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Show 4 ITIMTAH BASIN STANDARD. October 29. 2003- - Page 3 Case Now In Hands of District Court Judge act illegally by not Did-count- y granting permit for disposal ponds? problem. The county which does not reguIt is now up to a 3 District Court late injection wells did issue a letter for the construction of judge to decide if Duchesne County an of supportwell for Denver to coninjection acted within the confines of the law tinue to receive the disposal water. In when they refused to issue a conditional use permit to the operator of court documents, the county laid they three waste disposal ponds just oiT the were led to believe that Denver would Neola Highway in the North Crescent use the injection well, and disconarea, alter odor problemsat the ponds tinue use of the disposal ponds. However, Denver said that wan t were not controlled. It wasayear ago that the Duchesne what he had planned and wanted to to operate the three disposal County Planning and Zoning Com- continue to the injection veil. in addition five-yeponds mission declined to issue a new conditional use permit to Waste He argued that by using the injection well in conjunction with the disposal Disposal Inc. The permit would have allowed the company to continue to ponds, the odor problem would abate take "production or waste water because the waste water would be moved down the injection well withbrought in by oil field tankers for out sitting for long periods of time. until sits Thewater in ponds disposal With the disposal ponds still in the it evaporates. Chris Denver, owner and operator picture and after months without tu in controlling the odor being ofWaste Disposal, appealed their three emitted from the ponds, the decision to two vote to county commissioners last December, When commissioners CedarviewMontwell and unanimously upheld the Planning and Zoning Commissions decision to refuse to renew Denvers permit, he took the matter to 3 District Court in ' By Lezlee E. Whiting ar m came down. Denver was denied his permit and was given ayear to drain the disposal ponds. Denvers use ofhis injection well was not impacted by the decision. "The injection well would have, resolved the odor problem, but it was never given the chance," Denver stated in court documents. "If the county commission and planning and zoning board had given me even three more dqyslwould have shown them it would work and this lawsuit could have been avoided. If it sounds like the county ruined a business that is important to the local oil industry, thats simply not so, saidUresk. He is operating hia business. We havent shut his business down, hejust cantdump in the ponds. N eighbore say the smell has abated si nee the disposal ponds are no longer being used. f Duchesne County. On Oct. 11, Judge Bruce Lubeck spent a few hours listening to oral arguments in the case, and took the matter under advisement His ruling is expected tobe released within a few weeks to a few months. What the judge has to decide is if Duchesne County's decision to close the disposal ponds was blatantly illegal, capricious and arbitrary, as well as the result of public clamor and influenced by personal bias, as Denver claims in his lawsuit Or the judge decides if the county took the only recourse available after trying to work with Denver for months including extension of his iniissuings y to bring tial conditional use permit the odor problem under control, as they maintain in their response to Denvers accusations. Duchesne County Deputy Attorney Roland Ureak said the judge had "some very good questions for both sides during the oral arguments on Denver's petition for review. The judge will be reviewing the record to see if we had substantial evidence to do what wa did, said Ureak. One of the questions asked by the judge had to do with "quantifying smell. And, to a large extent, "smell is exactly what all the Btink is about. Denver purchased the ponds in 1996, and for almost four years, if there was a problem with unpleasant odors being emitted from the ponds, they weren t expressed loudly enough to capture much attention. However, ' in January 2000, ayear before his five-ye-ar conditional use permit was slated Neola things are determined, the commissioners have to approve this plan. Then the commissioners will create an Proponents of a culinary wateriys-te- n Admin8trative Control Board. A pubfor the CedarviewMontwell and Neolaareas willbeknockingon doors lic hearing will be planned. It will have to pass a vote by the people, said togather signatures ofthoee in need of Fumer. tie service. "I think the interest and need is The proposed special service viter dktrict for residents living in unin- there (for the culinary water system). corporated eastern Duchesne Cain ty The difficult thing is to come up with is drawing more in interest and con- - Bouurceuiwau Its not going to be to take severe! com from local residents who amuf-- a quick fix, it's feting because their wells are going years for this problem to be dressed, commented Randy Crazier , residents have sow director ofthe Duchesne County interest in becoming port of ter District, According toTaylor.the group has the planned special water districtand new (well water) test results indicate looked into several options for water that more like 1,000 families an af-- sources but has been advised to get footed, said Mike Barneck, a organized, forma water district plan, Cedarview resident and spokeman define