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Show Arson Determined In Two Line Camp Fires South Of Burr Trail BOULDER A cabin and a trailer, both belonging to Boulder residents were burned in what State fire marshal Ted Itchon has termed "definitely arson." Itchon and .Garfield County Sheriff Than Cooper combed the site of the two fires on May 18 for clues to who may have set the fires, which took place sometime in the night of May 16-17. The two structures, both line camps used by cattle ranchers were the fourth and fifth in a series of five fires over the past few years that have destroyed such camps. Gary Haws owned the cabin and Bob and Sioux Cochran the trailer, a two-bedroom 20-foot x 60-foot mobile home. Haws estimated his loss at between $35,000 and $40,000 and the Cochrans at $7,000 to $12,000. David Bird, a Salt Lake City attorney, at-torney, said he was headed to a float trip on the Escalante River about 7:15 p.m. May 16. When he passed the Haws pink cabin he said there was no sign of any disturbance. distur-bance. The Cochran trailer was not visible from the road. He said his car broke down about six miles farther far-ther down the road and he stopped to check it out. He had the hood up on his car when he noticed another vehicle approaching from the front. He waved to let them know there was room to pass and thought they would stop to help. Instead, he said, the car stopped abruptly about 150 yards away and turned back in the direction from which it had come. Bird said he was unable to identify the make and model, simply that it was a white sedan. He said he did not see it again. He was able to get his car running and continued on his way, spending the night at the end of the Moody Creek Road. He was met in the morning by Boulder area resident Grant Johnson and David Scott who had hiked up from the river. Bird had made arrangements to replace Scott on the float trip. Bird said he mentioned the incident with the white car to the two men. They drove away in Bird's car to return to Boulder and Bird proceeded to the river. Johnson and Scott noticed the two bumed line camps as they returned to Boulder and notified the Bureau of Land Management, who in turn notified the sheriff. The dispatcher at the Sheriffs office in Panguitch said Cooper was tied up all week in court on North Star and there was no one to speak for him. Both structures were located on state school sections approximately 100 feet apart. The owners pay 3 percent of their gross for the privilege of using the land. Five cabins have been burned since March 1990 when 21 cattle were slain and Arthur Lyman's two cabins were burned. Both structures struc-tures had been used for 40 years. At the time, Lyman listed his loss at $20,000 to replace the cabins and $15,000 to replace the cattle. Lyman sold his cattle permits and has not rebuilt his cabin.. Last year on August 1, a four-year-old cabin located on the west end of the Kaiparowits off the Hole-in-the-Rock Road in Kane County burned to the ground. It was owned by Escalante cattle rancher Norman Christensen who valued the structure and its contents in excess of $30,000. Christensen said he is still negotiating with his insurance company. Itchon also examined the site at that fire and said there was no sign of a lightning strike and had to assume arson. In 1990, after Lyman's cattle were slain, rewards were offered by various organizations (BLM, Sierra club, Utah Farm Bureau, Garfield County Farm Bureau, Boulder rancher Paul Hansen, Utah Cattlemen's Association, and then representative Wayne Owens, etc) that reached $24,500. The cases were never resolved and none of the cabins have been rebuilt. |