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Show Page 10—THE HERALD,Provo, Utah, Tuesday, January 22, 1980 Utah-Regional The latest happenings from in and around the Beehive State fink Utah House Opens Wayfor Property Tax Debate By MICHAEL WHITNEY SALT LAKE CITY (UPI) — The Utah House has cleared the wayfor debate on amendments to Utah Constitution which would give the Legislature the power to choplocal property taxes in half. The House voted 65-1 Monday to allow introduction of a measure conconstitutional ich would give the Legislature broad powers to determine the size of local property taxes. The Senate approv package for introduction earlier. Under budget session rules, items which do notrelate to state spending must win a two-thirds majority in each chamber of the Legislature before they can be introduced. Basically, the package of amendments would remove constitutional barriers which have prevented the Legislature from significantly lowering the property taxes levied by counties, cities and school dis- tricts. It would also exempt livestock from property taxes. Beginning with last year’s general session and continuing through this year’s budget session. the state's lawmakers have struggled to find some way around constitutional limits on the Legislature's power to make a sizeable dent in local Property taxes. If the proposed amendments pass the Legislature and areratified by Utah voters. the lawmakers could chop property taxes by as much as half. The proposals would also let the state share its revenue with local governments to compenstate for the property taxes the local governments would lose. Utah’s Constitution presently forbids revenue sharing. The tax amendments must pass both the House and Senate by a twothrids majority before the package canbe listed on state's generalelection ballot in Novemberfora final vote by the people. The Housevoted 53-15 to allow in- troduction of a constitutional amendment that would let the Legialture create an appelate court in Utah. The appelate court would dominiums. The bill. sponsored by Sen. Francis Farley, D-Salt Lake failed on an 18-9 vote because it did decide many of the appeals which needed for introduction. Farley said something should be done to protect senior citizens for now goto the State SupremeCourt. Rep. LaMont Richards, R-Salt Lake, said Supreme Court's five justices are overloaded with cases. He said the appelate court would relieve the high court o such chores as listening to “one lawyer argue that the black car hit the brown car while the other lawyer argues that the brown carhit the black car.” The Senate rejected a study of proposed laws which would control conversion of apartments into con- not get the two-thirds majority the rapid loss of low-rent apart- ments to condominium conversion. Several senators agreed with her that the study was needed. But they said they could not vote for herbill because it would have halted condominum conversion during the oneyear study called for by the measure, The House rejected, 23-45, a bill would have allowschooldistricts to give teachers to power to hand out tickets to students who smoke. Rep. Robert Sykes, R-Salt Lake, sponsored ihe bill. He said students smoking ‘‘in school bathrooms and on school grounds’ is a major problem. But other other representatives argued that not enough study had been done on the potential problems of turning teachers into part time policemen. A meausure which would haveset up newrules for determining which parent gets custody of children in divorce cases was rejected by the House,28-33. It would given to job of deciding custody to a review board rather than divorce court judges. Witness Shocks Defense Lawyers in Bundy Slay Case hog pen near Live Oak 35 miles away. Bundy is under death sentence for the murders of two Tallahassee sorority sisters. They were clubbed and stranee in their beds three weeks before vanished between classes. . Her subdued parents testified briefly after opening arguments Monday about the last day they saw her alive. Tom Leach said he and his wife, Freda, immediately discounted schoolofficials’ le ping the 12- theory that Kim ran away. They knew year-old girl and leaving her dead in a how much she had been looking ORLANDO, Fla. (UPI) — A surgeon’s wife has shocked defense attorneys saying she decided she could identify Bundy as the erratic driverof a white van after seeing him on sion. Jackie Moore of Lake City is one of three witnesses the state says will positively Lut)Bundy as the driver of a white van used to abduct Kimberly forward to that weekend’s Valentine's Day Dance. They searched the school grounds without success from some trace of Kim, and went hometo wait. Her body was not found for two months. Prosecutor Jerry Blair said a crossing guard, Clinch Edenfield, will point out Bundy as the man he sawstaring at Lake City Junior High School as he cruised in front of the schoolin a white van. Edenfield was to have testified Mondaybut could not be found in the Sean when he was called to the tans A paramedic, Lt. C. L. “And; Anderson, will identify Bundy as man he saw leading a crying girl into the van, which was blocking traffic as Anderson drove past on his way home from the fire department, where he worked. Mrs. Moore wasdriving home from Live Oak the morning Feb. 9 with her maid when she was frightened by an oncoming van that was weaving back and forth across y. highway ty Bob Deke, assistant state attorney, leads to Lake City. She said from the suggested that all the men in the witness stand she suspected the driver courtroom stand and turn sideways so was drunk. Mrs. Moore couldsee their profiles for He was bobbing up and downas if he an identification. The jury, sworn Friwas struggling with something in the day after two weeks of questioning of front seat, Mrs. Moore said. Asked if 171 candidates, were taken from the she could identify the driver, she said room as defense attorneys argued. she was sure she could. Circuit Judge Wallace M. Jopling al“T have a mentalpicture in my mind of the person who endangered mylife lowed Dekle to question Mrs, Moore and my maid’s life that day,” Mrs. further before he would decide whether the jury should hear her testimony Mooresaid. A MID WINTER SALE Plan Eyed to Avert New PCBIncident Le WT)AePty WASHINGTON(UPI) — The Agriculture Department has established an emergency system lent last to prevent a it of an mtfood Shs.Ses Oe ‘summer in cies to PCB contamination in tah, Idaho al winsreportloCongress,thet a e ent said Monrative weaknesses Son wiseenrent contamiie “ay tecnologcal and dma contamina’ 39000 layinghes at Idaho'sI — RitewoodegCo, in Frankli 38 pull by ‘Oakdel Farms in Salt NOW THROUGH JANUARY 31ST ONLY! killed. ato several states inContaminated cluding Utah, ‘dato, ~” esota, Iowa, Nebraska, fyoming and Oregon. Dakota, ® Automatic Garage Door OpenerSystem ByAlliance GovernorRecei ves ‘Rebellion’ Rep:ort GS-409 with the Extra Touch of Safety eee er (OE) arecaa the governor says the cost Utah an estimated million to $50 million if the state was to immediately take over land now controlled by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Managment. Butthe state could break even if the land a juisition was limited to just the 22 million acres of BLM land in Utah,acue to the red by the Utah State Un versity epartment of Agriculture. And if mineralrevenues continueto increase, the state could end up in the black evenif it assumed ownershipof all the land, said the report. 56°° Model GS-409 Gov. Scott Matheson commissioned the study to find out whatthe effects ofthe Sagebrush Rebellion would be in Utah.th. The rebellion is a move by several western states to take control of unreserved federal lands through lawsuits and legislation. Tothe $48 million, the researchers said the state must then add $25.5 million for lost federal payments that it now receives. The state would lose lieu tax payments, special federal highway as- state's sistance, forest highway funds, and share offederal grazing and mineral lease fees. 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