By Richard Larsen

One of the side affects of a horrendously out-of-control county budget is the fact that the Assessor’s office has to generate the tax revenue to pay for it. With apparent questionable operations and the lack of ethical guidelines and competence previously characteristic of the Assessor’s office, the County has been able to generate the necessary property valuations to meet the budgetary demands of a 30% increase in the County budget this year.

This past week I’ve visited with dozens of individuals who have had dealings with the Assessor’s office, and the emerging picture is downright ugly. Having been run with competence and fairness for years under the leadership of Diane Bilyeu, it is now a veritable cess pool of cronyism, incompetent leadership, retribution against taxpayers, and unethical operations.

Since Jo Lynn Anderson took the helm at the Assessor’s office, the department has steadily declined in professionalism and competence. According to the State Tax Commission, the office is out of compliance with state guidelines, and it appears it will be so again this year. After two years of being out of compliance, the state can intervene to remedy the situation and the County can lose State revenue. That appears likely to occur.

Our current Assessor and her assistants, “the management,” have refused repeated offers to receive management training to improve operations. She came into the office with no management or assessment experience other than drawing maps for 35 years for the department. Consequently, the de facto managers of the office are her assistants. Jo Lynn also no longer attends Idaho Association of County Assessor’s meetings since they sometimes go into Executive Session where only Assessors can attend, and since Jo Lynn has no functioning knowledge of the appraisal business, she won’t attend those without her assistants.

Much of the problem seems to be the hostile work environment that the management has created. The professional appraisers who are or have been there have been coerced to perform unethical adjustments to assessments contrary to standards of the industry. The appraisers’ reluctance to make such adjustments created significant tension between them and management, and has resulted in the loss of all but two certified real property appraisers and one manufactured home appraiser, where there should be at least seven altogether. The Assessor has hired unqualified friends and political supporters who draw pay at the high end of their scale. The Assessor brags that the reason they receive such high compensation is because she brought in so much revenue for the County last year.

The Assessor’s office is required to abide by the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) developed by the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB). These standards mandate equitable and ethical appraisal of property values. Yet my research consistently turned up examples of excessive valuations next to properties virtually unaffected by reassessment, in spite of more improvements made to the neighboring properties. Also contrary to USPAP standards, if the Assessor’s office can’t gain access to a residential property, management has instructed department appraisers to value the property with a half-finished basement. When the reluctant appraisers were told to engage in these unethical practices, the issue was forced by telling them they have to do it “because I’m management.”

Commercial assessments are now being done by an appraiser not trained or experienced in commercial appraisal. This has created profound inequity in assessments in similar properties throughout the county, significantly higher than similar properties in neighboring cities.

When the rare successful appeal of an assessment rescinds the Assessor’s valuation, an attitude of retribution is assumed. Within earshot of many witnesses, a member of the management team told one taxpayer who was successful in his appeal, “We’ll get you next time you son-of-a-b****.” And to another, “You got me this time, but we’ll get even.” One of them, after a successful appeal by a residential taxpayer, inquired “How quickly can I go after (taxpayers’ name) again?” Management demanded a $20,000 higher assessment on a residential property declaring, “He’s a tax crybaby and he needs to learn a lesson.”

We all saw the headlines earlier this week of how the Assessor’s office is attempting to “tax-rape” ON Semiconductor. This is unacceptable, and all too characteristic of how the Assessor’s office now operates. If something isn’t done immediately to remedy the situation, Bannock County will be decimated. Retirees will be forced out of their homes, residents forced to relocate outside of the county, and businesses forced to close their doors because of the exorbitant tax rates. It would be disastrous if ON closed shop here because of property taxes. And we’re dreaming if we think new businesses will be willing to locate here when they get a whiff of what’s happening with property taxes.

I don’t think we can wait for two more years when the Assessor’s term ends. It’s time for a recall and time to clean up the Assessor’s Office!

