Stories from Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Mountain Home School district kicked off another school year Monday and congested vehicular and pedestrian traffic quickly peaked over reasonable limits. According to Sgt. Rick Viola of the Mountain Home Police Department, Hacker Middle School is one of the main schools with traffic problem. On the first day alone, the traffic at the front of the school was tied up for long as 20 minutes as parents tried to drop their children off at the front door...

Note: The headline for the story in the print edition of the Mountain News incorrectly stated that the bond election would be held on Tuesday. The bond election will be held on Thursday, Sept. 6. The Mountain Home School District will ask voters to approve a $34.5 million bond issue next Thursday, Sept. 6 that would complete Phase II of the long-delayed high school project...

Lucas Green, (age unknown), had a charge of battery that was dismissed by the prosecutor. Shanna R. Schnabl, 28, had a charge of driving without privileges. Schnabl pleaded guilty, served a seven day jail sentence (credited 2 days) and had her driver's license suspended for 180 days...

Brian Angelo Miran, 32 --DUI. Kevin J. Jackson, 26 --Warrant. Miguel A. Jurado, 46 --Warrant. Samuel W. Havens, 27-- DUI/Out of state. David Michael Gasser, 50 --Battery. Diane Lynn Crane, 54 -- Warrant. Amnon Ben-Israel Barnett, 21 -- Domestic Battery...

Bill Lawrence Beltz, 80, formerly of Mountain Home, died Aug. 19, 2007, at the Capital Care Center in Boise. Graveside inurnment services will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, at the Hagerman Cemetery in Hagerman. Arrangements are under the direction of Demaray Funeral Service, Gooding Chapel...

Takeharu "Take" Inouye, 78, died Aug. 21, 2007, in the presence of friends and family at his home in Glenns Ferry. A memorial service was held Saturday, Aug. 25, at the VFW Hall in Glenns Ferry. Arrangements were under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home...

F. Geneva Bennett Eckley, 72, died Aug. 20, 2007, in Mountain Home, with family at her side. Geneva was born on July 4, 1935, in Wallowa, Ore., to Clyde and Carrie Bennett. She married Francis (Frank) Eckley on Sept. 25, 1954 and chose to make Wallowa their home. They had their first daughter, Brenda Eckley Sarman on Oct.12, 1955, and their second daughter ,Rena Eckley Kerfoot, was born on Jan. 4, 1960...

Charles Miller Powell, 86, died Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007, in Mountain Home, due to advanced Alzheimer's disease and respiratory arrest. He requested only a simple graveside service and to be buried beside his wife in the cemetery in Mountain Home. That service was held on Aug. 25 with full military honors...

Wes and Teresa Dodge have announced the engagement of their daughter, Alexandria Marie Dodge, to Robert Dale Kipp, son of Bob Kipp of Mountain Home and Corinne Lujan of Boise. Dodge is a 2002 graduate of Mountain Home High School and is now attending the College of Southern Idaho, scheduled to graduate next May with a degree in radiology. She also serves as a staff sergeant in the Idaho Air National Guard...

Dear editor: You always hear of the how bad this city department or that city department is (but) that is NOT the case with this letter. On Aug. 15 we had an electrical fire in our attic. The fire department was there within just a couple minutes from the time we called for help. They were very courteous and prompt on everything they did...

Dear editor: The week prior to the Relay for Life, there was a Survivor Reception held. As a first-time attendee, I thought this was as awesome as the Relay! In your coverage of the reception in the paper, a worthy contributor was not given any credit for this event. I mentioned this to one of your reporters at the relay event, and I searched the paper this past week, but didn't see any mention of them, again...

Dear editor: The school district had me voting in favor of the $34.5 million dollar bond. Do we need more classrooms? Sure. More room for vo-tech? Sure. I could envision an auditorium where the spectators sat in comfort and could actually hear the performers...

There have always been persistent rumors about Sen. Larry Craig's sexual orientation. It never helped that during the 1982 congressional page scandal, Craig, without ever being named in the scandal, nevertheless was the only member of Congress to issue a press release denying he was involved. It looked weird at the time. Very weird. Suspiciously weird...

This year many new hunters will pack up their gear and head up to the high country for their first hunting experience. Nearly 125 new hunters received hunter safety training, through Idaho's, Department of Fish and Game's Hunter Safety Program for the Mountain Home area in 2007...

The Mountain Home Tigers opened their boys soccer season with road wins at Jerome and Emmett, before losing their home opener to Skyview. Mtn. Home 4 Jerome 1 Christian Adamson and Daniel Snelgrow both scored two goals for the Tigers, as they beat Jerome, 4-1, at Jerome on Aug. 18...

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers split their conference soccer games last week, winning at home against Emmett, and losing at Skyview. Mtn. Home 4 Emmett 1 Francesca Hale scored two goals and Shianna Hawley and Shalamar Enriquez also had goals as Mountain Home opened conference play with a 4-1 win over Emmett last Tuesday at Eastside Park...

The Mountain Home Tigers have been working hard in practice preparing for their football season opener at home against the Eagle Mustangs this Friday night. Tiger head football coach Brian Floyd lost 18 players from last year's squad that made the 4A Playoffs and finished 7-4 overall, but he has been pleased with this year's turnout, which numbered about 35-36 on the freshman team, and the JV and varsity both around 31-32...

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers opened their 2007 volleyball season Thursday night at Nampa against the Lady Bulldogs, dropping the SIC 4A match in five games. In a match that had the intensity of a district tourney match rather than the opening match of the season, the Lady Tigers led most of the way in the first game, which had three ties, the last at 13-13. Mountain Home went on from there for a 25-17 win...

A young bear cub wandered into town Sunday, hiding in a tree until Fish and Game officers and officials from the animal shelter were able to dart it with a tranquilizer and bundle it up to be released back into the hills. For Fish and Game conservation officer Bob Sellers the day began with several animal calls. ...

Mitch Prouty has announced his candidacy to seek one of the two open Mountain Home City Council seats, bringing the total number of council candidates to four for the November election. Also running for council, so far, are Russ Anderson, Albert Clement and Geoff Schroeder. ...

The state of Idaho will now have its long awaited racetrack. Tuesday night's meeting of the Elmore County Planning and Zoning Commission settled the final questions about the conditional use permit for Northwest Motorsports to build a motor vehicle racetrack complex and exposition center, and was approved unanimously by the panel...

The school bond next Thursday is crucial to the future of the students of Mountain Home. District officials see the new high school building, if approved, as a tool to meet its goals of improving education for our children. It's amazing how much of a difference it really can make...