It's time for WECRD to dissolve

Perhaps selling the current property and purchasing one of the larger empty buildings in town and renovating it to accommodate a limited number of activities would be a better idea.

You're right Tracy. I've butted heads with you in the past (and possibly will again in the future) but enough is enough. There has been absolutely ZERO progress with respect to the WECRD. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and they have failed miserably time and again. You can kick a dead horse but so many times, and, in my opinion, this horse has been kicked enough. If there is anything that can be said for the WECRD, it is "nothing".

Until our next battle...;)

MM, till next time:-). However, I am a bit off my game these days so maybe we can just agree.

The WECRD needs to be dissolved. The taxing district needs to go away. In 13 years much money has been taken/stolen/collected. We could do something with that now for the youth if we could cut free from the morons (the WECRD Board). Just wait to see who they have teamed up with. Stay tuned for the press release. The next week should be fun.

I have waited so long to hear this from people! About time.

Years ago a woman tried to open a facility to give the kids a safe place to go and hang out. She opened with her own money in the Stardust Plaza. At the time, the Youth Center funding was taken away because there were no records of how much money was spent and what items actually made it into the door of the facility. The Mayor was doing what was right by the tax payers who fully fund that building. Unfortunately the 'hangout' in Stardust Plaza was a bust and funding went back to the Youth Center.

However, at that time it was also time for the WECRD budget hearing. I went and sat in. I asked for a budget line to be left open for 'recreation' and that I would explain what that recreation would be in the next meeting. I just didn't want to have to wait another year for a budget hearing if they decided they wanted to support my idea. Well, of course they did not leave the line open, and perhaps that was due to the woman who opened the facility saying she, 'wanted to do it on her own' and they decided to let her. However, through out the budget meeting it was discussed how, if the YMCA were to call and want to move forward there had been no line budget set aside to make that happen. That most of the budget was for salary, rent, postage, and elections they personally ran at the time. Before the budget was finalized they left a line for phase 2 with the YMCA, but no line for 'recreation'. Which I pretty much knew they wouldn't, I just wanted to see if they would blatantly disreguard their entire puropse for existing. They did.

My purposal was they help the woman who opened the facility in Stardust Plaza. A building with lit parking, away from the bars, a back enterance for school bus drop offs, a large enough space to accomodate after school homework, birthday parties, supervised dances and movie nights. A building that supplies their renters with snow removal, H-vac system, and lots of parking. Parking that is directly in front of the building instead of down the street and around the corner. I asked that they pay this new 'hangout' for 'X amount of after school extra cirricular activities' she had pool tables, air hockey, basketball games and even Stoney's was willing to work with her for arcade games as long as she understood an arcade wasn't going to pay her bills. This was recreation. It was more than we have, and many of us have had a hand in running a small business in this town and know how hard it is for the first 3 years.. Helping someone who was trying to help the community seemed like the 2 should of been together long before this in 2010... I believe.

So, this land that the smart people we've entrusted millions of tax payer dollars with, floods. Yup, even if you wanted to build, add fields for soccor and football.. You are first going to have to decide which part of the land you are going to make into a pool to raise West Nile (like the subdivisions in this town with no foutain, or pump that have stagnated water and prime mosquito breeding grounds).

I have called the YMCA and spoke to people about coming to Mountain Home. The reason they won't is because the people who we currently have in charge of our WECRD insist that people pay for membership to the facility and the YMCA's motto is 'no child denied for inability to pay'. And while I have heard, there will be grants for those who can't afford it .. They are creating a building that will not ever be self- sufficent by demanding no less than an indoor pool. Indoor pools are not money makers. And while it would be great to have pool access for more than 2-3 months out of the year, most people in this town will not be able to afford it. And the kids who need it the most will be divided even further in the schools. It will no longer be just those who have nice clothes and those who don't. It will be those who go to the rec Center and those who can't afford it, or are grant children.

I know no community wants to admit to a drug problem. And while I don't believe Mtn. Home's to be as bad as it was years ago when rolling meth labs were released back to their owners and all users busted while cooks went free... It still exists. And those kids need us. They need to know life exists outside of drug use. That despite their parents bad choices.. They don't have to make the same ones.

We need to provide all the kids in the community a safe place to hang out together. That's right.. Together. Even if you have the money and keep your kids in sports, they are still going to school with kids who don't have it good. From 5th grade on all our kids go to the same schools. We need to look out for all of them. Not provide them entertainment, not to keep them from getting bored. There is always something that needs done in this community from elders in the home being visited, to the dog poop from irresponsible owners cleaned up out of the parks.. We need to give these kids role-models, examples of community, a place to take pride in themselves and learn to respect the place that keeps them safe when they walk to school.

We need to stand up to this WECRD and take their power away. Make a lease at Stardust, find responsible people who don't run when things get tough and want to be examples to the youth in this community to keep the doors open and the rec time wholesome. Our reward will be a town where we're not rebuilding park benches kids tore apart, where we can leave an outhouse at the park and it not repeatedly get burned down. A place where we can walk down the street with buildings full of productive kids that other communities might have ignored. We are such a small town, we can have the best place in the nation to raise children, and grow old. If we put a little hard work (like our parents did raising us and providing a safe bedroom community to Boise) and sacrafice some of our spare time to look out after ther future of our home town.

Hope something I said makes someone out there think. I have a lot more to say,but fear I'll end up repeating myself and take away from the point. This money could be put to some good use, and there were rigged elections keeping certain people in control when the best thing they could of done is said, "I don't have the education this kind of responsibility takes.. I need to step down". So we're going to have to do it for them.

We need to dispose of this tax. they need to pay each tax payer their money back or it will again be runoff with. Nothing but crook's. Ware did all of it go after 13 or is it 14 year's now. Enough is Enough. Best give us our money's back.

I for one will continue to support the idea of a Youth Center here at Mountain Home (YMCA). Over the last 10 years I've made it a point to look for similar type facilities at other smaller towns within the state of Idaho and found several. A lot of those towns didn't have the resources to build this type of facility. However, they didn't throw in the towel or give up just because the road to success is a little longer than anyone anticipated. Also, some had big donors that supported the community, community fund raisers, and they saved enough funds until they achieved their dream.

Considering the amenities and the type of facility being proposed more funds will be needed. My experience in this area is quite extensive, and the cost per square foot will not be cheap. If we are going to meet all our needs then I don't have any issues with continued savings. Yes I understand their may be issues with current expenditures, however, no organization is perfect. I'm willing to ask the right questions until I get an answer, while not being impatient. We have a tendency to forget how much our lives and community will be enriched after this is completed.

My conversations with individuals throughout the state of Idaho has proven one thing, and that was once these facilities were finished all the bickering, and whining, was replaced by only positive comments.

Sorry, I'm just not a deserter, coward, or defeatist, I just believe!