Show UP&L 3 Z 'm By Guy Boulton Tribune Staff Writer Utah Power & tight Co is considering proposals to merge with other utilities Including a proposal from the parent company of Pacific Power ‘ & Light Co UP&L announced Tuesday that it has received merger proposals at prices in excess of tne company’s cur-- i rent stock price and has hired the in-- 1 vestment banking firm Kidder Pea- body Inc to study the proposals “We have not made any decision to merge with any other entity” said UP&L chief executive officer Frank N Davis “The board will consider whether the current proposals are in the bedl interests of Utah Power” 5000 UP&L has approximately employees in Utah and provides approximately 75 percent of the state’s electricity Rumors that UP&L was a target for a potential takeover or merger have existed for six months because of the company’s depressed stock price UP&L’s stock closed Tuesday at $2450 up 25 cents on moderate to low volume The stock traded for a high of $3725 within the last year UP&L spokesman John Ward was unable to name the companies from which UP&L has received merger proposals But Pacific Power & Light spokes man Patrick Slattery said his company’s discussions with UP&L have included a merger proposal though no formal offer has Seen made Pacificorp the parent company of Pacific Power & Light said Monday it has had discussions with UP&L on “matters of mutual interest” Pacificorp Portland is seeking to acquire other utilities The company Is known iithe industry for being aggressive and having rigorous cost controls Pacific Power & Light oper-te- s in six states including Wyoming nd is the largest electrical utility in the Pacific Northwest Pacificorp has assets of $55 billion UP&L has assets of $31 billion "They have been actively in the looking for other utilities” said Public Service Commissioner James Byrne ‘The rumor mill included PP&L Pacific Power & Light and Public Service of New Mexico” JB Mulcock senior vice president and corporate secretary of Public Service Company of New Mexico said Tuesday the company would not comment on the merger rumors Mr Ward said UP&L Chairman E Allan Hunter who planned to retire this month has deterred his retirement for at least another month Mr Ward also said UP&L’s board of directors took no action at Tuesday’s meeting on its search for a new chief executive officer market Local f alt ak t (Eribunr UP&L has been seeking a chief executive officer since James Taylor resigned in January Mr Davis temporarily was named chief executive officer when Mr Taylor resigned UP&L adopted a series of antitakeover measures this year but these could be easily circumvented if shareholders approved a merger UP&L would need approval however from the PSC to merge with another utility "We feel very strongly under Utah law that any merger or takeover will need to be approved by the commission” said PSC Chairman Ted St£w-art The commission is “going to play whatever role we feel is necessary and are legally allowed to ensure the service to the people of Utah is not diminished nor are the ratepayers harmed by any such merger” Mr Stewart said Commissioners Stewart Byrne and Brent Cameron said they were not automatically opposed to a merger Pacificorp is “perceived by regulators” to be a company Mr Stewart said But ne noted that “one obvious downside” is “Utah corpoPower & Light is a Utah-base- d well-manag- ration” “Its board of directors is primarily Utahns Its emphasis is primarily on Utah And it is one of the largest enti-Se- e B-- 2 Column 6 Wednesday Morning — July 29 1987 Section B Page 1 Cannon Loses Final Bid Must Go to Jail on Friday Judge Rejects Attorney’s Plea That 30-DTerm Is Illegal ay By Paul Roily Tribune Staff Writer Former Salt Lake County Attorney p Ted Cannon lost a attempt Tuesday to stay out of jail and must report to the Summit County Jail Friday unless his attorney can forge another delay in appeals court Third District Judge Leonard Russon rejected a plea by Cannon’s attorney Robert VanSciver that the y jail term imposed against the two-tercounty attorney was drafted illegally and should be set aside Judge Russon told Mr VanSciver the attorney had misinterpreted the term had nothfacts that the y Cannon’s sentence but do to with ing had to do with his terms of probation imposed by the judge as a condition of staying the sentence Mr VanSciver who seemed eager to scuttle the arrangement that led to the jail term last month indicated he would try to delay the jail term longer so an appeal of the sentence can be heard at the Utah Court of App&ls last-gas- plea-barga- in Meanwhile grand jury special prosecutor Larry Keller said he would consider the idea of throwing out the plea bargain Cannon made with the prosecutors nearly two armonths ago If the rangement is scuttled Mr Keller said he would consider taking Cannon to trial on felony charges the grand jury handed up last October plea-barga- Former Salt Lake County Attorney Ted Cannon right confers with his attorney Robert VanSciver Tuesday in 3rd —Tribune Staff Photo by Jeff Allred District Court Judge Leonard Russon ordered Cannon to begin serving a jail sentence in Summit County 30-d- ay Loss of Federal Money Will Cut Aid to Mentally By Carol Sisco Tribune Social Issues Writer The loss of $62 million in federal dollars means Utah State Hospital will close 14 beds 27 emotionally diswill be without resturbed teen-ageidential care group homes holding 39 seriously disturbed delinquents will e slots will be close and 175 eliminated Gov Norm Bangerter has agreed to request an August special session of the Legislature to make up at least $11 million Social Services Director Norman G Angus said Tuesday and rs day-car- his department up $1550000 can probably