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Show !( ;ot Water Fight Builds Steam piease turn to page 2 s . Vol. 4 No. 10 Thursday, March 11, 1982 20 cents single copy Local Mayors Eattle Sabres Over CUP moral support from Salt Lake iWith Ted Wilson and from Water District of Provo, mayors of north Utah County's seven 1" cities are bracing for a slugging i match with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, sponsor of the Central Utah Project. Local officials fear the Con-servancy District today intends to "ramrod through" a proposal for transporting water to Salt Lake County that they say will endanger citizens and create future problems for their cities. They promise stiff resistance to such a move. The mayors want to change plans for the two CUP pipelines currently ? slated to dissect north-en- d neigh- - borhoods enroute to the Salt Lake area. Instead they propose to tran-sport all CUP water through north Utah County in a single conduit - a concrete box-culve- rt - to be con-structed in the existing Murdock Canal. The box culvert plan is equivalent in cost and efficiency to the pipeline option, according to CUP's engineering authority - the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation - which has studied the proposal for four months . Seven local mayors created the Timpanogos Planning and Water Management Agency, whose purpose is to protect the water interests of north Utah County. The Agency's chairman, Alpine Mayor Don Christiansen, says he would like to work out disagreements between the cities and the Conservancy District, but neither he nor the other mayors are afraid to go to court if necessary to block current plans. "If they attempt to ramrod that through, many of our options are not pleasant ones," said Christiansen. "I'm not one who likes to be involved , in the courts. I think the best way is to resolve the problems before it ever I deteriorates to that point. "But once we get there, they don't leave us any choice. And if they try to force it down our throat Thursday, there's no question that that's the alternative they leave us." Christiansen said he had a con-versation with Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson on Tuesday in which Wilson agreed with the stance of the Timpanogos Agency. "He said he understands, and if he were in the same position that he would do the same thing we are doing," said Christiansen, adding that Wilson promised to express support for north Utah County to the member of the Conservancy District board who represent Salt Lake. In addition, he continued, "Mayor Wilson tells me he has told his people up there that they'd better find a way to work with us or it will practically kill the project because of the delay. We don't want to do that. None of us have a desire to kill the project. But we certainly have as a goal - and I think it's a reasonable goal - that as the project is built, it should not ignore the needs or the desires or the safety or the welfare of the people of the north end ot the county. Christiansen said he hopes the issue can be resolved without a court battle. But he added, "We are cer-tainly not afraid to do that. That's not our desire, but we certainly aren't going to back away from it if we have to go that route." In an informal meeting in Orem Monday night, the mayors of the Timpanogos Agency pledged con-tinued solidarity in the effort to get what they want. "As a result of that meeting, there is no question that we are united in our effort, and we're all solidly behind what we have been trying to gain here. None of us is going to change that position," Chrisitansen said. "There have been some attempts to separate us, to break us apart, to weaken two or three of our links. But they have not been successful," he said. Six Timpanogos Agency cities have an "absolutely unwavering" cohesiveness, according to Christiansen. "There's no question that it's a very strong organization. We all know what direction we're going, and nobody is going to change our direction." The seventh city, Lindon, may be hedging a bit. Pleasant Grove Mayor David Holdaway said he feels north Utah. County is "being patronized" by the Conservancy District and that the District has "every intention to proceed with the plans the way they've always had them, and that they are basically trying to keep us by showing some interest in our plan until they can implement what they have intended all along." "We feel like if they are going to proceed with the plan they've had all along, then more drastic action on our part is going to be required. That means the day of negotiating and trying to be dipolmatic are probably going to be over," said Holdaway. In such a case, he said, Pleasant Grove would ask for a court in-junction to halt further action on the project. "There are a number of other options available to us also," said Holdaway. "For example, we would open serious discussions with our elected representatives in Congress, hold public meetings fo get citizen input, etc." "We have a number of options, and we've mapped out some strategy if we're totally ignored in our request," he continued. "I have two basic concerns here in Pleasant Grove," Holdaway said. "One is the safety problem with a 72-in-high pressure line going through the city and the fact that it .will be taking another right-of-wa- y in ad-dition to the Murdock Canal. The second one is that I don't believe that they've studied this Alpine aqueduct idea because Pleasant Grove I don't think in the foreseeable future - in our lifetimes - would ever buy any treated water out of that aqueduct. I doubt if any of the cities would. I think they would end up with an empty pipe Continued on page 2 Information? You can't have it until it's 'treated (T Jc,!5 Provo Water Organization Expresses Support For CUP Alternative Plan Support for north Utah County's attempt to change Central Utah Project plans is steadily increasing -- - and it's now coming from at least two directions. Provo's metropolitan water district recently endorsed a single water conveyance line through the north end - following the lead of Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, who offered last month to help work out a solution acceptable to all parties involved. Local mayors, cooperating through the Timpanogos Planning and Water