Stories from Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Following months of studies and research, the Mountain Home community is set to enter the next phase of a long-term effort to build a community recreation center here. With three years to go before its doors are due to open, representatives with the Treasure Valley YMCA outlined the initiative's future steps during a town hall meeting Feb. 22...

State Sen. Tim Corder spent nearly three hours last Wednesday night hearing comments and answering questions about state Superintendent of Education Tom Luna's proposed restructuring of public education in Idaho. Corder was the only one of the three legislators from this district to attend the town hall meeting on Luna's plans and the approximately 250 people who showed up directed virtually all of their comments and questions at him, while the school board, district administrators, the mayor and members of the city council looked on.. ...

Although the Mountain Home School District Board of Trustees has not officially declared its intention to invoke its Reduction in Force policy, district administrators began functionally implementing a portion of that policy last week, informing some teachers their contracts would not be renewed for next year...

Dear editor: I am writing about a story that appeared in the Boise News paper on Feb. 25, page A4, titled "Is rooster a pet or pest? The story takes place here in Mountain Home and is about Maria Lang, an 88-year-old widow that has a rooster as a companion and therapy animal...

Dear editor: When is it okay to break a promise, a contract, an agreement well met and fairly made? If your word is your bond, if a handshake at the end of a deal still means something, if the vow, "in sickness and in health,' til death do us part" still has meaning, then I'm on the side that says, "Never."...

Dear editor: I find it interesting that it's still legal to condense mercury-containing fillings (amalgams) into a persons' teeth/mouth in this country, yet if a couple of drops of mercury spill in a school lab the feds say we have to shut the entire school down until it's cleaned up...

Dear editor: I appreciate your article on the recent Mayfield Townsite Planned Community. I notice a couple of small discrepancies in the reporting of my statements. You said that I suggested a growth rate of 3 percent and that might double in 20 years. I did not mean to imply that the annual growth rate might double from 3 percent to 6 percent...

Jay and Jo Phillips of Mountain Home have announced the engagement of their daughter, Tawny Jo Phillips, to Ryan Wells Hoskin, son of Rick and Cammy Hoskin, of Providence, Utah. The couple will marry Thursday, March 3, 2011, in the Logan LDS Temple...

Kent and Freda Timmons of Wilder, and Cyndi and Jerry Hipwell of Mountain Home, have announced the engagement of their daughter, Jessica Michelle Timmons, to Gregory Charles Jackson, son of Kermit and Rhonda Jackson of Boise. The couple are both of Mountain Home...

Dear editor: I would like to clarify Kelly Everett's part of the front page story last week on Mayfield Springs and how he portrayed my testimony at the Planning and Zoning hearing. The P&Z has three sign-in sheets upon entering the hearing, for, neutral and against and they do a roll call in that order. ...

February 23 • 00:43 Suspicious, Airbase Rd• 05:25 Animal, I-84 WB MM111-113• 05:58 Hazard, I-84 Exit 99• 07:38 Vehicle Stop, S18E/Hwy 30• 08:00 Assist, MH• 08:23 Motorist Assist, I-84 EB MM118• 09:21 Vandalism, Glenns Ferry• 09:28 Assist, S3W• 10:21 Vehicle Stop, Airbase Rd• 10:23 Hazard, I-84 EB MM115• 10:41 Vehicle Stop, Hwy 30• 10:50 Vehicle Stop, Bypass Rd• 11:11 Vehicle Stop, Hwy 20 MM120• 11:25 Vehicle Stop, Hwy 20• 11:54 Vehicle Stop, Hwy 51• 12:05 Motorist Assist, I-84 Exit 95• 12:15 Vehicle Stop, Hwy 51• 12:21 Vehicle Stop, Hwy 30• 12:25 Civil, S3W• 12:40 Animal, Groefsema Rd• 12:44 Motorist Assist, I-84 EB MM82• 13:06 Illegal Dumping, Birch Av• 13:38 Vehicle Stop, I-84 EB MM84• 15:39 Assist, E8N• 16:06 Vehicle Stop, E15N• 16:17 Assist, E8N• 16:47 Vehicle Stop, Ditto Crk/Bypass Rd• 16:48 Animal, Vista Wy• 17:09 Vehicle Stop, Main St• 17:18 Vandalism, S3W• 18:51 Traffic, I-84 EB MM120• 19:24 Fire, Other, I-84 EB MM113• 19:37 Vehicle Stop, Bypass Rd• 19:58 Vehicle Stop, Airbase Rd• 21:47 Vehicle Stop, I-84 EB MM90. ...

Wesley Dutch Hall, Jr. 79, of Owyhee, Nev., died on Feb. 14, 2011, at the Idaho State Veterans Hospital in Boise. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home.