Don't Miss The Free Garden City Fire Department Picnic - July 24

The 24th of July Picnic hosted by the Garden City Fire Department 

 at the Garden City Park from 6:00 p.m. until after dark. 

There will be water fights, sack races, and other outdoor events.  Free hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided.   Andy Stokes is chairing this event.   DONATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED!

Garden City Fire Department

Kathie B. Anderson, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah. July 11, 2018.    The new fire department building should be completed by the end of November. Lutz Construction is donating its labor, on the work it performed on the new building, to the Fire District.

The new fire impact fee will be in effect starting July 19.

The annual Raspberry Days Breakfast will be held on Saturday, August 4, 2018 at the Garden City Park from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.  The menu will be pancakes, eggs, and sausage.  Adults will pay $7.00 and children over 3 years old will pay $3.00.  Children under the age of 3 will eat free.

The existing government retirement rate for Fire Chief Mike Wahlberg will stay the same as last year.  The Board approved a motion to purchase a new IC 40 command truck. A motion was passed to reimburse any travel expenses incurred by Board members for Fire District business.  A motion was passed for the Public Treasurers Investment Fund (PTIF) account authorizing four individuals to sign on the account for the Fire District: Randall Knight, Laura Cluff, Jenny England, and Tiffany Wahlberg

FYI:  It is the responsibility of EACH HOA to make sure their fire hydrants are working.  The Garden City Fire District IS NOT RESPONSIBLE to monitor fire hydrants in HOA’s.  The Bear Lake Water Company checks its hydrants quarterly on the Sweetwater Hill as do other HOA’s.

Fire Department Responses for July
2   Structure Damage
1   Carbon Dioxide
1   Gas Leak
1   Agency Assist
2   Fire Alarms
3   Marine Rescues
15  Medical

Good Stuff

By John Brown

Guns are great, but if you’re relying on them for self-defense, you have to know that they aren’t

magical. They won’t help you in all the situations you may encounter. So what do you do in the many situations where you can’t employ a gun?

I have a friend in Arizona who is a big conceal carry guy. He carries his gun almost all the time, practices at the range consistently, lives and breathes it. He went out one night to get gas. He figured he’d zip out to the station and back. He didn’t carry his gun.

He was pumping his gas when a large, aggressive male came at him. This was not someone he’d exchanged words with. It was some dude that just showed up out of the night. We don’t know if the guy was high or what. But we do know he was looking to do violence.

Luckily, my friend maneuvered himself so he kept the pumps and other obstacles between him and the guy until he could get to safety, and the guy ran off.

You might be thinking the lesson of that encounter is to always carry a gun.

That is not the lesson.

There are hundreds of scenarios where you might be carrying and don’t have the time or ability to draw your weapon. What do you do then?

Tim Larkin has been training on the use of violence for more than 20 years. He’s conducted training with our military special operations forces, corporate security, law enforcement, and private citizens. He’s taken all of that knowledge and study of real-world violence and written a book that contains the principles of what to do when your life is at stake and you need to use the tool of violence.

What he presents is not some form of martial arts. It's not a set of moves. It's about the real world use of violence, how to determine when to employ it, what your goal is, and how to approach it.

We hope to never have a violent encounter in our lives. Many of us don’t. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be ready for it. It’s like insurance. We don’t expect to crash our cars, get cancer, or be disabled. Most of us go through life without having our house burn down. But we buy insurance to make sure we are prepared in case such events occur.

It’s the same with violence.

And I haven’t come across a better book on how to prepare yourself to use violence. I've been to Larkin’s live training, and it was unlike any self-defense training I've seen or been involved with. It was an eye-opener. If you are interested in self-defense, do yourself a favor and read this book. 

Salmon Barbecue

Secrist Gardens On East Side Of Lake

Photo by Nedra Secrist

Fire Impact Fees Need To Increase

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  July 9, 2018, Randall Knight, Garden City Fire District Chairman, said that the Fire District needs to increase impact fee by two cents per square foot from ten cents to twelve cents.  The growth in the city has necessitated additional fire equipment. 

“Along the same line because of the short-term rentals the fire chief has done 400 inspections which can be expensive in terms of time used.  The Fire District will increase those inspections from $30 to $40 yearly,” said Knight.

Knight has talked to our senators, Logan Wilde and Lyle Hillyard about a problem with the law concerning fire impacts fees.   He was told that the major developers in the state wrote it.  It exempts residential building from a fire impact fee and putting the burden on commercial building.  For Garden City it is the residential growth that is putting the pressure on our fire protection needs and not enough money is generated by commercial growth.  Knight said he would work to get the law changed for rural tourist areas.

No Fires, No Fireworks

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  July 9, 2018.  Dan Ames Rich County Wildland Fire, and  Rick Larson, Rich County Fireboard, told commissioners that the moisture has dropped 41% in the hot summer months.  We will hit extreme fire danger soon.

