Samantha Wright

Voter’s Voices: Mountain Home Diner Dishes Up Politics

October 10, 2012

By Samantha Wright and Frankie Barnhill

Mountain Home, southeast of Boise is a microcosm of a military town.  Many of the 14,500 people who live there are connected to Mountain Home Air Force Base.  Four-thousand military serve there and some of them come to Grinde's Diner in Mountain Home to eat and talk politics.

The windows at Grinde’s are covered in patriotic paintings like the statue of liberty, a bald eagle and the liberty bell. 

It’s a busy week for Idaho lawmakers.  Education, budgets, health insurance exchanges – these issues will all come up in the next few days.  Betsy Russell writes the Eye on Boise Blog for the Spokesman Review.  She’s been covering the Legislature, as she does every year.  Samantha Wright caught up with her Monday afternoon after the Senate rejected Governor Butch Otter’s candidate for the Idaho Fish and Game Commission.  We sat in an empty committee room to talk about the week ahead, starting with the Senate Education Committee.

Dental care for low-income adults.  Help for physical and mental disabilities.  Expanding Idaho’s Medicaid.  Those were some of the issues that came up during a public hearing Friday during a joint meeting of the Legislature’s Health and Welfare Committees.   

In the 1990s, Jim and Jamie Dutcher set out to study and film a wolf pack. They camped for years in the Sawtooth Mountains living side by side with wolves in a controlled environment.  The couple now has a book, called “The Hidden Life of Wolves,” that was released this week.  

Human trafficking happens in Idaho. But it's unclear how big the problem is. So Sara Thomas is trying to find out. 

She's the state Appellate Public Defender and a member of the Governor’s Criminal Justice Commission.  Thomas says it’s tough to put numbers to human trafficking because most of the crimes are reported as something else.

“What happens is, they’re charged as sex crimes or they’re charged as violent crimes but they’re not necessarily labeled as human trafficking,” says Thomas.

Until last week, John McCarthy was the Idaho Forest Program Director at the Wilderness Society.  He’s stepping down after a 30-year career in conservation.  McCarthy made a name for himself at the Society, and before that at the Idaho Conservation League, working to preserve some of Idaho’s most pristine places.  He says he got started in conservation after working in the media.

How much fish do you eat every week?  That’s a question Idaho’s Department of Environmental Quality wants to answer.  The agency has asked state lawmakers for funding to study that question. 

More polling spots for early voters. Online registration.   These are some of the proposals Idaho democrats in the legislature unveiled today.

It’s called the Voting Opportunity and Trustworthy Elections, or VOTE, initiative.  Sen. Elliot Werk (D-Boise) says it’s time to update the way Idaho holds elections.  “The horse and buggy elections of our founders day simply do not work in today’s society.” 

Here’s how this five-part plan breaks down:

A pastor from Boise has been sentenced to 8 years in an Iranian prison.  Saeed Abedini was convicted over the weekend of attempting to undermine state security in Iran.

The head of Idaho Public Television had some good and bad news for budget writers at the Idaho Legislature today. 

General Manager Peter Morrill said IPTV won 53 national and regional awards last year.  One of its premiere programs, Antiques Road Show, is coming to Boise to film several shows.  And…“Late last week we were informed by the good folks at Nielson and Track Media that we are in fact the most watched, most viewed PBS station in the U.S.," Morrill said.  "This is great news.” 

Idaho lawmakers will take up a bill to lift the ban placed on telephone companies when it comes to customer cold calls.

Under Idaho's 2000 "No-call" law that halted most unwanted phone solicitation, most businesses were allowed to continue calling existing customers to sell things. But phone companies were forbidden.

Now land-line companies Frontier Communications and Century Link are lobbying for the changes. 

Jim Clark is a former Idaho Representative and is now a lobbyist for Frontier.  He says the old law is crippling their ability to market high-speed internet.

The National Weather Service calls this morning an “historic freezing rain event.”  A spokesman says Boise was the hardest hit by the ice.  The conditions closed schools, highways, and caused cars to slip and slide.  The Ada County Sheriff’s Office reports more than 41 crashes this morning and 32 slide offs or stalled cars.   

The Idaho Legislature wants to honor two-time Olympic gold medal cyclist Kristin Armstrong.  The Boise resident won gold in last year’s London Olympics and in 2008’s Beijing Olympics.

Representative Hy Kloc (D-Boise) introduced the measure today. “We’d like to commend her for her community work, her outstanding attitude, her focus, and her exemplary conduct.” 

Kloc said Armstrong climbed to the top of her profession even in the face of health problems. “In 2001, Kristen was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, and that didn’t stop her.” 

The protest group Occupy Boise packed up their encampment last June, seven months after building a tent city next to the Idaho Statehouse.  But Idaho lawmakers are still arguing over rules crafted to regulate any future protests at state-owned buildings.

Over the past decade, the student makeup at Boise State University has changed.  That’s the word from President Bob Kustra, who made his pitch for more money from the Idaho Legislature today.

Kustra showed budget lawmakers a series of statistics about Boise State that have changed from 2001 to now.  He says back then, the school had a different make up of students. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the flu is now widespread in 47 states, including Idaho.  Doctor Leslie Tengelsen is Idaho’s deputy state epidemiologist.  She says the flu season has arrived early this year.  

Whether or not Idaho expands Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act, the state needs to pour more money into the program.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today said the flu is now widespread in 47 states. That's up from 41 states the week before. 

Dr. Leslie Tengelsen, Idaho’s deputy state epidemiologist, says the Gem state is no exception.  “We’ve seen a steady rise in hospitalizations, doctor’s visits, so flu is here.”

This week, Boise met the police department’s new L-G-B-T Liaison.  The position isn’t new. But it takes on new significance, now that Boise has an anti-discrimination ordinance to protect gays and lesbians when it comes to employment and housing.   

Katie Davey has been part of Victim’s Services at the Boise Police Department for a few months.  Part of her job is helping those who've been victimized because of their sexual orientation.

Tonight marks the longest night of the year.  Advocates chose this night to remember the homeless who have died in 2012.  The National Homeless Person’s Memorial happens in more than 150 cities, including Boise. 

Jayne Sorrels is the Executive Director of Interfaith Sanctuary Housing Services. “We gather together as a community and recognize and honor, remember those who have died in the last year who were homeless, formerly homeless and those who were homeless advocates.”