CEDAR FORT -- Thirty years ago, some residents said to know a Cook was to know the whole town of Cedar Fort. Now with a population 341 and as an older community with a lot of history, not much has changed since the 1970s when the slow-paced burg got its first telephone system.

"Hmmm, yeah, it's pretty quiet out here," he said. "We're a pretty quiet community and most people would be happy if it stayed that way. We're OK with what we have."

While things change more rapidly for Cedar Fort's neighbor to the east, Eagle Mountain, things have changed in Cedar Fort nonetheless. Anderson said upcoming goals for the year are to revisit the town ordinances to make sure they're sound and complete.

He said the water development, a project begun a few years ago, was completed as far as the infrastructure, but the residential development wasn't there.

"However, growth is inevitable and we're trying to get our town ready for it, strengthening our ordinances so when the growth comes we'll be ready for it," Anderson said. "We anticipate but do not necessarily encourage it."

Possibly the most exciting news for the town is that the community's July 24th Celebration is going to offer more to its residents.

"It's been great in the past but we're going to expand it a bit, a notch up from what it's been," the mayor said.

Social activities and an historical play have been added to the program.

Anything else for the year? Nope.

"That's good. I guess, there's not much going on," Anderson said.

Community contributers are needed for Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield, Cedar Fort, Cedar Hills, Lindon, Pleasant Grove, Mapleton, Woodland Hills, Genola, Goshen, Eureka, Elk Ridge and Salem.

Responsibilities would include updating information about activities in the town and to keep a blog about what is going on.

The pay is low (and by that we mean none) but it is a fun opportunity to help others get to know your town.

If you are interested, contact Online Director Tim Archambault at tarchambault@heraldextra.com or at (801) 344-2562

An event 100 years in the making, the Lehi High School celebrated its centennial anniversary this month with tours, displays, entertainment and even a birthday cake.¬ 

Lehi High School was moved to its present location in 1959, and has undergone many renovations and expansions since.

But that wasn't what brought most alumni on Saturday.

"I just thought I would come back and see if I knew anybody down here," said Roy Nuttall, who graduated in 1956. "I ran into a couple of people I knew."

"A lot of the old-time people are here," said alumnus and former principal Russ Felt. "I have run into some people I haven't seen in a long, long time. Our town has changed so much, that you could not see someone that lives across the street. It is nice to see them. I had a really great experience here."

Felt said he had a long history with Lehi.

"I was raised here, for starters," Felt said. "I would have worn my letterman sweater, but because of the way I have washed it, it has been shrinking."

He said he has been away for a time, and having come back into the community it was nice to see what Lehi High School has become.

"It is amazing, the growth." Felt said. "I don't think we had more than 700 or 800 kids here in four grades when I left, and now what is it, 2,200 or 2,300 kids in three grades. I wouldn't be able to handle that.

"Some of these guys -- the two assistant principals -- are former students of mine, so I have tormented them just a little bit. It's just nice to see some of these kids, their progressions and what they have done with their lives."

One of those "kids" is assistant principal Wade Lott, a 1985 graduate. "Our students have really enjoyed looking at the older yearbooks, and the history," Lott said. "I was kind of surprised. I think they were quite fascinated by it all. It has really been a good thing."

Lott said the original graduating class had just 11 students. This year they are expecting about 625 to graduate.

"There are wonderful, wonderful kids that have graduated from here," said Marilyn Nielsen, 1954 graduate. "The [current] students have been very actively involved. They have been wonderful."

Besides visiting and sharing stories, alumni, faculty, fans and neighbors were able to tour the high school. Old band uniforms and yearbooks sat amongst new displays depicting the school's 100-year history.

When asked if she felt extra pressure as the 100th year student body president, Bethany Morgan said, "Not a weight, but an honor. Always like to continue traditions, but coming up with new ideas as well."

"It feels like we are a legend," said Lexi Nielsen, a LHS senior.

Jade Peck, another senior, said, "I think it is an awesome experience to be in the 100th graduating class."

