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By Sean Ellis, sellis@journalnet.com POCATELLO — The possibility of landing a major employer won out over a church’s desire to relocate to a 200,000-square-foot building in town. After being informed that an unnamed employer has made an offer on the former Ballard Medical building, the City Council unanimously decided Thursday not to allow Grace Lutheran Church and School to apply for a conditional use permit to purchase the vacant building. The council very reluctantly and apologetically voted 6-0 not to approve Grace Lutheran’s request to apply for the permit to purchase the massive Ballard building at 1999 Alvin Ricken Drive as the new home for its church, school and child care facility. “This was the hardest decision I think the council has had to make,” Mayor Brian Blad said after the vote. Bannock Development Corp. Executive Director Gynii Gilliam informed the council during its regular meeting that she was notified...
Without a doubt, the news that the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo is pulling up stakes in Pocatello and heading elsewhere is a big loss for the community. The event put the Gate City on the national rodeo map, not to mention generating up to $6 million annually. Considering the toll of the national recession on Pocatello, such a loss probably could not have occurred at a worse time. But there is a silver lining to this misfortune. The Pocatello Frontier Rodeo Association believes it has landed a replacement. It’s hoped that the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour rodeo will make a stop in April at Holt Arena, continuing the Gate City’s decades old rodeo tradition. Local rodeo association officials are thankful there will likely be a rodeo to replace the DNCFR, even if it will be a less significant event. “The Million Dollar Tour series is the fastest growing segment of pro rodeo right...
THUMBS DOWN: To the legal mess which has ensnared the plan to allow oversized loads of oil refinery equipment to be hauled on U.S. Highway 12, a federally protected river corridor linking Lewiston to Billings, Mont. Gov. Butch Otter and all four members of the state’s congressional delegation gave enthusiastic support to the plan last year, but now Second District Judge John Bradbury has ordered the Idaho Transportation Department to take another look in order to ensure public safety and convenience. The fear is that an accident on the curving, two-lane highway could harm the Clearwater and Lochsa rivers, or tie up the road for hours. Oil company ConocoPhillips is appealing. The Conoco-Phillips equipment was due to precede Exxon Mobil Corp.’s proposed shipments of more than 200 hugely oversized loads of oil machinery from Lewiston along Highway 12 into Montana, then on to the Kearl Oil Sands project in Alberta, Canada. THUMBS UP, or maybe down: To Bannock County Republicans...
By Glenn Rawson It seems that we focus so much on the Godhood of God that we fail to recognize the Fatherhood of God. For all the names He bears in Scripture, He asks us to call Him “Heavenly Father.” Now indeed, He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-just. He governs the universe and holds the destinies of men and nations in His hands. But so too, in every worthy sense of the word, He is a Father. He is kind, gentle, loving, and solicitous of our welfare. As any good Father would, He will also discipline us when it is necessary. May I share a story to illustrate my point? Typically, when we think of the story of the prophet Jonah, we think of a whale and how Jonah was swallowed for trying to run away from the mission that God had given him. And indeed; he was. But there’s another element to that story that’s worth telling. Jonah was a prophet during the time that Israel was ruled by Assyria, a ruthless world power. When Jonah was commanded...
By Ed Jordan The town has been abuzz this last week with the arrival of the Extreme Makeover team to totally rebuild the house of a family in Pocatello. Many have volunteered to help in the project in some capacity, and many others have gone to the site to watch the transformation. This whole theme is interesting to me. Out of thousands of potential candidates, one family is selected to have their house totally remade so that in the end it is brand new. It is quite an undertaking, and quite a benevolent concept. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to receive an extreme makeover of your life? What things about your life would you want changed, if it were possible for someone to come in and totally transform your life? Would it be your library (brain), filled with thousands of memories? Would you dump them all, or dump the unpleasant ones, or not want to lose any of your memories be they good or bad? Would you change certain attitudes?...
