The Daily Spectrum from Saint George, Utah • 6

Page A6 The Spectrum State The West Tuesday, March 30, 1999 Stage set for roaring wildfire season nintim i FIND YOUR FRE Eff OTTJLJ 673-0373 www pefHfymusic.com eastee ess HURt Hoiwe' Just write your answers Find all 10 eggs and emer to in at Gentry Center. Drawing to tale place April 9ih Look in the Spectrum eerda for a new ciue 10 dues in alt One piano to be givsi aua Call Gentry Music Center for details. be fined $50. "Last year's El Nino was one of the strongest of the century," drenching the South and Southwest and spurring growth of grasses, Werth said. La Nina started last fall and is expected to last into the summer or even fall.

It has made the northern states wet and dried out the southern tier from California to Florida, Werth said. Drought conditions have arisen in the Southwest, with moisture levels of so-called thousand-hour fuels such as downed trees near their lowest point in 32 years, Werth said. Levels are similar to severe fire seasons in 1994 and 1996, he said. pretty accurate," said Paul Werth, a fire weather meteorologist with the National Weather Service at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. Other areas of major fire concern include far southeastern California, southern Nevada and Utah, Colorado, parts of western Texas and south-central Florida, federal officials said.

Officials at Utah's Zion National Park have been setting fires to bum off dead grasses and other potential fuels in areas normally under deep snow this time of year. Because of the growing fire danger, U.S. Forest Service officials in southern Arizona and their counterparts from sister agencies said they're gearing up early to suppress fires before they can get out of control. A big concern is the threat wildfires pose to homes built close to forests or grasslands, said Ted Moore, fire management officer for southeastern Arizona's Coronado National Forest Moore organized a briefing to heighten public awareness of the potential dangers this year. The Forest Service has received fire severity funds to add firefighters and trucks a month early throughout the Coronado, and campfire permit requirements take effect Thursday.

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Phillip Andrus Dr. David Cohen By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN Associated Press TUCSON, Ariz. The Southwest could be facing one of its worst wildfire years this century, a University of Arizona scientist said Monday. Extreme La Nina dry-weather conditions, immediately after 1998's profuse El Nino wet-weather environment, set the stage for a roaring fire season, said Tom Swetnam, a dendrochronologist, or scientist who studies tree rings.

"This should be a bad fire year regionwide" across Arizona, New Mexico and probably northern Mexico, he said. "I would say that probably Ar? ra (71 02 Ivins, UT 84738 7617 Cj Snow Canyon. ijlWaai'MiiiMWItllfl If you have glaucoma, or are at risk for this sight threatening disease, call your primary eye care provider today and ask for the GDx Nerve Fiber Analyzer. The sight you save may be your own. SNOW CANYON SLEEP DISORDERS CLINIC G.

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Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY Samoan authorities are investigating allegations of mistreatment, sexual abuse and financial fraud at three treatment centers for young adults. All of the centers have ties to different Utah groups active in the growing for-profit behavior modification industry. One of the facilities, Paradise Cove, came under fire last September when U.S. Consulate officials were told of purported bullying tactics and improper sexual conduct. Prodded by the U.S.

State Department, a Samoan police investigator began examining Paradise Cove, one of several treatment centers in the United States and abroad run by St. George-area residents. Robert Litchfield of LaVerkin is a consultant for Paradise Cove, while St. George attorney J. Ralph Atkin is the majority owner of Morava Academy in the Czech Republic, which was closed by Czech officials who allegedly uncovered widespread physical abuse.

Two St. George natives, Glenda and Steven Roach, and two other Academy staffers were Got a news tip? Give The at; (435)' 674-6270 in St. George; (435) 586-7646 in Cedar City. REPORTS AVAILABLE WITHIN 24 HOURS Enjoy a pleasurable evening at the foot of the red mountains, near We've asked the Samoan government to investigate allegations of mistreatment." Maria Rudensky State Department spokeswoman charged with cruelty to teen-agers in their custody. "We've asked the Samoan government to investigate allegations of mistreatment," State Department spokeswoman Maria Rudensky said.

"These facilities are outside the United States and are under the jurisdiction of other countries. Our responsibility is to see to the welfare of U.S. citizens." Ken Kay, vice president of Worldwide Associations, the corporate umbrella that links Paradise Cove, Morava Academy, Tranquility Bay in Jamaica and several other treatment centers in Montana and Utah, said he knows little about the troubles in Samoa or the Czech Republic. "I was working with Teen Help at the time (of the Czech problems)." he said. "The only thing I know is what I heard or read about in the press." Teen Help is a marketing arm of the Woi'ldwidegroupi: Kay's son runs the facility in Jamaica and Kay used to run Brightway Hospital in St.

George, another enterprise with Worldwide ties State Western Governors U. names new president SALT LAKE CITY Robert W. Mendenhall, a 20-year veteran of marketing and developing technology-based education, has been named as the new president of the Western Governors University. The 14-member Board of Tmstees for the on-line university approved Mendenhall's appointment on Friday. Utah Gov.

Mike Leavitt and Washington Gov. Gary Locke issued a joint statement Monday praising the selection. Boy Scout dies in hiking accident CLEARFIELD A 13-year-old boy died while on a camping trip with his Boy Scout troop in Tooele County during the weekend. Steven Boyd Webb was hiking near Simmons Springs on Friday and decided to go to the top of a ledge, his 12-year-old brother, Carl, said. for a Family of Four from Noah's Food Storage.

With the purchase of any home, receive a preparedness package to ensure your family prepared. that operated as a conduit for teen-agers bound to other Worldwide-run treatment centers. Brightway closed last year under pressure from Utah authorities suspicious of the ties between the nonprofit hospital and the for-profit therapy business group. Since Paradise Cove came under scrutiny, another treatment facility, New Hope Academy, closed its doors and a third, A Better Way, has been stung with unsubstantiated claims by a female inpatient that she was raped. New Hope, which was started by a group of businessmen from Orem, Provo and an ex-Brigham Young University football star, took tens of thousands of dollars from American parents, some desperate to find treatment for suicidal or drug-addled teen-agers.

The Utah attorney general is investigating allegations of marketing and contractual improprieties by New Hope. Faced with a mass exodus of disgruntled parents. New Hope Academy, without warning, discontinued its program in Samoa, leaving five American teen-agers unsupervised on the beaches of the tiny Pacific Island of Apia. "New Hope was a scam, and many of us parents hope to bring those partners to justice for the neglect our children suffered and for the lies they fed us with regard td their program, which was1 not-what' they stated," said Dan Hedstrom, a parent from California who took his son out of New Hope prior to the collapse. in Brief As Steven Webb got closer to the ledge, fellow Scouts saw him lose his footing and fall 30 feet, hitting his head and back on the jagged rocks.

Officers involved in shooting put on leave OGDEN Three officers who shot at a 19-year-old man after he brandished a gun during a routine traffic stop have been placed on administrative leave. Joey Conrad is in serious condition at McKay-Dee Hospital after being shot in the chest, the right shoulder, and the groin on Saturday night. Two of his fingers were also shot off his right hand. Kenneth Huckaby, a nearly three-year Ogden police officer, Thomas Hanselman, who has been with the department more than five years, and Utah Highway Patrol trooper Chris Williams, all fired at Conrad, said Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner. Associated Press Buy a Home from Spartan Homes and We Will Make Sure You Have All 3" Retail Value 4662 s's II 4 1 JZZZ) CUSTOMER SATISFACTION our blueprint for doing business.

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