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Show Thursday May 20, 1999 WBBA By KEVIN ASHBY Sun Advocate publisher The Price council has scheduled a public hearing June 2 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall to receive comments on the proposed budget for fiscal year 1999-200Citizens will have the opportunity to comment on the following proposed changes: A 6 percent reduction in electrical rates, effective July 1. Last years rates were decreased approximately 5 percent and another reduction is planned for the next fiscal year. Each year, money is transferred out of the electric fund and Worker utilizes high-pressu- re vacuum to clear mud from drains Blasting at least twice monthly. His work with the company has included locations in both Carbon and Emery Former Emery County resident Aaron Stilson uses a high- pressure vacuum to suck the mud from a car wash drain in Valley Price. Stilson explains that each drain is serviced by Castle counties. used in the general fund. Even with another 5 percent decrease in rates, it is proposed that the electric fund will contribute $1,027,000 to the general fund. An increase of $2 per month for sewer is being proposed. The rate increase is proposed to pay for replacing aging, dete Mentally ill battle public perceptions By JACKIE ANDERSON Staff reporter Public perception tends to act as a barrier to the recovery process of the mentally ill. People only hear about the bad things, points out Richard Cormani. He was referring to the mentally ill and the coverage they receive in the media, particularly with the two recent shootings at the Triad Center and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The shooters were identified as having schizophrenia, a treatable brain disorder that affects about two million Americans. May is Mental Health Awareness month. Cormani and fellow New Heights Clubhouse member Fern Jentges hope to contribute to the education of the public. The biggest barriers to successful integration into the community for persons with a mental illness are the myths, stigma and ing $4.50. The council expects annual line replacement to be $200,000. Regular sewer line maintenance is budgeted for $82,000. With the proposed increase, the Citys revenues would be $243,000. Currently there are 4,500 connections in the city. A water rate increase of four percent is also being proposed. The water transmission lines are experiencing severe deterioration and multiple leaks, which has the council concerned and therefore proposing the increase. The water line starting at the water treatment plant and com ing toward the city is approximately 35 years old. The line starting at the top of Price Canyon and coming down to the treatment plant is approximately 60 years old. The council realizes that repairing the current lines means spending money on lines that will be abandoned in the future. A new line would replace the current deteriorating lines and this seems best for the city at this time. The new proposed line would run directly to the 10 million gallon water tank. This kind of drop would eliminate the need, and therefore the expense, of the electric pump that is presently used to pump water up to the tank. To replace both lines with one new line would cost approximately $7,000,000. Increased water rates would be used to pay the loan. The cludes a budget inpercent increase in 1999-200- 0 4 (Continued on page 2A) wilderness process Thousands of Utahns turned out to review maps and express diverse opinions during the recent series of wilderness study area open houses staged by the United States Bureau of Land Management. The federal agencys wilderness study area proposal jeopardizes the local Lila Canyon coal mine development project. Acting Utah BLM director Local cannery kicks into overtime mode Linda Colville characterized the 11 open houses as an excellent information exchange between the public and planners who will use the input in developing a draft environmental impact statement containing alternatives for establishment of new WSAs. Darlene Foster fills containers with food at the local LDS cannery. Residents have used the facility for years, but the cannery has been working overtime to will help guide our draft EIS as lucinate to some extent - see someone that turns out to be someone totally different from Ameri-(Continu- lines in the city. Presently, the city keeps $2.50 of the current $16 rate per connection. The other $13.50 is paid to Price River Water Improvement District (PRWID) to treat the sewage. The Price council is proposing that the rate be increased to $18 per connection, with the city keep- State BLM recaps public reactions in preconceptions held by society. Jentges and Cormani would like readers to know that the media portrayal of the mentally ill is not typical. Most mentally ill people are not dangerous, or homeless. We are looking to health and productivity, "stated Jentges, who suffers from depression and anxiety. Statistically, the mentally ill are not dangerous, concurs Hew Heights director Pat Wilson. Nor is their behavior as bizarre as is often portrayed. They exhibit exaggerated versions of normal traits that we all have. We all hal- who we thought it was, etc. One in seven Utahans are prone to mental illness, according the Utah Division of Mental Health. More than 40 million on page 2A) riorating and undersized sewer game action featured on page 7A accommodate increasing demands for extra food