Voters go to polls in red hot election
McCornick dairyman wins race to replace Jackson on county commission
Five contenders for the Commission Seat C were whittled to two during the 2020 election year. Ultimately, dairyman and McCornick resident Bill Wright secured the seat formerly occupied by Wayne Jackson.
Jackson chose not to run for reelection due to health issues. This was his only term.
Wright originally squared up against four other candidates; Ed Phillips, under the United Utah Party ticket; David Remkes, a Fillmore Republican and remodeling contractor; Timothy Arnold, a 30-year county resident and Ross Olsen, a Fillmore resident. All but Phillips ran on the Republican ticket.
Remkes, Olsen and Arnold were off the ballot by June’s primary election, either having left the race or unable to secure enough votes.
Wright was running for good government, citing “the biggest problem we have is the continued elevation of socialism, and people thinking they have a right to what everybody has.”
Wright had a clear stance on one of the county’s hottest issues: swine CAFOs, and the subsequent ballot initiative to outright ban them. The initiative, Proposition 6, would go on to fail at the ballot box by more than 300 votes in November; the final number was 3,186 against, 2,867 for.
“I don’t think they found the right solution,” Wright said. “Neither of those extremes solves our problem. They tear down good government.
Wright secured a victory over Phillips in the November election.
President Donald Trump also received high favor in Millard County. He beat President-Elect Joe Biden by 4,542 votes. Biden only managed to secure a meager 624 in comparison to Trump’s 5,404.
Trump has yet to concede the election to Biden—two months and many, many legal maneuvers after election day.
The presidential election was so disappointing to one local resident, deputies were asked to escort three Secret Service agents over to a home in Deseret for a chat after threats were allegedly made on social media about the former vice president.
Tax fraudster's 2020 spent in judicial spotlight
A local man ac-cused of a long-term tax fraud scheme and hiding funds from the U.S. government faced more scrutiny in 2020, along with his wife and children.
Neldon Johnson, his wife Glenda, and two sons LaGrand and Randale faced the threat of new sanctions after multiple alleged antics.
Johnson was at the bullseye of a massive, long-term tax-avoidance scheme that offered alleged solar energy accoutrements for sale to less-than-witting “investors.” Those individuals invested in Johnson’s company, RaPower3, in the beliefs they could set off their burdens of federal taxes— the scheme by all accounts filched at least $50 million from the federal treasury.
Johnson used the proceeds to amass land, houses, vehicles and other lavish perks. Much of 2020 was spent by a court-appointed receiver identifying all of the assets, taking possession of them and readying them for auction to the highest bidder.
The Johnsons had testified under oath they hadn’t destroyed anything the receiver sought, particularly documents. However, one item that got this newspaper’s attention in 2020 was a court record indicating they were caught red-handed doing just that. A witness told the receiver they had seen Neldon and Glenda dumping massive loads of documents into a local dumpster. Another newsworthy twist in the still-unfolding saga from 2020 was that Glenda had also filed liens against properties the receiver was set to sell at auction or had sold already. She was order to back off, lest she go to jail. The liens were later, and very quickly, removed.
Glenda has also filed multiple lawsuits since May against federal agencies—including the IRS, Department of Justice and even the federal judge in the case—another attempt to thwart receivership action.
In June, an appeal filed by the Johnsons was struck down. Johnson’s appeal claims the due process rights of several incorporated business entities he controlled were violated by the court’s ruling when his assets were frozen.
The appeal also argued the court erred in not dissolving injunctions against his companies whenever “new evidence” arose, and claimed Johnson could prove as much; like calling an expert to testify his false solar lenses—some of which are still slowly rotting outside of Abraham—could produce electricity, but did not do so until after a 2018 bench trial, which the Johnsons lost, had finished.
By September, the Johnsons were ordered to forfeit even more cash and property, including 2,200 acres of land and $1.4 million from family accounts.
The Johnsons, who have been accused multiple times of flouting previous orders of the court, were specifically warned against any funny business, including that the U.S. Marshals Service is authorized to take any measures to remove anyone deemed in violation from any of the properties now under receivership control, including a near-$500,000 residential spread recently advertised for sale.
The latest on the case is the receiver, according to court records, received requests from “other government agencies” to share information concerning the case. When asked by this newspaper which agencies had asked for assistance, the receiver declined to elaborate.
Old Mercer building burns, scars Delta
Fire completely gutted a historic building and residence on Delta’s Main Street. Colloquially known as the Mercer Building, the 102-year-old structure at times served as a pharmacy, a bank, a sheriff’s office and an ice cream parlor (poker in the back) for Delta locals.
The fire started on Saturday, Dec. 12, in the kitchen of a residence on the southern side of the two-story building at 301 W Main. Eight people living inside were able to escape without injury as flames quickly consumed the timbers supporting the floors and walls.
