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For the week of Apr. 12 through Apr. 18, 2000

20 Years Ago:

news from March/April 1980 issues of the
Idaho Mountain Express


Pete Lane dies

Pete Lane, a lifelong Wood River Valley resident and one of the ski industry’s most respected figures, died of a heart attack March 15, 1980.

Lane, who devised the concept of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, died on his 60th birthday during the spring ski industry trade show at Las Vegas, Nev.

He was one of the strongest links between Ketchum’s early days as the nation’s sheep capital and its present-day status as a world-renowned ski area.

Pete Lane was born John Crandall Lane on March 15, 1920 to Adeline and Jack Lane. The elder Lanes were part of the massive sheep industry which supported the Wood River Valley during the early 1900s.

Jack Lane’s store, located at the central intersection of Ketchum’s Main Street (the current Starbucks location), was the social and economic headquarters of the area.

When Austrian Count Felix Schaffgotsch came to Ketchum—looking for the perfect ski area for Union Pacific chairman Averell Harriman—Jack is reputed to have warned his neighbors to help the Austrian, but not to cash any of his checks.

Pete Lane grew up in that store, attending grade school in Ketchum and high school in Twin Falls, where his parents spent part of their winters. He studied at the University of Idaho and eventually graduated from UCLA in 1941. Two years later Pete earned his masters from the Harvard School of Business Administration in 1943, then went overseas during World War II for a stint with the Army Quartermaster Corps.

After the war, Pete came home to Ketchum and took over operation of the ski shop that his father had opened to serve the fledgling ski tourist industry in Sun Valley in 1937.

Working with designers and manufacturers, Pete was instrumental in bringing about many improvements in ski boots, skis and ski apparel. The store on the Sun Valley Mall that bears his name, called Pete Lane’s, became one of the best known and most respected in the industry.

Pete’s skills with a stopwatch as a timer for Sun Valley Ski Club races led to a position in the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, where he provided hand-timing that closely matched the results of the electrical timers coming into use.

While working as a race organizer, Pete devised the idea of the SVSEF, the non-profit educational endeavor which provides funding for the junior ski racing programs in Blaine County.

He left active race work only after suffering severe frostbite to his hands during one of the races on Baldy—a condition which plagued him afterwards whenever the temperatures dropped below freezing.


Bike path plans

Prompted by increasing public demand, rising fuel costs and available funds, the Blaine County Recreation District is ready to build its long-awaited Ketchum-to-Hailey bicycle path.

Although the Rec District commission has mapped out a proposed path, Big Wood River crossings and some of the easements have yet to be determined.

Chairman Butch Harper said the Rec District would like to implement the entire bike path project in three phases. Rec District board member Bob Rosso outlined proposed routes for sections of the 11-mile path.

Harper said the path would be between six- and eight-feet wide, and cost between $18,000 and $20,000 per mile.


Sheriff candidates

There are three candidates for the position of Blaine County Sheriff.

Incumbent Orville Drexler announced he will run for his fifth term of office, as a Democrat. He’ll receive a challenge in the May primary from Democrat Ray Wheeler, who has served in both the Ketchum police department and county sheriff’s department.

Ketchum police chief Dennis Haynes has already announced he will run as a Republican.


Organized crime here?

Rep. Tom Stivers (R-Twin Falls) claimed that organized crime is moving into the Sun Valley area. He compared Sun Valley to Las Vegas 25 to 30 years ago when organized crime began to locate there.

Stivers made his comments while speaking on a bill which will establish a special magistrate court inquiry system in Idaho.

Elaborating, Stivers said that over the past two years, testimony by state law enforcement officials before legislative committees had indicated there is a drug pipeline into Sun Valley that begins in Mexico.

Asked if organized crime is moving into Sun Valley, Blaine County Prosecutor Keith Roark said the traditional environments for organized crime don’t exist here. Those environments commonly include numbers games and small business protection rackets, he said.

However, Roark speculated that a lot of money from illicit sources had been invested in the Sun Valley area real estate market. Real estate is a favored laundering device for that kind of money, Roark said. Pressures on the local real estate market may stem from this investment of illicit money, he added.


The building slowdown

The outlook is bleak for the Sun Valley area’s 1980 building season because of a severe slowdown in the construction industry.

A money crunch in financial markets and high interest rates are responsible. Interest rates are up to 16%, according to Tom Monge of Fort Worth Mortgage Co., and builders must hand over about five percentage points right off the top just to get a loan.

Idaho Homebuilders Association president Chuck Grubb of Hailey said the Sun Valley area will fare better than other parts of the Gem State. The Weyyakin, Bluff and Sagehill projects, plus a number of custom homes, will keep people going, Grubb predicted. Builders are resourceful people, he added. "They’re used to the roller coaster," he said.

Out-of-town subcontractors are already coming to Sun Valley in hopes they’ll find work here, said Anderson Lumber manager Rick Davis. He predicted these newcomers would give the locals some stiff competition this summer.


Bellevue election results

A surprise write-in campaign in Bellevue gave Claude Ballard the mayor’s seat.

Bellevue Elementary School principal Ballard breezed ahead of two opponents with 73 votes. Candidates Richard Drake and Cliff Noxon split the remaining votes almost evenly, with 33 and 30 votes.

"I really wasn’t interested in it, to tell you the truth," said Ballard, who was Bellevue mayor for a year in 1970. However, friends convinced Ballard that pressing city issues like growth and a city sewer system demanded that he run. So, he finally agreed to a write-in campaign.

In the race for three alderman seats, incumbent Glenn Stelma swept the field with 108 votes, the largest vote tallied for any candidate.

Jim Burk, who gave up the mayor’s post to run for alderman, captured his seat with 74 votes.

The winner of the third alderman seat was decided by a coin flip.

Since incumbents Betty Vert and George McKay tied in the final count with 68 votes, they flipped a coin to determine the winner. Vert called "tails," and tails it was.

Unsuccessful alderman candidates were Patrick Sigglin with 49 votes and John Umek with 38.


Override amount revealed

Admitting that the school district can only look forward to lurching from crisis to crisis trying to hold together a minimum education system, the Blaine County School Board voted to ask patrons for a $650,000 override.

The extra funds would allow a 10.2% increase over last year’s school budget—a budget that included a $400,000 override.

School superintendent Dick Jones said that, without the override, the district would lose all athletic and extracurricular programs. The teaching staff would be cut by eight. All but two elementary library aides would be cut. School supplies would be cut from $62,000 to $26,000, and the budget for new textbooks would be reduced from $35,000 to $5,000.

Jones explained that there was no padding in the proposed $3.1 million budget. Increased revenues are needed to cover, among other items, an estimated 27% increase in utility costs. Rising oil prices will add $30,000 to the current fuel budget of $65,000, Jones said.


 

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