Here's the problem with politicians

I just got a press release "guest opinion" from U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson. He's talking about procuring federal earmarks for Idaho, including money for the Idaho National Laboratory, a highway in Custer County, etc.
With great moral authority, he announces these projects and states he doesn't want to hide them away from the public, rather let the public see what he's fighting for and decide for themselves whether this is bad federal spending or a great way to help Idaho.
He concludes: “In the end, I can either seek these projects for Idaho or allow the funding to go to some other state. I would rather see that funding end up in Idaho – but I would prefer it be directed to projects that merit taxpayer investment.”
This is the problem with politicians in Washington, and the very reason we can't quit our addiction to earmarks. Of course, no one in Idaho is going to say, "Oh, Rep. Simpson, please don't request this funding, let money go to Massachusetts or Wyoming."
Problem is, a bunch of politicians from Wyoming and Massachusetts and every other state are preparing their own press releases and "guest opinions" rallying their troops for support. "Oh, Rep. (fill in politician's name here), please don't let our federal dollars go to Idaho for a highway in Custer County, send that money to (your state or congressional district goes here)."
Rep. Simpson: Please do what's right for the country and stop this wasteful spending altogether. Stop it in Idaho, stop it in Massachusetts, stop it in Wyoming. Just stop it. Let us keep all that money and maybe we'd actually be able to fund some of these projects ourselves — and at a much lower cost.

Best line of the night at Tuesday's Kuna school board meeting

Kuna schools superintendent Jay Hummel perhaps is not best known for his sense of humor, but he sure had the best line of the night at Tuesday's school board meeting. The school district is trying to come up with a name for the new alternative school, scheduled to open this fall. One of the front-runners is Two Roads Academy, or something to that effect, referencing the famous Robert Frost poem. A concern was raised, however, that another school was named Two Roads already. Hummel reported to the school board, though, that that school had closed. "They took the third road, I guess."

Kuna Auction a success despite fewer donations, bids

The annual auction benefiting the Kuna Natural Disaster Relief Fund went on Saturday as planned.
Donations were down, bids were down, the money raised was down, but the camaraderie and community spirit were way up in the Old Fourth Street Gym Saturday.
Early estimates put donations at about $16,000, far down from years past, but still a very good showing in a down economy and a great showing for an event that almost wasn't this year.
"I'm pleasantly surprised, very pleasantly surprised," auction chairwoman Sheri Russell said after the last of the items was auctioned off and she could breathe a sigh of relief.
Items auctioned included tools from Kuna Lumber and Kuna True Value, a bookcase hand made by Ron Cantrell, Christmas dishes, wine gift baskets, cookbooks, rope art, a Schwinn Sting Ray chopper bike and a 22 rifle donated by Zeke Corder.
A Remington model 710 Bushnell 3-9 Powerscope 270 Winchester (brand new with box) donated by Doug Croft of Kuna Dental raised around $1,500, thanks to Carl Nicholson, who bought it twice and let it get sold again.
Other items included Chuck Monger’s handcrafted elk and deer horn jewelry, a quilt made and donated by Kuna’s Fourth Ward (above), which is draped on a handmade wooden quilt stand by Pat Reed, blankets, afghans, original art by Ben Rice and Jack Kindall, 8-foot posts, a family night gift basket donated by the Kuna Melba News — everything including the kitchen sink (donated by Integrity Plumbing) which includes garbage disposal and installation.
Cash prizes were also awarded through raffle tickets, and the Kuna seniors were on hand selling tasty treats, pies and pastries.
Overall, a great day in Kuna.

