IdaHome--June 2020

Community + Culture + Recreation +

Real Estate

#IdaHOMEMADE Mayor Lauren McLean: Crash Course in Crisis Real EstateCOVID Boom or Bust?

Rebecca Rusch Rides the Iditarod

BOISE, EAGLE, MERIDIAN, NAMPA, CALDWELL & BEYOND

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COMMUNITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Airstream: American-Made History

FOOD, ARTS, & CULTURE

11 Chow Down: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

24 How DNA is Driving

14 Rebecca Rusch:

26 Mayor Lauren McLean:

17 What We Miss Most

Idaho Exonerations This is Not a Drill

30 McCall Moving Forward 32 Camping During COVID 36 A (Back) Pack of One's Own

40 Safer Together

Without a Map

22 Idaho Makers:

Window Dressing

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

20 Small Town Education REAL ESTATE NEWS

38 Treasure Valley Update

June is a near perfect month in Idaho--still green, but

usually not yet scorching hot, the promise of river floats and backyard sprinkler parties in full swing. It’s the month I got married, the month each of my sons was born, the month my mother celebrates her birthday--60 this year!

(Don’t tell her I told you.) This year, these milestones and celebrations look a little different. Smaller, quieter-but that’s ok.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in writing for the magazine this month, it is that smaller can actually be better in times like these. In Lowman, for example, home to one of the few remaining one room schoolhouses, the teacher actually passes work out to each of her students by riding the bus to their homes once each week--a truly charming way to maintain human connection.

Or how about the big travel contained in the tiny (also available in not-so-tiny model) Airstream travel trailer?

Our publisher Karen Day shares a little of their fascinating history this month, and we’ve got a cool story on athlete Rebecca Rusch, conquering the Alaskan wilderness on her bike only to emerge into a more terrifying viral world..

H E AT H E R H A M I LT O N - P O S T And, though I’m not growing a garden this year, I try my hand at a sourdough starter, which also begins Editor in Chief small and grows and grows and grows. My chickens, if you’re wondering, are also all still alive and growing. They’re awkward teens now, and it's the best.

I’m enjoying my new house and life in the 2C, which is lucky since I’m not often leaving it. We’re bringing you a lot of IdaHome Made this issue, no matter how crafty you are.

Real estate is still moving, which is exciting to see. In this issue, Boise Regional Realtors weighs in on the human experience of working in the industry right now, and Fay Ranches tells us how to go about buying a ranch if your head and heart is craving more space after all this time at home.

We’ve also got a great interview with Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, who, like you, has been doing her job mostly from home. She’s begun this position in strange times, and we’re lucky enough to have some insight into what that process has been like, where she’s finding inspiration, and how she’s getting through it all.

If there’s something that this issue--and realistically, these last few months-- has shown me it’s that, sometimes, the little things aren’t so little.

I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful Idaho summer in big and small ways. At the very least, I hope this issue butters your bread.

Heather

Find a loan that fits your life Whether you’re downsizing, changing neighborhoods, or need more space, we’ve got options.

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Joseph Pattee is authorized to do business in the states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Branch NMLS ID 779503; Kimberly Stastny is authorized to do business in the state of Idaho. Branch NMLS ID 779503; OR ML-176; Lori Hosac is authorized to do business in the state of Idaho. Branch NMLS ID 779503; Guild Mortgage Company is an Equal Housing Lender; Company NMLS ID 3274 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). All information, loan programs & interest rates are subject to change without notice. All loans subject to underwriter approval. Terms and conditions apply. Always consult an accountant or tax advisor for full eligibility requirements on tax deduction.

JUNE 2020

ON THE COVER

publisher K A R E N DAY karen@idahorem.com

Timber Square at Harris Ranch is Boise Hunter Homes’ newest community and one of the last opportunities to own a new home in the pristine Harris Ranch community. It’s hard to beat Timber Square’s location. With the region’s top rated schools located nearby, hiking and biking in the adjacent foothills, and just a 10-minute drive to/from downtown Boise, Micron’s HQ , Albertson’s HQ , and Boise’s Airport, there are many reasons demand for the Harris Ranch community remains strong.

Efficient living doesn’t get much better than this with three-story and two-story floorplan options, gorgeous finishes, and a low-maintenance, lock-and-go lifestyle. Model homes open daily 10am-5pm. Learn more at BoiseHunterHomes.com

managing editor H E AT H E R H A M I LT O N POST heather@idahorem.com art and design K R IS T I N A C A SE kristina@idahorem.com K A L E Y BE LVA L design@idahorem.com

CONTRIBUTORS Annie Exline is the Communications Manager for Boise Regional REALTORS®, serving thousands of real estate professionals in Ada, Elmore, and Gem counties. Her previous work includes projects for the Nampa School District, Habitat for Humanity, and the “Vote Yes” Meridian Library Committee.

director of operations and sales manager M A R IELLE W EST PH A L admin@idahorem.com

Meredith Richardson graduated from UNR with a journalism degree that expanded into professional cinematography. As a DP, she has traveled across the globe in search of great stories to tell in film. When not on the open road, she can be found enjoying the mountains surrounding her hometown of Ketchum.

cover photo JOH N W E B S T E R cover sidewalk artist T I F FA N Y E L L E R

CORRECTIONS

contributing photographers K A R E N DAY T OM M Y L ISBI N PAU L GI L MOR E PE T E R DA N K A T OM M A SO U R L I

In the May IdaHome on pages 14, 15: Special thanks to the Idaho State Preservation Office for the historical content on the highway markers.

The correct photo caption on page 15 is : This 1907 Stagecoach is in the collection of the Idaho State Museum in Julia Davis Park.

Remember...and keep moving forward

IdaHome Magazine is publishing by Idaho Real Estate Marketplace P.O. Box 116 Boise, Idaho 83701 208-481-0693 © 2020 IdaHome Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed by the authors and contributors to IdaHome Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor and publisher.

Photo by Alex Jackman.

Marketing, Sales and Distribution karen@idahorem.com

AIRSTREAM: AMERICAN-MADE HISTORY Since 1936

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BY KAREN DAY

ummer. What’s the next word that comes

to mind? Most likely, vacation, which sparks montages of memories, many associated with traveling, somewhere, sometime, before thissummer-like-no-other. No matter how difficult or unknown the terrain, however, self-contained road travel has always offered the best and safest way to go anywhere, including to the moon or Africa. This fact was proven by an American visionary named Wally Byam, the designer of the iconic Airstream travel trailer.

Little known facts about the iconic silver bullet and its creator leave no doubt: 1.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew were quarantined in a custom-built Airstream after returning from the first voyage to the moon. Three weeks of isolation in the aluminum trailer determined there was little likelihood they were carriers of lunar pathogens.

