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Show U. m pel cfeted; court , A picked courtroom witnessed legal maneuvers by ten attorney! and listened to testimony from 4 plaintiff witnesses and 15 for the defense aa the Ute Tribe jurisdictional bearings ' progressed over a two-da- y period In the UJ3. District courtroom of Judge Bruce 8. Jenkins. Defendants in the case are the State of Utah, Uintah County, Duchesne County, Roosevelt City and Duchesne City. Early in the hearings U.8. Attorney Ronald Rencher received permission from the court to file a friend of .the court" Amicus Curse brief on behalf of the Federal Government. Ute attorney Steve Boyden in his opening statement stated the "sole issue before the court is whether Congress abolished..." the Uintah Valley Reservation and the Uneom-paghr- e Reservation when it opened them lands to homesteaders..."The burden of proof oddly enough does not lie with the Utes, but with the defendants." The original boundaries of these two reservations encompass 4.2 million acres. The defense contends the Ute lands consist only of 1A million acres held .in trust for the Tribe by the Federal Government since the turn of the century. The trust lands include the Hillcreek extension whijch was added by Congress in 1948. Plaintiff and defendant testimony and briefs concentrated on jurisdictional issues relating to these lands and how these issues have been handled in the 20th century. The Ute Tribe relied heavily on testimony by employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Dept, of Interior, while the defense drew on witnesses from the State of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and State Dept, of Natural Resources,-'loca- law l officials and Dept had instructed him that he couldn't testily on the exterior ' boundaries of the Ute lands since Justice Dept attorneys would do that East did present testimony regarding grazing rights given the Utes on U.S. Forest lands. U.S. District Judge Jenkins will hand down his decision in the case after considering all testimony presented before him, reading briefs submitted by attorneys for the plaintiff and toe defense and hearing closing arguments on Friday, Oct 26 at 2 p.m. Regardless rf Jenkins decision, the ease is expected to be appealed all the way to'toe'UA. Supreme. Court There, the question of congressional intent would be decided. Did the historical boundaries of the Uintah Valley and Uncompaghre reservations remain the same when Congress opened the lands to settlers or were the boundaries in effect reduced to lands encompassing the trust lands. The Seymour case in 1962 and the Mata case in 1978 would support the Utos claim that the historical boundaries remained. The DeCoteau Case in 1975 and the Rosebud Case in 1977 would support the position of the defense that only the trust lands remained the property of the tribe. c OH HELLI Driver G. E. lueker, Salt Lake City, was uninjured his tanker, loaded with some 8000 gallons of diesel, overturned Friday west of Roosevelt as Lueker attempted to ' when turn the rig around. Quick action by a Plateau Oil Inc., pumper, and R. W. "Bob" Jones truckers had 'the rig pumped out and righted in a short time. VOLUME 67 NUMBER gmt 9, 1979 U I NTAhIBAS I N enforcement the U.S. Forest Service. Richard Dewsnup, attorney for the State of Utah, stated those "most affected (by a court decision) will be county and local governments who deal with issues on a local level." The Ute tribe is claiming jurisdiction over the original 4.2 million acres while the defendents claim' their jurisdiction is. limited to the trust SERVING ALL OF DUCHESNE COUNTY. PLUS WEST UINTAH COUNTY . lands or 1 A ' million' acresCivil and criminal, hunting and fishing, water and zoning are among the jurisdictional issues in question. Segments of the jurisdictional issues involved are under negotiation by the State of Utah and the Ute tribe, but they have not been approved by the tribe' as yet. Tentative agreement between State negotiators and tribal representatives was reached .within the last two weeks regarding water, hunting and fishing issues. Ute attorney Steve Boyden objected to several questions put to witnesses for the defense by State Attorney Richard Dewsnup on the grounds that such questioning might jeopardise ongoing negotiations between the Utes and the State. Most witnesses for the defense .testified they and the communities they had lived in had a general understanding that the Indian reservation