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By Ed Cook

The two newest County Commissioners, Ghan and Whitworth, are being exposed as politicians first and public servants last. By voting themselves and their friends raises and increasing their budget by ten million dollars they are heaping huge burdens on our (the taxpayers’) backs during a recession. In so doing they have obviously placed their political and personal needs and wants above every citizen in Bannock County. How much longer will AMI remain in Pocatello? Do the Commissioners not know of the long perceived layoffs at AMI? Is there any fore-thought about our economic realities and the challenges we face as our elected leaders pile more burdens on citizens during a deepening recession?

Did we not just lose Ballard, which added to the losses of Astaris and numerous other companies? These politicians, who are so willing to spend, are not experienced businessmen and are unwilling to give the economic engine a chance to start pulling its own weight. Their focus is money and they believe that only more money will solve the problems. There are no boundaries to what politicians first are willing to heap on us and grind our hopes. As long as they and their friends prosper the community is fine.

Do they really need $60,000 a year instead of $55,000? Isn’t the average household income in this area still below $25,000? Many individuals are working 3 jobs in retail stores just to survive while sacrificing quality time with their own children. When our leaders know the situation, how do they justify telling us, “We cannot live on $55,000 a year and must have an 8% raise even if others struggle?

Was the recent state property tax relief a license for local leaders to neutralize a major victory for property owners? In spite of touted economic improvements, our community has never recovered from major blows where higher salaried employers have been removed as industry pulls out. New companies, which are mainly retail, cannot take up that slack. Surely these two commissioners know these things but are choosing to make a grab for money while they still can.

Richard Larsen (also here) has clearly identified what the Commissioners have done and that these things are legal. Legal, or not, their entire modus operandi has never been for the best interests of this community and never will be. The course they are taking us on is going to destroy every hope of future prosperity. Have they so quickly forgotten that this community just rejected a $20 million BOND for the Holt that was going to be on our taxes for 20 years? Our glorious Commissioners have just added $10 million to their budget, and guess who is paying for it?

Election time rolls around in a couple of years and we are expected to forget all the shenanigans these two have pulled with the hospital and, in the same vein, their unwise tax liberties will fade away. People forgetting by the time the election arrives is a calculated part of their plan. Steve Hadley has consistently voted against these Hospital shenanigans and unwarranted tax increases. Perhaps people will not forget that point during the next re-election cycle.

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By Richard Larsen

When government reaches the point where the apparent function is to perpetuate the interests of the government itself, rather than looking after the people’s interest, something critical is lost in our democratic system. When government leadership reaches the point where it no longer seems answerable to the electorate it is sworn to serve, it’s time for change.

That seems to be symptomatic of what’s happening in Bannock County. The County budget for 2008 represents a pillaging of the citizenry for a $10 million increase that will have to come from taxpayers and fees to cover an out-of-control county budget that increased by 27% this year alone.

This is troubling enough on its own. But coupled with the adamant rejection of a $20 million bond to renovate Holt Arena because of the added property tax burden it would impose, the actions of the county commission represent an egregious breach of trust, horrible judgment, and a severe detachment from the realities of our financial environment.

Of equal consternation is the inexplicable reticence on the part of local media to cover this. It shouldn’t be the job of a lowly columnist to bring these things to light; it should be the duty of an attentive and objective local media.

The principle source of revenue to cover for this budgetary blunder would have to be property taxes. That’s the only source I can imagine for the funds. That being the case, a little background and history may help in understanding how they could get away with this.

The Legislature met in special session in 2006 and passed the Property Tax Relief Bill. The purpose, in part, was to remove maintenance and operations costs for schools from property tax funding. In lieu of that, a 1% sales tax was tacked on for Idaho tax payers to support the maintenance and operations of our schools. The effect of the bill was to reduce property tax levels since they have been rising to the point where those on fixed incomes were unable to keep pace with the increases from year to year.

The effect on property taxes was to be a three-tenths of one percent decrease in the property tax rate at the local level. Too many people get hung up on the property tax levy rate. The levy rate itself just determines how much of the total tax bill is paid by individual property owners. Remember, the county and municipalities set budgets based on what they want, and then assesses the tax collections to support those wants, which is where they arrive at the levy rate. Since they can factor in new construction on top of the maximum 3% increase per year, they can “doctor” the levy rate quite effectively, and make it look like we’re paying less per household while really the tax-payer is being taken to the cleaners.

