O-SenseA few thoughts on some random topics...
Eastern Idaho taking steps to create a community college. Last week, Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper, Ammon Mayor Dana Kirkham and Bonneville County Commissioner Dave Radford announced the formation of an 11-member task force to determine whether the area needs a community college, what should it look like and determine the cost of forming one. Also announced were two grants totaling $45,000 to bolster the group’s efforts, one by the REDI Foundation and the other by the Idaho National Laboratory.
At issue is the future role of Eastern Idaho Technical College. A full-fledged community college would offer two-year degrees to students, reducing tuition costs by about two-thirds compared to taking the same courses at one of Idaho’s universities. Idaho Falls is the only major community in Idaho without a freestanding degree-granting institution of higher education.
Advocates (I am one and am actively involved in the effort) argue that EITC already has the buildings for a community college, dramatically reducing the overall costs. Gov. Butch Otter has offered $5 million in startup funds. Creating a community college requires a citizen vote to establish a community college district.
Jan Rogers, the new head of East Idaho’s Regional Economic Development Corporation and former head of economic development in Magic Valley, told me that an Idaho Falls community college could boost economic development. She notes that "[t]he International Economic Development Council (IEDC) has recognized College of Southern Idaho as a best practice nationally for its partnership in economic development in the Magic Valley region. Without the support and partnership of CSI, the Magic Valley would not have seen the many successes in new job creation over the last 15 years. These successes have created great opportunities for good paying jobs for the families of the Valley."
The task force has been given deadlines of May to unveil preliminary findings and July for a final report. Depending on the findings, the next step to create a community college district would be to obtain a minimum 1,000 signatures of local residents to put the issue on the ballot.
A note to those who think the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers were heroes. Some in Idaho have supported Ammon Bundy and his gang in their armed effort to seize the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge HQ in Oregon, in particular Rep. Judy Boyle and Rep. Heather Scott who went out to visit just before the FBI intervened.
A couple news stories that should give supporters of these folks pause.
First, the Associated Press is reporting that investigators have found explosives on-site at the Refuge and what appears to be booby-trapped vehicles. These facts crush the claim of some that this was some sort of “peaceful” protest.
Second, one needs to read this (view here) nonsensical “legal document” filed by Shawna Cox of Utah, one of the occupiers who argues she is entitled to damages of $666,666,666,666.66 (that is two-thirds of a trillion dollars – the number comes from what she claims is the “works of the devil”).
Cox claims that those who prosecuted the Hammonds, the two ranchers who set fires to cover up their poaching and then lost their appeal, “committed crimes against our constitutional form of government, against our society, myself and my children.” This is very ironic coming from a woman who was the spokesman for a group that seized federal property and threatened to shoot anyone who removed them from it.
She asserts she is a “victim, witness and informant to subversive activities” by law schools and bar associations to attack constitutional government. She claims that no judge who is part of a bar association (all are attorneys by trade and thus bar members) can oversee her trial and that she is entitled to assistance from her unspecified “Next friends” (Her co-conspirators? Friendships to be made? Space aliens?).
After reviewing her complaint, I am convinced she is part of the so-called sovereignty movement (considered by the FBI to be a form of domestic terrorism) which I’ve written about before (you can view my previous article here). One reason for that determination is her inclusion of the following language used by sovereignty movement supporters:
“I object to the court continuing to attempt to identify me as a subject of corporate United States of America, I ask the court to cease and desist this, and acknowledge I am a sovereign citizen with State and Federal constitutional rights and protections of law.”
This silly woman, the Bundy boys, Cliven Bundy and their fellow occupiers deserve a long and stiff prison sentence for their actions. Any Idaho public official who backs these folks is actively supporting domestic terrorism (Boyle? Scott?). Voters should judge accordingly.
Dinosaurs are cool. Idaho dinosaurs are even better! I love dinosaurs. Montana, Wyoming and Utah have yielded world-class specimens. The problem in Idaho is that most of our geologic formations are of the wrong age, either too old in North Idaho or too young in much of Southern Idaho.
But, there is a strip of ground, basically in the hills east of Idaho Falls to the Wyoming border that are the right age. And, paleontologists are finding some very interesting Idaho dinosaur-age creatures.
Most recently a paper was published by L.J. Krumenacker, D. Jade Simon and David J. Varricchio of Montana State University in Bozeman, and Garrett Scofield of Boise State University. The paper announces the discovery of evidence of at least three Idaho theropods, the same family as the Tyrannosaurus Rex. These are about 95 million years old and were smaller than a horse.
Very, very cool.
Steve Taggart is an Idaho Falls attorney specializing in bankruptcy (www.MaynesTaggart.com). He has an extensive background in politics and public policy. He can be reached atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
