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Show Bigger than life CEU The real story of Charlie Steen. Page 1 defeats SLCC and Utah County planner enjoys influential position. Valley. Page 4 A A Tuesday Behind the powerful Golden Eagle action 5A Page 101th Year -- No. 4 January 14, 1992 50 Price, Utah cents asks feds for health reform UMWA i JOHNSON By LYNNDA Staff writer i I; t i - Hundreds of local union miners and retirees crowded into the Price Civic Auditorium last Friday to attend a specially scheduled conference on health-car- e problems in the nations coal industry. The United Mine Workers of America and Bituminous Coal Operators Association have joined forces to launch a nationwide grassroots movement for federal legislation to remedy the industrys mountcrisis. ing health-carUMWA and BCOA officials called for local support of the joint lobbying effort at the conference. Keynote speakers at the morning session included Richard L. Trumka, national UMWA president, and Joe Brennan, BCOA president. The union and coal operators association conducted similar gatherings earlier last week at several Eastern locations. Welcoming the UMWA members and retirees Friday, District 22 President Mike Dalpiaz explained that the union, coal operators and e Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers of America, spoke at a special meeting in Price last Friday. District 22 President Mike Dalpiaz and Walter Oviait, international board member, look on. had united in a joint effort to tackle dwindling beneguaranteed health-car- e fits for active and retired workers in the coal industry. Dalpiaz then turned the floor over to Jerry Jones, national BCOA UMWA secretary-treasurewho introduced the keynote r, speakers. Mike told us this morning to expect 500 (people) and believe weve got more than 1 500, Jones commented. has become a major issue in the nation and w'ill be an election issue this year, Jensen added before introducing Trumka and Brennan. Workers who built the coal industry are seeing three generations of industry promises unravel, Trumka pointed is not just out. llcalth-car- e UMWAs or BCOAs problem, it is Americas problem. If America is willing to tax a whole industry for abandoned land reclamation, isnt it fair that the coal industry be taxed for employee benefits?" he asked. According to Trumka, Health-car- e (Continued on Page 2 A) Inmates attorney threatens county with lawsuit over Jail By LAYNE MILLER Staff writer An attorney at the Utah Legal Clinic has threatened to file a lawsuit against Carbon County if the politicians down there dont get off the dime and build a new jail like they should have 15 years ago. Brian Barnard said he sent a copy of an article appearing in the Deseret News to Carbon County Sheriff Jim Robertson. The article quoted Barnard as saying inmates in Carbon County have contacted him about filing a lawsuit because of overcrow ding in the Carbon County Jail. A portion of the article was outlined in blue, but no letter was included in the material. When Barnard was contacted by the Sun Advocate, he admitted he sent the clipping to the sheriff. I sent it to him to make him aware Ive been contacted by inmates to bring a lawsuit against the county because of the conditions in the jail down Barnard said. there, I havent gotten around to it yet, but I will. Barnard said he was instrumental in forcing Cache County officials to build a new jail there. The Cache County jail incident is kind of interesting, Barnard said. Once we filed the lawsuit, the insurance defense people told the county that they would lose the lawsuit and we would win. We were then able to meet with them to reach a settlement. Barnard said he is involved with the lawsuits because inmates dont have a spokesman. I le said he is aware that local officials are attempting to select a location for a new jail and public safety building. Your jail is a dangerous place. The Carbon County officials should listen to your sheriff and build a new one. It seems they just kind of say, Ya, well get around to it sometime. But thats not good enough,. Barnard said if local officials do as the sheriff is advising and a new jail is built, maybe they can avoid a lawsuit. Carbon County now has the worst jail in the state, according to Barnard. Iron County used to have the distinction of having the worst jail in the state, but they built a new one. Now that distinction falls to the jail in Price, he said. Sheriff Robertson said he believes the construction of a Krompel questions county travel expenses By LYNNDA JOHNSON Staff writer After a heated debate at last Wednesdays commission meeting, Carbon lawmakers finally reached a compromise and adopted the countys travel policy for the upcoming year. Introducing the matter. Commissioner Emma Kuykendall explained that the proposed policy set the reimbursement rate on authorized travel by Carbon County employees at 27 cents per mile. Pursuant to the policy proposal, clerkauditor Norman Prichard added, travel must be approved by at least two commissioners, lie mileage supported the rate, but suggested that the commission consider requiring vouchers to be submitted within 14 days of all authorized trips. Vouchers need to be submitted in a timely manner out-of-sta- te 27-cc- nt to reduce reimbursement problems, Prichard advised. Commissioner John Garr moved to accept the proposed travel policy and its mileage allowance rate, with the inclusion of a voucher deadline. 