storage. Comments during scoping well as sharpen our analysis on key factors such as the manage ability of wilderness study areas or the impacts of WSA designation on other resource uses, pointed out the acting state director. The BLM will release the draft EIS next winter Following the release, the BLM will host another series of public meetings to feedback. Colville expects interest to remain high, based on attendance figures for the scoping open houses completed last week. While attendance ranged from a low of 40 people at the Tooele open house to slightly more than 600 citizens attending at the final May 7 meeting in Salt Lake City, most public sessions averaged from 100 to 15 0 participants. The May 4 open house in Vernal drew an especially good (Continued on page 2A) Castleview changes hands, becomes LifePoint hospital Castleview Hospital will undergo another change of ownership. Castleview has been a part of the organization. Corporate officials previthat the size of the operation, coupled concluded ously with the variety of issues the hospitals serve, made it difficult to manage the varying needs in the challenging health care industry. ColumbiaHCA was subsequently divided into three groups. The western group includes 240 urban hospitals. The Pacific group has 33 suburban hospitals and Americas group includes 23 rural hospitals. Most recently, the company sold the two smaller groups. The Americas facilities, including Castleview, became part of a new independent group called LifePoint Hospitals. Ashley Valley Medical Centers in Vernal and Riverton Wyoming are the other two western hospitals in the new group. Other hospitals are located in Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Gerogia, Alabama and Louisisana. LifePoint Hospitals is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ. Castleview is one of the larger hospitals when comparing staff, physical plant and volume to the other 22 hospitals in the group. According to hospital administrator Jeff Frandsen, this helps the local hospital in growth expectations. For example, Frandsen is optimistic his request for a proposed $5--6 million expansion and renovation project will be approved. The money would be used to construct a new outpatient surgery and an outpatient service area in the hospital. It would be located In the North East section of the hospital. Frandsen was also positive about the emphasis and concern the new group would place on physician recruitment. This is a problem that is experienced by most rural hospitals and help is more assessable when hospitals of the same size are united. The employees will have additional choices in retirement opportunities. Stock ownership is now available as another method of investing retirement funds. Employees can use money that is normally set aside in a 401K program to purchase company stock at a discounted price. The new company will allow the staff and employees more autonomy at the local level. Frandsen explained that they wont have the large layers of administration at the corporate level to go through as in the past. He described a more active local board with a philosophy and style fitting the new ownership. The change will allow for more direct access to resources at the corporate level since there are only 23 hospitals to compete for attention. The hospital should be able to respond to the local community more quickly. Recently, Castleview endorsed an independent study identifinghow the local facility compared to other hospitals in and around Utah with pricing, services, physicians and technology. Frandsensaid the staff is in the process of analyzing the data to make educated decisions on pricing as well as other areas of service. Castle Valley happenings, news briefs ... Check out Summertime temperatures promote youthful fun, outdoor games Jacob and Shania Martinez, Adam Thayn and Tyler Herrera enjoy the warmth of summertime weather. The youngsters the newspapers website at www.sunad.com or cail Traffic safety checkpoint scheduled. Friday, Sunday Cyprus Amax to sell coal mine subsidiary, property Utah Highway Patrol troopers and Wellington police officers will man an administrative traffic saftey checkpoint on May 21 and May 23. The law enforcement agencies will conduct the weekend roadblock within Wellingtons city limits between the hours of 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday and Sunday. Cyprus Amax Minerals Company has announced that it will sell its Cyprus Amax Coal subsidiary to RAG International Mining. Cyprus expects to receive approximately $1.1 billion from the sale. In addition, the company expects to receive certain production payments from the Willow Creek mine. Assistant coach accepts offer from Arkansas Tech CEU assistant basketball coach Brad Bunch has accepted a position at Arkansas Tech. Arkansas has traditionally finished in the middle of the pack in basketball competition. But Bunch is confident that the team will reach new heights under the direction of recently hired head coach Robert Thompson took advantage of a break in their day care schedule to play outside for a few minutes. 637-073- 2. Kiwanis Club sponsoring circus on May 25 five-rin- g The Price Kiwanis Club will present the Carson & Barnes Circus on May 25 at the Carbon County Fairgrounds. The five-rin-g circus performances are slated at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Monday. The shows will feature Carson & Barnes endangered Asian elephants. 5 i |