Creating award- winning cheese See B1 TOOELETRANSCRIPT S T C BULLETIN S TUESDAY December 3, 2019 www.TooeleOnline.com Vol. 126 No. 53 $1.00 Voters won’t get to decide on Skywalk Court rules development agreement for project was administrative and petition for a referendum is not valid TIM GILLIE Development agreement is not EDITOR a legislative act and is not there- Opponents of the proposed fore referable. ... Importantly, 246-acre Skywalk development the Agreement does not change west of Tooele Valley Airport in the zoning or change permit- Erda were handed a setback by a ted use for density of the land district court judge on Monday. in question,” wrote Bates in his Third District Court Judge decision denying the petitioners’ Matthew Bates handed down a request. memorandum decision denying However, Bates also wrote Miss Grantsville City rides atop a fire engine accompanied by her attendants the petition to declare that the that the development agreement during the 2019 Grantsville City Light Parade in Grantsville Saturday. adoption of the development suggests that the developer will agreement for Skywalk by the apply for any needed changes in Tooele County Commission was zoning or permitted uses in the a legislative decision and is sub- normal fashion. Christmas parade delivers Santa Claus ject to a referendum petition. “Paragraph eight thus con- Bates’ decision upheld the templates that the Developer Tooele County Clerk’s finding will submit applications for that the County Commission’s zoning and plat approval as and lights up Grantsville’s Main Street decision was an administrative required by Tooele’s Land Use act and is not subject to a refer- Ordinance,” wrote Bates. “But DEVAN GOWANS endum. those plans do not and cannot STAFF WRITER However, Bates’ decision change the permitted uses of Frigid, 17 degree weather wasn’t leaves the door open to a new the land … Rather, if a proposed enough to dampen the spirits of referendum process if the county development is inconsistent with Grantsville residents or the cheer makes a legislative decision to permitted uses for the area, the of the local Grantsville Christmas change permitted uses on the developer must seek an amend- Light parade in its eighth showing property covered by the develop- ment to the County Land Use Saturday evening. ment agreement in the future. Ordinance through normal Young and old flocked to Main “The Court agrees with Street to experience the light show Respondents that the SEE SKYWALK PAGE A8 ® put on by the procession at the annual parade. Perched atop a fire truck, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus led the parade as the grand marshal and ushered in the holiday season, according to Grantsville City Mayor Brent Marshall. Miss Grantsville City Serria School shooting Leavitt, accompanied by first and second attendants, Autumn Wade Ryker Martinez reaches for a cookie at the Grantsville SEE PARADE PAGE A8 ® threat determined City Fire Department following the parade. to be rumor started on social media But extra precautions, police were ready if needed DEVAN GOWANS talking about “sluff” day, to STAFF WRITER which other students joked Tooele High School was the about a shooting. subject of a school shooting This prompted an investiga- rumor that prompted an inves- tion by TCPD, Hansen said. tigation from the Tooele City On Nov. 25, school resource Police Department Wednesday. officers interviewed 10 stu- As part of Tooele City proto- dents and talked to roughly col, a heightened police pres- three or four more students ence at Tooele and Blue Peak over Thanksgiving break. High schools existed at both The officers found that the schools Monday because of a threat started out as a rumor shooting threat that was later on Snapchat of kids skipping determined to not be a threat at school, he said. all, according to Tooele police “We couldn’t fully discredit spokesperson Sgt. Jeremy it as we didn’t see the original Hansen. message because of the nature Because of concerns from of Snapchat,” Hansen said. the public, some students Snapchat is a social media mes- stayed home. The 27.4% absen- saging platform that deletes all tee rate on Monday at THS was messages after a certain period well over the 14.1% average, of time, rendering them inac- according to school district cessible to the recipients. 