Looking Back at Pages from the Past
The following stories are summarized from past issues of the Caribou County Sun over the last fifty plus years. The Enterprise thanks Mark Steele for permission to use the contents, and the Grace Public Library for access to the archives.
2019
Larry Weaver of the Caribou County Emergency Services spoke to the Soda Springs City Council about the urgent need for more volunteer EMTs. “We’re in dire straits,” Weaver said. In the last 18 months, we have lost 11 EMTs.” Weaver said that Grace and Bancroft were worse off than Soda Springs at the moment, and that the problem was widespread throughout the state. Weaver said that the alternative was a paid ambulance service and one person reported it would raise taxes 300 percent to hire six to eight full time paramedics and run the ambulances out of Soda Springs only. Weaver asked the council to encourage the city employees to take the upcoming EMT class and test and then go on ambulance runs. The course is 140 hours, Weaver said, but can now be done online, along with hands-on training and quizzes. “We need all the help we can get.” Volunteers can be as young as 16 years with parental permission and a waiver.
The Grace Public Library was the recipient of a generous contribution received in honor of Curtis Wilker, who passed away from a seven-year battle with cancer, from the members of the 1959 State Championship Basketball team and their coach, Dick Motta. Coach Motta returned to Grace with his wife Janice Fraser Motta to honor teammate Curtis along with many members of the 1959 team, family, and friends. The event was held in Niter in conjunction with the passing of his mother Maxine Wilker. The team has remained close through all of these years. They have celebrated reunions, alumni basketball games, Coach Motta clinics, Cedar View dinners, Boise “Legends of the Game 2002,” and every two years since 2006, three-day weekends at Motta’s Bluebird Inn on Bear Lake, dining on delicious food and recalling memories that tended to become bigger and faster and stronger with each telling. They have cared about one another and have always included their wives, who became part of the fun, laughter, and magic. Coach Motta went on to coach college teams Colorado State and Weber State, then the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, and NBA Champion Washington Bullets.
2014
Two term incumbent Idaho governor C.L. “Butch” Otter is facing a challenge from businessman A.J. Balukoff, a Democrat who is the chair of the Boise School District. Balukoff has campaigned on Otter’s out-of-touchness with most Idahoans, as well as his “coziness with big business interests” and special deals with private firms to prohibit lawsuits. Various political action committees involved in the election have on the other have branded Balukoff as a ”liberal Democrat connected to Obama.” Balukoff campaigned for Mitt Romney in the 2012 election cycle. Balukoff would like to increase Idaho’s education spending, which has not been popular among some voters, while Otter has been criticized by the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party as “not conservative enough.” It is presumed that the rift in the Republican party will diminish after the election. Incumbent Republican Lt. Governor Brad Little is challenged by Marsh Valley Democrat Bert Marley. Departing Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna leaves behind a contested race between Republican Sherri Ybarra and Democrat Jana Jones.
The Grace High School lunch room will be the site of a benefit dinner for Jeremy and Tiffani Higley and family. They lost their home to a recent fire in Grace. The dinner will feature a chili cook-off, bake sale, and auction.
2009
Scout Troop 503 removed several items from the Bear River by the Centennial Bridge by the dentist office. They found eight car batteries, two bicycles, one skateboard, one shopping cart, one sign, and a few pieces of garbage. They can’t figure out why someone would throw batteries into the lake. Those who helped were youth, Cory Humphreys, Tyler Humphreys, and Riley Yamauchi. Adults were Bryce Griffiths, Scott Shuler, Howard Humphreys, Ron Myers, and
Jim McCulloch.
Last Wednesday, the Cardinal cross country teams were in action for the Preston Invitational. This meet would serve as a tune-up for the district meet which will be held next Thursday at Bear Lake High school. Both Cardinal teams would run well at the meet with the Lady Cardinals finishing in first place ahead of host Preston and the boys team finished in third only nine points behind winner Sugar-Salem and runner-up Preston.
The Caribou Memorial Hospital Auxiliary “Pink Ladies” each year provide a Christmas party with entertainment, refreshments, personal items and clothing gifts for each Living Center resident. This year, because of all the generous donations, they purchased cell shades for all the windows in the dining room, whimsical items of décor, and new dining room linen tablecloths. In addition, a 45” TV/VCR and several DVDs were purchased for the therapy room.
2004
Sgt. Benjamin D. Owens, son of Ronald and Julie Owens, has been selected for the rank of staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. SSgt. Owens has just returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq on Sept. 12, where he has been since March 3 of this year. He has been on three deployments that have taken him places such as East Timor, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq. He has circumnavigated the globe two times. He joined the Marine Corps on March 17, 1999. He is currently on his second enlistment. During that time he has received many honors and awards.
Efforts by Ed Duren, a retired Extension Livestock specialist, along with the City of Soda Springs and Dar Weaver, who builds and restores wagons and buggies, has brought the Yellowstone Coach that President Teddy Roosevelt rode in through Yellowstone Park back into shape, with hopes to further display it in the city park. Dr. Evan M. Kackley donated the coach to the city a number of years ago. It has been in a few parades and stored since then, but time took its toll, and it was in need or repairs. That’s when Duren suggested the city officials have it worked over before it was too late. The best research so far is that the coach is something over 100 years old. It carried President Roosevelt in 1903. Weaver said the wood is popular and the wheels are ash.
Former Soda Springs resident Kyla Pepper had two weeks off from her studies in Israel and flew back to the United States to be with her family and friends, as well as her parents Kerry and Joette Pepper of Pocatello.
The City of Soda Springs is sponsoring its first ever Trunk or Treat on Saturday. This is being billed as a “fun alternative that gives families the option to get a lot of trick or treating done in a short amount of time, in a safe place, among locals that can be trusted.” Local businesses, churches, organizations, and individuals have agreed to meet in the north parking lot at city park for the event, with over 30 decorated trunks expected.
1999
Cities throughout Idaho will be holding elections for council some mayor positions next Tuesday, Nov. 2. In Soda Springs, voters will choose between three candidates for two council positions. Incumbents running for re-election are Bart Conlin and Mitchell Hart. Anthony Varilone is the third candidate. The two with the most votes will win the two four0year seats.
Evelyn Dalton Twiss was one of the three finalists for the Teacher of the Year award from the Idaho Council of Teachers of English. Mrs. Twiss began her teaching career at Soda Springs in 1973. During her time there, she has taught English, drama, French, and Psychology on all four class levels. She is especially respected in the English Department for her excellent teaching of writing, as well as her love of literature. She is known for her compassion and understanding of teenagers, and for the intellectual challenge of her classes.
The Grace Junior High 8th grade volleyball team beat West Side 7-15, 15-6, 15-13 to take first place in the A-3 tournament held in Malad. The team includes Kristen Elsmore, Lyndsie Cronquist, Holly Hubbard, Natalie Keetch, Natalie Miller, Brittney Jensen, Ashley Smith, and Alisa Smith. They are coached by Sue Christensen.
1994
Grace High school swimmer Glen Washburn attended the Twin Falls High School Invitational Swim Meet. Washburn swam away with a 1st place in the 50 meter freestyle and a 5th in the 100 meter breaststroke for his high school.
Joining the staff at Soda Springs, including Ken Gunderson of Boise, Dawn Worthington of Montana, and John Dunt of Iowa and Soda Springs. Mr. Gunderson will be tracing Earth Science, Applied Science, and Algebra II. Mrs. Worthington will be teaching World History, American History, and she is the coach of the Cardettes. Mr. Dunt will be teaching Biology and PE. He is the head wrestling coach and assistant football coach.
North Gem’s volleyball team bested the Soda Springs Cardinals in two games to win the Caribou County Tri-Match trophy last Wednesday. The victory was the first time in three years that the Cowboys have won the trophy, which is contested by Soda Springs and Grace.
