Looking Back at Pages from the Past
The following stories are summarized from past issues of the Caribou County Sun over the last fifty plus years. The Enterprise thanks Mark Steele for permission to use the contents, and the Grace Public Library for access to the archives.
2021
Caribou County Distinguished Young Women held their annual program last Saturday night. Supporters enjoyed watching 11 wonderful young women from the county showcase their physical fitness, talent, poise, and public speaking skills. Emcees for the evening were Dr. Matt Kunz and the 2020 Distinguished Young Woman Maniah Clegg.
Preliminary award winners were:
Be Your Best Self Award—this award was chosen by the committee. The recipients of this award were given a $500 scholarship, and they were Britton Lloyd, Suzannah Lower, and Taylor Rindlisbaker.
Spirit of Distinguished Young Women—this award was selected by the participants. The recipients of this award were given a $400 scholarship. The awards went to Alea Wood and Lana Burrell.
Fitness Award—the fitness portion comprised 15 percent of the overall score. The recipients received a $500 scholarship, and they were Lana Burrell and Jillian Smith.
Self-Expression Award—this category comprised 15 percent of the overall score. The recipients received a $500 scholarship, which went to Jillian Smith and Britton Lloyd.
Talent Award—20 percent of the score. $500 scholarship to Alea Wood and Jillian Smith.
Scholastic Achievement Award—25 percent of the score, and a $700 scholarship went to Britton Lloyd and Lana Burrell.
The 3rd runner up was Sara Anderson, who received an $800 scholarship.
2nd runner up was Jillian Smith, who received a $900 scholarship.
The 1st runner up was Britton Lloyd, who received a $1,100 scholarship.
The DYW title went to Miss Lana Burrell. She received a $1,500 scholarship and will have the chance to represent Caribou County in the state DYW program held in Idaho Galls in October. DYW Chairperson Myra Leatherman thanked the Lions Club for their support, as well as committee members, parents, crewmembers, and the community
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Over 120 Caribou County residents gathered on Saturday for the inaugural training and kick-off dinner of the Caribou Highlanders, a group formed to serve as both a civilian corps to assist with emergency preparedness, and to help as a community watch in support of the Caribou County Sheriff’s Office. As a part of the activities, Cindy Patterson provided the Caribou Highlanders with a training session on the nutritional benefits and proper techniques for converting seeds to sprouts, featuring sprouts ranging from peas and wheat to alfalfa.
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Taking a bath to relieve stress isn’t unique to humans. Bears do it too, and although they appear to enjoy taking a dip, it likely functions to help them cool down.
A recent study led by University of Idaho graduate student Savannah Rogers and Associate Professor of Wildlife Sciences Ryan Long shows that grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park take “baths” in cool water to help prevent overheating.
Because the body temperature of mammals rises during lactation, bath-taking by female grizzly bears in the park may help facilitate increased milk production and ensure offspring survival.
In a paper published in Functional Ecology, a journal of the British Ecological Society, a collaborative team of researchers from the U of I, Washington State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and US. Geological Survey studied how the risk of heat stress was influenced by activity and milk production in grizzly bears. The team also evaluated the importance of bear behaviors such as submerging in cool water for alleviating the heat stress.
“We found that the activity level of lactating female grizzly bears was much more limited by hear than the activity of non-lactating females, and that this disparity increased in a warmer climates scenario,” Long said.
Using computer models, the researchers sought to predict the potential effect of climate on female grizzles with versus without cubs.
“We found the use of ‘bathtubs’ by female bears to cool could help them overcome constraints on activity and milk production imposed by heat, even in a warmer climate,” Rogers said.
The ‘bathtubs’ include natural depressions containing water that are deeper than the wallows commonly used by ungulates such as elk and allow bears to fully submerge.
Researchers learned that although heat was not the most important factor influencing the distribution of bears across the Yellowstone landscape – elevation and distance to roads were most important – it had greater effect on the behavior of lactating than non-lactating females, and access to pools of cool water was an important mechanism for relieving heat stress.
“Our research suggests that as the climate warms, grizzly bears can avoid heat stress through behaviors such as ‘bath-taking’ and thus access to cool water will likely become increasingly important,” Long said.
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Southeastern Idaho Public Health is announcing the presence of the United Kingdom Coronavirus variant in its jurisdiction. This variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the virus that causes COVID-19. This variant has been identified previously in other areas of the state.
With the emergence of this variant in Southeast Idaho, it is imperative, now more than ever, to follow public health recommendations to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. These recommendations include: keeping you hands clean and avoiding touching your face unnecessarily, staying home when seek, maintaining space between self and others not of same household, etc.
1991
It was Grace Elementary School’s turn to prepare the Spring Carnival since last year Thatcher Elementary hosted the Halloween Carnival.
The Carnival was held Friday. There was a fair crowd of youngsters present to enjoy the offerings of this fun time. The school cooks prepared the food for sale to those who wished.
Dispensing the food was Carla Dawn Peck, Janet Alder, Keith Bitton, and Leslie Barber. Clowns to entertain were Greg Lowe riding his unicycle, Charlotte Skinner, and Maili Murdoch. Name that tune and cake walk were handled by Mike and Jana Hansen with Vivian Mendenhall taking tickets.
Face painting was done by Peggy Gibson, Judy Bitton, Libbie Hubbard, Kay Sorensen, and Mary Beckstead. Balloon dart throw was managed by Neta Thomas, Cheri Christensen, and Natalie Smith. The sucker tree was supervised by Jodie Smith and Kelly Peterson. The 6th graders were in charge of the sponge throw which was under the direction of Ilene Allen with Jerry Bean and Shena Christensen helping as decoys.