2. Deluxe private Airstreams are strapped down inside military cargo planes, usually a C-17 Globemaster III, to transport VIPs of the U.S. government safely and comfortably around the world. The list includes First Lady Laura Bush, and Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Joe Biden.

3.

In 1956, Wally took on an unprecedented task of shipping 36 Airstreams and 87 caravanners THE AIRSTEAM TRAVEL TRAILER WAS BORN IN 1936.

Wanderlust ran through Wally Byam’s veins and aeronautic designs through his mind.

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across the Atlantic Ocean for the first Wally Byam Caravan to Europe. Over six months, the caravanners visited 16 countries and traveled 16,000 miles.

Wally Byam founded Airstream in a small, Los Angeles warehouse in 1931. He was an eccentric personality peppered with a talent for engineering and innovation.

Wilbur and Orville Wright, Henry Ford, Frank Lloyd Wright; today, all are called visionary after a history of success. However, when someone suddenly shatters all the known rules like trying to fly or building a 12 ft aluminum teardrop to tow behind your car, public opinions can be less kind.

No matter, as Byam was following his own prescription for happiness. Wanderlust ran through his veins and aeronautic designs through his mind. Why ride the wave of the future, thought Byam, when you could be the wave of the future.

Within five years, Wally introduced the Airstream Clipper. Nodding a debt of inspiration and design to aircraft like the Pan Am Clipper, the iconic Airstream “silver bullet” design was born in 1936.

CAPE TOWN TO CAIRO,

1959-1960, a 7-month, 12,000 mile journey across Africa led by Wally Byam, the founder of Airstream. (left) Airstream tradition Wally and Emperor Haile Selassie.

Photos by Pete Turner

Byam shuttered Airstream during WWII and put his talent to work at Lockheed aircraft. Mid-century production soared again when he resumed in the 1950s.

A restless pioneer, he remodeled refrigerators, toilets, and showers for ergonomic interior design, efficiency, beauty, and sustainability. He even championed the glories of pour-over coffee in the same decade Starbucks founder Howard Schultz was born.

Dreams are not contained by borders and Byam saw the only way to convince people to overcome their considerations and fear about cross country travel in a trailer was to demonstrate the concept himself. In 1951, he organized a trailer caravan from Southern California to Mexico and advertised the trip in the Los Angeles Times. At the departure point in El Paso, Texas, 63 trailers arrived. To keep track of everyone, a number was painted on each trailer, with Wally’s trailer first. This trip gave birth to the still-existent Wally Byam Caravan Club International and the numbers still seen on vintage Airstream units today.

Onward was his life. Byam led caravans through the jungles of Central America and across the Atlantic

Ocean to Europe. He loaded Airstreams onto barges and sailed up the Nile to camp at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids.

Pete Turner, an iconic photographer, documented their epic journey from Cape Town to Cairo, 1959-1960. In all, 106 people ages six to 86 joined this seven-month, 12,000 mile journey across Africa led by Byam in his iconic Gold Airstream. Caravanners met Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, visited Victoria Falls, saw elephants, crocodiles, giraffes, and met Masai warriors and slept at the foot of the Pyramids of Giza.

Byam’s philosophy was to “not make changes, only improvements,” and therefore, today’s Airstreams much resemble their vintage cousins. His artistic vision was refined, revised, and honed to its purest form. The result, like all true art, is timeless. This explains why it’s estimated 70 percent of all Airstream travel trailers are still on the road. Nine decades later, the Airstream represents American history rolling down the road, a simultaneously retro and modern wave to the future.

Special Thanks to Airstream Adventures Northwest, Caldwell, Idaho. www.idahomemagazine.com

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| CHOW DOWN |

The Greatest Thing Since SLICED BREAD

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

Like everyone else with an oven and a hoarded bag of flour, I’ve been spending time baking bread.

Because we’re (just barely) millennials, we’ve been eating avocado toast everyday for breakfast for the last few months, spending a small fortune on whatever loaves of sourdough we could find on grocery store shelves. But when my Instagram carbo loaded with so many delicious bread rounds that I could practically smell it, I decided to give it a go.

Sourdough bread is not, at least initially, a plug and play bread. It requires a starter, which is a potentially very old jar of not quite bread that lives in your refrigerator, demanding to be fed every couple of days. You can buy one online for a lot of money if you want, but I, like most, decided to make my own. The process involves some version of combining flour, water, and yeast and essentially waiting it out. Never did my starter follow the progression I read about far and wide across the internet, but, when I eventually used it in a loaf of bread, it did indeed make bread.

Some sourdough starters sell for a lot of money or provide a bragging point for your neighborhood bakery because they are old. While we aren’t necessarily kind to old people, we’re enamored with old bread, and old sourdough starters are undeniably better, having had years to develop the distinctive sourdough taste of your dreams.

My sourdough starter is new, and not that sourdoughy yet, but I haven’t met a loaf of fresh bread I didn’t like and this experiment has been no exception.

To make sourdough bread, you combine sourdough starter with flour, water, honey, and salt, no yeast needed, if you’ve done the starter right. It has to rest for a long time, and eventually ends up in a preheated

Having a sourdough starter is like having a pet.

It requires daily or weekly feeds (depending on who you ask). It can get hungry. It smells good or bad, depending on how you’re treating it. ceramic dutch oven. In my case, a square pan I use for brownies and a sweet aluminum foil lid. I am SURE this breaks a lot of rules about breadmaking, but I’m here to tell you that my bread was extremely delicious and breadlike in appearance, so I’m fine with it.

Having a sourdough starter is like having a pet. It requires daily or weekly feeds (depending on who you ask).

It can get hungry. It smells good or bad, depending on how you’re treating it. You have to remove part of it when you feed it (flour, not something cool like a Snickers), and throw it away, but that feels wasteful to me. I used the “discard” to make sourdough soft pretzels, which were also delicious. Presenting my family with warm bread at any time of day is an impressive move, even if it sets up dangerous expectations.

Soft pretzels made with the throw away starter

The sourdough starter at Zeppoles Bakery is “at least 26 years old” they tell me, which makes it as much of an institution as the bakery itself. And sure, a jar of bread soup is a weird thing to pass on to my children, but I’ll never have to explain why this particular pet went to live on a farm or replace it with an identical-looking one in the dead of night, so I’m 100% in. www.idahomemagazine.com

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REBECCA RUSCH IS AN ULTRA-ENDURANCE TERRAIN CYCLIST, AND READY TO TAKE ON ANYTHING, OR GO ANYWHERE.

WITHOUT A MAP

BY MEREDITH RICHARDSON

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Rebecca Rusch swore early in her career as an ultra-endurance terrain cyclist that any race involving snow was off limits. She doesn’t do well in the cold, so the idea of riding her mountain bike 350 miles across the frozen Alaskan wilderness in the Iditarod Trail Invitational was a no-go. Until she did it and won.

