The fire that caused extensive damage to a South Rim home on Oct. 8 displaced a Tooele County dispatcher, her husband and four children.

To help out, the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch is gathering donations for the family.

Tooele County Sheriff’s Lt. Regina Nelson said the dispatcher affected by the fire, Jennifer Clough, returned to work following the fire but the family is still living in a hotel in Lake Point. The Cloughs’ home received extensive smoke, fire and water damage during the blaze but was not ruled a total loss.

At least 25 firefighters from five different agencies battled the three-alarm fire at the home on Deer Run Drive, according to the North Tooele Fire District. Fire and smoke were showing on the roof and water used on the roof caused sections of drywall to fall on firefighters inside the home; they were uninjured.

The family has a small refrigerator in their hotel room but doesn’t have a stove to cook on, Nelson said. While they have been able to return to school, Tooele County Dispatch is looking for donations of toys, board games, books, Legos, dolls and other toys for the three boys aged 7, 11 and 14 and a 9-year-old girl.

“They’re trying to get back to some sense of normalcy,” Nelson said.

Through its Facebook page, Tooele County Dispatch listed the sizes for all members of the family for donations of new and gently used clothes. The daughter wears size 7 pants and 7/8 in shirts; the boys wear jeans in sizes 6, 12 and 14, as well as shirts in youth sizes XL, M-L and 7/8.

In addition to donations of clothing and toys, the family is in need of gift cards or monetary donations for household goods and other basic needs, Nelson said. While the damage to the home is assessed and repaired, the Cloughs will likely need to rent a home or apartment, she said.

Donations can be dropped off at two locations: Tooele County Dispatch at the Emergency Operations Center, 15 E. 100 South in Tooele City, or the Tooele Utah Highway Patrol office at 1929 N. Aaron Drive. Gift cards or monetary donations can be mailed to the listed address for Tooele County Dispatch.

A Tooele man is facing felony drug possession charges after he was stopped by police in connection to a revoked registration last Wednesday.

Levi Jordan Silveira, 25, is charged with first-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a Class C substance, two counts of second-degree felony theft by receiving stolen property, second-degree felony possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and third-degree felony possession or use of a controlled substance.

A Tooele City police officer stopped Silveira in the area of 25 E. Skyline Drive after the passenger car he was driving came up for a revoked registration and no insurance, a probable cause statement said. When asked to provide his license, proof of insurance or vehicle registration, Silveira was unable to.

The car driven by Silveira was impounded due to the revoked registration and officers began a vehicle inventory, the statement said. During the search of the vehicle, officers located a used syringe in the center console of the car and a large amount of a white crystalline substance, which tested positive for methamphetamine, in an unsealed cardboard box in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.

Following the discovery of the methamphetamine, the rest of the vehicle was searched, according to the probable cause statement. In the subsequent search, officers reported finding a black tar-like substance that tested positive for heroin, several used syringes, a digital scale with residue and a firearm that had been reported stolen from Tooele in a shoebox.

Officers also discovered a small safe in the trunk of the car, which officers applied, and received, a warrant for, according to the probable cause statement. Inside was another firearm that was reported stolen and 80 unused syringes.

All told, officers recovered 34.8 grams of methamphetamine and 0.7 grams of heroin from Silveira’s car.

A Tooele man was in court Monday after he was arrested in connection to an incident of vehicle theft and driving under the influence.

Paul Mehalich, 68, is charged with second-degree felony theft and third-degree felony failure to stop or respond at command of police, as well as misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and retail theft.

Tooele City police officers were dispatched to the Quality Quik Stop convenience store on Broadway Avenue the morning of Oct. 7 on a report of shoplifting, according to a probable cause statement. A man, later identified as Mehalich, had stolen two packs of cigarettes before climbing into a white pickup truck that didn’t belong to him and driving away.

Officers managed to locate Mehalich in the white pickup truck in the area of 700 N. Broadway Avenue, the statement said. The officers attempted to stop the vehicle by activating their emergency lights and sirens but Mehalich continued west onto 1000 North at about 25 mph.

