Primary Health to build Cherry Lane clinic
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AN EDITION OF THE IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE // MYMERIDIANPRESS.COM // 03.18.16
Mad about
Money
Mad City Money helps teens think about budgeting
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By Holly Beech • hbeech@mymeridianpress.com
e wants a motorcycle. She wants to put the money in savings. That’s just one scenario students faced Monday night at Mad City Money, an event that simulates adulthood for teens so they can make true-to-life spending choices on things like going out to eat or cooking dinner, buying a new car or settling for a used one. They also have to choose what type of housing, clothing and fun stuff they can afford while also raising a child and paying off student loan or credit card debt. “It’s more difficult than it looks, the decisions. You have to make to make sure you can afford everything,” Erina Fuhriman, a freshman at Renaissance High School said. Her game partner, Rocky Mountain High School sophomore Courtney Butterworth, said Fuhriman’s expensive taste was straining their budget. “I’ve threatened to divorce her like four times now,” Butterworth joked. “I’m not the spender, I just need more,” Fuhriman contended. She needed a new truck for her job as a carpenter, she said. That new truck came with expenses of $585 a month, compared with Butterworth’s used car expenses of $205 a month. Volunteer Kathy Chambers chuckled at the debate. She’s helped with Mad City Money for the last five years. Only one team had to return its car purchase this year — a luxury car that they had to trade in for a bus pass in order to pay off debt, she said. Mad City Money is a curriculum from the Credit Union National Association that’s used nationwide to build budgeting skills in teenagers and to help them start thinking about life decisions and expenses they’ll face in just one to four years as adults. CadEd Credit Union helped lead the event Monday with the Meridian Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council at Forward Movement Training in Meridian. About 50 local high school students attended. “The concept is awesome,” Forward Movement Training owner Matt Schneider said. The facility has a mock house and credit union that’s typically used for safety training, but in this case worked well to help the budgeting simulation come to life. “This is an actual area that these kids can take and better themselves for eventual adulthood and decisions they’ll have to make,” Scheinder said. “It’s very valuable. I wish I would have had this when I was a kid.” Students said Mad City Money made them think about — and appreciate — everyday expenses that their parents cover, such as the Internet bill and gas. “It was a wonderful experience,” Rocky Mountain senior Drake Heithoff, chair of MYAC, said. “It made me realize that if you want nicer things, you’re going to have to work harder for it, because it’s not just going to come to you.” After calculating daycare expenses and formula costs, Bishop Kelly High School freshman Carson Curtis said his monthly income, which seemed like a lot at first, didn’t stretch as far as he expected. Andy Hobson, a parent who was volunteering at the childcare booth, said students’ eyes got big when they saw that daycare would cost them $800 a month; but having that startling realization now rather than latHolly Beech/MP er is good for them.
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Brianna Siddoway figures out a food budget with volunteer Wendy Krumm at Mad City Money in Meridian on Monday.
Please see Money, page 10
LOCAL
ELECTIO N 2016
A place to relive childhood memories could be coming to Meridian, as a local couple is planning to build the city’s first rollerskating rink in recent memory.
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Holly Beech/MP
CapEd’s Lisa Hamilton helps students crunch budget numbers at Mad City Money in Meridian on Monday.
ON THE TOWN Love the soothing voice and easy melodies of James Taylor? Don’t miss his stop in Boise this summer.
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ELECTIONS
CITY
The candidate filing period for state, county and congressional elections has ended. Find out who is seeking to represent you.
An annual audit of the city of Meridian’s finances shows a clean report with increased savings and revenue.
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Voters recall trustees Dean, Sayles Page 3 $1.00
AN EDITION OF THE IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE // MYMERIDIANPRESS.COM // 05.20.16
MP file & submitted photos
School. After her 0s in Meridian’s Pine Streetng and led historic 195 the in de gra d on sec t e the old buildi Betty Kusler taugh career, Kusler helped restor more than 30-year teachingsler, of Meridian, died May 2 at the age of 97. tours for young students. Ku
Cherished teacher
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Betty Kusler dies at age 97 • Read more about her on page 9
ELECTIONS Results and reactions from Tuesday’s primary election
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LOCAL Matt Damon is making a stop in Meridian, and you just might get to meet him.
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LOCAL
ON THE TOWN
The city of Meridian will get a new $500,000 sewer cleaning truck this year after all.
Local teens will create chalk illustrations Saturday depicting Our Gender Revolution poems.
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Crowds cheer and jeer Damon’s visit
AN EDITION OF THE IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE // MYMERIDIANPRESS.COM // 07.22.16
‘THE TOUGHEST SPORT OUT THERE’ Ben Buckels goes from football player to Boise State cheerleader
Otto Kitsinger/For the MP
Former Cole Valley Christian football player Ben Buckels has tried his hand — and excelled — at a new sport: cheerleading. The incoming Boise State University freshman is one of just five males on the cheer squad.
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his time last year Ben Buckels was participating in summer drills for the Cole Valley Christian football team. While he is still partaking in drills this summer, they are of a dissimilar variety, and for a different sport entirely. One that many, including himself, wouldn’t have ever expected — cheerleading. “I never thought to get involved,” Buckels said. “I never had any friends on the cheer team. All my friends were on the baseball and football teams.”
by Brandon Walton
bwalton@idahopress.com © 2016 MERIDIAN PRESS
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After graduating in May, Buckels was contemplating what he should do next. He knew he was going to attend Boise State University, a school he had fallen in love with since he moved from Glendale, California, five years ago, but he didn’t know what he was going to do there. Buckels wanted to be more than just a student. He wanted to be involved in an activity to fully ingrain himself at Boise State. And with football out of the question, because, by his own admission, he wasn’t good enough to play for the Broncos, he needed something else. While sitting down and discussing his options with his parents, the idea of him going out for the cheerleading team came to light. “It was a suggestion my mom made,” Buckels said. “I had always been really involved in pep rallies in high school and stuff. My friends and I would put on funny costumes to get the crowd going. We went to all the games and would start the chants and stuff. My mom told me I was pretty good at that and that I should try that.” With the decision made, Buckels sent an email to Tobruk Blaine, the coach and program director for the Boise State spirit squad, to see what it took to become a member of the team. Blaine informed him of two voluntary camps for prospective members to
Buckels
attend before the actual tryouts themselves. Having never done cheerleading a day in his life and not knowing what a simple back tuck was, Buckels attended both camps, which turned out to be an interesting experience. “They would call me over and tell me to do such and such, and because I didn’t know any of the terms or anything, I would be like, I don’t know what that is,” Buckels laughed. “They would have to show me what to do and I would do it.” Now armed with an idea of what he needed to do to make the team, Buckels attended the tryouts, which took place April 29 through May 1. As each day passed, to his surprise, Buckels’ name kept making the list of people who were invited back the next day, until the final day, when he learned after three grueling days of tryouts that his goal had actually come true. “I was shocked,” Buckels said. “I couldn’t believe starting this a month and a half ago that I made the team. I was super relieved too.” With the news he had made the team, Buckels went about telling all his family and friends of his achievement.
Please see Buckels, page 12
TRENDING Are you one of many obsessed with Pokemon Go? Two Meridian men explain why the new game is so appealing
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page 2 LOCAL Former Treasure Valley Y leader Jim Everett has a new leadership role: head swim coach at The College of Idaho
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LOCAL
LOCAL
A Meridian insurance agent named a Hometown Hero after rescuing a 6-year-old from a swimming pool
With a newly added Moroni statue, the exterior of the new Meridian LDS temple is largely complete
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