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2014 in review
The Day Meadows fire in Mountain Home led the top ten list of the most important stories of 2014 as carried in the Mountain Home News.
Two people were injured and two dozen were left homeless after one of the apartment buildings in the Day Meadows subsidized housing complex caught fire in what investigators said was deliberate arson. Two men were charged in connection with the case.
The Mountain Home firemen immediately drained their burnout fund to help the displaced families. Over the next few weeks, both individuals and other fire departments in the region donated money to restore the fund.
Number two on our list of top stories actually represented several stories rolled into one -- high profile crimes. Although the overall crime rate has been falling in the city and county, there were an unusual number of high-profile cases, many of which drew media attention outside of Elmore County.
During the year, Richard Laubach pleaded guilty to murdering his toddler stepson the year before, there were three major shooting incidents, one of which resulted in attempted murder charges being filed, a woman was charged with scalding a child of her boyfriend, there was a major arson case and several arrests were made for forcible rape.
Number three on our list of top stories was the announcement of the Mountain Home Music Festival, projected as a major gathering for fans of top country music stars that will be held July 31-Aug. 2 on the flats where the turnoff is made from Highway 20 to Pine. Some concerns have been raised by nearby landowners about fire protection and traffic control, but the event has been much anticipated throughout the region.
It was an election year, so politics came in at number four on our list of top stories. Republicans swept all major state and local races, but two Elmore County residents helped headline some of the year's state politics.
Sherri Ybarra, an administrator with the Mountain Home School District, will become the new state superintendent of education. Meanwhile, Barry Peterson, who was chairman of the state Republican Party, was ousted following an internal battle within the state GOP that played out in public during the contentious state convention and a series of lawsuits between each side afterward.
Number five on our list involved the impact of the 2013 fires. The Pony and Elk complex fires the previous year had destroyed more than a quarter of a million acres of range and forest land, resulting in some major closures of some federal lands and, most importantly, a number of mudslides due to lack of terrain cover that damaged roads. The worst was the slide that closed the only road open all winter to Atlanta, forcing an emergency repair effort to replace nearly half a mile of road before the snows began.
Sixth on our list was the beginning of the endgame for the Western Elmore County Recreation District. Created in 2001, the district finally launched its capital campaign this November to raise money to build a 25,000-square-foot community center that will be run as a YMCA. The facility will feature a gym, cardio/weight room, multipurpose room, game room, locker rooms, offices, and a child watch area. The budget has been set at $4.8 million, of which the district needs to raise $850,000 in donations from the community for the project to proceed. If it doesn't, the district's future is almost certain to become a major political issue. The district hopes to begin construction on the community center/YMCA this May.
Seventh on our list of the top stories of 2014 was the demise of the Mountain Home Youth Center. Run by a volunteer group using a city property, the volunteers decided to do some remodeling. But in the course of their work, they uncovered some asbestos tile, which forced the closure of the youth center. City officials decided it would cost too much to clean up and sold the building.
Eighth on our list of top stories involved activity -- or proposed activity -- at Mountain Home Air Force Base.
The base got a new commander this year, Col. David Iverson, and held a major airshow, Gunfighter Skies 2014, that drew an estimated 80,000 people to the flightline.
In addition, the Air Force proposed ending the A-10 mission, a move that would impact the Idaho Air National Guard. To replace the guard mission, the Air Force proposed that the IANG become an "associate" unit stationed at MHAFB, flying and sharing the base's F-15s. Congress granted a temporary halt to that plan at the end of the year, but the proposal remains on the table.
The ninth story on our list involved the resignation of Mountain Home High School football coach Aaron Rodney.
The Tigers had won only two games over the previous two years when, toward the end of the 2014 season, several players began to quit the team. Rodney resigned with two games left to play and Tigers' assistant coach Tyrone Hutchings was appointed as an interim head coach to finish the season. The school district launched a search for a new head coach who can turn the program around, a process that has not been formally completed as of this writing.
Tenth on our list was the announcement early in the year that Brenda Fincher, who had served as the bookkeeper for the Mountain Home News for 25 years, would be replacing long-time publisher Coleen Swenson. Fincher brought a new style and new policies to the newspaper's operations.
There were a number of other stories that could have been considered, as overall it was a busy year for the staff of the Mountain Home News.
A month-by-month breakdown of top stories during the first six months of 2014 appear in the Dec. 31 edition of the Mountain Home News.