Mehalich turned onto Main Street and then stopped in the area of 1100 N. Main Street, according to the probable cause statement. When officers approached the vehicle, they found Mehalich with the two packs of cigarettes and he was arrested.

The white pickup truck was returned to its owner and the stolen cigarettes were returned to the Quality Quik Stop, the statement said. After transporting Mehalich to the Tooele City Police Department, he underwent a field sobriety test and officers determined he was impaired after he failed to maintain his balance or follow directions.

The pilot of a downed aircraft had to be rescued by shrimpers after a controlled landing into the Great Salt Lake on Thursday.

The man piloting the plane was forced to make the landing into the lake near Stansbury Island around 12:45 p.m. after its engine failed, according to a news release from the Utah State Park’s public information officer.

The pilot was the sole occupant of the plane and was rescued when a brine shrimp boat came upon the downed aircraft, the release said. After pulling the pilot from the water, the shrimpers contacted Utah State Parks and the pilot was transferred to the state parks vessel that responded to the crash.

In the incident listing from the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was identified as a Grega GN-1 Aircamper. The Aircamper is a fixed wing, single-engine plane with two seats.

The pilot was “shaken up and cold” after landing in the lake but was cleared by medical personnel, the release said.

The plane, which is mainly a wood and fiber construction, was floating above the surface of the water prior to crews retrieving it from the lake, according to the state park’s release. The plane had to be marked as a navigational hazard for boats due to its location in the lake.

The owner of the plane was not onboard the plane and was being contacted about the incident as of Thursday afternoon.

Once it was determined the plane had crashed on the Tooele County side of the lake, the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office was contacted for the investigation and offered assistance, according to Lt. Ron Johnson. The incident report was received by the FAA on Oct. 13, according to the administration’s website.

Curtis Ware

The former Grantsville High School football coach arrested in connection to sexual battery and lewdness with students made his second appearance in 3rd District Court Monday morning.

Curtis Lee Ware, 47, is charged with five counts of misdemeanor sexual battery and four misdemeanor counts of lewdness. Ware became the head coach of the Grantsville High School football team in 2015.

Following Ware’s arrest on Sept. 1, Grantsville City Police Chief Kevin Turner said the victims were 16 and 17 years old during a press conference at the school district offices. Police were notified of the alleged sexual misconduct by Ware with one student; a second juvenile female victim was identified in the subsequent investigation.

Ware bonded out of jail on Sept. 8 for $39,720 following his initial appearance in court before Judge Robert Adkins, according to court records. During his arraignment on Monday, Ware was reminded his release is conditioned on no direct or indirect contact with the alleged victims.

A pretrial conference for Ware was scheduled for Nov. 22 at 1:30 p.m. before Adkins at the Tooele County Courthouse.

In the probable cause statement from Grantsville City police, one of the alleged victims said Ware touched her inappropriately on several different occasions and said she saw the same abuse happen to the other victim.

According to a news release from the Tooele County School District, GHS principal Mark Ernst received information of the alleged sexual assault and notified the police department, the parents of the students and the school district. The school district conducted an internal investigation and the school board accepted his resignation during its Oct. 11 meeting.

Ware was hired as an assistant football coach at Stansbury High School in September 2009 through December 2010. He was hired as an assistant football coach at GHS in August 2011 and transferred to the same position at SHS in April 2014.

Ware was hired as the GHS head football coach in February 2015 and was hired as a special education, long-term substitute teacher in August 2015.

The wife of Mike Weinholtz, the Democratic challenger for governor, was sentenced to probation for marijuana possession charges in Tooele County Justice Court Tuesday.

Donna Gonzalez Weinholtz, 61, was sentenced to 12 months of probation after entering a plea in abeyance for misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.

In addition to the 12 months of probation, Weinholtz will be required to pay a fine of $3,800.

The Weinholtz case was filed in Tooele County Justice Court on the same day that Weinholtz entered her plea in abeyance and was sentenced, according to court records.

Mike Weinholtz revealed his wife was under investigation for possession of marijuana back in April when he won the Democratic primary. Donna Weinholtz suffers from chronic pain due to arthritis and a degenerative spinal condition, according to her husband.

