FRONT PAGE A1FRONT PAGE A1 TOOELE RANSCRIPT Preserving the T Scottish dance SERVING heritage TOOELE COUNTY See A8 BULLETIN SINCE 1894 TUESDAY May 16,16, 20172017 www.TooeleOnline.com Vol. 123 No. 100 $1.00 Fire district now has coverage around the clock “Now we know we have cov- STEVE HOWE erage for every call,” he said. STAFF WRITER Firefighters sleep at the fire The North Tooele Fire station in Stanbury Park dur- District has been running with ing their shift, which creates 24-hour coverage for nearly continuity on crews and gives two months and Chief Randy them time to check equipment Willden said the results have and participate in community been encouraging. events, Willden said. The fire- The fire district had oper- fighters who live outside of the ated with paid firefighters on area don’t have to drive back a 14-hour schedule between and forth every day with the the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. extended shift and layoff as prior to March 18. The evening well, he said. shift was covered by a combi- “It’s just better,” Willden nation of off-duty and volun- said. “We have the same peo- teer firefighters. ple here for 48 hours.” Now all fire and medical The decision to move to 24- calls are handled by two paid hour coverage means the fire professional firefighters, a cap- district isn’t as reliant on vol- tain and the fire engine driver, unteer and off-duty firefight- Willden said. The firefighters ers, who had to report to the work a 48-hour shift followed by 96 hours off. SEE DISTRICT PAGE A10 ➤ County’s animal TATC awards certificates to graduates ordinance moves Graduates ‘overcame large obstacles’ to achieve their own educational goals TIM GILLIE to talk phase STAFF WRITER Tooele Applied Technology TIM GILLIE anticipated large public atten- College awarded 87 certifi- STAFF WRITER dance, he said. cates of competency during its The Tooele County Planning Over 350 people turned out spring graduation ceremony. Commission will hold a spe- for a public hearing on the per- The graduation ceremony cial meeting at Deseret Peak sonal agriculture ordinance in was held Thursday at TATC. Complex at 7 p.m. Wednesday. December 2016. “Many of our students over- The only topic on the The planning commission came large obstacles to achieve meeting’s agenda is to discuss has been considering changes this accomplishment,” said the county’s ordinance that to the ordinance since the TATC president Scott Snelson. restricts the number of animals county’s planner brought to Student speaker Esmerelda that can be kept on property its attention the current docu- Montoya Mena drove from zoned rural residential, agri- ment restricts the number of Kearns to Tooele to attend culture and multi-use. animals on property zoned for TATC. She completed two cer- “The meeting will be open to rural residential, agriculture tificates in business technolo- the public, but the agenda does and multiple use purposes to gies. not include public comment,” four large animals or 10 fowl. “My goal was to enter the said Jerry Houghton, Tooele Attached to the electronic military when I graduated County recorder/surveyor. notice for Wednesday’s meet- from high school, but because The meeting was moved to of complications, I have to Deseret Peak because of an SEE ORDINANCE PAGE A7 ➤ backtrack my education a little bit,” Mena said. “My goal is still to join the military, but I will do it as an officer after I finish my bachelor’s degree.” Mena will enroll at Utah State University with 30 credit hours towards an associate’s degree as part of an articu- Suspect in South lation agreement between USU and TATC, according to Snelson. Salt Lake murder Tiffany Walker, another stu- dent speaker, completed a cer- FRANCIE AUFDEMORTE/TTB PHOTOS tificate in practical nursing. Cindy Lopez (top) moves her tassle from the right side to the left side to signify her move from a student to a graduate at the TATC graduation on Thursday. Ashlee Conover (above) shakes hands with TATC “I’ve wanted to be a nurse arrested in Tooele President Scott Snelson. Esmeralda Montoya Mena (below left) speaks at the graduation ceremony. for a long time,” Walker said. Tevita Fakahua (below right) poses for a photo before the ceremony. Walker completed a medi- STEVE HOWE from the night of April 16 cal assisting certificate from STAFF WRITER when Holt, 46, was found dead Salt Lake Community College A Tooele man wanted in inside his vehicle in the area in 2011 and started work- connection with the Easter of 3200 S. 900 West in South ing in the medical field. She Sunday murder of Matthew Salt Lake. The silver hatchback completed a certified