Walking The Clouds

Photo by Lauriann Wakefield, Little Starling Photography

Garden City Administrative Court

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  August 6, 2015. The Court was presided over by Administrative Judge Brian House.  Sharlene Millard is the Court Clerk and Robert Peterson is the Ordinance Enforcement Officer for Garden City.

The Court was called to order at 10:00 a.m.  Derrick Northrup and his wife appeared before the Judge.  They own a home that has been used as a short-term rental in the Garden City area.  However, they failed to complete the renewal of their short-term rental license.  They did pay the required fee for the license but failed to identify a contact person that could be available to handle any problems that may arise at their home when it is rented.  They had been contacted several times requesting that they either complete the application, or it will be assumed that they no longer were renting their home.

Robert Peterson, the Ordinance Officer, visited the home when there was a group of individuals staying there.   He visited with several individuals staying at the home.  None that he talked to even knew the name of the owner of the home.  He assumed because they couldn’t give him any information concerning the home, that it was being rented.  He wrote up a ticket at that point in time.

Northrup noted that they had allowed his pastor and some of his friends to come and stay at their home without any cost.  He also stated that they had contacted Garden City Councilman Bruce Warner.   Warner had promised them that he would look into the matter and take care of it. 

The license should have been renewed way back in January.  The manager who had taken care of their rental in the past had requested that some work be done on the home to make it more rentable.  They had failed to make any of the requested changes.  As a result, they did not have a contact person to finish out their renewal application.

Ordinarily, a fine would have been required.  However, since Warner had indicated that he would follow up and take care of this item, the Judge felt he could not impose a fine at the present time.  He told Mr. Northrup that he must complete the application within the next two or three days and submit it to the City, or action would be taken and his license would be deemed null and void.

Mary Wagner called on the telephone to talk with Judge House.  She informed the Judge that she had failed to renew her short-term rental license in a timely manner.  She was sent several notices.  She thought she sent in her check after receiving a second notice in June.  Later, she found that she had put the check in with some other papers that were sent to her attorney and not to Garden City.  She finally was able to get everything straightened out and requested that the amount of the fine be reduced.  She noted that she had been remiss, but had tried hard to complete the paperwork.  Judge House reduced the fine to $500.  She thanked him for his willingness to work with her.

Rick Rose, owner of the Dance Place, appeared before Judge House.  He had been cited because of placing off premise signs in several locations without obtaining an off-premise sign permit.  He was concerned because of the amount of the fine.

It was noted that he had been sent three different notices.  The third was sent registered mail because he had apparently ignored the other letters that had been written.  Also, he had numerous signs around the City that are against the City’s sign ordinance.

Rose said that he felt he was not being treated fairly.  He said that he must be the only businessman in Garden City who was being punished for not obeying the sign ordinance.  He had taken his camera and gone around town taking pictures of all of the other businesses that he felt must also not be in compliance and felt all should be cited along with him.

Peterson looked at all of the pictures that had been taken by  Rose and informed him that all of those signs are also on his computer, and that warnings had been given to each of them.  Most of them, however, had acknowledged the warnings and taken care of the problem.  However, this was the first time he had been able to really talk with  Rose.  This issue could have been solved much sooner.  Rose’s trailer with advertising all over it is quite some distance from his property—thus it is an off premise sign.  If  Rose would like to have an off premise sign, he needs to make an application and pay the required fee.  He must also make arrangements with the owner of the property where the off premise sign will be placed.  There were also two other signs that  Peterson removed from the downtown area.

Judge House noted that he felt it necessary to impose a fine.  He would, however, make some allowance since  Rose apparently did not understand the off site sign ordinance.  He was given ample notice to handle the matter sooner but since this was the first time he had appeared before the court, he was fined $600. 

It was brought to  Rose’s attention that signs along the highway must be approved by the State since it is a Scenic Byway.  A Scenic Byway has a special set of rules as far as signs go.  These requirements must be met if signage is placed along any road with this designation.

About another ten names of individuals who have been given tickets were read into the meeting minutes noting that, since they did not appear in court, they were assumed to be guilty and should be billed for the fines that are imposed as a result of not following the City’s ordinances.

Court was dismissed.

Garden City Friend, James Richard Jensen 1943 - 2015

James Richard Jensen
1943 - 2015

James was born on August 16, 1943, passing away surrounded by his family from complications to heart disease and exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. 

James was the oldest son born to Ernest R. and Evelyn Sylvia Carmen Jensen. He was born and raised in Byron, Wyoming. James attended Byron High School, later enrolled at Brigham Young University where he studied Electrical Engineering. He was a kind soul with a tender heart towards family and friends. James loved building electrical projects, including a wall-mounted television long before they became popular today.