Well, let’s see what has happened in actuality. In 2005, the Bannock County budget was $38.2 million. In 2006, it rose just slightly to $38.3 million. In 2007, after the Property Tax Relief went into effect, the budget dropped to $37.2 million. But for 2008, the budget will be $47.2 million. That’s nearly a 30% increase from 2007 to 2008!

As I understand it, when Jim Guthrie, Craig Cooper, and Steve Hadley were serving on the County Commission, they did all they could to keep expenses low, and they collected just enough in property taxes to keep the County solvent and in a position to meet it’s obligations and provide the services required.

The current commission, however, voted two to one, Larry Ghan and Lynn Whitworth in the majority, against Steve Hadley in the minority, on the current budget. The vote would have undoubtedly been the same to utilize a look-back feature called a “foregone” amount that allows local entities to recapture any lost property tax revenue they had not collected for prior years. With the fiscal discipline exercised by Guthrie, Cooper, and Hadley, there were a lot of savings for those years they ran the County. It would appear that the current commission has recovered all those savings from previous years, and along with other sources including fees, to pay for a $10 million budget increase.

I’m sure the prevailing commissioners can spin a wonderful tale for why their budgets are skyrocketing as they are. One of our commissioners thinks Bannock County should be on a par with Ada County. Well we can’t afford a mini-Ada County in Eastern Idaho!

It truly seems the perspective of county officials has become distorted. Rather than government serving the people, in a convoluted twist of priorities, the people are now subservient to the county.

I had hoped to delve into the finances of the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck as well, but just didn’t have the wherewithal to do so. I don’t think the city fathers have been quite so egregious in their abuse of the local taxpayers, but it may make for some interesting reporting for an enterprising and not-easily-hoodwinked investigative reporter.

It’s no wonder Commissioners Ghan and Whitworth don’t want underlings running for their jobs. A county employee would have insights into the machinations of county government that could blow the lid off what’s really going on down there.

This same mentality that now dominates in Bannock County has nearly ruined New Jersey and Michigan; the age-old concept of taxing until it either becomes too painful or the citizenry rises up in revolt to declare that enough is enough, and “we’re not going to take it any more!” They never seem to know how to cut spending, just increase it, and then tax commensurately. I submit that we’ve reached the point where we shouldn’t take it any more. The national clarion call in politics is for change. It should be obvious that it’s time for change in Bannock County. We can’t afford any more years like this one.

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THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UPPER VALLEY
PO BOX 51021
IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO 83425

1 March 2008

On January 29, the Bannock County Sheriff’s Dept, investigated the worse case of animal cruelty in ten years…according to local TV news. They were calling for donations of feed and money in order to feed close to 100 starving animals. Many were dead and the carcasses were scattered all over the place…horses, cows, goats, etc.

It has now been a month that the public has been feeding Shane Haggard’s livestock with five tons being delivered on 28 Jan. The remaining animals, many of which were close to starvation, according to the veterinarian’s report, are still in his custody.

March 4th is his pretrial conference. To date, he is pleading “not guilty” and threatening to sue everyone remotely related to the case for releasing his name. He has been charged with two misdemeanors. Dozens of animals have been starved to death (according to the vet report) and only two charges!

The county prosecutor and Haggard’s attorney are trying to make a deal so that Haggard won’t be charged with any more counts of cruelty. Mysteriously, the two sets of pictures taken at the crime scene have disappeared. And some of the remaining starved horses have now also “disappeared”.

The public doesn’t know just how horrific this case is AND that as soon as the “public donations” and attention are diverted to more current news, there is nothing to keep him from resuming the neglect towards these animals.

The Humane Society of the Upper Valley has made an official request for copies of the crime investigation and the pictures. We have already procured a copy of the vet’s report. Our people have donated towards the care of these animals.

Now it is time for the county prosecutor, Cleve Colson, to step up to the plate and charge this guy with charges that are commensurate with the heinousness of this crime. Can anyone imagine how horribly these animals suffered as they literally starved and froze to death!

We need assistance from the media and public.

