Mayor serves faces fire to save lives

Great Story from KTVB that talks about the heroism of Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas.   What a great opportunity of public service and what a wonderful ending:

From KTVB of Boise:

Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas was leaving his office Friday afternoon to head to Nampa. Instead, he decided to go home to see his grand-daughter. Nancolas said he's usually not home around four, but he's glad he was that day.
As soon as Nancolas pulled up to his house, a neighbor came running to him.
"I looked across the front yard. The front door was open, there was smoke billowing out of the front door," said Nancolas.
The apartment next door to Nancolas' house was on fire. Nancolas and the teen-aged neighbor ran to the apartment where the boy's mom was standing outside, and called 911. While Nancolas was on the phone, he said the woman went back inside the apartment.
"I said, 'we gotta get her out,'" said Nancolas. "And it was one of those instinctive things you just do. I mean I saw the smoke billowing out of the house, I didn't really know what was inside. But you just act, and that's all I did."
They found the mom in her bedroom looking for her car keys. After Nancolas and Ali got the mom outside, they helped get the people in the next apartment out. Even though it's outside his normal mayoral duties, Nancolas said he doesn't think it's a big deal.
"Well you're right I don't run into burning buildings every day. And to be honest with you, it's one of those thing I didn't even think about. I just saw the smoke, I knew there was a problem and just went."
He does not consider his actions heroic.
"The heroes are the firefighters, the people that come and take care of things and get the fire out so quickly, the young man being so calm, cool, and collected and helping his mom and making sure that she was taken care of," Nancolas said.
He insists he was just being a good neighbor.
"Would I do it again? Sure. I really think I would. I know I would because the most important thing in this situation was the safety of those individuals and making sure that they were all taken care of."
The Caldwell Fire burn-out fund helped pay for a motel for the family who's apartment was damaged. Nancolas told KTVB their landlord says he will help them find somewhere to live while the apartment is being fixed up.
The Caldwell Fire Department said the cause of the fire is believe to be spilled cooking oil. Nancolas said the mom threw water on the hot grease, causing the fire to spread. Fire damage was contained to the kitchen area, but there was smoke damage throughout the apartment.

Idaho Water Levels simply explained

So one of the greatest things about Idaho is the Snow.   Just one question.,... Where is it?    That question has been asked for the last few years and will again be asked in 2013.

Skiing is great and we want to see the local resorts take off this season, but just as important is the water levels we need for great irrigation and farm support. 

Recently read a report that helps explain what really is normal for water accumulation.   When I say water accumulation, I'm refering to Snow.   Snow translates into a Water equivalent.   I don't know an exact formula because it depends on how packed the snow is. 

But, as a general rule, 10 gallons of Snow will equal 1 gallon of Water ( a 10 to 1 ratio).

Below is a chart showing the Average "Water Equivalent" of Snow since 1981.  Notice, on averaage, we hit our peak on May 5th.  On average, there is no accumulation in November and very little in December.  

So, don't worry fellow Farm Buddies,  Nature really is doing what it's supposed to do.

(Below is for Bogus Basin)