consisted of the trust lands and that the Utes hadnt made any fictional claims outside the trust until the Ute constitutional code of 1975 was published. Duchesne County Sheriff George Marett testified the initial policy of toe sheriffs office 20 years ago was to ' arrest and prosecute Indians off the trust lands the same as anyone else. However, after two deaths in the Duchesne Jail in 1965, the sheriffs department was instructed to turn all felony cases involving Indians over to the FBI and in 1971 was instructed to 'stop prosecuting misdemeanors also. Marett stated lie was unsure who had issued these directives. UJ3. Forest Service regional director Charles East stated the Justice Utah sales tax exceeds property tax in cities A CENEX tanker rests ignominiously on side aftera culvert collapsed, causing the rig to overturn. ANOTHER VIEW - Tanker overturns, another damaged, in Friday accidents K . The Roosevelt Fire Department was called to the scene when a tanker loaded with about 8,000 gallons of diesel overturned Friday, Aug. 8, west of Roosevelt The driver, G. E. Lueker, Salt Lake Ballard building plans approved, funds received At the meeting of the Ballard Town Council' July 26, Councilman Jess Miller presented the final Town-Couht- y blueprints for the new building. Bids on the building will be opened at 2 p.m., Aug. 15 in . the Commissioners Room at the Uintah Courthouse, VernaL County ' It was decided that the 10 acres of land, donated to the Town of Ballard and- - Uintah County by Dr. Morrow, needs to be surveyed and fenced before construction can begin. The Ballard Water Improvement to the District will furnish a hook-u- p building. check in the A revenue-sharin- g amount of $4,884 was received by the council. It will be placed in trust with the Uintah County Treasurer and used for construction of the new building. Gerald Mitchell was appointed by the Council to represent the Town of Ballard at an educational meeting with regard to new Utah State laws concerning annexations by cities and towns, to be held at Park CHy. The Council directed that $157 be paid to Basin Insurance Agency for - . its bonding for the Mayor and Town Council. Mayor Karl Shisler reported that the option to purchase 72 acres from Dale Sorenson had been exercised, and the abstract of title for the property is now under review. , A letter from the Utah State Department of Transportation was read,- regarding monitoring for traffic density and flow at the junction of Highway 40 and the old Airport Road. Earl Murphy, water maintenance supervisor, reported that the pressure maintenance valve on the main water storage reservoir is malfunctioning. Contacts will be made with a trained technician to correct the problem. City, said that he was following what turned out to be some very bad directions, and aa he attempted to turn his truck around on a back road, a culvert collapsed, causing the tractor and trailer to turn over. A tanker from Plateau Oil, Inc., pumped off the load of diesel and made loader the delivery, and a front-en- d was brought to the scene to dig a trench and prevent spilled gas from running into an irrigation ditch. Lueker had high praise for the efficiency of truckers from R.W. "Bob 'Jones Trucking Co., Vernal, who, as soon as the truck was empty, put it back on its wheels with only, slight damage to one hatch. Lueker said that usually more damage results from truck than from righting a turned-ove- r the accident itself. The truck is owned by CENEX, a Salt Lake City firm, and was making a delivery to the Intermountain Farmers Association bulk facility. The accident occurred about noon Friday. Also Friday,' Clinton Manning, 82, Whiterocks, driving a late model pickup truck, was involved in two separate incidents, about 45 minutes Notice is hereby given that Roosevelt City Council meeting will not be held Aug. 21. City Council will resume at the regular time on Tuesday, Aug. 28. . An accidental drowning Monday, Aug. 6, claimed the life of Sidney D. Farnsworth, 24, Mt Home. The accident occurred on the Green River, below Flaming Gorge, about 8:30 p.m. Farnsworth was Explorer advisor for the Moon Lake Ward and was on a raft trip with six Boy Scouts, according to Daggett County Sheriff Gaylen Jarvie,, investigating officer. The party had stopped to gather rocks, when the river started to rise. The youngsters got back aboard the raft, and their leader tried to swim rear-ende- truck again hit her car. According to. Trooper Clayton Allred, investigating