Calling all pumpkin carvers! Now’s your chance to show your stuff.
AMVETS Idaho Post 1 will be hosting a pumpkin carving contest on Friday, October 22, starting at 6:00 p.m. and culminating with the pumpkin lighting at 8:30 p.m. The venue is the Bannock County Veterans Memorial Building, 300 N. Johnson Avenue in Pocatello.
The event will also include prizes and cider.
AMVETS is known for their family friendly events. Check them out on Facebook by clicking on the flyer, below:
On Monday, October 11, Patriots for Liberty & Constitution (Patriots) will continue their discussion of the Idaho Republican Party Platform during their weekly class.
Patriots, led by Art da Rosa, meets at Mountain Valley Baptist Church, 202 S. 7th Avenue in Pocatello, every Monday beginning at 6:00 p.m. The class is scheduled to run for 90 minutes.
All who support individual freedom are invited, and encouraged, to attend.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) annual youth scholarship competitions are open for the 2021-2022 school year, but the deadline to submit an entry, and to have an opportunity to compete for thousands of dollars in prize money, is rapidly approaching.
Each year, VFW hosts two youth scholarship competitions, Patriot’s Pen, for students in grades 6 through 8, and Voice of Democracy, for students in grades 9 through 12. Students compete for scholarships worth thousands of dollars in the competitions that are designed to foster patriotism. Students in public, private, parochial, and home study programs in the United States, its territories or its possessions may enter. Entries for both competitions must be submitted to a local VFW post by midnight on October 31.
Patriot’s Pen is an essay competition. Students must submit an essay of no less than 300 words and no more than 400 words on the designated theme, along with the entry form. This year’s theme is, “How Can I Be a Good American.”
Voice of Democracy is a speaking competition. Students must submit a reading of their speech on audio CD or flash drive, along with the entry form, to a local VFW Post. Speeches must be no shorter than three minutes and no longer than five minutes (+/- five second). This year’s theme is, “America: Where Do We Go From Here?”
In an opinion piece by Pocatello for Accountable Government Entities (P.A.G.E.) Cofounder Heather Disselkoen posted on the Pocatello-Chubbuck Observer news site on September 10, questions were raised about the continuing viability of the Frigitek project based on documents uncovered concerning a lawsuit involving Frigitek. The Pocatello-Chubbuck Observer reached out to Pocatello Planning & Development Services Director, Brent McLane, about the issues raised. Here is his response:
“The Frigitek project is still moving forward. They are working to secure tenants prior to finalizing the design of their building. There have been some setbacks through COVID with securing tenant contracts, but the PDA has no jurisdiction with that side of the development. There is a legal case pending between Frigitek and Idaho Materials and Construction (“IMC”) related to payments not received by IMC. The dispute is between two private entities who are engaged in a contractual agreement. The PDA is not part of that contract. The PDA has not taken any legal action against Frigitek. One of the important roles that the PDA does have though is to protect the public’s interest as it relates to tax funds it receives to bolster economic development in the area. The PDA monitor’s its agreements to the extent of its participatory obligations and utilizes legal counsel as any responsible entity would.
I think it is important to understand how the PDA receives funds, how private entities can obtain funds from the PDA, and what those funds are allowed to be used for.
The PDA receives it spending authority from the State and is a separate and distinct entity from the City or County. When a TIF district is created a baseline property value is created and frozen for said district. The city and/or county will continue to receive this tax base throughout the term of the TIF district. Increment occurs as properties within the TIF district develops or redevelops. With the development or redevelopment of properties comes an increase in property value. As this increase is assessed and taxed that then becomes the increment to be used by the PDA.