“I hadn’t really gone outside of my comfort zone in awhile,” Rusch says. “I think I was missing that feeling of doing a really big expedition. Something that involved planning, made me really scared, and made my hands sweat. It took some serious convincing for sure.”

Her goal entering the 2019 race was to finish with all her fingers and toes. All digits intact, true to her world champion form, Rusch was the first woman to cross the finish line and did so in a record setting 3 1/2 days.

“It was a success in that I finished and didn't lose any fingers, but I was a mess afterward. I felt like I really put myself in danger by not being more prepared,” Rusch explains. “So I vowed to go back one more time and clean it up. I wanted to do it in style. I wanted to do it better.”

For most people, enduring physical pain in freezing temperatures by choice sounds like selftorture, but professional athletes are vested with a type of amnesia akin to that following natural childbirth. Pain is dulled with relief and joyendorphins on arrival. Therefore, in 2020, better prepared with proper training, detailed gear lists, previous trail knowledge and husband by her side, Rusch was ready to ride the Iditarod right..

Mother Nature laughed, as she often does, at human plans.

“She unleashed on the Iditarod trail this year and it was super hard conditions,” Rusch says.

“Snow every day, 40 mile- per-hour winds, and at times, it was 50-below. The trail was blown so badly, we walked probably 150 of the 350 miles.

It simply wasn't rideable.”

Complicating evil elements, a navigational error in the first 2 hours set Rusch dangerously off course and isolated. She recovered, but the mistake doubled her 2019 record time when she crossed the finish line, seven days later.

‘It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Rusch admits. “ But I was prepared, and it made me realize the places I can go and survive on my bike. The experience made me realize what's possible. In some ways, I loved it.”

Experts and audiences alike are fascinated by the mystery of what motivates uber-athletes like Rusch. Often, environmental advantage plays a role in early development. There were no mountains where Rusch was raised by her single, working-class, mother in Downer’s Grove, Illinois. Following her father’s death as a pilot in Vietnam, her childhood was spent in suburban Chicago but for summer camping road trips with her mom and sister..

“We didn’t have a lot of money, so we’d camp.

We’d go to national parks and I loved it,” Rusch recalls. “I was always a curious little dirt bag kid, you know? Playing in the sandbox and camping in the backyard, wanting to explore what was around the next corner. I was sort of born with it, this outdoor spirit..”

IN ALASKA AFTER SHE SWORE EARLY IN HER CAREER ANY RACE INVOLVING SNOW WAS OFF LIMITS, REBECCA RUSCH LATER WON THE IDITAROD TRAIL INVITATIONAL.

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Rusch found her stride as an athlete on the high school cross-country team. Whether on the track or in the woods, running pushed her physical limits while she explored the world at a fast pace. One cross-country sport led to another, and Rusch found herself chasing athletic conquests on the open road.

“I lived out of my car for years, rock climbing and hiking wherever I could. For a long time, I was nomadic in California and Utah,” she says, “but once I visited Idaho, I never left.

I connected with this place.”

15- plus years later, Rusch is still rooted in Ketchum, her ultimate playground.

“FOR MOST OF MY CAREER, I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT, ‘I’M TRAINING FOR THE NEXT EVENT.’ NOW, I FEEL LIKE ALL OF THESE RACES HAVE BEEN TRAINING ME FOR LIFE, TO JUST KEEP PUSHING FORWARD.”

“I'm kind of like a cat with nine lives as far as the sports I’ve done.” Rusch says.

“Rock climbing, biking, running; the common theme has always been adventure and exploration.

That’s why Idaho suits my personality. I was that little kid who camped in the backyard, and now my backyard is just a lot bigger.”

The world, however, is suddenly no one’s big playground. Disconnected from the reality of the world for weeks during the Iditarod, Rusch and her husband exited the Alaskan wilds mid- March to find the world locked-down in a global pandemic.

“We heard inklings at the finish line about Covid,” Rusch says. “It wasn’t until we flew back through Seattle, saw the airport and then flew home, that reality sunk in.”

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The hometown they’d left at the beginning of March was now a bleak and empty semblance of all America: streets emptied, storefronts closed and people she knew distanced and dawning masks and gloves. Blaine County had become a national hotspot for Covid-19. Rusch says they went from one kind of a survival mode into another.

“Honestly, my initial reaction was,’ I just want to go back on the Iditarod trail!’ That was so much easier by comparison,” she says. “The goal there is getting from point A to point B. You work hard, you keep moving during the day, you take care of yourself, and eventually you get to the finish line. But, there’s no trail map for this kind of thing.”

The current challenges presented to every small business owner have forced Rusch and her team at her Be Good Foundation to pivot their purpose. Originally aimed at enriching communities through bicycles to create global change and empowerment, the Idaho-based foundation is shifting gears to raise money for Covid-19 relief efforts by putting bikes in the hands of essential workers who need transportation. How does a non-profit that normally fundraises through large bike races adapt? Forget static Zoom meetings. Ride the miles digitally!

Events that once enlisted families, pro-gravel racers and pain-cave addicts grinding wheels up Idaho peaks to raise money are now pedaling worldwide in participants’ backyards and living rooms. The Giddy Up for Good Challenge is the virtual race anecdote to live events cut from the Be Good Foundations’ 2020 calendar. Mileage is logged digitally from personal GPS units and uploaded directly to the event page over Memorial Day weekend. Different challenge tiers welcome all abilities to run or bike, including 5,000 vertical feet to the ‘Queens Everest’ challenge.

“I'm doing an Everest attempt which is 29,029 feet in one day,” Rusch says. “I will be riding up and down Trail Creek summit until I reach my pledge goal.”

The digital race keeps people active and safe while allowing them to make a difference. This solution also fulfills the goals of the Be Good Foundation and Rebecca Rusch’s purpose in founding it. Isolation has caused her to seriously reflect on four decades of being an endurance athlete and what comes next.

“I’m trying to draw on my endurance, my athletic experience and ask myself, ‘what lessons have I learned?’”

Rusch says. “For most of my career, I’ve always thought, ‘I’m training for the next event.’ Now, I feel like all of these races have been training me for life, to just keep pushing forward.”

Even without a map, it’s good advice.

WHAT WE MISS MOST

Even as our cities begin the long and arduous process of reopening, we’re grieving what once was and, very likely, can never be again. Sometimes the missing is nostalgic and sometimes it is sad. Other times, we miss things with hope or quiet gratitude. From the mundane to the magnificent, we asked our readers to tell us what exactly they were missing.

“I miss face to face interviews. There’s something about drinking coffee together or standing in the physical space that inspires someone else’s passion that is hard to replicate via Zoom. I’m better in person, but I’m grateful you’ve all put up with my technology and children as I bring you stories from around the state.”

“Hugs. Playground dates for the toddler. Biking to restaurants. Daycare. I miss daycare a lot.”

“My soon-to-be 4 year old niece, Ivy, is missing the interactive children’s area at the public library. She’s especially confused now that the library is open but the play area is not.”

--Heather Hamilton-Post

“Baseball!” -Harper Crabtree

--Stina Sweetland

--Lindy Johnson

“I miss handshakes, hugs, and toasting to my friends’ milestones and achievements. I miss travel, festivals, dining out, and going wine tasting. But most of all, I miss having Sunday dinners with my immunocompromised family members, and can’t wait to share a meal with them again.” --Amber Daley

Photo by Pien Muller

“The first live music on outdoor patios of the season. The Sandbar is a must in the summer.

People watching the folks on the greenbelt under shady trees, and the great musical acts. Dropping by the Modern for a swanky cocktail at the bar top.

Karaoke with friends! We have been trying it Zoom style, but it’s difficult.” --Jamie Borge

“Live concerts!!!” --Kelli Swanson “The shared joy of live music!”

--Holly Anderson

“I miss going to dinner and a movie. My kids miss being able to play with their friends.” --Heidi Rudledge Jewell

“FEELING COMFORTABLE.” --Marlene Tague

“I miss being able to use my fingers to take furballs out of my mouth when I take my dogs for a ride in the car. ...

I miss knowing what day of the week it is. ... I miss being able to touch something without wondering who else has touched it. …”

--Chris Langrill

www.idahomemagazine.com

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SMALL TOWN EDUCATION

TECH GROWS in the WOODS

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

“Lowman isn’t really even a town,” explains Stephaney Williamson, laughing. “We have a schoolhouse, but that’s about it.” Instead, it is an unincorporated rural census-designated place in Boise County, less than a two-hour drive from Boise, nestled into mountains along the South Fork of the Payette River.

Officially, the population is 42.

Stephaney Williamson is the single teacher in Lowman with nine students in first through sixth grade.

VISITING TEACHER Since coronavirus left students at home, each Monday, Williamson rides the bus to drop off work for her students and pick up assignments they’ve completed.

Notably, Lowman is home to one of only a few hundred one-room schoolhouses left in the United States. Williamson, in her second year teaching in Lowman, is the single teacher for first through sixth grade, depending on the year. For the 2019-2020 school year, she had nine students spread across every grade but fifth, and next year, she should have at least one in every grade.

In a normal school year, this presents interesting challenges. And this year has been anything but ordinary.

Williamson grew up in nearby Garden Valley, and says she’s been trying to move back since she left. When the job opened up in Lowman, she moved her family from Utah where they’d been living and, using the multigrade approach she’d developed as a Montessori teacher, jumped right into this unique teaching situation.

She teaches a small but interesting bunch-some of Williamson’s students are siblings to other children at the schoolhouse, some have attended since kindergarten, and two come from families where at least one parent also attended Lowman Elementary.

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Prior to coronavirus, she knew her students very well. But after? “We’ve all taken virtual tours of each other’s houses. We’ve met each other’s pets. My students all say hi to my husband or son when they bring me breakfast. We’re a big family. This has been a chance to bring people together when we’re far apart. Our hearts are together,” she says.

Because of the various grade levels of her students, Williamson explains that her students were already independent learners. Each day, she prepares work for each of them and allows them the freedom to choose when and what they work on.

Throughout the day, she pulls different students or groups into lessons while the other students continue their learning.

After coronavirus left students at home, she morphed her curriculum into a home/ school partnership. “But they’re still doing the same work,” she says.

Lowman Elementary is a part of the Garden Valley School District, which provides Chromebooks to every student, so the technology was already in place too.

Williamson’s students all had internet access

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

 Lowman at home, which has allowed them to have daily Zoom meetings, oneon-one meetings for extra help or conferences, and virtual lessons. Using a document camera, she can continue teaching in much the same way she did before. “And we have such support from parents and neighbors and extended families who are all making sure school continues for these students,” Williamson gushes.

Lowman is truly a community that has come together--the district has continued daily bus service to deliver meals in Garden Valley and Lowman, and each Monday, Williamson rides the bus to drop off work for her students and pick up assignments they’ve completed. She says it gives her the chance to chat (from a

distance) with parents and connect with her students. The school bus has also partnered with local food pantries to make sure that families in need receive food deliveries.

And, while celebratory moments like birthdays are hard, “we’re making it work,” she says. Williamson says that she’s been inspired by the way people are pressing on and finding solutions even in places like Garden Valley’s tiny grocery store. “People are getting what they need.”

She says that, throughout this process, there’s been a great deal of support from families, staff, and administration in the Garden Valley School District. “When this started, teachers had the autonomy to create something that would work. We came

back from Spring Break with a plan,” she explains. “We’re in the process now of seeing how things will look in the future.”

Elementary is part of the Garden Valley School District.

Despite the strangeness of these times, Williams looks forward to next year, and says her kids are ready for it too. “Our goal is to keep kids and parents positive. To let them know that they can do this. We have a distance hug. This has given us time to think. I ask myself if I’m doing things mechanically because I always have. I adjust to focus on what’s important,” Williamson says.

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“When I was chosen to paint for Treefort, I thought, oh my gosh, now I have to learn to paint a window!” Eller says. Typically, she works with pen and standard sized paper, so adjusting her artwork to appear in gigantic window form took some learning, and a surprising amount of paint she says. Luckily, she had help from friends (some of whom have actually inspired their own Little Cuties) along the way.

Idaho Makers

Window Dressing

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

Tiffany Eller's Little Cuties exist in several forms, but recently, you may have seen them on the windows of Shift Boutique in downtown Boise. They’re big and

small and everything in between, glasseswearing, freckled, and totally rocking out. Of course, they’ve gone the way that window paintings do in extreme weather, but Eller says they’ll be back in September when Treefort returns.

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The Little Cuties, which you can see in more detail at Moonbabyarts. com, have been around since October, when Eller started participating in a daily drawing challenge via Instagram that focused on body positivity. “I started posting body positive Little Cuties every day for the month of October. And I got so many requests to make a coloring book that I thought, ok, cool. I know how to do that,” she says.

The book, which was crowdfunded, comes complete with a glossary describing what each character represents. Eller does her best to make sure they’re diverse, noting that the body positivity movement sprung from fat activism and fat liberation. “Then it kind of got co-opted by people like me--white women in straight sized bodies.

And so I try to be really cognizant about what I’m sharing and to think not so much how bodies look but how we feel about our bodies,” she explains.

Eller also explores body diversity and body shame in The Body Story Podcast, a weekly podcast in which she invites people to tell their own body stories. “I’ve interviewed a mermaid who identifies herself as a fat mermaid. I’ve interviewed people who have had bariatric surgery, or people that have lost a limb or lost their ability to move their limbs,” she says. “And, as I’ve made Little Cuties, it’s shifted my body story because it forces me to think of things in a new way and to try to think of experiences that I haven’t undergone myself.”

