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Show I 7- - 40 expires 013089 HOAG & SDNS BDOKBINDERV, INC. R 17 RAILROPiD STREET SPRINGPORT MI 49SS4 fiStK SS Vol. 10, No. 2 Wednesday, Jan. IMS r0 tents a single copy Utah's top court upholds trial which sentenced Lafferty to death The Utah Supreme Court Monday upheld a 4th District Court jury's decision which sentenced Ronald Watson Lafferty to death for the July 24, 1984 slaying of his sister-in-la- Brenda Wright Lafferty and her infant daughter. Lafferty and his brother, Dan, were convicted for the homicides I during separate trials held two i years ago. j At the conclusion of the trials, Dan I Lafferty received a sentence of life imprisonment while jurors gave Ron the death penalty. Michael Esplin and Gary Weight, Ron, Lafferty's lawyers, argued, among other things, that Ron's sentence was unfair in light of his J brother's sentence. I, Issues presented on the appeal included claims that the trial court erred by forcing Ron to stand trial while incompetent and denying him his right of self representation. The justices, however, unanimously upheld his conviction, although not all agreed with the death sentence. "We affirm all convictions and all sentences which are the subject of this appeal," Justice Michael D. Zimmerman wrote for the majority. Mental competency to stand trial was an issue throughout the criminal proceedings against the j brothers. Ron's attorneys argued that expert medical witnesses testified he suffered from a religious paranoia that caused him to reject civil authority. Supreme Court justices ruled, however, that 4th District Judge J. Robert Bullock was not in error by allowing Ron Lafferty to stand trial. "Having reviewed the record evidence under the standard or review applicable to trial court findings of fact, we cannot say that the trial court's findings were clearly erroneous," Justice Zim-merman wrote. Even though the court found Ron Lafferty competent to stand trial, it was not obligated to honor his request that he be permitted to defend himself. "A mere finding of competence, without more, does not automatically enable an accused to waive the constitutional right to assistance of counsel and to conduct his or her own defense . . . ," Justice Zimmerman wrote. Ron and Dan Lafferty were allegedly participants in a fringe religious group called the School of the Prophets at the time of the murders. Evidence presented at their trials said they believed they had received a revelation that their sister-in-la-and her daughter should be killed. fc 4.. - IUI.. t . .. I , Tow truck pulls car out of the meridian between northbound and southbound lanes of Monday after a sudden winter storm caused an estimated 50-c- ar pile up between Point of the Mountain and Lehi. The Interstate was closed for almost two hours. Winter storm blows through county, strands 50 cars on 1-- 15 Monday A fast-movi- winter storm caught motorists in its grasp Monday morning, sending many of them in directions they didn't really want to go -- - off the highway . The storm struck about 9:30 a.m., bringing with it rapidly lowering temperatures and blizzard con-ditions. The storm, which generated winds of up to 63 miles per hour in the area, forced the closure of both the north-an- d south-boun- d lanes of Interstate-1- 5 from Bluffdale to Orem when vehicles slid every which direction on the highway. The highway was closed for a little over an hour when a 50-c- pileup occurred on south of Point of the Mountain. The Utah Highway Patrol reported the pile-u- coupled with numerous other minor accidents, closed the freeway in both directions from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Five ambulances - including emergency vehicles from Lehi, American Fork and Pleasant Grove -- - were called to transport the in-jured to the hospital. A spokesperson at American Fork Hospital said about a dozen people were brought into the Emergency Room from the accident. All but one were treated and released. One person, taken to Orem Community Hospital by private car, was treated and released from that facility. A Salt Lake City woman described how her car was blown across the highway after she stopped and got outside the automobile. She said the wind also blew her across the in-terstate until she was caught by two men who helped her into a truck and drove her to a Lehi convenience store to wait for the storm to pass. Accidents were also reported on U-9-2 (between and American Fork Canyon). Blowing snow and limited visibility also created hazardous driving conditions in American Fork, Lehi and Pleasant Grove. tsoara to elect new otticers The Alpine School District Board of Education was to elect new of-ficers at its first business meeting of the year held last night, Jan. 12, at board headquarters in American Fork. Mrs. Jan Lewis, Orem, has been serving as president for the five member group, with Richard Gappmayer, Orem, serving as the board's vice president. Other items on the agenda in-cluded a public opportunity to ad-dress the board, reports from student representatives from the district's five high schools, a hearing on proposed revisions to the 1987-8- 8 school budget, establishment of the board meeting calendar for 1988, and proposed revision to the 1988-8- 9 school calendar. (Funds biggest challenge, says Chairman Beck I The biggest challenge facing the Utah County Commission this year will be to finance county govern-'men- t efficiently enough that taxes j won't have to be raised, according to 'Malcolm H. Beck, newly appointed commission chairman. "We will continue progress made in the past year in organization in (order to continue to make govern- - Jment more efficient without raising Itaxes," Beck said Monday during a telephone interview. j "We have to work to make sure government is efficient without an increase in taxes. People are paying all the taxes they can now," he said. . Beck said the commission cut over ! $1 million from the budget in the past year. j "We will continue to modernize jwith that intent. We plan to hold the iline on taxes. The county has to live ion what is available and not