| OCR Text |
Show The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH eye PUBLIC SAFETY NEWS TRIPLEX FIRE and caused an estimated $115.00 indamage. Flames broke out in the triplex home at 3258 S. Ogden Ave. around 1:30 am. and crews re- main@d on the scene until 6 a.m., breaking down walls and extinguishing hot spots. A number of pets were rescued byfirefighters, including rats, hamsters, ferrets, Parrots and atleast one snake, but a@n-unknown number of animals Hired Hit Man Wisely Hit the Road I was more angry than scared whenan informantcalled on the vice snitch line and revealed there had been hit put out and I was the target. Thad been working long hours for the past two months,investigating six houses of prostitution pulling in big bucks. The owners were pleased. Recently, [had dug up somegood leads;pieces ofthis guarded puzzle were beginning to cometogether. I didn’t wantto just bust a paddy wagonfull of hookers. My objective was to clean house,start- help two displaced families find Thadbeengetting flak from higher-ups for taking too long on the case. Now came this death threat from the otherside. “Isit worth it?” I wondered. Of course, my mom andthe wife would say, “No!”ButifI chose to turn and run,this decision might KTVX LOSES CASE ‘A jury has awarded Orem doc- tor Michael H.Jensen $2.2 million after ruling that a series of televi- . sidn news stories defamed him. The stories, which ran on KTVX Channel in 1995 and 1996,alleged that Jensen violated laws and reg- ulations when he prescribed the diet drug Fen-Phen to reporter Mary Sawyers, who was posing as a patient. Jensen argued the storiés cost him his job and subjected him to social ridicule. The Utah County jury said the stories de- famed the former family practitioner and cast him in a false light. The jury also found that Sawyers and United Television, owners of KTVX, violated Jensen’s privacy when Sawyers took a hidden cam- era into an examination room of ing at the top. encourage these goons to go after anothercop. I glared at the phone and thoughtback to whatthe snitch had said. Thehit had been arranged outof Chicago.I had tw. or three days. Tops. The hit man would use a handgun.Heliked to getclose to his prey. A descriptiori was notavailable. USOC ChoosesFirst=e @ Continued from B-1 damages. Friday’s awardreflected only actual harm doneto Jensen, whois now a physician at nursing homesin Salt Lake City.. Sawyers left the station in 1998 and moved eabt. P VEGAN GOES HUNGRY ‘A jailed vegan has lost 20 poundssince beginning a hunger strike because jailers won't give him a vegetarian meal, according to.an animal-rights group. Jeremy Parkin, 19, has been in the Salt, Lake County Jail since Nov. 24, chargedwithfive felony counts for allegedly freeing 30°mink and destroying breeding records during a break-in at the Beckstead Ranch fur farm last year. ten have their .wn agenda. Bald- win will need to accommodate the athletic contingency while keeping aclose eye on the professional staff) Qa Salt Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Dean Adams said that because veganism is a political view, not a religious belief, Parkin did not qualify for special meals, but added that regular meals include items that could be eaten by a vegan. Vegans are the strictest vegetarians, shunning not only meat, but any animal prod- It wasn'tuntil I slowed fora sharp right turn thatI pegged the that holds theptirse strings. “Sandy has already proven that she will be effective addressing the domestic concerns.Thisis a stepin the right direction,” said George, showingno animosity aboutlosing PAUL FLEMING I was given the nameofthe person who wanted me outof the way.I had interviewed’ this weasel the day before. Circumstances would force us to meet again. At2:30 the next morning, I was concealed behinda frozen tree in back ofone of the phony massage parlors. I waited for my adversary to lock up, then I stepped outof the shadowsand reintroduced myself. I stole a couple of heavy lines from “The Godfather” and presented an offer a person with any smarts would not refuse. My exit was as quick as my entrance. AsI headed home, I noticed a persistentset of headlights in my rearview mirror.I accelerated. So did the other driver. “Dumb move,nottotell anyone where you were goingtonight,” an inner voice kept reminding me. “It makesthe kids happy,andit comes donations. ove wishing Operators of the Christmas Store, a house that has been trans- acoded messageat the office. The formed into a toy shop Santa could be proudof, invite foster families hit had beencalled off. Theinvestigation continued. A seconddetective was assigned to the case. Three monthslater a task force was assembled.At precisely the sametime,the troops converged onthe six houses and shut them down. We