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Show } SECTION SUNDAY, August 6, 1995 OBITUARIES WEATHER / Page B-8 Page B-10 | Utahns Lining Up to Get We Know What We Concealed-Gun Permits Like: Art In Park City By Brian Maffly ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Ed hopeshewill never have to use the .45-caliber semiautomatic Colt he plans to carry once he obtains his concealed-weapons permit. But if he does havetofire in self-defense, he will aim to kill. PARK CITY — The 26th annualArt Festival attracted huge crowds here on its opening day Saturday, as Utahns andvisitors streamed into the mountain reSort to browse,listen to live music and get away from Salt Lake City’s blistering heat. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people jammed “Wounded people shoot back,” says the 52-year-old gun collector. “You shouldn't pull your weaponunless you're prepared to kill someone.” Ed, who asked that his real Park City's Main Street, wheretraffic was displaced by more than 200 booths featuring art from throughoutthe UnitedStates. The Utah Highway Patrolissued warningsthat the popular two-dayeventnestled in a small mountain valley has in past years “created some traffic probiems,”’ net to mention running smoothly, thanks to a park-and-ride system shuttling peoplein from perimeter parking areas. “That's one of the advantages 10,000 by next year Al Hartmann/TheSalt Lake Tribune of holding it 26 years — you iron outall the bugs,”said festi- Oneofthefestivai’s hits was a “youth yard,” featuring face painting, clowns, magicians, and a papier-mache Tyrannosaurus rex that kids helped »-paste together. “They're having a great time and getting all dirty,” said supervising artist Alisa Quist. The numbers of Utahns applying for or renewing gun permits increase each year. Permits expire every two years. Shuttles to Main Streetin Park City began running at 9 a.m. Saturday, opening day of the 26th annual Art Festival. By 10:30, the event was packed.Thefestival continues today. Today children will help paint the T-rex. Shuttles from parking areas to the event begin running at 9 a.m. While most festivalgoers came only to look, some came away with treasures. By midafternoon, Arizona artist Dale Clark had sold four of his unique combinations of painting and metal sculpture, with prices ranging up to $900. Under House Bill 70, which lawmakers passed earlier this year, it’s the state’s burden to show why a permit seeker is un- qualified. “They haven't made anything easier,” quips Ed. “You just don’t have to argue about yourrights. Under the old law, my reasons wouldn't have been enough [to win a permit.” To convince the state he deserved to carry a concealed weapon, Ed would have to have been threatened or attacked or be engaged in an activity that would with a fairly clean criminal record. You don't even haveto be a Utah resident, although the Beehive State does not recognize permits issued byother states. From May through July, the Department of Publie Safety issued 1,300 permits, with another Ay 1,200 applications awaiting ap- proval. The flood of applicants is overwhelming the department's Division of Law Enforcement of Technical Services. “I don't have the people to do what I'm charged with doing,” name not be used, is among the 2,500 Utahns who have applied for a concealed weapons permit since May 1 whenthestate broadened residents’ eligibility to pack a firearm. In the past, someone seeking a weapons permit had to demonstrate a need for self-protection. About 1,000 Utahns held permits under the old system, but that number is expected to jump to parking woes. But visitors and patrolofficers Saturday said things were val manager Kyle Jessen. ellie micelles said division Director K.D. Simpson. “fabout 1,200 applications pending) Despite a 10-fold increase in the monthly volume of applications, Simpson could hire no extra staff until funding becameavailable July 1 As a result, permits often are RhondaHailes Maylett TheSalt Lake Tribune make him a target for bandits, like transporting large amounts of cash or valuables. “Waiting to show causeis like locking the barn doors after the horses escaped,’’ said Sarah Thompson, executive director of Women Against Gun Contro}. “Every woman and manhas the right to defend themselves and their families. it shouldn't be limited by the government, especially since the governmentisn’t obligated to protect individuals.” Thestatestill regulates the carrying of concealed weapons, but nowit is a privilege available to any handgun ownerolder than 21 issued later than the 60 days allowed by the law. Applications have been processed without as much scrutiny as Simpson would like. No applications have been rejected, but investigators are holding up 71 for closer examination. While gun-control proponents fear the newlawwill harm public safety, backers say permit seekers are law-abiding residents who do not carry guns wherever they go. “There’s a misconception that all these people are drooling militia types,” says Ed, a father of five employedin public relations. “Mostof the folks are doingit be@ See UTAHNS, B-8 Emergency Planner Rests Easier Over Tooele Burn Plant FedsStart to Meet Safety Concerns By Laurie Sullivan THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Until just a few weeks ago, Tooele County seemed ready to tell the federal government to take its nerve gas, its rockets, its blistering vesicants and shove ‘em. ‘ Appearing before a House subcommittee July 13, Kari Sagers, the county’s easygoing emergency-management director, shared her frustrations with Congress. “The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility [TOCDF]is within months of beginning‘hot’ operations and Tooele County is not prepared to respond to an offpost chemical event. Despite our ongoing requests for needed funding and resources, we have not received the required assistance,” she said. “Ourpositionis to let the facility sit out in the desert gathering dust until these matters are re- solved.” For Sagers, it was the equivalentof a tirade. «Her references to “leadership voids,’ “faceless bureaucrats” and decision-making by “blue suits 2,000 miles away” had more olitically refined state adminisators cringing. ' Some suggest it was an overre- action, hyperbole designed to cateh Washington’s interest. : But it was the