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Show I ; IX Tuesday SOW-0- 2 oNiirnwouoHjlJ! 8 -S- WBrSgf11??' y0 December 17, 2002 11 1th Year -- Price, Utah No. 101 . , ?.' a a.$Z- - 500 wA ' i'.;r.tv V ' Commission addresses fairgrounds concerns By RICHARD SHAW Staff reporter group that uses the fairgrounds for a profit motive must provide Potential conflicts and liability situations at the fairgrounds were addressed by the Carbon County Commission last The room was filled with people for the meeting and the majority had come to talk with the commission about just such amove. "This whole thing stems from an incident where someone exchanged money for practice, exolained Rhonda Peterson, county fairgrounds coordinator. I just dont want to see us penalize whole groups of people for what just a few are doing. There are a number or issues to address liability insurance. Vfednesday night. The problems have stemmed from a clouded idea of what constitutes public use of the local fairgrounds and what business use is. Over the years, a number of horse and livestock organizations have used the facility on a regular basis with little problem. But what came to light recentfy was the fact that some that were using the facilities were charging others to ride stock during practice times. The renumeration mostly seemed to be inthe form of feed for animals and such, but still county officials were concerned about the situation. I think the commission may want to regulate the rough stock Carbon government builds protective structures for canines at animal shelter Carbon government continues to improve the overflow area at the animal shelter on Utah Highway 10. In the past, officials were hesitant to keep dogs at the shelter due to the lack of structures to protect the animals from the elements. But recently, animal control director Patty Pierce traveled to Kane County and viewed unique shelters at the Best Friends sanctuary. Since then, the county has built similar shelters in the outside enclosure. The structures shade the dogs during the warm weather and can be closed off on the bottom so the animals will have a comfortable place to sleep during the cold weather. in this situation. Chad Greenhalgh, who, along with some others, have been regularly practicing at the facility for a number of years was concerned about what might happen. We have been buckin bulls out there for years, he stated. . Lately other parties out there have been breaking the rules. We have all had a schedule that we could work with and no one has practice at the fairgrounds, stated county attorney Gene Strate. Its a matter of safety and been hurt liability. Obviously then ability factor was the biggest sticking point in the whole matter. The county requires that any individual and problem was obviously with people coming in to the arena to Commissioners began to discuss the problem. Their biggest watch and then not being covered by insurance in case something (Continued on page 2A) County board of education votes to conduct leeway election By RICHARD SHAW other 3 percent could be cut from our state appropriations. Right now, Utah has the lowest amount of money allocated per student in the nation and has the second highest amount of students in school, second only to California, added Armstrong. Following the comments from the superintendent, the panel approved a resolution to notify the county clerks office of the boards intent to conduct a Staff reporter Last Wednesday, the Carbon County Board of Education decided to conduct a voted leeway election on Feb. 4, 2003. But while the vote favoring the leeway election was unanimous, the decision was not reached without debate and comments by board members. This is going to be hard to sell to a lot of people in the county, stressed board member Whit Borla. We have a predominance of senior citizens in the county that are on fixed incomes, In the event the leeway proposal passes at the election polls, the exact details of what the extra money would be used for will not be available until early next month after the board of education meets at a work session to determine the particulars. But it is known how much of a levy the school district officials intend to ask Carbon residents to endorse. . It appearstheonlychoicevot-er- leeway election. According to figures s would have is to approve or disapprove a .0011 mill levy. If approved it would bring die local property taxes from being in thelowest 10 county assessments Walt Boria, superintendent David Armstrong, Jim Leonard, Grady McEvoy and Sam Ctiiara sit in the board room at the school district's new offices before the public meeting last Wednesday. The session was the first meeting in the room and the last for outgoing board member Chiara. in Utah to an above average level or thirteenth in die state from the top of the assessment ladder. The proposed increase would raise a $100,000 homes property taxes by slightly more than $61 per year. The increase would raise a similar valued business to $110 more than