks and cemetery superintendent. Howard Kelly plans to retire from the post in January. Merritt is currently serving as his assistant. There was some discussion about the merit of keeping parks and cemetery under one head when the new superintendent takes over. However, Roger Handy, director of administrative services, said as a practical matter they should be retained together. Mayor Felt suggested the decision be left to the new administration after this year is out. The council said it will interview Merritt for the job prior to Thursdays weekly meeting at 6:30 p.m. A one-yeairport lease agreement the first calling for $50 monthly rental time this has been charged was approved with Seagull Aviation. The rental is for hangar facilities. Another agreement with Flight School II at the airport was also accepted. It calls for $25 monthly payments for use of the lounge building. Kevin Heath and Doug Clark, requesting use of the community center for a youth dance, were referred to City Recreation Director Jack Winn. Council members hesitated to let the center out for a strictly commercial venture and suggested it might be arranged through the mayors youth committee. Kiwanis club project X Final yard contest beckons BC A reminder was issued this week that the final Yard of the Month contest for the 1977 summer season in Brigham City is now open for entries. The sponsoring Kiwanis club has scheduled Wednesday, Sept. 28, as the deadline for receiving entries. Judges will make their rounds to inspect the various yards on Thursday. The competition is for the month of September. Previous winners have been named for June, July and August with each to receive an engraved plaque from the Kiwanis club at a special awards luncheon this fall. An entry form can be found in todays News. ' Only those yards officially entered will be considered by the judges. Neighbors and friends are invited to submit entries for other persons whose yard may reflect outstanding care and beauty. Judges will pay special attention to the- - entries color, condition and maintenance of grass, shrubs and other plantings plus appearance of the home and other buildings. Age of the home and yard doesnt matter. In addition to selecting a September winner this week, judges also must pick grand award recipient from among the monthly winners. Also, theyll make a return inspection visit to places entered in this years Kiwanis Environment Improvement contest. This is an annual competition intended to recognize and encourage home and yard improvement. Judges took a first look at the entries last April. This week theyll gauge the amount of progress made during the spring and summer. A plaque and $50 savings bond awaits the winner. Will f The ing B Tammy Schmidt . . . majorette for FFA band. coed will lead nat'l band BEHS Tammy Schmidt, daughter of Richard and Barbara Schmidt of Bear River City, has been chosen to represent Utah as majorette in the National FFA band in Kansas City, Mo. She will be the first girl from Utah to participate in the national convention as majorette and will lead the FFA band in all its ceremonies through the week of Nov. Tammy was selected on the basis of her past accomplishments and by photograph. She has been twirling for 10 years and teaching baton for four years. She has won more than 50 trophies and many ribbons and medals. She has performed at the Box Elder County fair, the Utah State fair and at a San Francisco 49ers football game in San Francisco with baton and drill teams. the She is a junior at Box Elder High school and is active as the high schools majorette. She has been active in vocational agriculture for three years. She was majorette for the state of her reign Utah for the year 1976-7ending in July of this year. all-st- days of 16 TWENTY CENTS Pages hire another reader are numbered estimatin Brigham City where electrical billings are concerned. . Residents have been unhappy with the practice. And officials decided the city was losing money. So, in the future, every meter will be read each month to get an accurate billing figure. City councilmen made the decision during a weekly session Thursday. At the present time, the city has two meter readers one for water and the other for electric. But City Recorder Mike Cosgrove said with one meter reader, its impossible to read all of the meters in the city in one month. It actually takes about six weeks. With this awareness, the city some time ago went to a practice of estimating electrical power use by local customers every other month. It was done by computer. But the estimates often were far from accurate, sometimes too low but more often excessively high. It did not set well with customers. And they said so. Of course, the estimate was compensated for in the third month. It was done by manual adjustment a procedure. Also, officials pointed out Thursday that on occasion under the system, billings were not sent out for two months. This deprived the city of income for the period, contributing to cash flow problems. Furthermore, when billings were mated excessively high, it gave customers a- - rate break (the more power used, the lower the rate). Even though in actuality, the customer didnt use that much electricity, he was billed at the lower rate. Thats been favorable for the user but costly to the city. So, with all of the factors considered, the city fathers voted to hire another meter reader. Cosgrove said he hopes to have a proposal ready for next Thursdays meeting. Its anticipated the person can be employed for the first year with salary coming from a federal jobs program. The new reader is expected to spend two weeks each in water and electrical departments. As for water, it was disclosed there have been cases of estimation there too. wasnt supposed to be done. Mayor Harold B. Felt said the pressure of trying to get done may have prompted the reader to guess in places where the the meter was tough and to get at. But he added the practice couldnt be condoned and suggested there should be some form of reprimand when it occurs. In other business: The council viewed what was described as the final floor plan for the proposed new addition and remodeling at the city fire station. It was presented by Chief Rod But it time-consumi- Romer and other department representatives Tuff Claybaugh and John E. Reese. Linda Waterman