In a speech on Oct. 18, Mike Weinholtz announced he would support legalizing medical marijuana if he is elected governor.

“This has been a looming and significant psychological burden on Donna and our family,” he said in Tuesday’s speech. “But we have promptly and dutifully complied in every step of the way, so we’re very grateful to have resolution and be able to move on.”

An accident involving two semitrailers early Wednesday morning on Interstate 80 killed two men and caused a fire that damaged the roadway.

According to Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce, a semitrailer carrying a piece of military equipment on a flatbed trailer lost control on a slight bend on eastbound I-80 near mile marker 77 around 3 a.m. The piece of military equipment, a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, shifted on the trailer as the semitrailer drifted into the median.

After entering the median, the flatbed semitrailer and cab rolled and came to rest on its roof, according to UHP.

The HEMTT came free of the trailer and ended up in the inside westbound travel lane of the interstate, UHP said. When passers-by stopped to attempt to assist the trapped driver of the flatbed semitrailer, they tried to flag down an oncoming FedEx tractor-trailer that was hauling two trailer loads, according to North Tooele Fire District public information officer Ryan Willden.

The driver of the FedEx semitrailer was unable to stop with the HEMTT in the lane and collided with the military vehicle at speed, UHP said. It came to rest blocking both lanes of I-80 and caught fire.

The driver of the flatbed tractor-trailer, Fred V. Marsh, 61, of Sun Valley, New Mexico, and a passenger in the FedEx semitrailer, Robert E. Kuntz, 58, of Urich, Missouri were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, according to UHP. The driver of the FedEx truck was conscious at the scene and transported to a local hospital by ambulance.

When fire crews were called out to the accident at 3 a.m., they were notified of a semi rollover with extraction needed and a vehicle fire, Willden said. Once on the scene, crews were facing a significant fire and two fatalities.

Crews from the Grantsville City and Tooele Army Depot fire departments, along with NTFD, battled the blaze in the FedEx trailers for four hours, Willden said. There were about 20 firefighters between the responding departments on scene.

Willden said semitrailers carrying mixed goods, like those from FedEx, Walmart or Amazon present a unique challenge for firefighters because the contents are mixed and don’t require a placard detailing potential hazards. The FedEx tractor-trailer contained an unknown substance high in chlorine, for instance.

The fire continued to flare up after the main thrust was extinguished by firefighters, according to Willden. Crews remained on mop-up duty until the roadway was cleared of the debris from the wreck.

Due to the severity of the accident, blockage of the roadway and active fire, I-80 was closed between exits 84 and 99, UHP said. The complete closure between those exits lasted until about 4:20 p.m. when a single lane of the highway in both directions was reopened, according to Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason.

Traffic was redirected to take state routes 196, 199 and 36 to return to I-80, Gleason said. Semitrailer traffic was advised to wait for the roadway to reopen instead of attempting to navigate Johnson’s Pass.

The lengthy closure of I-80 was due to road crews who had to repave a 360-foot-long section of roadway in the westbound lane damaged by the fire, Gleason said. Road repair crews were deployed to mill and repave the stretch of road, including both lanes and the shoulder.

Work was expected to finish late Wednesday evening before the roadway could be fully reopened, according to UDOT.

A fire destroyed a vacant building at the intersection of Maple Street and Broadway Avenue late Wednesday night in Tooele City.

The blaze was first reported at 10:24 p.m., according to Tooele City Fire Chief Bucky Whitehouse. When firefighters arrived on scene, flames had vented through the roofline and the west side of the building.

Two engines and two ladder trucks were involved in battling the fire, with one aerial gun and the water gun on the engines used to knock down the flames, Whitehouse said. As many as 40 firefighters were involved in combating the blaze. There were no reports of injuries.

The fire scene was active until around 12:30 a.m. through the knockdown of flames and mop-up duty, Whitehouse said. Fire crews remained at the structure overnight to monitor for additional hot spots, especially where the fire collapsed the roof.

The vacant building is considered a total loss, Whitehouse said, but an adjacent building received only minor damage as a result of the smoke, fire and water next door.

