Letter to the Editor

Riggs responds to O'Hanley

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Dear editor:

I would like to respond to Rhonda O'Hanley's letter dated Dec.17, 2014.

GOLDEN RULE: Do unto others as one would want done unto them.

Since Ms. O'Hanley lives by the Golden Rule as stated when she signed her letter, I'm sure she will not be offended when I highlight her inconsiderate lack of knowledge on the topic in her letter to the editor.

To answer the question on whether the city has a grant writer. Yes, the city does have a full time grant writer and she has done an excellent job in obtaining grants to help with city projects such as infrastructure, roads, the walking path and replacing pedestrian curb ramps, just to name a few.

Grants totaling $1,188,097 have been awarded to the City of Mountain Home to help improve our great city in the past two years alone.

Ms. O'Hanley refers to an article on Economic Development a few months back where she states that I made the comment based off of "personal opinion" that our community does not have enough educated well-trained (skilled) citizens available. This was not "personal opinion" it is what we are told from numerous business site selectors that look at communities prior to locating in one and by the Idaho Economic Development Associations. Yes, we do have educated and skilled citizens in Mountain Home, but please refer to the word "enough" which means "quantity."

And, Ms. O'Hanley, what you neglected to mention was the rest of the article and what it was that I was specifically referring to. What I was referring to was a woodworking company that looked at locating in Mountain Home but due to the fact Mountain Home does not have a workforce of 100+ skilled woodworkers nor does Mountain Home High School have a woodworking class anymore (that would be the educated part of my comment) they chose another location. This is a common problem with medical, welders and engineers as well. Ask a local manufacturer, he has to hire people from Boise and Twin Falls because he cannot find these workers locally.

Or call the Idaho Department of Labor and you would find out that any jobs available that require a degree or advanced degree stay open with no responses for months and months. One example is the 11 openings for medical-related jobs here in Mountain Home that have not even had responses on them for almost two months.

This is a common problem throughout Idaho, but rural communities such as Mountain Home struggle more than the metropolitan cities.

According to the ReThink Series Knowledge Base of Education Facts, a survey completed by employers reported that by 2018, Idaho employers will require a workforce with substantially higher levels of education than they currently employ.

Employers report that 43 percent of workers will need to have bachelor's degrees or advanced degrees. In sum, the current education levels of Idaho's 25- to 34-year-olds fall short of employers' anticipated needs.

During the meeting from which my comment was made we were discussing which industries to market that would best fit Mountain Home not only in workforce but in infrastructure capabilities as well.

Ms. O'Hanley refers to the factual example of her calling our office and asking an employee what the acronym for Economic Development is. Ms. O'Hanley, when she said "I don't understand" she didn't mean she did not know what an acronym is, it meant she had no idea why you would ask that question when we only have two words in our name that do not need shortened by initials. So maybe it is you Ms. O'Hanley that needs to learn the exact meaning of "acronym." An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the INITIAL COMPONENTS in a phrase or a word. Usually these components are individual letters or parts of words or names. Acronyms are a type of word formation process, and they are viewed as a subtype of blending. Just how would you suggest we make an acronym out of Economic Development? Maybe E.D.? I'm afraid we would get some sarcastic comments about that one. By the way, for your example of NASA, it stands for National Aeronautics and Space "Administration" not "Agency."

Ms. O'Hanley, you requested I submit a retraction and apologize for my unprofessional comment to the citizens of Mountain Home and Elmore County. I believe it is you Ms. O'Hanley that owes the apology to the citizens for writing such an uninformed, misleading letter with no factual basis that personally slanders myself and the employee you spoke to on the phone.

Ms. O'Hanley, does a defamation action ring any bells?

Which by the way, you stated your weapon of choice was documentation, I suggest next time Ms. O'Hanley, you get your facts straight and make an effort to ask for answers and explanations before you pick up your pen.

-- Paula Riggs

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: