This year had plenty of tragedy, triumph and political intrigue
    Twelve months after a tragic beginning to 2018, Box Elder County has seen evidence of a resurgent economy; Washington, D.C.-esque political intrigue as part of a contentious and controversial election year; a frightening lack of moisture that led to a highly active fire season; and other events that caused sadness, celebration or concern.
    Following is a summary of week-by-week review of the news that impacted residents throughout the last year, and may continue to in the future. It is not a “Top 10” list, and includes content from throughout the newspaper, not just what appeared on the front page. For the entire review, please see our online or print editions.
   
January 3
Ellertson cousins die in motorcycle accident
    On the evening of Dec. 31, 2017, two teenagers died after the motorcycles they were riding in West Corinne collided.
    Cousins Wyatt Ellertson, 15, and Caden Ellertson, 14, were driving motorcycles on a dirt road between two corn fields when they collided nearly head-on going an estimated 30 to 40 mph. Neither of the bikes were equipped with headlights or taillights.

January 10
Brigham City approves site for splash pad
    After months of wrangling, hand-wringing and second-guessing, the Brigham City Council approved John Adams Park as the site for the city’s splash pad. The announcement was the culmination of more than a year’s worth of controversy within the community about the location of the splash pad.

January 31
Property offered for Willard water tank
    In ongoing developments related to Willard City’s quest to find solutions to water-storage issues, a representative of Blue Ox Development, which had plans to develop 122 acres into building lots and had proposed a gravel pit operation in the area, offered to let Willard place a 500,000-gallon tank on its property.

February 14
Hardy claims fourth state title, Ripplinger retires
    In sports, local wrestling standout Brock Hardy became just the second Box Elder High School athlete to be crowned a four-time state champion. The only other to accomplish the feat was Jeff Newby, 1999-2002.
    At the same time, it was announced that coach Mike Ripplinger, the Bees’ coach for 34 years, was retiring.
    Ripplinger left an impressive legacy at the school, including a long list of individual state champions and six of the school’s eight state titles.

February 28
Boys’ basketball claims region title
    For the first time in 14 years, the Box Elder High School boys’ basketball team claimed a region title trophy following a dominant victory over Woods Cross, 71-55.

March 28
Box Elder Creek floods homes
    Storms in February and early March that had helped improve snowpack conditions throughout much of the state, including Box Elder County, were also a factor in flooding along Box Elder Creek that caused significant damage to many homes.
    Another factor was a severe rainstorm throughout the day on Thursday, March 22, that accompanied high runoff caused by sudden warmer temperatures.
     City crews responded in the early morning hours of Friday, March 23, to contain flooding from creek and protect homes in the area around 100 to 300 West and between 500 and 600 North in Brigham City.

April 18
First murder in Tremonton in 50 years
    For the first time in 50 years, Tremonton police arrested someone on murder charges.
    According to police reports, Brandon Keith Thompson, 30, called to report that he had shot a man in his home. Thompson was booked into the Box Elder County Jail on charges of first-degree felony aggravated homicide, first-degree felony obstruction of

May 16
Girls claim sixth straight region track title
    The Box Elder High School girls’ track and field team continued their stranglehold on Region 5 and claimed their sixth straight region title.
    The Bees were as dominant in the region as they had been for more than half a decade, winning by more than 60 points over second-place Bountiful at the region meet on May 9.
  
May 30
Softball team earns elusive state championship
    In a story reminiscent of the Box Elder High School volleyball team’s state title earlier that school year, the Bees’ softball team raised the state championship trophy. It was the team’s first state title since 2001.

