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CEDAR CITY — Searchers located and rescued two snowmobilers in the Yankee Meadows area of Parowan Canyon early Tuesday morning.

Iron County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Humphries told Cedar City News that emergency dispatchers received a call at 11:49 p.m. Monday that reported the pair as overdue.

“They did find a vehicle on SR-143,” Humphries said. “That’s how they knew the approximate area they were in.”

The Iron County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue snowmobile team was deployed to help search the trails in the area. Meanwhile, the Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter provided assistance from the air, and a Garfield County Sheriff’s deputy checked a cabin near the location where a cellphone belonging to one of the individuals had last pinged.

“Once they found their truck, it took about an hour to find them,” Humphries said. “They just went up to that area and located them fairly quickly. They had flashlights, so they were flashing their lights when they could see the four-wheelers coming slowly.”

Shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday, rescuers were able to reach the man and woman, who had been huddled together next to a fire they had built. Both were unharmed.

“They took fuel from one of the sleds, got some tree limbs and started a fire,” Humphries said. “They were well-prepared, having thermal blankets and proper supplies, which was very impressive. So they were able to sustain and be out there in the dark and the cold until we were able to locate them.”

Humphries said the pair also did the right thing by staying together after one of their snowmobiles had gotten stuck.

“They were smart, because lots of times people separate,” he said. “Staying together is key and they did do that.

“The one disadvantage is they just didn’t tell people where they were going.”

For those who plan to go snowmobiling, it’s best to let others know what trails you plan to be on and when you plan to return, Humphries added.

This rule of thumb reminder also applies to those going cross-country skiing or snowshoeing or engaging in similar winter recreation activities.

“It’s always best to let somebody know what trail you’re going to be on, so that when you’re overdue we can narrow it down quicker,” Humphries said.

“It’s a success story because they were prepared,” he added. “It could have been very bad if they hadn’t been.”

This report is based on information provided by law enforcement and may not contain the full scope of findings.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

PAROWAN – Business owners and city officials on Monday broke ground on a new RV park in Parowan that is projected to eventually provide space for more than 130 recreational vehicles.

The new park, called Painted Hills RV Resort, is being built on a nearly 30-acre parcel located at 68 S. 1200 West, just south of Interstate 15.

Monday afternoon, owners KC Jones, Scott Fotheringham and Seth Fotheringham were joined by Parowan Mayor Mollie Halterman in turning over the ceremonial first shovelfuls of dirt, even as several large pieces of earth-moving equipment rumbled in the background.

“A few days ago, they were ready to go, so I told them not to hold back,” Jones said of the construction workers.

“They’ve been at it for a little over a week,” Jones told Cedar City News after the brief groundbreaking ceremony. “We had to do our connections out here for power and water and bring them in under the road (200 South).”

Jones said they’re hoping to have the first phase of the project completed by this coming August.

“We really do need to try to get it open to get some good months in the summer and fall before winter hits,” he said. “We’ll be open year-round, but it obviously gets a lot slower during the winter.”

Jones then outlined a brief summary of the project’s two phases.

“The first phase will have 68 RV pads,” he said. “Phase 2 will include more amenities, like a pool. We’re going to do cabins, a pavilion for family reunions, pickleball courts … we’re going to build those in Phase 2. And then depending upon how Phase 1 goes, it’ll dictate how many other RV pads we do, but we could double the number of the RV pads.”

Each of the pad spaces will be fully equipped with water and electrical hookups, WiFi access and a sewer dump, Jones added.

“It’s just going to be state of the art,” he said. “It’s going to be what people need when they’re out and about.”

Halterman said she is excited about the positive economic impact the RV tourists are expected to bring to the town.

“It’s a huge deal for Parowan,” the mayor said.

“They’ll have this ready for the fair, probably, which is really good,” Halterman added, referring to the Iron County Fair that is hosted by Parowan annually on Labor Day weekend. “I’m really excited.”

Scott Fotheringham said that after spending time repeatedly driving up and down Utah along Interstate 15 looking for the right place to put an RV park, he and his family felt like Parowan was the ideal spot.

“I just felt like this was it,” he said. “This is where it had to be.”

Fotheringham also thanked Parowan City officials for their support, particularly as they worked through the annexation process.

“I feel that we’re going to be a big asset to Parowan and help them,” he said.

Both Jones and Fotheringham cited the location’s proximity to a variety of recreational opportunities.

Jones said he’s had many of his customers who own RVs tell him there was never anywhere good to stay between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City that was close to all the state’s national parks.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “This is just the ideal, perfect spot.”

Added Fotheringham: “One day, I was sitting right here, and I drove from here to Zion National Park. It took an hour and 15 minutes. And it took an hour and five minutes to get to Bryce.”

