Car flips over Galena
Chad B. Harper, 49, of Sun Valley, rolled his Jeep Cherokee 2001 several times a few miles south of Galena Lodge on Thursday, June 30. According to Blaine County Sheriff Gene Ramsey, Harper was southbound on Highway 75 when he crossed the centerline, left the road, and slid on the left shoulder before rolling. “The car went 600 feet to point of rest,” Ramsey said. Harper was transported by Ketchum ambulance to St. Luke’s Wood River with possible injuries and lacerations to the face. He also complained of back and sternum pain. When found, Harper was in the driver’s seat hanging upside down by the seatbelt. Ramsey said alcohol was “believed to be involved,” and they are waiting on blood results. The car was totaled in the crash.
Citizens group successful in lawsuit
Judge Robert J. Elgee ruled yesterday that the Blaine County School District has to make arrangements with Verizon to provide the cellphone records for the phone used by Blaine County School District Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes. The District claimed that the Verizon bill does not provide a monthly log of calls made.
The lawsuit was filed June 8 by Pamela Plowman, Barbara Browning and the Coalition for Blaine County School District Accountability.
The BCSD had argued that these were not “public records” under the Public Records Act. Elgee disagreed. He also ruled that the BCSD must revise its estimate for the cost of reviewing requested email records on its email system sent to and received from Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas. The BCSD’s estimate for reviewing the emails to determine if there were any emails exempt from disclosure or which needed to be redacted didn’t comply with the requirement contained in the Idaho Public Records Act that fees be based on the rate of the lowest paid employee who could perform the tasks involved.
“According to the declaration under penalty of perjury filed by the BCSD’s Director of Technology, the BCSD is paying for a litigation support service, Google Vault, but she does not know how to use its features sufficiently to even be able to print multiple emails,” said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Breck Seiniger, Jr., in an official press release.
Citing an Idaho statute, Elgee said, “You own the phone. You own the account. You have to make the choice to get the records that you own.”
The ruling orders the BCSD to determine from Verizon if these records are available and take the necessary steps to produce them.
Foreclosed-upon hotel is sold
The Bellemont Hotel in Ketchum sold at auction on Wednesday, June 29. The North Main Street hotel has been run, after a foreclosure sale, by Providence Hospitality Partners of Aspen since December 2015. Former owner Peter Lewis lost the hotel due to a default on a $3.6 million loan.
The final price was $4,450,000. Winning bidder was represented by Paul Kenney of Paul Kenney & Matt Bogue Commercial Real Estate, in Ketchum.
Premier event planned for screening of ‘Destination Idaho’
A red-carpet premiere event has been planned for the screening of “Destination Idaho” at the Community School Theater on July 10. Showing will begin at 7 p.m. Admission is free and seating is first come, first served. The family-friendly content will appeal to all audiences.
This showing is part of a 10-stop tour that includes Cascade, McCall, Lewiston, Salmon, Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint, Sun Valley, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls and Pocatello.
Filmed over the past two years, “Destination Idaho” is an unusual “commercial hybrid,” created in partnership with award-winning Idaho filmmaker Karen Day and a host of public and private partners, including the Idaho State Historical Society, Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, Idaho Tourism, U.S. National Park Service, Airstream Adventures Northwest, Boise Convention & Visitors Bureau, Sun Valley Resort, Shore Lodge and many more.
Production was financed by enrollment of state, federal and private stakeholders, including Idaho State Historical Society, Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, Idaho’s National Parks, Boise CVB, Sun Valley Resort and Shore Lodge, to name a few among 50 participating statewide entities.
The Center announces new ED
The Sun Valley Center for the Arts’ board of directors announced the promotion of Christine Davis-Jeffers to executive director. This promotion follows Davis-Jeffers’ successful six-month tenure as The Center’s chief operating officer, during which time she led the development of the organization’s three-year strategic plan and helped refine the Center’s governance and operations structure. She will assume her new leadership and oversight responsibilities at The Center effective immediately.
“We have all been greatly impressed with Christine’s drive and leadership skills,” said Tim Wolff, president of the Center’s board of directors.”
Davis-Jeffers came to the Wood River Valley after graduating from Colorado College, where she earned a B.A. in political science and a minor in art history. In 2013, after a 12-year career at Smith Optics, she jumped at the chance to parlay her corporate experience—and her commitment to this community and lifetime love of art—into a career at the Sun Valley Center.
Initially hired as The Center’s director of patron development and fundraising events, Davis-Jeffers’ primary focus was the Sun Valley Center for the Arts Wine Auction. Under her leadership, the Wine Auction enjoyed some of its most successful years; her laser-focus on event sustainability and achieving financial goals made her a natural choice to assume The Center’s chief operating officer role in December 2015.
During her time as COO, Davis-Jeffers was integrally involved in the development of The Center’s new three-year strategic plan—a process that included evaluating the organization’s mission and vision, refocusing The Center’s arts programming priorities on arts education, BIG IDEA projects and Company of Fools, and refining an institutional budget. Now as executive director, her responsibilities will be to implement those goals.
“I am thrilled with the opportunity and new role,” Davis-Jeffers said. “I believe arts are a necessary and vital part of building community and am personally committed to and look forward to strengthening this institution’s 45-year legacy with new and exciting ideas that we can all be proud of.”
Ketchum receives grant from Water Board
The city of Ketchum received a $10,000 grant from the Idaho Water Resource Board to conserve groundwater from city wells by upgrading irrigation systems in four city parks.
The upgraded irrigation systems are expected to reduce water use by 20 to 60 percent, saving more than 1 million gallons of water per year now used in the Ketchum Bike Park, the Guy Coles Skate Park, Edelweiss Park and Forest Service Park. The city will provide matching funds of $20,000.
Upgrades will include installation of “smart clocks,” plus new pipes and sprinkler heads where they are needed to maintain consistent water pressure.
These parks serve more than 2,600 people who permanently reside in Ketchum and another 2,700 people who work in the city, as well as thousands of visitors and second homeowners.
Department of Transportation to give large grant for local air service
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will give $5.15 million in grants to nine small communities to help them improve local air service, including Hailey, which will receive $500,000.
The grants are provided through the Small Community Air Service Development Program, which began in 2002 to help small communities address the economic challenges of maintaining local air service. Other towns that will receive grants this year are: Bullhead City, Ariz. ($750,000); Inyokern, Calif. ($450,000); Stockton, Calif. ($650,000); Billings, Mont. ($750,000); Missoula, Mont. ($600,000); Santa Fe, N.M. ($500,000); Amarillo, Texas ($750,000); and Port Angeles, Wash. ($200,000).
“Robust, dependable air service plays an important role in every community’s ability to connect to national and global economies,” Foxx said. These grants make a “lasting impact, and I know these communities will be our next set of success stories.”
Competitive applications demonstrate community and air carrier support, along with investment from other sources such as public-private partnerships. This year’s awardees met all of those criteria, committing more than $3 million in local financial resources in addition to other in-kind contributions.
Since the program’s inception, SCASDP awards have helped almost 400 communities develop aviation projects tailored to local needs.
The complete community proposals and the department’s final order are available at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2016-0037.