Six families will show off their new homes built through a program called "Mutual Self-Help Housing" at an Open House and Ribbon Cutting ceremony. Rural Housing Development Corporation (RHDC) invites all interested persons to attend the Open House on Thursday, Feb. 26, beginning at 2:30 p.m. held at 113 W. 500 South in Santaquin.

The mortgages can range from $180,000 to $200,000 and are administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture--Rural Development. USDA-RD structures the payments on mortgages to be affordable.

The Mutual Self-Help Housing program has been in operation in Utah County for 10 years, having built homes in Payson, Salem, Santaquin, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. Eleven more homes are currently under construction with plans to begin groups in Payson, Santaquin, Eagle Mountain and Spanish Fork in the next few months.

To become eligible for the program, an applicant must have low debt, good credit, enough income to qualify for a mortgage with USDA-Rural Development and be willing to contribute the labor necessary for the project.

Joe Pyrah

A deal is nearing, with legislation to match, that could bring a major film studio and sound stages to Utah along with potentially billions of dollars.

The as-of-yet unnamed company is strongly interested in Summit County land and perhaps even more so in Utah Valley University's digital media program.

"This is something that is going to propel our school and our department into an international commodity," said Dennis Lisonbee, an associate professor of digital media and a media professional since 1971.

Lisonbee has been involved in discussions about the sound stages, saying that despite Utah being known as a good location for shooting, there hasn't been a place to actually produce films.

"We don't have a sound stage in Utah," he said, with TV and movie crews resorting to big warehouses, often unheated even in the winter.

He recounted a story from an industry player who told him "I knew we were in trouble because all the bottled water was frozen."

The bills

Getting those massive sound stages and adjoining facilities built shouldn't actually take much time. But the location that developers are eyeing will apparently require some zoning changes and legislation.

Enter Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain. Madsen, who calls movies a "personal passion" but doesn't actually know much about the industry, was asked to carry a bill that will "set the framework" for allowing the studio to get up and running in the state.

"If you have an area that interests you, you have a front seat," he said of why he took up the bill that is still being drafted, but should be available for public reading by mid-week.

It won't be without controversy, whether because of proposed tax breaks, location or who gets to be involved.

"We anticipate some people might have some heartburn over this," Madsen said.

The senator, who has film posters of "Gladiator," "300," "Saints and Soldiers," and "Gods and Generals" on his office wall says the studio proposal isn't just someone sniffing around.

"This is a very real offer," he said.

There is another bill being run by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, that would provide a tax incentive for film studios, provided that they employ Utah residents.

The money

Until 2003, New Mexico's best year for making money from film studios amounted to $8 million. But an incentive was granted and soon four sound stages were built in the desert outside Albuquerque. Last year, it was estimated the state's take had ballooned to $1.2 billion.

Media executives in Utah figure much of that belongs to them.

Instead, what happens now is that a film crew comes to Utah, shoots, then leaves to New Mexico or back to California for production.

Todd Bay, owner of Utah-based Bay Entertainment and Media, compares it to Utah's renowned snow before the ski industry came in.

"Without ski lifts and resorts, it's just snow," he said.

Bay, who is one of the players working to bring in the studio, said the private funding is indeed lined up. He said the tax incentive during hard economic times may appear like bad policy, but he points to both New Mexico as well as Louisiana for examples of the benefits. The latter has added 18,000 jobs because of their film production tax incentives, he said.

UVU and Utah's role

Bay said UVU plays a critical role in the studio locating in Utah, because a steady stream of media professionals would be required by the studio. The school's digital media program is well-known from Hollywood to New York, but has stayed somewhat in the shadows here.

"You ask about it in Utah and they say 'You have a film program?'" Bay said.

The digital media program has as many as 1,000 students, of which hundreds could easily be involved in the studio business, said Lisonbee of UVU. The interested studio executives have said they will provide space for educational opportunities within the new facilities.

And while the state's scenery is attractive to media companies, it has other draws as well.

