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Show Oil TOWNS SECTION 0 METRO EDITOR MONDAY, MAY 21. 2007 Joe Pyrah MONDAY CLOSE-U- P Of planes and remotes STORY AND PHOTOS BY COBB CONDIE Whether family, friends or strangers, one thing binds us together: Utah Valley is home. Here is the story of some of us, Utah Valley Aeromodelers. A radio controlled airplane enthusiast flies his plane with his controller. Saratoga Springs Police Chief Gary Hicken puts some finishing touches on his new radio controlled airplane at the Utah Valley Aeromodelers flying field in Saratoga Springs A" Many of the smaller planes are electric, but others run on high octane gasoline and glow fuel (nitro methane). The enthusiasts are as varied as the I others because planes. You'U see preteens, retirees, I and middle-age- d nobody knows family men all coming together on the weekabout the hobby in the first place. This end to share their hobby. may or may not be the case for the Utah Valley Aeromodelers, but one Several of the members of the club have turned their thing is for certain, this hobby gets in ground-boun- d hobby into a job that your blood. Since 1969, there has existed a club fights the war on terror. Alan Sanders, g in Utah Valley where enthusiasts have a plane enthusiast and Utah come together from all walks of life Valley Aeromodelers member, used his with one common interest: building and radio controlled skills for a year in Iraq model airplanes. flying flying Unmanned Airiel Vehicles. Many of the planes have changed Admitting that working overseas for over the past four decades, but the pas- a year was a bit long, Sanders said he will be returning for another stint, but sion remains for those hobbyists. If you head out to the "modelport" this time for three months. located just north of Utah Lake by the There is no prerequisite to coming out the club. It won't even cost you Jordan River in Saratoga Springs, you'll see a variety of models. Some are until they get you hooked and get your bigger than a person, others could fit in own plane. Everyone is welcome to a backpack. Even the fuel depends on the plane. See PLANES, D3 aybe it is pos- sihle that somfi hobbies are more popular than "k high-flyin- g life-lon- radio-controll- radio controlled airplane takes off on the runway at the modelport in Saratoga Springs on the Jordan River Parkway Trail The Utah Valley Aeromodelers use the area maintained by Utah County. A Jordan trail crossing to get a tunnel Families survive SUV DAILY HERALD Cathy Allred "It's getting tight because of the escalation of construction prices," said Scott NORTH COUNTY STAFF Hendricks of RB&G Engineering, a comWork will begin next year on a tunnel pany working on the project. With an culvert and 69 feet of beneath Lehi Main Street that will give Jordan River asphalt, UDOT staff anticipated the projpeople using the nine-mil- e ect would be done on one side of the road Parkway Trail a safer way to cross. at a time and completed within four to "This is a good thing," said Geoff five months. One lane of traffic in each Dupaix, spokesman for the Utah Departdirection would remain open, as the road ment of Transportation. "It's a crazy is now, but the lanes would be shifted to situation for a user to cross on such a the side of construction. busy highway? The other option is for the entire road The tunnel under Main Street, which is also State Road 73, will cost about $ 1 mil- to be shut down and traffic diverted either over the bridge near Inlet Park' lion to build, but it is one UDOT project the agency has funding for. Those funds are quickry shrinking, however. See TUNNEL, D3 88-fo- t Five occupants of a sports utility vehicle are lucky to be alive after their Ford Bronco rolled several times down a steep embankment in the foothills south of Saratoga Springs on Saturday morning. Sgt. Spencer Cannon of the Utah County Sheriff's Office said members of two Pleasant Grove families were attending an outing with their Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints ward near Lake Mountain just before noon when the accident happened just south of Saratoga Springs. off-ro- ad "They were starting to climb down when somehow they lost control and rolled 200 feet," he said. Though the vehicle was totaled in the wreck, none of the injuries to the five occupants two adults and three juveniles appeared life threatening. Cannon said the majority of the injuries appeared to be scrapes and abrasions; no one was ejected. Two of the juveniles were flown by medical helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, one of the adults also was taken by medical helicopter to Utah Valley Regional r accident Medical Center in Provo, and the remaining adult and juvenile were driven by ambulance to American Fork Hospital. "The one good thing is they all had seat belts on, so the injuries were minimal," Cannon said, adding that there was very similar accident in the same place about nine and a half weeks ago. He said the terrain where Saturday's accident took place is very steep nearly a angle. "It's a popular place for people to go but very treacherous, and we're afraid we're going to get some fatalities if people aren't more careful," Cannon said. |