Latest news with #Richfield
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Fears grow as Utah city set to transform into trail tourism hotspot
Locals in a charming Utah city fear it is set to transform into the next hot spot for trail tourism after becoming the latest magnet for thrill seekers. While many are hailing a possible economic boom for the town of Richfield, residents are also concerned that it could go the way of Moab, a trail tourism city which now welcomes five million visitors each year. Richfield is located in Sevier County, which has boomed since it was declared 'Utah's Trail Country' five years ago in an effort to draw in tourists. Their decades-old off-road and newer mountain bike trails have brought in swamps of visitors to their hotels almost every summer weekend. But with a population of just 8,000 people, locals are worried that the influx of visitors will change their small town for the worse. 'Selfishly, I don't want to happen here what's been happening in Moab because it's just become crazy,' Richfield native Tyler Jorgensen told The Salt Lake Tribune. 'It's really an amazing territory out here, so the unselfish part [of me] wants to share this with the world,' he continued. 'Let's keep it intimate. Keep it small. Let's not get crazy.' Moab endured a surge of tourists seeking its famous Slickrock Bike Trail and plenty of offerings for adventure enthusiasts, as well as views of its canyons and red rock formations. The boom has sent house prices soaring to make Moab one of the most expensive places to buy a home in the state. The median listing price for a home in the city was $584,500 in June, per the Utah Association of Realtors. One family man, who grew up in Moab, said that the overcrowding and a lack of affordability eventually drew him to Richfield. 'I was in Moab for a long time, and I always thought, "Man, when I retire, it's gonna be Moab,"' 37-year-old Tyson Curtis told the outlet. 'Now there's just no way I could ever afford to live there. And it's not even the same city as it was when I went to school there and graduated and moved back there for a couple years.' Curtis said, however, that when you leave Moab, it feels like travelling back in time. 'You come to a spot like this, you're like, "This is Moab again." With the Paiute Trail, with 2,000 miles, there will always be a spot that you'll still have this solitude and this privacy in nature.' But for Richfield, its proximity to biking trails threatens locals with a future similar to Moab's overcrowded and expensive lifestyle. House prices rose by almost 40 percent in the year to June 2024 to a median listing price of $400,000, per Redfin. Carson DeMille and his friends first constructed a mountain biking trail network as a way to bring business into the town, but primarily to entertain themselves. 'We just built what we liked, what we wanted,' DeMille said. 'It was a selfish endeavor. I guess it just worked out.' Utah is already renowned for the fastest-growing youth mountain bike league in the country, the Tribune reported. Richfield has already had a taste of what it could be like if the city was overrun by tourists. DeMille and a group of volunteers built the course 20 miles east of Richfield, dubbed the Glenwood Hills course, which held its first National Interscholastic Cycling Association race in 2018. The event was a 'pretty eye-opening experience' for DeMille, the city and the county after more than a thousand school-age racers arrived and families took over local restaurants and hotels. 'We kind of had to start out with volunteer efforts to showcase what the possibilities were,' DeMille continued. 'And then from there, the city and the county were great partners. We didn't have to try very hard to convince them to put some investment into it.' By 2021, state and local backing poured $800,000 into a 38-mile cross-country network of trails. One was even named as one of the five best mountain biking trails in Utah, known as the Spinal Tap, which consists of three parts and spans 18 miles long. Its reputation has continued to attract more riders, reaching around 150 per day — three times the amount it used to attract per week. Every year, the course hosts one or two NICA races as well as others, such as the Intermountain Cup cross-country circuit, which brings around 500 to 700 bikers and their families, the circuit's business developer Chris Spragg told the Tribune. The trail's popularity has been reflected within the small town's growing hotel revenue, which increased by 31.5% from 2019 to 2023. 'I do really think that, as they develop this,' biker Dave Gilbert told the outlet. 'It's going to drive more of the economy here.' Yet, this is exactly the fear of those who have witnessed the boom in Moab. 'That's probably one of the most vocal concerns of people's, is we're opening Pandora's box to crazy growth and issues like Moab has,' DeMille said. 'I'd be naïve to say there probably aren't going to be some growing pains. There have been some growing pains with more people.' However, DeMille points out some natural character differences between Richfield and Moab that may save their small town from changing too much. 'Moab has two national parks, the Colorado River. They have mountains of slick rock. They have Jeeping. They have thousands of miles of mountain biking trails,' he said. 'And maybe, you know, we could try our darndest and never become Moab if we wanted to.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Gorgeous rural town where locals FEAR becoming the next Moab