The state is home to many movie stars (mostly in Park City), the Sundance Film Festival, and -- perhaps most important for businesses -- relatively cheap labor. Bay says studios can save 30 percent of labor production costs just by locating in Utah because of a weak union presence and its right-to-work status. Combined with the proposed tax incentives, it would save a company substantial dollars.

"We can literally cut a budget in half here in Utah," he said.

An Eagle Mountain man was sentenced Thursday to up to 20 years in the Utah State Prison for his involvement in abusing the niece and nephew of his live-in girlfriend, depriving them of food and locking them in bathrooms overnight.

"I took these kids in because I wanted to help them and I wanted to help the family," Aiono said. "Maybe we weren't experienced parents. We didn't know how to handle it, and that's something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life."

Aiono and Heath were originally each charged with nine counts of child abuse and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, but those charges were reduced to two third-degree and two second-degree counts of child abuse, as part of a plea deal. Aiono was sentenced to two one-to-15-year terms for the second-degree felonies and two zero-to-five-year terms for the third-degree felonies.

The sentences for the second-degree felonies will be served concurrently, and the sentences for the third-degree felonies will be served concurrently. However, the one-to-15-year terms will be served consecutive to the zero-to-five terms, meaning he could spend up to 20 years in prison. The board of pardons and parole will make the final determination as to how long Aiono serves, but Taylor recommended that he be given credit for the time he has served since his arrest in October 2008.

After he's released from prison, because of questions about his citizenship status, the Samoa native could be deported to his home country.

Drake said that could be the harshest part of the sentence, as both of Aiono's parents are dead and he has no other relatives in Samoa. Drake described Aiono as a caring man, someone who "would go out of his way to help others when the need arose, especially members of his family," but who got caught up in his girlfriend's ideas about how to treat the children.

"He didn't want to lose Mary. He was afraid if he bucked her in this, that she would destroy the relationship," Drake said. "The mix of this was so ongoing and so blurred that their objectivity was blurred and they didn't see really the jeopardy they were placing the children's lives in."

Heath and Aiono were arrested Oct. 14 after the children were found malnourished and physically abused. They were discovered after a concerned neighbor called police about a nearly naked girl standing in the yard, covering herself with a newspaper. Officers arrived to find the malnourished girl, weighing 38 pounds, who had climbed out a bathroom window and fallen 12 feet to escape.

The girl told police her younger brother was still in the home, locked in another bathroom, and they soon entered the home to find the boy curled in the fetal position, barely alive. The 43-pound boy had a pulse of 46 beats per minute -- so faint that responding officers could barely feel a pulse at all. Both children were taken to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City and treated for malnutrition and multiple physical injuries.

Before announcing the sentence, Judge Taylor called the situation "truly sad."

"I really don't perceive on the part of either of the defendants in this case maliciousness or the evil desire that we sometimes see with some of the violent crimes that come in," he said. "But having said that, we have a special duty to protect children."

Taylor said he didn't see a significant difference in the way the two adults treated the children, despite arguments by Drake that Aiono worked outside of the home more than 60 hours a week and was involved in the abuse to a lesser extent than Health.

"They came to you as troubled children, and they leave you as vastly worse children," Taylor said. "They're going to have a tough time. This is a heinous crime."

Outside of the courtroom, Tusi Aiono, Sekoa's brother and spokesman for the family, said his brother was simply a good person who didn't know what he was doing. He criticized the media for painting him as something else.

"He loved Mary so much that he supported her," he said. "I can't say that he should get off, because he has to take responsibility for his actions."

• Ace Stryker can be reached at 344-2556 or astryker@heraldextra.com.

The Utah Transit Authority has announced the schedule and stops for a new express bus route from Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs to Salt Lake City.

Buses will stop at an LDS meetinghouse in Eagle Mountain, 7746 N. Sparrowhawk Way, and an LDS meetinghouse in Saratoga Springs, 2101 N. Providence Drive. Buses will leave the Eagle Mountain stop at 6:13 a.m. and 6:43 a.m., passing through Saratoga Springs at 6:26 and 6:56 a.m. and arriving in Salt Lake at 7:25 and 7:55 a.m. Return buses leave downtown at 4:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m., passing through Saratoga Springs at 5:17 and 5:47 p.m. and arriving in Eagle Mountain at 5:30 and 6 p.m.

