Archive for January, 2008

What’s new: Idaho Youth Ranch adds 5th store in Boise

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

With the opening of its fifth Boise thrift store, at 7054 W. State St., Idaho Youth Ranch now operates 22 stores in Idaho and one in Ontario, Ore. Organizers have a goal to open two or three new stores each year and are looking at additional locations in Meridian and Nampa, they said.”This new thrift store will give these area residents and businesses a place to shop for affordable new and used items as well as a place to donate gently used items they no longer need,” said J. Steve Woodworth, Idaho Youth Ranch president and CEO. “At the same time, anyone who shops at or donates to the IYR can feel good knowing that their support of our thrift stores directly impacts our ability to provide community services to children and families in need throughout Idaho,” he said.Idaho Youth Ranch is an entrepreneurial nonprofit organization. Revenue raised from donated goods supports a wide range of programs providing residential treatment, group homes, adoption and other services for troubled, disturbed, delinquent or abused children and adolescents In September, IYR opened a thrift store at Fairview Avenue and Five Mile Road. There also is a new “outlet store” at 5465 W. Irving St. in Boise that opened this past summer where all clothing is $1. Youth Ranch thrift stores also are found in Garden City, Meridian, Mountain Home, Emmett, Nampa, Payette, Caldwell, Gooding, Jerome, Rupert, Twin Falls, Buhl, Burley, Blackfoot, Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Coeur d’Alene. The stores provide local jobs, support families enrolled in IYR programs and fund additional programs that helped nearly 2,000 children and their families in 2007, Woodworth said.Community volunteers are also a big part of the Idaho Youth Ranch work force. Thrift store volunteers sort donations, help clean and straighten merchandise, stock shelves and racks, and work as cashiers. “We receive a large volume of donations in December - ’tis the season to be out with the old and in with the new. Folks have time to clean out their closets and they want to make sure they have enough tax deductions for the calendar year,” said Roberta Rene, IYR development director. “In addition, we take care of our communities in the form of recycling and providing affordable goods. We could not do this without our donors.”Anyone interested in volunteering at a Youth Ranch store should contact individual store managers.Stephanie Eddy: 377-6481AROUND THE VALLEYNEW ALLSTATE AGENCY OPENS ON EAGLE ROADTracy Oldenburg has opened an Allstate Insurance Co. agency at 5418 N. Eagle Road, Suite 170, in Boise. The agency offers a complete line of products and services, including auto, property, commercial and life insurance. “My staff and I are excited about opening for business,” Oldenburg said. “We are looking forward to helping families insure and protect the things that are important to them - their family, home, car, business and more.” The office is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday by appointment. Call 938-4006 or e-mail toldenburg@allstate.com.LAW FIRM OPENS OFFICE IN BOISEZarian Midgley %26 Johnson PLLC have opened a Boise office at University Plaza, 960 S. Broadway Ave., Suite 250. Zarian Midgley specializes in intellectual property matters and complex litigation. The firm’s Boise attorneys include John Zarian, Peter Midgley, Rex Johnson and Brook Bond.Zarian’s practice emphasizes intellectual property and business litigation. Midgley is a patent attorney practicing primarily in the areas of patent prosecution, licensing and litigation. Johnson’s practice emphasizes patents, trademarks, trade secrets and related intellectual property litigation. Brook B. Bond’s practice focuses on intellectual property, business, commercial and environmental litigation.For more information, call 433-9121 or visit www.zarianmidgley.com. ADVERTISING AGENCY CHANGES ITS NAMEEs/drake advertising agency announced it is moving to the top floor of 416 S. 8th St. in the BoDo warehouse district and changing its name to Drake Cooper.Bill Drake opened the agency in 1978. Jamie Cooper, who joined es/drake in February, 2006, as chief operating officer, now serves as chief executive officer. Drake will remain president.The company’s phone, fax and P.O. numbers will not change. The company’s Web address will change to www.drake-cooper.com. For more information, call 342-0925.

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Clinton’s years at Yale Law were key to her development