It took 45 firefighters from Delta, Hinckley and Fillmore volunteer fire departments to manage the blaze, which reached up to 400 degrees F inside, preventing crews from entering the structure. The building was called a “total loss,” by Delta Fire Chief Lynn Ashby.
“We lost that building before we ever got there,” he told the Chronicle Progress at the time. Crews dumped almost 400,000 gallons of water on the blaze.
It wasn’t the first time the building had been touched by fire. In June 1921, a fire destroyed a former grocery store, burning the windows and ceiling of the Mercer Building.
The building was demolished after last month’s fire, on Friday, Dec. 18, with almost all of the remains gone the following Monday.
Many took to social media to express their memories of their time in the building, and mourn the loss of a piece of local history.
Judy Stoneking, a Delta resident, worked at the pharmacy during her sophomore year of high school, and remembers the card games played between Mercer and his employees.
“They loved to play cards, but they would move to the back room if they got serious and played for money,” she said. “They were some characters.”
“There was a ballet bar that lined the complete Main Street wall,” wrote Suzanne Morris. “We could watch the cars while we were doing our positions.”
The building was purchased by Rod and Charlene Olcott in 1998 as headquarters for their business, Desert West Realty. More recently, their son has operated a used car dealership, and the building dually served as a residence for the family.
The empty lot might be used again someday. The Olcotts are considering rebuilding on the site, though those plans were last described as tentative.
New road shed costs cause some heartburn
County leaders were caught off guard in August, after the cost of a county road shed skyrocketed. The issue left commissioners scrambling to find enough money to cover the heightened costs.
Originally budgeted at $430,000, it was eventually believed the building would require double the amount. The building’s construction was originally approved in autumn 2019, and was envisioned as a 20,000-square-foot metal structure.
The following spring, it was changed to a brick building, adding minor costs—up to $44,000. Then an additional 10,000 feet was added to accommodate the bulk of county road and landfill equipment.
The real alarm set in when roofing bids came in at three to four times the budgeted amount. By then, the building’s stone and mortar skeleton had been built, but was left exposed to the elements without a roof and trusses.
County employees were able to bolster the walls until a final decision was reached.
The issue was discussed in an October meeting, to see if commissioners were over their bounds in approving expansions. A legal opinion drafted by County Attorney Patrick Finlinson eventually provided some cover for officials involved in the decision-making early on.
Finlinson wrote that the road department could cover additional costs by dipping into other funds within its own budget.
By November, the commission had accepted a bid for roof installation. A $333,822 bid from Advanced Steel Building Systems was approved. Metal trusses were expected to cost $235,000 from a sole-source provider. By then, the total costs for the roofing hovered around $570,000— something that commissioners expressed “could be managed.”
The estimated total project costs were expected to now come in at about $800,000, though that remains to be seen.
Costs were likely to be kept lower than usual anyway because employees in the road department itself are supposed to handle concrete work, install plumbing, electrical and flooring in the new year.
What was big for biz?
IPP embarks on hydrogen future
As part of its transition away from coal power generation, Intermountain Power Plant awarded a contract to Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems for two, power train gas turbines in March.
The new turbines are part of the plant’s transition from coal to natural gas, and eventually, to hydrogen-powered electricity generation.
The transition to the turbines is slated to begin in 2025, with the hope the plant will eventually be capable of using a mix of 30 percent hydrogen and 70 percent natural gas. Between 2025 and 2045, the hydrogen capability will be increased to 100 percent.
Magnum seeks expansion of energy storage business
Mitsubishi also expanded its help to another big moniker in local industry.
Magnum, in partnership with Mitsubishi Hitachi Power, approached the Millard County planning and zoning commission with a $350 million proposal to expand the industry’s planned energy complex north of Delta. The proposal would amend Magnum’s current conditional use permit.
Dubbed the ACES Delta Project— ACES meaning Advanced Clean Energy Storage—Magnum and Mitsubishi would start the first phase of the likely decade-long project to include 15 gas storage caverns; four compressed air energy storage units; 1,400 acres of solar generation, 10 electroayzers and other energy related projects.
The expansion was approved by county officials in a recent meeting.
Sevier Playa potash operation still planned
A potash-mining operation was erroneously believed to have been shutdown, following an October article in the Salt Lake Tribune.
The newspaper originally reported that Crystal Peak Minerals was abandoning its Sevier Lake project, after failing to raise enough funds.
The project would mine potash and other minerals from the lakebed.
The company responded in an open letter published in this newspaper that the project was not abandoned at all.
The company says, despite being under “new management,” it expects little to change for the Sevier Playa project, and that it had not “collapsed,” as reported.
The company is still in the process of arranging financial support to develop the project and begin production in 2021.