what the taxes are now. At this point in time, there education discussed some of the more fine points of what might be proposed. The examples included hiring special reading are a lot of people out of work and many have less money, stated board member Grady McEvoy. In selling this we will have to define each point of why the money is needed and what it is going to be used for. We need to show specific impacts and what we believe it will do for the schools. In November, the board of teachers for the elementary schools, funding some building improvements and possibly giving raises to teachers. However, the points discussed last month and other details will be ironed out at the education boards work meeting in January. We have some important problems that we need to ad- ; By RICHARD SHAW Staff reporter The $117 million dollar bud- 'get shortfall the state is facing ' for 2003 is a reality that no one can hide their head from. But ' how to solve that problem, with- ; out almost destroying some cher- ; fished institutions in the state is a ; point ofdebatethatwOl be taken . up by the legislature when thety meet in special session later this : ! : I. ; - .1 : Monday morning, Governor' Mike Leavitt gave his detailed ideas on how to handle die short- fall, and those ideas stated di-tectfy what he has been saying eversincebefoundoutheneeded to call out the lawmakers for an extra session. Hie state needs to. protect education from any fur-r ther financial deterioration. - . This is a very difficult pro- cess, unlike anything that we have had to do since the late 1980s, the governor told a group of re- porters at the state capitol and on line. The last time we faced ary- - . thing like this, I wonder if any of the present legislators were even here. Reporters in the room and on the phone named two or three, but could come up with no more. This is a whole new world for those that have known nothing but growth and prosperity in both business and government, he stated. The rhetoric has been going on for weeks, with some mem-wee- k. bersofthe legislature proposing that a three and a half percent cut across the board might be the . best answer to cut the money needed out ofthe states near triple billion dollar budget However the governor sees mat as the easy way out for lawmakers, not the right way. It would be much more con- venient for them to cut that way, but it certainly wouldnt be right, the governor stated. We are presently $700 below what the 49th state in the hnion is spending on education per child. We are $2500 below the average funding level. I am not one to equate a good education with how much money a state spends, but we must still have the basics in place. Funding has a substantial impact on the quality of education. You can cut, but n can get down to the point where cuts are affecting everything. We have cut all we can out of public and higher education. So how does the governor think the problem should be solved? I think we can look at this situation in one of three ways, says Leavitt. We can continue to cut education and build roads. That is one way. Or we can raise taxes to keepbuflding roads with-ocutting education. Finally we carl defer building or rebuilding a lot of roads, and use the money The board members were in- troduced to the program by school district business manager William Jewkes, who said at first dent David Armstrong. This he had his doubts about the pronext year, insurance in the disgram when he first saw it. I wondered about it, he told trict will be going up 14 percent the board concerning the money and, with the $1 17 million shortfall the special session of the Leg- ' involved. But when I had our islature is meeting about later legal counsel review it and this month, it appears that an (Continued on page 9A) dress, stated Carbon Superinten- Leavitt explains recommendations to alleviate Utah's budget shortfall - dis- cussed during Novembers board meeting, it will cost the school district about $3,000 to fund the election. In an unrelated action at last week's public meeting, the board of education voted to begin a new physical fitness program at Carbon High School. The program is currently being used in 71 other schools in the state. i m !?$&$ 7 i3 ...... ,;v;: ;;V IR ut to shore up the rest of the state government The governor handed out a document detailing the road projects he would like to see deferred. He would keep most of (Continued on page 7A) V Gas company representatives tour local ffretower facility Price Chief Kant Boyack explains the functions of the located near the county fairgrounds to ConacoPhiltips representatives. Agroup of gas company officials visited the site last Saturday and received a guided tour of the facility. At the conclusion of the tour, Ihe company presented Carbon Commissioner lorn thewsacheck to coveraportionrfthe building expenses. According to Boyark, local crews wilstari utilizing the tower nert spring after training hm been received by fire officials as to how to operate the equipment correctly. |