OCR Text |
Show Volume 32, Number 46 Thursday, Dec. 4, 1986 A Green Sheet Publication More Than $3 Million - Bond Saving Tempts City by Ralph H. Goff Green Sheet Staff Writer WEST VALLEY. If the City Council gives its blessing to a bond refun- ding proposal tonight (Thursday), West Valley could save an estimated $3.1 million in interest payments. And that savings could patch a lot of potholes, City Finance Director Russ Sanderson pointed out this week. With lower interest rates available than they have been in years, the potential for refinancing a large debt is an ideal situation for saving a chunk of taxpayer money which eventually could be put to use elsewhere, he explained. The original loan - an excise tax road bond which was put in place about four years ago - was a issue of about $4 million, he explain-- ed. The reason for borrowing the money in the first place was that the citys roads were severly damaged with pot holes and cracks, he noted. Rather than just repairing or patching things up, the City Council Magna Council To Elect Officers Santa Visits Magna, West Valley EVERY YEAR . . . This youngster in Magna no doubt feels like those who welcomed Santa Friday in neighboring West Valley City - glad d that the gent decided to visit again this year. See related stories, pictures on page 8. red-cla- MAGNA. Members of the Magna Community Council will meet here at 7 oclock tonight (Thursday) in the Magna Senior Citizen Center, 8952 W. 2700 South. Highlight of the session will be an election of officers to lead the group during 1987 and reports from various committees. County Gropes For Means Of Coping With Large Shortfall by Ralph H.Goff Green Sheet Staff Writer SALT LAKE. Facing a $5 million shortfall - including $2 million in its -- municipal services budget - the County Commission Tuesday initiated a major push for sweeping consolidation of governmental services in the Salt Lake Valley.- The three commissioners, 'who cited eliminating duplication of as their primary raservices tionale, seemed intent on avoiding a tax increase to balance spending and revenues. Proposed were the merging of police, fire, paramedics, highway, dispatch, traffic engineering, fleet maintenance, animal control and data processing services between the county and Salt Lake City - a proposal which has been under discussion for several months. -- Merging those activities should net about $1 million for the county general fund which finances valleywide services from mental health to running the county jail, and another $1.7 million for the municipal services fund which provides services like planning and zoning in the unincorporated areas of the valley. Those services should be operated by whichever entity has the best administration, Commission chairman Bart Barker suggested, with both participants sharing in the costs. While officials from both Salt Lake and the county have been considering service sharing for months, negotiations will take time and the countys share of the savings from joint operations would not start until the second half of the year, Stewart explained. Salt Lake could open its 1987-8year in July-wi- th savings from shared services, he noted. Calling the local city governments feudal throughout the county barons out there collecting taxes. ' Commissioner Mike Stewart suggested that the county as a whole would benefit through the unification effort. Lets be the first to surrender our turf, he said. Barker said he could not imagine any department head or elected official not participating in the consolidation plan, but warned that those who did so w'ould find their budgets slashed. That veiled threat, however, drew immediate opposition from Sheriff Pete Hayward who was ordered to patrol divimerge his sion with Salt Lakes police department. As a way of putting teeth into the edict, the commissioners have set the sheriffs budget for next year at $25 million - $673,000 less than this year and more than $4 million below the $29.1 million requested by the 8 -- sheriff. Sheriff Hayward pointed out that the proposed budget cut would force him to lay off 40 officers and that he would hold each of the commission members personally responsible for the safety of the people in the valley. Instead of cutting back few enforcement in the Salt Lake Valley, you should be adding to it, he said. In addition to the consolidation plan, deep cuts have also been proposed in several other areas of county-funde- d service. Some of those proposed cuts include: Eliminating a $1 million grand ballroom addition to the Salt Palace, which promoters say would entice more convention business to the valley; Axing a related $300,000 kitchen facility to help feed an estimated 2,500 people which could be accommodated for dining and dancing in the ballroom; Merging fire departments with Salt Lake and other cities willing to participate to continue service and improve response times; Not hiring a janitorial crew for the $54 million County Government Complex but private relying instead on a low-bi- d concern; Pulling back on the amount spent for grooming and Continued on page 7. see it in that way too, he said. Now that the