Show B4 Me skit S lAkv Tribune UTAIIMIE VEST Saturday I IA 62001 rods nuclear few on answers shipping questions Many Goshute dissidents rebuffed by federal court told to pursue other avenues Safety issues: IX)F officials have yet to decide how the material will be transported or how it will be kept secure Dissident Goshutes failed once again Friday to get the federal courts to invalidate a lease allowing spent reactor fuel to be stored on the Skull Valley Goshutes Ind fan Reservation The lOth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld !Astrid Court Judge Paul Cassell's 'Ng ruling that the dissidents first must let the Interior Department's administrative process take its full course before the courts can consider their complaints The court also advised the dissidents the Interior Department is the proper place to get help with their internal tribal leadership fights "Until plaintiffs make such a filing exhaust administrative remedies and present this court with a final agency action" the appeals court said in an opinion released Friday "their claims regarding legitimate tribal leadership will meet the same fate as those concerning the fuel storage lease" Officials from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs TRIBUNE STAFF AND WIRE SERVICES LAS VEGAS — An Energy Department official had no immediate answers Friday for a congressional panel seeking details of federal plans for shipping spent nuclear reactor fuel to a national radioactive waste dump in Nevada Cary Lanthrum director of the department's Office of National Transixirtat ion said the DOE will make public in about six weeks whether it will use trains trucks or a combination of both to get the nation's most radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain "Once we make a decision about mode then we'll start talking about where routes will go" Lanthrum said after testifying in Las Vegas before six House transportation committee and railroad subcommittee members US Hep Jim Matheson DUtah noted much of the waste likely would come through Utah either by rail or road and expressed disappointment with the lack of details on the waste shipping plans A member of the !louse Transportation Committee Matheson criticized the Energy Department's decision not to include an indepth review Of moving the waste to Nevada as part of decision on Yucca its original Mountain Four of every five Utahns live within e three-memb- e trains carrying the lethally dangerous waste through Utah each year over the life according to disposal site's on analysis of the Energy Department's plans "They should have assessed the risk not only in Nevada but also in Utah" Matheson said in an interview after the hearing "It's clear to me they didn't think through the transportation when they f Funeral services were held Friday for Harold W Simpson 83 an integral part of Utah Gov J Bracken Lee's administration in the 1950s who later established the first public relations department at Mountain Fuel Supply Co He died Feb 28 from complications associated with Alzheimer's d isease After serving in the US Army in the Pacific Theater during World War 11 Simpson landed a reporting job in 7'he Salt Lake 7'ribune's Ogden bureau He later obtained a master's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and joined Lee's administration in 1949 after Ike became Utah's first Republican governor in 24 years Simpson served as a press secretary speech writer and policy adviser for Lee As a representative of the governor's office he was one of five Utahns designated atomic exploto witness an above-grounsion at the Nevada Mercury Proving Grounds in 1951 At the end of Ike'S two terms Simpson joined Mountain Fuel and established the natural gas utility's public relations department in 195711e retired from the company in 1980 Following the war Simpson remained in the Army Reserve and retired after 30 years of active and reserve service Ile is survived by his wife Adella an Army nurse he met (luring the war and married in 1945 and by four children and seven grandchildren et 4: e tt' Mont — Two boys found dead in a snowy field on the Flathead Indian Reservation were buried Thursday as investigators tried to determine how they got their hands on lethal amounts of liquor and whether any adults were to blame Authorities said it was looking more likely that an adult may have given the boys the hard liquor About 350 packed a community hall for the funeral for Frankie Nicolai III and Justin Benoist sixthgrade friends from the reservation town of Ronan about 30 miles south of here The Rev Gary Heller cautioned against casting blame for the boys' deaths saying people should instead concentrate on what could have been done to help the boys and apply that to prevent a similar tragedy in the future "There is a great pleasure and great Joy In watching young people grow watching them learn in the classroom or in the school of life" Re Iler said "Some of that joy has future agendas Continued from III Voices for Utah Children and other child protection advocates had worried the proposed changes would undo a decade of reforms to the child welfare system —Vb1 lilt's amazing is we were 1 '" ' 1 '- ' '''b' I 1ir P4 