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Show FOCUS: Photo Page 2 sofSeN Thursday August 4, 1994 Pilot found after 103rd Year The search for Utah Highway Patrol pilot Doyle R. Thorne ended tragically late Tuesday afternoon in a remote part of Wasatch County when his body was found in the wreckage of a UHP helicopter that crashed Saturday. Several hundred searchers, including many law enforcement officers from Carbon County, were involved in the four-dahunt to find Thorne after his UIIP helicopter disappeared Saturday. y The trooper apparently developed engine problems with his helicopter while lookwho ing for a lost had wandered away from her familys campground Saturday morning. Radio contact with Thome was reportedly lost just minutes after the child was found unharmed almost two miles away from her camp. Trooper Thome became the third UIIP officer in three years to die in the line of duty. Rescuers were hampered in their search for Thorne as they had only a limited idea of where the pilot disappeared. Searchers had been combing an area south of Duchesne until information Monday revealed Thorne had been tracked by radar to a remote area by Strawberry Point in the southern end of Wasatch hunt County. Sgt. Dea Thayn from the Carbon County Sheriffs Office said Federal Aviation Adminstration personnel went back to computer printouts to see that Thome had been tracked to the area. Deputy Ed Ellis and Lt. Larry Taylor of the UHP were also involved in the search. The biggest obstacle we had before (Tuesday) was the vast area we had to cover, Thayn said. When the FAA said (Thome) was tracked to a small canyon east of Strawberry Point, we concentrated our search in that direction. The sergeant said the more than 200 searchers from several counties began converging on the hill when a N ational Guard helicopter flying over the area spotted the wreckage, he said. Thayn said the wreckage was sighted in some trees on a hill just below them and they all went down the hill to the scene. Thome apparently died on impact and the helicopter reportedly burst into flames and started a small fire near the wreckage. Thomes body was reportedly flown to Salt Lake City by another helicopter where an autopsy was scheduled to be performed. FAA investigators are presumably looking into the cause of the crash. i-- V f e1 it UDOT schedules SR-- 6 safety projects The Utah Department ofTransportation advises Carbon County motorists that beginning the week of Aug. 8, crews will be doing a slurry seal project through the Helper area along State Road 6 from Workmans Market to Steves Diesel. The first of three highway safety improvement projects will also begin in conjunction with the slurry seal. UDOT crews will be placing concrete barriers through the Poplar-HiStreet (south) intersection, which will prohibit cross traffic and left turns from SR-6- . Left turns onto the highway going toward Price will still be allowed. T raffic going to west Helper will need to turn west at the intersection near Swift Stop & Shop or the one near Workmans Market. There will also be no turns allowed onto SR-- 6 from the intersection at Swifts and Central Commission. Right turns from Hill Street heading toward Price will still be allowed. As soon as ll left-han- d Bennett recently introduced a bill that would authorize $75 million in federal funding for the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control program. The proposed legislation will also allow the United States Bureau of Reclamation more flexibility in executing cost-effecti- salt-reducin- g measures in the Colorado River. The Colorado River supplies drinking water to 24.5 million people in the seven basin states. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act was enacted by Congress in 1974 in response to concerns about the water quality of the Color MSHA Mine Safety and Health coach Helper WBBA player Ross Scavo, right, gets some serious g advice from Coach Matt Kloepfer Jr. after the local made it to first base against Green River in region action in last week. Both Helpers and Green Rivers 1 1 - to 1 WBBA teams qualified to play in the Little World Series, which began Wednesday in Price at the southside field. Other teams participating in the WBBA championships include Central City, Washington Terrace, American Fork Central, Alpine, Providence and Idaho Falls Westside. Game times Thursday are at 9:30 a.m., noon, 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Games resume Saturday at 9:30 a.m., 1 1 :30 a.m., 2 p.m. and the championship game at 4:30 p.m. all-st- ar 4 6, Administration ado River. Rising salinity levels in the lower Colorado caused much concern in the 1960s and early 1970s because of damage inflicted by salt dissolved in the water in the U.S. and Mexico. The act contains two titles. Title I addresses the United States commitment to Mexico in obtaining water quality standards. Title II authorizes programs to help control the water quality in the river for the benefit of users in the United States. For the past 20 years, the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control program has been allowing federal and state entiues to implement practices in the river, thereby providing safe drinking water to residents of Utah and the six other basin states who rely on the Colorado River for their drinking salt-reducin- g water. The salinity control program also allows farmers to implement water and practices on their farms, pointed out Bennett. salt-reduci- Currently, the Bureau of Reclamation is encumbered by bureaucratic red tape when conducting procedures used in implementing major water development projects. The Bennett bill would ensure that limited dollars would not be wasted as a result of expenses which have been unnecessary procedural requirements. Instead, it would streamline the process to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to contract or offer grants to local water companies and water districts in the seven basin states Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico to meaconduct in Colorado River. the sures Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell have Bennetts salt-reducin- bill. The g Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, of which Bennett is a member, tentatively agreed to conduct hearings on the bill U.S. Aug. 4. conducting spot mine inspections On Tuesday, the United States Labor Departments Anything you say, the slurry seal is complete, the entire area will be repainted, signed, and concrete barriers will remain in place. The second and final phases of the safety improvement projects involving realignment of the intersections at Martin and north Main Street and construction of an overpass at Helpers center intersection will be scheduled for a future date as funding becomes available. No changes at the north Helper intersection are planned at the present time. According to UDOT officials, the majority of serious traffic accidents occur at the citys south intersection on SR-although there are more fender benders reported at the intersection near Swifts. UDOT crews will place 22 traffic signs along the highway to direct motorists. UDOT officials encourage motorists to watch for the signs and drive carefully. Bennett introduces legislation proposing $75 million in funding for salinity control Sen. Bob base-runnin- 50 Cents Price, Utah No. 62 dead 4-d- ay By SCOTT NIENDORF Staff writer - (MSHA) started conducting special spot coal mine inspections nationwide. During the inspections, MSHA will check compliance with federal mining laws which require proper maintenance of areas in underground operations that are worked out, idle, and where mining section equipment is currently being moved. Federal inspectors are checking mines in several states, including Utah, Color ado, Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virgigia, Pens nsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee. special-focu- s The one-da- y are being coninspections ducted jointly with state mining agencies. According to OSHA, most of the coal mine explosions in recent years have occurred in these areas. Among the factors commonly involved were the explosions occurred where Illi-nio- ventilation had been disrupted, coal dust had not been properly neutralized with rockdust, explosive methane gas had accumulated and mine operators had failed to check the area for adequately hazards. These particular areas in underground coal mines are all too often the point of origin in serious coal mining accidents, said J. Davitt McA-tee- coal, well rockdusted and examined regularly by the mine operators for hazards, particularly methane accumulations, all of which, if not checked, could cause a major mining accident. r, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. We want to be sure that all coal mine operators are maintaining these areas and keeping them free from potential hazards as required by law. The highlighted areas in coal mines must be properly ventilated, cleaned of loose The success of the agencys t inspections conducted last winter and the recent smoking prevention spot inspections led MSHA officials to use the same type of special-focu- s inspections which will identify possible hazardous conditions in an effort to prevent mine explosions before they occur. winter-aler- |