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - All that Hillary Rodham Clinton would become - all that inspires her allies and her enemies alike - emerged during her years roaming the Gothic buildings of Yale Law School.She helped edit a journal that included cartoon police-pigs and that published a self-aggrandizing essay by a Black Panther who’d been convicted of murder. Yet she also helped calm a politically inflamed campus.She nurtured an interest in using the law to aid the needy - especially children - that remains integral to her politics, but which opponents use to pummel her values.She projected an intelligence that impressed many, but that could be cool and intimidating.And she met fellow student Bill Clinton and developed the first stirrings of a unique partnership that’s already made American history - and that she hopes will make more.On the campaign trail, Clinton highlights her childhood in middle-class Park Ridge, Ill. She never mentions her education at one of America’s most prestigious law schools, which was at least as important in developing the worldview that animates her campaign, an experience in which time and place combined to influence the paths and policies she’d pursue.”Much of what I believe, and much of what I have worked for is directly related to my time at the law school,” Clinton told a Yale audience in 1992.Yale was no typical elite law school stamping out high-dollar associates for white-shoe firms. Small, with a class of about 200 - perhaps 25 of them women - the school emphasized using the law for social change. It attracted students “interested in a public service career,” said Douglas Eakeley, one of Bill Clinton’s roommates.Its lessons reverberate through Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign: In a recent speech, she declared that overhauling the American health-care system was “a moral question” because it’s “unequal and unfair.”Hillary Rodham arrived at Yale in 1969 a minor celebrity, thanks to her commencement speech at equally elite Wellesley College outside Boston, where she rebuked a senator who was sitting nearby.”You knew she was impressive, although you might not know why,” classmate Paul Helmke said. “She held herself as someone that was going to be good at whatever she wanted to do. There was sort of an aura about her. Even then.”With that came a no-nonsense demeanor.”You certainly wouldn’t want to fall into her bad graces,” Eakeley said. “I don’t think she suffered fools gladly.”Rodham gained more prominence the second semester of her first year at Yale Law, when it seemed “the whole place was falling apart the most intense year in the history of Yale Law School,” said Laura Kalman, who wrote “Yale Law School and the Sixties: Revolt and Reverberations.”Several Black Panthers were on trial for murder in New Haven. The campus, opened to New Left demonstrators associated with the trial, became a circus. Downtown business owners, fearing violence, boarded up their windows. A law library was set afire. The shooting deaths of four student demonstrators at Kent State University in Ohio by National Guardsmen further enraged campuses nationwide.Rodham - sympathetic to the angry left but insistent that its grievances could be resolved within the system - moderated a tense campus meeting at which violence seemed to percolate under the surface, as students debated how to respond to Kent State and issues specific to Yale.Quoting an unnamed student, Kalman wrote: “Hillary did what nowadays would be international summitry - flying back and forth between sides,” maintaining credibility with all, impressing faculty and fellow students, helping to keep New Haven peaceful.Yale also introduced Rodham to children’s issues, through work for the Children’s Defense Fund and New Haven legal-aid lawyer Penn Rhodeen. Children would be a passion throughout Rodham’s career: serving on the board of the Children’s Defense Fund, writing “It Takes a Village” as first lady, working on children’s health issues in Arkansas and Washington.Rhodeen remembers Rodham as “a vision in purple. She had on this sheepskin coat driving a purple Gremlin, and she had long Gloria Steinem hair and Gloria Steinem glasses”; a typical early ’70s look, “only more so.” They worked on a child custody case that sparked a deep interest in children’s rights.”She had a connection with this issue which was kind of astonishing to me,” Rhodeen said. “Remember, she was just out of college. When you’re that young, the last thing you want to do is think about children. That struck me right away. Why is she so into this?”Years later, Rhodeen learned that Rodham’s mother had been abandoned by her parents and, at age 8, put in charge of her 3-year-old sister on a cross-country train to live a Dickensian existence with relatives.”Hillary talks about being very moved by that,” Rhodeen said. “That would be enough, honestly, that would loom. I’m fully prepared to think that’s formative in Hillary’s family story.”Much later, those emerging passions provided fodder for Hillary-haters to portray her as an anti-family radical.In the summer of 1971, Rodham worked at an Oakland, Calif., law firm at which at least two partners had been members of the Communist Party; one, Robert Treuhaft, had been a leading lawyer for the party. The firm previously had defended Black Panthers.At a hearing of the Democratic National Committee in Boston, she urged that the party’s 1972 platform “respond to a growing movement to extend civil and political rights to children,” The New York Times reported. In 1973, she published an article in the Harvard Educational Review that asserted a broad view of children’s rights.Then there’s her work as associate editor of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action, whose incendiary content included an issue featuring four forbidding soldiers on its cover, wearing gas masks and armed with rifles with fixed bayonets.Many anti-Clinton books, articles and Web sites mine the Yale years; the late conservative writer Barbara Olson wrote that the Harvard article “reveals a leftist ideologue, dedicated to centrally directed social engineering, dismissive of the traditional role of the family, and interested in children primarily as levers with which to obtain political power.”Viewed through the context of time and place, there’s less there than Clinton’s opponents would like.Beyond its overheated coverage of the Black Panther trial, much of the review’s work focused on the law as social equalizer, including issues such as tenants’ rights, with a heavy period dose of privileged young white guilt.Mal Burnstein, the partner for whom Rodham did the most work during her summer in Oakland, said “the work she did with us was law. It was not politics.”Burnstein said that Clinton might have done research on a case challenging whether government doctors should be required to take loyalty oaths. Much of her work was legal research for the firm, which specialized in civil rights and civil liberties for Oakland’s poorest, including tenant-landlord disputes and domestic and personal injury cases.Her Harvard article was more about emerging legal theory than a public policy proposal, Rhodeen said.”You’re giving voice to a whole area of the law that really wasn’t thought about,” Rhodeen said. “She no more wants to pit children against their parents than the man on the moon. The thing is, when the child’s just not getting the essentials of being able to grow up as a reasonably whole and secure human being, you gotta pay attention. And then what is the apparatus that will ensure attention is paid appropriately? So how you conceive that and what structures have to be in there and how those structures could play out, worst-case scenario, you have to think about that kind of stuff.”Rodham’s time at Yale also was important for personal reasons: She met Bill Clinton in the cavernous law library in the spring of 1971. Their first date was at an art museum, and they eventually lived together on the first floor of a rickety two-story wood-frame house near the campus.Clinton was a year behind Rodham. She remained a year after she could have graduated, taking courses in child development.While the pair’s relationship has been dissected endlessly, Rhodeen thinks it came down to something elemental: “She was gaga over him.”They also shared something else: Yale provided the forum for the first display of their professional partnership. The two were teammates for the Barrister’s Union Prize Trial in the spring of 1972.In presenting their case together, they honed the diversity of skills and division of labor that they’d later deploy to land Bill Clinton in the Oval Office.”Even then, you could tell the difference in style,” Eakeley said. “Both keenly intelligent. But Bill Clinton with a much more ingratiating and folksy approach to both the jury and the witnesses. Hillary much more direct, more analytical. Both effective in their own way. They performed beautifully as a team. They complemented each other.”They lost. But in loss came opportunity.The next year, Watergate prosecutor John Doar came to New Haven to judge the trial, of which Rodham was now a leader. He hired several Yalies, including Rodham, to work on the Nixon impeachment inquiry.Well-networked, ready to use the law to pursue her passions, Rodham left Yale far more prepared for a powerful, activist future than the average young woman from middle-class Park Ridge.”It was a completely different sort of world then,” classmate Joan Tumpson said. “I don’t think the women in my class had the training to think strategically about their careers. I’m not sure I’d say that about Hillary. She always seemed to be two or three steps ahead.”