Day	Oct (in)	Nov (in)	Dec (in)	Jan (in)	Feb (in)	Mar (in)	Apr (in)	May (in)	Jun (in)	Jul (in)	Aug (in)	Sep (in)
	01	0.0	0.0	3.9	10.7	15.4	21.4	25.4	18.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	02	0.0	0.0	4.1	10.9	15.4	21.7	25.7	18.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	03	0.0	0.0	4.3	11.1	15.5	21.9	25.9	18.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	04	0.0	0.0	4.3	11.3	15.6	22.1	26.1	17.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	05	0.0	0.0	4.3	11.6	15.7	22.2	26.2	17.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	06	0.0	0.0	4.4	11.7	15.9	22.3	26.2	16.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	07	0.0	0.1	4.4	12.0	16.0	22.4	26.1	16.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	08	0.0	0.2	4.5	12.3	16.1	22.5	25.8	15.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	09	0.0	0.3	4.6	12.7	16.2	22.5	25.6	15.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	10	0.0	0.5	4.8	13.0	16.3	22.6	25.1	15.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	11	0.0	0.6	5.0	13.3	16.5	22.6	24.6	14.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	12	0.0	0.8	5.3	13.5	16.7	22.6	24.1	13.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	13	0.0	1.0	5.7	13.7	16.9	22.5	23.6	12.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	14	0.0	1.2	6.1	13.9	17.1	22.4	23.1	11.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	15	0.0	1.4	6.5	13.9	17.2	22.3	22.7	10.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	16	0.0	1.6	6.9	14.0	17.4	22.3	22.4	9.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	17	0.0	1.7	7.2	14.0	17.5	22.2	22.3	7.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	18	0.0	1.7	7.4	14.0	17.5	22.1	22.0	6.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	19	0.0	1.8	7.5	14.0	17.6	22.1	21.8	4.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	20	0.0	1.8	7.5	14.1	17.7	22.2	21.5	2.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	21	0.0	1.9	7.6	14.1	17.8	22.2	21.1	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	22	0.0	2.0	7.6	14.1	18.0	22.3	20.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	23	0.0	2.1	7.7	14.2	18.2	22.5	20.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	24	0.0	2.2	7.8	14.3	18.6	22.7	19.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	25	0.0	2.4	8.0	14.5	19.0	22.9	19.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	26	0.0	2.6	8.3	14.7	19.5	23.1	19.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	27	0.0	2.8	8.6	14.9	20.0	23.5	18.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	28	0.0	3.1	9.1	15.0	20.6	23.8	18.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	29	0.0	3.4	9.5	15.2	21.1	24.2	18.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	30	0.0	3.7	10.0	15.3		24.5	18.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	31	0.0		10.4	15.4		25.0		0.0		0.0	0.0

Great article on 2012


Last week, Republicans lost a golden opportunity to win the White House. The GOP also lost two seats in the Senate when there were many more Democratic seats up for grabs than Republican ones. The GOP retained control of the House of Representatives but nationally more voters actually supported Democratic House candidates. Please forgive the length of this post. There are so many Republicans to blame and so little space.
Rush Limbaugh
Defeat had a thousand GOP fathers, so I don't know where to start. Limbaugh is a good place. The Republican rout was not a fluke. Limbaugh was part of the team effort that helped Democrats hang on to the White House and the Senate. Limbaugh and his "ditto heads" set the tone for the Republican Party. Due to his visibility, Rush, not John Boehner, is the de facto leader of the GOP. Republicans need a Sister Souljah moment and a prominent Republican needs to take Limbaugh on to make the party more attractive to moderate voters and to save the GOP.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the Republican Party.]
Mitch McConnell
The Senate minority leader was the biggest loser who was not on the ballot. He blew his chance for the second straight time to run the Senate, because of the Tea Party candidates Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin. The two unsuccessful Senate candidates played the parts that Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle played in 2008. McConnell also failed in his own priority, which was to deny the president re-election. Since he failed in job no. 1, it's no wonder that he whiffed on his secondary goal, which was to work with the president to create jobs. The senior senator from Kentucky runs for re-election in 2014 and it would be fitting if a Tea Party candidate takes the minority leader out in the GOP primary and a Democrat wins the seat.
The Tea Party
The Tea Party gave us Richard Mourdock in Indiana and Todd Akin in Missouri. The Tea Party also drove Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine out of the politics and she took any hope of GOP control of the Senate with her. You would think that some Republicans would have already taken on the Tea Party and pushed it aside. In 2010, the Tea Party produced Sharron "Second Amendment remedies" Angle of Nevada and Christine "I'm not a witch" O'Donnell of Delaware and killed the GOP's chance to control the Senate then. It will be interesting to see if a Republican leader challenges the Tea Party before the midterm Senate elections in 2014. The president's party usually does poorly in the sixth year of his presidency, so the GOP will get another shot. But the GOP and the Tea Party will probably piss away this opportunity too, and make Harry Reid majority leader for life.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the Tea Party.]
Karl Rove
The Koch brothers would have done better investing their money with Bernie Madoff. The GOP's failure to flip the White House and the U.S. Senate means American Crossroads was a flop. Turd Blossom's (George W. Bush's nickname for Rove, not mine) groups spent more than $170 million and he directed 98 percent of the money to losing Republican candidates. Republican strategist Rick Tyler described Rove's operation as a "colossal failure." My guess is that Rove is still in the Fox News Channel studio trying to convince Megyn Kelly and Michael Barone that Romney will win Ohio.
Religious Right
Their fanatical opposition to abortion led Republicans to make rape a campaign issue. Attacking the victims of sexual violence became part of the GOP brand and was a stone cold loser for the party. The success of socially liberal ballot measures means trouble for fundamentalists. Voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington approved gay marriage. Voters in Colorado and Washington legalized pot. Things will get even worse for the religious right as the socially liberal millennial generation becomes a bigger and bigger voting bloc.
[See a collection of political cartoons on Donald Trump.]
Older White Males
The first 12 years of this of this century—not the 1960s—represented the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. After ruling the roost for the last few hundred years in the United States, older white guys are losing traction. (Disclaimer, I'm an older white guy.) They overwhelmingly supported John McCain and Mitt Romney but that wasn't enough to defeat the nation's first black president. The power of older white voters will continue to decline as the fast growing young Latino population becomes a larger share of the electorate.
Donald Trump
Calling The Donald a loser is like shooting fish in a barrel. His constant questioning of the president's birthplace distracted the GOP from the issue that they should have talked about—the economy. Plus he forgot that "news" means something new. After he built up the announcement that he said would radically shake up the presidential race, he trotted out a $5 million award for anybody who could give him Barack Obama's college grades, an issue that Trump pushed unsuccessfully for months. MoveOn.org is circulating a petition that asks Macy's to drop Trump from their TV holiday advertising campaign. Where do I sign?

