County Republican Fall Dinner

By Phil Fauver
Staff Writer

The Emery County Republican Party fall dinner was held at the Orangeville community Center and was well attended by the party faithful. The evening was opened by Chairman Bill Dellos. David Bird led the Emery High School Choir in singing the Star-Spangled Banner. His accompanist was Marilee Cox of Orangeville.
Vice Chairman Janet Geary introduced the special guests and they were Senator David Hinkins, Carl Albrecht Utah House of Representatives District number 70, Rob Anderson Utah Republican Party chairman, Joni Crane Utah Republican Party Vice Chairman, and Kent Wilson a newly elected Emery County Commissioner.
Dellos introduced Rob Anderson the Utah GOP Chairman who spoke about the budget committee wanting to end the lawsuit against Senate Bill 54 and that resulting financial burden. He said the caucus convention system is the best way to elect our officials. He indicated that Daggett County had raised the election threshold to 90 percent to put more candidates into the primary election. He suggested other counties could do the same. He would like to see everyone participate in the election system and discuss the important issues to the community.
Vice Chairman Joni Crane said it has been her privilege to have worked with Bill Dellos for about 14 years being involved in the Utah Republican Party. One of her past jobs was that of providing training for county party political leaders. Her message was there are good things happening in the Republican Party and there are good things happening in Utah. As leaders in the party we have a fiduciary responsibility to look out for the financial well-being of this party. It is not fun to be elected to an office and find that the Utah Republican party is a half million dollars in debt. I am an advocate of the caucus convention system. Rod Anderson cares about the party. He cares about the party platform and the principles in it. He also has a strong sense of duty, honesty and integrity as do I.
We care about rural people, we care about the overregulation such as oil and gas regulations and environmental regulations that put a burden upon the economy. A good report: in the first five months of our administration we have raised over $150,000. We have paid down a lot of debt. There was a lot of debt incurred by the previous administration that we were not informed of. We are trying to pay the small companies first where families are involved. One of the party platform principles is that we are to be fiscally responsible. We can’t take services from people and not pay them. We are proud of your county party officers especially Chairman Bill Dellos. We are grateful for your service.
Utah district 70 Representative Carl Albrecht came to the podium and mentioned that he was a rookie in the legislature and was learning a lot. He also mentioned that Emery County should be proud that a former resident of theirs Paige Peterson was recently selected to be on the Utah Supreme Court. He also pointed out the Orangeville Veterans plaque on the meeting room wall. He said the large number of Orangeville military veterans is very impressive. He thanked them for their service. Albrecht then read some of the highlights of the party platform and said, “I am proud to be a Republican.”
He has been assigned him to the Natural Resources Appropriations committee and the Public Utilities and Technology Commission. The Speaker also assigned Albrecht to the State Water Commission with Sen. Hinkins and appointed him to the stewardship of the Public Lands Commission with Sen. Hinkins chairman. Sen. Hinkins is a very smart man and we see a lot of each other up there keeping track of what’s going that effects our natural resources.
Albrecht said he’s been appointed to a committee to review clean-air legislation.
The Speaker of the House wants us to do something about taking better care of our forests and our public lands. The way they are now they’re just getting ready to be burned. Senator David Hinkins thanked Carl Albrecht and Chris Watkins for being on the committee. He said Carl knows what it takes to keep those power plants operational and producing power. The Lila Canyon coal mine will be expanding again with Mr. Siegel and Mr. Murray investing in this new venture.
We will possibly see more jobs. We are working to find a place for the exporting of our coal. We’re still working on getting the approval for a coal shipping port near San Francisco.
Sen. Hinkins suggested the wilderness study areas in the San Rafael Swell could be turned into wilderness areas which would allow better management of those areas.
Congressman Jason Chaffetz was trying to get the department of Forest Service located in the West along with the Bureau of Land management which would bring a lot of jobs to the Western part of the United States. We are also trying to get the community impact board moved out of Salt Lake City to a rural town like Price where the monies are being spent. The biggest participants in the CIB are in Eastern Utah. “We are thankful the fires this year weren’t in our area but as taxpayers we are going to be paying for the fighting of those fires near Cedar City and other areas in Utah. Then as taxpayers we will also be paying for the re-seeding of those burned over areas to restore the watershed. There are some cities in southern Utah that are running low on water and there are pipelines being designed and built to carry water to those areas. The citizens there will be paying for those pipelines for 30 or 40 years,” said Sen. Hinkins. Sen. Hinkins said, “I’m grateful to be able to serve you in the Utah Senate and proud to represent rural Utah.”
Chairman Bill Dellos introduced Commissioner Kent Wilson who stated, “I am proud to be living and working in Emery County. He spoke about the mineral lease money noting it is $2 million less than it once was and our costs are going up every year.
“Our costs are going up and the revenue is going down. Emery County has been frugal in how we handle our money and have created reserves. As County commissioners we have the same goals. One of my favorite sayings is it’s not who is right but what is right. We’re trying to do what is right. We want to be proud of what we have accomplished. We need to analyze our services and decide what is important to us. As County residents we need to find out what is important to us and we will invest our money in those areas. We want input from the residents of Emery County to find out what is important to you. Which services we provide to you are important. We want to find out what the citizens of Emery County want and expect and we will try to deliver. I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the people we have working for Emery County. They want to do their job the best they can. Those I serve with take their responsibility very seriously and I’m proud to work with them,” said Commissioner Wilson.