make But even with the $265 million Mr Angus said the State Hospital beds and group homes will close and the e slots will be eliminated day-car- Social Services contracts with counties or private entities to provide the services that are being eliminated Since the contracts require y notice of program changes Mr Angus said letters are being mailed this week for August closures Despite the cutback in Medicaid But Walkout Appears Unlikely dollars Mr Angus said Utah will continue to collect $12 million to $14 million a year under its home and commwaiver unity-based A waiver known as “freedom of choice” ended but Social Services was told by Medicaid officials that the community waiver would make up the loss In June he was notified d that of the loss was permanent “We think we’ll be able to pick up about $23 million again next year under the home and community-base- d waiver if we get JCAH (Joint Com one-thir- mission on Accreditation of Hospitals) accreditation in the community mental health centers” he said Tuesday “It would be coverable under the state plan but to do that we can’t cut it now because JCAH won’t approve a program that’s not in operation” The state had expected to receive $18 million this year and has received $45 million since the program started in 1984 Without the special session welfare grants woula be cut 2 percent 27 welfare investigators would be fired 17 mental patients would lose their Despite the poll union President Allen Rasmussen said he doesn’t anticipate a strike nor similar action by educators in the fall He said association members have until the end of the week to reply to the question which more specifically asks teachers if they would support a k attitude” in the event no contract is negotiated with the dis“no-wor- trict t There has been no progress of late on negotiations with the district Mr Rasmussen said but he added that only three areas of disagreement are blocking an accord for the 1987-8- 8 school year st Iron Salt Lake and Utah One sticking point centers on the association’s request that the district reduce the contract days which the GEA leader said would be equivalent to a salary inrease Mr Rasmussen said the GEA is also seeking a 1 percent pay raise for veteran teachers with seniority that equals or exceeds the district’s teacher-salary schedule While newer teachers can expect annual raises on the basis of seniofity once a teacher’s years of service exceed the years on 1 the salary schedule the annual increments cease Under the wage schedule teachers get small annual increases based on seniority and on additional formal education they complete In addition Mr Rasmussen said the GEA wants to liberalize pharmacy benefits on health insurance provided by the district Currently prescription drug privileges are limited to participating pharmacies The GEA proposal would allow educators to patronize any pharmacy The GEA president said negotiation sessions are scheduled later in the week He expressed optimism that differences could be ironed out Ex-Coa- ch 111 day treatment and 280 senior citizens meals wouldn't receive low-coIt also would mean eliminating 145 staff positions at Utah State Training School which would once again be threatened with decertification and loss of almost $15 million yearly And single people and couples who rely on the state’s Emergency Work Program during the winter months would be limited to three months rather than six months of participation Mr Angus said The state also would eliminate six See B-- 2 Column 4 Granite Teachers Checking 3 Counties May Gain Disaster-Are- a Ranks for Strike Support tart Granite Education Association’s more than 2000 members are being asked this week whether they would support a teachers’ strike if the union fails to reach a contract with the school district in Iron Salt Lake and Utah counties which suffered nearly $10 million in damage from last week’s wind and hail may be declared federal disaster areas Gov Norm Bangerter has directed his staff to determine if those counties are eligible for federal disaster loans aid The assistance is in the form of but is eligible only to those farmers who have collateral but can’t obtain credit elsewhere low-intere- st “It’s certainly not a panacea but if it helps one farmer it’s worth doing said Dave Buhler administrative assistant to Gov Bangerter If the three counties are deemed eligible each of the 14 counties contiguous to them also become eligible for federal loans Most of the damage — $83 million — occurred in hailstorm cut a Utah County where a g path through the heart of the state’s area In northwest Iron County $750000 worth of potatoes were damaged while Salt Lake County suffered $388000 in damages to grain alfalfa and vegetables Tony Hatch state tree fruit specialist said Utah six-mi- le five-minu- te fruit-growin- Status County’s losses incfuded $5 million to apple growers and $21 million to cherry growers He said “two or three” growers reported “total crop wipeouts” The damage figures represent a third of Utah County’s total crop in apples and tart cherries and could be conservative depending on fluctuations in commodity prices The figures represent losses to middlemen and cooperatives as well as farmers meaning the loss to farmers in direct cash receipts is less than the total of $83 million said Dr Hatch Utah’s fruit industry brings in about $20 million to Utah growers This year is a down year in the industry said Dr Hatch as production is up and prices are down nationwide If the counties are declared disaster areas two types of federal loans will be available: loans covering physical losses to buildings and equipment and loans covering losses to production To be eligible farmers must show at least a 30 