ALTA — Dawn Page hopes seven will be her lucky number.
The Alta resident has tried six times — and failed on each occasion — to win a permanent dog license in this resort town's annual dog license lottery.
Page's sixth attempt came Monday, when her name along with the names of 11 other town residents were drawn out of a hat at precisely noon in the town office. Only three vacated licenses were up for grabs, and three other names — Kristin Searle, Sheridan Davis and Shane Pollock — were chosen first.
Having had the same luck the five previous years, Page thought perhaps that luck would change if she attended the lottery selection. So, she was there in person — she was the only applicant to attend, in fact — to personally observe as her luck, once again, turned sour.
Fortunately for Page, she possesses one of the 21 temporary licenses currently held by Alta residents or workers as granted by longtime Alta
Mayor Bill Levitt. That has allowed the Pages to bring their 12-year-old half-Dachshund, half-black Labrador with them from their home in Sandy to their second home in Alta, which they finished building in 2001.
"Our first summer we were up there, we weren't able to bring her up so we weren't able to stay as much. We were having to come down to feed the dog," said Page, a nurse at St. Mark's Hospital for the past 27 years. "So, he (Levitt) was kind enough to give us one (a temporary license) for that summer . . . and since then he's given me a temporary (each year), praying that we would draw out at some point."
Alta, population 370, is at the heart of the watershed from which the Salt Lake Valley receives much of its drinking water. Dog ownership, therefore, is a severely restricted and highly coveted honor.
"We view this as a real privilege, so when the mayor gives us a temporary license, we just try to follow all the rules and do everything right," Page said.
Searle, a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Utah, knows how valued a permanent dog license truly is in Alta, where she rents her parents' home.
She wrote a long, pleading letter to Levitt — and included a photo of her dog, Otis — and was granted a temporary license. She was then able to renew it so she could keep Otis, who will turn 2 next week.
"I got lucky and it was renewed — until I got lucky this week," said Searle, who might want to share some of her luck with Page.
"If I hadn't (won the lottery), I hope I would have gotten another temporary tag. But there is always the possibility that a temporary tag could get taken away, and so it was really nice to get a permanent tag this week."
The Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, which manages the watershed for Salt Lake City, has expressed some concern that the total number of permanent (now 42) and temporary licenses (now 21) issued by the town is rather high. And that doesn't count the handful of service animals, including avalanche dogs, that reside in Alta. But other than sharing that concern with the Town Council earlier this year, the department has made no attempt to curtail the number.
The 12 names in the hat Monday were more than the seven involved in the drawing a year ago, but only one license was up for grabs then. (Page's name was drawn fourth.) But assistant town clerk Piper Lever said the fact that three licenses were available this year may be only one reason why the turnout was higher.
"I think it also depends on who's living here (at the time). It's other circumstances, not always just how many are available," she said. "A couple of applicants were people who have (recently) moved (to Alta) or built here."
A town dog license costs $50 for a spayed or neutered animal, $75 for one with all the working parts. In addition, there is a one-time watershed fee of $25.
E-mail: zman@desnews.com