1984
Ross Anderson of Pocatello walked out of the Pocatello Creek area after spending the night in the mountains when he got separated from a hunting companion and a snowstorm set in. Sheriff Richard Weaver said Anderson had been hunting Inman Canyon on the other side of Pebble Creek. After not being able to locate his partner, he was caught in a heavy snowstorm and became lost. Weaver said he crossed over the mountain and after dark built a large fire and dried his wet clothing. He walked out and was found by the Sheriff’s Office the next morning at about 9:30 a.m. one mile south of the Pebble Creek Subdivision. The Sheriff said the hunter used his head and avoided the hypothermia by having sense enough to stop and build a fire during the night and not try to walk out.
Day care centers and whether or how to license them dominated the recent Soda Springs City Council meeting last week. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Beauregard met and voiced concerns over too many cars and the increase in traffic in their neighborhood because of a talent school for youngsters being held in a residence there. The issue of home instruction, as well as day care centers for babysitting youngsters, was discussed. City Administrator Roy Rainey told the city council that his frustration was that the council and Planning and Zoning could not decide whether to register or license the facilities or do nothing. City Attorney Clyde Nelson suggested that the city change the number of children allowed in a day care center and put them as a category under schools, which can be allowed in residential areas. Administrator Rainey said that state regulations for day care centers were voluntary. He added that California has the strictest standards and that is where much of the recent abuses of children at such centers had been centered*.
[*Editor’s note—this caught my eye because it was printed during the peak of what would eventually become called the “Satanic Panic,” which is its own convoluted series of stories. The California day care centers being referenced in the original article would include the McMartin Preschool in Kern County, which became the iconic figurehead of the panic. The staff were accused of committing atrocities against the students, many of which were so unbelievable—like dozens of children being murdered and eaten at the school with a total population of a few dozen in total, as well as being “flushed down the toilet to secret tunnels under the city for sex trafficking”—that the incident is looked back on as an example of mass hysteria and irrational mania. The “evidence” was based on leading hypnosis sessions with the children, and “expert” opinion from an author later convicted of fraud. It seems insane, but the parallels to modern manias of this type are undeniable.]
1969
The Girls Pops Choir at Soda Springs High school is new this year. There are 29 girls in the group. The kind of music being sung is popular, such as “Theme from Romeo and Juliet.” Later on in the year the group may go to the district music festival as a girls’ chorus. Uniforms will be made as soon as the material arrives. The officers are Sally Snell, Tonia Walker, and Delma Johnson. Mrs. Alldaffer is the director and the one who got the group going. Thanks go to her for adding another group to the Choral Department.
Another good steelhead trout fishing season is here. As many as 400 boats in a single day have been observed on the Clearwater River from Lewiston to Orofino recently. More than 45,000 steelhead have been counted so far over the dams at Ice Harbor and Lower Monumental. Close to 20,000 additional sea-run rainbow trout could go through these counting facilities before the end of this “fish year,” June 30, 1970. This was the number counted last year from the end of October through June 30.
Grace Theatre presented “The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit” starring Dean Jones, Diane Baker, and Morey Amsterdam in the Walt Disney production.
1964
Mrs. Orville Burt and Mrs. Loren Fowler entertained at a dinner party Sunday evening at the Burt home in honor of their husbands’ birthday anniversary. Guests were Mr. and Mrs. Heber Lau, Dr. and Mrs. Russell Tigert, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Poulson, Mr. and Mrs. Vic Lansberry and Mrs.
Doug Nelson.
Idaho’s estimated cougar kill during the winter of 1963-1964 reached 162 animals statewide, compared to the seven-year average of 112. Two of these seasons were during the era when the Department paid bounties on the big cats, a system that was discontinued at the end of 1959. Cougar kill estimates are obtained by the Department via an annual questionnaire, which is completed by conservation officers. 183 of the cougars taken last week were bagged during hunting safaris, 19 were taken incidental to other activities, and five were trapped.
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Whitman have returned to the United States from Lahore, Pakistan, where Whitman was Food and Agriculture Officer for the U.S. Aid Mission, giving technical assistance to that country. The Whitmans visited relatives in Soda Springs before going to Glendale, California, to visit their son and family. Mr. Whitman said that his four years in Pakistan strengthened its agricultural extension and experimental service and in developing agricultural educational institutions. Of major importance was the development of irrigation water through tube wells and the desalinization of soils to improve agricultural production.
