Local carny begs Richmond council for festival spot
April 19th, 2013 Posted in News
By Shayna Marcure
RICHMOND –Tuesday’s City Council meeting opened with a prayer and soft words spoken of Monday’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon. “This is just a reminder to all of us of how important it is to keep communities united. This tragedy has tugged at our heartstrings,” Councilman Jeff Young said.
He went on, “So many people came together, and so quickly, with all of our beliefs aside, political, religious, all of that went away and we came together for a common belief. That is hope. I see that here in Richmond.”
Richmond, though a small city, is a very tight-knit community with many aspirations for upcoming events, including their annual Black and White Days.
Residents will be meeting May 4 in front of the Black and White Days building for the annual city clean up. “This is to prepare the town for Black and White days,” said Councilman Paul Erickson. “If you bring back one garbage bag full of waste, you get a lunch ticket. We’ll have burgers and dogs at the park.”
Dave Gordon, local carnival owner and entrepreneur, sought the council’s approval for a four-night open carnival and block party during the third week of Black and White Days, beginning May 14 and running through May 18.
The Council shared a number of concerns, almost all of which Gordon was able to put to rest.
Councilman Young, who also heads the Black and White Days committee, expressed his worry that the carnival, which includes multiple larger-scale rides, such as a small roller coaster and bumper boats, would take away from the events located on the other side of town, as well as from the Lion’s Club.
“I don’t take away from events because I don’t sell food, I don’t sell toys, I don’t sell crafts. I only add the thing that they are looking for, I give kids rides,” Gordon said. He mentioned that he is accustomed to giving a percentage of profits to other organizations that may feel at a disadvantage due to his carnival.
Gordon also lightened the worry about “spooking” the horses that will be visiting for the horse pulls on May 18. “A lot of the time my carnival is set up at rodeos, horse races, fairs, places where there are horses. I have never had any problems with horses and the lights and noise.”
After discussion and negotiation, the council decided on a location more fit for a carnival site, the northeast corner of 100 South and 100 West St.
Gordon said his carnival is insured under a $1 million policy that is renewed every year. His rides are inspected every year, to meet Colorado’s ride-safety program’s expectations. Utah has no ride-safety program, according to Gordon.
Young plans to contact the Lion’s Club for approval of the carnival within the week.
“People are usually begging me to a part of their event. This is the first time I’ve had to beg to be a part of an event,” Gordon said. “I live in your town, I go to your ward. I know carnies can have a bad name, but yes, I am a Mormon carny and this would be a great opportunity for me.”
He went on, “So many people came together, and so quickly, with all of our beliefs aside, political, religious, all of that went away and we came together for a common belief. That is hope. I see that here in Richmond.”
Richmond, though a small city, is a very tight-knit community with many aspirations for upcoming events, including their annual Black and White Days.
Residents will be meeting May 4 in front of the Black and White Days building for the annual city clean up. “This is to prepare the town for Black and White days,” said Councilman Paul Erickson. “If you bring back one garbage bag full of waste, you get a lunch ticket. We’ll have burgers and dogs at the park.”
Dave Gordon, local carnival owner and entrepreneur, sought the council’s approval for a four-night open carnival and block party during the third week of Black and White Days, beginning May 14 and running through May 18.
The Council shared a number of concerns, almost all of which Gordon was able to put to rest.
Councilman Young, who also heads the Black and White Days committee, expressed his worry that the carnival, which includes multiple larger-scale rides, such as a small roller coaster and bumper boats, would take away from the events located on the other side of town, as well as from the Lion’s Club.
“I don’t take away from events because I don’t sell food, I don’t sell toys, I don’t sell crafts. I only add the thing that they are looking for, I give kids rides,” Gordon said. He mentioned that he is accustomed to giving a percentage of profits to other organizations that may feel at a disadvantage due to his carnival.
Gordon also lightened the worry about “spooking” the horses that will be visiting for the horse pulls on May 18. “A lot of the time my carnival is set up at rodeos, horse races, fairs, places where there are horses. I have never had any problems with horses and the lights and noise.”
After discussion and negotiation, the council decided on a location more fit for a carnival site, the northeast corner of 100 South and 100 West St.
Gordon said his carnival is insured under a $1 million policy that is renewed every year. His rides are inspected every year, to meet Colorado’s ride-safety program’s expectations. Utah has no ride-safety program, according to Gordon.
