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Show ACjunAdvocte, Price, Utah Wednesday, July New law stops loan sharks Until recently, you had almost no unslegal protection against crupulous debt collectors. They could harass and threaten you until ou were fired from your job, disgraced in your community, and practically driven from your home. If you died, they could come to your funeral and pester your family in front of neighbors and friends. There would have been little to stop them. Few debt collectors went so far as to attend funerals to collect bills; but many used tactics that involved serious invasion of privacy. The most common practices were telephoning in the wee hours of the night, using threatening and abusive language, informing ones employer about the debt, and throwing dispersion on one's character by phoning neighbors, friends and civic groups. Debt collectors also used such deceptive techniques as posing as lawyers policemen, or government officials; mailing documents, such as summons and eviction notices; and threatening to take extreme types of legal or illegal action. Many collectors cared not how but only whether they got their money. They cared little if the person was in poor health, near bankruptcy, or even innocent of the charge. official-lookin- g The New Law That has all changed now. In 1978, Congress passed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act which protects you from the more abusive and unethical practices of debt collectors. The philosophy behind the new law was that a personal debt was a private matter between you and your creditor and that debt collectors did not have the right to invade your privacy, harass your family, ruin your reputation, or Locals honored NOTICE TO CREDITORS Probate No. 4255 In the Seventh Judicial District Court of Carbon County State of Utah In the Matter of the Estate of CELINA LOUROS, Deceased. There were eight students from Carbon County listed on the spring honor roll at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City. To be named to the honor roll a student must maintain a grade average of 3.5 points all in better or academic subjects. Following are the students, their class where level and, their available, persons having major: All claims against the above estate are required to present them to the undersigned or to the Clerk of the Court on or before September 22, 1980, or said claims shall be forever barred. Myrtle B. Galanis P.O. Box 244 Price, Utah 84501 Attorney for Personal Representative: S.V. Litizzette 178 South Main Street Helper, Utah 84526 Published in the Sun Advocate June 18, 25, July 2, 9, 1980. Before the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining Department of Natural Resources in and for the State of Utah In the Matter of Amending Surface and Underground Coal Mining Regulations Pursuant to et. seq. Utah Code Annotated. THE STATE OF UTAH TO ALL PERSONS ININ THE TERESTED UTAH COAL MINING AND RECLAMATION REGULATIONS. Pursuant to the Utah and Mining Reclamation Act, Section et. seq. Utah Code 1 Annotated, 1953, the Board of Oil, Gas, and is proposing to amend the Surface and Mining Underground Marie Chemistry; NOTICE OF HEARING Cause No. OSM-00- 8 Before the Board of Oil, Gas and Mining Department of Natural Resources in and for the State of Utah In the Matter of Adopting Rules and Regulations for the purpose the establishing of Aban- doned Mined Land Reclamation Program NOTICE OF HEARING Cause No. OSM-00- 9 Coal Amy M. Bruno, junior; Brent Burnett, senior, History; Guy L. Crocco, senior, Coal pursuant to Section seq., UCA; 1953. THE STATE OF UTAH TO ALL PERSONS IN- TERESTED IN ABANDONED MINED LAND RECLAMATION OPERATIONS IN THE STATE OF UTAH. By the provisions of chapters 8 and 10 of Title 40, Utah Code Annotated, 1953, as amended, and Public Law Surface Control and Mining Reclamation Act of 1977, the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining has authority to make and promulgate rules and regulations for the proper administration of an Abandoned Lands Program for the State of Utah. Notice is hereby given that the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining has prepared a set of rules and regulations for the purpose of establishing the abandoned mined 95-8- 7, Nelson Durney, rulemaking Anyone interested in GAS, AND MINING Frank Secretary of the Board Division of Oil, Gas and Frank Secretary of Division of Oil, Mining the Board Gas and Mining 1588 W. North Temple 1588 West North Temple Salt Lake City, Utah 84116 Salt Lake City, Utah 84116 Phone:(801)533-577- 1 Phone: (801)533-577- 1 Published in the Sun Published in the Sun Advocate July 2, 1980. Advocate July 2, 1980. Restricted Contact Can the debt collector contact yoi whenever he wants? The answer is clearly No. This is one of the laws Lynda strong points. He cannot contact you Finance; Faldmo, junior, at inconvenient or unusual places Nursing; Nora Anne and times, such as at your daughters Nichols, senior, wedding, or before 8:00 a.m. and Spanish; and Shahab after 9:00 p.m. He cannot phone you Saeed, senior, In- at work if you or your boss dustrial Engineering. disapproves. However, a debt collector can use the usual means to contact you: in person, by mail, by telephone or by telegram. If you dont want him to contact you anymore, you can do one of two things. First, you can get a lawyer. If you wish, the debt collector must deal through your Utah Power & Light lawyer instead of directly with you. Co., Wednesday, Alternatively, you