Eller’s mom is an artist too, so she grew up making art, but says she struggled to find a medium that she really connected with. She describes how, when she let go of “all the shoulds” about her art, she found a career in graphic design, which led to Little Cuties which led, eventually, to painting a window on a downtown storefront.

PROMOTING THE RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1956

AFFORDABLE HOME OWNERSHIP FOR ALL WHO ASPIRE TO IT

Through service and advocacy, we’ve reduced the cost of new construction roughly $19,000 per home in 2018-2019.

BCASWI.ORG

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST | PHOTOS BY JOHN KELLY, BSU VISUAL SERVICES.

The Critical Things: How DNA Is Driving Idaho Exonerations Content Warning: This story contains brief mention of crimes involving the kidnap, rape, and murder of various people, including children.

Idaho is one of only 15 states across the country that does not offer compensation for the falsely convicted, no matter their time served or circumstances under which they were incarcerated. This year, Rep. Doug Ricks, a lawmaker from Rexburg, Idaho sought to change all of that with a bill that would provide $60,000 per year of wrongful incarceration, or $75,000 per year for those on death row. The bill added additional reparations for years on parole or the sex offender registry and services like health insurance, mental health care, tuition and job assistance, and housing services, among others. In Idaho, released inmates receive many of these upon their release--not so for the wrongly convicted.

On March 31, Gov. Brad Little vetoed the bill after it passed in Idaho’s House and Senate, citing a flawed process. He wrote that the objective of the bill was admirable, but noted that the ““bill immediately forces the state into an adversarial legal proceeding in court with the claimant.” Instead, he said, the goal would be better and more quickly accomplished through an existing state board and commission that would review these cases. Rep Ricks says that he’ll reintroduce the bill on the first day of the 2021 legislative season and that Gov. Little has said he’ll work to get a bill passed.

Greg Hampikian, who founded the Idaho Innocence Project at Boise State University and now serves as co-director alongside Robin Long, helps in the exoneration of wrongly incarcerated people throughout the world. In recent history, they’ve freed people in Georgia, Montana, and New Mexico, and helped start Innocence Projects in Ireland and Armenia, often training people in Boise. Idaho cases are handled as the Idaho Innocence Project, and others as the Forensic Justice Project.

Hampikian says that Rep. Rick’s bill was good, noting that it involved a lot of hard work and consultation with legal professionals, prison administration, etc. “It was a legislative tour de force, and it was well negotiated,” he adds. Eventually, Hampikian would also like to see a plan in place that expunges or seals the vast assortment of records that accompany a conviction, even when it is overturned.

Because, while it may not seem like it, this is a significant issue in Idaho. The National Registry of Exonerations lists six people since 2001 to be exonerated, two based on DNA evidence. Most recently, Christopher Tapp, who spent 20 years in prison for a rape and murder he had no part in and could not be tied to with physical evidence.

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We’re getting done the critical things that we have to do.” -Greg Hampikian Instead, police coerced a confession that resulted in a conviction. Hampikian is the only Innocence Project director who also works as a forensic scientist with a lab, which allows him to accomplish things in his lab that may be hard to do in other places. His team, for example, supplied the last name lineage of the actual perpetrator in the Angie Dodge case in which Tapp was originally convicted.

Idaho’s Innocence Project was inspired by the exoneration of former Idaho inmate Charles Fain who was arrested for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Daralyn Johnson based on the resemblance of his hair to one found at the crime scene, which Hampikian says happened fairly often because investigators were trained to look for those kinds of things.

“This stuff isn’t total junk science--dental, shoe prints, hair-they all have a place. But they’ve all been abused. If we have a better tool, we should use it,” he says.

Hampikian explains that the best of identifying sciences rely on databases that allow evidence to be examined based on individual characteristics, which wasn’t possible with the hairs in this case. “There are people that have been convicted based on the fact that dogs sounded off when they sniff them,” he says. “Sometimes, just because the science is good, it doesn’t mean the application is correct.”

And Fain, who has yet to receive anything from the state of Idaho despite his 2001 exoneration, harbors no hard feelings, and has said he’d give any restitution to his family and exwife. Fain has said he always held out hope that he’d get out, never planning his last meal or last words. And, despite the

Forensic scientists Greg Hampikian and Janet Layne work in the lab at BSU on local cases and cases around the world.

testimony of jail informants promised plea agreements for accusing him of a graphic confession, eventually he did get out.

“Charles Fain is the most sanguine, cool headed, Christian dude I’ve ever known. He sees everything as a turning of God’s wheel. Nothing will shake him, and he doesn’t think that life owes him anything,” Hampikian says. “He was, at one point, two days from execution. Charles has been a real education for me about human character. He’s an amazing person.”

There are even more heartbreaking cases too, Hampikian explains--cases where things just don’t work out. “We’re always told that evidence has been lost or is contaminated.

We’ve found rape slides in prosecutor’s desks and evidence in the attic of retired police officers. If agencies are willing to work with us, it can be simple to test things. When they fight us, it can take years.” In Idaho though, he says, they’ve had a lot of cooperation.

Thankfully, there are successes too, and Hampikian says he’s had a few good cries when people are freed after years of work. He recalls phone calls from exhausted parents, and the joy of celebratory hugs when a family member is freed, often after 10 plus years of exhaustive work and travel. The real joy of his work, Hampikian says, is meeting people along the way--he’s in touch with both Fain and Tapp, whom he considers friends. And, while work is more difficult in a global pandemic, it isn’t impossible. “We’re getting done the critical things that we have to do,” he says. www.idahomemagazine.com

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BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST | PHOTOS COURTESY CITY OF BOISE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR.

This Is Not a Drill Mayor McLean’s Unprecedented First Months in Office

“Of course, nobody expected the pandemic that we’ve all experienced,” says Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, who has served as Boise’s mayor since only January. “And so it’s been important for our team to recognize, while balancing the needs of a transition of administration, the need to protect public health, and responding to the economic crisis, the need for agility and nimbleness--a willingness to be comfortable making decisions that nobody’s ever had to make before,” she says.

She and her team, which wasn’t even entirely assembled when the pandemic began, are certainly in uncharted territory, though they’ve been quick to respond to crisis. Through it all, she says, they’ve tried to remain focused on what they heard during the election--the need for affordable housing and economic opportunity. In fact, McLean recently announced proposals for $1.5 million of new projects aimed at pandemic recovery and clean energy.

McLean says that she believes that innovation will help solve what she calls “the unique challenges of our time”, which includes significant changes to Boise’s budget to include potential cuts from maintenance and operations as well as to the general fund. As part of pandemic relief, she’s proposing $100,000 for eviction programming, which would help ensure that Idahoans stay housed--more important than ever, given that so many of us are even working from home now.

