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Show l I ; . fllj vfrtmmmm m-- - ..... J r II i rv h Now is time for cooperation Don't drink and drive, just take 26 years of jU ; j A; , for Jordan dredging project the bus. dedicated service t-- Jf . U ... See editorial on page 2 --see story page 3 ...see story page 3 'iL 1 I ' ' ' ' ' " ' ' m Vol. 6 No. 12 Wednesday. March 21, 1984 50 cents a single copy ; :- - : ' Beacon Financial succeeds defunct Grove Finance Lorin F. Wheelwright has been named as director and president of the Beacon Financial, Inc., the successor to Grove Finance Company, it was reported today. The new company has assets valued at approximately $5 million. I Other officers are L. Neil Rasmussen, director and vice president; Ivan T. Call, director; Richard L. Millett, director; Karl A. Wrigley, director; and Philip C. Ellsworth, secretary and treasurer. The Bankruptcy Court approved the reorganization plan for Beacon Financial when 96 percent of the voting creditors endorsed the plan, according to the directors. The State of Utah granted a corporate charter to Beacon Financial, Inc., allowing the of the plan. The of-ficers and directors were approved by the court. Documents transferring assets from the Trustee, Lorin Wheelwright, named when Grove Finance was closed by the state, were signed in November. Since fall the directors have been inspecting properties, refurbishing rental units -- disposing.. ..of. som?-...item- ,,by sale. They have set a working policy of retrieving assets, conserving what they now have, making im-proved holdings profitable and not engaging in the loan business, the new directors said. They have been investigating and evaluting other business possibilities, too, the directors noted. The Trustee is working with the secretary-treasure- r to complete the accounting for Grove Finance tax returns covering the period of 1980 to the present. This is a top priority now. The Trustee has sent out a legal opinion to creditors regarding their own tax reporting of individual losses. He is currently working to reconcile a list of creditors that is updated in amount of approved claims, addresses and names. As soon as this is completed they hope to issue stock certificates to all undisputed claimants. This may take several months, Wheelwright said. The first annual meeting of the stockholders is planned for November, 1984. In a recent letter to creditors the directors of Beacon Financial said they will manage affairs with complete devotion to preserving and improving the company and its assets, and to the obtaining of the best returns on investments con-sistent with safety. Former president of Grove Finance, Hal Haycock, is now , prison, sentence. ,.111 a federal prison: Grove Finance was closed by the state in 1980 after reports of inadequate funds to cover checks written by the company were discovered. The Trustee appointed by the court has handled the research into what happened to the assets of the company. , . V.. ,,::'. ,. ..!.,. , - - t- - v .v , . o ' . ' ' - L , i V; .. xi ..v " - 1 " f f iff - - ' - - - s - v j. - f . ... V v " - I - . f. , -. . ' - V.V.--- -- , r; " - . CREWS REMOVE tons of gravel from the Battlecreek debris basin which is over 35 percent full of the rock as a result of last year's high runoff. The gravel is being removed to make room for this spring's high water. Crews remove toes off gravel ffrem 983 raeoffff By MARCELLA WALKER Pleasant Grove City crews, assisted by Gordon Case of Case Construction, began moving thousands of tons of gravel from Battlecreek debris basin near Kiwanis Park Thursday. City councilman John Frampton who works with the street depart-ment, said that the basin was nearly 35 percent full of gravel, most of which washed down during last a spring's runoff. Mud slides in Battlecreek Canyon last spring caused the stream to bring tons of gravel down into the 1 basin. The city leaders said that the 'gravel must be removed to make room for the runoff this spring. Mayor David Holdaway reported that the basin has already risen since last week as a good stream is now coming down the canyon. The mayor estimated that about 12,000 yards of gravel will be removed from the basin. He indicated that considerable gravel came down Grovecreek last spring also but most of it has stayed in the upper basin and has not caused a serious problem like what has occurred in Battlecreek basin. Anticipating flooding problems similar to those of last year, or even worse, the mayor said the city was trying to do all it could to prepare for the runoff. Removing the gravel is a major undertaking in preparing for spring, he said. Mayor Holdaway said he could hardly believe the amount of gravel and debris which had filled the basin. After several hours of work the power shovel had only removed a small portion of the total amount of gravel. The city is offering the gravel free of cost to those who bring a dump-truc- k to the site. Several con-struction companies and Lindon City have already asked for some of the gravel. Mayor Holdaway said that at first it was hoped they could remove the gravel in just a couple of days but, he said, it now appears that they will have to take a week or more to complete the job. Battlecreek has usually not been a problem in the spring but has flowed later in the summer, just the opposite of Grove Creek. This past spring and summer the stream was flowing all the time and water had to be released from the basin all year long. Some of the excess water was diverted down 200 South Street and the crest was directed into a ditch or into neighboring farmers' orchards. At one point last summer the Battlecreek stand pipe was not draining properly and crews had to clean the drain as an emergency measure as the water began rising quickly in the basin. PTA plans special meeting on alcoholism and drug