ktp:7 t 1 li 01 - 1 rt' 44- o- - u - lit CI' 1 ' ' ti ' foove41 - 1 ' ' 41 A t f 1 i ( : i 1 : t ' I r f i -- 1- - 4') 4 104i- - ' 11 If - 4-- ' 4 - a 44 - 44A1 d ri f k tv 2 -- - 14dL'A ' e '1 ) r r4 :30-- ' tr : - ‘41 ' 4 -- elt'''''" ‘ ' e '''111 s - ''''' 1 t ' ' I' ''''' -- - i i 1)'‘ '' - f ' 04 4 ' '' ''' t 4 I t e '''' I ' k - ' )'w - i s - 4 Nr1 - i f - - A 4''4 ' s ' ' 4 ' 7 era: 434 41 r if —tiols5 4i t N441 'T- -t 14 t t '''' ' f - 4- ''''' 714' 'p I: i ' ) cA 1 ' ' - 4 f y ' A t 4' f e 14 0( :i 4 '' ' 1 4 i4 I Rict EGANIlitSok Lake Tnbtuar Jordan Bierly 10 tubes down a hill at Boulton Elementary days" Authorities say the boys apparently skipped afternoon classes at Ronan Middle School last Friday and got their hands on a large amount of liquor A friend who went searching for them found their bodies in a field Monday about 100 yards apart Authorities believe the two died sometime late Friday or early Saturday Investigators said Nicolai's blood-alcohlevel was a lethal 050 percent l Benoist who had a level of 020 percent died of a combination of alcohol poisoning and hypothermia Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron initially said it appeared the boys had pilfered the liquor from several homes on the reservation but he said Thursday there was growing evidence someone may have given the boys the booze possibly at a party Barron said about a dozen officers from various agencies continue to follow leads One person is of particular interest as a suspect Barron said adding: "I think we have a chance of working with this guy" Ile declined to elaborate blood-alcoho- able to stop this steamroller" Crompton said at the end of the session One of the most bills house Bill 266 apparently was doomed by the breadth of change it would bring Sponsored by Rep Wayne Harper RWest Jordan the bill changed more than 50 areas of child welfare code — beginning with redefining what abuse is and ending with a tougher standard of proof needed In terminating parents' rights After five rewrites the bill hhrunk from 109 to 78 pages of law "There are so many parts that g f 4 - '' - ' rodosolowløø"' few ELMO --- tie vi 1- been taken from this community the last By SUSAN GALLAGHER llit Ammitied Pme 00017‘ t' in Bountiful Friday afternoon Look for Boys buried source oflethal alcohol sought likely for Reporter Judy Fahys contributed to this story STILL TIME TO TUBE services are held Child laws invoking the name of the world's worst nuclear disaster She insisted the government should make public its plans to prevent terrorists from attacking trains or trucks hauling casks of highly radioactive waste across the nation Lanthrtun responded that methods for protecting shipments were classified But he said DOE officials could brief members of Congress behind closed doors d v HW Simpson fahyeasitribcom "Yucca Mountain is not a done deal" Porter declared during a break in the session chaired by Rep Jack Quinn RNY and including Reps Corrine and Brown DM Julia Carson Matheson Berkley said she hoped the committee would back legislation to force a comprehensive Energy Department study about the safety of transporting nuclear waste before the department picks routes "The public should know how the government is going to protect people from a mobile Chernobyl" she said chose the site" The Bush administration and Congress in 2002 picked Yucca Mountain as the site to bury 77000 tons of highly radioactive waste now stored at commercial and military sites in 39 states The department is expected to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of this year for a license to open the repository in 2010 Nevada is fighting the plan in federal and court and Reps Jon Porter used Friday's Shelley Berkley hearing to marshal support for another attempt to stop the project in Congress five miles of routes that trains and trucks that might be used to haul high-levnuclear waste to Yucca Mountain That could mean 2408 trucks or 448 Stephanie K Seymour basically said the dissidents must exhaust the Interior Department's review system before the courts would be able to take up the case The dissidents have been in that system since at least 2000 They have four pending complaints before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals in Washington DC In addition attorneys in those cases more than a year ago asked Interior Secretary Gale Norton to personally address their concerns On Friday Idaho attorney Paul EchoHawk said there has been no word from the Interior Department on any of those cases In the meantime three of those behind the dissident case — Sammy Blackbear Marlinda Moon and their attorney Duncan Steadman — have been indicted for accessing tribal funds after a 2001 recall and election fight Also indicted was tribal Chairman Bear accused of embezzling tribal funds and failing to report some of his income from the tribe to the Internal Revenue Service were not available for comment on the ruling late Friday Nor were attorneys for the dissidents a loose-kni- t group of Skull Valley members opposed to plans for the reactor-waststorage Goshute Executive Committee The led by Chairman Leon Bear signed the lease in 1997 to allow Private Fuel Storage a