Stories from Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The 11th Annual Garden Tour, sponsored by the Mountain Home Arts Council and Beta Zeta Civic Club, drew hundreds of area residents to seven highlighted area home gardens this past weekend. Bright sunny skies showed off the brilliant colors of the gardens, which were displayed at the homes of Freida Jones, Dave and Debbie Sandberg, Lloyd and Peggy Hayes, M. Brett, Elena and Servando Vega, Henry and Linda Ashby, and the soon-to-be opened Dusty Rose Inn...

Daniel Dopps Memorial Rodeo, a PRCA professional cowboys event, will be held this weekend at the Optimist Park arena in Mountain Home, featuring not only top rodeo performers in the region, but a number of events for kids and families as well. The rodeo will begin at 8 p.m. this year...

Juan Manuel Morales of Bruneau died in a one-vehicle car accident near Indian Cove in the early morning on Sunday, June 17-- Father's Day. Morales was traveling eastbound on Highway 78 when his 1997 Dodge Caravan went off the road at a curve and rolled several times approximately 15 miles east of Bruneau in the area of Indian Cove...

City councilman Tom Rist has announced his candidacy for mayor in the upcoming city election this November. Rist will be giving up his council seat in hopes of unseating incumbent Mayor Joe B. McNeal. McNeal has not made a formal announcement yet, but has said in public on several occasions that he intends to seek re-election to a second term...

Walt Hobdey, 87, of Bliss, died on Monday, June 11, 2007 at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel. At his request, no services are planned at this time.

Juan Manuel Morales Gutierrez, 43, of Bruneau, died Sunday morning, June 17, 2007, in an automobile accident near Hammett. A viewing will be held on Friday, June 22, from 5-8 p.m. with a rosary at 6:30 p.m. at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel, in Mountain Home...

Robin and Cindy Hamilton have announced the engagement of their daughter, Kim Rae, to Anthony Tyler, son of Teresa Bowen of West Virginia. Kim is a 2007 graduate of Mountain Home High School. Tyler is in the United States Air Force, currently stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base...

The 9th Annual Hal Walker Memorial Golf Tournament will be held Saturday, June 23, at Silver Sage Golf Course at Mountain Home AFB. The event benefits scholarships and Rotary projects. Walker was a leader in the community heavily involved in Rotary and other projects benefiting the community...

The Babe Ruth Softball Tri-County Regional tournament was held last week in Kuna. Elmore County Girls Fast Pitch sent four teams to the tournament. The U10 (Roberts Truss) team made it to the championship game and placed 2nd in the tournament out of 17 teams. ...

On June 15, the MHHS tennis coaches and team members awarded certificates and medals to 26 students who completed the 2-week Tiger Tennis Summer Camp. Two sessions were held each weekday to accommodate different age brackets (8-12 years and 13 years old and up)...

Dear editor: OK, Mr. Ward, you win. You, the Whigs, Jack, Courtney and the rest of you puppets out there. If your heads are buried that far into the sand, you deserve everything that's going to happen over the next few years. You actually don't see it, do you?...

After starting the week splitting doubleheaders with the Nampa Indians and Buhl Tribe, the Mountain Home Royals swept through the Nampa Wood Bat Tournament with five straight wins to win the championship. Royals 1, 16 Indians 7, 0 The Mountain Home Royals bounced back from a 7-1 loss to the Nampa Indians in the first game of a doubleheader last Monday at Columbia High School in Nampa to clobber the Indians, 16-0 in the second game and gain a split...

Dear editor: There have been some concerns voiced recently about the Youth Rodeo was not going to be held this year at the Elmore County Fairgrounds. I am writing this letter to put these fears to rest. The Fair Board is working in conjunction with the Optimist Youth Organization to produce a Youth Rodeo to be held at Glenns Ferry, on Thursday, July 26...

Dear editor: As a parent of two teenagers who competed on the Mountain Home High School tennis team this year, I strongly urge our support of resurfacing/reconstructing the three Aguirre Park tennis courts. The disrepair of the tennis courts creates the chance that injuries could occur. In addition, our community of Mountain Home gets a "black eye" when high school teams come to compete and make "negative" comments about our city based on the "lack of" quality of our tennis courts...

Dear editor: Kudos to Elmore County Growth and Development. I recently had a problem with neighborhood trash piling up and causing quite a stench. I called Central District Health, then the city, (but) being in the county I did not know if there would be any recourse...

Dear editor: On June 13, about 2:30 p.m., my son was riding his red bike and was struck by a white truck on the corner of 3rd East and 6th North streets near the stop sign. The drive of the truck was considerate enough to stop and make sure he was OK. ...

Officially, fireworks can't be sold in the city of Mountain Home until next week. Any stand selling fireworks inside the city is limited to selling "safe and sane" fireworks, which are legal. All other fireworks, those that explode or are fired into the air, such as bottle rockets, are illegal...

I was having an interesting discussion the other day with one of my more conservative friends regarding the Constitution of the United States and how much Bush has savaged one of the most magnificent documents ever written. With the Fourth of July just around the corner, it seemed appropriate to revisit the document that forms the basis for our government...

The Elmore County Sheriff's office responded to a boating accident where three fishermen were left stranded after their boat capsized on the South Fork of the Boise River last Thursday. Larry Jeffries and Thomas Haley, both of Eagle, and Haley's father, Thomas Haley, Sr., of Saginaw, Mich., had been fishing near the Cow Creek Bridge that morning when their drift boat became stuck on a rock in some of the rapids. ...

District Court --- Jose Arnoldo Gastelum, 37, had a felony charge for malicious injury to property that was dismissed by the prosecutor. He had forfeited bonds of $72.50. Gastelum pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor for malicious injury to property. The charge was dismissed by the prosecutor. He had forfeited bonds of $72.50...

Adult arrests --- Rene Alonso Najera, 34 -- failure to purchase drivers license. Stacey Lea Baldassin, 36 -- Adams County failure to appear warrant. Kyle Lee Henry, 32 -- failure to appear warrant. Brandon Jacob Raber, 21 -- possession of drug paraphernalia...