Interestingly, we don’t see any exemptions for coppers and firefighters. The Fed transportation people, AAA, and just about everyone who has watched a car weaving slowly down the road agree that reading and writing on computers while driving is as dangerous as DUI.

It makes no sense to allow coppers–or anyone else–split their attention from driving to texting and today the NEW YORK TIMES ran a front page story about the dangers. Good to see how the world comes around to the GUARDIAN line of reasoning!

Here is a great quote from the TIMES story that spells out the reality:

“There’s no way you could do this without eventually running into something,” said Officer Shawn Chase, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, as he demonstrated use of the Gateway computer in a cruiser. And yet, he said, he has tried it, and others have, too.
“The first time you almost rear-end something, you say, ‘Whoa, I better not do this,’ ” he said. “You learn quick.”

UPDATE 3/12/10–The GUARDIAN talked to Idaho State Police Lt. Brian Zimmerman about coppers texting and driving. He said ISP troopers generally use the computer after they are stopped–calls are not dispatched or updated via computer.

“Even with drunks, at least they are looking at the road. They don’t do a good job driving, but they are TRYING and not looking somewhere else,” said Zimmerman.

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1. BFD Ambulance Issue Probably Not Dead
2. Driving, Texting Don’t Mix–For Anyone!
3. Who Can Drive Safely AND Text?

Boise City Council Tuesday made public the purchase of Hammer Flat – a 701-acre wintering range for mule deer, elk and antelope in east Boise – using funds generated by the 2001 foothills serial levy. The Mayor and Council approved the $4.1 million expenditure at a special council meeting Tuesday at City Hall and we applaud the purchase.

The back story is more fun.  Exact details may never be known, but this is what the rumor mill suggests–based on historical facts:

Seven agencies, Ada County, Boise County, Idaho Dept of Fish and Game, the Idaho Land Board, Boise City, BLM, and the Forest Service, over about 30 years, pieced together the Foothills Policy Plan in 1997.  The Foothills Levy, the funding mechanism was passed in 2001.  The plan specifically targeted the Hammer Flat area as critical for acquisition to protect wildlife habitat.  As late as 2004, Fish and Game tried to purchase Hammer Flat for about $2 million, and was out gunned when the Hammer Flat developer offered about five times that amount.

All of the involved agencies codified the plan, with the exception of Ada County.  They approved two Foothills developments.

Avimor was the first, with the initial developer selling out about 5 months ago to another developer for about 20 cents on the dollar. The Cliffs was the second planned community Ada County approved in the foothills, and the second PC to fail.

The Cliffs was a more complicated affair.  Having never acquired approval from ITD for an entry road, their entitlement was never completed, and, as of today, they had less than two years remaining on their approval permit, with the economy in the tank.   The developer began to tire of multi million dollar interest payments on a project that was looking worse by the day.

In December the developer quit paying their property taxes and are rumored to have quit making interest payments to their lender. Whether this was done for tactical reasons, or because their funds were running short is unknown.  Rumors suggest that, also in late December, the developer was marketing the project to anyone who would listen.  At least one potential developer contacted ITD about the entry road, and did not like what they heard.

At about the same time, the primary investor in The Cliffs was facing their own fiscal crisis.   Rumors suggest the primary investor was attempting to unload the note associated with The Cliffs independent of the developer. The investor won the race by making contact with Boise City (The Foothills Levy is one of the few solid sources of money at this time.)

Having lost out once before, the city/fish and game, were taking no chances this time.  Negotiations were very tightly controlled with as few as two people, not including the mayor or council, privy to anything but the most general information, until the deal was in the bag.

The deal was sealed Tuesday in council chambers by unanimous vote.  The battle for Hammer Flat is over.  The GROWTHOPHOBE fight over development of the foothills continues.  Look for Cartwright Ranch, Dry Creek and other PCs in the western foothills to be next on the failure list.

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Hedden-Nicely noted state budget cuts to education and says, “Debi is the Head Teacher at the Marian Pritchard School for Pregnant Teens. This school is a Boise Public High School and its fate will be determined by the Trustees of the Boise Public Schools.”

