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Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Serving south central Utah since 1888
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FYI
Honors The Richfield Reaper walked away with a dozen awards from the Utah Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. See next week’s Reaper for complete details.
Church Local subscribers — Sevier, Wayne and Piute counties — to The Richfield Reaper are now receiving the Deseret News National Edition, including the Church News, in each week’s issue. Today’s sections feature articles focusing on topics from ADHD and the big screen, to basketball and politics.
Library The Richfield Public Library staff members are hosting a St. Patrick’s Day party, from 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, March 15. See this week’s Reaper for more area library news. PAGE 1B
Vocab This week’s Reaper vocabulary word is adduced. PAGE 8A
Quote Quote of the week — “I make a motion that we let him go and hire me to do it.” — Kathy Christensen PAGE 9A
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American Profile Special Classified Ads 6B Crossword 4B Happenings 4B Letter to Editor 3A Mini Page 3B Obituaries 6A Opinion 3A Public Notices 8A Sports 4A Television Listings 5B Theater 8A
Weather Check the current five-day forecast at
richfieldreaper.com Date High Low Prec. Feb. 25 65 23 Feb. 26 65 23 Feb. 27 51 40 Feb. 28 50 25 .03 March 1 53 23 March 2 56 25 March 3 61 29 29 March 4
Water year precipitation to date, 3.20; to the same date last year, 2.78; all of last year, 9.91.
DAVID ANDERSON/RICHFIELD REAPER
Sevier County Justice Court Judge Kent Nielsen flips through a ledger Monday morning that contains justice court records from more than 20 years ago. Nielsen is planning to hang up his judicial robes and retire this spring. SEE STORY PAGE 10A
Looking at the future generation As IPP seeks to convert from coal to natural gas electricity generation over next 12 years, Sevier Valley may feel impacts of the changes By Chad Hunt Staff Writer
DELTA — The Intermountain Power Project has been churning out some 90 megawatts of electricity a day, most of which is then routed to California consumers, for more than 25 years. The coal-fired power plant located near Delta has become a magnet for energy development in the area — a wind farm near Milford and a utility-scale solar farm in the same area tie into IPP’s lines — but is now looking for a new way to keep itself viable moving into the future. “Over the history of the project, 99 percent of the power produced at IPP has gone to the California entities,” said John Ward, spokesperson for Intermountain Power Agency, which operates IPP. “Once their current contracts with IPP expire in 2027, those purchasers will no longer have the ability to take power from IPP, due to governmental regulations.” Ward said currently, any of the California interests who have a stake in IPP — altogether making up nearly a 75 percent stake in the project’s entitlement shares —
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©2014 The Richfield Reaper
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Serving LDS missionary from Richfield dies in auto accident in Sweden
An LDS missionary from Richfield was killed Sunday in an auto-pedestrian accident in Sweden. Mason Lewis Bailey, 19, and his mission companion were walking along a road en route to an appointment when Bailey was struck by a vehicle, according to Mason Cody Craynor, spokesBailey person for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He later died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. Craynor said Bailey’s companion was uninjured in the incident. “We are mindful of Elder Bailey’s family and loved ones during this difficult time and unite our faith and prayers with all church members, who mourn at the death of a missionary,” Craynor said. A 2013 graduate of Richfield High School, Bailey had been serving in the Sweden Stockholm Mission for the church since July 2013. While at RHS, Bailey was an honor student, and the regional runner-up for the agricultural science Sterling Scholar. He also played on the school’s football team. Teacher Stephanie Johnson said she remembers Bailey as a kind and hardworking student. She said during an ice fishing trip, she and her husband encountered Bailey on the surface of Otter Creek Reservoir. “We ran into Mason and two of his friends who’d spent all night on the lake in an ice fishing tent,” Johnson said. “When they saw we had little kids with us, they volunteered to let them come in the nice, warm tent.” One of Bailey’s friends, Devin Peterson, who is serving an LDS mission in Texas, shared some thoughts with his family after learning of the accident. “He was such a great friend, one of those guys who was always there for you no matter what you needed, he was such a good example,” Peterson wrote in an e-mail to his family Sunday. “I can only imagine how great he was as a missionary, and how many people’s lives he touched before passing on.” Rebecca Chesley, Central Valley, served as a missionary in Stockholm with Bailey for some six months prior to her return in January. She said while she didn’t know him prior to his mission, she said they instantly had a bond in the mission field — due to the fact they were both from the Richfield area. “He was an incredibly hard worker and was exactly obedient,” Chesley said. “He always had a positive attitude and a smile on his face. He was a light that the people of Sweden needed. He will surely be missed, but his influence on this community, the missionaries and the people of Sweden will live on … My prayers go out to his family, his companion and the missionaries [with whom he served] in Sweden.” Bailey is a son of Lewis and Marcy Bailey, Ruidoso, N.M.; and Rachelle Bailey, Provo; and a grandson of Terral and Debbie Dunn; and Noel and Tonya Bailey, all Richfield. Funeral services are pending for the Richfield East LDS stake center.
Richfield bust nets seven local arrests
Some $5 million in heroin found in unrelated Elsinore traffic stop By David Anderson Associate Editor
CHAD HUNT/RICHFIELD REAPER
Steam and emissions rise from the Intermountain Power Project near Delta Feb. 25. The billowing gases are reflected on a retention reservoir collecting water shares from the Sevier River to help create steam to produce the some 90 megawatts of electricity that is churned out of the station daily.
Beat the Price Increase! r
Volume 126 Number 10 Richfield, Utah
See Pg. 8B for Details
Working with the Richfield City Police Department, Sevier County Sheriff’s Office and the Utah Highway Patrol, the Central Utah Narcotics Task Force arrested seven people Saturday in Richfield. The arrests came after the culmination of a seven monthlong investigation into illegal drug sales in the region, according to information released by the task force. “Approximately 3.6 ounces of methamphetamine was seized along with drug paraphernalia,” said Jeff Whatcott, task force commander. He said the street value of the methamphetamine is more than $10,000. “The investigation is continuing and more arrests are expected,” Whatcott said. All those arrested reside in Richfield. The arrests include — • Ernest Roy Quinn, 33, for four counts distribution of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, possession of drug paraphernalia, internal possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence of CONTINUED PAGE 13A metabolite.