Open letter to the Ada County Commissioners

To the Board of Ada County Commissioners,
According to a press release from Ada County: "In an effort to help offset the elimination of employee merit increases, the Board of Commissioners has agreed to cover the cost of employee health insurance premium increases, which in previous years, might have been passed on to employees. Additionally, the county will give employees a “health insurance premium holiday” resulting in no payroll deduction for health insurance premiums during the month of December – a time when most employees could use a little extra cash in their paychecks."
As a small business owner in Ada County, I am against these moves and moves such as this in general. I would like to see the county act more like a business. You don't see many private sector employees offering health insurance premium holidays or covering the costs of health insurance increases. Many "regular" employees in the private sector are seeing cuts to their health benefits and are seeing no merit pay raises, if they even still have a job. Private sector employees shouldn't then be expected to bear a tax burden to help fund added health benefits for county employees. Most taxpayers in Ada County would like to see a little extra cash in their bank accounts in December rather than seeing it go to the county to pay for a health insurance premium holiday for county employees. We should all share the burden and sacrifices of the current economic downturn.

Kuna mayor says he'll give a state of the city address

At the last City Council meeting, council member Trina Stroebel asked Kuna Mayor Scott Dowdy if he was going to give a state of the city address, just like other area mayors. Dowdy gave a state of the city address back when he was interim mayor and he was running for mayor, but he hasn't given one since. Reluctantly, Dowdy said he would do a state of the city address. Council president Jeff Lang encouraged him to give one, especially considering all of the city budget cuts and the news about the LID. City attorney Randy Grove had the best line of the night: "Your theme for it could be 'At least we're not California.'" Details not hammered down yet, but we'll let you know in the Kuna Melba News when we find out.

City of Kuna gets in line for federal stimulus money

The city of Kuna is doing what it can to save its place in line for federal stimulus money.
President Obama, along with mostly congressional Democrats, is proposing anywhere from $800 billion to $900 billion in federal money to projects that, in theory, would jumpstart the economy by creating jobs for the millions of people who have lost their jobs in recent months due to the tumbling economy.
Much of the talk had centered around infrastructure, such as bridges, roads and sewer and water projects.
Kuna has put together a list of projects that city officials feel could benefit from federal support. Included in that list are the new wastewater treatment plant, an overpass over Indian Creek along Meridian Road and a new city hall.
In addition, the city is trying to work with the Ada County Highway District to come up with some local road projects, such as a traffic light at Columbia and Meridian roads, sidewalks on Linder and Fourth streets and a widening of Deer Flat Road from Meridian Road to Ten Mile Road. All of these projects have been in the pipeline for years. Craig Quintana of ACHD tells me that ACHD is submitting a list of projects to the Idaho Transportation Department, including half-a-million dollars for repair of dangerous sidewalks, including some in Kuna. ACHD also is requesting $4 million for road repairs all over the county. Another $40 million in ready-to-go projects are in the wings, including a bridge over the Benton Lateral along King Road east of Black Cat Road, Quintana said.
We'll keep you posted.

Melba Community Auction going well

We just got back from the 60th annual Melba Community Auction, where things were moving right along nicely. Organizers tell me the donations were down quite a bit from last year, but folks were still bidding well this year. One of the items that Nicola and I bought at the auction was a homemade huckleberry pie made by Madge Wylie. The huckleberries were hand-picked by her son up at Priest Lake. I'm not ashamed to admit that as soon as we got home, we dug in (at right). Delicious. Great job, Madge. No indigestion, no need for the antacid. We had to leave the auction a little early, so we missed how the classic car and pickup truck went, but the handmade Old World-style hand-carved wooden cane by Eugene Lee went for $250 to Norm and Kathy Alder. I bid unsuccessfully on a signed softball from the state champions. That eventually went for $100. Nicola and I finally successfully bid on a beautiful quilt. This one was handmade and donated by Michelle Van Schoiack and machine quilted by Homestead Quilts. We've bid on quilts many times before, including last year's Kuna History quilt by Cheryl Stubbs, but we've never come out on top. So we're pretty happy we finally took one home. Lute Greenfield's handmade metal sculpture of a moose went for $255, and a handmade birdhouse went for $250. We'll keep you updated on how the auction did and what it means to the Kuna Auction, in next week's Kuna Melba News.

