Water Experts Wary of Runoff Ordinance Targets Weed, H2O Remains in Banks; Flooding Threat Should End Within 10 Days
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www.tooeletranscript.com TUESDAY TOOELETRANSCRIPT Former Navy S.E.A.L. brings ancient martial art to Tooele ULLETIN See B1. B May 24, 2005 SERVING TOOELE COUNTY SINCE 1894 VOL. 111 NO. 104 50 cents Animal lovers cut ties to city shelter Officials hope to rebuild relationship by Karen Hunt After contacting the city many STAFF WRITER times during the last several For the last three-and-a-half months, and writing a letter to Lt. years, Monica Williams and mem- Craig Wexels of Tooele City Police bers of Tooele Animal Outreach — forwarded to city council have freely given of their time to members, the mayor, and Tooele clean shelter cages and walk pets, Police Chief Ron Kirby — Tooele drive pets to adoption events and Animal Outreach was told the educate the public about pet care. city was implementing new rules They’ve also listed the names of regarding volunteers. They later pets on petfinder.com so pet lov- received a Volunteer Application ers can learn about them from the and Agreement to fill out before comfort of their own homes. continuing their services. But, members of Tooele Animal During those months, no one Outreach may be done volunteer- was updating the web site, provid- ing at the Tooele City Shelter. ing extra hours at the shelter or Some feel like too many egos are taking animals to adoption events. involved, the people who work The Tooele City portion of the there aren’t in it for the animals web site petfinder.com went from and the volunteers are not appre- 9,417 hits in January to just under ciated. 800 as of April 22. The site shows Members of Tooele Animal pictures of animals in the shelter Outreach have not been volun- with a brief description. photography / Troy Boman teering since January when the But, at the end of April the site Water is currently running over the spillway at Settlement Canyon Reservoir. The extraordinarly high flow of water has not created major problems for key they used to access the shel- was updated — without volun- Tooele residents. Streams should continue to flow at peak levels for the next few days. (Below) Water flows down a deep gorge beneath the dam. ter was taken away following the Great Pet Adopt-a-thon. SEE VOLUNTEERS ON A5 Water experts wary of runoff Ordinance targets weed, H2O remains in banks; flooding threat should end within 10 days by Mark Watson but controlling swift-moving currents so junk car problems in city STAFF WRITER they don’t invade somebody’s house is an urgent situation. by Mark Watson had little bite to them. People As water bypasses reservoirs, rolls over scoffed at them,” said inspec- spillways, through pipelines and down So far, city crews, county crews and irri- STAFF WRITER gation people in Tooele Valley are winning For Tooele residents who take tor Brad Carpenter. “The City channels to lower elevations — it seems Council passed a new ordinance to mock those who live in the desert and the battle. great pride in the appearance of If anything does get out of control, it will their community, they now have which makes these types of try to control it. violations a public nuisance. This year, millions of gallons of this be within the next 10 days. city hall behind them. “I think the city learned back in 1983 Employees in the Community Complaints are being actively life-giving resource will not be captured pursued,” he said. how to handle a large runoff. We should Development Department want by reservoirs, but will be funneled out of Carpenter said the City will be OK unless a pipe gets plugged some- residents to notify them if they harm’s way to lower elevations where it not reveal the names of those where,” Bevan said. think an area in the city is can seep deep into the ground — to be who file the complaints. “I “Our high water comes from Rocky unsightly or is a public nuisance. reclaimed later at a higher price. won’t even look at the name,” Ridge, when it comes down our stream A new ordinance allows for civil It’s an ironic situation for Tooele Valley. Carpenter said. “I will go to the “Come July, we’ll wish we had it,” said doubles in size,” he said. One-fourth of the fines and citations to be issued snowpack at Rocky Ridge melted in the address and inspect the area. Gary Bevan, president of Settlement to residents who do not main- In 15 to 20 seconds I can see if Canyon Irrigation Company. He referred past five days when temperatures at the tain their property. 