Show Standard-Examine- r LocalMetr© Thursday September Causeway may be rebuilt By CHERYL ARCHIBALD S'aoda'd Examiner start SYRACUSE — Every year the Antelope Island Causeway remains under water $1 million in tourist dollars go down the drain But state parks and tourist officials say the Great Salt Lake is receding and they are looking at rebuilding the road to help hold the tourism economy’s head above water The road which runs west across the lake from Syracuse to the island was submerged in salt water after the abnormally wet year of 1983 It stayed under until this year’s 1 drought The road lies at approximately 4206 feet above sea level and portions of it can now be seen since the swollen lake has evaporated to less than 4208 feet But it is still unusable because of severe erosion said Jay Christianson Northern Utah director of the State Parks and Recreation Division Mitch Larsson Antelope Island State Park supervisor said a half million people a year traveled the road before it was flooded A plans which would all require bonding apMost spent an extra day in Utah to take the proval in the next session of the Utah Legisdrive The Utah Travel Council estimates lature he said tourists spend an average $22 a day for food A $35 million plan which the agencies falodging and other needs in Utah That means would patch and repave the existing vor Utah’s a a loss of about $1 million year to road at its present height above sea le el A closure road’s from the economy $12 million project would raise the road to But Larsson predicted there will be even 4212 feet — just above the 1987 peak level more visitors when the road is reopened — of 421 185 feet And a plan recommended by about 15 million will come to see new wildthe Federal Emergency Management Agency life projects and other new attractions he raise the road to 4218 feet the same "would said height as the dikes built to protect Interstate “Between the island visitors and 12 million 80 The cost would be $195 million visitors to the south end of the lake if you Hanson said the cheaper plan could work multiply that by $22 a day that’s some subthe west desert pumping project inbecause said stantial tourist revenue for the state” he stalled last year to lower the lake level could Nolan Hanson development coordinator “give us the ability to maintain the road at a with the parks division said his agency reallower elevation” izes the island's tourist appeal and is investiHe said whichever plan is accepted bidding road rebuild the different to plans gating and reconstruction will take at least a year af“We’re just pulling the figures together now ter financing is acquired and we hope to make the presentation to the Meantime the division is improving the isLegislature” he said The division and the Utah Department of land itself Larsson said An offshore well See ROAD on 2C Transportation have come up with three 1 -- 1 1983 C Business Obituaries Gassifieds save tourism Lake level drops but at slower pace The receding Great Salt Lake dropped slower in the last two weeks of August than it did the first two weeks of the month Kidd Waddell hydrologist with the US Geological Survey Water Resources Division ir said a reading taken at the Marina today showed the lake to be 420740 feet above sea level 24 inches lower than the Aug 15 reading of Sal-ta- 420760 54 inches The lake dropped in the first two weeks of August from 420805 feet It has declined 44 feet from historic peaks of 421185 in 1986 and 1987 The rapid decline is due to record-breakin- g heat and dry- ness Bill Alder National Weather Service meteorologist said the average temperature for June July and August this year was 777 degrees — the hottest summer on record Bond use being justified By WENDY OGATA Standard Examiner Davis Bureau FARMINGTON — Davis County officials have said they did not break the law by using $645000 in bond interest proceeds for a land purchase without first getting voter aporoval County commissioners last month bought 57 acres in west ' Clyde Smoke fills sky late Wednesday afternoon as the fire north of Pineview Reservoir finds new life MuellerStandard-Examine- r Fire near Pineview Reservoir flares up them” said Kathy Jo Pollock fire infor- By TIM GURRISTER Standard Examiner staff The range fire northeast of Eden in Ogden Valley listed as controlled Tuesday flared again Wednesday night : Eighty firefighters are on the scene fighting the blaze and additional firefighters from out of state are flying in officials said this morning : “The fire had been listed as controlled Tuesday but last night it blew up on mation officer for the Interagency Fire Center Salt Lake City “Some nasty winds tossed it over the fire lines” she said The blaze has grown from 500 acres to 1200 and is threatening the Powder Mountain Ski Resort although so far the fire has caused no structural damage she said Three 21 member fire crews from Illi -- nois Pennsylvania and Delaware are expected at the Salt Lake Airport by 5 pm today she said The eastern units were the closest crews available “because everybody else is in Yellowstone California or elsewhere in the West” Pollock said Four of the interagency center’s air tankers have been placed on standby in Boise Idaho she said Among the 80 firefighters at the scene this morning were crews from the Weber Fire District the state division of forestry the Forest Service and two units of “Flame-n-gos- ” from the Utah State Prison The fire has moved basically northeast from its origins in the Wolf Creek area in the mountains northeast of Eden heading toward the Powder Mountain Ski Resort she said Armored car thief given sentence By GORDON WEEKS SALT LAKE CITY — A Wells Fargo guard who stole $26 million from an armored car Wednesday was sentenced to six months in jail and placed on probation for five years Murray resident Jared Layne Gray 26 also was ordered by US District Court Judge Bruce Jenkins to pay back almost $28000 he spent before turning himself into the FBI 25 days after the May 5 theft Gray told Jenkins the crime “was completely out of my nature I was obsessed with the idea" he said before a packed courtroom “I figured it was the easy way out” Gray who was driving the armored truck to the Federal Reserve Bank in Salt Lake City after