nursing Holt was arrested Monday was seen before and after the assistant certificate at TATC in morning in Tooele City. time Holt was shot and killed, 2011 and an associate’s degree Jeffery Ray Shepherd, 35, of according to South Salt Lake from USU-Tooele Regional Tooele was arrested on charges police. campus in 2013, working on of first-degree felony murder, An off-duty South Salt Lake prerequisites for practical nurs- first-degree felony aggravated officer spotted the Sonic in the ing, Snelson said. robbery and second-degree fel- area of Quebec Circle in Tooele “Going back to school has ony tampering with evidence, City Sunday evening around been a character defining time according to the South Salt 10 p.m., which matched the in my life,” Walker said. “It has Lake City Police Department. vehicle seen on the surveil- caused me to face many chal- Police were looking for a sil- lance footage, police said. The lenges associated with shifting ver Chevrolet Sonic hatchback seen on surveillance video SEE MURDER PAGE A10 ➤ SEE TATC PAGE A7 ➤ INSIDE BULLETIN BOARD B4 WEATHER CLASSIFIEDS B4 Local teams Media test drive HOMETOWN A10 compete at state new Ford GT car OBITUARIES A8 tennis tourney See A3 OPEN FORUM A4 See B1 SPORTS B1 See complete forecast on A7 A2 A2 TOOELE TRANSCRIPT BULLETIN TUESDAY May 16, 2017 QPR training course teaches skills for preventing suicide MARK WATSON were 557 deaths by suicide in STAFF WRITER 2014 in Utah for a rate of 20.8 Lives can be saved as more per 100,000 people. Tooele people learn the steps to help County’s rate in 2014 was 25 prevent suicides, according to per 100,000 people. a QPR training session held “It’s one of the highest rates Thursday night at Tooele City in the state,” she said. “We Hall. started teaching QPR back in Tooele City Police Sgt. Tanya 2014, and as we continued to Kalma and Tooele County teach, we started to see our Safe School’s coordinator Kara numbers go down. We need to Strain conducted the 90-min- remain diligent.” ute suicide prevention training Those who attended the course. By the end of the ses- training received a 25-page sion, about 10 people earned a booklet that covers how to “Gatekeeper” certificate. recognize signs of suicide, As a Gatekeeper, a person is behavioral clues, situational more aware of how to recog- clues and how to understand nize the warning signs of sui- depression. cide, knows how to offer hope, The instructors emphasized how to get help and save a life. that asking the suicide question More than 3,000 people have is extremely important, and earned “Gatekeeper” certifi- that it does not increase risk. cates over the past three years “The idea that confronting a in Tooele County. There are 13 person about suicide only gives FRANCIE AUFDEMORTE/TTB PHOTO people in Tooele County quali- them the idea is false,” Strain Nancy Sommers attends a suicide-prevention class at Tooele City Hall on FRANCIE AUFDEMORTE/TTB PHOTO fied to teach QPR courses. said. Thursday. The class provides people with steps to take to help others not Tooele Police Sgt. Tanya Kalma leads a suicide-prevention class at Tooele QPR stands for Question, “Research shows that people commit suicide. City Hall Thursday night. More than 3,000 residents have taken the class. Persuade, Refer. Those attend- give some sort of indication of ing the course learned how their plans a few days prior to “It’s a hard question ... but I angry friend or loved one than kind of out of the box.” Valley Behavioral Health to question a person about an attempt,” Strain said. “If you have to ask. I’ve been taking a dead one,” the booklet states. The third step is referral. Suicide Prevention Lifeline is suicide, persuade the person to think they are talking about it a class on suicide prevention. Kalma said people always According to the QPR booklet, 800-273-TALK (8255). get help and refer the person to to gain attention, it is impor- Are you thinking of suicide or worry about the cost of getting the best referral is when you Tooele City’s Communities appropriate resources. tant to give them the attention. have you ever thought about help. personally take the person you that Care Director Heidi “Suicide is preventable,” Allow the person to talk freely suicide?” “I hear it all the time — the are worried about to a mental Peterson organizes QPR train- Kalma said. “Ninety percent of about how they are feeling, and The booklet emphasizes that concern about finances. Valley health provider or other appro- ing and said a training class people thinking about suicide ask open questions.” persuading someone not to end Behavorial Health has a crisis priate professional.