Until recently, McLean was working from home full time too, facing the same challenges as everyone else, 26

www.idahomemagazine.com

which included coworking with her husband and helping her own children finish their years of college and high school--and all of that happening in the same space. To stay sane, they’re keeping active and maintaining positivity and connection with the community. McLean says that her husband is baking bread with a sourdough starter he made and is sharing, her son is mountain biking with her, and her daughter is making sweets and joining her for runs. Boise’s mayor is averaging about 40 miles per week right now, which she says is helping her to manage some of the stress. “As I was having to make really tough decisions, I started running a lot more, as many people did. If you have to quarantine or self-isolate, Boise is the place to be,” McLean laughs. “I’ve been reminded of how much I love this place.”

McLean, who is now recognized when she runs, even with a mask, says she’s getting better at recognizing other folks in masks too. On the trail, she says she’s had the chance for some impromptu and socially distanced meetings with her constituents, which she calls “a joy”. Known on the campaign trail for her desire to connect face to face, she’s making due now.

“I’ve found that we’ve had to come together as we’ve stayed apart in new ways. I’ve continued my listening sessions, but they’re virtual now. People can send questions in advance. My To manage stress, press huddles are 40 S E McLean gets in about 40 now weekly so that IL M miles of running a week.

I can update them

and answer questions. We hold council meetings through Zoom, and I’ve had a lot of interactions with different organizations and constituencies throughout the city through digital platforms. It’s not the same because you don’t get that same energy, but we’ve trained ourselves, quickly, to connect in different ways,” McLean says. She emphasizes that she’s still committed to putting leaders out there to hear from the public and stand accountable to their actions--it just looks a little different now.

Her commitment stems from the inspiration she finds amongst the community, which is filled with stories of sacrifice in the name of community good. She’s inspired by city staff and community leaders who have had to adapt quickly to so much change. “I’ve always believed that in Boise, the something that makes us so special is our connection to the place in which we live and the people we live with. And, while we’ve been separated from the people, it’s been really incredible to see the importance of that people connection and place connection come through. The efforts that citizens and business people and others have made to think about how we connect differently--I believe we’re stronger for it, more resilient because of it,” McLean says.

Though these circumstances are not ideal, McLean is learning a lot, and hopes to bring into the future the good parts of this--a more digitally accessible Boise City Hall, for example, as well as the relationships and partnerships she’s formed in the interest of informed decision making and action. “I’ve learned to speak honestly and openly with the public about what we know and what we wish we knew, and why we’re making the decisions we’re making, which will inform the way I continue to work with the public during the next couple years of my term,” McLean says. Although this has been a crash course like no other, McLean says that it has made space to reflect on the sacrifices of people within our community and our ability to look out for one another.

“I’m very honored to be where I am at this moment of time. I’ve learned to feel comfortable and confident making decisions that have to be made and to stay focused on our long term goals as a city, which is to create a community for everyone with a thriving economy,” McLean says. “I’m inspired by the community and humbled by the opportunity to work with the residents of this great city.”

And, while she describes stepping off the elevator and suddenly missing the hubbub and the noise that is, in most times, normal at Boise City Hall, McLean is committed to doing what it takes to make Boise safe. Her days look different right now. Instead of office hours, she sits before a computer most of the day, though she is in regular communication with council members, community leaders, businesses, and public health officials to find a path forward that balances safety, economy, community.

“I’m very honored to be where I am at this moment of time. I’ve learned to feel comfortable and confident making decisions that have to be made and to stay focused on our long term goals as a city, which is to create a community for everyone with a thriving economy.”

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean visits just opened businesses adhering to CDC Guidelines. www.idahomemagazine.com

27

MCCALL 路 DONNELLY 路 CASCADE 路 YELLOW PINE 路 NEW MEADOWS

LEARN ABOUT OUR REOPENING PLANS AT

PROTECTYOURMOUNTAINPLAYGROUND.COM We know this place holds a special place in a lot of hearts.

We need your help to protect the place and the people we all love.

MCCALL MOVING FORWARD: How They’re Speaking Fluent Face Mask

BY ALICE KLEIN

Though Idaho’s favorite mountain retreat won’t be hosting a fireworks show this July, they’re eager to get back to business, says McKenzie Kraemer, with the McCall Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau. “Our businesses have been amazing at adapting. It is really refreshing to see people think outside the box. It really is challenging, but people rose to the challenge. As we get back to business as usual, I think people are aware of the little things we used to take for granted like having a meal with family and live music--they’re approaching them with a little more gratitude,” she explains.

Kraemer says there are restaurants newly offering delivery, selling to-go cocktails, and even canning beer on the spot. She notes that people are taking the pandemic seriously--so seriously, in fact, that they’ve formed a sort of Valley County Covid-19 task force, which has representation from every city, city government, chamber, 30 www.idahomemagazine.com

county, local healthcare representatives, and even people from local businesses within the various communities-about 30 people in total. The workgroup contains representatives from McCall, Donnelly, Cascade, Yellow Pine, and, though technically in Adams County, New Meadows.

The group formed with the intent of gathering and sharing information and best practices during the stay at home order, though they’ve now shifted focus to reopening the area, which includes discussions of messaging around tourism, which sustains many of these cities. To ensure efficiency in moving forward, the larger group has subcommittees that focus on government (including state parks and education, as well as relevant issues like feeding school-aged children), business, marketing, and healthcare.

At each meeting, the committees report back and members are briefed by Central District Health.

The group is focused on making a safer Valley County, which requires the use of masks. Tom Reinhardt, CEO of Cascade Medical Center, says that people are now coming into the center with the expectation of wearing a mask, which they’re allowed to take home if they need for continued use in the community. “Our bottom line is, if you’re opening, follow all the recommended guidelines.

We’re not here to judge you, but we’re here to help you,” he says.

The iconic McCall bears are safe with masks! Photo

by Samantha Sais Photography Chairs line Payette Lake at Shore Lodge.

Photo by Visit Idaho

Dr. Irvin, who has spoken to the force on multiple occasions, emphasizes the importance of wearing a mask to give a “fighting chance of at least reducing the risk that we’re going to end up with community spread, which we’re trying hard to avoid”. He explains that, through St. Luke’s Adaptive Recovery Collaborative, there will be additional guidance regarding testing and contact tracing, as well as safe returns to work. His recommendations include outdoor dining when possible, masked staff, and appropriate social distancing.

The group says they’ve been sharing a lot of information with Teton Valley, Jackson Hole, Ketchum, and the Wood River Valley, which has been helpful in navigating the specific challenges of opening for tourism amidst a pandemic.

