FRONT PAGE A1 www.tooeletranscript.com TUESDAY TOOELE Erda dairy TRANSCRIPT family learns value of hard work See B1 BULLETIN July 31, 2007 SERVING TOOELE COUNTY SINCE 1894 VOL. 114 NO. 20 50¢ Home sales fall back to earth, but prices still climbing by Mark Watson homes sold. Then, during the third quar- year, up 9.8 percent over the same period STAFF WRITER ter of last year, sales climbed even high- the year before. The number of houses sold in Tooele er with 372 units sold. The momentum Tooele’s ReMax Platinum owner Dan County plummeted 17.3 percent during dropped off slightly in the fourth quarter Egelund said the real estate market in the second quarter of 2007 compared of 2006 with 285 units sold and fell further the Tooele Valley has recovered during to the second quarter of 2006, accord- to 266 units sold during the first quarter the past two years after going through a ing to statistics from the Wasatch Front of this year. Sales have rebounded to 298 rough period. Regional Multiple Listing Service. during the second quarter of this year, “Home prices will still increase but at a Tooele County’s real estate market but that number is still significantly lower more gradual pace than they have in the appears to be cooling down with back-to- than the same period a year ago. past,” Egelund predicted. normal sales volume after a banner year Despite the decrease in home sales, He said that four or five years ago some in 2006, when 1,283 houses and condos prices show no signs of tailing off. homeowners faced foreclosures and were were sold. Through the first six months After only a 5 percent increase in the eager to get out of their homes. The sud- of 2007, 564 houses and condos have sold average sales price for houses during den and substantial increase in home val- compared to 626 houses and condos sold 2005, sales values jumped 26.4 percent ues has made foreclosures almost non- during the first six months of 2006. That during the second quarter of 2006, a peri- existent in Tooele County because people represents a 10 percent drop from sales od during which the average home price have been able to sell quickly at higher photography / Troy Boman during the first half of the previous year. increased from $137,333 to $172,601. A real estate sign sits in front of an Overlake home. The number of In the second quarter of 2006, 356 Home prices have continued to climb this SEE SALES PAGE A7 homes on the market is up 20 percent in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2006. West Nile virus detected in county by Natalie Tripp area. No human West Nile virus cases CORRESPONDENT New yardstick being used to have been found in Tooele County so far A sentinel chicken tested positive on this year.” Friday with a strain of West Nile virus — The infected chicken belongs to one of the first case of its kind in Tooele County three flocks spread out between Erda and measure commuter lifestyle this year, according to public health offi- Lake Point, but officials aren’t exactly cials and mosquito abatement workers. sure which flock the infected bird came Tooele County growing much faster than state as a whole The chicken’s blood was sent to the State from, said Whitehouse. of Utah Public Health Laboratory where it “We tend to see higher levels of mos- in terms of cumulative daily vehicle miles of travel tested positive, said Bucky Whitehouse, quitos in the that area of the county,” by Joshua Figueira combined daily household VMT of 120. Whitehouse said. “But from our stand- public information officer for the Tooele STAFF WRITER VMTs are the new standard tool for measuring point this is an extremely preventable County Health Department. Over the past decade, Tooele County has commuting time for households and communi- disease.” “This is the first year Tooele County gone from being a community where people ties, and VMT calculations are being used to Last year there were 15 reported cases sentinel chickens have tested positive for drove considerably less than other motorists determine everything from road construction of infected sentinel chickens and three the virus,” said Myron Bateman, Tooele in the state to one where commuters now rule and mass transit routes to environmental con- humans tested positive for the virus, County public health director. “Sentinel the roads, driving more than the state average, trols and zoning regulations. according to the Utah State Health chickens are strategically placed through- according to a new barometer for measuring “VMT is the