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Garden City evolves

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Words like “visionary” and “renaissance” are being used to describe the shift that is turning Garden City’s neglected corners into a model of urban renewal. Crime is down, rents are up, the cultural sector is igniting, and people in and around the area are excited about the future.The buzz started in 2005 when the city scrapped its comprehensive plan and invited the entire community to the rewrite. The resulting 49-page document won a Grow Smart Award from Idaho Smart Growth last year, not only for its inclusive process, but also for its innovative use of existing space and resources.An industrial stretch on Adams Street is slated to become a vibrant corridor like Boise’s Hyde Park. New zoning allows a Live-Work-Create district in the city’s Old Town that will have artists both living and working in affordable lofts. Design standards have been set that encourage attractive, integrated spaces in the commercial sector. The mixed-use Waterfront District development is going up between 37th and 35th streets. Bright buildings and bulldozers dominate the view from the south side of the Greenbelt, which will soon connect all the way to Eagle. The dream is grand, and some of it already has been realized, but how possible is the extreme transformation of a city with such a dark past? Can a place once known for gambling houses and shanty towns become, as it is sometimes called, “the heart of the Treasure Valley”? Will State Street grow into a tree-lined mall? Can the fairgrounds turn into a downtown core with its own skyline? Will boutiques, restaurants and neighborhood groceries pop up between used car lots, warehouses and bars?Garden City’s comprehensive plan boasts a “new vision for the future,” but most of the thousands of people who drive through the city every day are kicking back, waiting to see what happens.Meanwhile, a handful of individuals are carving out that vision. From business owners to artists to elected officials, these people are making the difference between a nice dream and a satisfying reality. All have hopes for the future, but in the 4.2 square miles on either side of Chinden, they are beautifying the present.We’d like you to meet some of these people. THE OTHER GARDEN CITYGarden City was named for the Chinese gardens that once thrived in the floodplains of the Boise River, but most of the gardens were gone before Donna Conn moved to 36th Street.The spirited 79-year-old’s mobile home and metal detector business, Conn’s Wampum Hut, look as though they’ve grown roots, a fitting metaphor for her connection to the place she’s called home for more than 50 years. Conn is a polio survivor, a mother, a journalist, an entrepreneur, a former dance band leader and Garden City’s unofficial historian. Over the years, she has involved herself in countless public hearings and community happenings, shaping the city just by speaking up, or as she jokes, “creating problems.” She was on the steering committee that helped draft Garden City’s new comprehensive plan and hopes it will combat a generation of stereotypes that would have outsiders believe everyone in the city has a bag of drugs in one hand and a gun in the other.”We came here in the mid-’50s, right before gambling was outlawed. We didn’t experience it, but we experienced the aftermath,” Conn said. “Everybody we talked to said, ‘Oh, you don’t want to move there.’ They had theories that there were red lights behind every bush, slot machines to lead you to iniquity. But once you got off the main strip, it was different.”The bad influences have changed, but the reputation lingers. Garden City has the highest density of registered sex offenders in Ada County (currently 54 of about 12,500 residents), and though the crime rate dropped almost 10 percent from 2005 to 2006 and more than 20 percent the year before, it is still relatively high for such a small city, as are poverty statistics. A 1999 census showed that 12.7 percent of the population was below the poverty line. The city is gearing up for another census in 2008, but City Clerk Pam Thomason said poverty numbers will probably be similar.”It’s going to change,” she added, “because the revitalization is starting to happen.” Conn is part of that revitalization, bolstered by memories of better times. Ron “Pinky” Lester had a skating rink just down the street, there were prize fights and movies in Centennial Park, and the now-defunct Garden City Gazette kept the community connected. With that community in mind, Conn plans to build a meditation garden in the old park and publish her own Garden City Bulletin, to celebrate “the good things.” “As the world updates and changes, Garden City is changing for the better along with it,” she said.CHANGE FROM THE BOTTOM UPIn a letter posted on Garden City’s official Web site, Mayor John Evans wrote: “Our city is, in many ways, undergoing a renaissance. We are rapidly moving from being just a small town surrounded by Boise and Eagle to being an attractive, vibrant and enviable city in the heart of the Treasure Valley.” Evans has witnessed that movement from many angles over many years. He was introduced to Garden City in the ’80s as a developer with Evans Brothers Construction. The three brothers took over an existing project on the west end of town and created the high-end subdivision, Riverside Village. Evans and his family moved to the area in 1988. Four years later, then-mayor Jay Davis asked him to serve on the planning and zoning commission. He joined the City Council in 1995, where he stayed until running for mayor in 2005. He took office in January 2006, amid a huge transition. “You kind of get vested in the community, living and working here. If you can effect some change, it kind of gets in your system,” Evans said. “What’s fun here is this change is being driven from the bottom up. These are not edicts coming down from the City Council. The steering committee is made up of people who live and work here.”IF YOU BUILD ITFour years ago, metal sculptor Irene Deely did something crazy. On a block of Chinden Boulevard occupied by High Desert Harley-Davidson and the old Ranch Club, she transformed a Chinese restaurant into a contemporary art gallery. She called it Woman of Steel, and as the name suggests, she stood on her own.”I’m learning that a lot of successful entrepreneurs don’t listen to the logic of something. They go with their hearts,” Deely said. “It became an installation piece for me to bring beauty into this place.”She called Garden City “the Left Bank of Boise” and compared its self-governing ways and myriad contrasts to the old West. She has brought some color to the commercial landscape of Chinden, from original works in her whimsical gallery to the striking aesthetic of its exterior to community events like the Chinese Dragon Parade, which Deely organized in September to celebrate the city’s past.”The encouragement it brought to people was amazing,” Deely said. “Some were crying because the police had finally come into this neighborhood not for a drug bust, but to throw candy to children and be part of something positive.”One thing she celebrated that day was the new Live-Work-Create district, which she helped design. Deely plans to build affordable lofts for artists behind her gallery, no matter what happens to the property value.”It’s definitely a huge risk, and I recognize that,” she said, “but it’s one that’s worth fighting for because of the human impact.”A LITTLE HELP FROM THE UNIVERSESam Stimpert and Anneliessa Balk Stimpert took a similar risk this year when they decided to pull Visual Arts Collective out of Boise’s Linen District straight into limbo. They opened the alternative gallery two years ago to promote all forms of art, from classic theater to independent film to body manipulation. But they couldn’t grow enough while renting in Boise, so they decided to buy in Garden City. The plan was to team up with Steve Fulton and Pat Storey of Audio Lab recording studios to create a progressive, multiuse arts facility in a community on the rise.”We loved the idea of coming to an area where the city was actively participating in urban renewal,” Balk Stimpert said. “Being first is so much more exciting because you have a chance to shape a place and make things happen.”Fulton helped the Stimperts find an old warehouse behind Woman of Steel, but the price tag left them stranded. On an impulse, Balk Stimpert wandered into the gallery and ended up telling Deely about her dream. Even though they barely knew each other, something clicked.Deely and her husband, Bob, ended up buying the warehouse behind their gallery with the understanding that the Stimperts would eventually pay it off. They got the keys in September, but serendipitous paths aren’t always the smoothest.Fulton was able to get a small-business loan of $50,000, but the total cost of remodeling the 9,200-square-foot space will be closer to $200,000. The new facility, which features a gallery, performance stage, recording studio, green room, conference room and lounge was supposed to open in October, but it has yet to crack its doors to the public. One financial surprise after another keeps getting in the way, but solutions continue to present themselves.”I have no doubt in my mind,” Fulton said. “I don’t even have a thread of doubt in my body that it will happen.”"Absolutely it will happen,” Balk Stimpert echoed. “We’ve had such incredible support, emotionally, mentally. It’s something the community really wants, and the support has fed us. I believe that the universe is on our side.” MIRACLE ON 35TH STREETWhile most of America weeps over the current healthcare crisis, people with no insurance, no jobs and no hope are getting free care at the Garden City Community Clinic.It grew from the vision of a local doctor named Karl Watts who wanted to provide medical care to needy people in foreign countries. When he realized how great the need was at home, he turned his attention to the federally designated “medically underserved” community of Garden City.Called Genesis World Mission, Watts’ nonprofit organization finds ways to give people from Kenya to Nampa vital care they often can’t afford. Steven Reames is executive director of the 5-year-old Garden City clinic, which used to be a doublewide trailer operating one day a week in a parking lot. Now it’s a polished primary care facility on 35th Street with the means to treat everything from diabetes to tooth decay. Low-income patients come from as far away as Mountain Home and Canyon County and are served by volunteer doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and dentists who donated $100,000 last year in hours for medical services alone. That doesn’t include supplies, pharmaceuticals and administrative support, even if it’s as simple as finding a stamp for someone who needs it.Reames insisted there is no typical patient, that affluent people down on their luck share the waiting room with single moms, ex-cons and immigrants.”We’re a place to help people get back on their feet and put some dreams into the ground,” he said. “When they walk in here and see that this is a nice place, all of a sudden their human dignity rises up and they say, ‘Hey, I’m a person.’”And the community pitches in. Handwritten blessings line the studs in what will soon be a dental wing, and goody bags form the recently re-formed Garden City Chamber of Commerce are ready for patients who could use, as Reames says, “a little extra love.”"Even increasing people’s hope for the future - that’s a big thing,” he said. “Everybody is responsible for their corner of the world. There are a lot of corners in Garden City, and we want to make sure our corner is beautiful.”Erin Ryan: 672-6734

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Lauterbach: Mistletoe may be friendly for lovers, but it can kill trees