consortium of utility companies to use 100 acres of the reservation as a way station for up to 44000 tons of reactor waste Although the lease terms have never been publicly disclosed tens or hundreds of millions of dollars is rumored to be at stake for the tribe The lease has triggered disputes among the 70 Goshute adults as Private Fuel Storage pursues a license for the facility from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission One battle landed in Cassell's court after 18 dissidents sued officials of the BIA for giving preliminary approval to the lease Among the complaints raised was that the agency had taken just three days to review the paperwork Friday's appeals court ruling penned by Justice IlYJUI)Y FAIII'S litrSitit Lake Thinmt There also continued to be conflicting accounts of when officials were notified the boys were missing Tribal police said the parents alerted them of the disappearances and were involved in looking for them over the weekend Barron said his office was never alerted The reservation boundaries overlap those of the county In a written statement Thursday the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes said it planned a "thorough internal review of all aspects of this tragic loss" Jay Doyle a sheriffs detective said area residents are "disgusted" by the boys' deaths and that has prompted many calls about the possible source of the liquor At Ronan Middle School where the boys were part of the American Indian majority a crisis team including counselors was with students this week trying to help them work through the loss of two classmates "It's hard to tell what's in the heart of each child so you treat each as if they're in mourning" Principal George Ileaton said Wednesday "This is a life lesson for many people" like" Sen Sheldon Kil !pack said in the Senate as he voted against the measure "I Just don't have a comfort level I I feel I need" Still laws that passed will bring changes to the child welfare system House Bill 261L sponsored by Rep Mike Thompson creates a state Office of Child Welfare Parental Defense aimed at strengthening the rights of parents Medical neglect by parents was also dealt with in llousc Bill 140 sponsored by Rep laVar Christensen which t excludes parents from medical neglect allegations if a decision on treatment is made by a "mature minor" The bill also pro hibits Guardians ad Litem — attorneys who represent the interest of children in court — from speaking publicly about cases Christensen removed problematic parts of his bill such as giving parents the right to request a new GAL and a provision for Jury trials in child welfare courts Those issues will be studied over the next year The measure was the only bill Nathe Oakland Calif-basetional Center for Youth Law f some more snow today before Sunday's sun See Weather page De Democratic ads target Latinos in the Southwest THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — In a new ad airing Friday a young Latino girl asks "President Bush why did you break your promise?" It is part of an effort by a gyoup of Democrats to court Latinos and the Republican challenge incumbent The New Democrat Network started running two Spanish-languagads in Albuquerque NM Phoenix and Las Vegas kicking off what it says will be a $5 million advertising effort through spring and summer in media markets with high concentrations of Latinos So far the group says it has a $25 million pledge from several donors and is working to raise the rest of the money The Bush campaign disputed the ads saying the president's e budget calls for spending 30 percent more on institutions that aid Latinos than originally planned One ad tells Latinos that "the Democrats have always been our best friend With them progress Is secured" In the ad a Latino man watches as a rundown school and store morph into renovated buildings The man newsholds a Spanish-languag- e with the headline paper "Latinos applaud Democratic agenda" A second commercial — the one with the young girl — questions Bush's commitment to education "When he wanted to reach the White House George Bush promised to be a friend of the Latino community and do what's best for our children" the ad says "But he has not kept his promises" (NCYL) — which sued the state a Other decade ago in a case known as "David C" warned lawmakers against passing The NCYL setforced system-widtlement changes to child welfare in Utah In II3I40's original version the NCYL worried it ran afoul of federal laws and violated the lawsuit settlement agreements that are still monitored annually by a federal court Judge Gov Olene Walker said she hasn't selected any bills for veto and added "If it does more good than harm and doesn't affect the David C lawsuit I'll sign them" Jsanllniásllrlb corn that passed Include: e ? LI:Is chlid-weffa- re House Bill 54 which requires caseworkers to audio record their Interviews with children House Bill 90 which terminated a pilot project a year early by moving up statewide public access to child welfare cases to July 1 2004 House Bill 197 which pro- hibits the states Division of Child and Family Services from excluding child placement in a foster home because the parents own a gun 'I 00 |