News

The Elmore County Fair Grounds is now holding a Thursday Night open 4-D barrel race. These weekly events will continue until the winter weather gets too bad to continue. For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition...

On Sept. 13 the Daniel Dopps Memorial Rodeo Board gave out annual donations from the proceeds from this year's rodeo. This year the rodeo committee was able to give out $6,000 in scholarships, improvements to Optimist Park arena, donation to Elmore County Search and Rescue, Elmore County Reserves, Elmore County 4H, Mountain Home FFA, and Mountain Home Lions. ...

Last year Pioneer Federal Credit Union participated in the "Paint the Town" project in Boise and fell in love with the concept of it. They decided to do their own thing and start something similar in Mountain Home. For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition...

Earlier this year people across the nation saw the story of Kyle Plush, a young man who became entrapped under a seat in his family's minivan and could not free himself. Plush made two phone calls to 911 with the help of an automated voice command because he could not reach his phone. ...

On Sept. 12 the Western Elmore County Recreation District held a special meeting to hear a presentation about the Elmore County Health Initiative. Earlier this year it was reported that the County Commissioners were in the process of starting the coalition as a way to bring stakeholders together in the interest of improving the health of Elmore County citizens. ...

Editor's Note: I know that the AFAD issue has already passed, however I wanted to still run this reader submitted photo. One reason for this is because I want our readers to see that if you submit photos I will try to use them. Secondly, and most importantly, this is a picture that needed to be shared...

A long standing tradition for the cowboy community of Southern Idaho, Northern Nevada and parts of Eastern Oregon is the Bruneau Round Up. Held each year on the third weekend of September folks come from near and far to watch the action, visit with old friends or vie for their chance at a buckle and some prize money...

The Western Elmore County Recreation District held their weekly meeting on Sept. 5. After tabling a decision on choosing Architectural and Engineer Services last week in order for each of the directors to look at the two proposals more in depth, the board was ready to make a decision this week. For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition...

The Mountain Home Historical Museum recently received a donation from the Mountain Home Farmers Market for $500. Every year the Farmers' Market donate proceeds from booth vendor fees to local charities. The Farmers Market committee chose the Mountain Home Historical Society because of their work to help preserve history and help defray costs to the Museum from the free historical classes they teach each year. ...

After taking a break over the summer the Board of the Mountain Home Public Library met on Sept. 6. During the meeting Library Director William Lamb brought forth ideas he and his staff had been working on over the summer. The library is planning to start a Teen Advisory Board. ...

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Zachary Petersen graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas. The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills...

For more pictures of AFAD pick up a copy of this week's paper.

"We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember." George W. Bush

The Western Elmore County Recreation District met on Aug. 29 to discuss proposed bids they received after publishing their request in the Mountain Home News and the Idaho Statesman. The district initially received eight inquiries into the project, but only had two bids submitted after a week of publishing the request...

A member of the Air Force Stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base faces charges of rape and aggravated assault. A preliminary hearing was held for John Stafford on Aug. 30 in the Elmore County Court House. As the hearing began Stafford's defense Motioned for a Substitution of Council, which brought in Aaron Tribble as his defense attorney. For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition...

Elmore County has a dumping problem. Along our roadways and out in our desert area, a person can see trash everywhere they look. Some of the dumping is intentional while some is accidently lost out of the back of vehicles on the way to the landfill. This situation is a regular part of conversation in county meetings and officials have decided to ask for the community's help in cleaning up the trash...

On Saturday, September 1, 2018, at 12:10 PM, Idaho State Police responded to a crash on westbound I84 at milepost 17, near the Sand Hollow Exit. Christopher Pierpont, 42, of Mountain Home was riding westbound on a 2007 Yamaha motorcycle. Christine Pierpont, 43, of Mountain Home was a passenger on the motorcycle. ...

On Sunday, September 2, 2018 at 6:56 a.m. Idaho State Police investigated a single-vehicle, rollover crash on eastbound Interstate 84 at milepost 58, just prior to the Eisenman Road exit east of Boise. Christopher Howe, 24, of Mountain Home was driving east in a 2012 Ford Focus when he moved to the left lane to pass a vehicle. As Howe was changing back to the right lane he overcorrected and went off the right shoulder. The vehicle then rolled and came to rest on its wheels...

During this year's Air Force Appreciation Day parade, the Mountain Home Police outlines some safety tips to keep parade-goers safe. Each float's top priority in the parade is safety, due to past instances involving children and floats during the parade. ...

Anne Walker, Guido Giuntini and Steve Hall of Boise State University were in attendance to address the Mountain Home City Council about a parking study they conducted over a period of four weeks in July and Aug. The study was in relation to the Downtown Plan and parking spaces being slated for removal...

