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Show 93rd Year m No. 25 O Price, Carbon County, Utah Wednesday, March 62 28, 1984 U.S.6 may open by Friday "if "f HK 5h f Vj 4 ) U.S. . . -- r V ? Transportation Thistle project manager. If everything goes of r W 1 .- ,- 4S 4 &jk s- smoothly, W4,v r- ,Vr - f.f : - - '' v' ':' fJ f SL M, . J4V Y r' :. , v,fraijisA. :i"V$ ??&& 'w. ''.; well. He said 4 1 ' . v . - f of v 2 V V ''" '. . r 4- t ; : . :: ?.. r ; ;-- jlV ,' y &I4 $,y Y ' -V wfe . t -' ' 'A?'' " ; '.,,- -- - i f ;.'-'-pi- - c'ir - tS 4 ; A ' v:- - At? 4v. tr .Tra.,., . ii kiwT fTT Spotlights beam over the slide area , i v . . . rK 5s f 'i J v , sY. liTfllw mu while UDOT crews keep . i there are still a problem areas that couple crews expected to slide by now. Once the area looks stable, they will finish cleaning up and replace the safety mechanisms. Safety mechanisms include ditches to contain debris that might otherwise slide onto the road, and barriers to prevent large rocks from rolling into traffic lanes. UDOT has been flattening the slopes where slides could be expected to occur. The highway has been closed since March 16 when rockslides on both sides of Vri ? ! barring road should open toward the weekend, he said. I dont want to say Friday or Saturday, but well try to have it open as soon as Chidester said. possible, Clean up is going pretty s ? . v v and another major disaster, the & Yf. fc over Mountain may be opened to traffic this weekend, according to Art Chidester, Utah Department V?' ; 6 Highway Billies H, Single Copy 25c Pages Billies Mountain passage unsafe. .. Photo by Rick Egan a close watch on movement. made annual session extend legislators By BRANDON FORD Staff writer The Utah Legislature, meeting in special session Tuesday, passed a proposed amendment to the Utah Constitution that would allow lawmakers to hold annual general sessions. The Senate approved the amendment on session length passed Monday by the House on a 22 to 5 vote. Another version of the bill passed by the Senate the same day would have made the legislative sessions 47 days instead of 45 but the Senate agreed to the House version in a 45-d- ay compromise. One of the good things about the bill is that bills cant be carried over to the next session, said House Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, The amendment originally had a provision to carry bills over but I opposed it because I thought we should attempt to not enlimit legislation it. courage The amendment now goes on the general election ballot in November for voter approval. If approved by voters, the amendment would change present law that requires the Legislature to hold a budget session in years and a y general session in 20-da- y even-number- ed 60-da- odd-number- ed years. The change will give lawmakers a total of 10 extra days to deal with the states business over a period. Legislators say the extra time is needed to handle the increasing number of bills filed each year. A property tax bill is also in the works that will reduce mill two-ye- ar levies and lower local assessments, which could be driven up sharply by a recent Utah Supreme Court ruling. The tax bill was still being worked on late Tuesday and probably wont be introduced on the floor until Wednesday, according to Rep. Ray Nielsen, He said that court despite ruling he doesnt expect property taxes to be increased by more than 10 percent. the supreme The Supreme Court last week overturned a law, passed by the Legislature in 1981, that held locally assessed property valuations at 1978 levels. As a result of that ruling, valuations would increase up to 46 percent when brought up to 1984 levels unless the Legislature takes action to prevent the increase. We can cut the assessed valuation so that there wont be a dramatic change in property taxes, said Sen. Omar Bunnell, I think the average raise in taxes will be about 4 or 5 percent. Another proposed con- stitutional amendment that would have changed the Education Article of the state constitution died on the House floor late Tuesday. proposed amendment The was amended to death. The education amendment had about 19 amendments tacked on to it by the time it came up for a vote, Nielsen said. By then nobody wanted to vote for it and it went down big. Nielsen said the amendment needed a majority for it and about that many voted against it. A third proposed amendment that would revise the Utah Constitutions Judicial Article is still awaiting action by the legislature as is funding for the state