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Show 75¢ Apples and cider A6 Gunnison Valley Edition www.sanpetemessenger.com VOL. 86 • NUMBER 40 Talks with DWR on court site move forward SANPETE WEA THER EATHER FORECAST High/Low % precip. Wednesday But Concerned Citizens claim fairgounds not completely ruled out as location Rain, 56/31 ............... 20% Thursday By John Hales Rain, 52/28 ............... 25% Managing editor Friday Clear, 55/33 .............. 10% Saturday Cloudy, 59/32 ............. 5% Last Week’s Weather (Courtesy Ted Olson, Snow College) Date Oct. Oct. Oct. Oct. Oct. Oct. Oct. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Max. 73 76 77 72 71 58 61 MANTI, UTAH • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007 Min. Prec. 28 33 38 34 35 32 .02” 32 AT A GLANCE Mistletoe Mall will be Nov. 2, 3 The 25th Mistletoe Mall Craft Boutique will be Nov. 2, 3, at the Gunnison High School. Contact Debra at 5283564 or Julie at 529-7731 to get more information. Amnesty week at Gunnison Library! The library will hold an amnesty week the first week of November: Clean out your closets and bookshelves, bring back the library books, and we will waive the fines. Come in and take a look at the new machine the library has to make and print color copies and send faxes. Volunteers are needed to help with a story time for preschool age children. Contact Carolyn Childs at 528-3104. MANTI—Ever since Sanpete County commissioners and the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts announced that they had dropped the fairgrounds location and had agreed upon another location for the project, skepticism has run high that not enough detail about the new location was known to enable citizens to vote in good conscience to approve bonds to fund the project. Commissioners purposefully did not give detailed information about the location, and protestors felt their message of opposition wasn’t getting out as clearly as they wanted. Holiday boutique to be held The 8th Annual Holiday Magic Boutique in the Fairview Dance Hall will feature a variety of craft items from 35 crafters plus door prizes, giveaways, and food. Boutique hours are from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. -6 p.m. Saturday. INSIDE Opinions ........ A4 Lifestyle ......... A6 School ........... A9 Sports .......... A10 Classifieds ... A11 Utah Press Association General Excellence winner 1999 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 tails are now available about the property, those details aren’t convincing detractors that the county won’t revert to the fairgrounds at the north end of Manti as the courts location. Commissioners have said that there is no way for any potential land purchase from the DWR to be finalized in time for the location to be nailed down as part of a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the state courts office prior to the Nov. 6 bond election. That is a big stumbling block for Concerned Citizens of Sanpete County spokesperson Kaye Crane. “We really believe that putting all of this off is an indication that they intend to go back to the fairgrounds,” Crane said. The MOU, the thing that commissioners say can’t be produce in time for the election, is the very thing that Crane says the commissioners would need to deliver before her or members of her group would even (See “Courts” on A2) Gunnison mayor Snow enrollment plunges in intensive care Drop in scholarships a possible factor but improving By John Hales Managing editor EPHRAIM—Budget overruns in past years, a good economy and even the war in Iraq are being blamed for a significant decrease in enrollment at Snow College this year. The Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) last week released enrollment numbers at colleges and universi- ties throughout the state. Those numbers showed a slight decrease in enrollment generally. In that, Snow College was no different than all but three other Utah schools. Where Snow did stick out— and stick out like an “F” on a report card of otherwise straight “As”—was in the amount by which that enrollment decreased. In a headcount of enrolled students in the entire USHE Snow’s enrollment woes Los Hermanos de los Andes to perform The Casino Star Theatre in Gunnison will present the musical group Los Hermanos de los Andes at 7 p.m. The suggested donation for tickets is $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. Advance tickets are available at Rasmussen’s Ace Hardware in Gunnison, and at the Manti Messenger Office in Manti. But last week, both sides became clearer about what they had been talking about for the one or two weeks previous. “Negotiations are underway with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) for the purchase of five acres of frontage property along U.S. 89 adjoining Manti City,” said Sanpete County Commissioner Claudia Jarrett Monday. “All of the property is owned by DWR; no private owners are involved,” she said. But even though more de- Headcount numbers three weeks into the school year show a significant decline in enrollment for Snow compared to other state schools. The reasons Officials say Snow’s enrollment decline is due to a good economy (people working vs. going to school), the conflict in Iraq and overruns in Snow’s scholarship budget. Academic scholarships 2005 2006 2007 612 549 355 Veteran enrollment 2005 2006 2007 65 83 26 three weeks into the