Legislative boundaries make it difficult for citizens of Tooele County to know exactly who represents them. The county is carved into four state Senate districts and two state House of Representative districts.

Legislators that represent Tooele county citizens also represent citizens from the northern reaches of Box Elder county on the Idaho border and as far southeast as Hanksville in Wayne County.

The Utah State Legislature approved the current boundaries in 2001 when they redistricted to make adjustments to equalize the number of people in each district following the 2000 census.

"The current boundaries are strictly a political product," said Beverly White, who served for 19 years as a Democratic representative from Tooele. "Some of our representatives have to get to know people from four counties, which means working with four different sets of county commissioners and school boards."

With the 2008 general session of the state legislature just kicking off, here's a guide to who represents whom in Tooele County:

State House of Representatives

District 1 includes Box Elder County, outside of Brigham City, and Tooele County, outside of Tooele Valley. The district includes the cities of Grantsville, Stockton, Rush Valley, Vernon, Wendover and Ophir. District 1 is represented by Ronda Menlove, R-Garland. Her official state e-mail address is rmenlove@utah.gov.

District 21 includes Tooele Valley, except Grantsville. The city of Tooele and the communities of Erda, Stansbury Park, PIne Canyon, and Lake Point are all part of District 21, which is represented by Jim Gowans, D-Tooele. His official state e-mail address is jgowans@utah.gov.

State Senate

District 12 includes part of West Valley City and northwestern Salt Lake County and sweeps up and over the Oquirrh mountains to include Stansbury Park. The district is represented by Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley City. His official state e-mail address is bgoodfellow@utahsenate.org.

District 13 includes part of Utah County including the communities of Lehi, Payson, Santaquin, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. It also includes the southeastern corner of Tooele County including the communities of Ophir, Vernon, and Faust. The district is represented by Mark Madsen, R-Lehi. His official state e-mail address is mmadsen@utahsenate.org.

District 17 includes a part of western Cache County, Box Elder County, and parts of Tooele County including Tooele City north of approximately 600 North, Erda, Pine Canyon, Lake Point and Grantsville. The district is represented by Peter Knudson, R-Brigham City. His official state e-mail address is pknudson@utahsenate.org.

District 24 includes Juab, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier, and Wayne Counties, along with parts of Tooele County including Tooele City south of 600 North, Rush Valley, Stockton and western Tooele County including Wendover. The district is represented by Darin Peterson, R-Nephi. His official state e-mail address is dpeterson@utahsenate.org.

The 24th and 17th districts split Tooele City roughly in half.

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com