Beginning April 1, patrons can purchase one-way express bus fares for $4.50 or a monthly unlimited express bus pass for $162.

Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs residents voted by large margins in November to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase to become part of UTA's coverage area.

Six teens will compete for the title of Miss Eagle Mountain on Feb. 21.

The theme of this year's competition is "Rock Around the Clock." The girls begin the competition with the swimsuit/physical fitness category, which is followed by the talent competition, an onstage question, and finally, the evening wear.

After the final category, the queen and her two attendants will be announced. The Eagle Mountain Woman of the Year will also be announced that night.

These teens have been working hard to prepare for the competition, according to their advisors. Weekly workshops have been held in addition to service projects and meetings. One service project involved tying yellow ribbons for the city, creating an easier, time-saving solution to hang the ribbons for returning soldiers.

This year the master of ceremonies will be Jared Pedroza, an Eagle Mountain resident. Kim Onions, the reigning Miss Eagle Mountain, will co-emcee in addition to performing the dance she has prepared for the upcoming Miss Utah Scholarship Pageant. Melissa Smith, committee chairperson for the pageant, says that people should make an effort to attend.

"It's a great night for entertainment. And the more aware the community is, the more supportive they become." Smith said.

The Miss Eagle Mountain Scholarship Pageant is a franchise of the Miss America Scholarship Pageant. The crowned queen of Eagle Mountain will move on to compete for Miss Utah, and the winner of Miss Utah will compete for Miss America.

Tickets can be purchased in advance from the pageant contestants or at the door for $5. The contestants are having a side competition to see who can sell the most tickets, and the winner will receive a prize.

There are tens of thousands of pieces of art worth millions of dollars out there somewhere, and they're all yours. Well, they belong to all Utahns, anyway. And nobody knows quite where they are, how many there are, or how much they're worth. The state has been collecting for a long time, you see. The Utah Arts Institute first met in 1899 and appropriated money to purchase its first painting, "Black Rock, 1898," by J.T. Harwood.

Vern Swanson, director of the Springville Museum of Art, tells the story of a worker who destroyed a sculpture in front of the former Utah Valley State College science building in 1996 because an administrator had hinted that he didn't like it. It was, of course, against the law in several different ways, but spending some money on education could help reduce the number of instances like that, Swanson said.

He recalled another case in which school district janitors burned several paintings done by Maynard Dixon -- valued at hundreds of thousands each. The problem? They were in a closet with broken frames and were collecting dust. The men didn't know what they had.

"I know the name of every janitor up and down this state," says Swanson, who has written half a dozen books about Utah art and cataloged more than 10,000 pieces throughout the state.

The legislative bill being sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain, would be a slam dunk most years. But this year, cash-strapped lawmakers are looking warily at anything that costs additional money, even something with a relatively small fiscal note of $33,000 for the first year and $25,000 a year afterward.

Madsen says that amount could easily be found in tough economic times by simply not buying any art for a year and instead spending money on his bill, which he considers a maintenance project.

"I'm not buying any guns [this year]," said the well-known firearms advocate. "But what do I do? I clean them all."

Last year, Madsen ran the same bill but ran out of time. He said then that he'd heard of cases in which retiring state administrators actually took the art off the walls of their office that had been there for years and took the paintings home.

It goes beyond that, says Margaret Hunt, the director of the Utah Division of Arts and Museums. It's not always malicious, and Madsen's bill would go a long way in resolving the problem.

"Clearly, many organizations in possession of state-owned art are not deliberately negligent as cultural resource stewards," she said. "Unfortunately, few are aware of the necessity and value of accurate records to protect the art in their facilities. Even fewer are aware of best practices for arts inventories and stewardship standards."

Swanson said the idea of a statewide inventory is a good one, but he cautions that simply asking institutions for lists of what they have is a bad idea. Those officials may not know what to look for, or may be embarrassed at the condition of the art.

"There needs to be boots on the ground," he said.