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Show Democrats easily win every partisan seat William (Bill) Krompel, Democrat, walked away with the Carbon County commissioner race, defeating Robert Etzel, Independent, and Hal Yount, Republican, handily in the general election Tuesday. Krompel picked up about 60 percent of all votes, taking 3,363 votes to Etzels 1,973 and Younts 704. The voters gave a mandate on what I campaigned on. The public expects me to conduct studies, seek more federal grants and to work on efficiency economic development, Krompel said following the final tabulation of ballots. It was a good race. My opponents kept me on my toes with District 69 race, which includes Helper and Spring Glen, incumbent Democrat Ray Nielsen soundly defeated Republican good healthy competition, although not necessarily good for ulcers, he added. As usual, Democrats walked away with the partisan races in the county. challenger Kim Bateman, carrying about 90 percent of the votes, 1,034 to 176. Rep. Howard Nielson, who carried Carbon County in the last election for the Third Congressional District, was - soundly defeated by Democratic challenger Dale Gardiner, 3,072 to 2,332. Sen. Jake Gam, who carried every county in Utah except Carbon County in the last election, lost the Senate race in the county to Democratic candidate Craig again Oliver, 3,030 to 2,831. In the State Representative y kv fKsratc v In East Carbon, Roland Uresk, Democrat, swept away the election for State Senate District 26, defeating the Republican challenger Alarik Myrin, 460 to 62. In the Helper Justice of the Peace race, incumbent Morgan Buffo Riche defeated challenger Santo Lupo, Jr., 1,174 to 340. In the District 9 race for the State Board of Education, incumbent Valerie Kelson easily . ssj wnfitiitrnTi won her first election Nick Sampinos, county attorney; Norman Prichard, Ann county OBrien, county recorder; governor Scott Matheson. Barry Bryner, county sheriff; In the Miller Creek Service J.R. (Bob) Olson, county surDistrict Board race, Keith veyor; Jessie Holdaway, county treasurer, all Democrats. Golding was the top with 65, followed by Rodney In the unopposed Roberts with 53 and Jerry races, Donald Denison and Richard Robinson were reAnderson, 28. All other races were unopelected to the district school posed and saw a high vote tally board, and Frank Whipple and of 5,212 votes to a low of 4,127, Theo Wood were as with a total of 6,264 citizens justices of the peace in Wellington and East Carbon, casting ballots. Unopposed and elected were respectively. Mike Paul Keller was overDmitrich, state representative; Lee Semken, whelming returned to the Fifth county commissioner; Fred District Juvenile Court bench Halverson, county assessor; while Gordon Hall was returned by defeating challenger Harold Jensen, 1,973 to 1,537. She was previously appointed by former vote-gett- clerk-audito- r; er non-partis- an ed to the State Supreme Court. Proposition 1, a proposal to amend the state constitution to hospitals exempt from property tax rolls, was defeated in the county, 3,025 to fit 2,626. Propositions 2 and 3, dealing with exempting farm equipment from property tax and making minor changes the in legislative role in regards to state education, both passed. Voter turnout in the county was good, with 56.09 percent of registered voters going to the polls. There will be a complete tabulation by voting district carried in the Friday edition of the Sun Advocate. rinwrtrrnitfWvftiitiminiiW Investigation results point finger at UP&L Average residential ratepayers of Utah Power and Light Co. may see about a $70 refund in the future if the Division of Public Utilities gets its way. The division recommended to from James investor-owne- d utilities. The refund would come from the pockets of those investors should the PSC follow division recommendations. Ken Powell, director of the divisions electric utility section, spoke to the commission during the meeting Monday. UP&Ls mine operation can be characterized as having low inef major management Ward also said that in areas of the report which may be found by the company to be incorrect was unusual. It was done in secret and that is highly unusual for the PSC, Ward said. Usually all parties involved in an investigation are present during interviews, but we were not allowed to be involved. The PSC is expected to hold hearings on the report in about six months. Ward said the commission will study the report for three months and then give UP&L and Emery Mining about 90 days to respond. This investigation took almost two years and they expect us to respond to it in just 90 days, Ward said. He added that the situation probably will not be resolved until more time than 800-pag- productivity, highly investigation Simonelli, a former accountant with the mine management company, before the PSC in August 1984. e An report of the was presented to investigation the PSC by the division, which monitors six months has passed. Ward emphasized that the company was going to be looking at the report and taking it seriously over the next few months. We will very carefully study the report and if it truly indicates problems, well work hard to correct them, Ward said. He also added that some of cost-plu- the Public Service Commission on Monday that a refund of $103 million be made to ratepayers and that refund be taken from company profits. Reason for the proposed refund stemmed from an investigation of UP&L concerned with mismanagement of its