Andi Elliott

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By Richard Larsen

The Holt Arena is a tremendous benefit to Eastern Idaho, and the Pocatello area especially. As the home to ISU sports, the Simplot Games, the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, community events, high school sporting events, high school graduations, and concerts, it would be safe to say that we all have benefited from and enjoyed the Dome. Consequently, it was with mixed emotions that I witnessed the rejection of the proposed property tax increase to fund necessary enhancements to the facility.

It seems to me that the vote has nothing to do with the critical relationship between the communities of Pocatello and Chubbuck and Holt Arena. Instead, it has everything to do with already exorbitant property tax levels being required of the citizens of Bannock County.

Regrettably, the pattern for local leaders here is to always lay the burden on tax payers, and property tax-payers in particular. Whatever the cause, worthy or not, the tax-payer is the bottomless well the local leaders draw from to finance their projects.

The firm declaration from voters last week was, “enough is enough.” With Bannock County already struggling under the highest property tax levels in the state, local leaders went to the “well” one too many times. Yes it’s true that we benefit from the Dome, and we all enjoy the privileges with its presence in the community, but increasing property taxes was clearly not the answer.

Property taxes are perhaps the most inequitable and least forgiving of all the taxes imposed by government. It has no “ability to pay” provision. If you are unable to pay your property taxes, the government can seize your property. For those living on a fixed income, this is a genuine concern. Many of the letters to the editor regarding the bond election were from those with limited resources and income to subsist on. Although the purported $7 per month on property taxes may have not broken the bank, so to speak, on top of everything else it can be insurmountable for someone living primarily on Social Security and hoping every month they can make ends meet and hold onto their homes.

One additional inequity posed by the bond election was that there are many people who live in the county but own property in Pocatello or Chubbuck. Those people were precluded from voting on the bond proposal, even though their taxes on their property located within city limits would be affected based on the outcome of the election. Seems to me that there was a war fought a couple hundred years ago based on that same concept of taxation without representation. Not a good policy.

Usually, when the local taxing authorities demand more funding, another bond election is placed before the voters at the least opportune time. Not when the major elections are held to ensure high voter turnout, but on odd dates that will ensure a low turnout and the greater probability that the sponsoring entity can marshal its forces and assure approval of the bond. That is, until last week.

My father, Allan Larsen, was a gubernatorial candidate when the 1% initiative limiting property tax levels was placed before voters. He always maintained that there were two major quandaries with property taxes, one philosophical and one practical. Philosophically, property taxes create the perception that although we are ostensibly buying real estate, we’re instead just renting our homes from the government. Inability to pay our property taxes allows the government to take our homes from us, like the landlord that would evict us for failure to pay the rent. It seems inconceivable that in America where the promise of owning property could be so fundamental to us, that we keep paying the government for property that we’ve already paid for, and if we can’t, the government can evict us. Even long after we’ve finished paying off our mortgages, the government continues as a de facto landlord.

Practically, the worst position is reserved for business owners and landlords of rental units who must defray rising property tax assessments with higher prices and rising rental rates. Landlords and business owners are essentially tax collectors for local government, raising prices and rental rates to pay for ever increasing property taxes. They have no home-owner’s exemption that affords them protection of indexed rates on their taxes.

Property tax law changes in the past few years have created distorted incentives for our local units of government to raise their budgets. The Legislature removed the only state required property tax and replaced it with sales tax. The cities and county saw this as an opportunity to raise their budgets and did so to the tune of millions of dollars knowing that the public would not notice since their overall property taxes dropped last year. And true to form, Bannock County, and the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck had massive increases in their property taxes this year gobbling up the tax relief the State provided by last years special session of the legislature. Now this year, our tax burden is higher because not only are we paying more sales tax, but our “property tax relief” was all spent by our cities and county. Consequently, property taxes have become even more of a millstone around the financial necks of home owners, small businesses, and renters. This requires much more attention in a future column.

There’s an aphorism that taxation is the art of plucking a chicken with the least possible squawking. In light of the double-edged sword of property taxes, it’s easy to see why they continually rile taxpayers. Taxes may be a necessary evil, but the most pernicious of all is the property tax.