collecting money from commercial banks in Idaho pulled off Interstate 15 at the Corinne exit as two fellow armed guards slept in a bunk behind the cab He left the engine running and jammed the two doors shut with blocks of wood He then lugged sacks of money in denominations from quarters to $100 bills to a pickup truck and drove away Gray rented an apartment in Las Vegas where he bought a 1986 Chevro- Ronald Kunz portrayed his client as “a pervery honest sincere son” who made “a very foolish mistake” Gray felt remorse an hour after the crime when he called his brother to apologize he said Gray is selling his possessions to pay the restitution the attorney said But Assistant US Attorney Richard Lambert said a light sentence would encourage other people to try a similar heist “When someone takes two million dollars from someone else they ought to go to prison” he said Jenkins noted that Gray has no previous record and called the crime “a mutation an aberration” I don’t “You seem genuinely sorry visualize you being back here” the judge said movie videotapes and compact disks He said remorse and feelings for his family led him to turn himself in In a agreement with the US attorney’s office he pleaded guilty July 5 to one felony count of theft from an interstate shipment of Federal Reserve Bank money At the sentencing Gray’s attorney plea-barga- “The kicker is the county attorney tells me his situation does not involve money raised by an ordinance “He says that money was raised by a bond issue and is governed under a different code section” Finlayson said “I don’t know whether or not he’s correct” Deputy County Attorney Gerald Hess said the bond issues were governed by the Municipal Bond Act which is silent on whether counties may use money accrued from investment interest on bond proceeds for other than what the bonds were specifically issued The section on which Allen based his question and Finlayson See BONDS on 2C hard-worki- let Camaro electronic equipment in ing “All I did was answer the question given me and the answer was that yes if money was raised by an ordinance and interest earned on that money and a use is stated in the ordinance if the money from the interest is put to a different use there does have to be approval of the people” he said' Jared Gray gets Jail term probation must pay back almost $28000 Standard Examiner staff Farmington using interest accumulated from investment of general obligation bond money obtained in 1968 and 1972 to construct hospitals in the county — a project that died when anticipated federal funding fell' through County Auditor Ruth Kenning? ton who has been at odds with commissioners since she took office in 1987 asked State Auditor Tom Allen to obtain an opiniori from the Attorney General’s Office on whether a public vote was needed to use the hospital bond interest for the buy A section of state law requires voter approval for money in a capital reserve fund to be used for anything other than the purpose stated in the ordinance creating the fund In his response Assistant Attorney General Ralph Finlayson said yes the public vote requirement applied to interest money in the fund A resulting news article in the Deseret News said Finlayson’s opinion was that county officials broke the law by not letting the public vote on the use of interest money But Finlayson said Wednesday his opinion did not say commissioners were guilty of wrong do- School district consolidation could cost up to $600000 By CAROL MacPHERSON Siandard Examiner slafl OGDEN — If Ogden and Weber school districts consolidate Ogden residents won’t have to pay for Weber’s indebtedness but consolidation could cost taxpayers up to $600000 to equalize pay for teachers in both districts These were two of the conclusions h consolidation study from a seven-mont- presented to both school boards Wednesday during a meeting at the jointly-ruWashington High School c The more than report is available to the public for $3 through the districts n 150-pag- J “The report contains information facts and analysis about consolidation" but doesn’t make recommendations about whether it should be done said Patricia Brown one of the researchers from Far West Laboratory of San Francisco which conducted the $47000 study As stated by the boards from the beginning of the project the reason for studying consolidation is to see if the districts can provide the same education at less cost or provide more or improved education at the same cost While the report exhaustively covers many areas that will help answer that question it doesn’t answer the question v Brown told the boards that cost effectiveness community identity education programs and access to district administrators and teachers should be considered when deciding on consolidation Items such as "cost effectiveness” have at least two sides For example Brown said a combined district could save approximately $176000 by having only one superintendent and one business manager But one new district could cost more than $600000 to equalize teachers’ salaries For example Brown said if Ogden's salary schedule was applied to Weber teachers 801 teachers or 80 percent would lose an average of $699 in salary If Weber’s pay schedule was applied to Ogden’s teachers 203 teachers or 40 percent would have an average loss of $1223 in salary she said Other conclusions include: If the districts consolidate Ogden residents would not have to assume Weber district’s $30 million bonded indebtedness Residents in the original Weber district boundaries would be responsible for paying that debt The same goes if Ogden’s proposed $10 million bond is approved only residents in the Ogden district boundaries would be responsible for that debt If a consolidated district adopts the 620 mills of voted leeway used by Ogden 420 mills would be added to the tax bill of Weber County property owners outside Ogden City If that was not done it would have a “dramatic negative effect on the instruction level” Ogden students now receive Because the Ogden district has a greater assessed wealth per pupil than the Weber district a unit of ized tax for Ogden will raise more money per student than a comparable unit of tax for cither the Weber district or the consolidated district non-equa- 1 l? |