Police identify boaters in Pineview fatality

Thursday's Standard Examiner identifies the three men in the boat that police say killed a Pineview swimmer on August 21.

From the Tim Gurrister article,

Weber sheriff’s deputies have seized the boat believed to have struck the woman. The recently unsealed affidavits have identified its owner as Skyler Shepherd, 21, of South Ogden. In the boat with him were Colton Raines, 22, and Cole Boyer, 29, both of Ogden, the affidavits state.

In an Aug. 30 interview at the sheriff’s office, Shepherd told investigators Raines was piloting the boat when it struck Fujimoto, according to the documents.

Deputies were told all three men were seen consuming alcohol in the hours before the collision with Fujimoto, and Raines and Boyer were smoking marijuana. The search warrants covered the boat, as well as the blood of Raines and Boyer.

The warrants were executed and the blood samples were taken from the two Aug. 30, the documents said, noting that traces of marijuana remain in the human body for up to 30 days after ingestion.

A witness who lives adjacent to the area where Fujimoto was swimming heard a woman scream and went to the water’s edge to see a boat occupied by three males with a woman floating in the water near the boat, according to the affidavits.

“The witness heard one of the males call out, ‘Hey lady, are you alright, are you alright?” reads the document.

The witness then rowed out to the scene as the powerboat with the three males departed. “He was easily able to tell that Fujimoto was severely injured and bleeding and told the 911 dispatcher that ‘her insides were coming out.’ ”

 The article goes on to state:

A witness who was with the three men at Pineview said he observed Raines and Boyer smoking marijuana in the afternoon on the boat before the early evening collision with Fujimoto, according to the affidavits.

Weber County Attorney Dee Smith said Wednesday the case is still under investigation with no timetable on a decision on possible charges.

Nearly 6 weeks have passed since the Sheriff's office identified the boat's occupants yet no charges have been filed.

A September 16, 2011 Standard article informs us that two of the men are represented by high power Salt Lake attorney Greg Skordas:

Salt Lake City attorney Greg Skordas represents the two men who have not talked with detectives, at his request.

"I've asked my clients not to make statements until I'm present and can go over the case," said Skordas, who didn't identify his clients.
"If the sheriff's office thought a crime (had been) committed, they should have charged (them) awhile ago. Asking my clients to talk about a crime that didn't occur doesn't make sense."

What say you Ogden Valley faithful.  Did a crime occur?  If so, what should be the crime and punishment.

Standard Election Coverage - Early Voting In Progress

With the color of fall and the chill in the air comes our favorite time of the year - election time.  While an Off Year election nationwide, the races in local cities seem to be heating up.  For Ogden Valley-ites, Huntsville remains the only incorporated municipality - at least for now as long as Powderville remains a "proposed" town.

Of course, be sure to snoop around our "2009 Huntsville Municipal Election" coverage located near the top of the right sidebar.  There you will find the list of candidates, links to their web site and the latest articles.

Also, don't miss the Standard's coverage of the Huntsville election with today's Di Lewis article.

And finally, we will point out that one of the Mayoral candidates, Chris Stevenson, has withdrawn from the race leaving Jim Truett as the lone seeker of the position of Huntsville's Mayor, while four candidates are vying for just two spots on the town council.

Good luck candidates.

Election Season Upon Us

With just over one month until election day, the Deseret News explains the process in Huntsville. Rather than the typical Primary/General election format, Huntsville is one of just a few municipalities in the state that uses a Nominating convention format.

Huntsville selects candidates through convention

Mayor James McKay said the parties don't exist for any reason other than to have forums for people to be nominated for the election.

Huntsville residents will note McKay's name is not on this year's ballot.

McKay said that when he completes his fourth term, he will have served 16 years.

He said he plans on "doing some other things" when his service is over in January and plans to send a farewell address to town residents in an upcoming city newsletter.

"We've been able to do some positive things for the community," McKay said.

Fruit Heights in Davis County and Garland in Box Elder County, as well as a handful of other cities, also select municipal candidates by convention rather than by primary election, said David Church, attorney for the Utah League of Cities and Towns.

This is a perfect lede into our election coverage of the Upcoming Huntsville Election. For now, Huntsville is the only incorporated community in Ogden Valley.

Furthermore, it will be at least two years before Powderville residents will be allowed to vote IF their incorporation goes through, so we will focus the election spotlight on our neighbors to the south for at least a couple more years during this years off year election.

The Huntsville Candidates have been selected, the stage is set and we have created a "Huntsville Election" section on our right sidebar. The candidates have been contacted and in upcoming days and weeks we will post any information the candidates forward to us.

Thanks to the Weber County Forum for the Election Coverage Format.

Ogden Valley Issues Escalate To The Statewide Level

Powder Mountain Threats and Small Town Chicanery

Fox 13 News was in Eden for several hours today preparing a story about the Powder Mountain Town Sign Thefts and the more recent personal threats against those vocally opposed to the incorporation. Be sure to watch Fox 13 tonight at 9 PM to see the latest.

The story we broke Sunday regarding Dirty Politics in bucolic Huntsville hit the spotlight of UtahPolicy.com, one of Utah's premier political sites.

Don't miss, Election Central: Small Town Chicanery

Dirty Politics In Huntsville

You may have read about dirty politics in the big city of Syracuse, but it seems like Quiet and peaceful Ogden Valley is not immune to big city chicanery . We just received this email with the attached audio file that has been circulating around Huntsville and feel that it deserves some weekend viewing:

Dear Ogden Valley Forum,

This phone recording was forwarded to me this morning and quite frankly I am disgusted. Let me explain.

Huntsville has a two party system for its municipal elections. Not Republican and Democrat, but "Our Town" and "Party 1." No one really knows which party they belong to, and in fact, it really doesn't matter.

One party held their nominating convention last Tuesday and the other was held on Thursday. Each convention nominated a candidate for Mayor and two council members and the ground rules are:

• You may attend both conventions if you wish
  
• Candidates may be nominated at both conventions
• YOU MAY ONLY VOTE AT ONE CONVENTION

At the Tuesday convention, Chris Stevenson was nominated and placed on the ballot for Mayor where he had flooded the room with family supporters.

Here is where it gets sticky.

Over the next couple of days, Chris apparently called nearly every resident or registered voter in town to invite them out to the Thursday Nominating Convention. That seems fairly harmless, but he went on to tell folks that Tim Hansen was going to be put up for Mayor and he would recommend the support of Tim.

Now Tim is a good guy, but in no way is he Mayor material. And in NO WAY could he be elected to Mayor.

Why would one candidate for mayor be campaigning for another candidate for mayor? The answer is simple: Put Tim on the ballot and Stevenson wins by a landslide.

In the end, Tim must have realized he had been put on the chopping block when he saw some 125 - 150 residents pack into the overflowing town hall (about 3 times the number of residents that attended the Tuesday meeting). When Tim was nominated, he politely declined and a legitimate candidate was ultimately chosen (Jim Truett).



Here is the rest of the story. The attached phone message was left at the residence of Doug Allen by accident as Doug was also going to be nominated for mayor that evening.

And Ogden Valley, you thought brilliant schemes were only reserved for the big city. It sounds like things are about to get exciting in Huntsville, so we will dust off our old election coverage templates and give the candidates a sounding board soon.

Stay tuned and have a great weekend.