OCR Text |
Show City Delayed Challenge Delays Seatingo of Woman Justice Chance for Bond Issue? Ry Jim Woolf Tribune Staff Writer An "overly conservative" attitude in Salt Lake City 's Redevelopment Agency may have cost the city millions of dollars worth of new housing, the chairman of the City Council said Monday. .Palmer DePaulis said a reluctance on the part of the Redevelopment Agency's staff and attorneys to consider the idea of issuing $50 million worth of "mortgage revenue bonds" may have killed, at least for this year, prospects for a Central City condominium housing project. "To miss those housing bonds is just stupid," said Mr DePaulis, who represents the Central Ciy area. Mr. DePaulis said Sandra Western, developer of the Central City housing proposal, has for months been telling the staff of the Redevelopment Agency that she had an opinion from the national bonding firm of Goldman Sachs and Co. that the agency had the authority to issue the bonds. Staff of the redevelopment agency, relying on two separate legal opinions expressing a contrary view, told Ms. Western the agency was unable to issue the bonds. Attempt Bond Sale City finance director Albert Haines recently met with officials of Goldman and Sachs and, last Thursday, recommended to the City Council that they at least attempt the bond sale. Council members were divided and delayed a decision. That delay, said Mr. Haines on Monday, may have killed chances for putting together a bond package because there is probably too little time to do all the needed work before the end of the year. A similar package could possibly be put together next year, but new federal regulations may make it more difficult to market the bonds. Michael Chitwood, director of the Redevelopment Agency, 'said he believes he and his staff have acted in a responsible manner. He said the agency resisted Ms. Westerns proposal to issue the bonds because of wo legal opinions, one written in 1980 and the other in 1981, which found that Utah law is unclear about whether redevelopment agencies have the right. We Can Find Out Ry D:u o Jonsson Tribune Staff Writer While the United States' first woman Supreme Court just tee assumed her duties Monday as planned, the State ot Ctah's first woman State Supreme Court may see her apiximtment put on hold for weeks or even months. Monday. Utah Attorney General David L. Wilkinson was allowed to enter, as a friend of the court. Gov. Scott M. Mathesons lawsuit challenging the Utah Senate's reoentl legislated authority to confirm the governor's judicial appointments, and an assistant set to wairk drafting a brief of legal fine points. Mr. Wilkinson may not take either side, but just might try to clarify the law. Arguments on the Legislature's appeal of a district court decision striking down the new law are set for Oct. 14 at 3 p m.. according to court files. justice-designat- 770-un- it If the agency issued the bonds and was challenged, it is uncertain how the Utah Supreme Court would rule, said the most recent opinion, prepared by Richard S Fox Besides," said Mr. Chitwood, "we need to find out if we really did miss a $50 million bond sale. Representatives of Goldman Sachs will be in town on Tuesday and we can find out. Tribune Staff Photo bv Raveil Cali who installed first electric traffic signal in 1914 for children's safety. Sculpture, financed by private funds, is in Public Safety Complex, 4501 S. 2700 West. Librarian to Lose Merit Status Special to The Tribune FARMINGTON Jeanne Layton should not enjoy merit council status as director of the Davis County Library, the librarys governing board decided Monday. The boards unanimous vote came in conjunction with a vote of support for a new personnel ordinance for Davis County employees. The ordinance will also eliminate Ms. Laytons merit status a status which prevented the library board from firing her two years ago. Commissioner Saunders asked the board to make a motion concerning whether or not the governing body will support the new policy, which also changes the name of the Davis County Merit Council to the Career Service Prevented Firing Davis County Commissioner Glen Saunders, who brought the matter up before the board, said the county is in the process of revamping its personnel policies. Pursuant to the new policy will be a merit ordinance in which all department heads will be exempt from the protective status of merit employees. Board Chairman Evan Whitesides said Ms. Laytons merit status was a controversial matter two years ago, alluding to the boards futile attempt to fire her and her subsequent reinstatement after the merit council ruled she was entitled to the protections afforded merit employees. The attempt to fire Ms. Layton in the fall of 1979 was made by the board Council. during a dispute over the novel which former Davis Americana, County Commissioner Morris Swapp and other library board members deemed obscene and unfit for inclusion in the library collection. Couldn't Be Dismissed However, the merit council ruled Ms. Layton was a merit employee and couldn't be arbitrarilly dismissed. The decision was contested by the board, but was affairmed by 2nd District Judge Ronald Hyde. The library board decided not to appeal his decision to the Utah Supreme Court. ComAll library board members missioner Saunders, Robert Arbuckle, Mr. Whitesides, Sharon S. Smith and Eva Jean Law' voted to support the proposed personnel