school year, there was a 0.09 percent decrease statewide. Snow however, by itself, saw a nearly 10 percent decrease, and had the biggest enrollment decline by far. The closest runner-up for biggest drop was CEU, with a comparatively small four percent decrease. The University of Utah, the state’s biggest school, has nine times the student population that Snow does; yet this year it saw an enrollment decrease only two times that of Snow: the U dropped by 608 students, Snow by 342. The biggest reason for the drop, says Snow President Scott Wyatt, is a corrective measure taken in the school’s scholarship budget after officials discovered a deficit in the budget, created by over-awarding scholarships in years previous. That deficit, nearly $800,000, is now being made up by reducing scholarships. At the time the reductions were announced last winter, officials thought they could get away with a 10 percent decrease in the number of scholarships. Things turned out differently. In real numbers of academic scholarships, the 2007 scholarships dropped by about 35 percent from scholarships awarded in 2006, and nearly 42 (See “Enrollment” on A5) By John Hales specialist discovered that Hermansen’s trachea, where it split Managing editor to each lung, was collapsing, posGUNNISON—Gunnison sibly because of Wegener’s. The Oct. 6 procedure was to Mayor Scott Hermansen’s condition is improving, say family mem- expand the trachea with balloons. bers, following complications dur- In the course of that, however, the ing a surgical procedure that re- trachea ruptured due to tissue damage, again consistent sulted in a doctor-inwith Wegener’s. duced coma. The rupture Hermansen is was repaired during still in the Intensive an emergency surCare Unit at LDS gery, but absolute Hospital, but sister stillness was required Pam Lund, Manti, for the injury to heal, says he is gradually so doctors induced a coming out of the coma and put one coma. lung on a ventilator, “On Saturday so that the other lung, [Oct. 13], he actually with the repaired opened his eyes; he Mayor Scott damage, would not knew we were there,” Hermansen have to work. Lund said this week. A few days later, another sur“He’s better, but he’s not good. But it’s so much better than seeing gery was performed to put a ventihim paralyzed in a coma. Every lator on the other lung. At that time, day there’s what we call baby-step the repaired trachea was examined, and doctors said that everything miracles.” On Oct. 6, Hermansen went looked good. Lund says that, at this point, into the hospital for a procedure to treat a condition stemming from there isn’t much of a prognosis. “We don’t know. They’ll have what doctors think might be Wegener’s Granulomatosis, a dis- to go back in and do the procedure. ease that damages important organs The initial problem still hasn’t been of the body by limiting blood flow fixed,” she said. “Every day we’re hoping for to those organs and destroying norsomething good.” mal tissue. The condition, if indeed it is For about a year previous to that, Hermansen had not felt well. Wegener’s, is not cancer related, He had suffered from a persistent though it can sometimes be treated cough and growing difficulty in with chemotherapy and steroids, breathing. Finally, a pulmonary Lund said. Sterling Town master plan to guide growth By John Hales Managing editor STERLING—Planning for growth isn’t something only Sanpete’s cities should be concerned with, says Sterling Mayor Garry Bringhurst. Even though it’s one of the smallest towns in the county, Sterling is dealing with the same kind of growth in its environs that the rest of the county is trying to prepare for and mitigate. To help guide and direct that growth, Sterling is putting together a general plan for the town. “With the growth that’s going to happen in the county the next five years (I don’t think a lot of people see it, but it’s coming), Sterling is an ideal place to move, and I don’t want it to go helter-skelter. I want to know where we’re going,” he said. Bringhurst spoke about Sterling getting a general plan a couple weeks ago, after a town survey was offered to residents about how they view their town and what they want for it in the future. The survey will help urban-planning students at BYU who are putting the general plan together. JOHN HALES / MESSENGER PHOTOS Sterling Town Mayor Garry Bringhurst says his town (above) needs a general plan to help mitigate and prepare for development, such as the growth above the town near Palisade Lake (right). “BYU students are doing the study, and that’s going to save a lot of money. We could hire engineers to do it, but it would bankrupt the town. They’re going to put out a master plan for us, and we’ll take a look at it,” Bringhurst said. Some of the questions dealt with things like road width, and whether residents desired to have a sewer system. The answers will guide the creation of the general plan, which will give recommendations regarding things like zoning, annexation, infra- structure, recreation and other amenities the town offers its citizens. “If we want to go get grants and financing for things, we have to have all that stuff in place,” Bringhurst said. Bringhurst commended the Sterling Planning and Zoning Commission and its leadership in getting the general-plan ball rolling. “Planning and Zoning Commission members] Liz Ransom and Jeff Rasmussen (See “Sterling” on A3) |