On Aug. 24 we received reports from concerned citizens of numerous dead doves in Mountain Home. While the cause of these deaths was still unknown, after speaking with Idaho Fish and Game it was said the problem is being investigated. Some speculated the cause of the deaths could be Avian Flu or West Nile virus. ...

When preparing the Aug. 29 issue of the Mountain Home News I got to switch the volume number for the very first time. For those of you who are not familiar with how that all works we number our yearly issues from 1 to 52, after we reach 52 we change our volume number. I got to do this for the first time as we celebrate our 130th year in print...

The DI, the Desert Inn, was permanently erased from the landscape this week after being demolished following a fire that left irreparable damage.

University of Idaho Extension Elmore County’s 4-H Program continues to prosper thanks to the generosity of the Elmore County Friends of NRA Chapter, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization focused on raising money for the future of shooting sports programs. ...

Elmore County Drug Court requires its participants to perform a community service project in order to graduate from the program. This is just one of the many ways the program helps drug offenders become a part of their community. According the Idaho Supreme Court problem solving courts, like drug court, divert non-violent, substance abusing offenders from prison and jail into treatment. ...

Richard McKenna Superintendant Dennis Wilson was previously the Superintendant in the Bruneau School District and is in his second year at McKenna. McKenna currently consists of three programs, an online high school for grades 9-12 which is available all over the state, an on-site high school in Mountain Home and a Montessori school consisting of grades kindergarten through third. ...

On Aug 24 the Elmore County Commissioners held a public hearing on the Cat Creek Energy Project. This hearing was for the First Amendment to the Development Agreement for the projects Conditional Use Permits. The Amendment covers the hydroelectric portion of the proposed development...

The Western Elmore County Recreation District (WECRD) met on Aug. 22 to approve the coming years budget and discuss details concerning Air Force Appreciation Day and the tentative plans for the indoor pool project. The meeting began with the WECRD adopting the budget and necessary resolutions for fiscal year 2018-2019. ...

The Elmore County Commissioners met in the basement of the courthouse on Friday, Aug. 24 to discuss current issues and news in the County. Among the agenda items was a monthly report from the county's department heads. The head of the Pine and Feathervill EMS informed the commissioners things were "still moving along" in his department. ...

The monthly School Board meeting started off a little differently this month as Chairman Eric Abrego introduced the "Good News" portion of the meeting. The school board encourages students, teachers, administrators and board members to recognize the notable activities, events, and student achievements around the school district...

The Masonic Lodge hosted the Guns & Hoses community event at Optimist Park on Friday, Aug. 24. The softball game was held as a "thank you" to the communities first responders in the both the city and county. There has been a long history of the Guns & Hoses game in previous years, but the last game played was in the late 90's. ...

The Elmore County Sheriff's Office will be suspending the issuing of all driver's licenses due to an ITD software malfunction. A notice will be given when ITD has corrected the problem.

Now that the City of Mountain Home is a member of Bee City USA, the topic of “bees” has been buzzing around the local community. Bee City USA is a non-profit organization that recently joined with the Xerces Society, both organizations hope to help conserve insect pollinator communities and species alike throughout the United States. ...

September 8th is the 58th annual Air Force Appreciation Day parade and events. We will have copies of our full color annual AFAD magazine with some history of Mountain Home Air Force Base and the AFAD event itself available in the park. There is a coloring page for the kids. ...

With Mountain Home's switch from the Southern Idaho Conference to the Great Basin Conference, Athletic Director John Clark hopes Mountain Home will become more competitive across the board in sports. Previously, Mountain Home applied to move from a 4A district to a 3A district. Mountain Home was granted to move to 3A, but when other teams in the district began to complain, the decision was overturned. Mountain Home then applied to move to a different conference to play schools of similar size...

The Mountain Home Rotary Club of District 5400 met on Aug. 14 to catch up, discuss current issues and to meet with a young man who recently received a scholarship from the club to attend a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Conference at the College of Southern Idaho. Seth Richardson was in attendance to meet with the club and talk about his experiences at the conference...

The WECRD began their special board meeting to discuss the terms of the lease agreement for Railroad Park. The agreement has been going back and forth between the recreation district and the city for the last few weeks fine tuning details and dates. The lease made it back to the recreation district where it could be read over one more time before signing...

The Elmore County Commissioners called their regular meeting back into session at 6 p.m. on Aug. 17 in the upstairs courtroom at the Elmore County Courthouse. A town hall style meeting was held for the agricultural community to address the Idaho State Tax Commission on it's recommendations for tax increases to the irrigated cropland category...

The Elmore County Commissioners met on Aug. 17 to address and discuss current issues in the county. The commissioners began by speaking with Katie Hughes about a swimming pool in her yard. Ordinance says that if a pool is over two feet deep, it requires a six foot barrier to be in place. Hughes did not have a barrier, but was told she could remedy the issue by simply putting up a six foot wire fence...