removed the startled owners,a stackof business ledgers,illegal drugs, underaged females, several ex-felons with outstanding warrants and twoalley cats. to shopforholidaygifts. Each child is given 200 points to get dolls, toy cars, books and the ever-popular Beanie Babies, which “cost” 25 points each. Alltheitems have been donated, as hasthe house andall the workit that I am helping people have a to contribute can call 89 “Tt is nice to see reemany peo- better Christmas,” said 15-year-old ple realize Christmas is notjust for gives me a good feeling to know tired 20-year veteran of The Salt to the children’s foster siblings. kids who’can afford it,” said 19year-old volunteer Bryan Miller, who does not view his six-week commitment to the Christmas Store as a job. “Youleave here with a smile on Lake County Sheriff's Office. He Other items, like quilts, hygiene your face, knowing that you have welcomes e-mail at halfacrown@msn.com kits, clothes and backpacks are designed to furnish foster children a helped make the world a better place,”he said. volunteer Tooele. Not bag, if you don’t countthe death threat, plus a couple a thou- sand hours worth of work. Rachael. Marin of In three hours Saturday, Marin saw dozensof kids choose holiday loot. Someofthe toys will be given PaulSt. John Fleming is a re- Blackmun Still the Acting CEO as USOC Defers Appointment. 7 eeaa Of all the decisions the States Olympic Committee madeatits board ofdirectors meetings over the weekend, the decision to hire a permanentchief execuune was not one: ‘ion’s newly elected executive » committee put off naming a permanent CEO. until it can determine if a national search should be conducted. That -decision is not likely to take place until mid-January, when the executive committee meets in New York City. “We had about a 65 percent turnover of people on our executive committee with the elections today and there are enough new people who wantto take a breath before mak- ing this decision,” said Sandy Baldwin, who ‘was named Sunday as chairwoman of the US . “They all feel very strongly that the iympic Committee [should] not make a ce.” The USOC was expected to name Scott was importantto explore all the avenues. tions as a concerned mom,taking her son and daughter to swimming lessons, when she volunteered to keep timeat one of their swimming redefineitself and has beentelling meets. Her own competitive career hadbeencut short as a teen-ager. “That was at a time when we Positive: because “alot of these people don't have transportation and we often “Trespectthat they would wantto take time to think aboutit before makingthis decision,” Blackmunsaid. Baldwin agreed thatit wouldnot be a good Oneconcern, brought up at the executive committee’s closed-door session Sunday afternoon, was that the committee might be violating new amendments to its charter. Those amendments, passed last year,call for the executive committee to make sure all potential scenario to have an acting CEO when the candidates from all ethnic, minority, disabil- Olympics are on Americansoil. “Those Gamesare socritical to America’s ity and gender backgrounds had propernotification of the vacancy before making a stability anda gameplan andthatwe not have imagethatit is important to us that we have someone whoisstill ona learning curve be- decision. A committee, headed by NCAA president Cedric Dempsey, who also wasjust elected to and 14 years old, and you were a female swimmer, you were all washed up,” she said. for her. She began her sportingaffilia- carrying it through the 2002 Gamesin Salt LakeCity. him for the job he has donebut agreed thatit something-bythe time you were 13 As head of the USOC, Baldwin the executive committee's discussion. He said he waswilling to live with thetitle of acting CEO for a while longer butnotif it meant endorsement to Blackmun. Baldwin praised were told that if you hadn’t won Baldwin's appointment is the latest in a longlistof “femalefirsts” Washington and wasnotpresent for much of Outgoing Chairman Bill Hybl had given his in Salt LakeCity.” to the. Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. been named to lookinto the matter. Blackmun took an afternoon flight out of Blackmun, a 43-year-old corporate attorney, to the post. Blackmun has beenacting chiefsince late October, when Norm Blakeresigned after a stormy nine-month reign of budget cutting andstaff reallocations. pull off a near-perfect performance opportunity for the Olympics to togkto transform it into toystore. stability. people all week that “we need to will play a public role in welcoming a ‘trash-bag kid’. . because you carry -your stuff from family to family ina trash bag. Witha simple piece of luggage we can give these kids some dignity,” said Celeste Edmunds,27, a former foster child who now works as assistantdirector of Christmas Box House International. That group, along with Utah Foster Care Foundation and the Salt Lake County Children’s Shelter, sponsor the Christmas Store, which is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until Dec. 23. The store, which expects to help more than 2,000 kids this. season, relies on. and wel- lightly.. That afternoonI received spread. Cops don’t take threats volved in Salt Lake City.” In 1998, the world to Salt Lake City in 2002. She has been andwill continue to serve on the SLOC management committee. She sees the 2002 Games as an sense of permanency. “As a foster child you get called Ata homein Salt Lake County, hundreds of foster children will find Christmas joy this season in the form oftoys, blankets and — organizers hope — little bit of nightincrease in police protection. News of the hired gun had the election. Hewas,instead,re-elected to the position of vice chair and indicated that he would “become more inGeorge led the USOC’s delegation BY KEVIN CANTERA THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE borhood had experienced an over- e OF complicated mix of sports authorities, such as the Athletic’s Advisory Council (AAC) and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) that of- ‘Christmas Store’ Offers Sense Of Stability to Foster Children sedan as an unmarked police car. The mysterious officer escorted meto mycriveway. I should have remembered: Theonlysecretis between you and a dead man. The following day, my neigh- mited Woman President Jensen's clinic in July 1995. The jury's award could grow this week when jurors consider punitive LAW ENFORCEMENT that were posing as massage parlors. These steamylove nests were perished in the blaze, said Ogden Fire Battalion ChiefSteve Splinter. The Red Cross was summoned to shelter. Initial investigations suggest electrical failure may have caiised thefire. Q Monday, December4, 2000 cause they werehired six or eight monthsout from the Games,”shesaid. Lori Buttars serve on the USOC’s executive committee, has when she witnessed the “Miracle onIce,” the 1980 gold medal hockey game when the underdog. USA team beat the Russians. “After that, I said,‘If I never see Baldwin went from organizing home swimming meets to become the president of USA Swimming. Shortly after an act of Congress transformed the USOC into a private nonprofit corporation, she wasasked to do hospitality for the 1980 Winter Gamesiri Lake Placid, Her Olympic epiphany came anotherlive Sporting eventagain, Tl bejustfine,’ ”she recalled. “The electricity in thatlittle arena, people singing ‘God Bless America,’ was just one of the most exciting things in the world to me.” Having caught Olympic fever, she quit her job teaching English at Arizona State University and ‘beganselling real estate, which allowed her theflexibility to devote more timeto sports. That seemslike an understatement now, considering the Salt Lake Games are only 14 months away. Whilethefan in herlives on, it will have to take a back seat to her businessside. “Right now our goal is to have our staff focus on getting us ready for Salt Lake, both from a performancestandpoint as well as a corporate standpoint.” ucts, including milk andeggs. A 26-year-old South Salt Lake woman has been charged with a third-degree felony. after her 3week-old baby tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana. Salt Lake County prosecutors allege that Sheri Ellen Rasmussen helped conduct a meth lab at 454 DebsPlace, Salt Lake City, in September, along with Everett Carleton, a parole fugitive from Califor- nia. Police and federal officials’ allegedly found an &bundance of illegal drug paraphernalia and Recovery Group In Tight Squeeze don’t have waysto get to them.” @ Continued from B-1 covery meetings in Salt Lake. They are also licensed to do urinalysis for any other businesses interested in screenings. “T think it’s safe to say there is no prograin like ours,” Aste said, “We're talking about the peuple chemicals used to make meth at who havefallen throughthe cracks the home, according to documents filed in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District * of the system. We get the throwaway people, the less-thanCourt on Friday. Child protective homeless, and we're able to help services have since taken custody because we're not some big of young Zachary Carlton, who was transported to Primary Children’s MedicalCenterfor evaluation. The tests showed the boy had been exposed to harmful drugs. Rasmus- sen has been charged with firstdegree felony for the meth lab and a third-degree felonyfor child en- dangerment. Everett Carlton was indicted by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court. Washington County To Open Drug Court ST. GEORGE — Washington Count) is preparing to open its first drug court on Dec.13. Defendants who agree to drug court entera guilty plea. That con- viction is later set aside and the case dismissed if the person successfully completes an 18-monthlong drug rehabilitation program. Fifth District Judge James Shumate said when the court opensin, Washington Countyit will have 10 defendants andwill add 10 people a month until it reaches 40 people. For a person to be accepted to drig court, he or she. must be nonviolent and drug-dependent. The people in drug court are tested for drug use three or four times a week. The defendantis required to sides receiving treatment, ‘Of the 220 people who have completed the program, only 15 have been arrested again on felony drug charges. The Associated Press 4 oe bureaucracy. “We know whatit's like to be where they are, and we know what it takes to get out,” Aste said. “We et them propped up,but they also ave to realize that whatever put them where they are doesn’t matter. What they’ve been doing up to now obviously hasn't worked and they haveto change.” The company doesn’t get state or federal funding of any kind. Its profile on the helping.org Web site lists an annual budgetofzero. Dale Aste supports himselfbyselling recreational travel packages. RonAste, whois disabled, receives about $600 per month in Social Security. . “We've mahaged to keep this going by luck and a lot of local companies who keep us supplied,” Dale Aste said. Some of their biggest corporate backers are Huish Chemical, Lynn Wilson Foods, HiGrade Meats and Hansen Refrigeration. But demand has outstripped supply in recent months, and Positive Alternatives is now down to wondering how it will pay next month’s $807 office lease. The or‘ing space for people transiee ofprison by taking over ‘building eee at 3100 South and 900 East. It needs funding and furniture to returbish and furnish the buildings there, which will provide housing as well as counseling for about 60 tenants. “And we're indesperate acoupleof vans," Dale Aste added, The company also wants to again publish a monthly magazine it had to stop that advises people where they can go for Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step re- Tom Paine See an encore broadcast of Hans Petersen's intimate one-manshow that bringstolife this true American Revolutionary RonAstesaid such listing is necessary because there is no othersingle source for it. About 20 ~ years ago there were five recovery meetings a weekin Salt Lake;there Tonight at are more than 250 per week now, he said. Nick Ruoti, whocredits his being ableto stay sober since Nov.29, 1989, to Positive Alternatives, said he is among hundredsof pec ple he knows who havegotten their lives back in order because of the Aste brothers’ efforts. “They have opened their hearts, homes and wallets to people that no one per- son, organization or institution, public or private, would help.” Everyone who receives assistance from Positive Alternatives is required to attend regular Alco- holics Anonymousorother12-step recovery meetings and must abide by a ruleofzerotolerance for alcohol or druguse, Ruoti said. . Salt Lake County Audit r Craig Sorensen, who met Ron Aste two years ago, has become a quiet and consistent supporter of Positive Alternatives. “I know they've saved lives and I've seen remarkable changes in people,” Sorensensaid. “They get jobs and get their-families back. They're not rich, but they're making it, and the remarkable thingis these are people absolutely no one wanted to help.” one Low Price... Positive Alternatives has an all volunteer staff, is nonprofit .and tax-exempt. For more information, call 487-5999. e-mail: jth ib.com at | *Stores in a wall mount whererecharges automaticaly Now Only $369" Complete 3 Vacuum System WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! Oreck XL features: Dale Aste said the company has had a kind of hand-to-mouthexist: ence and has been on the verge of going underitself several times. “We're the closest to that we've ever been,” he said. “But we want people to know we're not out to make a million dollars by going public now. We're just trying to get to as many people as wecan, and there are a lot more people now = need help than there used to SCamelea Sichagog ink $555 Value Weighs just 8 Ibs. *Topeill tiene out ‘Picks up pollen, pet *Long 30-foot co hair, dust, even dust *10+yr. guarantee on mites in one pass the housing a r Compact Vac Features: “Weighs just Sibs. *Comes with 8 tools *Strong enough to ply disposable bags . pick up a 16-Ib, bowling ball *3-yr. warranty on. and labor ee soarvinvoeanons =} | WE SERVICE ALL sacs eee 5730’ Redwood Re. 8606FtUnionbivd. 757 WA 352-7838 uc ; + vartlope + ’ * eeeerrreT Q BABY ON DRUGS Dr. S786. University Pewy uc, s |
