Show mL s “ e Serving Utah’s Great Pahvant Valley Delta Utah $1500 in out of month $800 and $900 (In Advance) Copy 50c USPS 0 Vol 76 No 33 Feb 20 1986 Killers point fingers in Fillmore murder Two suspects remain incarcerated in the Millard County Jail this week charged with the brutal murder of Fillmore teen Sharon Sant Court documents have revealed the suspects led another police to one Robert William Bott 27 was the cond suspect He was arrested at 12:01 am Monday without incident at The Lunt Hotel in Cedar City George Wesley Hamilton 41 who was arrested Saturday in connection with the August 1985 murder of the coed alledgedly gave officers Mr Bolt’s name Mr Hamilton’s arrest apIronically parently was prompted by Mr Bott who provided information to a third That third party party made an anonymous call to police tipping them to Mr Hamilton’s alleged involvement Documents signed by circuit judge Phillip Eves allege that Mr Hamilton has told officers that it was Mr Bott who killed Ms Sant "George Wesley Hamilton has told Robert William Bott officers that was present at the time of the killing and that Robert Bott did kill Sharon I Sant at Cove ort and participated with him George Wesley Hamilton in the burial of her at the Cov e Fort sight sic where her body was found” the complaint says The complaints charging both Mr Bott and Mr Hamilton with murder and aggravated kidnapping indicate the murder took place either during the rape or attempted rape of MsSanrand that the woman may have been tortured before she was mutilated and buried in a decapitated shallow grave near Old Cove Fort Millard County The complaints also outline criminating evidence found at the grisly crime scene including bloody fingerprints found on a bottle which have been identified as belonging to Mr Hamilton Those prints ate imprinted in blood of the same type as the victim's the complaint says The complaints and probable cause statements were filed Tuesday in the Fillmore Department of the 9th Circuit Court The suspects were arraigned that day before Fillmore Justice of the Peace Ronald Hare Mr Bott and Mr Hamilton face a preliminary hearing before Judge Eves Friday February 21 1986 at 10:00 am in Fillmore Sources at the court said they expect the preliminary hearing to be delayed by as much as 30 days St George attorney J MacArthur Wright has accepted Public Defender duties for Hamilton while Millard County Public Defender Milton Harmon of Nephi is being offered the job of defending Bott Neither defendant was able to make bail Both remain in the uesday Milard County Jail at rillmore Police have banned release of defenis dants pictures until completed The complaint filed against Mr Bott states that the Cedar City Police Department received an "anonymous phone call" on Jan 29 advising them that Mr Hamilton could be the man who committed the murder Further investigation identified the man who made that phone call and also determined that he "gained his information from Robert William Bott” Based on this information vestigators obtained fingerprints from Mr Hamilton on file with both the Salt Lake City Police Department and the Cedar City Police Department and an expert matched those prints to fingerprints found both on a beer can and the bottle retrieved from the crime scene “Said beer can was found near the side of the road and near an area on the ground where blood and hair were found that was the beginning of a trail that led to the grave and body of Sharon L Sant” the complaint says “The glass bottle was found in the cond area where large deposits of blood and other evidence of violence were found and the fingerprints on said glass bottle were imbedded in blood on the bottle” 1985 police idenfified a maul found near the crime scene as the murder weapon “If there was a way of comparing I’d say this was one of the most brutal cases in the and bizarre murder history of the state” said Millard County Sheriff Ed Phillips Though police have previously said they do not know where the actual murder of Ms Sant occurred Millard County Deputy Attorney Dexter Anderson said that prosecution against the suspects will proceed under the assumption the killing was done in Millard County It was reported Monday that police are seat citing for the victim’s severed body pails the head arms legs and breasts Though authorities were concerned that the brutality of Ms Sant’s killing indicated a suspect likely to kill again Sheriff Phillips said no link has been found between the suspects and any other homicides Investigators also said there is no ev idence the suspects and victims ever met“Thete is still a lot of unanswered questions" the sheriff said "We still have a substantial amount of work to September of Mr Hamilton was arrested Saturday a St George motel where he had been staying with his Mr Anderson said daughter vestigators had been following him for a period of time and gave credit for the arrests to both the Millard County Sheriff’s office and the Cedar City Police Department who aided in the arrests Following his arrest investigators would not speculate on the motive for the murder However the complaints show that Ms Sant apparently was or was to be the victim of a sexual assault The charges state that the murder allegedly took place during the commission of a rape attempted rape object rape (a sexual assault with a foreign object) aggravated sexual assault andor in “This is one of the most bizarre murder cases in state history” —Sheriff Phillips that it was committed “in an expeeial-lheinous atrocious cruel or depraved manner by physical serious physical abuse or torture serious bodily injury of the victim before death” Ms Sant who was studying law enforcement at Southern Utah State College in Cedar City was last seen Aug 1985 hitchhiking to Fillmore to tend the funeral of a friend On Aug 16 her torso was found in a at the Old Cove Fort cutoff by of Transportation a Utah Department employee who followed a bloody trail up the side of a hill Both murder suspects are reported to be transient farm laborers who had been working for at least the past year in the Cedar City area Police said Mr In Hamilton is also a woodcutter do” Ms Sant knew the dangers of hitchhiking according to Southern Utah lawmen with whom she occasionally rode on patrol However without a car and wanting to attend the friend’s funeral she took the risk After her torso was found by UDOT worker who followed drag marks to the grave site it took another two weeks and a forensic anthropoligist to identify the remains as those of the missing woman Both murder suspects are being held in the Millard County Jail in Fillmore on $500000 bail Police noted that Mr Hamilton is a native of Southern Utah who spent a “substantial amount of time” in the US County Sheriff Ed Phillips at a September 198 press conference holds the maul used to kill Sharon Sant Though two suspects were arrested last weekend the motive remains unknown Millard Fillmore treasurer assumes duties--cit- y administrator is job dropped illmorc native Roy Tomkinson has been appointed to assume duties as city treasmer and other tasks to be determined by the city couik il His appointment piecludes the need to refill the position of city administiatot vacated by Dwight Day last October Fillmore Mayor Keith Gillens said the city council has decided that pan it h the help of the mavor’s job ill be to assume administrative functions assumed all adof the new Measurer Previously the city administiator ministrative duties and also acted as treasurer Treasurer is a job Mayor Gillens assumes administrative duties position The mayor must juggle tesponsibilities though lus is only a at the city with his job as an insurance agent Mr Tompkinson was picked by the council fiom among 25 applicants ssessot He has had previous government experience as Millard Counts lor the State lax Comfrom 1958 to 1966 He has also woiked mission up to 1979 In addition Mi Tompkinson foi 19 yeais was an independent dtsti ibutot of biead and milk in the rillmore atea a business he sold in 19SI Since IK then he woiked loi Deal den Motois in lillmoie as pails managci is also secretary for the rillmore Water Users Xssociation a position he will retain "lam real happy to get the job" Mr Tompkinson said “I like woi king with people and look forwatd to doing so as treasmei" Mayor Gillens said that the competition for the position was siitf with “The council has made a good decision and dozens of good applicants am an anxious to wotk with Mr Tompkinson" he said Army Great Basin National Park battle set as Congress reconvenes C rusaders and opponents are preparon the issue of a prof ing to posed Great Basin National Park on the UtahNevada border west of Delta as Congress reconvenes this week in Washington DC The 272 square mile park proposal at Nevada’s Wheeler Peak area was recommended out of a House Interior Subcommitted last October as an to a controversial Nevada Wilderness Bill The bill is awaiting for floor action in the House something proponents hope will happen during this new session of Congress Proponents claim the park the first such designation in the United Stales since new parks were created in Alaska in 1979 would mean millions in tourist dollars for eastern Nevada and western Utah The Great Basin National Park would be just 100 miles west of Delta on Highway 6'50 However a group proporting to represent the interests of grazing and mining concerns claims this thinking is flawed “We think the Ely and Delta Chamber of Commerce is being misled into thinking there will be a large increase in tourism due to the Ex said Charles Cushman park” ecutive Director of the National holders Association (NIA) “They don’t realize that in nearly all recently established parks the visitor satistics have been very disappointing” The NIA is also fighting park proposals in Oklahoma and California where as in the case of the Nevada proposal it claims rights of ranchers and miners will not be protected Bruce Minnesota Representative Vento who led the push to get the amendment out of committee denies He and other park these allegations also argue that the proponents of dollars lost to grazing and will bw more than compenmining fees sated by millions of dollars in tourist revenue Ironically local environmentalists such as JoAnn Garrett of Baker Nev located at the base of the 13063 foot Wheeler Peak also oppose the park She and others would like to see the area included in the Nevada Wilderness such as fifth generaAct Cattlemen tion Garrison Utah rancher Owen Gonder see the wilderness designation as a viable compromise “I don’t know what is up here that needs protection wish they would leave us alone but at least a wilderness designation would allow continued grazing and hunting” Mr Gonder said Rep Vento claims that rancher fears of lost rights are unfounded and that He the area does need the protection like others said it is time the Great Basin an area the size of Trance had a park to showcase its scenic wonders “The Great Basin is one of the last great