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Show The Pyramid Kight - January Hi, Astronaut Garn 1985 From Fairview to outer space Congressmen call for investigation into Wilberg mine disaster Utah WASHINGTON, DC members of Congress are analyzing safety inspection data and accident rates for the still smouldering Wilberg Mine in Orangeville and have asked Department of Labor officials to inform them of the progress of federal investigations into the accident A fire at the mine last Dec 19 claimed the lives of 27 miners and mine officials. Officials of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, (MSHA) reached Rep Howard Nielson and Sen Orrin Hatch, both Friday on progress so far in the federal investigation into the accident and fire. Data given The briefing followed the Jan. 2 delivery of a package of information from the Labor department containing a summary of events at the Wilberg Mine after the outbreak of the fire, a listing of safety violations found at the mine since 1978, an explanation of injury and incident rates at the mine with comparable national rates, and a list of total inspections at the mine. Hatch and Nielson released the safety data to reporters after the meeting Friday afternoon in the Senate office. Labor officials compiled the information in response to a request to made legislators by Acting Secretary Ford B Ford in a Dec. 26, 1984, letter Over mines Sen Hatch is chairman of the Sen. Committee on Labor and Human Resources, and Rep. Nielson is a member of the House Subcommittee on Health and Safety, and on the labor committee. have Those committees jurisdiction over mine safety issues. mine. Hatch said, "We need to see that the responsible federal agencies are living up to their duties. More information will come from MSHA when it is available. Safety important for miners to know that everything possible is being done to track down the cause of the tragedy. Our nation depends on coal, and coal supplies depend on the "It's important Full work force back on job at Deer Creek HUNTINGTON All 399 members of the Deer Creek Mine work force returned to work Jan. 10, according to Bob Henrie, spokesman for Emery Mining Company. Limited production will be underway for a few more days, Henrie said, and then the mine is expected to return to full production. Because of the settling and unmaintained condition of the mine during the time it was idle following closure of the Wilburg Mine, some work will need to be done before full production can be resumed, according to Henrie. He also reported progress is moving forward on bringing the mine back into production of almost a following a year. The mine has been closed as a result of a fire last December and also because of the reduction in the demand for coal in recent months. The company started making plans following the Wilberg disaster to get the mine back into production by the end of January. That schedule should be met, Henrie said. shut-dow- n h "We ask that the oversight committees in congress be kept informed on the accident, Nielson said Today, we made specific requests that will be critical to figuring out what happened in the safety of every individual miner, Hatch said The two Utahns said copies of the information delivered to them have been sent to the United Mine Workers President Richard Trumka and to officials of Emery Mining Company, the operators of the Wilberg Mine. No quick judgements Both legislators cautioned against quick judgements about the accident. They said careful collecting of information about the accident is crucial before any congressional hearings are convened. Labor Department officials were asked to provide daily updates to the congressmen, if necessary. "Federal law requires extensive investigation already, Hatch said. When those investigations pile up the facts. Congress will follow up from there. Want explanation Rep. Nielson said he knows the people of Utah are going to want an explanation of what happened to cause the fire and subsequent loss of life at the Wilberg Mine. Kim Wilkey, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mack Wilkey, Mt. Pleasant was named December's Student of the Month at North Sanpete High School. Kim is Studentbody President at North Sanpete and has also been an active member in the Vocal Ensemble, the Hawks Club, and has served as a leader in his church youth group. Prior to his student office this year, Kim also served as Junior in 1983-8Class His achievements as an in football this year and last, and e in basketball last year as are widely known. He was also a state performer in track last spring. all-sta- SVH to sponsor diabetes program MT. PLEASANT a CIT- Y- Bids for coal to replace the production lost in the Wilberg Mine had not yet been New phone system installed in Manti MANTI A new The second in series of educational programs for persons with diabetes and their families will be held Thursday, Jan. 17, at the Sanpete Vallley Hospital from p.m. Coping with the Diabetic diet will be the main topic of discussion with a demonstration of cooking in accordance with food exchanges. All interested persons are urged to attend. The series is sponsored by the Sanpete Valley Hospital and the Central Utah Diabetes Program. 