boundaries and gain commis-fo- r the planned water districts hoard sioner approval, Some maintain the water in the ofdiractors. Barneck and other concerned re si-- CedarviewMontwell area has histori-cknt- a approached Duchesne County cally been of poor quality, but others commissioners last week to preaent ey its a recent phenomenon, I 1946, this (Cedarview-sarvic- e preliminary mapping for the special district and ask for their rec- - Montwell) area had very good water, Roosevelts waterwas very bad. When ommendations. Commissioner GuyThayne offered I went to high school in Roosevelt, no his support but warned that bound- - one ever wanted to drink out of the aries will have to be well defined, water fountains, it was so bad, said A.D. Shaw, Montwell resident to opwater district. pose comments that the water had The group must form their own always been bad in that area. With recently released reports water district because by law they cannot combine with an existing wa- showing that the water quality has ter district, such as the nearby Neola been questionable for at least four "Water District. years, based on tests performed by the A map presented to commiaaon-cr- e TriCounty Health Department, many defined the preliminaiy bound- newhomeowneraintheareaareupBet ed eeaa follows: Upper Neola eadand that they werent warned earlier. "If water tests have shown bad west, excluding Neola Water Dktrict boundaries; Lower Neola; North Cres- water for four years, water unsuitable cent east and west, excluding Neola forhuman consumption this year, why Water District and Roosevelt "Water didn't someone tell me this before I District; Cedarview; Montwell; up- spent $8,000 on a water well last year? per Hancock Cove; andjposaiblyBlue-bel- l Why are they still letting people drill Highway, excluding Roosevelt wells as we speak? asked Sherry Water District; Johnson Water Rogers, a Cedarview resident. Duchesne County does not manCove; and poaaibly date approved drinking water before Upper Country Water Distrkrt-Blue- issuing building permits for private "The next thing we will do ii get a homes. The state hasnt declaredadosed petition sent out to the resident!. "We will split up and go knockingon doors. aquifer in the area. Water well drill-in- i' will continue until they do that," We will take that to the commiaion-er- s for their approval, said Bondi said Crazier. Taylor, chair ofthe proposed dikr ict. "We will just keep working to becomes government entity. After that v will work on the bylaws. Taylor explained. "We found out that if you go with a special service districtmore grants and fluids are available than if you organize as s water district The group has already met with state officials who will assist than in getting the special service district off and running. Special service districts have defined boundaries and haw the authority to tax. Taylor said that at this point thaw have been no dbcua-don- s regarding taxing. Taxation is not emanate, according to Jan Fumer, representative oU tah iaaodationofSpecialServiceDutticta. 5 pedal service districts fees are based ultimately on size, number of hookups, demand, and the type of grants and loans available. Before these ad-bi- d. an ed 90-da- to xpire, complaints began coming into the county. Aa months wore on and the odor . problem became more pronounced, numerous neighbors said they wanted something done about the pungent the ponds. The odors that were so obnoxious that neighbors said they caused respiratory problems, made it impossible to leave windows open and weresopenetratingtheywouldawaken some from a sound sleep at night. Those livingnear the ponds were also concerned that chemicals emitted duringthe evaporation process could create safety and health issues. Denver was put on notice about the complaints, and according to court documents went to workimmediately trying to eliminate the odor, spending a great deal of money to control the smell. However, after working with chemical companies and months of meetings with neighbors and health and sir quality officials, there were still no effective results. When it became apparent that a conditional use permit would not be granted to allow the ponds to remain open, Denver discussed constructing an injection well to receive the waste water. According to court records, Denver said he spent a total of $878,000 on an injection well and related equipment in connection with the odor control V. tit Anyone Who Is Interested First Tuesday Of Every Month 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Uintah Basin Medical Center Classroom Speaker: Carol Rasmussen, R.N. C.D.E. vow tmcoMeff i Diabetes you & What need to know Uintah Basin Medical Center 1 250 W. 200 N. Roosevelt 722-469- a By Lezlee E. Whiting Continued from page 1 old daughter and Swetts another woman in the house that night testified they never saw a gun. Swett also denied he had given Wood a gun or ammunition. Wood forced Pugh out ofthe house at gunpoint and the two drove to Ballard where Wood allowed Pugh to get out of the pickup truck to use the restroom at the Maverik Country Store. When Pugh re fused to get back in the truck. Wood produced the loaded gun and threatened Pugh. Police were quickly summoned by s store clerk. Chief Gurr, who was off duty at the time, but nearby, answered the caU. When he yelled at Wood to distract him from aim he had taken at other Roosevelt police officers on the scene, Wood swung his weapon in his direction and fired five