Though they’re all busy doing their day jobs, the taskforce has helped bring mental health care events to fruition, organized discussions for business owners and citizens wondering what their rights are when people question mask policy or other safety protocols, and coordinated resources to help local business. They’re even discussing the possibility of a statewide public service announcement.

Right now, the city of McCall is also looking into the possibility of setting up hand washing stations

around downtown like you might see outside at a concert to encourage more frequent handwashing. To enforce their new messaging, they’re putting up signs with their new marketing message--PROTECT YOUR MOUNTAIN PLAYGROUND. The taskforce strives to offer a consistent message, and emphasizes that, while masks are the new normal, it’s because they want to continue to share the area with the rest of Idaho.

The group hopes they can move the needle, just a bit, even though it can sometimes be discouraging when guests arrive at the Shore Lodge sans mask, gather in large groups, or otherwise threaten public safety. Still, they explain that, even if they prevent five or ten people from suffering the effects of Covid-19, it makes a difference.

“We don’t want people to come up here thinking that it’s business as usual, because that’s not the case. We’re open and welcome, but it’s just going to look a little bit different. We want to make sure people’s experience is a positive one, but safe for them and for our residents,” Kraemer says.

Sharing information to keep McCall healthy is the purpose of Valley County Covid-19 task force www.idahomemagazine.com

31

Camping During COVID: A New Twist on an Old Adventure

Look, we all get it.

After two months of hiding indoors most everybody is seeking relief in the great outdoors as we navigate the New Abnormal. One of the ironies of our COVID-19 cabin fever is we want to escape home, perhaps venturing to . . . a cabin.

And that works, as long as the cabin’s walls are different from the ones staring back at us for the past two months. But a tent or an RV also provide the needed escape from ennui.

As with everything these days, please know that some things have changed since you were last able to move about freely and flexibility will be needed.

“I don’t want to build this expectation that this is a sanitized environment that (visitors) are coming into,” said Theresa Perry, manager of Lake Cascade State Park. “We’re going to try to make it as normal as we can, but it’s still going to be a little different.”

PHOTOS AND ARTICLE BY IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION

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www.idahomemagazine.com

SO, RULE NO. 1: Hand washing remains a priority, even though you’ve come into the outdoors, where truthfully most of the dirt is.

The person who had the campsite, bench or table before you can leave virus behind.

“People put their hands on things, and that’s how they experience the park,” Perry said.

But that makes the park tactile, not scary. Wise campers will bring cleaning supplies and wipe down surfaces likely to have been touched.

“Bring your own sanitizer and wash your hands,” Perry advises. “If people do that, we’ll be OK.” RULE NO. 2: Beyond hand washing and general sanitizing, people need to mind their spacing from those who are not immediate family or housemates. Idaho may be more open than a few weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean the now-common sense practices have lost their urgency or effectiveness.

At boat launches, give others extra breathing room to get boats into or out of the water. On the trail, stay six feet away from others, enjoying the space separately in somewhat-close proximity. A smile and words easily cover the distance in between.

RECREATE RESPONSIBLY IDAHO,

a partnership of Idaho and federal resource agencies, encourages people to enjoy the outdoors but to do so in a smart way.

Recommendations include: Stay home if you’re sick to prevent putting yourself or others at risk.

Check before traveling to a campground, a forest or a fishing hole if you decide to go someplace.

Some places are not open or have restrictions.

Spread out – if a trailhead or boat launch in congested, find another place or come back during off-peak times.

Bring adequate supplies (water, food hand sanitizer, toilet paper) to be self-sufficient, ensuring you have a good time and avoiding unnecessary contact with others.

Perry, the park manager, hopes the shared experience ushers in an era where people look out more for one another.

“It’s different but the same,” she said. “It’s like at the store when you tell somebody else to ‘go first.’ We’ll get through this together.”

“We’ll get through this together.” www.idahomemagazine.com

33

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A (Back) Pack of One’s Own

BY KAREN DAY

For some people, bungee jumping or scuba diving in shark-infested waters is a day at the office. For others, dancing in public defines their greatest fear. But for most who have endured the recent months of isolation, solo backpacking in the wilderness simply sounds like a lot of heavy lifting only to end up in another place we can’t be with friends. Without cell reception. And with bears. So why bother?

Photo by Paul Gilmore

Be prepared.

If you’ve read the plethora of bestselling memoirs on solo wilderness adventure, finding your inner strength and losing a limb seem to be common occurrences. And in real life and statistics, every backpacker faces real dangers. Freak storms, summer avalanches, getting lost or injured are predictable risks, even when not alone. However, there are also precautions and plans that reduce the odds of mishap for a group or a single, determined soul.

Before you buy your first trail guide, realize, your most important tool is your brain. “Be Prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” someone asked Baden-Powell, an English soldier in 1907, as the Great War loomed.

“Why, for any old thing,” he replied. The Boy Scouts of America were founded on his motto in 1910. One hundred and ten years should be enough to prove good advice.

Here are the other life-saving requirements.

1. Study your maps. Determine your route beforehand.

Know your bailout points if needed.

2. Carry a GPS responder device. It’s difficult to spell SOS in a surprise snowstorm if your leg is broken.

3. Bring medical gear. Band-aids work well for blisters but will help altitude sickness.

4. Know your equipment before you go. Set up your tent and rain fly. What temps can your sleeping bag withstand? Waterproof matches? How does your water purifier operate?

5. Pack and carry your backpack for an hour with whatever you intend to carry in. Climb the stairs at home 10 times. If you’re exhausted, choose a beach trip.

6. Apply for a wilderness permit with a documented route. Share it with (sober) friends. Sign your name and date at the trailhead book and post an Instagram goodbye with photo of your vehicle. Don’t diverge from the trail!

7. Remember: Risk is not gender-specific in the wilderness. Neither is stupidity. Women and men alike can backpack safely alone with the right mind and equipment. However, according to emergency search and rescue statistics, 80 percent of searches are initiated by males and 12 percent don’t make it out alive, compared to 9 percent of women. Note to male self, do not pick up rattlesnake.

8. If you get lost or injured-STOP AND THINK! Don’t try to travel more than a short distance in any direction. If you have followed the rules, a search will be initiated

where you were last seen. Send an emergency signal.

Seek shelter. Drink water, slowly. Keep calm. Help will be on its way- eventually. Your job is to take care of yourself until it arrives.

Common sense aside, let’s deal with the biggest obstacle of all. Fear. It arrives in all kinds or disguises even before you set one lonely foot on the trail.

There will be so many easy excuses to cancel. And yet, there is one amazing reason to keep going it alone.

Just to remind yourself, if you can make it alone in the wilderness you can surely survive this scary, unpredictable world. Besides, imagine how badass your adventure will sound when you finally get to sit down with your friends!

And if fear or laziness wins, there’s always solo car camping.

