The Daily Spectrum from Saint George, Utah • 3

ROM THE RONT The Spectrum Sunday January 7 2001 A3 Important Notice Bloomington and Sun River Residents MUST ATTEND MEETING ON THE BLOOMINGTON POWER GENERATORS! VOICE YOUR CONCERNS As you may have read in The Spectrum the diesel power generators in Bloomington are now in violationof state air quality standards According to state air quality officials the plant has put at least four times as much pollution into the air as is acceptable and UAMPS (Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems) officials are seeking to continue running the plant The pollutants the plant emits (ie Nitrogen oxide sulfur dioxide carbon monoxide and particulate matter) affect the air quality of this entire area The generators are owned by the City of St George and UAMPS UAMPS will most likely be pursuing a variance to continue running this plant in spite of the air quality violations because of the current price of 1 power ib "rhe city has agreed to meet with residents in the city council chambers on 175 East 200 North Please1" ipttend this meeting and give the city council your input Von this 'matter THURSDAY JANUARY 1 1 AT 4 PM ALLIGATOR Continued from Al ment Arizona Strip ield Manager also confirmed theArlington Va based The Conservation und is negotiat ing through its Las Vegas office with Simmons for his Pakoon Springs property If und repre sentatives are successful in the land purchase then the BLM would work with the Conservation und to take own ership of the property Taylor said Simmons said he and Hughes when they were raising ostrich es farmed about 30 acres of alfalfa The farm which is now down to 1 5 acres is gravity fed through sprinklers Simmons said he considered selling hisvinterest in the farmbecause of his advancing age he is 66 and has health prob lems In addition wife Jackie Hardy Simmons a native of Mesquite also has health problems husband Donnie also died a few years ago just time to Simmons said should sell it now and use the money myself instead of giving the money to my he joked Meanwhile Arizona Game and ish Department Wildlife Manager Bob Price stationed in St George said the agency has known about the possibility of an alligator on the property for a relatively short time BLM is trying to do a land exchange with Price said BLM was con cerned if the Game and ish Department took aggressive action to remove the alligator that it could hurt the chances for the land The animal is behind posted private land and it poses no danger to the public Price said have contacted people who could potentially capture the animal and we have that arranged but we are waiting until the spring when the animal comes out of Price said are in the process of finding a permanent home for it if it exists And there is pretty strong evidence that it does However it is' hard to find a facility or zoo who wants one and can legally possess Arizona Game and ish t' urgffe Su p'e Vi s6r ig added' at he agency plans jo capture the alli gator in early spring regardless Kenneth Lambert AP Representatives in Washington 'i cor behind us and let us move for ward to do the job we were sworn to said Rep Henry Hyde lll Gore pumped his right fist when California's 54 votes the biggest electoral prize were awarded to him But he showed no emotion DIC Insured Even so House Democrats mostly blacks raised 20 objec tions during the session aimed at blocking pivotal 25 elec toral votes from being counted Many Democrats have asserted that Bush won lorida unfairly because some votes were not counted and because of a disproportionate num ber of irregularities in largely black mostly Democratic areas was the Supreme Court and not the people of the United States who decided this said Rep Barbara Lee Calif over shouts from Republicans But time and again Gore blending wit and formality disal lowed the objections because they were not also signed by a senator as required by law That shortcoming underlined the judgment by many Democrats that the public had no patience to resume battling over the election outcome chair thanks the gentleman from Illinois but a grinning Gore told Rep Jesse Jackson Ill who raised one of the challenges When an angry Rep Maxine Waters Calif said she did not care that a senator had not signed her objection Gore responded chair will advise that the rules do The rules also forbade lawmakers to explain their objections Many tried but were quickly silenced by ling poured $756769 into Utahns for Property Protection which pushed through the initiative changing how police agencies seize property from suspected criminals The Utah Coalition to Stop Drug Dealer Profits which opposed the initiative spent just S1744I are liens on some of the property in the he said As to the cost to purchase the hotelcasino? Black said he was disclosing that information "The cost is not being dis he said hard to fig tnvolveu is not a lot of information other than we bought the first mortgage and foreclosed There are still other lien and foreclo sure issues to sort out in the next few Back in March Black said almost everything in the casino they feed the alligator we feed it Simmons tongue in cheek told the official there be a damn thing wrong with feeding endangered species to make endangered species Another favorite Simmons yarn about the alligator occurred during