Perhaps the generous Pappenberg donation of $1.5 million of Driggs real estate should be used as seed money for a capital campaign for Dome improvement in lieu of additional property tax imposition on home owners.

Dubby Holt, for whom the facility was named, was a pragmatist, and I can’t imagine him objecting to selling the naming rights on the Dome. He would have probably been the first to argue in favor of renaming the facility if Simplot or someone else were to make a sizeable donation to provide for the necessary improvements. Have you noticed that there’s no longer a Delta Center in Salt Lake City, but there’s an EnergySolutions Arena there that looks just like it?

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By Richard Larsen

A few weeks ago we addressed here the issue of education versus indoctrination. Therein I provided anecdotal evidence of a few teachers not teaching, but instead, indoctrinating. The evidence was drawn primarily from each of my children’s experiences from public secondary education through their higher education experience at Idaho State University.

One such referenced experience was an upper division literature course that my daughter took last semester. The instructor for that class, an adjunct instructor in the Foreign Languages Department, took exception to the allegations that he was indoctrinating instead of teaching. In a letter to the editor last week he identified himself by name and knew he was the instructor in question based on how I recounted my daughter’s experience in the class.

I questioned the propriety of pursuing this any further, even after his acrimonious letter. I’m accustomed to such criticism, and actually take solace in such attacks when they are aimed at me, for then I know they lack the substance to debate the basic tenets of my theses. Having substantially lost the argument, they must resort to ad hominem attacks against me personally.

I was also reluctant to pursue this any further because there are two segments of our citizenry in this great country who are my heroes: those who have or are serving in the military, and teachers. But considering that a few abuse their role as teachers, and indoctrinate rather than teach, it is incumbent upon us to stand up and seek to correct this impropriety. After all, we taxpayers pay their salaries and entrust them with our children to be taught, not to be opined to day after day.

The course in question was a critical theory class that according to the description in the university’s Course Catalogue was about “The application of critical theory to the reading of world literature.” If the course syllabus as provided by the instructor had on objective different than that, as the instructor indicated in his letter last week, his syllabus did not conform to the Course Catalogue. Consequently, he may have taught the wrong course, or at the very least, was guilty of “bait and switch” with the students.

In typical fashion for those who assume an unwarranted arrogance due to their position, the instructor questioned how I could pass judgment against his indoctrination efforts in the classroom when I had not even attended it. I would remind him that common in the practice of law and other segments of our society, is witness testimony. Witnesses testify and provide evidence that prove or negate allegations. In this case, not only the testimony of my daughter, but that of another older member of the same class afforded such testimony affirming what was previously alleged.

Both said when the assignment material was covered, the class was enjoyable and the instructor engaging. But, in the words of the other class member, “Almost every single day of class he would lecture us about how the United States was so bad and how France and Europe were so great. Whether the lessons called for such comparisons or not, almost every day was the same. One day I asked him to tell me one good thing about the United States and after a long pause he told me that you could get rich quick in the U.S. I was amazed.”

Perhaps the instructor can elucidate for me how this is not an effort at indoctrination. A critical study of world literature would necessitate some comparative cultural analysis and their respective weaknesses and strengths. But a daily denunciation of the U.S. as one of the students indicated, “like it was an obsession to him,” can hardly be labeled “teaching.” The instructor marveled in his letter to the editor how I could “portray [him] as a cardboard cut-out and [his] class as an indoctrination session.” Actually, I didn’t have to. He did that perfectly well on his own. In his own words, “Yes. The commies and socialists have arrived.”

He continues his defense in his letter stating that he implements “a discursive, Socratic method of teaching.” Based on the experiences of the witnesses, it was genuinely discursive, as regular digressions to proselytize his anti-American venom were in great abundance. Socratic? There wasn’t too much evidence to support that claim. A true Socratic method would have proposed both sides of the U.S. issue and challenged students in a defense of the U.S. as well. Perhaps when he focused on the material, it was a viable educational experience. It’s when he digressed beyond that with the daily rants against the country that allowed him the freedom to bash it that it was no longer teaching, and had crossed the line to indoctrination.

Daily spewing of dogmatic ideology that is not supported by fact and that may have marginal relationship to the educational material is indoctrination, not teaching!