“Teen Pregnancy and Parenting Fact Sheet”

• About 50% of our students come from outside the Boise School District each year;
• We serve between 65 and 90 students per year;
• Without our school, students would have to drop out of school one to two semesters due to maternity leave and not being able to place a child in day care prior to 6 week immunizations;
• Generally after being gone as short a time as three weeks post partum, students will drop out, whereas if they return in 2 weeks as we do, they are more likely to stay in school;
• Without an on campus day care facility, students cannot immediately return to school, the drop out rate goes up;
• Teens who choose to parent will not get the parenting education needed to be a successful parent at a traditional school;
• Our school can offer bed rest options, otherwise students have to dropout during a extra complicated pregnancy;
• Teen pregnancies are considered medically high risk;
• We can house students 18 to 21 years old for 90 days, and by April 1, 2010 can house them up to 2 years;
• This is a non judgmental environment, students who try to re-enter regular high school end up coming back;
• We have students who attend 3-4 years up to graduation;
• Peer mentoring occurs;
• When post partum depression triggers non attendance, we can track this and the social worker can assist family with mental health care;
• In the smaller “program” model, the school and parents are more closely allied in making sure the student attends and stays in school;
• Teen pregnancy and parenting: 50% dropout rate, 80% chance will live in poverty without education–http://www.sdhdidaho.org/hpro/app_risk.php
• 85% to 87% graduation rate, 95% of our seniors have post secondary plans;
• Comprehensive approach to teen pregnancy/parenting is best educational practices;

Total welfare package for 1 year: $986,940; times, on average 10 years of Welfare Benefits or more = $ 9,869,400

• TAFI (Cash assistance) – $309/month X 45 persons X 12 months = $166,860
• Medicaid – $8,000 X 45 persons = $360,000 (not including complicated neonatal care)
• Food Stamps – Average family of three, $300/month X 45 persons X 12 months = $162,000
• Idaho Child Care Program (Day care assistance) – $552/month X 45 persons X 12 = $298,080

Each year it costs the Idaho Legislature just $525,000 to educate up to 90 students versus the almost $1 million it costs to have them on welfare. And, the students are finished with school in half the time that they will probably be on welfare.

EDITOR NOTE–We haven’t checked the author’s numbers, but on the face of it, we are disappointed to see the facility close–if it does.

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She told the Associated Press that ATVs traditionally bring in more cash than “passive users”–like hikers, campers, and fishermen. Dune buggies are allowed on 11,000 acres of Federal land west of St. Anthony in Eastern Idaho.

Merrill has a good point about stimulating the local economy with ATVs. The GUARDIAN talked to some emergency responders in Freemont County who told us they sometimes dispatch 2 or 3 ambulances DAILY to the dunes in summer months. Seriously injured riders get frequent flyer miles aboard Life Flight helicopters due to the remote location and difficulty in transporting patients across the loose sand. Only one death was reported there last year, but we were told it was a , “slow year.”

Slow year or not, the Freemont County Sheriff has a permanent sub station at the dunes where full time deputies patrol the sand astride ATVs.

All this comes about in the wake of dwindling revenues and steep budget cuts in Idaho state government. Gov. Butch Otter is attempting to woo businesses to Idaho where he claims the tax climate is “business friendly.” The greenies from Oregon and California will be hard pressed to “sell” gas guzzling noisy ATVs to management and employees seeking solitude and peace in Idaho.

Butch and the lawmakers can expect a sandstorm of comments from people like the newly formed “Friends of Idaho State Parks.”

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The police bill approved last week by the senate state affairs committee would allow police, prosecutors, and prison guards to conceal their private phone and home address numbers on public documents–like deeds and court records. They would be allowed to list their work address and phone number instead. A similar bill approved by the House would exempt hunter’s names from public scrutiny passed by a 55-14 vote as well.

They claim it is too easy for people “with grievances” to harass coppers, hunters, and their families. The bill presents more questions than answers. What happens when a copper retires? Does he or she still get to keep their address confidential?

A big dilemma arises when a copper gets convicted of a sex crime, which looks–based on today’s news–like a possibility in the near future. The sex offender law mandates he register his address for one and all to know (but not to harass). Since he or she was a copper, the address could be secret to preclude harassment if the proposed law passes.

There are legitimate reasons for exempting victims of crimes and certain others, but to routinely exempt public officials is simply wrong. Soon the judges won’t want citizens to know they live in multi-million dollar homes (or slums), city councilors who pass local ordinances could move to exempt their addresses, and teachers who pass out bad grades will seek exemptions. Then of course there are witnesses in trials, jurors, and car dealers who sell lemons to disgruntled motorists…do we all live in fear of each other?

Ironically, coppers, retired coppers, prison guards, judges, city councilors, school board members, indeed–ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS–are allowed to carry concealed guns without a permit in Idaho. What have we come to when these “rulers” exempt themselves from concealed weapons laws and now they want to be exempt from accountability on public records. They want to “represent” the citizens, but they fear those they represent.