ecosystems in the United States without a national park It is time we preserve some of its natural resources for future generations” Rep Vento said Some of the natural features considered worth preserving are ancient Bristlecone Pine forests rock glaciers and a topography roadless canyons which rises through five life zones from the desert floor to the summits of the Snake Range peaks Included in the park would be the Lehman Caves National Monument considered the one of the finest amples of limestone cave formations in world the Caves sports a fully Lehman developed visitor center similar to the kind which would have to be developed for the park in order to attract the hun Porter Rockwell drama Feb Perhaps for the first time ever- -a serious dramatic treatment of the life of Orrin Porter Rockwell is being presented to the world This diamatic biography will be performed February-2at 7:30 in the Pahvant Senior Citizens Center Fillmore This presentation will spark interest in learning more about the pioneers who came to Utah and the trials they endured A great deal of spiritual as has been well as artistic preparation a in order to present necessary all the who experienced character natural human emotions and who the legend not withstanding was innocent and noble and fulfilled his calling as a body guard and marshal In these times of cultural awareness a serious effort and has been made to remember preserve part of Utah’s linguistic heritage Every effort has been made by the to place the Rockwell The “legend" in proper perspective key to the theme and character is taken from Joseph Smith (comment in his F and Smith 5:125) History Joseph (eulogy at Rockwell’s funeral) who press the attitude of the LDS Church on this much maligned character of western history the actor James G Rosinson writer was born and reared mostly in Utah but spent enough of his younger in and Montana Arizona to have years the distinction of attending a school in each state His was completed in Kanab Utah Near there year round spare time was dedicated to the family spread on Skutumpah and Mill Creek where Brigham Young established a community and sawmill authoractor of automobile dreds of thousands tourists needed to realize the economic benefits of the park designation Park opponents such as the NIA Utah Congressman Jim Hansen and Nevada Represeiuaive Babaia Vucanovich say they have serious doubts this kind of development would ever occur even if the park was created “With federal budget cuts it is unlikely there will beany development at a new park for 20 years or more” Mr Cushman said “Promised development at other national parks is yet to happen I or example the Redwood National Patk had only 39500 visitors in 1983 after being promised two million by 1984 Voyageurs National Park has had the same experience with 200000 visitors in 1984 after a promise of over a million in 1971” Proponents claim the location of the Great Basin park is ideally sited between those in Utah and California They say the patk could easily attract hundreds of thousands of eastern and international visitors who target the national parks as they travel from one area to the other oi Utah Highway 6 50 which local residents hope may someday be designated as an extension of L'S Interstate 70 “Designating Highway 6 50 as terstate 70 is a dead issue to the fedeial government right now But a Cueat Basin National Park in Nevada could revive the issue and that could mean millions of dollars for us" said Glen chairman of the Millard Swalberg County Tourism Committee The park proposal has been coma political by battle in plicated Washington where Rep Hansen and 26 in Fillmore When asked what sparked his terest in Porter Rockwell he remarks “Everybody’s interested in oF Port had heard stories and read motion picture script material that made him out to be a little more than a killing machine and with an insatiable thirst for blood sex and money A little bit of reading revealed that thost who knew him best presented an entirely different picture Further research a style of living and working that was unique to Rockwell but didn’t fit the legend -- So started out to ‘set the world Mraight’ With a background as an actor my writing naturally began to take on the complexion of a dramatic presentation the play myself was a “Doing foregone conclusion Nobody knew Por just the way knew him and felt couldn’t concede a single point to another actor's interpretation" Mr Robinson has performed several parts in the Cedar city Shakespearean Festival among them the title role of “Julius Caeser” In conventional theater he has played major roles in: "Harriet" "Death Takes a Holiday" “Visit to a Small Planet" "Promised Valley” “I ront Page” “The Matchmaker" "Harvey” and most recently “The Diary of Anne Trank" as Mr I rank The production comes to us in out area highly recommended by those who have seen it in the Provo area The show is sponsored in Fillmore by the Civic Arts Council for your enterfor the tainments and as a "Chief Kanosh Pageant" which will be and 2 under g performed July 31 the direction of Norman Lister ucanovich who have both exptessed guarded support for the idea have adamantly opposed the wav it was introduced The western repiesentatives ate upset the paik proposal has been “tasked" on to the Nevada W ilderness Bill which Senate faces a stiff battle bv itself less version ptoposes wilderness lor Nevada than the House have a Great to bill “II we ate going Basin National Patk let' give n a bill commut'd page three |