The Daily Sentinel from Grand Junction, Colorado • 1

In Garfield County Jail Trusty ref urned after burglary He said long term prisoners are moat often appointed trusties," and they are "allowed to get out, get a little sunshine," by doing odd Jobs on grounds at the annex where the jail is located. Hart said there is no written policy on selecting trusties. Some you can trust, some you can't, you go by your own Judgement," he said. Hart said sheriff's deputies had had no trouble with Maneval previous to the Saturday incident. He was doing well," Hart said.

Hart said the trusties are not supervised or guarded while they do the yard work. He said recent state and S. Supreme Court rulings forbid guarding trusties. vThe undersheriff said Maneval may have been authorized to go to Rifle but added his alleged involvement in the break-in Is "extra curricular. Police records indicate Maneval also was on parole from an penal institution on the East Slope at the time of his July con conviction which stemmed from theft of some tools from a car.

GLENWOOD SPRINGS A trusty with privileges to get out and get a little sunshine" is in Garfield County Jail facing a felony charge in connection with a Saturday morning break-id at a Rifle auto parts store, Steven C. Maneval, 27, is being held for investigation of second -degree burglary and criminal trespass by the Rifle Police Department following his arrest. Bond was set at $7,500 by County Court Judge Steven Carter. Maneval, who was among prisoners in Garfield County Jail allowed to leave their cells to do grounds work at the county courthouse annex, was con -victed in JuV of theft of under $200, a class I misdemeanor, and Is serving a six-month-to-two-year sentence. Rifle Police Chief Larry Ailec said Maneval was arrested at 6.53 a.m.

Saturday by an officer investigating a re- port of an suspicion person at Rifle Auto Parts on Third Street. Ailec said the officer found a window broken in the store's westside door and a man inside. -Garfield County Undersheriff Robert A. Hart said today he would not comment on whether Maneval could be considered an escapee because he did not know whether Maneval had been authorized to leave the courthouse grounds. Hart said he would not be able to begin investigating until Sheriff Ed Hogue returns from vacation on the 18th or 19th.

Hart said trusty prisoners are confined to a general area outside the individual cells known as the bullpen. Hart said the bullpen is not locked when the jailer is at work. Giddap While 15-year-old Bob Scales awaits his turn iC the 4-H showmanship Lene Forsman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ron Forsman of Whitewater, judging at the Mesa County Fair, he gives his 4-month-old niece Jo- a lesson in horsemanship.

Sentinel photo by Dennis Hogan School board has no pojicy De Beque bidder found close by By RICHARD MAUER jobs. They also mentioned free labor buildings this year was 9168,000, sever- The board decided to post a notice at Sentinel staff writer that Latham had done for the district in al thousand under its only competitor. Town Hall about the job anyway. The DE BEQUE When the De Beque the past. As with the site preparation contract board wanted to give two other com- School Board needed a contractor to While Colorado law leaves it up to the that went to Latham, the school board panies that work around De Beque a prepare a site for two new buildings, it local boards to decide whether to adver- personally got in touch with Green chance to bid on the project according didnt look too far.

tise for the bids, an assistant state edu- Green and the other firm without pub- to A letter-size request for bids was cation commissioner, Stanley Leftwich, llcly advertising for bids, Martin said. Latham named the companies to The taped up in the Town Hall window, the said last week that each district must The board had seen the work Green Sentinel and said he had expected them usual location for local public notices. have written policies and rules that out- Green had done elsewhere, Martin said, to bid on the projects. Only one company, Latham Construe- line how goods and services will be pur- and was impressed by the companys But owners of both firms said they tion of De Beque, responded to the chased. quality and speed.

never learned the board was looking for request. Its offer was $2,640. According to Sup. Martin, the De Glen Green, the companys presi- a contractor. The five-member school board ac- Beque school district has no policy, dent, said he generally bids an entire Ken Etter, head of the K.L.

Construc-cepted the sole bid july 21. Voting along We get involved in so few projects contract and then sub-contracts out the tion Co. of Grand Junction denied he with the unanimous board that day was that we really don't have a bidding pol- site preparation work. In this case, he had any knowledge of the project. Leroy Latham, the board president, icy as such, Martin said last said, the school board had already sepa- God, I don't even know where the city Latham also heads Latham Construe- Thursday.

Were so small a school we rated the projects into two contracts. hall is he said, tion. spend so little on projects like this. Our They said they wanted to handle it, Etter owns his own gravel yard just Not first time little old budget brings in about Green said. across the river from De Beque.

It wasnt the first time Latham has $300,000. The preparation project called for lev- Though several of his customers live gotten a contract with the board. Last Prime contractor eling the site, hauling in gravel, and dig- around town, no one ever mentioned the year, he did two jobs for the district The two additions being built this ging sewer and water lines. project to him, he said, when another addition was put up. summer and the one built last summer Access to gravel William Spears of De Beque," also The total price for that work was were financed through the states oil The reason we did it the way we did mentioned by Latham, said the first $1,209.

shale trust fund. Green Green Con- was that Mr. Latham had access to 600 time he heard of the project was when Both Latham and school Sup. Larry struction of Grand Junction has been yards of gravel, Martin said. Be- he was questioned by The Sentinel.