can simply write appointed Darcie H. the debt collector a letter, instructWhite, vice president ing him not to call or write you employee relations, to anymore. If you do this, he can no vice president of longer contact you except to inform public and corporate you what action he intends to relations reporting to take. Sidney G. Baucom, of all this? What is the vice The advantageadvantage executive is that it puts you president. The com- back into the drivers seat. You now pany, Wednesday, also have control over how, when and made other corporate where wish conduct to you changes that UP&L business. President, Harry This does not mean that you can Blundell, described as thumb your nose at any old debt departimproving collector or refuse to play ball with mental functioning him if he has a legitimate complaint. and also giving more He can always haul you into court. effective management But you are able to guard your control. privacy and better control the times Other changes in- and conditions under which you will clude: do business. The debt collector must Harry A. Haycock, now face you as an individual, with manager, engineering due respect for your wishes and administration, to needs, much as a banker or lawyer manager of employee would treat you in everyday relations; business. White named L. James Shoemaker, public affairs manager, to administrative assistant to the president for special projects; William R. Reese, administrative assistant, to manager of public affairs, working with local, state and federal governments and community organizations; Dave Mead, public relations supervisor, to director of public relations and advertising; -1 proposed damage your career prospects in order to collect a bill. Like any other citizen with a legitimate complaint, a debt collector was expected to follow decent and acceptable methods to settle a private dispute. If private attempts failed, then he must follow proper legal procedures to resolve the problem. How does the new federal law protect you? First, it requires the debt collector to provide you with timely and accurate information about the debt you owe. Within five days of first contacting you, the debt collector must send you a written notice telling you the amount of money you owe and the name of the person to whom you owe it. Furthermore, he must inform you what to do if you believe you do not owe the debt. What do you do if you do not owe money? You simply write to the debt collector and tell him so within 30 days. Thereafter, the debt collector cannot contact you again, unless he sends you proof of the debt, such as a copy of the bill. Thomas sophomore; C. Etzel, sophomore, Mining and Reclamation reclamation Regulations to adopt land and, Grant G. changes necessary to program pursuant to the public Pendleton, obtain State program Utah Coal Mining and information superthe United Reclamation Act (Section approval by et. seq., UCA, visor, to director of States Secretary of the Interior under the 1953). A hearing will be news and financial Federal Surface Mining held on Tuesday, July 22, reporting. Control and Reclamation 1980, at 10:00 a.m., in the Reese, Mead and A Division Act (Public Law ). of Wildlife Pendleton will report copy of the proposed rules Resources Auditorium, to Vice President and regulations may be 1596 West North Temple, Darcie White. The obtained from the Salt Lake City, Utah, for changes are effective Division upon request. All the purpose of con1. those persons interested sidering said rules and July in commenting upon the regulations. amendments may do so commenting upon said by appearing at a Board regulations may appear hearing on Tuesday, July and be heard on the above 22, 1980, at 10:00 a.m., in date or submit written the Division of Wildlife comments to the Division Resources Auditorium, prior to that date. A copy 1596 West North Temple, of the proposed rules and Salt Lake City, Utah or by regulations may be obsending written com- tained from the Division ments to the Division of upon request. DATED this 24th day of Oil, Gas and Mining by that date. June, 1980. DATED this 24th day of STATE OF UTAH DIVISION OF June, 1980. STATE OF UTAH OIL, GAS AND DIVISION OF OIL, MINING Doing-Xt- - 2, 1980 Progress noted Progress in treating cancer in young people has already saved more lives than the conquest of polio. Greatest im- provements in survival rates are for acute lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkins Disease and a form of bone cancer, osteogenic sarcoma. In the latter, for example, four out of five patients now survive, while only half a decade ago, four out of five succumbed to the disease. Guaranteed Privacy One of the most important parts of the law is that it clearly guarantees your right to privacy. It prohibits the debt collector from contacting any other person about the debt except to locate you, and the law is specific about this. He can talk to a friend, neighbor or relative only once and only to locate you. There is one exception: he can phone back a second time if he reasonably thinks that he got the wrong address the first time. Furthermore, and note this, he cannot tell anyone that you owe a debt. Moreover, he cannot do anything that would imply that you owe money or that he is a debt collector. For example, he cannot use a postcard to contact you nor can he write anything on an envelope i which indicates that he is a debt collector. Debt is strictly a private affair. It can become a public matter