A movie room was directed by Sonjia Scheiss and Ken Scheiss. Selling popcorn were Claudia Cook and Jeanett Sorensen. Other clowns were Vania Smith and Sherill Hebden.
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A large crowd of family and friends met at the Legion Hut on Saturday and enjoyed an 86th birthday party honoring Harris Mickelson, hosted by his children and spouses. Many came and enjoyed visiting and refreshments.
Warren and Toots Henderson were dinner guests on Sunday of Ray and Carol Allen family in Soda Springs. Others present were Kevin and Pam Allen and family from Raft River, Kip and Daphne Allen and family and Adele Farnworth.
Two babies were born last week to Bancroft area residents. Mel and Lisa Hall have another son, born Thursday, March 21, in Pocatello, weighing in at eight pounds 12 ounces. The family stayed with Lisa and Mel’s parents in Pocatello and McCammon, until Monday afternoon, when they and the brand new Mitchell Robert returned home to Bancroft. Todd and Julie Holbrook also have a new baby, another daughter born on Friday, March 22, in Soda Springs, weighing seven pounds ten ounces. She will be named Chynna Lee. Her sisters greeting her at home are Chelcey and Sherida. Julie’s mother and sister, Becky Jorgenson, have been visiting them and assisting in the care of the children.
1976
Utah power and Light Co today reminded parents of important safety rules to be followed when their children send their kites skyward.
UP&L superintendent for Preston Division, R.M. (Bob) Whitehead urged parents to be sure their youngsters observe these safety rules before flying kites:
-Always fly kites in plenty of open space and never fly kites near electric wore and poles.
-Always use dry string, not wire or anything metallic.
-Always fly kites on days when there is no rain. Water is one of the best conductors of electricity.
-Always avoid streets and highways while flying kites
-Always fly kites far away from television and radio aerials.
-Should a kite become entangled in electrical power lines, leave it there. Do not touch the string of in any manner attempt to get it down. Report any kites entangled in power lines to your nearest power company office.
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The Sun shared a report from the Idaho Statesman in which Don Shaff wrote “Revegetating areas scarred by phosphate mining in Southeast Idaho is difficult because ‘the terrain is against us,’ a Monsanto Co. official said Monday.
Gordon A. Aland, mining superintendent for the phosphate company, told members of the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon that there is ‘very little soils development’ in the mountainous areas north and east of Soda Springs, the ‘heart’ of phosphate resources in the West.
He said company officials are working with the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM to find what plants will grow best on the mined areas and what factors will encourage faster and better revegetation.
Part of the effort involves finding what type of vegetation - whether native or exotic – the federal land managers want on a particular site. “We’re caught in the middle,” Aland said. In one case, a manager may want plants for browsing animals, such as deer, he explained, while another may want grazing-type plants for cattle and elk.
Since 1964, the company’s experimental program in cooperation with the Forest Service has met with ‘various success, but mostly without,’ Aland said.
Plants such as silver pea, box elder, Russian olive, buck brush, black locust, brome, crested wheat grass and alfalfa have been planted.
The crown vetch, an eastern species, has met with ‘limited success,’ Aland said, but the grass did not spread as officials had hoped after it took root. Ranger alfalfa, he said, ‘turned out to be our bread and butter’ as officials are happy with its results.
‘Deer are a problem,’ Aland said. Deer and rabbits will feed on the new seedlings, retarding the growth the plants would have, he said.
The company, which has a processing plant just north of Soda Springs, has begun efforts to reduce the ‘visual impact’ of mined areas. Aland said the company has started contouring the ‘dumps’ to conform with the original site.
‘Harsh environmental materials,’ such as rocks, are placed in the center of the dump, he explained, and ‘soil-like material’ that will support plant growth is placed on the face and planted the following year.
The mining official said it would not be practical or economical to backfill the large V-shaped pits since other seams of phosphate or, not now easily extractable would be buried again. ‘If you backfill,’ he said, ‘you have nothing to pay for the ore that is there.’
The 120,000 acres ‘you’ve been hearing about,’ Aland said, are the areas for which various companies have filed ‘prospecting permits.’ None of these have been approved nor will they be acted upon until the environmental impact statement has been completed. Aland said, ‘many of the permits will be denied.’
There are 83 permits filed for existing federal leases with 11 more applications on file. These leases are on sites previously mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey and are through to have a valuable deposit of phosphate ore. The prospecting permits are for lands with marginal or uneconomic deposits.
Aland said some of the current reserves will last into the first part of the next century, while others will last for shorter periods – around 10 to 15 years. He said he could not speak for other companies, since the reserve deposits are ‘classified,’ but Monsanto has current reserves for 8 to 12 years.
Elemental phosphate such as the Soda Springs plant produces is used in soft drinks, medicines, cosmetics and cheese, as well as fertilizer.
The use of fertilizer has declined recently, as has the price. Aland said the industry economists predict a three cent growth in the market with 10 to 12 million tons being produced in Southeast Idaho by the year 2000. This is contrary, he said, to the 20 million tons some people are saying.
Aland said there probably be a ‘falling off’ in the fertilizer market, though he admitted he is not an expert in the area and was only guessing, This will cause demand for phosphate to remain low, he said, and is the reason the market is soft now.
There has been concern that the long, high headwalls created by mining operations would block migration of big-game animals that winter in Soda Springs area east of mountains.
