First year head coach Les Sheneberger wasn't sure what to expect out of the team he inherited when he took over this summer as the varsity volleyball coach for Council High School. Last year's team had been very successful, earning a rare state playoff berth and competing admirably against the top teams in the state. But that was a senior-laden team, and Sheneberger thought that maybe this year would be a rebuilding year.
He soon found out, however, that this LadyJack squad could play with the best team's in the conference. In the second match of the season, Council went on the road and defeated a quality Tri-Valley team, a victory that signaled that Council would be a forced to be reckoned with in the Long Pin conference.
Replacing last year's departing seniors was a difficult task, but several of last year's JV players made a smooth transition to the varsity ranks, and the team was bolstered by the additions of three new players, senior Robyn Nichols, who did not play her junior year, junior Amber Ellis, who moved to town this year, and Columbian exchange student Nataly Pineros Suarez.
The season turned out to be a mixed bag, with plenty of success, and a few disappointments. The Lumberjacks finished the regular season 9-5 and hoped to parlay that success into a second consecutive trip to state, but the injury bug took its toll and the Lumberjacks were forced to settle for a third round exit in the district playoffs.
Junior hitter Addie Edmunson went down with an ankle injury early in the district tournament, a misfortune which took its toll on the court and in the minds of the girls. Several players stepped in ably to fill Addie's shoes, notably her sister, Freshman Elizabeth Edmunson, but in the end, losing a top player was too much to overcome emotionally and physically for Council.
Nevertheless, the season has to be looked at as a success.
“I'm really proud of the way our girls fought this season,” noting that several girls stepped up big and were willing to switch positions following the loss of Addie.
The future looks bright for the LadyJacks, Sheneberger believes, despite losing three seniors that were instrumental to this year's success. Council will lose Nichols, as well as Kayla Miller, an all-conference honoree, and Mary Lakey, who was a consistent setter for the ‘Jacks this season, as well as Suarez, who surprised many with her volleyball skills when she showed up this August.
But returning will be starters Addie Edmunson and Hillary McDaniel, along with Amber Ellis. Sheneberger expects to see several others step up to fill the shoes of those departing.
“The junior varsity team had a great year; they beat Horseshoe Bend, Tri-Valley and Garden Valley this year,” Sheneberger noted.
Sheneberger, who played four years of high school volleyball in California before playing a year of college ball, says he hopes to return next year and will be working with the team throughout the summer to improve their skills and add to his coaching expertise.
City clerk Hollie Russell informed the Council city council that some serious communication problems have arisen between her office and that of the Adams County Sheriff. The city relies on the Sheriff's Department for certain law enforcement duties, such as serving citations. Russell indicated that she has become exasperated trying to figure out which channels she needs to go through in order to get the city's needs met.
Specifically, the city has two citations to serve to a pair of residences that are in violation of the city's junk ordinance. If the citations are not served soon, they will have to wait until after the snow melts. According to Russell, the Sheriff's Department continues to give the city the run-around regarding these matters and appears to be not concerned with the city's needs and desires. They've even gone so far, Russell told the council, as to demand $20 per citation served, despite the fact that the city of Council contributes $50,000 per year for Sheriff's Department services.
The council said they would draft a letter to Sheriff Rich Green informing him of the situation and urging him to help the relationship work in a smoother, more efficient manner.
Water works
Public Works Supervisor David Wilson noted that they pumped almost two million fewer gallons of water during October 2008 than they had in the same month of the previous year. It appears that folks are actively cutting down on their water usage in order to keep their bills low.
There appears to be a leak in a water line on N. Illinois Avenue, but city crews have been unable to determine the location. Wilson indicated that the city would continue looking for the source of the problem, but expressed worry that if other solutions fail they city will have to decide if they want to “tear up a lot of pavement” in an attempt to locate the leak.
The council discussed a situation in which a resident who appealed to the council last month for a reduction in her water bill based on what she believed was a leak that the city was responsible for. At that time, the council ruled that the water bill would need to be paid in full. The resident feels that the city did not respond to her complaint in a timely manner and still feels the city bears some responsibility for the problem. The city disagrees.
