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Show Support Band -- rn Home of the Mormon Miracle Pageant 1986 July 10, 11, 12, 15-1- VolumtIOO 30 per copy Number 50 Program 9, MANTI, UTAH 84542, THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1985 (SeePage 3) Railroad purchase possibility fading fast9 BY PAT MELLOR Sanpete and Sevier Counties dreams of restoring rail service appear to be fading fast, as each day with no buyer brings the State of Utah closer to the June 30 deadline for action on the issue. Under a federal decision handed down last year, the State of Utah has until June 30 to purchase a now-idle- d Marysvale Line, a spur of the Denver and Rio Grande, for a price of $1.3 million. After that date, the railroad company will be able to abandon the line and salvage materials for scrap. The railroad is dead, we just havent been able to bring ourselves The State called for bids on the to bury it, State Rep. Ray Nielsen .line and set a May 31 closing date. said Tuesday. Nielsen said the task LaVaun Cox, a member of the task force committee originally formed to force and of the Utah State Transwork on the purchase of the line will portation Commission, said initially meet again before the June 30 hopes among the task force deadline, but that with less than a committee members were high. week to go, "no miracles seem to We had 27 people or groups pick be coming to save the line. up preliminary bid packets," he recalled. "Seven or eight of those parties were very substantial, with good financial records. We were very optimistic about the possibility of one of those groups purchasing the line. In the end, we got three offers, and none of those came with a check. Some of them had conditions attached ... None of the offers held any firm commitment to reimburse the State of Utah for the original $1.3 million purchase price of the line, a critical requirement outlined on the bid specifications. "What threw me personally, Cox added, was that none of the bidders showed any plans for the route through Thistle. We had a TRAX study that showed this hookup through Thistle Tha Day Camp at Palltada Stata Park for handicapped drew a large number of participants. Handicapped ID ay Camp held BY BRUCE JENNINGS The Day Camp sponsored by the Palisade Handicapped Children's Foundation w ill this year come in two installments. The first installment was held last week about 100 sat down Saturday morning to a breakfast served up by the Manti Lions bacon and eggs, hotcakes with syrup and fruit juice. And at noon there was another meal a barbecued one this time, with Owen Braithwaite. Pinky Krcbbs and others wearing the chefs caps and aprons. The Manti Jaycees handled the registration desk and a full Sanpete Search and Rescue team took charge of the canoeing, the hay wagon rides, the fishing, the swimming, the horseback rides and other activities. And those activities a talent show. also included Much in evidence during the camp were Bill and Cindy Peterson, the organizers, the money raisers, the managers, and, of course, the founding parents of the Palisade Children's Foundation. Attending were people from as as Manti, Ephraim and Mayfield and as far away as Salt near Lake, Kearns and Springville. Among them were the Val Lindsay family of Provo, seven in all. The day camp keeps growing," Bill Peterson commented. "Thats why weve had to have two sessions. The second one will be held this weekend and he's planning on around 200. The Mt. Pleasant chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars will provide help with it. Financial support for the camp has come from several sources the Fairview Lions, Sanpete County, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Governors Advisory Committee for the Visually Handicapped, the Jimmy Durante Childrens Fund. Power rates to increase July 1 to 6V2c per KWH BY PATMH.1.QR Manti City residents will see a power rate hike and a sales (as increase effective July I, the City Council determined last Wednesday evening, and a property tax rise in the near future. Residents will find the power rale increase on their July utility bills. The increase is a half-ccper kilowatt rise over the existing rate of six cents. The increase has been planned for some time to cover the cost of constructing upgraded facilities in Manti hydroelectric which will contribute Canyon, significantly to Manti's independent production of electric energy. Further increases will probably be necessary, a council member noted, in the future as Manti invests in its own power sources. Such increases are tentatively planned on an annual basis. followed increase The schedule recommended by the the previous power board and was planned to offset financing costs of the new hydro plants. Still pending is a decision to allow a special well rate for farmers, now being considered by the Power Board. The motion to raise rates to 6'. 