Young plans to contact the Lion’s Club for approval of the carnival within the week.
“People are usually begging me to a part of their event. This is the first time I’ve had to beg to be a part of an event,” Gordon said. “I live in your town, I go to your ward. I know carnies can have a bad name, but yes, I am a Mormon carny and this would be a great opportunity for me.”
Elizabeth Smart tells USU crowd of her ordeal
April 18th, 2013 Posted in Arts and Life
LOGAN — Over ten years have passed since the young Elizabeth Smart was rescued from a nine-month kidnapping, but a crowded Taggart Student Center quieted respectfully Wednesday to hear her story.
“‘I have a knife to your neck. Don’t make a sound or I’ll kill you,’” Smart quoted her kidnapper, who she knew as Emmanuel, from the night she was taken from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Smart shared some riveting details of her abduction with the largest crowd ASUSU has seen at its midweek Common Hour presentations.“I wasn’t expecting her to talk about her abduction so much, just because if it were me, I’d hate to relive that over and over again when speaking to people,” USU student Katherine DeBry said. “However, I am glad she did, because listening to her speak about it in person really made me see how poised and strong she is.”
Journalism student Dani Hayes reflected on the lecture as well: “She was so beautiful and confident when she spoke and she has such a cute, quirky personality too. It was nice to see her just the way she is. She’s a normal person who went through a terrible experience.”
Brian David Mitchell, the man charged and convicted for Smart’s kidnapping, led the 14-year-old girl up a mountainside trail and through brush until they reached a campsite that had already been set up. It was here that she met his accomplice, Wanda Eileen Barzee. She described the first day of her experience, as she was “wedded” to the troubled man, raped, and bolted to a cable attached to a tree.
While some were impressed by how much of her terrifying experience Smart shared with such a vast audience, others were waiting for even more details.
“I think a lot of people expected for Elizabeth to share every bit of her terrible captivity, but she didn’t,” said Hayes. “I have heard from a lot of people that they wanted more from the presentation, but that just tells me that she isn’t quite over what happened, which is completely understandable.”
After nine months of captivity, torture, and travel, Smart outwitted her oppressor by pushing the idea of returning to Salt Lake City, as a feeling sent to her from God. According to Smart, after Mitchell had spoken with God about it, “he agreed, and said we’d hitchhike back.”
While walking along a street in Sandy on March 12, 2003, Smart, Mitchell and Barzee were spotted and “suddenly surrounded by cop cars and sirens.” She was saved.
Smart described her reunion with her mother Lois Smart after nine months: “In that moment, my mom was, to this day, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. She was like my Heaven.”
“Her quote from Mother Theresa was great too,” DeBry said. “I think what impressed me most is that she is obviously a normal person who has good days and bad days, but she chooses to be mostly positive about her life.”
Smart ended her speech with Mother Teresa’s words, “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”
NW
Richmond envisions more modest homes for old and young
April 5th, 2013 Posted in News
RICHMOND — A notable appearance was made by Mayor Mike Hall, the City Council, the General Plan Committee, and a representative from J-U-B Engineers at Tuesday’s Planning and Zoning meeting.
Their attendance was due to the scheduled workshop reviewing the draft of the proposed new General Plan for the Richmond. Once adjourned after a very brief, ten-minute meeting, the commission, guests and community members gathered in the “big room” around three long tables and metal chairs, equipped with a hard copy of the updated General Plan.
The binder was decorated with maps that predict future land-use, potential parks and trails, and updated land and water boundaries within Richmond.
Cindy Gooch from J-U-B Engineers, led the discussion regarding this “guiding document,” and began, “we bring the council and planning and zoning together to discuss this plan. We’ll present it to the public when it’s ready, and it will be posted online for citizen review and critique.”
After the residents’ concerns are addressed, the planning and zoning commission will hold a public hearing, and after, for the update to be official, council’s approval is necessary.
The General Plan also included guidelines for what may be necessary for the small city to continue to flourish.
Gooch, after spending a few months worth of work and time with the local General Plan committee, announced her thoughts about housing within the community. “You need more small homes for younger generations and seniors.
“People want their kids to come back, and we want to keep your seniors here. Sometimes we lose that rich history and culture, because there isn’t enough small, moderate-income housing for them here.”
Gooch referred to this as “life-cycle housing,” or homes that are built in response to the human life cycle The group decided that it is important to evaluate moderate-income housing, as well as senior housing within the city. The General Plan was last drafted in 1999, making this update necessary.
