Lantern 2025-08 by Hillsdale Lantern

EDEN • HAZELTON A Beacon of Light on the First Segregation MURTAUGH

issue 4.8 August 2025 free!

EAST END COURT DATES

NEW SAND VOLLEYBALL, PICKLEBALL OPPORTUNITIES FOR AREA BALLERS

A little bit of Iowa, right here in our backyard!

Motorists passing through Murtaugh on a Thursday evening would be hard-pressed not to notice the activity around the Iron Rail bar. A couple dozen vehicles fill the parking lots. A taco trailer. And, if you peek around the historic bar, a sand volleyball court.

With the blessing of landowner Brad Perkins, Rob Wybenga installed the court this summer. “I did it for my kids,” he said. Wybenga’s kids went to college in Iowa, where “every bar has a sand volleyball court.” When winter finally breaks, Wybenga said, those Iowans play hard.

When the court was complete, Wybenga’s sonin-law (and Iowa native) Elliot Van Kekerix organized a league. Six teams from Twin Falls to Oak-

ley signed up, and they play each other on Thursday evenings. If the taco truck doesn’t show, the Iron Rail’s Tammy Brasil grills burgers and dogs.

North of the river, the new pickleball courts in Hazelton are getting some action, too. An early morning pickleball group has established itself, led by the Jensen family from Eden.

“Any age, any skill is welcome,” said Keegan Jensen. “We have equipment folks can use.” The group just plays rotations, but is paddling around the idea of a tournament next summer.

The Jensens had been playing in the LDS ward for the last year and were excited to move the action outside. They play Monday, Wednesday, and

Recent Thursday evening volleyball action at the new sand court in Murtaugh

Hillsdale Lantern

S.C. Huettig, Editor editor@hillsdalelantern.com

The Dim Bulb

The kEEp PuBLiC lANd pUbLiC crowd is melting down over Sawtooth Energy’s proposal to construct a nuclear power plant in Jerome County. Though not located in Hillsdale, it is certainly in Hillsdale’s backyard and, the Dim Bulb assumes, of keen interest to the good folks of Hillsdale and Murtaugh.

(Alert readers will have noticed that Roy Prescott, Sawtooth Energy’s CEO, is celebrated in these pages as a Lantern Lighter quite frequently. As such, the DB is in possession of Prescott’s contact info and will ask him to shed some light on the matter.)

In the meantime, folks would do well to remember the proposal is indeed preliminary; perhaps the hyperventilating can be saved until more details are revealed.

The fact remains that Idaho Power is determined to rid itself of carbon-emitting electrical generation, which currently accounts for about 30% of its portfolio. As misguided as it is to exit cheap, reliable baseload, it is the path we are on, even as the state continues to grow.

We have said NO to coal- and windpowered generation in our backyard, but at some point, we will need to say yes to something. Public land can be used for more than recreation and grazing. Otherwise our energy future will be intermittent solar/wind, and more imported electricity from our neighbors. From