7-- 9 y Val Robinson, Inof the Bicknell LDS Seminary, will be the speaker at Friday Forum Jan. 18. The title of his talk will be, Five Reasons Why. EPHRAIM structor and Principal old uncle of Sen. Jake Garn who is in training Golden Sanderson, to be the first civilian astronaut in the U.S., looks at a picture of some of the Senator's family when they were Sanpete residents. Sen. Garn was born in Fairview. in- half-cocke- While the Utah Congressmen voiced no opinion as to the reason for at the accident Wilberg, Congressman Austin Murphy from the Pennsylvania coal country said he wants a congressional hearing and believes the accident may have been caused by the effort the crew was making to set a coal production record at the time the fire started. Murphy said The accident may be tied to that effort, and I believe we need to set the record straight. opened by Monday afternoon, according to a Utah Power and Light Company spokesman. The bids which went out to all coal companies were due in the company offices by 9 a m. Monday morning. UP&L said it will evaluate each bid for the reliability of supply, quality, and quantity of coal, and the delivered price. Company spokesman John said the bids went out to all mines, both union and and asked information on coal the mines could deliver for as long as one year. Since the Wilberg Mine fire, UP&L has made spot purchases of 100,000 tons of coal from Utah mines, Serfustini said. Coal production at both Wilberg and Deer Creek Mines was brought to a halt by the Wilberg Mine has fire, and been closed for a year following a fire in Dec. 1983 and reduced demand for coal in 1984. Besides making spot purchases of coal, UP&L has contracted to buy 1.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity between January and June of this year from Idaho Power Company and has shifted some it its power production from Emery County plants to other generating units in Idaho and Wyoming. Senior citizens one-part- y two-part- y of the country. Perhaps his interst and skill in flying was instrumental in taking him to the post he now holds on the Appropriations Committee which funds the nations space program through NASA. He started training for the upcoming flight some time ago. I use to see pictures of him on TV, his uncle says, and thought he certainly was getting thin and then I found out what he had in mind and that he was getting in shape for this mission. Sen. Garn is now training in Texas for his venture into space. His uncle believes that following these pioneer efforts in space it wont be too long until new energy thrust sources will enable many people to go into space. It may not be too long, he says, before people will be vacationing among the stars. At the age of 84 he looks wistfully at the' research journey his nephew will take and says, They dont need anyone else on that flight, but I sure would like to go. of Friday forum Cream of Weber Vi Gal. VANILLA ICE CREAM PANCAKE MIX Western Family BREAD DOUGH Hereford CORNED BEEF Krusteaz 7 lb. 5 loaves Franco American 1434 Oz. can SPAGHETTI ... LaChoy 5 Oz. CHOW MEIN NOODLES r LaChoy CHOW MEIN Bl PACK LYNN WILSON BURRIT0S . The semiMT. PLEASANT monthly meeting of the Mt. Pleasant Senior Citizens will be held at the Center Jan. 16 at 6 p.m. Ham sandwiches and apple cider will be served. of colored A special program slides will be presented by Royal Allred. ELLIS TAMALES Schilling 1 .5 Oz. 1 .5 Oz. TACO SEASON MIX 200 feet ... $ 3for$l00 . CUKES . . LEMONS HANOI WRAP TOTAL POTATOES 1 09 49 MEDIUM ONIONS SPAGHETTI SAUCE MIX Schilling $25 NESTLE'S QUIK 2ib Betty Crocker HAMBURGER HELPER . Western Family 11 Oz. can MANDARIN ORANGES non-unio- will be in operation beginning Friday, Jan. 18 and will culminate three years of engineering, construction of a new building, burial of new cable and relocation of main cables and other work according to Morlin Cox, owner of the Manti Telephone Company. Cox