12-1-20 Transcript Bulletin
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TOOELETRANSCRIPT S T C BULLETIN S TUESDAY December 1, 2020 www.TooeleOnline.com Vol. 127 No. 53 $1.00 Unemployment benefit claims continue their steady decline Although declining, claims still ahead of previous years TIM GILLIE efit weekly,” said Kevin Burt, EDITOR Unemployment Insurance The number of new claims Division director for the and continued claims for Department of Workforce unemployment benefits in Services. “While new claims Utah for the week ending Nov. are high compared to the TIM GILLIE/TTB PHOTOS 21 dropped from the previous historically low 2019 aver- The Broadway Hotel with a chain link fence down Broadway Street on Nov. 24, 2020. The abandoned hotel was struck by a suspicious fire on week, continuing a declin- age, they remain significantly July 5. A man (below left) strolls by the burned out shell of the hotel. With the roof (below right) destroyed by fire the sky is visible through ing trend since an Aril/May lower than the historically high a window opening of the hotel. pandemic peak, according to volume seen early in the pan- a report released last week by demic, when the average new the Department of Workforce claims were over 28,000 filed Services. per week.” The old Broadway Hotel in Tooele New unemployment claims For Tooele County the four for the week of Nov. 15-20, week average of new unem- 2020 totaled 4,470 compared ployment claims was 46 for the to 4,617 new claims filed for week ending Oct. 4, according will be torn down next week the previous week. That’s a to the most recent data from 3.2% decline. the Department of Workforce CEILLY SUTTON Now, the owners are forced The 2019 weekly average of Services. STAFF WRITER to tear down the building and new unemployment claims was For the same time period in The old Broadway Hotel, rebuild, according to Brett. 1,131. 2018 and 2019, the four week located at 145 N. Broadway “We are upset about this,” Continued claims for the moving average of new unem- Street in Tooele City will be said Brett. “We wanted to pre- same time period dropped ployment claims was 33 and torn down after extensive dam- serve the building as historical from 28,168 to 28,002, a 0.6% 46, respectively. age from a July fire. art and make it into apart- drop. The 2019 weekly average Between March 15, 2020 According to Dan Brett, one ments. The fire kind of forced of continued unemployment and Nov. 21, 2020 the state has of the owners of the building, our hand. We knew we had to claims was 8,856. paid out a total of $563 million damage from the July 5 fire tear it down. Too much of the “The need for unemploy- in traditional state unemploy- that occurred at the hotel and structure was damaged and we ment insurance continues, ment benefits, $54 million in was labeled as “suspicious. ” are disappointed, because we as more than 4,000 Utahns The fire caused immeasurable went to a lot of work and had are applying for the ben- SEE CLAIMS PAGE A8 ® damage to the building, he good people establishing the said. building on the historic reg- “The fire made it unrestor- able,” he stated Monday. SEE HOTEL PAGE A8 ® Call for nominations for Transcript Benefit Fund The 43rd annual Tooele Transcript Bulletin Christmas Benefit Fund is now accepting nominations and dona- tions. Each nomination should include a description of the challenges faced by the individual or family, as well as an explanation as to how the benefit fund could help them Gov. Herbert’s new health order this Christmas. Last year’s benefit fund helped the Olive Fifita family of Tooele along with nine children: Paul, 21; Sarah, 20; Sila, 17; Fine,14; Garrett,12; Mele,10; Topui, 8; Emosi, 6; and Olive Jr., 3. Their mother, Oto’ota Fifita, Masks still required in Tooele County passed away from a heart attack 10 days before Christmas. Transcript Bulletin readers donated dozens of gifts and CEILLY SUTTON in place. STAFF WRITER over $5,600 in cash and gift cards for the family to help Herbert put the previous state them carry on financially following the loss of Oto’ota. Gov. Gary Herbert took to of emergency into place in order Facebook live and local media to keep hospitals from becoming Held every Christmas since 1977, the benefit fund helps channels to address the public overwhelmed as ICU’S neared either an individual or family faced with a unique need or with a new health order on Nov. capacity, he said. hardship. Individuals or families are nominated by readers 23. On Nov. 23., Herbert and selected by the newspaper. Readers then donate cash Herbert’s previous state of announced that the state’s trans- or make other contributions. All received proceeds are pre- emergency order from Nov. 9 mission index system, which sented to the individual or family on or before