For the week of  October 17 - 23, 2001

Pumpkins and goblins

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Glorious orange pumpkins and scary goblins are hallmarks of Halloween. They’re also appropriate symbols with which to acknowledge the good, bad and the ugly in the valley recently.

Goblins: For the city of Sun Valley, which couldn’t say no to hillside building and hasn’t done the work necessary to come up with a vision for its remaining large tracts of open space.

Now it’s facing two proposed developments—Crown Ranch Phase IV and Triumph Springs—without solid hillside regulations to back it up. The standing-room-only hand wringing alone should finally convince the city council it needs to get a grip on hillsides—before they’re all bulldozed.

Pumpkins: For Sun Valley Company’s new 20-20 discount ski pass. For years, the company bucked the discount trend and left locals grumbling about paying full day rates for a couple of hours of morning skiing—no matter the season. The arithmetic tells it—less than $15 a day for 40 days—this is a real deal. If this doesn’t end the grumping and get people off the couch, nothing will.

Goblins: To Blaine County Commissioners Mary Ann Mix and Dennis Wright for hearing a proposal from a nursing home management company during a private lunch. Secret meetings give government a bad name and leaves a sour taste with the public—not to mention being illegal. Residents deserve to know about everything and anything that affects public facilities, particularly one as imperiled as the nursing home.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.