Still Standing with Bowe?

Friday

• March 27, 2015

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Still Standing with Bowe?

Hush falls over Hailey after Bergdahl charged.

TETONA DUNLAP tdunlap@magicvalley.com‌

‌H AILEY • Ken Heuring remembers when every tree and light pole along Main Street bore a yellow ribbon.

“Bring Bowe Home,” read the big storefront signs.‌ Each bow and banner was another reminder that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey was still being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

As Heuring walked downtown Thursday afternoon, he noticed something he hadn’t for awhile.

“I didn’t even notice the yellow ribbons were gone,” he said.

Bergdahl was charged Wednesday with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, alleged crimes that could land him in prison the rest of his

TETONA DUNLAP, TIMES-NEWS‌

life. Once welcomed home as a hero, Bergdahl has suddenly become a much more complicated character in this small resort town. Residents are struggling to reconcile the bike-riding youngster they grew up seeing in high school plays with the man some are now calling a traitor on national television.

“Is there any real justification for walking off post?

From the military perspective, very little. It’s looking bad for him,” said Hoby Sparks, whose

Teacher Pay Passes Senate, Transportation Still Up In The Air NATHAN BROWN nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌B OISE • The “career ladder” teacher pay plan unanimously cleared the state Senate unanimously and headed to Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s desk.‌ Otter is expected to sign the pay plan.

Now that this bill has passed both chambers, the Joint Finance-Appropriation Committee plans to set the public schools budget on Friday, which would clear the way for lawmakers to approve it early next week. This and transportation funding — two transportation bills cleared

committee Thursday, with another important hearing expected Friday morning — are the two major pieces of business lawmakers still want to finish before adjourning for the year.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, read off statistics that show the number of certified teachers is dropping, while the number of students is increasing, and many districts are having trouble filling jobs.

The pay plan would cost an additional estimated $125 million over the next Please see PASSES, A5

‘Tetona’s Desk Concerts’ Spotlights Jordan Thornquest; see the video on Magicvalley. com at 10 a.m. today.

IF YOU DO ONE THING TODAY . . .

If You Do One Thing: Magic Valley Arts Council’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, “Historic Preservation Downtown” with Nancy Taylor, noon at Twin Falls Center for the Arts, 195 River Vista Place.

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Idaho Gaining Popularity with Retirees ERIC GOODELL egoodell@magicvalley. com‌

‌ WIN FALLS • Six T years ago, Robin Burt and her husband moved to southern Idaho from California to retire. Spending much of the time in a fifth-wheel trailer, they took in the Gem State’s scenic views for about 1½ years. Then her husband died.‌ Burt, of Kimberly, had not yet sold her home in central California, and friends there expected her to move back. But she had other plans.

“There was absolutely no way I was going to go back to central California,” she said.

She loves Idaho.

She lives close to a trail where she walks her dog. She enjoys friends at the Ageless Senior Center in Kimberly, where she

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Sue Martin, owner of Zaney’s coffee shop, (facing) hugs Jane Drussel after it was announced that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had been released from captivity Saturday, May 31, at Zaney’s in Hailey, Idaho.

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sat Wednesday while scrapbooking about last year’s trip to Idaho City.

Idaho is increasingly gaining attention as a top spot for retirees. Earlier this m o n t h , B a n k ra te placed Idaho at No. 4 on a list ranking all 50 states, up from last year’s No 8. Idaho has also ranked high in AARP surveys.

Bankrate, a consumer financial services company based in Florida, measured cost of living, crime rate, health care quality, state and local tax burden, personal well-being for seniors and weather.

Some people might dispute some of the the findings. Idaho is ranked as having the seventh-best weather in the nation, while Hawaii is No. 32. But Bankrate says the Please see IDAHO, A5

ERIC GOODELL, TIMES-NEWS‌

Patsy Atkin works on crafts Wednesday at the Ageless Senior Center in Kimberly. She lived in California previously.

Top 10

Consumer financial services company Bankrate recently released its 2015 list of best states to retire. The top 10 were: 1. Wyoming 6. Iowa 2. Colorado 7. Montana 3. Utah 8. South Dakota 4. Idaho 9. Arizona 5. Virginia 10. Nebraska

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family attends church with several of Bergdahl’s relatives.

“I’m still glad he came home.

There’s a lot of conflict. A lot of patriotic conflict and it’s like, How happy should I be?”

Employees at the stores that once proudly displayed supportive posters are reluctant to speak about Bergdahl. Several city residents on Thursday didn’t want to be quoted by name.