27-ce- nt 30-da- y Discussing the motion, Commissioner William Krom-pe- l said he agreed with every provision of the proposed policy except the clause dealing with travel, which he believed should be approved publicly prior to any trips. out-of-sta- te The commissions travel expenses doubled between (from $6,300 to about $13,000), Krompel pointed out, adding that two commissioners attended con1990-199- 1 ferences in Hawaii and Washington D.C. last year. lie recommended changing the policys er approval requirement on travel to include out-of-sta- te publ- disclosure before similar trips in the future. ic Garr and Kuykendall adamantly opposed Ivrom pels recommended policy change. Addressing the commissions travel expenses, Garr consaid the two were in ferences question informative association of counties gatherings he and Kuykendall attended. Were here (at the county offices) 90 percent of the time, he added. Requiring public disclosure travel prior to would impose unfair restrictions on the commissioners who are here all the time. After saying she could comout-of-sta- te out-of-sta- te ment, but it probably wouldnt sound very nice, Kuyendall said she would wait until after the meeting to discuss the issue of the commissions travel expenses privately with Krompel. The public disapproves of out-of-sta- te travel by county officials, treasurer Ann OBrien advised the commissioners. Taxpayers pay for the trips and the public has the right to know why and where county officials are going, she added. Disagreeing with OBrien, Garr maintained that out-of-sta- te travel and in-sta- travel are basically the same. Out-of-stat- travel is more e expensive, the county treasurer argued. Supporting Garrs assessment, Kuykendall said she spends more as a county comtravel missioner on travel. than Whether traveling on county busior ness, Garr and Kuykendall both said they attend all scheduled meetings. Law enforcement officers often have to travel on pressing criminal in-sta- te out-of-sta- te in-sta- te out-of-sta- te out-of-sta- matters, representatives of the sheriffs office pointed out. Requiring all county employees to make public disclosure prior to making trips would impede criminal investigations. Publicize travel after the fact and have the newspaper print reports on the trips, Deputy Dea Thayn advised the commission. The policy requirement could probably exempt the sheriffs office, Krompel responded. new jail is paramount. We dont have a choice. We have to do it, period. Carbon County officials plan to build the new jail so prisoners can be double bunked if necessary in the future. Barnard said double bunking is just another name for overcrowding. Double bunking is not bad in itself. Housing two inmates in one not bad as long as they are allowed out for cxcercise and allowed outside during the day, he said. lie referred to a current lawsuit filed against the county by one former inmate and said, The money being spent to defend that lawsuit could be better spent in building a new jail, rather than making somecell is body rich. No surprise Local jobless rate is up The southeastern region of the state leads Utah in unemployment with a rate of 10 percent in November. Carbon Countys unemployementrate was 9.8 percent, exceeded only by San Juan with 10.5 and Emery with 11.1 percent. Grand Countys jobless rate stands at 8.9. However, the high unemployment rates are not limited to the southeast. All rural counties are struggling. Garfield County has the highest unemployment rate in the state 18.9 percent. The northern areas of the state saw increased unemployment in November also, but maintained rates below 5.5 percent. After a three-tenth- s November. The November unemploy- ment rate equals the highest unemployment experienced in Utah during 1991 and registers 1.2 percentage points higher than the November 1990 rate of 4.2 percent. However, during much of 1990 Utah experienced its lowest unemployment rates in more than 10 years. In fact, light now the states jobless rate registers significantly below its average unemployment rate of 6.2 percent. Roughly 43,500 Utahns were out of work during November nearly 10,000 more than November of t year. Unlike the earlier rise in 10-ye- ar la-- decline, Utahs jobless rate jumped of a percentage point from 5.1 percent in two-mont- October to 5.4 percent in h unemployment this year, additions to the list of jobless ( Continued on Page 3.XJ out-of-sta- out-of-stat- e Newsstands replace 7-- 11 The stores at Carbon Avenue in Price and on Main Street in Castle Dale will close Jan. 22. Both stores have been outlets for sales of the Sun Advocate and Emery County 1 Progress. Customers in the south Price area will be able to purchase the newspaper at either Walkers Fuel Stop or Market Express. Outlets in Castle Dale are Stewarts Thriftway and Single Stop. (Continued on Page 2A) I |