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Show Bike races to continue at flattened BMX track By RANDY DANIELS Record Reporter CEDAR CITY - The Cedar City Kiwanis BMX bicycle racing track located on 400 South was bulldozed under at 8:30 a.m. April 30, causing about $10,000 in damage. Twelve hours later, the race track was reconstructed, through donated equipment and labor, and a race was conducted the next day. Frank Stobbe, who lives across the street from the race track, contacted Western Rock to have the track plowed under. Early Friday morning, Western Rock had a bulldozer on the site leveling out the different mounds of dirt which formed the various bumps and turns for the bicycle course. Stobbe said that this ends a year of trying to get the track removed. "I zoomed it out just like the Kiwanis zoomed it in," he added. Tom Brough, Western Rock, told the Record that a private individual had contacted them to do some work. He said that the individual told him that there was no problem with having the track flattened, and that he couldn't get any one to take action on it so he was personally taking responsibilty to see that the track was leveled. "1 had no idea of what we were getting into. We went in on private property unknowingly and flattened the track," said Brough, who added that he really feels bad for the kids. Western Rock also donated much of the labor and equipment to rebuild the track. Kiwanis Club upset Kiwanis President John Westwood said that the club members were really upset, especially since a race was scheduled for the following day. "We are not going to stand back and let this type of thing happen. Who ever instigated this action will pay for it. It's our property, but it's owned by the college." he said as he explained that they had contacted their attorney about the possibility of getting a complaint of destruction of property. According to Cedar City Manager Joe Melting, the City has contacted its attorney, Robert Braithwaite, and has been advised by him that the issue is really between the landowner (Southern Utah State College) and the person who took the action. As for the City, Melling says that it will take no action until it finds out exactly what is being done about it. SUSC President Gerald R. Sherratt was out of town on Friday and wasn't informed about the situation until Monday morning. He told the Record that before the school makes any decision it needs to further investigate what happened and talk to its laywer. "I really don't know all the details, but I think that before the man took this type of action he would have contacted me since I'm the new president. I want to see the right thing done, and before I make any decisions I want to know the possible alternatives and just exactly what happened because nobody had mentioned anything to me until I walked in here this morning," Sherratt said Monday morning. Work to reconstruct track Shortly after the track had been leveled, concerned citizens, members of the BMX Association, and personnel and equipment from Western Products began to work together to get the track reconstructed. "If they can put this track back together in one afternoon, why couldn't they have just constructed it on the new site? Why didn't they just put it where they have authorization to build a bicycle racing track out at the baseball parks?" questioned Stobbe. Stobbe has several complaints In an interview, Stobbe explained that he had a few major gripes concerning con-cerning the track. First, he said that the bicycle racing track is in an area which isn't zoned for that particular use. Secondly, he said that the Kiwanis didn't go through the proper application procedures to have the track built, and that the college owns the property on which the track is located, and as far as he is able to research, no written permission was ever received from the school. "The Kiwanis said that they went through the neighborhood and obtained the permission from every person to construct the track. I personally went to all of my neighbors and those people that live around the track, and not one of them was ever contacted by the Kiwanis," he said. Stobbe indicated that the straw that broke the camel's back had just recently occured. He said that two kids that had been racing were getting a drink of water from a outside tap on Stobbe's property. He told the kids to get off his property and chased them away. However, the youths left the water on, and he didn't notice it until it had seeped into a basement bedroom and destroyed the room's carpeting. "This isn't the first time I've suffered a loss from the racers," Stobbe said. "I've had trash and dirt clods thrown on Upset BMX bikers labor diligently to replace racing track that was bulldozed the day before the race. The track was ready to race on the following day thanks to volunteers and equipment donated largely by local citizens and companies. Bikes continued from page A 1 my tennis court and once there was a pair of bicycle handlebars lying in the middle of the court. "The parents say their kids wouldn't do any of those things, and that I couldn't prove it was the racers which were vandalizing my property. Who else would throw handlebars on my court?" questioned Stobbe. Was there an agreement? According to Stobbe, he had an agreement with the Kiwanis that if his property continued to be vandalized, then the track would be plowed under, but when he approached them about the continuing problems, he says the Kiwanis ignored him and denied that their boys could even be involved with the vandalism. In addition, Stobbe said he was willing to work with the Kiwanis and that he had even been to the City Council to get land approved in some other area to conduct the races. The Council approved the land by the city baseball parks to conduct bicycle races, and Kiwanis promised that they wouldn't conduct another race at the track on 400 South and would plow it under in the spring. When he approached the Kiwanis president about the track and its continued use, "he said, 'Frank, I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to hear about your problems. I never promised you that,' and to tell you the truth, I don't think they would ever move this track." , Receives a bomb threat Stobbe also said that over the weekend he received a bomb threat, which said that if he was the man responsible for the track, he had better watch it. During the interview, Stobbe produced a copy of a Dec. 3, 1981 letter written by City Building Inspector Robert C. Behunin to Mayor Jack Sawyers which stated the BMX bicycle track does not conform to the comprehensive com-prehensive zoning plan of the R-3 zone, and proper clearance and permits were not obtained through the Building Department of the City. "The Building Department feels that this facility does not fit into the objectives ob-jectives and characteristics of a residential zone and, therefore, should not be allowed to continue operation in the present location." Stobbe agreed, in part of negotiation with SUSC, that the Kiwanis could rebuild the track if the Kiwanis promised in writing that the track would be leveled by July 1. |