www.tooeletranscript.com THURSDAY TOOELETRANSCRIPT Tooele couple brings hope to people of Peru See B1 BULLETIN March 31, 2005 SERVING TOOELE COUNTY SINCE 1894 VOL. 111 NO. 89 50 cents New Wal-Mart DC celebrates with boisterous fanfare by Mary Ruth Hammond was hundreds of enthusiastic people STAFF WRITER who said they’re glad the world’s larg- While Grantsville residents offered est retailer selected Tooele County little if any resistance when told a to place Wal-Mart’s 38th DC. With Wal-Mart Distribution Center (DC) Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club stores and was coming to their small community DCs throughout the United States, — some did say, “I’ll believe it when Japan, Argentina, Mexico, the United I see it.” Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Brazil and “Well, here it is,” a jubilant Mayor China, what an amazing feat that Byron Anderson said this morning to the city of Grantsville — population chants and cheers of 640 Grantsville 7,000 — is now home to a piece of the Wal-Mart DC associates, as well as world-wide giant corporation. a large gathering of local dignitaries As invited guests drove along the invited to the company’s grand open- winding roadway just south of state ing. Route 138 that leads to DC’s front And as part of this morning’s cele- doors, hundreds of American flags bration, Wal-Mart Personnel Manager provided by the Tooele Exchange Jared Egbert presented 30 checks for Club waved proudly in the soft breeze. a grand total of $38,000 to Grantsville, To each flag was affixed a yellow rib- Tooele County and Utah non-profit bon and the name of a U.S. soldier organizations. who has given his or her life in the Located on the west end of Iraqi war. Grantsville, the 1.25 million-square- Even though the DC has a huge feet building comprising the new DC parking lot, finding a place to park a could house 24 football fields, or 800 vehicle was hard even for guests who tennis courts, or enough concrete to arrived more than a half-hour before photography / Troy Boman make a two-lane highway 250-miles the scheduled 10 a.m. event. Once Wal-Mart employees J.D. Principe (left) and Trevor Gransbury celebrate during the distribution center’s grand opening ceremony long. Thursday morning in Grantsville. But what the DC held this morning SEE WAL-MART ON A12 Home Depot, Lowe’s Bishop bill retargets N-waste facility in race for Tooele sites by Karen Lee Scott low lawmakers. Reservation (where 4,000 180- area. This year’s bill is based on the ton casks filled with spent Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr., and by Mark Watson from Tooele Lowe’s LLC. That STAFF WRITER same three premises (protecting nuclear fuel rods are planned to members of the Southern Utah request is to change the zoning Congressman Rob Bishop has STAFF WRITER the UTTR, wilderness areas and be placed) that restrictions will Wilderness Alliance, the Utah of 9.54 acres of land from resi- renewed a House Bill, which not Tooele City’s business district the state from nuclear waste), be placed on what can go on the Defense Alliance, the Wilderness continues to migrate toward dential-industrial to a general only seeks to protect the Utah but Bishop explained that this train track itself. Thus the eco- Society, and the Sierra Club Erda with Home Depot, Lowe’s commercial zone. Test and Training Range (UTTR) time around the bill will have a nomic future of the reservation are scheduled to participate and Al & Lid Furniture all work- The area is between Main and nearby wilderness lands better chance of being argued in won’t be injured and the nuclear in this afternoon’s press con- ing on preliminary plans to Street and 150 East, and 1000 but also aims to stop the pro- the Senate because of the word- waste can be prevented from ference where the bill will be establish stores on the north North to 1100 North. posed high-level nuclear waste ing of the document. traveling on the tracks. announced. side of Tooele along state Route Mayor Charlie Roberts indi- storage facility on the Goshute Bishop explained that one of Utah and Tooele County Mike Mower, a spokesman 36. cated that Al & Lid Furniture is Reservation in Skull Valley. the main differences in this ver- officials gave input on the bill for Huntsman, said the gov- The Tooele Planning also moving forward on plans Bishop introduced a similar sion of the bill is that instead as well as the Bureau of Land ernor “applauds the unprece- Commission approved a prelimi- for a new store east of SR-36 bill (HB2909) last year but it of blocking the construction Management