key,” said Marc Heileson, south- Department. out the Tooele Valley to assist us in driving habits. west regional representative for the Sierra Club. There have been two confirmed human detecting the presence of the virus in our VMT, which stands for vehicle miles of travel, “It’s going to be at the forefront of a lot of discus- cases of West Nile virus in Salt Lake and measures of how far an individual, or group, sions for a long time to come.” Grand counties. The virus has also been drives during any given time period. If a person The new barometer is especially important detected in Box Elder, Duchesne, and commutes 30 miles each way to work every day, to a place like Tooele County, where so many now Tooele counties. Six other coun- he has a daily VMT of 60. If two people in the people commute to work each day, according ties have submitted suspicious strains same household each commute 30 miles each for testing, according to the Utah State way to work in separate cars, then they have a SEE COMMUTER PAGE A7 Health Department. Even though the virus has been found in a bird, it’s difficult to predict whether a human could contract it, Whitehouse said. RISE OF A COMMUTER COUNTY “There are so many potential things Daily Vehicle Miles of Travel 1995 – 2005 that individuals can do to prevent them from contracting this virus,” he added. ) 2.41 2.31 2.33 “We keep coming back to the main public 2.5 2.21 2.26 2.13 health message of wearing DEET and 2.00 2.06 2.37 1.93 2.25 long sleeves.” 1.35 2.22 2.17 2.0 1.75 According to health department nurse 2.07 Louise Ekenstam, most people who are 1.84 1.74 infected with West Nile do not show 1.73 STATE 1.5 1.57 any symptoms. About one in five will 1.48 photography / Troy Boman have flu-like symptoms with fever, muscle 1.38 TOOELE COUNTY A sentinel chicken tested positive for West Nile aches, and a possible a rash. While those 1.0 virus on Friday. Three flocks of the birds were individuals recover, the illness can be 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 strategically spread out between Lake Point Number of Miles (Millions and Erda — an area where a high concentra- graphic / John Hamilton tion of mosquitos are known to breed. SEE VIRUS PAGE A5 Police arrest two Tooele residents in DUI driver pleads separate child porn investigations 2.5 guilty in crash with by Suzanne Ashe 32-year-old Christopher Wood on suspicion of pos2.0- five teen soccer girls STAFF WRITER session of child pornography. Police arrested a 32-year-old man and a juvenile Wood is the father of a two-year-old child and by Suzanne Ashe on possession of child pornography charges in his wife is pregnant, according to Tooele City1.5 STAFF WRITER two unrelated cases in Tooele late last week. Police Lt. Paul Wimmer. Stephen Shaw, 50, of Stansbury Park, plead Friday evening, police went to a residence on In a separate investigation, Tooele City Police guilty in 3rd District Court today to a third- Nelson Avenue after a woman reported that she arrested a 16-year-old male Friday at about 11 a.m.1.0 degree felony DUI for a Jan. 2 accident when discovered pornographic photographs of young at his home on 810 North. According to Wimmer, he crashed his SUV into a car of five teenage boys that had been sent to her husband. Police the juvenile had pornographic photos of younger girls from the same Tooele soccer team. obtained a search warrant to search the man’s children on his computer. 0.5 Shaw was also charged with allegedly mak- study and found more pornographic photographs ing an improper turn and having an open con- tainer of alcohol in his car, but due to a plea on a home computer. Saturday, police arrested SEE ARRESTS PAGE A5 0.0 agreement with the Tooele County Attorney’s office, those charges were dismissed. Shaw appeared fragile in court. He carried a Upwind coal-fired plants face opposition canister of oxygen to help him breath. by Sarah Miley oping renewable energy in Global Power — the entities pro- The five girls, all of whom were injured in the STAFF WRITER Nevada is far preferable to coal posing to build the three plants. accident, were also in the courtroom. Opposition to three proposed for the sake of the economy, pub- Two of the coal-fired power Two of the girls, Lauren Howsden and Jenna coal-fired power plants in Nevada lic health and the environment, I plants proposed for construction Morgan, both 15, have undergone multiple sur- — two of which are predicted to will use every means at my dis- near Ely would generate over geries due to the accident.