How the PDA uses that increment is determined by the TIF plan and an owners participation agreement (“OPA”). One extremely important thing to remember is that with the Frigitek OPA payments are only to be made as reimbursement for work performed. Also, eligible costs are only for those items that fall within the public benefit realm. So for instance the money that has been reimbursed to Frigitek to date has only been for things associated with infrastructure located within the public interest. It has covered some of the costs for improvements to sewer, water, and roadways, the remainder of those costs have been paid by the developer. Those cost may be eligible for reimbursement as increment is generated by the Frigitek project. I know that there were questions raised about hypothetical scenarios of if Frigitek pulled out what would the taxpayer be left with. At this point the success of the Airport TIF district is that significant and substantial infrastructure improvements have been made to that area of the district that are versatile and would allow for extensive future development opportunities if required.
I appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to clarify a few things.”
The City of Pocatello has posted the Road Closures/Traffic Report for the week of October 11, 2021.
The reports, issued weekly, detail the City’s plans for street sweeping, micro sealing, road patching, paving, signal work, water line installations, and more.
2020–2021 City Council: Linda Leeuwrik, Rick Cheatum, Roger Bray, Claudia Ortega (back row); Heidi Adamson, Brian Blad, Chris Stevens (front row) (Photo Credit: City of Pocatello)
The agenda for the Pocatello City Council Work Session to be held on Thursday, October 14, at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Chambers, 911 N. 7th Avenue, has been posted on the City website. Among the items on the agenda are a request for an additional police officer and a Senior Center Ad Hoc Committee endorsement request.
The request for the additional police officer reads, “INTERNET CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN (ICAC) INVESTIGATOR REQUEST – POLICE DEPARTMENT: The Pocatello Police Department is requesting permission to add an additional officer to serve as a full-time Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Investigator. The investigator will be tasked with investigating National Crimes for Missing and Endangered Children (NCMEC) referrals, while working with other ICAC investigators in southeast Idaho. All wages and benefits, including overtime and training, for the position will be paid for by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office. (ACTION ITEM)”
The Senior Committee request reads, “SENIOR AD HOC COMMITTEE ENDORSEMENT REQUEST: Representatives from the Senior Ad Hoc Committee will be present to seek a letter of recognition from the Council in support of the value of a Senior Center in Pocatello and endorsement of the need for a facility to meet the changing demands of seniors to provide nutrition, recreation and lifelong learning opportunities in the community. (ACTION ITEM)”
A review of City Purchase and Fiscal Policies and the Purchase Card Program Policy will also be undertaken at the meeting.
Going to a deadlift party. Who could ask for more?
ChaseStrong Gym is hosting a Halloween deadlift party on Thursday, October 28, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. The party includes a deadlift competition, a costume contest, and food & drinks. Everyone in the family; moms, dads, grandparents, and kids are all invited. Stop in and see what the ChaseStrong culture is all about!
ChaseStrong Gym is family friendly! They have classes for student athletes, moms, serious athletes, novices, and people of all ages who want to gain the benefits that come with a professional trainer teaching proper weight lifting technique. Their members hold numerous state weight lifting records, but also include those new to weight training.
Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist, has asked the question “is America woke or awake?” I don’t believe that most of America is “woke,” but I do believe that they aren’t awake either. That question caused me to think about what it means to be “woke.” Ben Domenech says, “wokeness means you don’t have to ask the hard questions.” He goes on to say that the woke want you to accept whatever they say and believe. That wokeness “is designed to keep you asleep—asleep to the reality of what’s going on around you, sedated from having to do anything to fix a real problem.”
We have heard some say that America is on the precipice of losing its freedom. This is a scary thought. I began to keep a record of what the woke believe, what they like and what they don’t like. It’s only a partial list, but I think it’s important that I mention them here.
These are a few of the things that the “woke” do not like: Conservatives, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, our founding fathers, families, children, gender, babies, religion, Boy Scouts, small business, the police, the military, the rule of law, civil rights, talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and President Trump.
These are a few of what the “woke” do like: Antifa, BLM, Covid, lockdowns, illegal aliens, abortion, drugs, rioters, Mexican cartels, human trafficking, taxes, masks, misinformation, bogus investigations, Critical Race Theory, Communism, Socialism, and control over you.