Here are just a few reasons the public has a right to keep public records public:

• A judge in a civil case would be living way beyond his means, prompting a ruling favoring debtor like himself.
• A politico could claim to be a hunter, but never held a hunting license…is he a liar or a poacher?
• Activists like Bruce Willis could claim to have voted a certain way in Idaho, but never have been registered to vote (this happened).
• Politicos could live outside a district they represent and conceal their address. (A former mayor once listed an address outside the city on a deed).
• A police chief could assist a crooked mayor moving stolen city property and hide the video from public scrutiny.
• Wages for public jobs could be misrepresented to garner support.
• Transportation employee “misuse of equipment” could be concealed from citizens.

When exemptions are made for special interest groups, we all suffer.

UPDATE March 9– In what can only be termed “fair play,” Robert Millage–the poster child for the hunter records secrecy bill–has posted all the comments (mostly negative) about being the first hunter to legally kill a wolf in Idaho in modern times. His WEBSITE. We condemn those who harass him, but defend their right to voice their opinions.

In an ironic twist, Millage posts all the names, phone numbers, Facebook pages, and e-mail addresses on all the comments he has received, even though his site is not a “public record.” Millage offers comments below.

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2. Canyon Coppers Violate Public Purpose Law
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Dan Buerstetta
5473 S. Broad Wing Way
Boise, ID 83716
336-4464
F-35: I attended the meeting that the government put on regarding the F-35, I’ve read articles, and I’m very much against it. I think it would be devastating for the tax base, homes will devalue dramatically with this extremely loud aircraft, 10 percent louder than the F-16’s that were really too loud.

And, it hasn’t been talked much about, but at the meeting with the military, up to 72 aircraft will be assigned to Gowen Field and about 23 or so to Mountain Home. So, we’re going to get the “lion’s share” of the aircraft; it will be a training base that will be flying constantly, even if they’re not allowed to fly at night, which really they’re going to need to do to
do effective training. It’s school stops teaching, teacher has to stop talking, it’s going to be devastatingly loud, cover your ears, and it will be miserable to live in this town.

Two other states have – one has a law suit and the other is contemplating a law suit where they have loud military aircraft flying overhead, and those planes are not as loud as this. Air pollution will also be a consideration; if you have this huge number of jet fighter craft which burn up a lot of fuel, it adds to the already precarious situation with inversions, making it hard to attract businesses to town.

I resent that the public does not have a vote in this, they merely have a provision through the military to give input to their database system, but it does not preclude them from putting it here should they decide this is the best place for them to put it. So, it is dramatically reducing the quality of life in this town and we don’t even get to vote on it.

I question the billion a year; I think they’re factoring in some businesses that are already in existence and I think that’s a hugely optimistic assessment of the economic impact and it hasn’t backed out the detrimental impact of the recruitment of businesses and reduction tax bases. Feel free to call me; I would be happy to discuss this further with anyone there at the city headquarters. Thanks again.
Action Taken: sent letter

2/20/10
Anonymous Citizen
Boise, ID 83702
Grapevine: I was calling regarding the property at 1518 Fort St. under current reconsideration of the lease with the Grapevine Club. There is a city ordinance that requires city-owned buildings to be non-smoking. The Board of Directors of the Grapevine Club at a general membership meeting decided to continue to allow smoking until the city intervenes. I’m asking that the city intervene and state that this is a city ordinance. Thank you.
Legal

2/22/10
Retired Resident
Lester Mesbergen
767 E. Parkcenter Blvd
Boise, ID 83706.
608-5342
ACHD: My concern is there’s a sidewalk at Pennsylvania Ave. and Parkcenter and it’s being put in by C&M Construction Co. The problem is it’s taking a long time and for those of us who are handicapped there’s no way to get to Walgreens. I’m in a wheelchair and I can’t get across the street because you can’t trigger the light to change because of all that construction, and there’s no sidewalk across the street. So, anyway if there’s some way that that can be expedited, I’m
not sure it can. I think they’re putting in a credit union but there’s no way to get across the street.
ACHD
Action Taken: contacted
2/22/10

2/23/10
Anonymous
ACHD: I just wanted to say thank you for having the street cleaner come out and clean our street on Quicksilver. They cleaned it today and thank you for listening. I’m glad we have a Mayor who listens to us; thank you very much.

