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Iltele cm r-°°£- vi I V:l A Medpe $ UL "ir" library 23 1S34 Reaper Editor JUNCTION — Petitions to eliminate telephone toll charges between the Marysvalc and Circlcvillc telephone exchanges in Piute County as well as Koosharcm in Sevier County and Antimony in Garfield County arc being sought by the Piute County Commission The commission has requested the Utah Public Service Commission to order extended area service extended under a community-wid- e area service program A letter to Valcne Brown Piute from Lisa County Clerk-AuditHurtado Armstrong of the state’s Committee of Consumer Services stated that a minimum of 50 signatures on petitions from each of the four telephone prefix exchanges is the first step in moving toward the change Armstrong said that the current Public Service Commission’s rules "do not address the type of service you have requested The committee has drafted this petition to meet your needs" Armstrong also said that US WEST Communications and South Central Utah Telephone Assn have not approved of the new form and to assure that no party objects to the petition the petitions arc advised Mrs Brown said that the cost for this service to bring in all the exchanges is $6 per month for each telephone customer Prefixes involved arc 326 (Marysvalc) 577 (Circlcvillc) 624 (Koosharcm 638 (Antimony) and One of the basic reasons for the requested change is because schools in Piute County have students living in all of the four prefix areas and if they need to call home for any reason or from home to the schools they become long distance calls Mrs Brown said petitions arc available for signature in her office in the Piute County Courthouse in Junction A similar effort by the Sevier County Commission and a citizens committee resulted in elimination of toll charges between the three exchanges in Sevier County several years ago US WEST Seeks Sale Of Eight Area Exchanges US WEST Communications and two independent telephone companies jointly announced they have reached agreements to transfer a total of eight rural Utah telephone exchanges to the independents’ owner- ship The transfers include the Marysvalc Circlcvillc Milford Enterprise and Kanab exchanges to South Central Utah Min-crsvil- prove the transfers Following approval US WEST will transfer ownership of its facilities and the rights to serve customers in the exchanges to the independents By mutual agreement the companies arc not disclosing the financial terms of the transfers lc Telephone Association and the Goshen and Eureka exchanges to Central Utah Telephone Inc The companies will now file with the Utah Public Service Commission and the Federal Communications Commission for approval of the transfers The boards of directors of the three telephone companies must also ap- - inOfficials from the Utah-base- d dependent telephone companies said they arc now in the process of making plans for service improvements and that the transfers will have little or no effect on present rates In exchanges without upgraded switching systems Now Just A Pile OfMetal What had made up most of the independents have the telephone companies including South Central and Central Those transfers included the Panguitch Hatch Bryce Canyon Loa Bick-ncand Hanksvillc exchanges to been contested by another telephone company the sale of the exchanges involved in the earlier agreements were approved by the Utah PSC and the FCC Mark W Strombcrg US WEST Communications vice president for (See TELEPHONE Page 3-- Get BLM OK For Mine Bids The Bureau of Land Management has accepted a bid of $38 million from Nevada Electric Investment Company and the Intermountain Power Agency for the Crandall Canyon coal tract located on the Manti-LaSNational Forest in Emery County said James M al Parker Utah BLM state director By Hal Edwards A year ago Paul Turner was still building metal "critters" to add to his Monster Mountain Museum at the Richfield City 0 flood basin near the north interchange Intcr-statc-7- Bi McCHaro On The Road Again Bookmobile librarian Doug Christensen gets ready to depart to meet his schedule of 35 communities in three counties every two weeks Bookmobile Services 35 Communities In Three Area Counties By Bill McClur® ventory of about 19000 books from which patrons may choose year providing library service to patrons in Juab Sevier and Wayne counties "I carry 5000 books on the bookmobile there are 5000 to 8000 books in people’s homes at any one time and the balance are on the shelf in the Richfield library" he said Last year 71812 books were him "I haven’t been stopped by the weather yet" he said "There have been times when I’ve had to use the bookmobile to beat a path in the snow so people could walk up to the door And bad weather doesn’t doesn’t keep people away" Christensen currently has an in loaned by the bookmobile The bookmobile inventory is about to increase by about 250 books thanks to a S3 000 grant under the Library Services and Construction AcL The LSCA grant is federal money which is administered by the state "Of the 14 bookmobiles state- wide we were the only one to receive a grant this year" Christensen said (See BOOKMOBILE Page 3-- The two utility companies mitted the only bid on the 2980 acre tract which is estimated to contain 187 million tons of recoverable coal By securing the federal coal lease located adjacent to their present mine operations the companies have acquired an additional 10 to 12 years of coal reserves The Gcnwal Coal Company which operates the Crandall Coal Mine for Nevada Electric and the Intcrmoun-tai- n Power is scheduled to move on to the new federal lease some time this summer Currently the mine produces He had made arrangements to bring in or construct several pioneer-type buildings to develop an village Main Street in the vicinity of the display last fall But today all that remains of Turner’s ambitious project are a couple of piles of twisted metal the remains of his "herd" of prehistoric-named animals which graced the rim of the basin for the past two years ing while "I have a lease on the property until May but the city council