ordinance. Ms. Layton offered no comment. Dan Valentines JUST ABOIT THINGS: October is National Popcorn Poppin Month. Just thought youd like to know . . . And 1 bet you didn't know that were smack dab in the middle of National Pickled Pepper Week? ISo, OK, pickle a Pepper this week - give a person named Pepper a gift-wr- pped a package of mini bottles!) Heres an in- - Dan Valentine Jr. foresting little tidbit: A recent study conducted by Utah State University reveals that working husbands in Utah spend 40 minutes per day traveling to and from work. It doesn't take husbands 40 minutes per day to travel to and from work because husbands don't have any work to travel to!) (Which makes sense! g People are drinking less coffee nowadays or did you already know this? According to the latest statistics, so far this year the average American is drinking only .92 cups of the brew per day. Last year, the average Amerif n drank 2.02 cups per day. 1 (I don't know about you, but Im way above average. Move the decimal to the right one notch and you know exactly how many cups of coffee it takes to write a daily column 19.2!) rather startling: William C. DeVries, who is currently waiting up at the University Medical Center to install the worlds first artifical heart, says if and when the transplant is done, the patient will in have to deposit with the hospital cash! the sum of $52,000 before the patient will even he admitted. ($52, 000! In cash! Thats enough to give a patient a heart attack! ) In fact, the heart alone costs $5,000! I find this next item Dr. The strangest things keep me Yesterday's Public relations ( lluiekle is performing the right act at the right time - and getting eredit for it awake at night. How about you? The other night I couldnt get to sleep because I kept worrying to myself, Whatever happened Carter? Durham Appointment on Hold court will function with four sitting justices and a .substitute justice called from the ranks of district judges. Judge Durham, in taet, has already served as a sort of stand in" for a substitute herself By specific pleadings, the question of the validity of judicial nominating commissions is also up in the air, posing these ironies Capable, Qualified court overrules Judge Conder and validates the statute, the Senate w ill hold a confirmation hearing on a woman judge who is already capable and qualified under law to st rve as a justice when called. If (he court affirms the Conder decision the process by which the justices themselves came to be in office will be voided (though they themselves wouldn't he affected since the decision could only be prospective in If the Kimball Improving, But Still Srrious Church Fresident Spenrer Kimball was in serious but improved condition Monday, according to his physician, Ernest L. Wilkinson. Internal bleeding, which troubled the churt h leader over the weekend, has stepped and he is increasing his activity. Dr. Wilkinson said Mormon W. Now Official Veteran to Jimmy By Robert A Bryson Well, thank heaven, I happened to pick up a copy of the Beaver County News a couple of days later because on the front page was this headline: JIMMY CARTER SHOWS GRAND CHAMPION According to the story, Jimmy Carter exhibited the Grand Champion steer at the Southwest Livestock Show at Cedar City on Sept. 11. Lynn Ortons Food Store paid $2.64 per pound for Jimmys d steer. (And that, my friends, aint peanuts.) 1146-poun- But, sad to say, Im still not getting any sleep at nights. . . . because the story wasnt about Jimmy Carter of it was about Jimmy Plains, Ga. Carter of Beaver, Utah. many!) The BYU football team loses about 25 players each year to LDS missions. (I just tossed this item in to give you University of Utah fans a glimmer of hope.) Speaking of BYU, it might interest you to learn that some 1,400 students from 81 foreign countries attended the Y last semester. Thats what Enoc Flores, international student adviser, says. And he says close to that number are enrolled this semester. October is Fish and Seafood Month And let's end today's column on a controversial note: At this very moment, Salt Lake songwriter Ron Graybeal is in Los Angeles trying to peddle a new song. The title? What am I doing here in Salt Lake City?" (I haven't heard the song, but I think its a safe bet to say that Marie Osmond aint going to record it. What do you think?) SAM, THE SAD CYNIC. SAYS: TTie other day a friend asked me my politicial persuasion. 1 told him, "I'm a n liberal when Im playing, Im a Im paying." conser-vativejihe- Tribune Staff Writer A West Valley City man, who as a civilian spent four years as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II, is now officially a veteran of the conflict and has been awarded three medals by the U.S. Navy. The action comes 36 years later than Earl Vaundel Christensen would have liked and he says there arent many WW II benefits left for him to claim. But, he says, the action was needed to help with mental and physical problems which can now be helped by the Veterans Administration. Bombed Next Day Mr. Christensen, a native of Goshen, Utah County, was a civilian employee on Wake Island at the start of WW II. He said he was working under a U S Navy construction contract, but as a civilian. He heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed, he said, and the next day the island was bombed by the Japanese ex-PO- And did you know that its against the law in Ogden to