Two woman leaving from lunch at Shorty’s Diner in downtown Hailey said people and businesses got harassing phone calls and visitors after Bergdahl’s release. One of the women called the situation scary in a town where she usually feels safe.

The other woman said she has known the Bergdahl family

Friday, March 27, 2015 • A5

Anti-Bullying Bill Sent to Idaho Senate NATHAN BROWN nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌B OISE • Jayleen Lovell said she saw bullying all the time in Twin Falls.‌ She said that she has b e e n b u l l i e d h e rse l f, although her experiences weren’t as bad as some of her peers. When she complained to school officials, though, she didn’t get much of a response.

“It was just excuses,” she said.

When she was a junior at Canyon Ridge High School in Twin Falls, she started

a Facebook page, “’Stop the Bull’ Putting a Stop to Bullying.”

“She’s been trying to empower other kids,” said Joyia Lovell, her mother.

Now a senior, Lovell was one of the people who packed the Senate Education Committee hearing room Thursday to urge the committee to approve a bill to increase anti-bullying training in Idaho’s schools and to require school staff to intervene when bullying occurs. The committee backed the bill unanimously, sending it

on to the full Senate. It has already passed the House.

Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, who first put the bill forward, was inspired to do so after hearing the story of Ryan Zicha, a Pocatello teen who was bullied for being gay and killed himself at 19. Idaho has consistently had one of the highest suicide rates in the United States, both overall and for students, and the bill’s supporters say bullying is a major factor. Idaho has a state law making bullying an infraction, but no requirements

for districts on training or prevention. Rubel said her bill leaves more up to the school districts than many states’ policies.

“This bill ... addresses a very real problem in a very practical way,” she said.

Lovell said she has gotten many messages from fellow students who are being bullied since starting her page. She said she has helped some of them to stop cutting themselves and even convinced one girl who was considering suicide to go to a counselor.

Sen. Jim Patrick, R-Twin

Falls – who is also Jayleen Lovell’s grandfather – asked her how she helps students who are being cyberbullied.

“When I was in school, we just went out back and fought it out,” he said.

“And now, with social media, we don’t have that opportunity. So how do you fight against bullying with social media?”

S h e sa i d s h e u rge s them to unplug from social media for a day or so, delete people who are harassing them and talk to their parents.

Cyberbullying has come up often in the debate over the bill. A number of people who have been targeted by text message, on Facebook or on other social media have testified at the hearings. Unlike traditional forms of harassment, the bill’s supporters say this is one the victims can’t escape from when they go home.

“Those hurtful words can go viral and they’re permanent,” said Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise. “We can’t take them back.”

Feds: Monsanto Released Dangerous Chemicals at Idaho Plant KEITH RIDLER Associated Press‌

‌BOISE • Monsanto Corporation has agreed to pay $600,000 in fines for hundreds of uncontrolled releases of dangerous chemicals at its phosphate plant in eastern Idaho.‌

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice announced the agreement Thursday involving the company’s facilities in Soda Springs.

Federal officials say the chemicals released are hazardous and can pose serious

health risks to workers and the community.

Federal officials say the releases occurred between 2006 and 2009, with the plant emitting hydrogen cyanide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury.

Companies are required to report such releases

immediately.

The Soda Springs facilities are operated by P4 Production LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monsanto.

The company in a statement says it cares deeply about public health and is committed to complying with applicable laws.

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Idaho Continued from A1

variables it examined are qualities desired by seniors looking for a successful retirement.

Idaho has a lot to offer retirees, said Shawna Wasko of the Twin Falls Office on Aging. She thinks she knows one of the big reasons.

It was in the 1980s when she moved near the Washington coast, where she was met with scowls when she tried to strike up conversations with strangers, such as when waiting in the grocery store checkout line.

“People looked at me like I was crazy,” she said.

Contrast that with Idaho, “Where you can make best friends while waiting in the checkout line,” she said.

“We have rural areas,” Wasko said, but that can be a good thing because many people “are just too tired of the rush.”

She has lived in other heavily populated, hustle-andbustle states, and said she sees the difference.

That is one reason Bankrate said many of the densely populated areas didn’t rank high.

For example, California ranked No. 31 and New York No. 49. Wyoming, Colorado and Utah were in the top three.

Many seniors are seeking a safe place to live, and Idaho provides that, Wasko said.

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A sticker supporting Bowe Bergdahl remains on a hand-rail in Hailey.

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ERIC GOODELL, TIMES-NEWS‌

Robin Burt works on her scrapbook Wednesday at the Ageless Senior Center in Kimberly. She moved to Idaho to retire about six years ago.

