Stories from Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Physicians from the Family Care Clinic and St. Luke's Clinic Trinity Mountain (SLCTM) will be offering free school sports physicals this Thursday, Aug. 7, from 1-4 p.m. at the SLCTM offices at 465 McKenna Drive in Mountain Home. Organized by St. Luke's Elmore Center for Community Health, this year's event will be open to students, grades 6-12, who are required to have a sports physical prior to participating in school sports programs. ...

The completion of a large-scale renovation project at the city airport will cause a small drop in the city's new operating budget, but the $22.1 million spending plan is expected to provide a number of benefits when it takes effect. A public hearing on the fiscal 2015 budget will begin at 6 p.m. Aug. 11 at the city council chambers on South 3rd East Street next to city hall...

Dear editor: When someone tells me I don't understand what it is to be a minority, I reply immediately, "The heck I don't!" I'm an American who hasn't forgotten how to BE one. That ALONE makes one a minority, especially today. It's not a geographical issue either. You are no more of an American because you were born in Kansas than you'd be a musician because you've purchased a guitar...

The storms that swept through the mountains earlier this week have increasingly isolated remote parts of northwestern Elmore County. In part due to the lack of vegetation in areas damaged by the fires last year, and in part simply because the storms dumped a lot of water on areas historically susceptible to flooding and mudslides, both Prairie and Atlanta had some -- but not all -- of the routes to them blocked this week...