Following the ceremony, as the 30 or so attendees enjoyed refreshments consisting of sweet rolls slathered with icing, the owners again expressed their appreciation for the support they’ve received.

“I feel like we have good support from the city and that we can help support the city as well,” Fotheringham said.

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After sitting empty and dormant for nearly three years, Parowan's city pool has undergone a major renovation over the past several weeks, thanks to the help of many volunteers and businesses. It is scheduled to reopen to the public on July 4, 2023. Reported by Jeff Richards, with some photos and footage used with permission from Mayor Mollie Halterman.

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PAROWAN — Parowan’s city pool is about to make a splash of a comeback.

After sitting dormant for nearly three years, the 60-year-old facility is being revitalized just in time for the summer season.

The pool will be open to the public on Tuesday afternoon, July 4, from 2-5 p.m. for an Independence Day drenched in fun, according to Parowan Mayor Mollie Halterman.

After several weeks of labor, much of it completed by volunteers, the pool was filled and water successfully tested on Friday.

Halterman said the facility will be officially broken in with a “first plunge” during a volunteer appreciation party on Monday, the night before it officially reopens to the public.

This weekend, as volunteers were performing finishing touches in various areas, Halterman spoke to Cedar City News about the project, which she likened to a “good old fashioned community barn-raising — in the 21st century.”

“We don’t have the final numbers yet, but we were able to do this amazing renovation and remodel that would have cost $1.5 million for under our $300,000 budget,” Halterman said. Much credit goes to the volunteer efforts and donations from residents and businesses in Parowan and supporters in nearby communities.

“The last time the pool was open was the summer of 2020,” she added. “If it had been closed for a third year, the empty pool and equipment sitting here dry, and in the elements, would have degraded to a point that it would have been a total loss and it would have needed to be demolished.”

“The only way there was a chance to save the Parowan Pool was if it happened this summer,” Halterman noted. “It was a fight that was worth fighting for the community.”

Halterman also spoke of the many contributions from various sources, including bake sales, car washes and online donations through the city’s website.

Added Halterman:

The historic Parowan Pool and what it represents is far more than just a city pool. It is a show of ‘community before self’ in the past and now completely revitalized by the same spirit in the present, with an eye toward the future of the next generations. Reopening this pool is a unifying triumph for the residents of Parowan.

Halterman had previously updated Cedar City News about the progress of the pool project during Parowan’s Old Rock Church Days, which brought hundreds of people to town the weekend of June 16-17 at the site of the former church building that now serves as the home of the local Daughters of Utah Pioneer Museum.

That two-day event served as a fundraiser to help preserve the 150-year-old church building, considered one of the best-preserved examples of LDS pioneer architecture from that era.

Halterman said the inaugural Old Rock Church Days was such a success that they are planning on an annual event. Donations to the building preservation fund, including “buying a brick,” are still being accepted and may be made through a form on the city’s website.

Halterman noted that when the recent renovation work began on the city pool, workers found that the facility was still in surprisingly good condition, considering the age.

“Just like the Old Rock Church, it was built really well,” the mayor said. “We’ve kept calling it the old gal, our 60-year-old gal.”

“Even at the level of sacrifice for add to reopen this pool, it’s nothing compared to what it took to build it originally,” she added. “It was done right. You can’t do stuff like that anymore, so if you can preserve it, you preserve it.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

PAROWAN — Parowan’s City Pool opened to the public on the afternoon of the Fourth of July.

Several teenage lifeguards were the first ones in the water, jumping in together during a volunteer appreciation night on Monday night, even as other volunteers were still painting doors and performing other task in preparation for the reopening.

As previously reported, many community members and businesses stepped up to make the renovation project happen within a matter of weeks, at a fraction of the originally projected cost.

“It brought tears to people’s eyes as they entered the facility again for the first time,” said Parowan Mayor Mollie Halterman, who expressed her appreciation for the efforts and dedication of the city’s staff and public works department employees. Thousands of hours and monetary donations were contributed by local businesses and volunteers that helped make the “generationally impactful” project possible, she said.

Halterman showed Cedar City News several photos and video clips on her phone documenting the progress of the project.

“These before and after pictures are less than five weeks apart, with one week lost to the weather,” she noted, calling the project “the impossible made possible.”

“Hard work and a community uniting in effort made a miracle happen at the Parowan Pool,” she said. “There is no doubt we had divine help. The miracles came in the form of community members who just kept showing up with what we needed at just the right time.”

“Our community came together with solutions, generosity and heroic efforts by too many to list, to rebuild our pool,” Halterman added.

