Looking Back at pages from the past
5 years ago, 2019
During a regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, the question of the county’s responsibility to Second Bridge road and other roads used to access ice fishing areas. Road and Bridge Supervisor Kim Spencer reported that the county tried to keep such roads, as well as related parking areas clear out of courtesy to sportsman and snowmobilers, but that the roads were not necessarily priorities if other roads were in need of snow removal.
The Caribou Historical Society building on Hooper Avenue was approved for tax exemption by the Equalization Board. County Assessor Aron Cook explained the “circuit breaker” program for elderly and disabled residents which provides a substantially lowered rate on property taxes and landfill fees.
Lisa Barfuss reported that the Extension Office had worked with 213 members of the 4-H program over the previous year. It was felt that the implementation of a new rule regarding helmets for some horse events had affected enrollment. Extension Educator Justin Hatch discussed upcoming classes on farm management, gardening, pasture management, and grain.
Senator Mark Harris, of legislative district 32 at the time, remarked on the passing of HB11, which defines fentanyl and its derivatives for the first time to Idaho’s Controlled Substance Act, which allows it to be pursued under criminal statutes for situations of possession, use, and intent to distribute.
Idaho Fish and Game reported on several incidents involving mountain lions in the area. In one case, a juvenile mountain lion was shot during an attack on a Mackay resident’s pet dog. The animal was taken by Fish and Game officials for testing to determine whether disease was a factor in the attack. In other incidents, pet dogs in Ketchum and Belleview were reportedly killed by mountain lions as well. A partially blind female mountain lion was dispatched by police walking through downtown Lava Hot Springs. Wintering deer are the largest draws for mountain lions, and those living near large deer herds are encouraged to be vigilant, and leav pets indoors overnight.
10 years ago, 2014
Caribou County reported that it had issued nearly $3 million in building permits during the 2013 year. Permits were issued for 11 homes, 5 agricultural exemptions, 7 home additions, 8 accessory buildings, 1 office building, 1 conditional use permit, 1 variance, and 2 mobile home moving permit. Fees collected on the roughly $3 million in construction work totaled $30,548.
A discussion about how to recover funds from bad checks written to the landfill was held. It was suggested that the landfill utilize a collection agency.
It was also agreed that Bryant Smith should crush the concrete and the landfill for $20,000. The county will also pay fuel costs for the crusher.
Data was released by the U.S. Health and Welfare Department concluding that Idaho had the second highest number of enrollees for health insurance on the exchange program, just behind Vermont. At the beginning of 2014, 59,353 Idahoans had successfully enrolled in a Your Health Idaho plan. A plurality of those enrolled (26%) were between 19 and 34 years old.
The Soda Springs Library held a class on eBook usage and skills. Patrons were encouraged to bring their own devices to the class in order to receive direct instructions on the successful use of eBook materials.
The North Gem Cowboys qualified for a first round bye in the district tournament after defeating Mackay 48-32 to end the regular season.. The win gave the tem something of a breather before the start of play, and was also welcome in that Mackay had been the biggest challenge to the team over the season. After defeating the West Side Pirates 58-49 to nab home court advantage in the tournament, the Cardinals opened District tournament play against…the West Side Pirates. Hunter Belnap had 16 points in the win. Hunter Goodenough had 11, and Riley Yamauchi and Landry Schvanavedlt each had seven.
20 years ago, 2004
Distance Learning Classes in a number of subjects were scheduled to be offered by Idaho State University’s SEI outreach program. The classes, which are hosted throughout the region in school facilities, allow students to remotely attend classes for college credit at a reduced rate per credit. Many students find that hours spent commuting can be significant challenges in obtaining course credit for part time students with other commitments. The Distance Learning program allows both students with busy work schedules and high school students who want to work on early credit to make efficient use of the facilities.
Lincoln Day activities in Soda Springs consisted of a noon banquet at the Cedar View Supper Club. U.S. Senators Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne were scheduled to speak on the program, with Congressman Mike Crapo as the keynote speaker. Following Crapo’s speech, and remarks from Kempthorne and Craig, the public officials present will take questions from the audience.