look at programs that will mean an in-crease in taxes. "We need to make sure we are getting our money's worth and make government more efficient," he said. Some of the main issues the county will have to deal with, he said, will come out of the legislature. These will include changes in assessing and collecting taxes; resolutions regarding whose responsibility it is to maintain jail facilities; and changes in the court system. "The legislature will be making changes that will affect all of us," Beck said. He anticipates there will be changes made in the area of fire protection agreements between the county and the cities where Provo and Orem are currently saying they want a different contract. "We will have to make ad-justments and solve those problems," Beck said. Also needing to be resolved are issues including whether to im-plement the enhanced Emergency 911 system, and problems caused by flooding in 1983 and 84. "These problems are still here, we haven't resolved them," he said. The county will have to present its case at the legislature to get money to pay to correct the problems at Thistle, Beck said. "What we do depends on if the legislature will take responsibilty for paying for the damage that has been done up there." The county will also be working to remove the dike that was put along Utah Lake near Spanish Fork during the floods. "We are working to get those taken care of," he said, adding survey crews have been working at the dike to decide the best place for it. "We will begin removing the dike in the near future," he said. Gas leak starts fire Pleasant Grove Firefighters suspect a gas leak from a dune buggy in the garage was the cause of a fire Tuesday afternoon which caused an estimated $150,000 damage. Don Fenton of the fire department said that the home owned by Demont Hill, 906 N. 1020 East, received extensive damage in the fire. A son, who was home at the time of the fire, called in the alarm. There were no reported injuries in the blaze. Fenton said that the boy reported that there was a gas leak in a dune buggy which was stored in the garage. They believe that this gas was ignited in some way. The fire, which began in the garage, quickly spread to the attic and then to the house. The fire finally broke through the roof. Fire crews were on the scene for about two hours. Three fire trucks and 18 firemen responded to the blaze. This was the second house fire in three days in Pleasant Grove. Both fires are believed to have started in the garage. I vi 'Oi k- fey-7- : - X 4 , ' f " ' ' ' " "' , ' ' ' '"' 'i r - t- - Kit'" ' i . i, ' : - I a f ! . , 1 , . f : i 4 I 1 I r" ,. , ( ... : f . J ' iS.. .mw-- : f.... ' Vi;y.-.- & : - ,' .j v. ) .';-- . , A 1 " ' : . , it " y l "y' y, ' ' .. . 4, " 16!-"- W .. ... - . ' Smoke gushes from all the eaves o! the Demond Hill home as firemen battle the blaze. ' t Council mulls new golf course agreement j A new draft of the Tri-Cit- y Golf Course Agreement, which has been prepared by Lehi City, will be scrutinized by Pleasant Grove City Council before they vote on the proposal. ' The Pleasant Grove City Council discussed the agreement at last Tuesday's council meeting and wanted to review the Lehi draft before making a decision. Lehi City Recorder Gary Lewis attended the Pleasant Grove meeting. Apparently the Lehi Council had found some discrepancies in the original draft. There were no provisions made in case of a tie vote on the golf course committee. The council felt that this possibility should be addressed. The council felt that the city council member serving on the committee should be a voting member and give the input on the of the cities involved. noted that possibly the (interests of the committee, which a Pleasant Grove representative for the next term, could be the if necessary. Councilman Lloyd Ash said he wanted all three cities to be in harmony on all of the agreement. The favorable golf course changes of the past two years were men-tioned, including having the golf course committee meetings open to the public, the schedule of payables, the committee members review of budgets, the grounds better kept with less money in the budget, employees recognized, three new pieces of equipment purchased, contract awarded to install a pumping station, implementing the tree planting project, having a surplus to operate during the winter without borrowing money, pleasant and happy employees. In addition, three projects had been presented to the Men's Association, they will work strongly with Women's Association, a new pro was selected and he could be a good manager of the course, and the golf course has become After reviewing Lehi's new draft, the council will vote on the agreement. The city will soon select the Pleasant Grove chairman for the committee and will appoint a councilmember to fill the e position. The council was highly in favor of having three representatives from each city on the committee. In other matters, Jim DeGroot, owner of V & S Variety on Main Street, asked if parking stalls could be installed where the old city hall now sits. He stated that about 30 new parking spaces could go in there. Councilman Keith Christeson said that this has been discussed and the city is not responsible to provide parking places for businesses. The council felt that with the new parking made available at the library, the existing parking stalls on Main St. and the businessmen's parking lot behind the stores on the west side of Main Street, there was adequate parking. The council agreed to convert the city recreation fund to an Enterprise Fund. This will provide for greater accountability and control, the council was told. Many cities create an Enterprise Fund out of their Recreation programs, the council was told. The Fund could be converted now, but it would be easier to set up at the new fiscal year, K. A. Driggs, city recorder, told the council. Driggs said he was 100 per cent in favor of converting the recreation fund to &n enterprise fund. Councilman Ash said that a fire alarm system had been sutrestcd by the architect and construction manager for the new city library Sec City Council Tauc '' |