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Show "r "7 t' ' .' , V ' f r' f f.am 4 ' '''" v,,, ' , C2U t!i:;l dmccm ccrfcrm prrt cf 1h3 Ctelttmss ' ' favcrlto; -- M T 4s i f i o I Tuesday December 20, : 97th Year 1988 a ' PagaM , vV V ' 0 No. Price, Utah 101 35 cents i By STEVE CHRISTENSEN M Managing editor f 1 ! County and state officials are guardedly optimistic that coal will soon be coming from the Kaiser mine again. Commissioner Bill Krompel and state Senator Omar Bunnell were among a dozen local o- who met with representatives of BP Minerals Corp. last week to discuss details of a possible bid to purchase the bankrupt Kaiser fficials , 'l 4 i ; mine. The bid by BP Minerals, which has been promised, will be in competition with a bid already before the bankruptcy judge by Colorado Coal and Coke Company. However, Krompel and Bunnell calling the BP Minerals bid the better of the two. BP Minerals is suggesting buying out the Kaiser Coal Company entirely and making a commitment to mine long-terthe existing vein and develop new areas as well, Krompel said. BP Minerals owns a substantial claim in the area. The Colorado Coal and Coke bid, on the other hand, is an effort to lease the mine and mine the existing coal only, while Kaiser Coal would continue to own the mine. Krompel said all of those present at the meeting with BP Minerals officials voted to support its bid. m The BP Minerals bid has numerous advantages, Krompel explained, including putting twice as many people back to work. The BP Minerals officials said they anticipate putting as many as 130 miners to work, plus 40 salaried personnel by February. Plans for both companies will be presented to the bankruptcy judge in Denver on Jan. 9. Some of the issues facing BP Minerals and local officials include abatement of ap- proximately $1.1 million in back property taxes. Although most local officials feel that is a small the concession under cumstances, the decision lies cir- with the State Tax Commission. Krompel said that while BP Minerals is also requesting other concessions by the county, there is nothing that will pose significant problems. Those concessions include help with developing roads in the area and help reclaiming a landfill that is currently on Kaiser property. Krompel said the county would be glad to help in those areas. Bunnell said the advantages of BP Minerals are significant. The state and county would immediately start getting property taxes, mineral lease money would resume (which Carbon County shares in), miners will go back to out-of-wo- rk work and the state would again start to get income tax. It looks awfully good to me, Bunnell concluded. Meanwhile, Utah Power & Light Co. continues to pay the power bill at the mine after Mellon Bank stopped paying the bill in early December. Mellon Bank is the lien holder on a longwall machine in one of the mines. They had been paying a month for main$150,000 tenance of the mine for four months, including $75,000 for electricity to run pumps to keep the mines from filling with water. UP&L stepped in when Mellon Bank bailed out, to keep the are County I By LYNNDA JOHNSON The board of commissioners officially adopted Carbon Countys budget for the 1989 fiscal year in a regularly scheduled public meeting on Dec. 15. The 1989 budget appropriates to the countys $4,865,200 fund. By way of comgeneral 1988 budget allocated an appropriation of $4,612,240 to the same fund. The general fund encompasses the majority of local governments operational expenditures, including payment of county employee wages and benefits, provision of fire en- forcement, funding of county agencies, departments, offices to and special services, maintenance of county-owne- d and buildings and property. In addition to the general fund allocation, the budget propriates $107,404 municipal to services ap- the fund, to the Carbon County Roads Special Service District, $70,000 to the convention bureau, $107,575 to the council on aging, $202,050 to the nutrition program, $86,000 to the fairgrounds board, $58,868 to the RSVP fund, $46,000 to Eastern Utah Inc., $17,088.38 to the Four Comers Mental Health building, $70,000 to the nursing home, $273,500 to the Scofield $410,000 Reservoir Special Service District, $150,000 to the county court complex and $25,000 to the tax stability fund. Carbon Countys adopted budget also includes three revenue bonds, $177,390 for the Wattis Road, $182,500 for the Soldier Creek Road and $100,000 for the Andalex Road, and a memorandum projection of summary $426,000 in direct costs for property tax, assessment and collection for the 1989 calendar year. The complete budget is available for inspection at the courthouse. i for Two killed in vehicle accident stable-satisfactor- parison, the law benefits unemployment most of the miners ran out last week. Krompel said he is attempting to get Governor Norman Bangerter to address the issue. He also said he has had discussions with officials from Rep. Howard Nielsons office to see if the congressman can be of any help. - Staff writer and out-of-wo- rk Two SOLDIER SUMMIT men were killed and another injured Monday in a two-ca- r accident which occurred about 7:40 a.m. two miles west of Solider Summit on U.S. Highway 6. Killed were Tuiasi Molia Vaai, 22, Arlington, Texas, the driver of a westbound automobile and his passenger Lepanoni Mataki, 27, Irving, Texas. They were dead on arrival at Castleview Hospital. Driver of the other car, Reece Wilberg, 42, Spanish Fork, is in the ICU at Castleview Hospital. His condition is listed as adopts budget protection mine in operational condition. Another problem local officials are now dealing with is finding a living allowance for the miners until work can resume. Krompel said y. Wilberg was traveling east. f & aS- A spokesman for the highway patrol at Orem said the driver of ) 'is Rollover The driver of this Anderson Lumber truck, Roger Park, lost control about 12:30 p.m. Friday and rolled the vehicle about one mile east of Price on S.R. 6. Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Grant Bean said Park was eastbound when he ran off the road on the right side, came back onto the road, then turned to avoid an oncoming car and the truck rolled over. He was treated and released at Castleview Hospital. the westbound car lost control on a curve and slid sideways into the Wilberg automobile. Weather conditions were bad because of a storm. The highway was snowpacked. The bodies of the victims were taken to Fausett Mortuary. Officers receive commendation for murder investigation Two Price police officers have been given a commendation for their part in the Gary Webb homicide investigation. The honor was presented to Sergeant Michael Milbum and Chief Aleck Shilaos at the Dec. 14 city council meeting. The parents of the victim, Bill and Anita Webb, presented the letter of commendation to the officers. The letter, prepared by Mayor Art Martines, is reprinted here : On Wednesday, March 16, 1988, the Price City Police Department initiated an investigation into the burglary of Gary B. Webbs residence in Price. The case was assigned to Sergeant Michael A. Milbum under the supervision of Chief of Police Aleck K. Shilaos. At the onset of the investigation, there was no evidence to indicate that a actively involved in the case and homicide representatives had occurred. However, due to a thorough by Sergeant investigation Milburn, it became apparent in the early stages of the investigation that Mr. Webb may have been the victim of foul play. Chief Shilaos became a homicide investigation commenced. Without any concrete evidence, no witnesses, and only a hunch, every rumor was investigated to its fullest. A coordinated effort between several law enforcement agencies was orchestrated by Chief Shilaos while Sergeant Milbum conducted countless hours of interviews and coordinated all information coming into the department. Midnight planning sessions witn ail the departments supervisory staff were commonplace between March 21, 1988 and March 28, 1988. In this eight-da- y period, Chief Shilaos and Sergeant Milbum worked over 100 hours of overtime on this case. The investigation resulted in these officers and the from the Carbon County Attorneys office being directed to the grave site of Gary B. Webb at 11:30 p.m. the evening of March 28, 1988. At the crime was determined to have occurred within the boundaries of Emery this I time, County and the case turned over to Emery County authorities, with Sergeant Milbum being detached to the Emery County Sheriffs office to assist in the completion of the case. Due to the information developed in the preliminary stages of the case by Sergeant Milbum and Chief Shilaos, the suspects were identified, arrested and convicted for the murder of Gary B. Webb. Numerous agencies and officers played important roles in the successful conclusion of this case. However, recognition special goes to Sergeant Michael A. Milburn and Chief Aleck K. Shilaos for their dedication and professional conduct in this criminal investigation. Sergeant Michael A. Milburn and Chief Aleck K. Shilaos are commended publicly. Carbon school buses are safe With the arrival early next summer of three recently-ordere- d new school buses, Carbon County School District 7 will have only one bus in use. It is used sparingly and will probably be replaced by the fall pre-197- of 1989, said transportation supervisor William Bate. This contrasts with many other districts where outdated buses are still in use. Kelvin C. Clayton, director of state pupil transportation, estimates that of the 1,576 school buses used by Utah public 7 school districts, 480 are models. Since 1977, many safeguards pre-197- have been added to buses. Concern about school bus safety has intensified as the collission in result of a truck-bu- s Carrollton, Ky., last May which killed 27 children. The children didnt die from the impact of the crash. They died from smoke inhalation and bums caused when a fuel tank exploded and highly flammable seat material 7 caught fire. The bus was a model. While this tragic event focused attention on school bus safety, bus manufacturers had already added many safeguards and improvements on newer models, Bate said. The safeguards include gas pre-197- t tank barriers that can help k prevent explosions, padded seats that keep children from being catapulted during a quick stop and tougher high-bac- specifications struction. for joint con- Because of tight budgets some in the state have channeled funds away from transportation to other areas. There has been less purchase of buses in the last three years than for a long time, Clayton said. The Carbon County Board of Education has always had a strong commitment to bus safety, Bate said. Buses are. (Continued on page 2A) districts |