“It should be updated every five years,” Gooch said. “When someone asks for rezoning and it is approved, we need to keep the maps updated.”
Aside from minor grammatical and remedial errors, the group was already pleased with the work displayed in the binder. The plans are expected to be revised and ready for public viewing by May, during the annual Black and White Days.
Planning and Zoning meets next on May 6, in the council chambers at 6 West Main St.
NW
Fire damages USU ag building, no one injured
February 28th, 2013 Posted in News
LOGAN – A fire Tuesday night is to blame for an estimated nearly $50,000 in damages to the AGRS building at Utah State University, said Teryl Roper, head of the department of plants, soils and climate.
“USU’s security responded just after 8 p.m. to fire alarms in the basement of the ag building,” Roper said.
An experiment involving heating a soil column turned for the worst when the cardboard used as insulation caught fire, Roper said. The experiment was strictly for research, and is not coursework within the department. There was nobody overseeing the experiment at the time of combustion, he added.
“One of the fire sprinklers was activated,” Roper said, “and there appears to be no structural damage, just cosmetic.” Almost all of the costly damage was caused by water from the fire sprinkler system.
According to Logan City Fire Marshal Craig Humphreys, there was nobody in the building at the time of the fire department’s arrival, and no injuries. The smoke is what led firefighters to the only room touched by flames and water.
Firefighters did put out flames that the sprinklers did not extinguish with multiple hose lines. An elevator was shut down to ensure that nobody ventured to the building’s basement, not because it was flooded, said Roper.
The damaged lab has to be investigated by the university’s insurance agents to find the exact cost of damages, as well as by USU Facilities, he said. Roper said within the next few weeks remodeling of the lab will begin.
All coursework and classes will continue as scheduled.NW
CVTD and Richmond City Council discuss improving bus service
February 22nd, 2013 Posted in News
RICHMOND – Progress and potential of the Cache Valley Transit District was the main focus of Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “We want to improve service in the face of hard economic times,” said CVTD board member Diane Bush.
“Two million trips were made for the second consecutive year,” Bush said. A ‘trip’ is from point A to point B. When a person boards the bus, then reaches his destination, he has made one trip. This determination is based on the national definition of the term.
What is the concern of the local members of the CVTD board? Rounds to Richmond’s transit stop, located at 500 N. 100 East, are only made every hour and a half. And, according to Bush, the Cache Valley north route is susceptible to delays due to weather and traffic.
“With more funding, we can work on that,” said CVTD general manager and CEO Todd Beutler. “It’s difficult to collect exact numbers, that is one of our challenges. Anecdotally, there’s a difference.” His claims refer to an increase in use of the free public transportation system.
“Things are looking good. More people are riding the transit,” Bush said. At the same time, there is no information regarding motivation behind the apparent increase in transit use.
CVTD, as well as Aggie Shuttle and the Cache Chamber of Commerce, are currently sponsoring the Cache in for Clean Air program that began last month and will run through February.
“We currently have 26 business partners. People can ‘Cache in’ at these places after using the transit,” Beutler said.
Concerning the Richmond stop, there are other improvements en-route that will allow more room for busses to drive and park. These changes will be seen within the next couple of months, according to Beutler.
In other business:
- Two local business licenses were approved: Mandy’s Salon and Chubby Cheek.
- Boutique.Gibbons/Skabelund well has been fully and officially paid for by the city.
LOGAN — Concession gates down, computer labs closed, classes dismissed — all thanks to the power outages that plagued Utah State University Wednesday morning.
At approximately 9 a.m., a fault occurred in USU’s electrical distribution system. According to Patrick Williams, director of internal public relations at USU, only five buildings on campus were originally affected, including the Taggart Student Center, the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER) building, Widtsoe Hall, the Public Relations and Marketing building, and the Living Learning Community (LLC).
“A team of high-voltage electrical technicians went in and worked on the problem,” Williams said.
And the process of revamping the flawed system caused temporary power loss for multiple buildings throughout campus. No information has been provided regarding exactly which buildings were affected by the “blip,” said Williams, but at least Old Main, the business building, Merrill-Cazier Library, and the agriculture sciences (AGRS) building experienced moments of no lights, no internet, and no café.
Campus was affected by the fault for approximately three hours, and electricity was fully flowing again by noon.