said the new telephone exchange will include the latest in electronic switching and features everything that Mountain Bell and T&T have to offer their customers. Among the features available are touchtone dialing, call waiting, call calling, and forwarding, three-waspeed calling. The company has also installed new buried cable to Ephraim. Cox said that for dialing long distance in Manti only, the company also serves Sterling, only lines with dial a single number 1 plus 0 access to toll trunk. Manti lines and all of Sterling will dial long distance the same way they are doing now. Cox said the calling features when ordered would be installed as soon as possible but charges would not start until April 1. inspection and construction airports all over the country. Sen. Garn new in World War II and carried on his flying activities with the Utah Air National Guard even while holding the position of mayor of Salt Lake City. This duty took him on many flights overseas and to points outside vestigation of the Wilberg Mine accident, which claimed the lives of 27 miners, and he believes an investigation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has also begun. Henrie said he had not heard what federal legislators were going to do about investigating. Earlier Utahs Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Howard Nielson said they favor an investigation but, as Sen. Hatch said, do not want to go off Ser-fusti- telephone system The feeling of closeness between the senator and the Sandersons is a mutual one. There were a lot of relatives living in Salt Lake, after the Gams moved there, Golden said, but Sel and I would invariably find ourselves at their home and around Fern's table. Jake was in and out all the time he was in Salt Lake but when he moved on in politics to Washington, we didnt see as much of him, of course. Sen. Garn holds feelings similar to those of his mother toward Fairview and his Uncle Golden. In the earlier years he always made the trip to Fairview for the annual family deer hunt, he has spoken in behalf of the Fairview Museum where his uncle is the director, and as recent as his first term in theU.S. Senate spoke at the annual Lincoln Day Banquet in Sanpete. In answer to a question about how the senator got into flying. Golden mentioned that Jake, Sr. had learned to fly in World War I and later became the first Director of Aeronautics for the State of Utah. In that capacity he was involved in the Henrie also said Emery Mining Company has started an UP&L issues bids for coal to replace loss SALT LAKE FAIRVIEW When Sen. Jake Garn takes to space as this country's first civilian astronaut, many Sanpete residents will be watching with more than passing interest since the Senator is a local native. He was born in Fairview to Jake Edwin and Fern Christensen Garn. His grandfather Albert Christensen ran the Wagon Mine in Coal Canyon. The family pioneered in Birch Creek and later built the home on the corner of Center and Main Streets now owned by Sherrill and Hazel Anderson. His grandmother Christensen was a member of the Rees family of Wales. Sen. Garns uncle. Golden Sanderson, is one of those who is looking forward to the coming space flight. Golden's late wife, Selma, was a sister to Garns mother and Sen. Garn was and is a frequent visitor in the Sanderson home whenever his busy schedule allows a trip home. Asked if Sen. Garn was an adventuresome boy Golden smiles and says, Well there were some in the family who were more so than he. He does, however, laughingly recall that when he was four or five, the senator played with the other little kids in the neighborhood and more than once got into the coal pile and came in covered from head to foot with coal dust. Sen. Garns father, Jake Edwin Garn, was in charge of road construction and built many of the states roads especially in the national parks area of the southern part of the state. By the time Sen. Garn was about five, his fathers duties took the family to Richfield and later to Salt Lake City. Garn, Sr. learned to fly during World War I, perhaps setting his son on the same interest in his life. In spite of living other places most of his life, Sen. Garn never lost his love for Fairview his uncle says, and neither did his mother. I never saw anyone who had as much sentimental feeling for Fairview as Fern, he said. All of her life she felt that Fairview was home and until the day she died was interested in the town and the people living here. , 10 ea 10 2 f0r 25 . . $259 is oz Western Family Large EGGS 10 lbs. doz mmcys mm MT. PLEASANT - |