'it was made with the understanding that final decision about the well rate could modify that 6'it rate. All council members approved the increase except Galen Christiansen, who said he would abstain, still seeking a separate, low cr rate for w ell users. Sales Tax Increase Another increase effective July I that of sales tax, which will hike 264 of a cent effective July Jim Petersen Councilman 1st. in Manti is sponsored the adoption seconded ordinance, by Christiansen. Mill Levy Discussion The council appeared poised to adopt a mill levy increase on property taxes also as a way of increasing the citys revenues, but on the first the discussion became when sidetracked Councilman Galen Christiansen expressed his feeling that there was excess labor on the citys payroll and some employees were late in leaving the city yard. Mayor May Peterson requested specifics so the matter could be brought to the employees attention situation and the corrected. Council Christiansen then indicated that there are some employees who are seldom out of the yard before 8:30 a.m., are in early at lunch, and are usually back at the' yard by 4:30 p.m. Mayor Peterson indicated that the City Recorder should follow these up on observations with the individuals involved and see that the situation is taken care of. Later in the evening, the Council adopted a mill levy increase to 9.1 mills, up from the previous 7.5 mills. This mill levy will only partially replace the revenues the city is losing from the cut in revenue sharing Gramm-Rudman- n under the Pollings Act. Up until now, the City has received about $34,000 per year from revenue sharing, which has gone into capital improvements and the purchase of vehicles. The mill levy increase will only produce about Bill Recorder SIO.000, City Mickclson estimated. Mickelson also noted that the increase is Manti Citys first in more than six years and that Mantis levy was still considerably less than any of the surrounding communities. of that IIIC Sale Galen Attorney Paul Frischknecht advised the council that the sale of some of its Main Street property to Intermountain Health Care for the construction of a medical clinic could be accomplished without putting the property up for public bid, if the sale Were accompanied by a resolution of the council to sell the land at fair market value. The council approved the resolution but did not actually approve a sale as yet, waiting to learn how much land IHC is interested in purchasing and also to establish a fair market price for the property. The land in question lies just south of the old city hall and across the street from the county courthouse. Special Improvement Districts Mayor Peterson noted that the Special Improvement District areas had all been incorporated into one district. Mr. Frischknecht indicated that this was the case, but that the areas could be separated at the time of protest on July 2 if necessary. Those desiring to protest the proposed Improvement Districts may do so at the City Council meeting of July 2. Pool items stolen Manti Citys municipal swimming pool was closed temporarily on Monday after it was discovered that certain safety equipment such as the life ring floats, etc. had been stolen. Regulations prohibit the operation of the pool without such safety equipment located in a conspicuous spot in case of an accident, so the city officials decided to shut the pool down until new replacement equipment could be obtained. By Monday evening, however, city police had recovered the stolen items and they were returned to the pool, which opened on schedule Tuesday. could be accomplished for $5 million. V et every bidder wanted to construct a new line up to Levan from Gunnison. Why would you build a $30 million line for a $3 million railroad? Rep. Ray Nielsen echoed Coxs disappointment and disillusionment with the prospect for selling the rail line, saying that it was true that the State did not regard the $1.2 million as an enormous sum, but rather viewed it in the light of an "earnest money deposit indicating that the company purchasing the line had sufficient financial backing to make good on its promises to deliver rail service to Sanpete and Sevier Counties. The Marysvale Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western ran from Thistle Junction in Utah County e stretch of Sanpete down a Sevier Counties to Marysvale, and where it ended. The line was destroyed at the Thistle Junction in April, 1983 by the rising waters backed up behind the Thistle mud slide. the line Subsequently, suffered extensive damage due to flooding in Sanpete and Sevier Counties. In 1984, state officials estimated the costs of repairing the line at about a million dollars a mile All along the existing three proposals received by the State for the lines operation called for of new miles several line construction to a new terminal point in the Levan area, which Governor Norman Bangerter says would cost an additional $30 million. Apparently none of the bid offers included any plan showing how this new construction would be financed. 180-mil- right-of-wa- The state would accept an extended payment plan for the line, said Nielsen and Cox, if it could be demonstrated that they were dealing with a firm financially solid enough to depend on. But the bidders have told the state that they cant accurately project income from shipping in Sanpete and Sevier unless they have commitments from potential shippers. Potential shippers such as the coal industries now located in Sevier county say they cant commit themselves to ship coal unless they know for certain what the shipping schedules and rates will be. "Were in a double situation here, said Alice Shearer, another task force member, who also heads the States Division of Community and Economic Development. "The railroad operators can't come up with a plan unless they know theyll have shippers, and the shippers want definite schedules and definite rates before they will commit." As a result, the task force has h measure: "We taken one sort of dumped it on the Governor, a committee member admitted. chicken-and-the-eg- g last-ditc- Mrs. Shearer said the governor's administrative assistant, Ruth Ann Storey, had been asked to have the Governor contact each potential shipper this week and determine whether they