Joel Bradshaw with Logan Power told the Hard News Café that city power had nothing to do with the outages on campus.
“USU has their own systems, we just supply power to their subs on the north and south ends of campus,” Bradshaw said. “It’s an internal problem with their system.”
The reason for the power outage is unclear, Williams said. “The team from facilities is continuing to investigate the cause of the fault. This is something that we can’t anticipate. It has never happened before, and we don’t think it will happen again.”
NW
Richmond P&Z approves conversion of Pet Milk factory to warehouse
February 7th, 2013 Posted in News
RICHMOND — “Do you want an eyesore?” Local businessman Quentin Casperson stood before the Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday, seeking a conditional use permit for the old Pet Milk factory. “We’ve finally got some serious money that will let us use the building for something good.”
He was referring to part-owner Ray Winn, who is looking to renovate about one-fifth of the building into a consumer-driven warehouse, equipped with cargo containers and an area for boat storage.
Casperson presented the commission with detailed plans for the proposal. “There’s been a lot of discouragement and a lot of our partners have backed down and quit. But Ray’s no quitter.”
In 2008, Casperson said, new owners successfully renovated the factory into a haunted house, but then were unable to qualify for a second permit the next year. Casperson talked about the tens of thousands of dollars spent on earthquake-proofing the building, as well as getting the building up to city code.
“We want to do things with this old factory and we’d really like some positive reinforcement,” Casperson said.
The commission expressed concern about the safety of the building and whether it would pass city and county structural and fire codes.
“I’m sure that one-fifth will be taken care of,” commissioner Monica Merrill said, “but four-fifths are still unsafe for workers. We are talking about the building as a whole.”
Casperson said that Winn has liability insurance on the entire $200,000 estate. He also told the commission that once the warehouse is generating profit and more funding is available, Winn wants to extend his plans throughout at least two-thirds of the property.
“He’s got enough money to do this portion, and eventually move throughout the building,” Casperson said.
City manager Marlowe Adkins reminded the commissioners that it was up to the county fire chief to make sure the building is structurally sound. “Once the city has authorized the building, then the fire department will go around and let them know what needs to be done [to meet fire code].”
Approved by all but Merrill, the proposal for a conditional use permit was passed. Casperson and Winn’s proposal has been sent to the City Council and will be on the agenda at the March 19 neeting.
NW
A night out at Lewiston Theater
February 5th, 2013 Posted in Arts and Life
LEWISTON — Tenth row up, and two very comfortable seats in, is where you found me at 9 p.m. Saturday night, enjoying my treats and the second digitally projected film ever showcased in the 76-year-old Lewiston Theater — and all for under $4.
“Here Comes the Boom is the first movie that we have used the new digital projector with,” said Randi Barr, one of only five employed community members at the city-owned theater. “And it’s been fabulous,” she said.
According to Jane Anderson, the theater’s assistant manager, the new digital system cost over $60,000. She said all films released to theaters will now require the digital projector, so the investment was a necessary accommodation to the one-screen cinema.
Anderson gave credit to a grant, and donations from the community for the purchase of the costly projector, and she also mentioned that the city offers subsidized loans to the community theater.
“The city really helps us out because they want to keep this theater around. There’s so much history,” she said.
The walls were flowered with historical memorabilia, including framed articles in the form of newspaper clippings, along with notes and autographs from old theater members who performed in the building, dating back to the 1940s.
“This used to be a musical theater,” Anderson said. “A man who lives here in Lewiston, who lived here as a child, painted it back to its original authentic paint scheme.”
The renovation took place about five years ago, which also kicked the seating capacity from 310 down to 247. The theater averages 200 to 300 visitors every weekend, Anderson told Hard News Cafe, “and when we get a newer movie, we can sell out. It’s happened many times.”
The films released in Lewiston are usually out before the DVDs, which helps with popularity.
“We’re a discount movie theater, so the manager goes to the movies and watches the films playing there to make sure they’re appropriate to have here,” Barr said. “We also get requests from people from the community for movies to show.”
Lewiston Theater does not show R-rated movies, Anderson said. “It’s an awesome place, and landmark. We provide clean entertainment at a reasonable price for our youth and families in the area.”
Located at 29 S. Main St., Lewiston Theater premieres a different movie every Friday night at both 7 and 9 p.m., then again on Saturdays. Tickets are only $2 and all treats are under $1.50. Mondays are designated $10 family nights, and show time is 7 p.m.
NW
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