June 6
Heated commission race begins
    What would eventually become a highly controversial and hotly contested primary election for two available Box Elder County Commission seats started with an advertisement in the newspaper touting the accomplishments of incumbent commissioners Jeff Hadfield and Jeff Scott, and urging voters to keep them in office. The ad was signed by Kerry Zundel, Gilbert Miller of Workman Miller Enterprises, and Janice Chournos of the Sam Chournos Partnership, and was paid for by Promontory Point Resources, the company building a landfill on Promontory Point.
    Another ad paid for by Hadfield and Scott touted certain accomplishments, including the county’s low unemployment rate, the creation of 1,200 new jobs and the elimination of all county debt. The claims were repeated in the Promontory Point Resources ad.
    The election reached a boiling point the following week with the release of campaign finance disclosures, and statements made at a meet the candidates event in Bear River City.
    But the political shenanigans in the race reached a climax when campaign finance disclosures revealed that two challengers, John Adams and Charley Young, received contributions from a Salt Lake City-area political action committee (PAC) worth almost $20,000. The only donations the PAC received were from Garden Creek Ranches, LLC, out of Brigham City, and Bar-M Cattle Company, LLC, out of Ogden, each of which donated $10,000 to the PAC on the same day in May. The two ranches are owned by Phil Adams and Randy Moulding, who has tried to get a 220-acre landfill approved near Snowville.
    Adam’s and Young’s opponents used those financial disclosures, as well as comments the two candidates had made at the Bear River meet the candidates event, to imply that the two men were trying to hide the contributions and had lied about it at the meeting.
    A creatively-edited video circulated on Facebook and showed both Adams and Young saying they did not receive or accept any cash donations, and that all expenditures had come out of their own pockets. But what the video did not show is that the two men almost immediately corrected their statements, saying they would accept, and had received, in-kind donations in the form of mailers.
    The video listed some of the same people who had signed the Jeff Hadfield and Jeff Scott newspaper ad (of June 6) as having paid for the video. The News Journal received a copy of the video from Tim Munns, which had been forwarded to him by sitting county commissioner Stan Summers.
    The heated race pointed out the contradiction and incompatibility of candidates’ deadlines for campaign finance disclosures on one hand, and county clerks’ deadlines for vote-by-mail on the other. According to the Utah State election website, political action committees and candidates have to file reports seven days before the primary election, which was June 19, but mail-in ballots are sent to residents no fewer than 21 days prior to the primary election day. That meant ballots were put in residents’ hands up to three weeks before final financial disclosures were required.
    The issue spurred state Rep. Lee Perry (R-Perry) to research possible solutions.
    Perry said his recommendations would include possibly increasing penalties for violations of financial disclosure deadlines, after it became clear that the PAC that contributed signs and advertising to the Adams and Young campaigns did not meet certain deadlines.
    There are no penalties for violations of those rules, which Perry saw as a problem.
    “The penalty side and seeing this PAC in Box Elder County piqued my curiosity as a legislator,” Perry said, adding that if PACs violate the laws, “there’s no penalties. There’s just nothing there.”

July 11
Christmas in July
    The news that Brigham City would be the location for filming portions of a Christmas-themed movie and that extras would be cast from among locals generated more excitement within the community than just about anything else in 2018.
    Filming locations included Idle Isle Cafe, Main Street sidewalks between Forest Street and 53 South, and the Box Elder County Clerk’s office.
   
August 1
Grouse Creek residents evacuated
    Residents of Grouse Creek were evacuated as two fires that started in Nevada—the Goose Creek fire and the China Jim fire—combined in Utah, becoming the Goose Creek fire and burning over 118,000 acres, including tens of thousands of acres of rangeland in Box Elder County.
    The fire, which would end up being the most devastating in the county, tested fire crews who were already spread thin battling several blazes: a 1,241-acre fire in the Raft River Mountains; a 745-acre fire at Monument Peak; an 80-acre fire in the Bovine Mountains; and mopping up a 1,008-acre fire in Hansel Valley.

Aug. 15
Ranchers face future after fire
    The improvised city that sprung up near Grouse Creek to house and supply crews battling the massive Goose Creek fire disappeared as crews moved on to battle other blazes in Utah and beyond, but residents were left to clean up and find a way to move forward without much of the grazing land they depended on for their livelihoods.
    “It was crazy during the fire but now it is just devastating and there are so many long-term consequences people don’t realize,” reported Heather Warr, who, along with her husband, Kelly, runs the Warr Land and Livestock Ranch.
    None of the Warr’s cattle perished in the fire, but the land where the herd grazed would not be usable for the next two or three years needed for regrowth after the BLM reseeded the land.
 
Aug. 22
Fire numbers normal, but acreage way up
    The number of separate fires in Box Elder County in 2018 was about normal, reported Fire Marshal Corey Barton in a county commission meeting, but the amount of acreage that was consumed by fires was “way up.”
    Barton reported that approximately 99,216 acres were burned in Box Elder County.    Following Barton’s report, seven more blazes sprung up in the county, bringing the total to 80.

September 5
Washakie owners charged with tax fraud
    Two owners of Washakie Renewable Energy in Plymouth, brothers Isaiah and Jacob Kingston, were charged with defrauding the federal government out of $511 million in refundable fuel-tax credits.
    The brothers faced several felony charges of larceny, theft, bank fraud and money laundering, as well as lesser charges of aiding and abetting the same.
   
Driest year in a decade
    Weather records indicated that 2018 was the driest year in a decade, and about the 13th driest since records have been taken. From June 1 to Aug. 31, measurable precipitation in Brigham City was just 0.08 inches, the lowest measured at the site at 900 North 800 East since it went online in 2009.