Fire investigators arrived on scene Thursday morning and the cause is still under investigation, according to Whitehouse. Investigators had to wait until morning for increased visibility in a dangerous situation.

While there were no reports of anyone inside the vacant building at the time of the fire, Whitehouse said there have been sightings of homeless or transient people breaking into the building. The most recent sighting was earlier the same day of the fire.

Gabrielle Curry said the vacant building had been used by her late father-in-law to store tools, equipment and machinery from his career in plumbing. The building also served as storage for family members, she said.

Curry said there had been problems with transient or homeless people entering the vacant building.

“We had to keep getting people out,” she said. “We didn’t know if that had anything to do with [the fire].”

A West Valley City man is dead following a fatal accident at a rest area on Interstate 80 in Tooele County Friday morning.

Skyler Sanger, 26, was driving westbound on I-80 in the area of mile marker 101 when his passenger car entered the rest area at a high rate of speed around 5:15 a.m., according to the Utah Highway Patrol. The vehicle collided with a concrete barrier on the right side of the rest area entrance, causing the car to skid and slide sideways across the parking area.

The car continued to slide before it struck the load of a semitrailer parked in the rest area, UHP said. Sanger was killed on impact with the tractor-trailer and his passenger, Ronald Bennett, 22, of Salt Lake City, was critically injured and transported to Mountain West Medical Center.

The driver of the semitrailer, who was asleep inside the sleeper berth of the cab, was uninjured in the collision, UHP said. Troopers believe alcohol impairment contributed to the fatal accident.

This is the second fatal accident on I-80 in the span of a week. A fatal accident occurred near mile marker 77 in the early morning hours of Oct. 19 that killed two men, and caused a fire that damaged the road and closed the interstate for more than 13 hours.

In the Oct. 19 accident, a semitrailer heading eastbound on I-80 drifted into the median and overturned, dumping a piece of military equipment it was carrying into the westbound lane of traffic. An oncoming semitrailer collided with the military equipment, which caused the fire.

The two men who died in last Wednesday’s accident were identified as Fred V. Marsh, 61, of Sun Valley, New Mexico and Robert E. Kuntz, 58 of Urich, Missouri.

A portion of Maple Street in Tooele City remains closed after a building on the street was destroyed in a large fire Wednesday night.

The road closure is to prevent cars from driving alongside the building, which is unstable following the fire, according to Tooele City Fire Chief Bucky Whitehouse. The fire department is concerned the wall may collapse, and if it fell, would tip into the street.

The building’s owners are looking into demolishing the structure, which was used for storing plumbing equipment, supplies and family belongings.

Whitehouse said the building is boarded up and considered to be unstable, which complicated the investigation into the fire’s cause. The investigation is ongoing. The fire occurred exactly three months after a July 19 blaze destroyed 11 homes in Tooele and damaged 17 more.

The fire took two hours, two fire engines, two ladder trucks and as many as 40 firefighters to battle, according to Whitehouse. The building, located at the intersection of Maple Street and Broadway Avenue, was deemed a total loss.

An adjacent building received only minor damage from smoke, fire and water as a result of the blaze.

While there were no reports of anyone inside the vacant building at the time of the fire, Whitehouse said there had been sightings of homeless or transient people breaking into the building. The most recent sighting was earlier the same day of the fire.

The possibility of a new, $3.6 million police station and justice court in Grantsville took another step forward after the city was awarded a $2.7 million low-interest loan last Thursday.

Preliminary floor plans for the proposed, approximately 12,800-square-foot building feature a shared lobby and community meeting space, in addition to court and police functions. The state Community Impact Board loan is for 30 years at 2.5 percent interest, according to Grantsville City Police Chief Kevin Turner.

The CIB offers loans and grants to rural municipalities using money collected from federal land leases for mineral resource development. In 2015, the CIB funded 82 projects using $156.6 million, with 56 percent funding low-interest loans.

A press release from the CIB described the location of the facility, which will be on 1.47 acres of land north of the Grantsville City Library on Bowery Street.

“The building will bring the city into full safety compliance and provide much-needed space for employees and the public,” the release said.

The $2.7 million loan provides the remaining financing needed to complete the justice center project, which has been reviewed by the city council on several occasions this year. The city plans to use $400,000 in public safety impact fees and $500,000 from the general fund’s reserve fund as a down payment.

Up to 44 percent of the project’s costs could be covered by public safety impact fees, which are generated from building permits. The city receives a flat rate of $1,235 in public safety impact fees for each building permit.

Grantsville City Mayor Brent Marshall said the CIB loan cannot be approved by the city council until the conclusion of a 30-day public comment period. Residents can comment on the project through mail, email or by attending city council meetings; Marshall said the council will not review the loan until its Dec. 7 meeting.

Turner said he’s optimistic the project will be approved by the council and construction on the new justice center will be underway by the beginning of next year.

The city council approved a $182,000 bid from JRCA Architects, a Salt Lake City-based firm, to design the proposed justice center back in March.

A little over three months after a fire destroyed 11 homes and damaged 17 more, Tooele County Emergency Management released its intermediate damage assessment.

According to findings compiled by TCEM staff to this point, the damage estimates and initial recovery costs total more than $1.3 million. TCEM director Bucky Whitehouse said the value of the homes destroyed in the July 19 fire, including the structures and contents, totaled $709,974.

Two of the homes affected by the fire were deemed partial losses, which means a building inspector determined the home is inhabitable again following necessary repairs. Partial loss damage amounted to $167,645 and the 15 homes with exterior damage racked up repair bills of $145,897.

A total of eight vehicles were also damaged in the six-acre grass fire that spread with strong winds; the total of $90,400 included passenger vehicles and all-terrain vehicles.

The intermediate damage assessment doesn’t contain any information on costs to repair public utilities, gas, electric and cable. Whitehouse said the final assessment report will include the figures, which is expected to take about a year to complete.

“That’s not going to be something that the citizens or the property owners are going to have to bear,” Whitehouse said. “Each one of those companies volunteered to basically eat the cost of the infrastructure redevelopment.”

The disaster assessment also includes the value of donated labor and equipment to clean up from the fire. Whitehouse said a number of volunteer groups contributed to the cleanup efforts, including Team Rubicon and volunteers from the Home Depot in Tooele.

While they contributed hours of labor to cleanup efforts, Whitehouse said it was difficult to track the work put in by unaffiliated volunteers. He said those helping should consider signing up for Community Emergency Response Team training or aligning with another group.

“We have CERT programs, we have ways in which volunteers can get affiliated,” Whitehouse said. “If we affiliate them before an emergency occurs, it allows us to better be able to track what work they’re doing and how they’re helping the community.”

Volunteers donated $54,796 in labor, based on the assessment, which used the Federal Emergency Management Agency standard rate of $23.25 per person per hour. That means more than 2,350 hours of labor were given by volunteers to clean up damaged and destroyed homes and properties on Coleman Street, Van Dyke Way and Fleetwood Drive.

Various pieces of heavy machinery were also donated by local businesses to clear away the debris, with the contributions totaling $151,890 in value. Whitehouse said the numbers on landfill fees have yet to be determined.

There is also more information on payments from insurance companies and coverage on outbuildings and sheds that have not been turned in yet, according to Whitehouse. He said many times homeowners are also unsure of the true value of the contents in their home.

“We need to do a better job as homeowners to make sure we have records,” Whitehouse said.

While the $1.3 million figure cleared the county requirement of $210,896 for the city to apply for public assistance to restore damaged infrastructure, the number fell well short of state and federal requirements for aid.

Whitehouse said it was apparent early in the cleanup process that the July 19 fire would not cross the FEMA threshold for assistance of 25 destroyed homes and $3.9 million in total damage.

“We were able to start to see that early on,” he said. “As unfortunate as the incident was, it wasn’t going to fall in the category that would allow it.”

If the city had received any federal funds, it would be required to match 25 percent of the total damage costs, including through in-kind services like the donated labor and equipment.