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

This is the season when it’s acceptable for strangers to kiss under the mistletoe, although folks who take advantage of its presence usually are at least acquainted. One version of the tradition dictates that when one kisses under the mistletoe, the kisser reaches up and picks a berry from the spray, then discards it. When there are no more berries, there’s to be no more kissing. But here’s a little gardening lesson: Mistletoe is a parasite on living trees, often killing its host. How did it come to be associated with romance (or friendliness)? A Norse goddess, Frigga, begged all living things that grew in soil not to harm her son, Balder. As in all such cases of “divine” eternal life, there was a flaw: the wood of mistletoe did not grow from soil, but from other wood. Mistletoe was used to kill Balder. When his life was somehow restored, Frigga made the plant a symbol of love. We have dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium) in Idaho, especially in forests, but it can set root on trees anywhere. It’s a close cousin to the broadleaf Phoradendron used for kissing ceremonies. Both are evergreen, so are obvious in deciduous trees after leaves have fallen but difficult to see among branches of needled evergreens. The male plants produce pollen, the females small white berries. Birds are very fond of the berries, and consume the pulp, fly to another tree and excrete the berry seeds. Dwarf mistletoe seeds are mainly dispersed by being forcibly discharged horizontally, 30 to 40 feet away, effectively infesting a forest.When these seeds germinate on branches, their roots grow through the bark into the tree’s water and food-conducting system, which nourishes the parasitic plant. Development of the mistletoe may be slow, evident only by swelling on the branch at first. Some control may be gained by cutting off the infested limb. Just pruning off the mistletoe plant won’t control it, because it will quickly grow back. A homeowner can get a little control by removing the mistletoe again and again. SET UP A ‘HOT FRAME’ FOR VEGGIES THIS WINTERIf you have access to fresh horse or cattle manure, and you know they haven’t been grazing on herbicide-treated pastures, you could set up a “hot frame” for growing veggies in winter. Dig a pit about two feet deep and as large as your cold frame or old window. Fill the pit with fresh manure to within about five inches of the top, then water it lightly to start decomposition. Top the manure with garden soil to the top of the pit. Set your cold frame over the top of the pit. Check soil temperature every few days.Temperature of the soil will be too hot at first, when the manure begins decomposing, then it will gradually cool. When the temperature has dropped to 70 degrees or a little higher, plant greens or seeds in the soil. On sunny days you may have to prop the hot frame window open to avoid cooking your crop. Be sure to close it at night. GARDENING CATALOGS ARE STARTING TO ARRIVESome seed companies such as Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Pinetree and Thompson %26 Morgan, have already mailed 2008 seed catalogs. I usually order seeds at this time of year because if I wait until after Jan. 1, they’re often sold out of the varieties I want. I will order anything except alliums (onions) from last year’s catalogs or Web sites. Allium seeds have a short viability expectancy.

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Orr: Beer gear gifts

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Sure, the rampant consumerism drives me crazy. Jewelry commercials makes me want to throw the remote at the TV. And every car trip I’ve had to take through the mall area since November fills me with road rage. But there is no better time of the year to be a beer lover. All those superb tasty and strong winter warmers and special brews released this time of year really help facilitate that whole “goodwill towards others” thing.And if you are going to give gifts, then why not choose beer or other beer-related goodies? Is there any other gift that gives as much as a good craft beer? Wouldn’t a Rogue neon wall light spruce up that den? I bet the family beer nut would love an all-expenses-paid trip to the Great American Beer Festival in 2008.OK - I’m getting ahead of myself. The point is beer or beer-related gifts are awesome holiday gifts. Whether you have just $10 to spend or hundreds to blow, there are awesome beer-related gifts out there. Here are just a few that I wouldn’t mind getting this year - hint hint.Beer. Specifically, winter warmers (which all feature lots of malt flavor, tons of hops, and high alcohol content) and special holiday ales make excellent gifts, from stocking stuffers to a keg under the tree. OK, the keg thing might be hard to pull off, but the Boise Co-Op has over a dozen excellent holiday beers in stock right now. All the pacific northwest stalwarts (Full Sail, Deschutes, Rogue, Anchor, Sierra Nevada, etc…) are available in sixers from between $7-to-$12. As always, I like to support local breweries. A nice magnum of Boise’s Sockeye Brewing Winterfest would look great under the tree, and it is very reasonably priced at $6.39. Small bottles of Ponderay-based Laughing Dog Cold Nose Ale make for good stocking stuffers.If you want to go Belgian, magnum bottles of the Chimay blue label are $25. Lots of people enjoy Anchor’s ever changing Christmas beer, and a magnum of that runs about $12.99. Beer related clothing makes for an excellent gift as well. Almost every craft brewery sells lots of merch on their Web sites, so find the beer your giftee likes and search the site. You’ll find something.I personally like the offerings of San Diego-based Stone Brewing Co., proud makers of Arrogant Bastard Ale. The beer rocks, and the Gargoyle mascot is sweet. Just check out the Applique Work Shirt, a short sleeve collared shirt with the Arrogant Bastard gargoyle on the back. It’s $53, but it’s snazzy. Hopefully they will have more colors available later this month.And I love the Arrogant Bastard neck tie. At $35, this 100 percent silk tie a great gift for the beer-loving corporate raider, lawyer, or Idaho legislator of the family. If you are unfortunate enough to have to wear the noose, this is a nice option. If you want your giftee to represent, Idaho breweries Laughing Dog and Grand Teton both have cool t-shirts for sale. I really dig the $39 long sleeve Devil Dog imperial IPA t-shirt. Allusions to the the devil, writing on the sleeves - it’s totally metal. Rock on!Since almost all bottles of craft beer need an opener, why not opt for the Dogfish Head bottle opening belt buckle/bottle opener? Luckily for Idaho imbibers, big belt buckles never go out of style, and this sucker has a bottle opener built right in for only $26. We Idahoans may not be able to drink the deliciously aggressive beers from the Delaware brewery, but we can wear the belt buckle.Glassware is always a nice gift for the serious beer drinker. I have accumulated about 24 pint glasses from all over the country over the years but I find there is always room for one more. In fact, I sing the Anthrax song of the same name every time I add one to the cabinet. The good thing about this gift is they are relatively cheap, and are available on the Web sites of almost every craft brewer for about $10. But the Boise Co-Op is making more of an effort to keep funky beer glasses in stock. I picked up a Chimay snifter and an Ayinger imperial pint glass the other day for less than $15. Co-Op “beer guy” Matt Gelsthorpe said he will try to keep as much unique glasswork stock in the store as possible this season, so check it out. I don’t know any smokers anymore, but I do remember back in the day how drinking beer and smoking went to together pretty well. I also remember house parties where some fool ashed in my open beer bottle “by accident.” That unfortunate house party phenomenon can be rectified with the Bottle Top Ashtray. This aluminum ash tray snaps snugly into an open empty beer bottle that even the drunkest fool can’t miss. It’s an excellent gift for the hard partying college student or adult with arrested development and an excellent stocking stuffer for only $5.89.If you really want to make someone’s Christmas and fulfill the fantasy of many beer enthusiasts, what about buying the “Kegerator?” For a mere $469 plus shipping, you can make somebody hero of the neighborhood with this handsome refrigerator unit that holds one regular size keg and has a single tap on the top. Who wouldn’t want a neon beer light for the den or kitchen? That answer is probably most people. But if you are reading this column, this likely sounds like a great gift idea if you have the ducats. The Rogue Ales neon sign from the venerable Newport, Oregon brewery makes for a sweet gift. At $350, its not quite as expensive (or useful) as the Kegerator, but its very cool.