and private prop- nary plat for a 12-acre business near the Home Depot location. didn’t make it very far with fel- of a rail spur to the Goshute erty owners in the Skull Valley SEE BILL ON A4 development project including “Al & Lid indicated to us that a Home Depot Store north of they had outgrown their current Mountain West Medical Center. store and were seeking a loca- The development would be on tion with higher visibility and Epic spring storms help abate six-year drought the west side of SR-36. The pre- room to grown,” Roberts said. by Karen Lee Scott liminary plat will be considered “They would be making a major STAFF WRITER by Tooele City Council at its investment in the community.” With rain and snow one day next meeting on April 6. Tooele City Council President and clear blue skies the next, The planning commission will Michael Johnson said that both it seems Mother Nature can’t also hold a public hearing on Home Depot and Lowe’s are make up her mind about how to April 13 at 7 p.m. at city hall finish off the month of March. to consider a rezoning request EE TORES ON S S A4 But for now, it appears she has settled for calm weather and cool breezes. Senior drivers could As far as the rest of this week goes, the National Weather Service predicts that the Tooele keep licenses longer Valley area will have partly cloudy skies from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon, with a 30 percent chance of rain with program’s help Sunday night and a 40 percent chance of rain on Monday morn- ing. by Mary Ruth Hammond And the sad thing is — when Throughout the last half of STAFF WRITER the officer pulled the woman March, Utah was given a pretty It’s not always an easy sub- over she realized that the driver significant boost to its snow- ject to broach. In fact, it’s one truly hadn’t seen the stop sign. pack levels, some areas receiv- that could even cause family “I asked the lady, ‘What are ing increases of 10 to 15 per- squabbles. But the truth is, at you doing?’” Bracken remem- cent. some time or another all older bers. The current statewide precip- Americans are going to have She replied, “What do you itation percent of average is at to face the question: “When is mean?” 137 percent. In the Tooele Valley it time to give up my driver’s When Det. Bracken told the area the figure is at 146 percent. license.” woman she had just run a stop The area’s three monitoring Det. Becky Bracken, a Tooele sign, the elderly driver said, “Let stations located in Settlement Police officer, has seen firsthand me tell you something, young Canyon, the Stansbury Mountain the effects of older people driv- lady. I have lived in this town all Range and Vernon Creek have ing and not even realizing the my life and there has never been respectively measured 33.70, mistakes they are making. She a stop sign there.” 28.30 and 15.80 inches of snow tells the story of driving behind Even though she had to smile water equivalency so far this an elderly lady not long ago. to herself, Bracken realized the water year. “This lady went right through situation with the elderly driver But even with higher levels a stop sign as if it wasn’t there,” photography / Troy Boman Even with snow falling and the mercury collapsing, G ville’s southpaw Wacey Sorenson had no problem putting a little heat Bracken noted. SEE DRIVERS ON A4 SEE WEATHER ON A8 on the ball during Wednesday’s 5-0 victory against Delta. Teammate Marcus Hamatake stands-at-the-ready on third base. WEATHER OBITUARIES A7 JUST 4 KIDS B9 INSIDE Mostly clear tonight. Lows in the SPORTS A10 TV LISTINGS C3, C4 Tooele, Grantsville track teams upper 20s. Partly cloudy and brave chilly conditions in meet warmer Friday. Highs in the 50s. HOMETOWN B1 CROSSWORD C4 See A10 Complete Forecast: A2 DOINGS B5 CLASSIFIEDS C5 A2 THURSDAY March 31, 2005 ETCETERA ... Entertainment center gears up for April opening Temps/Precipitation Valley Weather Forecast Like a beautiful spring day, Local Weather northern Utah welcomes the Date High Low (prec./inches) announced grand opening of the March 29 45 26 .19 2” snow Fri 57/40 new Buddy’s Family Entertainment March 30 41 27 .09 1” snow 4/1 Center in Tooele. Ned Bevan, Tooele’s weather observer Generally sunny despite a few af- Long-time resident Jed Connell for the National Weather Service, reports ternoon clouds. High 57F. says of the project, “Our family’s that his recording station at 139 S. Main vision was to build an entertain- received .28 inches of precipitation ment facility that the people of between March 29 and March 30 and a Sat total of 2.93 so far this month.