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Show on hdl © tect EI — enemies sclleadiatelealinaidiadas nw. WASATCH COUNTY Vol. 1, Issue 14 nasi Wasatch. County’s Source for News CITY hte ed ELECTION ney We hee Oda oe October 5, 1999 1999, SEE Nels rf FOR Ve) .43 INFO Cheap Gas Turns Into a Costly Lesson © _ Walker’s cheap gas broke the law that may break the bank the owners of companies in Utah that sell below cost | The the: state of Utah is suing the Walker's organization for breaking a law by allowing their gasoline prices to drop © . below cost for a few hours one day last July. And it’s a lawsuit that the Walker’s organization, plus others in the industry, © is ‘absolutely crazy,” says company his family owns. “We've are suit repealing the Marketing Act, Utah - Motor. allowing retailers, large or small, at whatever price they former president of the Marketing Association, Fuel petroleum > to sell gasoline choose. Walker, — Utah Petroleum , doesn’t want to see that happen. _ “Everyone relies on a customer base,” keep our base. People say that the law is keeping still the price high, but it’s not.” Walker believes that without the Utah — - Motor Fuel Marketing Act, competition will ultimately disappear as big business- of business. The July promotion was a - business. - “When competition leaves, | one-time event with a preset start time prices skyrocket,” says Walker. and stop time. Walker says that retailers participate in activities like this all the. i Walker hopes. that his company will be state. — es price the independent retailer out of time. “Walker’s by ‘no. means ‘invented able to settle the what we did,” he Bays. to court. yz | lawsuit without going e “And i“ is bringing However, Walker's, a relative little guy with only 20 stores throughout the state, _ had no intention of putting anyone out Mark _ complained for years against people who > _ sell below cost all the time,” Walker Even though gas prices are rapidly says, indicating that his $1.00 per gallon climbing in Utah, Walker’s one day | sie _ Heber-only gas s sale was strictly a ‘single- . petrol sale got. the company in a time twelve-h our ‘special, not a perma- | _barretl-full- of trouble with the | nent peice change. Utah market and pricing the independent gas retailer, the little guy, out of business. Walker of the suit brought up against . the of large oil companies from entering the — says Walker. “We're going to fight to consider frivolous. “This state against Walker’s Food and Fuel for ‘not complying with the Utah Motor Fuel Marketing Act, an act adopted in the early 1980s that prohibits gasoline retailers from selling their petroleum for - anything less than six percent above cost. The purpose of the act is to keep get in return was a few new customers. Instead they got a lawsuit. ) _ Now Walker feels that the suit is politivally motivated. Currently, there is talk of all the time,” he said. ii when < in July, Walker’s Food and Fuel in Heber treated it’s customers to a mechanical bull, a visit by the Jazz cheerleaders, and $1.00 gas, the only thing they were hoping to. ‘<= Back Courier staff ringed tM RAEI Jean Croasmun, A » County Safety Priorities Backwards | Support for emergency medical s services inadequate for area needs | sam Allen, Courier in ‘Mies Business -of the Week: staff -HEBER MOUNTAIN SPORTS, In Salt Lake City, penance, ‘cilia calls out-number fire alarms by a factor of five to one. In Wasatch eats that | Even though the frequency of ambulance service has increased dramatically . _ while the number of fire alarm calls has dropped, fire fighting is still the dominant emphasis of many emergency serv- - set by the lower fire insurance premiums that residents would be charged. In the early 1800s, fire departments were first established to combat frequent fires — caused by stoves, lanterns, candles, bad building materials, electrical shorts, etc. _. emergency medical technicians (EMTs) These departments proved themselves _to be the poor cousins of “real fire fightae valuable day in and day out because fires ers. occurred so often. But after the 1940s, This is unfortunate since it is clearly when building codes and heating and more cost efficient for cities and counis lighting systems were dramatically — improved, the frequency of house and > business fires dropped dramatically. On the hand, other ambulance calls because research the : | number : of increased substantially — in the U.S. and field experience in the Vietnam and Korean ~ - wars proved that early treatment during the “golden hour”, the first hour after injury, dramatically increased survival and recovery rates for injured individuals. oe 64 37 (ere, OCTOBER 7 . WEDNESDAY LOW H THURSDAY ~ HIGH 63 LOW 37 & registration form! . che | County ae pee : Ire ae ae ae oe SLA °° 4 saad a pe ee ai a oii 8 he. E a OCTOBERY FRIDAY SATURDAY © 67 38 News Briefs — ment it would get a class-2 rating. Heber City Police Report .3 Opinion & Editorial .. cM Letters to the Editor ...5 HIGH 66 LOW 36 WE $400 , 1 Business .........20 ......... soe tee atte acer: 7 EK LY | wO <p eee a os ek A. ce ee 3 - Presorted OCTOBER11 OCTOBER 12 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY HIGH HIGH LOW 37. 67 LOW 38 HIGH 65 LOW 41 Paid see iti | | Ber | Cte a AT BACKWARDS continued on page 3 OCTOBER 10 66 ee ee oe a es Community. 250% Real Estate per year if all property values were equal. Of course, actual — assessments would probably vary signifiSt da age Fo pe es Pte ee average cost per home or business would be about OCTOBER8 HIGH LOW panies but if it had a full-time depart- _ Heber City only has about 2000 homes and husitiesses within its boundaries the ee 8 (435) 654-2661 + (435) 654-2531 fax ,200,000 a year depending upon the ae woes ioe es — According to insurance rate figures. recently obtained by the Courier, the — higher costs of providing full-time fire UNTY 525 South Main Street - Heber City, UT 84032 _ The cost of operating a full-time fire station is approximately $800,000 to 2 ee URIER ; 6 fire protection area by insurance com- ‘ties to invest more money in better equipped EMTs than in more lavish fire: fighting facilities. This is especially true in WASATCH COUNTY Heber City is currently rated as a class- — protection would not be completely off- OCTOBER 6 HIGH fires. nee , WASATC See page 17 for info— ~ Insurance rates are determined by a vari- ety of factors including: distance from the fire station, volunteer vs. full-time ice departments. Most of this can be departments, fire hydrant availability attributed to the strength of established and type of equipment used to combat fire fighting bureaucracies who consider _ ratio is much higher. | © on UT ce Permit No. 32005 ss ee ee | |