By Jodeane Albright It’s one of the worst possible nightmare scenarios when a mine collapses. It’s also one of the greatest miracles when all 33 of the miners survive. Yet they are trapped and will remain so until at least December after the Aug. 5 mine cave-in under northern Chile’s dry, rocky and barren Atacama Desert. In the meantime, how are these miners to survive? The next few months will be a tricky time for these miners, who, before the collapse, brought up gold and copper from the site. They did not work in the best of conditions before, and now their situation is difficult, to say the least. On Sunday, Aug. 22, the miners finally connected with the rest of the world when a slim 6-inch hole was made so that the miners can get some nutrition, some supplies. They can communicate — sort of — with their families and loved ones through this 6-inch hole. They now have three of these narrow bore holes. The process to build the corridor...
By Debu Majumdar How is one to be judged as educated? In the 19th century, knowledge of the classics and philosophy was the criteria. I propose that in this century the criterion should be the ability to decipher and judge what is true in the midst of misinformation and disinformation. Information was power sometime back, but now there is so much false and obfuscated information, that power is deciding what or how much is true. For example, there was no mention of ‘death panels’ in the Health-care Bill, but many believed in their existence. People who bought that story are the ones I’d call uneducated because they didn’t have the ability to judge the validity of the information — and didn’t look for the facts behind the story being spewed by hoodwinking politicians. So I wish to define education as the learning that gives one the ability to judge true knowledge from falsehood, figure out facts from half-truths, disinformation and misinformation, and realize...
It’s taken 18 years for the community to pave 8 miles of its fragmented Greenway trail system, and it’s become clear that the city won’t see significant progress on completing this asset without a dramatic change of approach. That’s why Mayor Brian Blad and the City Council should be commended for starting a discussion on the only approach with the potential to produce results for what could become a vital cog in the city’s infrastructure. City leaders are considering the possibility of using eminent domain — forcing property owners to grant easements for the trail in exchange for fair financial compensation — to fill the gaps. At present, Portneuf Greenway Foundation members estimate there are 22 parcels where easements haven’t been granted. Greenway officials have mailed letters to those property owners urging them to reach agreements to avoid the need for condemnation. A progress meeting on the issue between Greenway and city officials is scheduled for...
The start of a new school year at Idaho State University is a special time. The infusion of new faces on campus brings a heightened sense of excitement and energy to this community, and the new year also brings with it an ongoing buffet of events and activities for us all to enjoy and appreciate. While all communities enjoy certain advantages, there seems to be a special pride and privilege of living in a university town. This fact is sometimes taken for granted and it is time that we do a better job of celebrating and recognizing our good fortune. It is also time that we stop thinking of this community and the university as two separate entities. We are one community, and as a university town we need to walk together in lock step. To do that the qualities and advantages of each entity need to be recognized, valued and appreciated. We need to remember that it’s the community that caters to the university’s needs and realizes the important...
Gov. Butch Otter says he will continue his fight against “the constant and incessant effort by the federal government to tell the state of Idaho, and the other 49 states, how to run their business.” Does he mean the millions of federal dollars which flowed from stimulus funds in the last year, staving off financial disaster for states? Or the federal installation of the Department of Energy which is one of the state’s largest employers? Or the jobs provided by the Forest Service or BLM? Probably the governor means the health care program for all Americans that Democrats pushed through Congress this year, and which he is contesting in court. Otter fended off Democratic opponent Keith Allred Thursday in a well-attended debate in Idaho Falls by insisting he is a budget-balancing conservative who has made education a priority, even though public schools took a $128 million cut in the last session of the state Legislature. He also tapped into...
By Martin Hackworth A common sentiment among those driven by a sense of entitlement is that ends justify the means. While this view might be appropriate in some socialistic societies or in a post-apocalyptic world where the rule of law, decorum and manners have vanished, it is counterproductive in a world that exists because of, rather than in spite of, such conventions. When one cheats — be it in an academic setting, in sports, in business, in politics, in a relationship or even by cutting in line at the movies—they are signaling to the rest of the world “this is all about me.” It’s a little difficult for me to be overflowing with good feelings about such narcissism. None of us is perfect. To err is human and that is not what I’m concerned about here. I’m talking about the class of individual for whom cheating isn’t a moral conundrum but just another (easier) strategy for advancement; the type of person who will do anything except excel to get ahead. In academia...
