May 29, 2023
PragerU has released a new video, entitled, “The Fallen Soldier.”
The video description simply states, “Others have made the ultimate sacrifice so that you could be free. Remember them—today, and always. A moving tribute, written and narrated by former Navy SEAL and author Jocko Willink.”
To see the video, click on the link, below:
May 29, 2023
Pocatello–If your student is still working on his Americanism Contest entry, today offers ample opportunities to help him formulate an answer to the contest’s theme question, “What Does Freedom Look Like?”
The contest is open to all students who were in grades K-12 during the 2022/2023 school year, regardless of the type of schooling they were enrolled in.
Kindergarten and First Grade students enter by coloring an American flag template, provided online, and answering four questions about the flag.
2nd through 5th Grade students enter by creating a poster on the theme, “What Does Freedom Look Like?” Also required is a written description of the poster in 50 words or less.
6th through 12th Grade students enter by writing an essay on the theme, “What Does Freedom Look Like?” The required length of the essay varies by grade level, with 6th graders writing essays of 200 words or less, and 11th/12th grade students writing essays of 500 words or less.
All entries must be delivered to Sons of AMVETS, Veterans Memorial Building, 300 N. Johnson Avenue, Pocatello, ID 83204, by Wednesday, May 31.
For full details, rules, and entry forms, click here.
May 29, 2023
The Road Closure and Traffic Report for the City of Pocatello for the week of May 22 has been posted on the City’s website.
Some of the highlights include:
To read the full report, visit: Pocatello Traffic Report/Road Closures, Week of May 29, 2022
(Bannock County Press Release, May 26, 2023)
Wednesday, May 31, 2023:
May 25, 2023
Remembering Those Who Deserve to be Remembered
By: Ski Ingram
It was 54 years ago that I swore an oath to defend my country against “all enemies, foreign and domestic” … and that “I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” If you are a veteran, I am sure you remember the day you took that oath. I felt a sense of pride knowing that I was going to serve my country. I had a feeling of awe and wonder about what I had just sworn to do, defend with my life people that I didn’t know and never would.
Ten men I served with in Viet Nam did not come home like I did. They didn’t meet their wives, their children, their parents, or grandparents at an airport, being thankful they did their duty with hopes of a bright future. They came home in a steel casket draped with an American flag. Every Memorial Day I take time to remember those ten men who sacrificed so much for me and for you.
Every year on my birthday I take time to remember one of those ten men who was special to me, Ferenc John Ramm. John was the oldest soldier in the first unit I served with while in the jungle. He took me under his wing and taught me how to stay alive in a war zone. In the three months that I served with him I learned that as a young boy he and his mother escaped from communist Czechoslovakia and came to America to live in freedom. John took President Kennedy’s words to heart when he uttered those famous words “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” John joined the Army and served two tours in Viet Nam. While serving in the United States after his last tour, he made a mistake and was demoted from Sergeant First Class (E-7) to Specialist (E-4). To make enough money to care for his family, John volunteered for one more tour, his third, in Viet Nam.
On my birthday, when I should have been leading a night patrol, John Ramm and Joseph Curtis were killed. I had been sent to the rear to sleep in a clean bed and have a hot shower as a birthday present. I heard the news of their deaths while eating breakfast in the mess hall the next morning. It was my 21st birthday.
General George S. Patton once said, speaking of those who gave their lives in war, “we should thank God that such men lived.” I have served my whole adult life with men who were willing to die for our country. I served with them in the Army and as a police officer. I still marvel that such people are willing to serve. We should all be thankful for them and praise them and remember them at least on one special day of the year, Memorial Day.
Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, is a federal holiday to honor all who have given their life in defense of this nation. It is not a day to honor all veterans; we do that on Veterans Day. This is a day to honor, remember, and revere those who were willing to go to war and then died while keeping the citizens of the United States safe from all enemies.
The origins of Memorial Day are unclear with many states and cities laying claim to being the first to honor those who sacrificed all for this nation. There is an interesting history regarding this special day. As America’s Civil War was coming to a close, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard ordered the evacuation of Confederate soldiers from Charleston, South Carolina in the wake of an impending attack by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. The city’s white population had evacuated the city leaving thousands of former Black slaves behind. As a symbolic gesture, the first Union troops that General Sherman sent into the city were the Black Union soldiers of the 21st Infantry Regiment and the 55th Massachusetts Infantry.
In 2014, David Blight, a Yale history professor, uncovered lost evidence from old newspapers stating that Charleston, South Carolina was the first city to observe Decoration Day on May 1, 1865. On that day, Black workmen (recently freed slaves) voluntarily dug up every Union soldier who had died in the Charleston prisoner of war camp after they had been buried in hastily dug mass graves. The former slaves reburied every Union soldier in a properly dug grave and rendered the proper honors they were due. Afterward a memorial was held. They also celebrated with a parade of school children, citizens, and Union soldiers. Professor Blight argues that the first Memorial Day was founded by African Americans to remember the fact that the Civil War was fought to abolish slavery.
A few years later, in 1868, Major General John Alexander Logan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Union of the Republic, a fraternal order of Union Civil War veterans, issued a proclamation calling for a Decoration Day to be observed nationwide and annually to decorate the graves of Civil War dead, both Union and Confederate. The day chosen was May 30th because it was a day without an anniversary of a major Civil War battle and a day with plenty of spring flowers with which to decorate the graves.
The question today is how do we celebrate and repay those who gave their last measure of devotion for us? Those who served their country and returned from war are repaid by being able to live and prosper. They are repaid by being able to get an education, build a career, and have a family, but how do we repay those who did not return? The freed slaves of Charleston, South Carolina knew how to repay and thank those who sacrificed so much. I submit that the only way we can repay them is by being the best citizens that we can be and never forgetting what they have done for this country. We can teach the next generation how important it is to serve each other and defend the Constitution and the laws of the land. And most importantly, we veterans must remember that we took an oath to defend this country against “all enemies, foreign and domestic” … and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” We must also understand that we will never be released from that oath.
Memorial Day will be observed this year on May 29th. My hope is that while at the beach or at the lake or in our own backyards having a barbeque, we will take a few minutes in the day to remember the more than 1.3 million men and women who gave their life that this country would always remain the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Ski Ingram is a retired police officer who served eight years in the United States Army and seven years as a Green Beret in the Army reserve. He served in Viet Nam from September 1970 to August 1971 with the 173rd Airborne Infantry and November Company 75th Airborne Rangers. He is also a Life member of 6 military service organizations.
(City of Pocatello Press Release, May 23, 2023)
Half-off cat and kitten adoptions from May 24 through May 31, thanks to Friends of the Pocatello Animal Shelter, also known as Friends. Currently, the Pocatello Animal Shelter has 99 cats/kittens.
Friends will cover 50 percent of the adoption cost from the shelter. Citizens can adopt a cat for $17.50 plus tax, or a kitten (six months old and younger) for $25 plus tax. All adoptions at the Pocatello Animal Shelter include vaccinations, spay or neuter surgery, a microchip for permanent identification, and a collar.
The Friends of the Pocatello Animal Shelter is a 501(c)(3) organization and for more information on the group, visit pocatelloshelterfriends.org.
For more information on Pocatello Animal Services and to view adoptable pets, visit pocatello.gov/animal or visit petfinder.com/search/cats-for-adoption. Like the department’s Facebook page at facebook.com/PocatelloAnimalServices.
The Pocatello Animal Shelter is accessible to persons with disabilities. Program access accommodations may be provided with three (3) days advance notice by contacting Skyler Beebe at sbeebe@pocatello.gov, 208.234.6248, or 5815 South 5th Avenue, Pocatello, ID.
May 28, 2023
MONDAY, MAY 29
TUESDAY, MAY 30
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31
THURSDAY, JUNE 1
FRIDAY, JUNE 2
(Pocatello for Accountable Government Entities, May 25, 2023)
BUDGET MTG UPDATE #1:
*All 05/25/23 decisions are NOT final as this is the budget-build portion of the budget process. Every decision is still subject to change.
The council unanimously approved pay increases for the Mayor (4-0).
The vote for the Council’s pay increases was a 2-2-1 tie vote with the Mayor breaking the tie to approve.
(NOTE: Cheatum was excused/absent full meeting / Mangum excused/absent when the meeting reconvened after lunch at approximately 1:46 p.m.)
Both the Mayor and Council have been approved for an 11.4% INCREASE beginning Jan 1, 2024 and then a 2% INCREASE each subsequent year (4 fiscal years in total).
The 11.4% represents the total of the increases the employees have received since the Mayor/Councils’ last pay increase in January 2020, to bring the elected officials’ increases on par with the employees. The Mayor’s current salary is $86,056.88 and the Council’s salary is $13,148.98.
A full summary will be forthcoming, however, ALL agenda “ASKS” were APPROVED – some at a higher level than requested.
The exceptions to this:
The County informed the City those positions won’t be needed till FY25. A total of twelve (12) new FT positions were approved.
(Idaho Department of Lands Press Release, May 25, 2023)
Boise, ID – Do you ever watch the short ads that pop up on the gas pump while filling your tank? We hope you do. Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) is running short video reminders of how you can prevent wildfires.
Starting back in April and running through October 31, IDL is running a fire prevention campaign at the gas pump. You will find the short fire prevention tips at gas stations throughout Idaho and at gas stations in nearby states where people might fill up on their way to Idaho to enjoy all it has to offer.
