Sex-Offender Baird Won't Do Prison Time for Crime
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FRONT PAGE A1 www.tooeletranscript.com TUESDAY Tooele netters post 10-1 preseason record See A10 TOOELETRANSCRIPT BULLETIN April 17, 2007 SERVING TOOELE COUNTY SINCE 1894 VOL. 113 NO. 94 50¢ Elementary CRIME AND PUNISHMENT County to fix school burglars up Grantsville arrested senior center Thousands of dollars in elec- Current facility described as tronic equipment recovered overcrowded and run-down by Suzanne Ashe by Kelly Evertsen STAFF WRITER STAFF WRITER Two Tooele men and two male juveniles With an ice cooler tucked behind the back door, were taken into custody over the weekend food stuffed into small corners of the tiny kitchen, on suspicion of burglarizing East Elementary and hallways and offices that are being used for School on at least two occasions. storage, the Grantsville Senior Citizens Center The latest burglary took place April 7, has little room to accommodate its increasing according to investigator Paul Wimmer of amount of visitors. To make matters worse, the the Tooele City Police Department On April crowded center is understaffed and in need of 8, school cafeteria employees called police major upgrades, according to Grantsville Senior after they discovered two lock boxes full Citizens Center Director Diane Caldwell. of cash had been broken into. When police Luckily, Tooele County Commissioner Bruce arrived and searched the rest of the school, Clegg recently announced plans to spearhead it was obvious other items were missing, renovations to the rundown, outdated facility. Wimmer said. Clegg said he is currently trying to work with “A printer was thrown down some stairs, Grantsville City, which owns the building, to a microwave oven had been knocked off its obtain rights to expand and upgrade the center. stand,” he said. “We’ll have to get the funds allocated, but the Detective James May processed the Grantsville Senior Center is high on the county’s scene and interviewed several current and list [of priorities],” Clegg said. “The center needs recently terminated employees. The investi- more adequate freezer space and cooking space, gation not only netted the four suspects, but and hoods over the oven for the ventilation sys- about 90 percent of the missing equipment tem. We’re going to have to juggle money around, was returned. but we’re promising that we’re in the starting Three of the suspects had been East stages.” Elementary custodial employees, said Tooele The Grantsville Senior Center board also wants County School District Superintendent Mike to see the entertainment hall expanded and plumb- ing installed in the crafts room. Johnsen. Caldwell said she couldn’t be happier about Houston Montague, 18, of Tooele, the county’s plan to step in and fix the center’s appeared in court this morning for an problems. arraignment. He was given a $50,000 non- “With the growth, we just need more space,” bondable bail and will be back in court next Caldwell said. “We’re to the brim right now.” SEE EAST ON A5 The center serves almost 100 senior citizens daily from the Grantsville and Erda areas, as SEE CITIZENS ON A4 photography courtesy of Matthew Hatfield Teenage rapist and murderer Robert Cameron photography / Troy Boman Houston appears in court during his sentenc- Grantsville Senior Citizen Director Diane ing trial last Wednesday. On Friday, Houston Caldwell (left) and head cook Debbie Bolinder was sentenced to life in prison without parole stand in the center’s kitchen, which serves over for killing Tooele native Raechale Elton. 100 meals a day despite being very small. Elton murder case photography / Troy Boman Wendover blaze closed, family Leslie Baird looks towards her attorney William B. Parsons III as he gives closing arguments in her sentencing trial Tuesday. Baird was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of probation for a second-degree felony charge of forcible sexual abuse of a 17-year-old male student. kills one man remembers by Karen Hunt As killer gets life without parole, STAFF WRITER parents reminisce on daughter For the second time this year, a major fire Sex-offender Baird won’t has burned through a Wendover apartment by Suzanne Ashe complex. STAFF WRITER Around 8:30 Friday morning, a fire broke Three days after Raechale Elton’s killer out at the Bonneville Gardens Apartments was sentenced to prison for the rest of his do prison time for crime in Wendover, Utah. One man, an Indian natural life, dozens of photographs of her immigrant who is believed to have started are spread across a kitchen table. Not any Former THS employee apologizes to victims; admits taking advantage of students the fire in an apparent suicide, died in the kitchen table, but the same spot where she flames. Thirteen families were evacuated once sat finishing her homework, mapping