keep any type of wildlife in your home except two types of weasels? (I know a lady in Ogden who keeps a weasel in her home she's married to him. And she says, One weasel is one too M. II Civilian POW WW r Jr Christine Entitled to Benefits Nothin" Serious1 By Dan Valentine Concept of Separation The case concerns the concept of separation of the three branches of government, and could provide some new case law in regard to the bounds oi authority of the Utah State Legislature. Lawmakers passed, in this years session, a statute that requires the governor to submit his judicial appointments to the Utah Senate for confirmation, the way Executive Branch department-level appointments already are confirmed. Gov. Scott Matheson. a Democrat, has appointed all of the present Supreme Court justices and has appointed numerous district judges since he took e office in 1977. He appointed Christine Durham to the 3rd District Court bench in 1978. Gov. Calvin L. Rampton, in his span of office, also appointed more than a score of judges and was accused by political opponents of contriving to appoint Democrats to the bench at every opportunity. The Republican Legislatures new hill. Gov. Matheson has contended, places the Legislature in the judicial selection process at both ends. Judicial Nominating Commissions function as needed in every judicial district and for the Supreme Court itself, and legislative leaders appoint some of the members of each of those commissions. They submit three names for each vacancy to the governor, who is free to select any one he chooses. The new legislation, then, would put that appointment back before the Utah Senate for confirmation or rejection. Struck Down Statute Third District Judge Dean E. Conder recently struck down the new statute and Gov. Matheson promptly appointed 3rd District Judge Durham to the high court post but she hasn't been sworn in yet and wont be, according to Chief Justice Gordon R. Hall, until the court hears arguments, deliberates, and rules on the Legislatures appeal. The process could take a month or two months, during which time the high Justice-designat- Flight of Fantasy LcCrand Jones, safety coordinator for state Department of Transportation, walks under Dennis Smiths sculpture, honoring memory of Lester Wire, deceased S.L. policeman. e Earl Vaundel Christensen, a prisoner of war during World War II, shows medals awarded by U.S. Navy 36 years later. . We (civilians) were told we were on our ow'n because the war contract was void. There was not a hell of a lot we could do, thousands of miles from home and with no boat," he said. The civilian employees, some 1.150 on Wake Island, helped in the defense of the island until it fell to the Japanese Dec. 23, 1941. "The Japanese called themselves the Greater East Asia Sphere and we were their guests. Mr. Christensen said. He and other civilian employees on Wake were sent to Japanese POW camps in China and later in Japan. He was. at one point, shipped to Japan in a railroad box car with 25 men in a space eight by 12 feet. "There wasnt room to sit down." he said Released in Japan At the end of the war he was released in Japan and was taken to a hospital ship and. alter some delays, was sent home to Utah some two months after the war ended. The civilian employees have been working since then, he said, for See Page Column 3 B-- 3 Passengers Questioned Copter Hits Prison Power Lines, Lands By Joe Rolando Tribune Staff Writer A DRAPER helicopter carrying three people claiming to be conducting a water survey for the U.S. Geological Survey flew through high voltage power lines at Utah State Prison Monday about 12:30 p.m. Capt. John Powers, prison duty commander, said the passengers, whose names he would not disclose, landed safely in the helicopter on prison grounds. He said the. accident knoiked out power to the prison for about three hours and 15 minutes. But Capt Powers said the prison swjy-heoil emergency generators. low-flyin- g which provided enough power for necessary security and minimal operations inside the faeility. Clerical equipment, such as tyiiewriters, could not be operated, he added. Northeast Section The power lines severed by the helicopter were on the northeast section of the prison near maximum security, said Capt. Powers. He said after the helieopter landed near the severed lines, prison security guards immediately converged on the scene to question passengers. Our concern mainly was who they (the passengers) were and what this ail about." said the prison thing officer. He said generally airspace around the prison is off limits to air craft unless pilots receive prior permis- helicopter to touch off an explosion, he added Secure Prison Grounds sion. After the helicopter landed, prison Luckily, the power lines snapped officials told the pilot to fly the craft to away from the helicopter, said Capt. prison land leased to the U.S. Forest Powers. Otherwise the lines could have Service so that guards could again the sent enough electricity through secure the prison grounds, said Capt. Powers. The pilot eventually flew the helicopter off prison grounds, the said. Police, Fire, Capt Powers said the guards spotted the helicopter when it entered prison Emergency Medfcal airspace even though they are not stationed in towers. He said the towers Telephone 911 are being moved and the guards are In City and County temporarily patrolling prison property in vehicles. |