THUMBS DOWN: To President Obama for his heartfelt but inept support of a Muslim mosque proposed for a New York City site near ground zero. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he’s also said he won’t take a position on whether they should actually build it. It was a bit wishy-washy. And thumbs down to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for likening supporters of the mosque to Nazis and Japanese in World War II, and condemning Saudi Arabia because he says it has no churches or synagogues. THUMBS UP: To the steady hand of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who plans to leave his job next year. A Republican and holdover from the Bush administration, Gates has maintained stability at a time of two wars, and dashed cold water on some extravagant spending for weapons systems which only porky congressmen and lobbyists want. A former university president, Gates desires to return next year to civilian life in his home state of Washington. ...
Here are more numbers concerning schools. From now on, middle school students in seventh and eighth grades will have to get passing grades to advance to the next grade. The rule is intended to dispel a feeling among the kids that middle school doesn’t count, says Rob Sauer, the Department of Education’s deputy superintendent for innovation and choice. Under the new system, students will not advance to the next grade if they fail a full year in one subject, such as math. The kids won’t be hung out to dry, however; students who fail to meet the new requirements, or those in danger of failing, will have opportunities to recover their class credits and become eligible to go on to the next grade. That could mean summer school for some, or other remedial programs. School districts will be allowed to develop their own plans to help students meet the new requirements—without any extra state funding. The new requirement comes with one powerful incentive....
The Nampa Classical Academy, a charter school that has been embroiled in past disputes with the state’s charter school commission, is being shuttered. It is not just because the school in the past wanted to use the Bible and other religious texts, since the Idaho Constitution expressly limits use of religious texts in public school classrooms. Rather, the academy fell victim to money troubles. Deputy Attorney General Michael Gilmore told the State Board of Education during a hearing last week that “this school has a history of doing from its inception... taking public money and not playing by the rules.” Never mind that the school board chairman, Terry LaMasters, stressed the academy has changed its attitude toward state regulation and claims to have made major improvements in its handling of money. A new board member, William Perron, acknowledged the problem. “It’s obvious to me there’s been a lack of oversight, total mismanagement.” Had...
Journal editorial: How long till things get better?�� What is going on with the economy and how long before things get better? Those are questions Idahoans are asking — and perhaps cringing at the possible answers — as the recession painfully lingers. Some evidence seems to indicate that the economy might get worse before it gets better. Zions Bank’s July Small Business Index for Idaho showed declining conditions for the state’s small businesses — largely a result of an unemployment rate that’s been stuck at 8.8 percent for two months. The national unemployment rate has also been stuck — at 9.5 percent since June. According to Zions, revised U.S. economic data shows the recession “was actually worse than previously thought. In addition the U.S. economic recovery of roughly the past year has been a little weaker than originally suggested by government estimates.” Here is some sobering news from Zions July index on just how bad...
Here’s the Catch 22 in the federal rules governing Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for schools. Students — and their schools — must show Adequate Yearly Progress in reading, math and language, with the bar raised each year by the government. There are subgroups recognizing students’ ethnicity, disabilities, limited English skills and possible poverty. Suppose a school has 41 total AYP targets, and meets 40 of them. Too bad — it still does not meet AYP, meaning they might go on “alert” or “improvement” status. It’s not easy to wade through the stringent state and federal government rules, however well-intentioned they may be. But District 25 Superintendent Mary Wagner puts the situation into reassuring focus: “Our schools are meeting state standards, or achieving at a higher level in nearly every single grade in every single category,” she says. It’s not to say that schools are perfect, or that dropouts and poor performance do not happen. But the test data shows...
Though it seems unlikely, what if the Snake River Alliance is right, and a proposed uranium enrichment plant near Idaho Falls will produce fuel not for Idaho but for the world, will send its profits to France, and will leave toxic waste in the Gem State? That is the contention of the Boise-based environmental group, though there are plenty of people in Idaho who think the Snake River Alliance is a bunch of alarmists. Supporters of the plant that is proposed for Bonneville County include the mayor of Idaho Falls, the state Legislature and union members who envision hundreds if not thousands of jobs. The Alliance says the plant would produce more than 350,000 tons of depleted uranium (DUF6) which would be stored as waste on outdoor concrete pads above the Snake River aquifer. They say DUF6 is both radioactive and chemically toxic and has to be treated before it can be disposed of, a process which would take decades. Forget that, said the numerous vocal plant...
