Stories from Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The El-Wyhee Business Association will sponsor a Fourth of July Festival Friday in Carl Miller Park to celebrate the 232nd birthday of the United States. The festival will start with breakfast at 8 a.m. The breakfast of "Pioneer pancakes," scrambled eggs and coffee or milk will be served all day...

The Mountain Home Museum celebrated the 100-year ground breaking anniversary of the Carnegie Public Library Building on Monday afternoon. The building now houses the Mountain Home Museum. The special guest speaker for "A Walk Into History," was the son of one of the original architects of the Carnegie Library, Charles Hummell...

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has approved a 33.6 percent emergency surcharge for the customers of Atlanta Power Company effective July 1. The company had requested a 54.2 percent emergency surcharge on top of a 60.6 percent increase in base electric rates...

The rapid rise in gas price has prompted the Mountain Home City Council to purchase two electric vehicles. For the complete story, see the Mountain Home News.

Dave Fisher and local supervisor Chad Murphy announced the official merger of Republic Services and Allied Waste during last Monday's meeting of the Mountain Home City Council.

Each year, around the Fourth of July, fire crews wind up working overtime dealing with far too many fires started by fireworks -- usually illegal fireworks. With temperatures rapidly climbing into or near triple digits, the "fuel" (grasses) on the desert are quickly drying out. And, because of the wet spring, there's a lot of it out there. The lands surrounding Mountain Home (and even some lots inside the city) are quickly becoming a tinderbox...

Dear editor: On behalf of the Mountain Home Arts Council and Beta Zeta Civic Club, we would like to thank the community for supporting our 12th Annual Garden Tour, "A Palette of Posies." The funds raised will allow us to give a $1,000 scholarship to a high school student pursuing a degree in the art field and also a Log Cabin Literary Scholarship in 2009...

Dear editor: Well, after 20 years of "public meetings" on both public and private property, being arrested for trespassing was a first for me! I was sitting quietly in the audience for 20 minutes when the police officer tapped me on the shoulder, and said "You are under arrest for trespassing and battery."...

Dear editor: I attended the informational meeting (Don Gillispie, AEH president) hosted in Glenns Ferry regarding the proposed nuclear power plant for Elmore County. Idahoans value the freedom to voice our opinions, and Gillispie's meeting let supporters and opponents voice theirs in an open forum...

A new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Fire Prevention Order for this fire season is effective immediately that makes fireworks illegal to use or possess on the nearly 12 million acres of public land managed by the BLM in Idaho. "Idaho's public rangelands and forests are no place for fireworks," said Leonard Wehking, State Fire Management Officer for the BLM. The U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands also prohibit fireworks on the public lands they manage...

Ralph Russell Young, Sr., 70, of Mountain Home, died Saturday, June 28, 2008, at a local hospital. A viewing will be held from 4-6 p.m. today, Wednesday, July 2, at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, July 3, at 1 p.m. at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel. Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery with military honors by the American Legion Post No. 26 honor guard...

Patricia A. (Wilson) Elliott, 53, died at her sister's home on Saturday June 28, 2008, after a long battle with cancer. Memorial services will be held at a later date. Pat was born to Ernest and Evelyn Wilson on May 4, 1955, at the Elmore County Medical Center in Mountain Home. Born the fourth of eight children, "Pat was very outgoing and loved by all who came in contact with her," her family said...

Joe C. Adcock, 90, of Boise, formerly of Mountain Home, died Wednesday, June 25, 2008, at the home of his daughter, after a long hard-fought battle with cancer. Memorial services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 3, 2008 at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home. Inurnment will follow at the Zion Cemetery in Lincoln, Ill., July 10...

Florence Josephine McCaslin Falk, 101, of Mountain Home, died June 27, 2008, at a local hospital, after a brief illness. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, July 2, with a viewing beginning at 1 p.m. until the 2 p.m. funeral service at Rasmussen Funeral Home in Burley. Burial will follow at the Pleasant View Cemetery in Burley. Local arrangements were provided by Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel, which held a viewing on Tuesday...