Fireworks are a real concern.  Even Evanston, Wyoming, known for extreme fireworks, has canceled their fireworks display.  In Rich County, the fine has increased to $1000 for fireworks set off in unauthorized places.

Ames said that weed control needs to sterilize the cheatgrass on the shoulders which become very combustible.  He said commissioners should put money in the budget for mitigation work, such as getting fire-resistant plants seeded when new fences are put in.

There was a home fire on Sweetwater Hillside.   The response time was quick in spite of a communications problem with the radios and notifications.  The siren did not go off,  Ames felt that a new repeater is needed in Randolph.  Ames is working on it.  Until it is fixed they will need to manually call in personnel with the Garden City Fire Department town siren.

Commissioner Bill Cox said all the firefighting resources for a wildfire are elsewhere now so we need to be extra vigilant.  Cabins need defensible space around them.  The county has a full fire restriction. Cox said that he would get signs that would be at entrances of the county that would notice no campfires and no fireworks

New Sanitation Truck Needed

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah.  July 9, 2018.   The Rich County Sanitation Department needs a new side loading garbage truck.  Director Lynn Weston told commissioners that because of the delayed maintenance of the existing two trucks and the increased heavy use there is now only one usable truck.

“We cannot get our job done in the summer with one truck even if we run two shifts.  The broken truck is 15 years old.  I asked the PeterBilt Truck Company to present numbers for a new truck.  The state doesn’t have a garbage truck contract, but PeterBilt does most of the cities truck business,” Weston said.

Representatives of PeterBilt said that they have some stock trucks due to be finished in August.  They have a few available.  The new truck will cost $260,000.  They have a municipal lease that will break it up into yearly payments without a large end buyout.

A new truck would allow the department to double up in Garden City on holiday weekends.  Commissioner Bill Cox said that Weston needs to get two additional bids if it isn’t on state contract. Lynn Weston agreed to do that.

Commission Norm Weston said that the county needs a new truck.  Lynn Weston also noted that garbage enclosures that HOA are building are being built too close to dumpsters and the trucks cannot get in to empty the bins.

Angel Wings

Photo by Elvira Luzack, Sweetwater Hillside

Mississippi Murderer Captured At Rainbow Cove, Bear Lake

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.   July 12, 2018.   "A Mississippi man being hunted in Utah by a US Marshals fugitive task force was apprehended Thursday evening at a campground east of Bear Lake.

Charles Eugene Bowman, 61, was arrested without incident at the Rainbow Cove Campground on the east side of Bear Lake in Rich County, Utah according to Rich County authorities.

A Utah Department of Natural Resources officer stumbled across the vehicle in which Bowman was known to be traveling. The officer immediately called the US Marshals office in Salt Lake, said Matthew Harris, US Marshal for Utah.

Harris said the fugitive task force, the Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team immediately traveled to the area as DNR officers kept watch over the suspect.

Harris said Bowman appeared to be readying a tent for a night of camping when the operation to apprehend him commenced."  Matt Ward, Editor Sun Advocate

Kathie Anderson, Reporter Rich Civic Times, said that local law enforcement people were told to turn off sirens and lights and approach quietly.  At that time also they went off the radio in case the suspect was listening in.

The Rich County Sheriff’s Office posted on their Facebook page that Bowman’s vehicle was spotted in the Rainbow Cove Campground, on the east side of the lake. The white Nissan Maxima was located Thursday afternoon.

US Marshals were notified and arrived with their strike-force later that night. They arrested Bowman without any confrontation.

Rich County Sheriff’s deputies posted a photo of Bowman, sitting inside an ambulance after the arrest. Harris said multiple weapons were found inside the suspect’s tent and vehicle.

Law enforcement and DNR officers quickly and silently evacuated nearby campers, as a precaution before Bowman’s arrest.

Bowman had been in Utah since at least July 6 when he was spotted camping some six miles outside Vernal.

According to the Sun Advocate, Harris revealed previously unreleased information that Bowman had once lived in Utah and that his family owns property in the state. 

Bowman was first spotted by law enforcement traveling out west in Evanston, Wyoming on June 30.
“He lived in Utah for some time. His family has property here in Utah. His family had a cabin in Kamas,” Harris said. “He came down from Evanston, we think to Vernal. Went to a Walmart outside of Vernal and bought a bunch of stuff in Vernal. Then he went to his cabin in Kamas and we kept missing him.”

Bowman was also spotted in the Salt Lake area in the days leading up to his arrest.

Social media was used to post his picture and color and make of his car.  Security cameras were searched and tips came in from stores in Salt Lake. He may have been in Rich County for two days.
Bowman is being held pending extradition to Mississippi where he is expected to face a murder charge related to the death of his wife, Kathleen Bowman.

Pearl River County Deputy Coroner Albert Lee told the Sun Herald newspapers in Mississippi that the remains found in the Bowman home were positively identified by a forensic anthropologist and forensic odonatologist with the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory.

Bowman may have mutilated his wife’s body in some fashion that made identification difficult. The Sun Herald reports the cause of his wife’s death remains under investigation.