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Moore competes in biggest derby of his career
It’s in his blood. When Neil Moore got the call this spring asking if he would be interested in being part of a team for a demolition derby in Las Vegas, NV in the fall he knew pretty quickly what the answer would be. His biggest dilemma was that the derby was during hunting season. There were 32 teams registered for this derby; 128 cars, their drivers from all across the United States and Canada. His team, named The Sleepers, was made up of Neil, a father and son duo, Jace and Trevor Rogers from Huntley Project, MT and Chantz Ogden
from central UT. After his already planned derbies were over for the summer, Neil, with the help of some friends and family from time to time, started stripping the Suicide Lincoln down to the body. He then installed his set-up from his stock of custom parts, from the engine, transmission, rear end, even the gas and brake pedals, seat and steering wheel. Many parts of the car frame and body can be reinforced and welded too, and many of these welds have very precise spots that need welded or
exact lengths they can be to be legal in the derby. The weekend before the derby, Neil painted his car their team colors, black and green, loaded the car, plenty of spare tires, repair parts and tools, a welder, cutting torch and much more in an enclosed trailer to make the 1,200 mile trip to Sin City for the derby. The cars had to be checked in by Tuesday evening. Inspection started at 8 a.m. Wednesday, and The Sleepers, being in the first heat was the first team to be inspected. They had two hours from the time their initial inspection was finished to complete all the changes required on their list. Changes were as minimal as a weld being too long, something bolted in the wrong place, plastic lights that got overlooked when the car was stripped to having to rebuild the safety cage because it was too close to the body of the car. The team got all their changes made and passed re-inspection within the time frame and then were not allowed to work on their cars again before the derby started. The Sin City Showdown started the afternoon of Thursday, Nov. 14. The Sleepers won their first heat against an all girls team, made up of girls from North Dakota and Arkansas. The last team with a car that still has a flag up wins. The Sleepers had three cars drive out of the arena after their heat. Thirteen more heats followed that evening. They were not allowed to work on their cars after their heats, they had from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. on Thursday to work on their cars to get them ready for the next round. This derby is not run like most derbies around here. Usually, if you win your heat, you go to the championship heat. In this derby there were so many teams that they ran two brackets. The winners from Thursday came back on Friday against two or three other winning teams. It was the same for the losers side of the bracket. The teams that won both heats, moved
See MOORE Page 7
Baker City Council denies conditional use permit By Brad Mosher
Fallon County Times
The unanimous denial of a conditional use permit request Monday has proposed developer George Bailey looking for another possibility. “We are just stymied,” Bailey said after the public hearing concluded. “We’ll investigate it. We, as a group, have to determine how we can move forward and probably investigate having our annexation and zoning rescinded. Then we can start from scratch. We were just getting caught up in the Catch-22,” he said. “I wasn’t here (when it started) but we bought into the project and we are dealing with the way the project is. “Our goal was to put in
some really high-quality living opportunities before the people of Baker,” he said. “We’ll figure it out. “If there was a way to … redo it, we would do it. But, I would think from what we heard from Forrest (Sanderson), the best thing would be to de-annex and get ourselves removed from the city. Then we could start all over with the process, or sell our land – whatever happens,” he added. The challenges are still how do you conform and how do you get it done, Bailey explained. “It is nobody’s fault. It is just a complex situation that we have to investigate,” the former Plevna School superintendent said. “I love it here,” Bailey, who currently is living in St. Regis, said.
Council denies permit The Baker City Council unanimously denied the request for a conditional use permit by Bailey, who is the managing member of the Eagle Landing RV Park. The property involved included 26.7 acres. He was requesting a conditional use permit to establish a new 14 space recreational vehicle park with an office/ washroom facility. According to Bailey, the purpose of the project was to meet the short-term residential needs of visiting construction workers and season hunters. “A lot of the people that do the construction phase of the pipeline live in RVs during the period of time that they are here (in Baker). Consequently, all of the existing spaces were taken,” he
explained to the board. Bailey said that there was slightly more than one acre which could be used for RV parking. “It was unoccupied. Technically, I thought we could have put 30 sites there.” According to Kevin Dukart, the city’s zoning administrator, the project had eight areas of non-compliance which needed to be addressed by Bailey for the project. The property involved is currently zoned as R-4, Dukart explained. It was part of a preliminary approved phased subdivision. “The tract is currently zoned Residential 4 which permits single family attached and multi-family dwellings. The current use zoning of the properties east, west and south of the prop-
erty are zoned R-2 attached dwellings, or agriculture. To the north, is general commercial,” Dukart said. Dukart referred the conditional use permit to the city council. The zoning administrator explained that the conditional use permit application did not sufficiently conform to conditional use criteria. Dukart cited a dozen shortcomings, including not conforming to Fallon County growth policies, not conforming to 25-foot setback guidelines, not conforming to a 50-foot access to a public right of way, adverse issues regarding the developers ability to complete the subdivision due to the R-4 and R-2 zoned designation, absence of a plan to extend Kimball Avenue, absence of a lighting
plan, absence of a plan for improvements on 6th Street West regarding curbs, gutters and sidewalks, absence of extension of the public water main and the absence of a design plan to provide fire hydrant services to the development, absence of a drainage analysis, departure from the public meeting statement denying the recreational vehicle plan use for the subdivision and non-conformance with the proposal to findings of fact. “The zoning administrator recommends denial,” Dukart told the council. Developer hopeful Bailey responded to the non-compliance items cited by the zoning administrator that most of the problems
See PERMIT Page 3
McClain Park lights up with Holiday Cheer
By Shannon Johnson
McClain Park in Baker was lit up with the magic of Christmas on Saturday, November 23 as the City of Baker held the Lighting of the Park. Fallon County residents gathered together to get into the spirit of the season. The time was spent wandering the illuminated park and enjoying Christmas music sung by the Community Choir. In between enjoying hot chocolate served by the Boy Scouts and going on a Christmas wagon ride, kids kept entertained by playing in the park. On the way to get hot chocolate, people passed through the Clayton Hornung Memorial Bridge, decorated with Christmas cheer. On the other side of the bridge, people were kept warm by a barrel fire and warm refreshments as they laughed and exchanged stories. If you kept your eyes peeled, you could even see one of Santa’s little elves scurrying about collecting wishful letters to deliver back to Santa. Mayor JoDee Pratt, who helped to spearhead this event, was thrilled with the turnout, “I was so happy,” she gushed. Mayor Pratt intends to keep this tradition alive in Baker, although she hopes that as the community members settle into the tradition, more businesses, organizations, and individuals will take part in decorating the park, lighting it up a little brighter each and every year with holiday spirit.
TODAY’S FORECAST High: 34 Low: 21
Snow
Files of the Times.............2 Villa Happenings..............3 Obituaries........................4 Cougar Tracks...................5
Spartan Scroll..................6 Classifieds........................9 How to Cook a Turkey.....10
Welcome HUNTERS
Thanks Landowners!
Friends
of FMC Foundation 17th Annual “Fantasy food Fair”
Sat., Dec. 7, 2019 • 7 - 10 p.m.
Fallon County Fairgrounds
Christmas Party Saturday, December 21 Prime Rib & Crab Legs
For up-to-the-minute news visit falloncountyextra.com We want to hear from you: See how to contact us on Page 2 Vol. 103 No. 48
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