has asked me to dear off what's left of the critters because they say it's an eyesore" Turner said was still on the coun- But Turner's dream of expanding his project to include a pioneer main street village came to an abrupt end last June when the Richfield City Planning Commission was informed by the Begun in 1987 Turner worked by himself for nearly six years to construct various sizes and shapes of objects as an answer to a challenge given to the Central Utah Health Department that the project did not meet Utah Health Department requirements ic Richfield City Council when Bmcc Costa of the Central Turner served as a council member Utah department cited Utah law which requires water and sewer installation to be in place where large numbers of persons may be involved before any further activity could proceed Mayor Sue Marie Young asked every council member to do something I cil" to help promote tourism for Richfield "As far as I know I’m the only one that took on a project" Turner said "I got the idea for the Monster Mountain Museum and started develop Turner had previously received the blessing — by a 2 vote of 3-- (See MONSTER Page 3-- Snowmobile Trek Gets Off To A Shaky Start By Bill McClure Reaper Staff Writer A 911 call broken and stuck snowmobiles Thursday marred the start of a 1200-mil- c trip from Bryce Canyon to Yellowstone National Park but by Tuesday the group was back on schedule flying across the snow in Wyoming Sevier County Sheriff John Mcacham said the 91 call came in at 6:56 pm Thursday from Wesley Ruff a KTVX Channel 4 newsman covering the first day of snowmobile trek the nine-da- y 1 sub- Photo By remains of Paul Turner's Monster Mountain Museum Inability to comply to state law caused demise 1200-Mil- e Emery Tracts Rpr pre- - s Controversial 'Monster Mountain Is Reduced To A Pile Of Junk Reaper Editor In 1992 US WEST announced agreements to sell 10 other rural telephone exchanges to three Utah 200-plu- historic animals along the rim of the Richfield City flood basin are now piled up all that agreed to install digital technology With the exception of the Hanksvillc exchange which has two-wee- Price 500 ' South Central the Garden City and Scofield exchanges to Central and the Huntington and Green River exchanges to Emery Telephone To provide that service Christensen makes a total of 35 stops which include every community in the three counties He makes his k rounds on a published rotating schedule and nothing stops V Seorng Of &Oothn Uan Toll-Fre- e ll Reaper Staff Writer Bookmobile librarian Doug Christensen drives 25000 miles a &S i Phone Region In Piute By Hal Edwards B4101'1 fl rufpry lfri 1 Petitions Ask r - 'JT ap- proximately 15 million tons of high Btu low sulfur coal a year About 100 people arc employed at the Crandall Canyon mine According to Parker the leasing of the tract benefits the American public who owns the nation’s federal coal reserves the state the coal company and the utilities "The Deputy Norm Cole and members of the Jeep Posse responded to the call and upon their arrival at Fish Lake learned that Channel 4 employees Tom Wharton and Jack Cole had delayed their departure to finish up a new story while the main party had headed out for Salina where they were spending the first night of the trip Wharton and Cole trailing the larger party became stuck in slushy ice and Fishlakc Resorts manager Gary Moulton had gone out to help the crew get back on their way Moulton's venture was successful but in the meantime Cole learned Weather Recce Stein and three others from KUTV Channel 2 news were behind the main group by about an hour and a half laic arriving at least in part due to a broken axle on one of the machines which was abandoned near Loa Forest Service officials expressed concern that Stein's group would not be able to find their way due to the storm and darkness By Tuesday the group was putting in its highest mileage day — 166 miles — from Alpine Wyo to Dubious Wyo At 8:44 pm the final group was accounted for and all were reunited in Salina for day two of the trip The group included newspaper reporters television newsmen magazine writers snowmobile The group of two dozen was scheduled to have snow-mobilc- rs lunch at Fish Lake at noon Thursday but was more than 35 hours manufacturers representatives Forest Service Utah Division of Parks and Recreation and members of snowmobile associations in Utah Idaho Wyoming and Colorado Commuters Account For Small Number Of Region Workers Commuters both to and from Sevier County account for only a small percentage of total residents who work in the county unlike their counterparts along the Wasatch Front According to the US Bureau of the Census there are 35 more county residents who work outside the county than those who live outside the county but work here Census Bureau figures show that 354 Sevier County earn an average of $23785 per year while 319 uters cam an average of $18205 per year companies receive the coal they need to extend the life of their exist- Piute County has 102 residents who work outside the county and none who commute to the county according to the report These persons earn an average of $24318 per year ing operation In return the American taxpayer is paid a fair price for their coal" In Wayne County 56 residents are earning an average of 21352 fora total of $1195697 while the 40 persons who commute into the county for work earned an average of 15191 In addition to the one-tim- e bonus bid Parker said "The utility companies will pay an eight percent Figures showed that Sevier County has 5209 people who work and live in the county and earned an average of $16360 for a total of $85219544 Piute County has 315 persons living and working in the county earning an average of $10306 for $3246518 and Wayne has 736 residents living and working in the county earning an average of $13409 or a total of $9368890 annual production royalty which should generate another $2 million per year" Both bonus bid and royalties are split equally between the Water year precipitation to date 201 to the same date last year 426 all of last year 1023 state of Utah and federal treasuries K |