Pool manager Kirsten McCoy expressed her excitement about the facility opening for the first time in three years.

“I’m really excited to be part of this project and to have such an amazing group of lifeguards to be able to open the pool up again,” she said. “It’s taken a lot of time and effort and work.”

Added lifeguard Sydni Lauer: “I’m super excited to have the opportunity to have a pool in Parowan and to work here and serve the community.”

Lauer was Parowan High School’s lone swimmer last season, qualifying for state as a freshman in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle events.

McCoy said the pool will have limited opening hours (afternoons from 2-6 p.m.) until its scheduled grand opening on July 24. Several additional lifeguards are in the process of being hired and trained.

“By Pioneer Day, we will be completely staffed,” she said, adding that the pool’s operating season is expected to run until mid-September.

Daily admission fee is $4 (children 3 and under are free, but must wear a swim diaper). Punch passes and group discounts are available, as are facility rentals. For the full fee schedule, click here.

Parowan City Pool is located at 89 S. 300 East, Parowan.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

PAROWAN — Iron County resident Dwight Hargett knows a few things about resilience. In the U.S. Marine Corps, he completed a tour in Afghanistan and performed special ops training from 2010-14.

When he returned home, he experienced something many veterans go through but seldom talk about. He missed the routine, he missed rank and order, the camaraderie and he felt alone.

Settling down in Southern Utah with his family, the help of fellow veterans and martial arts saved the former soldier. Hargett operates Patriot Jiu-Jitsu in downtown Parowan training residents both young and old the skills he learned in martial arts and the military.

Born in Thailand, Hargett’s military parents traveled frequently and he spent time in a private boarding school. He told St. George News that his time spent there instilled a desire to protect children.

In Thailand and Vietnam, Hargett played professional basketball and soccer — and even modeled — before joining the military. In his free time, he practiced and competed professionally in jiu-jitsu. Coming home from his military service with the Marines was easy. But something was missing.

“For the first couple of years after I got out of the Marine Corps, I was sure there was no problem,” he said. “After changing several jobs and changing several girlfriends, I started to realize that I did have a problem.”

After a meeting with veteran Ralph Cordova, who served three tours in Iraq and now helps veterans returning home to cope with anxiety and stress, Hargett met his wife and started a family. He knew he wanted to open a martial arts business, the question was where?

In his boldest move, he decided to open a business in 2021, one year into the coronavirus pandemic when many businesses were closing. When looking at options, the Hargetts fell in love with an older house in Parowan and opened Patriot Jiu-Jitsu on Main Street.

What started as a business to teach self-defense and situational awareness to Iron County residents is turning into a different mission. One where local veterans use the skills they learned to train youth how to survive, a sense of camaraderie, a mission — routine.

“I think that is what causes the depression,” Hargett said. “They want someone to reach out and be like, ‘Hey man are you doing OK?’”

Hargett has partnered with the owner of another veteran-owned business, Brave Lizard Tactical in Beryl, holding summer and winter youth preparedness camps with a few other veterans.

Just this month the youth experienced a lesson in accountability — Marine-style. Hargett said while out on a 2.5-mile hike that a summer rainstorm left a few of the hikers unprepared for the temperature change.

“I teach accountability, both for the student and for the team,” he said. “I had extra rain gear, but it eventually started getting cold and some of the kids were shivering, lips starting to turn blue. We aborted the mission as a team and headed back to the gym to warm up.”

Classes are held two days a week, one for classroom and one for field day. The students start the day by checking their weather alerts, checking their water supplies and food rations, then setting out for hikes, learning about edible plants, building shelters and assisting one another while doing so.

“I think that is what is missing from this world, people are so distracted by doing things … making TikTok videos,” Hargett said.

While most of his clients are women and children, he teaches martial arts to just about anyone. He said some children grow up witnessing activities and become bullies without realizing their behavior is wrong.

“When someone is having an issue, there is something that is causing it,” Hargett said. “It’s usually not that hard to identify if you have somebody asking the right questions.”

In addition to teaching self-defense, Hargett gives advice about healing pain without medication, the downside of carbonated beverages and how eating a proper diet can do more for one’s mental health than most people know.

In addition to teaching martial arts moves, he also teaches situational awareness, such as how to spot unsafe situations before something bad occurs. Or how to stay calm and focused in the event of an emergency.

“Come in and talk to me,” Hargett said. “I will help anybody, veteran or not, old or young — I like to help. I have always wanted to help those in the community I live in.”

For more information on martial arts training or youth preparedness camps, or to volunteer to teach skills, follow Patriot Jiu-Jitsu on Facebook, call Hargett at 435-294-0600 or visit parowanjiujitsu.com.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.