8900-foot level hit the mid-60s and valley there is a problem.” to all the water being routed down the City leaders remind residents City leaders want residents to side of the road from Tooele to Grantsville temperatures hit the 80s. that grass and weeds need to be Grantsville Irrigation water master Lynn remember to maintain parking and into an isolated area to seep into the maintained six inches or lower strips. If a strip adjoins a per- ground. Taylor is also keeping a watchful eye on and all trash and debris needs to the situation to make sure the water is son’s property, he or she should Right now everybody is working to be cleaned up. take care of it. make sure runoff water does not damage “We have been doing ordi- SEE RUNOFF ON A2 Inoperable or abandoned any property. Losing water is an annoying, nance enforcement for a little over two years, but our laws SEE ORDINANCE ON A3 Too much water leaves Stockton residents dry by Karen Lee Scott their pipes were told to use it Hogan’s Ranch to the water STAFF WRITER sparingly and for those who tanks from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. They While the equation of too didn’t have any, tankers were set hauled approximately 17,000 gal- much water amounting to no up near the fire station so people lons of water on Friday alone. water at all seems unbalanced, could fill up water containers. “We are always pleased to help that’s exactly what happened in A total of six water tanker out the local community in any Stockton last week- way we can. We hope end. that our efforts helped High spring runoff the local citizens of in Soldier Canyon Stockton get back to caused several rocks a normal way of life,” and lots of soil to said Kathy Anderson, plummet into the depot spokesperson. creek, which sup- Responding to the plies water to the situation were a num- town. As the muddy ber of other entities water made its way including the Utah into the inlet for the National Guard, the town’s water sup- local health department ply system, filtra- and Search and Rescue tion units became agency, as well as the clogged. North Tooele County “The filter system Fire Department. The couldn’t handle it,” Church of Jesus Christ said Jeff Coombs, Environmental trucks were brought in to aid the of Latter-day Saints as well as Health Director for the Tooele town. Water was hauled up to Wal-Mart supplied bottles full of County Health Department, who the town’s water supply tanks to drinking water. worked as incident commander. help keep at least some water in Stockton Mayor Barry Thomas He said the blockage “slowed the the system. said there were too many vol- photos courtesy Tooele County Health Department flow” for most of the town and Although others helped too, unteers to mention and that the Tooele County Engineer Jim Lawrence stands with his hands on his hips as he checks out the damage done completely stopped it for others. four firefighters from the Tooele by the heavy spring runoff in Soldier Canyon last Friday. He is standing where the town of Stockton’s drinking Residents who had water in Army Depot hauled water from SEE STOCKTON ON A4 water enters the filtration system. WEATHER OPEN FORUM A6 DOINGS B2 INSIDE Mostly clear tonight. Lows in OBITUARIES A7 TV LISTINGS B5 Tooele High School hires one the lower 50s. Mostly sunny of its own for baseball coach. Wednesday. Highs in the upper SPORTS A10 CROSSWORD B5 See A10 70s. Complete Forecast: A2 HOMETOWN B1 CLASSIFIEDS B6 A2 TUESDAY May 24, 2005 ETCETERA ... Principal perches on roof for book worms News Briefs Valley Weather Forecast Local Weather by Mark Watson Newspaper closed, STAFF WRITER Wed 79/51 A deal’s a deal. deadlines moved up 5/25 Students at Overlake The Tooele Transcript- Mainly sunny. High 79F. Winds Elementary fulfilled their end Bulletin will be closed Monday, NNW at 10 to 15 mph. of the bargain, so Principal Jan May 30, for Memorial Day. Johnson was forced to fulfill Classified ad deadlines for her’s. the Tuesday, May 31, newspaper Thu 78/51 If students collected more will be Friday, May 27, at 4:45 5/26 than 1,100 books to donate to p.m. Community news items for Mainly sunny. Highs in the upper the school, the principal would the Tuesday newspaper such as 70s and lows in the low 50s. face her fear of heights, climb to weddings, birth announcements, the top of the school and read to missionaries, anniversaries, etc. them for an entire day. must be submitted by Friday at Fri 87/54 Students collected nearly 6 p.m. 5/27 1,400 books. So on Thursday Camp Floyd hosts Abundant sunshine.