The Idaho Heritage Trust funded over $60,000 for local preservation projects. Among the many recipients throughout the state was the city of Soda Springs, which received $3,000 toward the creation of Octagon Spring.
Grace and Soda Springs went head to head in the final regular season wrestling match of the winter. Reed Crandall of Grace defeated Drew Erickson of Soda Springs with a third rounf pin, while Nick Torres won with a 6-2 decision of Nathan Harmon. Both teams will head into district tournaments, with Soda hosting the 2A 5th District qualifier.
Williams Northwest Pipeline, Barnard Pipeline, and Greenworks, Inc received a landscaping award for restoration done after Northwest’s pipeline expansion through southest Idaho. The project made its way through rural areas, primarily, but also a soccer complex, two golf clubs in Pocatello, and the Oregon Trail Country Club in Soda Springs.
With two close but convincing wins, the Lady Cardinals defended their district championship and advanced to state. Their game against West Side was won in overtime, and the game against Butte County that punched their ticket to state was won by 7, in the final minutes of the game.
30 years ago, 1994
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved a change to the hunting and trapping season regulations whereby red fox hunting and trapping season was essentially opened yearlong throughout most of the state. Some areas of northern Idaho continued to restrict fox hunting altogether.
President Clinton responded to a letter from Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus about what the governor believed to be the unfair advantage of subsidized imports of Canadian barley. President Clinton stated that Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was currently working with the Canadian government to “resolve the issue in a way that achieved the best possible outcome for U.S. Interests.”
Soda Springs basketball came away with the crosstown win 68-58 after rebound-heavy affair. Low percentages on the free throw stripe and an inability to put it back up down low were blamed in Grace’s loss, after a strong first quarter. Both teams headed off to district tournaments afterward, with Soda a third seed, and Grace bearing a 0-8 league record.
Kari Brown Mindy Hubbard, Mazie Kukachka, Melissa Young, and Eric Hubbard are the Caribou County 4-H members who were selected to attend the 4-H Know Your Government Conference in Boise. The group will tour the Capitol and Supreme Court buildings, observe the legislature, and meet with district officials and judges. The tour will also have the group participate in a mock legislative session.
The Cardettes worked in conjunction with the Idan-ha Theater and Jeff and Shauna Bowen to bring the movie Jurassic Park back to town. One half of the ticket sales will go the the Cardettes for the purchase of new uniforms for their upcoming district competition. The movie will also mark the theater’s celebration of the new “ultra stereo” system.
Lunch for the Soda Springs district for the week included “Hoagie sack lunch or crispitos or hamburgers with tots or fires or oatmeal breakfast bar with eggs and cheese or saladbar, fruit and milk.”
The Bancroft Home Culture Club met at the home of Anna Schwartz for their January meeting. President Schwartz welcomed the special guest speaker, Dustin Schwartz. Schwartz is a fire prevention officer for Caribou County, and presented a program on the topic to the gathered group. Sherry Yost won a smoke detector, and Jill Schenk won a fire exstinguisher.
The Soda Springs Sport Club sponsored a family cross country skiing day to the 90-percent area. Chili and other refreshments were served. This was one of several outdoor events hosted throughout the winter by the Club.
In a letter to the editor, reader Justin Harris clarified that he could be distinguished from the other Justin Harris in Caribou County by a brief check of his middle name, which was reported to be Levi.
40 years ago, 1984
A flu outbreak across school districts was blamed for absenteeism rates of over 25%. It was reported that most of the students in Grace and Bancroft had missed school the week prior, and that over 70 kids had missed school in Soda Springs. The majority of students were also noted absent from Thirkill and Hooper elementaries. The possibility of temporarily closing the high school was raised.
13 year old Will Thurby, son of Mr. and Mrs. Denny Thurby, placed second in the 12-13 year old class in the state Elks’ basketball free throw contest, in Moscow, Idaho. District winners were named at a free throw contest held in January at Reed Gym in Pocatello. Thurby and his father flew to Lewiston from Pocatello, then drove to Moscow for the finals, after which Will received his state runner-up trophy.
