OCR Text |
Show r "I 1 f Redmen top Classic HlK i-- t ..., r Stale Bank changes personnel VOLUME GO NUMBER 7 35 MONDAY JANUARY 7, 1991 COLOR COUNTRrS HOME TOWN NEWSPAPER Cold didnt set records, v but kept plumbers busy By JEANETTE RUSK Editor records While no single-da- y were set in Kan&b during the extreme cold of the holiday period, oldtimers in the area and officials sav it may never have been so cold for so long. Or, at least not so early in the winter. And that caused a lot of problems for residents. Water pipes all over the city froze and broke in both new and old homes, and, as the deep freeze extended, water mains and water meters also became casualties. Jon Martin, owner of K C Plumbing, who is in his ninth winter here, said he hasnt seen anything even close to the calls about frozen pipes that he got from the Sunalmost non-sto- p day before Christmas through New Years. He figures he got close to 100 calls, whereas normally in the entire winter he gets about a dozen. City crews were kept busy responding to about 40 frozen meters and three laterals (from the main line to the meter), according to public works director, Dan Merrell. Fortunately, little damage was done as the water spewed from broken pipes. A foot of water in the basement of an unoccupied home in the Ranchos was the worst water damage reported. The old Barco building on the east end of town also had about a foot of water from a broken three-inc- h main in the vacant structure. Abreakthatcouldhave caused major damage at Parker Plaza didnt because a pipe broke in the ceiling ofWester sTile when tr ?' someone happened to be there, $ although tne business was closed. Both Merrell and Martin noted that the full extent of damage from frozen water pipes is not known yet, and wont be until the area is totally thawed out. Water lines in areas not being used could be frozen, and not discovered until later when they may thaw and break. Tne worst cold started the first day of winter on Friday, Dec. 21 , and extended through Christmas Day. The lows for that five-da- y penod were 1 , 9, -- 1 0, 1 , and 4 degrees. After a warmingtrend low on Dec. 29, up to a the mercury again plunged below zero to -- 5 on Dec. 30 and 3 degrees on Dec. 31. There were no daily or monthly records set, but it was close. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Kanab was 20 on Jan. 22, 1937, according to the State Climatologists Office at Utah State University. The coldest temperature ever recorded for the month of December was 11 on Dec. 30,1911. Two years ago, a below-zer- o reading was recorded in December. On Dec. 27, 198S, the low was 6. That winter saw two other below-zer- o readings, with a 4 in January and a --3 in February. The coldest temperature in 1987 was 7 degrees, which was recorded in both January and December of that year. Martin said it was the fact that it was so cold fpr so long that caused the unprecedented problems with plumbing in the area. Night after night it was unusually cold, and the temperature didnt get up very high during the day. The veteran plumber said he saw pipes freeze m all kinds of construction and varied locations within structures. Even pipes on interior walls froze. A key factor was the wind, and, wherever there were were openings to let it in, it contributed to the freezing conditions. Martin suggested some preventive measures against freezing pipes in this type of extreme cold. Those who have pipes in crawl spaces should make sure any openings to the crawl space are sealed, ne said. In general, See COLD, Page 2 -- -- 22-degr- ee -- -- -- -- j j v I Only the skeleton remains of a trailer at 575Jchnsc Trailer destroyed in one of many fire calls A remodeled trailer in the Ranchos was completely destroyed in an afternoon fire on Sunday, Dec. 30. Twenty members of the Kanab Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call that came in at 1:08 p.m., but by the time they arrived, the structure was totally involved, according to Fire Chief Mike Noteman. Mike and Tamra Hardy, the owners cf the trailer at 575 Johnson Drive, were away when the fire started. Noteman said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. The loss was set at $25,000. A passerby who saw the fire and went in the trailer because he was concerned someone might be inside received carbon monoxide poisoning and spent the night in the hospital. Troy Highnote of Pipe Spring received 35 percent cabon monoxide poisoning, according to Noteman. . He saw the place on fire and saw a car parked outside, the Chief said. "He wanted to make sure no one was inside. Hes a conscientious person, but also hes veiy lucky. He got poisoned pretty well. ' The Fire Department spent more than four hours at the scene of the fire, working until dark. The Fire Department had made an earlier run to another fire at 339 Johnson Drive in the early morning of Dec. 23. About $1,000 damage was done to the home of Chris LaCorti when overheating occurred in the wall above a woodstove, according to Fred Brueck of the Fire Department. That run was made on the coldest day of the year at 6:05 a.m. when the temperature was 10 degrees below zero. In yet another call, the Fire Department responded to a chimney fire at the home ofWade Kleinman at 1 1 79 Stewart Drive in the Ranchos on Dec. 19 at 7:36 p.m. No damage was done, Brueck said. The last calls of the year brought the total number of responses by the Kanab Fire Department for 1990 to 37, from the 33 reported in the Dec. 31 special yearend edition of the Southern Utah News. The Fire Department also was called out last Thursday morning to Dukes Clothing when a fluorescent light shorted and caused smoke to accumulate in the store. Firemen used fans to blow out the smoke and no damage was done. Oklahoma Indians reject Waste-Tec- h Indian Tribe in the first in the The Kaw Oklahoma has rescinded a contract it had signed last April to Services to allow Waste-Tec- h build a hazardous waste incinerator on its tribal lands similar to the one now being considered Tribe. A by the Kaibab-Paiut- e story in the Dec. 20 edition ofthe h St. Louis says the Haws rejection of Waste-Tec- h and its $100 million facility similar to the onebeingproposed here is a "tale ofinvestment gone awry and of Indians tom between fast money and their cherished land. The Kaws voted on Dec. 11 to rescind a contract, signed in Post-Dispatc- boring tribes. This is time any tribe has broken a written agreement with one of the several waste companies bidding to operate on Indian land, the paper reports. The Kaws apparently can keep the initial $100,000 they received as a signing bonus, the story says. Eliot Cooper, vice president of environmental seris convices for Waste-Techis that company has tending the best interests of Indians in mind and will continue negotiating with tribes in Arizona and elsewhere to make their lands available for waste disposal. However, Ted Bryant, the h, April, that had split Indian consultant who brought Waste-Tec- h to the Kaibab-Paiut- e families and angered neigh- Trib$, is quoted story as saying that companies might think twice before dealing with Indians again. It could have a negative effect on waste or any business operations with Indians, Bryant, a Choctaw-Cheroke- e Inc lian from Colorado, told the paper. An Indian from the Oklahoma Ponca Tribe is quoted as saying that the development will stiffen Indian resistance to these proposals. What this will do is give the Indian councils impetus to resist these proposals and make companies like Waste-Tec- h of doing this again, Camp told the paper. wary Carter See INCINERATOR, Page 2 |