www.tooeletranscript.com TUESDAY TOOELE RANSCRIPT Champion T cowboy tops his class See B1 BULLETIN March 6, 2007 SERVING TOOELE COUNTY SINCE 1894 VOL. 113 NO. 82 50¢ UTA won’t add busses for Tooele Route numbers will change but capacity, routes will stay the same by Suzanne Ashe STAFF WRITER Neither bus routes nor the number of busses running between Tooele and Salt Lake City will change when the Utah Transit Authority’s route overhaul goes into effect this fall. However, the names of the routes will change. According to UTA’s Senior Service Planner Steve Swan, all of the inter-county routes are becoming a “400 series.” This means the current No. 51 bus would be the No. 451, the No. 53 would become the No. 453 and the No. 75, which services the Tooele Army Depot, would be the No. 475. The No. 475 route is more of a reverse commute, Swan explained. It brings riders to the Tooele Army Depot during the morning commute and back to Salt Lake Valley during the evening commute. The three Salt Lake-Tooele County routes have a com- bined ridership of more than 700 passengers per day. UTA’s goal is to increase Salt Lake County ridership, now at 57,000 a day, by 12 percent over the next three years. However Tooele County service is not scheduled for an increase. According to UTA, there has been a 7 percent increase photography / Troy Boman in ridership on the Tooele-Salt Lake lines in the past five Northlake Elementary third-graders walk and run around the school grounds for 30 minutes once a week as part of Utah Department of Health’s Gold years. Medal Schools program. The program offers financial incentives up to $1500 for schools that promote heathy lifestyles. Although Tooele County’s population is increasing, new routes won’t be added until a larger contribution is made to UTA by Tooele and Grantsville cities, since UTA is funded by sales tax income. Tooele and Granstville cur- Schools aim to fight childhood obesity rently contribute one-quarter of a cent from annual sales taxes to UTA. Programs stress physical activity and promoting good nutritional choices SEE UTA ON A5 by Alleen Lang dents walked a total of 2,693,429 miles as part of earned by adding on the bronze metal criteria: one CORRESPONDENT the “Gold Medal School Program.” Most of Tooele health-related event per year involving students, Nearly one out of every four Utah schoolchildren County’s 15 elementary schools participated, along parents, teachers and the school principal. is obese. It’s an epidemic sweeping the state and with 127 other Utah schools. Tooele’s program, Gold medal schools earn $500 by building on the the county. But the Tooele County School District which was established in 2002 in conjunction with silver and bronze achievements and writing a policy Wind turbine is trying to tip the scales in favor of healthy kids by the Utah Winter Olympics, addresses tobacco pre- stressing that food is not to be used as a reward in introducing several new programs into area elemen- vention, physical activity and nutrition. Schools the classroom. Policies are also written banning tary schools. are given a small monetary reward for each level of advertising of less nutritious food choices and the operator to tap Involvement in national and state exercise pro- achievement — bronze, gold and silver. selling of food items for fundraisers. grams, scrutinizing the fat content of foods served Bronze medal schools are awarded $200 for In addition, schools are encouraged to participate through the school lunch program, and limiting establishing a gold medal mile policy with the goal in Red Ribbon Week, host an Olympic Field Day or Stockton breezes the number of empty calories available to students of students walking one mile every week. A policy participate in the Presidential Fitness Challenge. through reward programs and vending machines are is also written requiring 90 minutes of physical edu- After completing the first three levels of achieve- Renewable energy project could the primary tools used by the district to encourage cation for each student every week. Kindergarten ment, schools may progress to platinum school put Tooele County on ‘green’ map healthy habits, according to Ken Luke, elementary students are required to spend 45 minutes a week in level, which requires policies on healthy food choic- curriculum director. physical education. by Karen Hunt SEE OBESITY ON A5 For instance, between 2001 and 2005, Utah stu- Silver medals and $300 in award money are STAFF WRITER Utah’s first major commercial wind farm could begin development this year on South Mountain near Stockton, according to county and state officials. Tasco Engineering Company, a Lehi firm special- Tooele woman izing in wind-power generation, is proposing to COURTROOM TECHNOLOGY construct between 