Kimberly senior Patsy Atkin said she has also found a home in Idaho when she moved here years ago.

A former Californian, she misses the warm weather, but also enjoys the snowfall in Idaho.

Many Californians seem to enjoy Idaho as a retirement, Wasko said. She has heard plenty of stories about Californians selling their homes and with that bundle of cash purchasing a large home in Idaho with money left over to help with retirement.

Burt said a cluster of houses belonging to former Californians is growing on her street.

Idaho retirees also have a place they can

Passes

Continued from A1

five years.

“Many have asked, ‘Can we afford this?’” Mortimer said. “My response is, ‘Can we afford not to?’”

According to a recent National Education Association study, Idaho is ahead of only Mississippi and South Dakota in teacher pay. Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said the new plan will give districts a necessary recruiting tool.

“This is not a perfect bill, but it is a darned good bill and it is a good step forward,” Cameron said. “And I think it is a hallmark that you can go home and you can look your teachers in the eye and tell them that you improved education.”

Cameron said there is more work to be done, but “this is the pathway forward, and this is the start that allows us to move forward in the future.”

Otter asked for a 7 percent, or $101 million, increase in education

turn to for support, Wasko said. The services of Magic Valley senior centers — all 15 of them in eight counties — provide good care for retirees, she said.

“From Hailey to Oakley and Hagerman, the services they provide are wonderful,” she said. “They provide a great place to volunteer, take computer classes, ge t a g rea t m ea l and exercise.”

As for Burt, “When we set out for Idaho it was going to be me and my husband,” she said. With the death of her husband, she doesn’t have relatives living here.

But, she said, Idaho is still home.

funding for 2015-2016, with teacher pay and perclass discretionary funding comprising a major chunk of the jump. Reps. John Gannon and Phylis King, D-Boise, who are on JFAC, have said they want to present another school budget plan that would spend $30 million more than Otter’s pitch. They say this would bring spending per-pupil to 2008-2009 levels, the last year before the recession brought deep budget cuts.

Meanwhile, the House Transportation Committee moved two bills to the full House, one to raise about $20 million a year by raising registration fees and one to shift about $26 million a year into roads that would go to the state police and reserves otherwise. Neither garnered unanimous support. The committee split 9-8 on the funding shift bill, reported the Associated Press.

Friday morning, the House Revenue and Taxation Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on a proposal from House

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for a long time, but declined to give her name to protect her safety. She still has a yellow ribbon on her tree for all soldiers who have not come home.

Zaney’s Coffee Shop, where Bergdahl worked before he entered the Army, was once plastered in banners that said “Standing With Bowe” and “Welcome Home Bowe” days after his return, was empty Thursday. At noon the doors were locked. A lone yellow bow tied to a tree rustled in the wind as an American flag hanging from the end of the red building had wrapped itself around its metal pole.

Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. Special Forces on May 31, five years after he left his post in Afghanistan. Bergdahl issued a statement through his lawyer hours after being charged, saying he’d been tortured by his captors and had tried to escape a dozen times.

His release was part of a prisoner trade that drew criticism.

“It doesn’t look good trading five terrorists for one, just to lock him up,” said Tom Watters of Hailey.

Watters said he hasn’t followed Bergdahl’s story closely but is happy Bergdahl is back in the U.S. “I don’t want to see anyone locked up somewhere else,” he said.

Like a lot of other folks in town, Heuring, the man walking down Main Street on Thursday, said he knows Bergdahl’s parents, Bob and Janie Bergdahl. He has never met Bowe, but felt compassion for him and his family.

“I don’t think they should bring charges against him,” Heuring said. “He paid his dues spending that much time in captivity.”

Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, and Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, to raise the gas tax by 7 cents a gallon while also getting rid of the sales tax on groceries and switching to a flat 6.7 percent income tax rate for people in the 6.1, 7.1 and 7.4 percent brackets now.

Starting in 2016-2017, this would mean an estimated $65 million yearly increase in transportation funding and an estimated $50 million yearly decrease in general fund revenue.

According to an analysis the Idaho Center on Fiscal Policy released Thursday afternoon, this would mean that taxes would go up for

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people making less than $93,800 a year — people in the $38,900 to $61,000 bracket would see a $192 yearly increase — and go down for people making more.

The Center, which was founded by former longtime state economist Mike Ferguson, frequently releases fiscal reports on issues facing the state, often with an eye toward progressive tax policies and the effects of education and health care spending. The organization released a similar analysis earlier this year, on another GOP leadership proposal similar to Bedke and Moyle’s bill.

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