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Show Thursday, October 30, 2008 The Gunnison Valley Gazette California drivers STEWARTS Continued from Page 1 Lamar was a champion for our valley schools especially the Gunnison Valley High School. In the 1960’s when the suggestion was made to consolidate the Gunnison Valley High School with the Manti High School, he fought diligently against this proposal. He felt our own GVHS was an excellent school and the valley deserved to keep it here. The proposal was defeated. All seven of the Stewart children graduated from GVHS as well as various grandchildren. Several years ago Joe and Nedra were adopted as Honorary Alumni and Bulldogs of Gunnison Valley High School. Lamar served a two year European tour of duty in the U.S. Army Infantry during World War II. He has been a member of the American Legion Post 104 for over forty years. He had a deep love of our country and was a staunch member of the Republican Party. Lamar and Nedra celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary September 29th. He has followed high school and recreational sports faithfully especially when his grandsons and great grandsons have participated around the state and in Florida. Since his retirement, he has produced a huge garden and generously shared OLSEN Continued from Page 1 a specific master plan in mind. As mayor, I was willing to work with developers so long as I wasn’t compromising the law or the trust given me by the voters who had supported me in the election process. As Mayor, I was the CEO over a multi-million dollar budget, while managing the gas, electric, and telephone services for the community. John Walden, a land speculator and the developer of Eagle Mountain, Senator Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain, Councilmen David Lifferth, and public works director Mike Wren were constantly badgering city employees in zoning and public works to take care of Walden’s business. Another councilman at the time, Heather Jackson (current mayor of Eagle Mountain) also initiated pressure on the mayor and council in Walden’s favor. When Olsen refused to meet their demands, they sought his resignation from office. On Oct. 20, 2006 Olsen states, that the city offices were closed and he had spent the day at home tending to the needs of his wife who had been ordered to bed rest with a fragile pregnancy of the couples fifth child. After Olsen had picked up his older children from school and returned home that afternoon, he found Madsen, Lifferth, Wren, and developer Chris Kemp waiting for him at the house. They demanded that they come in to talk with him, however, because of his wife’s condition, Olsen suggested that they take their business elsewhere. They drove Olsen to Eagle Mountain Properties office of Walden, where they demanded his resignation from office. Lifferth handed Olsen a pre typed letter of resignation, written as though Olsen had authored it, and told him to sign it for the good of the city, said Olsen, they were no longer going to support me as mayor. Wren then accused Olsen of stealing thousands upon thousands of dollars, and he denied the allegation, stating that there had to be some kind of misunderstanding. Until that moment, I had always counted these men as friends. Lifferth then told Olsen that another former Eagle Mountain mayor had to wear a bulletproof vest after leaving office, and CNN would soon be parked in his driveway to get all the sordid details, and Page 5 Driver’s Education News By JESSE BURRELL Lamar Stewart as a young boy. Courtesy Photo it with anyone willing to take some of it off his hands. His favorites were Swiss chard, parsnips, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes. Some of Lamar’s favorite sayings were, “every Mormon home should have 14 children” and he would quote you a section of the Doctrine & Covenants where that was stated. Of course, the section number did not exist. Another question asked every young boy was, “Where are you going when you turn 19?” The answer was “On a mission.” Good advice given to young, dating teens (over the age of 16, of course) was “ be sure to get a financial statement from them.” Other advice to young people was, “A good education is like money in the bank.” He often teased his grandchildren by offering to ask someone to date or marry them if they seemed a little reluctant to do it themselves. Lamar was a friend to all and genuinely interested in all. He was always willing to help and found time to counsel and listen to many. He was proud of his family, his church, his community and country. He was quick to credit those he worked with as the driving force for the accomplishments of which he was a part. Farewell to a great man! if I didn’t leave immediately, my wife and kids would not be safe. Lifferth confirmed the conversation, saying “that he had been genuinely concerned about Olsen and his family once news was released of a sitting mayor being exposed for reimbursement fraud.” Olsen made a decision on the spot to sign the resignation letter. Upon returning home and telling his wife what he had done, the family fled the city that night, afraid of Lifferth’s warning. In retrospect, Olsen says he regrets that decision because his sudden resignation and disappearance left the public with an impression of guilt. The 7-felony charges against Olsen stemmed from reimbursements he received for conferences he never attended and trips he never made according to prosecutor Chad Grunander. When Olsen first assumed office, he was told by his executive assistant Angie Ferre that he didn’t need to worry about filling out reimbursement forms for food, mileage, or hotels as part of his mayoral travels because his staff would take care of the paperwork. The paper work was done, utilizing his electronic calendar and MapQuest, an internet site. Olsen said he cashed his weekly checks never second guessing the staff, whom he relied on to take care of these matters. Several city staffers testified that Olsen repaid hundreds of dollars on checks in which he had been given too much money by the city for travel. Gerald Sexton, a senior account for Eagle Mountain testified that Ferre and Lori Jolley, who processed checks to the mayor, didn’t tell the truth when they said they did not know about a written city policy