2/23/10
Lorrie Graves
7586 N. Peppermill Way
Boise, ID 83714
340-0029
Garbage Cans & Red Lights: I’m calling about two separate topics. The first one has to do with the new garbage cans that the city provided residents with. I saw this as a problem from the get go and it has only gotten worse. I don’t know who in their right mind would have given out bright blue garbage cans and light gray garbage cans; oversized cans no less. They could have easily have been done in dark green, dark brown, dark gray or black. Instead they radiate from the residences; you can’t miss them, they’re all over town. My homeowners’ association is trying to get people to put those horrific cans behind their garages. So far, people are not abiding by that. I think what you need to have is some sort of city ordinance that says these cans cannot be left out in front of properties; they need to be put out of sight. Otherwise you’re going to be known as the city of garbage cans. It’s just preposterous and it is hideous. I hope you’ll do something about this; I’m sure something can be done if you make the effort. My second issue has to do with traffic problems. In the city of Boise you have an epidemic of individuals who insist upon going through red lights. Now this is dangerous to say the very least, and nothing is being done about it. I’ve had a discussion with one of the detectives and he says they’re trying, in a feeble tone, as if that was going to accomplish anything. I read recently that Las Cruces, New Mexico just installed some cameras in main intersections. You’ve got to do something about this. I’ve lived in other cities and I’ve never seen anything as bad as what goes on here in Boise. You’re just turning away from this problem. You could also, if you don’t want to put up the cameras, you could also run some advertising campaign like you did for seatbelts. Put it up on billboards; increase the amount of the fines for going through red lights, and push that whole theme so people get it through their thick heads. It is extremely dangerous; I always have to wait now at any intersection. I wait past the turning of the light to allow the other cars who are going through a red light to get through so that they don’t run into me. So, this is a serious problem in Boise; I don’t know if you’re aware of it and just turning an eye the other way. I’m not sure what you’re doing, but I’ve never seen this in another city to this extent. Anyway those are my two issues – do something about the garbage cans; it is a horrific
eye sore on the city. The cans are not only brightly colored to advertise garbage; they’re also oversized to make the matter that much worse. So it’s time you take this up as an issue and do something about it unless you want to continue having this kind of blight on the city of Boise.
Thank you.
BPD & Code Enforcement

2/23/10
Charlie Brian
5074 N. Lena Ave.
Boise, ID 83713
899-1419
Parking: I rarely go downtown and I thought I would try it again, go get a hair cut right downtown. I parked at one of your parking meters; was five minutes over, didn’t know it would take a full hour to get a hair cut, but it did. I came out to a parking violation of $15. It was a hassle coming up with the change to begin with to put in the stupid parking meter and now I’ve got a $15 parking ticket. I will not be shopping downtown any more and I’m calling the barber shop that I went to and telling them why I’m not coming down any more. You have a poor and crummy system downtown and it certainly doesn’t encourage me going downtown ever again.
Thank you.

2/23/10
Anonymous
City Fleet: Hi, I’m wanting to know if the City of Boise is doing that well to where the employees can take a van home and be home at 3:00 in the afternoon. Is the City of Boise doing that well to where these guys can drive our taxpayer dollar vans home? I mean you know it’s already 3:00 and he’s got plenty of time to get to work by 5:00. You know what I’m saying? Anyway, I just wanted to let you know.

2/24/10
Anonymous
Trash Cans: I’m calling about the trash cans that are left out in public view which is against the code. There are several houses on Maywood; their addresses are 3004, 2961, 3055, 3072, 3047, 2950, 2889, 2882, 2808. Thank you. If you could have someone go out there and take care of their trash cans, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Code Enforcement

2/26/10
Anonymous
573-0298
Graffiti: I’m trying to find a source of contact for how much it costs the city or county for antigraffiti. Would somebody give me a call back?
BPD

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This comes after a resolution to encourage God and English passed the House Thursday on a 50-17 vote, according to a story by AP.

We actually don’t have a problem with having government business transacted in the English language–just like using U.S. $. It makes sense to have a standard like DVD, DIGITAL TV, 110 Volt electricity, etc. However as a free country everyone is free speak any language they wish. One of the Dems who voted against the resolution–which is a meaningless exercise in sounding off–complained the English provision sent an “unwelcoming message” to the likes of his Swedish immigrant grandfather.

Republican Rep. Rich Jarvis’s measure urged that “references to God should be welcome in all public places and public verse….” apparently as long as it was in English.

Time to go home before they start in on abortion, wolves, license plate design, global warming, gay marriage, women’s rights, blah, blah, blah.

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We were initially impressed with news that Brian Ness jumped on allegations of “misuse of equipment” and apparently is holding the violators responsible for their actions. Now, we have doubts. We have secret people breaking secret rules by doing secret actions at secret places.

The department won’t tell the citizens who pay the bills–or even the employees who are bound by the same rules–anything about the violations. We don’t want the names of the players, but we do feel there is an obligation on the part of this new department head from Michigan to tell us if we are looking at workers surfing porn on the state’s computer or drivers of snowplows and loaders doing private construction.