Christmas. expired on Nov 23. It stated that puts counties in Utah in a low, Donations and nominations for this year’s benefit fund all individuals were required to moderate, or high risk for the wear a mask in public and when virus based upon case counts, can be mailed to: Transcript Bulletin Christmas Benefit within six feet of anyone they ICU data, and positivity rates, will Fund, P.O. Box 390, Tooele, Utah 84074. They can also be don’t live with. resume. dropped off at the Transcript Bulletin’s office at 58 N. Main His Nov. 9 order also stated During the two weeks the Street south of Tooele City Hall. Nominations may also be that individuals were not allowed state of emergency order was in emailed to [email protected]. SHUTTERSTOCK to gather with individuals outside place, the transmission index was Masks or face coverings are required in Tooele County of their immediate households for SEE ORDER PAGE A8 ® by the state health order. the two weeks that the order was BULLETIN BOARD B6 CLASSIFIEDS B4 Milne goes to OBITUARIES A6 CORONAVIRUS TRACKER Cache County OPEN FORUM A4 See A2 SPORTS B1 Data as of December 1, 2020. Source: Utah Department of Health TOOELE COUNTY- Known Cases: 2,998 UTAH- Known Cases: 198,216 Hospitalizations: 94 • Deaths: 9 Hospitalizations: 8,279 • Deaths: 890 A2 TOOELE TRANSCRIPT BULLETIN TUESDAY December 1, 2020 From commissioner to department head Milne picked to lead Cache County’s economic development efforts TIM GILLIE economic development direc- according to Milne. starts his new job on Dec. 7. EDITOR tors efforts and then when that Cache County has a signifi- Milne said he would initially Tooele County position was eliminated during cant portion of its workforce work “a little here and there” Commissioner Shawn Milne is the County’s financial crisis, he that commutes to Ogden and in December as wraps things headed to Cache County. took on the economic develop- the Wasatch Front, much like up as a County Commissioner Cache County Executive ment duties directly. Tooele County’s workforce that here in Tooele. Craig Buttars announced the Prior to serving on the commutes to Salt Lake County, Milne will eventually move appointment of Milne as the Tooele County Commission, Milne said. to Cache County for at least new economic development Milne served on the Tooele Part of his challenge in Mondays through Fridays. He director for Cache County, dur- City Council where he also Cache County will be to create and his wife, Renee, work out a ing the Cache County Council’s served as member of the board jobs that will raise the County’s commuting plan for weekends. Nov. 24 meeting. of directors of the Tooele City median wage and keep gradu- Renee Milne works as a cur- “He (Milne) has been Redevelopment Agency. ating students employed in the riculum director for the Tooele the chair of the Utah State Milne will be carving out a county, Milne said. County School District. Association of County new office for Cache County, Cache County is a little It appears that Shawn Commissioners and Councils,” which has not had an econom- larger territory than Tooele Milne, who is known to occa- Buttars said. “He is the kind of ic development director prior County. Cache Valley Economic sionally be a bit verbose, will leader that can direct our eco- to Milne’s appointment. He Development extends into be among friends in Cache nomic development efforts in will report directly to Buttars, Franklin County, Idaho. Logan County. the county.” the elected county executive. has their own economic devel- When Buttars said Milne FILE PHOTO Milne has overseen the eco- Cache County has a seven opment director, however on would most likely attend the Tooele County Commissioner Shawn Milne, a board member of Deseret nomic development efforts of member county council with the Utah side of Cache Valley Cache County Council’s second Umanned Arial Systems, welcomes attendees at a lecture on drones held Tooele County since he was an elected executive. there are 18 towns and munici- meeting in December and say at the Utah Motorsports Campus in May 2019. Deseret UAS is an eco- first elected to the County There are some similarities palities to work with, accord- “a few words.” The Council nomic development joint effort of Tooele and Box Elder Counties in close Commission eight years ago. in the economic demographics ing to Milne. members chuckled. cooperation with Odgen City designed to bring UAS businesses to Utah. He first directed the County’s of Tooele and Cache County, Buttars said Milne officially [email protected] 25-44 year olds hit the hardest with COVID-19 in Tooele County, countwise CEILLY SUTTON STAFF WRITER The Tooele County Health Department has released a graphic showing which age categories and sexes have contracted the virus in the county more than others.