the time of the Pakoon fires When BLM officials called and asked if they could get water at the Pakoon to fight the range fires Simmons readily agreed especially since no one was living at Pakoon Springs at the time The next morning as heopened the gates to the property a BLM water truck pulled up to the lower gate with a college age male and female inside They asked where to get the water Simmons told them to drive on the road which goes between the two ponds At that point he told them they could drop their hose in either pond to suction water into their tank Then Simmons warned for sake look out for that Simmons then drove upon a ridge to see where the fires were then drove back to the ponds When he returned he saw the guy leaning up against the truck while the girl was down on her hands and knees pushing the suction hose with a stick toward the pond walked up behind that guy and I said sake Mister you going to help that he said her Simmons then walked over to the woman and said take care of I picked up the hose walked over there waded out in the pond about two steps dropped the hose turned around to that guy and said you can start that pump the BLM guy said So they started pumping the water and as Simmons walked off the BLM guy said a minute mister how is she going to get the hose Simmons replied if it was Simmons and he was going to come back for more water leave the hose in the pond and Vice President Al Gore acknowledges a supporter as Rep William Thomas Calif below reads an electoral vote result on the floor of the US House of Saturday LEAVITT Continued from Al STAR Continued from Al TALLY Continued from Al Gore amid grumbling from Republicans At one point Rep Alcee Hastings Ha among the com plaining lawmakers cried out to Gore did all we chair thanks the gentleman from Gore responded with when the 1 1 votes from Tennessee a smile his home state went to his rival After their objections failed at At one point Rep Bill Thomas least 1 6 House Democrats filed out Calif one of the four lawmakers of the chamber en masse who read the votes aloud held Before the voting began several Delaware's certificate up to the light Republicans took to the House floor and squilited one is different to offer conciliatory words than all the he said with a us put the bitterness and ran smile Attorney General elect Republican Mark Shurtleff spent $623418 nearly twice as much as Democrat Reed Richards In Utah legislative races House Speaker Marty Stephens arr West a two term speaker raised $70196 and spent $43419 in a race he easily won Unless the missing reports show otherwise the most costly giving themselves campaign Senate contest this year was funds when they retire and close between Democrat Jed Mitchell their accounts of the land status government or private from proper ty are not concerned about the potential for this alligator to migrate to other waters like Lake Koenig said alligator is confined to property due to the broad stretches of unwatered terrain separating it from other permanent Ownership of alligators and other crocodilians is prohibited under Live Wildlife Rules Aside from public safety issues there are concerns about the impact these large predators may have on native Arizona wildlife Alligators are generally inac tive from October through March They can be captured in three non lethal ways: snared hooked or noosed Because alli gators are extremely wary the best time to capture them is dur ing the evening with a spotlight Koenig said So how did the alligator end up at Pakoon Springs? Orvin Hicks picked Pakoon Springs because he knew Simmons Hicks had been out to the springs several times Aside from the alligator Pakoon Springs has a colorful history Simmons from West Virginia came to Las Vegas in 1949 looking for work He moved to Mesquite in 1961 62 for a more rural lifestyle A general contractor all his life Simmons purchased the Pakoon Springs Ranch from Del Allan in 1981 Twelve years prior to that Simmons and Donnie Hughes helped Allan run cattle After selling the ranch Allan moved to Las Vegas and now lives in lorida with a daughter or a number of years Simmons never saw the alliga tor Then one day about four years ago while raising ostrich es at the ranch he shot a jackrabbit (the rabbit) laid there beside this pond and I forgot all about Simmons said it laid there and started stinking and the alligator came down and got it And when I saw the (alligator) Shortly after that some hogs were butchered at the ranch and with some chumming of the unhook it from the truck and if meat Simmons said the alligator: you are not coming back for any Mlty come up within a fewmores(wat4rdriU offy until you (iordlQ leei oi numans to eat its meat ieei comiortame day Simmons said a1 They never came back after BLMotticiat asKea mm what that and Republican Bill Wright in District 17 in southern Utah County Wright spent $49500 to win the race to Mitchell's $45315 State senators earn 1 00 a day plus expenses During the 2001 Legislature which starts Jan 15 lawmakers are expected to debate a bill that would prevent legislators from profitable Black is still unsure at this time when the hotelcasino wouldreopen know if it will be at carpet dishes jigjils fixturesure oua lot of the costs involved ad henstm not done CsraSsa 4 xtw? 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