by Suzanne Ashe end of the 2006 school year and possibly into the sum- from the building, leaving 31 people home- out family trips, and eating dinner with her mer. Tooele City Police Chief Ron Kirby said investigators less. Sixteen units in the building were STAFF WRITER believed the sexual encounters took place away from sister and parents. Former Tooele High School employee Leslie Baird was destroyed. school grounds. A painted sign on the wall above the table sentenced today to one to 15 years in prison for the sec- It was the second major fire in the area reads “The Gathering Place.” And it was. In January, Kouris sent Baird to Utah State Penitentiary this year, following a devastating blaze at the ond-degree felony of having sex with two teenage students. Bruce and Teresa Elton leaf through the to undergo a 90-day psycho-sexual evaluation. Bonneville Inn in January. Judge Mark Kouris said in 3rd District Court that he would photographs. In each snapshot, their daugh- Baird’s attorney William Parsons III urged Kouris to be While Wendover, West Wendover and stay that sentence, and instead imposed a sentence of 36 ter is smiling, holding a baby, hugging her lenient, stating that Baird understood the gravity of her Tooele airport firefighters fought the blaze, months probation with a number of attached conditions. older sister Melissa or clowning around. crime, that she had the full support of her family, and that two adjacent buildings were also evacuated Baird, 42, who worked at THS for six years, most recent- The Eltons were remembering their she was an excellent candidate for probation. in case the fire spread. daughter’s life, a life cut short at 22 by ly as a computer lab coordinator, pleaded guilty to forcible Deputy County Attorney Gary Searle argued because “They fought that fire all day, because a violent young man she was trying to sexual abuse of a 17-year-old male student last year. she was in a position of authority at the time of the crime, the heavy winds kept pushing the fire,” said help. A Davis County jury sentenced Robert She was arrested in August after the parents of a 17-year- she needed to be held accountable. Michael Hurick, director of emergency ser- Cameron Houston to life without the possi- old and an 18-year-old, both students, reported to police In a statement to the court, Baird said, “I need to apolo- vices for the Red Cross in northern Nevada. bility of parole after a week-long sentencing that their sons had engaged in sexual acts with Baird. Baird gize to the victims... They had no part in this. I took advan- The Red Cross received a call around 9:50 hearing last Friday. immediately admitted that she had participated in sex acts tage of them.” a.m. and volunteers with the Elko, Nev., Houston confessed last month to raping with the boys. The victims and their families were in the courtroom, service center office opened temporary shel- and killing Elton, a youth counselor who Baird was originally charged with two first-degree felony although none of them testified. ters Friday at the Wendover Community worked for the Clearfield-based, state-fund- counts of forcible sodomy and one second-degree felony Kouris said he had previously read a statement by the Center and Wendover High School. ed program where Houston lived. count of forcible sex abuse against her 17-year-old victim. victims’ parents and based his decision partly on that. The disaster relief will cost around $25,000, “Raechale liked to go fishing,” said her Although she did not exude force on the boys, she abused according to area Red Cross Executive father, holding up one of the photographs. her position as their teacher. Director Caroline Punches. The sex acts were alleged to have occurred toward the SEE BAIRD ON A5 SEE ELTON ON A3 SEE BLAZE ON A3 WEATHER OPEN FORUM A6 THE BULLETIN BOARD B2 INSIDE Mostly sunny and warm OBITUARIES A8 TV LISTINGS B4 Weekend warriors battle today with rain showers in Bauer likely on Wednesday. SPORTS A10 CLASSIFIEDS B5 See B1 Complete Forecast: A2 HOMETOWN B1 A2 A2 TOOELE TRANSCRIPT-BULLETIN TUESDAY April 17, 2007 Utah & The West Valley Weather Forecast Local Weather Voucher battle pits UEA Wed 47/31 4/18 against deep-pocket donors Windy with rain showers. Thunder by Brock Vergakis tive effect that no other states ed Amway, a household and possible. High 47F. ASSOCIATED PRESS can afford to ignore.” nutritional products compa- SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Byrne is Parents for Choice ny, campaign finance reports bitter, intensely local fight has in Education’s largest donor show. Dick DeVos is a former erupted in Utah over whether from Utah. Nearly half the CEO of the company and a Thu 52/35 money the group spent on failed candidate for governor 4/19 public money should be used to send children to private legislative campaigns came of Michigan.