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Show oe eee | ee ae Sagas a _The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH Sunday, i vi «SG eee January 16, 2000 County to Decide Fateof Bridge 80-year-old crumbling structure is couple’s only access to home BY JOBN'SERFUSTINI SPECIALTO THETRIBUNE SPRING GLEN — At 80 years old, its concrete is crumbling,its steel support beams are glossed with a patina of rust and it is starting to sag. Now the Carbon County Com. mission has to decide what to do with the 50-foot bridge that spans the Price River, It's part of an ob- scure county road four miles north of Price in Spring Glen that dead-endsat a single house. If the bridgeis closed, it would leave residents Rex and Shirley Guymon without access to their property. And although the county is obligated to maintain access, the commission is wondering if the cost of more than $100,000 to county taxpayers for a new bridge is worth it to benefit Onefamily. “It looks like our responsibil- by UDOT 15 years ago to make room for a highwayinterchange. After the state bought their old house, it was torched as part of a training exercise forfirefighters. Rex Guymon wants to keep the matter low-key and will say only that he has been talking to com missioners, who have assured him it could be a year or more before the county must decide what to do. His wife is more explicit. “We're not interested in sell- ing,” says Shirley Guymon. Commissioner Tom Matthews says the best solution would be to simply reopen the road to the highway. “It doesn’t look like it was ever officially closed, so we'll be work. ing with UDOTto see if we can get access that way,” says Mat“Then we can just close the bridge.” However, UDOTsays it is un- ity morally andethically,” says likely it will grant access to High- Commissioner Bill Krompel, who oversees county roads. way 6 to the Guymonsbecause of the danger presented bycars entering and exiting the busy highway, which widens to four lanes where it passes the Guymens’ Other options include buying out the couple or persuading the Utah Department of Transportation to open an old section of the road that connects the house to U.S. Highway 6 about 200 yards away and currently is closed by a gate for safety reasons. The Guymons do not sound like they are interested in selling. Thecouple already has hadto re- locate after being forced out of their former house in east Price Chairman Says Welch, Johnson Didn’t Act Alone house. If UDOTyields, says Krompel, the countyis willing to do some excavation work where the ac- cess road and highway meet to make it visually safer. But UDOTappear's implacable. Mike Miles, UDOT project manager for roads in Carbon County, says the benefit of == “Somebody isn’t telling the truth. That’s obvious. Why? I don’t know.” GordonHall Former Utah Supreme Court @ Continued from chiefjustice the Los Angeles-based law firm retained by SLOCto deal with the Justice Department and otherorganizations investigating the scandal, helped the ethics panel draft the report — even though part of its probe involved the activities of bid committee at- torneys who granting access to a single homeowner is outweighed by the safety hazardit would present. “Highway 6 is already hot is. sue as far as safety goes,” says Miles, addingthe road is increas: ingly busy with traffic from the Wasatch Front heading to Lake Powell and otherrecreation areas in southern Utah. He says UDOT nolonger grants access permits anywhere along the highway. “It’s too big of a hazard these days,” says Miles. “I hate to see them [the county] go through. this, but the funding is there.” The total cost of a new bridge is estimated at around $600,000. The county would be responsible for 20 percent of the cost, or about $120,000, with the rest coming from a federal highway program. Although it would be a county project, federal law requires that UDOTapproveengineering, work scheduling and sign off on billings. Krompelsays there is more to the project than just building the bridge. The county also has to find a new location for the old, River and eventuallywill be used possibly refurbished bridge becauseit is older than 50 years and considered an antique bythefederal government. Last year, West Jordan pur- bypedestrians and'cyclists. Krompel says some environ- chased another old bridge that spannedthePrice River in Emery Countyfor $1 and movedit to the southwestern Salt Lake County city. It now spans the Jordan ButPeterson,along with other key bid committee personnel such as Welch’s assistant Stephanie Pate, would not talk to the ethics panel because of the Justice Department probe. “[Peterson] would have to be absolutely asleep not to know about it. How many othersdid, I don’t know,”said Hall. “The others that they [Welch and Johnson] named as knowing about it denied that they did. ‘eee That's where we were. No other acknowledged they knew [what was being done] were Welch and Johnson. They were very up-front and said they didit the way they were supposed todoit.” Hall figures bid committee treasurer Craig Peterson probably knew,since