My question is, when will honest, freedom loving liberals wake up to how dangerous the “woke” are to our freedom? I’m writing this a few days after we began the pull out of Afghanistan. The Biden administration is doing their best to put a positive spin on this debacle, however anyone who is honest knows it’s a complete military failure.
I am hearing people compare this to the fall of Saigon, but I compare it to the disaster at Dunkirk in World War ll. When Saigon fell, we didn’t worry about the North Vietnamese coming to America and attacking us. When Dunkirk fell the worry was the Nazis would cross the English Channel and attack Great Britain. With the fall of Afghanistan, no American will be safe anywhere in the world.
The fall of Afghanistan happened while President Biden was on vacation. He returned to the White House for a few hours and told us that he decided to pull out of Afghanistan because he didn’t want to fight an endless war. He also said that he didn’t want one more American soldier to die there. He then went back to Camp David to continue his vacation. Biden’s little speech sounded just fine to the “woke.” No one wants soldiers to die in a foreign war. Why didn’t Biden have a plan to get all of the Americans out of Afghanistan? He didn’t think about all of the Afghans who helped us during the war. He failed to plan what would happen when the Taliban began to take over the country.
Biden’s actions show that he does not care about people. He didn’t care about the Vietnamese in 1975 when he told America we had no obligation to help the people as Saigon fell. Recently he showed he didn’t care about the Cubans protesting their oppressive regime when he declared if they came to America, he would send them back to Cuba. Now he is abandoning the Afghans. I’m wondering if he will help defend Taiwan if the Chinese invade? Will he abandon Israel, South Korea and the Ukraine?
It’s time for Americans to wake up. They need to fight back against the “woke” who never ask the hard questions or consider the consequences of their actions. Its only interested is how it makes you feel at the moment. These are a few questions that “awake” Americans should be asking. Biden says he doesn’t want our young men to die. Why has he done nothing to stop the hundreds of young men dying in our major cities in drive by shootings? Why is he not pushing back against the “woke” who want to disband the police which makes America less safe for us all? Why is he allowing our southern border to be invaded by the criminal cartels who are getting rich off these poor souls seeking a better life. Why does he not care about the drugs coming into the country, the human trafficking and the women and children being sold into sexual slavery?
I believe that America is at a tipping point. It is past time for freedom loving Americans to wake up. Your ignorance will be bliss until you find your country has changed and now you no longer have civil rights or freedom. The “woke” are destroying America just as socialism or communism has done in so many other countries. We are witnessing, in real time, what the “woke” is doing to Afghanistan. If things do not change and change quickly, we will be telling our grandchildren what it was like to live in a country where everyone was free.
I know there are more awake Americans then “woke” Americans. I know that more Americans love their country, even with its faults, than hate this country. I know that most Americans feel the same way about the country as does Tamyra Mensh-Stock after she won a gold medal in Wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics, “I feel amazing. I love representing the U.S. I freaking love living there. I love it, and I’m so happy I got to represent the USA.”
Like Tamyra, I love America. I will never give in to the “woke.” I will fight them anyway I can. I will certainly remember the party of the “woke” when I go to vote during the mid-term election in 2022. I hope you will too.
Editor’s Note: Ski Ingram is a member of Lester Keate Post 90 of the American Legion in St. George, Utah and lives in Gilbert, Arizona. He is a combat veteran and is a life member of five different veteran’s organizations as well as the NRA. He can be reached at Ski@Skiingram.com Or http://www.Skiingram.com
Attention students! Write an essay or make a video by March 11, 2022, to win prize money, and maybe even appear on the John Stossel show!
The Stossel in the Classroom website describes the contests, in which you can win up to $2500:
Every year, we hold an essay contest and a video contest to give your students an opportunity to express themselves and win great prizes. This year, we’re opening up that opportunity even more—and giving away $25,000 in prizes to students and teachers.
For the first time, we’re not limiting students to a single topic. Students will have three topics to choose from, allowing them to tackle the subject that speaks to them the most.
We’ve also added a Middle School Division. Younger students have impressed us over the years, and now they have a better opportunity than ever to win big.