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What’s New: Montessori school opens in Nampa

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Christine Silva became a Montessori teacher when her daughter, Emily, was in kindergarten and has taught in Montessori elementary and primary classrooms for more than 15 years. Silva will continue utilizing her teaching skills at the new Nampa Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten she opened in October at 312 N. Canyon St. “The ‘whole child approach’ uses Montessori materials that promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, physical coordination as well as cognitive preparation,” Silva said. “This is a place that belongs to the children. Their works are on shelves and all desks and chairs are at their level.”Maria Montessori, (1870-1952), an Italian physician and educator for whom Montessori schools and program are named, designed materials and developed her own teaching method by observing and supporting the natural development of children, according to the Montessori Web site, www.montessori.edu. “Montessori believed the best way for children to learn was by doing,” Silva said.Jessica Mansell agrees. Her 7-year-old son, Tyler, and 4-year-old daughter, Samantha, have been enrolled in Montessori schools in Boise. “My son, Tyler, is now in public education, but was in Montessori for three years. He just recently had some testing at his school and he scored off the charts in reading comprehension and vocabulary,” Mansell said.When Mansell’s job location changed, she was glad to find a Montessori school in Nampa, where Samantha started in November.”I was ecstatic to find a (Montessori) school on this side of the Valley,” she said. “It’s too bad more parents don’t take advantage … it’s a great early education program.”AROUND THE VALLEYCENTER USES TECHNOLOGY TO KEEP PARENTS CLOSEThe Land of Nod Childcare, which opened Nov. 12, is celebrating its grand opening with an open house from 3 to 7 p.m Friday at 1167 E. Iron Eagle Drive, Eagle. Tuition at the childcare center is all-inclusive, including tumbling, a ballet/jazz/hip-hop dance class, music and movement, applied math and science, Spanish and kindergarten prep. Lead teachers in each class have degrees in education, child development, and/or have multiple years experience in childcare facilities and schools. The center also has state-of-the-art electronic equipment that allows parents to view their children throughout the day.”We utilize Webcam, video phones and electronic personalized security keys for optimum security,” said owner David Rossow, who opened the business with his wife, Kristen Rossow. “Parents will be able to log in on a secure Web site to observe their child’s classroom.” Video phones also will allow parents and children to see each other up close with a clear, real-time image throughout the day.The facility is accepting enrollment for children 6 weeks to 12 years of age. Business hours are 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call 629-3696 or visit www.the-land-of-nod.com. FISHERS CELEBRATES NEW BOISE LOCATIONFishers Document Systems will be celebrating its grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, at 575 E. 42nd St., off Veterans Memorial Parkway in Boise. The locally-owned business moved into the building in September. In addition to hardware solutions such as copiers, printers, scanners and fax systems, Fisher’s also provides software solutions and professional services to streamline business processes.For more information, visit www.fishers-boise.com, or call 375-4410.CANDLEWOOD SUITES NOW OPEN ON COLE ROADCandlewood Suites has opened at 700 N. Cole Road in Boise. The hotel offers 84 guest rooms and 84 suites located on three floors and accepts pets for an additional fee. The fitness center includes a treadmill, recumbent bike, elliptical machine and a three-station weight machine. A business center, laundry facilities and a convenience store are located on the premise.For more information or reservations, call 322-4300 or visit www.candlewoodsuites.com.Stephanie Eddy: 377-6481

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Looking for a house between $105,000 and $150,000 in Boise?

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Believe it or not, there is still affordable housing to be had in Ada County.Diana Cavigllano, a Realtor with John L. Scott Real Estate in Boise, says there were 83 homes for sale Tuesday in Boise and Meridian with price tags below $150,000.”Right now, there are homes where a person’s mortgage payment would be less than what they’re spending now on rent,” Cavigllano said. “These homes are great for people with one or two children. The bargain prices are in contrast to Ada County median home prices that have continued climbing despite the nationwide slump in the residential housing market.According to the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate transaction throughout the Treasure Valley, the median price for a home in Ada County last month was $231,893.Most of the properties priced below $150,000 are in foreclosure, or have had their prices slashed by owners who have seen their properties languish on the market because of the market downturn, Cavigllano said.A “shocking number” of the homes are vacant, which gives the buyer leverage because the owner has moved and is eager to sell to avoid having to pay mortgages, she said.Some of the homes are fixer-uppers. But other are already in livable condition.”These homes are just sitting there,” she said. The cheapest home on the list is $105,000, the most expensive $150,000. Most fall somewhere in between, including:An 1,120-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home for $149,900 on Millstone Drive. A five-bedroom, 1-1/2-half bath, 1,482-square-foot home on West Landmark Street originally priced at $189,900. After 136 days on the market, the owner will now take $147,900.A two-bedroom home on the Boise Bench with a price that was cut from $149,000 to $143,900 after just 19 days on the market.”And we’re just talking Boise,” Cavigllano said. “We haven’t even mentioned Meridian, where most of the houses are nicer than the homes in Boise.”Adding to the impetus to get into a home was news Tuesday that interest rates had fallen below 6 percent for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
“I don’t remember when was the last time rates were that low,” said Shaun Tracy, an associate broker with Re/Max Capital City.Meanwhile, with homeowners slashing their asking prices, the investors that originally fueled the Treasure Valley housing boom may be starting to come out again. That could give home sales a badly needed lift.One potential buyers is Jim Coulter, 34, owner of Clean Solution Painting. Coulter and another investor had been looking at a five-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath house near Fairview Avenue and Maple Grove Road. The price had already sunk from $169,000 to $149,000. Their strategy: make a lowball offer of between $120,000 and $125,000 and hope the owner took the bait. They would then put about $20,000 in upgrades into the home - Coulter would handle most of the work - and put the home on the market next spring. The deal fell through when the other investor bailed on the deal.Coulter said he is still looking at low-priced properties that he might be able to acquire by himself.Cavigllano said that for the first time in a long while, some new homes are being built and sold for less than $150,000.At the Charter Pointe subdivision near Lake Hazel and Five Mile Road, Hubble Home plans to build three homes priced at $149,990.”They haven’t been built yet, so you can go out there and start picking out your colors,” Cavigllano said.Canyon County offers a much larger choice of low-cost homes. Tracy said 582 Canyon County homes are priced at or below $150,000. A recent single Hubble Homes listing in Caldwell of a home priced at $109,990 produced 2,000 hits on the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service Web site. Wayne Forrey, director of Eagle-based Kastera Development, recently told the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Outlook Forum that the local the local housing market has bottomed out, and predicted that recovery would begin in 2008. Falling land, construction and housing costs will help bring buyers back, he said.Joe Estrella: 377-6465

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Wednesday’s Child finds ‘forever homes’ (with audio)