Answering two calls of importance for church and country, James served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paris France, following in the footsteps of both parents, who served in the same area. He was a fluent French speaker.

Upon release from his church service, James attended BYU but was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. This was especially difficult as he had recently married his eternal companion, Janet Nelson, in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. They were married 48 years.

Among the citations he received in Vietnam, he was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with an oak leaf cluster and the V device for valor. Finishing his Army campaign, James was happy to return to school and graduate. James worked majority of professional career with Utah Power & Light as an electrical engineer, where he oversaw the building of transmission lines throughout Utah and southwest Wyoming. He also traveled internationally as an expert engineer. After retiring, he worked for ECI and served several service missions for the church.

James is survived by his eternal companion, Janet, and six children: Craig, David, Curt (Dorisann), Maren (Allen) Muhlestein, Scott (Heidi), and Tine. He was blessed with 15 grandchildren. He is survived by six siblings: Carma Anderson, John J. Jensen, Janina Webster, Jolene Muller, Ralph Carmen Jensen and Jed Jensen. He was preceded in death by many loved ones including his parents, and by a younger brother, Nathan Robert.

A public viewing were held Thursday, Aug. 13, at 6 p.m., at Russon Brothers Funeral Home, 295 N. Main St., Bountiful, Utah. Funeral services Friday, Aug. 14, 11 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2651 South 500 West, Bountiful, Utah.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly suggests a contribution to the Huntsman Cancer Institute, located in Salt Lake City.

Good Stuff

Good Stuff! Brown Bananas, Peerless, and Cinderella
By John Brown, The Man


I’ve solved the banana bane.

The banana bane is this. You buy bananas, and the next day they’ve got freckles. Nobody likes freckled bananas, so everyone leaves them on the counter, thinking that someone else in the family must be a freckled banana fan. But nobody is a freckled banana fan, which means a few days after that, they’re brown. Then black. Then you toss them into the garbage and go to the store and start it all over.

I’m going to tell you how to stop the madness. I’m going to tell you what you do with brown bananas. The Brown family discovered this last week. (Yes, the Brown family discovered the solution to brown bananas, strange, isn’t it…)

I know some of you are thinking, oh, banana bread.

Are you kidding? Banana bread is cake in bread form. It’s nice once in a while. But who wants to make four loaves of cake every week and gain five million pounds?

I’m not talking about a sumo weight-gain program that involves cake.

And I’m not talking about taking them over to Joan and Cardon Willis’s place and feeding them to their pigs. They have a very nice sow who, Joan reports, loves bananas. The sow’s little piglets do whatever she does. She scratches her bum on a post; they scratch their bums. She grunts; they grunt. So I assume since mumma loves bananas, the little piggies love bananas too. But I’m not talking about turning your bananas into someone else’s bacon.

No.

I’m talking about extending their useful life by days.

I’m talking about consuming them yourself.

I’m talking about making something delicious, sweet, and healthy with them.

What is this magnificent discovery?

Smoothies.

With brown bananas.

What?

Yes. Look, we were out of fruit. We had milk, freckled bananas sliding towards completely toasty tan, and a little bit of chocolate powder. We were desperate.

Desperate people try desperate things. Some do not work out. Like the one time I tried asparagus in eggs. Think green sticks for breakfast. But sometimes they do.

Case in point: John’s Chocolate Banana Whip.
1 brown or freckled banana
1 cup of milk (use almond milk if you don’t like the cow variety)
1 tablespoon Nesquick (no, you don’t need the 3 tablespoons they recommend)

Throw it all in the blender and frappe until smooth.

It’s heaven. Especially good after a nice hike-jog in the middle of the day.

BTW, frappe is one of those words that makes you think I know what I’m talking about. Can you feel my chef aura radiating off the page?

But Nesquick, John. That’s so white-trash unhealthy.

Fine, you don’t want the added sugar? No problem. Try this one.

Ellianna’s Strawberry Surprise
1 brown or freckled banana
1 cup of milk
1 cup frozen strawberries

Frappe until you’re happy.

You can do this with frozen blueberries. You can add Greek yogurt–and let me tell you the Great Value plain Greek yogurt made with whole milk is delicious. You can add more fruit. Less fruit. Add ice. Whatever you like.

The bottom line is that brown bananas are delicious in smoothies. And they should be—bananas are at their sweetest when they’re brown.

It’s summer. It’s hot. Time for smoothies with sweet brown bananas.