PARK CITY — Stop the tabloid presses! Another person with a Hollywood resume is getting into politics.
Holly Hallstrom, best known for a two-decade role as one of "Barker's Beauties" on "The Price Is Right," is making ripples in the murky water fight that's boiling over in Summit County.
(Yes, she was the redhead. Yes, she sued and was sued by the program's popular host, Bob Barker. Yes, she lives in Utah. No, she didn't get to keep her wardrobe. No, she doesn't want to tell strangers on the street what Barker was really like. And, finally, no, she is not running for governor of California.)
Considering "Conan the Barbarian" could be the Golden State's guv, this doesn't seem too strange.
Some, including Hallstrom, might consider it more bizarre that her dogs drink bottled water, that she brushes her teeth with Evian and that she lives year-round in a small shack that she originally bought for ski trips. She finds it especially odd that papers are piling up in her condo because she's spearheading a crusade for a grand jury investigation of the county's top brass and water company.
"My condo looks like campaign headquarters," she said. "This was never my intention. I just wanted decent water I could brush my teeth with."
The Park City Water Department verifies that indeed is possible, but Hallstrom remains skeptical. She was warned not to trust what came out of her faucets after moving to the area following her notorious legal entanglements with Barker. Hollywood producers, she says, put her on their blacklist — and, a few years later, she did the same to water in the old mining town because it supposedly had excess levels of arsenic, antimony and lead.
"I started researching it," she said, "and uncovered all this horror show about the politics of water here in Summit County."
So Hallstrom thrust herself under the spotlight again, fully utilizing First Amendment rights — a trait she acquired in San Francisco in the 1960s, where she says "sociopolitical activism was curriculum." She wrote edgy letters to the editor for the Park Record. She voiced concerns on local KPCW's talk-radio show.
Now she's organized the Citizens Council on Water and Safety, which seeks to get recall measures into Utah law with hopes of ousting some commissioners. It might file a class action lawsuit against the county over controversial concurrency issues.
Hallstrom's group accuses the county of giving preferential treatment to developers who choose Mountain Regional Water Special Service District (a provider outside of Park City proper). It says an unfair financial burden was placed on residents to repay a $32 million bond debt. She's disgusted with "higher water rates (as much as 300 percent more in the county), less quality and even lower quality." They worry the county lacks adequate water and believe residents and ranchers will get soaked. The group's also convinced that property values have dropped because of water wars.
"It's just a bunch of angry citizens brought together by one angry political rabble-rouser," Hallstrom said. "Together we're united in a common outrage."
Hallstrom began collecting signatures at a public meeting in July. She's convinced the grand jury officer will take them more seriously at an appointment they've scheduled in October in St. George if they bring a stack of petitions and "horror stories." Kamas rancher Nadine Gillmor will also present her case about property-rights issues (not mentioned in the petition). She's frustrated that the county wants to designate 5,215 acres of her family's land east of Park City for recreational open space.
"It's getting really stinky suspicious over here," Hallstrom said. "Believe me, there are a lot of people in this county calling me all day long saying, 'Where do I sign?' " Gillmor's also upset that the county is considering transfering water from the east side (Kamas area) to the west side (around Park City). She believes Mountain Regional should have its own board (not the commissioners) and be independently operated.
"It's a charade. It's terrible," she said. "They have got to get a grip on reality. They're stretching the law to limits with no accountability. . . . If we lose our property rights, we have lost more of our dignity than anything else."
Not everyone is pulling out their Bic pens. County Attorney David Thomas, among those to be accused of wrongdoing, warns the petition is more harmful than helpful. Partially because it gets personal, claiming that elected and appointed officials have conspired "in a scheme to mislead and defraud the public." And also because he insists allegations are hogwash. He recently rebutted Hallstrom point-by-point in a lengthy editorial.
"You certainly can't get a grand jury by having a bunch of signatures on a petition, especially a petition that's alleging facts that aren't true," he said. "This petition is obviously being used as a media device."
Moreover, he says that some of the "assertions of fact that are false . . . could be actionable" and that named individuals in the petition "probably have a good case for being defamed." A libel lawsuit could be filed.
"It's sad that individual reputations have to be impugned," said Thomas, who's also a state senator. "If you disagree with public policy decisions that the board of commissioners make, that's fine. There's a forum to debate those issues. But, instead, to malign them like this is unconscionable."
Hallstrom doesn't plan to back off.
"Oh my gosh. Now we've got a senator threatening to sue citizens," she said. "It's not going to stop me because I believe these people need to be investigated. To malign them like this is absolutely necessary. They've been getting away with this too much for too long. It's time somebody stood up and started naming names."
As for the Barker situation, Hallstrom says she was forced out eight years ago for gaining both weight (due to medication) and years (due to natural causes) and because she refused to lie and protect him during a sexual-harassment lawsuit. Barker dropped his case against Hallstrom days before it reached the courtroom. She says he didn't want to see his "dirty laundry thrown all over Court TV and in the media." In turn, she sued him for wrongful termination and malicious prosecution, but the suits linger on.
"At this point, I don't care who drags that nasty old man into court," she said. "I just want to see it happen in my lifetime."
That, and being convinced that she can safely brush her teeth with faucet water in Park City.
E-mail: jody@desnews.com