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Show C-1 B-1 FOR ARTIST, BEAUTY IS IN THE IMPERFECTIONS REGION FOES WILL TEST MINERS’ METTLE WAY WE WERE, A-7 RESTAURANT GUIDE COLUMNS, A-8 LIFE WAS NO PICNIC FOR EARLY PARKITES Check out our restaurant guide on page B-5 for places to dine. Learn more at bit.ly/eatpc JAY MEEHAN RAISES A MUG TO MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE Park Record. The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Wed/Thurs/Fri, September 18-20, 2019 Serving Summit County since 1880 A new era dawns for nonprofit | Vol. 139 | No. 65 50¢ Opioid lawsuit not thwarted by bankruptcy Eager to wade in Purdue Pharma, a defendant in Summit County’s litigation, not the biggest target, attorney says ALEXANDER CRAMER PHOTO BY KYLE JENKINS The Park Record A communal gathering area in the transitional housing portion of Peace House’s new home in Quinn’s Junction. The new facility is roughly 12 times larger than the nonprofit’s previous home. Facility allows Peace House to dramatically bolster its services BUBBA BROWN The Park Record After 24 years, Peace House is stepping out of the shadows. On Saturday, the nonprofit is scheduled to unveil its new facility in Quinn’s Junction, marking the culmination of years of planning, tireless fundraising and what Executive Director Kendra Wyckoff characterized as a community-wide push to support survivors of domestic abuse and their children. “It’s truly a historic milestone for our organization and this community,” she said. Officials say the new facility, located at 700 Round Valley Drive, will be nothing short of transformational for the nonprofit. At approximately 42,000 square feet, it is roughly 12 times the size of its current home. The added square footage will allow Peace House to provide transitional housing where survivors and their families can live for up to 24 months, an on-site child care program and common areas for survivors to gather informally. That’s in addition to the nonprofit’s emergency shelter and case management and counseling services. But Wyckoff said none of it would be possible if the community didn’t believe in the nonprofit’s mission. Peace House relied on support from individual donors to secure the more than $11 million needed for the project, along with federal grants and a $900,000 appropriation from the Utah Legislature. The organization also had support from both Park City and Summit County. “What a powerful message for survivors when you have a community that says, ‘This is important and we’re going to help make this happen and we’re here to support you,’” she said. Among the benefits of the new space, the transitional housing program stands out, Wyckoff said. Not having access to housing is one of the biggest barriers that prevents people from leaving abusive relationships. That can also cause people to return to their abusers after leaving an emergency shelter. Survivors who come to Peace House, however, will now be able to rebuild their lives and work toward securing employment and, eventually, permanent housing. “They have the opportunity to step Please see Facility, A-2 3 sections • 28 pages Classifieds .............................. C-7 Columns ................................. A-8 Crossword .............................. C-4 Editorial.................................. A-9 Events Calendar ..................... C-6 Legals ..................................... C-9 Letters to the Editor ............... A-9 Restaurant Guide.................... B-5 Scene ...................................... C-1 Sports ..................................... B-1 Weather .................................. B-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Above: Rhea Cone, ecohost and volunteer coordinator at the Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter, right, and Karen Jordan help build beaver dam analogs in Kimball Creek Friday afternoon as part of a volunteer project. The man-made dams replicate the ecological benefits of beavers in places where they are not currently found — improving both water and habitat quality. Right: Paul Swedenborg weaves willow branches through wooden posts during the volunteer event. Teen gun control advocates will make a Park City stop Parkland’s David Hogg and Jaclyn Corin say activism must go beyond tweeting JAMES HOYT The Park Record David Hogg and Jaclyn Corin, two survivors of the 2018 massacre of 17 students and faculty at their high school in Parkland, Florida, are set to take the stage for an interview on gun violence and their subsequent activism at 7:30 p.m. at the Eccles Center in Park City on Saturday. Tickets for the event are available at the Park City Institute’s website, and the appearance is partly sponsored by Intermountain Healthcare. “What we experienced over a year and a half ago is becoming the reality of more and more Americans as the days pass,” Corin, one of the founders of the activist organization March for Our Lives, said in an email. “And it is all of our responsibilities to continue to fight against the gun lobby and our complacent, selfish politicians.” Corin and Hogg, teenagers who are now both freshmen at Harvard, have garnered a lot of attention — positive and negative — in their push for solutions to America’s gun violence problem, which doesn’t just include mass murders like the one that killed their friends, classmates and teachers. According to the Washington Post, 1,207 Americans have died in mass shootings since the