2019 brought tragedy and triumph to the Valley
By Eric Valentine
Editor’s Note: Technically, 2020 is not a new decade, it’s the final year of the last one. But if you didn’t know that on New Year’s Eve and you partied like it was the end of an era, that’s OK, too. It feels like a new set of 10 years is upon us now. After all, who among us isn’t going to say that anything that happens from this day forward is something that happened in the ’20s?
Nonetheless, a decade-in-review is a bit cumbersome for a newspaper article. So The Weekly Sun will stick to recapping the highlights—some bright, some not—of just the last 365 days, Valley-wise.
January
Caring About Carey—The little city to the south celebrated a big milestone in 2019, its 100th birthday . Population 615, the town is more akin to a family than to a municipality. But that didn’t stop Mayor Randy Patterson from spearheading zoning changes that downsized Carey’s nine zoning districts to four.
“Shrinking the zoning districts will make it so people can do more with their property with less restrictions,” Patterson explained then.
February
Fritz Calls It Quits—Hailey Mayor Fritz Haemmerle announced he’d be stepping down from his role and not seek re-election. The two-term mayor accomplished much in his eight years in office and, looking back, two of his fondest feats were getting Christmas lights on Main Street and preserving nearly 1,300 acres of the Quigley Farm development.
March
Police-Fire Merger Extinguished—It looked so promising. The decades-long attempt at merging the Ketchum and Sun Valley fire and police departments seemed imminent. But with a 4–0 vote, Ketchum’s city council doused the flames of that hope, ultimately leading to Ketchum’s rural fire department partnering with Sun Valley’s first responders instead.
April
Sheriff Busted—Lincoln County Sheriff and former Bellevue Marshal’s Deputy Rene Rodriguez was charged with seven felony counts, including rape of a child under 16. He was later found guilty. His sentencing takes place March 20.
May
Underground Power—Blaine County commissioners made environmental and scenic-view protection folks happy in May when they said Idaho Power must bury its backup utility line underground along Highway 75. That represented a $35 million cost the power supplier said it doesn’t have to cover. And that means voters will likely have to decide in 2020 whether to fund it.
June
Parents Revolt—Disgruntled parents, teachers and other Valley residents gathered en masse at Mountain Humane in front of state and county officials to state their case for the removal of Blaine County School District Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes. While it didn’t result in any firings, the effort did shake up the district a bit. By November, due to a combination of retirements, resignation and election, three of the five trustees taking seats on the school board in January are new.
Death On Hwy. 75—A lovely Memorial Day weekend was followed by tragedy in the Valley when Sun Valley residents Peter and Sally Jarvis collided with Piper Reed of Ketchum head-on, killing all three of them as well as Reed’s golden retriever dog.
July
The Elephant In The Room—Sun Valley Lodge got paid an unwelcome visit during its annual Allen & Company week-long meetup. The visitor was a representative of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), dressed like an elephant and carrying a sign asking Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to stop censoring hard-to-watch animal cruelty videos the group posts. JJ the elephant was given a trespassing warning.
August
Drunk Driver Kills 3 Girls —Unimaginable tragedy struck a Mountain Home family when three young girls—ages 6, 5 and 3—were all killed when a Fairfield man who was allegedly driving drunk failed to stop at a temporary traffic signal and rear-ended the vehicle the family was riding in.
September
Climate Change—The international effort to bring awareness to climate change reached Hailey’s streets Sept. 20, demanding that local leaders do their part to make this part of the planet healthier. Roughly 350 people marched down Main Street, peacefully but noisily, ending up at the Blaine County Courthouse.
October
Hailing Hailey History —The townsfolk made sure a piece of Valley history would not get paved in order to put up a parking lot. Residents pushed hard to make sure city officials found some other way for The Village at Hailey Center to get its required parking spaces, rather than to do it by demolishing the 1930’s-era U.S. Forest Service buildings between River Street and Main Street. The city and developer ultimately reached an agreement preventing the removal of the building (Wood River Sustainability Center) until July, giving time for the city and potentially other entities to find the structure a new place to call home.
November
Ketchum Gets A Fire Station—Voter turnout was apathetically low, but change was high-impact for the Nov. 5 elections. Results saw Hailey get a new city council as two “boomer” incumbents lost to their “millennial” challengers. Meanwhile, a bond to develop a new fire station for Ketchum was approved by voters.
December
Skiing Fatality—Opening weekend at Sun Valley turned tragic for one visitor and his family. Sadly, a 65-year-old Boise man collided head-on with a snowblower after reportedly clipping skis with another skier. The Blaine County Coroner’s Office has yet to report any official findings, but the victim apparently died from neck injuries, people close to the accident reported.
Mountain Lion Mayhem—Two mountain lions caused panic and pain to dog owners in the north Hailey and south Ketchum parts of the Valley in December. Five mountain lion-on-dog attacks had been reported across the span of one week. Three dogs were killed. The Department of Fish & Game killed one cougar that was found under the deck of a home nearby one of the attacks, but just a few days later the fifth attack occurred.