Taken from US NEWS

Damon Dickson

Hurricaine Sandy after effects

The power of water is amazing.   This is going to take the East coast a long time to clean up.  The hearts of Idaho Citizens go out to you all!!

Hearts go out to those in the East.   Hurricane Sandy will play a role not just on businesses, but on farming as well.

 

 

 

Hurricane sandy hit richard point

VP Debate Biden & Paul

If you missed the VP Debate,  Here's the highlight to music:

 

 

Enviromental Group sues Idaho

If you like Fishing in Idaho, as I do..... Here's an article you should be in the know for:

Environmental group sues Idaho over plans to dredge river for gold

By The Associated PressThe Oregonian

on October 16, 2012 at 2:03 PM, updated October 16, 2012 at 2:05 PM

An environmental group said Tuesday it had sued the state after the governor and other officials approved a plan to dredge the Salmon River for gold — an operation some contend will harm migrating fish habitat and create hazards for anglers.

The Idaho Conservation League announced it had asked a 4th District Court judge to require the state to approve a reclamation plan before signing off on any mining projects.

In September, Grangeville miner Mike Conklin was awarded a five-year lease by the Idaho Land Board, giving him sole access to a half-mile stretch of river about 13 miles downstream of Riggins where he can mine the gravel for precious metal.

The Boise-based environmental group contends Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and the other board members ignored laws meant to protect Idaho's water, arguing that miners who use gasoline-powered suction dredges often leave big holes in the riverbed that damage valuable habitat for salmon and steelhead.

"Before anyone goes onto our lands which need to be protected for the benefit of water quality, fisheries and wildlife, and public health and safety, miners need to submit a restoration plan before they're allowed access onto these properties," said Jonathan Oppenheimer of the environmental group. "If there's anywhere there ought to be a high level of scrutiny, it's in the bed of the Salmon River, which is one of the gems of Idaho."

Staff members at the Idaho Department of Lands who oversee mineral leases with proceeds and royalties that benefit public schools, contend the league is misinterpreting state rules and laws governing suction dredge mining and reclamation requirements.

Eric Wilson, minerals program manager, told the Land Board in August that regulation of recreational dredgers such as Conklin falls to the Idaho Department of Water Resources, and the Department of Lands only has jurisdiction over awarding a lease.

On Tuesday, Wilson declined to comment on pending litigation

Some anglers have also opposed Conklin's permit, saying it will hurt popular steelhead fishing areas and create hazardous holes where people could fall in and drown.

In addition to Otter, the Land Board members named as defendants are Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, public schools chief Tom Luna, attorney general Lawrence Wasden, and controller Brandon Woolf.

The Idaho Conservation League says a judge should reverse the Land Board's order granting Conklin a lease. It also wants a review of whether the state erred in deciding that laws such as the Dredge and Placer Mining Protection Act and the Surface Mining Act don't apply to the project.

-- The Associated Press

Salmon River: