Author: Suzanne Dean

MANTI—The Manti City Council approved the second phase of a 18-lot subdivision and discussed a potential 60-lot subdivision at its meeting Aug. 18. “Manti is growing. We understand that,” Mayor Korry Soper told a representative of the proposed 60-lot project. “Make it a nice neighborhood, a beautiful neighborhood. That’s what I think we want.” Of…

Reign as ‘paper terrorist’ coming to end, Daniels says SALT LAKE CTY—The man who pleaded guilty to murdering Kammy Mae Edmunds in Mt. Pleasant in 2017 has lost an appeal of a separate conviction for assault by a prisoner. On June 28, the Utah Court of Appeals rejected Anthony Christensen’s appeal of a jury verdict, rendered…

City anticipates increasing water supply by one-third MORONI—Drilling a test well, the first step in a $3.54 million water project in Moroni, is expected to begin about Oct. 1, Mayor Paul Bailey said last week. The main features of the project are a well in the southwest corner of the city, a 500,000-gallon water tank…

The Sanpete Messenger ran a story in this space last week about North Sanpete High School coaches that did not live up to our usual standards of journalism. In fact, it was exceptionally poor journalism. The embarrassing thing is that I, the publisher and the person who has by far the most education and journalism…

Editor’s note:  This article appeared in the Messenger 8/18/2021. It contained journalistic and factual errors. A follow-up article was published 8/25/21 with corrections and additional information. Additionally, several corrections have been made to this digital version since the print version was published (noted below). This article does not stand alone and must be read in…

MORONI—Moroni City will be operating a $923,000 General Fund budget between now and June 30, 2022. That represents a $225,000 drop in the budget from the previous year. In contrast, the 2021-22 budget for the total city, including utilities and other self-contained funds, is $5.38 million, up nearly $3.7 million from the 2020-21 budget. The…

An envelope containing Manti City Councilman Darren Dyreng’s home address as the return address and a fallacious letter, supposedly signed by Dyreng, saying that if he is elected mayor, the city won’t need businesses any more. MANTI—A fallacious letter, supposedly signed by Darren Dyreng, a Manti City councilman and candidate for mayor, was sent to…

IMAGES COURTESY SANDY NEILL, SANPETE COUNTY CLERK Election night results for all the municipalities in Sanpete County who held a primary election.  The final results will be announced when the cities hold their canvass of the election which will be sometime between August 17th and August 24th. Incumbents led the pack in three out of four mayoral…

MT. PLEASANT—A fundraiser will be held at the ConToy Arena in Mt. Pleasant Saturday to help the family of Aleesha Stuart Bailey, 43, a mother of four, who died earlier this week of cancer. She had also been diagnosed with dermatomyositis (DM), a rare autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness, skin rashes, fatigue and pain….

AXTELL—Karl and Debra Humphrey, the winners of this year’s Axtell Walking Stick award, met as children, but in a way no one would expect. Debra, a fourth generation resident of the town, is the daughter of the late George and Arva Lee Bertelson and a graduate of Gunnison Valley High School. Karl is the son…

MANTI—The Sanpete County Commission detoured into a discussion about water allocation, a hot topic affecting the whole state, during its meeting Tuesday, July 20. The discussion arose as the commission took up eight routine proposals, which collectively included 23 new home lots in the unincorporated county, most in areas not served by a culinary water…

MANTI—The Sanpete County Commission has approved an expansion of a state grant to enable the county jail to bring on a full-time mental health therapist. At a meeting Tuesday, July 20, the commission approved an expansion of what is known as the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) grant from about $130,428 to $239,400. Currently, the grant provides…

There’s clearly a lot of home building activity in Sanpete County this summer. But some people who have bought residential lots are postponing construction because the cost of lumber and other materials has shot up the cost of their homes. Meanwhile, some of them want to build garages and other outbuildings. That is creating a…

MANTI—Voters in eight Sanpete County cities should start receiving ballots Wednesday for the municipal primary, which is coming up Aug. 10. Sanpete County Clerk Sandy Neill said Monday that her office planned to put 7,832 ballots in the mail the next day for primaries in Centerfield, Gunnison, Fairview, Mayfield, Mt. Pleasant, Moroni, Manti and Spring…