was approved for employment as a dispatcher in the police department at a starting salary of $533 a month. The council approved reappointment of William Munson to the city recreation commission and made a new appointment of James Bertelsen for three years. Free use of the community center for a family party honoring former mayor Ruel M. Eskelsen on his birthday gained unanimous approval. Would you believe $570? Whats your share of interest on the national debt? To what extent are residents of Box Elder county in hock because of federal deficit spending and the consequent growth of the national debt? What is their share of the burden? How much will they be forking up during the next fiscal year, through their income taxes and other levies, toward paying off the interest charges on that debt? The answer is approximately $5,215,000. That is merely for the carrying cost of the debt. It will not reduce by one iota the capital amount itself, which is now approaching the awesome sum of $700 billion. The matter of the debt comes to the fore at this time because Congress has just boosted the limit on it by $75 billion, bringing ceiling to $775 billion. the new The findings are based upon data from the Tresury department and other sources. They show that the cost of carrying the debt is over $40 billion a year at the present time.' Related to the average family in Box Elder county and to the taxes it pays, it means that some $570 of the amount collected from them by the government in the year will go for interest on the debt. The debt ceiling has been raised frequently over the years, chiefly to cover deficit spending. The current increase, at the request of the administration, was approved by Congress with a minimum of debate. Actually, it is pointed out, debate (Continued on page 9) Indecent exposure brings surprise for the culprit Reports of indecent exposure are not uncommon, not even in small town Brigham City. But one such incident had a different twist here Friday afternoon. It began at about 3 p.m. as two women were driving near Rees Pioneer park. A young man suddenly ran from the park and exposed himself. He was wearing no clothes at all, according to Police Chief Jay Herbert. The car screeched to a stop. The two women alighted quickly and took off in pursuit of the man. He ran into the park toward the pioneer log cabin located near the swimming pool bathhouse. He ran behind the log cabin and they chased him around the cabin before he climbed a nearby tree, the chief The two told him to come down. He was under arrest. They identified themselves: Officer Peggy J. Parker, in charge of juvenile division, Brigham City police, and Diane Evans, an officer in training with the local department. juveniles who may have been cutting school. They convinced the man to come down. He led them to where his clothes were and a male officer was summoned to take him into custody. The two had been patroling in plain clothes and an unmarked car, looking for charge of indecent exposure was an Booked into Box Elder County jail on a Brigham City man. Adapting to the needs of passengers 'Blue Goose' is vital to some but more riders invited up participants in the adult day care program, with a route that begins at the Godfrey Foothill Retreat and winds down into Lindsay park before going to the center on east Seventh South. Did you ever ride a blue goose? The Blue Goose, in the past known as the ITS bus, is a familiar sight about Brigham City and south Box Elder county. But not too many people understand its function or its background, so sometimes it goes about town with only one passen- ger. Yet the bus is there to provide free transportation for any senior citizen, for the permanently handicapped, and also for persons with a temporary handicap that keeps them from driving or using ordinary vehicles. Riders can be high income or low income, have an emergency or just want to or take buy groceries, be advantage of the wheelchair hoist specially built into the bus. Since it began operation with 25 passengers in August, 1976, the bus has taken 1,221 different individuals in 2,254 trips to various destinations. Average monthly ridership is 150 in about 260 trips, increasing as the cold weather makes walking more difficult. But the Blue Goose wants more riders. It trying to adapt to the needs of its passengers. The bus has been running Tuesday through Saturday, and changed just this week to straight weekday operation to better fit community needs. Driver Sharr Herbert has some regular daily customers on her rounds as well as a scheduled route to follow, but much of her time is spent driving to locations given her by the police dispatcher as patrons call for is rides. A typical day begins with rounds to pick RIDING THE BUS is part of the fun and experience for those who attend the Adult Day Care center daily ot the Solid Rock Center, with the Blue Goose picking up and delivering the students to their homes morning and evening. Then she travels a regular route to watch for passengers before driving to the home of Desmond Christensen, one of the regular riders who is particularly grateful for the wheelchair facilities. He is employed as an electrician at Deseret Industries and the bus provides him with transportation to and from work every day. Next comes a call to drive to Perry to transport a woman to an art class in Brigham City, another elderly woman needs to ride to the doctor, an elderly man wants to go to a downtown restaurant for his one hot meal of the day, and a mentally handicapped girl needs a ride to her housekeeping job. By that time, the bus is needed to take the day care center riders home and driver Herbert carries on a steady banter with them about their activities of the day. In half an hour it is time to pick up Mr. Christensen for his ride home and then is almost time to put the Blue Goose away for the day. That is, unless it is Thursday evening and SPARC, a youth organization, has its regular activity night for retarded citizens. Sometimes there are special evening or trips, too, such as transporting members of the blind association to a picnic. What makes the Blue Goose run? It is an example of cooperation between agencies (Continued on page 9) LIFT operated by Driver Sharr Herbert elevates Desmond Christensen from street level to bus floor level WHEEL CHAIR |