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Three Deputy of the Month awards were presented by Lt. Steve DeBry, chief of police services for the City of Holladay, during a recent city council meeting. A unique honor was given to Special Deputy Kenneth O. Melby as Deputy of the Month for August. Melby was sworn in as a Special Deputy by Sheriff Delmar “Swede” Larsen over 35 years ago and has faithfully served as a special deputy through five different county sheriffs’ administrations. The owner of fitness facilities. . . . . Deputy Gary Romero was named July’s Deputy of the Month for the Holladay precinct. A male suspect approached a gas station attendant and asked him to call the police. When deputies arrived, they found the suspect in a nearby parking lot holding a gun to his head, with a large hunting knife in his other hand. Although the suspect was immediately contained, Deputy Clint Johnson recognized that he was trying to “commit suicide by cop,” and was not obeying verbal commands. Thinking on his feet, Deputy Johnson called to assisting deputies.
Holladay City has operated with service from, but without a specific contract with, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department since its inception as a city. The sheriff has provided service under his mandate to serve the county. City council members are now debating whether the city should enter into a contract with the county for policing services. “We receive a bill each year and have little or no control over the cost increases,” said Steve Peterson, Holladay City councilmember. “The recent problems in Cottonwood Heights, with the suspension and transfer of Lt. Robby Russo, and with the invalidation of parts of their contract with the sheriff’s office by the county attorney make us very nervous. What if they come in and take Steve DeBry [Holladay’s Chief of Police Services]?”
A brochure recently distributed in Cottonwood Heights by the Sheriff and representatives of the Sheriff ’s deputies union claims we will suffer “Less for More,” suggesting that the city will receive fewer services for more money should we self-provide law enforcement services. The following is the city leaders’ response to the points of that brochure.
Once 3-year-old Heather Al-Shimmary wrapped her tiny arms around her mother's legs, it was hard to pry her off. The timid, brown-haired girl was so close to her mother, Sharon Al-Shimmary, that not even her aunt could get her to let go. "She wouldn't leave her mom for nothing," said Pauline Carson. But Al-Shimmary, a loving mother, was also depressed, her brothers and sisters said Monday. On Sunday, fire crews arrived at the family's home, near 5700 South on Stone Bluff Way, to find thick smoke pouring from a locked, upstairs bedroom. When the fire was extinguished, investigators discovered the bodies of Al-Shimmary and her three children, Ashley, 9; Christopher, 7; and Heather.
Firefighters found four dead bodies inside a burning home near 5570 West and 5700 South about noon on Sunday.bPolice believe the dead are 40-year-old Sharon Al-Shimary and her children Ashley, 9, Christopher, 7, and Heather, 2. All the bodies were in an upstairs bedroom in the rear of the home. Two were on a bed and two were on the floor, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak. Police officials said the fire was suspicious and the deaths are being investigated as homicides. The bedroom and its floor were the only part of the house damaged by flames.
A woman accused of trying to kill her husband by "surprising" him with a hammer to the head will face trial on a charge of attempted murder. At her arraignment in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court this week, Amy Teresa Ricks pleaded not guilty to the second-degree felony charge. Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies said Ricks, 34, and her husband had gone out for a romantic dinner and then to a Holladay condo owned by her parents. Court documents said Ricks told her husband she had a "surprise" for him, blindfolding him and spinning him around several times. She then started hitting him in the head with a hammer, police said.
Tensions flared in Cottonwood Heights' packed City Hall recently when the county sheriff and city officials butted heads over the kind of police service the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office could provide versus the city's local-control model. The county sheriff says he can save Cottonwood $698,915 a year if they stick with the county; the city argues they can save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and have more officers with their self-providing model. "The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office has served the citizens of Cottonwood Heights for over a century," Sheriff Jim Winder said. "The sheriff's office provides you with many benefits. But at the end of the day, the sheriff's office provides you with men and women who have been serving this community since it was born."
For the second time in less than a month, a not-so-well-hidden marijuana garden was busted by narcotics agents in Salt Lake County. Overall, it's the sixth outdoor marijuana growing operation shut down in Utah over the past two months. Salt Lake County sheriff deputies received a tip Thursday of possible outdoor marijuana in the yard of a house near 5100 South and 3800 West. When officers arrived, it didn't take them long to find the problem. "They could smell the marijuana," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Rex Mulholland. Deputies moved around the house where they could look in the back yard and saw marijuana plants growing in a garden next to several tomato plants. After obtaining a search warrant, deputies went into the back yard and seized 62 plants, some 5 to 6 feet tall, as well as some marijuana inside the house that had already been packaged and was ready to distribute, Mulholland said.
The Utah Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a misdemeanor negligent homicide conviction against a former Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy. On June 8, 2002, Carla Redding's cruiser was traveling up to 70 mph when it sliced through a car carrying four people, killing 19-year-old Malarie Hilton and injuring three women. Redding was responding to a detective's call for backup at the Coconut Point dance club and was eastbound on 5415 South without her emergency lights or siren on, according to the ruling. When the detective asked officers to "step it up a little bit," Redding sped up. Heading westbound, Emily Hillam turned left into Redding's path. The cruiser slammed into Hillam's vehicle with enough force to rip it in two, the ruling states.
An increase in the number and severity of calls around four west-side junior high schools has prompted a call from Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder for more funding. Part of Winder's 2008 budget proposal calls for $216,000 to hire two full-time deputies to be assigned to junior highs in Magna and Kearns. The schools are Thomas Jefferson Junior High, Kearns Junior High, Brockbank Junior High and Matheson Junior High. But Winder says he is not trying to suggest the problems at those schools are any worse than in other parts of the county. We would like to move to a model where the junior highs are getting more service. "The west side seemed like a good place to start with the initiative," he said.
A Millcreek man reported a home-invasion robbery, but he was the one who went to jail. Two men with ski masks kicked in the door at an apartment on Meadowbrook Expressway about 3 a.m. Tuesday, pointed a gun at two occupants and demanded drugs, said Salt Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Rex Mulholland. The men rummaged through the apartment, but did not find drugs. They took some property and left, Mulholland said. A 43-year-old occupant called police about 20 minutes later to report the robbery, mentioning to deputies that he sells methamphetamine but did not have any at that time, Mulholland said. Deputies also found the man had an outstanding felony warrant on suspicion of unlawful weapon possession. The man was booked into the Salt Lake County jail. The robbers remain at large.