President Obama has signed into law a $600 million border security bill that will pay for hiring a thousand new Border Patrol agents and put new communications equipment and unmanned surveillance drones along the Mexican border. Predictably, Republican critics are complaining, even though they have made illegal immigration a campaign issue. Arizona Sen. John McCain says the bill, while costly, falls short by not dramatically increasing the number of customs inspectors along the border and not funding a program that charges illegal immigrants with a low-level crime. One guesses that if the Obama administration somehow succeeded in doubling its financial commitment to tightening the porous border, the president would then be accused of excessive spending. November’s election cannot come soon enough. Idaho license plates no longer advertise famous potatoes, but the industry is alive and well in Idaho — thriving, in fact. Potatoes are responsible for some 39,000 jobs, $6.7 billion in sales and $1.1 billion in wages, according to a University of Idaho study. Apart from the statistics, they taste good, too. Spud industry leaders meeting in Pocatello last week, cheered by improving prices for their product, emphasized the message that potatoes are a healthy, nutritious choice. They also are focusing on the potential of foreign markets, as well as frozen foods in supermarkets. Consumers can be happy that fresh potatoes remain plentiful and affordable, and one other thing — they are not subject to federal farm subsidies. Fries with that burger, anyone? Journal editorial: Auditorium District should do right thing There comes a point when the game should be called on account of rain. The thunderclouds have let loose enough times on the Pocatello-Chubbuck Auditorium District that it ought to dry off and then throw in the towel. The district is a creature of statute, approved by voters in 1998 to allow the levy of a motel/hotel bed tax — 2 percent locally — to raise revenue. But there’s a hook to those funds. The statute that allows for the creation of the districts also mandates that the money be used in a specific manner. If a district collects the money, it must use it to “build, operate, maintain, market and manage” a facility such as an auditorium, arena or convention center. In 2005, the operators of the AmeriTel Inn filed suit, noting the district was using the money to market the Pocatello/Chubbuck area, rather than putting the funds toward a facility. The case worked...
By Mark Trahant Editor’s Note: Veteran journalist Mark Trahant, of Fort Hall, wrote the following article about his new book, “The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars.” Many American Indian legends begin with these words: “Everybody tells a different story about this.” The phrase is a signal: “Pay attention! An important message is on its way.” It’s also a subtle clue that there are many different versions of the truth; memory is shaped by many human experiences. And because of that, sometimes, actually most of the time, a historic account may be factually correct, but it still misses a key voice. The story is not quite right. Such is the history of “the golden era” of American Indian legislation. There is widespread recognition that the 1970s was a special time for American Indians and Alaska Natives. It was a time of convergence. There was a growing number of professional American Indians who had experience running federal programs, lobbying in Washington,...
By Roger Wheeler It’s shaping up to be a long, hot summer in Idaho politics — the candidates are stumping, knocking on doors, attending community picnics and parades across the state. It’s a big year, with the Idaho Governor, Lt. Governor and every state legislative seat up for election and the candidates are doing a lot of talking about what they’ll do if elected and a lot of asking — most importantly, for your vote. But are they doing enough listening? When it comes to the most powerful voting group in Idaho, voters age 50 and older, an open ear goes a lot further than an open mouth. So that’s right where AARP started our Idaho election year efforts — we went right to our members and asked a simple question: What issues matter most to you this election year? And then we listened. Their answers formulated this year’s first ever, statewide AARP “straight from the member” Idaho Voter Guide — our members’ questions and issues are...
By Jodeane Albright When we get to the month of August we tend to think of it as the heart of summer. We think of the “dog days” of summer because it’s so hot, bringing to mind the image of a dog panting and drooping in this month’s relentless heat. We also think it’s summer’s full flowering. I guess that’s why the old Anglo-Saxons called it Weod month, which, as you may have guessed, means weed. Lord knows, our yard is full of them and we spend an inordinate amount of our energy whacking them back. Except if you look closer you’ll see August is a much more changeable month, more of a drying and moving on time of year, here in the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere. Nowhere is that moving on more evident than watching birds gather their strength and feed, fattening up for their fall migrations. At first I thought the birds (in this case, sparrows) were just being sociable or “safety in numbers” against some other birds, such as crows, but after a few...
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