Photo by Tommy Lisbin

“I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back.

And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it.” –CHERYL STRAYED, WILD www.idahomemagazine.com

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treasure valley update

Real Estate Now

BY ANNIE EXLINE, BOISE REGIONAL REALTORS

Home sales in the Treasure Valley dipped in April 2020, as REALTORS® and consumers heeded Idaho’s stay-home order for any non-essential transactions. In Ada County, there were 761 home sales in April, down by 19.5% compared to the same month last year.

Michelle Bailey, BRR’s president, had the following explanation: “We’ve heard from many of our REALTOR® members that clients who didn’t have to buy or sell immediately were able to ‘press pause’ for a bit, limiting unnecessary in-person interactions as the order had intended. However, keeping real estate essential during this time ensured that transactions in progress were able to close, avoiding potential financial hardships for many families.”

Pressing pause in a competitive housing market like the Treasure Valley’s can be a challenge. Annie Pechota, REALTOR® with Keller Williams, had six pending listings and multiple listings getting ready to hit the market when Governor Little’s stay-home order was put in place.

“I was worried about how COVID-19 might affect my pending listings but luckily, only one of the six fell apart during the shutdown,” said Pechota. “I did have a couple of sellers decide to hold off on listing their house during the stay-at-home order, not because they were worried about buyers coming into their home, but because they were concerned about finding a home to move in to.”

BRR President Michelle Bailey says that realtors are finding their way through these uncertain times.

Once the order took effect, Pechota said that she had to get creative when it came to meeting with potential clients, showing homes, and keeping her business moving during this time of social distancing. She would bring masks and hand sanitizer to showings and would email clients to make sure they weren’t experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms prior to showing listed homes.

Even though this hasn’t been a typical spring buying or selling season, REALTORS® expect sales to rebound over the coming months as the state moves through its phased re-opening plan and people restart the home search or sales process.

“All of these people who were excited to come to Idaho from out of state are now feeling more free to do so,” noted Pechota. “The pandemic was almost an incentive for them to make this change sooner rather than later.”

If you are considering a move, expertise is more important now than ever before. Trust a REALTOR® to provide you with personalized service and expert, local knowledge.

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Photo by Tierra Mallorca

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BY MOLLY KAFKA, ATTORNEY, IDAHO COALITION AGAINST SEXUAL & DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

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ith more and more people experiencing unemployment, food and housing insecurities as a result of COVID-19, risks for domestic and sexual violence are likely to be on the rise.

For people living in a home where violence or abuse occur, sheltering-in-place can increase exposure to the person engaging in harmful behaviors and can limit social interaction and the ability to seek help in typical ways.

Anti-violence advocates anticipate that reports of domestic and sexual violence will increase as stay-at-home orders end because it will finally be safer to ask for help. This pandemic highlights the need to build relationships to support each other during in and out of times of crisis.

Whether in or outside the midst of a global pandemic, the supports survivors of sexual and domestic need vary. Certainly, some survivors will seek accountability through the criminal legal system. However, the vast majority of people who sexually assault someone will not be prosecuted or go to prison.[1] Even if a person is criminally prosecuted and sentenced to a term of years in prison, they will return to the community. Because of this, communities must learn the myriad of ways to support survivors in their healing and seeking accountability for the harm they experience, regardless of whether the harm doer is criminally charged.

Ending sexual and domestic violence begins and ends with the community, on both individual and collective levels. We must begin interrupting behaviors that lead to physical violence; the harm has already occurred if we only begin paying attention to harmful behaviors once domestic or sexual violence has occurred. For example, intervening when a stranger catcalls a woman on the street is helpful, but imagine the possibilities of interrupting harmful 40

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behaviors with the people we personally know—the people who care about our opinions of them. This requires connecting with one another and talking about what behaviors are harmful. When adults do this, we teach our children that they can talk about harmful behaviors they experience or observe, as well.

In Idaho, 14.9% of high school students were forced to do sexual things they did not want to do by someone they were dating within a 12-month period.[2] The national average was 6.9%.[3] We in Idaho cannot ignore this.

Young people learn to do violence. Committing to end violence is a commitment to being transparent about how our actions as adults influence the young people in our lives. Shifting the typical response to harm from punitive to that of an opportunity to change behaviors and support the healing of the survivor requires all of us.

We can do this together. And when we need support, Idaho’s community and tribal domestic and sexual violence organizations continue to meet this moment of uncertainty with community connection, care and the ongoing provision of essential services, such as emergency housing, safety planning, and support. Our collective thriving is possible when we honor each other’s full humanity.

Let us thrive together.

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ENDING SEXUAL AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BEGINS AND ENDS WITH THE COMMUNITY, ON BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE LEVELS.

[1] RAINN https://www.rainn.org/statistics/ criminal-justice-system.

[2] Idaho State Department of Education, “Idaho Youth Risk Behavior Survey: A Healthy Look at Idaho Youth” at 47, https://www.sde.idaho.gov/ student-engagement/school-health/files/youth/Youth-Risk-Behavior-SurveyResults-2019.pdf.

Avimor, Chapter 1

In Avimor, there are homes suited for every stage of your life, and, as your life changes, there will always be the perfect size home in Avimor for you. You’ll never even change your zip code, which is fortunate since you’ll never want to leave. With houses beginning in the mid $200,000s and ranging as far as your imagination will allow, this premier lifestyle community offers everything you like about city life, while maintaining that small town feel. Nestled in the Boise Foothills and just eight minutes from downtown Eagle, Avimor is more hamlets and villages connected by trails than it is traditional housing development.

Here, we’ll give you a reason to go out your front door. From the heated indoor and outdoor pools to the clubs, classes, and sports fields to over 100 miles of trails, you’ll enjoy the community atmosphere created when people love where they live. No matter your passion, you’ll find an outlet for it here among the intergenerational families that call this place home. Stop by the locally owned convenience store or try our new brewery run by Avimor’s very first resident-living here is a family affair.

Plus, we’re committed to smart, sustainable growth--like the McLeods have who have owned and managed the land for over 100 years, we care about the wide open spaces that make Idaho unique, and, even at completion, will have 70% open space for Idahoans to enjoy. While you’re watching elk graze or any one of the 160 species of birds that live here too dart across the wide open sky, know that we’re actively conserving land, energy, and water to create a community that withstands the test of time.

Located North on Highway 55 a Mile Above Shadow Valley Golf Course Model Homes Open Daily 10 am - 5 pm 208-939-5360 • www.avimor.com Marketed by Epic Realty LLC • RCE 35084 Advertisement

Happy Trails to You

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TODAY Located North on Highway 55 a Mile Above Shadow Valley Golf Course Model Homes Open Daily 10 am - 5 pm • 208-939-5360 • www.avimor.com Marketed by Epic Realty LLC • RCE 35084