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Show 1521 E 3900 S Sie 100 Salt Lake City UT 84124-155C Election: Meet the candidates, A7 | Sports: SF foot li"i"1" Guardian of Your Community News SERVING SPANISH FORK J B L . SALEM • MAPLETON •WOODLAND HILLS • ELK RIDGE VOL. 4/ NO. 42 formerly The Spanish Fork News WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2009 50^ 1-15 and Main topic of concern Namon Bills EDITOR HUarie Or man / The Sentinel TO SAVE A LIFE: Byron Adams explains "and there was this dead dude." Also pictured, are his wife, Marcy, and Ted Kurtz, whose life Marcy saved in August. WH resident saves life Hilarie Orman STAFF WRITER 15 miles into the race he felt sick and very tired. "It's the altitude," he thought, On the evening of Oct. 15, sitting on a patch of grass, trying the Woodland Hills Volunteer to get the energy to move on. Fire Department and First Then, his head cradled by Responders and CERT mem- another runner who stopped to bers gathered for a special and help, Ted died. moving meeting with a NeMarcy Adams, running the vada attorney and his family. marathon with her husband, Ted Kurtz was 51 years old Byron, also felt sick at mile in August, and he treated him- 15, but it was mostly due to the self to an entry in the Park City crankiness of the long distance Marathon. He hoped to break runner. Park City was her third his previous time of 4 hours and marathon of 2009, and she did 32 minutes, set in St. George not like the course, especially earlier in the year. Despite his this boring part that had a loop, fit condition and training, Ted's so that not even a change of body had a different plan, and scenery rewarded her dogged plodding. But her determination to meet every challenge in life was about to result in what she would call her "worst time and best race." Byron and Marcy came upon the dire scene of cell phones with 911 calls and concerned athletes surrounding Ted Kurtz. He had no pulse; he was not breathing. Marcy did not hesitate to act. As assistant fire chief of the Woodland Hills Volunteer Fire Department, she trained as a First Responder and Emergency Medical Technician, and she knew exactly what had to be done. "Like a robot," she said, "with no thought, the training kicked in, and it was seamless," as she administered CPR to the inert body. It seemed hopeless, a surreal eternity of 20 minutes — too long. Ted's chances of ever seeing his wife and children fell to nothing, but Marcy did not stop. The Park City Fire Department arrived, and they took over with defibrillating equipment and oxygen, and Ted breathed, he moved, he looked at people. And it was all over. Byron and Marcy, buoyed with See LIFE • A8 Students, friends, colleagues pay tribute to former ALA band teacher Kate Jarman STAFF WRITER After winning first place on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, at a marching band competition in Pocatello, Idaho, American Fork High School experienced a loss. However, the loss could have been greater. When the driver of one of the buses lost consciousness, one teacher, Heather Christensen of Spanish Fork, leaped up to the steering wheel and tried to regain control of the vehicle as it careened across 1-15. As the bus rolled, she was thrown from the window and killed. The bus rolled about two miles north of McCammon, Idaho at milepost 49. She was the only fatality. Christensen's quick action has been credited with saving the lives of others on the bus. For this and other selfless acts, Heather Christensen is being hailed as a hero. Christensen's funeral was held Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Alpine Tabernacle in American Fork. She began her teaching career at Riverton High School, teaching there for six years, before teaching at American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork. She taught at ALA Heather Christensen for three years, and then taught as a woodwind instructor at American Fork High School for a year and a few months before the accident. At ALA she taught everything from beginning band to jazz band and percussion ensemble. She also directed ALA's winter guard and color guard team, Edge. Through her work with winter guard, ALA received their first trophy, a third-place trophy at a competition in Edge's second year. The following year, the winter guard brought home a See TRIBUTE • A6 Kate Jarman / The Sentinel IN REMEMBRANCE: Students Marshall Levi, Jarom Harrison and Isak Jones light candles at a vigil held at AFHS. "If you build it, they will come," quipped Councilman Rod Dart at a work session Wednesday, Oct. 14 involving the Spanish Fork City Council, local business owners and the area's state legislative delegation. Dart was referring to a project to remove a figurative and literal road block that the city council says is impeding growth in Spanish Fork. That road block is the I-15/Hwy 6/Main Street interchange, referred to during the meeting as a failed intersection. The immediate problem the city council wants fixed is that Main Street is too narrow as it passes under 1-15, creating a daily traffic bottleneck up to half a mile long on the north end of Main Street. "We can't get people into the dealership between four and six-o'clock," said Chuck Barber of Barber Bros. City Manager Dave Oyler also expressed concerns that as new businesses, like Home Depot, come to town, the situation will get even worse. "These are things that if the economy hadn't changed, would be realities today," he said. UDOT is currently accepting proposals for the project to widen 1-15, adding HOV lanes between American Fork and Spanish Fork. Rep. Mike Morley said the bid amount is $1.7 billion, and the bid will go to whichever of three pre-approved design-build teams can provide the most construction for that amount of money. The city council's hope is that proposals will include the I-15/Main Street interchange as part of the overall project. The price tag for the overall fix, including Highway 6, is estimated at $150 million. City officials aren't expecting to get $150 million, but they are hoping to start with widening Main Street under 1-15, which Councilman Wayne Andersen said should cost around $20 million. In his presentation to the group, Oyler also emphasized that Salem, Elk Ridge, Woodland Hills — and even some Payson residents — use this interchange every day. "Money is tight, but this here affects every community south of Spanish Fork," he said. Andersen and other council members emphasized that they want UDOT to focus on this fix instead of adding two HOV lanes to 1-15 in the area, as is currently planned. "That interchange is a higher-priority need than those lanes right now," said Councilman Steve Leifson. The state legislative delegation, made up of Senator David Hinkins and Representatives Mike Morley, Patrick Painter, Becky Lockhart and Francis Gibson, recognized the concerns and agreed to push the issue with both the state legislature and the UDOT CORE team, which is heading up the 1-15 work in Utah County. Andersen said that others are on board as well, including the Mountainland Association of Governments and US Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. Lockhart and Morley both emphasized the importance of securing federal funds as well as private dollars in helping to influence the state to move the project up on their priority list. "If we can get funds from the private sector, the city and the federal government, that also helps to move it up the list," said Morley. Lockhart also encouraged business owners and residents to write UDOT Transportation Commissioner Kent Millington voicing their concerns, and to carbon copy their state and federal representatives on those letters as well. Morley suggested that the city council pass a resolution, perhaps in conjunction with other municipalities, to show that this project is a top priority for all the communities in the area. Time is of the essence, as design-build proposals are due to UDOT Nov. 19. If proposals do not include the I-15/Main Street interchange, the project could be put off indefinitely. "That's why we feel it's important now," said Oyler. "There is funding available and we need to let them know the critical nature of this interchange." |