officer, Manning then stopped his truck, and apologized to' the young lady, and told her the police would be there soon. Then he got back into this Continued on page 3 Per capita taxes imposed by counties and municipalities in Utah are only slightly more than half of the U.S. average. Last year total taxes imposed by these focal units amounted to $124 per capita in Utah, compared with $227 per capita for the nation as a 2, in Utah. Counties in Utah still rely on the property tax as their major tax source. Last year, county property taxes in Utah totaled $02,173,000, while county sales taxes amounted to $10,532,000. More than 80 percent of all tax revenue received by counties in Utah came from the property tax. whole. Foundation analysts attribute the lower tax cost in Utah mainly to the feet that other states require a more sophisticated local government structure to deal with the more complex problems faced by the large metropolitan areas. The study notes that these focal taxes averaged $437 per capita in Connecticut, $520 in Massachusetts, $529 in New York, and $1,211 in Washington, D.C. In addition to lower per capita taxes, municipalities and counties in Utah also receive considerably less in Federal and state aid then their counterparts in other parts of the nation. Last year, Federal aid and state aid received by municipalities and counties in Utah averaged only $85 per capita, compared with $215 per capita throughout the U.S. The Foundation report points out that Federal aid to focal units increasingly is being awarded on a project basis to cope with specific problems or program needs. Since Continued on page 3 after it, but disappeared in the wake craft A group of state park rangers, and fish and game personnel, were in a boat following not fur behind the Scouts raft, but they were unable to rescue Farnsworth. He is survived by his wife, Kathy Peatross Farnsworth, and daughter, Sunny Marie Farnsworth, both Mt Home; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Farnsworth, three brothers and a sister, all Mt Home. of the services 9. Aug. Thursday, ..Funeral will be held Roosevelt has new physicians On Hwy. 40, near Union high school. a late d Mannings truck model automobile driven by a Roosevelt girL When she 1971-7focal sales taxes yielded only $10,302,000, while property tax produced $20,586,000 for cities and towns Raft accident on Green River claims area man apart. attempted to pull off the roadway, the Notice! The focal sales tax has surpassed the property tax aa a major revenue source for cities and towns in Utah. This feet was disclosed in a study of city and county revenue in Utah prepared by Utah Foundation, a private tax research organization. According to the report, the focal sales tax produced 436,924,000 for municipalities in Utah, compared with property tax receipts of $31,018,000 fiscal year. In during the 1977-7- 8 Sr ... 1 acSidney D. Farnsworth cidentally drowned while on a raft excursion with a group of boy scouts. Duchesne County hospital and the Roosevelt Medical Clinic have two new staff physicians trained in family practice according to Fred Goodhue, Business Manager at the dink. David Shupe, M.D. and Craig Seal, M.D. are both graduates of George ' Washington University in Washington, D.C. and have both received certification under the family practice program. Dr. Shupe completed his residency at Saginaw, Michigan and Dr. Seal was certified from the University of Utah. At the disposal of the new staff, physicians will be new equipment recently acquired by Duchesne County hospital through purchase through donation from the Pink Ladies organization. Duchesne County hospi- tal recently purchased an operating microscope which can be used in eye and ear surgery and a Larascope - which allows for internal abdominal and organ examination without major surgery according to Dr. SeeL the Pink Ladies organization recently donated a $5100 Data Scope Monitor which monitors vital signs of a patient during surgery states Fink Ladies Director Linda Knight. The Pink Ladies organization provides volunteer services to the hospital by furnishing extra patient care under the supervision of the director of nurses. Money for purchase of the' monitoring equipment came from fends raised through the gift shop, flower shop, pictures of newborns and the Ed Bland memorial fend says Sarah Snow, president cl the 11 member Pink Ladies organisation. Dr. Shupe and Dr. Seal began practice in Roosevelt approximately two weeks ago. |