UPPER VALLEY HEADLINES

Idaho has lost its bid to house the controversial F-35 program.

The US Air Force announced that neither Mountain Home nor Gowen Field were selected because of the additional construction costs the project would incur there. Instead…the Air Force says it’ll take the missions to Hill Air Force Base in Utah, the Burlington Air Guard Station in Vermont, and Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

In a joint statement, Idaho’s congressional delegation said it was disappointed…but were also assured both Idaho bases would remain candidates for future F-35 missions.

There’s a new wrinkle in the relationship between the South Fremont Fire Protection District and the city of St. Anthony.   Fire District Commission Chairman Robert Fisher points out, “the city doesn’t have a fire fighting force at the present time…so the district is sending people into the city to fight city fires, with, most likely city equipment, so the mutual aid agreement we have right now is technically voided. We’re operating in violation of that.”

Assuming the city doesn’t petition to become part of the fire district, the plan is to come up with a new and separate agreement. It would allow the district to use its manpower and equipment in St. Anthony if the need arises.

The district reports it responded to 61 actual fire calls last year…29 of which were within the city of St. Anthony.

 

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson accuses the administration of putting politics ahead of science to close the Yucca Mountain Radioactive Waste Repository in Nevada.   In hearings this week, DOE Undersecretary Kristina Johnson told Simpson the department has established a Blue Ribbon Commission to further study long term waste storage options. ”Given that right now we’re… restarting the civilian nuclear energy program, it gives us a chance to take a year and six months from now to step back and find a better solution with broad support.”

Simpson believes the issue will ultimately come full-circle. .”I have no problem with what the Blue Ribbon Commission is looking at, but ultimately there’s going to be a pile of gunk that has to go somewhere. Regardless of what you do, a geological repository will be needed at some time.”

Yucca Mountain is important to Idaho since it was to be the site to accept high level waste currently being stored at the Idaho National Laboratory. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing the legality of DOE’s attempt to withdraw its Yucca Mountain licensing application without consent of Congress.

A 52 year old Rigby man was hospitalized last night after a one vehicle rollover on Interstate 15 near Fort Hall. Idaho State Police say Garth Barrow lost control of his truck and trailer after over-correcting. He was transported to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for treatment. The crash tied up traffic on the interstate for about three hours beginning shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday.

The Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce will launch the 25th anniversary of the Idaho International Dance and Music Festival with opening ceremonies at the Viking Stadium on the BYU Idaho campus Saturday.   Festival Chairman Daryl Olsen says seven teams are participating this year. ”It’s an opportunity for the community to come and see the festival teams and get a taste of what they’ll see in “Gala” performances.” Idaho will be represented by Lieutenant Governor Brad Little beginning at 8 p.m. Saturday.   That event is free to the public…as is the annual street festival and “Parade of Nations” Monday night.

The Festival’s Gala Performances are scheduled August 6th and 7th in the Hart Auditorium.

Here’s the full schedule:

 

The Opening Ceremonies will be held at the BYU-Idaho Viking Stadium July 31st at 8pm. This is an opportunity to get a first hand look at all the performers that represent their country. All the local sponsors will be there to be recognized for their generous donation to the festival.

 

Monday August 2nd, the International Street Festival will be from 5:00pm-9:00pm on. All over Main Street you will see a colorful parade starting at 6:30pm. Following the Street Festival and Parade will be the street dance from 9:00pm -11:00pm.

 

Tuesday, August 3rd, Rigby will be hosting a Youth Culture event! This is a free event held at the Rigby Junior High from 9:00am – 12:00pm. Children and families will personally get to learn and chat with dancers from around the world!

Tuesday, August 3rd, Blackfoot Performing Arts Center ( 870 S. Fisher Street ) will be hosting a performance of fun-filled dancing and entertainment! This event will begin at 7:00pm.

Thursday, August 5th, Rexburg Youth Culture! This wonderful event will be on the BYU-Idaho campus in the Kirkham building at 9:00am – 12:00pm. Kids from ages 6 -16 will learn and experience a whole other culture and life style! As well as learn a few dance steps along the way!