Idaho is seeing an increase in outdoor recreation on endowment and public lands both from its growing population and influx of visitors.
“Idaho is a great place to camp, fish, hike and so much more, and we love to share our state with visitors,” said IDL Director Dustin Miller. “The only way these incredible opportunities can remain available to everyone is if we all do our part to prevent human caused fires, so we are using innovative ways to share fire prevention messages people will remember and use.”
The hope is the short videos will help remind folks to take an extra minute to make sure chains aren’t dragging if towing a trailer or a boat, to remember to park on pavement or gravel instead of over dry grass, or to make sure campfires are out and cold to the touch even if leaving for a short time.
A moment or two of negligence could mean putting a community and the lands you love at risk and could mean paying the entire cost of fighting that fire.
Versions of the ads also remind people that now is the time to prepare the area around your home for the threat of wildfire.
The $100,000 ad campaign is paid for through federal grant money for fire prevention. IDL’s purchase of a high volume of ads allows partners like Idaho Firewise and even other states to piggyback on IDL’s contract and buy ads at a reduced rate.
In the first 10 days of the campaign, IDL’s fire prevention ads were seen more than 813,000 times.
For more information on Wildfire Prevention and Preparedness, go to https://www.idl.idaho.gov/fire-management/fire-prevention-and-preparedness/week-of-wildfire-preparedness-and-prevention/
Sample of gas pump ads:
Parking on Dry Grass Can Start Fires
https://www.idl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/IDL49345_IDDEPTOFLANDSNOPARKING15_V3.mp4
Dragging Trailer Chains Can Spark Fires
https://www.idl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/IDL49343_IDDEPTOFLANDSSPARKS15_V3.mp4
Blown Tires Can Spark Fires
https://www.idl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/IDL49344_IDDEPTOFLANDSBLOWNTIRE15_V3.mp4
May 26, 2023
By: Dorothy Moon, IDGOP Chairwoman
In a groundbreaking decision, the United States Supreme Court has handed down a monumental victory for property rights with its ruling in the case of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 25, 2023. The ruling, which has far-reaching implications for property owners in Idaho and across the nation, represents a significant victory for landowners, reaffirming their rights and providing essential clarity on the scope of federal regulatory authority.
The Sacketts, a couple from Priest Lake, Idaho, purchased their land in 2004, and began construction on their home in 2007. They found themselves in a frustrating predicament when in 2007 the EPA issued a compliance order, alleging that their property contained wetlands and thus fell under the purview of the Clean Water Act. The agency claimed that the Sacketts had violated federal law by commencing construction on their lot without obtaining the necessary permits. This order effectively prevented the Sacketts from using their own land for over 15 years and left them with no recourse but to comply or face severe penalties.
This week the Supreme Court rendered a unanimous decision in favor of the Sacketts, with all 9 justices agreeing that the wetlands on the Sacketts’ property are not covered by the Clean Water Act, and that the CWA applies only to wetlands that are “as a practical matter indistinguishable from the waters of the United States” and that the wetlands on the Sacketts’ land “are distinguishable from any possibly covered waters”. This ruling is a significant victory.
SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas stated that this decision “curbs a serious expansion of federal authority that has simultaneously degraded States’ authority and diverted the Federal Government from its important role as a guarantor of the Nation’s great commercial water highways into something resembling a ‘local zoning board’.”
In Idaho, where the preservation of private property rights are highly cherished, the Supreme Court’s ruling carries exceptional significance. The states’ vast landscapes and natural resources make it particularly vulnerable to overreach by federal agencies in environmental regulation. The Sackett decision reinforces the principle that landowners in Idaho have a right to maintain control over their properties and ensures the balance between responsible environmental stewardship and individual liberties.
In a statement, Pacific Legal Foundation, the firm representing the Sacketts, stated that “Courts now have a clear measuring stick for fairness and consistency by federal regulators. Today’s ruling is a profound win for property rights and the constitutional separation of powers.”
The significance of this ruling impacts property rights throughout the country, reaching beyond the boundaries of Idaho. It serves as a powerful precedent, establishing a clear standard for federal jurisdiction, ensuring that property owners in every state are protected from excessive regulatory control. The decision strengthens the rights of individuals and is a resounding affirmation of property rights and a crucial check on the power of federal government agencies. It serves as a beacon of hope for property owners across the nation, fostering a system in which private property is respected and protected from undue government interference.
As the Chairwoman of the Idaho Republican Party, I would like to sincerely thank our Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, and the 25 other state AG’s across the nation for their leadership on this critical issue. This victory is yet another example of Idahoans leading the way.
Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon issued the above guest column that first published in the Times-News, and now will be published in other media outlets around Idaho.