Management Agency, were en-couraged February 11 by the ex pressions of support from Wilson, their northern neighbor, who said that even though his city wants water from CUP he does not want to an-tagonize all of north Utah County's mayors to get it. Less than a week later and a few miles south, Wayne Hillier, manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Provo, sent a letter to the chairman of the Timpanogos Agency, Alpine Mayor Don Christiansen, congratulating him on the formation of the seven-cit- y group and endorsing the box-culve- rt alternative to CUP pipelines which the agency has proposed. The Timpanogos Agency wants to replace the current CUP plan for two pressurized water lines through the north end with a single d concrete culvert -- - an option they say is both more efficient and less ex-pensive than the current plan. Hillier's letter says the Provo Metropolitan Water District board supports the box-culve- option, and it congratulates the Timpanogos Agency for its "sincere interest in the betterment of northern Utah County." In a later telephone interview. Hillier said representatives of the Timpanogos Agency made a presentation to the Provo water board in which "they asked us to support them in the consolidation of the Jordan and Alpine aqueducts." "Of course, I always have been in favor (if it's financially feasible) of putting the water in one line and quit tearing up these cities with easements," said Hillier. "The members of the board listened to the proposal, and they voted to write a letter supporting them in their approach to the situation," he said. Police Recover Stolen Property Pleasant Grove Police recovered a wrecked truck in Lehi which had been stolen in Pleasant Grove during the past week. Officers Bert Bean and Grant Ferre participated in the investigation. A 1957 Dodge pickup valued at $1700 was reported stolen from 200 E. 200 S. in Pleasant Grove. The owner, Jim D. Harker is from Provo. Later it was found wrecked in Lehi. Damage was listed at $1,000. There is no suspect and investigation is con-tinuing. Police have also reported that items including cigarettes, beer and beef jerky were stolen from Mr. D's on March 2. Tom Paul is the in-vestigating officer. No arrests have been made. Boyd Holdaway, 310 W. 1100 N., reported to police that three barrels of wire were taken from his back yard on March 6. Value of the wire was set at $60. Officer Cody Cullimore is in-vestigating the incident. Kathy Prestwich reported that 20 boxes of M&M's were taken from her car while parked in the Pleasant Grove High School parking lot. The theft occurred on March 1. The candy was being sold as a fund raising project. Lynn Tolman told police that his sons' bicycles were taken from Valley View School while parked there. The two bikes involved had a total value of $110. The bikes have not been recovered. A burglary was reported by Parley Varney, 505 S. 400 E., who said that silver coins, and a pistol valued at $150 were taken from his home. The burglary was reported on March 1. Officer Bert Bean is in-vestigating the incident. Old Gymnasium City To Hold Election Pleasant Grove City will hold a nd election on Tuesday, March 30, 1982 to determine citizens feelings Jbout renovation of the old junior high gymnasium into a multi-purpos- e center. To be able to vote at this election, a IW . person must be a registered voter. Those citizens who need to register may do so by going to the County Clerk's office in Provo. The last day to register is March 19th. Absent voter ballots will be available at city hall for anyone desiring to vote who will be out of town on the day of the election. Anyone desiring further in-formation about the election, registration or absent voter ballots can contact the City Recorder at the city offices. PG Couple Saves Lives A Pleasant Grove couple are credited by a Provo family with saving the lives of their daughters following an automobile accident in Provo Canyon. "Our daughters were coming down the canyon February 20 about 9 . and were being tailgated by another car, so they pulled to the side of the road," said the mother of tne girls. When they did this, the girls found iney were on a soft shoulder and the car slid into the Provo River and in r.ri., u. l.ll.l.lLI. overturned, trapping the girls momentarily, she said. They were able to get out finally and one of the girls made it to the bank, however, the second girl was unable to make it. Several vehicles passed them by, but a Pleasant Grove couple stop-ped, aided the girls, called for help and later took them to their Provo residence. "Some observers have told us that the girls wouldn't have lived if they hadn't got help when they did, as cold as it was," the mother said. "We would like to personally thank this couple, but we don't know who they are - all we know is they were a young couple from Pleasant Grove and had a young baby," she said. "We would like to give them a reward if they will contact us and can give us some details of the rescue so we know it is them," the mother continued. "They can call us at she said. Cedar Hills : Caution Advised By SHARON MORREY After several months spent studying the township of Cedar Hills and the possible annexation of the town to American Fork City, the conclusion of the task committee involved is: "Approach with extreme caution." George Scott, planning commission chairman for American Fork and a member of the committee specially appointed to look into Cedar Hills, said in his presentation March 3 that "the costs at this time far outweigh the benefits" of annexation. Scott read over a three page list of questions and concerns he and his committee had come up with after their meeting with Cedar Hills of-ficials. Many questions had no satisfactory answer, said Scott. Jess Green noted that before an-nexation is ever seriously considered "gigantic" problems have got to be solved. "Further than this, we need detailed answers from them before we approach city council with anything." Scott reminded the commission after various discussions over sewer, boundary, hillside development, water rights, and numerous other problems that the committee did not set out to "right any wrongs" but simply to outline what may be in-volved if annexation were ever brought up. "We divided our concerns into three Continued on page 12 |