times. One of the shots struck Chief Gurr in the brad, killing him instantly. Testimony during court proceedings against Swett showed the gun used in Gurrs death had also previously belonged to double-murderJohn Pinder, the Duchesne County rancher convicted of killing two former employees. Prosecutors said they believed the gun had been used before in other murders. The UB. Attorneys office worked with local law enforcement officials and prosecutors in filing charges against Swett for the federal crime. "While county and state officials prosecuted the' homicide, we were able to use federal laws to charge the person who put the firearm in his hands, said UB. Attorney Paul M. Warner. Warner had high praise for local law enforcement officers involved in the homicide investigation and the subsequent charges brought against Swett. "Vernal and Rooaevelt dty police departments and the Uintah County Sheriffs Office, particularly the work of Vernal Police Officer Dylan Rooks and Det. Sgt. Keith Campbell of the Uintah County Sheriffs Office, was extremely helpfiil in our efforts to prosecute Mr. Swett, he said. 19-ye- mae in Bluebell er search wnrr.intai'd I'uimd the occupants awake and the reported drugact i vit y taki ng place, said law enforcement officers served a search warrant on a Roosevelt apartment and found 20 grama of meth and iqject drug paraphernalia. The two cases resulted in the men and three women, all seven were booked into the Duchesne County Jail on felony drug charges. A boy in the apartment with the adults was not charged. The long night began at 8:30 p.m. when Roosevelt Police OfficerAndrew Cox made a traffic stop in front ofJiffy Pawn on a car being driven by Ginger Loranger, 47, Roosevelt A criminal background check showed thatoneof her passengers, Robert Hoff, 35, Roosevelt was wanted for drug and forgery charges on two statewide warrants totaling $15,000. Hoff attempted to flee on foot, but was taken into custody following a brief struggle, said Roosevelt Police Officer Ammon Manning. A search turned up methamphetamine on Loranger, and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle. Police arrested HoiT, Loran ger and passenger Nathan Betts, 21, Ballard. All charges were enhanced because the arrest occurred in a "drug free zone which is within 1,000 foot of a school, church or public building. o Hoff is ehargod with felony distributionarranging to dise tribute metli, felony possess ionuse of drugparaphemalia and interfering with an arrest. Loranger is charged with first-degrfelony of meth with a prior conviction. She is also facing prosecution on similar charges following an August arrest by Roosevelt police. Betts u charged with second-degre- e posse of methamphetamine. Inan unrelated incident a few hours later, police received information that drugactivity was occurring in an apartment across the street from the Moon Lake Electric building. At 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning, Oct 24, they served "no-kno- ion-typ- e" Manning. "It wns purkagi-- in sell and they hadbeendistrihiitiugeut of theapart-men- t, said Manning. All charges were enhanced under the drug free zone rule and because old juvenile was present. the Those arrested were: Steve Rogers, e 29, Roosevelt, felony possession of meth with intent to distribute, felony distribution of meth and class A misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia1; Melissa A Williams, 31, Roosevelt, felony possession of meth with prior ronvietions;second-degre- e felony obstruction ofjustice tat tempt to conceal evidence;, and class A misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia; Sabrina K. Williams, 20, Neola, second-degre- e felony possession of methandclassA misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia; Roxie Sanchez, 20, Koo:eveltt second-degre- e ol'ir.i.Ln, and felony poRM-siotwo class A misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and 15-ye- ar first-degre- first-degr- first-degr- Burgess, 1 8, Roosevelt, second-degre- e felony possession of meth. All seven of those arrested made their first appearance last Thursday in ft District Court in Roosevelt. A bail hearing is set for Monday in ft District Court in Duchesne. Hail is set at approximately $17,000 Tor most of those arrested, depending on their " charges." firet-degro- first-degre- se Subscribe Now! 435-722-51- 31 One Show Sunday 7:30 Meet Your Santa Clause 2 Tim Alien 7:30-9:2- 5 01 The Ring TCi-13- " 7:25 CrossroacIs Senior Center Hot A Doable Feature Ghost Ship "R" 9:30 WEdNEsdAy, OdobER 70tIi 7:00 . all A traffic stop for a minor equipment violation last Wednesday night, Oct. 23, resulted in the discovery of 7 grams of methamphetamine and assorted drug paraphernalia. In a separate incident just a few hours later, p.M. .UINTAH Lthiiatju; I Spy "PCi-1- November 5, 2002 ll)JllD. y, ee DIABETES CLASSES tif For People With Diabetes ti For Families Of People With Diabetes If You Are At Risk For Diabetes ; meth charges filed against 4 men & 3 women following arrests First-degr- Bj Iris Wilson - FUN FOR EVERYONE-Childr- en and adults alike enjoy a hayride to the pumpkin patch, part of I he corn Visitors to the com maze get to pick the perfect pumpkin for the holiday. Petitions being circulated to start process for culinary water system SWETT Summit County, maintaining he would not receive a fair hearing in h . ? 3" Eddie Murphy Sponsored by the Uintah Basin Standard One Show Only 7:30p.m. MOVIE Information Call 722-209- 5 |