Without some explanation, every worker at ITD is suspect. In fairness to honest state workers and citizens, we think ITD should tell us the general geographic area(s) where the violations occurred, the nature of the violations, and how long it had been going on. Imagine if a police chief said, “we have 22 crooked coppers,” but refused to tell what they did, where they work, or what rule was violated.

Eventually we should also be informed of these details that do not conflict with the “personnel” policies.

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Eagle’s political weather is as stormy as this past winter on the Eastern Seaboard–the stuff just keeps coming.

Our first encounter with Bandy was when he refused to tell citizens the names of citizens applying to fill a council vacancy two years ago. One call to their city attorney citing a supreme court decision got the names to the public, but that was chump change compared to budget woes, failure to pay the Ada Sheriff for coppers, a bungled attempt at buying a water system, and issues over City Hall rent-vs-purchase.

McDavid, who ran against Bandy and will probably toss her conservative hat into the ring for the upcoming appointment, said in her GUARDIAN guest piece that Bandy had taken a 30 hr a week position at BSU with benefits in addition to his full time job as mayor. On-line comments to the GUARDIAN, and the STATESMAN once they published the story were overwhelmingly negative.

City council will now appoint a new mayor. If they choose a sitting councilor, that will also create a vacancy for them to fill. There is actually a chance for “summer of content” if they can agree on both positions and prove you can control the weather–even if it is just political weather.

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From: Westfall, Allison
Subject: Problems with Xpress Flex – Please read ASAP
You are receiving this email because you participate in the flexible spending plan for medical and/or child care expenses.

We discovered late last week that Xpress Flex, the company that manages our medical and child care flexible spending accounts, appears to be no longer in business and is under investigation. In addition, some of you reported that reimbursement checks issued by Xpress Flex last week “bounced.”

Several Treasure Valley employers including the Boise School District and the College of Idaho also use Xpress Flex. The Idaho Attorney General’s Office and the State Department of Insurance have been contacted.

Fortunately, we learned of this news in time to immediately take action and “stop payment” of February’s payment to Xpress Flex. No future transfers will be made to Xpress Flex. We will be working with authorities to determine how to recover the money already sent to Xpress Flex.

In the meantime, do not submit reimbursements to Xpress Flex. We hope to identify a new plan manager quickly.

Flexible spending plans follow strict Internal Revenue Service laws that require we continue the deductions authorized by the employee.

UPDATE NOON TUESDAY: We contacted Boise School benefit office and they said they were “aware there are problems and we are working toward a resolution.” They had not notified their employees of the situation.

UPDATE 3p.m. TUESDAY: Boise Schools administration sent a memo to employees confirming the company has gone out of business. IRS and Idaho Attorney General are involved and we are told there may be “hundreds of employers” affected by the demise of Xpress Flex.

Click on MORE to read the Boise Schools memo to employees.

Dear Employee,
You are receiving this e-mail because you are a participant in the District’s Section 125 medical flex plan, and/or the dependent care reimbursement plan.

Late Friday afternoon, it was brought to the District’s attention that our Flexible Spending Account (FSA) administrator, XpressFlex, was no longer processing reimbursement requests and that some reimbursement checks did not clear the bank. Today March 2, 2010, we officially received an e-mail verifying XpressFlex is no longer in business.

We want you to know that we are working with another company to assume the administration of our plan as soon as possible, so that your claims will continue to be processed. We will be contracting with Flex-Plan Services, (Bellingham, Washington) to continue the administration of our former plan with XpressFlex. Flex Plan Services is a reputable agency and has been in the business for over 20 years. Flex-Plan Services is
working with the District to gather the data in order to take over our plan. In the meantime, we ask you do not submit reimbursement requests to XpressFlex. We will send you an e-mail once the plan is established and Flex-Plan Services is ready for transactions. You will also receive a welcome letter and additional information from Flex-Plan Services in the near future.

Please understand that IRS regulations do not allow employees to discontinue participation in our Section 125 flex plan for the remainder of the plan year – short of experiencing a qualifying family status change. We do not yet have answers to questions about the status of year-to-date contributions, how much flex money is available for the remainder of the plan year, or if plan members will lose money they have already contributed. We are working diligently to answer these questions. We continue to be in contact with XpressFlex, the State Attorney General, legal counsel, and other Treasure Valley employers who are in the same position as the Boise School District. We will share with you relevant information as it becomes available. If you have questions, you may e-mail benefits@boiseschools.org.

We recognize this situation impacts each of you differently. Please feel free to contact Jane Barker at jbarker@nsd131.org or ext. 1054 or Steve Kipp at skipp@nsd131.org or ext. 1042.”

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