Martin said they thought the district the prime contractor on all the jobs. cause of that, we thought he could prob- was getting a good deal with both the The Green Green bid for the two ably do it cheaper. (Continued on Page 8) School board members i stand behind Latham Senate okays swi.ie flu shots bill WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate today approved a bill designed to remove obstacles stalling a government plan for inoculating every American against swine flu. The measure, approved unanimously, was rushed to the House where leaders hoped to complete legislative action before the end of the day. The bill would set up a federal liability insurance plan that would protect, the manufacturers of the swine flu vaccine from legal action by those who are inoculated.

If Congress doesnt act before its planned recess tonight, the bill will have to wait until members return after the Republican National Convention. The Ford administration and backers of the inoculation plan say that would mean more aelay before the vaccine could be distributed. The insurance problem has stalled the vaccine program for weeks. The House Commerce Committee attempted to take up the bill earlier today but was unable to muster a quorum, so the alternate plan was devised to get the measure to the House floor. two women injured this morning 14 miles north of Delta and flipped on Page 3.

Sentinel Photo Beil Meyers Sheriff Quits Meyers has caretaker Aspen role ASPEN Former Grand Junction Police Chief Ben Meyers has become head of the Pitkin County Sheriffs Office following the resignation Monday of the county's elected sheriff whose performance was the subject of an outside investigation. Meyers, 46, became Pitkin County undersheriff this spring after resigning his Grand Junction post in January. He will temporarily replace Carroll Whitmire as Pitkin County sheriff. Whitmires performance was criticized Tuesday by Dist. Atty.

Frank Tucker, whose staff recently conducted an Investigation of the sheriffs office. Pitkin County Commissioner Dwight Shell man told The Sentinel today it is unlikely Meyers will be formally appointed acting sheriff an election will be held for the job in November. A very good job Shellman said Meyers has done a very good job as undersheriff but added, I would say we wont appoint him acting sheriff. Shellman said he doubted Meyers will want the job. As undersheriff Meyers makes almost twice as much money as the sheriffs job pays, Shellman noted.

The salary for the sheriff is set specifically by state law at $10,000 a year in Pitkin County. At a press conference this morning, Tucker said his staffs investigation of the Pitkin County Sheriffs Office will prove a very embarrassing thing to be laid before the public. The investigation is to be made public at a county commissioners meeting next week, he said. He said he does not plan to request a grand jury be formed to continue the investigation because found no criminal intent Tucker pleased Said Tucker: "There were irregularities, quite frankly, but they really fell short of forming criminal intent. He said of Whitemires decision to step down from his job: "It is best for Pitkin County and for law enforcement that he resigned.

Pm glad he did that. Whitmire 44, had served as sheriff for 10 years. He last won reelection to the post in 1974 and had two years to serve on his present term. Tucker had words of praise for Meyers, calling him a real law enforcement manager. Meyers told the Aspen Times newspaper in May that he was hired as undersheriff to reorganize the department.

2 years in Junction He served almost two years as police chief in Grand Junction and often spoke of the reorganizing he had performed in the local department. He told the Aspen Times he resigned as police chief partially because I saw the political climate becoming unfavorable to my philosophy of law enforcement, Id lost my rapport with the (city) council, and I decided to leave. Thomas Etcheverry, board treasurer, said, I dont have any idea that he did vote for himself. But if Latham did, Etcheverry said, I don't think there is a conflict of interest. Another frequent comment mentioned by board members was that Latham proved he could do good work by other jobs he did around town and for the district.

Meanwhile, the school board attorney, Bemdt Holmes, said, the board never asked me for the legality of Latham voting for his own contract. And Im not sure that I know what I would have told" them, he said. Holmes, a Grand Junction lawyer, said he is not retained by the board and serves only on an as-needed basis. I dont regularly advise them he said, and has made no recommendations to the board as far as bidding policies are concerned. DE BEQUE Local school board members were unanimous in their support of their board president, Leroy Latham, who received a $2,640 contract from the district for some construction work.

Secretary Dale Albertson, a rancher, said the board actually asked Latham to join the rest in voting in favor of his own bid. We try to keep our money at home, Albertson said. The fact that the district has no formal purchasing or bidding procedures never has been a problem in the past, Albertson said. "Vice President "Ernest Jones said Lathams bid was the only one they got. The Town Hall window, on which a letter-sized bid notice was taped, is our advertising media.

The way I understand it, as long as its advertised in a public place, we are abiding by the law. Officers and firemen assist one of when their car ran off U.S. 50 about upside down into a gully. Story Meteors to light up sky i Tonight is the first of three nights this year when Perseid mete- jjjj ors can be seen in the northeast sky. Amateur astronomers and others interested in seeing the un- jijj usual in the sky may see 20 or more meterors an hour during the gj three nights.

jg The shower will reach a maximum about 10 p.m.' Mountain gj gj Daylight Time Wednesday when up to 50 meteors an hour may be jg seen. gj A meteor is the luminous trail or streak formed when a bit of jg i matter from outer space a meteroid is made incandescent by gj friction with the earths atmosphere. A meteoroid can be any of jg gj numerous celestial bodies ranging in size from a speck of dust to gj asteroids weighing thousands of tons. If it survives its tripjg jg through the atmosphere and strikes the earths surface, it is then gj jg known as a meteorite. jg Because of city lights, an observer would have better luckjjjj seeing the shooting stars out on the desert or in the mountains, gj Two injured 1.