“This is her leak,” said Wilson, noting that he believes the leak was on her property, not the city's, “I don't know why she thinks it's (the city's) responsibility.”
The council agreed, unanimously asserting that it's “not our problem.”
The owner of the old Record building downtown across from the bank has been paying his water bill faithfully for the last six months. Trouble is, his water has been shut off this entire time. The building's owner was apparently unaware that he didn't need to be paying for the service that he was not receiving. He requested that he be credited the $201 he paid for the past six months. The council unanimously agreed.
Council Greens
The city went on what was supposed to be a final walk through of the Council Greens development, but found about “six or eight” small things that stopped them from giving the developers their final seal of approval.
With the city in the process of annexing property into the city limits, the question of maintaining “new” city roads was discussed. In particular a quarter mile stretch of road on South Exeter will become part of the city limits and will need maintaining.
Economic Development
Francee Wassard informed the council that the rumors about Payette Lakes Medical Clinic closing shop are unfounded. Some personnel or operations changes may be in the works for the small practice located in the Council Business Park, but there are no plans to shut down, Wassard said.
Wassard reported that the city has a new website up and running with a new look and more city information. The address is councilidaho.net.
Wassard told the commissioners that questions have been raised by the public as to why the museum building needs to be heated at all during the winter months that it is closed. The reason is that certain artifacts in the museums collection could be damaged or destroyed in the event of a serious freeze.
Museum
Work on the museum building has been ongoing and much of it has been completed, including a new chimney installed. Much of this work has been paid for through an insurance claim, but there is still electrical work to be done that will be bought with the city's dime. The city previously agreed that they would pay for five baseboard heaters and two fans. The estimate for the electrical work necessary is $2500.
The city wants to wash their hands of the small building just to the south of the museum, but the museum board feels it has some historical value and has indicated they would like to take it over. Right now the small old building is a mess, with glass and nails and other debris scattered about. The city worries that someone might get hurt in or around the building and they worry about liability if that were to happen. The city is fine with the museum board taking the initiative to keep and maintain the building, provided that it is done so in a timely fashion. They decided to give the museum board one month to clean the building up and take over maintenance.
The city is going to shell out $500 for a grant application fee in an attempt to get some money to fix the stretch of road between Galena and Fairfield avenues. There is no guarantee that the grant will come through, but the council believes that it is worth a try, because that stretch of California Avenue is in desperate need of repairs that the city cannot afford at this time. The $500 it costs to apply for the grant is a risk the city is willing to take. Overheard: “If we are going to put $2500 into restoring the museum, we can surely afford $500 to try to get busy roads fixed.”
Q: What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?
A: Veterans Day is a day to thank all of those that you can still thank.
And that is what happened on the evening of November 8 at the Council Elementary School. Over 100 veterans, families and widows of veterans turned out for the annual Veterans Day Dinner sponsored by American Legion Post 72. Those in attendance represented all branches of service and conflicts from WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Gulf War and the Global War on Terrorism. The evening started with a hosted “Happy Hour” at the American Legion and continued with the dinner at 7 pm. Commander Charles Lively opened the evening with a thank you to all the veterans and families for their service to the country and their sacrifices, he then led the gathering in the Pledge of Allegiance.
During the evening Post 72 presented a slide show of “The Year in Review”, photos of the members as they worked on the new Legion building, the Veterans Memorial Peace Park, conducting funerals for fallen comrades, participation in the local parades and events such as the Council Mountain Flag Day Run. Everyone enjoyed the dinner and conversation with friends, family and other veterans.
Upon completion of the dinner, the Commander introduced our two special guests: Brigadier General Alan Gayhart and Command Sergeant Major Ken Downing. BG Gayhart is the Deputy Commander of the Idaho Army National Guard, and a friend of Council. Some will remember his trip up here in August in the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to accept the check for the funds raised by the Council Mountain Flag Day Run for the Idaho Army National Guard Family Support Fund.
