Stories from Thursday, October 6, 2011

Mistakes and turnovers did the Tigers in again Friday night as they dropped a 32-10 conference football game to the visiting Knights of Bishop Kelly High School. Any thoughts the Tigers would be down after their homecoming loss the week before soon disappeared as Mountain Home came out strong, going 74 yards in six plays with Skyler Podesek rambling 37 yards for a touchdown. With Tony McKenzie's point-after try, the Tigers led by seven with nine minutes left in the opening quarter...

Mountain Home's cross county team faired well during the Warrior Mountain Classic cross country race at Smith's Ferry on Saturday. The Tigers girl's team actually tied with Meridian for first with 28 points each. But the tie-breaker involves the placement of each team's sixth place runner...

A student from East Elementary School rolls past his fellow students while tackling an obstacle course during a bike rodeo Friday afternoon. The bicycle safety and traffic awareness effort was part of an overall effort to help protect students as part of the local Safe Routes to School initiative...

Plans to increase monthly wastewater fees remained on hold as city leaders unveiled a last-minute proposal that could ease costs for some residents. During a public hearing Sept. 26, the city council recommended increasing the amount of wastewater covered in the basic rate by an additional 1,000 gallons per month...

Progress is slowly being made on the effort to locate a training squadron of the Royal Saudi Arabian air force at Mountain Home Air Force Base. In fact, most observers close to the negotiations expect the Saudis to sign a Letter of Agreement, or LOA, before the end of the year...

Despite the loss of city funding in the new fiscal year, the head of the Mountain Home Youth Center remains cautiously optimistic that the organization will avoid having to close. Parents and Youth United, which runs the youth center, is currently tapping into the last of its cash reserves to remain open, including all of the nearly $2,300 it had dedicated to its building fund, said Youth Center Director Teresa Bowman...

A last-minute appeal for financial support met with disapproval Sept. 28 as the Western Elmore County Recreation District voted against a request to fund the city's youth center. Last week's decision came two days before the Mountain Home Youth Center's annual budget ran out, raising questions about how long the facility will remain open...

Fr. Ben Uhlenkott takes a minute to meet Mary Lou Koelsch's miniature ponies as the Catholic priest chats with her granddaughter, Diana Fish, during the annual Blessing of Pets on Sunday. Families across Mountain Home brought a procession of dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, donkeys and an alpaca to the local parish for the yearly blessing -- an international observance that coincides with the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi in remembrance of his love of all animals. Photo by Brian S. Orban...