Tooelestyle. | It was the sound of patience forming outafter six years of debate, disagreement and denied budget requests. | It was a warning from the counyin the United States that has the largest share of the Army’s chem|-weapons arsenal andthe only stateside incinerator firing up to bufn them. ‘ “Tooele County is the point of impact for 42.3% of the nation’s themical stockpile,’ Sagers reiinded the House Procurement Subcommittee. ' ¥et, since 1989, shesaid, it has recbived only $6.3 million, or 2%, bf the $281 million allocated to protect the public in the event of a chemical accident. No one disputes that $281 mil- lion has been spent on the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP), the organization coordinating public protection in the eight states with chernical stockpiles. But CSEPP’s overseers — the Armyand the Federal Emergency Management Agency — say the actual breakoutof direct funding to the states is about $180 million. Andofthat amount, Utah hasgotten nearly 21%. “There are a lot of things they’ve asked for that we’ve not been able to fund. That's just the reality of the budgetprocess,said FEMAspokesman Marvin Davis. Tooele, for instance, wanted a helicopter, Davis said, citing that as one of the county’s more “bizarre”’ requests. But Tooele officials have examples, too, of CSEPPstinginess. The county asked for $600 for electrical power to ensure that a warningsiren placed in the mountainous community of Ophir would function. The federal goyernment denied the expenditure because it was “not previously funded.” Then there was the matter that embarrasses everyone involved: the fight over the Battle Dress Overgarment. After nearly six years, the state just got its first batch of protective suits. The delay had been caused by bickering — the Army insisted its chemical-tested Battle Dress Overgarmentwasthe proper attire, while the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration held out for a more high-tech ensemble that wouldfit peopleother than 18-year-oldsoldiers. At the time Sagers was railing before the subcommittee, the suits stili had not come. Five days after her return from Washington, the clothing was en route. The sight of those blue coverails now circulatingatfire department training sessions is pure re- lief to Sagers and emergency planners, who since have eased up on their government bashing. Butwith agent burnsstill slated to start Nov. 20, it shows how close the federal governmentis willing to push deadlines,officials said. @ See TOOELE,Page B-10 As i Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune Volunteers hike near Snowbird summit, where bristlecone pines were planted Saturday.Thetreeslive for thousandsof years. Planters Hope Pines Will Live Long and Prosper By Nancy Hobbs THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE SNOWBIRD — A group of adults and children gathered Saturday morning just below Hidden Peak for a symbolic planting of “loving kindness and compassion” in the form of bristlecone-pine seedlings. Twenty-five of the sturdy, half-foot tall specimens were arranged near the west face in a large, circular formation. ‘The 2-year-old seedlings are of special sig- nificance, explained organizer Vaughn Lo- yejoy of TreeUtah, because they could be direct descendants of a 5,000-year-old bris- tlecone that still was living when it was cut down in Nevada 31 years ago. Unfortunately, nobody at the time knew the tree wasthe oldest living thing on Earth. The U.S. Forest Service — which allowed the felling in the name of research — has been chagrined about the event ever since. The Snowbird planting, said Lovejoy,is a “gesture of reciprocity” for the demise of that tree, known as Prometheus. Now,if officials at the Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada — whencethe seeds wereillegally lifted — will only be so The unauthorized seed gathering amounts to what park officials say is a serious breach of wilderness ethics, in that the pilfering could be disruptive to the area's natural ecology. Lovejoy, who admits collecting bristlecone seeds three years ago from the grove on Wheeler Peak where Prometheus once stood, hopes the forward-thinking outcome of his sojourn will soften the bureaucrats’ blow. “Given that [the seedlings] are being used as a metaphorforhealingin this community, @ Sce TREES, Page B-2 magnanimous. Baby,It’s Cold Inside Ice Cream Warehouse By Connie Coyne THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE It may have been 99 degrees in Salt Lake City on Saturday, but one man was working in Arctic temperatures. Jim Fivas, warehouse manager for Snelgrove, and his crew wan- der in and out of a cooler set at minus 22 degrees every day as they load pallets of ice cream, sherbet and novelties such as cones andfruit bars into delivery trucks and stow thousandsof gallons of Dreyer’s, Snelgrove and Healthy Choice ice cream. They have jobs anyone would like in the middle of a heat wave — when the domestic swampcooler just cannot match the outpour- Bilce-cream auditions Weather map,forecast B4 £40 ing of commercial air-conditioning into the insulated coolers at the facility in the 800 East block of 2100 South. Baby, it’s cold inside Butit’s evencolderin the hard- ening room — where ice cream travels fr. ‘te end of the productio~ ’e quick frozen and t The minus 60 degree temperatures in that room sets the consistency of the ice creamsand protects the products during storage and shipping. Crystals of ice creep out from several leaks in the massive Therm-L-Bond door that closes off the hardening room. Peeking @ See ICE CREAM, B-4 UTAH QUOTES “Do I have any more dreams? No, I’ve done ali of them. Now, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy them.” x — Mery Griffin, entertainer and developer who just opened a resort in Mesquite, Nev. } i “The more you work with animals, the more you see they are human.” — Lee Staheli of Payson, who has been a horse trainer for 60 years “There would have been blood on the streets.” -— Howard Headlee, spokesman for the Utah Taxpayers Association, on the scenario in Salt Lake County kad there been notax relief before recent property-tax reassessments “It’s like human beings eating haircuts.” — Maciej Gliwicz, University of Warsew aquatic ecologist, on the Great Salt Lake brine shrimp, which eats its cast-off body parts y , |