coal mines in Emery County after allegations ficiencies and higher costs than justified, he said. Powell said the main factor contributing to overcharges to s ratepayers was a contract UP&L had with the management company, Emery Mining Corp. That kind of a contract does not provide incentives to keep costs low, the report said. John Ward, spokesman for UP&L, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the entire those problems may have already been corrected by the company taking over of the mines. or conclusions faulty, UP&L will work diligently to show why. The report stated that low productivity at the mines in Emery County cost ratepayers $59 million dollars and that an excessive workforce in both mining and management cost an additional $24 million. The additional losses of $21 million came in the form of inappropriate incentives and bonuses, $10 million; inappropriate expenses refunded by UP&L, $6 million; duplication of functions by UP&L and Emery Mining, $4 million; excessive use of consultants, $1 million. Potter retires New chief named to lead Wilberg fire investigation Donald Labor W. Huntley recovered from the mine are continuing. Under Huntleys direction, agency investigators will thoroughly evaluate testimony, the of Mine Departments Safety and Health Ad- (MSHA) has assumed charge of the agencys continuing investigation into the December 1984 Wilberg mine fire. He replaces Herschel H. Potter, who is retiring. ministration physical evidence and laboratory data before arriving at final conclusions and preparing their final report, which Potter will review in draft MSHAs investigation team completed most of the portion of its investigation into the Wilberg fire last month. Laboratory tests on equipment form. MSHA expects on-si- te to issue the report early in 1987. Huntley is district manager of MSHAs Coal Mine Safety and MSHA causes idling of Deer Creek mine Deer Creek mine in Emery County will only be idle for a couple of days, John Ward, Utah Power and Light Co. spokesman, said Tuesday. Ward said a Mine Safety and Health Administration in- vestigator had determined a beltline entry wasnt rock- - ( J . dusted enough. It is an entry containing the main beltline, so we just idled the mine while we get the work done, Ward said. He said it didnt involve any real safety problems, it was just a matter of getting some maintenance work done. Health District 2, with its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa. With 27 years of government mine-safet- y experience, Huntley has overseen federal coal mine inspections and investigations in the Pennsylvania bituminous coal fields since 1974. Previously he served as district manager for District 7, with responsibility for coal mines in Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee. Huntley began his government career in 1959 as a mine inspector. The fire at the Wilberg mine, which claimed 27 lives, broke out Dec. 19, 1984. MSHAs investigation began Dec. 29, 1984, but examination of physical evidence was delayed by the need to seal the mine to deprive the fire of oxygen. Recovery of the mine began Feb. 13, 1985 and the seal in the area where the fire started was broken July 22, 1986, allowing incompletion of the on-si- te vestigation of that area. team The investigation continues to weigh and review all possible contributing factors relating to the mine fire in completing the investigation. Seeks cheaper electricity Utility sues government Utah Power & Light Co. will sue the federal government, claiming that cheap electricity produced at federal dams is unfairly withheld from of the people in Utah and from portions of Wyoming. About 140 cities and towns in Utah and southwest Wyoming will be joining UP&L in the lawsuit to be filed in the Federal District Court of Utah. Utility customers in those cities could see rates drop as much as 25 percent if the lawsuit is successful. UP&L proposes to pass directly to its customers the benefits of any allocation of federal hydro power. The company would not earn a profit three-fourt- hs on the transaction. All taxpayers contributed to the construction of the dams along the Colorado River, said UP&L president James C. But the benefits of Taylor. hydroelectric inexpensive power from the dams are being parceled out only to a select few. You have to live in an area that is served by a government-owne- d power system to receive the benefits. It is a blatant subsidy that should not be tolerated. The lawsuit P - be filed against the U.S. Department of Energy, its Western Area Power Administration, the U.S. secretary of energy and the administrator of WAPA. Specifically, the lawsuit will challenge the fairness and of preconstitutionality ference. Preference is a concept that power says government-ownesystems should be given first choice when power generated at d i - will federal dams is allocated. It means that all of this resource is divided up between systems serving only of the people in Utah. UP&L has fought the preference concept for decades. In the UP&L and other investor-owne- d utilities offered to finance and build low-co- one-four- mid-1950- certain st th s, hydroelectric River or its generating facilities on the Colorado tributaries. The utilities then would have paid the government a fee for using the water. But the government refused and built the facilities itself at taxpayer expense. In the early 1960s, UP&L sought an allocation of power from the dams. Citing the preference concept, the (Continued on Page SA) |