The July 19 fire, which is being investigated as arson, began around 10:45 p.m. in a field next to 700 South and Coleman Street. High winds drove flames across the field and into homes on Coleman Street, Van Dyke Way and Fleetwood Drive.

Between 80 and 100 firefighters from Tooele City, Grantsville City, Rush Valley, Terra and Stockton volunteer fire departments, along with the North Tooele Fire District and Tooele Army Depot Fire Department, responded to the blaze.

The fire displaced 40-50 residents, many of which ran from their homes as flames roared into the neighborhood. No lives were lost, but some firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation.

A felony charge filed against a Tooele man after his roommate died of an apparent asthma attack following an altercation was dismissed on a motion by prosecutors Tuesday in 3rd District Court.

Monty Shane Degelbeck, 53, had been charged with second-degree felony manslaughter. Prosecutors dropped the charge against Degelbeck when his attorney moved for a preliminary hearing before the county attorney’s office prepared, according to Chief Deputy Tooele County Attorney Gary Searle.

The county attorney’s office is awaiting the final ruling on cause of death from the state medical examiner’s office, Searle said. The charges were dismissed without prejudice and it is possible that charges could be refiled once the medical examiner’s report is ready, he said.

Degelbeck shared a home on Broadway Avenue with 28-year-old Christopher Warr, according to Tooele City police. Officers responded to the home the evening of July 31 after Degelbeck and his girlfriend reported Warr had stopped breathing, possibly from an asthma attack, following an altercation between the roommates.

During an interview with police, Degelbeck said he grabbed Warr by the shirt collar and pushed him to the ground, according to the probable cause statement. After his girlfriend told him Warr wasn’t able to breathe, Degelbeck said he let him up and Warr attempted to treat his asthma with a nebulizer.

The girlfriend told police that Degelbeck had actually had his hand around Warr’s throat and the victim’s face was turning purple, the statement said. When Warr tried to treat his asthma, he lost consciousness and stopped breathing.

Warr was transported to Mountain West Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

A Tooele woman made her first appearance in 3rd District Court in connection with a fire that occurred in her home in August.

Corbette Artelle Beauchaine, 36, is charged with one count of first-degree felony aggravated arson, in relation to a residence fire.

When Tooele City police were dispatched to a fire on Aug. 24, they made contact with a witness who identified Beauchaine as the owner of the home, according to the probable cause statement. The witness also said Beauchaine had come to her home, claiming she was being held hostage and needed to use the witness’ phone.

When Beauchaine and the witness returned to Beauchaine’s home, the witness saw it was filled with smoke, the statement said. The witness said she saw Beauchaine return to the bedroom where the fire was and add paper to the fire.

The witness was able to lead Beauchaine from the home despite a struggle from Beauchaine, she said. The Tooele City Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire.

When Tooele City police entered the home, they found two butane lighters in the same room the fire was started, with one within a foot of the fire’s origin, the statement said. When officers interviewed Beauchaine about the fire, she “behaved oddly” and it was later determined she had methamphetamine in her system when she was taken to the hospital.

Beauchaine was booked into the Tooele County Detention Center but released before charges were filed, according to the probable cause statement. A warrant for her arrest was issued on Sept. 19.

During her initial appearance in court, Beauchaine was appointed an attorney and bail was set at $25,000. A roll call hearing is scheduled for Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. before Judge Robert Adkins.

showe@tooeletranscript.com

Tooele County has a new emergency alert system and if you only have a mobile phone, you’ll want to sign up, according to an emergency official.

The new system, called AlertSense, is the county’s mass notification system for any emergency that needs to be broadcast to the general public. It’s similar to systems like Reverse 911 or CodeRED, which send out alert notifications during an emergency situation, said Tooele County Emergency Management Director Bucky Whitehouse.

“It will give Tooele County the ability to notify your house phone of an emergency or an evacuation that is present in the area,” he said.

The county’s landline phones are already part of the notification system, but 56 percent of county households use cell phones or smart phones as their primary means of communication, according to Whitehouse.

Cell phone users must self-enroll in the service, which can be done in less than 10 minutes on Tooele County Emergency Management’s website, tcem.org. You can choose which type of notifications you receive, whether it’s severe weather alerts, fires, floods or other emergencies, and how you want to receive the alerts — call, text or email.