only if the dispute is not resolved privately and is taken to the courts. Even then, action must follow well established legal procedures which provide certain guarantees for all parties. Prohibited Another Practices aspect of the law is that it specifically prohibits the most common types of onerous collection practices. It forbids certain annoying and degrading contact techniques. For example, a debt collector can no longer use obscene or profane language; he cannot threaten to harm your person, your property or your reputation; he cannot repeatedly use the telephone to annoy you. He cannot phone without identifying himself. The law prohibits the debt collector from using false representation or information. He cannot use a false name: he cannot pose as a policeman, government agent, attorney, or credit analyst. He cannot imply that you committed a crime or misrepresented the amount you owe. He cannot send you forms, implying federal major they are legal documents when they are not, or vice versa. He cannot threaten to take legal action unless he actually intends to do so. The law protects you against certain unfair accounting and business practices. For example, a debt collector cannot deposit postdated checks in advance, collect amounts larger than the debt (unless allowed by law), or pressure you to accept collect telephone calls. Finally, if you owe several debts through him, he must pay off the debts in the order you wish. What kind of debts are covered by the law? It covers all personal, family and household obligations, such as money owed for the purchase of clothes, furniture, automobiles and medical care, as well as for charge accounts. Note, the law does not negate a legitimate debt; it only regulates the collection process. At first glance the law seems quite comprehensive. But theres one problem. It only covers what the law calls third party debt collectors. These are professional collectors, to whom the area automobile dealer or credit card company turns over its bad accounts. Hospitals, banks, stores and other businesses that collect their own debts are not covered by the law. It is believed that the worst abuses are practiced by the professional, third-part- y collectors, yet a sizeable debt is owed to of consumer portion hospitals, banks and stores who collect their own debts. It is known that some of these institutions also use unethical unfair collection techniques. Many consumer advocates believe that the federal law is seriously flawed and should be extended to cover all collectors of debt. Last year New York City passed a law of its own that went a long way to narrow this gap. That new law supplements the Federal law by enlarging the to include term "debt collectors creditors collecting for themselves. However, the law does not affect government representatives acting in an official capacity and certain consumer groups. A Simple Computer Error this Well, you may say, protection is all fine, but what if the problem is a simple computer error rather than an overdue debt? For that, you are protected by the Federal Fair Credit Billing Act of 1975. You just have to know how to apply the law to contest and correct a bill. If you find a mistake in your bill for example, a double billing or an incorrect charge the first thing to do is to telephone the company. Next, whether or not you received assurance that the correction would be made, write a simple note to the company on a separate sheet of paper, not on the bill. From the time you noted that the credit card company billed you incorrectly, you have 60 days to inform them in writing of the mistake. The creditor then has 30 days within which to acknowledge your letter and another 60 days to investigate and report back to you. During this free time the company may not demand payment of the bill or related finance charges. It also cannot rescind the use of your card, turn your bill over to a collection agency, or report you as a risk to a credit bureau. You, in turn, must continue to pay the uncontested portion of the bill. If the companys investigation shows that the company was at fault, it must immediately correct its records and remove any penalty charges. If, however, the findings show that the company was correct, then you must begin payment of the principal plus the accumulated finance charges. In case of an unresolved billing dispute, it is advisable to check your files at the local credit bureau to see if your response has been included. LETTER to the Editor DELUGED Editor: Because you were thoughtful enough to publish my letter, extolling the advantages of living in Costa Rica and Colombia, we have been deluged with mail from your readers. So may I, through your letters column, assure them that we are delighted with their responses and will eventually answer each and every letter? Muchas gracias! Juanita Bird (Mrs. Lewis M. Bird) Costa Rica Y ourself More Strokes to the Brush If you think your paint brushes have brushed their last strokes, you clean brushes may be wrong. Here are some ways to keep your new ones: and restore those neglected Brushes used in oil paint or varnish should be cleaned in turpentine, mineral spirits or any kind of paint thinner specified on the label of the paint or varnish by brushing the brush back and forth on until newspaper and then in a shallow pan of the solvent, repeating clean. Then wash the bristles in a mild detergent and warm water. . If a brush has been used in latex or a similar paint, clean it with a