Looking Back at Pages from the Past

2011

District Judge Mitch Brown gave oaths of office to Caribou County’s elected officials on Monday.  Receiving their oaths were Commissioner Lloyd Rasmussen, Commissioner Earl Somsen, Clerk Veda Mascarenas, Treasurer Diane Crawford, Assessor Aaron Cook, and Coroner Duayne Sims.

​The annual Soda Springs Winter Carnival will be this Saturday, Jan. 15, and several new items have been added to the old favorites for the day.  Soda on Ice is promoting a disc golf tournament with benefits to go to the local Food Bank.  The Ice Bowl is a first for the winter carnival.  The Ice Bowl will be held at Kelly Park, which has an 18-hole course.   Other events for the winter carnival include the popular fishing derby, a snowmachine fun run, and free movies, lunch, and gifts for the kids.

 The public is invited to attend the formal dedication and then tour the new 2000 square foot Surgery Department at Caribou Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, announced CEO John Hoopes.  This will be the only time the public can see all of the various rooms including the state-of-the-art operating room, without being a patient.  After the open house, the entire department will be thoroughly sanitized and made ready for patient use.

Idaho ranks fourth national in percentage of population growth—21.2 percent—from April 2000 to April 2010 Census data.  Idaho’s population increased 273,629 from the 2000 census to a new total of 1,567,582, ranking 40th in the nation in overall population.  Idaho’s neighbor to the south, Nevada, added the most people as a percentage with a population of 2.7 million.  California ranked most populated at 37,253,956, a growth of 10 percent.

 On Wednesday, Dec. 29, the North Gem/Grace wrestling team traveled to Firth High School to a 12-team tournament.  The following kids wrestled at their respective weight classes.     Jace Jense 103, Luke Brogan 103, Trey Reed 112, Ben Smith 125, Caleb Williams 125, Justin Williams 130, Brandon Matthews 135, Westyn Thompson 140, Dan McGreggor 145, Anson Christense 152, Jake Brogan 152, Camron Hunting 160, Spenser Peck 171, and Nate Gonzalez 189.  Caleb, Justin, and Spenser won all of their matches to place 1st.  Westyn and Trey came in 4th place, and the team ended up in 5th place.

Grace improved their record to 7-3 overall and jumped out to a 5-0 conference lead with two league games last week.  On Thursday, the Grizzlies defeated Raft River 67-43.  Grace’s leading scorer was Chase Ackerman with 16 points.  Jordan Brady had 13, and Josh Jensen ended with 11.  At Hansen on Saturday, Ackerman came up with 14 points to help lead the Grizzlies to another conference win over the Huskies 68-37.

 Jerry Shurtleff and Darryl Jumburg, owners of the Dog House Bar and Grill, recently announced the winners of the Big Buck contest.  First place was Clay Hall 65 ½ points, 2nd place was Danny Rasmussen 62 ½, and 3rd place was Babe Myers 58 ¾.

2001

Approximately 300 Idaho Army National Guardsmen and women will serve in Bosnia over the next two years, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne announced.  The 1st Battalion, 183rd Aviation from Boise will send approximately 200 soldiers and 16 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to Bosnia beginning September, 2001.  The 116th Cavalry Brigade, headquartered at Gowen Field, will deploy around 100 soldiers in March, 2002, returning in October of the same year.  “All Idahoans can be proud of the accomplishments of the Idaho Army National Guard, whose members have proven their capabilities in both domestic and international theaters, “ Kempthorne said.

Several residents have been sworn in for city positions at the last couple of Soda Springs City Council meetings.  New volunteers include Penny Stills, P&Z, Doug Hogan, P&Z, Matt Batterton, youth representative on P&Z, Aleana Shea, youth representative on the Greater Soda Springs Community Development Committee, and Maren Smith, youth representative on the Library.

 Camille Jensen representing Farm Credit of Preston met with Grace American Legion Post 50 Memorial Fund Committee last week to present a check in the amount of $1,000 for the Legion’s Memorial Fund.  Committee members receiving the check included Chairman Junior Rasmussen, Ken Roberts, Jack Hubbard, Kent Corbett, Dar Weaver, and Roy Lloyd representing the Grace Cemetery Board.  The fund was established last year to provide funds to purchase a monument in remembrance of veterans from the Grace area who lost their lives serving in WWII.

At the Soda Springs School Board meeting held on Dec. 13 Trustee Charman Jim Smith presented Brad Torgesen with the gavel and sounding block in appreciation for this six years of service and dedication to the Soda Springs Jt. School District #150.  Brad was elected in May of 1994 and served two terms as trustee for Zone 4.  He also served as chairman of the board during the last two years of his tenure, before choosing not to seek re-election.  No one ran for the vacated trustee slot and the board appointed Linda Lee to fill the term for one year until the next election.

 Thirkill Elementary 2nd grade report: “Our class is the best.  We’ve been learning about bones.  We read about the skeleton.  We like to play football at recess.  We like Soda Springs and school.  We have been learning math.  We are adding two digit numbers.  We have been trying to make our AR goals for this quarter.  We like Christmas vacation.  Santa came to visit everyone.  We like show and tell.  We showed our Christmas gifts.”

 Alena Shea and Toni Jessica Stills were selected as state finalists in the Miss Teen Idaho National Scholarship Pageant, which rewards young ladies scholarships for their efforts in academic achievement, leadership ability, communication skills, poise and personality, and interview.  Alena is the daughter of Ed and Sandra Shea and Toni Jessica Stills is the daughter of Tony and Penny Stills.  Both are students at SSHS.

Mr. and Mrs. Lonnie Brown of Soda Springs are proud grandparents of the first New Year’s baby born in early Monday, Jan 1 at the Bannock Regional Medical Center in Pocatello to Rob and Alyson Brown of Arimo.  The New Years Baby, Lyndsi Ann Brown, was born at 6:44 a.m., weighing in at eight pounds two ounces.  Lyndsi has a 16-month old sister, Katelyn.

Increased penalties for drivers under the age of 17 and changes to identification cards and drivers licenses will go into effect on Jan 1, the Idaho Transportation Department announced.  As part of the new Graduated Drivers License program, also effective Jan 1, tougher penalties imposed on drivers under the age of 17 who were cited and convicted of moving traffic violations. Penalties include first a warning citation, followed by a thirty day suspension, and then a sixty day suspension.

1991

Bobie Leigh Dickman was Caribou Memorial Hospital’s New Year baby, born at 10:05 a.m. on Jan 4.  She weighed 7 lbs 3 ozs, and is the daughter of Brenda (Bennion) and Bob Dickman of Pocatello.  Brenda is a former resident of Soda Springs and her new daughter is her third child.  Mother and baby are doing fine.

A new fence, built by Union Pacific Railroad from Main Street to Third East in Soda Springs, has been cut to allow someone to go over it and cross the tracks.  UP put the fence up to stop kids from cutting across them for obvious safety reasons.  One resident reported seeing three young boys go over the cut in the fence and then two crawled under a stopped train and one went over the coupler between cars.  Parents are urged to tell their children of the dangers of railroad tracks and trains and have them use the overpass or Main Street crossing.

1971

Poor visibility contributed to an accident five miles west of Seda Springs Sunday near Davisville.  A tractor trailer edged too close to the right side of the road in a bad ground blizzard and careened over.  The load was transferred to another trailer Monday and the outfit was righted by a larger wrecker from Pocatello Monday night.  A total of 37 trucks were parked near the Trail Café Monday noon, waiting for the highway crews to open Highway 30N between Alexander and Bancroft.  The trucks started piling up Monday morning and waited until about 2:30 p.m., when the road west was opened.  The highway was also closed briefly Sunday, but was open to let traffic though about noon Sunday.  It closed again Sunday night.

The Idaho Café building, an area landmark in Soda Springs, was heavily damaged Sunday night, when fire broke out in the hood, or grease vent over the range.  The fire was brought under control by the Soda Springs Fire Department by 1:30 a.m.  The temperature was about 20 degrees below zero at the time of the fire, and the firemen worked under severe handicap, with clothes encased with ice from head to foot.  Much of the damage was done to the kitchen by fire.  Water and smoke contributed to the damage in the upper part of the building.

The North Gem Cowboys put together their finest effort of the season Friday, downing Clark County 56-25 in a non-conference basketball game at Dubois.  The win upped the Cowboys season record to 3-6.  The Cowboys shot 43 percent from the field and outrebounded the home team 40-29.  Scoring was Yost 12, Simons 9, Butterfield 18, Smith 2, Schenk 13, and Christensen 2.

 Snowfall through the entire state of Idaho has been well above normal for 1971, according to the snow survey report issued today by the Soil Conservation Services, National Weather Service, and the Department of Water Administration.  The water supply outlook for 1971 looks excellent, and every reservoir in the Soda River Basin is above the 1953-1967 average.  Snow measurements to start the 1970-71 season were reported at 36.9 inches, six inches above the average.  At China Hat, the 11.1 inches represented a depth one inch below the average.  

Plans are nearly complete for the third annual running of the Soda Springs 100-mile cross country snowmobile race, which will be run Jan 16.  The exact route has not been finalized, but plans were being made so that the public can see the start and finish of the race,  The race has been divided into classes, according to the power ratings of the machines.  There will be five classes for the three man teams and an individual class, making six total.  The 100 mile race will be run on Saturday and on Sunday, a WSA sanctioned Class A Rally.  Special races will be held at the specially built speed track, 3. Miles north of Henry on Highway 34.  The race and rally events are sponsored by the Soda Springs Sno-Drifters Club.

1961

Cutter Racers of the Rocky Mountain Cutter Racing Association will stage another series of race Saturday at the Grace airport.  Earl Torgesen defeated Merrill Lloyd.  Vester Olsen won from Rao Sorenson.  Percy Sant won from Hy McLain, Keith Barthlome defeated Guy Maughan.  Milt Bowman over Owen Jacobson.  Floyd Soresen won from Ted Beus.  Joe Federico won from Bruce Tanner.  Udell Cahmpney defeated Seth Gregory.  The flat race was won by Keith Barthlome.

 Figures obtained from a physical county of the Duyn and Bradstreet Reference Book for January 1961, totaled 104 manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers in the area as compared to 108 two years ago.  Using the book as a guide, the past three years of figures for Grace, Soda, and Bancroft show that had 13 in 1959, 16 in 1960, and 15 in 1961.  Grace had 30 in 1959, 31 in 1960, and 25 in 1961.  Soda had 61 in 1959, 59 in 1960, and 57 in 1961.

The hot shooting of three Grace Red Devils led to the fifth victory of the season over North Cache High School 50-37 at Richmond, Utah.  Lee Johnson, LaPhene Peterson, and Lynn Winterbottom were all instrumental to the amazing victory.