20 and 38 wind turbines in the area. The company could eventually put in up to 180 involved in Samoan turbines, which would provide as much as 70 mega- watts of power, according to a contract between adoption scheme Tasco and Rocky Mountain Power. Julie Orchard, with the Utah Public Service Commission, said by Suzanne Ashe wind power projects consistently produce about one STAFF WRITER third of their maximum capacity. Even at that rate, A 34-year-old Tooele woman is one of seven the Pioneer Ridge project in Stockton could power people Immigration and Customs Enforcement approximately 20,000 homes for a year. officials say duped parents in Samoa into giving up Tasco Engineering refused to comment on its pro- children to adoptive parents in the United States. posed project. Karalee Thornock of Tooele, Karen Banks, 45, of The Stockton area has strong wind-energy poten- Wellsville, Scott Banks, 46, also of Wellsville, and tial because it’s situated in a major wind corridor. Coleen Bartlet, 40, of Evanston, Wyo., was one of The tall turbine towers Tasco would build would four co-defendants indicted last week in federal court in Salt Lake City. Investigators are still looking for Tagaloa Ieti, SEE WIND ON A8 44, of Samoa, and Julie Tuiletufuga, age unknown, of Samoa. “They are believed to be in Samoa,” according to Virginia Kice, U.S. Immigration and Customs County deemed too Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman. On Monday, Dan Wakefield, 70, a U.S. citizen who had been living in Apia, Samoa, entered a plea big for ‘fast track’ of “not guilty” before Magistrate Samuel Alba in New bill restricting state funds could Salt Lake City. He surrendered his passport but was not detained. hamper economic development A 135-count federal indictment alleges the sus- by Mark Watson pects operated a Utah-based adoption agency, STAFF WRITER Focus on Children, that took more than 80 Samoan A new Senate bill designed to accelerate indus- children from their native country and placed them trial development in Utah’s rural counties could leave in adoptive homes in Utah and several other states Tooele County in the slow lane. under false pretenses. Senate Bill 10, approved by both houses and According to Kice, none of the children have still awaiting action from the governor, designates been removed from their adoptive homes, and each 20 percent of Utah’s Industrial Assistance Fund to case will be reviewed separately. The indictment the state’s rural counties. This “Rural Fast Track states that the defendants told Samoan residents Program” is designed to boost economic develop- their children would be temporarily placed in the ment outside major metro areas. United States to attend U.S. schools and would photography / Troy Boman The original bill classified rural counties as those return to Samoa when they reached adulthood. Kyle Memmott, chief probation officer with the 3rd District Court, demonstrates a new touch-screen with less than 60,000 residents. That number was The adoptive parents in the United States alleg- device in the juvenile courtroom that will allow clerks to control many devices including video testi- changed to 30,000 by the House — a cutoff that edly were told that the children were orphans monies, lights and temperature. Officials and staff moved into the new courthouse on March 1 and would disqualify Tooele, Box Elder, Iron and Summit held court for the first time in the new facility yesterday. SEE ADOPTION ON A5 SEE COUNTY ON A8 WEATHER OPEN FORUM A4 HOMETOWN B1 INSIDE Mostly sunny Wednesday, OBITUARIES A6 THE BULLETIN BOARD B2 Lady Wildcats turn in stellar but snow possible Thursday year in spite of state losses morning. CROSSWORD A8 TV LISTINGS B3 See A10 Complete Forecast: A2 SPORTS A10 CLASSIFIEDS B4 A2 TOOELE TRANSCRIPT-BULLETIN TUESDAY March 6, 2007 Utah & The West Corrections The name of Harry Shinton was White supremacist gang’s clout grows across West misspelled in the caption of the March 1 article “Officials prepare for by Gillian Flaccus major earthquake.” The Transcript ASSOCIATED PRESS Bulletin apologizes for the error. BUENA PARK, Calif. (AP) — The white supremacist gang Public Valley Weather Forecast Enemy No. 1 began two decades ago as a group of teenage punk-rock fans Local Weather from upper-middle class bedroom Tue communities in Southern California. 52/34 Now, the violent gang that deals 3/6 in drugs, guns and identity theft is Partly cloudy skies. High 52F. Winds light and variable. gaining clout across the West after forging an alliance with the notori- ous Aryan Brotherhood, authori- Wed 53/36 ties say. 3/7 Police say the gang has compiled Times of sun and clouds. Highs in a “hit list” targeting five officers the low 50s and lows in the mid and a gang prosecutor — a sign of 30s.