For users with smart phones, there is an AlertSense app, which has a red icon that is also free to use. Whitehouse said users of the app can set up the location they wish to receive notifications about, in Tooele County or beyond.

“It gives you that flexibility in being able to receive alerts from your local response organizations as well as the state and national response,” he said.

Similar to the online sign up for the alert notifications, you can choose what type of alerts you receive through the app, including the severity of weather or traffic alert. For traffic alerts, the AlertSense system only pulls notifications on road closures of an hour or more, Whitehouse said.

One area where the AlertSense app is likely to excel is with children that are missing but do not meet the requirements for an Amber Alert, Whitehouse said. Amber Alerts are only used when a child has been abducted.

“This will be particularly beneficial for missing and endangered children,” he said. “If we have a child who is lost or missing, than this will give the ability to ring cellphones or landlines in that particular area to let people know.”

The AlertSense system costs $13,000 annually and is cloud-based, so emergency responders and coordinators can access it remotely. Whitehouse said he expects dispatchers and TCEM staff to be the heaviest users of the new system.

A 73-year-old man was hit by a pickup truck Tuesday evening on Main Street in Tooele, according to Tooele City police.

The man, who was not identified by police, was crossing the roadway in the area of 450 North Main Street around 8:20 p.m. when he was struck by a 2012 Ford F-150 pickup truck, Tooele City Police Officer Tanya Turnbow said.

There is not a crosswalk in the area where the man was hit.

After the accident, the man was transported to Mountain West Medical Center in critical condition, according to Turnbow. From there, he was transported by medical helicopter to a Salt Lake City area hospital, where he was listed in critical condition at noon Wednesday.

Police do not suspect any impairment or other contributing factors to the driver of the pickup truck, Turnbow said. The driver and passengers in the pickup truck were not injured in the collision.

As part of its lead-in to budget season, the Stansbury Park Service Agency board approved a cost-of-living adjustment and is considering options to aid the floundering profits of the community’s golf course.

The board approved a 1.5-percent increase in pay for the service agency’s full-time employees, which will total five positions if the 2017 budget is approved, with a full-time gardener proposed by manager Randall Jones.

The COLA adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index, a federal standard that reviews the change in cost of various household essentials like gasoline and food.

The pay increase was approved by a 4-to-1 vote, with board member Jamie Lindsay voting against the measure and board member Mike Johnson absent. For an employee making $40,000 in 2016, the increase will be $600 in 2017.

The cost-of-living adjustment was part of the employee compensation plan the board approved in January. Under the plan, the board would vote each year on COLA raises and Jones would have control over merit raises, which range from 0 percent for unsatisfactory performance to 2.25 percent for superior work.

Chairman Neil Smart said he was comfortable with the cost-of-living adjustment because there may be years were the consumer price index won’t reflect any need for a raise.

“I’m actually OK with it, just because there are going to be years where there’s no increase at all in it,” Smart said.

The board also discussed declining revenue at the community’s golf course during a broader discussion of projects to be covered in the tentative 2017 budget. The service agency has been relining one golf course pond each year to conserve water and prevent loss.

“We are seeing a huge decline in the number of people who are golfing at our golf course,” Jones said. “10 years ago, we were bringing in $40,000 in revenue off the lease, based on the formula that they use. This year it’s going to be less than $20,000.”

The service agency receives payment on the golf course lease on a graduated scale determined by the revenue it generates, Jones said. The growth of other Tooele County golf courses and the decline of participation in the sport nationwide reduced attendance at the Stansbury Park Golf Course, he said.

Jones said Jeff Green, who operates the golf course, used more water to keep the grass in good shape this season than in years past.

“What I would like to suggest is that we make available to (Green) the money that we bring in on the lease so that he can put that money back into the golf course,” Jones said.

Smart said he supported putting the lease money back into the golf course and said he’d like to see the service agency investigate putting additional funds into its upkeep. Part of the reason people enjoy living in Stansbury Park is the quality of life from the lake, green spaces and golf course, he said.