This trip had a special meaning. He was here to present one of Councils own heroes with a long over due award. On 25 August 1970, while conducting a combat patrol in the Republic of Vietnam, PFC Robert A (Alvie) Yantis was wounded in action. Due to the fog of war and the bureaucracy of large mobilized Army, Alvie never received his Purple Heart Medal. As with all good men, he never complained about it. He quietly returned home to Council, to continue on with his life. Late in 2007, members of American Legion Post 72 were made aware of the situation and began the process of tracking down the information and doing what was necessary to right this wrong. After several months of correspondence with the Army Review Board, the packet was approved. PFC Robert A Yantis was awarded his long overdue Purple Heart along with another awar d that had been overlooked: an Army Good Conduct Medal (although there was some muted conversation about Alvie and the “Good Conduct” Medal!).
It is with much pride and respect that we all honored Alvie on this day. After the awards presentation, BG Gayhart gave a brief speech honoring our veterans and their families for their service and continued sacrifice. Our heartfelt thanks is sent to Avlie Yantis and all of those that have served this country, for their courage and service to the nation.
Prior to the closing of the evening, we all enjoyed a short video called Reveille, a story of two old veterans and a bit of rivalry between the branches of service they both served in. The ending was somber, a reminder of all of those that have gone before us; it seemed there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
The evening ended with closing comments from the Commander. We would like to thank all that graciously donated funds to support the Idaho State Veterans Home fundraiser. From the donations of the veterans and families we were able to raise over $550 to donate to the Idaho State Veterans Home. A Special thanks to the staff and faculty of the Council School District for their support and Rick and the crew from Council Mountain Café for an excellent job of catering.
| Stokesberry (Republican) | 1090 | (48.8%) |
| Green (Write-In) | 1143 | (51.2%) |
A conclusion to the hotly contested race for Adams County Sheriff was reached on Tuesday, as incumbent Rich Green's bid to retain his position was successful by a razor thin margin. Challenger George Stokesberry came up 53 votes (just over 1%) short in his attempt to unseat the sitting Sheriff.
Green's re-election ends nine months of a campaign that virtually split Adams County residents in half behind one candidate or the other. Stokesberry defeated Green by 38 votes in the Republican primary in May, prompting Green to file for candidacy as a write-in candidate.
With turnout for Tuesday's general election nearly double that of the May primary, the 53-vote margin was actually closer, percentage-wise than the 38 votes Stokesberry won by in the primary.
Green won on Tuesday by flipping one of the six Adams County precincts, the Council precinct, into his column in a resounding fashion. In the primary, the Council precinct was a virtual draw, with Stokesberry edging Green by one vote (141-140). On Tuesday, however, that precinct came out heavily in favor of Green, 325-206.
The race was kept close, however, on the basis of voters in the New Meadows precinct coming out to support Stokesberry in even larger numbers than during the primary. The challenger received 494 votes to the incumbent's 235 in that precinct. The relatively small precincts of Indian Valley, Bear and Little Salmon River all went for Stokesberry, but it wasn't enough to overcome Green's commanding lead in the two Council precincts.
Green's victory bucks a trend that occurred throughout the state of Idaho on Tuesday, as 16 of the 44 Sheriff's throughout the state were defeated, a number that, according to the Idaho Sheriff's Association is higher than usual. Among them is Owyhee County Sheriff Gary Aaman, who also was running as a write-in candidate, but failed to get the votes to stay in office.
Statement from Sheriff Green:
“It is difficult for me to express how grateful and honored I am to be re-elected as Sheriff of Adams County. I pledge to serve the people of this county to the best of my abilities.
“My opponent, George Stokesberry, ran a fair and clean campaign.
“It was exhausting, as the incumbent, to continue my responsibilities as Sheriff while campaigning, but this campaign revealed a lot of issues that needs to be addressed and produced a very positive interaction between myself and the people of this county. It helped draw me closer to the people I serve.
“I've always had an open-door policy and I will continue to do so. I will try to accommodate everyone's schedule and encourage those to take advantage of my availability. I can also be reached by phone at home, after-hours.
“The commitment and involvement of my supporters throughout this campaign will never be forgotten.”
Thanks to Shirley Halsey for obtaining Rich Green's statement
At last! After a campaign that seems to have been going on forever, Americans will finally head to the polls on Tuesday to select their next President, while Adams County residents will cast their ballots in statewide and local races.
Thankfully, by Wednesday morning, it will all be over.
We can take down the political signs in our yards and we'll be able to flip through the television channels without being bombarded with aggressive campaign advertisements.
