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Show mm i'll Home of the Mormon Miracle Pageant July 12, 13, 14, Volum - V r r, - 't No legal action trr' tP n I fV' - a1, ; f V ffl j W yjaA A7 Regional winners, back: Andy Naylor, Brent Jensen, Bryan Rasmusson, Craig Dodds, Robert Aycock, Doug Erickson. Middle: Elaine Reid (teacher). Curt Barton, Steven Brenchley, David Nielsen, Jason Maylett, Kaylene Birch, Julie Bawden, Mary Goodwin. Front: Mark Bawden, Melanie Rasmussen. Middle School grabs top honors at regional meet by Brace Jennings The Ephraim Middle School was awarded more honors than all other schools combined at the Utah History Fairs regional competition at the Utah Historical Society building in Salt Lake City last week. Ephraim Middle School entries won first and third in the multi-medi- a category; first and second in the project category, first and second in the historical essay category and first in the economics category. The first place winners in each category received trophies, the second and third place winners, certificates. Theyll now be eligible to participate in the state history fair at the University of Utah April 17 and 18. And state winners will then compete in the national finals in Washington, D.C. in June. Diane Jensen twice was a state winner while attending Ephraim Middle School. In all about 450 students competed in the regional fair, with 93 entered from Ephraim Middle School. Mrs. Elaine Reid, who teaches United States History and Utah History, and Mrs. Mary Goodwin, who teaches Utah History, were the sponsoring teachers and required the students in these classes to participate in the Utah History Fair. They agree on the benefits of entering the history fair: "Everyone who does a history fair project wins two invisible prizes. One is a very special award: the newly acquired knowledge that the students have acquired through their research. The other is the prize of winning recognition from parents, friends members other and of the A The program encourages the students to do independent study, be creative and present their information in an interesting and attractive way, Mrs. Goodwin and Mrs. Reid said. . The Ephraim Middle School winners at the regional fair were: multi media category Julie and Mike Bawden, first; Andy Naylor. Craig Dodds and Doug Erickson, third. The project category had Jason Maylett, Curt Barton, David Nielson, Steven Brenchly and Tyler Anderson winning first and Brent Jensen, second. Kaylene Birch won first in the economic essay category and in the historical essay category Melanie Rasmussen took first and her brother, Bryan, second. community." 1 I J I ? V S ' v v c, n , . I ' jvj m. . J 'J I 1 i A' iA I J It r ' f'V- - v r ' h the proposed Jennings County Trans- third option would be to follow I i ' ; k -- 3 Sanpete County property owners will probably find themselves paying higher taxes next November because of a Utah Supreme Court decision. In their decision, the justices ruled that properties assessed by the counties must be assessed at the same levels as state assessed properties. The owners of residences are, to an extent, exempt from this requirement. The state, by way of explanation, assessed railroads, mines and public utilities like Utah Power and Light and the counties assess residences and small businesses like stores and service stations. To ease the tax burden on home owners, the Legislature rolled back residential property tax assessments to the 1978 level and the State Tax Commissioned, to be fair, rolled back locally owned businesses to the same level. Six large corporations, claiming action violated the State Constitution, which requires that all property be assessed at the same level, brought suit against San Juan County in a test case. And at least one of them withheld part of its taxes until the suit was settled. Ww (ah In Sanpete County, for example, & Rio Grande paid $58,964.87 and withheld $28,804.34; paid $53,399.88 and withheld $22,694.95 in 1983. the Denver Presumably Ephraim Mlddla School winners In Utah History Fair who wont to Salt Lake City last week to compete In regional competition. of realignment Highway 89 that the state has adopted and cross Spanish Fork Canyon via a high bridge about a mile east of Thistle. The county and state representatives at the meeting agreed that Morrison-Knudse- n needs more time perhaps as much as six months to complete its feasibility study. The fact that targe sections of the line are buried under several feet of silt, bad weather and the unstable condition of the terrain in the Thistle area were given as reasons for the delay. Caine Alder of the Utah Department of Transportation said that the department wants a study done independent of Morrison-Knudse- n and will call for bids from companies with railroad experience to make such a study. Bob Nance, D&RGW general manager, said that no commitment can be made on restoring the branch until the feasibility study is completed and the railroad has a - reasonably accurate assessment on restoration costs. Management will then have to decide on or the restoration," he said, beginning of abandonment pro- ceedings." That proceedings could take some time, because the railroad would first have to send the Interstate Commerce Commission a letter of intent and then a month later begin the proceedings. If it comes to that point, the State of Utah is prepared to intervene on behalf of Sanpete and Sevier counties and the users of the branch. And Utah Public Safety Commissioner Larry Lunnen said at the meeting that Governor Scott M. Matheson is prepared to seek additional support for the restoration. Hell ask the State Legislature to appropriate SI ,500,000 to be used in helping finance the rehabilitation if that seems advisable, Mr. Lunnen said. Property owners facing sizable tax increases that this I "wii a . v , now The portation Task Force and the State Attorney Generals office have agreed not to take legal action at this time looking to force the D&RGW to get the Marysvale Branch back into service immediately. At a meeting of the county and state people in Nephi Friday they decided to give the D&RGW more time to complete a feasibility study on reopening the branch. The D&RGW has employed Morrison-Knudse- n Construction Co. to make the feasibility study. Morrison-Knudse- n is considering three possible options. One is restoring the branch line at its former location and its company has arrived at an estimated cost of S3 million for this option. Another option would be to build a new alignment higher up but parallel to the present location. s!,-cv;- ,r by Brace Sanpete-Sevie- r MTh'A per copy Tax Force gives D&RGW time for feasibility study r'41 ,,:v Cl 1 1984 309 MANTI, UTAH 84642. THURSDAY, MARCH 22. 1984 98 Number 37 Utah History Fair winners - 17-2- 1, the withheld amounts, which have been held in escrow, will now be returned to the D&RGW. And the other business involved in the suit, even though they did not withhold part of their taxes, may now demand that the excess they paid be returned to them. The Utah Foundation, the State Tax Commission and Sanpete County officials, including Ned Madsen, Sanpete Commission chairman; Earl Clark, county treasurer; Wayne Beck, county clerk, and Yvonne Howell, county assessor, who attended a State Tax Commission meeting in Salt Lake Monday, agree that this ruling means that residential and business property owners, who are assessed by the counties, will see their taxes go up. Go up by how much? That depends partly upon what action the Legislature takes at its special session next week. And it depends partly upon what action local taxing units, like the counties, the cities and school districts, take in setting their mill levies. The State Board of Education, for example, will ask the Legislature to reduce the statewide school levy of 23.25 by six or eight mills and other taxing units will probably reduce their levies. In Utah, in 1983, the average property taxes on a $74,000 home was $558. In Manti it was $557.80 and in Ephraim it was $584.62. In both cities, the tax assessed was close to the state average. Now, because of the Supreme Court ruling, the assessed value of that home could go up by as much as 48 percent to bring it into line with state assessments on railroads, mines and public assessments. Of course, that wont mean that taxes this year on county assessed property will go up by 48 percent, because mill levies will undoubtedly be reduced. But the ruling does mean that, because assessments must be uniform, except in the case of residences, exempted to a degree when the voters passed Proposition I in 1982, home owners will be paying something more in taxes and small business owners considerably more in taxes in November. New manager named at County Job Service office Bruce Barton has succeeded Roger Halliday as manager of the Sanpete County Job Service office in Ephraim on March 19. Mr. Halliday is being assigned as a program specialist in Job Service's headquarters office in Salt Lake City. Mr. Barton has been employed as a vocational counselor in the Utah County Job Service office in Provo for several years. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University, where he majored in psychology. As soon as arrangements can be made, Mr. .and Mrs. Barton and their four children will make their home in Sanpete County. Emergency officials begin looking toward another wet spring byPatMellor The first meeting of this years emergency coordinators from various Sanpete cities and towns, the U.S. Forest Service, and Sanpete County was held last Thursday night, and left some city officials with reservations about the county's plans for this year. Gayle Rasmussen, Moroni, who was named earlier this month to succeed Wallace Buchanan as County Emergency Services Director, was introduced to the assembled coordinators. According to the county emergency plan presented at the Thursday night meeting, Emer gency Services Director Rasmussen will operate under the direction of the Sanpete County Commission. I took that to mean Commissioner Donaldson," an attendee stated. Donaldson apparently assumed the an responsibility for preparing for the county. emergency plan Local emergency managers for various cities and towns were able to meet each other and to compare notes on some of last year's problems. But at the end of the two hour meeting, the countys actual plan of action for this years anticipated high water was still vague in many minds. Representatives of some cities said they were disappointed that the county officials appeared to be dragging their feet on several areas of emergency preparedness which were not addressed last year, one of which was overlapping areas of authority. Many of the flood problem areas last year were in areas of multiple jurisdiction. City, forest service, and county agencies have all indicated they would like to work out areas of responsibility and chains of command under a cooperative plan. But during the Thursday night meeting, the county commission failed to address the issue, other than to agree it should be worked K out. Representatives of the U.S. Forest Service who were present offered to conduct a two-hoseminar to help effect such a program. The Sanpete County Commissioners advised the Forest Service representatives that the program should first be presented to Gayle Rasmussen, who should then bring it back to the Sanpete County Commission for their approval, and then, if approved by the County Commission, pass it on to the cities. By then, the flood will be over, a city councilman ' snorted. The city representatives cited another lack in the area of a unified communication system to tie together city radio channels, county officers, road crews, and state personnel, all of whom at present have no common radio channel to communicate. The lack presented many problems last year, especially in areas such as the Fairview and Mayfield slides, where several agencies were required to stem flood waters and assist in trouble spots. At that time, officers had no way to communicate with equipment sources without sending other officers or search and rescue personnel to relay information. Several veteran emergency managers for the cities cited this as a problem which could be acted upon now to great advantage before trouble arises again. time-consumi- City representatives said they were disappointed when the only response the communications problem elicited from the Commission was an observation by commissioner Donaldson that the two-wa- y radio presently still in Deputy Buchanans vehicle should be transferred into Gayle Rasmussen's truck. Specific questions placed to the Commission on several occasions by Ephraim and Manti representatives in regard to ' who' would take (Continued on Page 3) |