Hailey to celebrate Memorial Day
Hailey will celebrate its 10th annual Memorial Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, at the Hailey Cemetery, at 511 East Maple St.
This year, the city will remember the Vietnam era, and the ceremony will be dedicated to Gary R. Boushele, one of four men born in Blaine County to have been killed in action during the Vietnam War.
The event will also feature a flyover by two P-51 Mustangs from the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. Brigadier Gen. (Ret.) Alan Gayhart will be the guest speaker and Idaho Supreme Court Justice Daniel Eismann will be an honored guest.
Members of the Mountain Home Air Force Base Honor Guard will provide the color guard, flag raisers, and firing party for the seventh year in a row.
The cemetery will be decorated from Friday, May 24, to Monday, May 27, with more than 400 American flags placed on every known veteran’s gravesite. The event is free and will take place rain or shine. Call 309-1959 for details.
Mayor’s son deploys to Afghanistan
Sun Valley Mayor Dewayne Briscoe’s son, 2nd Lt. Brandon Briscoe, is scheduled to ship out today, May 15, to Afghanistan to join the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army’s Third Infantry Division as a battalion engineer.
According to the mayor, “The complete orders and base are confidential,” but his son will soon meet with his brigade at an “undisclosed forward operating base” in Afghanistan.
Lt. Briscoe, a part-time Sun Valley resident, became on March 8 a “distinguished graduate” of a six-month Basic Officer Leader Course at the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Miss. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., in June 2012, where he majored in management science and political science and was also a scholarship Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadet.
National Geographic to feature resort
The National Geographic Channel will feature the Sun Valley area on an upcoming episode of its “Mountain Movers” series that will air on channel 75 on Cox cable on Thursday, May 16, at 9 p.m. Mountain Time.
The episode, titled “The Meltdown,” will be the second in the series, which demonstrates how Truckee, Calif.,-based Snow Park Technologies, a consulting company for special projects on snow, constructs world-class, high-intensity snow competition courses at resorts across the globe. The Sun Valley episode will feature the company working against Mother Nature and the clock to complete an early-season training course on Dollar Mountain for a group of Red Bull athletes.
In a letter to the editor printed in the Wednesday, Dec. 26, edition of the Idaho Mountain Express, Red Bull aerial awareness coach Matt Christensen said the training camp—which took place from December 1-10—was “very successful.”
Public can preview language texts
The Blaine County School District is inviting the public to preview proposed instructional materials for its world languages program at the Community Campus on Monday, May 20, through Thursday, May 23.
Textbooks and other materials for Spanish, French and Latin will be on display at a table near the front door of the Community Campus on Fox Acres Road in Hailey.
Hailey begins parks maintenance
The city of Hailey will begin fertilizer and herbicide applications for turf health in city parks this week.
The city’s parks policy does not prohibit the use of low-toxicity herbicides, but it does require a notification process for the use of all pesticides. Seventy-two hour notice is required for applications on public lands and rights of way. Signs will be placed where applications are to occur and applications are made in strict accordance to applicable laws and best management practices.
The city of Hailey will also begin herbicide applications for mitigation of noxious weeds in the city’s rights of way beginning the week of May 20. Signs will be placed where applications are to occur and applications are made in strict accordance to applicable laws and best management practices.
The technique used is commonly known as “spot spraying,” wherein specific plants are targeted; the city does not perform broadcast applications of herbicide.
Idaho wages at 84 percent of average
Estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Survey put the average hourly wage for all occupations statewide at $18.48, or 84 percent of the national average wage in 2012. In 2011, the Idaho average was 85.2 percent of the national average.
Idaho’s median wage, where half the workers make more and half make less, was $14.58 an hour in 2012, or 87.3 percent, down from 87.6 percent of the national median wage in 2011.
The Pocatello metropolitan area, which covers Bannock and Power counties, was the only metro area of the state’s five where the percentage of the national average and median wages increased.
Idaho’s statewide average wage fell from 44th in 2011 to 45th in 2012 among the states while the median wage remained at 42nd.
Recycling program expands
The Blaine County Recycle Center has expanded its e-waste recycling program, now allowing Blaine County residents to recycle more electronics than before.
The center, located on Ohio Gulch Road, now accepts DVD players and VCRs, fax machines, photocopiers, printers and scanners. The equipment should be placed in the proper bins to avoid contamination.
Hilex-Poly, a company that manufactures and recycles plastic bags, has also changed its program. Whereas the company used to only accept plastic grocery bags, it now accepts dry cleaner bags, produce and bread bags, reclosable plastic sandwich-type bags and plastic wrap packaging.
Drop-off locations are at Atkinsons’ Markets in Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue, Kings, L.L. Greens, the Community School in Sun Valley and the Blaine County Annex in Hailey.
Marketing board has new member
Following the recent resignation of Sun Valley Marketing Alliance Board President Jake Peters, Ketchum’s representative on the board, the City Council has appointed Ketchum resident Marty Albertson, non-executive board chair of Guitar Center Inc. and its former CEO.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to help our community,” Albertson said in an interview after the appointment, which is a volunteer position. “We can infuse a lot of growth in the Wood River [Valley] economy through a cooperative focus on building our long-term competitive advantages as well as having a clear agenda on the short-term for immediate traffic gains.”
At a City Council meeting Monday, May 6, during which the council made the appointment, Mayor Randy Hall said the city is “very lucky” to find Albertson. He also said Peters did “a lot of heavy lifting” for the city and that the city owes him a “debt of gratitude.”
After the meeting, Peters said he resigned to dedicate more time to a new business venture, a pickup-truck accessories company.
“Plus, it’s been nearly three years that I’ve been involved [with the Marketing Alliance], and it’s healthy for SVMA to have new directors over time,” he said.
According to Marketing Alliance President Arlene Schieven, the board has not yet elected a new president, but she anticipates it will do so at its next meeting on June 20.
Fund created for Ketchum man
A group of Wood River Valley residents has set up a fund to help Ketchum resident Gary Stivers pay for expenses related to an ongoing medical condition. People who want to assist Stivers in paying for housing, food and medical bills can send a check to the Bald Mountain Rescue Fund, c/o Brian Barsotti, P.O. Box 370, Ketchum, ID 83340.
The fund can only accept checks. Donors should put “In Honor of Gary Stivers” or “Gary Stivers” in the memo section of the check.
Stivers is a longtime valley resident who has worked as a journalist and as emcee for various events.
For more information, send an email to helpgarystivers@cox.net.
Kiwanis Club honors its president
A special award for distinguished service was presented to Kim Baker, president of Kiwanis Club of Hailey and the Wood River Valley, by Gov. John Brown, of the Kiwanis International, Utah/Idaho District.
Baker has been with the club since 2007, and has been president for the past two years. She has increased the club membership above the district average and promoted several local projects for children, the Kiwanis Club said.