As stated before, I received an absolutely superb education at ISU because of the incredible professors I had. Not only were they extremely proficient in their disciplines, but they were not dogmatic in their instructional style. As their lectures coincided with current events, they were open to contrary opinion and divergent perspectives. They allowed open discussion without intimidation, in true Socratic fashion, only demanding of the students that they know and understand the facts, and be able to substantiate their conclusions accordingly.

While none of my ISU professors taught as ideologues, they nonetheless had their firmly held opinions and they shared them as warranted. However, even though their opinions were expressed, their lessons and discussions were open and engaging, and they taught us how to think without telling us what to think.

As adamantly and publicly as the instructor in question defended himself, he may not actually know the difference between teaching and indoctrinating. Some of my professors are still there, and I would encourage him to attend classes taught by Ron Hatzenbuehler, Jack Owens, or Rick Foster. They know the difference. They have never been “stuck” in any decade as the instructor accused, and continue to enlighten.

We as taxpayers pay our teachers to teach, not opine ad nauseam nor indoctrinate. As parents, we entrust our children to them to be taught. If the instructor insists on substituting teaching with incessant opining, and hates America as he daily told his students, perhaps he should go to Venezuela. I’m sure they’d welcome him with open arms.

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This is a letter to the editor, printed in the Idaho State Journal. It was written by an instructor at Idaho State University who took umbrage at being accused of indoctrination rather than teaching in this previously posted article by Richard Larsen.

“In a Dec. 16, 2007, editorial, one Richard Larsen expressed his view that “indoctrination” should not be used by educators. In his article, he referred to an Idaho State University professor and quoted from my syllabus.

I am that professor. Mr. Larsen referenced his daughter as the source of her indoctrination, and she has informed me that I am, indeed, the brainwasher he mentions.

The quote he provideduotation marks, to be one of pure fantasy, or what one might deem fictitious. [Scott, I extracted the quote from the online course catalogue which described the course as follows: “The application of critical theory to the reading of world literature.” Is that the course, I think course 367 or something like that?]

His article then goes on to characterize my class as one taught by a stereotypical liberal. How a writer who does not know me nor has ever attended my class can misquote my materials and portray me as a cardboard cut-out and my class as indoctrination session is beyond any idea of journalistic integrity.

As a writer, I would like to suggest that some fact-finding actually takes place at your newspaper prior to the publishing of opinionated writing full of disinformation and bordering on libel.

I must also mention this fact: Mr. Larsen observes that 25 years ago his perfect teachers were flawless in their ability to educate. I’d like to remind him that ISU is a university and that teachers from strange and exotic and cosmopolitan places like Illinois (and even foreign countries!) who hold degrees from schools much more highly rated than ISU now teaching at his alma mater. Yes. The commies and socialists have arrived. I’d also like to remind him it is the year of 2008.

As an educator for 15-plus years, I can speak for my profession in saying that we appreciated a president of a brokerage firms defense of his university-attending children, but what he calls indoctrination is, in fact, a discursive, Socratic method of teaching based on reading and writing.

Perhaps Mr. Larsen might learn a thing or two if he could see through his own neo-conservative, ill-informed soapbox rant of educator vilification. Or perhaps, he finds life quite comfortable in his 1983 mindset.”

Philip Kobylarz

Go here to read Richard Larsen’s answer to this letter.

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If you are a news junkie like me, you’ve noticed a recent dearth of local news in Idaho Falls.

Sadly, KID AM radio has dropped almost all local news in the morning, opting instead to carry Bill Bennett’s dull Morning in America, with canned local weather and local headlines offered once or twice an hour between 6 and 8:30am.

KID, one of Idaho’s very first radio stations of any kind, has a decades-long tradition of searching out and broadcasting the best local news. However, KID has now abandoned that mission as it finds itself under both new management and new ownership, who are apparently intent upon removing all local content. The same is true of sister station KWIK of Pocatello.

And witness KID’s endlessly repeated “colon cleanse” and male enhancement infomercials that only add to the loss of listeners up and down the valley. (That said, however, KID does carry the best of the national programming, with Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck.)