September 12
Housing crisis
    A study done at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute showed that a shortage of affordable housing could threaten the state’s economic prosperity, and according to local officials, Box Elder County was not immune.
    For the first time in 40 years, Utah had more households needing housing than available units, the research showed.  The shortage was the result of the state’s booming economy and nation-leading job growth.
  
September 26
Brigham Crossing moves forward
    A resurgent economy that boosted most local economies and resulted in budget amendments in many cities due to better-than-expected sales-tax revenue also led to the resurrection of a proposal for a commercial and housing development on 1100 South in Brigham City.
    The 72.25-acre development, once called Upland Square, now called Brigham Crossing, had been in the planning stage for several years. The previous project owners had entered into a agreement with the city in 2009 that had not been acted upon following the Great Recession.

Oct. 10
BC man finally wins  giant pumpkin contest
    After 14 years of growing giant gourds with the goal of having the biggest in the state, Brigham City resident Ross Bowman finally succeeded, winning Utah’s Giant Pumpkin Competition with an entry weighing in at 1,170 pounds.
    Bowman prides himself on being ranked second in the “Heavy Hitters Club,” an elite group among giant pumpkin growers that have competed using certified scales with at least five pumpkins. The weights of their heaviest five pumpkins are averaged, and that number becomes their “heavy hitter” score and determines their rank. Bowman’s average is 1,060 pounds.

Oct. 17
Bees win first football region title since 2004
    Following a season of white-knuckle finishes and multiple overtime wins, the Box Elder High School football team won a share of the Region 5 football championship, its first region title since 2004.
    The Bees won the title with a nail-biter over Woods Cross that required a roughing the kicker penalty on Woods Cross, an injured Parker Buchanan hitting critical passes to keep a key drive alive and score the game-winning touchdown, and a missed extra point by Woods Cross to give Box Elder a 35-34 win.

Oct. 31
Community rallies for assistant police chief
    The community again rallied in the face of tragedy after Brigham City Assistant Chief of Police Dennis Vincent suffered a stroke from a ruptured brain aneurysm and underwent surgery to correct the damage.
    Vincent died at University of Utah Medical Center on Friday, Oct. 26. Doctors told the family that bleeding had caused irreversible damage to Vincent’s brain, and the family made the heartbreaking decision to turn off life support. An avid supporter of organ donation, Vincent was then rushed into surgery again for doctors to harvest organs that could provide others with the opportunity for life.
  
Volleyball team wins region title
    What the Box Elder High School volleyball team could not accomplish in 2017 despite winning the state championship, they were able to realize this year when they hoisted the Region 5 trophy following a straight-set sweep of Roy in their final regular season match.

Nov. 7
Businesses win chance to sell on HSN
    Three Box Elder County business owners earned a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sell their products on the Home Shopping Network when an event was held in Brigham City to locate potential products for the network.
    Lindsay Reay’s company, Hwy 102 Soap Emporium in Garland, was selected for her products, including bath bombs, bath salts, bath melts and lip balms. The business fills orders out of a studio apartment she rents, with 99 percent of orders coming from online.
    Anna Crockett, owner of Crockett Gear, was selected for her collection of word-printed dish towels. The towels are not screen-printed, but the graphics are heat-pressed right into the fabric for brightness and durability.
    Crockett said she’s been in business since 2005 cutting and sewing for furniture and apparel shops, but that she started this new line of word-printed dish towels in 2015.
    Tina Peacock, of Brigham City, was selected for her solid shampoo and conditioner bars under the business name of This Old Peacock House. One bar of either shampoo or conditioner takes the place of three bottles of the liquid products.
    Peacock said there are no fillers like wax or alcohol in the bars, which contain natural ingredients like shay butter, coconut oil and argan oil.
    The selected business owners were go through workshops training them to go in front of the camera before launching their products on the network.

Nov. 28
More charges for Kingston brothers
    Federal prosecutors filed additional charges against brothers Jacob and Isaiah Kingston, along with their associate Lev Dermen.
    The original indictment charged the trio with nine counts of filing false tax returns and five counts of money laundering.
    The new grand-jury indictment increased the false-return charges to 14 counts, and money laundering charges to 10 counts.
    According to prosecutors, the brothers used fraudulent tax documents from their Box Elder County business, formerly known as Washakie Renewable Energy, in Plymouth, to claim renewable fuel credits for producing biodiesel fuel that was never actually manufactured or sold.

Dec. 12
Suit from trooper’s death dismissed
    A judge dismissed a lawsuit brought against Rocky Mountain Power by the widow of Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Eric Ellsworth, seeking damages for his death in Nov. 2016. Through the lawsuit, Janica Ellsworth sought recompense for medical and funeral expenses; lost wages; pain and suffering; loss of care and comfort; and punitive damages.