work is done, it is in the best interest of the city to pay off the old bonds and borrow new money at a lower interest rate, he pointed out. Interest rates are down all over he explained, and the country, this seems to me to be the perfect opportunity to see some tremendous cost savings to the citizens. Sanderson noted that over the life of the issue, we will be able to save in the neighborhood of $3.1 million -the present value of those savings is about $620,000. decided then to borrow the money to do a major overlay on the citys main routes. Borrowing against future state road allocations, most of the main arterial streets in the city have been rebuilt over the past few summers, he pointed out. Its been about a three-yea- r project, but I hope the citizens recognize the change, he observed. There are still some problems - I have pot holes on the streets in my but the subdivision, for instance main arterial streets are a lot better now than they were when the city was incorporated. Calling West Valleys major roads some of the best streets in the valley, Sanderson said he feels the project has been worth the investment the city has made so far. When we were incorporated six years ago, we inherited a lot of problems from the county, he pointed out. While we cant fix every problem in the city in just six years, I think weve made a lot of progress in that time - and I hope the citizens - that the million is a savings over the term of the contract which would have been paid out, but now will not have to be paid out. We really dont have that money in the bank to spend today. The refinancing proposal, he explained would keep our (current loan) payments about the same but would shorten the life of the loan. the If the proposal is accepted, bonds can be paid off by the year He stressed, however, $3.1 -- 1996 under this plan, where it would have been in the neighborhood of 2005 if we had run the full course of the original loan, he noted. The new payback schedule -which has been made in annual installments of about $480,000 on the old loan is within $1,000 year of the old rate, he said. With the payment remaining essentially the same, the refinancing plan would not put the city in a - budget crunch situation where the new payment could not be met, he reasoned. The philosophy of the City Council has always been to put the city in debt, he noted. This is one of the few debts the city has other than some minor lease agreements. Sanderson said he views the refinancing proposal as a continuing goal in line with the City Council's philosophy. When the original loan was put in place, we were hoping could do Continued on page 7. Green Sheet Night At The Movies Winner. 'Treks' To San Juan traction - Tamilee Webb - who will present a brief demonstration of the BodyBand Workout, which she created. She employs rubber bands in an exercise routine aimed at toning and strengthening muscles. (See related picture in the entertainment section.) Sponsorship of Green Sheet Night at the Movies, along with the newspaper, are ARC Entertainment Productions, American Airlines, Century 5 Theatres, Karl Lorimar, MURRAY. Puerto That will be the status tomorrow (Friday) night of a lucky winner following a drawing that will be the event the climax of a seven-wee- k As We See It Something Special Contest. Rico-boun- -- - Star Trek 4 The drawing will be conducted during a short program that will precede the showing of Star Trek 4 : The Voyage Home. Starting at 7:15 p.m., the program will be held at Century 5 Theatres, 200 East and 3300 South. Salt Lake Sheraton, Video Coach and Vidcom. Widely Acclaimed Star Trek 4, headed by a cast headed by Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, is being hailed across the country as the best in the Star Trek series and, as indicated by box office receipts, is appealing to a wide segment of the public, in addition to the devoted Trekkies. While numerous prizes will be given away during the short program, the grand prize will be transportation for two to San Juan, Puerto Rico via American Airlines, Something Special in the Air. . Still Time To Enter . Final entries in the contest are being accepted through 3 p.m. tomorrow. The entry forms, found in the entertainment section of this weeks Green Sheet, must be in the Green Sheet office, 155 E. 4905 South, by 3 p.m., sponsors stressed. All who enter the contest during the seven-wee- k period will be eligible for the grand prize, regardless of whether their responses were correct or not. The first three correct responses each week win prizes like videos and brunches. Last weeks winners were William F. Lindley Jr. of West Jordan, Donnie Trujillo and Michael Wilkson, both of West Valley City. Mark and Kelli Hosting tomorrow nights program and giving away prizes (listed inside) will be Mark Cartwright and Kelli Lidell, who write the weekly As We See It column for the Green Sheet. They will introduce a special at . . . Mark Cartwright, of "As We See 5 Theatres for to be residents to area Century beckoning appears Green Sheet Night at the Movies. Trip to Puerto Rico will be awarded prior to showing of Star Trek 4. "SEE YOU FRIDAY" It," Dec. 