“If we turn that into a park, it’s just green space that we’re mowing without any revenue at all,” Smart said. “So while we might end up subsidizing it, we are definitely not taking it over, we’re not paying for more than what would be collected back from the golfers.”

Lindsay suggested a special rate for residents or other incentives to get more people to use the golf course and be aware of it. Currently, Stansbury Park residents can get a pass for repeated golf outings but non-residents cannot.

“I just think people aren’t taking advantage of it just because … they’re not advertising as much or there’s not as much known about it,” she said.

Jones said if the revenue from the lease is returned to the golf course, the hit to the revenue side of the service agency budget would be offset by the $25,000 in new revenue anticipated in the 2017 budget due to growth in the community.

A fire that started behind a Grantsville home Thursday afternoon caused significant damage to the building.

The fire is believed to have started on a sofa on a wooden porch behind the home at 20 West Cherry Street and was first reported at 12:56 p.m., according to Grantsville City Fire Chief Casey Phillips. There were also reports from observers of the sound of an explosion; firefighters on scene only heard some popping sounds, he said.

Before the blaze was extinguished, thick black smoke could be seen from several miles away.

Phillips said it took firefighters from Grantsville City Fire Department and North Tooele Fire District about 10-12 minutes to knock down the blaze. There were two occupants inside the home at the time of the fire and when they left the home, the door remained open and the airflow likely kept the fire at the back of the home, he said.

The back of the home, wooden fence and wooden porch were all damaged. The early indication from the damage of the fire is the home may be a loss, Phillips said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

While fire crews continued with mop-up work, a brief altercation occurred between the home’s occupant and another man, but Grantsville City police quickly broke up the scuffle.

A fire that started behind a Grantsville home Thursday afternoon caused significant damage to the building.

The fire is believed to have started on a sofa on a wooden porch behind the home at 20 W. Cherry Street and was first reported at 12:56 p.m., according to Grantsville City Fire Chief Casey Phillips. There were also reports of an explosion from observers, but firefighters on scene only heard some popping sounds, he said.

Before the blaze was extinguished, thick black smoke could be seen from several miles away.

Phillips said it took firefighters from Grantsville City Fire Department and North Tooele Fire District about 10-12 minutes to knock down the blaze. There were two occupants inside the home at the time of the fire and when they left, the door remained open and the airflow likely kept the fire at the back of the home, he said.

The back of the home, wooden fence and wooden porch were all damaged. The early indication from the fire damage is the home may be a loss, Phillips said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

While fire crews continued with mop-up work, a brief altercation occurred between the home’s occupant and another man, but Grantsville City police quickly broke up the scuffle.

Two accidents in Tooele City over the past two weeks have ended in fatalities, according to the Tooele City Police Department.

A two-vehicle accident at the intersection of 2400 North and SR-36 on Oct. 19 was declared a fatal after 84-year-old Derald Evans of Ogden died from injuries sustained in the crash, Cpl. Tanya Turnbow said. Reports of the fatal accident were delayed awaiting word from the state medical examiner’s office on the cause of death.

Evans was driving northbound in a Ford Focus on SR-36 and attempted to turn left onto 2400 North, police said. The Focus was struck broadside by a southbound Volkswagen Beetle, causing it to roll onto its passenger side.

While the driver of the Volkswagen suffered only minor injuries, Evans was transported to a Salt Lake area hospital and later died, Turnbow said. Impairment and speeding were not suspected in the accident.

The second fatal accident victim was a pedestrian who was struck by a pickup truck the evening of Oct. 25, Turnbow said. Jean Laviolette, 73, of Rockaway Beach, Oregon was crossing the roadway in the area of 450 N. Main Street around 8:20 p.m. when he was struck by a 2012 Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Following the accident, Laviolette was transported to Mountain West Medical Center, then flown by medical helicopter to a Salt Lake area hospital. He was listed in critical condition at each hospital and died from his injuries last Thursday.

The driver of the pickup truck was cited for driving on an expired license but police do not believe speed or impairment were factors in the accident, Turnbow said. The fatal victim was crossing the road in an area where there is no crosswalk.