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Show I COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MAKE ANSWER TO BEATTY'S CHARGE Statement Declares That Health Commissioner Misrepresented Facts in Reference to County Infirmary Improvement. I Members of the Weber county board ! of commissioners did not ko to Salt J,ake Friday nftcrnoon to attend the scheduled meeting wil h Oovi rnor Mabey as the result of condemnation of tho county jail by the state board' ot hlth. The board members de-j ddod to postpone the meeting until this -week when the matter can bo, g-lven more thorouph study. The board members yesterday prepared pre-pared a statement for publication In which they sot forth that statements made In newspapers by Dr. T. li. i Beatty, secretary of the state board of; health, regarding the source of fi-nancea fi-nancea for tho erection of the Weber j .ounty Informary near Roy. were uncalled un-called for and that "Dr. Beatty knew nothing upon the subject upon which , lie was talking." J The statement follows: I -The undersigned county commis- I ' sioncrs of Weber county take this op- port units- of replying to that portion of tho speech made by Dr. Beatty and reported in The Standard-Examiner under date of December 7. 1922, criticising tho methods adopted in building the county Infirmary. The specific point is clothed In the fol- I lowing languid;-"'I languid;-"'I am Informed that tho money to build this building was taken from the poor fund. It was both unfair and unwise to take this money from That fund. If this jail is built it should not be done after the manner Ju which tho county infirmary was built.' "Section 1400x40 of the Compiled Laws of Utah provides us follows: "Taxes Tho board of county commissioners in each county in tho state may. if they deem it necessary and expedient to do so, annually at their session at which the annual tax levy for county purposes is fixed and levied, a tiOKS and levy a tax not exceeding exceed-ing 1 mill on the dollar, for tho following purposes, to-wlt: 1. The care, maintenance, and relief of the indigent sick or otherwise oth-erwise dependent poor persona having fi lawful settlement in the county. S. For temporary relief of indigent in-digent poor persons hav ing a lawful law-ful settlement in the county; 8. The erection and maintenance main-tenance of hospitals, Infirmaries, or poorhouses, and any and all farms in connection therewith; 4. Tho employment of a superintendent super-intendent for such cfunty hospi- j tals, poorhouses, and lnfirmarh -. and othr necessary help therein; 6. The salary of the county physician attending the Indigene lck or otherwise dependent poor. The said taxes herein authorized author-ized ehall be collected on each dollar of valuation of property within tho county, in the same manner that other county taxes are assessed, levied, and collected, and by the same officers whose dutios requlro them to assess, levy, and collect the other count taxes. "Dr- Beatty should know that the CQUrM pursued was the only legitl- - mate one. It is therefore apparent that Dr. Beatty knew nothing upon the eubject of which he was talking. CRITICISING BEATTY. "The undersigned understand that the duties of Dr B itty ore confined to matters of health and not to the financial problems of any county. Ho has attempted to criticise the con-:ervative con-:ervative financial policy of the commissioners com-missioners His attitude, If followi d, would thrust upon the taxpayers of Weber county uncalled-for burdens in these trying financial times. "Will Dr. Beatty direct tho atten- tlon of tho county commissioners to .my method of financing such a build- i ing other than the wtrV adopted in I tho construction of the county infirmary in-firmary by taking tho money out of 1 fund fixed by law? He knows, or ' should know, the fate of an attempt to bond tho county for such pur- j poses, as tho people voted this same proposition down in the year 191?. lie .urther intimates that tho u.e of funds for the erection of this building build-ing has had an 111 effect upon tho care of tho poor in Weber county. The public Is invited to make a thorough thor-ough and complete investigation of, the care of the poor In YYber county. Tho commissioners are proud of the building and the care being taken of those in their care at the county infirmary, in-firmary, and wo feel there Is not anything too good for our old and Infirm. In-firm. ' 1 r. lVatty should have investigated investigat-ed all the foregoing matters before making such drastic and uncalled for assertions. (Signed) "MORONI SKEEN. MJ, M "HILD, "E. S. GREEN. "Weber County Commission." oo |