Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Redneck Stonehenge Revisited

Development-besieged Hooper farmer spreads his message around the globe

"A lot of people moving from areas like Taylor into Hooper have been complaining about the farms,” Davis said. “(But) you don’t want to tick off a redneck with a backhoe — that’s just not a good idea.”

Standard-Examiner
Hooper farmer’s car fence attracting global attention
August 6, 2008


We were pretty sure the Standard-Examiner had stumbled upon a highly entertaining and newsworthy story on Monday, and so we said in our own WCF post that very afternoon. Little did we realize however, how truly "big" the Rhett Davis "Redneck Stonehenge" story would become. The Std-Ex carries a followup story this morning, reporting that the story has grown beyond a matter of purely local interest, and has now become the focus of intense international attention. We incorporate a few of Greg Boyle's key paragraphs below:

HOOPER — Rhett Davis and his self-proclaimed Redneck Stonehenge have received attention from California to Austria, and Davis isn’t done yet.
On Monday, the Standard-Examiner ran a story about Davis and the ad-hoc fence he erected in his backyard by digging large holes with a backhoe and planting three old demolition derby cars nose-first.
The idea came to Davis after new neighbors who purchased a home behind his farm complained his animals attract too many bugs and his tractor kicks up too much dust. “A lot of people moving from areas like Taylor into Hooper have been complaining about the farms,” Davis said. “(But) you don’t want to tick off a redneck with a backhoe — that’s just not a good idea.”
Within hours after the story was first published, Davis received calls from almost 20 news outlets, including radio stations and newspapers from across the country.
The Standard-Examiner’s story was picked up by news wire services and Web sites, so it was available around the world.
Just how much interest did this story provoke? This morning's google search currently registers 46,600 hits.

How important was this story? Important enough to provoke a Std-Ex editorial this morning -- AND a danged fine Grondahl cartoon.

Weber County Forum Tips O' the Hat go out all around this morning: First to besieged Hooper farmer Rhett Davis (who got the ball rolling,) and secondly to the Std-Ex staff, who disseminated the word via the Std-Ex website and newswires.

We hope Mr. Davis can continue to milk this story for all it's worth. We haven't seen anything this good since, well, this....

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