detailing how reimbursements should be processed. Sexton testified that not only did he train Ferre on the policy, but on at least three different occasions Ferre trained others on the policy. Ferre, the primary witness for the prosecution, testified that she had never heard of the policy until the trial began. She also admitted under oath that she had not wanted Olsen too win the mayorship. Patti Johnston, and investigator for the county attorney’s office stated that she didn’t have the luxury of doing an in-depth investigation, and didn’t look into whether or not Olsen had been allowed to repay mistaken reimbursements. She felt there was sufficient evidence to proceed with the case. Upon cross examination by Yengich, Johnston admitted that she wasn’t concerned about what this would do to Olsen if he isn’t found guilty of the charges? She didn’t care if it ruined his life. Olsen took the witness stand in his own defense, testifying for more than two hours about the seven different felony counts that amounted too less than $425. in total. In the end, the state’s witnesses were my best witnesses, noting that those witnesses, including Ferre, proved that he had been accused without hard evidence. Yengich in his closing arguments pointed to the American Flag hanging on one wall of the courtroom and talked about all it represents, and our swearing allegiance to that flag for liberty and justice for all. He talked about the constitution of the United States of America, and then asked the jury to consider the lives of those who are wrongfully accused of such an injustice, asking “how did we allow something like this to happen in America?” While Olsen was only in office for 10-months, his case was considered high profile as news of the felony counts appeared in national newspapers across the country. He needed a high profile attorney to represent him, and Ron Yengich, a well known Salt Lake attorney, believed in his innocence and represented him well. As Olsen reflects on the trial, and facing 7-felony counts, that could have meant 35-years in prison (5-years for each felony count) had he been found guilty, he says “It’s unfortunate that someone has go to trial for something that could have been easily handled out of court.” “In hindsight, I should have been the one to fill out those report forms, things would have been different had I done that.” It should be noted that Eagle Mountain has not changed it’s code to prevent something like this from happening again. I never dreamed that this case would drag on for two years, nor amount to so much money, but we have been blessed in many ways throughout all of this. My wife delivered a healthy baby following my resignation. We have purchased a small home in Gunnison and have been supported in my Portrait Photography business by wonderful friends, neighbors, and family members in the Sanpete and Sevier valleys. We are very grateful for the support we have received from everyone. When I was young a rolling stop was referred to as a California stop. We call the U-turn that many do around here, which is really not legal, the Gunnison or Sanpete U-turn. We make fun of California drivers for bad habits, but I think there are a few things we can learn from them. I spent a week recently in California. We drove there and spent many hours on the road around Disneyland and Huntington Beach. There are a few things I did not like about drivers in general there, but there were a few things I was impressed with. Let’s start with what did not impress me, signaling. It did not seem to matter if they were making a left or right turn, merging or changing lanes very few people signaled and much of the time they cut back to closely in front of other vehicles. In Utah I have observed that more people signal for the standard “3 seconds” before a lane change or a turn. Everywhere we drove in California whether we were on the freeway or on the city streets signaling was few and far between. Now for the things I was impressed with and surprised at. #1: People in California know how to do U-turns and they know how to yield to people that are making U-turns at intersections. Around Gunnison, if you want to do a U-turn at an intersection you often take your life into your own hands. Many people do not yield to you while you are doing the maneuver. Even in the driver’s ed car when we are making U-turns people still pull out in front of us instead of making sure the intersection is clear before pulling out. Of course stems from the fact that people have a hard time stopping at the stop sign or stop line when they come to the intersection. #2: People in California seem to respect the car pool lane. On Interstate-5, 10 and 15 over some of the 1500 miles I put on this last week I did not see one person drive across the solid lines that separate the fast lane from the car pool lane. In Utah you can’t drive for 10 minutes in the car pool lane without someone cutting over the solid lines to get in or out. #3: People in California respect the fast lane. I drove the California roads for 6 days and not once was I slowed down by someone in the fast lane that was driving to slow, people just got over. But on the way home as soon as I got north of the state line I got caught behind someone going 15 miles under the speed limit in the fast lane, thus everyone was forced to pass on the right. So, I think we can learn from observing good driving habits that are displayed by other drivers even if it is a “California Driver.” We need to do the same thing here at home. Our children will have a much better chance acquiring good driving habits if they have a chance seeing others good driving examples. R E -ELE CT K AY M C I F F Utah House District 70 Paid for by the committee to re-elect Kay McIff. Open House Saturday November 1 • 1-4 pm Newly remodeled throughout! Nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath, modular home with large two-car garage on two acres in Fayette. Located at 200 E 200 S Special financing available on this home. A Must See! Refreshments will be served! Now is the time to buy a house. Interest is still low, and if you buy now the government is offering a $1,500 tax credit for first time home buyers. So take advantage of this! For more information contact Janice McClellan at 435-528-7717 or 435-528-3182 |
