Johnny Bents grew up near Bigelow on a farm and spent a lot of time working with his family, something he hopes to replicate with his new lawn care company, Bents Lawn and Tree Service.

I was a farm kid and I didnt realize what I had, Bents said.

His main helpers are his two young sons, but his oldest daughter pitches in too.

My goal is a family business, Bents said. We just enjoy working together.

Cutting trees is something Bents grew up doing, and hes picked up equipment for the business here and there.

The acreage Bents bought near Jackson seven years ago had enormous cottonwood trees he wanted to fell, so he bought a large saw. Then he acquired a boom truck for a reasonable price at a sale.

In addition to cutting trees, Bents Lawn and Tree Service also services lawns, including mowing and raking. Bents is interested in doing residential snow removal as well. The business covers roughly a 40-mile radius around Jackson.

Bents also works full time at AGCO.

Continued here:
New lawn and tree service a family business

Many local residents choose to hike alone, enjoying the meditative qualities of the desert landscape in solitude. With the canyons and mountains in Moabs backyard, local hikers regularly step out for a quick hike during their day. But even the most experienced and prepared of hikers can face surprising challenges in both the front and backcountry.

Four local residents recently sat down with The Times-Independent to share their stories of facing unexpected danger when hiking alone, and the strength it took for them to survive.

Remaining calm is crucial because its your survival, said Carol Almson, who has been hiking in the desert since 1980. You have to be self-aware. If theres some sort of danger you have to have a technique to protect yourself and not just give up.

Staying calm and not just giving up is exactly what each of these solo hikers did in order to skirt the dangerous situations they encountered.

Last year, Almson was walking alone on her favorite Bar M trail when she encountered a man who stalked and intimidated her. Knowing she must remain calm, Almson said she kept a quick pace and never broke into a run. Because of the mans large size and erratic behavior, she feared the pepper spray she carried wouldnt be effective.

I had all these things going through my mind as to what was happening and what could happen, she said.

Almson eventually outpaced her stalker on the trail and escaped danger. Yet she was so shaken from that incident that she stopped hiking for almost a year.

Im over 70 years old and Ive never been stymied like this by anything in my life. It just unnerved me, she said.

But with enough time, the images of the stalker began to fade, and Almson now says her reticence towards hiking alone is gone.

Women must treat the potential for abuse seriously but not allow themselves to be easily intimidated, she says. We who love the beauty and the spirituality of the Colorado plateau will not stay home.

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Local women hope cautionary tales will help others who hike alone

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Theyre an improbable bunch. A spinster, a seamstress, a sculptress... and Bill Oddie. Crouched beneath a Gloucestershire hill at 3am, their head-torches light up a surreal landscape of scattered peanuts, Smarties and a smear of congealed blood in the dirt at their feet.

Only their hi-vis jackets emblazoned with the words Wounded Badger Patrol offer a clue to their mission. This is Team Badger, here in force to fight the cull.

The nuts and chocolate have been left by hunters to bait the 25 badgers in this one sett. The blood left by a shot male crawling home to die marks one of the many entrances. Bill makes short work of the peanuts.

You have to wee on them, he says matter-of-factly as the three women avert their eyes. It puts the badgers right off and renders the bait redundant. But, for some reason, only mens wee works.

Game spinster Edith tonights her first-ever shift heaves a giddy sigh of relief as she quickly re-buttons her late fathers WWII great coat.

Seven nights a week, from dusk until dawn, the WBP a Mums Army made up of mostly middle-aged women patrols the beleaguered setts of Middle England armed only with binoculars, biscuits and sensible shoes.

Farmers claim badgers are infecting their cattle with tuberculosis and so last year the government approved a six-week trial in Gloucestershire and Somerset to kill 2,000 badgers.

Despite being extended by a fortnight, the first attempt was a failure. The hired guns a motley crew of farm workers and ex-soldiers barely made half their quota.

The League Against Cruel Sports (the charity behind the WBP) claims the indiscriminate cull is, at best, pointless, but this year theyre trying again with a few days of the trial left to run.

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Bill Oddie's badger cull-busters on patrol looking for wounded animals after they have been shot

A truck is loaded with lumber in an economic land concession in Kampong Thom province last year. Amid promises to get tough on poorly performing concessionaires, the government has cancelled eight. PHOTO SUPPLIED

The government has seized back more than 12,000 hectares of land previously awarded to seven companies as economic land concessions (ELCs), according to a letter from the Council of Ministers.

The letter, which was obtained by the Post yesterday, was sent late last month to the governors of Preah Sihanouk, Kampong Speu and Koh Kong provinces, and Environment Minister Say Sam Al.

It explains that licences awarded from 2006 to 2011 for eight ELCs in the provinces would be revoked and the land put under the ownership of the Environment Ministry.

Sub-decrees issued earlier this month to three of the companies, Vimean Seila Co, Ltd; Soun Vattanak Co, Ltd; and Chan Rot Group, confirmed the decision.

While the letter did not specify reasons for the seizure, Chhit Sokhum, governor of Preah Sihanouk province, where five of the ELCs were located, said the companies had failed to develop the land.

The commission went down and saw the companies names and saw that they had not developed anything or they had developed little, so we seized the land for preservation, he said.

Its a waste of government time and tax when the companies do not develop the land, he added.

According to Sokhum, the land will be preserved, and not awarded to other companies.

Buon Narith, Preah Sihanouk provincial coordinator for the rights group Licadho, welcomed the seizures and urged the government to take a stronger approach to all ELCs.

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Land concessions cancelled

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La Jolla Luxury Custom Home, Villa Chamnez
Listing Agents: Ginny Kelly McGill (619)318-4454, TheMcGillTeam@gmail.com Address: 5962 Avenida Chamnez La Jolla, CA 92037 Listing Price: $4495000- $4995000 Villa Chamnez, a new ...

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