City of Kuna looking for two planning commissioners now

The city of Kuna is now looking for two new Planning and Zoning Commission members, after chairman Justin Touchstone informed the city he’s leaving the commission. Former commission member Holly Kerfoot moved to Fruitland in the fall, leaving her post open for the past couple of months. Touchstone, who has been the commission’s chairman since July, announced he is leaving the commission after serving for three years. Touchstone said he will stick around for a while until a replacement is found.
That leaves Dave Case, Stephanie Wierschem and Carl Trautman on the commission. Case has been on the commission since February 2007. Wierschem has been on the commission since March 2007. Trautman just joined the commission in July.
I know Dave Case personally, and I like him and I think he does a good job on the commission. However, Dave also serves on the school board, which meets once a month at the same time as the Planning and Zoning Commission, which creates a time conflict for Dave and causes him to miss some commission meetings.
So I hope the city finds a couple of new commission members quickly. City planning director Steve Hasson told me that just last week he received inquiries from two good candidates, which is encouraging. It’s been difficult finding folks who fulfill the requirements. Planning and Zoning Commission members must be residents of the city of Kuna (not just the surrounding area) and have lived in Ada County for at least five years.

Remembering what a big deal a mention in your local paper is

We received an email the other day from a reader who had submitted a schools-related story and photos, which I ran a few weeks ago. She wrote, "They really enjoyed seeing themselves in the paper last time. I brought each of them a copy of the paper to school, and their desks were immediately surrounded by students. The mile-wide smiles they had on their faces lasted most of the day. One of the boys said "Geez, my mom sent a copy of the paper to EVERYBODY (dripping with exasperation) we know." I think often as I get older, I forget what a big deal something like a mention in the local paper is. So thanks for printing the story, it meant a lot."
I think a lot of people have forgotten what a big deal something like a mention in the local paper is. We still think the local paper is the best way to connect with your community. Keep sending us your submissions, and we'll keep printing them.

Kuna should beat a tactical retreat in its fight with Meridian

The city of Kuna has a tremendous opportunity right now in its seemingly endless fight over land with the city of Meridian.
Last month, Ada County Commissioners, once again treating Kuna like an ugly stepchild better relegated to the hinterlands of Canyon County (or maybe even Nevada), approved Meridian’s request to extend its area of city impact down to Lake Hazel Road, over the objections of Kuna.
Kuna city officials have made the case that Kuna is best prepared to provide services north of Lake Hazel Road to Amity Road, based largely on the city’s new $30 million wastewater treatment plant that’s under construction near the southeast corner of Lake Hazel and Ten Mile roads. A 2004 wastewater master plan commissioned by the city of Kuna specifically targets the area between Lake Hazel and Amity roads as a natural development area that would gravity-feed the new treatment plant.
At the county commissioners’ Dec. 17 public hearing, however, a line of Meridian city officials and area residents, one by one, testified that the city of Meridian was better prepared to provide services to the land north of Lake Hazel Road. Although I wasn’t at that meeting, city planning director Steve Hasson tells me that the comments about Kuna were unflattering and derisive. Hasson, Kuna Mayor Scott Dowdy and one affected resident were the only ones to testify on Kuna’s behalf. “It was just a good old-fashioned butt-whooping,” Hasson told me, obviously dejected.
But there is a compelling argument to draw the line at Lake Hazel Road right now. If Kuna were to beat a tactical retreat right now, Kuna could go to the city of Meridian holding out an olive branch, saying, “OK, let’s draw that line at Lake Hazel Road and be done with the fighting. Let’s get together and do some joint planning. Let’s get together without any more baggage, without any cloud hanging over us.”
And maybe the two cities and school districts could work on that ice rink I’ve been dreaming about.
It may be difficult to swallow your pride and admit defeat, but a retreat at this point has its benefits.