7, 1941- - Survivors Remember Pearl Harbor by LaRee Pehrson Green Sheet Staff Writer Remember Pearl Hara war cry that was born out of g attack on Japans the Hawaiian Naval Base the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. Prior to that day - described by President Roosevelt as a date that will live in infamy - Pearl Harbor meant little to the average American. But to four Magna sailors who shared the experience, it had a lasting impact that would change their lives forever. Honolulu woke early that Sunday morning to the hum of battle planes. MAGNA. bor -- - peace-shatterin- Ours, Pearl Harbor survivors Russell Clegg and Tharel McDonald shore World War II memorabilia in anticipation of Sunday's 45th anniversary of the Japanese attock on Pearl Harbor. MEMORIES . . . thought the sleepy householders and they turned over for a little more shuteye. However, eariy risers peering at the brightening sky saw the rising sun painted on the bombers wings and quickly realized that they were theirs, only seconds before the bombs came raining down. The Japanese attack force was launched from six aircraft carriers that had slipped up on the islands from the northwest, following a plan of strategy and tactics minutely worked out months before. Their target was 94 vessels of the U.S. Pacific Fleet moored there that morning, and while most were the smaller types, the main force of the fleet, the battle wagons, were anchored there on Battle Ship Row. High altitude bombers came out of the clouds and the brightening sun. Others came in at lower altitudes, some to drop shallow geared torpedoes into the water of Pearl Harbor that struck warships at an chor, others to strafe the helpless officers and sailors on shore leave who were trying to get back to their ships. Between 7:55 and 9:45 that morning an estimated 260 Japanese planes had come from the six carriers northwest of Oahu, raking not only Pearl Harbor, but other military posts and airfields on the island with a deadly hail of lead. In 110 minutes, 2,403 Americans, mostly officers and sailors on the war ships, were dead or dying; 1,178 others had been wounded; four U.S. battleships were destroyed or greatly damaged; four others less damaged; many smaller vessels hard hit and some of them sunk. Twenty-fiv- e Japanese planes were lost, some of them to spirited young Americans who got their planes in the air and pursued them to their demise. The U.S. Navy losses were later listed as 80 planes that were put out of commission. Of the armys estimated 231 planes, only 79 were usable after the attack. Although the U.S. battleship force at Pearl Harbor was heavily hit, with most of the eight battleships either sunk or disabled, the attacking Japanese missed their prize goal because the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and the USS Lexington were out to sea. For the four Magna sailors who were there, Pearl Harbor was a living nightmare. Three of the group were lucky enough to survive the attack, but Marine Cpl. Mack Pendrey Sutton, 25, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Sutton, was one of the 1,102 men on board the USS Arizona whose bodies were consigned to the rusting hulk that now lies awash in the once more peaceful waters of where a memorial has Pearl, been raised in their honor. A radio operator and technician in the Marine Corps Aviation Division, Sutton had been in the service since Oct. 3, 1940. After he left Cyprus high in 1934, he attended LDS Business College and was employed at the Arthur Plant of Utah Copper in the machine shop. His death at Pearl Harbor made him the first casualty in the Pacific Theatre of War from the Magna area. Tharel McDonald, who now lives in West Valley, joined the Navy May 11, 1939. UP until Nov. 28, 1941, when he came to Pearl, he had been seeing the world aboard the USS Phoenix, a new ship September, On Dec. sailors, commissioned 6, two other Magna Thomas Borland and Russell Clegg, who were on the USS Regal, came aboard, and the three spent the evening talking about home and the situation of the escalating war. We knew that we were sitting ducks in Pearl Harbor and we even talked about it, McDonald said, but we didnt dream - even in our wildest imagination - what lay in store for us the next day." McDonald was lying in his bunk when the strafing began, but he had a battle station in an gun director station up on top. Quickly he and his fellow crewmen cut the safety locks from the guns and began to fire back. The Phoenix was attached to a mooring buoy about 600 to 1,000 yards ahead of the Arizona. The battleships were tied up to tying docks along side Ford Island, and as the planes dropped their torpedoes they would turn and go parallel with the Phoenix. They flew so close I saw one of the pilots laughing as he headed toward us, but he was hit before he reached his target and dove into a bunch of trees in a cane field above the Ieia Landing, McDonald said. From where I was sitting I could see planes coming over the mountains r.trafing Ford Island and the Continued on page 4 -- anti-aircra- ft . . . Tom Borland vivid recollection of Doc. 7, SURVIVOR hat 1941. in 1938. |