Locals in a charming, Utah city fear it is set to transform into the next hot spot for trail tourism after becoming the latest magnet for thrill seekers. While many are hailing a possible economic boom for the town of Richfield, residents are also concerned that it could go the way of Moab, a trail tourism city which now welcomes five million visitors each year. Richfield is located in Sevier County which has boomed since it was declared 'Utah's Trail Country' five years ago in an effort to draw in tourists. Their decades old off-road and newer mountain bike trails has brought in swamps of visitors in their hotels almost every summer weekend. But with a population of just 8,000 people, locals are worried that the influx of visitors will change their small town for the worse. 'Selfishly, I don't want to happen here what's been happening in Moab because it's just become crazy,' Richfield native Tyler Jorgensen told The Salt Lake Tribune. 'It's really an amazing territory out here, so the unselfish part [of me] wants to share this with the world,' he continued. 'Let's keep it intimate. Keep it small. Let's not get crazy.' Moab endured a surge of tourists seeking its famous Slickrock Bike Trail and plenty of offerings for adventure enthusiasts, as well as views of its canyons and red rock formations. The boom has sent house prices soaring to make Moab one of the most expensive places to buy a home in the state. The median listing price for a home in the city was $584,500 in June, per the Utah Association of Realtors. One family man, who grew up in Moab, said that the overcrowding and a lack of affordability eventually drew him to Richfield. 'I was in Moab for a long time, and I always thought, "Man, when I retire, it's gonna be Moab,"' 37-year-old Tyson Curtis told the outlet. 'Now there's just no way I could ever afford to live there. And it's not even the same city as it was when I went to school there and graduated and moved back there for a couple years.' Curtis said, however, that when you leave Moab, it feels like travelling back in time. 'You come to a spot like this, you're like, "This is Moab again." With the Paiute Trail, with 2,000 miles, there will always be a spot that you'll still have this solitude and this privacy in nature.' But for Richfield, its proximity to biking trails threaten locals with a future similar to Moab's overcrowded and expensive lifestyle. House prices rose by almost 40 percent in the year to June 2024 to a median listing price of $400,000, per Redfin. Carson DeMille and his friends first constructed a mountain biking trail network as a way to bring business into the town, but primarily to entertain themselves. 'We just built what we liked, what we wanted,' DeMille said. 'It was a selfish endeavor. I guess it just worked out.' Utah is already renowned for the fastest-growing youth mountain bike league in the country, the Tribune reported. Richfield has already had a taste of what it could be like if the city was overrun by tourists. DeMille and a group of volunteers built the course 20 miles east of Richfield, dubbed the Glenwood Hills course, which held its first National Interscholastic Cycling Association race in 2018. The event was a 'pretty eye-opening experience' for DeMille, the city and the county after more than a thousand school-age racers arrived and families took over local restaurants and hotels. 'We kind of had to start out with volunteer efforts to showcase what the possibilities were,' DeMille continued. 'And then from there, the city and the county were great partners. We didn't have to try very hard to convince them to put some investment into it.' By 2021, state and local backing poured $800,000 into a 38-mile cross-country network of trails. One was even named as one of the five best mountain biking trails in Utah, known as the Spinal Tap which consists of three parts and span 18 miles long. Its reputation has continued to attract more riders, reaching around 150 per day - three times the amount it used to attract per week. Every year, the course hosts one or two NICA races as well as others, such as the Intermountain Cup cross-country circuit which brings around 500 to 700 bikers and their families, the circuits business developer Chris Spragg told the Tribune. The trails popularity has been reflected within the small town's growing hotel revenue, which increased by 31.5% from 2019 to 2023. 'I do really think that, as they develop this,' biker Dave Gilbert told the outlet. 'It's going to drive more of the economy here.' Yet, this is exactly the fears of those who have witnessed the boom in Moab. 'That's probably one of the most vocal concerns of people's, is we're opening Pandora's box to crazy growth and issues like Moab has,' DeMille said. 'I'd be naïve to say there probably aren't going to be some growing pains. There have been some growing pains with more people.' However, DeMille points out some natural character differences between Richfield and Moab that may save their small town from changing too much. 'Moab has two national parks, the Colorado River. They have mountains of slick rock. They have Jeeping. They have thousands of miles of mountain biking trails,' he said. 'And maybe, you know, we could try our darndest and never become Moab if we wanted to .'
CBS News
7 days ago
- CBS News
Richfield police capture wandering sheep after nearly mile-long chase
Law enforcement might be used to chasing criminals, but on Tuesday morning, in Richfield, Minnesota, they detained a female sheep. "I was like, 'OK, we're gonna wrangle an animal today.'" said officer Megan Miller of the Richfield Police Department. "My mouth dropped open... I was shocked." That jaw-dropping call was at 9:26 a.m. Police were requested to help shepherd a sheep near East 75th Street and 11th Avenue South, and found its owner along the way. "We pulled up alongside of him and asked, 'Are you looking for a sheep?" And then one of the neighbors was like, 'It went that way!' And we all were like, 'Sweet,' and we just took off after the sheep," said officer Nolan Monahan. That mission is now a conversation in person and online amongst Richfield residents. "I was very confused and amused," said Richfield resident Kris Hoffwomyn, who was heading to work when she saw the sheep. "I was pretty sure it wasn't a dog. When I took a closer look, it was clearly not a dog." Martin Guzman and his wife were home when they saw officers catch the sheep in their backyard, an ending to a pursuit nearly a mile away from where it began. "It seemed very strange for me the see the police outside," said Guzman. "He was out for 15 to 20 minutes. He was fast. He was panting," Miller said. "We kept saying he was running for his freedom." Police say farm animals aren't allowed in Richfield, and the owner claims it was purchased to be harvested. Chickens are allowed with a permit.
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Young woman met horrific end 'after telling man who had crush on her that she just wanted to be friends'
A young woman has met a horrific end after she told a US Army reserve who had a crush on her that she only wanted to be friends. Prosecutors have said Jose Luis Lopez Xique, 27, shot Kayli Grace Arseth, 22, in a bloody attack at her Minnesota home on June 16 after they met online. Hennepin County Attorney's Office filed one count of second-degree intentional murder against Lopez Xique on Monday. The office said messages between the suspect and victim showed that Lopez Xique was 'asking for a romantic relationship' despite 'Arseth making clear that she was only interested in friendship.' During the investigation, police uncovered a grisly bag of discarded items at the crime scene in Arseth's home located in Richfield, southern Minneapolis. It included ammunition, an empty box of gauze, disposable gloves, a pair of shoes, a hat, wipes, masking tape, and rubber gloves. An attorney for Lopez Xique said he is enlisted in the US Army Reserve, and is a US citizen who has lived in Shakopee, on the outskirts of Minnesota, most of his life. Court documents detail Arseth's final movements. She finished work at Fraser School, a pre-school where she worked as a behavioral technician for autistic children, just after 4.20pm. When she returned to her apartment nearby on Penn Avenue, she was horrified to find Lopez Xique lying in wait. He had broken in, according to court documents. A neighbor told police he heard Arseth scream 'how could you do this to me?' as the two argued. The next day, police discovered Arseth's body in the apartment amid a 'gruesome scene'. She had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Richfield Police said Arseth met the alleged killer online, and that he would purchase goods for her on shopping trips, but they did not have a romantic or sexual relationship. The department said Snapchat messages showed Arseth messaged Lopez Xique while she was at work asking him for help with her motorcycle on the day she died. But later that afternoon, she added: 'I don't have enough mental capacity for any type of relationship right now'. Lopez Xique replied telling her to 'have fun' that evening. Arseth was a graduate of Wayzata High School, where she was on the swim team and track and field team. Her family said she was hoping to study developmental psychology at the University of Minnesota. 'Kayli made a positive difference in many people's lives and will be deeply missed,' her obituary reads. 'She always told people, 'well, you're stuck with me.' The irony is that she is now stuck in our hearts forever.' 'This was a terrible instance of extreme, targeted violence that took Kayli from her loved ones,' Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. 'My thoughts are with her family during this extraordinarily difficult period. Our office will prosecute Mr. Lopez Xique to protect our community and hold him accountable for his actions.' Her loved ones set up a GoFundMe in the wake of her death.
CBS News
07-07-2025
- CBS News
Young woman found dead inside Richfield apartment rejected suspect's romantic advances, charges say
Prosecutors on Monday charged a 27-year-old man in the murder of a young woman found dead inside her Richfield, Minnesota, apartment last month. The man from Shakopee, Minnesota, is facing one count of second-degree intentional murder, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County. The charges come after Richfield police were asked to conduct a welfare check at an apartment building on the 7700 block of Penn Avenue South on June 17. There, they found 22-year-old Kayli Arseth had been shot and killed. Officers noted signs of struggle. The criminal complaint says Arseth had worked until 4:26 p.m. on June 16 before traveling a couple of miles home. She had plans for a friend to pick her up from her apartment around 5 p.m., but the friend could not get a response from Arseth despite multiple texts and knocking on the door. The friend left after about half an hour and notified Arseth's dad of what happened. Kayli Arseth GoFundMe Charges say investigators learned that Arseth had recently met a man online, identified as the defendant, and that they had been spending time together, but the relationship was not considered sexual or romantic. However, investigators say a review of messages shows that in the days leading up to Arseth's death, the suspect was asking for a romantic relationship, to which Arseth told him she was only interested in friendship. On June 16, Arseth repeatedly told the suspect she was not ready for a relationship, charging documents show. The defendant asked if they could discuss the topic later and told her to have fun with her friends. Charges say phone records show the suspect was at Arseth's apartment building less than an hour after their conversation began and that he was there when he sent his last message to her. The defendant left Arseth's apartment around 4:49 p.m., according to location analysis. Thirty minutes later, his phone pinged in west Bloomington and stayed there for several minutes. There, officers located two bags containing discarded items, including 16 rounds of 9mm ammunition, charges allege. When authorities arrived to execute a search warrant at his residence on Thursday, the suspect took off in his car, but officers boxed him in a short distance away and took him into custody. He did not ask why he was arrested and told officers to "hurry it up," according to the criminal complaint. During the search, investigators reportedly recovered a Glock 9mm firearm, a red dot sight adapter plate and a "Tactical Media Acquisition Kit" containing camera accessories, hard drives and flash drives, according to the complaint. Charges say after the suspect was arrested and advised of his Miranda rights, he told investigators he wasn't going to answer any questions but if they kept talking, maybe "something will slip." During a search of his body, the defendant had several scratches on his chest and puncture wounds to his forearm, according to charges. His bail was set at $2.5 million. A GoFundMe for Arseth's family has raised more than $40,000 since it was created on June 24. If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Helpline at 1-800-799-SAFE or Minnesota Day One at 1-866-223-1111.