abuse More than 20,000 children in Utah alone are emotionally crippled because somebody close to them drinks too much. It doesn't have to be this way. The Pleasant Grove PTA Council, the Pleasant Grove City Police Department and the Cottage Program International are working together to prevent alcohol and drug abuse. Join with them on March 29 at 7 p.m. at the Pleasant Grove Junior High School with a commitment and personal resolution to eliminate the horror of chemical dependency. The meeting will allow for in-teraction with the audience. A video will be shown and a panel will follow. The panel will consist of a police officer, a parent, school of-ficials, youth, medical doctor and a prevention specialist. This will be a very informative and educational evening. It is free to the public and will attract concerned parents and community leaders from the Pleasant Grove, Manila and Lindon areas. For further information please call 785-421- 5 or Tax ruling muddies water for leeway Cox puts proposal on hold until complex questions are answered leeway be postponed until the Board of Education's April 10 business meeting - after the Utah Legislature has had time to deal with the questions raised by the court decision. "We should have the information to make a sound decision by that time," Cox said. "I know that this sounds indecisive, but the Supreme Court decision has clouded the issue considerably." The court decision involves action taken by the Utah Legislature several years ago when it "Iroe" local assessments for taxing pur-poses at 1978 levels, about 68 percent of 1983 prices. Under that legislation, a home appraised at $74,000 in 1983 would have an ad-justed value of about $50,000 for taxing purposes. The decision, filed on March 13, declared that the practice of "freezing" the value of some properties at a given point in time, and not others, results in nonuniform assessments and is unconstitutional. The decision means local assessments will have to be raised by as much as 48 percent to bring them in line with state assessments -- - a move that would mean increased taxes. A change in mill levies could offset the increase local assessments so taxes don't go up, but if no changes ' By MARC HADDOCK Alpine School District Superin-tendent Clark Cox is asking that the district's May 8 leeway tax proposal be put in a "holding pattern" until issues surrounding a recent Utah Supreme Court ruling are clarified. "The prospects of higher taxes as III a result of the court's decision casts a shadow over the upcoming leeway election for the Alpine District," a said Dr. Cox. "Even though the district would not benefit to the full extent even if taxes do go up because of the decision, it would not be fair I for us to ask voters to increase their J tax burden even further." A Dr. Cox said most of the money ;( raised by the higher taxes would go j jl into the state's uniform school fund. "For that reason," Dr. Cox con- - tinued, "I'm asking that all of us j who are associated with the up-- ; coming leeway election --citizen's 'J groups, the PTA, district employees, Jj and the Alpine Board of Education -- Jj adopt a holding pattern for the time Ji being." Dr. Cox is asking that action on the are made, taxes will increase the amount of that increase could be softened by existing laws. The situation is further clouded by the pending special session of the Utah Legislature, which is sure to deal with the issuesraised by the court decision. That session begins March 26. "Pending the outcome of legislative action, and how it affects our local taxpayers, then we will hold off on a final decision as to when and if we will hold a leeway elec-tion," Dr. Cox said. "We don't know at this point what their response will be. Hopefully, the potential tax increase which results from the court's decision will be nullified completely by the legislature, either through mill levy reductions or other means." "It is better, in my opinion, to not go ahead at full steam right now, rather than risk the possibility of adding injury to insult by asking taxpayers to shoulder two tax in-creases at the same time," Dr. Cox said. Group formed to boost leeway vote The Alpine School District Public Involvement Council, a group of mostly lay citizens who provide input to the Alpine Board of Education to assist with decision making, has invited several local citizens to serve on an executive committee to inform area voters concerning the need for passage of the upcoming voted leeway. The voted leeway is scheduled for May 8 and will ask citizens to vote on from between a two mill and five mill increase. One mill represents a one dollar increase in property taxes for every thousand dollars of assessed valuation. A two mill levy on a $60,000 home would add an additional $18.00 peryear to the homeowner's property taxes. A five mill levy would increase the same homeowner's bill by peryear. Cole Durham, Chairman of the district Public Involvement Council, introduced the members of the executive committee to the Alpine Board of Education during its business session last Tuesday night. The committee will be composed of: Don Evans Orem businessman, and former member of the Board of Education; Orville Gunther, prominent American Fork businessman; Cole Durham, BYU School of Law; Jan Iewis, Regional PTA President; Eileen Peterson, former chairperson of the Public Involvement Council and former board member. Durham also delivered a statement on the need for the mill levy increase at the meeting. "Our group believes that passage of the voted leeway is imperative," he said. "Of course, no one likes to pay more taxes, but when the voters come to understand the financial problems which are facing the district, we feel they'll respond." The group has selected a slogan for its campaigning efforts: YES (Yes for Excellent Schools). if |
