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Show City Responsibility Outlined at Session Emerging from discussion at the past two Panguitch City Council meetings was a draft agreement to set responsibility for checking weather conditions at Panguitch City Airport in emergency situations. The airport which is owned by the city, but located in county territory, became the center of attention recently when an emergency arose in the early hours of the morning. Paneuitch residents Ross and Pam Hatch had rushed their infant son to Panguitch Memorial Hospital after he suddenly stopped breathing. Hospital staff members restored his breathing but decided that he should be flown to Salt Lake City for treatment. The hospital placed a telephone call to the air ambulance service in Salt Lake City which in turn called Panguitch City Police Chief Howard Gilmore. ' According to a letter subsequently submitted to the Panguitch City Council and Garfield Memorial Hospital by Gilmore, he (Gilmore) received a phone call from the air ambulance service about 5:30 a.m. inquiring about weather and runway conditions at Pangutich City airport. Gilmore stated that he gave the pilot the weather conditions as he observed them from his house but did not drive out to the airport since he had just gotten to bed two -and-one-half hours earlier. Mrs. Hatch stated that the air ambulance informed the hospital that it did not have sufficient weather information about the Panguitch airport to be able to take off. A volunteer hospital employee then telephoned Gilmore. Gilmore's letter stated that he received the call about 6 a.m. inquiring why hfe had not gone out to the'airport to -check conditions for the pilot, and whose responsibility it was to clear snow and determine if the runways were suitable for a plane to land safely. He s said he told her he didn't know and that "we were a police department not flight and weather service, and we didn't have an officer on duty 24 hours a day to provide this type of service or handle this type of call." According to Mrs. Hatch, hospital employee Ron Hatch,, after he had completed tests on their baby, drove out to the airport to check it and notified the air ambulance service that they could proceed to Panguitch to pick (Continued on Page 2) Responsibility Outlined (Continued from Paget) up the Hatch Infant. The Hatch's appeared before the Pangultch City Council to ask the council to establish responsibility for providing information about weather and runway conditions at the airport so that in the future when emergencies occur, there would be no question as to where responsiblity should be. Mrs. Hatch stated that she felt that Gllmore should have taken a more concerned approach to their situation and taken action out of humanitarian concern. Gllmore's letter explained that he felt he was not qualified and had not been trained in such observations and could not properly make a judgement about the condition of the airport runway for landing. His letter reminded the city and the hospital administration that the hospital is located outside the city limits and that, in spite of a "gentlemen's asreement" with the hosoital for police services, the Pangultch City Police Department has no authority out there except in emergency criminal matters." His letter continued, "If we continue to provide other services and sometime something goes sour I can just imagine what the chances are of the county commissioners jumping up and saying, 'You have been so helpful in the past to take care of the hospital's problems for us, now we will be glad to assume the liability of this law suit for you.'." As a result of the Incident, hospital administrator Robert Kruse submitted a draft agreement between the hospital and the city police and county sheriff which was taken under consideration by the city council, generally accepted, and forwarded to the city attorney for review and finalization. Under the agreement, responsiblity will be placed first upon the Pangultch City Police department; second, upon the Garfield County Sheriff; third, on EMTs on call; and, fourth, upon hospital employees as available. In a separate, unrelated incident, Larry and Joan Jenkins, owners of the Flying M Restaurant appeared before the council to relate the circumstances leading up to their feeling of having not been treated fairly by Chief Gilmore. Mrs. Jenkins stated that a transient claimed to have had his shirt ripped by one of their profesisonally trained guard dogs and sought immediate payment for his damaged shirt. He increased the amount he asked them for several times in the space of a few minutes, whereupon, the Jenkins, without acknowledging that the dogs had committed the act, suggested the individual see Chief Gllmore. Mrs. Jenkins stated that they sub-sequently received a telephone call from Gllmore inquiring which dogs were outside their truck. Mrs. Jenkins said that her husband explained to Gllmore that the dogs had been in their pickup truck at least six feet Inside their property line at the time the incident was alleged to have occurred. She said the conversation between her husband and Gilmore became strained, with Gilmore threatening to impound and have their dogs killed. She said Gilmore said he would "put the man up for the night at city expense" if he would sign a complaint. She said her husband tried to explain that their dogs were professionally trained, very expensive, properly insured, and always kept under control. ouo seuu uuu uiey icii uiai uiey naa "not received fair treatment," and that as taxpayers in the community they were due at least as considerate treatment as any stranger and that they expected to be able to have a reasonable dialogue with someone in Gilmore's position without his resorting to threats and bias. In response to the Jenkins' allegations, Gilmore stated, "I may have been hot under the collar; I honestly can't remember saying I'd kill the dogs. I was getting pressure . . ." The Jenkins stated that they told the city council they 'would remove' the', an.'nals to a pound in another area for safekeeping if it ever became necessary since they believe that conditions at the Pangultch City pound would be dangerous and life threatening to their valuable dogs. Gilmore acknowledged that the local facility would be inadequate for the type of dogs belonging to the Jenkins, but added that he did not want the animals spirited out of his jurisdiction. The Jenkins said that their concern was for any future incidents, since the present one had already been resolved, and wondered how the council would handle things in the future. The council agreed, on the advice of the city attorney, that if impoundment ever became necessary, the Jenkins could pay costs of transporting their dogs to another, more adequate facility with the Jenkins assuming the costs of maintaining the animals at the facility. Gilmore and the Jenkins appeared to accept the terms as equitable. |