percent loss have collateral and be unable to obtain credit elsewhere Loans for up to 80 percent of the loss then can be obtained at 45 percent interest Mr Keller said he would also consider what sanctions might be applied against Cannon for breaking a arrangement with the plea-barga- state “I'll have to study that” he said “I'm not sure at this point if a arrangement can be considered a binding contract or not” : plea-barga- in Cannon pleaded guilty in Judge Russon’s court to two misdemeanor counts of assault The assault charges had been reduced from felony forcible sexual-abus- e charges Cannon had earlier been found guilty in a jury trial before Judge Russon of criminal defamation and official misconduct both Class B misdemeanors He also pleaded guilty in 3rd District Judge Homer Wilkinson’s court to a misdemeanor charge of attempted misuse of public funds which had been reduced from felony misuse of public funds charges While Judge Wilkinson gave Cannon probation Judge Russon was not as generous and ordered the prosecutor to the Summit County Jail for 30 days Cannon was to begin serving that sentence July 15 but Mr VanSciver k won a delay from jail in a hearing before presiding 3rd District Judge Scott Daniels while Judge Russon was on vacation Mr VanSciver had argued that the jail time was attached to the official misconduct conviction one of the two convictions special prosecutors Keller and Rodney Snow won before a jury earlier this year He argued that the official misconduct charge and criminal defamation charge which also brought a guilty verdict from the jury arose from a single criminal act and therefpre should only bear one punishment "I don’t think it would offend the court to say that Mr Cannon is hot looking forward to going to jail” Mr : VanSciver said But Judge Russon told the attorney the jail term was not imposed a? a sentence but imposed as a term of probation Cannon was sentenced to six months in jail on each of the four counts before Judge Russon plus a total of $2500 in fines but the jail terms and all but $500 of the fines were suspended on the condition Cannon adhere to terms of probation which included spending 30 days in the Summit County Jail “That imposing the jail time did not come easy for me” Judge Russon said He had told Cannon at the time of the original sentencing that he felt some jail time was necessary because he felt Cannon had abused a position of great power and had not demonstrated that he was willing to take responsibility for his actions “You seem to blame everybody but yourself” the judge had told Cannon at the time of sentencing ‘It is time we put this matter behind us” the judge said Tuesday in denying Mr VanSciver’s motion to set aside the jail sentence He reminded the defense attorney that Cannon as terms of the plea bargain had agreed not to pursue any appeals pending from the extensive litigation that had resulted from the grand jury indictments against Canonce-powerf- ul two-wee- non After the hearing Cannon and his attorney abruptly left the court building without making a comment Cleared of Sex Charges Lawyer Says Nephew Lied By Chris Jorgensen Tribune Staff Writer The boy who accused a Woods Cross High School swimming coach of sexually abusing him lied said Deputy Davis County Attorney Brian Namba and charges will be dropped Dan Maroney 35 a teacher and coach at Woods Cross for the past 11 years was arrested June 25 handcuffed and charged with aggravated sexual assault He was placed in Davis County Jail and later released on $10000 bail Since the incident Mr Maroney has sold his Woods Cross home been suspended from his summer coaching job without pay and has moved out of the state He also said that because of attorney and bail fees the incident has cost him about $15000 The boy a native of Rhode Island is Mr Maroney’s nephew He had been living with Mr Maroney but has since returned to Rhode Island to live with his mother "We reinterviewed the nephew and basically he was lying' Mr Namba said adding that the boy was homesick and wanted to return to his parents He also had a “personality conflict" with his uncle and apparently concocted the story to get back at his uncle and return home Woods Cross police were holding the boy June 25 concerning a shoplifting charge During that interview the boy stated he had been beaten and sexually abused by Mr Maroney Mr Maroney who may have overheard the conversation from the next room ran home and locked himself in his house Woods Cross Police Chief Niles Stahle said As police waited to arrest Mr Maroney the boy told police there were several guns in the house and he may try to nurt himself or someone else “It took close to an hour to get him high-power- A out of the house" Chief Stahle said “He had gone in there and locked the door The boy had said he may be and said there were some guns in the house and that’s why we were concerned” In a telephone interview Tuesday with the Tribune Mr Maroney said he has been “totally humiliated” by the ordeal “It was like I was stripped naked and forced to walk through the streets of my neighborhood” he said “I saw the news broadcast of my arrest on TV and heard my name being raped for something I hadn’t done 1 just went into an emotional shock” high-power- He said it was that emotional shock that made him hesitate in surrendering to police “No one approached me and told me I was under arrest The police had my neighborhood blocked off and policemen had guns across the hoods of their cars" he said “At no time did I threaten a policeman I just totally lost emotional control” "The police and media made a big deal of my having guns in the house he said “Of course I had guns in m’y house I’m a hunter and most hunters See B-- 2 Column 4 |