would be willing to use the railroad to ship, and to get commitments from potential shippers. "It's in the Governors hands," Mrs. Shearer stated. The Governor will just have to make a judgment call based on the viability of the proposal. As of last Thursday, however, the Governor also saw little hope for the project, saying no potential buyer had yet been able to come up with either the SI. 3 million necessary to purchase the line or a plan to successfully operate the line. An extension to pick up the option (Continued on Page 2) Top Stop robbery suspects arrested, charged Wednesday Two employees of the Top Stop convenience market in Ephraim have been arrested and charged with the June 16 theft of $1,889 from the store. Troy Beal, 18, of Manti, and Robert Beal, 20, Ephraim (formerly of American Fork) were taken into custody Wednesday evening, June 1 8, and charged with the theft, which they initially reported as an armed robbery. Robert Beal was the store attendant on duty when the alleged robbery took place at about 3:30 a.m. Monday morning. He told police that he was accosted at the back door of the building by a man with a gun as he was putting out the trash. Beal said a man wearing a white hand kerchief mask and dark glasses forced him to open the safe and removed the money from the till, then put him in the rest room and ordered him not to come out until he's counted to 10. Police suspected from the outset that the suspect might prove either to be a store employee or else someone very familiar with the operation of the store from the details provided by Beal. The investigating officer, Chief Sanpete County Deputy Wallace Buchanan, said apparently the story g of a masked, intruder was concocted to cover the theft. Troy Beal, also an employee of the store and a cousin of Robert Beal, is accused of entering the store and gun-totin- removing the money, which was apparently divided. Buchanan said the investigation was aided by a tip received from Salt Lake City. His department had recovered $740 of the money the day after the arrest and expected to recover still more. Both suspects were arraigned on 19 and are June Thursday, scheduled for preliminary hearing on July 3 in Tenth Circuit Court. The pair will face second-degre- e felony charges with carry a sentence of years in the Utah State Prison if convicted. Troy Beal was released on his own recognizance following the arraignment, and Robert Beal's bail bond was set at $20,000, according to Buchanan. Manti Utah Stake holds conference semi-annu- al Make our homes a better place which to live. In times of tribulation all we have is our families and the gospel of Jesus Christ. in So admonished Manti Utah Stake President Lee R. Barton, as he addressed the stake's conference last Sunday. semi-annu- No general authority was present, in keeping with a new policy of the Church. That policy is that there will be a general authority in attendance at only one of the semi-annuconferences in the stake. Despite the absence of a general authority, there was no shortage of spirituality, sound gospel teaching and inspired advice at all sessions of the conference. Members of the stake presidency, bishops, priesthood leaders, Relief Society women and youth all combined to spiritually feed" those faithful in attendance at the various meetings. Pres. Barton estimated that occupancy of the wards would chapel for the take place about Oct. 18. "This will be a beautiful building, of which we can all be justly proud," he said. Pres. Barton also pointed out that newly-remodele- 3rd-4t- h d the upcoming Mormon Miracle Pageant was a marvelous opportunity to "reach out, put our arms around people, and make them feel of our spirit." He added that our young people were made special through their experience in the Pageant. In his talk Sunday morning, Pres. Don V. Tibbs listed three things we should do: (1) Kneel down to pray, (2) Step up to serve, and (3) Reach out to rescue. Prayers without works is just lip service, he said. "Knees were build to bend. Prayer provides solace to the soul. However, we must learm to accept negative answers to he said. prayer, On the subject of service, Pres. Tibbs noted that service grudgingly given brings few rewards. "Quiet acts of service bring happiness and love." Pres. Tibbs also admonished parents not to ignore the drug problem right here in our stake. "Drugs are the cancer of our society. They destroy life and burn out brains. There is absolutely no good that comes from the use of drugs," he added. good communicators. The secret of being a good communicator is to be a "Dream good listener," he said. big, develop a plan of action. Proper Pres. Glen Allred said that we all need to sharpen our skills in being Prayers were offered by Dr. Dell Anderson and Loretta Denton. planning prevents poor performance. Act as if it were impossible not to be a high achiever, he continued. "Don't get discouraged, be the best that you can be and get the job done," he concluded. Other speakers included Kim Shand, who spoke on the subject of The Importance of Christ in Our Lives: Valorie Hall, who spoke on the Values of Church Living Standards; Janice Petersen, Preparing Young Women; Jerry Cluff, The Importance of Gaining Temporal and Spriritual Knowledge in This Life; and Brent Cox, Priesthood in the Home. Special musical numbers were presented by the stake choir, under the direction of Joyce Henretty, with Pauline Yardley as accompanist. One of the numbers was "A Prophet Stands", written by Beverly A Armstrong, They also sang Bright, Eternal Dream," written by Wilbur Braithwaite. |