And when it's all said and done, every American ought to wash their mouths out with soap for having participated in a process that has become so divisive and spiteful.
It's the politics of division, a process that encourages us to avoid intellectual honesty and mutual respect. Instead, we dive into the trough and wallow in the mud, all the while wondering why the whole thing feels so dirty.
We make decisions about which candidates we like and, having done so, we throw reason out the window and start believing and repeating the most illogical and silly rhetoric imaginable.
We're fed a consistent diet of political spin and we gobble it up.
Fear mongering runs rampant. “If so and so wins, we're doomed!”
Complex issues are reduced to simplistic and misleading talking points and buzzwords.
We're constantly told that we are fighting an imaginary “culture war” that pits neighbor against neighbor, Idahoan against Idahoan, American against American, because of normal and understandable differences on social issues.
We're encouraged to demonize and belittle those who have different views, without any attempt to find common ground.
It's the “talk-radioization” of our collective political discourse, a term I hesitate to use because it might imply that these disturbing traits are somehow more predominant on the “Right”. They are not.
They can be easily observed on right-wing radio stations and left-leaning Internet blogs….
And on FOXNEWS, MSNBC and other cable news outlets that have led us to believe that bringing in two or more partisan hacks and letting them scream at each other for a few minutes somehow constitutes “balanced” reporting…
And in circulating e-mails. And in the letters-to-the-editor section of small, community newspapers.
And don't get me started on these political ads. Ugh. I'm sure everyone with a television has seen the Minnick/Sali and/or Risch/Larocco ads that have been running. If the names and pictures were removed, it would be impossible to tell whom the ads are for or against because they say the same thing:
“He wants to raise your taxes”.
“No, HE wants to raise your taxes. In fact, he supports the biggest tax increase EVER!”
“He's out of touch with Idaho”
“Nuh-uh, HE is!”
Virtually identical ads are being run in hundreds upon hundreds of congressional districts across the country. Why? Because they work. That's the scary part.
It's my opinion that this “politics by division”, so readily observed in the Presidential race and other national campaigns, is damaging to society. But however harmful these tactics are on a large-scale, national level, it pales in comparison to the damage done when this type of attitude seeps down to the local level. And we've seen it happen right here in Adams County.
Whose fault is it that we've sunk to this level?
The political parties? No.
The candidates? No.
It must be the media's fault, right? Nope.
Then who's to blame?
You are.
And I am.
We, the people, are.
We've allowed our democratic process to deteriorate because we take part in the divisive and partisan practices that we, at the same time, claim to detest. We chose the candidate we like, whether it be in the Presidential race or a Sheriff's election, and then we bring out the kitchen sink to throw at the opposing candidate, believing whatever nonsense is told to us about that person, refusing to question vile rumors, and doing or saying just about anything, so long as our candidate “wins”.
And we all lose because of it.
Lost amidst the divisiveness of this year's Presidential contest is the true nature of the candidates running this year. I'm of the opinion that the 2008 Presidential election is comprised of two (or four if you want to count the veeps) extraordinary Americans, each with phenomenal life stories and a tremendous qualities that will serve our country well in the next four-to-eight years, despite the current state of affairs. It's difficult to remember this after such a long, hard-fought and polarizing campaign, but I truly believe that either Barack Obama or John McCain will make an excellent President, something I did not believe in 2000 or 2004.
The Adams County Sheriff's race offers us a similar choice, in my opinion. We have the choice between two competent, qualified individuals, each with the ability to fulfill the capabilities of the office skillfully and confidently. The “politics of division” has led us to believe that one candidate or the other is substandard, but after looking into the issue myself, I do not believe it.
We're pretty evenly split as to whom we support, both in this country and in this county, and that's okay, because democracy is about having choices.
But we can't afford to have this schism remain after the elections are over; as Abraham Lincoln said, “a house divided cannot stand.” In these times, we simply MUST unite in order to take on the challenges that we face as a nation and as a county.
So, next week, the United States of America will have a President-elect and Adams County will have a Sheriff-elect. And whoever is elected will be the right person for the job.
At that point we must put the politics of division behind us and move forward, united as one.
Cody Cahill