Speaking of marathons, 24 local dancers participated in the annual “Dance for Heart” marathon at Grace Elementary School. Five are aerobic instructors led half-hour sessions with five minute breaks between. The instructors were Pam Shuler, Barbara Hull, Micci Aubrey, from Soda Springs, Janis Young from Niter, and JanaLe Fox from Thatcher.
Grizzly Coach Ray Yamauchi was selected as the coach of the Gold Squad for the District 5 All-Star team for its game held before the ISU vs. USU game in Pocatello. Grace Senior Rhonda Bredehoft was also selected to the All-Star team, and accompanied Yamauchi.
The Soda Springs Library discussed a number of new books, including William F. Buckley’s “The Story of Henri Tod,” Peter Capstick’s “Death in the Dark Continent,” and William Trevor’s “Fools of Fortune” among others.
The Grace Grizzlies boys team lost a nail-biter to Malad, coming in 72-74. Senior Craig Anderson scored 22 points to lead all scorers in the loss. Some complaints about the officiating were expressed, as Grace was called 29 times for fouls, compared with homecourt Malad’s 16 fouls.
Soda Springs wrestling coach Cleve Morgan was named in the top seven coaches in the country with his 235th team win. Tod Humphreys and Todd Stoor are among the 22 individual state champions Morgan has coached over his 27 years in the game. Morgan also received the Gary Comstock award from the state coaching associations for the second time.
50 years ago, 1974
A public meeting was scheduled with Senator Reed Budge to discuss the possibility of kindergarten school funding. The Idaho House shot down measures to support the creation of public kindergartens passed by the Senate over the previous three years. Idaho is one of the last states in the country to institute publicly funded kindergarten programs. Governor Cecil D. Andrus supported a measure to undergo a yearlong trial period of kindergarten. Several amendments were proposed to the kindergarten bills by Representative Vernon Ravenscroft (R-Tuttle), which would allow districts to discontinue any kindergarten programs at voter discretion, and reallocate the funds to other areas of the budget in districts with less than 400 daily student attendance averages.
The County Extension Office and Simplicity Pattern company sponsored a “Fashion Harmony” Show at the Soda Springs High School auditorium. Tips for mixing and matching tops and “sporty separates” as well as dresses and accessories were demonstrated. 4-H Clothing leaders were encourages to use the new fashion ideas presented.
The fourth grade 4-H Health Club was organized for Thatcher and Cleveland, and elected to call themselves the Healthy Hustlers. They also elected to make Theron Lynn Smith the President, and Sandra Carter the Vice President.
It was reported that the LDS Church was working to expand and broaden the scope of its Welfare programs within local communities. Additional services were being added to thospe provided by the church, and local people with professional backgrounds in medicine, law, nursing, accounting, baking, finance, and insurance were being sought to aid in providing some of these expanded outreach services.
Odas Brannon was still holding second place in the 20 game Marathon Bowling Tournament in Blackfoot, as of press time. He bowled sets of 622, 651, 800, 671, 657, and 804. Also competing were Vic Wood, Eric Christiansen, Darrell Smith, Lloyd Hemman and Dave Bowen.
70 years ago, 1954
According to the Grace Herald, Idaho State College’s production of “Brigadoon” would constitute the “biggest combined theatre effort ever undertaken” by the program. The same article holds that the production is the first Broadway musical to appear on any stage in Southeastern Idaho.
It was reported that the state highway department’s quarterly first place safety award was presented to District Highway Engineer C. A. Kelly. The award goes to the district with the highest safety record for vehicular and industrial accidents. Kelly is the director of District 1, which included at the time Bannock, Bingham, Bear Lake, Caribou, Oneida, Power, Franklin, and Butte counties. This was the first time in the award’s history it had been won by District 1.
It was reported that housewives could earn “around $25.00 a week” without leaving home if they were able to type and willing to spend a few hours at a keyboard each day. It was explained that many businesses were using this novel method to cut down on office expenses.
Members of the Literary Society entertained their husbands at a dinner in the school lunch room on Monday. President Mildred Creer welcomed the husbands and gave a short speech on the history of the club, then in its twenty-fifth year.