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Crystal and Eddie Walsh of Mountain Home have seven horses, two dogs, six cats, two pigs, one cow, 18 chickens - and nine children. Seven of the Walsh children are adopted, two from Wednesday’s Child. One is a foster child and one - the most recent addition - is Crystal and Eddie’s biological child. They all live in a five-bedroom, three-bath farmhouse. “We could never have children of our own - then came William,” Crystal said, laughing.The Walshes are an anomaly. Few people want to adopt so many children. Today, more than 500,000 U.S. children wait in foster care for a “forever home.” In Idaho, the number of children placed in foster care increased from 747 in 1993 to 3,335 in 2006. To help those kids find families, and vice versa, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare works with Special Needs Adoptive Parent Services Inc., a charitable nonprofit corporation that sponsors the Wednesday’s Child program, which attempts to find parents and permanent homes for the children in the program. The mostly adopted Walsh kids are like stairsteps: Tia, 17, Natosha, 16, Morgan, 15, Tyler, 11, Chantelle, 10, Jenny, 9, Nicole, 8, Alexis, 6, and William, 16 months. Their family began to grow after Eddie joined the Air Force and was stationed in Great Britain. “We went to world-renowned fertility doctors in England and they said ‘no,’ ” Crystal said.They looked into adoption.”I thought, I’ll just be a mom for other people’s children,” Crystal said. “Eddie only wanted two. I wanted six because I grew up with the Brady Bunch and the Waltons - now I get to live it,” Crystal said. “I keep thinking we’ll go for a baker’s dozen.”They adopted siblings Tyler and Chantelle in England. After moving back to the States, they added the others. Three of the children are developmentally disabled. Two are biological siblings who were featured in the Wednesday’s Child program: fiercely loyal but shy Natosha and outgoing Morgan came as a package deal, like many of the children adopted through Wednesday’s Child. WHAT IS WEDNESDAY’S CHILD?Wednesday’s Child uses television and newspapers to help find families for special needs children who have been removed from their birth parents. Special needs can mean anything from siblings who need to stay together to kids who have shaken baby syndrome, ADHD or fetal alcohol syndrome.The birth parents’ rights may have been terminated for reasons including mental illness, physical or sexual abuse, substance abuse or neglect, or the child may have been in imminent danger. Substance abuse is the biggest contributor to the termination of parental rights, according to Kathy McCarroll, the program specialist for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, who oversees the contract with the Wednesday’s Child program.While there are no hard statistics, methamphetamine probably results in termination of parental rights more than anything, said Marti Wiser, director of Idaho Wednesday’s Child. It’s hard finding a new family for any child, Wiser said. For children with special needs, finding a forever home can be even more difficult. That’s where Wednesday’s Child helps. The program can give a child more exposure and more of a chance at getting a new home. The program works with the child, his or her adoption team, the media - and sometimes possible parents.Wednesday’s Child programs sprouted up across the country in the early 1990s. In Idaho, television station KIFI Channel 8 in Idaho Falls started airing Wednesday’s Child segments hosted by news anchor Jay Hildebrandt in 1985. It launched locally in 1998 on KTVB Channel 7, with segments hosted by news anchor Dee Sarton. Since then, several newspapers, including the Idaho Statesman, have been running it as a weekly feature.And it works. From June 2006 to June 2007, about 40 children from the program were placed in pre-adoptive homes. The adoption rate for children in the Wednesday’s Child program is 75 percent, Wiser said. Wiser writes the children’s profiles you can see on the Web site, keeping them candid without breaching privacy. She doesn’t like to present a sad story.”We need to see them not as victims but as resilient young people who, given the right environment, patience and understanding will be able to overcome those challenges,” she said. How long does it take to find a match? For most, from 14 weeks to over a year. For one boy, it took two years.”It amazes me some of the families who come forward. I used to catch myself thinking, ‘I don’t think I’m going to be able to find a family for this child.’ But I never think that anymore,” Wiser said. “It renews my faith in the human race.”Even so, Wiser said, older children, especially boys between 14 and 17, have a harder time finding an adoptive home. “They always want to know how long it’s going to take,” Wiser said. “It’s not their fault. They didn’t do anything wrong. There’s just that perception out there, that teenage girls are easier to raise.” Heartstring tugs are her main job hazard, Wiser said. “My husband and I have an empty nest. We’ve been married 36 years, and every time I approach my husband about adopting one of the children, he says, ‘Are you going to quit your job? Marti, you can help one child or you can help many.’ “MEET VINCENTVincent is a shy, soft-spoken 8-year-old with dark hair, freckles and a Dennis the Menace smile. He loves football and chocolate waffles. He has a little hearing loss, but not much, and he speaks with a slight - and adorable - lisp. Vincent is a Wednesday’s Child. He will be featured on Channel 7’s weekly segment, in newspaper profiles and on the Web. On the day of his big interview with Channel 7 news anchor Dee Sarton, Vincent gets the day off from school to go first to Boondocks, then the park to play flag football.Confusion and excitement dance across his face. “We like to take the kids somewhere fun,” Wiser says, “so they can relax before the interview. We ask them what they would like to do, where they would like to go.”At Boondocks, Vincent is finger-tapping nervous. Sheila Knezevich, Vincent’s caseworker, says he thought this was his last morning with his foster family. He’s fond of them and was worried he would never see them again.After she tells him he can return to them later that day, Vincent relaxes a bit and plays video games, spending his winning tickets on gifts for his two foster sisters. But he hardly touches his pizza. “I’m not really that hungry,” he says. “Are we ready to go, can we go now?”At the park, Vincent takes our pictures with his camera. He’s interested in photography. “I collect cameras.” He says he likes Spiderman movies, riding his bike (but not right now, it has two flat tires), roller-skating (but he doesn’t have skates) and math - sometimes.He meets Sarton, who has been the interviewer since KTVB started airing Wednesday’s Child. With the camera rolling, she sits in the grass and talks to Vincent about football and the family he’s hoping for. He shouts the name of his favorite football team - “Go Broncos!” and says he would like to live with a football-loving family. One with pets - cats and dogs - and a brother and sister.”We call her the child whisperer,” Wiser says. “She’s always so good with the kids.”Afterward, Vincent asks us all to play flag football with him. Wiser brought flags in his favorite colors, Bronco blue and orange. How can we resist? We divide up into teams, the boys against the girls.The boys win. Vincent grins.As of press time, Vincent was without a new family, although 24 people or families have expressed an interest and several home studies are in the works, Knezevich says. “I just haven’t seen the perfect match yet.”THE WALSHES MAKE IT WORKWednesday’s Child adoptees Natosha and Morgan have settled into life with the Walshes. They do their chores and help care for their brothers and sisters. They like to ride horses. Morgan’s work with King, a retired racehorse, won her a fancy belt buckle from the Optimist Ag group for showmanship. During the summer, she was a lifeguard. “I saved four people this year,” she said.Their lives have changed dramatically in the span of a few years. “We lived in seven foster homes before we were adopted,” Morgan said. Their profiles were featured on the Wednesday’s Child Web site and, before coming to the Walsh family, they had been in another adoptive home, but the adoption fell through.”Morgan and ‘Tosha came in the middle of the night,” said Crystal Walsh. The girls were 13 and 12, and they brought all of their belongings with them in a black trash bag.”I hate it when foster kids have to move and they use a black trash bag. I hate it. It’s just degrading. I wouldn’t move my dog like that,” Crystal said.She works as a parent training volunteer for Pride (Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education) and helps raise money to buy high chairs, cribs, strollers, car seats - and luggage - for foster families. She keeps the items in a warehouse and ready for emergency calls in the middle of the night. And she and Eddie take in foster children when needed.”When we first started fostering, my husband wasn’t sure he could adopt other people’s children,” she said. “But when we had to pass our first foster child on, my husband bawled like a baby.”What our job is, is parents sometimes lose their way. We’re there to help the kids manage their way while their parents try to find their way back. That’s our privilege,” she said. “It’s not what you leave this world with, it’s what you leave behind.”Unlike many Wednesday’s Child adoptions, Tosha and Morgan have kept in touch with their biological family, including their grandparents and their mom. Crystal said the girls had a hard time calling her “mom” when they first arrived.”Not that I am their mom, but I am the mom of the house,” Crystal said. “And I have a piece of paper that says I am their mother.”She said right after the adoption, the girls called their biological grandparents. “We asked them, ‘Why did you feel the need?’” Crystal said, “They said, ‘We just wanted to tell them we’re OK now.’ They had finally reached their destination and just wanted to tell them.” Morgan said at first she was embarrassed to tell friends she was adopted. “Now I tell everybody,” she said. “Everybody at school knows. When you’re adopted, you’re chosen. You’re special. “In foster homes, they just take care of you. When you’re adopted, it’s your permanent home.”"Your forever home,” Crystal said.”People love you and they’re there for you,” Morgan said, smiling across the room at her family. Jeanne Huff: 377-6483