2019 Miss Grantsville City Serria Leavitt (above) passes out cookies and refreshments to two officials. Hansen said that as the young girls following the parade. Harley A police investigation into message began to circulate on Turnbow (left) and Matthew Session (right) the shooting rumor began Snapchat, the conversation poses for a photograph with Santa (above right) when one of Tooele High’s went from kids asking why they at the Grantsville City Fire Department. The resource officers met with a would sluff school, as the origi- outside of the Grantsville City FIre Department student on Nov. 22, Hansen nal message prompted, to jok- (rigth) illuminated by Christmas decorations. said. The student reported overhearing other students SEE RUMOR PAGE A8 ® INSIDE BULLETIN BOARD B6 CLASSIFIEDS B4 Tree lighting Buffs excited Stallions go 3-2 HOMETOWN B1 ceremony for basketball at Davis Duals OBITUARIES A6 See A2 season See A10 OPEN FORUM A4 See A10 SPORTS A10 A2 TOOELE TRANSCRIPT BULLETIN TUESDAY December 3, 2019 Storms drop 19.6 inches of snow on Tooele City Mountain snowpack ahead of normal while valley floor precipitation total lags behind TIM GILLIE inches of snow on Nov. 29, Vernon Creek Basin: Rocky EDITOR according to NWS weather Basin-Settlement Canyon, After shoveling drive- observer Ned Bevan. Mining Fork, and Vernon ways three times over the The actual accumulation Creek. They reported 6.1, Thanksgiving holiday week- of snow at different locations 4.9 and 2.2 inches of snow end, Tooele residents who throughout the city may have water equivalent as of Nov. 30, thought there was more snow varied. respectively, for 142%, 175%, than usual were right. Up in the mountains, the and 183% of the median value Tooele City’s National storm started out the new for Nov. 30. Weather Service observer water year with a healthy In Tooele City the aver- recorded a total snowfall for accumulation of snow. age high temperature for November that was 9.4 more The snow water equivalent, November was 49.9 degrees inches more than normal, or or the amount of water in with Nov. 6, 13 and 18 as the DEVAN GOWANS/TTB PHOTO 92.2% above average. the snow pack, for the Tooele warmest days of the month Skyline Drive in Tooele as seen on Tuesday, Nov. 26. The November snowfall Valley-Vernon Creek Basin was with a daytime high tempera- totaled 19.6 inches in Tooele 159% of the basin’s annual ture of 50 degrees. water than the median year, report. The Rocky Basin-Settlement City. All of that snow fell median value on Nov. 30, The coldest daytime temper- precipitation in the city is SNOTEL, or snow telemetry, Canyon site is located at between Nov. 25 and Nov. 29. 2019. ature in November in the city behind for the new water year. are remote battery powered 8,704 feet near Rocky Peak in Snowfall on Nov. 25 mea- Last year, on the same day, was 30 degrees on Nov. 26. Bevan reported the total sites across western mountains the Oquirrh Mountains, the sured 5.1 inches. On Nov. 26 the basin was reported at 87% The lowest overnight tem- precipitation for the water that automatically measure Mining Fork site is in South another half an inch of snow of the median value, accord- perature was 17 degrees, also year for Tooele City, which and transmit information Willow Fork in the Stansbury fell. Nov. 27 saw an inch of ing to National Resource on Nov. 26, with an average began Oct. 1, was at 2.48 about snow depth, water con- Mountains at 8,295 feet, and powder snow accumulated, Conservation Service SNOTEL nightly low for the month of inches on Nov. 30. Normal pre- tent, rainfall, and air tempera- the Vernon Creek site is at followed by 9 inches of snow reports. November of 29.2 degrees. cipitation total for that time ture. They are managed by the 7,401 feet in the Sheeprock on Nov. 28. As the storm left There are three SNOTEL While the snowpack in the period in Tooele City is 3.5 USDA’s National Resources Mountains. Tooele, it dropped a final 4 sites in the Tooele Valley- mountains is holding more inches, according to Bevan’s and Conservation Service. tgillie@tooeletranscript Black Friday beat Cyber Monday for year’s busiest holiday sales Half of consumers started holiday shopping before Thanksgiving TIM GILLIE Miller, owner of East End ers started their holiday shop- EDITOR Boutique in Grantsville. “We ping before Thanksgiving, While retailers keep extend- had great sales that ran Friday with nearly a quarter of ing Black Friday shopping bar- through Saturday and Santa holiday purchases made before gains, nationally the day after Claus was here on Saturday.” Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving remained the While East End Boutique “This is further evidence leader of November holiday is new to Back Friday, Miller that the holiday season shopping, according to a retail is not. She and her husband, has grown far beyond the trade group. Cole, own Big O Tires in period between Thanksgiving The National Retail Tooele. and Christmas,” Shay said. Federation announced that “Black Friday is always a big “Thanksgiving is still a hall- Black Friday was not only the day at Big O,” she said. “We mark of the season, and there’s busiest day for in-store activi- were busy this year as well.