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hanks to a number of large commercial projects, the project value for building permits filed with the city of Nampa this year has reached about $100.8 million so far, nearly double what it was at this time last year. The total for all of 2013 was $101.3 million, according to permit reports from the city’s building department. From January through July 2013, the value was about $55 million. Nampa Mayor Bob Henry said the rise in permit values is encouraging. “It’s a sure sign that the economy is turning

Building permit project values in Nampa n

around here in Canyon County, specifically in Nampa,” he said. “… If we can continue to see the positive growth, especially in the commercial building permits and higher valued homes, and we continue to control city spending, we will see a substantial drop in the city’s levy rate.” March and May of this year saw the biggest project values, totaling $30.8 million and $25.1 million respectively. In March, permits were filed for the new Ridgevue High School, a $20.6 million project.

$30.8M March 2014

$25.1M May 2014

$13M April 2014

$8.8M Jan. 2014

$7.8M March 2013 $6.6M Feb. 2014

complete. The bill for all of that was paid by local donors, including Academy alumni. “We raised a total of $8,000 just in the matter of about a month’s time,” Morse said. On top of elementary school growth, Morse said the school’s preschool also has experienced a sharp upward trend. Two years ago, there were three students enrolled in the program, and this year it was maxed out at 38.

Please see Greenleaf, A15

Please see Murders, A17

$9.9M June 2014

$10.2M April 2013

$12M July 2013

$8M June 2013

$7.8M May 2013

$5M Feb. 2013

$4.6M July 2014 (through July 18)

$2.8M Jan. 2013

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GREENLEAF — Greenleaf Friends Academy may be a small, faith-based private school of about 200 students, but it has experienced enough growth that it’s adding another elementary school classroom that will open this fall. Parma School District donat Deaths Callentano Arce Larry Badger Bob Tierney C M Y K

Retired Nampa detective reflects on 1980s murders

NAMPA — Retired police detective Victor Rodriguez has boxes full of memories in his Nampa home. Not all Victor of them are happy. Rodriguez Among them is a box of memories from his time as a Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office detective in the 1980s, when he pursued — and eventually caught — serial killer Paul Ezra Rhoades. Rhoades was ultimately convicted of three murders in eastern Idaho, for which he paid the ultimate penalty in November 2011. But, Rodriguez said, Rhoades is believed to be responsible for several more in Salt Lake City, Pinedale, Wyoming, and a small community in Colorado. It’s a story that terrified southeastern Idaho for three weeks in 1987, and it may soon reach a larger audience for the first time. M2 Pictures, a production company that creates documentary films for several popular cable channels, is bringing the case to life via a combination of re-enactments and on-camera interviews with those who lived through it. Rodriguez recently returned to Idaho Falls to film his interview portion. The re-enactments, he said, will soon begin filming in Alaska, where the weather will better approximate the winter of 1987. M2 Pictures offered him a chance to travel to the Land of the Midnight Sun and portray himself in the film, but he declined. It’ll be several months before the documentary is ready for the general public. But for Rodriguez, it’s already brought back memories of one of his most remarkable cases. “The whole community of Idaho Falls was turned upside down, and one of the reasons why is because it’s a fairly clean town,” he recalled. “It’s a good town; it’s a religious town. They never had any terrible, terrible crimes occur.”

SOURCE: Graph data from city of Nampa

kmoseley@idahopress.com

Please see Peterson, A15

jfunk@idahopress.com

2014 year-to-date total: $100.8M Residential total: $30.9M

By KELCIE MOSELEY

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TWIN FALLS — A judge ruled Tuesday that the chairman of the Idaho Republican Party, who sued to maintain control of a divided state GOP, is no longer in charge because his term ended a month ago. Barry Peterson’s two-year term expired when the chaotic state GOP convention adjourned earlier this year without electing a new leader, Fifth District Judge Randy Stoker said.

By JOHN FUNK

2014

School adds classroom, eyes infant care program this fall

Ruling: Former GOP leader’s term ended a month ago; Peterson argued that he was led to believe he was being retained for 2 more years

Victor Rodriguez tells documentary crew about hunt for eastern Idaho serial killer Paul Ezra Rhoades

2013

January through July total: $55M Residential total: $28.2M 2013 total: $101.3M n

Please see Building, A17

Judge: Peterson no longer Republican chairman

ed a portable building to the K-12 academy for its use, after using the building as a place for storage for the past three years. Jim Norton, superintendent of Parma schools, said it used to be an elementary school music room. “(The board of trustees) declared it as surplus quite a while ago, and we’d been advertising to sell it,” Norton said. “We wouldn’t get any takers just because of the cost of moving it.” When Greenleaf contacted the district about acquiring the

Peter Carrell Michael Garner Hazel Gratz Viola Hunt

Jerry Inwards Paul Moore Helen Murphy Floyd Persinger

building in May, Parma agreed to donate it if it paid for the cost of moving it. The modular building is now part of the academy’s elementary campus and will be ready for use as soon as the electrical service is set up and stairs up to the building are complete. Ellen Morse, director of advancement for the academy, said the cost of moving the building and getting it set up was about $6,000, but the total amount will be higher once everything is

Dorothy Robertson  Obituaries, A7 Bill Waller Gertrude Ward Eian Wintz

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