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Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Presidential raceMcCain抯 top priority should trail bigger issuesAs the presidential primary races heat up in both dominant parties, I have not yet formed a solid opinion of who I believe is the best candidate in either party. However, a recent comment by Sen. McCain on the McNeil News Hour makes me question his understanding of the world today. He stated that the 搕ranscendent challenge of the 21st century is the struggle against radical Islamic extremism.?If he truly believes this, then I sense that he will not help our nation invest our attention and resources wisely.What qualifies as 搕he transcendent challenge of the 21st century?has to be something with deeper roots, something that is truly standing in the way of progress in the world. Something which, when overcome, will open up unlimited potential for human development (and global sustainability). Only a few things qualify as the transcendent challenge. It might be the gap between rich and poor; it might be the ongoing struggle of our education systems to transform themselves; it might be the unwillingness of individual citizens and consumers to make major shifts in lifestyles to help the environment. In any case, Sen. McCain is missing the mark with his important but secondary priority.Matthew Shapiro, BoiseRush LimbaughSenators should be too busy to complain about radioThe Oct. 20 N.Y. Times article refers to a letter sent to Rush Limbaugh from the U.S. Senate. The letter was in fact sent to Mark Mays, the CEO of Clear Channel, requesting that he take some action. You can check it out online. Apparently the N.Y. Times did not. I do not think that the senators should be going directly to broadcasters with complaints of program content since they are in the business of regulating broadcast licensees through the FCC. It could seem like the senators are trying to dictate content to the licensee, and that is not their function. I don抰 recall a Senate letter going out to CBS during the Imus controversy.With all of the problems like immigration, health care, and the budget waiting for solutions, it seems strange
that 41 U.S. senators have time to write letters and make speeches complaining about a radio program.Jim Goeppner, NampaNuclear PowerIdaho should build, rely on a nuclear power plantIn response to 搉uclear energy?by Larry Munden on Sept. 18.The United States generates power basically seven ways: hydro, coal, gas, oil, wind turbines, solar and nuclear power.Hydro-electric is the least damaging for greenhouse gases. Coal, gas and oil are the most damaging. Solar and wind are dependent on weather and need large amounts of land. Nuclear power releases no greenhouse gases, needs no oil or gas wells, no trees are destroyed, no large purchase of land is required, and it is not dependent on the weather. Spent fuel is a problem, but if we would recycle our spent fuel like other countries do, that problem would be greatly reduced.The worst accident this nation ever had with a nuclear power plant hurt no one, and did nothing but make us fearful of nuclear power.This state was the first to generate electricity by nuclear power, and we have a large engineering group devoted to making nuclear power safe and affordable. We should be proud of that fact, and proud someone wants to build a nuclear power plant here. It would create good-paying jobs and ensure the people of Idaho have enough power to meet our growing demands well into the future, without increasing greenhouse gasses.Larry E. Young, MeridianEducationSupport author抯 efforts to better educate childrenWe were glad to see 揘o Child Left Untested: As federal school reform law comes up for review, some Idahoans want changes?featured on the front page of the Sunday, Oct. 21, edition. Thank you for covering such an important issue. Many Idahoans do indeed want changes. Those changes are well-articulated by Jonathan Kozol, author of 揇eath at an Early Age,?揟he Shame of the Nation,?and 揝avage Inequalities?to name a few. You can find Jonathan and the members of the Education Action! Team抯 10 proposals for change to No Child Left Behind on Ed Action抯 Web site at: www.ed
action.com/content/NCLBPoints.pdf.Mr. Kozol has been on a partial fast since July 4 to protest the damage being done by NCLB.
He will continue to fast until members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education Labor %26 Pensions (HELP) Committee consider these proposals. Please contact Sen. Kennedy抯 education office, (202) 224-9214, to have your objections to NCLB heard. Join us in our 揷ollective fast,?as we each fast a different day of the week, to support Mr. Kozol in his admirable efforts. Visit Ed Action. Let Mr. Kozol know he is not alone in his concern for children.Mike Carnell, Jazmin Daley, Barbara Greenwood, Annette Hanson, Jerry Hendershot, Karen Moss and Veronica Daley Zaleha, BoiseSensible changes needed for Idaho抯 testing regimeBravo to the parents and teachers at Boise抯 Whitney Elementary who are seeking sensible changes in Idaho抯 testing regime.Like the insightful Whitney parents, the general public is coming to understand the ugly nature of deformed education that testing is imposing on our youth. The wrong-headed federal No Child Left Behind law is a prime example.In a global competitive environment where critical thinking and analytical skills are keys to our future, what do politicians and policymakers demand? Tests that narrow curriculum away from writing, science and history; tests that discourage the reading of books; and tests that cripple higher-order thinking skills.Educator Jonathan Kozol states that NCLB抯 poisonous essence lies in the mania of obsessive testing and the 搈iserable drill-and-kill curriculum of robotic 憈eaching to the test?it has imposed on teachers.?p/>What抯 Kozol doing about this? As of this writing, he is continuing to fast, an action he started this summer, as he fights for the soul of public education.What can you do? Speak up!1. Contact the State Board of Education at board@osbe.idaho.gov or call (208) 334-2270.2. Submit an electronic message to the president and Idaho抯 congressional delegation.
(See www3.capwiz.com/nea/issues/alert/?alertid=9728111%26type=ml)Terry Gilbert, BoiseOnline commentsStatesman should edit callous remarks on deathI was deeply saddened when I read about the death of Sarah Howard recently, after she was struck by an SUV while riding her bike. Sarah was a great person and a friend to many. However, what shocked me even more were the ridiculous and often callous remarks left online by your readers. Why the Statesman would choose to elicit comments on such a tragedy is beyond reason. Please show some class and some sensitivity, and to the gawkers who insist on their First Amendment right, 揇o not speak unless you can improve the silence??Proverbs.Kerri Dunn, EagleHalloweenSex offenders should turn on blue porch lightThe Lights Off policy for sex offenders during Halloween is severely flawed. There may be people who are out of town who leave their lights off, or people like myself who for personal reasons do not celebrate Halloween and have no desire to support it in any way. So we either have to risk being viewed by our neighbors as possible sex offenders, or turn kids away at our door.Perhaps a better solution is to require sex offenders to turn on a blue porch light year-round ?that would greatly increase the neighborhood awareness of sex offenders residing within their neighborhoods year-round and not just during Halloween. This may provide greater year-round protection for our children and not place undue suspicion on innocent neighbors who don抰 happen to have their porch lights on for whatever reason.Michael Kelley, Nampa