 

Friday, August 6th, the climax of the festival will be held at the BYU-Idaho Hart building at 7:00pm. The Gala performance will give each country a chance to perform individually and collectively! This is a ticketed event for the general public.

 

Saturday, August 7th, closing ceremonies will be held at Smith park (Rexburg) starting at 11am–2:00pm.

Saturday, August 7th, the final gala performance will be held at the BYU- Idaho Hart building with the Pre-Show at 7pm and the performance following at 7:30pm.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a diver found floating in Coeur d’Alene Lake near the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course Floating Green. Initial investigation indicates that a Resort Golf Course employee noticed the man floating on the surface of the water just off the northeast corner of the floating green about 3:55 p.m. today (July 27).

Employees called 9-1-1 and pulled the man from the water and began C.P.R. The man was transported to Kootenai Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The man, identified as Mike McCullough, in his mid-20’s from Rexburg, Idaho was working for a contractor who picks up golf balls and other debris from the lake bottom in the area. It is unknown what happened to cause his death, but the deputies from the Sheriff’s Recreation Safety Section are diving this to recover McCullough’s dive gear in hope of determining what went wrong below the surface.

Exact cause of death is unknown at this time, pending an autopsy later this week.

Rexburg officials are worried there could be potential for a wildfire disaster in the Hidden Valley-Millhollow canyon similar to Boise’s Oregon Trail fire a couple of years ago.   Fire Division Chief Dave Davis says the right winds at the wrong time could sweep a wildfire thru the subdivisions. ”We have some farmland, which helps, but there is on the hillside some sagebrush and grasses and as they start to dry out they get pretty volatile. We’re trying to keep it so people have some sort of barrier to keep it away from homes if we did have a fire there.”

The meeting will focus on things people can do to reduce the risk of losing their home to wildfire. ”like having a lawn, green grasses, very few trees…just kind of an open space away from structures so if fire did come up there it’ll hit something that won’t burn.”

Davis says conditions in the Millhollow canyon are such that fire could spawn a situation similar to Boise’s Oregon Trail fire in August of 2008. That one destroyed ten homes, damaged 34 more and claimed one life.   That neighborhood meeting is set for 7 tonight at Rexburg City Hall.

Search and Rescue units from around the region joined Bonneville County authorities Tuesday night in the search for a missing boy scout. The 14 year old from Marsh Valley became separated from his group in the Upper Palisades region about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.   He was spotted by a helicopter Wednesday morning and escorted safely out of the area. 

A new study presented to the Idaho Transportation Task Force indicates passenger cars may be paying a larger share for Idaho’s highways than big trucks. Initial findings suggest that combination trucks may be paying 14% less…while automobiles are paying 8% more for the state’s transportation system.   Transportation Board Chairman Darrell Manning said that study could factor into how best to address a growing backlog of highway needs.

The number of children living in poverty in Idaho is up…from 14% in 2000 to 16% in 2008.   And the latest “Kids Count” data base says that could have long-term impacts.   University of Idaho Family Development Specialist Harriet Shaklee says that’s backed up by studies tracking children who lived through the Great Depression.” Parenting skills declined because of that – caused them to become depressed and caused them to become erratic in their discipline." Shaklee says those children are less likely to graduate from high school, more likely to have a hard time holding down jobs, and have a higher rate of alcohol or drug abuse. 

A national incident management team is packing up the Fishing Bridge Fire Camp today and transferring command of the Beach Fire back to Yellowstone National Park. The fire was contained at 95% yesterday after scarring about 520 acres southwest of the Bridge Bay Campground.

 

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act invested about $750 million to accomplish 800 projects in national parks across the country. But, Vice President Joe Biden told a Yellowstone National Park audience Monday….that money would have had to have been spent anyway…even if the economy was good. He toured one of them…a $4.7 million upgrade to the Madison Wastewater Treatment plant. Said Biden, “For too long our nation’s crown jewels have been neglected.” He’s off to Arizona today (July 27) for a similar visit at Grand Canyon.