corrections system. Originally one of the main reasons for calling the special sesssion, the request for additional money for corrections has taken a back seat to constitutional issues and stop-ga- p measures to hold Utahs local property tax assessments to reasonable levels. two-thir- ds Utah coal may be up for test By BRANDON FORD Sfaff wrifer Carbon County legislators are working on a supplemental appropriations bill this week that may give the Utah coal it industry the needs. Sen. Omar Bunnell, Rep. Mike Dmitrich, and Rep Ray Nielsen, shot-in-the-ar- m are attempting to secure $250,000 in state money to put with another $600,000 from the Electrical Power Research Institute to send a three-to- n shipment of Utah coal to a Lurgi plant in Frankfort, West Gerproduction many for a two-we- ek test. The Process is a process which Lurgi pyrolysis enhances the coals value by oil and producing extracting char, said James Bradley, director of the Utah Energy Office. What we are hoping is that the oil produced is suitable for refining and that the char INSIDE: Robert E. Olsens Mayors Message section of the Helper City Newsletter sparked a discussion at the city council meeting Thursday of what the function of the newsletter should be. Tage2A has the same BTU value as an equal weight of coal. The char is used as feed for power plants, he said. It appears that Utah coal would be uniquely suited to the Lurgi process, Bradley said. If the tests prove that out, it would make building a plant here and using Utah coal look like a real money maker. One benefit from the process is that the char burns much cleaner than coal and costs less. This could reduce the cost of the coal pow er plants burn by as much as a third, Dmitrich said. It will also clean up the environment. Bradley warned that people should not get their hopes built up too much. If the tests are conducted it would only be the first phase of the testing process. But obviously the EPRI would not have put up the $600,000 if they didnt have a good idea it would work, he added. The request for $23 million to build regional prison facilities in Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Sevier counties came from Gov. Scott M. Matheson and included $1 million for reworking much of the old prisons electrical system. I think we must I also locked up, he said. dont want to see prison riots like they had in New Mexico. A separate supplemental appropriations bill will also be considered by the legislature. Included in that bill will be a request for $250,000 to go along with $600,000 from the Electrical Power Research Institute to send three tons of Utah coal for testing in Germany. The special session is expected to last through Thursday and could run into Friday. fund prisons, Nielsen said. I am willing to do what is neccessary, even bond, if thats what it takes to get what we need. man Im a and I want to keep the criminals er Police officer resigns after investigation Price City Police Officer Merrill Rob Dougal tendered his resignation effective Friday, March 23 to Chief Luke Owings. He was suspended March 6 during which the department held an internal investigation and evaluation of his performance as a police officer. According to Owings, the evaluation of Dougal was completed and presented to a Price City panel for review on Thursday, March 22. After reviewing the material, the panel felt confident that Officer Dougal had not reached the level of performance expected of a Price City Police Officer, ficers Standards and Training program Owings said. In view of this, Officer Dougal tendered his resignation effective Friday, March 23 at 4:30p.m. Dougal was hired with the department in February of 1982. He completed the Peace at Utahs Police Academy in November of 1982. Currently, Owings said the department has openings for four officers. Penrod, a former officer and sergeant for the department, left recently for a position on the Spanish Fork Police Department. Irry Of- - Flying high Matadore wins Girl found Price Councilman Chuck Davis offers safety tips for kite fliers on the first page of the new Lifestyle section. I.earn why Carbon County is a perfect place to pursue this hobby. The Matadore crew took it to UP&L Friday night during the A runaway Sunnyside girl has contacted her parents from Seattle, Wash, and should be Page 4B annual Helper Invitational Basketball tournament. It was three days of hoop action at the Civic Auditorium. Page IB home by today (Wednesday). Rene Doporto, 14, has been missing since March 16. Page 2A |