detergent and water or soap and water, holding it under the faucet until all the paint is gone. A brush used with shellac should be cleaned with denatured alcohol. Lacquer thinner should clean a brush used with lacquer. them Improperly cleaned brushes can usually be restored by soaking in the correct solvent. Loosen hardened paint with a special water-bas- e brush softener. Caked-o- n (or latex) paint sometimes comes in boiled is vinegar. off when the brush Remember: when you soak a brush, dont rest it on its bristles. until Suspend it in the solvent, letting it soak 15 to 20 minutes or the paint is removed. Remove paint from the heel and handle, too. When all of the old paint has been removed, wash the brush in warm, lie flat and soapy water and rinse. Comb out the bristles so they smooth. Allow the brush to dry. Wrap all of your cleaned brushes in aluminum foil or heavy brown dust-freHang them wrapping paper tied with a string to keep them store. flat to or lay them Its a good idea to use a different brush for each type of finishing material and use it for that only. This is especially true of shellac or lacquer. Mark the handle with its particular use to avoid confusion. oil-ba- e. Face-Li- ft for Wood Burners In these days of soaring energy costs, more and more people are finding g stoves to be an effective supplemental source of home well as a good investment. And they are having fun by as heating, cook-stovg and heaters to the antique restoring functional antique gems. Heres how: Once youve located your stove, check it for soundness by tapping the inside and bottom walls with a screwdriver. Also check for cracks. Is the trim nickel-plated- ? Salvageable? Test by polishing the worst steel wool. If it passes muster, proceed spot with Brasso and to the major work. Remove the nickel (or brass or copper) trim and polish with steel wool, then polishing juice and a soft Brasso and cloth. Remove the isinglass windows and frames. Replacement frames should be available in your hardware store. Remove the rust from the stove. If the trim is detached, have with d look in yellow pages under monument works it carborundum crystals. If the trim is attached, have it dipped in a heated chemical bath by an antique-aut- o stripper. If your stove has porcelain trim, use a coarse rotary wire brush and electric drill, a cleaner and wet sponge. Paint the oven with stainless steel paint, and paint or polish the wood-burnin- wood-burnin- sand-blaste- tub-and-ti- le exterior. Replace the trim and isinglass windows and give the stove a final touchup with a soft cloth. Uncle Sam Gives Back Taxes Some of that money youve been giving to Uncle Sam could be helping The to make your home more comfortable and energy-efficien- t. National Energy Act of 1978 provides up to $300 in tax credits for g home improvements. If youre willing to invest some energy-savinmoney in your home or apartment, you can save on heating bills and taxes and stay warm, all at once. The tax credit you receive will equal 15 of the first $2,000 you invest in qualifying equipment, including any labor costs for installation. The total credit is subtracted directly from the amount you owe in federal income tax for the year in which you make the improvements. If you want to go all out and install renewable energy source equipment, your tax credit equals 30 of the first $2,000 you invest and 20 of th.e next $8,000, for a total of up to $2,200. If your credit is more than the amount of tax you owe, the difference will be taken off the next year's tax. To qualify for the credits: Improvements must be made on your principal residence. That includes apartments, condominiums and cooperatives. If you live in a cooperative and share the costs of energy-savin- g equipment, the credit will be figured according to your share in the investment. The residence must have been built before April 20, 1977, for g d energy-savinequipment installed equipment. Solar and d in new homes is eligible for credit. So'are solar, and residence reconstructed on or a new installed geothermal equipment before April 20, 1977, if you moved in after April 19, 1977. If you make improvements on one residence and then move, the credit still applies to the first $2,000 you invest in the new home. The same goes for the first $10,000 of renewable energy source wind-powere- wind-powere- equipment. Carpeting, drapes, panelling and exterior siding are not eligible for credit, as their prime function is considered to be decorative rather than insulation. Items that do qualify include: Insulation applied to ceilings, walls, floors, roofs, around pipes, ducts or water heaters Caulking Weatherstripping Storm or thermal windows and doors Automatic furnace ignition systems Clock thermostats Replacement burners for furnaces or boilers Modified flue openings Meters that tell you what energy is costing you as you use it Solar energy or geothermal systems designed to provide most of your heating, cooling or hot water Wind energy equipment Eventually, the Internal Revenue Service will issue minimum quality standards for qualifying equipment. Only equipment meeting the standards will cam you a credit. Items specifically excluded include new boilers or furnaces that replace less efficient equipment, wood or peat burning stoves, flourcsccnt lights, hydrogen-fueleequipment, methane gas produced by natural decomposition, photovoltaic cells that convert solar energy directly to electricity, and energy derived from tidal forces or water d power. |