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Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

ETHANOLFacts to consider when filling up the gas tankWhile debate continues over how much ethanol can reduce our dependence on foreign oil, GM touts flex fuel vehicles which can run on E85 (85 percent ethanol) and local stations promote their E10 (10 percent ethanol). Both appeal to our sense of environmental and social responsibility.Missing in the ethanol discussion is important factual information consumers should consider when filling their tanks.The U.S. Department of Energy tells us that one gallon of regular gasoline contains 115,000 British Thermal Units (BTUs) of energy while one gallon of ethanol contains 76,000 BTUs or 66 percent less energy than gas.Most ethanol mixtures sold in Idaho contain 10 percent ethanol (E10). Therefore a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon (mpg) on gasoline will get 19.3 mpg on E10.If you buy a flex fuel vehicle that gets 20 mpg on regular gas, and you burn E85, you will get 14.2 mpg.On Oct. 27, the cheapest regular gasoline in Boise was $2.76. The only local stations selling ethanol were charging $2.89 for E10 and $2.46 for E85.If your vehicle gets 20 mpg on gasoline, a round trip to Twin Falls (256 miles) will cost you $35.33 (13.8 cents per mile). On E10 your trip would cost $38.33 (14.9 cents per mile). On E85 your trip would cost $44.34 (17.3 cents per mile).WILLIAM GOODNIGHT, BoiseROAD REPAIRSGet money for road repairs from fuel and tire sales taxIt is obvious that our roads require repair and expansion. Those in charge say that additional taxes must be generated. The fair and equitable way to accomplish this is to raise the money from those of us who use the roads.We should put the costs on the fuel and tires purchased. This is a fair measurement, putting the burden on those of us who create the needs and added costs.Further, the use of studded tires should be prohibited. Whereas the studs do great damage to the road surface when not on ice. There are other methods of enhancing traction on winter roads such as sipping, tractionizing, etc.ERNEST D. JUDD, WeiserSPORTSLocal TV stations have pathetic baseball coverageIn your Oct. 25 story, “Boise baseball fans high on the Rockies,” you failed to mention the lack of interest in the success of the Rockies by the local media. For example, Channel 7 showed the score of game 3 of the NLCS and some NFL football scores before going to commercial break, then spent the rest of the “sports” broadcast talking about the BSU game, no additional highlights of baseball or professional football. I guess it should have been the “sport” broadcast. That same night Channel 6 came back from commercial break after talking about the BSU game, and with the attitude of “after the BSU game there really isn’t anything to report but I will talk about it anyway,” they spent 30 seconds on highlights of the Rockies game and another 45 seconds to one minute talking about the pro football games played that day.The lack of national coverage by local broadcast networks is pathetic. I didn’t bothered to watch local coverage during the series because I consider what they report now to be “fair weather” reporting. I am not the only one who feels this way. This Valley is filled with people from all over this country. Please report what is going on in the rest of the country.KEN LEWIS, MeridianEAGLE ELECTIONSStop turning Eagle into Idaho’s 2nd largest cityAfter reading the article in the Statesman pertaining to Eagle’s growth, I realize the voice of the people has fallen on deaf ears again. After record voter turnout, city officials are ignoring the cries for change by voting on a development agreement with M3 before they leave office. The current M3 plan calls for 8,160 houses and a population increase of 32,000 people. If we look at Eagle’s long-term plans of 20,000 houses in the Foothills, an increase of 80,000 people (based on four people per house) is estimated.Do we want our small town to grow to a city of 100,000 people? Do we want the financial responsibility associated with this kind of growth? Tax revenue increase will be consumed by new larger buildings to house additional personnel, a larger police department with additional cars, city maintenance facility including trucks, graders, backhoes, snow removal equipment and personnel to operate and maintain this equipment.City officials are also purchasing privately owned Eagle Water Company, citing that we need to protect this valuable resource, pumping our water to the Foothills is not how I would protect this resource.If it is our goal to become Idaho’s second largest city, then we are on the right track.CRAIG BARKER, EagleCurrent council should hold off on decisionsAs an Eagle resident, I ask that the council please hold off on any final decisions concerning the Foothills project and the purchase of Eagle water.As you can see from the election results our city is unfortunately in turmoil. The residents are very torn on the direction this city is headed. This city should be headed in the direction that the majority of the residents want, not based on the council’s agenda without consideration of the people of Eagle - the people that trusted them to run this city. The City Council says they can’t wait on making a decision regarding the Foothills and that the city could face litigation if the city decided to wait. The Statesman stated that Bill Brownlee said “We certainly don’t want to annex into a city that doesn’t want us.” If that statement is true then I’m sure they wouldn’t mind waiting for the newly elected officials to be a part of that decision.We don’t know what the voters will say on Dec. 4. If the council really cares about the residents of Eagle, they should wait until the mayoral vote is counted and then they’ll know what the majority of Eagle residents want.MELISSA BARKER, EagleUNITED WATERCustomers should not pay extra for monthly billingI would like to thank The Idaho Statesman for publishing the correct Web site for United Water customers to comment on a proposed $1.12 million increase in revenue to convert water bills to monthly billing. A letter detailing the proposed increase was included with my most recent bill and the Web site is incorrect. I was informed by United Water a corrected letter cannot be sent out to customers. I fortunately kept the article from The Idaho Statesman, and if anyone feels that customers should not foot the bill for converting to monthly billing - the correct Web site for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission is www.puc.idaho.gov and click on “Comments %26 Questions.” Fill in case number UWI-W-07-04 and enter your comments. Jan. 8 deadline for comments.CATHERINE SANSOTTA, BoiseLARRY CRAIGCan’t trust him anymoreLarry Craig tried to hide his arrest, tried to change his plea, broke his promise to resign. Should we trust him to continue representing us? I’m not seeing much integrity there!JOHN WOODWARD, BoiseAnything goes by ACLU standardsThe ACLU appears to be spending time and resources in seeking civil rights for solicitation within restrooms in America. Deserving or not, Larry Craig, who has consistently voted to deny civil liberties, is one such individual. With the ACLU defending Sen. Craig, who is protecting you from Sen. Craig? They would have you believe that the senator was merely displaying a form of expression, hence, considered free speech. Peering, gesturing, and footsie from one stall to another is taken for granted and without reservation.Why have doors at all in public restrooms? Forget your right to privacy, anything goes by ACLU standards. A sign prohibiting such behavior, rather than a random sting operation, would suffice in preventing such perversion. If minors are present, they need merely close their eyes. Quoting Voltaire, “those who would make you believe such absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”LARRY POLSKY, Boise

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