his signature is on most checks. tangible proof could be found.” Consequently, he added, “the reader orthe generalpublicis left to draw their conclusions. Somebodyisn't telling the truth. That's obvious: Why? I don’t know.” Jordan said the panel did not want to make judgments where evidence was inconclusive. “We mental assessment work also may be required before a new bridge is built at the Spring Glen location. “If nothing else works,” Krompel says, “we may have to bite the bullet and build a new bridge.” tried to let the facts speak for themselves without us making subjective conclusions about who was being honest and who was not being honest.” Lockhartsaid muchofthe evidence implicating a broader group of circumstantial. people was “You can't say that just because [a document] is in print that ‘everybody knew this’,” she said. “When you look at the amount of moneyper year [spent on scholarships], it was minus- scholarship recipient. Over 5-6 years, it’s $100,000. But that’s only $20,000 a year.It was not a significant aspectof the budget. 2 an see why a board wouldn't pick that up.” brought Hall said he never saw any Gordon Hall strict the information available to the ethics panel. Members goteverything they asked for. The most crucial information to the ethics panel camefrom accountants, not attorneys — the detailed records of checks paid by the bid andorganizing committees. Panel vice chairwoman Bar- KEEP THE oe CELEBRATION GOING. bara Day Lockhart, a Brigham Young University professor and former U.S. Olympic speed skater, said each of the five panel members focused on specific fac- ets of the bid (former U.S. Whatever happened to cule. It wasn’t anything that would stand outat all. Take one Latham & Watkins into the case. attempts to re- > The Carbon County Commission doesn't want to pay to fix this bridge, as it only leads to one home. The Commission is looking at alternatives. Attor- ney David Jordan, University of Utah humanities dean Patricia Hanna and forensic accountant Merrill Norman were the other three). Latham & Watkins’ associ- Agutter? This family portrait was taken in London, England, not long before! the Agutter Family set sail for America and Salt Lake City. The infant on mother’s lap was Harold Frederick, knownall his life as ; Al. "Those were pretty tough times," Al recalls. "There was no running water in the house and we had to heat our waterin a big » pan onthestove." Al andhis older brother, Ernest ("Ern") cut . 1 wood,stacked it and hauled coal. At the age of 10, Al was delivering milk with a horse and buggy. Once he waskicked in the’ face by a horse and had to havehis nose repaired. After his parentsdied, Al had to quit school and workfull-time to make ends meet, Eventually, both boys were employed with Mountain States Rubber, which later became Industrial Supply Company. Ern becamePresident and Al was appointed Vice President. As a salesman for the company, Altraveled throughout the mountain states, selling tools and industrial products.Finally, at the age of 72, Alretired from Industrial Supply Company. In 1927, Al married Margaret Mardell Peacock. They raised three girls and one boy. When Margaret died in 1966, Al married Evelyn Higbee. Evelyn died in 1998.Al, who is now 95 and who still rises at 5:00 a.m., said, "| wore out two wives and now I’m wearing out my daughters." "| like it here at Highland Cove because they have so many activities for us. We ride in the van and goall over thevalley and upto Brighton. | exercise every morning with the exercise class and attend News and Views. | bowlat 2:30 on Mondays and attend Family Home Evening." ates primarily helped them pull their pieces together into a cohesive whole and compiled supporting documents. “They [Latham & Watkins] didn’t help with the writing,” she said. “The conclusions were strictly our wording. Their role was more clerical.” Welch and Johnson's contention that the tactics they em- ployed with IOC members were part of a team effort has been re- inforced in the past year. Former Atlanta Olympic official Andrew Youngsaid he talked about scholarships in 1993 with bid- committee chairman Joklik and Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini. Recently released minutes also suggest, but do not definitively The Finest Retirement Community in Salt Lake City ieALA aii MoMENtTS You NEVER FORGET. prove, that leading trustees on the audit and executivecommittees received extensive, regular briefings about expenditures. A specific reference also was made in audit-committee minutes to questions about the source of scholarship money — the National Olympic Committee — being by both the guest and executive Hall said the ethics panelrec: Bgnized immediately that “the pattern of activity . didn’t (start in Salt Lake,” thatthe IOC's ‘bid preapen esate a ar ‘proacl en by Salt e ani -other bid cities. » As for individual responsibility, Hall said Welch and Johnson aepet their share of blame. he Fad ones who $31.99 HoneyBaked Ham Any Size Half Ham. ‘Thenewmillenniumhas arrived. 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