How about Newstalk 690/1260 AM stations? Unfortunately, the morning host (also host of a noon hour show) simply lifts stories from the local newspaper (more about the paper in a moment) and interjects weak attempts at cleverness. It is hardly the host’s fault, however, that the “Morning Report” is overloaded with tired advertisements and worn-out PSA’s.

On the other hand, maybe it is partly his fault, as he is likely responsible for production of some ads and for loading fresh PSA’s, which are easily available. It is unlikely that he determines the extremely low ratio of news to ads, however.

And once again to the Idaho Falls newspaper. (Read an additional post here.) As I have already observed, the paper does not excel at local news, as most front-page stories appear to have been written days if not weeks earlier, and any truly breaking news is either relegated to available space on page 5, or skipped altogether. (So why WOULD Newstalk 690/1260 rely so heavily on it for news gathering?)

I am happy to say that I have found the real sources for local news: the television stations. Idaho Falls/Pocatello is probably the smallest television market to have all three major broadcast companies represented. CBS affiliate, KIDK TV in Idaho Falls, KIFI, the ABC affiliate, also in Idaho Falls, and KPVI, the NBC affiliate in Pocatello are all excellent sources for real news.

Apparently it takes a television station to employ actual reporters who search out the news, rather than just parrot back lackluster , obvious stories. I congratulate all three stations on their excellent news gathering and reporting, not only on the air, but also on their websites.

A former inveterate radio listener, I now own a radio that can pick up television audio. I tune in to News Channel 8’s “Local News 8 This Morning” which airs 6:00-7:00am, weekdays. It’s crammed full of local news and weather, with a smattering of national thrown in for good measure, but sports only a limited number of ads. The news people are articulate, bright and professional, making it a real delight.

When that’s over, I switch off the radio (or TV) and put in a favorite CD until it’s time for Rush.

I invite you to join me in abandoning radio when searching for local news. Look instead to television, and don’t forget to sign up for free email breaking news from the News Channel 8 website.

You’ll be glad you did.

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By Richard Larsen

There is a negativism that seems to be growing like a cancer in America. Criticism of the government has digressed to the level of vitriol and acrimony. Not just of the government in general, but more specifically directed toward the President and those who work for him. But it has surpassed even that level of degradation, as the country itself is apparently caught in a negative vortex of public opinion where the country is “headed in the wrong direction,” and we are perceived to be hated throughout the world, and we can do nothing right.

Perhaps much of this perception is shaped by a public media that promulgates nothing but negativity. News broadcasts are replete with pejoratives, which seem to play well to the “glass half empty” philosophy, rather than the “glass half full” mentality. This is not necessarily a condemnation of mass media, for they have to market news that sells, and regrettably bad news and sensationalism sell much better than good news.

As the third most populous nation in the world with over 300 million people, it is inevitable that there will be something bad happening every day. But most of us here in “fly-over country” enjoy a quality lifestyle with greater peace and prosperity than our fathers or grandfathers saw in their times. Our lives our filled with a relative sameness from day to day; not the degree of trudging through mortality like our forebears endured, but a routine filled with less time in the workplace than at any time in history, being paid more for that time than at any time in history, and able to return home spending more leisure time with family than at any other time in history.

What makes so much of this possible is the remarkable free-enterprise system that our economy is based on. There is great angst by some over how powerful China is becoming, and certainly they are an economic force to be wary of, considering their history of civil rights abuse, their communist roots, and their bellicose past. The U.S. economy has grown more over the past three years than the entire size of the Chinese economy. America’s share of global GDP in 1980 was 20%, and it now is over 29%.

Not so long ago, economic matters were of primary concern to Americans. If there were enough jobs to go around, and decent pay associated with those jobs, and we had relatively low inflation that wasn’t doubling prices every couple of years, and interest rates were not at usurious levels, and government wasn’t taking most of our income for taxes, we were generally a pretty content people. Maybe the economy has been too good, since we find so many other things to be critical of.

Consider the incredible freedoms we have in this country: we can live where we want to, travel, work in a chosen field, purchase goods, enjoy varieties of plentiful food, and even say what we want to. In light of these things and all other bounties we enjoy in this great land, it’s hard for me to understand how it’s possible that over 60% of Americans feel we’re going in the wrong direction.

There are even many among us who not only seem to hate America and think we’re heading the wrong direction, but who seem to think that the rest of the world hates us as well. Those who think it’s never been worse obviously don’t remember the massive demonstrations all across Europe in the 80’s. They also fail to acknowledge that before Ronald Reagan was President, there were fewer than 40 democracies in the world, while now there are nearly 150. America has been the standard-bearer for democracy since our inception over 200 years ago, and America still leads the charge for increased freedom, individual liberty, and trumpeting of human rights. France and Germany recently elected leaders who are pro-American, and if the polls are to be trusted, Spain will elect new leadership that is more pro-American than many of our fellow Americans are. President Bush was greeted in some areas of his visit to Europe last week like a rock star, or perhaps more appropriately, the leader of the free world that he is.

Sure we have our issues to deal with. What nation doesn’t? Does that make us awful? No, for this is still the greatest land and bastion of liberty for the entire world. Does this make us imperfect? Absolutely, for as long as we have a nation established on principles that are eternal in nature, endowed by our creator, and idyllic in nature, we will come short of our ideals. Nations, like nature, are never in a condition of stasis; we are ever changing and evolving.

Even if you don’t like the President, and there are a lot who don’t with his approval rating now at 29%, you can still love America and all that she stands for. Even if you don’t like Congress, and there are a lot of us who don’t with their approval rating now at 22%, you can still love America and all that she stands for.

I read something recently that is ascribed to Jay Leno; I don’t know if that’s correct or not. His observation was that perhaps we’re just a nation of ingrates; the largest collection of spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves America and what we stand for, yet has such disdain for Americans. Maybe the world sees us for what we are; the most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don’t have and what we hate about the country, instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

And what about the President who took us into war and no plan to get us out? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The Commander in Chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?

This is still the greatest nation on God’s green earth. Sometimes we just need a little perspective on the good that Americans have done for our nation, our posterity, and the nations of the earth in spite of our shortcomings.

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It’s difficult to imagine the self-justification of one who raises and trains dogs to fight each other. But it appears high-profile NFL player Michael Vick has been caught in the act. While an investigation is ongoing, it is reported that a complete dog fighting operation was present at a home owned by the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, according to a Sports Illustrated article.

Associates claim Vick has long been involved in the dog fighting culture, frequently betting on his own dog. He asserts that he has been set up in a smear campaign, that relatives living in the home were actually responsible for the blood-covered “pit” where dogs fight, the 30 or so pit bulls found around the property, and the other accoutrements of the “sport”. But exoneration may not come so easily for Vick, as law enforcement is now involved.

According the president of the Humane Society of the US, Wayne Pacell, there is a definite “sub-culture” of dogfighting in the NBA as well as the NFL. He implied that having someone of Vick’s stature fingered for dogfighting would bring welcome attention to the problem.

Imagine the scene as dogs, some valued at as much as $40,000, square off with each other in the “pit”, then commence tearing each other to shreds while the supposed “intelligent” humans on the sidelines cheer them on, savoring each crunching bone and mutilation.

But famous multi-million dollar pro athletes don’t have a corner on animal fighting. Cock fighting is a “cultural” aspect of some Middle Eastern countries, as well as Central and South American nations, many of whom have brought it to the US as well. Illegal in 49 states, cock fighting nonetheless takes place in many hidden corners of the US.

Until each state legislature and every level of law enforcement recognizes animal fighting for what it is - a serious crime of animal cruelty (with implications for human relationships as well) worthy of heavy penalties - this inhuman practice will continue. Where pro athletes think wealth and privilege excuse their participation, where immigrants, both legal and illegal, refuse to leave a barbaric practice in their home country, wherever law enforcement or neighbors turn a blind eye, these despicable practices will continue.

It is imperative that every thinking person take a stand against animal fighting and all its trappings. Check your local and state laws to be sure there are hefty penalties for anyone found to be involved in the practice. Where lacking, join with your local humane society to plug the gap,and help spare countless animals a horrible existence and ultimate death.

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