University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. And according to Gun Violence Archive, a non-activist database of incidents in the U.S., almost 11,000 have died in all gun-related incidents so far this year, which is more than twice the number of Americans killed in action during the Iraq War. There have been 301 mass shootings in 2019 so far, with the most recent claiming the lives of seven people in West Texas on Aug. 31. A bill for stricter background check requirements has not yet been voted on in the Senate. Park City has seen large-scale demonstrations on the issue in recent years. Last year, thousands, including a group of Parkland students, participated in the first March for Our Lives on Main Street in Park City, and hundreds of Park City High School Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy filing Sunday night may not dramatically affect Summit County’s ongoing lawsuit against Big Pharma, attorneys said. The county has engaged outside law firms to try the case, and lead counsel Hunter Shkolnik of New Yorkbased Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC, said they’d known this was coming for a while. Purdue Pharma, which created OxyContin and has been accused of deceptive marketing that resulted in its increased proliferation, is a defendant in Summit County’s lawsuit. Around 2,000 parties, including cities, towns and counties, have active lawsuits against the opioid industry, according to reports. “We knew Purdue was never going to be at the trial — they’ve made that pretty clear for a year now,” the attorney said. The litigation continues against opioid distributors, which Shkolnik characterized as the parties most responsible for the opioid crisis. Nearly half a million people died between 1997 and 2017 in the United States from opioid overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than a million opioid pills were distributed in Summit County between 2006 and 2012, enough for roughly 24 pills per year for every man, woman and child, according to a trove of data released by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Earlier this summer, the county added 55 defendants to its suit, including Purdue Pharma and members of the family who founded the company, the Sacklers. The pharmaceutical giant is portrayed in court documents as misleading doctors about the addictiveness of OxyContin. On Sunday, Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy as part of a proposed settlement. The plan calls for Purdue Pharma to essentially transform into a public-benefit company by declaring bankruptcy and reforming as a different company that would continue to manufacture OxyContin but donate the proceeds to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, according to media reports. The lawsuit also names pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens, stores like Walmart, Costco and Smith’s Food and Drug, and distributors like AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corporation. Shkolnik said Purdue Pharma was just one player in a very large case. “The litigation’s not ending, not at all,” Shkolnik said. “In less than four weeks I am one of the lead trial attorneys in the first (multidistrict litigation) mass trial against the other defendants — the big distributors, the big chain pharmacies.” Please see Activists, A-2 Please see Lawsuit, A-2 Long-awaited land Police practice acquisition completed Basin Recreation plans to build trails on 450 acres east of U.S. 40 ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record Though it might not be visible for a few years, and even then perhaps not readily apparent, steps taken this summer by the Summit County Council will define how more than 600 acres on the east side of U.S. 40 will look for years to come. Earlier this summer, the county sold 112 acres of land in the area to the Snyderville Basin Recreation District to be used as open space. And on Tuesday, the county closed on another 461 acres, with 338 acres to be preserved as open space and used for recreation. The closure marked the end of a nearly five-year effort to acquire the land from the Gillmor family. Summit County Chief Civil Attorney Dave Thomas said the land deals on the east side of U.S. 40 are complicated because they fall in an Environmental Protection Agency superfund site. He said the county began talking with the EPA about the land four or so years ago, but it wasn’t until late August that the agency signed off on the deal. Basin Rec now controls about 450 acres on which it plans to build a 3- to 5- mile trail network and a new trailhead and eventually connect the network to the Rail Trail and Silver Creek Village development. There’s about 1 1/2 miles of open space between the Park City Business Please see Land, A-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD City Hall emergency officials and the Park City Police Department and conducted an active threat drill Friday afternoon at the Marsac Building. Similar exercises are regularly held at locations in Park City, and officials say they are meant to ensure protocols are in place in the event of a real threat, such as a shooter. VISITOR GUIDE Take on a challenge at the National Ability Center The National Ability Center will host a Challenge Course open climb from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21. Participants of all abilities, ages 8 and older, are welcome to participate. Registration is required. Call 435-649-3991 to sign up. For information, visit discovernac.org. |