 

BYU Idaho is preparing to opens its 13th annual Education Week Thursday. From improving the mileage of the family car to church doctrine, University spokesman Andy Cargal says there’s virtually something for everyone. And, he says there will be as many as 19 different courses offered every time period. For example…pianist Marvin Goldstein will not only perform a concert…he’ll also be teaching a couple of courses.   Devotionals will be offered Thursday by BYUI President Kim Clark and Friday by former President, now member of the LDS Church Quorum of the Twelve Apostles David Bednar.   You can find registration information on line at www.byui.edu/acc/educationweek     

Honeybees are still disappearing by the millions in Idaho and around the country. It’s called “Colony Collapse Disorder”.   Idaho is a major commercial bee producer and sends hives to California to pollinate almond crops, to Washington for apples, and across the state to pollinate vegetable crops. National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski says the mystery has got to be solved. .”Scientists are still trying to figure out what exactly is causing it, but what we do know is that it’s causing the death of honeybee colonies in all parts of the country, and it’s sort of mysterious in that the bees literally just disappear out of the hive." Some believe the process of trucking bees to a large scale crop could be part of the problem. Others say it could be caused by mites, pesticide, or even loss of habitat.

 

The national high school rodeo wrapped up over the weekend in Gillette WY
and a number of Upper Valley Cowboys fared well:

All Around Rookie Cowboy:

All Around Cowboy
9. Payson Munns, Rexburg, Idaho

Steer Wrestling
16. Payson  Munns, Rexburg, Idaho

Boys’ Cutting
17. Kyzer  Stoddard, Sugar City, Idaho

A 38 year old rider was listed in critical condition after an ATV crash on the Fremont County Sand Dunes Thursday. The Fremont County Sheriffs’ office says Sean Nolte crashed his ATV off the south side of Thunder Mountain. He was not breathing when rescuers arrived on the scene and initiated CPR until he was transported by Air One to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

Last month, the St. Anthony City Council decided it would dispose of the Roxy Theatre building. A minimum price of $45 thousand was set as Mayor Neils Thueson took it to a public auction last Thursday and,” nobody showed up, so that started and stopped real quick. What we can do now, because we have complied with the law, is dispose of it nearly any way the city council deems proper. I think we’ll probably advertise it for closed bids and more than likely just take the high bidder.”

No firm dates have yet been set.   The floor on that minimum bid, by the way, no longer applies.

 

A key element of next month’s Madison County Fair will focus on the county’s agricultural heritage. And, as part of that, it’ll feature a Heritage Parade to open the week.   Nowadays, spokesperson Vicky Grover points out…the role of agriculture is often overlooked from our 21st century perspective. 

The Heritage Parade will feature only those things that may have been featured a hundred years ago. Four families with long Madison County ancestry will serve as grand marshals. They include Mr. and Mrs. Blair Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. Dell Barney, Mr. and Mrs. Theron McGarry, and Mr. and Mrs. Max Palmer.

 

The St. Anthony city council has approved a budget resolution for the fiscal year beginning in October. Mayor Neils Thueson says, for now, it’s just a starting point. ”Our revenue is down slightly…not enough to worry too much about, but its enough to make me concerned that we’ve got to be very cautious and very careful about how we spend our money.”

St. Anthony’s general fund budget will be around $1.1 million. But that doesn’t count separate projects…like the next phase of the waste water treatment upgrade…which will bring the city’s total budget to something closer to $4.3 million. It’ll all go to public hearing August 12th.

ITD contractors will begin another project on Highway 20 today. Bridge decks on the South Fork Teton River near the Rexburg Airport and the North Fork Bridge North of Sugar City will be resurfaced. Speed limits will be reduced to 45 miles per hour for most of the time…but there will be a 25 mile per hour speed limit reduction for about 10 days while the concrete on each bridge cures. The work will be done sometime in September.

ITD is reminding motorists that all access points on Highway 20 between Rigby and the Snake River are now permanently closed. Drivers are advised that using Exit 322…the north Rigby exit…and adjoining county roads is the only way to reach businesses west of the highway. A temporary access road will serve the Blue Heron Inn north of Lorenzo. The Lorenzo Boat Access and Archer Road remain open.