There’s an alleyway on the north side of the Wasatch County Senior Center’s property that’s used primarily for deliveries. But Mike Winward, the center’s director, said drivers have also been using it as a shortcut to get to and from the high school.
"They just go 100 miles an hour. And even though school’s only been in for like, two weeks, the lady that runs our kitchen, was backing out and almost got hit," he said. Another employee "was walking toward her car at the end of last week and had to jump out of the way. I mean, they're just crazy."
Winward said all seven employees of the senior center have had near misses in the past year, as have many visitors.
"I Just can't imagine, somebody hits some little old lady walking to her car after lunch or something, or playing bridge," he said.
So to prevent that from happening, Winward has been blocking one of the two entryways to the alley with one of the center’s buses during the morning and afternoon commute times. But sometimes he needs to use that bus to actually transport people, so he said the center is also looking to the Heber City Police Department and the county sheriff for more effective solutions.
Winward said he recently spoke with Wasatch County Sherriff Jared Rigby, "and he was going to try to start sending over deputies to park back there."
Winward said he’s also looking into getting a stop sign put in at the entryway from 400 E.
"If they go through it, they could actually get a ticket," he said. "If just a couple of kids got tickets, that would be awesome. And hopefully word would spread and they would stop cutting through there."
Winward said he reached out via email to Wasatch High’s principal, Justin Kelly, as well as the school’s resource officers about the problem, but hasn’t heard back yet.
"So I probably just have to walk over and really get obnoxious and tell them, 'Hey, we gotta do something before one of my little ladies gets run over.'"
A representative for Wasatch High said Principal Justin Kelly has no record of such an email. Winward forwarded the email to KPCW, however, and Principal Kelly was a recipient. The school did not respond to a request for further comment by press time.
