Stories from Wednesday, July 4, 2007

District Court --- Daniel K. Johnson, Jr., 33, had a felony charge for probation violation that was dismissed by the prosecutor. Charles J. Scott, 51, pleaded guilty to a felony for probation violation. He was sentenced for a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years with credit for 233 days already served. Scott was ordered to pay restitution of $200. He had fines of $250 with court costs of $447.50...

Adult arrests --- Joshua Wilford Sisiam, 28 -- battery; assault. George Leroy Eddy III, 31 -- driving without privileges; possession of a controlled substance; warrant. Ellen Sue Stevens, 50 -- Ada County warrant. Nora Lee Rosales, 44 -- desertion & non-support of children...

The Idaho Army National Guard cleaned up an overrun lot at 1180 E. 6th S. St. recently as a city service project and received a $500 donation to the Cheer Basket Program for their hard work. Soldiers of Bravo Troop with the 2-116 ARS (the armored reconnaissance squadron stationed at the Mountain Home armory) endured the heat and maneuvered their way around bees all while digging up weeds, cutting down trees, and removing other fire hazard debris from the lot owned by Retired Lt. ...

Like many of its bigger neighbors in the Treasure Valley and Magic Valley areas, the Mountain Home housing market is currently enjoying strong growth for local builders and attracting investment from Boise builders as evidenced by the first ever Tour of New Homes event scheduled here for the weekend of July 13-15...

Mayor Joe B. McNeal sent a budget priority request letter to council members prior to the 2008 budget prioritization meeting held on June 18, urging the council to approve major salary increases for city employees. McNeal listed six priorities in his letter for the city council to take into consideration when prioritizing budget items for the 2008 fiscal year...

The Idaho State Police has issued its 2006 Idaho Crime Statistics report, and it shows a continued decrease in crime for Elmore County. Overall, Elmore County reported a 25.4 percent decrease in crimes and 40.5 percent decrease in arrests over the same period in 2005...

Mayor Joe B. McNeal has announced his candidacy for a second term as mayor "of the metropolis of Mountain Home." McNeal is being challenged by city councilman Tom Rist in this year's November elections for city offices. With Rist running for mayor, his council seat is up for grabs. In addition, the seat held by Councilman Mark Russell is up for election...

Victor R. Pacania, 54, formerly of Mountain Home, died June 23, 2007 in his home in Boise. A memorial service for Victor was held at Edward's Greenhouse in Boise on Monday, July 2. Services were under the care of Bowman Funeral Parlor. The first son and second child of Pablo C. Pacania and Crisanta M. Relox Pacania, he was born at the hospital on Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho on July 27, 1952...

Melva Marie Potthast , 62, of Pine, died at her home June 25, 2007, after a battle with cancer. Memorial services were held on Friday, June 29, at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home, and later that day at Heritage Alliance Church in Twin Falls, to celebrate Melva's life...

Helen C. Larson, 80, of Glenns Ferry, died Monday, June 25, 2007, at her home. A family service was held on June 27 at Our Lady of Limerick Catholic Church in Glenns Ferry. A memorial service was held on Thursday, June 28, at the VFW Hall in Glenns Ferry. Arrangements were under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel...

Richard "Rick" Theodor Crowder, 63, of Mountain Home, died Friday, June 29, 2007, at home, after a "courageous" battle with cancer, surrounded by his loving family. Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 19, at the Collister Community Church, 4709 W. State St., in Boise...

Dennis Leroi Terhaar, 46, of Mountain Home, died Sunday, July 1, 2007 near Pine. A viewing will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, July 5, at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 6, at Rost Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery...

Gilberto and Donda Varela of Mountain Home have announced the wedding of their daughter, Pilar Elisa Varela, to Garrett M. Booth, son of Mary Ann and Harold Booth of Mountain Home, on May 19, 2007. The nuptials were held at Legacy Park, conducted by pastor Steve Ratzlaff. A reception was held afterwards at the Varela home...

Results are in for the Daniel Dopps Memorial PRCA Rodeo that was held June 22-23. First place in bareback riding was Noah Bayes of Adrian, Ore., with 82 points. Daniel Herman of Marsing received 77 points and was closely followed by Nathan Bayes of Adrian, Ore,. with 76 points. Colton Bair brought in fourth place with 74 points...

The Mountain Home Royals picked up five more wins in six American Legion baseball games last week. Royals 12 Seminoles 1 The Mountain Home Royals scored four runs in the second, third and fourth innings last Thursday night to down the Boise Seminoles, 12-1, at Fort Boise...

An open letter to the City of Mountain Home: I would like to know if private business is utilizing public land for personal profit or an explanation about private businesses using city parks and facilities to peddle their products. On Thursday, June 28, I observed brand new automobiles lined up and parked on the grass at Railroad Park. That is advertisement!...

Dear editor: As you know, a small number of citizens are asking to have the only three tennis courts in town completely resurfaced and hopefully adding at least three more courts for the city. I recently spoke to the mayor in casual conversation about the courts and his concern is the lack of demand to have new courts built, therefore we are a small number of citizens right now. That being said, I believe the demand would be much higher if we had safe, playable courts to play on...

Dear editor: I would like to take a moment to thank our local establishments for their generosity and contributions to the (Migrant/LEP ) Summer School Program. Each business provided certificates used as incentives for reading, student achievement, perfect attendance and good behavior...

Dear editor: Usually, I only disagree with one editorial, but this week there were two. First of all, we should keep the bus service. Just enclose a monthly bus pass in every water bill and add $1 a month. That would increase use and yield enough money to expand the service. Next election, ask whether to continue or discontinue the bus, and go with the majority. If it's not legal to do it that way, we need the legislature to give local government more options...

Dear Mayor McNeal and Council Members: It was disheartening to read coverage in the Mountain Home News concerning budget cuts for the Treasure Valley Transit bus service. Frankly, I'm puzzled by some of the statements and quotes in the article. Were some of the "quotes" attributed to council members transcribed accurately?...

Dear editor; One of the things I've always admired about Kelly Everitt is his willingness to show both sides of every issue, an extremely rare trait among newspaper editors. Wherever you stand on the 2nd Amendment, there can be little doubt that without it, you can't protect the rest of them. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for...

I read the Mountain Home News article (Council Cuts Bus Service from Budget, 27 June 2007) with great interest and totally disagree with the proposal to ax public transit, our local public bus service. I am disappointed in my city's leadership and lack of vision. It is unthinkable how you could not appropriate funds for this worthy public service...

Vice President Dick Cheney is refusing to turn over to the national archives, as required by law, certain "internal" classified material. At first, Cheney said he didn't know that it was required, then said he'd forgotten, and finally just refused to do so, claiming that the law did not apply to the vice-president's office. He argued that under the definition of the law, the vice president's office was not considered part of the executive branch...

President Bush commuted the sentence Monday of the former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. A 30-month prison term had been imposed after a federal court convicted Libby of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators in the probe of the leak of the name of a CIA operative. The leak had been part of an administration effort to smear the husband of the operative, who had become a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq...